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

by JC Kang

  “The halfling has returned,” Commander Zhuang said.

  Returned…several hours must’ve passed, even if it seemed only a few minutes. Down near the town, perhaps a li away, a tiny light flashed three times. She stretched out her arms. “How long have I been asleep?”

  Sameer strolled up and extended his hand. “Less than two hours.”

  Kaiya took the Paladin’s hand. Around her, the imperial cavalry murmured, but bowed as she flashed an imperious glance.

  “May I escort you to the boat?” Sameer pressed his hands together and bowed.

  The commander gritted his teeth. “That is my responsibility.”

  Sameer bowed. “On horseback, you must be a formidable archer. However, I am accustomed to fighting on my feet. Please give me the honor of walking with the princess, while you follow behind with your deadly bow in hand.”

  As diplomatic as ever. Kaiya suppressed a smile that the Tiger’s Eye couldn’t contain.

  Commander Zhuang grunted. Beckoning two of his men, he mounted up and drew his bow. “We will follow fifty paces behind you, Jie-xia.”

  “Thank you, Commander.” Kaiya took Sameer’s hand, and he helped her down the slope to the stream. Her feet squished into the rich soil. Just like the time Tian had helped her along a river bank in the Wilds. He’d been so sweet, for the first time since they were children. Now, she pressed his set of lockpicks in her sash. Her heart fluttered, and a tear formed in her eye. Heavens, the Tiger’s Eye crumbled with disturbing frequency. It had to hold out, just a little longer.

  Each footstep strengthened her resolve. On the other side of the stream, the first shoots of spring poked out of the farmland. After several dozen paces, they came to a broad weir. Beyond it churned a farm’s waterwheel, silhouetted by the moons’ light. The breaths of several men hid among the splashing water.

  “Look out.” Kaiya gripped Sameer’s arm and pointed toward the waterwheel.

  Hoe in hand, a man stepped out on the other side of the stream. “No trespassing on my farm!”

  Kaiya squinted. He didn’t seem to have any weapons other than the hoe, and he wore a simple robe. Sameer’s body relaxed beneath her grip. “Forgive us,” she said. “My friend has never visited this area and wanted to see your waterwheel. We will be going on our way.” She waved up toward the road, where three of her horsemen trotted.

  “Too authoritative a tone,” Sameer hissed. “I don’t even understand your language and I can tell. Plus, your posture is too regal.”

  He was right. Slumping her shoulders, Kaiya cast her gaze down. Perhaps a commoner wouldn’t notice.

  “Princess Kaiya?” The farmer lowered the hoe and bowed.

  So she looked and acted like an aristocrat. Still, a farmer had identified her by name despite the darkness. He also happened to be out at a late hour. She met his gaze. “How did you know?”

  He started to kneel, then glanced back toward the town and stopped. He leaned in as far as the stream would allow and whispered, “Lord Zhi ordered us to keep an eye out for you. He has offered a reward of ten golden yuan for anyone who reports you.”

  “Why?”

  The farmer shook his head. “These are uncertain times. Lord Peng marches this way, and rumor has it that a foreign army does as well. Talk in the village says our lord is trying to align himself with the one he thinks will win.”

  Apparently, Lord Zhi gave the imperial army even less of a chance than she did.

  The man pointed back toward the town. “Many of our lord’s men are watching the roads for you. Please be careful, Dian-xia. The people support the Tianzi.”

  Even if the Tianzi was an infant. Kaiya bowed her head. “Thank you. I have nothing to give you now, but when the imperial armies prove who has the Mandate of Heaven, I will make sure you are rewarded.” She turned to Sameer and gestured toward the town. “Potential enemies are watching the roads. We need to stay by the stream.”

  Sameer nodded and pulled her along. Not far behind, small footsteps squelched in the mud. Kaiya looked back. Two small shapes, likely Brehane and Doctor Wu. Well behind them slunk two more people. Up ahead, maybe a quarter-li away where the stream again widened to about ten paces, a boat waited. Not much farther now.

  “Halt!” A voice called from a road running above the other side of the stream. Between her and the boat, six men leveled repeating crossbows at them while another ran back toward the town. “Identify yourself,” the first man called.

  Sameer drew his naga, glowing a brighter blue than she’d ever seen. So much for peaceful negotiation.

  Crossbow triggers clicked. Bolts zipped through the air. Sameer interposed himself between her and the attackers. His naga danced, deflecting the incoming barrage with superhuman speed. Wooden shafts snapped with staccato cracks.

  From upstream, Brehane and the others’ footsteps quickened.

  “Loose!” Commander Zhuang yelled from the road above. Bowstrings twanged and horse hooves clopped. Several more horses charged from the mouth of the gorge. Arrows found their targets, and the local soldiers fell back. The commander had gotten his wish, and it was apparently the better plan after all.

  “Hurry,” Sameer said, pulling her into a trot. He swung his sword on occasion, clipping errant bolts.

  Kaiya’s feet squished between mud and water. She nearly tripped a couple of times, but they made it unscathed to the boat.

  Boat? It didn’t look that much wider than the canoes the Maki used during her winter sojourn in the Wilds. It might hold six, maybe seven with the madaeri and the smaller women. Despite the arrows and bolts, Fleet relaxed near the rear, his feet kicked back. He waved as they approached.

  Sameer helped her in and pushed the boat with the current. Brehane and Doctor Wu tumbled in, and Cyrus joined Sameer, sloshing through stream as they splashed through knee-high water. The barrage of bolts dwindled to a stop, and the imperial cavalry kept pace on the road above.

  “I don’t know much about boats,” Cyrus said, climbing in, “but how is this going to get us across the lake to the pyramid in four days?”

  Fleet threw his hands up. “Not enough room for you to lie back, Your Majesty?”

  “It is a little narrow.” Sameer chuckled as he boarded, nearly capsizing the boat.

  “Now you see the benefit of being small.” Fleet grinned and pointed to the oars.

  Kaiya gave the canoe a once-over. The Paladin was right; it would be a tight for four days, over open water, and... “Wait. We won’t be near the shore, and we can’t possibly paddle the whole time.”

  Fleet laughed. “We are going to steal—I mean, appropriate—the local lord’s pleasure boat. I just used the canoe to get upstream.”

  “And where is this boat?” Brehane glared at the madaeri.

  He pointed downstream. “Docked not far from the mouth.”

  Sameer sighed. “Guards?”

  “Nothing we can’t handle.”

  Kaiya stared at Fleet. He hadn’t been so flippant in their escape from Iksuvius. “How about a crew?”

  He puffed out his chest. “I’m quite the sailor.” He then turned and scanned the banks. Where the madaeri found time to get good at everything was a mystery.

  The waterway skirted away from Yanhu, and they reached the lake without further incident. The imperial cavalry had only kept up as far as a bridge that led into the town.

  The lake’s light blue waters reflected in Doctor Wu’s eyes, bringing out their luminescence. Without the stream’s current pushing them along, the men strained as they rowed along the lake’s edge toward the town.

  Lights shined in windows. Shouts carried across the water. Kaiya squirmed in her seat. It sounded like the imperial cavalry had drawn Lord Zhi’s men away. She looked toward the closest dock, where an elegant skiff was moored. The name Wind Dancer was emblazoned in red on the hull.

  “See?” Fleet pointed at the dock. “Completely unprotected.”

  They rowed up and climbed aboard the larger vessel. Large enoug
h for the lord to entertain eight guests while he showed off his sailing skills, it would be comfortable enough for the six of them. Fleet worked the rigging while Sameer and Cyrus untied it from the mooring.

  The sail billowed out and the skiff lurched forward. Kaiya’s stomach rebelled, either from morning sickness or seasickness. She fought it down. The waters shined brighter the further they sailed from the shore.

  Brehane’s expression danced with wonderment. “Why do the waters glow?”

  Kaiya gestured toward Shenyue. “The blue moon is the Eye of Guanyin, Goddess of Mercy and Healing. When the Lord of the Sun, Yang-Di, created Tivara as a gift to her, she shed a tear. It landed here, giving birth to the Cathayi.”

  “Listen.” Doctor Wu held up a finger. “Do you hear it? The energy of the world.”

  Closing her eyes, Kaiya listened. The vibration pulsed in her ears, slow but powerful. She opened her eyes.

  At her side, Brehane nodded. “Yes, I feel it.”

  “Like around all the other pyramids we visited,” Sameer said.

  “Yes, yes.” Fleet yawned. “Where the elves first built their cities. Where the Tivari erected the pyramids. Places in the world where energy is the strongest. I can’t even count how many times I’ve repeated this story to you.”

  With a snort, Doctor Wu broke her glare from the madaeri. “Keep listening. It will only get louder.”

  It did. Over the next several days, the vibration resonated in Kaiya’s core. At times, memories stirred her emotions, poking through the Tiger’s Eye. Lord Xu’s vision must be true. For better or worse, she would regain her emotions and her power at the pyramid.

  Kai-Long looked up at the sky, where the white moon neared the blue moon. Tonight was the night, when the three moons would conjoin, just like they had three hundred years before to herald in the start of the Wang Dynasty.

  A constellation of seven twinkling stars hovered above the moons, like a crown. Legends claimed the Golden Flock was frequently visible during the Age of Orcs, only to vanish after the War of Ancient Gods. It had appeared once since, during the Hellstorm, making it an omen of great change.

  Tonight, it would herald his ascension to the Dragon Throne.

  He shifted his gaze down from the hilltop to the imperial army camped not far from the pyramid. Soon, General Lu would return from his parley on Kai-Long’s behalf. Lord Wu’s provincial army held the mountain slopes on the imperials’ flank. At Kai-Long’s signal, they would switch banners to declare their loyalty to him. The final touch would be the reappearance of the Guardian Dragon.

  When they yielded to him, his army would number three hundred thousand. Cousin Kaiya might have escaped his trap in the gorge and Yanhu, but there was nothing she could do to prevent his victory now.

  On the evening of the fourth day, the song of the world’s energy sang loud in Kaiya’s ears. Guanyin’s Eye rose low as always on the eastern horizon, silhouetting the pyramid beyond the shore. Gigantic trees lined the side of a road to the pyramid. Light filtered through the buds, forming veins of webbed light that branched toward the heavens.

  Kaiya gazed at the grove for the first time in years. The elf angel Aralas had planted the Trees of Light over a millennium before, prior to the War of Ancient Gods. One still stood near Wild Turkey Island, where Geros had first raped her. Her most recent dream resurfaced, and the Tiger’s Eye faltered, sending a shudder down her spine.

  Much farther up the shore, thousands of other lights flickered. Campfires and torches. Kaiya pointed at them. “Fleet, can you make out the sigils on the banners?”

  Fleet craned forward. “A golden dragon on a blue field.”

  The imperial banners. The imperial army must be camped here, stretching from the shore to a nearby mountainside. No, that couldn’t be right; the imperial army numbered close to a hundred and fifty thousand, and it looked like far more men than that. She gestured toward the mountain. “How about them? Can you see the banners?”

  Fleet whipped out a spyglass and stared through. “A black wolf on a red field.” He proffered the scope.

  Peng’s army, so close, and busy. Kaiya took the glass and scanned from mountain to plain. Men marched in orderly ranks. Preparing to engage? At dusk, no less. “We must hurry to the pyramid. How much farther?”

  “Just a few minutes.” Fleet pointed toward the Trees of Light, looming large above them. Beneath their canopies, two humanoid shapes moved. Scouts, perhaps, though one was quite smaller than the other, and they were far from the two armies.

  The skiff ran aground. Kaiya pitched forward in her seat. Clambering over the bulwarks, she splashed into the knee-high water and slogged to shore. Her companions followed, except for Fleet who sounded like he was fiddling with the rigging.

  Doctor Wu waded after her. “Don’t get too cold. It’s bad for the babies.”

  Kaiya suppressed a laugh. The doctor was so persistent, but that wasn’t important. Not now, when they were so close. So close to regaining her magic. So close to preventing the Hua armies from fighting each other instead of the invading Teleri.

  Her feet found solid ground and she strode into the grove. Light from the trees illuminated the path in gentle white. The omnipresent energy pulse went silent.

  Up ahead, the two shapes from before came into focus. A black cape flowed behind the taller, merging in color with his long dark hair. Certainly not a scout, looking so conspicuous. The other wore tight black clothes, but stood no taller than a child. He paused, then whirled around and met her gaze.

  Pointed ears poked out from beneath short brown hair. Large, almond eyes.

  Jie.

  The other turned around, revealing a stout, handsome man with a turquoise complexion and a thin crown on his head. He resembled the altivorc prince she’d seen in Iksuvius, but even more handsome.

  The two exchanged words in a guttural language. Apparently, Jie spoke it. Maybe, like Avarax pretending to be Hardeep, she’d deceived Kaiya all this time.

  At Kaiya’s side, Sameer and Cyrus both drew their weapons.

  “I had a feeling I would find you here.” The altivorc prince withdrew a magic wand and leveled it at them.

  Chapter 38:

  We All Spy

  From his hiding place on the ground level of a recently abandoned brothel, Tian peered through the shutters at the small home connected to the Jade Tea House. Though no one had used the front door since he’d arrived three hours earlier, his team flashed mirrors anytime someone came or left through the secret door in the roof. Three times so far.

  This had to be the place. Right now at noon, at least four Nightblades congregated inside. No telling how many were there in total, so it was too risky to launch an attack with just him and four young Moquan. They could ambush individual Nightblades as they left, but the concubine would likely grow suspicious if her eyes and ears began disappearing.

  He was about to give the signal for his comrades to regroup at the theater when the front door of the house opened. Tian reached into the fold of is robes for a throwing star.

  A pretty Hua girl walked out. Probably no older than fifteen or sixteen, she wore a plain grey dress. Not the concubine, whom Feng Mi said was in her late twenties, and had mixed Ayuri blood. Nor a Teleri Nightblade, since they were all male. Maybe a collaborator.

  Tian abandoned his post and slipped out the front. The girl had reached the tea house and now opened the door. A servant or prostitute, perhaps, though she might still be an enemy asset. No matter which, she’d recently been inside the concubine’s house, which meant she knew more than him.

  He flashed hand signals to inform the team of his decision. I go in. All clear? Mirrors flashed twice, indicating a safe window of time. Tian made a quick check of the empty streets, dashed across the street, and opened the green door to the Jade Tea House. Bells jingled as he entered.

  Light bauble lamps with thin jade screens shed a dim light over the bloodwood tables and chairs in the common room. A curtain of stone beads dangled o
ver a back corridor, likely where the Night Blossoms provided private entertainment.

  Hovering over a chair in the far corner, the girl paused as her eyes met his. They flashed downward as she sat.

  A door at the back slid open, revealing a middle-aged woman kneeling in a green silk gown. “Ziqiu, welcome back. What would you like?”

  “Jasmine green tea,” the girl answered with a bow. “I am expecting a client.”

  The proprietress covered her giggle. “The same one, I would wager.”

  “You would win that wager.” The girl, Ziqiu, smiled and nodded.

  “Maybe it is a sign that bees will return to the blossoms.” The proprietress turned toward the kitchens, but paused when her eyes swept across Tian. She looked to Ziqiu, who shook her head ever so slightly, then back to him. Eyes wide, she bowed. “Welcome, my lord. The flowers do not bloom these days, but might I offer you some tea?”

  Flowers not blossoming. A reference to the sex trade. “I will have the same as her.” He lifted his chin to Ziqiu, who studied the hardwood floors.

  The older woman gestured with an open hand toward a table far from Ziqiu. “Please, make yourself comfortable and I will be back with the tea.”

  “Thank you.” Ignoring the seat she indicated, Tian strode toward Ziqiu. The girl kept her head down, but her eyes still watched him. He placed a hand on the back of a chair at her table. “May I?”

  Ziqiu bowed. “I am sorry, my lord. I am expecting company.”

  Tian sat anyway. “I have not seen another soul in days. At least share your ear until she joins you.”

  “He,” she said, at last looking up at him.

  A male. Another information relay, perhaps. Tian grinned. “Will I make him jealous?”

  She studied his face, then shifted a hand from the table to her lap. “Have we met before?”

  “I don’t believe so. I haven’t visited the capital in a while.” For ten years, thanks to his banishment.

  Her brow wrinkled. “Your accent...you are from the North.”