“Not to me,” I admitted. “I thought it was some coincidence, that maybe I was the first person to touch the bow. That I was just its custodian.”
“I should have told you, but it slipped my mind until now. The dragon’s words might have pried the memory loose,” he said wryly.
“Did you discover anything else?” I probed.
“Just that the Jade Dragon Bow yields to one master at a time. I wasn’t sure that part was true.” A pensive look crossed his face. “However, the Long Dragon’s reaction appears to confirm it.”
“I’ve never heard of this weapon before,” Liwei remarked, coming toward us. “Unsurprising, perhaps, as we did not study the dragons. May I hold it?” he asked, stretching out his hand.
Before I could offer it to him, the bow quivered in my palm in seeming protest. Liwei drew back, shaking his head. “I’ll not be fool enough to try to take it.”
I did not know how long we waited there, until the sky had darkened to black, until the last remnant of heat from the day was stripped from the earth. Until I finally sank to the ground in exhaustion, wrapping my arms around my knees. Was I wrong to trust the dragons? Was I mistaken in their honor? I dared not look at Wenzhi. Although he would not gloat or reproach me, I would have disappointed him, nonetheless. And terror gripped me as I wondered, what would the Celestial Emperor do should I return empty-handed, with neither pearls nor seal? Just as I was about to admit defeat—the moon and stars vanished as though swallowed by the night, covered by the silhouettes of the four creatures flying above.
The dragons landed before us, the ground trembling from the might of their descent. Soil flew up as their golden claws sank in, tails lashing behind them as their long necks arched to the sky, their antlers gleaming silvery-white. Their auras were so powerful, the air itself seemed to shudder with their force. The other three were smaller than the Long Dragon, yet no less magnificent. One glowed as moonlight with a snowy mane. Another was as dazzling as the sun, a ridge of golden spikes stretching along its back. And the last, merged seamlessly into the shadows, but for its ivory fangs gleaming like daggers of bone.
On the bank of the longest river in the realm, the Venerable Dragons were united once more. They stared at me unblinkingly, their eyes ablaze with eternal wisdom. Without knowing why, I sank to my knees and folded my body over until my forehead pressed against the grass.
The Long Dragon’s voice thrummed in my mind. We are grateful to be freed, to feel the wind in our faces again. Life is precious once more. Its eyes flashed, mist streaming from its nostrils. However, we do not wish to serve the Celestial Emperor. We will not give him our pearls.
A heaviness sank over me as I rose to my feet. Wenzhi stepped closer as though lending me his support. Did he think I would fight the dragons now? I could not. It was not fear which held me back—though they could probably tear me to pieces if they were so inclined—but, I would not. Which meant, I had failed. My mother would remain a prisoner. And everything I had striven for in the Celestial Kingdom would be for nothing.
The Long Dragon’s voice resonated through me again. We will give them to you.
“What? Why?” I repeated in disbelief, certain I had misheard, even as Liwei and Wenzhi swung to me.
As the Long Dragon lifted its head, its mane rippled through the air like silken flame. Long ago, when we were young, a powerful sorcerer stole our spiritual essence. We would have died, if not for a brave warrior who saved us. Yet we were too weakened to retrieve our essence and the warrior bound it to the four pearls instead. To him, we swore our loyalty. When he left the Eastern Sea, he returned the pearls to us—though we are honor-bound to yield them to him again should he ask it of us, or to the one in his stead. Here, the Long Dragon paused. The Jade Dragon Bow was his cherished weapon, cleaving to him alone. And now, it has chosen you.
My mind whirled. I had known the bow was powerful, yet never did I dream it held such a revered place among the dragons. Even less so, that I would be its rightful owner. And that the dragons would acknowledge me as—
“But I’m not the immortal who saved you,” I said hesitantly. “I know nothing of him. My mother and father are mortal-born.”
Titles are inherited, talent might be blood-bound, but true greatness lies within, the Long Dragon said. There is a reason the bow chose you. A reason that you might not even be aware of yet, which will only become clear once the clouds are parted. Our oath must be fulfilled. We will honor the bow’s choice and yield our pearls to you, if that is your wish.