Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 92392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
I looked down at the bowl.
The Death Guardian’s voice grew shaky. “We must hurry. Already we all should be fighting right now.”
I raised the bowl to my mouth.
The cold rim touched my lips.
The liquid was warm.
Metallic like blood.
Bitter with some powder and other liquid.
Old in a way I had no word for, like swallowing something that had been waiting in the dark longer than my bloodline had carried a name.
What the fuck is this?
The liquid coated my tongue and went down thick and bitter, and my stomach clenched against it.
The Death Guardian signaled to Yoichi.
He pulled a blade out.
"Finish drinking, Kenji," the Death Guardian said.
I tipped the bowl and the last of the liquid hit my throat.
Oh, God.
Pain erupted at my temple.
Fuck!
A hooded figure took the bowl.
“And now to strengthen your Tiger.” Yoichi grabbed my hand, and before I could understand the motion, the steel opened my palm in one clean, stinging line.
“Ah!!” I looked at it.
Blood welled fast and bright across the skin. My jaw locked. The beast in me lunged toward the pain, hungry, ready to snap the wrist that had cut me.
The Death Guardian nodded. “Bring the Tiger over for the Dragon’s blood. It will strengthen her for tonight.”
I widened my eyes and raised my hand.
They carried her to me.
She sluggishly opened her eyes and could barely grip my hand.
I shivered. “Tora, how much pain are you in?”
“Enough.” Her fingers trembled around my wrist.
"Lick his blood." The Death Guardian's voice dropped soft over us. "For this moment, it will give you strength."
Nyomi lowered her mouth to the wound, and she licked the blood from my palm.
And it did.
I felt it happen against me. The shaking in her hands eased. Her spine drew up by a fraction.
She slowly blinked and some of the exhaustion washed out of her face. For one breath she was almost herself again.
Right when I was going to ask her what the sacrifice was, this unbearable pain surged within my body.
What?!
It climbed fast, and it was a fire racing up a fuse.
“Ahh!” I doubled forward.
More pain ripped at me from all sides of my body.
Oh fuck!!!
My knees hit the ground.
The figures chanted.
The Death Guardian watched me. "The Soul Bond has begun."
More pain began to rip my insides apart.
“Oh GODD!!!” I screamed and dragged my hands up in front of my face like I could stop it. That was when I saw the black lines spreading across my palms.
The pain rode the lines wherever they went.
It burned and it froze at the same time.
And on the island, the war went on without me. Planes overhead. The guns pounding at them. Gunfire boomed across the island from every side, and I heard men loudly fighting and screaming, men shouting and the crack of rifles and the wet ugly sounds underneath them.
The Death Guardian turned from me to all of them, and her voice rose over the gunfire. "You know your positions! You know the mission!"
She lifted her chin to the hooded crowd, and the moonlight ran along the lines of her face. "This is our island. It will never fall into the hands of a man like the Fox. It belongs to our bloodline. Our Dragon. Our ancestors' bones are buried here in this sand. Tonight we fight like we have never fought before. And remember. . .the Little Tiger. We do this for her too."
The red figures bowed their heads.
The Death Guardian screamed, “Go!!!!!”
In a blur, they rushed off into the dark, red capes streaming behind them, swallowed tree by tree, running toward the sound of the guns.
Toward the war.
And the pain continued to battle within me.
FUCK!!!
All strength left my arms, and I dropped from my knees to the dirt. My cheek hit the cold ground. My hands shook with more black lines.
“Kenji?” Nyomi’s voice rose over me. “What’s happening to him?”
I could not get up and could barely breathe around the pain.
"Take the Tiger to the Bamboo Garden," the Death Guardian called to someone.
No.
The word fought its way up through the agony.
No. She must be off the island. Get her to the boats. Get her to the water. Get her away from all of this—
"No, Kenji. We can’t do that now." The Death Guardian crouched down into my line of sight. Her eyes found mine. "Even if you hadn’t done the ritual, we would have never let the Tiger leave the island.”
Tremors of pain scraped through me.
The Death Guardian rose. “If you are both on the island together, your powers will be stronger."
She heard my thoughts. . .
“I will see you on the battlefield, Dragon.” She walked off.
Hooded figures gently lifted Nyomi and carried her away.
No! No!
I tried to call her name, and nothing came. The pain had taken my voice the way it had taken my legs.
TORA!!
I reached for her anyway.
My fingers dug into the dirt. I clawed at the ground and dragged my body a few inches after her, and a few inches was all the world would give me.