Claddings of Light : Book 12 of Painting the Mists

by Patrick Laplante

  “I take it the Frostmoon Sect is less wary of the Cao Clan and more wary of Cao Wenluan and his proclivities,” Mi Fei said.

  “Just so,” Special Night answered. “It’s no secret that their all-female sect prides itself on preserving their purity and independence. It’s not a strict requirement of their art, but they do have a reputation to uphold as a sanctuary for all the talented women in the prefecture.”

  “Do you think they would ally themselves with the Wei Clan?” Mi Fei asked.

  “Last I checked, you belonged to the Mi Clan,” Special Night said. “Has the Wei Clan given you diplomatic rights I’m not aware of?”

  “They haven’t,” Mi Fei said, “but Wei Longshen clearly isn’t in his element, nor is he willing to do what needs to be done.”

  “I see,” Special Night said. “I do not believe they would ally themselves to the Wei Clan. They value their impendence. That being said, they would likely be willing to stand beside them to force the other sects to answer for their intolerable bullying. As for the Silent Eaves Clan, they are natural allies of the Wei Clan. In fact, they and the Wei Clan are finalizing an agreement.”

  “So the main problem is the alliance between the other three great sects,” Mi Fei said, tapping her lips. She took another sip of her wine. “I think I’m starting to like this flavored wine.”

  “That’s because you haven’t tasted good wines,” Special Night said. “Mendin wines are far better. Even Slovana vintages are superior.”

  “But they make demigod wines,” Mi Fei protested.

  “Not everyone there is a demigod,” Special Night said. “Otherwise they’d never have such a population. But yes, the issue is the enmity of the three great sects. And I think that covers your down payment.”

  Mi Fei winced. “Why is information so expensive?”

  “Reliability, mostly,” Special Night said. “You could probably hear much of what I just said by asking around, then but you wouldn’t know how much of what you heard was real. My clan guarantees accuracy in anything we say, and any guesses or inferences are clearly stated.”

  “Fine,” Mi Fei said. “Well, if that’s all there is, I don’t need more information. I need an action plan.”

  “Action plan?” Special Night said.

  “I want those sects fighting,” Mi Fei said. “Not on the battlefield. Just the prefecture. To take some heat off the Wei Clan.”

  Special Night swallowed hard. “A tall order, but it can be done, assuming you aren’t too picky about the means.”

  “Any means will do that doesn’t endanger the Wei Clan’s or the Mi Clan’s interests,” Mi Fei said.

  “Very well,” Special Night said. She placed her hand on the jade once more, this time sending out a stream of energy. A few seconds passed before another stream returned. She was more an emissary than a decision maker. Someone else would run numbers and make the plans.

  “Ten thousand mid-grade spirit stones,” Special Night said.

  Mi Fei winced once more. “Do I get a friendship discount?”

  “That was including the friendship discount,” Special Night said. “I take it you don’t want Young Master Wei to find out?”

  “I don’t want my own clan knowing either,” Mi Fei said.

  “Then that calls into question your ability to pay,” Special Night said. “I doubt you have such liquid assets available from your stipends.”

  It was true. Most of what her family provided was cultivation resources, which her core was only too happy to swallow up. Skimming off the top was out of the question. “I can offer a transfer of Kingfisher Guard merit points.”

  “Oh?” Special Night said. “You didn’t spend all yours?”

  “I have all the techniques I need, and I traded for a fast transport,” Mi Fei said. “I figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea to save some.”

  Special Night nodded. “If that’s the case, we can arrange an exchange rate. Kingfisher Guard contribution points are always sought after, if not by my clan, then by others.”

  Mi Fei slid over a blue jade. “I’m aware of the current black-market rates.”

  “So cautious,” Special Night said. She conversed with her own jade slip before bringing out another Kingfisher jade and tapping it against her own. Mi Fei was prompted about whether to accept or reject the transfer. She agreed and found herself significantly poorer than before. “You do too much for him, Mi Fei.”

  “Well, we’ll be married someday, I suppose,” Mi Fei said.

  “He should be able to take care of his own problems,” Special Night said. “Besides, has he even asked for your help?”

  “He hasn’t,” Mi Fei admitted. “But what am I supposed to do? Let his clan fail?”

  “You should at least clear things up,” Special Night said. “Do not let ambiguity and miscommunication ruin what you have.”

  She had a point. The time to confront Wei Longshen on his lack of communication would come, but not yet. If she decided to help him openly, this would greatly restrict what she could do. Hiring Special Night’s clan would be out of the question. “We’ll have that conversation. Soon. After the clans are off his back.”

  Special Night nodded understandingly. “We’ll get it done. Just know that our ability to act in such a fashion will be greatly limited in the future. The Cao Clan is gaining too much influence.”

  “I suppose you need to follow the money,” Mi Fei said. Special Night didn’t contradict her. “Thank you for the warning.”

  “That’s what friends do, isn’t it?” Special Night said. She frowned at her glass and drank all of it down, grimacing as she did. “I do hate their wine, but I hate not drinking something I paid for even more. Who are you meeting with next? The Hao Clan? The Zhao Clan?”

  “You want free information?” Mi Fei asked. “Why don’t you pay me for it?” Inwardly, she cursed. That information was spot on. Special Night grinned, knowing she’d guessed correctly.

  “Try to keep your meetings a little more secret from now on,” Special Night said. “Not just for your own privacy, but to keep our fees lower. Our price setters get upset when people all but announce that we’re doing business.” She placed a black jade on the table. “Message me through this jade only in the future. No one in the prefecture will be able to intercept the communications. Be aware that it can only handle ten communications each way before shattering. A safety precaution.”

  “Much obliged,” Mi Fei said, picking it up. “Well, I’d best get going. I have a clan to save, and not a lot of time or influence to work with.”

  “Best of luck,” Silent Night said. Then Mi Fei blinked, and Special Night was gone, leaving her all alone in the wine house.

  Mi Fei sat atop one of the many pillars near the sparring ground, breathing in and out in meditation. She drank in the light from the moon and the stars. Before her was a block of gray energy that shifted from solid to liquid to gas, and other living and unliving things. There was no permanence to the form. Simply moments in between shifting where shape happened to exist. Such was the root of the Grandmist Concept of Impermanent Form.

  I’ve understood enough to advance to the next level, Mi Fei thought. But not nearly enough to advance to the rune-gathering realm. Concepts were required to form the best of runes, and the first rune she condensed would determine her path forward. So she continued cultivating for hours with no external resources. It was painfully slow, but patience was as necessary to Daoists as pain tolerance was to a demigod. Time blurred, and her awareness dimmed. She barely noticed a small pebble heading her way, which she blocked instinctively with a shield of heavy mist.

  “Drat. Thought I’d get you this time,” Daoist Burning Sword said from below.

  “Don’t you ever sleep?” Mi Fei asked from her perch.

  “Me?” Burning Sword asked. “Rarely. It’s not necessary, and I’m not going anywhere fast with this Dao of mine.”

  “How do you know?” Mi Fei asked, ending her cultivation and hopping down from
the pillar.

  “My Dao requires an awful lot of fighting,” Burning Sword said. “Against strong opponents. To cultivate a sword Dao, you need to live life on a blade’s edge. That’s not something I can do while employed by the Mi Clan. So, for the next hundred years, I won’t advance much. All I can do is teach.”

  Mi Fei nodded. “I’ve been advancing quickly, but I’ve stalled. Perhaps I need to go adventuring again. Take up a guard mission.”

  “It’s the same for anyone, really.” Burning Sword said. “In your case, you need insights on the elements. Not the fighting itself.”

  The way Mi Fei saw it, however, her life didn’t lack the latter. She thought of the shadow then. That lurking thing in the corner of her eye. It was out there. Waiting. Stalking.

  “Well?” Burning Sword said. “Something’s eating away at you. Has been for weeks. You want to talk about it?”

  Mi Fei didn’t answer right away. Even Xiao Bai thought she was seeing things. How could she explain her situation to her sword instructor? Would he dismiss her out of hand? Worse yet, would he report her to her family? “I’ve been thinking about a problem,” she said instead. “About hidden enemies or quick opponents.”

  “Ah,” Burning Sword said. “Must be the assassination at the Howling Presence Sect that’s still bothering you.”

  “Just so,” Mi Fei said. “The thing is, no one really saw the killer. Every once in a while, I get a feeling, like a tingling at the back of my neck. Like I’m being watched.”

  Burning Sword nodded slowly. “Sometimes that’s instinct. Other times, that’s just being paranoid. Though in my opinion, better to be paranoid than dead.”

  “How do you fight someone like that?” Mi Fei asked. “If you think you’re being watched, or if you’re fighting someone so fast you can’t even see them?”

  He didn’t answer right away, but instead turned his back. Then Mi Fei felt a tingling on the back of her neck. She brought up a shield instinctively, fending off a flying sword that had been heading straight for her heart. It disappeared in a puff of red flame before appearing beside Daoist Burning Sword.

  “Not bad,” he said, nodding in approval. “You’ve got instincts to build on.”

  “You almost killed me!” Mi Fei said.

  “And if I wasn’t trying to kill you, you wouldn’t have spotted it,” Burning Sword said. “That’s the first thing you need to know about fighting assassins. They don’t try to kill you until they’re certain. They hide by not triggering your senses. Kind of like that bunny sister of yours.” He looked toward a shaded corner. “Well, are you coming out or not?”

  Mi Fei heard a loud sigh, and Xiao Bai came slinking out from the shadows beside her house. When had she returned? “Your friend here uses a combination of quick movements to move around through blind spots, and time distortion to make it difficult to sense her. Tough to track her unless you’re strong.”

  “Spoilsport,” Xiao Bai said.

  “I’m just paranoid,” Burning Sword said. “When you’ve been in as many life-or-death situations as I have, you learn to look out for things like that.”

  “Is there a way to train that artificially?” Mi Fei asked.

  “Incidentally, yes,” Burning Sword said. “Your friend here is very useful in that regard. She’s difficult to track. You can practice with her. You’ll need near-constant sparring—nonlethal sparring especially, where your goal is to try to predict her movements. On the other hand, she’ll be trying her best to avoid your senses and stay out of sight. That’ll cover speed.”

  “What about teleportation?” Mi Fei asked.

  “That’s an issue, for sure,” Burning Sword said. He teleported a few times in quick succession. “If you like, I can give you that kind of training. Like my master gave me. Be warned though, it’s not the same kind of training. Movement is one thing, but instantaneous teleportation? Difficult to spot. Most stealth techniques are geared toward avoiding soul senses and domains, so once again, you’re working on training your instincts.”

  Mi Fei frowned. “What about if I filled the air with small amounts of qi? I’d know the moment someone teleported.”

  “True,” Burning Sword said. “But then they would know that you know. That can be useful in a pinch, especially if you’re forced to fight, but then they can plan their actions with that in mind.”

  Then an idea came to mind. Mi Fei filled the air with very thin Grandmist. So thin it wasn’t visible. It was a near-imperceptible gas. “Why don’t you try that again?”

  Daoist Burning Sword shrugged and teleported. This time, behind her. Mi Fei closed her eyes and pointed. He repeated quite a few times, and each time, she pointed out his location.

  “Right,” Burning Sword said. “That gray qi of yours is difficult to spot without the right concepts. It’s probably tiring to do that, though.”

  “It is,” Mi Fei admitted. “I’d need to be fighting to justify using such an ability.”

  “By which time you’re already dead, unless you managed to spot them,” Burning Sword said. “Hey, bunny lady! Where are you running off to?”

  “To get a snack,” Xiao Bai said, turning around.

  “Xiao Bai,” Mi Fei said in a scolding tone. “This is important.”

  “Fine, fine,” Xiao Bai said. “What’s a little sparring practice?”

  “Who said anything about a little?” Burning Sword said. “This is going to be training hell.” He tossed Xiao Bai a thin birch branch. “Your goal is to hit her black and blue. This will double up as pain-tolerance training. Oh, and for now, no qi or soul force. Obviously that only applies to Mi Fei.”

  “What?” Mi Fei said. “That’s not—” She was cut off as she felt a smack on her left shoulder. “What in the—” She felt another smack on her right hip as she turned, and on her left leg when she turned again. This time, she spun around, trying to find Xiao Bai, who was clearly the perpetrator. She didn’t find her. Another smack came to the side of her head. Her vision blurred.

  “Let’s stay away from head contact for now,” Burning Sword said. “Reduces training time.”

  “I take it back. This’ll be fun,” Xiao Bai said, appearing beside him. She wore a devilish grin.

  “Xiao Bai…” Mi Fei said warningly. To no avail. The next smack was to her bottom, and it was just as painful as the last.

  Chapter 16: Demonstration

  Serrendil knew full well that she was hated, despite all the smiles and the waving. She was used to such treatment and had even come to embrace it. Still, it boiled her blood to watch her clansmen be targeted by such hostility on the central stage. She and Wei Longshen were overlooking a large hall where the Wei Trade Exposition was being held. The Clockwork Clan’s demonstration was next, and the city’s response to it would be telling.

  “The Wei Clan certainly doesn’t mess around,” Serrendil said. “I expected this trade show to be a tenth this size. Especially given recent events.”

  Curious potential customers pushed through the passageways between stalls like water through pipes. They wormed their way into the slightest openings to inspect goods being shown or collect pamphlets or trinkets. This was a trade show, after all, and everyone was excited. Whether blacksmith or alchemist or even a specialized formation-installation company that only dealt in home furnishings, you never knew when you’d need a new supplier, whether for yourself, your company, or that mysterious friend of yours no one ever met.

  “It is a time-honored tradition, and we aren’t the only beneficiaries of this event,” Wei Longshen said. “But yes, you’re right. Consider, however, that our recent struggles have put a damper on our public efforts, so we can only take a personal approach and be more proactive than usual in recruiting.”

  Indeed, it wasn’t just clients that came to this event; tradespeople came as well. Both new members to their craft and old hands. They came here seeking employment and the chance to talk to recruiters from the various clans, sects, and companies. Some of her own cl
ansmen were here looking for other opportunities in this city. Pickings were slim of late, despite the surging popularity of dragon-forged goods.

  “How fares your mate?” Serrendil asked.

  Wei Longshen spat out some tea that he’d been drinking and coughed loudly. “What is with the Golden Dragon Clan and calling couples mates? You do know that being mates involves actual mating, do you not?”

  “Is that not what’s going on?” Serrendil asked, confused. She shook her head. Humans and their strange mating rituals. “Apologies for misunderstanding. Though I’d appreciate it if you referred to us by our ancestral name in the future. The name you humans have given us these past few centuries is demeaning.”

  “Fine, fine. The Clockwork Clan,” Wei Longshen said.

  Lord Silver Singer, a prominent member of her clan, was patiently waiting on the stage. It was a large thing fully outfitted with any non-mobile equipment a craftsman might need, whether they were an alchemist, an artificer, a smith, or even a necromancer, though why anyone would ever want to show off such skills, she had no idea.

  “I’m surprised it isn’t you up there,” Wei Longshen said.

  “Lord Silver Singer is one of our most capable smiths,” Serrendil replied. “Not as good as I am, but close enough. It’s better they see that others can work metal, and not just me.”

  “No one in the city has ever seen the Clockwork Clan work,” Wei Longshen said. “They were secretive back in their prime, forget now, with your reduced numbers.” Wei Longshen eyed the older, graying dragon as he walked onto the stage, and Serrendil eyed Wei Longshen in turn. One of the reasons she was here and not performing was so that she could watch. Wei Longshen’s attitude was the most important factor in deciding whether or not to pursue a contract with his family.

  “Please call me Lady Dark Requiem in public,” Serrendil said. “Or Dark Requiem if you must.”