by Claire Luana
“A lovely name. Tell me how you wooed her? I do appreciate a good love story.”
He hesitated for a moment. “Her father was a blacksmith. We were camped for a few days outside of her village and my horse threw a shoe. I took it in, and when I saw her . . . I knew. I sabotaged the shoes on three other horses before I worked up the nerve to ask her father for her hand. We married that day, and she rode with me when we broke camp.” He recited the story with a wistful smile.
“She gave up her whole life for you, just like that?” The queen asked.
“Yes,” he said. “She likes living in Kistana well enough, but I worry about her and the children, since I’ve been gone so long.”
“Children too?” The queen asked.
“Yes. Two little girls, five and three.”
“Delightful ages.”
“They are a handful,” he chuckled.
“You have given me much to think on . . . what is your name?”
“Thorin.”
“Thorin. I can tell that your family means a great deal to you. So here is what I am going to do.”
He leaned forward eagerly.
“I am going to send my most capable women to Kistana, where they will locate Thorin’s lovely wife Varya and his two darling daughters. They are going to bring them back here, and for every moonburner you refuse to mate with, I will let ten of my soldiers have their way with your wife.”
“You bitch!” he said, exploding to his feet. “You tricked me!”
The queen held up her hand, using moonlight to thread currents of burning air around him as tight as ropes. “And if you still refuse to cooperate, I will let my soldiers have their way with your daughters, while you and Varya watch.”
He struggled furiously, eyes bulging, face purple with rage.
The queen stepped before him, looking calmly into his livid eyes. “I will have your cooperation. It is up to you whether we do this the easy way or the hard way.”
He glared at her, body taught and quivering, before finally sagging in defeat. He nodded.
“Excellent!” Queen Airi said, clapping her hands.
She turned on her heel, pausing in the doorway where Geisa stood. “And that is how it is done.”
CHAPTER 34
Kai dropped her mother off in the forest outside of Kyuden, by the waterfall. It wasn’t safe for her in the city or in the citadel. Someone might recognize her.
When Quitsu and Kai landed in the rookery, they were greeted by Nanase striding across the courtyard.
“You look like hell,” Nanase said.
“Nice to see you, too,” Kai said. She looked down at her dirt and ash stained clothes. She did look like hell.
“The queen has requested your presence. Immediately.” Nanase didn’t wait for Kai’s answer, but turned and began walking towards the throne room.
Kai swallowed hard, shooting a glance sideways at Quitsu. Here goes nothing.
The throne room was much as it had been when she had entered it that first night at the citadel. But how things had changed. Queen Airi was seated on the throne, with her doll’s face and perfect beauty. She wore a low-necked gown of pale blue trimmed with white fur and embroidered with tiny silver fishes. Kai knew now what ugliness lay beneath that perfect picture. As always, Geisa stood by her side.
The queen motioned her forward, but did not rise from her throne. “I am glad to have you home safely, daughter. I will leave to Nanase the duty of questioning how you were captured by the sunburners. I need to speak to you of more pressing matters.” She leaned forward, fixing her sharp eyes on Kai. “You know who we hold in our dungeons?”
“I think so, my Queen,” Kai said carefully. The official dungeons, or the secret ones?
“Who is he?”
“Prince Hiro. Heir to the Kitan throne.”
The queen laughed brightly, and the sound reverberated through the room. “Quite right, quite right. We owe you many thanks for leading us right to this little gift. Here we thought we were tracking an errant moonburner and we find ourselves upon the sunburner’s forward camp. A great turn of fortune.”
Kai couldn’t help herself. “Tracking me?”
“I never thought you had deserted,” the queen said, quickly. “I knew something must be wrong. But you must understand, master moonburners are far too precious for one to go . . . missing. We have the means of locating each moonburner if necessary.”
Kai’s body felt cold, but the brand on her neck burned. Was that it? If it was, she could never be free of the citadel.
The queen stood, descending the stairs towards Kai. “I asked you here because it is imperative that you keep quiet about our royal guest, at least for the time being.” She stopped one step in front of Kai and looked her in the eyes. “We have very special plans for him.”
“What are you going to do with him?” Kai asked, knowing she shouldn’t.
The queen laughed again and looked back at Geisa, who grinned. “No one could blame you for being curious. You did deliver a valuable commodity to me, so I suppose I can share our secret. The Oracle has discovered that in a few week’s time, there will be a complete solar eclipse. The sun’s power will be weakened for hours. Prince Hiro is bait, you see. We lure the sunburners here, and just when they think it is safe to attack . . . we will crush them.” The
queen’s voice had grown low and hard.
Kai stepped back involuntarily.
And then, just as quickly, the dark cloud passed from the queen’s face. She brightened again, and clasped her hands together. “You understand what this means, don’t you? We will end this war. Once and for all. And we have you to thank. Well done, Kai.” The queen grasped Kai’s hands and squeezed.
“Yes, my Queen,” Kai mumbled, her stomach a hard pit.
“Now get cleaned up, get some rest, and report to Nanase for further orders.” The queen began to walk back up the steps, but turned.
“One last thing. Geisa told me you have a little memento from Prince Hiro’s seishen. I’m sure he will be so comforted to have a piece of him.” She held out her hand.
Kai fished into her pocket and pulled out the golden claw, which seemed out of place glistening warmly in the sterile white light. She dropped it in the queen’s hand and bowed.
“Aren’t we supposed to report to Nanase?” Quitsu asked, as they walked past the building that housed the faculty offices.
“I don’t care,” Kai said. “I need to see if our friends are ok.”
When they had left, Master Vita had been unconscious, Emi was in the hospital and Maaya had been whipped bloody. She prayed they were all right. She couldn’t do this with just Quitsu. She needed help.
Kai hurried through the front doors of the library, through the stacks and into Master Vita’s bedroom. The bed was empty, the blanket neatly folded on top. Other items were in the process of being packed away; with some of the dresser drawers standing open and empty. Kai’s heart sank.
“We’re too late.” She sat down on the bed slowly, fingering the pair of half-moon spectacles on the bed table.
Emotions washed over her. Master Vita had been her lifeline, her hope. He knew everything, he would have been able to help her find an answer. And now she was alone again.
“Too late for what?” A raspy voice came from the doorway.
She looked up, eyes wide, and rushed to wrap the old man in a crushing embrace. “Master Vita!” she cried. “ I thought the worst.”
He coughed and waved her back. “No need to crush me to death, the consumption is doing just fine at that without your help.”
Her cheeks reddened, and she led him to sit down on the bed.
“Are you all right?” she asked, looking him over carefully. He looked smaller and more frail, but much of his color had returned.
“I’m fine, thank you. That nice moonburner Pura came with the medicine you acquired for me. She was kind enough to come check on me a few times, and has ordered me moved to a room in the hospital ward. Appar
ently, even a man can get care here if he knows the right people.” He winked.
Kai silently thanked Pura for her compassion, sitting down heavily in the chair by the bed. Master Vita looked at Kai quizzically, taking in her torn and ash-covered dress.
“I suspect that you have some story to tell. You get the fire going, and I’ll make us some tea.”
Master Vita made tea and they took seats by the fire in the main room. Weariness entered her as soon as she sat down. Quitsu jumped onto the arm of her chair and leaned against her shoulder.
“To start,” she said. “I know my mother is Azura. I know you helped her fake her death. And she is alive.”
“Oh my,” Master Vita said, taking off his spectacles to clean them with his white cloth. He held them up to the light and put them back on. “I see we do have a lot to talk about.”
Kai shared the events of the last days, explaining about the purple fountain, the spirit world, how she had seen the tiny cameo and discovered her mother was Azura. She described how she had rescued her mother and been kidnapped by Hiro only to be freed by Geisa. She told him about her discovery of the facility. Master Vita listened to it all in rapt attention.
“That is a busy few days. I don’t feel so bad that you didn’t come visit me,” he teased.
“I wish I could have been here,” Kai said, taking the bait, despite his jest. She put her elbows on her knees and ran her hands through her hair. “I don’t know what to do now. I have to get Hiro out. He is a good man and I think he stands a chance of convincing his father to declare a ceasefire. If I don’t . . . Queen Airi will use him as bait to capture the sunburners for her breeding program.”
Master Vita frowned. “How many burners are in the facility?”
“Six sunburners and six moonburners. I think. I didn’t have time to do a thorough census.”
“One female to one male. With most animal breeding programs . . .” Master Vita hesitated.
“I know,” Kai lamented. “I’ve been thinking the same thing. You only need one bull for every 20 to 30 cows.”
“And if Airi is planning on capturing more sunburners . . .”
“She is going to need a lot more moonburners, too,” Kai finished. “How many?” he asked.
“All of them,” she replied.
“This is a predicament.” Master Vita said. “But are you sure you can trust Prince Hiro? That allying yourself with him is the right choice?”
“Yes,” Kai said. “I trust him.”
Master Vita hesitated.
“What’s wrong?” Kai pleaded. “You have to help me.”
“The last time I meddled in affairs of the state, it didn’t end how any of us expected,” Master Vita said. “We ended up with Airi as queen. If I had never helped your mother, she would be queen now, and none of this would be happening.”
“You don’t know that,” Kai said. “Maybe things would have gone even worse if you hadn’t helped. But you tried, that’s the important thing. You did what you thought was right. And if you have regrets, this is your chance to make it right. My mother has agreed to be queen regent until a queen can be chosen.” She decided not to mention her mother’s suggestion about her candidacy for the position.
“Truly?” Master Vita said. “Azura would return to the throne?”
“Yes,” Kai said, with a certainty she did not feel.
That seemed to be the assurance Master Vita needed. He straightened. “What resources do we have?” he asked.
Kai looked around helplessly. “You. Me. Quitsu. Maybe Maaya and Emi. Maybe my mother. Maybe Ryu, Hiro’s seishen.”
“That’s not a lot. It’s going to take more than an old man and one errant moonburner . . .”
“And seishen,” Quitsu piped in.
“And seishen,” he added. “To overthrow the queen.”
“We know where they are keeping him. Or at least, I know a place I suspect they are keeping him. And they are keeping others there against their will. If we could get them out, the sunburners could help Hiro escape. The moonburners might even help too. Or could act as a diversion.”
Kai pictured the angry pregnant moonburners pouring from their underground holding cells. Yes, the queen would likely have some questions to answer if that happened.
“So we need to figure out a way to help the prisoners escape,” Master Vita said thoughtfully.
“I suppose so,” Kai said. “I wish there was a way to get sunlight down there. They would be able to burn their way out of those cells in no time.”
Quitsu chimed in, helping with the brainstorming. “Could we break open the rock above the facility? Or . . . mirrors? Or some sort of storage device?”
Master Vita whirled to look at Quitsu. “What did you say?”
Quitsu sat up. “Break open the rock?”
“After that.”
“Mirrors?”
“No,” Master Vita said impatiently. “After that.”
“A storage device. A way to transport sunlight into the cavern.”
“Yes, like a moonstone, but for sunlight.” Kai looked at Master Vita, hope blossoming in her chest. “Does something like that exist?”
Master Vita nodded, a smile growing on his lined face. “Don’t you remember your History lessons, Kai?”
“Madame Furie hated me,” Kai grumbled. “I tried to get through that class as fast as possible.”
“When the first two burners were born, Taiyo and Tsuki crowned them with the celestial crowns.”
“So?” Kai asked, not tracking.
Master Vita looked at her, exasperated. “Don’t you remember the legends about the crowns?”
Kai searched her memory. “They glowed with the light of the sun and moon, even during the night and day?”
“Exactly!” Master Vita said, expectantly.
Kai shook her head in exasperation. “So? They glowed. Who cares?”
“They stored the light of the sun and moon, even during the opposite time
of the celestial cycle. They were storage devices.”
“Are they real?” Quitsu asked. “I thought they were just legend.”
“They are real,” Master Vita said, quietly. “The queen wears the lunar crown.”
“So all we have to do is steal the queen’s crown off her head?” Kai said, rolling her eyes. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“No,” Quitsu said. “If we want to help the sunburners escape, we need the solar crown. We need to help the sunburners burn their way out during the day, when the moonburners are at their weakest. That’s the only way they stand a prayer of escaping.”
“So we need to steal King Ozora’s crown?” Kai asked. This task was seeming more and more impossible.
“Yes,” Master Vita said. “And no. King Ozora doesn’t have the solar crown. The citadel does.”
CHAPTER 35
“In my younger years, before I worked as a tutor and librarian, I was charged with cataloguing the royal treasury,” Master Vita explained. “I spent a lot of time down there, and saw all sorts of interesting trinkets.”
“Down there?” Kai said, wearily. “Where is it located?”
“It is underneath the wing that contains the queen’s chambers and guard’s quarters. The entryway is located in the queen’s antechamber.”
Kai threw up her hands. “You must think me far more capable than I do, Master Vita. How are we supposed to sneak in and out of the queen’s chambers undetected? They are crawling with guards and servants. Not to mention the queen herself.”
“Let me finish before you get all doom and gloom,” Master Vita said. “All the underground complexes under the citadel were built with at least two entrances, for air flow and fear of cave-ins. No one wants to be trapped underground, especially a sorceress whose power is derived from the moon.”
“So where is the other entrance?”
“It’s in the Oracle’s tower.”
Kai chewed on her fingernail absentmindedly as she thought. “Not a lot of people in
the Oracle’s tower. We could get in. Is the treasury guarded?”
“It has not been guarded in recent years, due to declining population in the citadel. But it is warded with some nasty tricks. I know how to disarm all of them, or at least I do if they haven’t changed,” he said, with a touch of pride.
“It’s a risk we’ll have to take. We don’t have any other options,” Kai said. “You will have to explain how to disarm the wards.”
“What do you mean?” Master Vita said, crossing his frail arms in front of him. “I’m coming with you.”
“Master Vita . . . I don’t doubt that you would be a valuable addition to the team,” Kai said. “But I am worried about your health. Are you honestly up to the task?”
He straightened, tossing his cane to the floor. “I have spent my life dedicated to Miina, this citadel and the moonburners. I have seen what I loved twisted into something it was never meant to be. If my last days can be spent ensuring that Queen Airi does not destroy all the burners left in this world, then I will move heaven and earth to do so.” He looked intently into her eyes.
“I believe you,” Kai said, softening. “And it means everything to know I am not alone in this. Thank you.”
“Now hand me my cane back,” Master Vita said.
Quitsu chuffed with laughter.
They decided that the best time to attempt the infiltration would be during the daytime, when the Oracle and any curious guards were likely to be asleep. They still had a few hours left until daybreak, and so Kai went to visit Emi.
Kai found her in the hospital ward, sitting up cross-legged on the bed, flipping through a book.
“Kai!” Emi exclaimed, leaping off the bed and flinging her arms around her. As Emi pulled back from the embrace, Kai saw that the whole left side of Emi’s face, ear and head were still swathed in white bandages.
“Oh, Emi . . .” Kai said, her heart going out to her friend.
“What, this?” Emi said, with a nonchalant flip of her hand. “It’s just a scratch. Builds character.” She grimaced, pressing a hand to her bandages. “It hurts to smile.”
“Are you okay?” Kai said, sitting down on the bed with her.