A while back, I wrote about R5-D4 Plots and that has colored my writing for almost three years. In short, minor characters of one book have a role in other books. This guided me into splitting Flight of the Scions apart and also tying that series into this one. This chapter is the first clear connection between the two books.

Rutejìmo's papers were old, and the edges crumbled when he touched them. He carefully puzzled through them, struggling with the unfamiliar way the eastern clans wrote their words. The first was a letter written in a rough hand of someone barely able to write, a Kosobyo Mioráshi. It talked about the birth of her daughter, Kanéko.

It also ties a suggestion from my editor. I originally had the tall rocks that show up in all thee books as “Dragon's Teeth” but she suggested I make them “Wind's Teeth.” I ended up going with it and used it as the base for my wind spirits (which are… a secret for a later book).

Sand and Bone 16: A Second Wind

Ah, the plot. This chapter is where we find out Kosòbyo is keeping a secret. Of course, this is probably the worst info-dumping chapter in the book. In short, a gyotochizōmi (also known as a dragon) supplies a nearly endless source of magic to anyone who controls its soul (or enslaves it). Almost all of the dragons in the world are captured now, the most famous is the Puzzle King's castle which is powered by one (I might write that novel, it would be a 13 Ghosts style piece though).

There is another dragon running around, Kanéko's Big Bad from Flight of the Scions, Damagar. Yep, my favorite eighty-foot, telepathic toad is an immortal god spirit capable of powering a castle or uplifting a megalomaniac spirit into power.

There are other things going on in this chapter, including Rutejìmo crushing Nifùni's spirits by pointing out the truth of his actions.

Read the chapter at https://fedran.com/sand-and-bone/chapter-16/. All of my books are free downloads at https://fedran.com/. If you like what you read, please consider becoming a patron or reviewing one of my other books. Even a dollar a month helps get this edited and properly published. Plus, you get to see how it ends now instead of waiting weeks.