by Cindy Lin
They were invited to stay with the former mine captives, who called themselves the Miners. “Come to our camp and meet everyone,” said Imugi. “We’ll cook up something delicious to celebrate. I can’t believe you’ve brought my sister back to me.”
Goru looked at the tents in the quarry, puzzled. “This isn’t your camp?”
With a laugh, Imugi shook his head. “We were just doing scouting runs. There are more of us, in a place not far from here—but it’d be near impossible to find without guidance.”
Beaming, Tora slipped her hand in his. “Let’s go.”
Her brother led them through the old marble quarry. It was an extensive, winding chasm excavated in the earth, full of places to hide among the fallen boulders and slag heaps, with small nooks that provided good cover. As they went farther into the quarry, the walls of the old mine closed in and their route became increasingly narrow. Before long they were at a point that seemed like an impassable dead end. But Usagi’s ears picked up the low whistle of wind, carrying the musty scent of dark and damp. It was coming from an opening in the rock, hidden by boulders placed in an alternating pattern. They squeezed through the makeshift maze, Goru with some difficulty, until at last they were fully underground.
“Watch your head,” Imugi told Goru, who hunched over. They were in a lengthy, narrow tunnel, dimly lit with torches dipped in pitch. “We dug this—it goes right under the Ring Road. It takes us straight into the farthest corners of Marble Gorge.”
Usagi caught her breath. She exchanged excited glances with Tora. It was just as Tora had envisioned. They would soon be in the Marble Gorge. It was famed for its beauty, the quality of the marble found around it, and for its size. Much of the sprawling network of its canyons was unmapped. The main entry point had long been closed off by the Guard, for fear that Midagians would try to hide there.
The ground grew uneven and treacherous, covered in a knobby carpet of pale veined marble that shifted with each step. Picking her way carefully with her walking stick, Usagi tried not to turn an ankle on the stones underfoot as she hurried to keep up. At last the air that whistled past them became cool and fresh, and a glimmer of light appeared in the distance, like a star in the night sky. After what seemed like hours in the dark, the tunnel spat them out into an immense gorge that stretched as far as the eye could see.
Jagged gray cliffs peeled away from them in all directions, standing in intricate formations that reached high into the afternoon sky. Tiny cavities pierced the walls surrounding them, creating a lacy, silver veil of stone. The sound of rushing water echoed through the air. Before long, they came upon a vast river. Usagi gasped. The riverbed was covered with white marble rocks, and the water tumbling over them was the turquoise blue of a peacock’s feather, turning vividly green at the shallow edges of the river.
“The Peacock River,” said Imugi. He smiled, displaying teeth strikingly similar to Tora’s. “Takes your breath away, doesn’t it?” It was even prettier than Sun Moon Lake. Usagi followed the others as they knelt on large rocks at the river’s edge and dipped their hands into the clear green water. The cool liquid felt almost alive as it swirled around her fingers, and tasted deliciously sweet. Usagi splashed it on her face, washing away the dust, smoke, and sweat of their journey through the graveyard the Miners called the Shadowlands.
“Whatever you do, stay close to the river,” warned Tora’s brother. “There are countless ways of getting lost here, but the surest way is straying from the water.”
He led the group along the riverbed, which wound and twisted through the gorge like a giant snake. Tufts of bushes and other plant growth appeared, dusting the surfaces of the forbidding rock with patches of green. Usagi spotted a couple of hawks sailing overhead, tracing lazy circles in the blue sky. As she tried to take it all in, her legs fought to find stable footing on the marble stones that paved the riverbed, and her walking stick saved her from a spill more than once. But the majesty of the gorge kept her going, eager to see what sights were next. Just as her wobbly legs felt as if they were about to give out, Imugi took a turn and climbed away from the river, up a rough path.
“I thought we weren’t supposed to stray from the river,” said Usagi.
“You aren’t,” he agreed. “Unless you’re headed to the Miners’ Den.”
He pointed to the towering cliff before them, where the dark maw of a cave yawned. It looked rather ominous, like the mouth of a stone giant, a jagged fringe of rock lining its lip as if it were baring its teeth for a bite.
“Not the jolliest-looking place, is it?” commented Goru.
Inu’s dark eyes narrowed as he surveyed the cave entrance. “I wonder . . . could it . . . ?” he muttered.
The path steepened on the approach and Usagi’s walking stick slipped a few times. She soon found herself nearly crawling on all fours. “It’s definitely not easy to get to,” she huffed, climbing behind Tora and the others.
Reaching the top of the path, Tora turned to give Usagi a helping hand and gasped. “Stars and spirits.”
Usagi heaved to her feet and turned to look. All around them was a citadel of silver stone. The river sparkled below like a necklace of aquamarines and emeralds, the white marble banks an edging of pearls. The hum of the rushing river echoed from the floor of the gorge, punctuated by cries of the hawks drifting overhead.
“What a view!” Goru whistled. “You can see everything from here.”
Tora’s brother smiled proudly. “No worrying about surprise attacks.” He ushered them into a cavern hundreds of paces deep, large enough to hold several of the Western Plains’ biggest rice fields. Usagi stopped, awed. The arched rock ceiling was so high that she had to crane her neck to see where it began. A bright beam of sunlight poured from a cleft in the ceiling and splashed across the center of the cavern, illuminating a large ring of stones. A group of Miners, all sporting the same brand on their cheek, were sitting on the stones, talking and laughing. Upon spotting Imugi, they jumped up. “You’re back! How’d the scouting go?”
“Look what we’ve brought back with us,” said Imugi. He presented Tora, who was welcomed with exclamations of wonder, Usagi, who smiled and bowed, and Inu and Goru, who did the same. As they were introduced, Usagi counted nearly two dozen Miners of varying ages who were making the cave their home, all of whom had zodiac powers of some sort. A few were adults, though none much older than Imugi, who was twenty-six. The others were younglings in a range of ages, with the youngest at eleven. Other than the time she’d sneaked into the Dragon Academy to rescue her sister, Usagi had never been around so many with powers. She felt strangely at home.
Panri and the other scouts showed their visitors to a cozy nook where they could deposit their meager belongings. Tora quickly dumped her pack and walking stick and ran back to the circle of stones, anxious to be by her brother’s side. Usagi and the boys took their time, setting up their bedrolls and wandering about the cavern, getting a good look before rejoining everyone.
Long wooden torches dipped in pitch were set in the walls, which were covered in paintings. Primitive lines and simple shapes in colors of reddish umber, chalk white, and charcoal black depicted figures in scenes of activity. Some were no bigger than Usagi’s hand and others life-sized. She stepped closer to look. Though the paint was powdery and flaking off in places, she could still make out the forms—some human, some of animals. Usagi got the feeling the paintings were very old.
“It’s as I thought,” whispered Inu. He pointed to a tableau of three figures. One looked like a great cat with dagger-like fangs. Another appeared to be a horse, and what might have been a hare, long-eared with its haunches in midleap. The animals were running after each other, hunting. Or being hunted. “This is no ordinary cave—we’re in the Painted Hollow. It’s one of the sacred spaces of the Twelve.” The Dog Heir’s eyes flashed with excitement.
Goru leaned over them both to look. “I don’t understand—I thought the shrine on Mount Jade was the sacred space of the Twel
ve.”
“It is,” said Inu. “But it’s not the only place with meaning for the Warriors. One of the First Tribes used to live here in the Marble Gorge. Before there was a kingdom, or the Twelve—before this island even had a name—this cave was their secret gathering space, where they held ceremonies and special rituals.” He nodded at the circle of rocks. “After the first Twelve Warriors of the Zodiac assembled, the Painted Hollow came under their guardianship—until the war.”
Usagi looked over at Tora and the Miners, gathered at the stone ring. She counted exactly twelve boulders, shaped like giant claws rising from the cave floor. They reminded her of the curved jade bead that the Tigress had made to replace the missing piece in the Jewels of Land and Sea. “What a happy coincidence that the Miners found this place,” she said. “It feels like a sign.”
“It is a sign,” agreed Inu. “Great things have happened here. The spirits of the Twelve are with us yet.”
Goru smiled. “Let’s hope they’ll help us hunt down the last missing Treasure.”
There was a flurry of new activity and excited voices around the circle of stones. Imugi and some of the other Miners were piling wood by the firepit at the circle’s center. Tora turned and waved Usagi and the boys over. “We’re going to have firepot!”
Her brother’s snaggleteeth glinted. “What’s more celebratory than cooking and eating together? It’s been a while since we’ve had a chance to enjoy firepot.” He looked over their shoulders. “Watch your backs—the pot is coming through!”
Panri and another Miner carried a battered iron vessel, so large and and heavy that they could barely walk. It looked like a former smelting cauldron, and was filled with water that sloshed and splashed with every step. “Here, let me,” offered Goru, and lifted the iron pot easily out of their grasp. He placed it in the firepit, and Imugi stoked the fire with more wood. As the flames leaped and crackled, heating the water, everyone prepared ingredients for the meal.
Usagi helped with cleaning water spinach and cattail shoots from the river, wild tubers, and handfuls of mushrooms, chopping them down into small pieces so that everything would cook quickly. Goru and Inu cut wild garlic and onions, sniffling and wiping their eyes at the pungent fumes, until Inu couldn’t take it anymore and went to help a couple of Miners with preparing game. There was a small haunch of mountain goat, which they shaved into the thinnest of slices.
“This isn’t like the firepot we used to have for winter soltice celebrations,” Tora remarked to her brother, rinsing off some foraged chicory stems and fern heads.
Imugi chuckled. “I’m sorry we don’t have platters of beef and lamb, or your favorite sweet cabbage, or any fancy sauces. We’ve mostly had to make do with what we can find and hunt here in the gorge. But we supplement. A raid on a mine caravan gets us enough outside supplies for a while.”
Usagi remembered the provisions in their packs. “Would you like some preserved dried boar?”
“That’d be a fine addition! It will make the broth taste even better.” Imugi happily accepted.
At last, the water in the cauldron was bubbling merrily, steam rising in clouds. Salt and spices were thrown in, and feedsticks were distributed. Everyone crowded around the pot. “Let’s eat!” said Imugi.
They dunked the prepared foods in the scalding water, and as pieces of game or wild vegetable cooked through, they were fished out with feedsticks and dipped in an improvised sauce of beaten eggs from the nests of cliff swallows. Usagi had enjoyed firepot feasts before—she still remembered helping her mother grind toasted sesame seeds for their dipping sauce, and swishing sheets of tender lamb through boiling water till they were ready to eat. But the sight of the Miners, their cheeks branded with identical scars, gobbling up hard-won tidbits of meat and laughing as they fought for the same cattail shoot in the pot—Usagi blinked back a sudden tear. They’d all been through so much, which made the meal feel special, even with the humblest of ingredients.
Before long, every last scrap and morsel had been cooked and eaten. Their faces were flushed and warm from clustering around the firepot. All that was left was the water, transformed into a bubbling broth smelling fragrant and savory. “I’ve got a surprise for us,” Tora’s brother announced. “In honor of my sister and her friends.”
Panri approached the circle bearing an enormous bowl of steaming rice. The Miners all made appreciative noises, and clapped as the youngling upended the bowl over the cauldron and stirred the rice into the broth, rich with all that had cooked in it. The rice would absorb the flavors in the pot and thicken the broth, making a wonderful soup.
“Where did you get all that rice?” asked Tora, eyes round. Usagi wondered the same thing. Rice was hard to come by even in the Western Plains where it was grown, let alone the untamed Marble Gorge.
“We have our ways,” said her brother with a mysterious smile. He gestured to Panri, who bent down. Imugi cupped his hand around Panri’s ear. Focusing her rabbit hearing, Usagi listened in.
“Did you make sure the hammer is secure?” asked Tora’s brother quietly.
“It’s hidden in its usual spot,” Panri murmured.
Imugi gave a grunt of approval. “Good job. Thank you, Boar Boy.”
A shiver of excitement ran through Usagi. She leaned over to Inu and Goru. “The Conjurer is somewhere right in this cave,” she whispered. “We have to find it.”
Chapter 15
Hunting the Conjurer
USAGI PEERED THROUGH THE SMALL cavern, the only light from glow worms clinging to the rough stone walls. She kept her hand on Tora’s shoulder as Tora used her sharp vision to lead them through an offshoot of the Painted Hollow. Inu and Goru followed closely behind, Goru bent nearly double to avoid hitting his head on the low ceiling. Something fluttered around Usagi’s face and she squealed.
“Spitting spirits—I’m being attacked!” Ducking, she threw her arms over her head.
Tora snorted. “It’s just a moth.”
As the boys sniggered, Usagi straightened, her cheeks warming. She tossed her braids over her shoulders. “Laugh if you like. But don’t come crying to me if something in these caves decides to make you its snack.”
“It was your idea to go looking for the Conjurer,” Goru pointed out. “We’ve been into four caves so far and found nothing but glow worms, a bunch of mushrooms, and plenty of rocks. No hammer.” Brraaaap. A noxious smell wafted through the atmosphere. “Oh, sorry.”
“Son of a wind god, Goru,” growled Inu, pulling his collar over his nose. “Stop doing that.”
Goru waved a giant hand, trying to clear the air. “I’m not the only one who’s been having stomach trouble. You said yourself it’s a sign that the rice was conjured by the Treasure.”
“Too bad we can’t conjure this away.” Tora muffled a laugh. She hurried them forward. “Come on. The faster we get away from it, the better.”
It was true that they’d all been having the same problem since the firepot meal. For Usagi, it was just the proof she needed to convince the others to go searching for the hammer: food produced by the Conjurer had the unfortunate side effect of giving the eater a lot of gas. Usagi had read that it was because the food disappeared midway through the body, leaving nothing but air. It made for a few uncomfortable moments as they explored the smaller caves that branched from the main cavern of the Painted Hollow. But it only confirmed Usagi’s belief that Panri had used the Treasure to create the rice, and stashed the hammer somewhere nearby.
Tora had tried to get her brother to talk about the Conjurer, asking him where his fancy oxblood clothing had gone when he and the other scouts appeared in ragged, patched clothing. But just as he had avoided answering her question about the rice, he was cagey, even when she hinted that she’d seen Panri’s clothes change right before her eyes. Finally, despite Usagi’s warnings not to say anything directly, Tora had become impatient and asked him point-blank about the Treasure. “I know you have a powerful hammer. It creates whatever you wish for—
but everything it makes disappears after a day. Can’t you show it to me?”
But much to Tora’s disappointment, Imugi pretended not to understand. “A hammer that grants all your wishes? What a fun dream tale. I’d wish for a palace and a herd of the finest horses. Maybe a few chests of gold. Or a suit of armor made of pure jade, straight from the sacred mount herself.” He changed the subject, and a frustrated Tora stalked off.
“I don’t know why he won’t talk to me,” she’d complained.
“I told you not to say anything,” Usagi scolded. “Now he’s going to be suspicious. I don’t blame him for not trusting us—if you had something like the Conjurer in your possession, would you go around telling outsiders?”
“But I’m his sister!”
Inu had interjected. “We’ll just have to go looking for it, like Usagi said.”
So now they were roaming down yet another narrow corridor in hopes of finding a place where the hammer could be safely hidden. The Painted Hollow itself was an enormous cavern, where everything was in the open. It was in the connecting nooks and grottos where people could sleep undisturbed and find privacy. The Heirs and Heirlings had quietly wandered off and discovered that there was an entire network of smaller caves. Yet as they explored the system, nothing turned up. Then Tora’s sharp tiger eyes had noticed a smear of charcoal at the entrance to the passageway they were in now. Usagi prayed they would find the hammer here.
Tora came to an abrupt halt, and Usagi bumped into her, followed rapidly by Inu and Goru. “Ow!” exclaimed Usagi. “What’s wrong?”
“It looks like the end,” said Tora. “There’s a big boulder here. But there’s also . . . a handle?” She tried pulling at a thick metal bar, then pushing. “I think it’s supposed to move this rock—it’s some sort of lever. But it seems stuck.”
Goru rubbed his hands. “Here, let me. Stand back.” He stepped up to the boulder, and with a grunt, wrenched it out of the way. The metal bar clattered to the ground.