As the familiar shapes rose in the water, Shannon and Elatha's eyes widened and jaws dropped. "Damn it! Use your sais, Shannon," I shouted to get her attention as I teleported in front of Elatha and drew Laevateinn. "It's Ao Guang and his brothers. Dragon gods, Elatha. You don't have a weapon that can hurt them, so try to stay between Shannon and I."

Dark blue beard dripping water from his fanged snout, red eyes glaring, Ao Guang's head rose high above us. His breath stank of fish as his voice rumbled in a deep bass, "Most unwise to bring yourself right to the dragon's maw, you ugly fucking bastard. And how nice of you to bring your consort and an Atlantean for Ao Qin and Ao Shun to enjoy. There's one of you for each of us."

Fire roared from one brother's toothy mouth, highlighting his red scales where his snake-like body rose on Ao Guang's left. It was Ao Qin, the vermillion dragon of the south. Light from his flames flickered over the bearded crocodile-like head of the adjacent black dragon, behind Ao Guang's right side. Fuck. Ao Shun, the dark dragon of the north. Ice formed on the water where Ao Shun's breath met liquid.

Three more white cranes landed on the shore, with Lu, Han, and Lan astride them. Not daring to take my eyes from the dragons in front of me, it was out of the corner of my eye that I watched Han and Lan take hold of Cao to drag him away.

"Do not start this, Ao Guang," Lu's voice rang out with authority. "You shouldn't even be out of Kunlun." He slammed his staff on the ground and a gong-like sound echoed off the nearby mountains.

A fish-smelling cloud washed over me with his snort. "Who is going to stop my brothers and I? You, Lu Dongbin? Please. As if. Get out of the way before you get eaten." He waved a dismissive claw-tipped paw.

"Shannon, we have to keep Elatha between us. His sword won't hurt the dragons, nor will his water abilities help him fight them," I told her. "Move closer and grab Elatha so I can teleport us towards the gate. It's still too far for me to reach in one jump, but I can get us closer."

She started to move toward him when Ao Shun exhaled a gust of ice lances at me. Elatha rose a wall of water, but the lances speared through as if it wasn't there. Stepping in front of him, I shattered the ice with a wave of black seidhr, although painful pellets still made their way through to pummel us.

At the same time, Ao Qin roared a wave of flames towards Shannon. She parted it to flow on either side of us, although Elatha still yelped at the heat. It had me gritting my teeth. He was the only one of us vulnerable to dragonfire, thanks to Shannon's powers and my quarter fire giant heritage. The nuclear warhead sank in the water as Elatha ducked lower, further immersing himself.

Fuck. That wasn't him immersing himself. It was Ao Guang, thickening the air around Elatha. But Shannon still deflected the flames.

Stepping forward, I lunged at Ao Guang with my sword. Viper-quick, his head rose and instead of his snout, I sliced off part of his beard. He roared in anger. Eyes narrowed, he lashed at me with long claws that I deflected with my sword.

Yet the impact still launched me through the air.

Lu swung his staff at Ao Shun, shattering the ice lances thrown his way. Landing lightly on my feet within a few metres of their battle, I focused to teleport back to Shannon and Elatha. But an impact against the backs of my knees swept my feet out from under me, a long, black tail sending me tumbling past Ao Guang.

Cursing, I leapt into the air, slashing at his blue scales, and he spun, knocking me with brutal force into the closest mountain rock face. Agony exploded in my wrist, shoulder, and side of my skull. Laevateinn tumbled from my grasp. The world turned topsy-turvy as gravity caught up with me.

A scream pierced my ears, drums beating inside my head.

An incoherent blur of rock, night sky, and streaks of hellish pain spun before my eyes until I managed to halt my fall.

Unable to see out one eye, the other stinging and out of focus, I held my hand out and felt my sword smack into my palm. Stumbling, I teleported back to the fire-lit blurs that were my consorts.

Elatha gasped for air, hand outstretched. The weapon was no where in sight. Shannon cursed and the sound of her voice, even though the sound was muffled and distant, had me relieved that she still lived. Catching Elatha's hand, I teleported him away from the dense air Ao Guang used to try to suffocate him.

Yet I couldn't keep us upright when we landed and I fell to my side, lightning flashes of pain clutching at my consciousness. Growling, I forced myself to shaking feet, despite my wrist that seemed to be bent the wrong angle. Broken, a part of me realized. Like my shoulder that must be dislocated.

"Blasted barnacles, Loki! You're a mess. What can I do?" Elatha asked, his arm holding me up.

Fuck. I couldn't even seem to stand on my own.

"Shannon. We have to get Shannon." My voice didn't sound like me. Barely there, it rasped like sandpaper. Narrowing my one working eye, I tried to focus on Shannon.

Metal rang against claws as she fought in the air against Ao Qin. He'd given up on trying to use fire against her. Blue seidhr swirled around her blades, and I smiled as I heard a pained roar from the dragon.

But there was no more time. Ao Guang had spotted Elatha and me, charging through the air towards us. Teleporting away as his claws swiped at us, I took us behind the battle between Lu and Ao Shun. Snarling, Ao Guang spotted us again and flew up over his brother and the immortal.

Exhaustion and pain dragged at me. Blinking, I realized my eye had closed and Elatha had my sword in his hand to attempt to fend off the Azure dragon. Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to keep my eye open, even if I could barely see through it. Glancing towards Shannon and our desperate straights, I had to get us out of here whether we had the weapon or not. I didn't even know where it had ended up. It wasn't worth the life of my consorts. I'd have to call for the bifrost.

Ao Guang roared in triumph as he reached for us and hit an invisible wall, tumbling backward with a grunt and curse.

Narrowing my eye, I peered into the darkness. I couldn't see what had stopped him. A voice whispered on the wind, but I couldn't quite catch what it said. Blood still pounded in my ears, louder than anything around me, making everything muffled like sounds underwater.

The voice came again. Still, I couldn't catch what it said, although I heard the snarl from Ao Guang and another roar of pain from Ao Qin when Shannon scored a hit. Ao Shun and Lu had paused in their battle, looking around.

Air around Shannon rippled, and she grabbed something, rising swiftly into the air. Circling and coming around Ao Qin and Ao Guang—who also looked around—Shannon appeared to be... riding astride something? Reaching us, she dove and stopped only a few metres away, yet easily five metres above the ground.

But the air wavered, like heat off rock in the noon desert sun. Slowly coming into focus, a white dragon appeared, with Shannon sitting on his neck.

"Ao Run, you fucking traitor!" growled Ao Guang, echoed by his two brothers.

The white dragon turned his head towards them and sent a blast of air that knocked the blue, black, red dragons onto their sides. "If you weren't such disgraceful examples of dragon gods, I wouldn't have to clean up your diplomatic messes. I'm ashamed to call you my brothers."

"Your intervention is most timely, Ao Run," Lu said, bowing.

"I can't hold them back for long. Get on so I can get you out of here," Ao Run said, gesturing to Elatha and me.

A short teleport had us up behind Shannon, and the dragon lifted into the air, turning to fly towards the ocean.

"We don't have the weapon," I groaned, seeing the river valley disappear behind us at a rapid rate.

"If we just need a portable energy source of that magnitude, I can get us one," Elatha murmured into my ear from behind.

"Where?" Despite his words, my stomach sank into despair to match the savage pounding in my head. Groaning, I clutched my head and cringed as bone shifted under my fingers.

"The Fomorian outpost," he murmured.

Closing my eyes, I attempted to control my breathing and send healing energy towards my fractured skull. But thoughts bounced and then stopped.