Page 1 of Reign of the Talon
PART ONE
AN EMPRESS RISEN
With one last breath,
an empress will rise.
From dust and shadow
to bring sunrise.
Follow her and her path will lead true
to power and vengeance if from war you withdrew.
What you seek has now been found
for she is the Yeouiju who will lift you from the ground.
And the Child of Venom will rule all
before making her home in Yeomra’s halls.
CHAPTER ONE
The Prophecy
They will all bow to me soon enough.
A fact that twists my lips into a smile as my forces march over the Yaepak Mountains, where it is perennially winter despite the crisp autumn that touches the lands of the Eastern Continent elsewhere. Biting winds whip my face where I ride atop Sonagi. My Imugi slither through the snow, silent and graceful and deadly. We ride toward Fulfillment, an age of dragons and destruction.
It has been three months since I claimed the first kingdom, Sunpo, as my own. I had expected to have claimed all three kingdoms by now. Yet the skirmishes with the Dokkaebi have been more time-consuming than I anticipated. Haneul Rui’s army tried, frantically, to prevent my own from crossing Habaek’s River and reaching these mountains.
Haneul.My smile becomes a scowl as a white-hot sear of hatred lances through me at the mention of the Dokkaebi that I am soul-stitched to. My greatest enemy. He is a deceiver.
Aliar.
Because of him, my sister is dead. I could have used her. She would have carried on the great Shin name. But now she is in Jeoseung, and even when I visit that realm and impatiently call out her name, the girl does not show herself at the other end of the bridge between life and death.
Infuriating. A wrench in my plans.
I am tired of Haneul’s tactics. He brings upon my sister’s death and sinks my ships.
A geobuksun that Im Yejin, my shipsmith, crafted for me was ruined during one of the river sieges. Inconvenient. The Sunpo mercenaries and assassins that I have deigned to bring along with me, who are included in my plans for Wyusan, nearly drowned. They flailed around in the waters like helplesschildren. I was tempted to let them die. But I need their weakness, for it will come in use later. So I reluctantly allowed my Imugi, my water serpents, to buoy them to the other boat, which will take them around the mountain range.
They don’t currently march with us. I have a plan for them, and to carry it out, I need them alive. The Dokkaebi are focused on targeting me. Already there have been four skirmishes on these mountains. They do not focus on the boat, winding the longer way around the mountains toward the Wyusan Wilderness, where we are heading.
The humans will do their job well once their voyage ends. They know how lucky they are. They could be back in Sunpo, at risk of my serpents’ maws. I keep only enough alive that I have worshippers, and the Imugi younglings who do not ride with me to war are hungry. They are growing, after all.
Song Iseul rides to my right on the sinuous Uloe, one of Sonagi’s firstborn, a male Imugi of immense strength and speed, and the same glistening teal coloring that all of his kind possess. The Gumiho’s eyes are narrowed against the snow. Like me, Iseul perches atop a black saddle on the serpent’s large neck. Her pale hair whips in the wind as we crest the rocky peaks underneath the white moon. The Gumiho’s large ax is strapped to her back, and underneath her cloak, she wears a black stealth suit like mine. I had it outfitted for her. She is my personal guard and, as such, must be treated as one treats a weapon. Polished and shined. Honed to perfection.
Bang Bomin rides on my left. Out of all the allies I collected in Sunpo three months ago, the prominent halji-dealer is the only one I have taken on this journey. The favors he accepts as payment are useful, and the inside intelligence he supplies concerning the other two kingdoms of the Eastern Continent has earned him the right to ride. Although if he does not stop wearing his ridiculous orange top hats, I may kill him after he has served his purpose and the Three Kingdoms are mine. I cannot stand those top hats.
Wyusan and Bonseyo know that we come. They do not, however, show their hands. Bomin’s source in Wyusan tells me that Empress Moon is waiting to see if the Dokkaebi triumph on these mountains. And Bonseyo concerns itself with its warring dynasty, fatally underestimating my power, assuming that Wyusan will stop me. Both kingdoms will fall.
And I will be the one to kill them.
Sonagi moves lithely beneath me, but my body abruptly tenses. There it is. Thattugin my chest, one that I have grown all too familiar with. If I squint, I can will the red thread of fate into view. The foul thing extends out of my chest, swirling through the snow-flurried air, stretching to a point perhaps fifty feet in the distance where nothing stands—yet.
