“Thank you, Priestess, we’re grateful for the hospitality.”
“You need to have a cleansing out here,” Mei Li threw in, even as she helped Kiyo wash out the wound. “A concentrated gathering of a Bai Gu Jing’s essence will spawn another one.”
“I’ll attend to it myself. Inside, first. Let’s attend to the living before the dead.”
Mei Li had a feeling she was going to like this woman.
Shunlei was good-natured about getting patched up. Between a priestess’s blessing of healing, and Kiyo’s healing spells, he was assured to be on the mend and well able to resume normal activities by the next day. They were all anxious to keep a close eye on the wound, however, as it could easily get inflamed. And an inflamed wound with dark energy lingering in it was A Bad Thing.
The rooms they were given to rest in were traditionally set aside for travelers. Mei Li insisted on having the room next to Shunlei’s so she could hear him in the night if he needed her. Hawes volunteered to keep an eye on Shunlei while they were in the baths. Mei Li was glad to see that friendship cementing and encouraged him even as she gathered up clothes for her own bath.
After soaking for a solid hour in hot water, getting the traces of the Bai Gu Jing off her skin, she felt human again. Mei Li put dirty clothes back in her room, and a passing priestess told her where to find the dining room, where everyone else was already mid-meal. Mei Li found a spot open next to Shunlei and joined him.
The spread looked scrumptious and still warm, steam rising gently from several platters. Mei Li might be late to dinner but not by much. She loaded a plate up, ears perked as she caught up with the current thread of the conversation.
Hawes, sitting across from her, was responding to something Kiyo, on the other side of Mei Li, had said. “—certainly advisable from my standpoint. We’re all exhausted.”
“What are we talking about?” Mei Li inquired, relaxing back into her seat.
“I suggested staying here for a few days.” Kiyo lifted her cup, what looked to be a white wine, and nodded toward Hawes. “Our illustrious leader agrees with me so far.”
Hawes flashed her a smile even as he spread butter onto a roll. “As I said, we’re all exhausted. Traveling here took a toll on us, and none of us have been able to rest for more than a day in over a month.”
“Two,” Melchior corrected at his side. The man looked as if he’d nod off into his plate soon, his head bobbing, although he ate with gusto.
Turning his head, Hawes stared at him, expression falling. “Has it really been two months?”
“If you’re talking about the original members. Closer to one for Mei Li and Shunlei.”
Hawes shook his head, still dismayed. “No wonder we’re all at the end of our tethers. Alright, I say we stay here for three days at least. Possibly four. We’ll rest up, re-supply—”
“Your fellow magicians definitely need time to create more talismans. We’re all dangerously low,” Kiyo warned him. “You’d best make that five days.”
“Five, then. Those talismans are a bit too complicated for my simple magic. I won’t be much help there, but I’ll do what I can. Maybe leave the simpler talismans for me—those I can usually manage.” Hawes turned his head, panning the table so he could meet each magician’s eyes. “All of you?”
“It’s why I was so slow to react to Shunlei’s distress,” Mei Li muttered sourly into her plate. “I had talisman papers cut and ready, but few with them inked. I’m disorganized at this point, I think we all are. Low on ink, will be low on paper soon, and my magical energy is low enough to be sputtering.”
“Like a candle in a typhoon,” Nord threw in rather poetically. And accurately.
“Then five days. Lady Mei.” Hawes handed her a chilled pitcher, which she took with both hands to avoid dropping it. “I know we’re very far south now, but I feel we need to reverse directions and attend to that water deity. You said it’s in Thibault. You’re sure of that direction?”
“I am,” she answered carefully. “It will be somewhere near the coast, I believe, as it will stay near the water.”
“That’s still a lot of territory to cover.” Melchior gave a sour grunt. “Like with the Bai Gu Jing, we only have a vague direction to go off of.”
“I don’t think any of us have another chase in us right now.” Hawes let out a long sigh, his exhaustion showing in the lines of his face and the slump of his shoulders. “Alright. We’ll send forward some inquiries, see if anyone has something to report. But we need to rest. Five days it is.”
Shunlei seemed very excited about this, for some reason. “Will you disperse some funds to the rest of us so we can go shopping?”
Hawes blinked at him, then seemed to shake himself. “I knew I was forgetting something. We tore out of Lady Ilona’s house so quickly, I never got a chance to hand out purses. I’ll do that first thing in the morning. Or swing by my room after dinner and I’ll hand them out then.”
Mei Li looked askance at the dragon sitting beside her. Was there something he wanted to buy in particular? Or was he just excited to finally have human currency, and be able to go through a human town? The latter was more likely. “Are you up to shopping?”
Shunlei flashed her a quick smile. “The wound is more irritating than anything.”
Well, considering he battled fellow dragons on a regular basis, perhaps this really was only a flesh wound to him. And she couldn’t discount a dragon’s hardier constitution. “Good. I’m relieved to hear it.”
“The Prince of Horvath does want us to take a moment and write an account of what’s happening,” Melchior threw in. “He likes to stay abreast of the situation as much as possible. In between creating your talismans, try to find time to write brief reports of what we’ve encountered.”
This opened a conversational door for Mei Li’s own campaign. Although she’d have to start out small to avoid sounding like a lunatic. “I can certainly write up things. And really, I think someone should be keeping a copy of what we report.” Seeing that she had their attention, Mei Li added in a practical manner, “Think about it. How many people know how to defeat a Bai Gu Jing? Or can recognize trouble in a sentient forest? Or know how to combat a blood mage?”
Hawes pursed his lips, thinking this over.
Kiyo didn’t need that second. “Not many, and I see your point, Mei. Really, if we could scatter records of our deeds around the world, in places people can go and read them, they’d have a ready resource. An instruction manual, of sorts. If we equip them with proper knowledge, they have a better chance of combating the trouble themselves. Our makeshift gathering of volunteers isn’t sustainable.”
Not in its current form, anyway. Mei Li had to bite her tongue before she said that aloud. Her mouth was not to be trusted some days, and this was definitely one of them.
Mei Li couldn’t see Nord from here—he sat in line with her and Shunlei—but his tone conveyed that he liked this idea. “I would say all the major temples should receive copies of our reports. That’s where people turn to first when trouble falls—either for help or shelter. If they’re forearmed, all the better.”
Mei Li mentally cheered this line of thinking. “It might be difficult for us to do that on a regular basis. Traveling as we are. But maybe an appointed record keeper could help us?”
“We send to a person in charge of this, let them handle the logistics of getting updated reports everywhere else?” Hawes nodded several times, his enthusiasm for the idea growing with each nod. “Yes. Yes, I can see how that would work better. I’ll request for such in my next letter to the prince. It’s a very viable idea.”
Phew, alright. Seed planted. Mei Li didn’t want to harm the timeline of the past, but she didn’t see how planting the idea of the first Tomes would cause trouble. Shunlei’s wife had been the one to drive that forward, to make sure the Tomes existed. Mei Li still wasn’t sure when the woman would come into the picture. But creating a basis for the idea could only help her whenever she d
id join.
This much was fine.
Priestess Giselle opened a room specifically for them so the three magicians could spread out and work. As they had their own mages in training here, there was not only space dedicated for such but supplies readily at hand. She generously donated several items.
Mei Li spent the morning going through shops, buying ingredients, then retreated back to the room. They divvied the basic talismans between them—holding spells, fire starting, traps, and so forth. Mei Li took on traps and fire starting, as they seemed to burn through those (pun not intended).
She took a break mid-afternoon and strolled through the recently cleansed back garden. As she walked, she stretched her arms over her head, rolling her neck around on her shoulders. It was nice to not be in a saddle today, although it would have been a good travel day, with the fair weather.
In the few weeks she’d been in this time, she’d not had much of a chance to really think on it. But several things were falling into place, giving her an entirely new perspective. Shunlei recognizing her instantly in the future—of course that made sense now. But the things that had bothered her before—like how he knew her tastes in food and clothing, or could anticipate what she would want to do next—all made much more sense now. She would travel with him for ten years. Be a friend and constant companion with him. Of course he’d know all of that about her.
What surprised her more was that even after five thousand years, he still remembered it all. And they said a Tomes’ mind was sharp. Shunlei’s might well put theirs to shame.
It also made more sense to her now why he had been so angry she had been lost in the first place. So quick to take her in as family. To him, she was family.
But it did beg the question—how much did she tell him? Mei Li must have told him something, if he knew she’d meet him again in the future. How much could she even tell him without risking messing up the past entirely?
And while Mei Li didn’t have to think about this now, she really should consider how she’d gracefully extract herself later. The spell was set to keep her here until she learned how to defeat Odom and Zaffi. Ten years was a long while. The group would certainly ask questions and possibly look for her if Mei Li just suddenly disappeared after the battle. It was something she needed to carefully consider.
She might be able to split from them with the excuse that she needed to hunt down her missing master. But would that excuse still hold water after ten years? Ten years of them gallivanting around the countryside, no less. Hmm, likely not.
Oh dear. She really would have to come up with a good plan. Otherwise this wouldn’t go down well at all. Stupid spell. Really, why did it land her here of all times? Couldn’t it have done it closer to Odom’s appearance? Wouldn’t that have made more sense? It was causing Mei Li needless complications.
“Mei.”
Turning at this hail, she spied Shunlei coming toward her. He looked better this morning, not as pale and tight with pain as he had been after the attack. His hair, for once, was neatly brushed as well and fell in a smooth curtain down to mid-torso.
“Are those new boots?” she asked, intrigued.
“They are. I stumbled across an excellent cobbler. He can custom-make any shoe to fit your foot within half a day. I’ll introduce you to him. I think we’re all in need of new boots.”
It was all the traveling doing hers in. Even with Mei Li’s being relatively new. “Yes, please.”
“Excellent!” he said with an engaging smile. “But here, I bought something for you.”
Mei Li looked at the bundle in his hand, wrapped in simple white cloth and twine. She accepted it with bemusement. “Thank you?”
“Open it,” he encouraged her.
That was not polite in her culture—you weren’t supposed to open gifts in front of the giver—but apparently dragons had different rules regarding that. She obligingly undid the twine and the cloth fell away to reveal a neck pillow. It was made of sturdy cotton, soft to the touch, and dyed in such a way that it looked like puffy white clouds on a blue sky. “Oh! Oh, it’s cute. And feels very soft.”
Shunlei looked pleased that she liked it. “I know you sometimes wake up with a crick in your neck. Pillowing your head on the bags isn’t truly comfortable. I saw this and thought you’d benefit from it.”
It was an incredibly thoughtful gift. “I’ll use it well. Thank you. I hope you bought one for yourself?”
“I did,” he admitted gleefully, like a young child who’d successfully raided the pantry for sweets. “Two, in fact. I couldn’t decide between them. There’s all sorts of blankets and such in the same store. In fact, they sold a traveling set that included a down padding, like a thin mattress. It looked very portable still, and with the summer months coming up, perhaps lighter blankets might be best?”
“To combat the heat with,” Mei Li agreed thoughtfully. It was true, with them camping outdoors half the time, this was a consideration. They needed to sleep as well as they possibly could and stay rested. Her current collection of blankets she slept with were thick and warm and not something suitable for summer months. “I think I want to visit that shop. You truly found all the best places while you were out, didn’t you?”
Shunlei shrugged, still with that happy sparkle hovering about him. “I love shopping in towns like this. I never know what you humans will come up with next.”
“I’m definitely shopping now,” Mei Li said with conviction. “In fact, let me go into town with you today so I can order those shoes. No need to force the man to make them on the spot for me when I’ll be here for several days yet anyway. I’ll put my pillow away and join you at the front door.”
“It’s fine, I can follow you out. Perhaps we should mention the stores to the others?”
“Yes, let’s do that as we go.” Mei Li walked around the pond, heading for the back door. Come to think of it, the mages would all be quite busy, but Shunlei had little to occupy his time. “Aside from shopping, how will you spend your time?”
“I thought I’d fly up and down the coast for a bit,” he informed her, a trifle wistfully. “There’s bound to be a few dragons in this area, as the sea makes for good hunting grounds.”
That was a very good point. “You’ll try to convert them over, too?”
“I hope to. It shouldn’t be difficult. I’ve heard no tale of trouble from dragons in this area which means there’s either none about—I’ll be surprised if that’s the case—or that they’ve struck a good balance in the area with the humans. If they’re already peace-minded, it shouldn’t be hard.” Shunlei made a warding gesture with one hand. “I feel like I just jinxed myself.”
“Don’t do that,” she agreed with a laugh. “You’ve got enough of an uphill battle as it is.”
Giving her a rueful look, he agreed wryly, “Don’t I know it.”
Gaining the building, Mei Li popped her head into the workroom to tell everyone what they were doing, then put her new present away in her room. Shunlei offered his arm as they reached the main gate, and she gratefully took it, sliding her hand into his elbow.
“Thank you. The stairs are a little slick and worn, aren’t they?” Mei Li kept a careful eye on them even as she stepped lightly down. There was a definite wear in the center, and the rainfall last night hadn’t helped matters.
“My heel skittered out once on my way down. I don’t want you to take a tumble.”
“What a coincidence, neither do I.” She spared him a saucy grin, pleased when he snickered. It was the nice part of being in Shunlei’s company. They had the same sense of humor. “Phew, alright, we’re at the bottom. Shoes first?”
Shunlei nodded acceptance and led them right along the road. “I’ve discovered in the time I’ve spent with all of you that dragons and humans are vastly different in many ways. So I’m not sure how to ask this without offending you.”
She wasn’t at all surprised at his hesitancy. This Shunlei was still learning about humanity, after all. She encour
aged him with a nod and an inquiring noise in the back of her throat.
“Kiyo mentioned that you only had three changes of clothes, and this concerned her?”
For Shunlei, who only had two, it probably did seem a strange worry. But then, he spent a lot of time in dragon form, so it wasn’t like the clothes he had saw much use. “Ah, yes. It would. Most humans have several changes of clothes, you see. Kiyo’s just as worried about you. I think she feels that because you are a dragon there’s a different set of customs involved somehow, but she keeps poking me about perhaps taking you shopping.”
Shunlei glanced down at the clothes he wore. “They are a trifle worn. I’ve seen more use of them in the past few weeks than in the years I’ve owned them. Perhaps we should both shop.”
“Yes, I think so. As for me, after I was shipwrecked, I didn’t have anything that survived with me except what I was wearing. I’ve been steadily trying to amass my belongings ever since.” Which was mostly the truth.
Shunlei indicated the shop ahead. “Then let’s start with new boots.”
“An excellent place to start.”
The shoemaker was just short of being churlish, but the man knew his business. Mei Li had to give him that. He had her foot measured in seconds, wrote quick notes on her sizes, then shooed her off to the other side of the store. Mei Li went to pick out leathers and dyes with his wife, chose something sensible but flexible enough that she wouldn’t feel like a hobbled horse, and received a promise in return that they’d be done in three days.
Exiting from there, she pulled Shunlei to the shop next door, which had several men’s coats hanging in the window. “How about something not white?” she suggested even as she pulled him through the front door.
Shunlei grimaced agreement, willingly leaving his hand in hers. “I bought the white on a whim, as I liked the look of it. But it does get stained easily. Too easily on trips such as these.”
First of Tomes (The Tomes of Kaleria Book 2) Page 14