Symphony of Fates: A Legends of Tivara Story (The Dragon Songs Saga Book 4)

by JC Kang

  The princess shot him an angry glance, one that demanded silence. Why? She could just tell him the sequence of signals.

  Unless she had lied about knowing the codes. Not only that, if she were in such a hurry, why did she waste time making requests instead of just using the magic of her voice?

  Kaiya fought to stay upright, hands on her knees as she huffed for air. The climb to the top of the tower had proved even more daunting than it initially appeared. It didn’t help that the pungent pastries had sent waves of nausea roiling through her stomach. Hopefully, Fu hadn’t noticed.

  She looked up. His narrowed eyes relaxed and his expression blanked. Flashing a smile, she straightened and gazed through dusk’s cloak over the surrounding farmland. A courier horse clopped in the distance, heading toward Dongmen.

  Of course, the light signal would arrive sooner, if only the captain could get the shutters to work. He fiddled with the metal slats. “Dian-xia, the hinges have rusted.”

  Rusted! Perhaps the Expansionist faction had been right all along. The realm had fallen into complacency, too secure with a hundred thousand guns pointed out from behind the Wall. The great lords, Father included, never considered the possibility of fighting an invading army on open ground. She frowned. “Hurry.”

  He bowed. “Sorry, Dian-Xia.”

  Fu sidled up to the captain, who in turn nudged Fu to the side. With a graceful twist which belied Fu’s age but lent credence to his claims of a Moquan background, he spun around to the other side of the captain, right next to the shutter mechanism.

  He snorted. “Dian-xia, the hinges are fine.” He pulled on a lever, and the dozen slats whispered open. Bright light flared from the crystal globe within.

  Blinking away the orange glare in her visual field, Kaiya gasped. Had the crystal carried a magical enchantment all this time, for three hundred years? Glowing unknown in perpetuity, until this very moment? Maybe the elf lord Xu had enchanted them himself.

  “Look!” Song pointed into the countryside.

  In the indeterminate distance, small orbs lit up in slow succession, forming a dotted line to the north. Kaiya turned in the other direction. A light glowed on the main gatehouse of the north capital walls. A couple dozen seconds later, another one flashed from a tower inside the city, followed not long after by one on Sun-Moon Lake.

  The palace knew! What must they be thinking? What about the general populace? The lights had never been seen before, after all. Kaiya’s heart fluttered with excitement before the Tiger’s Eye stifled that emotion. “Captain, hurry. Send an encoded message.”

  The captain licked his lips, and shifted on his feet.

  Something wasn’t right. She exchanged glances with Fu, who jerked his head toward the light with a look of askance. Of course, he believed she knew the codes. She’d implied as much. She glowered at the captain. “I order you to send the message.”

  “As the princess commands.” He bowed and placed his hands on the lever. With several pushes and pulls of varying lengths, the light blinked and flashed.

  She squinted back toward the palace, some thirty li away. As far as she could tell, the dots of light blinked the same sequence…. Followed by a new one?

  Fu apparently noticed, too. “What was the response?”

  The captain’s face contorted. “That they received the message, and for the towers to await further orders.”

  With a rasp, Fu separated his spear and sword. One he placed across the captain’s throat.

  Song’s hand took her wrist in a strong grip and wrenched her arm behind her back.

  “Now, captain,” Fu said, “what did the response really say?”

  “Just what the princess commanded. That a Teleri army has breached the Walls at Dongmen.”

  Fu snorted. “And why did you only send a horse toward Dongmen, but not to the capital?”

  Kaiya listened again. Yes, a horse clopped north, but none headed south.

  The captain shouted, “Men, surround the tower. Don’t let anyone in or out.”

  Chapter 20:

  Old and New Scars

  Though she’d spent a year blindfolded during her training, Jie had never excelled at blind techniques like her human Moquan clan members. With elf vision, she rarely needed them. Now, however, she tripped and stumbled on numerous occasions as they traipsed through the forest, each time bruising her ego as much as her body.

  All Tian’s fault. If he hadn’t decided to be alive, maybe she wouldn’t be so bewildered. The simultaneous discovery of a missing twin, now holding on to her arm and doing an awful job of guiding her through obstacles, didn’t help matters.

  What was her twin’s story? Did she know their father? She could apparently speak the altivorc language and was scared of Jie. There was an unbelievable story somewhere in there, even beyond the improbable reunion with an amnesiac Tian.

  Meanwhile, the Teleri moved supplies through the Wilds unhindered, to support their invasion of Hua.

  Crack! She stepped on a dry branch, and would’ve fallen on her face if Kiri hadn’t supported her.

  Brushing off her hands, and also what was left of her dignity, Jie sighed. “Is the blindfold necessary? I’m lost.”

  “It’s not that bad,” Ming chirped from somewhere behind her.

  How humiliating. Shown up by Ming, of all people. However, it seemed like Tian was doing a better job at leading him through the forest compared to her own guide.

  “We’re almost there.” Tian’s voice bore into her back, his unanswered question undoubtedly still weighing on him. Amnesiac or not, his need to know, and know now, remained.

  A wife and unborn children, possibly his, were more than he needed to learn about in his state. Right? Yes. There’d be a better time and place for that.

  Heavy boots clomped on pavestones in the distance. A hand pressed on her shoulder and pushed her down. The underbrush rustled as Tian, Kiri, Kala, and Dior sunk to the forest floor.

  “Ouch!” Ming hissed as he clumsily fell into a shrub. “The shoulder!”

  “Shhhh,” Tian said.

  The blindfold came off, and Jie’s eyes adjusted. She peered through the trees in the direction of clopping boots and jingling chainmail. Light glinted off metal, with the occasional flash of red feathers. At least thirty Bovyan soldiers guarded over a hundred natives and ten horse-drawn provision carts. They headed west to supply the Teleri invasion of Hua.

  She and Ming—or rather, she—had been harassing these convoys for over a week now, first on the overgrown paths near Hua, and later on the restored roads. With an elf archer and Tian, it would be even easier. She started forward to get a better view, only to be restrained by Tian’s hand.

  He shook his head and flashed the Moquan signals, Stay down, keep quiet.

  Why?

  Too dangerous. He grinned for the first time, the crooked smile that sent her heart pounding.

  She glanced back at the others. The elf watched their hands dance with a look that could only be described as bored. Ming gawked, while little Kala huddled low, oblivious. Kiri, on the other hand, scowled, her lips tight enough to crush a walnut.

  Jie knew that expression. Her own, when jealous. Used with alarming frequency while in service to the princess. Perhaps her twin shared expressions and an attraction to a not-so-dead man.

  The sound of marching boots and creaking wheels faded in the distance, and with it, the opportunity to wreak havoc on the Teleri supply lines. Dior motioned them up.

  “We could’ve slowed them down.” Jie put her hands on her hips. “I’ve been doing it for over a week now. I—”

  “We,” Ming inserted.

  Jie raised her voice. “I have sabotaged their supplies, and made their lives miserable. We need to get back to that.”

  Ming snorted. “You couldn’t have done much without my help.” If help meant distracting the Teleri with incompetence…

  The elf faced Tian and spoke in a string of syllables that sounded not much different from the sec
ret Hua imperial language. Tian pointed in the direction of the men, then Jie, all the while fumbling through the same language. Kiri apparently added her opinion as well, leaving Ming and Jie to exchange glances.

  With a shake of his head, Tian turned to her. “Their village is close by. The elves don’t want the Metal Men to even know they exist. It’s the best way to protect their home.”

  Jie sucked on her lower lip. “What about your home? The Teleri march on Hua, and your own father let them in.”

  He stared back at her, expression empty. Ming studied his feet, sharing Tian’s guilt.

  No, she wouldn’t let their guilty feelings cow her into silence. Not when the realm and all its women relied on their help. She continued, relentless, “Think of what they did to the natives here. They will do the same, if not worse, to your own people. What Emperor Geros himself did to—” no, better not to bring her into the conversation, for Tian’s own good, “—so many women.”

  Dior poked Tian in the back and they exchanged more words. Kiri joined in, her frown and tone evidently conveying her opinion in no uncertain terms.

  Tian turned back. “That’s not the elves’ concern.” Apparently, he’d gone native.

  “It will be.” Ming kept his voice low. “The Wilds lie between Hua and them, and they will eventually connect it all. No one on the plateau will be safe, not even these elves.”

  Jie studied Ming. Someone had swapped out the bumbling buffoon for a Tai-Ming heir. She nodded at Tian. “Translate.”

  His gaze shifted from Ming and settled on her. He then spoke again to the elves.

  After a brief exchange, Tian nodded. “Dior says your argument has merit. He will present your case—”

  “Our case.” She glared at him.

  “—our case back at the village for the people to discuss.”

  Great. More elves, and from the look of it, more blindfolds, too.

  Tian. His name was Tian, even if the revelation didn’t jar any memories.

  Now he couldn’t get back to the treetop village soon enough. Whoever this Jie was, whatever his relationship to her, she remained tight-lipped about the Doe-Eyed Girl from his dreams. So many questions about his past, and yet, Jie cared more about the future. Namely, the threat of the Metal Men to a homeland he didn’t remember.

  “Were you looking for me?” He pulled Ming to the side, just avoiding a limb that would’ve smacked his supposed brother in the face.

  “Ow! The shoulder!” Ming winced. “No, I thought you were dead.”

  “Then how’d you come to be here?”

  “The insane half-elf.” Ming pointed in the wrong direction. “We were stuck on the wrong side of the Wall, and instead of trying to find a way back in, she took us deeper into the Wilds.”

  ‘Insane’ didn’t quite seem to do Jie justice. But Ming was leaving something out. Tian frowned. “Why?”

  “Ask her. I’m still trying to figure it out.” Ming threw his hands up, but then immediately grimaced and grabbed his left shoulder. “Though I am pleased we found you.”

  “What happened to your shoulder?”

  Expression souring, Ming rubbed it. “A Teleri soldier stabbed me. It will be a miracle if I ever draw a bow again.”

  Miracles apparently happened around here. Tian removed his brother’s blindfold and pointed up the tree. “Here we are. Perhaps the elves’ shaman can help you.”

  Ming looked up the circling branches. “It’s just a tree canopy.”

  The others gathered around the base of the tree, except for Kala, who pranced up the branches. Jie tracked the girl, then met Tian’s gaze. She raised her eyebrow and quirked her lips in the cutest manner.

  Her question was clear. Tian nodded. “Yes, the village. You’ll be surprised.”

  With a shrug, she followed Kala up. Kiri’s glare was sharp enough to shear cured leather, yet she said nothing as she joined her unexpected twin. The rest of the group followed.

  At the top, dozens of elves gathered, many gazing with curiosity at Jie. Ming’s eyes rounded as wide as walnuts. Jie’s expression blanked, but her irises drifted across the platforms and bridges, pausing on any elf with a weapon. Just like Tian himself had done the first time.

  Dior called out, “More strangers, and even more mysteries.” He pointed to Ming. “Feneyas’ brother, coming to search for him.” As attention drifted to Ming, Dior shifted an open palm toward Jie. “And her.”

  The elves murmured among themselves in a low hum of musical voices. Though their language escaped him, Tian could guess the general sentiment from their nods and gestures: she and Kiri looked exactly alike. Jie stared back at them, her brow wrinkling.

  Layani, the elves’ best warrior, spoke with Kiri, their voices getting louder with each exchange. Kiri shook her head vehemently before snapping her lips shut and staring out into the forest. Oh, to be able to speak their language.

  Tian sighed. What was it with these half-elves withholding information? Kiri apparently knew more about her relationship to Jie, yet refused to explain. Jie would not speak of the Doe-Eyed Girl.

  Sidling over as the elves’ debate reached a crescendo, Ming whispered in Tian’s ear, “What are they saying?”

  “I’d surmise they have the same question. As you and I.” Tian jutted his chin first at Kiri, then at Jie.

  “And me.” Jie crossed her arms. “I hate that they’re talking about me and I have no idea what they’re saying.”

  “Enough.” Using the Kanin dialect, the shaman Nayori’s voice cut through the animated discussion, bringing the treetops to silence. She sang several words, and a wind whistled through the village. When she spoke again, her elf words echoed back in the Hua tongue. “Feneyas, you wished to learn who you are. You have been reunited with those who know you.”

  The unspoken message left no doubt: he should go. To the elves, he must be like a wolf that scavenged on the edge of a Kanin village. Tolerated, amusing to watch, yet not loved like the tribe’s dogs. They would not miss him if he left.

  Yet how could he, with so many questions left unresolved? Only Kiri could answer some of those, if they could coax her to talk about something so obviously painful.

  “Wait,” Tian said. “The Metal Men come in greater numbers.”

  Nayori nodded. “Headed west, to your home beyond the Wall.”

  Jie raised an open hand. “Not if we sabotage them here. Their army needs supplies, transported across the plateau.”

  At least until they established a foothold in Hua and ravished the lands there. Tian’s eyed edged toward the shaman.

  Nayori regarded Jie with a frown. “You would turn our home into a battleground.”

  Muttering under his breath, Ming said, “The elf’s got a point.”

  Jie’s glare immediately cowed him into silence. “If the Teleri occupy Cathay, they will engulf this area from two sides.”

  “Just like the stories.” Dior sounded strange speaking in the language from beyond the Wall. “Our grandparents lived through the first human empires, who cut down the sacred trees and carved up our homeland.”

  Kiri chimed in, her voice’s similarities to Jie’s more than a little disconcerting. “Until the Heavens rained fire.”

  The elves murmured, their voices swirling around them like ghosts of the people from beyond the Wall. A shiver crawled up Tian’s spine.

  “Allow us to stay just a little longer,” he said. “Until the shaman who knows me arrives.” It would not be much longer, maybe only four or five days.

  Nayori’s gaze met each of the elves’. Some nodded, others shook their heads. None seemed completely convinced. “We will consider it,” she said. “Eat and rest. I will inform you of our decision tomorrow.”

  Perhaps that would be enough time to get Kiri to reveal what she knew of the half-elves’ shared past—and in turn, get Jie to shed some light on the Doe-Eyed Girl.

  Ming jerked straight up in his hammock, the bizarre dream yanking him from much-needed sleep. Princess Kaiya
. His father. An unenviable choice. All slipped from his memory before he could process the meaning.

  Bright light filtered in through the tree canopy, the dappling falling right across his face and waking him for good. Apparently, everything in this forest taunted him. He blinked the gunk from his eyes, and the little half-elf girl came into focus next to him.

  Pointing down, Kala babbled something in a melodious language and beckoned for him to follow.

  What was her rush, so early? Ming stretched his arms out…and his shoulder didn’t hurt. His eyes must be round as gold yuans. He stood and followed the girl down the trees. At the bottom, he looked up. Like before, there was no sign of the treetop village.

  A tug on his sleeve brought his gaze back down. Kala held out some dried berries and lifted her chin to him. An offer. Ming extended his hand and she dumped them into his palm.

  Chewing on the sweetish-sour berries, he followed the half-elf through twists and turns between the trees. Birds chirped and animals scuttled through the branches above, yet there was no other sign of intelligent life.

  He tapped Kala on the shoulder. “Where are we going?”

  She turned and cocked her head, but then pointed. “Friend. There.”

  Ming scratched his chin. Apparently, the girl could speak a few words of the Hua tongue. After a few minutes they emerged into a clearing.

  A dozen elves were gathered, practicing archery. Ming skidded to a halt, even as Kala continued walking. His shoulder felt great; maybe he could draw a bow. With all the women so beautiful, he sauntered over to the most scantily-clad. The brunette’s top, made of finely-stitched animal skin, exposed her midriff and revealed more than a Hua bust binder.

  “May I?” He extended a hand toward her weapon.

  She stared at him with liquid brown eyes that sent a tingle up his spine. Speaking a few words in what didn’t sound like Elvish, she patted the shoulder of a boy and proffered her bow and a quiver of arrows.

  Kala appeared at his side. “She challenge.”