Bronze Bird Tower by Carole Wilkinson

Author:Carole Wilkinson [Wilkinson, Carole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781925381412
Publisher: Walker Books Australia
Published: 2017-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

ASSASSIN

Tao and Sunila returned to the plateau. Tao wanted to congratulate Kai, but he couldn’t hug him, he was too big.He slapped him on the back instead, which hurt because his spines pricked Tao’s hand. The other dragons were also returning. Some had arrows protruding from their hide, but most of the arrowheads were lodged harmlessly in their tough scales and could easily be pulled out. The few wounds they had were slight and, thanks to the cinnabar the dragons had swallowed, they weren’t festering. But the dragons weren’t concerned about their wounds; they were congratulating Kai on destroying the stone-hurler.

Jiang had taken the trouble to count the bodies before she flew back.

“More than fifty!” she said triumphantly.

Hei Lei began singing a song of victory. The dragons were making happy tinkling sounds – all except one.

Kai was making the anxious sound of metal scraping on metal. “Where is Tun?”

Hei Lei’s song of victory was cut short. The dragons fell silent.

“He was struck by one of the stones flung by the stone-hurler,” Tao said.

“Was he injured?”

Lian’s eyes were on Tao, fear vying with hope within them. Tao was silent. He didn’t want to be the one to deliver the terrible news. Sunila did it instead.

“The big rock hit him. I saw him crash to the ground. He did not move.”

The hope in Lian’s eyes died. She made the awful sound of dragon anguish, higher-pitched than Kai’s, but no less harrowing to hear. Her sisters went to console her.

“Your precious dragon stone is safe,” Shuang said. “Take comfort in that.”

They led Lian to the cave where she collapsed, moaning, next to the nest of grubby straw where the dragon stone lay.

“Someone must make sure that Tun is really dead,” she said. “And even if he is, we know what humans do to dead dragons. We must bring his body back.”

Tao knew that Lian was right. Jilong knew the value of dragon body parts. He would hack Tun’s body up and sell the parts to herbalists and necromancers.

“It is too dangerous in daylight,” Hei Lei said. “We must wait till nightfall.”

“Jilong still lives,” Tao said. “The death of a quarter of his army won’t deter him in the least. He knows our strengths and weaknesses now. He will be plotting his next assault.”

“They are many and we are few,” Sha said. “Even if we kill every one of the soldiers, there are thousands more men to replace them.”

“Then we must go back and fight again, until they are all dead,” Hei Lei said. “We cannot let Tun’s death go unavenged.”

Sha noticed that Sunila was bleeding. She hurried to get moss and water from the healing pool. Then she went about cleaning the wound, spitting on the moss and then covering the wound with it. She held it in place with the pads of her forepaws until the dragon saliva had bonded it to the naga’s hide.

Tao was close to tears.

“I came to the dragon haven to help the dragons live in peace and safety.

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