The Dragon Songs Saga: The Complete Quartet: Songs of Insurrection, Orchestra of Treacheries, Dances of Deception, and Symphony of Fates

by JC Kang

  For Hua, she would have to succeed. With a deep breath, she stepped through the portal.

  CHAPTER 40:

  Stranger

  The low whir of cicadas droned in Kaiya’s ears, and oppressive, humid heat hung in her lungs. She shielded her eyes from the bright sun, which seemed larger than usual. The iridescent moon…nowhere to be seen. Gauging the half-hour time limit would require plenty of guesswork. She looked around, taking in the bizarre surroundings of her ancestor’s homeland. If Xu was to be believed, this was indeed Great Peace Island.

  It was like nothing she’d ever seen before. The smooth black road warmed her feet through her shoes’ thin soles. Perfectly square pavestones, all white with some bright flecks, lined either side. The buildings were blocky and unsightly, made of metal and stone, with windows of actual glass. Not like the beautiful stained glass the Estomari craftsmen made, but plain and clear.

  A loud horn blared behind her, making her heart leap into her throat. She turned around. A cart moving of its own accord glided toward her. A handsome man, whose fine features and skin tone suggested Eldaeri blood, leaned out from the front and yelled at her, in a language which made no sense. Then he gaped. With arms covered in sleek blue sleeves, he gestured her to the stone-paved roadside.

  Bowing, she moved to the side while the cart floated past her, its bottom not even touching the road. Magic, perhaps. Supposedly, as the gods’ haven in this world, Great Peace Island was full of it. She stared at the man as it passed, and he stared back.

  She turned around and gawked again.

  A brown wooden gate with pitched tiled eaves rose before her. Though the architecture might have belonged in her own homeland, it looked ridiculously out of place with everything else around her. The plaque above, in white lettering, read Original Mastery Temple.

  Kaiya’s mouth hung open wider. This was the gate which the Founder himself had passed through, at least according to all the Imperial Family histories. A stone obelisk at the side of the gate had some sort of inscription, a bizarre mix of the Hua language and some other unintelligible scribble—like Xiulan’s handwriting, only much uglier.

  She read what she could. It mentioned her ancestor, Xinchang, though it used the symbols Zhitian, Woven Field, for his surname. Something about death and fire and ruins.

  “Ahr yuu oukei mihss?” a man called from behind her.

  She spun around to find the cart driver. Tight blue clothes, smooth as a sharkskin she’d once seen, covered his entire body. She took several steps back.

  “Ihtz oukei. Ai wount hahrt yuu.” He held up both hands.

  She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

  The man cocked his head.

  Perhaps it was a waste of time. She searched for the iridescent moon, still not there. “I don’t understand,” she repeated in Arkothi, Ayuri, and finally, on a desperate whim, the secret imperial language.

  His eyes and mouth widened. “How you talk sun origin speech?”

  “How do you speak the imperial language?”

  His brow furrowed. “Im-Pe-Ri-Al language?”

  She nodded.

  “I learned in big study. Long ago, everyone speak it here.” He opened his arms wide.

  Wherever the big study was. Perhaps Great Peace Island had been conquered in the three hundred years since the Founder left, so much so that his language had fallen into obscurity. She forced a smile.

  “So you okay?” He reached for her sleeve and rubbed the fabric between his fingers.

  Such poor manners. She pulled away. “Yes, just a little lost. I am looking for a well.”

  His head cocked again. “A we-ll?”

  She pantomimed drawing water out of a well and drinking.

  “You thirsty?”

  Kaiya started to shake her head. But no, her mouth was dry. She nodded.

  He flashed a naughty grin. “Would you like do tea?”

  “I am in a hurry.” She frowned. He was asking her to perform a tea ceremony, for a stranger no less.

  His lower lip jutted out and he cast his eyes at the ground. “Okay. I get water.” He turned back to his cart and reached inside. He withdrew the strangest clear water skin, with water visibly sloshing inside, and gave it to her. “Please.”

  She bowed her head in thanks and lifted the water skin to her lips. Nothing came out.

  The man laughed. He extended his hand to the water skin. “May I?”

  Confused, she returned it to him. With a twist of his fingers, a clear peel came off the top. He handed it back to her.

  Bowing again, she took a sip. Cool and delicious.

  “What is your name?” He smiled back.

  “Kaia.” At least, that’s what it was in the imperial language.

  “Well, enjoy visit Kaia. This place is kept from old times.” He pointed past the gate.

  “Thank you.” Searching for the iridescent moon, still not there of course, she turned around and passed through. She glanced back to see the man staring at her, while talking to his…wrist.

  He lifted his chin and waved. She turned back and looked straight ahead.

  The gate opened up into a courtyard, framed by a building with thin metal columns and glass. The metal sign above was inscribed in large black letters, Original Mastery Temple Little Study. It might as well have been gibberish, for all Little Study meant to her. Whatever the building was, it easily dwarfed the Hall of Supreme Harmony, though it did not match the architecture of all the other, even more gargantuan, structures beyond. Whoever built these enormous edifices must have had both incredible skill and a sick imagination. If not for the Tiger’s Eye forming up, she might have vomited from the strangeness of it all.

  At least the courtyard itself felt like home. The ground was paved in uneven stones, and up ahead were what appeared to be funerary tablets. In a row. A wooden signpost had a long list of strange names, all faded with time. She came closer to the row. One of the stones was marked with the name of her ancestor, though with the same incorrect characters for his family name.

  As if he had died here, and not in Hua. This outlandish place was just too disconcerting. Better to focus on finding the Dragon Pearl before the portal opened again, lest she spend the rest of her life among strangely-dressed Eldaeri who spoke broken Imperial. She closed her eyes and listened.

  There. Somewhere beyond the courtyard, a low, steadfast pulse called to her, its reassuring beat reminiscent of her mother’s heartbeat. No, maybe Doctor Wu’s heartbeat. She walked around the side of the building as the sound got louder, pausing only to look at another obelisk tucked into a small concave wall. Original Mastery Temple Track was inscribed in the single column, the symbols worn with time like the various ruins from the War of Ancient Gods.

  Windows in the building slid open. Boys in high-collared black uniforms pointed at her and chattered, while girls in white blouses with red kerchiefs covered their giggles. All Eldaeri. They’d been bloodthirsty conquerors when they arrived on the shores of Tivaralan three centuries before; maybe they’d conquered and occupied Great Peace Island since then, and wiped out all vestiges of its original culture. Though if they could build such colossal buildings, certainly they could sail across the seas and overwhelm the Teleri, Levastyans, and everyone else who stood in their way.

  She shook the idea out of her mind and continued toward the source of the pulsation. On the other side of the building lay a broad field of orange-brown dirt. Boys in tight white uniforms ran back and forth. More than one paused to stare at her.

  Up ahead, on the other side of the field, another concave wall surrounded a stone well. The throbbing sound came from there. Picking her way through the boys, she approached. Like the other ancient-looking places in the area, a stone obelisk bore identifying marks. Original Mastery Temple Well.

  So this was it. Prominently displayed in such a conspicuous spot, surely the man from before knew of the well, but was too busy requesting tea ceremonies to guide her. She peered down into its depths,
from whence the pulse came. Withdrawing the tuning fork Xu had given her, she tapped it against the side of the well.

  A clear tone rung out. Down in the well, something flared a gentle blue. Now how would reach it?

  Several boys came up beside her. One looked down the well. “Wuht ahr yuu duuween?”

  She pointed down the well and pantomimed dropping something. “I lost a ball.”

  He squinted at her, then waved someone over. She turned.

  A young woman, perhaps only a little older than her, approached. She wore a sharp black uniform like the boys in the windows, albeit with a pleated skirt instead of pants. “Mei ai herup yuu?”

  “I lost a ball.” Kaiya pointed back down into the well.

  The woman’s eyes widened. “You speak sun origin speech, but not hero speech?”

  Kaiya snorted. These people thought their language belonged to heroes. Just like most of the other Eldaeri she had met. If only Prince Aelward or Princess Alaena were here to translate for her. Mei ai herup yuu. If, no, when she saw them again, she would see if they understood the words. “Sorry, yes,” she said.

  The woman nodded, then turned around and yelled. A wiry young man jogged over and the two exchanged words. He smiled at her. “I will check.”

  “Dangerous,” Kaiya said.

  He laughed. “No, it dry for thousand years. I down many times—” he gestured to the gathered boys. “—them, too. There are only rocks.”

  She snorted. The man bragged about violating the sanctity of a holy spot. “Look.” She pointed into the well and struck Xu’s metal again. The sound rung out and the blue light flashed again.

  Everyone stared down the well, murmuring.

  The man looked from the well to her and back again. He climbed up and over the edge, then shimmied down. “Dark! Hit again!”

  Kaiya struck the clip against the well’s lip. The sound rang out, clear and jubilant. Pale blue light flared up, flickering as the sound of rocks and stones shuffling and rubbing against each other echoed down below.

  “Got it!”

  Kaiya peered down the well. Some thirty feet down, a glowing blue ball the size of a human head cast the man’s figure in blue sheen. He tucked it into his tight shirt and spider-climbed up. Time had to be running out. She searched for the iridescent moon—again, not there.

  He emerged looking much like a pregnant woman. How she might look in several months. If she survived this war. He pulled the globe from his shirt. The blue light had faded, leaving a sphere caked with dirt and limestone sediment. It hummed deep in her ears, though it did not seem to bother anyone else.

  The man offered it to her. “How you know it here?”

  She smiled. “Mine.”

  “Never saw it down there before.” The man took out a make-up case from his pocket. He held it up to her. Everyone else reached and held up make-up cases, bracelets, rings… Kaiya took several steps back. They had been so helpful before, but now…perhaps they wanted to subdue her and take back the Pearl, this treasure that could possibly save Hua.

  The man held up a hand. “No. Good. Look.” He presented his make-up case. In it flashed the image of her holding the Dragon Pearl. Dirt marred her complexion, and her hair looked as if birds had nested in it. And…wait, his make-up case. It was like Xu’s magic mirror. Indeed, the gathered children shouted and jostled to show her an image of herself, some projected from rings, others in the flat surfaces of their bracelets.

  Whoever said the Eldaeri had no connection to magic was wrong. She pushed her way through the growing crowd of excited, shouting kids, shuffling back the way she had come. On occasion, she pulled her arm away from a child who grabbed her dress skirts. There couldn’t be much more time left.

  Despite the time constraint, she stopped in the courtyard, where her ancestor’s grave marker stood. It couldn’t be a grave marker. No. He’d died in Hua. It was a memorial of sort, perhaps commemorating the gods dispatching the Founder to unify Hua. If only the entire sign made sense. She scanned her throng of followers for the woman, or either of the two men who could speak a halting version of the imperial tongue.

  There. The woman waved. Kaiya beckoned her over, and she threaded a path between the kids.

  “What does this say?” Kaiya gestured toward the sign.

  The woman peered at it, then back at Kaiya. “Dead speech. I not learn.”

  “This place has history.” The man who’d retrieved the Pearl sidled up to them. “A great lord cheat his boss. Burn down old…shrine. Boss die. Many die.”

  Kaiya’s brow furrowed. Had her ancestor been the traitor? He certainly wasn’t the boss who’d died. She bowed. “Thank you. I must be going.” She turned back toward the main gate.

  Outside the courtyard, the streets erupted in excited chatter as she exited. Lights swirled on top of another floating cart. Eldaeri men and women in the most colorful, outlandish clothes surrounded other floating wagons. Several of the people held up shiny tubes to her. Two men in sleek, tight-fitting red and silver clothes looked at her and exchanged words. They strode with purposeful steps toward her.

  “Furiz!” one yelled.

  Kaiya skidded to a stop. The crowd charged toward her, past the two men, all yelling and shouting excitedly in the foreign tongue as they surrounded her. More than one shoved a tube toward her.

  “Huu ahr yuu?”

  “Wayrr yuu furam?”

  “Wuutz za rahk?”

  Kaiya’s mind spun. “I don’t understand. Does anyone speak the imperial language?” She looked for the moon. The portal should open soon.

  “I speak!” A middle-aged man pushed his way to the front. Perhaps he could answer her questions.

  Kaiya pointed back at the grave stones. “What does the sign say?”

  “First, everyone wants to know who you are.” He took her sleeve in his hands and rubbed his fingers back and forth. “No one has worn this material since ancient times.”

  These people had even worse sense of personal space than Ayuri folk. Kaiya pulled her arm back. “How do you speak the imperial language?”

  “Im-pe-ri-al?” He squinted at her. “It’s Sun Origin Speech. It used to be the language here. I am a teacher at the big study.” He pointed off in the distance, then nodded at her. “Where are you from?”

  She bowed. A teacher, even from an unknown Big Study, deserved respect. “Tivaralan.”

  “Where?” He shook his head.

  Where indeed. Though the Tivaralan Eldaeri wouldn’t admit it, rumor had it their ancestors had been criminals and exiles. Perhaps those who remained in their original homeland had never sailed west to Tivaralan.

  The first man, the one who’d nearly run into her with his cart, spoke and gesticulated wildly. He pointed to the street, then up. People followed his gaze upward.

  The teacher looked from the heavens to her. “They think you come from the stars.”

  Kaiya choked down her shocked laugh. As if she were a human angel! She shook her head. “No. Magic.”

  The man’s jaw slackened. “What?”

  The throng burst into excited chatter, everyone gesturing and turning to the street. The air shimmered, and black space opened. The portal! People pointed and gasped.

  Kaiya shouldered her way through the crowds. The portal had only stayed open for a moment when she arrived, and she had to get there now, if only to prevent any children from slipping through the ethers into a dangerous, war-torn land. The sea of people parted to make way for her.

  She peered in. Xu stood there, his intense gaze locked on her. At her side, everyone gasped.

  “Elestrae!” one yelled, mistaking Xu for an elf angel. It was the only word in their language she had picked out so far, and surely given the Eldaeri’s mixing with elves in the past, they knew what one looked like. Others jostled to get a better glimpse.

  With a frown, Xu beckoned her. She stepped toward the portal, then turned and found the individuals who had been so helpful. With a bow at the waist, she stepped
backward through the portal.

  The sound of cicadas and excited shouts ceased, immediately replaced by the ponderous thrum of the world’s energy. The circle snapped shut, the sunlight blinking out. The sealed entrance to the pyramid stood where the door to Great Peace Island had been.

  Kaiya turned to Xu. “That was Great Peace Island?”

  “Yes.” Xu grinned.

  “In the three hundred years since my ancestor’s departure, the Eldaeri conquered it.”

  He cocked his head. “Not exactly. I wouldn’t know where to begin and explain. Now, did you retrieve the Dragon Pearl?”

  Kaiya lifted it.

  “Good. None worse for the wear after so many centuries.” He pointed to the valley, where the fake Guardian Dragon of Hua undulated in a circle above Cousin Peng’s central banner. “The Tianzi’s armies pay obeisance to Lord Peng as we speak. Go and present yourself before him.”

  Kaiya bowed low. “Thank you for your help. I will see you are well rewarded.”

  “Your ancestor said the same thing. Do you really think riches or power interest me?” Xu smirked. “Now go. If the Heavens smile on you, perhaps the true Guardian Dragon will reveal herself.”

  Herself? Xu must have misspoken, since everyone knew the Guardian Dragon was male.

  Kaiya took the steps down from the pyramid entrance in twos, to where Cyrus and Doctor Wu tended to Sameer’s wound. The doctor raised her head and locked her gaze on her. Kaiya smiled, but then looked past the three to where a cloak covered Jie’s body. Brehane laid the broadsword over it.

  Poor Jie. A lump formed in Kaiya’s throat. Surely after travelling to the ends of the world and back, the Tiger’s Eye must have finally faded, along with the life of the person who had put it on her in the first place.

  She closed her eyes, pushing out a few tears. The energy of the world pulsed in her ears…yet still did not resonate in her heart. She came to Brehane’s side and pulled the cloak back.

  Fleet’s sword had shattered the half-elf’s pretty face from the nose up. Beyond recognition. Everything else remained unscathed, from her mouth down to her shoulder. Chest clenching, Kaiya looked up at her friends. “Where is her armor? Where’s Fleet?” The scoundrel must have taken it.