“Um…Elijah?”

  “What?”

  “I think we left the road behind.”

  “Oh. Yeah. I know,” he said, glancing back at Sadie as she climbed over a boulder. He extended a hand, which she grasped, and helped her up. “It’s intentional.”

  She pushed herself to her feet and looked around. As she took in the mountainous landscape covered in loose scree, boulders, and treacherous cliffs, Elijah knew precisely what she was thinking. There was no reason to take such a route through the mountains, especially given that they’d left a perfectly serviceable road behind.

  For Elijah, it wasn’t a big deal. His attributes made climbing through the loosely forested terrain trivial, and due to Soul of the Wild, which gave him a good picture of his surroundings, it was even easier than his outsized strength and dexterity would suggest.

  By contrast, Sadie had no such sense. She could follow his lead, and she could obviously see the obstacles in her way. However, in such a treacherous environment, it only took one misplaced step to slip and skid down the scree-covered mountain. More than once, he’d needed his enhanced reflexes to prevent just such an occurrence.

  “If you’d consent to flying, we wouldn’t have to worry about it,” he reminded her as he leaped free of the boulder and hit the lone solid patch of rock. If he’d landed even a few inches to either side, he would have started a small avalanche of chipped rocks.

  “No, Elijah.”

  “But –”

  “I told you before – I’m not flying on your back.”

  Elijah deflated.

  “And don’t pout. It won’t work on me.”

  “I’m not pouting,” he lied as he jumped to the next island amidst the landscape of loose rocks.

  Sadie followed one step behind him. “So, are you going to tell me where we’re going that we had to take a detour?”

  “It’s a surprise,” he answered.

  “I don’t like surprises.”

  “Sure you do. Everyone likes surprises,” Elijah replied, continuing on his way. Behind him, he heard Sadie mumble something that included the word insufferable, but he chose to ignore it.

  For the next few hours, they continued on until, at last, they reached the end of the scree slope. It was replaced by a talus slope, which was characterized by much larger pieces of rocky debris. They were a lot more stable, which meant far easier traversal. Still, the terrain was dangerous enough that neither of them let their guards down. Finally, they found their way to a long, flat cliff that let them travel much more quickly.

  Over the next few hours, it was more of the same. One thing that had become abundantly clear was that, despite Sadie’s obvious experience and many talents, she was not an outdoorswoman. She could get by without much issue, but she did none of the little things right. By contrast, Elijah moved through the wilderness with the instinctive ease of a man who’d spent most of life outdoors.

  That night, when they camped on a cliff overlooking a valley, Elijah asked, “You didn’t spend much time outside, did you?”

  She shook her head. “Not really. I visited a couple of parks,” she answered. “But other than that, I usually stayed in cities.”

  “What about your martial arts training?” he asked.

  “Indoors,” she answered. “At my master’s training hall, which my grandfather funded when I went to school abroad.”

  Elijah frowned.

  Sadie asked, “What?”

  He shrugged, then tossed a stick into their campfire. “Nothing. It’s stupid,” he answered. When she insisted that he elaborate, he finally sighed and admitted, “I don’t know. I guess I just imagined it was like in the movies. You know, you’re out there punching trees and carrying buckets of water up some incredibly steep mountain steps.”

  For a moment, she just looked at him like he’d said the most perplexing thing imaginable. Then, suddenly, she laughed – a sound he’d rarely heard since she’d come back from the Primal Realm. But when it went on for a few more beats, Elijah realized that it came at his expense.

  “It’s not that funny,” he muttered.

  “It is,” she insisted, forcing her laughter down. “Also a little bit of a stereotype.”

  “What? No. I didn’t mean it –”

  “Or it would be if I thought there was any malice behind it. In reality, you probably got all your cultural information from movies, right?”

  “Uh…maybe?”

  “Which one?”

  “It’s stupid. Don’t –”

  “Come on. Tell me,” she insisted, shouldering into him playfully. “What movie gave you the impression that I would be punching trees?”

  Elijah let out a deep breath. “Fine. But you can’t laugh. Promise you won’t laugh.”

  “I will promise no such thing.”

  “Whatever. Okay, it was Bloodsport. You know, with Jean-Claude Van Damme? It’s a true story about –”

  Again, she cut his explanation short by laughing. Elijah endured it stoically.

  Finally, she breathlessly said, “There is so much wrong with that. You know that movie was set in Thailand, right? Also, it is in no way based on a true story. The whole thing was a lie told by Frank Dux who –”

  “You’re mixing it up with Kickboxer, which was set in Thailand. Bloodsport was filmed and set in Hong Kong. You know, where you’re from. You don’t even know your own city’s history?”

  “Trashy Van Damme movies are not history, Elijah,” she chided. “And anyway, the man was a serial liar. The kumite never existed.”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “That’s what kumite wants you to think.”

  She just stared at him in disbelief, which wasn’t broken until she said, “I have no response to that.”

  “Score a victory for Elijah.”

  “Just because you say something so ridiculous that there is no response doesn’t mean you win the argument.”

  “Sure it does,” Elijah stated. “But if you ran a secret, underground fighting tournament that sometimes ends up killing people, and some American idiot told everyone about it, wouldn’t you spread a rumor that he was a liar? Big kumite has its grubby fingers in everything. They know how to run a smear campaign.’

  “Elijah…”

  Finally, Elijah broke into laughter, breathing, “I almost had you…”

  Sadie just shook her head, and when his laughter faded, she pointed out, “That doesn’t address the rest of why you’re wrong.”

  “The kumite –”

  “Not about the kumite. About my training. I’ll have you know that my training hall probably looked more like what you would see for a professional football team than what you’re imagining.”

  “Football as in –”

  “Real football. Not what you call football.”

  “Ouch. That’s anti-American.”

  “The rest of the world calls it football. Maybe accept the majority rule.”

  “Nope. Not the American way. We are and always will be the center of the universe. Any other opinion is just jealousy,” he replied, grinning widely. They both shared another laugh about the self-deprecating joke. “But seriously, I didn’t really think you were climbing impossibly steep stairs or anything.”

  “Sure, Elijah.”

  “I didn’t!” he lied.

  “Mythologizing Asian martial arts has been a western thing for as long as we’ve been in contact. Don’t worry about it.”

  “Well, the Chinese film industry didn’t help with that impression,” he pointed out, referring to movies that definitely contributed to the mystification of their culture.

  “You aren’t wrong,” she acknowledged. “But the point is that I did not spend my youth trekking up mountain steps or carrying buckets of water, as you clearly imagined. My master’s training hall was a modern gym.”

  “Well, that’s a lot less…cool.”

  “I apologize that my past fails to live up to your standards,” she deadpanned.

  “I’ll let it slide,” he said with a bright smile. “But only because I love you.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say.”

  “And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry for the assumptions. If it makes any difference, it’s mostly innocent. I just take movies at face value. Plus, we need to talk about how you know all about Bloodsport, but you had no idea who He-Man or She-ra were.”

  As it turned out, the answer was simple. When she was young, she’d developed an unhealthy obsession with Hong Kong cinema, which included some western movies starring people like Van Damme. She went on to catalogue her favorites, most of which Elijah had never heard of.

  When the conversation petered out, they just sat by the fire looking out over the wilderness. It was a full moon, and the sky was filled with twinkling stars, so there was just enough light to give them a picture of their environment. And it was breathtaking.

  Finally, Elijah said, “I’m usually alone for moments like this. I’m glad you’re with me.”

  “Me too.”

  They remained like that for only a little while longer before retiring to the tent where they spent the rest of the night in one another’s arms.

  The next morning dawned crisp and cold – the kind of beautiful winter morning that reminded Elijah what it meant to be alive. After packing up the tent and smothering the fire, they once again set off through the mountains. Sadie asked a few more times where they were going, but Elijah remained steadfast in his refusal to reveal the secret.

  As it turned out, they reached their destination at midday when they came upon a large camp populated by dozens of semi-permanent dwellings. There were also hundreds of hill goblins nearby, some of whom had been stalking Elijah and Sadie for the last few miles.

  He’d noticed them almost immediately, but given that they weren’t hostile, he’d chosen to ignore their presence.

  Unfortunately, they had also ruined his surprise. Not for Sadie, who stared at the mobile village with wide eyes. But rather, for Venka, who greeted them at the edge of camp.

  The hill goblin looked much the same as he had the last time Elijah had seen him, which meant that he was a man-sized goblin with an impressively lean and athletic physique. The oversized characteristics of his face bore a broad smile as he threw his arms out wide and greeted Elijah with a hug.

  “All your friends are huggers,” Sadie remarked after being treated to much the same. She’d met Venka in passing during the Trial of Primacy, but they’d only ever exchanged a few words. Back then, she’d been a lot more self-centered and focused on the task, though Elijah refrained from making that comparison aloud.

  “Everyone can use a good hug,” Elijah argued. Then, to Venka, he asked, “Am I too late?”

  “Nearly,” the hill goblin answered. “The ceremony is tonight.”

  “Ceremony?” asked Sadie.

  Elijah was the one to answer, explaining what he’d learned from his last exchange of messages with Venka. Hill goblin culture was a little more tribal than most, and, traditionally, they preferred to live in fairly small, wholly integrated communities. They were also typically nomadic, though they weren’t entirely averse to living in cities. Either way, they put a lot of stock in communally raising children and dependence on one another to survive.

  “Each year, we celebrate Iko La,” Venka cut in.

  “That translates to Nameday, right?” Sadie asked, the system having interpreted the goblins’ native language. For mundane conversation, people heard things in their own tongue, but for proper names, it provided them with the root, only giving them an interpretation of what it meant.

  “It does. It is when every child born that year receives their true name.”

  “What do you call them before then?” Elijah asked.

  “Child.”

  “Doesn’t that get confusing?”

  “It does not. They are too young to know the difference.”

  “Oh. That makes sense, I guess. In our culture, a baby is named almost immediately,” Elijah stated.

  “How do you know the name is appropriate?” Venka asked. Behind him, adults went about their business, ducking in and out of an enormous central tent while children chased one another around in an obvious game of tag.

  Elijah shrugged. “It becomes appropriate? I don’t really know.”

  “Odd,” Venka admitted.

  After that, their conversation moved to a slightly more isolated part of the camp, where they met a few of the other elder hill goblins. There, they received information as to how that part of the world had progressed. Kalki had continued to build its defenses, while the trade alliance between them and the hill goblins had proved incredibly profitable. They were well on their way to cementing that alliance, with a hill goblin enclave having been built within the city.

  “We’re going there next,” Sadie said. “I wanted to meet Anupriya Pandey. She seems a formidable woman.”

  The hill goblins all agreed with that assessment, but further conversation was cut short by the arrival of nightfall. One of the hill goblins cast a spell that littered the area with multi-colored lights, while the children were gathered and ushered into the tent. Meanwhile, the adults completed their preparations and followed. Elijah and Sadie went as well.

  The interior of the tent boasted a multitude of ephemeral streamers that descended from the ceiling, creating a waving forest of rainbows. At the head of the tent stood a familiar figure – Okarin, the hill goblin he’d met the first time he’d encountered the nomadic tribe.

  He would preside over the ceremony.

  Elijah gave him a nod before settling in beside Venka. There was no furniture in the tent, so they all sat cross-legged.

  After everyone had entered, the ceremony began, and to Elijah’s surprise, it was assisted by magic. The first child was brought forward, then placed on a small, cushioned pedestal. A second later, Okarin spoke, though not in any language Elijah recognized. The system didn’t translate the lilting, rhythmic speech, which was accompanied by a surge in ethera that coalesced above the child.

  Then, it flowed into the green-skinned toddler, flashing with a series of symbols on her forehead.

  Finally, Okarin announced, “Mina.”

  The crowd of goblins cheered. The baby grinned. And once she was removed by her parents, the next in line replaced her. Over and over, the same process repeated itself, but each iteration lost no power. Each was as wondrous as the last, and though Elijah didn’t quite understand what was going on, he could appreciate that it was important. And beautiful, especially with the rainbow-colored streamers of light fluttering in the nonexistent breeze within the tent.

  Once all of the children had been named, the ceremony turned into a celebration, complete with a feast, music, and dancing.

  Even Elijah and Sadie participated, wearing themselves out by dancing alongside the hill goblins until, at last, the celebration wound down. That was how Elijah and Sadie found themselves lying in a pallet of fur blankets.

  “Thank you.”

  “For what?” Elijah asked.

  “For this. I…I needed something good. Something pure.”

  “I know. I did too.”

  Then, after a few moments, she admitted, “I guess I don’t hate all surprises.”

  If you'd like to read more of Path of Dragons, we're almost two full books ahead (book 14 just started) on Patreon. That's 175+ extra chapters, so a ton of extra content for those of you who can't wait to see what Elijah will get up to. Anyway - check it out .

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