Jodhaa lowered her arms. She touched the wall and smiled. The labyrinth hadn’t changed. Grandmaster Cacuun said the teachers patrolled to keep them safe. One of them closed the passage to block the ashen lion’s path. The snap was the sound of the magic forcing the labyrinth to change.
As she lowered her guard, the aches returned to her body. She used too much of herself in the incantation. That was a mistake. If it hadn’t worked, she would have left herself defenseless. She couldn’t fight off a hinkypunk if she had too. As strange as this maze was, she couldn’t believe she hadn’t run into the will-o'-wisp yet.
She shook the frivolous thought out of her head. That was her grogginess taking over. Lack of focus is the surest path to destruction.
She turned around. The air loomed thick and heavy, like when she used to practice martial arts in water. It wasn’t the air though, it was her own poor decision to overexert herself. She planted her feet, then imagined roots growing into the earth. Her knees wanted to buckle, but she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. Jalal wouldn’t fall, then again, her brother wouldn’t have spent so much strength. She wished he waited for her to get out. Oh, little sister, why did you take him so young? Why couldn't he be here? That was impossible. The burden was hers now. She had to carry the family legacy forward.
Raih’s seiryu twirled through the room, spinning and swooping around like she flew through the boughs of trees, even though there was nothing there.
Jodhaa admired the creature. It was free to be itself, with no constraints to hold it back.
She inhaled through her nose and filled her lungs to capacity. A sweet perfume filled the air, like a forest in bloom.
As she exhaled through her mouth, her legs tried to buckle again. Jodhaa forced them straight, but only for a moment. She collapsed to her knees, and her skin burned like she would soon crumble to dust.
Her father taught her that incantation to push an attacker back so she would have space to maneuver. It wasn't meant to strike out at stone, but it worked. They had escaped that monster.
Through her bleary eyes, Jodhaa saw the foggy outline of Raih standing over her. She said something.
Jodhaa imagined what Raih saw. Had her skin cracked and withered? Did she resemble a mummy she encountered in the catacombs? No, she must look exhausted though.
“I am all right.” She forced the words out. They sounded like they came from next to her. She slipped. “I need to rest for a moment.”
Jodhaa watched Raih smile as her muscles relaxed.
That must have done the trick. Raih was an interesting person. A little too quiet for her lack of discipline. She must be shy or at the least uncomfortable around strangers. But she didn’t lose her head when the beast attacked. That counted for something. Most would have freaked out. She had seen the panic so often in the last breach outbreak. Fear was a cruel master, and it controlled the weak and the blind.
Jodhaa’s eyes fought to close. Her muscles ached to lie down. She knew she couldn’t fall asleep. Her father told her that after spending so much energy, her first instinct would be to sleep. The energy flowed out of her like an open wound. She had to calm herself and focus her life force back into her body.
She sat up as straight backed as her sore muscles allowed and folded her legs into the lotus position. With what little focus remained in her, she imagined a soft breeze escaping her body. It wasn’t hard to do. Her life drained from her. With every intake of air, she tempted it to curl back around and return whence it came.
The aethereal flow curled through the air like wispy smoke from a bunch of incense sticks. It floated away on the unseen current of aether that filled the cave.
She breathed in again.
Her life force swirled up like a hand disturbed the smoke.
As the breath left her lungs, she poured more of her life into the stream. As she inhaled, she imagined her breath starting at the perturbed smoke.
The aether curled back. Energy turned and flowed into her like a gentle breeze surrounding her. The flow moved away from her like a river pouring through her own limbs. It was more like a watershed connecting her entire body.
Something like the sweet plaintive song of the cloud rays came to her ear. At first it was distant, then closer. Deep wails stretched out into a sonic bed nestling the higher pitched whistles and chirps. Her spirit rode the waves of aetheric sound as it rose and fell.
The sound reverberated through her body. Her skin prickled as the song warmed her. Nothing ever sounded so sweet, so pure. Her spirit rose so high she embraced the great blue sky, then fell into the deepest heart of the world mother in tone with the heavenly notes of the ethereal symphony.
She opened her eyes, or were they already open? As she searched around for the source of the heavenly chorus, she noticed Raih playing with the seiryu. She couldn’t hear the rich music echoing off the walls. More’s her pity.
Jodhaa never wanted the song to end.
The air cracked like glass under pressure. Jodhaa leapt to her feet, afraid a breach would open on them any second.
As the cracks continued to branch throughout the room, they followed the outline of tree limbs. Vibrant leaves of red, purple, and blue burst into the room like fireworks frozen in midair. They clustered around the ends of the silvery, glasslike branches.
Spice filled the air, rich and warm like her mother’s kitchen.
That was so long ago.
Jodhaa danced to the unearthly song. Its intoxicating melody guided her arms and taught her feet where to step. The air cradled her in its arms and carried her up into its tender embrace. It was warm on her neck, yet it bore a gentle chill that tingled her body as it caressed her skin.
They twirled in a celestial light that trailed behind them in crystalline spirals.
Her head dipped back as she arched her entire body in the arms of her unseen partner. She surrendered to the dance, to the moment, to the passionate bliss pulsing like fire through her.
She circled through the crystalline grove under the luminous rainbow of leaves. Power filled her to the point of bursting. She gasped.
She had never felt more alive. Her whole body infused with energy, uniting her with the entire world around her.
The sensuous touch of the breeze filled her with rapture. Her breath quickened in ecstasy.
The pure pleasure of the moment rushed through her.
Her toes curled, and the world fell away.
Her skin burned.
Her pulse raced, thrumming in her ears to the rhythm of the moment.
Threads of light wove themselves around her. Their embrace closer than her own soul. Freedom permeated her. Strength fortified every fiber of her being. Her whole body might explode from the inrush of strength driving her to greater and greater heights of delight.
In a quick flourish of movement, she thrust her right hand into the nearest cluster of purple leaves. She wrapped her fingers around something, warm and thrumming with power. Pulling it free, she saw the sangria crystal shining with rich deep light between her fingers.
The energy shattered around her in a cool flash, dancing across her skin.
Like a seed in the wind, she floated gently to the ground. The crystal sang the last notes of its now plaintive song. A sweet refrain of a lost soul returning home.
CHAPTER FIVE
The Secret Place
Raih watched Jodhaa as she floated through the air cloaked in a sheath of light. She pulled something out of nowhere. It glowed deep violet in her hand.
She found her calling. Raih’s chest burned. She hated the envy welling up inside her. The cosmos cradled Jodhaa in its arms, yet had nothing but silence for her. Time crawled. Her sense of inadequacy roared in her head. At any moment, the secret powers within might enrapture her too. Why else were they down here? The spirit with her special revelation must have hidden from her. So far, a demon cat attacked, and she walked through a bunch of empty rooms. Not the most auspicious start to her magical career. Even if that as
hen lion was her moment, what did it mean? The cosmos attacked her while carrying Jodhaa into its heart to find her calling. Was that the sign she had been waiting for that she didn’t belong here?
Jodhaa touched the ground and looked at her with a smile so broad and sincere that Raih couldn’t help but smile back.
“What was that?” Raih spit out, sure she knew the answer already.
“That?” Jodhaa glanced up to where she had hung in the air. She turned back to Raih and shook her head slightly. “I’m not sure.” Jodhaa’s voice broadened in awe of the moment. “As I ended the incantation, this music came out from nowhere.”
Of course there was music. Raih crossed her arms. Why wouldn’t the heavens open and the angels sing for someone who was meant to wield the powers of the universe. “So what is that?” She pointed at Jodhaa’s hand.
Jodhaa stared at the sangria crystal in her palm. “I have no idea. I want to say- a Shraddha crystal, but I’ve never heard of a purple one.”
The words, Shraddha crystal, floated like a sick fish in Raih’s mind for a moment. Ema mentioned them. They were important and rare. She wished she had paid more attention to every little thing. Those forgotten lessons could cause her to miss her chance. “Do you know what it means?” Raih braced herself for Jodhaa to explain her profound new revelation.
“I have no idea.” Jodhaa said blankly.
What does she mean she doesn't know? Jodhaa experienced everything Raih ever wanted, and she didn't come away wiser? The grandmaster sent them into the Labyrinth to find answers. If the universe catching you up into the air, revealing its true nature doesn't grant clarity, what will?
Min Min squealed and whorled through the air in front of Raih’s face. The seiryu sniffed the air and squealed again.
Raih wanted to push her out of the way, but the little creature’s excitement stirred her from the fog enveloping her mind. She forced her attention to Min Min who squawked louder.
The seiryu twirled in a tight circle, stopping periodically to stare down the passage to the right.
“What is it Min Min?” Raih asked.
Min min stretched her wings out to where it looked like she sparkled. She flapped again as she fell. She sniffed the air and made several short charges toward the passages.
“What is down there?” Raih asked.
Min min trilled and sang a sweet song that relaxed every muscle in Raih’s body.
She glanced at Jodhaa, who looked confused.
“Do you think she means safety?” Jodhaa asked.
Raih listened to the song. The melody raised her spirit. The rhythm and harmony, provided by her swishing her tail and beating her wings, warmed her. It reminded her of sitting on the couch at Ema's on a winter day wrapped in a blanket sipping a hot tea. She nodded, “At least, that seems to make the most sense, if anything down here makes sense at all...” Raih’s posture stiffened. “Lead the way.”
Min Min nodded, and wended toward the passage fluttering back and forth as she went.
Raih and Jodhaa followed behind her.
Something, perhaps an intermittent stream, wore down the stones and ground on the path down the corridor. The dust had settled for some time. There were no footprints, but the smooth section was so narrow with indentations spaced a stride length apart. It must have been worn down through repeated use.
That was a good sign. Over the years, countless students must have taken this route. She guarded her hope. She didn’t have much left, and she didn’t want to lose herself.
The stone passage wasn’t that big. They had to walk single file, and at times stoop down to keep from hitting their heads on the ceiling.
Ahead was another luminous chamber. The spiced smoke from roasting meat wafted toward them, mixed with the sweet smell of cooking onions, spices like cumin, and exotic herbs she couldn’t recognize. Her stomach grumbled. She wasn’t sure how many meals she had missed, maybe two or three, but she hadn’t felt the hunger until those smells reached her.
As her eyes reacquainted themselves to the light, an entire village came into sight. Brick and stone buildings that looked like they were slapped together by children and might fall over if a slight breeze rushed through lined the street. Vendors tended their shops, but they weren’t people...
A flock of multicolored seiryu swooped past them. Strange creatures resembling turtles walking on their hind legs haggled with what looked like a frog-man over the price of a gold necklace with blue stones embedded in it. A multi-tailed fox sat at almost every corner watching over all of the nearly human animals and other almost unimaginable creatures that walked, skittered, slithered, and floated through the market.
A feline vendor at a food cart near them surrounded by tables smiled at them and waved them over. “Raih, Jodhaa? Is that you?” he said with rolling R’s and long ah’s. “Master Cacuun said you would probably arrive today, and that I was to look after you.”
Raih struggled to find the right words. So they were watching them. Did that mean they would have stepped in if they hadn’t gotten away from Sathi? “Thank you, I am Raih.”
He smiled and offered her a plate of stir-fried vegetables with chicken over noodles. “Nice to meet you, Raih, my name is Toby. Now sit, eat, rest for a bit.”
CHAPTER SIX
The Challenge Coin
Jodhaa locked eyes with the muursuns chef offering her a plate. His people always pursued their own agenda... Then again, everyone looked out for their own, but Jodhaa had met no one better than the muursuns at hiding their real intent. Their body language differed from most peoples, involving a complex connection between ear position, facial expression, and tail shape. She added their body language to the list of gaps she needed to fill. Spirits existed on the periphery of her life, blinding her to how important knowledge of them would be.
Her stomach protested her doubts.
The likelihood the academy hadn't vetted the people allowed in the cave's beneath them was low, but the ashen lion attacked them.
Her stomach grumbled again.
She accepted the plate from the humanoid feline who reminded her of a mountain lion she had seen once on a camping trip with her father in Golyn. She didn’t take her eyes off of Toby as he insisted on being called. Toby sounded like a Sawyer name, and that made her even more nervous. The Sawyers had conquered a large part of the continent, and everyone recognized they wanted more. She considered a dozen ways a muursuns could get a Sawyer name. He could have been a slave or a pet, but he bore no obvious signs of trauma. They ran reeducation centers to convert the natives. That didn't add up right either. It was possible it sounded like one of their names, but Jodhaa scrutinized him for any signs of deception or threat.
Jodhaa took her plate over to the table Raih chose and sat across from her to watch her back. Her companion confused her.
Raih was a rare gem- precious and hardened. She had been through something she wasn’t ready to talk about or probably face. The tragedy clung to her words and clouded her eyes, yet she was naïve, or even innocent. She sensed something familiar in Raih. Whatever it was comforted her and made her want to protect her. She had never felt an instant connection with anyone before. They were so different. Whatever qualities she possessed, she felt trustworthy. Jodhaa hated to trust others, especially someone she just met. She would keep an eye on her.
Despite her concerns, the stir-fried chicken and vegetables tasted good. Besides, she loved Cishani food since her first visit to the mountain empire. The dish offered a further mystery though. Why did a spirit creature from Golyn go by a Sawyer name and make Cishani food? She wanted to ask him, but didn't want to be rude to a being that could disembowel her with a single swipe. Besides, she needed to blend in with the other students and not raise any suspicions. It was better to play ignorant.
She remembered her father’s words, “The less others realize you know, the more advantage you have.” They had served her well in the past, so she would do well to heed them now.
A k
itsune, spirit fox, walked past again in what looked like a patrol route. She understood where she was: a fox warren. She had heard legends about them. The kitsune would either dig out or take over caves, then set them up as safe havens for themselves and other spirits to live away from the interference and curiosity of people. She hadn’t believed they existed. Tales of the kitsune often painted them as trickster spirits, so the idea they would guard their fellow spirits seemed outlandish, but here they were.
Someone sat next to her.
Jodhaa reached for the dagger she kept on her belt and remembered it disappeared somewhere in the fog when she entered the labyrinth.
She turned, and nodded to the ghostly white skinned person with sharp pointed ears, long silver white hair, and pale purple eyes. He matched the description of a sennin. He looked like a phantom in his white and black armor that didn’t make a sound as he moved.
“Hello, little one.” His voice was deep and rich as chocolate.
Jodhaa raised an eyebrow and nodded again.
“You must be a neophyte.” He continued, “And you must be Vihaan Bhai’s daughter.”
Jodhaa lost her breath. How did he know her father’s name? Should she deny it or acknowledge it to see where this was heading?
“Don’t worry, child, your father and I became friends when he attended the academy. In fact, I have known many Bhais over the years. I looked forward to meeting your brother, Jalal. His loss saddened me.”
Jodhaa couldn’t think. The last thing she expected was to meet anyone acquainted with her family. Jalal’s murder was well known, the Eternal Padishah himself judged the case. Her father had attended Sunsuulyn as her family had for centuries. If her father expected her to meet a friend, he would have told her about it. This sennin wanted something from her.
He placed a coin on the table. “Maybe this will help.”
She looked at the coin. At the top was a sky blue inset wedge with a gold dot in the center. From the tip of the wedge at the center of the coin, the blue curved down and darkened to a deep blue circle that protruded slightly from the bottom of the coin, which caged in ivory and ebony horizontal lines. The top half of the cage was white with a fish swimming left, the lower half black with a fish swimming right. The coin itself was half ivory and half ebony.
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