Prince Pari frowned down at her. “A Tomes doesn’t know how to defeat something?”
“Zaffi’s record was one of the Tomes lost,” she explained. That information apparently hadn’t reached him yet. “I hadn’t read it before I was lost, for that matter.”
Understanding dawned and Pari winced. “Dire news indeed. Fine, let me greet each of your colleagues. Then we’ll sit and properly discuss this and what needs to be done. You have Horvath’s support, Tomes.”
She’d never come so close to hugging a relative stranger. “Thank you.”
Prince Pari might look like he spent most of his time slaughtering bears and calling for ale, but he had a heart of gold. He went to each person, spoke to them, learned what they needed to recover. Leah and Gen especially worried him, and after much discussion between everyone, they decided to move the short distance to the capital city Voas. It was a day’s trip by wagon, and it would not be pleasant for Leah especially, but the healers in Voas were well known and capable. They had proper hospitals and recovery centers there, which was what the injured needed.
Mei Li fed Shunlei by hand, as his were still too sore to even contemplate using a utensil. Ling Ling and sometimes Huan did the same for Bai, which seemed to embarrass Bai. He wasn’t sure what to do with all this female attention, which amused Mei Li.
Once they reached the city, Prince Pari led them directly to a coastal street. Voas sat in a deep harbor on the coast of the Sea of Keys. The ocean breeze cut to the bone at this time of year, as of course any wind coming off water was naturally colder. It was crisp, though, the air clean to breathe in. Mei Li turned her head toward the ocean, enjoying it. She hadn’t realized how dusty and burnt the area near Jingfei had truly been until she’d escaped it.
They rode slowly and carefully up a rise, where a grand, two-story building sat overlooking the ocean. It was made of timbers and had a slate roof, glass doors, and windows gleaming in the sunlight. Not an ostentatious place, not in an aesthetic sense, but it looked like a very large traditional medicine shop. Mei Li approved. She never could be completely comfortable in ostentatious surroundings.
A woman stepped out, her stride and expression business-like, taking in the two wagons with a gathering frown. “Prince Pari, your note only said you had burn victims coming. I assumed humans. How did three dragons get so badly burned?”
It was a good question. To Mei Li’s knowledge, nothing short of an active volcano—or the demons born from one—had the necessary firepower to burn a dragon.
The prince slung himself out of the saddle and gave her a deferential nod. “Doctor. These are the people who fought and sealed Jingfei two days ago.”
Her mouth firmed into a flat line. “Then I’m obviously not dealing with the effects of average fire. Very well, bring them in. Edan, Lothar! Open the big room, we have dragon patients!”
People in light blue outfits seemed to pour out of every door, heading for the wagons. Those who could help, did, carefully lifting people down. Mei Li was focused on Shunlei, intent on following him inside, but Dolan snagged her elbow and pulled her aside.
“Mei Li, I think some of us need to go down and help with Zaffi,” Dolan informed her. His shoulders were back, chest out, determination brimming from every pore. “Sotejo, Scott, Preston, and Budworth agree with me. There’re not enough mages down there to begin with, and no one with any experience handling something like Jingfei. We might be able to put our heads together and figure this out—at least put up a temporary seal to buy you time.”
Mei Li chewed on her bottom lip as she tried to think rationally and not emotionally. She loathed to leave Shunlei right now. She was the only ‘family’ he had, and he seemed far more settled when she was within sight. The pain made it hard for him to think or react well, and he was more agreeable if she was the one rendering him aid. But Dolan had a good suggestion regarding Zaffi and it was true, they didn’t have a lot of time there. And it wasn’t like the mages would be any good here. They’d just be cooling their heels waiting. But she couldn’t in all good conscience leave Shunlei behind.
As if reading her mind, Dolan assured her, “I think you should stay here. I’m just informing you. You can’t do anything more there than I can, really, and Shunlei would not react well to you going anywhere near Zaffi without him.”
She snorted. That was an understatement for the heavens, right there. “You’re sure about going, though? Perhaps Simeon can go as well? You’ll want at least one dragon, too, for protection if something goes wrong.”
Tengfei popped his head over Mei Li’s shoulder, half-furled wings blocking some of the wind as he volunteered, “I’ll go. Not much I can do here, anyway. Chen! Want to go down?”
Chen immediately agreed, “Yes, I’ll go. Now?”
“Then we’ll go down,” Tengfei said with a bob of his head. “Dolan, I think we can fly you four, as long as you’re willing to be squeezed in for a few days. Zaffi is about a day or two’s flight from here, right?”
“More or less, I would think.” Dolan gave him a grateful look. “Thank you, Tengfei. Let me ask Simeon, gather everyone together.”
“Sure, sure. We’ll help carry everyone in first, get them settled. Then we can go.” Tengfei’s self-issued marching orders delivered, he bounded off, more like an energetic puppy than dragon.
Mei Li stood for a moment, watched as her friends and companions gritted their teeth, forcing back cries of pain as they were carefully brought into the hospital. Her heart was heavy enough to sink to the bottom of the ocean floor. Mei Li hadn’t failed them. She knew she hadn’t. So why did this bitter taste linger at the back of her tongue? Why was her stomach constricting and writhing in her gut?
She absolutely had to have answers, and any future problem she tackled, she’d have the proper amount of mages on hand.
She wouldn’t repeat this mistake.
Doctor Rabarbra, out of sympathy, chose to put the burn victims under a medically induced sleep for seven straight days. During that time, she performed minor operations to remove burned flesh, choosing to graft skin for Leah’s hip, all while using a concentrated dose of healing herbs mixed in with talismans.
Mei Li helped where she could, but most of the time she sat next to Shunlei’s bedside and listened to him steadily breathe as he slept. She listened. And plotted.
Dolan sent a message to her four days after leaving to say they’d put up another seal around Zaffi that was akin to what they had done for Jingfei. No one expected it to hold longer than a month. Still, it bought them a month, and right now time was definitely not on their side. Mei Li would take any extension she could get.
Reports came in through Prince Pari that his brother was still in Kovel and that Kovel Below was becoming more and more prevalent, that it endangered the whole city. They were considering total evacuation and had already evacuated certain areas. The displaced people were temporarily shifted to other areas of the city, making it overcrowded. If they had to evacuate completely, where would they go? It was a question no one yet had an answer to.
Zaffi, Kovel Below, Ghost General’s Sword, Odom—she had answers to only half of those problems.
Magic didn’t solve all problems. Anyone who thought otherwise lived in a fairytale. But still, Mei Li suspected that in this case, magic might well be the answer. Perhaps she was overthinking this. Perhaps she was grasping at straws. It was the only answer she could think of. The only prayer she had of making sure the world didn’t burn around her ears.
What else could she do but try?
On the seventh day, Doctor Rabarbra deemed Shunlei and Bai healed enough to take them off the sleeping draught, although she kept their hands bandaged around their fingers. The skin was not entirely healed yet.
Mei Li was so happy to see Shunlei sitting up and awake that she nearly danced around the room in joy. He accepted a tray from a nurse and carefully ate the soup first, balancing the ceramic spoon in his hand. When that s
ettled well, he tackled the rice and baked fish next, humming in pleasure.
“What has occurred while I slept?” he asked her in between bites.
“Dolan led the mages near Zaffi to do a temporary seal,” she reported while ticking things off on her fingers. “It’s bought us a bit more time. Kovel Below has forced a partial evacuation of the city. Ghost General’s Sword is almost to the breaking point. We’re more or less at the same state as when you took your extended nap.”
Shunlei pulled a face and sighed. “I didn’t expect it to suddenly resolve itself.”
“I’ve time traveled into the past and met you.”
He stopped mid-motion, frozen, eyes shooting up to hers. Then he gave her an enigmatic smile. Well, it was a bit too borderline smug to be truly enigmatic.
That expression dissolved any unease she harbored about guessing wrong. “I’m right. This is how you knew me without me having any memory of our meeting. You knew me from the past—that’s why you took me under your wing so instantly.”
“Yes.” He regarded her steadily, expression giving nothing else away. That enigmatic smile might as well have been a mask, for all that it showed.
Mei Li blew out a breath, thoughts racing. “I think I need to leave, and soon. You obviously recognized my adult self, so I was more or less this age when I first met you. And we need the missing tomes soon if we’re to have a prayer. When did I leave to meet you, can you tell me?”
“I don’t actually know.” It was, perhaps, the first frank answer he’d ever given her. “You never told me you time traveled, the first time we met. It was something I reasoned out later.”
“Oh.” Mei Li mulled on that for a moment. “Time paradox?”
“Likely what you were avoiding, yes. I’ve slowly accumulated things to help you journey into the past. Where did my blue bag get off to?”
Mei Li pointed to a trunk sitting under the window. “It’s in there.”
“That contains most of what you need. I do agree with the assessment that you need to leave soon.”
It was nice to at least have that confirmation. “Alright. Prince Pari is coming by to see everyone in a few hours. I want to speak with him first, and then I’ll go.”
Shunlei startled, head jerking back. “Just like that?”
“I’ve been thinking about this for days, actually. I see no other solution, and I’m more or less mentally braced for it. Strike while the iron is hot, right? Besides, no one else is in a fit state to really work right now anyway. I might as well put my time to use solving one of our major problems. Arguably, it’s THE major problem.”
His enigmatic smile dissolved into one of pure joy. It lightened him, wiped years away, so he looked more an eager boy than the world-weary man he was. In fact, he was so giddy that he vibrated in place, eager to rush her out the door. “I agree. Go today. In fact, go now.”
Mei Li eyed him with heavy suspicion. She’d never seen Shunlei giddy before…no, actually, she sort of had. The first night she’d stayed with him, he’d had this open delight. Curiosity warred with anticipation as she watched his reaction. “Just what happens between us in the past, anyway?”
He rolled those big blue eyes at her. “Will you just go? You know I can’t answer that.”
“I have to report to Prince Pari, first. I might be gone in this timeline several days and I don’t want people panicking. Or strangling your cryptic little throat for answers.”
“It’ll just invite an argument down on your head,” he predicted, going back to eating. He thrummed with simple happiness as he did, though, spoiling the warning. “You’ll regret it.”
The sad thing was, Mei Li didn’t doubt that was the case.
“You want to what?” Prince Pari demanded incredulously.
Mei Li sucked in a breath. For patience or air, she wasn’t sure. Likely both. How had her one-on-one meeting with the prince turned into an impromptu meeting with him, Rone, Shunlei, and Huan? She’d not thought this conversation would be easy, which was why she’d asked for this empty room away from the patient rooms, just in case it devolved into a shouting match. But still, it wasn’t like she had to get permission from any of these people. She didn’t answer to them. So why was she still stuck explaining it all?
“I know this will sound mad at first, but hear me out. I want to go back in time.”
The room went abruptly still, the occupants so stunned by her casual announcement that graveyards would seem lively in comparison.
Huan was the first to find her voice and she used it at full strength and volume. “You are mad! Do you know how dangerous that is?!”
Mei Li gave her an arch look. “You think I, of all people, don’t understand the mechanics involved? The history of prior people who did this?”
Huan did not look as abashed as she should, although that did temper part of her argument. “Why do you want to go?”
“The records, of course. The missing records.” Mei Li didn’t call for rice wine, although she felt this conversation needed alcohol to go down smoother. If nothing else, she’d be able to get them all drunk enough they couldn’t argue with her about it. “Look, I know this sounds insane. But so does trying to figure out how to redo eighty different seals without losing large pockets of the populace in the attempt. We have records for a reason. If I can just go back to a certain point in time, before those records were lost, and gather them up, we’d not be in that position.”
Rone shook her head slowly, the motion gaining speed with each pass. “No. No, it’s too risky. You’re the only one who can read the records we do have now. What if something happens to you? Then we’ll be in an even worse position. We have no guarantee—”
“She’ll go.”
Shunlei’s confident announcement silenced the room. Mei Li eyed him suspiciously once more. There really was more he hadn’t told her. She felt it in her gut.
Meeting each of their eyes in turn, the elder dragon elaborated in his careful, concise way. “I am not arguing with you whether she will go or not. I am stating that she will go. In a sense, she has already gone.”
“I don’t follow,” Prince Pari admitted. “What do you mean, Master Shunlei?”
“Mei Li and I met many years ago, before this time. She’s already time traveled, in a sense.” As if he hadn’t just announced something incredulous, he leaned further back into the cushions and sipped at his tea.
With a noise of disgust that had a significant element of smoke and steam in it, Rone sat back with a huff, her hands thrown into the air. “Shunlei, you could have said!”
“Time paradox,” he denied neatly. Sobering, he looked to both Huan and Prince Pari. “Know that I would never take chances with her safety. Know that she must go.”
Prince Pari, at least, didn’t seem inclined to argue. He sat back, a finger tapping idly on the table’s surface before giving a decisive nod. “If you say so, then it must be. I have no objections.”
“I have quite a few!” Huan looked around them with exasperation, much like a mother surrounded by grubby toddlers who wanted to go out again to play in the mud. “At the very least, let’s send guards with her—”
Shunlei’s response was implacable, leaving no room for disagreement. “No. I will prepare what she needs.”
“I am against this!” Huan burst out, color high in her green cheeks.
“So am I,” Rone admitted, and she still stared at Shunlei as if he’d finally handed her the missing piece of a puzzle.
He stood, elegant and poised, offering a hand to Mei Li. She took it but put no weight on it, anxious not to hurt his still-healing hands. “You may argue the point as you wish. I will discuss this with Mei Li privately.”
Mei Li left her hand tucked into his elbow as they exited the room. As soon as they were clear of the doorway, he picked up his pace so they were speed walking out. Leaning into his side, she guessed wryly, “We’re going to do this in the next hour so they can’t sto
p me. That’s your plan?”
He responded with dark humor, “You’re good at anticipating me.”
“I’ve finally figured out you do exactly what you want to do. You might let people think you’re going along with them, but you still do exactly as you wish. And for time to flow as it should, I must go. Not to mention those missing records. I don’t suppose you can tell me what year I should be aiming for? I was thinking somewhere around fifteen years ago. There’s a time there when Master left the house to go and collect me, and he was gone for about ten days. I can either read or steal most of the records during that time, make it safely back.”
Shunlei regarded her wryly for a moment before leading her into his room.
“I take it my plan won’t work.” Mei Li sighed. “Alright, what can you tell me?”
“When entering a time portal, you have no control of where you will end up. I’m not sure what your records state on that point, but focusing on a particular day or using an incantation has little effect. You are sent to the time you must be in.”
“Oh lovely. It didn’t actually tell me that part. The record said I will be brought back suddenly, that I’ll have no control over that whatsoever.”
“Also correct.” Sadness flashed over his face for a moment, a melancholy gloom that lingered before he forcibly shook it off. “I’ve anticipated this for some time and have made preparations. I have the right clothes, gold and silver nuggets to use for currency, and a few other essentials. When you arrive, keep to the road. You will stumble into the right people to aid you. Mei Li, this is very important. Do not use your identity from this time, make up something else. Do not let anyone know who you really are. You are a traveling scholar and mage, nothing else.”
“Time paradox?” she guessed. The record had the same instructions, but it was interesting he would tell her the same thing. “And? You can’t tell me when we meet, can you? I thought not.”
Tomes Apprentice Page 24