Page 55

I wish I had time to snap their necks. That’ll have to wait.

Hiding behind the large teak trees shading the menagerie, I sneak beyond the leopard, past the elephants languishing in their mud-baked trench, toward a pit framed by a fence of sago leaves. Inside, I’ll find allies.

I approach the pit of vipers. Over a hundred of them, brilliantly red and green and gold, knotted against each other, writhing.

Lady Green Snake! they greet in chorus. Snakes are legendary gossips, and they’ve heard what I did for their brothers and sisters in Sundau. You have to free us!

The pit is deep, the walls glazed with a slippery glass the snakes cannot climb. I snap a branch off the closest tree and lean it against the side so they can slither out. Each thanks me with a quick flick of the tongue.

“Which way to Ukar?” I ask.

The snakes tip their heads to the left of the leopards. Towering high above a line of banana trees is a pointed dome painted white as an eagle’s scalp.

The aviary, respond my friends. He’s in the aviary.

My nostrils flare. “Take care of the guards,” I tell them.

While the snakes scatter to obey, a lump hardens in my throat. Of course, the aviary. The one place my poor, fearsome Ukar will be prey.

I follow the sound of screeching birds.

The aviary walls are high, latticed with diamond-shaped holes. Sharp beaks pierce through the slats, and I hope I am not too late.

“Ukar!” I shout, racing around a marble pathway to find the entrance. As I turn the bend, the aviary’s two doors slide open with a snap. My breath, short and quick until now, hitches.

“So,” says a cruel voice, “you’re still alive.”

The doors slam shut, but the captain of Meguh’s guard doesn’t advance out into the menagerie. He dangles Ukar by the tail, holding him perilously close to a ravenous-looking hawk pecking through the latticed holes of the aviary walls.

My heart ices with fear, with fury.

“Meguh is dead,” I say through locked teeth. “You will be too, if you don’t let him go.”

The captain doesn’t flinch at my threat—or at the news about his king—but he does glance to the sky, at the dark outline of a dragon fast approaching. The sight makes him sneer. “My queen wouldn’t like that.”

“Let him go,” I hiss.

“Or what?” He dangles Ukar lower.

My friend is in no shape for a fight. The spots on his skin are dull, his eyes cloudy. He hisses at the hawk in a desperate attempt to stave off the predator. But his mouth is bound shut; he cannot bite.

Ukar, stay very still. I’m going to free you.

“Let him go,” I repeat. My voice goes low, delivering a solemn oath. “Or I’ll kill you.”

The captain makes that smirk I hate so much. Then he drops Ukar into the hawk’s waiting clutches.

“No!” I lunge, but the captain blocks me with his body, and the hawk pulls Ukar through a hole into the aviary.

I rush the captain, but he is faster than he looks. His sword comes out, blazing silver against the white walls, and flashes at my torso. I jump back, mind reeling. Pulse racing.

He gloats with his eyes. I swear, he is not going to best me—I will not be anyone’s trophy.

He kicks me against the aviary wall, and the starved birds within stab at my calves before they taste the poison and shrink back.

Another swing comes, but this time I lean into the strike, taking the captain by surprise. He didn’t expect a girl to take a hit on purpose. His mistake. The impact of the hit is reduced; it still hurts, but I’ll end up with barely a bruise. Meanwhile, the captain won’t be so lucky.

I grab his sword arm. His eyes bulge as I choke the blade out of his hand. It clatters against the stones under our feet.