[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-saya-and-the-dragon":3,"chapter-saya-and-the-dragon-saya-and-the-dragon-chapter-108":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Saya and the Dragon",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1705095,2177,"Chapter 105: Crow With a Deadline","saya-and-the-dragon-chapter-108",108,"\u003Cp>It’s mid-morning. Sun slicing through pine needles like the gods finally stopped being stingy with light. There’s a brook bubbling nearby, clean enough not to give you parasitesinstantly, cold enough to tighten things that shouldn’t tighten without warning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So I bathe. Because sometimes even a scandalous heathen whore needs to not smell like dragon sweat, mossy blankets, and three-day-old fear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I wade in slow. The cold bites my ankles, climbs up my thighs like some over-enthusiastic ghost lover. My breath hitches, but I keep going.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Behind me, the Dragon snores under a tree. Loud. One wing twitching like he’s chasing something in his dreams. Maybe me. Maybe pastries. Maybe Aunt Threxaval in her war heels. Who knows.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I dunk my head under the water, surface with a gasp, and start working the soap through my hair. It’s lye-smelling peasant soap, but it’s mine. I scrub. Hard. Dirt, blood, smoke, leftover guilt from three ex-lovers and a tavern scam—out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And that’s when I hear it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Crrrk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I glance up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There, on a gnarled branch above the water, sits a crow. Big one. Glossy. Staring at me like I owe it rent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You perving, feathered shit,” I mutter, flicking water toward it. “Never seen boobs before?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It cocks its head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Crrrk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t ‘crrk’ me. This is private. Sort of.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It blinks slowly. Then speaks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not a croak. Not mimicry.Actual speech.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Clock’s ticking, glow-crotch.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I freeze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"...what?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crow preens one wing like it has better things to do than explain itself to a naked river witch. Then glances back down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You heard me. Few days till full moon. Debt unpaid. Hag’s watching. Tallying your sins. She’s got a big ledger.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stare at it. “You’rehercrow.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It squawks like that’s the dumbest thing I’ve said all week—and I’ve said plenty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m nothercrow. I freelance. But yeah. She sent me. Said you might be dawdling. Thought a reminder might, quote, ‘perk your nipples and your sense of urgency.’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I glance down. Yeah, they’re perked. The water’s cold, not prophetic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I splash it again. It hops sideways along the branch like a cranky priest avoiding rainwater.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I didn’t ask for a prophecy with plumage,” I snap. “Tell her we’re moving. We’vebeenmoving. Slowly. On account of the Dragon bleeding like a diva and our legs barely working. Maybe she wants to come drag us herself, huh? With her goat cart and sour soup breath?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crow glares. Or looks like it does. Hard to tell with birds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Shehearswhen you talk shit.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ialwaystalk shit. If she hasn’t figured that out by now, she’s not as witchy as she claims.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crow flaps once. Stretches. Drops a turd on a rock with impressive accuracy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s for your tone,” it says.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yeah? Well here’s mine—” I raise both middle fingers, wet and glorious, dripping soap suds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It squawks in what I can only describe as avian disdain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then it leans in just a bit, voice lower. Closer to serious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You think she’s joking about the moon?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I narrow my eyes. “…No.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then don’t fuck this up. You got three days. She’s got plans.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I swallow. Not the water. Not the soap. Something cold in the chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…What kind of plans?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crow shrugs. Or the bird version of it. Wings half-lifted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“She didn’t share. Only said:‘If they miss the moon, they’ll regret being born under it.’Then laughed for seven minutes. Said something about binding contracts, the scent of betrayal, and a very special stewpot.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My stomach flips. Not from the water this time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Tell her we’re on it,” I say quietly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“She knows. I was just the reminder. Think of me as the ticking sound in your skull every time you stop to scratch your ass.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With that, it launches off the branch and disappears into the trees.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stand there. Soap still in my hair. River still cold. Dragon still snoring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the full moon, somewhere ahead, ticking louder with every beat of my naked, nervous heart.\u003C\u002Fp>",659,"2026-06-06T14:39:25.900Z",1,"novelbin.me","52a2f9e138d4d605945c35367b4ea2e89ccbc211b1fc9a843836cce51ef173cc","saya-and-the-dragon-chapter-109","saya-and-the-dragon-chapter-107",228,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsaya-and-the-dragon-cover.jpg"]