The turtle didn’t feel any closer now than he had before. Lindon was getting no direction, no clear emotion. It still felt like Orthos was a hundred miles away.

Were they going the wrong direction?

He had to trust in whatever Eithan saw, but he hated how little they knew. What if the Heaven’s Glory Elders had misled them? What if the giant turtle who had fought them wasn’t actually Orthos?

If everything was as it seemed, and a group of Heaven’s Glory fighters had gone after Orthos, then Orthos would be in battle soon. He would give some signal, and Lindon would feel it.

Unless the curse of Sacred Valley interfered with their contract more than he suspected. Maybe Orthos was fighting now, and this was all Lindon could feel.

Dross tried to reassure him. They were doing the best they could with the information they had. But nothing helped his worries.

Until he felt what he was looking for.

Orthos’ presence went from a smoldering coal to a dark, blazing torch. Hot anger covered a layer of cold fear, and it was all suffused with grim determination.

Lindon felt the moment when Orthos sensed his presence too.

Relief. Urgency. Pure joy.

Lindon couldn’t tell where Orthos’ feelings ended and his own began.

And now he had a direction.

“Follow me,” Lindon ordered.

He filled himself with the Path of Black Flame, and the Burning Cloak blasted him onward.

Wei Shi Kelsa had failed everyone.

Heaven’s Glory burned tents and sliced open boxes as they cut their way across what had once been the camp of the exiles that had sheltered her. There were hundreds of them, along with at least a dozen Jades, and they cut down stragglers and those too old or sick or injured to run. There was no mercy, only a burning, golden advance.

This was her fault.

It was her failing that had led her to be captured in Heaven’s Glory. If she had been more skilled in the Path of the White Fox, they would never have been caught. If she were stronger, as strong as Orthos, then they could have won the fight. If she were smarter, she would have stopped them from tracking her back here.

She looked down over the camp as Heaven’s Glory marched onward. Most of the exiles had escaped into the hills at the base of Yoma Mountain. Her father was among them. And her mother.

But they were caught between a tiger and a pack of wolves. The Fallen Leaf School wouldn’t protect them, and this mountain was their home. The best they would do would be to hand the exiles back to Heaven’s Glory.

Her father was with those fleeing up the mountain, but she had stayed back on this hill to watch the attack.

Her three allies—maybe the three most powerful people in Sacred Valley—stood with her. And none of them could do a thing.

Orthos grunted and hauled himself to his feet. The huge turtle’s leathery black skin was wet with his blood. His left eye was swollen shut, he favored his left foreleg, and his spirit was weak. He was running on his last drops of madra, after having practically dragged her back here.

“Go,” the turtle said, his voice like a gentle earthquake. “Hide with the others. I will thin their ranks.”

Jai Chen stepped up on his other side, and her eyes were full of tears. She was a small woman, at least compared to Kelsa and her family, and she looked…soft. In every sense of the word. Eyes, skin, hair, hands, demeanor. Soft.

But she had fought at Kelsa’s side, and soft didn’t always mean weak.

She raised a trembling hand to place on Orthos, but his shell was radiating heat, and she couldn’t touch him.

Her brother spoke softly to Kelsa from within the scripted red bandages that covered his head. “We should head up the mountain to the Fallen Leaf pass. All of us.”

Kelsa grabbed his outer robe and bowed her head. She couldn’t see his face even if she looked up, but she was about to make a shameless request, and she didn’t want to see disgust in his eyes.

“Please, stay and fight. This one begs you.”

Over the last week, she’d seen him in battle. If he and his sister and Orthos chose to fight with her, maybe they could resist even these overwhelming numbers. They could hold a pass, or strike at them and retreat, or…something.

She was already in their debt. They had risked their safety for her, a stranger, and she couldn’t repay them. Now, they weren’t strangers any longer, but she hated to ask for any more.

Jai Long’s voice sounded awkward when it wasn’t cold and distant. “Kelsa, this is…hopeless. Come with us. I promise you, I can get your parents out.”

“…I can’t.”

Kelsa released him and took a deep breath, squaring herself. She looked him evenly in the eyes. “This is my fault.” Behind her, she felt the heat of Heaven’s Glory madra like a wildfire. “I will pay the cost of my choices, but I would be grateful if you would look out for my parents as you leave.”

“Fine.” Jai Long’s icy tone was back. He turned to Orthos. “And you?”

Orthos nudged Jai Chen with his head, sending her stumbling closer to her brother. “Go. They have no dragons fighting for them, so I say they’re outnumbered.” The blood running down his leg turned the dirt to mud.

“Very well, then. Die with honor, turtle.”

“You as well, human.”

They traded nods before Jai Long left, pulling Jai Chen behind him. She mouthed an apology to Orthos, and the pink serpentine dragon-spirit floating over her shoulder gave a long, mournful flute note.

But they both left.

Kelsa didn’t blame them.

They had done more for her than they needed to. They weren’t family. She had been embarrassed to ask for their help in the first place, and they were well within their rights to refuse.

She rose to her feet as gold light speared down from the heavens and incinerated the tree stump her father had used as a table for his game board.

“Okay. How can we do the most damage?” she asked.

Orthos looked at her with his one good eye and started to chuckle. “I don’t need a Jade standing beside me.”

“You’re Jade too, for now,” she pointed out. “And this is my mess. It’s only fair that I clean it up.”

The turtle squared himself on all four feet, including the injured one. Red light and black smoke rose from his shell. “What makes you think there will be any left for you?”

He unveiled his spirit.

And immediately froze.

Kelsa knew something was wrong, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. She cycled her madra and extended her perception, trying to figure out if he was under attack or if he’d seen something else coming.

He began to laugh.

Not the grim chuckle of a moment before, but full-bellied, joyous laughter.

He had gone insane.

“He’s here,” Orthos said.

Kelsa was not following this at all, but Heaven’s Glory had spotted them. Already hands and weapons were launching techniques in their direction, and she had to shelter behind a nearby tree. “Who?” she called.

The turtle didn’t answer her, as chuckles shook his body. “Hold on for a little longer, girl. This battle is almost won.”

No matter how Kelsa turned it in her mind, she didn’t understand his confidence. No matter who came for them, they would be reduced to Jade, just like him.