The arena cleanup took forty minutes longer than promised. Four crews of royal earth-shapers scraped melted stone from the floor while mortar workers filled the gouges left by Huo Yun’s attack.
Austin leaned on the white-jade rail and watched through the heat.
“Look at that. They’re laying fresh mortar over smooth, fire-hardened stone without roughing it first. It won’t bond. Three weeks of foot traffic and it’ll flake off like old paint. Lazy work.”
Xiaoyao sliced smoked spirit beef beside the tea cart. “Master sees the hidden flaws in every foundation. Truly, the eyes of the Master Builder pierce all mortal illusions.”
“I just have eyes, Xiaoyao. My uncle Dale did the same thing to a patio in ninety-eight. The whole slab came loose after the first freeze.”
The crowd grew restless under the afternoon sun. To stop people from throwing fruit rinds at the box seats, the master of ceremonies signaled the heralds.
Four bronze horns sounded.
“NOBLE LORDS, HONORED WARRIORS, AND CITIZENS OF GREAT YAN! BEHOLD THE ROYAL BEAST EXHIBITION! FROM THE FROZEN TRENCHES OF THE NORTHERN ABYSS COMES A FIFTY-TON TERROR! THE SCOURGE OF SEVEN BORDER VALLEYS!”
Chains rattled beneath the northern stands. An iron gate rose.
Twenty royal beast tamers marched into the pit in cold-iron armor. They carried polearms tipped with blue lightning. Between them rolled a wagon bearing a cage made from three-inch iron bars.
Chief Beast Master Kou stood on top with a nine-ringed whip.
“RELEASE THE ABYSSAL EARTH-WYRM!”
He struck the release with his whip.
CLANG-SCREEECH!
The cage walls fell outward. A stink of bog gas, sulfur, and rotten meat rolled across the arena.
Eighty feet of armored muscle slid from the cage.
The Ancient Mountain-Devouring Earth-Wyrm looked like an underground train. Black glass scales covered its body. Four bone-white horns jutted from its brow, spitting green sparks. When it opened its mouth, acid dripped from its curved fangs and smoked on the stones.
ROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAR!
The roar shook the rails and rattled Austin’s tea set. Several mortal attendants in the lower seats fainted under its spiritual pressure.
In the royal gallery, the air smelled of hickory smoke and dried beef.
Austin sat in his velvet chair, chewing jerky and reading his notes on pump design. Beside his boot, Pug opened all six ruby eyes.
His ears turned toward the pit. He rose, stretched, and ambled to the railing. Then he put two huge paws on the polished stone and looked down.
His left head tilted left. His right head tilted right. The middle head sniffed the acid fumes.
Hnff?
Below, the wyrm thrashed its tail and threw stones against the arena wall.
To the royal court, it was a living siege engine that could swallow a company of soldiers.
To Pug, it looked like a wonderful chew toy.
His stubby tail began to wag.
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
Each blow shook white dust from the carved pillar beside him.
Austin glanced over. “What are you staring at, boy?”
Pug looked back. All three heads whined. Six eyes begged for permission.
Austin looked at the giant serpent, then at his dog. He tossed Pug the end of his jerky strip.
“Go on, if you want it. But wipe your paws before you come back. I don’t want to hear Zhao complain about mud on his carpet.”
Pug launched himself over the rail with a joyful WOOF.
He cleared the fifty-foot drop in one bound.
KABOOOOOOOM!
Eight hundred pounds of hound hit the center of the pit. Sand and broken mortar flew thirty feet into the air.
Kou nearly dropped his whip. “WHAT IN THE NINE HELLS? WHO LET A THREE-HEADED WAR-HOG INTO THE EXHIBIT?”
The wyrm recoiled. Its yellow eyes fixed on the black beast in the crater. It reared back, swelled its throat, and sprayed a jet of green acid straight into Pug’s face.
HISSSSSSSSSSSSS!
Boiling vapor filled the center of the arena. The acid ate into the paving stones and turned the mortar to foam. Several elders looked away, expecting nothing but bones to remain.
Inside the cloud came a familiar sound.
FLAP-FLAP.
Pug shook himself.
Acid that could dissolve steel ran off his black coat like water. It did not singe a single hair. It did wash off the road dust, leaving his fur glossy and smelling faintly of wintergreen.
Pug did not care about the acid.
He cared about the moving toy.
His six eyes fixed on the wyrm’s horned head.
Pant, pant, pant.
IT MOVES BY ITSELF!
He charged.
All three heads struck at once.
CHOMP. CHOMP. CHOMP.
His left jaws caught one horn. His right jaws caught the other. His middle head closed around the back of the wyrm’s neck.
SQUEEEEEEEEE-K!
The five-hundred-year-old disaster beast made a noise like a stepped-on dog toy.
Then Pug used the sacred move known to every terrier.
The Death Shake.
He planted his claws and whipped all three heads from side to side. The eighty-foot wyrm flapped like a green garden hose in a storm. Its tongue flew out. Its scales clattered like loose tools in a box.
“Mercy!” its beast-soul wailed on the spiritual plane. “Ancient Heavens, make the big puppy stop!”
After fifteen seconds, Pug let go.
The wyrm collapsed like wet laundry. Pug poked it with one paw.
Squish.
Satisfied, he grabbed the middle of its body and slung the limp serpent over his shoulders. Then he trotted toward the royal stairs.
His claws clicked merrily on the marble. His tail wiped dust from the banisters. He pushed open the gallery doors with his nose.
THUD-SPLAT.
Pug dropped eighty feet of twitching Earth-Wyrm onto the royal carpet and laid its bruised neck across Austin’s boots.
The ancient terror of seven provinces gave a faint wheeze.
...Hurk.
Pug sat with all three tongues hanging out. His six eyes shone up at Austin.
Look what I brought! Rub my ears!
Austin looked down. He took out a small brass gauge, checked one of the thick scales, and tapped it with his pencil. It gave a solid thwack.
He scratched Pug between the middle ears and rubbed the other two heads.
“Good boy. That’s a sturdy fetch stick. Solid pulling strength, zero surface cracks. If a supply wagon gets stuck in the spring mud, we could braid this into an emergency fifty-ton snatch strap. Beats buying new chain.”
He tossed Pug another strip of jerky.
GULP.
Along the rear wall, Governor Zhao called for a beast healer. Ouyang ordered the tamers to put away their lightning poles before someone hurt the stunned wyrm again.
Master Tang had watched from the artisans’ seats. He came down with a measuring cord, checked the cracked eastern support, and told Xiaoyao to keep people away from it. Then he handed Austin a folded sheet of pipe dimensions for the crafting round.
“Build something they can use after the festival,” Tang said. “I’ll put my workshop behind the entry.”
Austin folded the sheet into his clipboard. “Then we build a jack.”