Page 51 of Dragon 7

“I can’t.”

“You must. T-the war. . .”

Yoichi got on my side. “We’ve got her, Kenji. Let them hold her—”

“What fucking sacrifice?!” I yelled at him. “Is she going to be okay?!”

“Yes. She will be okay.” Yoichi nodded. “She’s fine. She’s just weak from the sacrifice. That’s it—”

“What happened?”

“The war is here.” Yoichi pointed to my other side. “Finish this.”

I looked and the Death Guardian held the bowl in front of me. “You must drink. There is no other way. Do not let your Tiger’s pain be for nothing.”

Her pain. . .

My eyes watered.

With her eyes still closed, Nyomi whispered, “Hurry.”

The Death Guardian gestured to the bowl. “Once you do this, her strength comes back, and she will be fine.”

I turned to Yoichi. “Is that true?”

He nodded. “When you do the sacrifice her energy and immediate healing will occur.”

“You better not be lying to me.” I let go of Nyomi and quickly took the bowl.

They held her.

“Thank. . .you. . .” Nyomi let out a long breath and leaned her head against the chest of one of the red figures.

Please, God. Don’t let anything happen to her. She’s more than just my Tiger. She’s my Heart. My Soul. My everything.

Another plane came in low over the clearing.

We all looked up.

It was so close that the wind of it pressed the hooded figures' capes flat.

Next, an antiaircraft shell screamed up after it and burst just wide of the wing.

Missed. Damn it.

The plane zoomed across the dark, and in the half-second of moonlight I saw the size of it—one of the massive ones, broad-bellied and heavy.

That one carries men. Probably hundreds of them. There’s no more time.

I looked down at the bowl.

The Death Guardian’s voice grew shaky. “We must hurry. Already we all should be fighting right now.”

I raised the bowl to my mouth.

The cold rim touched my lips.

The liquid was warm.