“Becker,” he answered with a slight bow.
“Priest Becker, I’d like to see Ghost General’s Sword with my own eyes before we make specific plans. But I believe your evaluation is correct—we can defeat this thing once and for all. I’m quite ready to see an end to some of these troubles the world collects.”
Becker bowed again. “It will be my pleasure to help you.”
“Good, that’s settled.”
Mei Li would have gotten up at that point and asked for a room to stay in—it was late in the evening, and she personally preferred to get a good night’s rest before they did any work—but Shunlei held up a hand.
“If you would, an indulgence. My wife and I would like to renew our vows come this fall. May we put that on the schedule and start the process of planning a ceremony? After this business is done, of course.”
The head priest blinked at him, then her, not putting the pieces together. “I’m sorry, your wife is…?”
Mei Li lifted a hand. “Me.”
He blinked again, a man waiting to see if they were joking or not. Then, three full seconds later, when no one laughed, his eyes nearly bugged out of this thin face.
“Wait, the two of you are really married?!”
“We’ve been married a very, very long time.” Mei Li shook her head at the understatement. “And we were married in this very temple. Well, on this compound. The building we were married in has long been replaced. It’s why we’d like to renew our vows. There’s no record of our marriage still in existence. You’ll accommodate us, I hope?”
The poor head priest croaked, much like a bullfrog with a sore throat.
His assistant had better facial control, but even he was shocked to stillness.
Shunlei, a touch too eagerly, sat forward. “How about a late dinner, and we’ll regale you with the full tale.”
Both of them nodded vigorously.
But then, Mei Li hadn’t expected any other reaction.
It was late indeed before they were able to retreat to a guest bedroom. Mei Li crawled onto the bed, poking at Shunlei as she did so.
“You had far too much fun shocking them over dinner. I swear you phrased everything for the most shock value.”
Shunlei chuckled and didn’t deny it. He lay flat on his back, looking all comfortable and relaxed on the plush mattress.
Mei Li flopped down on top of him, his arms coming up immediately to hold her in that position. He was warm, if hard, the muscles like iron bars under her. But she wasn’t complaining—far from it. Shunlei was greedy for all interaction with her, and after a five-thousand-year separation, she was inclined to spoil him at every opportunity.
“Mei.”
“Hmm?”
“I realize you’re indulging me by letting me have that large wedding. Thank you.”
“I think I owe you quite a bit,” she finally said. “And it’s not that I mind, I just have the feeling we’ll be overwhelmed by the time that day arrives.”
“Likely so. But I want even that. I want to experience our wedding as it should have been the first time.”
“We did get married in something of a hurry the first time,” she allowed.
“I’ve prepared things, off and on, hoping for this very chance. I may have too much prepared.”
He didn’t sound at all bothered by that possibility.
Curiosity prompted her to ask, “Was the house also something you prepared? I realized, somewhat belatedly, that a lot of the décor matches my taste. The colors, the bedding, some of the furniture.”
“Does it? I tried to guess, but I wasn’t always sure.”
She really had been missed. It made her eyes burn with tears, and she had to close them before anything spilled over. “I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“We never had the chance, back in the past, to form any kind of home for ourselves.” His voice was a quiet rumble against her ear. “It bothered me on more than one occasion. I wasn’t a very good husband to you, not even providing a home. I wanted to rectify that so when you did come back to me, we’d have our own nest.”
“You’re silly. You have always been a good husband to me. Then and now, that hasn’t changed. Although, it’s interesting how we have a nest full of pillows.” She lifted her head enough to place a kiss against his jaw. “Don’t think I didn’t notice all the many, many pillows. And you had no control when we were first married of where all we would go. Of course a home wasn’t possible.”
“I know, but the feeling still rankled. We have a proper home now, one well established and safe. I feel far better about marrying you again. This time, we can do things properly.”
Such a stickler for propriety, this one. She’d think he was a stickler about following the rules, too, but…well, he actually broke the rules when it meant the right thing would be done.
Mei Li was exactly the same in that regard.
No wonder they got along.
It was funny how, as much as things changed, they stayed the same.
Mei Li eyed the sword floating in the hottest basin of water the temple had to offer. Part of the reason they’d built a temple in this spot to begin with was the natural hot springs. The temple was partially a place of healing, the springs helpful in treating various ailments. She and Shunlei had taken advantage of the springs several times throughout the years, as this was one of the few places that had pools large enough to accommodate a dragon’s form.
This particular pool was hot enough that only a dragon would find it comfortable. Just standing on the edge of it made sweat trickle down her back. She’d be soaked through with sweat by the time they were done with this.
The sword, at first glance, didn’t look ready to burst from the seal. It lay on the base of the pool, discernible through the water and steam, looking entirely dormant. Looks were very deceiving. The sword was leaking energy, and to her magical eyes, the seal was fissured on all sides. It wasn’t from neglect—she saw the patchwork spells the priests had done, too, trying to hold the seal together. But anything this old was bound to fail.
Shunlei put a hand to her back as he stepped in close. “How is it?”
“I honestly feel like I’m looking at an ancient, rotting house. There have been renovations, people have tried patching it, but the foundation on this thing is shot, and there’s no saving the framing. That’s what the seal looks like to me right now. The sword is leaking energy at an alarming rate.” Mei Li winced at the insidious voice that tried to hijack her thoughts. “And it is, indeed, a corruptive influence.”
“Speaking to you, is it?”
“It’s trying.” Mei Li tapped the charm she had painted on her own forehead this morning. “This is mostly blocking it, but the sweat marring the ink isn’t helping anything. If not for the seal around this entire building, we’d be swarmed by violent attackers influenced as well. Priests, how are you doing?”
Becker answered grimly, “Your charm is helping, but I can hear it. I think we all can.”
Mei Li winced in sympathy. “Ignore it as best you can. Shun, we need to take care of this quickly. How are you faring?”
“With your charm, I can barely hear the voice at all.” Shunlei gave the sword a derisive look. “Even without it, I would be fine.”
“I know you would. Humor me. No reason to make this harder.” Mei Li had talked him into wearing the charm this morning. She had no doubt he could mentally overpower the sword, but she was very much of the opinion that they shouldn’t borrow trouble. And why fight a battle you didn’t have to?
Priest Becker joined them, giving a shallow bow. “We’re ready.”
“Good.” Mei Li turned and eyed the area around the pool again. They’d pasted multiple talismans around the area to cage Ghost General’s spirit inside. She absolutely didn’t want an escapee.
It was a neat division of labor. She’d break the seal, Shunlei would melt the sword—forcing the spirit to flee—and the exorcists would take over and destroy the malevolent spirit. In
theory, this should happen in quick succession and without issue.
After a decade of experience, Mei Li had learned that theory rarely panned out.
Becker had handpicked the priests who would help him exorcise the spirit today. There were six, including him, and all about his age, although one man looked older. They seemed confident and well prepared. Mei Li would have personally chosen eight, to form an eight-point stance, as that would have been stronger. But maybe an exorcism worked a little differently than a sealing would. She was hardly an expert in that field, having never done it before.
These men had been guarding Ghost General’s Sword for years. They surely didn’t underestimate its strength. Mei Li chose to trust her experts—and maybe lend a power boost if they needed it. Yes, yes, a dangerous thought. But true, nonetheless.
Mei Li still did a warding sign against bad luck.
Looking about once more, she didn’t know what else to do. They looked amply prepared.
“Alright, ready?” When she got nods from everyone, she tapped Shunlei on the back. “Go forth and conquer.”
“With pleasure. I have a score to settle with this one.” A glint in his eye promised mayhem.
Mei Li stepped back as he stepped forward; the steam was about to get a whole lot worse, and she was hot enough as it was. She retreated to the wooden wall, ready to reinforce her barrier to keep the spirit in if necessary.
Shunlei waded into the water, just past his ankles, switching to dragon form as he did so. He could expel fire from his human throat, but it lacked the range his dragon form provided. Plus, there was plenty of room in here for a dragon.
He made for a very impressive sight in this form, and in such close quarters, the priests looked awed by him. Shunlei reared up a little onto his back legs, drawing in an audible breath, and then unleashed it with full force into the water.
It was just as well that there were large vents in the roof of this particular building. The water vaporized instantly, steam rushing up and out. Mei Li was ever so glad she was hugging the wall like this. The steam wafted against her in a hot wave as it was.
The sword lying on the bottom of the pool fared no better than the water. It melted quickly, streams of iron going in all directions, filling the cracks in the pool’s bottom. The ancient, elaborately forged sword was obliterated within ten seconds.
Mei Li found herself holding her breath. Where was Ghost General’s spirit?
Her answer came a second later. It rose out of the steam like a barely formed mist, but it grew heavier, darker, as it moved. By the time it pulled itself entirely free from the sword, it was nearly pitch black and dense, entirely opaque and impossible to mistake as smoke.
And it gave her the shivers just looking at it.
Shunlei’s great head turned, eyeing the spirit, then did a lunge-snap, trying to force it into going the right direction. The ploy might have worked except that the spirit obviously realized what was going on. It didn’t go toward the exorcists.
It went straight for Mei Li.
With all the sweat and steam, the ink charm painted on her skin was slowly coming off. Poor planning on her part, but no time to fix it—not with a spirit charging right at her. Mei Li had seconds to react before this thing tried to take over her body. The charm would do nothing to prevent that; it was only meant to rebuff Ghost General’s persuasions.
She had a talisman in hand—a shield—but it wasn’t meant for this. It was meant to protect her from any power backlashes. She threw it up anyway, as this was better than nothing, and then braced herself for impact.
The spirit was only partially stopped by the talisman, but its presence quickly overwhelmed her.
“You’ll live forever with my help,” it whispered, the voice charming and pleasant to her inner ear. “You don’t want to leave him alone again, but a human can never live as long as a dragon unless I help you.”
“Is that the best you can do?” she asked, bored. “Because that’s a problem I already have a solution to.”
“Lady Tomes, DUCK!”
She ducked, sinking immediately to her haunches with her hands over her head.
Becker’s team of exorcists were on her a second later, Becker himself shielding her with his body even as he grasped hold of the spirit.
Ghost General twisted and howled in protest as the exorcists latched onto him, their power enough to keep him grounded.
Mei Li quickly realized she was in the wrong spot and was only blocking their path. She tried to squirm free, saw an open hand as her husband urged her out of there, and went straight for it. Shunlei carefully curled his claws over her and yanked her out, pulling her into his chest for protection.
“Are you alright, my love?” Shunlei sounded both worried and pissed, his chest rumbling with an irate thrum.
“Perfectly fine,” she assured him. Then tacked on, words spitting fire, “Actually, no, I’m very irritated. I can’t believe he thought I was the weakest link in here. I’m mortally insulted by this.”
“As am I. Let’s make sure no piece of him is left.”
“Fine by me.”
Becker and his group seemed to have the same opinion. They were divided, three holding, the other three eviscerating the spirit with very strong attacks. Mei Li watched with interest, as she wasn’t quite sure how they’d go about this. But they seemed to be literally whittling the spirit down to size. The three of them were coordinated, their hands focused in all four corners, power blazing out of their palms. The steady stream shrank Ghost General, shredding him piece by piece.
The spirit writhed and howled, threatened and pleaded; she could hear the echoes of its voice even from here. And she was several feet away. It had to be worse for the exorcists, being in the epicenter, but not one man flinched.
“I can’t see what they’re doing,” Shunlei complained to her.
Ah, to him it likely was confusing. He could only hear the screams. In a rapid manner, she filled him in.
“Three of them are holding the spirit in place. The other three have invoked the four corners and are blasting power at Ghost General, literally destroying his essence. He’s about half the size he was, so this should be quick. At first I was afraid there weren’t enough of them to do the job, but they’re admirably proving me wrong right now.”
“And I’m heartily glad of it. What was your backup plan if you proved to be right?”
“I’d have waded in and boosted their power.” Mei Li shrugged. “Just as well I didn’t have to. I’m not sure if it would have worked out that well.”
“I can’t imagine that your powers would have blended well, no. Your magics operate differently.” Shunlei gave it a moment before asking, “Still half the size?”
“I’d say we’re down to about a third, now.”
Mei Li tilted her head to look at the remnants of the sword. Dregs of iron, that’s all it looked like, and it was cooling rapidly at the base of the pool. It looked rather artistic, in fact. Like spilled lightning.
“Do we need to clean that up?”
Shunlei snorted. “The sword remains, you mean? Why deprive the temple of a marketing strategy?”
She blinked up at him. “Wait. You mean, have them advertise it as a haunted spring, where the great Ghost General’s Sword was melted and defeated?”
“Spun right, the story would sell well.”
Mei Li spluttered out a laugh. “That’s terrible. And someone else is likely to think of it, too.”
“I have no doubt. Still a third?”
She’d gotten distracted by twisted marketing strategies. Mei Li regarded the exorcists again, this time looking more carefully as the spirit between them was so faint and small she could barely see it between all the men’s bodies.
“Basically gone now. Annnd there goes the last of it. Good work, gentlemen!”
The exorcists all dropped their hands at once, looking done-in. Shunlei carefully set her back down again before shifting forms to make it easier to leave the r
oom.
Becker turned to her and gave a proud, if tired, smile. “We did it!”
“We did!” she responded in the same victorious tone. “We made a mess of the place in the process, unfortunately.”
He waved this away. “It’s a small price to pay. And we’re very glad to pay it and have this thorn out of our side. Thank you ever so much, Tomes, for being willing to try this. We’re glad to have one less evil in this world.”
Mei Li spoke from the heart. “I could not agree more.”
Between flying to the temple, taking a day to set up, destroying Ghost General’s Sword, and flying back, Mei Li and Shunlei were gone for a total of five days. She dearly wished for even one day of rest. Shunlei had spent time resting recently after Jingfei’s defeat, but Mei Li hadn’t. She’d been scurrying around like a chicken with its head cut off for months now, and in two different timelines. A single day to sleep and soak in the hot springs would not have been amiss.
But Mei Li knew Zaffi couldn’t sit much longer. The mages were barely managing the situation as it was.
Mei Li had asked the priests to send a message ahead. She’d coordinated the three groups to arrive at Zaffi’s on this day, but you never knew with people. Better safe than sorry, so a confirming message went out to make sure everyone was there at the right time. This was definitely not a situation where she could make do with less hands.
It had snowed here recently, leaving a good three inches behind. Shunlei threw some of the snow into the air with his landing, his breath hot enough to leave puffs of white around them.
Mei Li was half out of the traveling box when Dolan offered her a hand, which she gratefully took. Normally, she could exit without much trouble, but she was stiff after being still for so long.
“Thank you,” she said as her boots hit the ground with a thud. She intended to say something else, but her eyes went up automatically to check on Zaffi, and her entire attention became arrested there.
Oh.
Oh, this was very much not good.
Zaffi had been barely caged before, a temporary seal plastered over the original to keep him from completely bursting free. But even that temporary seal looked done in at this point. Fine cracks showed at every angle of the shining dome, and through them, power leaked out on a visible spectrum. As cold as it was now, the snow couldn’t touch anything near Zaffi. The area was hot, heat waves rising from the ground.
Master of Tomes Page 6