Witch Fall

by Amber Argyle

  She put a fingerful of the paste in her mouth and pulled a face as the bitterness fanned across her tongue.

  Chapter 14

  Chen was an evil man with a thirst for blood and no hint of compassion. He was beyond redemption. ~Jolin

  Lilette awoke when her eunuch opened the screen. There were more eunuchs behind him, dozens of them—so many they filled Ko’s home.

  As she pushed herself up to a sitting position, Lilette winced at the twinge in her leg. Judging by the light, it had to be midmorning.

  Her eunuch came inside, a tray of food in his hands. He eased to his knees and kowtowed. Moving as one, the rest followed. Lilette caught sight of Ko kneeling as well. Lilette frowned. From this day on, she would be a princess. There were only three people in the empire to whom she would kowtow.

  Her eunuch rose and set the tray before her. She could smell breakfast—sausage, tea, and fried rice flour—and felt sick with hunger. She took a bite of fried sausage roll and closed her eyes in pleasure. She studied her servant’s hollow eyes and drawn face. “Have you tended to your wounds?” she asked softly.

  He stiffened. “I have been bandaged, Princess.”

  She flinched at the honorific, and her side protested the sudden movement. She wondered at the aspirations of eunuchs. Did they desire to bask in the leftovers of their madames’ glory? Her eunuch certainly seemed thrilled with the idea of moving to the palace with Lilette. “Have you taken anything for the hurt?”

  He continued working. “Softening the hurt would also soften the punishment. It is not allowed.”

  She tipped her head to the side. “I am the princess. I allow it.”

  The eunuch was still for a moment. “Your wishes are mine, Princess.”

  He left, presumably to do as she had requested. One of the few things she would miss when she escaped this place was his cooking. She wished she could take him with her. But he was accountable to the chief eunuch, and therefore the heir, so she couldn’t trust him.

  Ko came in a moment later. “You dishonor him.” Lilette opened her mouth to protest. “As he bears the hurt, his honor is returned to him. You treat him as a weakling.”

  Lilette made to go after him, but Ko’s hand on her arm halted her. “If you retract your order, you lose face.”

  Lilette swallowed a groan. She had more important things to worry about than her eunuch’s feelings. Ko left without another word.

  Knowing what lay ahead of her, Lilette forced herself to eat. As soon as she finished, the eunuchs removed the tray and proceeded to undress and bathe her. They were gentle with her bruises, though none commented on them. She was not allowed to help. Every time she tried, a look of shame came over the eunuch’s faces.

  They rubbed rare oils into her skin, dusted her face with rice powder, lined her eyes and brows with kohl, and painted her lips lobster-shell red. She was draped in yards of red and gold silk—all of it painstakingly hand-dyed. They combed her hair into elaborate rolls and fans.

  After they had finished, Lilette stared down at herself. She wore combs in her hair and brooches on her clothing—all of them priceless heirlooms. Her silk robe alone was worth more than Fa would have seen in a lifetime. And she had to admit that a part of her reveled in the beauty surrounding her.

  The crowd of eunuchs left the room. As if he’d been waiting for them to finish, Chen stepped inside with six more eunuchs, four bearing elaborately carved trunks with ivory and jade inlays. The other two carried smaller chests.

  At a signal from Chen, the eunuchs opened the trunks and bowed out of the room. Inside the larger trunks were silk robes in every hue. The smaller two chests held silk-lined trays, each filled with priceless jewels in a rainbow of bright colors. Unable to help herself, Lilette ran her fingertips across the glittering stones. There were ruby brooches, diamond and pearl hair combs, mother-of-pearl and sapphire bracelets, and cabochon ruby set at the end of a dagger of solid gold. Under cover of her billowing sleeve, Lilette grabbed the dagger and slipped it inside the folds of her sash.

  “These have been in my family for generations.” Chen came up behind her and reached around her body to pick up a ruby brooch that dangled from a chain. He attached it under her sash. She held her breath, hoping he wouldn’t feel the dagger there.

  She let out a breath when he moved back, observing the brooch as it dangled above her knee. “I remember my grandmother wearing this one—it was her favorite.” He smiled as if at a fond memory, and Lilette struggled to imagine him as an innocent child curled into his grandmother’s lap. “When you come into the palace, you shall do so in grand style.”

  “The palace,” she echoed, her thoughts sticky and slow in her head.

  He bent down and kissed her softly. “There will be a great feast in our honor, and you will move into my apartments.”

  Creators’ mercy, she had to find a way free before tonight. Chen reached behind his neck and undid the clasp that held his amber pendant. He tied it around her neck, the metal still warm from his body. The gold dragon flared against the red of her wedding robes.

  One side of his mouth pulled up. “Yours isn’t finished yet. But you should wear the royal pendant on the day you join us.” He fingered the stone. “This one has been a part of Harshen for generations.”

  Lilette wanted to rip it off and throw it against the opposite wall. Her eyes slipped closed as she took a deep breath. “That’s very kind of you.” And it was. He was making it hard to hate him. But she was a very determined person.

  He kissed her again before motioning to the eunuchs waiting at the door. They surrounded her on all sides, reminding her that she was a prisoner here. Lilette paused at Ko’s threshold, searching for the familiar warmth on her face, but there was only fear and dread.

  Her heart wrenching in her chest, Lilette turned away and walked down the stone-lined path, her shin and side aching dully. The emperor’s concubines came out to kowtow, then sat on their heels and watch the procession, some of them whispering behind their painted silk fans.

  Lilette kept her head erect, her eyes straight ahead. As she approached the harem’s gates, they swung open. What lay beyond made her stutter to a stop.

  The elephant was surrounded by elite soldiers in their finery. Even more overwhelming was the presence of the empress, one of Chen’s many stepmothers. Chen went before her, bowing. She bowed back.

  Memory overwhelmed Lilette. She was on her island again, the day Chen had come for her. She was surrounded by soldiers, unable to choose for herself as her villagers had died.

  Her breaths came faster as she realized how much the two days resembled each other. She had fought back, her villagers had fought back. And they had lost. She had to find a way for this day to be different.

  One of the eunuchs at her side bent low. “Princess?”

  Remembering herself with a start, Lilette approached the empress. The eunuchs slid to the side, bending seamlessly in their kowtows.

  A half second late, Lilette joined them. When she was finished, the empress motioned for her to rise. “I am Empress Yuwen. You will bring honor to our family.”

  Lilette bowed again, but her throat dried up and she couldn’t speak.

  The empress motioned for Lilette to join her. “I have already seen to your apartments and ordered the finest silk for you to choose from. We will review your wardrobe tomorrow.” She continued on with the dishes to be served at the feast, but Lilette had stopped listening.

  She stepped up next to the elephant, which had been painted with gold patterns. Black silk draped it from front to back, tassels hanging from every point. Tentatively, Lilette reached out and laid a palm on the creature’s side. It was rough and warm, with a thin bristling of hair. The animal turned to look at her, long lashes covering intelligent eyes set in a mottled pink-and-brown face.

  She felt a sudden kinship with the elephant. So strong, so powerful, and yet draped in finery and forced to submit to the will of those much smaller and less worthy than herself
.

  Chen slapped the elephant’s shoulder and cried, “Lift leg!” over and over until she complied. He pulled back his robes, stepped onto the elephant’s raised leg, and swung up. Three steps later, he was settled in the howdah.

  A eunuch gestured to a palanquin. “If the princess will stand here.”

  She stepped onto it and gripped the bars on either side. Smooth as the wind through her fingers, eunuchs gripped the poles and lifted her above their heads.

  She was now level with the sedan chair. Chen pushed aside the curtains and held out his hand. Though it grated her, she took it and stepped onto the elephant’s back. She could feel the animal’s warmth radiating through the thin trappings. In awe, she sat on the silk-lined wooden chair.

  Chen’s wife had ridden this same elephant on Lilette’s first day in the city. And before that day had ended, she was dead. If that pattern followed through, Lilette would be dead by Chen’s hand tonight. She cringed.

  The boy sitting on the elephant’s neck kicked the backs of its ears and ordered, “Go! Go!” The elephant lumbered forward, its wide gait making Lilette sway from side to side and sending the tassels swinging. A thrill raced through her. Before her loomed the palace gates. Standing in front of them was a contingent of elite six rows wide and thirty deep.

  The gates swung open moments before Chen and Lilette reached them. The elite surrounded them. Calling out commands, the boy directed the elephant into the city, his foot kicking the elephant’s ear when he wanted the creature to turn.

  People lined the streets and cheered, throwing orchids and lotus blossoms onto their path. The flowers’ delicate fragrance filled Lilette with a sense of foreboding.

  The elephant picked up a cluster of white flowers with her incredibly long nose and tucked them in her mouth. The boy scolded the animal.

  “No,” Lilette called out loudly enough to be heard over the crowd. “Let her eat them.”

  He looked back at her in shock before he turned to Chen, who nodded his permission.

  “What is her name?” Lilette asked.

  “Jia Li,” the boy said before turning away. The elephant continued munching happily as they made a circuit around the streets.

  Chen took Lilette’s hand. She had to force herself not to pull away. Even with the shade of the roof above her, she was stiflingly hot under the layers of clothing. Sweat trickled down her face, and she worried that the rice powder was running.

  Finally, they turned back toward the palace. For a fleeting moment, Lilette wanted to slip from the elephant’s back and run. She closed her eyes and listened to the cadence of the marching soldiers around her, the cheers of the people. She had nowhere to go.

  They finally reached the compound, where the gates stood open. A long red carpet, surrounded by the elite, led straight to the palace steps. Around the elite, hundreds of commoners filled the courtyard to overflowing. There were no cheers or cries of approval. Instead, each and every person, down to the smallest child, slipped into a kowtow. Such a sign of respect made Lilette uneasy. She’d done nothing to earn it. Not yet.

  The palace compound was huge, but Jia Li’s massive strides ate up the distance. Lilette rubbed her feet on the elephant’s back, silently thanking the animal for carrying her. Jai Li flapped her ears as if she understood, and Lilette was tempted to smile.

  “I’ll give her to you if you like,” Chen said. “You can take her out whenever you wish, as long as the elite go with you.”

  Lilette refused to meet his gaze. “Was Jia Li her elephant?”

  When Chen didn’t answer, she turned to face him. “Was she? Was she Sima’s elephant?”

  His face paled. “Is that what she told you her name was?”

  Suddenly uneasy, Lilette smoothed her robes. She’d forgotten that wasn’t the former princess’s name.

  Chen’s gaze was far away. “‘Sima’ is Vorlayan for ‘the betrayed.’”

  Chapter 15

  I have come to wonder if we abuse the elements as we did that elephant. ~Jolin

  Lilette fixed her gaze on the serpentine dragon statues flanking the palace steps. Her gaze traveled up the red-lined steps, to the pinnacle, where the emperor stood in front of the open palace doors. What struck her most was how ordinary he was, with his wide stomach and his expression of disapproval. He assessed her with a shrewd, calculating gaze.

  She suppressed a shudder as Jia Li came to a stop at the base of the palace steps. The boy gave the elephant a bunch of bananas.

  Chen called out for Jia Li to lift her leg. He held a loop attached to a harness around the elephant’s neck and chest, swung onto her leg, and dismounted.

  The platform was brought out again. Taking a deep breath that sent a jolt of pain through her side, Lilette gripped the rails and stepped onto the surface. The eunuchs lowered her smoothly to the ground.

  Masses of people surrounded her, all of them pressing their foreheads to the ground—all except the elite, who stood still as stone. She made her way slowly through them, hesitating at the palace steps—after all, Han had said she would be killed for merely touching them.

  “You may enter my home,” the emperor said. With robes lifted, Lilette stepped between ranks of officials to stand before them. “For your dowry, you offer my son children with the power of the keepers’ songs,” the emperor continued. “In return, we offer a bride price of titles, land, silks, and jewels. I have found the bargain worthy.”

  He nodded to his wife. She motioned to two eunuchs, who stepped forward, bearing a headdress between them. The monstrous thing, easily as big as Lilette’s head, was a half orb embedded with stones the color of shallow water.

  “It has nine dragons and nine phoenixes. The number signifies your exalted status,” Empress Yuwen explained. The dragons were actually golden sculptures that seemed to be climbing among the flat bodies of the phoenixes. The four bobins” —the empress motioned to the couplings of wings that fanned out from the side of the crown— “signify you as wife of the crown prince.” The empress’s crown had six bobins.

  Pearl strands dangled from the sides of the headdress, geometric patterns of gold giving them shape. The eunuchs placed it on Lilette’s head. It was terribly heavy, and the pearls clicked in her ears and brushed her shoulders when she moved. She could already feel a headache beginning in her forehead.

  “It is done,” the emperor proclaimed. “All arise.”

  And just like that, Lilette was married. The rustle of thousands of people moving to their feet was deafening. She could feel their gazes on her, though with her back to them, they would see nothing more than her fabulous robes and the boulder of a headdress.

  The emperor raised both his hands to the air. “Let us now celebrate with a feast!”

  As if they’d waited for the signal, eunuchs immediately moved through the crowds, handing out oranges from baskets tucked under their arms.

  Chen stepped down and offered his arm. Keeping her face impassive, Lilette took it. This close, the details of the palace were amazing. Nearly translucent panels lined the entire front, all standing open to let in the occasional breeze. An interlocking, woven pattern ran below all the windows, the weave meant to keep out demons from below. The double doors featured carvings of serpentine dragons, which Lilette was studying when eunuchs opened the doors.

  Inside, the main room took up nearly the entire floor. Officials and scholars in their best silks slipped into their kowtows beside low tables surrounded by cushions. Lilette tried to catch sight of Han, but she couldn’t find him.

  The emperor and his wife went to the center table, which was raised above the others. Lilette followed them in a daze. Her bruises hurt, and she was so thirsty and hot. The headdress had made her head go numb. She maneuvered her way through kowtowing crowds of people, their faces a blur.

  She took her place at the table. Eunuchs brought the first course. Lilette downed the wine and asked for water. They refilled her cup three times before she felt satisfied. She knew she should
eat, since she would need all her strength for what was coming, but anything she put in her mouth stuck in her throat.

  The men at the table spoke, their voices rising and falling without meaning. Lilette was glad women were discouraged from speaking in the palace, and glad her silence was marked as a sign of humility instead of terror.

  Just as the meal started winding down, unease settled over Lilette. In less than a heartbeat, nature went from smooth and flowing to writhing in pain. In a daze, she rose to her feet. The room went silent.

  “Lilette?” Chen said.

  “Something is wrong.” She’d felt this before—this sense that something was deeply amiss, when the witches’ songs had attacked the Vorlayan armada. And long before that, when she and her mother had called down lightning.

  Lilette’s eyes widened as she understood. “They’re singing against us.” And then she remembered her mother showing her scenes of death and destruction that had ended with the island sinking below the waves. “Grove City is attacking!”

  Chen was on his feet now, his arms on her shoulders, trying to convince her to sit down.

  “You have to let them go! Let them go or the witches will destroy you!” Lilette shouted at the emperor.

  His gaze flashed to the back of the palace. The screen there had been slid aside, providing a perfect view of the gardens where the witches were held. “See they are all secure!” the emperor commanded. Elite standing guard shouldered their halberds and started running.

  “No!” Lilette said. “It’s coming from Grove City.” No sooner had the words left her lips than the palace bucked beneath her, sending her flying. Her ridiculous headdress toppled off and cracked nearly in two.

  The world roared in protest—a sound full of breaking and crushing. The palace shook as if it would come down around them. Lilette tried to crawl away, but the ground shook her to the floor. She curled into a ball, hoping the entire structure didn’t crumble on top of her.