Ambush

"There is bound to be at least one home around the river."

"We have been walking for so long. Did you see any?"

"I am the one that has been walking naked under the sun for three days."

"Good thing you took that nap, or we wouldn't have been able to reach so far," Qinglong went off again. He did not bother saying it wasn't a nap, but he had fallen unconscious. His brother's usual sarcasm had risen to a new high in the last few days.

"The sharing of skills is more tiring than using my own. My head hurts." he looked around again, still getting used to the deep and bright colors of things. The world was extremely richly painted in his brother's eyes.

"It's only temporary. Enjoy while it lasts."

Bailong stopped.

"What now?" Qinglong bit out the question.

Bailong didn't respond, unsure if he should snap at the annoying voice in his head. He asked instead, "what's the matter with you? You are worse for wear today. Even your betrothed wouldn't put up with you in this mood."

His brother did not answer. No emotions he didn't own clash against his chest. He started moving again, hoping his brother would stop the constant stream of commentary. There was a line of trees in the distance after crossing the mountains, valleys, and planes of the northern territory.

"We are here. The clearing should not be far. We might make it today," Bailong spoke.

"Do you hate me for being a dragon?" Qinglong asked, so softly that he would have missed it if it were a normal conversation. But this was a voice in his head, he couldn't miss it even if he wanted to.

Bailong stopped. For a moment he thought of what had Qinglong ask such a question when he remembered his words three days ago. He shook his head slowly, "never. But I resented Father being a dragon until we went to ASD."

His brother's tone changed, curious and confused, "Didn't you hate him after going to ASD? Those bunch of good-for-nothing-stuck-ups sounded a lot like Father at times. Even I didn't like Father after going to ASD. He could have stopped all that happened, but he let it run despite knowing everything."

He started walking again, crossing into the line of trees, one of his eyes slit as he watched the monotonous path ahead, "I didn't hate him after ASD. ASD taught me I could survive anything. I can do anything if I can excel as a snake in a school full of dragons. Now, my resentment of him had little to do with his spirit beast. It is more for him as a person."

For a moment both of them soaked in that before Bailong spoke as lowly as Qinglong had done before, "You think I would have turned out like uncle when you ascended the throne?"

"Divine be damned! You are so articulate even in expressing your hate. And to answer your question-NO."

He smiled reluctantly, not as sure as his brother. "I don't hate Father."

"But you don't like him either."

Bailong did not respond as the vision ahead showed him something unexpected. The clearing he had seen so many times in the famous painting with three beasts in a joyous celebration was still the same. The flowers still grew all around, and autumn leaves twirled when heading to sleep for the winter. The grass was wildly happy, swaying unevenly like an elegant dancer.

"Well, we will be there soon. What now?"

He did not speak as his eyes shrunk to the usual black dots. His eyes were blue, like the color of clear skies. They were striking eyes, and both twins had them. Now one pair was closed, and his eyesight was constantly slit. He looked around, trying to pry the direction of the western palace but no use. All that came up was darkness. Nothingness. What happened when he reached the clearing?

"The palace is protected from my sense of direction."

He looked back into the moment he reached the clearing, still as beautiful as the paintings and poems that sing of its spirituality. He was looking around, once twice, thrice, but nothing. Darkness.

Vision. Bailong has always had this vision ever since the first day he changed form. The vision showed him a little about the future. As he grew, the vision extended but never more than a few moments far out. Just as he was jealous of his brother's dragon sometimes, his brother was jealous of his vision sometimes but they were brothers and knew how to share. They did it as best as they could. Now, without his vision and without his brother's dragon, they felt crippled.

He came back to the present and looked around. The place was an unkept jungle with beautiful foilage covering every bit of the floor.

"Maybe it is the spiritual place's power that's blocking you," Qinglong suggested uneasily.

It wasn't until a student was a master that they sought a spiritual place, large or small to enhance their abilities, but he got to one in such circumstances.

"Perhaps."

Every spiritual site had an exceptional concentration of energy that affected a few abilities. This one was known to enhance sensory abilities. The falls had touched the west with its winter winds, and the trees were colorful but yellowing. If the jungle were shedding, then the clearing would be shedding too. Why was it overflown with life?

Overflowing with life was a marker for growth energy. The clearing was a site with pleasant sensory energy- one of the most common energies in the world. Bailong knew the place for growth energy was at sea. It was the only growth energy place in all the land. So the clearing shouldn't overflow with growth magic, lush and green in his vision. It should look like the rest of the forest, but it would feel different. Yet, he felt nothing, and yet it looked different. Something was wrong here.

The air was cold and stale, even lacking the bitterness of greenery. His brother's eyesight which made everything around him pulse and pound with energy did not burst with life. He tied the pouch on his wrist and clutched it tightly, unwilling to take a risk with it, despite his nakedness and misleading atmosphere. Something was off about this place. By recent accounts, the clearing was still plentiful, so why did his senses not pick up anything? Was someone blocking him?

"Qinglong, can you take control of one eye?"

Qinglong didn't respond, but he felt half the world flicker before everything became deeper and more prosperous. How was it possible? The colors were not just rich, they radiated energy and something pulsed in the air. He had read about it, and studied about it but looking at it through his brother's eyes was different. But it was only half his view on the left. The right eye was still his. The foliage was rich in color in the right-side view but now it looked plain compared to what his brother could see. The red leaves were a mixture of blood red and burning blacks while the faint orange tints were breathtaking. Since his own eye had no current use, he used it to look into the future. It was like looking at two happenings at once. It gave him a headache. Bile rose in his throat and he stopped.

"Look," Qinglong, more used to the rich energy-filled eyesight, caught something.

"What is that?" the energy was the same as that of the jungle, pulsating like a beating heart, steady and loud without a sound.

"Wood. That's what wood looks like when it's alive. And that my dear brother is dead wood."

"It's minimal."

"Not a piece of furniture." Qinglong sneered in his head before he added thoughtfully, "weapon?"

"Bow?" Bailong suggested. It was the only weapon he was adept at. It was the only one he could use in the air, at his old school.

"Yes. Attached to that bow is a person mixing well with the woods, but they are not in beast form, which is why there is that musty human odor. But they are very still as if someone is hiding in waiting."

Bailong wrinkled his nose, sharing what his brother smelled. It was different from tasting the air. It was stronger. He tried to rub his nose, but his hand did not move. He looked down at his hand, suddenly realizing he couldn't turn his neck except for his one eye. His brother had unexpectedly taken control of the body.

"Qinglong," he called, shivering and anxious. The world shook, and he closed his eyes. His body moved.

"I... I didn't realize." Qinglong stammered out. Neither of them was sure what happened. His heart beat faster, but he shook his head, "it's alright. We will figure it out."

"Yes. Yes." Qinglong consented hurriedly, sounding just as unnerved.

The rest of his walk was slow, looking everywhere for signs of a human. The closer he got, he expected the taste the salty taste of human sweat that would inevitably fill the air since this person was hiding for too long, but he got nothing. The closer he got, the clearer he sensed. The quiver was full of wooden arrows. He saw the dead wood energy around someone hiding in the trees to the right side of the path.

As he got closer, he could also see the clearing. Just like his vision, long grass swaying carefree and falling leaves circling in a festive song. He hesitated, unsure if he should or should not step inside the clearing. He stopped at the edge, unwilling to put his back to any possible danger. For how long he stood, he had no idea.

Bailong decided not to step in, instead, he forced his senses to open up. He absorbed every taste in the cold winds and heard every little inhale and exhale. He was wrong. His senses had improved. The energy of the clearing was filling him up subtly. He could listen to more than one person breathing. The sound was to the right and beyond the tree-percher. There were multiple people. He knew Qinglong, although silent, could taste and listen to everything he did. What happened earlier made him uneasy, but he called, "Qinglong take control. See for yourself."

He stepped back and felt the energy sag away from his entire frame. It was like falling into weightlessness. Like a dream, he could feel the movement, but they were very light, as if an imprint after he had already woken up. It was their first conscious effort. Bailong let go of his body control and Qinglong took over.

"I never thought we could achieve morphing. It feels awkward but also nice," Bailong spoke, but he felt his lips did not move. When they did, his brother's voice echoed all around him, "Do you remember what Mother said about it?"

"Yeah."

He saw the world turn rich under his brother's control. He watched everything in shades more beautiful than they were. His brother's sharp dragon eyes caught more.

"More people. And that's metal. Only the west uses metal weapons." Qinglong's words echoed all around him.

The people behind the one they saw earlier were not as still or relaxed as this one was. They fidgeted, and their energy moved. There were more people waiting around the clearing. Their patterns and metals told him that they were waiting to ambush. It was safer for them to assume, it was their welcoming party.

Qinglong stepped towards the clearing. Bailong called urgently, "don't."

But he was misled. Qinglong had not stepped in. Instead, he had kicked a stone inside the clearing, "that's payback for duping me last time."

"I didn't have time to chat," Bailong bit back.

"Oh you always have to have the last word," Qinglong groaned but he didn't have time to retort. The rock went right past the tree line into the long grass and vanished, not in the long swaying grass but thin air before it touched anything within the clearing. A commotion rose from his side. People were moving.

"Your turn," his brother called, stepping back, and he felt the weight of his being again just before an arrow whistled through the air. He stepped back and looked into the future. The party had come down from the trees, rushing to form a line, standing opposite him.

"You are too naive to come here and in no condition to run anymore. Stop running and your uncle will have mercy on you. After all, he understands you better than your father. You won't be neglected in the new reign. You will rule the south. That's his promise. His very words he wanted us to convey," the feral voice belonged to a woman. Bailong ignored her words. Those things meant nothing to him. He felt calm and focused, as he stepped behind a tree, feeling a tense cord in his brother.

He looked sideways; the long grass was gone, as were the beautiful flowers and feeling of growth. The ground was laden with fallen leaves from surrounding barren trees, but it was still a sight much more attractive than an illusion. The colors were richer as Qinglong's sight captured them, and the energy exuded from the meadow mildly rang in his head. His sight and taste were affected, overwhelmed to the point where he couldn't discern one thing from another on his tongue. Even his underdeveloped hearing was better. It was hard to pull away his mind from the sensory load. He turned away unwillingly from the clearing, willing himself to peek out of his place and look at the group. He focused on the calm.

"Illusion? There are only a handful of people who can do illusions. You are Reika."

The woman's eyes widened, not expecting to be recognized. Her wolfish eyes were prominent even in her covered garb.

"Capture," she commanded, and the line transformed wolves, jackals, and a tiger. He saw their forms get bigger as he got smaller, both sides changing shape. He had a bigger advantage in small form.

He dived away from Reika and her troop, into the circle, under the layer of fallen leaves. His senses exploded, every breeze was a whistling whirlwind, and the thrum of energy was pounding in his head; his vision extended into the future so fast that he caught only a few flashing images- a face, fire, a little girl, a seven-headed snake, mother, surrounded in crystals like the orb in his pouch.

"The pouch?" Qinglong pulled his attention but it was hard to concentrate. an unknown face, a pit of darkness, more faces, so many faces.

"You made a mistake. This circle is where the illusion is easiest to hold. It fuels sensory abilities. I can hold the illusion forever. You are not walking out of here alone, Prince Bailong." Reika's words snapped him out. He could not afford to lose his concentration. The vision still ran like a landscape flying past him, but it faded and overlapped with reality. Both of them ran into his head at once. His eyes hurt, but he focused past the vision he couldn't understand.

"Stop chatting. Get to it." someone snapped, annoyed. Only one person could command a troop leader- an animal of higher authority. The tiger he had seen in the ranks.

But even beyond his running vision, he couldn't see anything. All around him was long grass. His sense of direction, fueled by the circle's power, fell short of Reika's illusion. A face filled his vision, too close for comfort, and his focus shifted.

"You did not win over dragons by skills alone. You have the head to surpass anyone. Think." Qinglong called him back to present, and he focused on the long grass again.

"Right," focusing was hard but his life was more important if he wanted to save his brother.

"With your skill level, you would be a troop leader, but a higher animal is hard to command. It would help if you were a general. If you succeed today, they will appoint you as general. After all, there are very few people who can test an illusionist. Your father doesn't count, and now my mother wouldn't do it. The Naga King is out of the question for sure."

He ran his mouth while trying to taste the air around him. It didn't taste bitter like fresh greens. The illusion was over his eyes, so his eyes couldn't win, but he still taste the trueness of the air. Stale and sweaty, in front of him. He slithered back, going as far as possible and realizing that the salty human scent spread out, trying to cage him, but he kept his speed, slithering back, picking up the fallen pouch in his mouth.

"What's in his mouth? Get that," the man commanded, and the people paused. Bailong used their indecision to back up faster. Out of the circular meadow of illusion, the flashing vision stopped. The beasts were further away, and he tasted stale foliage all around him, unhindered by any illusion. Reika's illusion only held within the meadow.

"What are you looking at? You listen to me here. I am the prince." the young man commanded the group, and the group moved but he was behind the tree cover again. As they lept past him, he changed directions.

"The West is with uncle. We can only find aid in the south now."

"This is what not following Mother's advice brought us." his brother's guilt seeped in, and he shook himself, but didn't speak, only kept heading back the way he had come. Their mother had told them to go south when she handed him the pouch and his brother the orb. But his brother had thrust the orb in his hand and ran after her. They hadn't listened to her, then and now.

Combined with his vision of the Naga King, going south made sense suddenly.

He changed form into a human, still running naked, still being followed by a pack, still holding the pouch in his mouth. He dropped the thing into his hands before he tasted the freshwater river gushing ahead. It was just what he needed. He ran faster, harder, ignoring everything else, and changed form in motion, putting the pouch back into his mouth before he went straight into the river. They couldn't track him in the stream. It was deep enough now.

Underwater, Qinglong took advantage of his silence, "she is not my betrothed anymore."