CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Three hundred leagues southwest of New Sandharbor, dawn remained less than half an hour away. The sky brightened, but the sun had yet to crest the horizon. Jin's arrival in the savannah tore stalks of grass from the ground and kicked up dust.

She sought out Scorpion. Jin used her horse's imprint to guide her teleportation, so her eyes narrowed when she saw no immediate sign of him. Perhaps the spellcraft hadn't completed correctly, and her teleportation arrived off-course.

Taking a step forward, she then saw a motionless mound of black and white lying in the grass just ahead of her.

"Winds, no," Jin whispered. She raised a foot off the ground to go to her fallen horse.

"Your Highness, stop!"

The urgent command came at a low volume, not far behind her. Grimdar's voice was smaller, no longer in his truest form. It came from a source near to Jin's height, so it seemed most likely he'd taken a human body. Jin halted in mid-stride, eyes locked on Scorpion's still form.

"Grimdar, explain," Jin whispered harshly.

"Do not... move." A rustle of motion from the grass came from the direction of his voice. Grimdar had taken a slow step towards her. "The spellcraft startled her, and creatures such as this are never more dangerous than when they feel threatened."

Jin felt a bead of sweat fall from her brow. She listened to the early morning air, past the slight breeze disturbing the tall grass. There was a menacing noise masked by the breeze. It was a low growl, like a clicking, hissing sound coming from a reptilian throat.

It was behind her.

Jin's hand moved slowly to her side, ready to manifest a holding spell to allow her sword to appear in her grasp. She struggled to keep her breaths even, fought against the need to pant. She felt cold, and sweat clung to the silk against her back.

Scale lions were among the most dangerous beasts Jin knew of. Pack-hunting reptiles, larger than a man, swifter than a horse, and stronger than a tiger. They were cunning, ravenous, and fearless. Of every creature Jin had ever faced— mortals, mighty, shifters, fey, and fiends— scale lions were the only ones she truly feared.

"It's alright," Grimdar murmured. He took another step towards Jin. "Easy now. She's not going to hurt you."

Jin opened her mouth to tell him that she didn't need reassurance as much as action at the moment. Then, she realized it wasn't her who Grimdar addressed.

"She's frightened, Highness. Frightened and sick. I've been tending her for the past few hours."

Jin dared to turn her head slightly to look over her shoulder. She couldn't breathe for the raw panic gripping her chest.

It was lower to the ground than could be seen over the grass. These creatures kept low as they prowled, their powerful hind legs poised to pounce and rake their victims with long and razor-sharp claws. Bite down with vicious jaws. Scale lions were peerless hunters, savage and lethal killers.

Barrier ward, she thought. Evade low to the ground. Keep blade raised between me and the creature. No, its reaction time is beyond human ability. Spellfire. Set grass alight. Dazzle its eyes. Minimal ether in beast imprints, still enough to thwart death spells. Pyromancy remains most effective available option.

Whatever tactics came to mind, Jin's body wouldn't obey them. She was frozen in place, cold sweat dampening her skin. At the same time, the deep scars slashing down Jin's stomach felt as if they burned.

Grimdar spoke again, but the words were no longer understandable. They were in the Aeldenn Tones, the spirit language. Jin felt a spell echo, and the growling close behind her died down.

"I'd prefer not to do it like that," Grimdar said with a relieved sigh. "A beast's mind is a tangle of memory and ingrained instinct. It's better in the long run if they're allowed to come to their own conclusions."

Jin wet her lips. They'd gone dry as a desert. "Lord Gladiator..."

"Hush," Grimdar cautioned. "Let her come to you. She's calm, so too must you be."

It emerged from the grass, its snout pushing out from between the stalks. The nostrils at the end of its long snout flared as it snuffled, taking in Jin's scent. The rest of its brown-scaled head followed after. Long, pointed teeth jutted out in uneven angles from its jaws. Its intense eyes, bright and clear like crystal, sat on either side of a narrow skull, and tiny horns lined crested brows. It looked angry.

Two paces behind the predator's head, a long and thick tail rose above the grass. It was lined with a veritable forest of sharp quills and swayed from side to side.

"Ah, there we go," Grimdar said, relieved. "That's a social posture, Highness. Wary, but not aggressive."

Jin continued her aborted stride from earlier. She didn't dare take her eyes from the scale lion as she took another step towards Scorpion. "Lord Gladiator, my horse."

Grimdar stepped out from the grass and stood beside the scale lion. He reached down and placed a hand under its chin. The beast rested on his palm and crooned another low note, similar to a growl if not with quite as much urgency.

It purred.

"Scorpion is well," Grimdar reported.

"Well?" Jin narrowed her eyes and made herself turn to look. Upon closer inspection, she saw that his flanks swelled with slow, even breaths. He lay slightly on his side, eyes closed and head resting on fore legs tucked under his neck. Scorpion, the blustering brat, was sleeping peacefully.

Grimdar left the scale lion to step towards Jin. "I placed a privacy ward over him, Highness, because I assumed you would return with a teleportation attuned to his imprint. I didn't want his rest disturbed. He was stubborn, but I convinced him to bed down. The poor thing was nearing his limits. Exhausted. With all the dangers in the Miracle, I doubt he's received a truly restful night in weeks." He stood next to Jin and gave her a sidelong look. It was cold and just shy of judgmental. "His wellbeing has been a growing concern of mine over the past three months."

Standing over six feet tall, Grimdar's human form was almost as imposing as his true self. The charcoal black skin and crimson markings of a red dragon lent a frightful appearance. He didn't craft a pretty and slender body as most dragons did. Bulky, blunt, and tough, Grimdar didn't make for a handsome man. He was completely bald, and his face bore a strong resemblance to an anvil. His nose, jawline, and neck were broad, and his sharply green eyes were small. His body was thick throughout the length of him and covered in slabs of hard muscle. Grimdar was built like a mixture of a bear and a barrel, conveying an undeniable sense of tremendous strength with no regard for sculpted beauty.

Jin once heard Enfri comment on how Grimdar looked as if he could chew iron ingots and spit out nails, and coming from her, it sounded like a compliment.

"Your partner deserves better care, Highness," Grimdar said in mild rebuke.

Jin gaped at Scorpion with a frown and furrowed brow. Horses generally slept lying down only if they felt completely safe. Unless Jin brought him to a settlement's stable, he tended to doze standing up since coming to the Miracle. Grimdar's presence put him more at ease than having a town's walls around him.

Which begged the question of why Scorpion wasn't tossing his head and bolting for safety with a scale lion's scent filling his nostrils.

Jin swallowed and looked back to the scale lion.

"Ah," Grimdar grunted. "She showed up soon after you left this morning. Abandoned by her pride for her illness. Better to say, as is the way with scale lions, she abandoned them so as not to be a burden. Scale lions are honorable creatures, but they've a tendency towards self-destruction in the best interests of the pride. I imagine that is partially the reason of why their kind is so successful in harsh environs."

Grimdar moved to interpose himself between it and Jin, but the scale lion shifted its head to peer around him at her. Most scale lions had yellow eyes, but this one's were a shade halfway between white and blue. It stared at Jin and hadn't blinked.

"She smelled Scorpion and hoped for a meal," Grimdar continued. "Her hunt ended when she realized what he was. Scale lions are highly intelligent and have long memories. They know better than to attack a Gaulatian horse on their own. They may get their meal, but not without injuries to make survival too difficult to be worth the risk."

"And Scorpion?" Jin asked. She hadn't blinked either.

"Amenable, once I explained the situation to him. You've a wise partner, Highness."

Jin was able to move again, but her heart rate hadn't fallen from its racing pace. She took a step towards Scorpion, unwilling to show the beast her back. The scale lion lowered its head but made no other movements aside from its swaying tail.

Grimdar matched Jin's movements, seemingly having no worry at all for the apex predator a pace away. He pushed something warm into Jin's hands. It was a dead hare. "Try this, Highness. She's not as hungry as when she arrived, but food is the one true universal language."

"My tutors in the palace said it was mathematics," Jin muttered.

"I've never seen a mouse calculate sums." He gave Jin a slight push at the small of her back. "This will convince her it's in her best interest to let you live. Hold it out. No sudden movements, and keep your knees straight. A lowered posture communicates danger."

Jin stood as instructed, but she balanced her weight on her back foot for if the beast tried anything. She held the hare by its scruff and stretched out her arm.

The scale lion snuffled. Its jaws opened slightly as a slender tongue flicked out from between its teeth. A different sound came out of it, a strange sort of guttural warble, then it bit down on one of the hare's legs. Jin released her grip, and the scale lion snatched the hare away. It disappeared back into the grass and turned around, the tail swaying at a more rapid tempo. Like a hound wagging its tail for dinner. The warbling continued, as did the sounds of snapping bones and ripping flesh.

"It sounds like a turkey," Jin mumbled.

"They vocalize much like hydras, which I recall you have encountered."

"In Chaya Domun, yes," Jin said. She'd ridden Grimdar to get there, and she'd been extremely wary of the half-wild beasts that dwelled in the local moors.

"Scale lions have as much in common with avian species as reptiles," Grimdar said. "Behaviorally, I find them most similar to the great cats, though these are more likely to investigate things unknown to them. Scale lions are not afraid of indulging their curiosity."

Jin would've been content if this one could've had a few more scruples.

Josy would be beside herself to see this, she thought. Jin's cousin had a troublesome fascination with animals, the more dangerous the better. Two years earlier, the Palace of Towers received a complaint from a menagerie regarding a certain duchess and her habit of jumping into the enclosures.

But even Josy would balk at getting too close to a blustering scale lion, wouldn't she? At least two royal assassins carried scars from the things.

Jin backed away while the beast was occupied with the hare. A glance revealed that her campsite from the night before was still standing. It looked like Grimdar had even kept the fire going while Jin was away. Her cook pot had steam coming out of whatever Grimdar was boiling. Jin made certain to keep the scale lion within her line of sight as she made her way gingerly to the fire pit.

"You said the scale lion's ill?" Jin asked.

Grimdar knelt beside the fire. He started stirring the contents of her cast iron pot. Whatever it was, it was thick, green, and gave off an unpleasantly earthy smell. "A lung infection. I've seen this in scale lions before. It's a condition unique to their species that comes from prolonged exposure to the fumes of scalethorn vines."

That scale lions hated scalethorn was common folk knowledge and the reason people cultivated the stuff in this part of the world. "Is that why they avoid the plant?"

"As I said, Highness, they are remarkably intelligent creatures even for an animal. I've only known wolves, apes, and Gaulatian horse breeds to demonstrate mental acuity to the same degree. Oh, and octopi."

"Are you serious?"

"Oh, yes. My mate, the Phalanx, she believes their intelligence approaches true sentience."

That was worrisome. Jin remembered eating octopus when she visited the Isles of Shoto as a young girl. If what Grimdar's mate believed was true, Jin had a moral dilemma on her hands.

Jin knelt down across the fire from him. Out of habit, she adjusted her skirt as she did to avoid as much dust as she could. Even if Maya didn't want the gown back, it'd be sacrilege to dirty it carelessly. "Have you an interest in zoology, Lord Gladiator?"

Grimdar glanced up at her. "Not in particular."

Jin raised an eyebrow.

"It is simply a part of my chroma, Highness. We reds enjoy an affinity with beasts. You may know of how my Eldest spent the greater part of the last four hundred years living among wolves."

"As a wolf, by what Kimpo says." Jin darted another glance towards the scale lion. It was still tearing into the hare. "Is there a reason for this affinity?"

"I couldn't say." Grimdar shrugged. "I would imagine it goes back to the days before the first Shan Alee. Perhaps to the era of the great dragon aeries, when it was my kind who reigned over this world. However, my sire told me that this was of use to the Ruby Knights of the last era. Red dragons used our innate connection with beasts to assimilate their ferocity into our own behaviors. Much like weres might do so, I think. My chroma are warriors, and we hone our prowess by emulating the greatest hunters that countless millions of years of evolution have produced."

Jin tilted her head. "Evolution? What do you mean?"

Grimdar looked upwards as if hoping to find the words to explain this written in the stars. He appeared to give up and looked back to Jin. "I would advise asking a silver, Highness. Handling animals is one thing. Explaining systemic mutations within complex organisms is another. It is beyond this old warrior's ability."

Jin wrinkled her nose. She didn't like that tutor-esque brand of speaking, the sort with complicated vocabulary meant to impress young princesses with how little they knew. Jin hadn't liked it growing up, and she didn't like it now. She took in a breath and gestured to the pot. "A remedy for our guest?"

Grimdar nodded. "Yes, and also breakfast."

Jin frowned. She had better not have been expected to eat any of that. It reminded her too much of Enfri's pork stew.

"Though, it appears you have no need of a meal." He gestured towards her gown.

Jin nodded. "Yes, and I must beg your pardon, Lord Gladiator. When I left, it was not my intention to be gone as long as I was. There was... a series of complications."

"And Lady Starra?"

Jin grimaced, angry at herself for not getting to the important pieces of news sooner. Scale lion or not, she should've been more considerate. "Starra is already back on her feet and driving women to barricade their chamber doors."

Grimdar nodded, gratified. He produced three more hares, each cleaned and gutted, and began ladling his concoction into their empty rib cages. "Are things well in Shan Alee?"

"As well as they can be," Jin said. She wrinkled her nose as she watched Grimdar prepare the scale lion's next meal. "Most appear in high spirits, but I sensed unease. They worry of what may come." Looking into the bubbling pot, Jin knit her brow together. She looked up again and glared at Grimdar. "You already knew I went there?"

After a hare carcass was stuffed with his brew, Grimdar used woven grass to tie the opening in its stomach closed. "There were few other options I thought you might take. Shan Alee is nearest, most capable, and most familiar to you for teleportation. It was the logical conclusion."

Weren't reds supposed to be brutes? Kimpo maintained a brusque demeanor, but Jin supposed she could be just as intelligent as Deebee. This conversation was another reminder that the mighty were definitely not human. Even the dullest of the older dragons had centuries of education and experience over any mortal alive.

Jin let out a breath. "I did return."

"And was the homecoming... productive?"

"Are you asking if my exile will continue?"

"In a roundabout way, yes. To tell the truth, Highness, I can't say I haven't enjoyed a few months of quiet. However, if the war with the Jade Empire is upon us, I would prefer to resume my post. My place will be at my chroma's side when the fighting starts."

"Then allow me to set your mind at ease. It was productive."

Grimdar made a small sound of satisfaction. He glanced at her gown. "You danced with her?"

Jin wasn't sure she was all that fond of Grimdar's knowing little smile. "I did."

"I am happy to hear that."

Jin leaned forward. "You were there in Millforge during the attack, yes?"

He nodded. "I was with you in the Thatcher home, Highness."

Jin felt a blush coming on.

"My final report to Her Majesty need not include the impropriety of village girls," he assured her. "On a personal note, I would say I found your restraint admirable."

To distract herself from having had an audience through that debacle, Jin changed the subject. "I've had time to consider now. If you were there, I would suspect you were the reason there was such a swift response from the Sapphire Knights."

"As you say. Once I became aware of the Jade airship's approach, I gave a sending to the Aleesh garrison within the Imperial City. They passed the warning on to Knight-Captain Uwe and the Pinnacle."

"Was it difficult for a warrior of the mighty?" Jin asked. "Not joining in the fray?"

He looked up. "What makes you so certain I didn't?"

"I did not see you."

"Nor did the Jade Empire." He finished tying closed the last of his hares. "I have learned more ways to fight than with size and raw power. Subtlety is a weapon I acquired from the most dangerous of beasts in this world."

"Scale lions?" Jin asked.

"Royal assassins," he said. "Just because I am five hundred and twelve years old doesn't mean I have nothing to learn from a young woman of twenty."

Jin eyed him with consideration. "Twenty-one."

Grimdar chuckled. "But who's counting, aye?"

Jin was tempted to match his slight smile with one of her own.

Dawn arrived as they'd been talking, and Jin was witness to her second sunrise of the morning. She felt her breath catch as she was reminded of the scale lion haunting the campsite. Its messy way of eating had gone quiet, and Jin lost track of its position. She darted her eyes around, using sorcery from ocular enhancements to ethersight.

The scale lion's footfalls struck heavy against the ground behind her. It had no interest in stealth and waddled lazily past Jin to circle the fire pit. It snorted at the fire, giving the little flames a dubious look. Jin followed its every movement out of the corner of her eye and felt another bead of sweat roll down her back.

This animal was much larger than the one who mauled her a year ago.

Had it and Scorpion been standing side by side, the horse's shoulders would've barely reached to the scale lion's. It was taller, and Scorpion was definitely not a small horse. With its tail, it was half again Scorpion's length. Jin now had a view of its entire form, from its bipedal gait and bobbing head movements to the long, scything talons on its hands and feet. The beast's arms were tucked against its body, but its digits seemed dextrous and nimble despite the talons. Every step it took rustled the quills going down its spine, and when it reached Grimdar's side to snuffle at the hares he'd prepared, the quills all pressed flat against its body.

"She's young," Grimdar said, "but three months of living in the Miracle's bounty has leant her and her kind a growth they couldn't achieve in the Espalla Dunes."

Jin spoke in a whisper. "Are you telling me the scale lions of before were... stunted?"

"More or less."

The idea that scale lions were now going to be even larger and stronger than they had been almost drove Jin to curse Reyn for unintentionally providing the means. They were plenty large before, in Jin's experience.

Grimdar shifted where he sat to put more room between himself and the hares. The scale lion looked between him and the food, crouched down much like a hen settling onto her nest, and started eating. It either didn't notice or didn't mind the flavor of the medicinal brew stuffed into the meat.

Halfway into its first hare, the scale lion froze and looked at Jin sidelong. It stopped eating, and its quills snapped erect.

Grimdar cleared his throat. "Staring is akin to a social challenge, Highness. It would make her more comfortable if you tried to ignore her."

Jin looked away, and the quills gradually settled back down. The scale lion's eating continued. Whatever Grimdar said, Jin kept a close watch on the thing in her peripheral vision. For its part, it seemed to take a similar stance of ignoring Jin, but also remaining near to her line of sight so to be sure Jin knew it was ignoring her.

Grimdar was right. It very much behaved like a cat.

Scorpion roused. Jin hadn't heard him until he left his little bubble of a privacy ward. While the horse snorted and plodded to a nearby creek for a morning drink, he paid no particular attention to Grimdar's guest. The same couldn't be said for the scale lion. It raised its head and followed Scorpion's steps with its eyes, quills twitched, and it turned its head to Grimdar.

The Gladiator looked back and gave a slight shake of his head.

If a scale lion could shrug, this one managed it, and it returned to devouring the hares.

"You must wish to change into your travel outfit," Grimdar said, "and see to Scorpion's morning brushing. Might I ask if we will be teleporting back to Shan Alee?"

Jin took in a slow breath and did her best not to stare at Grimdar's new friend. "I must take a slight detour, and teleporting would be inadvisable with a horse."

Grimdar raised an eyebrow. "Marwin? As Lady Starra asked?"

Jin nodded. "It will be a hard ride, but Scorpion can make the journey in three days if I place enchantments on him."

"Very hard," Grimdar said. "One could say impossible, even with spellcraft, and he's not yet back to full strength."

"Have you an alternative?"

Grimdar gave it consideration. Then, a worrisome little smile played on the corner of his mouth. "Aye, I do think I might."

Jin didn't like the sound of that.