by K.N. Lee
She was like a dream, and he wished he could hug her in that moment. There was so much of their mother in her face, that made it feel as if she was still there.
“Always the mysterious one,” she said, and smiled. “I’ve missed you dearly.”
He cleared his throat. “I’ve missed you more than I can express. But, soon we will be properly reunited. Just let me finish what I’ve started and I will return to the palace in a few weeks. I promise.”
She sighed, and her shoulders slumped. “Very well. I’ll let you go, because I trust you. But, you be careful with whatever you’ve gotten yourself into.”
He nodded. “You’ve got it.”
She nodded to his sword then. “Nice sword, and that thing you did with that ball of light was quite remarkable. I think you’ll protect yourself very well.”
“Ah, just not against arrows, it seems,” he said, turning his cheek to reveal the mark her arrow had left behind.
Laughing, she began to fly away. “It will scar up well,” she said. “Make you look like a true warrior.”
Dimitri couldn’t stop smiling as he watched her fade into the horizon. Soon, he’d be reunited with his blood family.
But first, back to that meeting with the witch.
Chapter 9
MEI
Evening came, and the feasting began.
Mei’s family now believed that she would be matched in an advantageous marriage with a man of wealth and reputation.
How far from the truth that was, and they didn’t question the Matchmaker too much for details. Everyone was just grateful that Mei would be taken care of.
Roasted pig, noodles, clay pots full of steamed dumplings, vegetables, and rice wrapped in greens was served alongside seared fish and bowls of hot stew.
She barely touched her meal, and once it was over, she retreated to bed in her small room nearest the main hall. It was once a storage room, but Aunt Biqi and her husband had been kind enough to clear it out and make it into a sanctuary for her. She had a pallet on the floor, with a small chest for her belongings, and a red lantern with beautiful gold dragons painted along the sides.
She sat on her blankets, imagining what would come when the sun arose the next morning.
Tomorrow, she would leave with Li and head across the plains to the emperor’s opulent palace. It was more than she could have hoped for—to leave the countryside behind and venture to the cities of China. She knew she wouldn’t sleep much. Her nerves kept her from rest. There was a strange ache in her belly that worried her.
She should be happy, and excited. But, somehow, all she felt was fear.
The unknown was indeed frightening. It was dark and blurry, and she wasn’t sure who would hold her hand and guide her through the shadows to a brighter future.
Li said that was her goal, but Mei couldn’t help the warnings that fluttered in her gut.
Someone knocked on her door, and she sat up, already sensing who it was.
“Come in, Ping,” she said.
Ping stepped in, a bright smile on her face. She raced inside and sat at the end of Mei’s blankets.
“I’m so excited for you, Mei. What an amazing day it has been!”
Mei sighed, but nodded. “I wish I was as excited as you,” she said. “I thought I’d be thrilled. But, for some reason I am afraid to leave this place.”
Her eyes widened. “The Matchmaker is taking you to meet your husband in the imperial city. That’s incredible. I hope I get matched as well as you.”
“But, your family has been so kind and loving to me,” Mei said, suddenly feeling the urge to cry. “I almost don’t want to leave anymore. I only wanted to so that I wouldn’t be a burden on the family.”
Confused as to why she felt that way, she frowned at herself for even thinking such things. Li said that she had power, and that she would help her, but a tiny part of her didn’t believe it.
“Oh, Mei,” Ping said, and took Mei’s hands into her own. She smiled at her. “You’re afraid your new husband might not like you—or worse—treat you poorly, aren’t you?”
Biting the corner of her lip, Mei fought her urge to tell the truth. It was difficult for her to deceive anyone, and so she did what her heart told her.
“Ping,” she said, looking down at their hands. “There is no husband.”
“What?”
Mei looked to her with tears in her eyes. “The Matchmaker is taking me to the emperor’s palace. She says I’m special.”
For a moment, Ping looked stunned, and didn’t speak. She took her hands back and tucked her dark hair behind her ears. She looked to the wall where a single tapestry with a lotus flower hung.
Then, she scratched her forehead. “Why did she lie to my parents?”
Mei shrugged. “I wish I knew the answer. I assume its because of what she has planned for me. She wants to train me to use magic.” She lowered her voice at the word magic, and Ping shot a startled look at her.
“Are you serious? Are you going to be her apprentice or something? Wait, that means you have magic.”
“That’s what she said—that I have hidden gifts and she wants to help me bring them out,” Mei said.
The red lantern’s light flickered, and drew her attention. She glanced at the flame as it rose and fell, and went back to normal.
Mei’s brows lifted, but she didn’t give it much thought.
“Well, that’s incredible,” Ping said, and her face brightened. “Of course, there is something special about you. How exciting to have actually magic running through you. I wish I had magic!”
Mei laughed. “It does sound exciting, but I’ve never noticed any abilities before.”
“Then, it’ll be fun to discover them. And, you get to meet the emperor. This is way better than being some strange man’s housewife!”
She wasn’t sure what she thought about the emperor. Rumors said that he was a dangerous man, but no one had actually seen him.
“I suppose,” Mei said. “I’m just afraid of the journey there. The Shadow Clans are out there destroying villages and attacking travelers on the roads. What if I encounter one? I don’t know how to defend myself.”
They’d have to journey quite a distance to even reach his palace, but the Matchmaker was a powerful woman. She would surely protect her along the dangerous roads.
Ping clasped her hands in her lap, and lowered her voice. “I didn’t think of that. Now you have me worried about you being out there on your own, Mei. Maybe she will let me come with you. Then, I can look after you.”
Mei couldn’t help the smile that came to her face. “Oh, Ping. I love you. But, I’m probably just overreacting. I’m sure it will be fine, and if there was danger, I wouldn’t want to risk your life. Besides, it’s better this way. No one would want an orphan without a coin to her name for a wife. At least you have a dowry, and a good family ”
Ping tilted her head, her dark brown eyes narrowing.
“Is that what you think of yourself?”
There was something in the way she said those words that made Mei stiffen, and search her eyes.
They were saddened, almost disturbed.
Shrugging, Mei glanced at the red lantern as it cast a faint glow across the wall before her. She was sure she saw an image of a dragon’s shadow fly through the light.
“What does it matter? Its the truth,” Mei said, searching for that shadow when Ping caught her by the wrist and spun her back around.
She held Mei by the shoulders. “I’ll not hear anymore of this nonsense, Zhou Mei. You are a beautiful young woman with an amazing heart. Who cares if you don’t have any money. You’re abundant in love, and I think that makes you stronger.”
Mei couldn’t help the smile that came to her face. Ping spoke with earnest, and it was a beautiful moment that threatened that soothed her frazzled nerves and fears.
“You are a gift,” Mei said.
Ping gave her a kiss on the cheek. “As are you,” she said, and turned toward t
he door. “Now, why don’t you sleep in the bedroom with me and the others tonight? Since it’s our last night together.”
“That would be lovely,” Mei said, and stood.
Ping glanced at the lantern. “Bring that red lantern with you.”
Mei picked it up, and together they walked into the dark corridor and headed toward Ping’s room that was shared with Siying and Boa.
As she walked, the red lantern’s light flickered brighter and dimmed.
She frowned. “I’ll have to see what’s wrong with this thing.”
Ping glanced back at her. “I don’t think there is anything wrong with it, Mei. I think it’s special. Like you.”
That brought a smile to her face. “If you say so.”
Chapter 10
In the middle of the night, Mei was awakened by the scrapping at the door.
First, it was brushed off as simply a rustling of the trees in swift wind. She stirred, focusing on the quiet snores of her sleeping cousins and whistling outside the windows that lined the walls made of mud and stone.
Deeming it just the wind, Mei closed her eyes. She rolled over on her spot next to Ping on her bed, and prepared to drift back to sleep. The lumpy straw and stuffing poked at her in all of the wrong places, but morning always came too quickly and she needed to rest. She’d embark on a journey when she awakened.
Barely a full second passed before the door burst open and into a million pieces.
Terror struck her heart as it leaped in her chest. Startled, she shot upward and forced herself from the grogginess that clung to her.
Her cousins who shared the large room also awakened with horrified screams.
The stench that wafted inside left Mei holding her breath and shielding her nose with her hand.
“Magic,” a bestial voice bellowed. The sound seemed to make her bones shudder beneath her muscles. “I smell magic. Where is the girl?”
Magic?
His eyes fell on Mei, and a snarl came to his grotesque face. “Ah, there you are. The Matchmaker says you would stink of magic, and she didn’t disappoint.”
Mei’s blood ran cold. Did Li betray her? Realization flooded her, and she now knew the truth. The Matchmaker hadn’t come to guide her into using her magic. She’d come to seek her out and destroy her.
“Mama!” Siying shouted, scrambling from her bed toward the rectangular window.
“Siying! No!” Ping shouted, reaching out toward her sister.
What happened next happened so quickly that Mei could barely believe that it was real.
The beast reached for Siying, who was closest to the door, and sniffed her with its large snout. The girl’s screams were muted by the beast’s grip on her throat, and her legs dangled and kicked from her place held at least three feet above the floor. At seven feet tall, it towered above them.
A Shadow Beast.
She’d heard of the the creatures that were set free when the Shadow Lord was exiled. Now, she beheld one as it stepped inside with the upper body of a black hog with two sharp tusks, and the lower half of a goat.
It breathed Siying in, and within seconds all color and life was drained from the young teen’s frail body. Even her dark hair turned gray as ash.
The beast ate her whole. He opened his mouth and crunched on bones and tendons as he devoured her flesh.
The remaining cousins went silent, too afraid to move.
While the other girls shuddered and tried to keep silent, Mei peered into the darkness before her. It was difficult to see, but her eyes adjusted as the moon cast a dim light on the creature.
Her heart thumped in her chest, and adrenaline pumped in her veins. Mother and Father were gone. She was the last of her father’s line—the last Zhou.
She couldn’t die tonight. If the Matchmaker was threatened by her gifts, she definitely must be powerful. She just had to dig it up and use it.
She gasped, and tried to drown out the sound of the chaos all around her. As she did so, all seemed to slow.
Stiffening, she gripped the edges of her bed, afraid that she’d be blown away as her vision blurred and her body became light as a feather.
Instincts kicked in, and she released control.
It was then that a flood of memories raced into her mind.
Blood-chilling screams roared inside her head, and she froze. She did have magic. She always had it. She’d just forgotten somehow.
It had been ages since she’d tested it out. The first time had been when her parents were ripped away from her by the Shadow Clans outside her village. They took the last people Mei had to love. And to the Shadow Clans that served Tarth’Ral, there was no such thing as prisoners.
She’d never forget those cries of terror and agony, or the way her mother fought to free herself from the wild men. Father hadn’t had a chance to fight. He’d been ran through with a sword the moment he raised a hand against the invaders.
It all seemed so clear in her memory now, even as she’d suppressed them along with the trauma that now opened up like a gaping wound. Her heart raced. She could still make out their swarthy faces marred by scars and how they reached for her. The image of large hands approaching her replayed itself in her dreams most nights.
She’d closed her eyes, bunches up her fists, and shouted one word that seemed to vibrate throughout the entire village.
“Stop!”
It was then that she stopped time, and took the chance to escape—it was then that she discovered she wasn’t just an ordinary girl. When the magic faded, she’d passed out miles from the village, and awakened with scattered memories.
Three weeks had passed since that fateful day—since she discovered her ability too late to matter. Now, as she caught the eyes of the monster, she called upon that power again.
Her heart raced, but so did her legs as she leaped from her bed and made a run for the door. An unnerving buzzing sound filled her ears as she fought to maintain whatever sorcery this was.
Then, something stopped her.
The red lantern glowed in the darkness. She shot a look over her shoulder. No one had lit the flame, yet there it was.
As she eyed the flames, they grew and beckoned her like a hand motioning her to come back and claim it.
She did so, unsure of what this all meant, and when she picked it up, she gave Ping one last look.
“Goodbye,” she said as her voice cracked. She wanted to bring her along, but if she started time once again, the beast would destroy them all. A chill raced up her spine as she realized she’d have to kill the beast to protect the rest of her family.
When she turned toward the beast, her feet wouldn’t move.
She’d planned on racing to the kitchens for a knife to stab the beast’s heart, but it seemed the red lantern had other ideas.
Before she could do anything to stop it, the flames of the lantern exploded from its cage and raged outward. Her eyes widened as the bright glow ignited the entire room with bright light that nearly blinded her. The heat and stifling force of the flames warmed her entire body, but the shock of what she was witnessing left her mouth ajar in disbelief.
The flame took on the silhouette of a dragon, and darted over the beds of her cousins and straight through the beast’s belly.
Her heart thumped in her chest as the beast fell forward with a thundering thud, and the dragon flame raced back to the lantern, and went dark.
In pitch black, Mei stood there, awestruck. Only the sounds of her breaths were there to remind her that she still had to run.
But, where.
Barefoot, and dressed in her night tunic, she ran from the room, jumped over the beast’s corpse and into the dark corridor. She burst right out the door and into the cold autumn night. Wind flew into her face as she braced herself against the chill in the air. Without any knowledge of how long her magic would stop time, she took no chances, and ran as if her life depended on it.
This might be her last chance to live. In a world that seemed determined to kill he
r, she vowed to not make it an easy feat.
She would fight, and run, and give it her all.
Snow flurries flew at her, and she ignored them as she raced for the exit of the household walls. Now, the warnings she’d felt in her belly didn’t seem so unreasonable. Her own body had tried to warn her, and she didn’t listen.
She’d never make that mistake again.
Mei glanced down and realized the red lantern was glowing. It pulsed and thumped, and glowed a bright green light that pointed toward the mountains.
“Very well,” she said between breaths, and ran faster than she’d ever run before. “Lead the way.”
Chapter 11
Morning crept over the horizon, and Mei scanned the trees and watched as the sun began to cast a new light on the world around her.
What was once pitch black, now shone with color and vibrancy.
She’d ran for hours, desperate to escape the darkness who had come to claim her. The green light that the red lantern cast as a guide for her continued to glow but faded with the rising sun. Her legs fought to sustain her as she pumped her arms and resisted the potent urge to stop and rest.
Rest would not do. She’d die if she gave in.
Though her lungs burned and her chest pounded from being taxed so, she drew on her energy reserves and fed she didn’t know she had. Something fueled her, and she had no doubt that it was of a supernatural source.
A white-tailed eagle soared above, circling the sky above as if urging her to divert her attention toward it.
She did so, curious as she beheld it’s wide wing span.
As she watched, the clouds seemed to part and reveal more light on a path she hadn’t noticed before.
She paused, and pushed her long dark hair back from her face. She coughed and worked at catching her breath. There was no sign of the beast, and her senses indicated no imminent danger. Perhaps she had lost the creature.
The sun’s rays brightened, highlighting the path with its rays. Curious, she peered at the path that was barely worn, but defined from the rest of the underbrush of the forest. Perhaps it was made long ago, and forgotten.