by Resa Nelson
We’re either in a safe place or GranGran and TeaTree could use my help.
Frayka squirmed her way out of the carpet and righted herself to find TeaTree and GranGran standing alone on a deserted plain. They stared toward the city of Zangcheen. Frayka followed their line of sight until she saw a strange black mass of clouds concentrated over the city.
Frayka soon noticed several colorful objects flying throughout the city. But as the clouds darkened, those colorful objects were pulled to the ground and disappeared from sight.
I remember those objects from my last portent. But what do they mean?
They all jumped when a bolt of lightning struck from the clouds.
Startled by it, Frayka ran between GranGran and TeaTree as if that would protect her from the distant lightning.
A violent wind raised a kite with a thrashing yellow tail.
Kites! All those colorful objects were kites.
Frayka squinted. She had heard TeaTree talk of kites but had never seen one for herself before.
Still thinking about her portent, Frayka didn’t remember seeing a kite with a yellow tail. She remembered seeing empty yellow robes flapping in the wind.
“Aiy yah!” GranGran cried out, clutching her hands together. “Emperor Po!”
With a chill, Frayka realized it wasn’t a thrashing kite tail she saw but a mortal struggling high in the air. She remembered that only the emperor could wear the color yellow. It had to be him.
Horrified, Frayka realized her portent had foretold the fate of Emperor Po.
The wind lashed the kite violently until the mortal went limp and plummeted to the ground below.
GranGran let loose a small shriek but then barked orders at TeaTree in Far Eastern. She spoke so quickly that Frayka understood nothing.
Moments later, TeaTree translated as they piled onto the bench in front of the cart. “When we arrive at the mountain, we’ll tell the guards what we saw. They’ll return to Zangcheen immediately. I’ll give these fabrics to the people who live there as a bribe and a reason to go to the city. These fabrics are worth a small fortune and can be sold easily and quickly in Zangcheen. Everyone will go to Zangcheen to make sure no one gets cheated out of their share. Once that happens, no one will be left to stand in our way or spy on what we do. Then we’ll climb to the Gate of Air.”
TeaTree snapped the reins, and the horses bolted across the deserted plain toward the fingerling mountain.
Sitting on the bench between TeaTree and GranGran, Frayka felt stunned by the memory of a portent that might have saved Emperor Po’s life if Frayka had understood it. She wondered if she had allowed the portent to complete itself that it would have made itself clear.
At the same time, Frayka remembered how mortified she’d felt when Ming Mo captured her as his bride and the way Emperor Po had sent her to the Hall of Concubines. Even if that decision had been for her own safety, Frayka would have preferred her freedom and the solid feel of her dagger in hand. She would have preferred to fight for herself like any normal Northlander would do in such a situation.
And Frayka reminded herself that because of Emperor Po, she didn’t know what had happened to Njall or if her husband still lived.
For a dreadful moment, Frayka didn’t know if she would have warned Emperor Po of his impending death even if it had been possible to do so.
* * *
The next afternoon, the citizens of Zangcheen lined the streets while the body of Emperor Po was carted in a polished black box through the city.
Unseen, the ghost of Emperor Po followed mourners dressed in dark robes, moaning and wailing. The royal guards who pulled the cart bore painted black streaks on their faces to represent tears. When Emperor Po saw those black streaks smeared by genuine tears, his appreciation for his beloved guards deepened.
This is my nightmare come true. But now I know it was me who died.
After hours of moving through the city streets, the procession made its way into the royal complex. Emperor Po saw his many aides, and allies, his concubines, and his wife. They all looked drawn and pale. His children joined the procession in front of the guards.
Except for his eldest, Ti.
When Emperor Po died, his spirit saw all things that led to his death. He saw Madam Po stay true to her promise and seek him out to deliver the water from the Fountain of Immortality.
He saw Ti convince Madam Po to hand the precious goods over. He reviewed Ti’s steps toward the royal bedrooms and read the thoughts that crossed her face before she drank all of the water herself. Prior to that, he saw her convince the magician’s son to create a tableau in the Temple of Dark and Light that caused Ming Shen’s death as well as his own.
My decision to create a new law made Ti’s choice possible. But all the existing laws made her fearful. I now see how freely men live but how fear devours women and ruins their lives.
Ti needed tremendous strength to resist temptation. I know that strength exists in Ti.
But her fear was greater than her strength.
Emperor Po saw the back of the grand yellow robes and the square black tasseled hat of the ruler of the Wulong Province. Although he couldn’t see the new emperor’s face, he knew it must be Ti.
There she is.
The guards carried the polished box into the royal Temple of Passing. All others bowed their heads and remained outside the temple.
The new emperor walked to the entrance of the Temple of Passing. She faced the temple until the royal guards emerged from it. When she signaled by raising her arms, fire ignited inside the temple.
Unlike the nightmare in which flames had shot out of the emperor’s fingers and burned out quickly, Emperor Po’s ghost knew the fire would burn for a long time. Long enough to reduce his mortal body to ashes.
The new Emperor Ti faced the funeral guests.
The hardened expression on her face broke the heart of her father’s ghost.
* * *
Once alone on the fingerling mountain with GranGran and TeaTree, Frayka felt overwhelmed with anxiety.
Fortunately, the climb up the mountain wore Frayka out. By the time they arrived at the sparkling crystal Gate of Air, she felt too exhausted to make the demands she would have been tempted to make under normal circumstances. And when they passed through the gate and the world around them changed from a barren mountaintop to a lush garden, the surprise combined with exhaustion made her speechless.
“Kikita!” GranGran shouted.
A young Far Eastern woman stepped down through the air as if walking down an invisible staircase. She appeared solid and mortal, but when the wind shifted, she looked more like a ghost. When Kikita spoke, her words were in Northlander. “This must be your great-granddaughter. Hello, Frayka.”
In that moment, two things happened at once.
First, Frayka recognized Kikita as the woman who had appeared in the portent she experienced when Ming Mo captured Frayka as his bride. Although Kikita had failed to introduce herself, she had warned Frayka to heed GranGran’s advice.
Second, Frayka understood why GranGran had insisted she learn respect from the moment Frayka arrived in the Far East.
Frayka suspected that she faced a dragon goddess. Having seen how little the Far East seemed to value its women, Frayka wondered how those laws made a dragon goddess feel. Thinking what it would be like to walk in the shoes of a dragon goddess, Frayka imagined a good way to evaluate any mortal would be by how much respect they showed to a goddess.
Not knowing what else to do, Frayka bowed and said, “Hello, my goddess.”
Kikita laughed whole-heartedly. “You’re a Northlander! I’m not your goddess.”
Looking up with hope, Frayka said, “That’s why I’m here. It’s why I need to see you.” She spoke with passion. “Northlanders forgot who their own gods were. They mistook dragon gods as their own. And the Northlander gods are offended. They told me to find you and set things right.”
Kikita drifted from one side to another, s
miling in amusement. “And how do the Northlander gods want things to be set right?”
Frayka shrugged. “I don’t know. They told me to figure it out myself.”
Frustration tugged at Frayka, and she struggled to keep her tone respectful. “But my husband is lost. I think he’s a slave even though none of us could find out what happened to him.”
Frayka stood tall and looked directly into the goddess’s eyes. “I need your help to find my husband, and I need your help to appease the Northlander gods. Otherwise, they will kill me.”
Kikita reached out to take Frayka’s hands in hers.
Frayka suppressed a shudder at the cool touch that chilled her bones.
“I helped a Northlander many years ago,” Kikita said. “Not one who looked like you, but a Northlander nonetheless. I promised myself I was done with mortals.”
With every ounce of determination she could muster, Frayka kept her calm. “So, you will let me die? And my husband die?”
Kikita inhaled deeply, seeming to draw in all the air she could hold. When she stopped, the goddess became as solid as a mortal. “Fortunately for you, your great-grandmother and I have a long history. I would let you and your husband die if it would not cause her such great distress.”
When Kikita squeezed Frayka’s hands, the goddess’s skin felt warm and solid.
“Good,” Frayka said. “When do we begin?”
Kikita laughed. “All in good time. But there seems to be a misunderstanding.”
Puzzled, Frayka said, “What misunderstanding?”
Letting go of Frayka’s hands, Kikita backed away and gestured to the garden surrounding them. “The Gate of Air and all it contains is my domain. I am the dragon goddess of air.”
Frayka’s frustration got the better of her, and she clenched her fists. But before she could speak, she felt GranGran’s warning hand on her shoulder and stayed silent.
“You teach the child well, Madam Po,” Kikita said. “But you mentioned nothing about the other dragon gods?”
Stunned, Frayka turned around to look at her great-grandmother. “Other gods?”
GranGran smiled.
“I’m not the only one,” Kikita said. “And if you want to find a way to appease the Northlander gods, you will need the help of the dragon gods of air, earth, fire, and water.”
Despite Kikita’s youthful appearance, Frayka was convinced the goddess had to be her elder. Frayka stayed focused on the lessons she’d learned from GranGran about respecting her elders.
At the same time, Frayka also remembered one of the last things her father told her: Don’t you never lose who you are. It be the most precious thing you ever possess.
Frayka took her father’s advice.
I may walk with one foot in the Far East because I look like GranGran, but I’m still a Northlander. My people are warriors. We fear no fight. And my ancestors lived among real dragons, not just dragon gods and goddesses.
Frayka remembered the strategy she had thought of while staying protected inside the circle she’d drawn around herself in the Hall of Concubines.
I can be like a dragon. I will dig a hole by the side of a road. I will hide inside it and cover myself with leaves. I will stay disguised until my prey walks by, and then I will attack.
I will find you, Njall. I will find all the gods and goddesses I need, and we will figure out how to make things right with the Northlander gods.
After all, Frayka already had one dragon goddess who agreed to help her. All she had to do was find the remaining three dragon gods. Now that Kikita had come on board, then surely Frayka could convince all four of the dragon gods to help her.
And once all the dragon gods agreed to help Frayka, she would figure out a way to make peace between them and the Northlander gods.
“These other dragon gods,” Frayka said. “Do they have their own gates?”
Kikita smiled. “They do.”
“So, I need to travel from gate to gate?”
“You do.” Kikita maintained her smile. “There will be danger.”
Unsurprised, Frayka said, “Because of the dragon gods?”
Finally, Kikita’s smile faded. “Because of the mortals who will stand in your way.”
Why is it that these dragon gods have to live in a land where the gravest danger comes from other mortals? It’s ridiculous that I have to protect myself from my own kind. What am I going to do?
But then Frayka realized for the first time that she already had the best disguise possible because she looked like a Far Eastern woman.
No one knew she had the heart and soul of a powerful Northlander.
But they would soon find out.
Gate of Earth
by Resa Nelson
Gate of Earth
Copyright © 2017 by Resa Nelson
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Cover Art © 2017 by Eric Wilder
Second Edition December 2018
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the invention of the author, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, event, or locale is entirely coincidental.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many thanks to my fellow author Carla Johnson, who read this novel before publication and gave me excellent feedback. I also very much appreciate the wonderful help and feedback I received from fellow author Alison Chan.
Also, thanks to Sydney Lee for reaching out and sharing her thoughts about race and female characters in fiction. Thank you, Sydney, for our conversations and for your thoughts about this novel. If not for the inspiration from our conversations, this series wouldn’t exist.
CHAPTER 1
Frayka paced in a garden filled with the scent of chrysanthemums just beyond the Gate of Air.
Her great-grandmother spoke to a dragon goddess in a language Frayka didn’t understand. Although a Northlander by birth, Frayka looked like her great-grandmother, the only Far Eastern relative in Frayka’s family of blondes. Frayka’s long black hair whipped in the wind while she walked back and forth. Like her great-grandmother, Frayka had golden brown skin and dark eyes.
Frayka didn’t care what GranGran and the dragon goddess talked about. Frayka had her own problems to worry about.
Is my husband still alive? How can I find Njall? How can I help him?
The memory of being in the court of Zangcheen haunted Frayka. When a Far Eastern man tried to capture her as his bride—not knowing she already had a husband—Frayka had fought back just like any Northlander woman would do. Northlanders considered men and women to have equal value, and all people learned to defend themselves at a young age.
As a matter of habit, Frayka reached for the dagger she always kept under her belt only to remember that she now wore the garb of a Far Easterner and that her dagger had been taken away when she was in court to face the horrible man who captured her for a bride. How surprised he’d been when the emperor ruled against him. And even more surprised when the emperor failed to punish Frayka for defending herself.
The people in this country are mad! How can they be so cruel?
When the merchant TeaTree entered the conversation, Frayka paused and strained to try to understand his words. TeaTree had begun teaching Frayka and her husband Njall words of the Far Eastern language and how to piece them together. But Far Easterners spoke so quickly that Frayka found it hard to pick out any of the words she’d learned. When TeaTree spoke Far Eastern, she found it easier to understand him even though she recognized few of the words he said.
GranGran was right all along. I need to learn the language. And I have to show respect to the dragon goddess Kikita and all the Far Easterners. Otherwise, they might kill me.
Frayka had always believed respect must be earned, and she didn’t offer it lightly to anyone. But things were different in the Far East. For the first time in her life, she understood that showing respect was a way to defend and protect herself. Here in the Far East, showing respect could be as useful as a weapon.
For that reason, she continued pacing until the conversation between GranGran, Kikita, and TeaTree came to a conclusion. When they stopped talking, Frayka stepped forward. “How do I find Njall?”
The dragon goddess Kikita smiled, and her appearance shimmered like heat rising from a desert floor. “I thought you came here to ask for my help in making amends with the Northlander gods.”
Frayka shifted from one anxious foot to another. She had been focused on figuring out how to strike a bargain of peace between the dragon gods of the Far East and the Northlander gods. If she failed, the Northlander gods would kill her out of spite. “I did. But my husband is in danger. The Northlander gods can wait.”
GranGran chuckled and exchanged a smirk with Kikita.
What’s going on between those two? How long have they known each other? And how did my great-grandmother come to know a dragon goddess?
“We find Njall,” GranGran said in broken Northlander. “You stay.”
Baffled, Frayka turned toward TeaTree for an explanation.
TeaTree cleared his throat and fidgeted. “It has been decided that we will return to Zangcheen while you remain here.”
“Here?” Frayka reminded herself to be respectful. “Why should I stay here when I can help you find Njall?”
“Delicate matter,” GranGran said.
“Quite delicate,” TeaTree said. “Now that we’ve had the chance to share our experiences, the truth becomes clear. After you were taken from court to the Hall of Concubines, Emperor Po requested an audience with Madam.” TeaTree gestured toward GranGran. “The emperor revealed that he kept Njall as a servant.”
“Then it’s easy to get him back!” Frayka said, feeling hopeful. “All we have to do is go back to the palace and take Njall with us.”
“Not so easy,” GranGran said. She shook her head in dismay.
Frayka didn’t know if her great-grandmother’s dismay was for Njall’s forced servitude or Frayka’s apparent naivety.