by JC Kang
He held up a folded packet labelled sawdust. “Near the lumber mills.”
“And the river barges,” she said. “And then, there was the pink fish paste under his nails. Assuming he wasn’t a sloppy eater, he must have been checking out barrels of it.”
“It will keep for a year. Or more. Perfect for surviving a long siege.”
The door whispered open and Huang Zhen, a boy of ten, slunk in. The initiate’s stealth skills were improving, though not enough to assign him dangerous missions. “Eldest Sister Jie, Elder Brother Tian. We investigated Victorious Trading. It’s a stock corporation, owned in part by Lord Chu, Lord Xi, Lord Qin, Lord Tong, and Evergreen Trading. And guess what?” His face brightened.
In contrast, Tian’s face might have been the dark side of the White Moon. He jotted the names down on a sheet of paper. “None of those lords have arrived in the capital. For Prince Kai-Wu’s wedding.”
Jie followed his gaze into the web of notes. “What’s the connection?”
“Lord Tong claims the barbarians are threatening the saltpeter mines.” Tian pinned up the name list to one of the strings. “The others are all Yu-Ming lords of the North. A combined twenty-one thousand, three hundred provincial soldiers under them.”
Jie outlined a map of the realm with her finger in the air. A quite accurate one, in all modesty. “And those counties are the major saltpeter producers. Working together, it would cut off fresh firepowder supply from the rest of the country.”
“Aren’t imperial stocks large enough to overwhelm those counties?” Huang Zhen asked.
“Maybe,” Tian said, oblivious to the smudge of ink on his nose. “But Wailian Castle is impregnable. The Tianzi would have to commit ninety-two percent of the national army and seventy-three percent of the loyal provincial armies to a long siege.”
Ninety-two and seventy-three? Exactly? Jie stifled a chuckle at his precision. “And that is assuming the rest of the Yu-Ming are loyal. What do we know of Lord Tong?”
Tian shrugged. “He is fifty-four. His wife died in childbirth three years ago. He hasn’t remarried.”
“Strange he hasn’t,” Jie thought aloud.
Huang Zhen’s face flushed a red bright enough to light a dark room. “Little Sister Feng Mi says he likes young girls, and is very rough.”
Jie shuddered. Feng Mi was only nine, a Moquan adept planted as a Night Blossom trainee in the Floating World. If Lord Tong had harmed her, Jie would make sure he paid for more than rebellious intent. She shook the idea out of her head. “No, a hereditary lord marries not to sate his appetite, but rather to build alliances.”
“Suspicious.” Tian set down the list of potentially rebellious lords. “What about Evergreen Trading?”
“I researched it.” Huang Zhen flashed an impish grin. “It’s a stock corporation, held by other companies, all in the South.”
“The South,” Tian repeated, pointing to the bottom of her imaginary map. “Where Lord Tong is illegally shipping firepowder.”
On her air map, Jie traced the highway up the central valley. “If the Tianzi sent the bulk of the army to pacify the North, it would leave the capital vulnerable to a surprise attack from the South.”
Huang Zhen looked from one to the other with rapt attention. “How do we uncover Lord Tong’s allies in the South?”
“Well, to start,” Jie said, “which lords from the South have not yet arrived in the capital for the imperial wedding?”
“Yu-Ming Lords Chi, Shen, and Bai from Yutou Province.” Huang Zhen counted his fingers. “From Nanling Province, Tai-Ming Lord Peng—”
“That’s it,” Tian said. “Sha mentioned Lord Peng.”
Jie shook her head. “He’s married to the Tianzi’s sister, and Nanling Province didn’t get firepowder from Wailian.”
“Not that we know of. And the Wild Orchid is registered to Nanling. So just in case…” Tian wrote Lord Peng’s name on his list. “Let’s scout the trade offices and warehouses near the river docks. Zhen: send every available adept in the area to meet us there.”
“But first,” Jie added, “Use the horse relays to send our suspicions to Master Yan. And I’ll send a cleaner to that warehouse. The Tianzi will need time to formulate a response before Lord Tong can act.”
CHAPTER 17
The Dragon Scale Lute
Head buzzing with rice wine, Kaiya listened as boots clopped and weapons rasped outside the tight confines of the palanquin. She squeezed her fists tight. This debacle couldn’t get much worse. She didn’t even have a dagger to defend herself.
Neither did Kai-Long. Still, he snapped open the door and jumped out. “Stay here.”
No, that wasn’t an option. Someone had to take responsibility for this mess. She crawled on all fours out of the palanquin, without any semblance of imperial grace. At least the hooded cloak and illusionist’s bauble hid her identity. Legs quavering from alcohol and sitting, she staggered to her feet.
The surroundings didn’t look familiar. Lined by two-story wood buildings, with storefronts on the first floor and residences on top, it could be virtually any side street in Huajing. Kai-Long’s provincial soldiers all stood with broadswords drawn. He, himself, took a sword from a guard and strode toward the newcomer.
A lone figure with a curved blade in hand blocked the procession’s way. He stepped forward into the light, both hands raised.
Prince Hardeep! His chin was now bare, the pointed beard gone in the hours since they met. His beautiful blue eyes found hers in the crowd. Though the hooded cloak hid her face, recognition dawned in his expression.
Trying to stand straight, Kaiya lowered the hood and smoothed out her dress.
“Prince Hardeep.” Speaking perfectly in the Ayuri tongue, Kai-Long locked his gaze on Hardeep’s backpack. “This is not where we had planned to meet.”
Adjusting a pack, the prince shifted his intense gaze from her to her cousin. “Yes. I fear the Madurans have learned of my visit to the palace.” He glanced back in the direction he’d come. “I was followed. I’ve lost them for now, with the help of my men. I thought you were bringing the princess. Who is that?”
Oh, the magic bead. Kaiya started to stuff it in her sash when Kai-Long placed a hand on her wrist.
Pulling her along, he sidled up to the prince and whispered in his ear. “This is her. Aksumi magic.”
Hardeep’s mouth gaped…though he had seemed to recognize her before. If only she had a mirror to see what the magic made her look like. He nodded in a slow bob.
“Are you unharmed?” Kaiya asked.
Shoulders squared, Hardeep made a single, resolute nod. “I came to warn you. You should return to the safety of the palace walls.” Though his body language suggested confidence, his beautiful eyes fixed on the ground in defeat.
Kai-Long nodded in rapid jerks. “I was just about to send a runner to let you know we were returning to the palace.”
Though to save himself, not for her safety. Kaiya suppressed a snort. “What about the Dragon Scale Lute?”
“I can’t risk your life.” He looked up at her. “Not even for my beloved homeland.”
The trembling in his voice struck a chord, making Kaiya’s legs wobble even more than her weak tolerance to rice wine. All the indecision faded. She would do anything to help Ankira. “I—” She stumbled forward a few steps.
Arms outstretched, he caught her. Warm and enveloping, his embrace felt safer than a full complement of imperial guards. His luminous eyes gazed into hers. “No. You don’t know the Madurans. They don’t care about your noble intentions or your gentle soul. They don’t care if you are just sixteen. If they think you are meddling in their affairs, they won’t hesitate to kill you.”
She pushed herself out of his arms. “No. My country’s sale of guns and firepowder brought on your country’s misery. Our classic texts on governance teach that we must rectify wrongs we have caused. I will help.”
Kai-Long shuffled on his feet. “What about the servants who he
lped get you out of the palace?”
“If we can get back soon, I will go with the prince.” Kaiya turned to Hardeep. “How long will it take?”
He looked up at the Iridescent Moon, now waxing to its third gibbous. “I can have you back at the palace in two hours.”
More than enough time to swap out with the servants. Maybe even to return to the reception, since that would last until all hours of the morning.
Kai-Long clasped her hand. “I object, Dian-xia. Your illusion might wear off soon. To keep your identity hidden, I can’t send any of my guards with you. It’s too dangerous.”
“I’ll be all right.” She leaned into the prince. “Prince Hardeep has Paladin training.”
Kai-Long searched her eyes. With a sighing nod, he took a sheathed dagger from his guard and passed it to her. “Very well.” He bowed to Prince Hardeep. “I entrust you with the princess’ life. My uncle would be devastated if anything happened to her.”
“As would I.” Hardeep pressed his palms together and bowed his head. He then took her hand in his. The heat coursed through her. “Let’s go.”
Walking down the street, Kaiya glanced back at Kai-Long. His lips drew into a tight line. She would owe him quite a favor. She turned to Prince Hardeep. “What happened to your beard?”
He rubbed his hand over his chin. “I shaved it, so that my enemies would have a harder time recognizing me.”
She smiled. It made him look even younger, more handsome, though his unique blue irises were a dead giveaway. “Where is the Dragon Scale Lute?”
He looked around the street, and then leaned in. He spoke Ayuri in a low voice. “I don’t have it. But I carry with me an old journal from my uncle’s visit to Vyara City, twenty-nine years ago. He was there representing my country when your emperor dispatched a mission to negotiate the sale of muskets and firepowder with both Ankira and Madura.”
Her alcohol-muddled mind took a few seconds to grasp the significance. Kaiya sucked in a sharp breath. Hua had played both sides of the conflict and profited.
“I don’t blame you for your nation’s past sins.” He squeezed her hand fondly. “I am just glad you recognize them.”
“How does the journal relate to the lute?”
“Twenty-nine years ago, the dragon Avarax awoke from a millennium of sleep. He descended on Vyara City and threatened to immolate it with his fiery breath.”
Kaiya shuddered. A peninsular city of spires, domes, canals, and fruit trees, Vyara City was home to hundreds of thousands of people. They would have all perished in dragonfire. “What happened?”
“An elf prince played a song on a lute which repelled Avarax.”
Repelled a dragon with just a lute, the Arkothi equivalent of a pipa! Kaiya gasped, and then cocked her head. “The Dragon Scale Lute?”
Prince Hardeep’s grin spread from ear to ear. “Its resonance plate was made from one of Avarax’s scales. Its strings were made from his whiskers. If it could scare away the great Avarax, there is no telling how it would affect humans. It’s in your capital.”
Kaiya’s brain swam in circles. All this time, she thought he had it. Even without rice wine, the revelation would have confused her. “How?”
Prince Hardeep’s grin faded. “I don’t know. My uncle noted in his journal that one of your trade officials ended up with the lute. We’re going to his house now.”
“Whose?” And what would they be doing when they got there?
He fell silent and beckoned her along. At this hour, they encountered only a handful of people, mostly laborers on their way home. Prince Hardeep held her right elbow and hand, supporting her shaky steps. On occasion, he took a furtive glance around. After a few minutes, they headed into a side street.
“Do you feel it?” he asked. “Someone is watching us.”
She hadn’t felt anything. There was no one around. Unless the wine had addled her mind. Kaiya started to turn her head.
“No,” he whispered. “Keep your attention forward.”
At the intersection up ahead, a large man dressed in a black shirt and pants stepped into the street. He pointed a broadsword at Hardeep. “Give me the backpack.”
Hand on his curved talwar sword, Prince Hardeep stopped in place, jerking her closer to him. The magical bead slipped from her fingers and tinkled to the ground.
Click, swoosh, click, swoosh. The rhythmic clicks came from behind.
Prince Hardeep pushed her to the side. Something—no, two things—zipped through the space where they had just stood and thunked into a house. He whipped out his sword, his backpack not seeming to affect the fluidity of his motion.
If only her head were a little clearer! Fumbling for her dagger, Kaiya searched for the source of the clicks. Another large man leveled a repeating crossbow at them. He pressed the trigger and cocked.
“Come on!” Kaiya pulled Prince Hardeep out of the line of fire and ran toward the swordsman. If they lined up with the other assailant, the crossbowman would likely think twice about shooting.
A pair of enormous men in black hoods turned the corner, joining the first. They all sank into attacking stances. Behind her, two more charged in. Six against two. Or one, considering she was just a drunk girl with a dagger.
“Help!” Kaiya yelled. It might be all she was good for. With lights shining behind sliding windows, many of the citizens had to be awake.
Though she had pulled Hardeep, now he hauled her forward, moving so fast her drunken feet nearly entangled each other. What was he doing?
Above, windows opened and heads poked out. In a city famed for its safety, the fighting must have come as a surprise.
The three in front leaped in with curved swords, cutting in deadly coordination. Prince Hardeep edged to one side while deflecting one of the blades and prodding her past the attacks. Cloth sheared open and one of the would-be-assassins buckled to the ground. Hardeep yanked his hooded mask off.
A boy about her age, perhaps younger despite his huge size, stared back at her.
“Come on!” Hardeep said, pulling her through the opening. On the other side, they broke into a run.
Eyes glinting, Hardeep mumbled something unintelligible, though the foul tone suggested some sort of curse. The sudden rush of blood to her head, combined with the alcohol, sent her vision blacking at the edges. A cold wind blasted through her hair. Her legs gave out and she staggered, nearly falling to the ground.
Hardeep propped her up and slowed to a stop. Stopping? It wasn’t as if she ran that fast, and those men…boys…had long legs. She blinked a few times and searched for the assailants.
There was no sign of them.
Panting, she looked up at Hardeep. “How did we escape them so fast?”
“I’m not sure, but listen.”
There were no sounds of pursuit, just the sound of several muted conversations behind second-floor windows. They couldn’t have run that far, but maybe her muddled brain had warped her perception of time and space. Where were they now?
“I think we are safe now.” He ran a hand through her hair. “You did well. I owe you my life.”
“How so?” She tilted her head.
“The crossbow bolt would have hit me had you not pulled me out of the way.” His gaze made her pulse flutter.
“I’ve never heard of anything like this happening in the capital.”
He harrumphed. “I would expect nothing less from the Madurans.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think they were Madurans. They didn’t look Ayuri.” No, with the brown eyes and black hair… “They were definitely Cathayi.”
“The Maduran trade office probably hired some mercenaries. They sure picked some large ones.”
Very big, probably among the largest humans she’d ever seen. “And young, too.”
“Well, we are safe for now. And we’re here.” He pointed.
She followed his gesture to the sparkling granite walls surrounding a good-sized villa. A fountain bubbled behind the walls, pouring into
what was likely a pond. As a whole, the house was certainly not large or elegant enough to belong to one of the hereditary lords, but perhaps a high-level civil servant. A secretary, or maybe even a minister.
“Whose villa is this?” she asked.
“Foreign Minister Song’s.”
The sound of water churning in the pond beyond the villa walls might have just as easily come from her stomach. And not because of the rice wine.
“The Foreign Minister is at the reception,” Prince Hardeep said.
Hand on Tian’s pebble, she twirled a lock of hair. He couldn’t possibly be thinking of breaking into the Foreign Minister’s home! And then...stealing a musical instrument. Well, he had his homeland to think about…. Still, that was his homeland, not Hua. Sneaking out of the palace was one thing, but for her to be an accomplice in a theft…no, it just wasn’t right. She shook her head. “We…I can’t do this.”
His eyes searched hers, shifting back and forth in a mesmerizing wave of blue. So beautiful, and desperate, in need of her help. Shaking her head, she squeezed her eyes shut.
“It’s okay. I am sorry. I would do anything to alleviate my people’s suffering, except force you to do something that would make you uncomfortable.” His hot hands rested on her slim shoulders, sending warmth into her core.
When she opened her eyes, she looked at the pavestones. “I’m so sorry. I do want to help you, but I just can’t trespass and steal.”
His shoulders shook. He was fighting off laughter. “I think we might have misunderstood each other.”
“How so?” She tilted her head.
He pointed toward the elegant iron gates, flanked by two guards. “We would go right in. The Foreign Minister would find a way to deflect a request for the instrument, perhaps even deny he had it. However, his chamberlain would not dare refuse an imperial princess.”
Heat rose to Kaiya’s cheeks. How embarrassing, to accuse Hardeep of thievery. She cast her gaze down. “Okay. Let’s get the lute.”