by JC Kang
As distasteful as that would be, the fate of the nation relied on them. How much easier life would be if she hadn’t been left at the Black Lotus Temple as a baby. If her good-for-nothing elf father had never abandoned her. She would’ve never ended up a spy, never met Tian or the princess. Never had to feel as empty as she did now. She ran a hand through her hair.
The hand attached to her bad arm.
Heart pounding, eyes wide, she stared at the arm and willed it to move again. Nothing.
From his hiding place in the abandoned streets, Liang Yu gazed at the eight-tiered stupa. Sparkling in the midday sun, its blue gables stood high above the white marble walls surrounding it. As always, a complement of twenty-four honor guards dressed in ceremonial robes circled the walls. Thirty-two priests now defended the steel gates.
Perhaps Princess Kaiya was sending him into a trap. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time she’d tricked him, and all these leader types sacrificed their loyal servants on a whim. The extra protection around the temple might not faze armored Bovyans, but it posed more of a challenge for a middle-aged man.
Maybe not for a pretty young woman.
Challenge accepted. Per his command, Lin Ziqiu intercepted the guard approaching the insertion point close to the rear of the complex. She leaned against the wall, feigning exhaustion. His usual fifteen steps a minute sped up to meet her.
She looked up. “Sir, the Bovyans are rounding up women. Please, help me hide.”
The guard’s eyes shifted left and right, passing right over Liang Yu’s hiding position before settling back on Lin Ziqiu. He beckoned her back in the other direction, toward the main gate, and turned around.
With speed enough to impress a man half his age, Liang Yu darted across the street. Jabbing the walking staff into the ground, he flipped over and drove the climbing claws on his feet into the mortar between the marble blocks, about three-quarters of the way up near the top of the wall. From this inverted position, he curled up, dug the hand claws into the mortar, and pushed himself to the top.
Now at the height of two men above the ground, he crouched and peered down the streets. All empty. Sporadic gunfire popped in the distance. He turned to survey the elliptical temple grounds, which no commoner had seen since its completion three hundred years before.
The stupa stood at one end, on a circular, three-tiered marble base. Just like the hand-drawn diagram Regent Kaiya had sent with Lin Ziqiu. Or maybe she knew more, but just hadn’t told him. No guards prowled the grounds, just a single priest sweeping the marble dais across from the stupa. Still, that priest held the broom like a weapon, and seemed unperturbed by the Teleri invasion.
In fact, he moved with an unsettling familiarity as he looked up and south toward the iridescent moon.
Liang Yu followed his gaze. The moon waned to new, disappearing for a few seconds at noon. Below, eight honor guards entered the compound from the gates, one carrying Lin Ziqiu in his arms. She must have put on a convincing show for them to let her in. He was taking her toward a long rectangular building close to the entrance—the priests’ quarters, according to the princess’ sketch. The temple administrators would probably have something to say about that. The priest—
The monk had worked himself closer to the stupa, not far from where eight more honor guards emerged.
Too many unknowns! Intentional or not, the princess had given him so little information about the temple: Whether the stupa was one large room or several. How many men defended it. Even the size of the fallen star.
Liang Yu snorted. He was a planner, not an operative. In his day, this would be just the sort of mission The Surgeon Feiying and The Beauty Meiyun would have savored. Always rushing in, trusting their abilities and instincts over the proven benefits of methodical planning. It had gotten Meiyun impregnated by an elf, and Feiying killed.
With so little time before the regent retreated south, there was no choice but to improvise now. Liang Yu slunk along the top of the wall toward the rear of the stupa. Sliding down, he landed like a cat on the marble ground and ran to the base. After a quick glance to assess the position of the approaching honor guards, he ducked under the railing of the first tier and made it to the second, and then to the curved stupa wall. Inching around, he slipped into each of the towering doorways along the way toward the front. Not a single door; all just façades. He continued, stopping where he could just see the approaching guards. A dozen more steps in their agonizingly slow march and they would pass through the doors.
The sweeper…where had that priest disappeared to? Already inside, perhaps. Yet another unknown element, especially with the familiarity of the gait. Who was he? With an ability to make connections equal to his own, and an uncanny memory, Meiyun would have figured out this conundrum already. Yes, with their complementing skillsets, the three of them had made an unparalleled team. With her observational skills, perhaps Lin Ziqiu could be the new Beauty. If he recruited a new, more pliable Surgeon, he could establish a Moquan clan to rival the Black Lotus, to serve the most worthy leaders.
One day. For now, there was an unenviable task at hand. The arriving honor guard passed through the entrance, and Liang Yu darted after them. Inside, shuttered light baubles cast the gallery in a dim light. He pressed himself in a column’s shadow when the guards came to a halt. One by one, they turned left, marching down a single corridor that appeared to wrap around the stupa’s interior. The space between each man allowed the next to always maintain line-of-sight around the bend of the hall.
Unless he went to the left, counterclockwise.
A clear shortsightedness on the part of whoever came up with the pattern. Or perhaps part of the princess’ trap. Liang Yu dashed as quickly and quietly as his age-inhibited body allowed. Not six paces later, he ran into a priest. The man’s eyes widened as he opened his mouth. Forsaking all stealth, Liang Yu reached him in three long strides and jabbed his walking staff in the priest’s solar plexus. His shout died with the blow, and Liang Yu spun around to his rear and seized him in an unremitting chokehold.
One second, two seconds. Only about half a minute remained before the first guard made it around to their position. Three seconds, four seconds. The priest crumpled, his struggles ceased. He would come to a few minutes later with an awful headache.
So much for quiet. Liang Yu raced down the hall, smashing another priest on the side of the head. The princess either knew nothing of the security protocols, or had deliberately set a trap. A little farther, and at last he came to a set of double doors, flanked by two more priests. Before they could unsheathe their swords, Liang Yu knocked them out with two quick thrusts of his staff. None so far, at least to his age-weathered vision, looked to be the sweeper.
The heavy eldarwood doors creaked open with a hard push. A quiet rhythmic whirr pulsed outward, along with a musty smell. Liang Yu stepped into the central hall, scuffing through a year of accumulated dust. Of course, the Tianzi had missed New Year’s prayers this year, the only time when anyone ever entered the inner sanctum.
Sunlight poured in through eight windows on each of the eight levels. Eight red columns with golden scrollwork reached to a green-and-blue tiled dome. In a niche above, the shard from a fallen star pulsed with a light blue glow. It was all stunningly beautiful, a view only several Tianzi and High Priests had beheld for the last three centuries.
Liang Yu squinted. At the height of eighty-eight feet, the chunk’s spherical shape blurred in his old eyes. How could he possibly reach it, let alone escape?
A disembodied voice echoed around him. “Surely the Architect has come up with a flawless plan to reach the fallen star.”
That voice. So familiar. Liang Yu spun around. A shape dropped down directly in front of him, just outside the entrance. He must have been hiding on the ceiling outside the doors.
The sweeper pointed at the two unconscious priests. “You always had others do most of the dirty work. I was surprised.”
No. It couldn’t be. The face was too ga
unt, yet the thinness almost emphasized Feiying’s hard features. Liang Yu’s eyes must be opened wide enough to fall out. “You…you are dead.”
Feiying grinned. “I thought the same about you. I saw the elf knock you into Vyara City’s harbor with a blow that would kill the stoutest warrior. Meiyun and I never found your body.”
Liang Yu shrugged. “The Viper’s Rest. And a peasant girl.”
“I never considered it,” Feiying said, nodding slowly. Of course, the Surgeon was not so much a thinker as a near-infallible tool for executing complex plans. “To think we are reunited after thirty years in engineering the downfall of the motherland that forgot us.”
Engineering the downfall? Liang Yu nodded, but wondered. Betrayal had only strengthened his own resolve to root out corruption and favoritism in the realm. Apparently, it had pushed Feiying to treason.
It must’ve been him working for the Teleri, which could account for his disappearance long ago. He was likely the one behind the Bovyans with Moquan skills, the one the Black Lotus Clan had sent Princess Kaiya’s half-elf to Arkothi lands to root out so many years before. Now, his reemergence could explain how the enemy had struck within the city. Though with Feiying’s particular skillset, he must have a contact working on the inside to guide him.
Time to find out who. Liang Yu said, “I was never told about you. I thought I was the only asset inside the city.”
“I’ve only been here for a week, and then it took time for me to contact her. The Floating World is infested by the Black Lotus.”
So the contact worked out of the Floating World. Female. Liang Yu looked back up at the shard. “What could the Teleri possibly want with it? She never told me.”
Feiying followed his gaze. “Me, either. Legitimacy perhaps. A symbol of imperial rule.”
Muffled shouts broke out in the outer hall. The honor guards would’ve seen the unconscious priests by now. Liang Yu pointed at the doors. “Close them.”
“So here we are, together again,” Feiying said, starting to shut the doors. “What’s your plan?”
“Wait, Master!” Lin Ziqiu slipped through the closing crack, breathless.
Feiying sheathed the sword he’d pointed at her. “Master?”
“Feiying, this is my disciple, Ziqiu.” Liang Yu chuckled. “It looks like we have a new Beauty.”
Ziqiu cocked her head, but Feiying pursed his lips. Of course. She had no idea who the Beauty was, and he’d always been smitten by Meiyun.
Bad idea to bring up those old scars. Liang Yu looked back up. “I didn’t have time to plan. Maybe you could just improvise, like always.”
A smirk replaced Feiying’s sour expression. He placed a hand on one of the columns. “Spider-climb up between this and the walls?”
“We’re old men.” Liang Yu nodded to Lin Ziqiu. It would be better for the relic to be in her hands instead of the Teleri’s.
Eyes scanning the columns, she shook her head. “It is narrow enough on this level with the hallway wall, but it flares out from the second level.”
Curse his poor eyesight. He squinted at the upper levels, which tapered toward the dome. He nodded to Feiying. “Can you do it?”
“With help.” He laughed. “I’m old, but I have kept my body prepared for tasks like this. Ziqiu, meet me on the second level.”
Both spider-climbed between the column and the wall to the second-level ledge. Twiddling his index and middle fingers, he described an old Moquan trick. She pressed her back against the outer wall while he set his against the column. Foot to foot, they ascended. Easy work for Moquan in their prime, but Feiying was no longer young, and Ziqiu was a mere trainee. Outside, the guards pounded on the barred doors. Luckily they didn’t have a battering ram, nor the space to use one if they had.
At the top, Ziqiu reached over and grasped Feiying’s ankles, and both lunged upward toward the lip beneath the dome. Feiying caught it, and then swung her up on the other side. They worked so well together, like he had with Meiyun before. They’d been a great match, really, and it was a shame she never loved Feiying like he did her. Maybe their Vyara City mission would’ve ended differently.
Feiying examined the dome’s interior, then donned his cat-claws. The scraping of the spikes into the mortar between the tiles sent dust dropping. It was excruciatingly slow. The pounding at the door got louder, and the bar buckled.
At last, he made it to the niche. With one hand, he scooped the fallen star out and tossed it to Meiyun…Ziqiu. How uncanny, the way these two worked together, just like the Surgeon and the Beauty.
“Now how do we get down?” she asked.
“Watch.” Feiying swung again and landed on the ledge. He scooted over to a column, and then lowered himself down. Wrapping his arms around the column, he made it look easy as he slid down.
Ziqiu stalled on the ledge. “My arms aren’t long enough to do that!”
Liang Yu sighed. Now she was stuck, with the imperial regalia.
Another hard smash into the door. They were running out of time.
“Don’t worry about me,” she said. “You divert the guards, and I’ll find a way to escape and get this to Princess Kaiya.”
“What?” Looking first to Ziqiu and then to Liang Yu, Feiying drew his curved sword. “Who are you working for?”
Heart racing, Liang Yu separated his staff into a sword and spear. He sank into a defensive position and angled himself away from Feiying’s strong right.
“You still work for them, even after they left you for dead.” Feiying snorted. “Join the winning side. We’ll hunt down the Black Lotus, and establish our own clan.”
Liang Yu shook his head. “Hua comes first.”
“Still a slave. I’d hate to kill you. You know I’ve always been the better fighter.”
It was too true. Liang Yu shifted his stance. The only way he would survive this encounter is if the honor guard broke through the doors and created a distraction.
Unless he came up with a good plan.
Like showing weakness where there was strength. Simultaneously attacking and defending. Liang Yu turned to expose his ribs.
Feiying lunged forward, blade sweeping. Liang Yu lifted his sword to defend while thrusting with his spear.
An elementary move, one which Feiying easily avoided. Liang Yu followed up with a sword chop and another spear stab.
After an initial parry of the sword, Feiying followed with a downward slash, cutting into the spear haft. He might as well have yawned. “Come now, Liang Yu, I know all your moves. You follow such a predictable script.”
Liang Yu disengaged and flipped the spear back. The precise cut went at least halfway through the shaft, two handlengths from the blade, rendering it useless.
As a spear, at least.
Smashing the ruined weapon across his knee, he finished the break and transformed the spear into a knife.
“Not bad,” Feiying said. “You’ve finally learned to improvise. Though now you’ve lost your reach advantage.” He surged in with several quick moves, one which cut across Liang Yu’s bicep and another that sliced across his abdomen.
All intentional distractions, surgical strikes meant to weaken first. The pain burned. He staggered back.
Feiying leaped forward again, but yelped and disengaged. A throwing pin lodged high in his right breast.
Liang Yu looked up, from where the pin had flown. “Ziqiu, I will not survive this. You must escape and warn the regent: the Teleri’s agent is a woman in the Floating World.”
“Fool.” Blood flecked Feiying’s lips. The pin must’ve penetrated his lung. Maybe there was a chance.
The doors burst open with a crack of the bar. Soldiers rushed in.
Feiying swung his sword, the first blow knocking the knife from Liang Yu’s hand and the second cutting deep into his right flank.
Such a perfect attack. Pain flared and only grew worse. A ruptured liver, with a precise insertion as only the Surgeon could perform. There was no surviving the wound, but
the right plan could eliminate the threat to the regent. He just had to get close enough. Liang Yu thrust with a feeble stab to the right, one which would invite a counter-attack to the left.
Feiying twisted toward the left, as planned. Liang Yu dropped the sword and tackled Feiying, using a hand to drive Ziqiu’s pin deeper.
With a moan, Feiying staggered back and fell. The honor guards surrounded them, not that it mattered. Neither of them would live through the wounds. Liang Yu rolled off of him.
Feiying let out a labored chuckle. “I wonder what the Black Lotus will make of this. The Surgeon and the Architect came out of hiding to kill each other. Master Yan will be shaking his head.”
“Goodbye, old friend,” Liang Yu said. “Even though it ended this way, I’m glad to have met you again.”
Feiying nodded. “Now, the Three Young Masters are truly dead, with only a half-elf to show for it.”
Half-elf… Princess Kaiya’s half-elf, raised by the Black Lotus, was Meiyun’s. Liang Yu laughed, even though each chuckle sent pain surging through his body. So obvious, and yet even he had missed it. “She doesn’t even know, does she?
Feiying’s voice was barely audible. “I told her, but only while she was drugged with Yinghua flowers.”
Maybe she remembered, maybe she didn’t. Liang Yu’s vision dimmed. High above, Ziqiu slipped out of the closest window. How had the Architect not thought of such a simple solution?
Chapter 31:
City Under Siege
The carriage wheels purred over the city’s pavestones. It was a mere whisper in Kaiya’s ears compared to the clopping of the three hundred imperial cavalry and the sporadic musket fire. Outside, frightened citizens ran by clutching possessions, oftentimes stopping to bow toward her carriage. An occasional patrol of soldiers passed, the men affording her quick nods before continuing on their way.
In the distance, several crooked columns of smoke filled the air with the smell of burning wood. Thank the Heavens for the Tiger’s Eye. Her hometown under siege conjured memories of her escape from Iksuvius, the start of the mad flight from Geros. Then, Iksuvi’s King Evydas had fought and died in the futile defense of his city. Now, she, the regent, was fleeing hers.