As our cloud swept higher, a force struck from behind, yanking us to an abrupt halt. I staggered, catching my balance as our cloud was reeled back like a fish caught on a hook. We were harnessed. Trapped. I spun to find Wugang’s undead soldiers upon our trail, six of them—vacant-eyed, yet set with deadly purpose. Ominously silent, their lips sealed shut. Their armor gleamed gold and white, their translucent skin almost silver, the luminous web of veins on their faces aglow in the awakening dawn.

Had Wugang learned of the feather? No, else he would have sent his entire army to retrieve it. Not even the dragons had been aware of its existence, just the empress—for she, alone, had been close to the Sun Goddess. This must be one of the patrols sent to comb the skies for us, as Wugang would be searching for my mother.

The soldiers soared toward us, pale hollows shining in their eye sockets like twin lanterns. As they raised their hands in unison, their guandao thrust in our direction—light crackled from their blades, leaping across the sky to strike our cloud.

As it shuddered violently, fire erupted from Liwei’s palms, coiling around one of the soldiers. Yet the creature did not scorch and break as on the beach. A white glow pulsed through its skin, healing its injuries—as the remaining soldiers slashed through Liwei’s flames like ribbons. Drawing my bow, I released an arrow at a soldier, a bolt of Sky-fire plunging into the disc on its chest. The soldier stumbled back from the force, yet the jade did not fracture. Had it been reinforced? I shot another arrow after it, but a shield sprang up around the soldiers, holding fast against my blow.

“They’ve learned to defend themselves. They’ve learned to help each other,” Liwei said, his voice strained.

My gaze fixed upon the nearing soldiers, my skin crawling at the sight of the guandao in their hands, agleam with malevolent power. In a moment, they would be upon us. “Then we must strike hard, all at once,” I said.

Fire blazed from Liwei’s palms, arcing toward the soldiers, churning above like a flaming cloud. The soldiers’ heads swung up in unison, their faces blank with a chilling detachment. A shiver rippled across my skin, but I forced my hands to steady, releasing an arrow at Liwei’s flames. Sky-fire stuck, splintering the seething mass, cascading over the soldiers in a fiery torrent. The air reeked with an acrid bitterness, of scorched flesh and skin—if they were made of such things. Yet the soldiers did not utter a sound as pale wounds bloomed upon their bodies like mold upon rotted fruit.