From The Ashes Read Free Page A

the center of the arena, each enacting the commands of the contestants.
    Ying had never beheld such a spectacle and found it inspiring as he defeated opponent after opponent.   Unfortunately, the battle of wits gave way to combat matches, and that was where his skills and training found their limitations.
    True, he had fought off and killed a mountain lion and a wolf to protect his flock, but a shepherd did not stand a chance against a trained warrior like Moh-Gwei.
    “All contestants!”   The officiator’s voice pulled Ying from his thoughts.   “You will all be allotted twenty-minutes to select and train your animal.   In this, the penultimate of contests, you will display your mastery of the fourth ancient element.   The fabled ‘spirit potential.’”
    The audience laughed with amusement at the term.   The ancients were said to have possessed special abilities manifest in the characteristics of various animals.   But no one in this enlightened age believed it. Now, it had been reduced to lore and superstition.
    But for Ying it held more than just a belief in the stories of the Ancients—The Sojourners—as Aunt Pei had secretly taught.   He believed they did exist even ten centuries ago, “ When the last Millennial Phoenix arose and brought about the redemption of Valhandra’s people .”
    Even now, as her didactic words echoed in his mind, they sounded superstitious and childish on the surface.   And those who once believed were either dead, or too old to be taken seriously.   But Ying still chose to believe.   Even now, he pushed aside any dissenting thoughts.
    For the next twenty minutes, he acquainted himself with the eagle, which he named Xue.   It seemed instantaneous; everything he commanded, Xue understood and knew how to execute.   A mutual fondness grew between the master and bird with each exercise, even the command to kill the stuffed practice decoy of the wolf.
    “ Shah!” Ying commanded in the ancient dialect, which presently very few knew.   Xue flew at the decoy and tore its head off. White stuffing floated down to the dirt as it carried it into the air.
    A low sigh of wonder went up into the arena.   Apparently many of them had been watching.   But they were not watching Ying and his eagle, they were marveling at Moh-Gwei.   He had just arrived with a mountain lion on a shiny silver chain.   It was then that Ying remembered that this was not only a contest of skill, but a fight to the death.
    One inebriated audience member leaned over the rail and in slurred speech derided Ying.   “Don’ you wisth you brought a panther or thomesing…not a little bird!”
    Ying ignored him and trained his eyes upon Xue’s.   In that moment, he sensed a connection.   He could almost see through the eagle’s eyes, and felt that the eagle could do likewise through his.
    // IT’S A MOUNTAIN LION, XUE //
     
    To his amazement, he sensed Xue’s reply:
    // I HAVE FOUGHT WORSE //
     
    Nodding, Ying offered his confidence.   Xue did not even blink as he turned and stared at Moh-Gwei’s predator leaping through flaming hoops, attacking life-sized human decoys and tearing them to shreds.
    When the practice trials concluded, a trio of Summit Horns announced the beginning of the tournament.   The first two rounds of elimination went by quickly.   In fifteen minutes, Xue had garnered quick surrenders from the masters of a wolf, a bear, a leopard, and a hawk.   None of them wished to see the creatures in their charge killed, especially after they had already lost by a great measure of points.   Xue’s speed and agility earned him many times the points needed to defeat each of his opponents without having to actually kill them.
    There was, however, a great deal of blood and injury.
    Xue returned to Ying’s shoulder.
    Over on the other side of the arena, the crowds cheered as Moh-Gwei and his mountain lion stood before a mound of fallen animals.   They too had risen to the top of their