by JC Kang
He studied the weiqi board. A game of simple rules, yet so complex in strategy. Who had she been playing with? Black stones controlled the board, with her remaining white pieces all in precarious positions. Whoever it was appeared to be thoroughly beating her, something beyond belief in itself. Though Leina might be naïve, without a mind for real strategy or politicking, she excelled at these kinds of games.
Leina reappeared and placed a tea cup in front of him. She flashed a demure smile.
Beaming back at her, he drew in the sweet scent and took a sip. A comforting warmth trickled down his throat. “Who were you playing against?”
She cocked her head. “Myself.”
“You did not give yourself much of a challenge.”
Leina grinned at him. “Much earlier in the game, the white side had a seemingly insurmountable advantage. Unfortunately, it left insignificant gaps in its lines. Black was able to exploit what appeared to be white’s strengths, but were ultimately weaknesses.”
So confusing! How could she see all of it? Hong took another sip of the tea. “Does white stand a chance now?”
“There is always a chance, no matter how improbable.” She giggled. “I guess if we bent the rules so white could play four pieces at once… just like when I swapped some white pieces for black earlier.”
Hong laughed. “But that’s cheating.”
“Nobody said life was fair.” She shrugged. “As it stands, a fool leads white and black is relentless.”
He took a deep swig of tea as his brows furrowed. The silly girl, rambling again. “What are you talking about?”
She stared at him, her cheerful demeanor darkening. “You really never saw it, did you?”
“What?” Perhaps his unemployment had driven her mad, despite her earlier claims otherwise.
Pointing at the board, Leina said, “Hua is white. It rotted from the inside while its enemies gathered strength.”
He shook his head. “Impossible. How could that happen?”
“You. You made it happen. The troop movements you recommended left strategic areas undefended. You alienated loyal hereditary lords so that they turned their back on the Jade Throne.” She blew out a long breath. “And then you used magic engraved in art to depose the Tianzi.”
Thoughts bouncing in his skull, Hong squinted at her. All these things, ideas she had inadvertently given him. Or maybe it hadn’t been inadvertent. Maybe… “You…you planned all of this!”
Her smile appeared more sad than triumphant. She nodded.
All this time, he had looked down on her. Now… “Why?”
“In its greed, Hua sold muskets and firepowder to Madura, which allowed Madura to conquer my homeland.” Tears trickled down her cheeks. “Then, the Madurans let the Bovyans in. Sharing your bed was nowhere near as bad as being used by a dozen of them a day. When First Consul Geros released me and gave me a chance to free my mother, I took it.”
All her hate and bitterness! Never was it so evident. Hong’s head spun. “Why did he do that?”
“Because my father was a trade official from Hua, and I could use that as a connection to meet a benefactor like you. Someone who could weaken Hua from the inside with the right manipulation.”
He was a fool, tricked by a woman. Still, she had made a mistake in revealing it to him. Once he told Regent Liu, he might be reinstated and she would be executed. He rose to his feet.
Then collapsed back in the chair.
His vision began to darken, and each breath took more effort.
She faded out of focus, and her words cracked beneath her sobs. “You won’t be telling anyone. The poison in your tea will give you a merciful death.”
Poison! Death! Murdered by his own concubine. The one who had engineered Hua’s downfall with him as a pawn. He could have prevented it at any time, if only he had seen it coming.
“Goodbye, Old Hong.”
Leina wrung her hands. She had wished for Old Hong’s death time and time again, and yet, now that it had come to pass, her heart ached.
He sprawled in the chair, lifeless eyes seemingly locked on the weiqi game, the one they had played in real life for the last three years. He wasn’t a bad man, just a misguided one. He had cared for her, which was more than she could say about the father who abandoned her or any other man in her life. Most of the time, he had been sweet, albeit patronizing.
Out in the city, sonorous bells tolled a foreboding chorus. Not for Hong’s death, but as a warning of impending danger.
Leaning over, she closed Old Hong’s eyes with a gentle sweep of her hand. She kissed his forehead, and with one last look at him, turned and left.
It was time to initiate her final plan, the one which would leave the city defenseless.
CHAPTER 26:
Reunions
From the clearing’s edge, Ming stared at the site of both his greatest success and greatest failure as a leader. Still incomplete, the Teleri peninsular fort he’d captured and lost bustled with activity. Natives and Bovyans alike worked at packing and moving weapons and supplies, their activity visible across the moat through the unfinished palisade.
Ming leaned in to Jie and whispered, “We must be lost. We didn’t pass this on the way.”
The half-elf harrumphed. “Can’t you picture a map?” The shoulder wound made her even testier than before. Now she knew how he felt when he couldn’t draw a bow. He would take the high ground and not rub it in. Plus, even with one good arm, she could still slash his throat in the night. She pointed east, along the moat which spilled into the Great Kanin River. “We forded the tributary several li to the north.”
Right, north. Probably where the Teleri had cut off his army’s retreat, as well. Still, they were stuck. “We can’t wade through the shallows, because the Teleri would see us.” He pointed at the wide river, which flowed past the fort. “And it’s too wide to swim.” For Jie, at least, with her arm, but some things didn’t need to be said.
“Can we go the way you came?” Tian’s gaze shifted from the fortress back to the group.
Ming cringed. It was a wet, bug-infested walk through swamp to the fords. Not all that much easier than just wading across the moat, walking through the fort, and over the Teleri-made bridge.
“Wait,” Ma Jun said. “If we can sabotage their supplies here, it might slow their invasion of Hua.” The erstwhile imperial guard turned and spoke in the jumbled native language to the shaman Yuha. Tian nodded and pointed, while Yuha shrugged.
Ming had some good ideas about sabotage, but they were leaving him out of the conversation. He grunted at Jie. “I wonder what they are saying.”
The irritable half-elf snorted. “Probably that four and a half of us don’t stand a chance.”
Half? Even after saving her miserable life, again, she still insulted him. He jabbed a finger at her. “I am not a half. I would bet—”
“I am the half.” She studied the ground.
Such pessimism. Ming sighed. It had to be more than the arm stifling Jie’s irrepressible nature. He opened his mouth—
“Shhhh, get down.” Jie crouched, ears twitching.
Though alert, her expression still looked forlorn. His snappy comment about her worth as a watchdog died on his lips.
She exchanged a few hand signals with Tian, who nodded and whispered something in Yuha and Ma Jun’s ears. Yuha sunk low to the brush and crawled northward. Ma Jun crept east.
Ming rolled his eyes. All the secrecy, and he was left out, again. To think there’d been a time when he, Jie, Ma Jun, and his imperial guard comrades had helped those Southerners assault a pyramid. They—
“Don’t move, you are surrounded,” a shrill voice called from deeper in the forest.
Ma Jun and Yuha froze in place on the ground. Tian pressed his back to a tree, a Teleri longsword in hand. Jie jerked her head and peered somewhere to the west. Even with a bad arm, she still had amazing senses. Ming drew his bow, nocked an arrow and aimed in that direction.
A mop of s
haggy brown hair ventured out from behind a tree, and Ming loosed and nocked another arrow. Whoever it was ducked back out of the first arrow’s trajectory, and peeked out again. “Hey, I come in peace. You aren’t really surrounded.”
Tian gaped at the half-sized man who skipped out from behind a tree, Ming’s arrow in hand. Too mature-looking to be a child, too short to be a human. The word for the newcomer’s race flitted at the edges of his addled recollections. Even more disconcerting was that this same little man appeared in his memories when he watched Layani and Jie fight. Him, and the brown-skinned warrior with the pointed beard.
“Fleet!” Mouth agape, Ma Jun rose and dusted himself off.
“Fleet…” Jie droned in monotone, as if she’d just seen a spirit.
Fleet. The name sounded no more familiar than Kaiya.
“My, my, Ma Jun and Tian.” Fleet eyed the rest of them, nodding in turn. “A Maki shaman and Princess Kaiya’s bodyguard. And you—” he pointed at Ming, “—the princess’ former beau.”
The princess’ former beau? Tian’s eyes bulged. He looked to Ming, who cast his gaze downward. How much more awkward could this get? A woman who he had apparently loved but couldn’t remember, stolen from a brother.
“Halfling,” Ming said haltingly in the Metal Men’s language, “who are you, and how do you know me?”
The madaeri—that was the term— sauntered over and grinned at Ming, twirling the arrow between his stubby fingers. “Your notoriety precedes you. You shouldn’t waste an elf-sharpened arrowhead.”
Cheeks flushed, Ming snatched the arrow away and shoved it back into his quiver. Jie’s lips twitched upward, the first sign of a smile since they’d set off from the wild elf village.
Fleet bent over, revealing a scar on the back of his neck, and rummaged through Ma Jun’s pack. He withdrew some dried berries and tossed them into his mouth. “So. My friends in the local tribes speak of a Warrior From Beyond the Wall. I assume it is one of you?”
All eyes turned to Tian. More awkwardness. The locals revered the Warrior From Beyond the Wall, but his exploits were tales Tian had heard but didn’t remember experiencing. He shook his head. “I don’t remember anything.”
“That explains the blank look, despite all the good times we had together.” Fleet pulled on his ear. “Then again, you weren’t the sharpest sword in the armory to begin with. Maybe some familiar faces will help jolt your memories. Follow me.”
Familiar faces? Tian started to speak, but the madaeri disappeared into the woods without a sound. The others exchanged glances and shrugs. “Who’s that?” Tian said.
Jie’s voice rang with awe. “He helped me track the Water Snake Moquan clan in the Eldaeri Kingdoms.”
“He guided us through the hills of Iksuvi,” Ma Jun said, “during Princess Kaiya’s escape from Iksuvius.”
Yuha beckoned them to follow. “The Traveler brings good luck. He’s visited our village in the past, and always the spirits bless us afterwards.”
Probably coincidence, but Yuha hurried after Fleet, so unlike all the caution he’d exhibited over the last several days of travel. With a sigh, Tian followed, and the rest trailed after him. The madaeri moved quickly, oftentimes stopping to wait for them.
The tumbling of water over rocks grew louder, and a li to the east, they arrived at the river bank. A canoe lay partially hidden by shrubs, and the underbrush had clearly been disturbed. Fleet whistled.
Three faces of varying brown shades popped out from behind different trees. The darkest, a pretty woman with a chocolate complexion and coarse hair, smiled broadly. Dirt streaked her white dress, and its band of colored patterns across her chest was faded. One of the men bowed his shaved pate, and a gold disk hanging from his neck spilled out of his ascetic robes. The third…was the other man from Tian’s memories. Flowing black hair and a pointed beard, a curved sword in hand.
Ming and Ma Jun hurried forward, exchanging excited greetings with the newcomers, though Jie hung back.
Yuha sidled up to Tian. “It looks like a reunion of old friends.”
Tian nodded. “I’d wager there is a story behind this.”
“Involving a pyramid,” Jie said. “And charlatan priests and magic gemstones.”
Pointed Beard strode over. “Well met, Tian,” he said in the Metal Men’s language, though with a thick accent. “I didn’t expect to meet you here.”
Tian didn’t expect to be here either. He stared at the newcomer. “You look familiar.”
“He lost his memories,” Jie said, her tone acerbic. “He doesn’t know who you are, Sameer.”
The man’s lips formed a ring. He pressed his hands together and bowed. “I am Sameer. You have saved my life, and I have saved yours.” He pointed his chin toward the others. “I, and my comrades Cyrus and Brehane, owe your brother, Ma Jun, and Jie a favor we can never repay. Come.”
Frowning, Tian followed Sameer. All this interpersonal history, lost to him. Only Sameer’s fighting skill made any kind of impression, and that was through dreams. Up close, the other two looked no more familiar than almost everyone else he’d met since waking from the Viper’s Rest. Brehane held both of Ma Jun’s hands.
“…going to Cathay,” the bald man, apparently Cyrus, was saying.
Ming cocked his head. “Whatever for?”
Sameer chuckled. “Princess Kaiya offered to take us to your pyramid.”
The image of a four-sided pyramid, by a large lake with blue waters, flashed in Tian’s memory.
“Princess Kaiya is in no position to offer anything,” Jie said. “And you would have to get through the Teleri army to reach her.”
Ming snorted. “Just like us.”
Fleet whistled. “I’d warned the princess that the Teleri were heading that way. I didn’t expect it to be so soon.”
“So what’s your plan?” Tian asked Sameer. Maybe they had a better idea.
“We still need to visit the pyramid,” Cyrus said.
Sameer pointed at the dugout canoe. “We were waiting until dark to row past the fortress.”
A boat. Tian smiled to himself. Why hadn’t he thought of that when they left the wild elf village? Too bad this canoe wasn’t big enough for an extra five people. At least— “Could you ferry us, too?”
“Wait.” Ming held up a hand. “The Teleri invasion is supplied from this fort. I know firsthand. We need to destroy the bridge on the other side of the fort.”
Fleet stroked his chin. “Sameer and his friends must make haste and can’t risk capture by the Teleri.”
“However,” Brehane chirped in, accent thick, “We can take care of the bridge.”
As they drifted by the fort under the cover of darkness, Jie peered at the soldiers on the bridge with her elf vision. Earlier in the day, her heart had raced as she approached the napping Akolyte Cyrus. If he felt the same as Sameer about returning her a favor, surely he would invoke the healing powers of his One God.
She had shaken him awake, and his eyes fluttered open.
“Can’t you let a man sleep?” He groaned and turned back over again.
“I need your help.” The pleading in her voice sounded pathetic, but maybe this was her only hope. “You owe me.”
“All right.” Grumbling, Cyrus sat up. Sleepy eyes wandered to her injury. “It’s about your arm, right?”
She nodded. He had always been perceptive.
“You never believed Athran was the One God,” he said.
In fact, she’d mocked Cyrus at the pyramid in Levastya when he had lost his power, but… “I will convert to your faith.”
“Right.” Cyrus snorted. He withdrew the golden disk hanging from his neck. Clasping it, he placed a hand on her shoulder and chanted in his language.
Warmth flooded through her shoulder, and her pulse skipped a beat. Perhaps she had better invest in a gold disk.
When Cyrus finished his prayer, he opened his eyes and looked expectantly at her.
She reached for her dagger and...nothing. He
r shoulder remained just as frozen as before.
“I am sorry,” Cyrus said, his voice sincere.
Despite her best efforts to control them, tears had filled her eyes then.
They did again now, blurring the shades of grey and olive of her elf sight as Fleet poled the boat to shore. She wiped her eyes with her good arm and cleared the lump in her throat. To think the only things making her useful were the exceptional senses from the elf blood she hated. Still, she couldn’t let Tian see her cry.
Ming, Yuha, Ma Jun, and the Southerners waited on the banks. Ma Jun took her hand and helped her disembark, while Tian and Fleet jumped off with ease after her. She ripped her hand from Ma Jun’s. Her arm might not work, but she was no invalid.
Ming pointed at the bridge over the great river’s tributary, some hundred feet away. “Logs lashed together with rope. We tried to use gunpowder to destroy it, but it wouldn’t light in the rain.”
Or Ming had been incompetent. Jie snorted. She’d imploded Wailian Castle and obliterated a quarter of the Hua embassy in Iksuvius with firepowder.
“We could slash the ropes now,” Tian whispered. “From underneath.”
Jie shook her head. “It would take too long by yourself. I can’t help you, and you are the only one who stands a chance at succeeding without them seeing.”
“I’m standing right here,” Fleet muttered.
Brehane raised a silencing hand. “We need to get closer. I will use magic, but it will tire me out. I will need you to help me back to the boat.”
Jie stared at her. The most impressive magic Brehane had mustered a year ago was putting a bunch of fake Akolytes to sleep, and even that had left her on the verge of collapse from the fatigue.
Yet Sameer and Cyrus nodded at her confidence now.
Fleet pointed a chin at Ming. “You provide cover with your bow. Tian, Sameer, and Ma Jun, come with me just in case we run into some baddies when we approach.”