by JC Kang
Princess Kaiya seemed detached, staring down at her feet while they walked through the warehouse-lined streets. When they arrived at the quay, she craned her neck, looking among the dozens of sailors and workers bustling along the wooden docks, loading and preparing cargo boats. There was little doubt whom she searched for.
Jie didn’t have the heart to say Young Lord Zheng would not be joining them. It was for the better. Whether she admitted it to herself or not, the princess repeatedly fell prey to his charm. Given a week at sea with his forked tongue beguiling her, it might be more than the waves rocking the ship.
Chen Xin flagged down a middle-aged pilot, who’d been contracted through anonymous intermediaries. His river boat, laden with cargo, would take them through the wide but shallow waters of the lower Jade River to the sea docks in Jiangkou. Two dozen brawny rowers looked over their group with little interest, while the quartermaster kept peering through the mist at the Iridescent Moon.
The princess didn’t accommodate him, raising a hand. She spoke in an unmistakably regal tone, which might unwittingly blow their cover. “Wait a moment.” Her eyes swept across the docks several times, and then focused on the road.
Jie followed her gaze. Maybe Zheng Ming had somehow found them. No, the philandering lord didn’t seem to be among the dockworkers and sailors. She tugged on the princess’ sleeve. “We must get underway. Our hosts in Jiangkou are following an unforgiving schedule.”
The princess glared at her from underneath her hood, but after a few seconds, turned on her heel and motioned for her entourage to board. With Li Wei’s help, she climbed onto to the boat.
Jie held her sigh of relief until the boat pushed off. They would be on time, and she wouldn’t have to suffer through Zheng Ming’s presence.
Kaiya listened to the oars swishing through the water, following the cadence of the drum situated at the long river boat's aft. Perhaps it wasn’t too late to order a full stop and head back. What if Ming had been attacked by the insurgents again? And hurt, unable to meet her in the palace? He’d better be hurt, to not show up.
Forget Zheng Ming. She stared at the lazy waters of the Jade River. Melting winter snows first filled up Sun-Moon Lake before emptying into the wide channel that flowed out to sea. With the river being too shallow for ocean-going vessels, swift row boats and slower pole barges plied the waters, transporting goods and people from Hua’s largest port to its capital.
Since the transformation of Huajing from a muddy fishing village to the national capital, other villages along the river banks had blossomed into towns, catering to the barges as they pushed their way upstream.
For the first time, Kaiya saw these towns from the meandering river. Normally, she bypassed them on the main highway. Merchants sold wares directly from docked barges, while fishermen took small craft out for the day. Women washed clothes in the shallows, sharing gossip with broad smiles and laughter.
Even though she frequently traveled through the country, it was always meticulously choreographed. It was rare for her ever to see the common folk going about their daily lives. How relaxed their lifestyles were compared to the rigid routines of court life! Her hand strayed to Tian’s pebble.
The boat arrived at Jiangkou’s docks in the early afternoon, and the party disembarked. Ma Jun went to search for the Invincible while the rest of the group waited by one of the many large warehouses near the busy docks.
On previous trips, Kaiya had gone directly to a wharf just outside of the city and a little further upstream in a private cove, where the Golden Phoenix moored. Now in a public area, she could hardly hear herself think over the buzz of activity as sailors, dockworkers, and merchants all played their respective roles in Hua’s vibrant international trade.
The smell of fish and sweat mingled with brackish water to assault her nose. Her stomach turned at the sight of huge crates writhing with live shellfish, on their way to the sprawling Jiangkou fish market. Perhaps the open sea wouldn’t be so bad compared to this.
Thankfully, it didn’t take long for Ma Jun to return. He beckoned them to follow, and within minutes, the Invincible’s sablewood hull and five masts loomed large over the three-masted Hua cargo ships around it.
Kaiya had never seen such a gigantic vessel. If only Zheng Ming could be here to see it! Fair-skinned sailors rarely seen in these waters prepared the ship for departure. They laughed, shouted, and relayed orders as they worked the rigging and moorings. Their Arkothi was laced with colorful metaphors which might as well have been gibberish.
Their catcalls, as Jie approached the gangplank and pulled down her hood, needed no translation.
Better to keep her own hood up. Perhaps for the duration of the weeklong trip.
Four stout marines armed with cutlasses eyed them suspiciously. After the attempt on Prince Aelward’s life two days prior, he’d returned to his ship, and it stayed under heavy guard. No supply crates or cargo went unchecked.
Soon the prince, along with the elf Ayana, came to greet them. He took Kaiya’s hand to help her aboard. “Welcome aboard the Invincible, lass. I hope to be as fine a host as you were for me.”
There was no sarcasm in his voice, despite what had happened at the arena. Kaiya searched his eyes and found nothing but sincerity. She bowed her head. “Thank you. Your ship is beautiful. Though we take pride in our ships, even the Son of Heaven’s flagship cannot compare to the Invincible.”
With grace he couldn’t imitate on land, Prince Aelward sidestepped some sea foam carried on the wind. “Impressive as she be, yer Golden Phoenix is built fer speed, not fer power. Our ancestors arrived on the Tivaralan coasts as conquerors three hundred years ago in these ships. Even now, they are the technological pinnacle of sea-going vessels. We still build them with sablewood, which is only found in Tarkoth.”
Li Wei, known more for his left-handedness and pessimism than his eye for woodwork, ran his hand over the rail. “The wood is beautiful but clearly well-worn.”
“The Invincible is nearly two hundred years old, one of just eight Intimidator Class ships ever commissioned.” Beaming, Prince Aelward patted a bulwark. “None have been lost to battle or to the sea, and the three originals on which our ancestors arrived are still in service.”
Kaiya clapped her hands together, in awe at the age of the ships. “I always believed we in Cathay were the best sailors, but it seems that the Eldaeri are masters of the sea.”
“Saltwater runs in our veins.” Aelward motioned them to follow him across the deck toward the aft. “Now come with me to your quarters.”
Xu Zhan pointed at four light cannons, two each at the bow and stern. “You have fitted your ship with guns.”
Kaiya twirled her hair. No Hua ship was similarly armed. What if Father was right about the Tarkothi being a threat to Hua shipping?
“Wrought-iron cannons,” Aelward said, gliding across the deck, “bought from your country a hundred years ago. Your modern cast-iron guns are too heavy and unbalance the ship.”
“Our ships don’t have guns at all.” The pugnacious Xu Zhan never shied from an argument. He might very well get them thrown off.
She bowed her head. “Please forgive my guard.”
Aelward laughed. He was a different man on a ship. Relaxed. Confident. “Not at all. Our circumstances are different. You have no seafaring rivals in the West, but Tarkoth and Serikoth have been nominally in conflict with each other for a hundred and twenty years. Now we face the even greater threat of the Teleri Empire. We use ships not just for trade, but to project our might from the seas.”
They arrived at the door to an aft cabin beneath the poop deck, and Aelward held the door open. “It is very rare that we have women on board.” Aelward grinned with what could only be described as nostalgia. It would be worth asking Jie about later.
“Princess Kaiya and her handmaiden will stay in my cabin. I will bunk with the senior officers. Unfortunately, we only have space for your guards in general crew quarters.”
Ka
iya bowed. “Thank you for your consideration. I am sorry to inconvenience you.” Though not sorry enough to bunk in the ship’s guts.
Jie emerged from the cabin— Kaiya hadn’t even seen her go in—and bowed her head. “It is secure,” she said in the Hua tongue. “The only thing out of place was a single strand of frizzy red hair.”
Red hair. It was unheard of among the Eldaeri, and rare even among other Northerners.
Peng Kai-Long mingled in with the peasants on the bluffs overlooking the restricted cove where the Golden Phoenix docked. Though Jiangkou city guards kept a watchful eye, he was confident they would not see through his disguise. He regretted, however, that they had confiscated his spyglass at the cordon.
Nonetheless, he saw Cousin Kaiya about to board the Golden Phoenix. Once it was out on the open seas, he would finally be rid of her.
For good.
Through three layers of agents and influence, he’d managed to get two insurgents on board. Somewhere on their journey, they would ignite the muskets’ gunpowder magazine and sabotage the lifeboats, scuttling all hope of negotiations with Madura and forever drowning the secret of Prince Hardeep’s fake correspondence. And of course, consigning another source of heirs to the Dragon Throne to a watery grave.
The Golden Phoenix sparkled in the sun. How regretful to sacrifice the realm’s magnificent flagship. It would have been his once he ruled. No matter, he would commission an even grander vessel, even better than the Eldaeri’s Invincible.
Below, an imperial messenger, clearly marked by his dragon banners, interrupted Kai-Long’s daydreams. The rider galloped toward the cove, kicking up dust along the access road. When his horse reached the dock, the rider jumped off and dropped to a knee before the ship’s quartermaster.
He pointed toward the ship and held his arms out as if he were embracing a bear. The quartermaster shook his head, then threw up his hands and traipsed up the gang plank.
Around Kai-Long, the rustics murmured and pointed. Before long, Cousin Kaiya appeared at the the gang plank and disembarked.
Had his agents been uncovered? How was it that all of his supposedly foolproof plans failed? Kai-Long loosened his fists, even as heat rose to his ears.
He listened to the chatter of the people around him. Something about sabotaged water barrels. What was happening?
Against his better judgment, Liang Yu waited around to see Lord Peng’s reaction to the princess disembarking from the ship. He had not expected to see the lord of Nanling disguised among the crowds of well-wishers, and now wondered what his stake in this game of intrigue was. Up to now, he had only suspected Peng as one of the serious players. Here was proof.
Somehow, Liang Yu had become a player as well, instead of just a somewhat independent game piece. As he surmised, his former employer had hired new agents to scuttle the princess’ mission to Vyara City; and Liang Yu had tricked Young Lord Zheng into revealing them.
The results were better than he planned. Negotiations would be delayed. He did not have long to wait now. Once war began, he would trick Zheng Ming into exposing his former employer. In the meantime, it was time to investigate Lord Peng Kai-Long a little more carefully.
CHAPTER 22:
Song of Ayudra Island
With a large porthole looking out onto the sea, Kaiya’s cabin was the Invincible’s most spacious and luxurious. Nonetheless, the tight confines, combined with the rocking of the ship, stirred her stomach to rebellion.
Though Jie and Chen Xin implored her to stay indoors and avoid the foreigners’ leers, she spent most of the week on deck. To her relief, the sailors and marines of Tarkoth’s elite navy proved to be disciplined, and none so much as spoke to her beyond polite greetings. With no interruptions save for the half-elf’s constant nagging over safety issues, she delved into the mirror-book Lord Xu had given her.
Acoustic theory came to life through tales of legendary musicians and their songs. To think music could stir armies into bloodlust or send enemies into a panic. Kaiya might be able to invoke a two-syllable command, yet that paled compared to singers who beguiled large audiences with only their voice.
The book also recounted the first part of Kaiya’s favorite story: how the slave girl Yanyan sang the dragon Avarax to sleep. How she would love to learn that song! Unfortunately, four of the pages were missing.
Using what was there, and what she’d learned of vibrations and vocal commands, Kaiya experimented on her guards. Getting Li Wei just to yawn drained her; and even then, it might not have been the impact of her voice, but just the lulling waves.
Such a basic skill, beyond her grasp. How could she ever hope to attempt some of the book’s more unbelievable feats, like stirring gale winds or causing the ground to quake?
On the fifth day, the seas pitched with a curious regularity. Kaiya stumbled across the deck to the prow, grasping the cool metal of the cannon to stabilize herself. Facing into the winds, she listened.
The waves sang in rhythmic ripples.
Ears tracking the sounds to their source, her eyes followed a long line of small islets. Their contours curved toward the horizon, finally ending at a large island rising out of sea. It seemed to whisper to her through the symphony of ocean sounds.
“You feel it, too,” came a melodic voice behind her. “Ayudra Island.”
Kaiya met Ayana’s gaze. The elf woman pointed back toward the prow. “Those are barrier islands, which separate the Western Ocean from the Shallowsea. Beyond them, Ayudra Island. On it, the ruins of Ayudra City and the hill that was once Mount Ayudra.”
Kaiya knew the history well. Ayudra City had once been capital of the Ayuri Empire, a vibrant and prosperous port of magnificent spires and domes built up around an ancient orc pyramid. The Hellstorm obliterated it, and reduced Mount Ayudra to a hill. The city’s levees failed and the hungry ocean swept in, swallowing ten thousand li of low-lying farmland and the millions of souls inhabiting it. Those that survived, along with everyone else on the continent, suffered through the Long Winter. Empires fell, chaos ensued. It was in the ashes of the old world that her own ancestor, and those of the Eldaeri and Teleri, forged a new world.
“How is the island speaking to me?” Kaiya asked.
Ayana smiled. “One of the pyramids dedicated to the worship of the ancient Tivari gods stood in the shadows of Mount Ayudra. Even though the Hellstorm annihilated it, the energy of the world wells up there. Some humans can feel it.”
“Then elves can hear it, too? What is it saying?”
“I feel it,” Ayana answered, “but no one experiences the energy in the same way. I can tell you this: our oral histories, ancient even to us elves, say that our civilization sprang up tens of thousands of years ago in the same places where our Tivari conquerors later built pyramids as monuments to their vile gods.”
Kaiya nodded. Human civilizations, as well, flourished in these areas. “Why?”
“All those areas resonate with the energy of the world. Especially here, where the physical manifestation of Magius, God of Magic, appeared,” she pointed to the Iridescent Moon, floating much higher and larger than usual, “to help my people hide from the Tivari's attempts to exterminate us. That is why the Ayuri Paladins constructed the Temple of the Moon over the ruins. Perhaps you should visit the Oracle there.”
A visit to the Oracle…it might answer more questions about this energy bubbling in her core. Kaiya turned back to contemplate the island, which grew larger as the Invincible approached. By late afternoon, the island’s docks came into view. With seagoing Hua ships incapable of navigating the Shallowsea, and the Ayuri skiffs unable to handle the open sea, those docks served as a gateway for trade into the interior Ayuri kingdoms. Hopefully, they could arrange transit and leave enough time for a detour to the Temple of the Moon.
She looked up at Caiyue to gauge the approximate hour. As when Ayana pointed it out before, it no longer hung in its reliable position to the south. Instead, it floated much higher, almost directly overhead. How bizar
re—but not nearly as strange as its hum.
The humming joined with the ever-rising chorus of seagull caws and ocean waves. The finger-length dizi flute in the folds of her robe found its way into Kaiya’s hand. She played, allowing the harmony of the island to guide her just as she’d learned from Lord Xu two years before during the Wailian debacle.
The flute resonated clearly, its sound louder and fuller than she could imagine. Sailors paused and stared.
Ordered back to work, they returned to their duties, and the Invincible lumbered into port. There, the Arkothi-speaking sailors and Ayuri-speaking dockworkers began tying the ship down to the moorings, communicating through the universal language of seafarers.
Oh, to feel solid ground again! Kaiya shifted her weight left to right, peering down a single stone-paved boulevard running several li to the broad, low-lying hill. Two-story buildings of white mud bricks topped by flat roofs lined the wide road. Save for the Ayuri architecture, it might have been any street in Hua for all the bustling activity.
However, on the other side of the buildings lay the ruins of the once-great city of Ayudra, as far as her eye could see. She shuddered. Hundreds of thousands of unfortunate people perished here during the Hellstorm. The piles of rubble stood as their grave markers.
Once the gangplank lowered, Kaiya disembarked with Jie and the five imperial guards. Prince Aelward and Ayana followed with ten marines. Around them, Ayuri dockworkers began unloading cargo under the watchful eye of a harbormaster and the ship’s quartermaster and boatswain. The call of sea birds mingled with the buzzing of the Ayuri language, swarming in from all directions.
As the party advanced toward the head of the wharf, they were greeted by an Ayuri man, not much older than her, wearing a lightweight, white cotton tunic that hung to his knees. The kurta’s high neck was embroidered with symbols indicating he was an official, and he sported a short beard of coarse black hair. He spoke in heavily accented Arkothi. “Your papers, please.”