There. That should have done it. Everyone in Heaven must have heard my proclamation. Now we just had to wait.

"Piri!" hissed Floridiana, who obviously had no appreciation for how I'd just guaranteed our victory. "What have you done?! Now they'll never let us leave alive! They'll hunt us to the ends of the Four Seas!"

That's fine. If we're taking over Heaven, we aren't planning on leaving anyway, are we?

"Yes…but we didn't have to tell them that!"

In a resigned tone, Aurelia said, "Flos Piri has come up to Heaven. No matter what any of us says, no one will believe that she isn't here to challenge the Jade Emperor for his throne."

I tossed a grin at her over Floridiana's shoulder. Precisely. So we might as well use it to our advantage. Raising my voice, I called to the Third Prince, Lay down your weapons and surrender, and we might be merciful!

"Merciful?" murmured Aurelia, who seemed to have doubts as to my interpretation of mercy.

As, apparently, did the Third Prince, who opted not to accept my most magnanimous offer. With a snort that rattled the guards' armor, he pulled back his arm and hurled his spear at us. At me specifically, if his glare were any indication, but he didn't seem to care that it was going to pass right through me to impale Floridiana and Aurelia, and maybe even Dusty.

That's not very polite of you –

Den dropped. The spear shrieked overhead, so close that its heat singed my ears, and buried itself in a cloud. Which burst into flames.

Wait. What? Clouds were wet, which was why dragons, with their command of water, could control them! It was the whole reason dragons were in charge of implementing Heaven's weather policy! So how could a gods-cursed cloud catch gods-cursed fire?!

"Above!" shouted Floridiana.

A burning wheel hurtled down at us, throwing off flames and setting more clouds on fire. With a pump of his tail, Den dodged sideways. Dusty whinnied in panic, hooves skidding every which way on the dragon's slick scales. And then the Third Prince was charging at us, arm cocked and ready to hurl his spear once more.

We couldn't fly up because he was blocking us. We couldn't fly down because the burning wheel had turned the clouds into a sea of flames. To our right, more clouds roared up in pillars of fire, and to our left, the foundations of Heaven roiled and thundered.

"Traitors to Heaven! Die!" The Third Prince's roar shook the skies. Bits of burning cloud crumbled off and rained down on us.

No! No no no! This couldn't be how it ended! I would never get so close again! Aureliaaaaaaa! Save uuuuuuuuus!

My scream broke her paralysis. Aurelia leaped to her feet and flung her arms wide. Blinding white light blasted out to shield us, quivering as it held back the spear point.

"Hang on!" Den shouted. He rolled sideways and dove for an opening between the flames.

Floridiana threw herself forward to grab his neck, crushing me, and Dusty whinnied again as he finally lost his balance and toppled off.

"Dusty!" screamed Floridiana.

"He's okay!" Den yelled back.

"'Ou owe me, dra'on!" came the horse's muffled voice, and I wedged my head under Floridiana's armpit to see him hanging onto Den's tail by his teeth. His body swung from side to side with each pump of the dragon's snake-like body.

Aurelia, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen.

Aurelia! I scanned the sky, but the fires were so bright that they overwhelmed her glow. What happened to her? Did she collapse? Did she fall? Was she hurt? Was she dead? How could I face Flicker if I let her die while rescuing him?

Aurelia! Where are you? Do any of you see her –

A battle cry blasted Den head over tail. Smashed between Floridiana's torso and Den's neck, I couldn't so much as turn my head to bite onto his mane. On and on we tumbled, until I had no idea which way was up or down or front or back. All I could do was wait for the world to stop spinning and trust Den and Floridiana to keep me from dying.

"Ahead!" she shrieked.

At the same time, Den twisted, driving his spinal ridges into my ribs.

Oww!

He smashed into something hard. I felt the impact clear through his body, which meant that he'd turned at the last second to take the brunt of it with his belly, otherwise Floridiana and I would have been crushed.

"Den! Den! Are you all right?" Floridiana was calling over and over, and I realized that we were free-falling towards the sea of flaming clouds. With both arms wrapped around his neck to hold us on, she couldn't use her seal to heal him or slow us.

Den! Watch out! We're going to hit the –

A fiery wheel shot at us from the side, and I could only watch helplessly as it flew closer and closer, with no chance of missing us.

A golden form launched past us, meeting the wheel head on and knocking it into the foundations of Heaven. It crashed into the roiling clouds with a flash of lightning and a thunderclap that rattled the world. The clouds ejected the wheel, but instead of flying straight out, it curved upward to return to the Third Prince. He set a casual foot on it.

Den coughed a spray of green blood and pumped his tail to slow our fall. We came so close to the flaming clouds that the air filled with the odor of burning cloth and hair. Cursing, Floridiana beat out the fires on her tunic and Den's mane.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Are you all right?" she demanded.

I'm fine.

"Not you! I know you're fine! You didn't even catch fire!"

Den groaned. "Oooh, who'd have thought Heaven's walls would be so hard?"

Yeah, they're almost as hard as the gods' skulls, I agreed. Then I remembered who'd saved us. Where's Dusty?

Floridiana jerked her chin. "Up there."

High above us, the horse's golden form bounded from guard to guard, kicking off their shields and biting at the Third Prince.

"Is it me, or did he get bigger?" Den asked slowly.

"It's not just you," Floridiana confirmed. "There's a lot of stray magic around for him to absorb. It confirms my hypothesis that – "

Looks like he got over his fear of heights, I broke in before she got sidetracked by research. While he distracts the Third Prince, let's go.

"GUARDS! TO ME!" bellowed the god.

A great "RAAAAR!" echoed across the sky as hundreds – no, thousands! – of grey-clad guards leaped off the walls, spreading their scarlet-lined cloaks like wings. The Moon's light glinted off swords and spears and chains and nets. Dusty jumped off a cloud and plummeted towards us, neighing, "Catch me! Catch me!"

Den arched his body, angling so Dusty would land on his back. But the horse's hooves skidded off, and then he was falling again.

"Catch me! Catch me! CATCH MEEEEEE!"

Den streaked after him and grabbed him in both hands, locking his claws around the horse's sides to hold him in place. We hovered midair, panting.

What is that gods-cursed goddess doing? I snapped. Did you see her, Dusty?

If a medium-ranked dragon and a – okay, no longer baby – horse spirit could fight the Third Prince and stay (mostly) conscious, what was Aurelia's excuse for blocking one blow and then disappearing?

Even dangling from Den's claws like a wilted spoon cabbage, Dusty managed to blow a snort at me. "By 'gods-cursed goddess,' do you mean the Star of Reflected Brightness?"

"RAAAAAAAR!" came the roar of Heaven's guards as they charged at us.

Den took off, flying as fast as he could.

I leaned over his side to yell down at Dusty, I mean the only goddess who's supposed to be helping us! Stop quibbling over semantics!

"She did take a direct hit from the Third Prince's spear!" Den called over the whoosh of the wind. "I don't know how many gods or goddesses can do that!"

I recalled the light bursting out of Aurelia's chest, right about where her heart would be. If you're trying to tell me that she shielded us with the power of love and friendship, I'm going to vomit all over your mane.

"Please don't," muttered Floridiana, who would have to smell it.

"I'm not!" Den defended himself. "I'm just saying that it probably knocked her out. So we can't count on her to save us!"

Count on Aurelia to save us? Was that what I was doing? I was so shocked that my mouth dropped open. A chunk of burnt, ashy cloud flew into it, and I choked and coughed while Floridiana thumped me on the back.

"I – " cough cough – "am not counting on – " cough – "Aurelia to save us! I can save us just fine!"

"The way you saved us from the Third Prince just now?" Floridiana retorted.

Salvation is coming. I have a plan. We just have to wait a little longer.

"Hang on!" Den warned. He launched into a series of acrobatic loops and rolls to shake off the spears and arrows that chased us like angry bee demons. "How much longer before your salvation arrives?!"

Soon! Any minute now!

Risking a fall, but knowing that he'd catch me (he did still have his hind feet free, after all), I squirmed out from under Floridiana so I could see Heaven's walls clearly. I squinted at them, searching for movement.

Fly around Heaven! I don't know what direction they'll come from, so we'll need to find them. And shake the guards!

"I'll try, but it's kind of hard when there're so many of them." Den executed a series of plunges and rolls to dodge a volley of arrows.

We need a good distraction. I wracked my brains. Who was powerful enough to take on the guard force of Heaven and the Third Prince? It had to be a god or a major spirit. Preferably one who was comfortable in the sky, who wielded a weapon that was suited to countering fire, who commanded loyal vassals, who was Den as he would be in several centuries…. Got it! The Dragon King of the Western Sea!

"What?! Where?" Den searched the skies for the new threat.

Not here, silly! He'll be our distraction!

Silence, except for the roar of the guards behind us.

You said he raised an unauthorized typhoon to murder Lodia, didn't you? That was how you and Flicker blackmailed him into backing off?

"Yeeeees…?"

We just have to blackmail him into helping us now.

"I see!" Floridiana exclaimed. "Yes! That will work! We'll blackmail him into causing some sort of ruckus in the Western Sea to split Heaven's attention!"

No, I corrected, we're going to blackmail him into launching an attack on Heaven.

Another long silence. A flaming wheel sailed past us, leaving a trail of fire in its wake.

"He'll never agree to that!" cried Den.

Yes, he will. He'll get his head chopped off if he doesn't.

"But attacking Heaven itself?!"

"It's going to behead him anyway," Floridiana argued. "If he helps us overthrow it, then at least he has a chance of surviving. Don't you remember the look on his face when he ran away to hide under the sea?"

"He'll do it!" Dusty backed us up from somewhere under Den's belly. "That dastardly dragon will do anything to save his own neck!"

Den didn't answer, which I took to mean that he agreed with Dusty but couldn't bring himself to admit that a dragon king could be a dastard.

Drop us off somewhere safe and go fetch him. Take Dusty.

The brash horse spirit would have no qualms about disrespecting one of the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas. He would stiffen Den's resolve when it wavered.

"Are you sure about this, Flori?" Den asked, and the love and worry in his voice smothered my protest that he was consulting her instead of me.

She laced her fingers through his mane and stroked the side of his neck. "Yes, I'm sure of it. We've gotten this far trusting Piri. All we can do now is trust her to the end."

Since no one could see my face, I didn't try to hide my frown. That was a lot of pressure to put on me. Still, what better fox to trust?

Movement in the shadow of a turret caught my eye. Yes! There absolutely was no better fox to trust!

If you're done turning my stomach with your irredeemable mushiness, fly through that cloud. I pointed at a fat one that was adequately far from the fires, but not too far from where a small, golden figure was creeping out a back door. Floridiana and I will drop off inside. Den and Dusty, once you're out, fly for the Western Sea.

"All right," Den agreed reluctantly, while Floridiana practically growled, "What makes you think that cloud will hold our weight?"

I don't. But you're a mage, aren't you? Spell yourself to fly. And carry me.

"Spell myself! To fly! If it were that easy, don't you think I'd have done it already?"

Hmm, it was true that I'd never seen her fly before. She mostly spelled herself to jump higher and further. Change of plan then. Pick me up and jump there. I pointed my paw at the star child who was sneaking closer and closer to us behind billows of cloud.

A hand lifted and waved back.

"Ah." Floridiana's tone shifted to focused calculation. "Yes, I think I can do that. I just have to make sure…." Still mumbling to herself, she drew out her seal, inked it, and brought it down firmly on both legs. "All set. Bring us in, Den."

Pumping his tail, he flew as fast as he could for the wall. Shouts rose from the guards. "He's going to ram it!" "What's the point?!" "Stop, foolish dragon!"

Right before we reached the wall, Den shouted, "Now, Flori!" and she grabbed me and kicked off his side, angling for the clouds where the star child was waiting. Overhead, Den made a great show of ramming the wall with his shoulder and roaring in frustration when he didn't so much as chip a stone block.

"Over here!" chirped a girl's voice. A small, glowing hand grabbed Floridiana's wrist and yanked us into the cloud.

Floridiana batted aside wisps to make a hole so we could watch Den and Dusty disappear into the distance, the horde of guards and the Third Prince on their tails. "Good luck," she whispered so softly that I barely heard it. "Stay safe."

"Come on!" cried the star child, hopping to her feet. "They're waiting!"

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