THE DRAGON'S RETURN

The Smuggler's Price

The only thing worse than dying in a fall was waking up tied to a heavy wooden chair.

Chen Lan blinked against the sharp sting of cold water. Someone had thrown a dirty bucket over his head. Liquid dripped down his nose, soaking his collar. He tried to move his arms, but thick hemp ropes bound his wrists tightly to the armrests. His left shoulder screamed in protest, still sore from their tumble down the cliff.

"Awake at last," Ruo Xi said. She sat on a low wooden crate across from him, tossing a small silver dagger up in the air and catching it by the hilt. "I was starting to think I wasted my good rope on a corpse."

"You saved me just to tie me up?" Chen Lan asked, his voice raw.

"I saved you because you are worth a lot of money," she said, leaning forward. "And because you are useful. I do not do charity work, Chen Lan. My father told me that only fools help people for free. Do I look like a fool to you?"

"You look like a thief," Chen Lan muttered.

"I prefer the term recovery specialist," Ruo Xi replied, tapping her boots against the stone floor. "Thieves take things that belong to people. I take things that belong to history. There is a big difference."

"Not to the people who owned them," Chen Lan said.

"They are dead, so they do not mind," she shrugged. "Besides, the empire would only steal it anyway. I am just cutting out the middleman."

"If you want the empire’s bounty, go ahead and turn me in," Chen Lan said, spitting a mouthful of dirty water onto the stone floor. "Wei Lun is probably still looking for us."

"Oh, he is definitely looking," Ruo Xi said, pointing her dagger toward the ceiling. "But the empire is greedy. If I hand you over, they will take you, take my gear, and probably hang me just to save on the paperwork. I prefer to make my own deals."

"Then untie me," Chen Lan said, straining against the ropes. "This chair is digging into my back."

"Not yet," Ruo Xi said, shaking her head. "We need to talk first. We need to agree on a price before we become partners."

"I do not have any money," Chen Lan said. "The soldiers burned everything I had in that tavern. My boots, my coat, my food. I have nothing left."

"I do not want your gold," Ruo Xi said. "Gold is heavy and it makes too much noise when you run. I want something much lighter and much more valuable." She reached into her leather vest and pulled out a rolled piece of dry parchment. She unrolled it on her knee, revealing a crude map drawn in fading black ink. "I want what is inside here."

"What is that?" Chen Lan asked, squinting at the drawing.

"This is the map to the ruins of Solitude," Ruo Xi said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "An ancient sanctuary hidden deep inside the mountains. My contacts say a relic is kept in the central vault. They call it the Silent Blade."

"The Silent Blade is a myth. A story told to children," Chen Lan said, feeling his heart skip a beat.

"It is very real," Ruo Xi said. "And it has the power to stabilize a broken covenant. It can stop your soul from rotting. It can save your dragon."

"Why would you care about saving my dragon?" Chen Lan asked, his eyes narrowing. "You do not even know me."

"I do not care about your dragon," Ruo Xi said frankly. "But the blade itself is made of pure, unrefined magic crystal. The collectors in the capital will pay enough gold to buy three cities for just a shard of it. I want the blade. You want the cure. It is a perfect partnership."

"And why do you need me?" Chen Lan asked. "If you have the map, go get it yourself. You seem clever enough."

"The ruins are not empty," Ruo Xi said, rolling the map back up. "They are protected by old magic. Runes that react to normal humans by turning them into stone. But a Dragonbound can absorb that energy. You are my shield, Chen Lan. You take the hits, and I get us inside."

"So I am just a tool to you," Chen Lan said.

"We are both tools," Ruo Xi said. "You use me to find the blade, and I use you to stay alive. That is how the world works now. Nobody survives alone anymore."

"I have survived alone for ten years," Chen Lan said.

"And look where it got you," Ruo Xi said, pointing at his dirty clothes. "You are hiding in a tavern, drinking bad beer, and waiting for your heart to stop. That is not surviving. That is just dying slowly."

Chen Lan remained silent. He knew she was right. He could feel the coldness creeping deeper into his chest with every passing hour. Long Ye’s heartbeat was a faint, irregular flutter in his mind, like a trapped bird tiring itself out.

"Alright," Chen Lan said slowly. "But how do we even get close to the mountain? Wei Lun has patrols everywhere."

Ruo Xi stood up and walked to a small wooden table. She picked up a brass telescope and tossed it into his lap. "Take a look through the slit in the wall."

"I am tied to a chair," Chen Lan pointed out.

"Right," Ruo Xi said, rolling her eyes. She walked over and sliced the ropes around his wrists with a quick flick of her dagger. "Now look."

Chen Lan rubbed his sore wrists, the black scales on his left arm scraping against his trousers. He stood up, his legs shaking slightly, and pressed his eye to the small gap in the heavy stone door of the bunker. The telescope revealed the base of the massive jagged mountain peak just a mile away.

Through the lens, he saw dozens of silver-armored soldiers. They had set up tents, barricades, and massive iron ballistas aimed at the mountain trails. In the center of the camp stood Wei Lun, his white robes catching the wind.

"They are already there," Chen Lan said, lowering the telescope. "They have blocked the entrance."

"They have surrounded the main gate," Ruo Xi corrected, a sly smile spreading across her face. "But they do not know about the old mining shafts. We can slip right under their noses."

"And if they catch us in the dark?" Chen Lan asked.

"Then we die," Ruo Xi said, strapping her daggers to her thighs. "But at least we die trying to get rich. Are you in, or should I tie you back up and leave you for the patrol?"

Chen Lan looked at his scaled hand, then toward the mountain peak. "Let us go."

"Good," Ruo Xi said, throwing him a dark cloak. "Put this on. We leave in five minutes."

Suddenly, a muffled boom shook the stone walls of the bunker. Dust rained down from the ceiling, coating Chen Lan's hair. From outside, the distant sound of horns echoed through the canyon.