by Claire Luana
As they neared the shore, the bubbling in the water subsided. The rope went taught as the weight of the stone coffin began to sink back into the water. The stern of the rowboat dipped lower in the water.
“I’m out of vents,” Chiya yelled, her voice strangled.
She and Jurou were down at the waterline now.
“Row, Colum!” Kai said, letting the rope out a little bit, relieving the weight on the boat.
Colum strained against the oars with each stroke, sweat beading his brow, the muscles in his arms straining in the early morning light. Kai tried to divert a piece of the white light to support the box, but her focus trembled and almost broke. She was too weak, too drained from the effort of keeping their little boat safe.
The bow of the boat hit the sand of the shore and Kai leaped out into the waist-deep water.
“Come on,” she cried.
The others splashed through the surf, grabbing the four corners of the stone crypt that bore their goddess. The tumult of the waves helped them bear her towards the shore, but they strained with quivering muscles against the pull when the rhythmic waves rushed out to sea.
Slowly, inch over inch, they heaved and pulled the stone up onto the beach. Finally, at long last, they collapsed, panting onto the sand. They had done it.
As Hiro and Geisa walked, a crystalline structure took shape in the moonlight: a raised dais of ice—tapered square platforms placed on top of each other. Hiro scrambled for an idea, a play. If he could knock Geisa out, he might be able to escape. Or kill her. He couldn’t leave her out there, free to wreak whatever havoc she planned. If he could get the sword and knock her out before she had time to boil him alive with her moonburning, he might be able to get the upper hand.
“I see you, Hiro, thinking, tensing those thick neck muscles of yours,” Geisa said. “Do you think you’re faster than me? Personally, I don’t. But I’m curious to find out.”
Maybe he was faster than her with the element of surprise, but it was clear he didn’t have it. But he had to try something.
“Up,” she said, prodding him with the sword.
He took a step up the first stair. Taiyo was on the platform above, an icy crypt illuminated by the moonlight. It was now or never. He needed to make his move. Hiro tensed and whirled, knocking the sword away. As he did, Ryu exploded out of the darkness behind Geisa, flattening her against the stairs with a sickening thud.
Geisa lay still. Blood trickled down her face and her silver hair spread across the ice like a halo beneath her. Her chest still rose and fell with breath. Unconscious, not dead. Hiro realized with a sinking feeling that he had to kill her, and that he only had seconds to do it. He didn’t relish the idea of killing a helpless woman, even one as twisted as Geisa. But he knew it had to be done. The chance of her waking up and boiling his blood in an instant was too great.
He drew his sword and approached Geisa’s prone form with more confidence than he felt. She looked peaceful. With a deep breath, he lifted his sword and plunged it towards her heart.
Her eyes flew open and she spun to the side. His blade pierced the ice where she had lain a second before.
She sprang to her feet, her eyes rolling like a wild animal. Hiro and Ryu circled her warily, placing their feet carefully on the thick ice.
Hiro lunged at her and she danced out of the way of his blade. The handle of his sword grew warm and then hot until he was forced to drop it, cradling his burned hand. She smiled. She was toying with him.
“What do you think is the most painful way to die? I want Kai to know that you suffered.”
“I’m not afraid to die,” Hiro said.
“You may not be,” Geisa said. “But there are some fates worse than death. Believe me, I know.” She whirled and burned a jet of fire directly at Ryu.
“No!” Hiro cried.
Ryu was tossed from the icy platform onto the snow below. He lay still, his blackened fur smoking.
Hiro grabbed his knife from his belt and ran at her with a howl of grief and rage. She was ready. An arc of lightning coursed through his body, lancing white hot pain through his very soul. He collapsed to his knees and she stood over him, a sick smile on her face.
I’m so sorry, Kai, Hiro thought, closing his eyes.
Another blast of heat warmed his face, but then passed. He opened his eyes.
Emi was striding up the stairs, a look of unearthly fury on her face. Leilu and Stela flanked her. Daarco trailed behind, his sword drawn.
Geisa stumbled to her feet and shot gouts of flame in quick succession at the other women.
And then the real fireworks began. Geisa and the other moonburners threw fireball after fireball at one another. Emi and the other burners enjoyed the benefit of superior numbers, and they slowly pushed Geisa back over the platform. But Geisa was tricky and fast. She used heat to melt the ice under Leilu’s feet and the woman fell into a well of frigid water, slipping into the darkness before surfacing again with a shuddering gasp. Daarco pulled her out; she was shivering and blue before she flooded heat through herself and the water dried from her clothes.
Geisa sent a jet of boiling steam at Emi, but Emi diffused the heat with a motion, letting the water vapor flow around her like she was opening a set of curtains. She was now a few paces from Geisa, who backed onto the snow, her face strained.
“Time to go,” Geisa said, and a flash of light blinded them. When Hiro regained his vision she was fleeing, sprinting away from the platform with Emi on her tail.
“The platform!” Stela shouted. “She melted it!”
Hiro backed up as a spider web of cracks sped through the surface of the ice. The heavy weight of the icy tomb was too much, and the platform cracked underneath, one half of it beginning to tilt and slide into the water beneath.
“Freeze it back!” Hiro shouted. “If it sinks, we’ll lose him!”
Leilu and Stela focused on pulling heat from the mass of water and ice before them, and Hiro sighed with relief as the ice grew cloudy and firmed.
Hiro ran to where Ryu lay smoking in the snow. His golden flank was charred and his eyes were closed, but he was still breathing. Still warm.
Stela ran to his side and began delving Ryu with moonlight. “He’s stunned,” she said. “But he should live. I can speed the healing process by applying heat to the right areas.”
“Do it,” Hiro whispered.
Hiro watched with his heart in his throat as she worked, moving her hands over Ryu’s still body. He breathed out a huge sigh of relief when Ryu opened his great amber eyes. Hiro leaned forward, resting his head on his seishen’s shoulder. Thank you, Taiyo, for sparing him, Hiro thought.
Ryu stood unsteadily and followed Hiro back to the platform.
The icy tomb was carved in the image of a man lying down, his eyes closed. He held a cup in his hands, the base resting on his chest, as if offering whatever liquid it contained to the heavens. The detail of the man’s fine face and rich clothing was exquisite. Beneath the ice, it was just possible to make out a darkness, a form.
Emi climbed the steps slowly, approaching from behind him. She drew in a shaky breath, resting her hands on her knees. “I didn’t catch her. She tripped me up and was gone in a mass of wind and snow. I’m sorry.”
Hiro shook his head. “You saved my life. We stopped whatever Geisa was planning. We should consider it a victory.”
“What was she trying to do?” Daarco asked.
“She seemed to think…that she could kill Taiyo. If we released him.”
“That’s disconcerting,” Leilu said, her arms crossed. “Is she mad?”
“Maybe,” Hiro said. “But somehow…I don’t think so.”
“She could be trying to throw us off our mission,” Emi said. “Nothing’s changed. We’re here to free Taiyo, so I say we do it.”
The others nodded. “If we don’t do this,” Stela said, “the tengu win. It’s a risk we have to take.”
Hiro nodded. He still clutched his knife in his rig
ht hand. He loosened his fingers on the grip and stepped up next to the icy visage of Taiyo.
“The cup,” Ryu rumbled. “Put it in the cup.”
Hiro drew a thin line across the meat of his left palm, wincing slightly as the knife cut into his skin. He held his fist over the cup, letting the blood drain into the icy chalice. As the drops of red blood slid into the clear cup, a light burst from inside the coffin.
Taiyo was waking.
Golden light poured from the block of ice where Taiyo lay. Cracks ran along the sides, growing and snaking until the top cracked into pieces, showering them with bits of ice and snow. They stood in silence as a man sat up, looking around in apparent confusion.
The man was…remarkably un-god-like. He was undeniably handsome with smooth bronzed skin, strong cheekbones and a defined jawline. But as for the rest—he wasn’t impossibly tall, or well-muscled, or radiant. The only thing that set him apart was a thick shock of fire-red hair, which swooped down over his brow.
Hiro revised his assessment as Taiyo met Hiro’s gaze. His eyes were strange as well. Glowing and bright, like two tiny suns.
The god vaulted out of the icy coffin, nimble as a deer. His carriage was proud and regal.
“What a strange place you’ve brought me to,” he said, peering around the icy bowl. His voice was deep and reverberated through Hiro’s body as he spoke. “So much frozen water. This must be my lady’s creation.”
Even in the moonlight, Taiyo’s clothes stood out in a rainbow of color against the dull frozen landscape. The garments were old-fashioned; he wore wide crimson pants topped by a rich bronze tunic wrapped in an obi sash of golden braid.
Hiro wasn’t sure how to proceed, so he decided to dive right in.
“I am Hiro, crown prince of Kita, and a captain in the sunburner army,” Hiro said, bowing low. “We have freed you from your prison where the tengu trapped you.”
Taiyo frowned, stroking his chin. “Trapped, you say?”
“Do you…not remember?” Hiro ventured. “Do you remember the tengu? They have been masquerading as you for many years. They have found a way to travel from the demon world to our own.”
“The tengu vexed us for many years. Never satisfied with their realm. Wanted to have ours as well,” Taiyo said. “But I must admit, I don’t recall being trapped. We fled the spirit world when those awful tengu and their followers broke through. They were halfway through the barrier to the mortal realm too. The burners and Tsuki and I agreed that it would be best if they hid us.”
“Hid you?” Emi asked, her voice flat.
“Yes. The demons wanted to kill me and my love because if we are lost, the sun and moon will disappear. And they are quite fond of darkness. They are born and bred in the dark. So Queen Hamaio, King Samsua, and their guardians hid us away until such time as the danger passed. Has the danger passed?”
“No,” Hiro said weakly.
“Then why have you freed me?” Taiyo asked.
“We…thought…you could help us. To defeat the tengu.”
Taiyo recoiled. “Fight? Oh, no. The creator made Tsuki and me to shine light into this world. The burners and the guardians were created to protect us.”
Hiro closed his eyes, breathing in deeply and letting it out in a slow exhale. Geisa’s mocking words replayed in his head. How delightfully ironic. They had been played.
“If you can’t help us fight, what good are you?” Daarco asked, stepping up beside Hiro.
“I shine the light upon the world, without which all living things would shrivel and die,” Taiyo snapped. “So there is that.”
Hiro laid a calming hand on Daarco’s shoulder, though what he really wanted to do was punch something. “You understand these tengu better than we do. You have a history. What do you think our next course of action should be?”
Taiyo stared at them blankly. “Put me back to sleep. It is the best solution the burners came up with.”
“We…don’t know how to do that,” Hiro admitted.
Taiyo frowned. “I’m afraid it is a lost cause. They are too powerful. They have been striving towards this end for a millennium.”
“Surely, you sell yourself too short,” Stela said. “You command great power, and we know the burners of old had much wisdom. Otherwise, they couldn’t have held back the tengu for so long. Are you able to remember something that could help us fight them? Tactics the burners used? Tengu weaknesses?”
Taiyo brightened, like the clouds had cleared before him. “They are weakest in daylight, under the direct light of my sun. The burners and their guardians had weapons they used to shine light on the tengu to weaken them. Mirrored shields…and little devices that would explode inside the tengu’s gullets.” He chuckled. “Very crafty, actually.”
“Do any of these weapons still exist?” Emi stepped up, an edge of excitement in her voice.
“Perhaps,” he said. “In the armory at Yoshai. Many such things were kept there.”
“Where?” Hiro said.
“Yoshai, the capital of all the lands. The grandest city ever built. Our stronghold.”
Hiro looked to the others, who met his glance with shrugs or blank faces.
“I’m not familiar with this city. Perhaps its name has changed?” Hiro said. “Can you take us there?”
“Yes,” Taiyo said. “Once the sun truly rises.”
The morning light was filtering over the tops of the twin peaks, just minutes from shining into the glacial bowl where they stood.
Hiro sent Leilu and Stela back to camp to retrieve the rest of their gear. He turned back to Taiyo to find him standing with Ryu.
“A fine guardian,” Taiyo said. “Your connection to the earth is strong.”
“Thank you,” Hiro said.
Leilu and Stela returned ladened with backpacks and weapons as the sun’s rays peeked over the mountaintops.
When the sun hit Taiyo, golden light exploded from his skin and hair—even his eyes and ears. For a moment, he was a smaller twin sun, reflecting the rays back towards his mammoth brother. After a few seconds, Taiyo’s light winked out, but his countenance was much changed. It was hard to look at the god without squinting, and when he moved, he left a golden afterglow, a brilliant shadow that confused the mind.
“The sun and I are one,” he said. “Being kept from its rays for so long left me weak. Now, we may go.”
He stood, raising his arms above him. Nothing happened. One minute stretched to two. The burners exchanged confused glances, each silently daring the others to be the first to disturb the god.
Leilu twirled her finger about her ear, mouthing the word “crazy.”
Stela put her hand over her mouth, her shoulders shaking in silent laughter.
Hiro couldn’t help his surge of annoyance. Taiyo had been their one hope of defeating the tengu, and it turned out that they were actually doing the demons a favor by freeing the god. This was no laughing matter.
Abruptly, Taiyo lowered his arms and opened his eyes.
“Ah. Here they come.”
Sinuous shapes appeared in the clear northern sky.
Hiro squinted to make out the creatures, and then his eyes widened like saucers. Dragons. Real live dragons. With flashing teeth and ice-white scales and curving wind-swept wings. And they were coming in for a landing.
“This day just got more interesting,” Emi said.
As the sun rose they cleaned the pieces of coral off of the stone tomb, prying years of growth away with their knives and fingers. An image appeared as they worked—a woman lying on her back, carved in relief on top of the stone slab. A thin circlet sat atop her intricately carved head, the face below serene. Her hands were clasped beneath her bosom, holding a stone cup.
“She’s one lady I wouldn’t mind meeting in person, if you get my drift,” Colum said with a wink.
Kai rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky she doesn’t smite you where you stand.”
“Better get all my admirin’ in before she wakes up, then,”
he said.
“What next?” Chiya asked. “How do we wake her?”
This was the part Kai was dreading. “We need your blood,” she said.
“What?” Chiya started. “My blood? Why? You’re the queen.”
Kai shook her head. “The seishen elder said…whoever reveals the visions inside the box is the one to wake her. It’s got to be you.”
“It doesn’t make sense.” Chiya furrowed her brow. “Why me?”
“The box worked for you, so does it matter?” Kai asked. “We can puzzle it out later. Right now, we need to get Tsuki awake and see if she can defeat the tengu. Every minute counts.”
Chiya crossed her arms over her chest. “What aren’t you telling me? We’ll talk about it now. Before my blood gets involved.”
Kai ground her teeth. “This really isn’t the time.”
“Make time.”
Clearly, Chiya was beyond reasoning. But Kai didn’t want to explain it here in front of these others when she was racing against time to prevent the destruction of her people.
“Chiya, we need your blood right now. That’s an order.” Kai put her hands on her hips and drew herself up to her full height. “Are you disobeying a direct order from your queen?”
Doubt flickered across Chiya’s face.
“Oh for gods’ sakes,” Colum said, throwing up his hands. “Chiya, you’re Kai’s long-lost sister, and so you’re the true heir of Tsuki and so on and so forth. She didn’t tell you because the world is ending and there hasn’t really been a good time for a succession challenge. She was going to tell you eventually etcetera.”
Kai’s mouth fell open and she glared daggers at Colum. “How could you?” she hissed at him. She should have been the one to explain everything to Chiya when the time was right. How dare he take that from her!
“Is this true?” Chiya asked quietly, her eyes blazing.
“I’ve only know for a few weeks,” Kai said. “We were going to tell you once this was all over.”