Dragon Rebellion

4. The Nagi

4

The Nagi

A Nagi had no name pronounceable to humans, nothing to speak of who they were. Instead, they took on the identity of those they possessed. The curious female’s hold on the Nagi lessened until she forced her eyes open.

The Nagi became Hua Minglan. Her eyes searched the room, seeing through the smoke to the door in the floor.

A man’s voice yelled up to her, calling for someone else. The Nagi sat up, gazing down at the unconscious man and searching Hua’s mind for a name. Jian. The army commander she’d wanted to save in the battle. It seemed he’d have been dead many times over if it wasn’t for her.

She sighed. It wasn’t the Nagi’s nature to save men she should want to kill, but she owed it to Hua if they were to share the same body.

Crawling from the bed, she pulled Jian’s body over her shoulder and stood, his weight nothing to the strength coursing through her veins. The Nagi descended the ladder, wishing she could transform and use her wings to travel instead. But if she were truly going to take her revenge on the people of Piao, she must become one of them, not the dragon they feared. At least, that was what she told herself when she tried to shift into a dragon and failed.

Down below, flames covered every surface and an older man gripped the wall as he tried to stay on his feet. Relief washed over his face once he saw them, and he stumbled forward.

“We need to get out of here. Let me take Jian.” The Nagi didn’t protest as the man she remembered as Hua’s father took Jian from her shoulders and started dragging him toward the door.

A gray-haired woman ran to the Nagi. She gripped Hua’s shoulders—the Nagi’s shoulders—and warmth spread through her, coming from the girl trapped inside. “Come.” She pulled on Hua’s arm, but the Nagi yanked it back and pushed Hua’s nainai away.

Turning to the flames l*****g up the wall, she reached out, needing to touch them, to feel their energy. The Nagi called to the dancing fire as her hand disappeared into the glow. It snaked up her arm, infusing its power into her.

“Hua!” Nainai screamed. “We have to go.”

The Nagi curled her fingers into her palm and stared at the unblemished skin. With one final glance at the flames, she followed Nainai into the sitting room where charred bodies were scattered along the floor. A battle took place here. The Nagi c****d her head. Interesting.

The metallic scent of blood mixed with the smoke, making the Nagi feel at home.

But it couldn’t last because they had to leave it behind. Destroying Piao and Koulland was more important than the draw of the flames. It was why she had returned generations after the Nagi disappeared from the empire.

Out in the yard, Hua’s family huddled together. Her mother held Ru close to her chest and her father’s arms wound around them both. Jian knelt beside them, his body wracked with coughs. Nainai’s arm wrapped around the Nagi.

“We’re all okay. We’re alive.”

The Nagi only nodded as she turned back to look at the flames engulfing the Minglans’ home. A tinge of sadness entered her mind, a leftover feeling from the girl who once owned this body.

“Hua.” Jian lifted his face to her. “You saved me. Again.”

Pride filled her, and she lifted her chin, her voice coming out smooth and calm. “Yes, I did. You seem to need that quite a lot.” She turned away, having no time for the weak.

“Dear girl.” Nainai cupped her cheek. “It is good to see those eyes again.”

She pushed the hand away as Ru ran to her. “You’re awake. I didn’t think they’d ever get you out of there.”

“They didn’t get me out.” The Nagi scrunched her brow. “I got myself out.” Without another word, she walked away from them to avoid the tears pricking her eyes for the first time in her life.

“Stop trying to make me feel guilty, girl.” She pressed a palm to the side of her head as foreign feelings of sadness swirled inside her. “This body doesn’t belong to you anymore.”

Pain pounded at the Nagi’s temples, a fist hammering against the walls of her mind. “None of this is yours.”

The girl’s words broke through the Nagi’s thoughts. “If you hurt them, I will kill you.”

The Nagi growled. “I’d be careful if I were you. Your family is now at my mercy.” She slammed the wall back in place, cutting off her response.

The smoke from the burning house obscured the stars above, but staring at the heavens was a fanciful pursuit. Nagi had no use for such practices, not when there were wrongs to right.

She didn’t take her eyes from the flames as she stood apart from her host’s family, her family for the time being. Even if she wasn’t the true Hua, the Minglans were Nagi descendants, and that made them her people.

The people she had come to avenge.

Once upon a time Nagi protected Piao from their enemies, but that was before cruel rulers hunted their descendants, destroying any chance of their return.

The emperor of Piao considered the Kou his greatest enemy.

He was wrong.

Ru’s little legs sprinted across the lawn. “Hua, it’s all gone, they destroyed everything.”

Without understanding her actions, the Nagi kneeled in the dry grass and pulled Hua’s brother into her arms. “We’re going to be okay, Ru. I’ll make sure of it.” The Nagi didn’t need to wonder where that promise had come from. She would have to fight off Hua’s inane sympathies.

A sob shook his body. “I didn’t think you’d ever return to us, and when you did, I didn’t think you’d wake.”

The rest of the family joined them, forming a morose circle around them. Everything they had was gone, leaving them with only each other to hang on to.

The Nagi released Ru and stood. “How long have I been here?”

“Three weeks,” Jian answered.

Three weeks. She stared at him, not sure what to make of it. She had battled Hua for control for twenty-one days after succeeding in the first step of her revenge. Destroying Kanyuan, a border town essential to both the Piao people and the Kou.

All she’d had to do was light the match, and the people of Piao would burn their own country down.

“Who were they?” Hua’s mama asked.

“Deserters.” Her husband snorted in disgust. “On the run from the army.”

She sniffled. “We can’t stay here.”

He nodded. “The barn. At least for tonight. We will figure something else out in the morning.” His voice held no emotion, only resignation. Gen Minglan sounded like a broken man as he looked toward their house with smoke spiraling toward the sky.

Jian wiped soot and blood from his face as he turned and led the way across the expansive sea of grass and up the dark hill. Exhaustion weighed them all down, but the Nagi felt more energy than she had in a long time.

They reached the barn and Hua’s father stopped. “Hua, my girl.” He choked back emotion. “You’ve returned to us.” He pulled the Nagi into a hug, and she let him because of the girl inside her begging for his comfort.

No matter what, she couldn’t reveal what she was, that she had stolen their daughter from them, their sister and granddaughter, but something inside the Nagi couldn’t fathom hurting this family. Something pulled at the back of her mind making her feel uncomfortable things for them. Warmth? Worry?

She pushed that away and entered the barn, taking note of the hay bales along one wall and the empty horse stall as she tried to recall the horse’s name who should be there… Heima. Lost to the battle of Kanyuan.

It was better that way. There was only room for one beast in this barn. Barking sounded at the door before a large dog barreled toward her, knocking her to the ground. It pinned the Nagi down and pulled its lips back into a snarl.

“Chichi,” Ru chastised. “It’s Hua. Let her go.”

The dog didn’t back down as he snapped his teeth.

Enough of this. The Nagi pushed the dog from her, sending it slamming into the wall of the stall. Chichi whimpered as he got to his feet and hid behind Ru.

The rest of the family only stared as the Nagi lifted a heavy hay bale to pull it to the ground. She ripped into it, ignoring the looks, as she spread the hay before lowering herself onto it and curling onto her side.

The strength from the fire seeped out of the Nagi as she drifted back into the world of dreams where she would once again face off against the girl in her mind, knowing one thing.

The Nagi had to win. Every night as she fought for control, she kept her mission in the forefront of her mind.

And if the real Hua knew the Nagi’s mission, she might even understand.