by Claire Luana
“Consider it done.” Nanase said.
“What’s the damage?” Kai asked.
“Tsuki’s temple, which is ironic. Part of the rookery, the kitchens and cellars are totally collapsed.”
Kai couldn’t keep the dismay off her face.
“Our god and goddess are trying to starve us out. But we’ll make do. We’ll dig out and salvage what we can.”
Kai nodded, trying to fight her growing sense of despair. “Casualties?”
“A few. We’re still digging.”
“Thank you. Keep me posted.”
“Oh,” Nanase said, a flash of guilt crossing her face. “I heard your mother was taken to the hospital ward.”
“What?” Kai exclaimed.
Nanase’s next words were lost on the hot breeze, as Kai was already running across the courtyard.
Kai burst into the hospital ward. “My mother,” she asked a nurse, who was busy wrapping gauze around a young woman’s arm. The nurse nodded towards the back of the hospital ward, not looking up from her work.
Kai scanned the room, past the injured and those busily tending them. There she was! At the end standing over a cot.
Kai ran up to her breathlessly. “I could kill Nanase,” Kai said. “She told me you were here. I thought you’d been injured.”
Hanae clucked her tongue. “Don’t be too hard on her. She might not have known. Will you help me turn her? I want to get a look at her back, see if there is any bruising.”
Kai looked down at the patient her mother was tending and sighed. “Oh, Chiya,” Kai said, rounding the cot to help her mother. “Is she all right?”
“She should be fine. She was in the armory when it happened; she’s lucky she wasn’t impaled by a dozen different weapons. A shelf collapsed on her.”
“Why is she unconscious?”
“I sedated her,” Hanae said, pursing her lips. “I wanted to make sure she didn’t have internal bleeding, but she refused to sit still to be looked at. I did what I had to.”
Together, Kai and her mother lifted Chiya’s shoulder and back, rolling her onto her side. Kai knelt by the cot, holding Chiya’s body while her mother lifted the woman’s shirt, probing her back with deft fingers.
Watching her mother work, Kai noticed that Chiya had a tan birthmark in the shape of a perfect heart on her spine. “I bet she hates that,” Kai said, pointing, a half-smile crossing her face. “Doesn’t fit her tough girl reputation.”
Hanae’s hands stopped moving.
“Mother?” Kai asked. Hanae’s face had turned pale. Kai nudged her with her shoulder. “Mother.”
Hanae started, as if realizing where she was. She pulled Chiya’s shirt down. “You can set her down.”
Kai carefully returned the full weight of Chiya’s unconscious body to the bed and stood, stretching her knees.
Hanae had stepped back and stood staring at Chiya, one hand to her chest.
“What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Kai said.
“Do you know anything about Chiya’s background?” Hanae asked faintly.
“Her background? Like her family?” Kai frowned, trying to remember what she had heard. “She was raised in the citadel. She was one of the babies who were rescued from the Tottori Desert after King Ozora started the Gleaming. I don’t think they know who her parents were.”
“How old is she?”
“A few years older than me, I think? I’m not sure. Why?”
Hanae had not moved. A tear trickled down her face. “I think Chiya is your sister.”
Her mother’s words froze Kai in place. Sister. She had known her parents had had a child before she’d been born, and that the little baby’s power had been exposed in the Gleaming, the terrible sunburner tradition of testing and then leaving babies with moonburning ability in the Tottori Desert to die.
But…alive? And…Chiya?
“How…do you know?”
Hanae’s face was radiant through her tears. “Your sister, Saeko… She had a birthmark just like Chiya’s. A heart on her back.”
“And Saeko was left in the desert?”
“Yes,” Hanae said. “We didn’t live in Ushai shoen then; we lived closer to the Chiritsu plain.”
“They told me that the Oracle would see visions about where the babies were dropped. The moonburners would retrieve them.”
“Maybe she will remember the details of Chiya’s rescue,” Hanae said.
Kai shook her head to clear it. “Perhaps. I know this is important, but it can’t be a priority right now until we evaluate the damage to the citadel. Can we deal with this tomorrow?” She stood to leave.
Hanae grimaced but nodded. “Kai…”
“What?”
“Chiya is older than you. If this is true…by rights…”
The realization hit her like a gale force wind. Chiya was older. If Chiya was really her sister, she was the rightful heir to the throne.
Hanae’s gray eyes were sympathetic, pleading. “We’ll figure it out. It won’t change anything.”
Kai nodded numbly. They both knew that wasn’t true. This would change everything.
Kai had never wanted to be queen and had always thought she would hand over the reins gladly if another qualified candidate came along. But when faced with the actual prospect of giving it up…the thought twisted at her like a knife.
A sparkle on her hand caught the light and Kai choked back a laugh.
“What, my daughter?”
“Hiro and I got engaged today,” Kai said, holding her hand up with a rueful smile. “I wonder if he’ll still want me when he finds out the truth.”
“Hiro loves you for who you are.”
“I hope you’re right. Can we…” Kai closed her eyes, partially disbelieving that she was asking this. “Can we keep this between us until we know more?”
“Of course,” Hanae whispered.
CHAPTER 12
Kai exited the hospital ward as if in a dream. She felt strangely removed from the chaos around her. In the year since she had been crowned queen, she had come to see this citadel as hers. Her responsibility, her calling. She had made a difference, changed things for the better. But perhaps it had been a lie. Maybe it should have been Chiya, continuing the war with the sunburners, appeasing the gods’ desire for blood. Maybe this earthquake wouldn’t have happened.
But no. There was more to the burners than war. In the last year, she had seen marvels. Advancements in medicine, learning, improvements in the condition of her people. If it weren’t for these damn natural disasters, her reign would already be sung about by the bards.
Kai watched the citadel’s inhabitants work together to clear debris from the kitchens, tossing wood and stones into a pile. A neat line of bodies, covered with sheets, lay against the building. Nine so far, and many were still missing. Kai tightened her fists. She was still queen, and she wouldn’t stop fighting.
Kai started towards her council chamber. She needed a report on the damage. And they needed a plan. Maybe Jurou and Master Vita had come up with something. She would go over what they had learned from Geisa…
Kai froze. Geisa.
Kai broke into a run towards the dungeons, bursting through the front door and down the stairs. The guards had abandoned their posts—not that she blamed them. She wouldn’t have wanted to stay in the dungeons during an earthquake, either. Bricks had fallen from the ceiling, leaving piles of dust and mortar on the ground. But the structure appeared sound.
Kai skidded to a stop at the bottom of the stairs. A figure stood ahead of her, a shadow just out of reach of the light of the moon orbs.
The figure turned.
Daarco’s face was menacing in the darkness. Had he come here to free Geisa, an enemy of the moonburners? How had he known she was here?
“Daarco?” Kai asked. “What are you doing here?”
“Chiya told me to check on her,” Daarco said defensively. “I took Chiya to the hospital ward after the earthquake. She told me
to make sure the prisoner hadn’t broken out.”
“Do you know who is in that cell?” Kai asked carefully.
“I think so,” he said. The white light of the moon orb glinted in his eyes.
“She is a traitor to all burners. She imprisoned and tortured your brothers as well. She cannot escape.”
“I understand,” he said. “Her cell is secure.”
Kai shook her head. “She must never leave that cell.”
“Well, it’s locked up tight,” he replied gruffly.
Kai paced past him to the door, and pulled on the iron handle. It was as he said—locked.
Daarco followed her sullenly back into the courtyard. No sooner had they exited the building than Kai was bowled into by a flash of silver.
“Quitsu!” she cried, wrapping her arms around his warm furry body and hugging him to her chest. Some of the tension coiled through her body loosened. He was safe.
She looked up from the embrace and saw Hiro striding across the courtyard with Ryu at his side. His golden hair, normally pulled back, was loose and damp about his shoulders. His haggard face was smeared with dirt. Kai’s heart stirred at the sight of him.
She placed Quitsu down and ran to him, hurdling her body against his and throwing her arms around him. She didn’t care who saw.
He took her face in his hands and looked into her eyes, seeming to drink in the sight of her. “I feared for you,” he said.
“I’m all right,” she said, drawing back and bending down to hug Ryu’s thick mane. “Everyone’s all right.”
“Kai!” Emi said, jogging across the courtyard, drawing to a stop before Kai. “I mean…Your Majesty.”
“What is it?”
“Master Vita and Sunburner Jurou. They found something in the library. They beg your presence.”
“Lead the way,” Kai said, shaking off her weariness. She desperately wanted to fall into her bed and drift into an exhausted sleep. But there was no time to rest. She had a feeling there wouldn’t be time to rest for a long time to come.
The library looked like a war zone. Thousands of books lay in heaps on the floor—a jumble of pages and covers that would take weeks to organize. Two of the tall shelves had tipped over into the far wall of the library. That had been a stroke of luck. If they had fallen the other way, they would have sent a wave of destruction through the whole library.
“This way,” Emi said, practically running in her haste.
Kai followed her friend to the far corner of the library, where Master Vita and Jurou were talking excitedly in front of a yawning stone fireplace. Bricks had crumbled from the mantle, revealing a small recess in the stone. It was empty.
“Emi said you discovered something,” Kai said, coming to a stop. “What have you found?”
Jurou stepped forward, holding his hands out reverentially. “This,” he said.
It was a scroll. The rolled surface was thick, made of finely-tanned animal hide. Its two wooden ends were ornately carved in the shapes of the moon and sun.
“What is it?” Kai asked.
“Something extraordinary,” Master Vita said.
They hurried to a nearby table, and Jurou wiped the dust and mortar from the surface with a quick swipe of his shirtsleeve.
With a bit more drama than was strictly necessary, Master Vita and Jurou unrolled the scroll before them. Kai smothered a grin, despite the destruction around her. The two men were like bookends, bearing matching expressions of excitement and anticipation. They were clearly getting along well.
When the scroll lay flat, it reached end to end on the massive table in front of them. Hiro had accompanied her in from the courtyard, and everyone crowded around the table to get a closer look.
“It’s magnificent,” Emi said.
Jurou was grinning like a proud father.
Emi was right. The scroll was covered in a series of images, intricately rendered in bright colors with gold and silver leaf. The scroll seemed untouched by time, as if the pictures had been painted yesterday. Beneath each picture was tiny text, painstakingly lettered in ink.
“It’s written in both Miinan and Kitan,” Jurou said. “The script is hard to read but recognizable.”
“What does it say?” Kai asked.
“It’s an illustrated story. It starts with Tsuki and Taiyo on their celestial thrones in the spirit realm. They created the first burners to be their special link to the our world and its inhabitants. To be their emissaries and rulers in the mortal world.”
“But Tsuki and Taiyo were not without enemies. In the demon realm were hungry demons called tengu. They reveled in destruction and havoc and fed on human suffering. The tengu’s plans were often thwarted by the gods and the burners, who kept peace and balance in the world. Two tengu rose above the rest—a hiei demon, a creature of ice, and a yukina, a fire demon. These two concocted a plan to capture Taiyo and Tsuki and weaken the burners in order to secure free reign over the lands.”
Kai looked over Jurou’s shoulder at the picture that accompanied the text. Her blood ran cold. It was the tall supernatural woman she had seen in the temple and the Oracle’s tower. There was no mistaking the flowing robes, the eerie blur where a face should be.
“I’ve seen that creature,” Kai whispered. “That’s her.”
Jurou raised a quizzical eyebrow, but she motioned him to continue. She could explain later.
“The tengu tricked Tsuki and Taiyo and trapped them at the far ends of the world, where their burners would never find them. Then they masqueraded as the gods and took their places. They knew that the only things standing between them and total dominion over the mortal world were the burners. At that time, the burners were still united and were ruled from was a great city… It appears to be where the Tottori Desert is now,” Jurou said, pointing to the crude depiction of the Akashi Mountains and Churitsu Plain.
“Fascinating,” Master Vita said, crowding in for a closer look.
“The tengu were not without allies. They had humans who served them, men and women who masqueraded as holy people, but who worshipped the tengu in secret. The burner king and queen died mysteriously without any heirs, and these followers sowed seeds of discord between the moon and sunburners until they turned against each other.”
Jurou’s mesmerizing voice came to a stop, his words hanging in the air.
“This has the ring of truth,” Master Vita said. “The true origin of the Burning War.”
Kai’s heart pounded as her eyes roved over the intricate images. This scroll was likely the most important discovery of her lifetime. It explained so much…yet left so many details unsaid. Even as she processed the information revealed, questions surfaced in her mind like bubbles in a sparkling sake glass.
“So by allying ourselves with Kita and ending the war, we have angered these…tengu?” Kai asked.
“They’ve been masquerading as Tsuki and Taiyo this whole time,” Master Vita said.
“Without war and suffering…they go hungry,” Hiro said. “So they are starving us out in return.”
“And leading us back towards a war,” Kai said. Despite the sobering news, a sort of relief flooded her. She knew the alliance had been the right thing. It felt good to be vindicated.
“The scroll doesn’t tell us how to kill them,” Hiro said.
“Or if they can be killed,” Emi said.
“As least we know what they are now,” Kai said. “That’s more than we knew before. Master Vita and Jurou can use this to look for more clues about the tengu and their weaknesses.”
“Certainly. The texts of Aldera and the twelve dynastic epochs might have more information…Or Master Vita, do you have a copy of the Celestial Codex in the library? Or the histories of Saguzo—”
“You could discuss the specifics later—“ Hiro began, but Jurou cut him off excitedly.
“Wait! Perhaps we don’t have to fight them!” Jurou said.
Kai frowned. “What do you suggest?”
“They had to tra
p the real Tsuki and Taiyo before they could wreak the havoc they wanted. Presumably because the real gods would have stopped them.”
“I think I see where Jurou is going with this,” Master Vita chimed in excitedly. “If we free the real Tsuki and Taiyo…”
Emi completed his sentence. “Then you release two furious gods who have been trapped for centuries. If I were them, first thing I’d want is a little demon revenge.”
“It’s a genius idea, Jurou,” Kai said. “But we have no idea where they were trapped, or how. The scroll only says ‘the ends of the world.’ It could take us another few centuries to find them.”
“Yes, that is a conundrum,” Jurou said.
“It’s still worth exploring,” Kai said. “We have to consider all avenues. But I have no idea where to look for a trapped god. Jurou? Master Vita? Any ideas?”
Jurou shook his head, his brow furrowed behind his thick glasses. “I’m sure we can discover the location now that we know what we’re looking for. It’ll just take time.” He hadn’t taken his fingers off the scroll; he stroked the hide absentmindedly with his long fingernails.
“I’m not sure we have time,” Kai said.
“Perhaps we should ask our very own tengu acolyte,” Master Vita said.
“What? Who?” Jurou asked.
“Geisa,” Kai breathed. “After all these centuries, the tengu still have humans who help them.”
“Forgive me,” Jurou said. “But wasn’t General Geisa killed before the Battle at the Gate?”
“She was wounded but not killed,” Kai said, shaking her head. “I’m not ready to clue her in to our new knowledge yet. But she might have information about the tengu’s weaknesses. Perhaps we can get that out of her.”
“That still won’t help uncover where Tsuki and Taiyo are trapped,” Emi asked. “Where do we even start looking?”
A new voice sounded from deeper in the library. “Simple. Ask someone who was there.”