by JC Kang
“Lord Shi,” Miss Tang’s voice rang out from the east wing. “Welcome home.”
“Little Li.” The lord’s tone softened.
Tian would’ve blown out a breath, but that would’ve given him away. He focused instead on the tone of Lord Shi’s voice: happy. And hers, lilting, like the way Wen spoke to her men. Did these two hold hands? Had they arranged to meet while Shi Han was away?
“What are you doing here?” Lord Shi asked, disproving that theory.
“I came to hem in Young Lord Shi’s robe. He’s grown so fast, and needs to look presentable during your audience with the Emperor.”
“Yes, yes.” He blew out a sigh. “That’s a very good idea. Sadly, that prodigal son will find a way to ruin my plans with his stupidity. I’m sure of it.”
What did prodigal mean? And what kind of plans would Lord Shi have? Was that why the clan wanted the safe opened?
“Please, my Lord,” she said, voice louder. “Give him more credit. He has more potential than you think.”
Lord Shi snorted.
“Come, my Lord. Let me show you my new underwear.”
“I’m glad you came, then.” Lord Shi laughed.
Heavens. She did hold hands with Lord Shi.
His footsteps clopped up the three steps to the east wing.
Tian peeked around the tree.
Miss Tang Li was guiding him along. Just as they stepped over the threshold, she looked over her shoulder, past Lord Shi, and right at Tian.
Tian ducked back. Had she seen him?
“I oiled the hinges of this door.” Miss Tang spoke even louder than before. “You won’t hear them when it shuts.”
Was she informing Lord Shi? Or telling Tian that she was creating an opening for him? After all, she knew from the old servant that Shi Han—well, Tian—was here. With a last look, Tian pulled off the platform shoes and ran the rest of the way across the courtyard, through the inner gate.
On the other side, in the corridor between the inner and outer gates, he leaned back against a wall and blew out his breath. That had been close, and he might’ve been caught if not for Miss Tang.
With his luck, he’d run into the servant, or the chamberlain would come home right as he was leaving; but somehow his luck held up and he cleared the outer gate without incident. He cast one last glance at the house, then continued on his way back to the Peony Garden.
He cut through an alley. On the other side, he made a hard turn to the north…
…and careened into someone.
Whoever it was, they were as sturdy as the Great Wall, and knocked Tian back on his feet. He looked up.
Lord Shi’s steward.
And Tian was dressed just like Shi Han, with the emblem of Jinjing County on both shoulders. The white patches stood out on the brown robes like a light bauble in the middle of the night. He held his breath.
Steward Zhu started to look d—
“Steward Zhu!” Lord Shi called from behind the big man.
The steward turned around.
In that moment, Tian scrambled to his feet, covered his shoulders with his hands and, using a trick Yuna had taught him, twisted behind Steward Zhu as he turned back around. He’d have to deal with Lord Shi, but…
…but Lord Shi was back at his home holding hands with Miss Tang. Up ahead, from where the voice had come, was nothing but a wall.
“Watch where you’re going, dunderhead!” Steward Zhu yelled at Tian’s back.
Without turning around, stopping, or uncovering his hands from his shoulders, Tian bobbed his head several times. Behind him, Steward Zhu harrumphed before his footsteps faded into the alley. Tian dropped his hands and blew out his biggest sigh since…ten minutes ago in Lord Shi’s courtyard.
He began to hurry along when a hand tugged him into a new alley. Drawing a knife, he sunk into a defensive position and found his assailant in his peripheral vision. He spun, blade at the ready.
“It’s me, Tian.” Jie stood there just out of reach, hands up.
All tension melted out of his shoulders. “Heavens. I almost stabbed you.”
“You would’ve missed.” Jie grinned. “Did you open the safe?”
He shook his head. “Too complicated.”
Her expression fell for a moment. “Well, at least you saved the steward from a nasty headache. Now come on. We need to rendezvous with Wen.”
On their brisk walk back to the Peony Garden, he practiced the clan’s subtle sign language, recounting Lord Shi’s return, Miss Tang, and the safe—though he’d not yet learned the terms for combination dial, poison dart, or clear gemstone. All the while, he kept his eye out for tails and anything out of the ordinary. They ducked into the silk market to avoid Young Lord Shi Han as he crossed over the bridge from the Floating World, then merged with the crowds starting to enter for a night of carousing.
They crept around to the rear of the Peony Garden, to the back entrance near the kitchens. He followed Jie at a distance through the busy kitchens. Though it teamed with chefs, he used the techniques Yuna had taught him about finding dead spaces between lines of sight and behind moving and turning people. He slipped through the door into the common room, then stayed at the backs of Seedlings as they wiped down tables and chairs, straightened banners and paintings, and swept the floors. It was getting easier and easier.
Finally he rounded into the hallway, just as Jie disappeared into the Gardener’s office—their new temporary base of operations—at the end and closed the door behind her. With footsteps coming down the steps to this hall, he ran on tiptoes to the door and pulled on the handle.
Locked.
The footsteps grew louder. Stuck at the end of the hall, he was cornered, with no means of escape and nowhere to hide. If he couldn’t pick the lock and get in before whoever was coming down the steps came in, it could expose their new hideout.
Chapter 8
About to be discovered in the Peony Garden, Tian internally shouted Big Person Words at Jie for locking the door. Looking back to the stairwell and gauging the speed at which the shadow of a Blossom approached, he probably had five seconds to pick the lock. He withdrew his picks. With a few quick twists, it yielded in his best time yet. Chest filling with pride, he opened the door, slipped in, and started to close it behind him.
“Wait,” Wen’s voice hissed behind him.
Tian’s shoulders slumped. His personal best lockpicking time wouldn’t have mattered anyway. He held the door open.
Wen glided down the hallways, elegant as always, even in a simple blue robe. If anyone could rival Princess Kaiya’s grace and beauty…well, no one could, but Wen would be a distant second. She flashed the same big smile that she had the day they met, yet something was missing. Yuna’s death had hurt her most of all. She patted him on the head as she entered, and took a seat in a cushioned bloodwood chair across from Jie at the huge matching desk.
He closed the door and plopped down beside Wen, but then looked to the open window. If they were going to discuss Lord Shi and his safe, it would be better to shutter it on the off chance someone passed by. He started to speak.
Jie held up her hand. “Two more sisters are almost here.”
With the Houses coming alive at this hour, which clan sister would be able to join them right now? The Seedlings would all be going to bed, the Florets serving food and drink, and the Blossoms…well, soon, they’d be holding hands with Hummingbirds. Tian looked back to the door.
Wen let out her cute giggle, the first time she’d laughed since learning of Yuna. She took Tian’s head and turned it to the window.
A pair of hands appeared on the window sill. A blur of greyish-black shot through the window and landed without a sound on the thick wool carpet. She looked up, revealing Big Sister Meisha in a stealth suit which clung to her slender form. A nineteen-year-old Blossom from the Orchid Palace, she had a husky voice that didn’t match her thinness. A second later, another woman popped in, dressed identically, though she was more filled out. At t
wenty-four, Yangyang of the Lily Pond was one of the oldest clan sisters embedded in the Floating World. Both set a fist into a palm in salute, then slid into chairs around the desk.
Pointing at the window, Tian turned to Jie. “Why didn’t we come in that way?”
Jie stood and closed the shutters. “You won’t get better at stealth, lockpicking, and keeping a clear head under pressure if you take the easy way.”
Full lips twisted into a grin, Yangyang nodded, and Meisha chuckled. Wen patted him on the head, yet again. They all thought him a pet.
Still, it made sense. What didn’t, was… “How come Elder Sisters Meisha and Yangyang aren’t at their Houses tonight?”
The ladies all exchanged glances, and whatever silent signal passed between them, Tian had yet to learn.
Yangyang’s lilting voice carried like a songbird’s. “Blossoms get three nights off when their best friend comes each month.”
That sounded so sweet, and so considerate of friends. Tian nodded in complete understanding. What he would do to see his best friend, Princess Kaiya, again.
“So,” Jie said, returning to her seat. “Tian was not able to crack the safe, because it was a giraffe lock?”
Giraffe? Tian flashed the hand signal for multiple.
Wen bent his pinkie. “Multiple.”
Nodding, Tian leaned over the desk, dabbed a brush on the inkstone, and drew the safe on a sheet of paper. He frowned that the combination lock wasn’t in the exact spot between the two keyholes, and that the round stone’s size was off by a hair. He was about to crumple it up and start over.
“That’s pretty amazing detail.” Wen stayed his hand. “Maybe you should’ve been a Dragonscribe.”
“It’s a complicated set-up,” Meisha said, her voice deep and sultry.
Tian pointed to the lower keyhole. “There was a dart trap here.”
Jie peered at his work. “Are you sure this is it?”
He nodded.
“What is it?” Wen ran a finger from the bottom lock up, through the combination, to the second keyhole, and then around the stone.
It left a smudge. Tian scowled and reached for the paper again.
Jie pulled it out of his reach. “It comes from the Blackhammer dwarf clan in Thironar. They only made a dozen or so.”
“Or so?” Tian frowned. “Thirteen? Fourteen?”
“I’ll ask a dwarf next time I see one.” Jie snorted. “In any case, it was five, maybe six years ago.”
The lack of specifics was grating. “Five or s—”
“Five years, six months, seven days.” Jie counted on her fingers.
Tian brightened. “Really?”
“Will it shut you up if I say yes?”
“Yes.”
“Then yes.” Jie grinned. “Now, as I was saying, they are the pinnacle of Dwarven ingenuity. The keys are made from a unique metal, found only on Ayudra Island, and which only the Blackhammer clan can work.”
Tian leaned forward in his chair, fascinated. The capital of the sprawling Ayuri Empire, Ayudra lay in the shadow of one of the world’s great pyramids. When the Hellstorm rained fire from the heavens three centuries before, it destroyed the city and its levees, allowing the ocean to claim vast swaths of the Ayuri heartland. Once a coastal city, Ayudra was now an island of ruins. The Order of Paladins, who could supposedly fight with superhuman speed, had since established a school for their trainees there. Not that Tian would ever have the chance to meet a Paladin, let alone visit the island. But for now, he could enjoy the stories. “Go on.”
“Some people believe the stones are Dragonstones, but they are actually moonstones.”
“Oh!” Tian clapped his hands together, startling Meisha and making Yangyang glower. Dragons supposedly chased flaming stones around, but the one he saw… “It swirled with color, like the Iridescent Moon.”
“I’ve heard of these safes,” Wen said. “There’s a gear in the combination lock whose clicks mask the disk’s clicks.”
“If you’re a human,” Jie said. “The clan has one of these combination locks on one of its safes, and I can hear when to switch directions. However, Lord Shi’s safe is more complicated. After the combination is correctly entered, both keys have to be turned simultaneously.”
“Is that all?” Meisha laughed, deep like her voice.
“No.” Jie shook her head. “The moonstone being there means it can only be opened during a one-hour window. It’s—”
“Lined up with the Iridescent Moon.” It was all Tian could do not to jump up and down. The window and safe had been lined up in Lord Shi’s room, which explained why both hadn’t been perfectly centered with the furniture. At least it hadn’t been laziness.
“It’s such an impressive lock,” Yangyang said. “How come there are only a dozen?”
Such a lack of specificity! Tian grit his teeth.
Jie smirked at him. “They were custom-built for our lords. They were very popular at first, until they ran into a problem: if you needed something from the safe, you had to wait until the right time to open it. Also, the keys are unique, because only the Blackhammer Clan knows how to forge that metal. So if you lost it, you could never open the safe again. I’ve heard there are three or four—” she shot a glance at Tian— “that are permanently locked. After so many complaints, nobody ordered any more. However, it turns out that being near the keys helps Dragonscribes and Dragonweavers make their magic, so they are highly prized. You can find counterfeits in the Northwest Promenade.”
“Those won’t help us,” Meisha said. “How can we open the safe?”
Jie’s expression lit up. “Lord Shi’s steward has one of the keys. He keeps it on his wrist.”
“About this long?” Wen held her fingers four and a half cun apart.
Jie nodded.
“Then I think Lord Shi’s son has the other.” Wen touched her cheek. “I felt something that size and shape hanging from his neck.
“That still doesn’t help us with the time,” Yangyang said.
“We might be able to find out from Steward Zhu,” Wen said. “Or the old servant, or the maid, Tang Li.”
“Tang Li.” Jie stood up straight. “She was an older Blossom, almost thirty, at the Chrysanthemum Pavilion. Very pretty, but not the sharpest dao in the armory.”
Wen’s pretty lips rounded. “I thought the name sounded familiar.”
“It is a common name,” Yangyang said.
Jie nodded. “If it’s the same Tang Li, Lord Yang bought out her contract a couple of years ago.”
“A couple?” Tian asked.
“Two years, three months, four days,” Jie said.
“Really?”
“Will it shut you up if I say yes?” Jie asked.
He nodded.
“Then yes.” Jie snorted.
Meisha blinked innocently. “Lord Yang has rarely left the capital since. He’s probably been bedding her every night.”
“While ingratiating himself with the Emperor during the day,” Yangyang said. “The whispers between the sheets say Lord Yang might receive the late Lord Ting’s county.”
Tian tapped his chin. Father had always said that Northerners were a rugged people, prone to discontent with the imperial court. Would Lord Yang be able to maintain control of so much land?
“Surely Tang Li must’ve earned out her bond by now,” Meisha said. “I’m surprised she’d work as a maid instead of joining a Floating World House as an independent Blossom.”
Jie chuckled. “As I said, she wasn’t very bright.”
Or maybe she didn’t like to hold hands with men. Tian frowned.
“Young Lord Shi is utterly besotted by Tang Li.” Wen let out a sigh, which could only be described as wistful.
“Young love.” Though Yangyang’s tone was almost as wistful as Wen’s, she rolled her eyes.
With the clan sisters waxing poetic about Shi Han’s devotion to Tang Li, Tian felt he needed to remind them: “Lord Shi is reporting to the imperial cou
rt tomorrow. The Emperor wants to know what’s in that safe beforehand. What if Lord Shi is tied up in the threat on the Emperor?”
The table went silent.
Yangyang shook her head. “Lord Shi has always been in the Emperor’s good graces. They travel together often. Other lords joke and say Lord Shi and Lord Yang fight to sit on the Emperor’s lap.”
“We can’t be too careful,” Tian said. How come he was the only one seeing plots and conspiracies?
“Tian is right.” Jie nodded to him. “Back to the safe. What are our assets?”
Tian tapped his chin. There were twenty-six sisters left in the cell, plus him. “Light the spire of the Black Lotus Shrine.” Visible from almost everywhere in the Floating World, it would bring all of the members to the safehouse outside the district.
Jie shook her head. “It would take a long time before everyone saw it at this hour. Many of the Blossoms are already receiving Hummingbirds.”
“Florets will be serving in the common rooms, with no line of sight,” Yangyang added.
Wen gave a single bob of her head. “Seedlings will be headed to bed, and they might see it. But they’re so young, I don’t think we should risk them.”
“I agree,” Jie said. “By the time everyone saw it and convened at the safehouse, we would have wasted too much time.”
Tian tapped his chin. “Then one of us goes to each of the houses—”
“It would take too long,” Wen said, “and we’d lose one person until the job was done.”
“What if we split up and went to the houses?”
“We’d still lose time, and it could be for nothing.” Jie shook her head. “If Lord Shi tried to act against the Emperor in Sun-Moon Palace—and remember, he will only be allowed to have his dagger— the clan’s best operatives are there to protect him. No matter what, the clan wants us to find out what’s in that safe, and I think we have all the womanpower we need.”
Tian coughed. Apparently, they were forgetting about him. Even if he couldn’t unlock the safe, he could play a role.