Crown of the Starry Sky: Book 11 of Painting the Mists

by Patrick Laplante

  “You want me to read propaganda from the guilds and the leaders of the prefecture?” she asked incredulously.

  “I want you to read facts collected both through both official and unofficial means,” Cha Ming said. “Please, by all means, verify them. It’s as you said—you did nothing illegal. I have no reason to fight you. And since you’re so distrustful of what everyone in power says, you’re just the person to prove my facts wrong. Let me know if anything is out of order.”

  “What am I, a personal investigator?” she asked.

  “You’re angry, curious, and most importantly, wounded and recovering,” Cha Ming said. “You have plenty of time on your hands. You might as well read the thing.”

  “But why give me this?” she asked.

  Cha Ming shrugged. “I don’t really like fighting. Also, I owe someone a favor. Giving you this might not make a difference, but I don’t see the harm in trying.” He headed out the door.

  “Wait,” she said. “I answered your questions. Answer mine.”

  Cha Ming paused, then stepped back inside. “Very well.”

  “You claim you don’t like fighting, yet you kill,” she said. “Why?”

  Cha Ming shrugged. “I see people dying and mistreated. I want to fix things. It seems wherever I go, I can’t avoid violence. What about you? Why do you fight?”

  “I just like to break things, Clear Sky,” she said. “Rules, especially. The truth is, I don’t like fighting either. But some things just can’t be broken with mere words.”

  “I guess that means we’re both walking contradictions,” Cha Ming said. “Thank you for the meeting. Also, thank you for not fighting. I really didn’t want to tear down an apartment building, even if you did clear everyone out before I got here.”

  “Did I now?” said the Pale Lady. “It seems someone was expecting you, at least. Not me.”

  Cha Ming felt his heart speed up. He turned and hastily walked away from the apartment, hearing the door shut behind him. Karmic strings tightened as he walked down the stairs. Something was happening. He’d walked into a trap. The building was empty, and she hadn’t been the one to empty it.

  Huxian, I need your help, Cha Ming sent out.

  I’m kind of busy right now, Huxian said. Surprise safety inspection.

  I might be in grave danger, Cha Ming said.

  And I might have a rune-gathering cultivator locking down space around our shop and insisting that things happen right here, right now, Huxian said.

  Cha Ming cursed. Mi Fei? Can you hear me? No reply. Of course communications were jammed. He looked up the stairs and thought about calling back the Spirit of the Clockwork Ancestor, who was now tailing the Pale Lady without her knowledge. No. He had to run. He had to be fast. He hoped that whatever it was, he and Sun Wukong could take care of it.

  I need a crowd, Cha Ming thought. He could lose anyone in a crowd. He ran down the stairs as fast as he could. The door flew off its hinges as he exited. The alley was deserted, save for a few stronger cultivators and demons. Behind them, the main street was eerily empty. In the other direction lay a dark and unwelcoming alley.

  “You seem to have wandered into the wrong neighborhood,” said one of several cloaked figures. “We noticed your spot of trouble and couldn’t in good conscience leave a lost man wandering. Why don’t you tag along with my brothers and I? We’ll get you where you need to be.”

  “I’m afraid I’m pressed for time,” Cha Ming said.

  “I’m afraid we must insist,” the man said. The men summoned weapons and took a step forward.

  “Say cheese,” Cha Ming said. They paused, confused, as a jade object appeared in his hands and flashed. The six cultivators surrounding him froze. By the time they unfroze two seconds later, he had already run off. Not toward the desolate main street where a trap was obviously waiting, but toward the dark alley and uncharted territory. The chase was on, and he prayed his partner had noticed something.

  “Stupid man,” Mi Fei grumbled as she took a sip of her hot drink. It was a terrible tea in a terrible mug that she drank sitting at a terrible table on a patio overlooking a terrible view. She wasn’t talking to anyone in particular. She would have liked company while performing such a pointless task as looking out for trouble, but Xiao Bai was busy setting up a meeting with the Iridescent Phoenix Clan.

  Mi Fei sighed. She was upset. She was also not upset. She could see why someone would want her here. Half of them were busy hunting bandits, Huxian and his brothers were protecting the strange monkeys, and someone had to talk to those arrogant birds. That only left her to watch Cha Ming’s back. She just happened to disagree on what that entailed—what was the point of a lookout when the real threat was an ambush in a back alley? She understood not wanting to spook the so-called Pale Lady. The bandit that they, for some reason, couldn’t arrest. She just didn’t like waiting. Especially in a craphole like this.

  The tea here was bitter. The snacks were terrible. She’d only taken a single bite of the hard biscuits, if only to protect her stomach from the awful drink she was having. There were only a few customers here, and they looked rough. Some were even leering at her, though others just looked confused by her presence.

  The street below contained a scattering of people, mostly clustered to either side of the stone-paved road. Runic ships weren’t popular here. Most of the vehicles in this district were landbound, using some cheaper form of runic energy. People here were too poor to afford otherwise.

  There wasn’t much traffic today, whether by land or by air. Something about construction. A few blocks ahead, some crews were setting up barricades, and the morning crowd was starting to thin. She checked her transmission jade for the hundredth time. She found nothing of interest.

  “Nice gadget you’ve got there,” a voice said.

  Mi Fei jumped and looked around to find its origin. It wasn’t one of the leering men who’d spoken, but a graying man with a patched eye. He wasn’t very strong—barely a rune-carving cultivator.

  “My daughter has one like it. Never saw the appeal myself.”

  “Some would call it a waste of money,” Mi Fei agreed.

  “But not you,” the man said. “Anyone around here could tell you’re not lacking it.”

  “Is it that obvious?” Mi Fei asked. She choked down some more tea and took another bite of her snack. She didn’t like it, but she could at least pretend.

  The man laughed. “No one without money would order what you did, and no one with it would enjoy what you ordered. It’s just something on my menu that’s there to show off. Just like that terrible tea you’re having.”

  “So you’re telling me it’s not the best?” Mi Fei asked, a little offended. “And you’re the owner?”

  “Oh, I didn’t mean it wasn’t the best,” the man said. He was smoking something. It smelled acrid and lingered longer than anything her relatives would ever inhale. “I’m not the owner. Just an… investor. What you have is our best. It just tastes like garbage compared to what you’re used to. I can tell by how you cringe with every sip.”

  “I see,” Mi Fei said. Her face fell. She was supposed to be on the lookout, but what was the point if she was so conspicuous? “Am I really so obvious?”

  “Like a sun in the night sky,” he said. “Most people who do this kind of work usually don’t have your… bearing,”

  “Unfortunately, I have no idea how to hide that,” she said.

  “You can hide a lot with an expensive hooded cloak,” the man said. “And if you played your cards right, no one would ask you to take it off. For example, if you were to wear said cloak and ask for a private table in a corner for a good view and gave a good tip up front, I’d find you a nice place and suggest things you should like when you ask for recommendations. You’ll be out of the way, and you’ll be obvious. Everyone will know why you’re there. But don’t they already know that now? Then you’d have a good view, and the only thing they’d be wondering is who you are, and why you’re do
ing what you’re doing.”

  “I hardly see how that solves the problem,” Mi Fei said.

  “The key is to not give away any unwanted information,” the man said with a grin. “So what if they know you’re here? You’re watching someone. It happens all the time. The point is to confuse them—are you are regular, or are you a hired gun? How strong are you, really?”

  “So make it obvious that I’m watching,” Mi Fei said slowly. “But hide everything else.”

  “Exactly,” the man said. “That way, if a man like me had instructions on delaying a pretty lady from a noble family, who’s obviously out of her depth, he wouldn’t know who to look for. A man like me would have to think twice before bothering someone in a shielded black cloak, especially after they paid me a heavy tip.”

  “I see,” she said. Then her eyes narrowed. “That’s what you’re doing right now, aren’t you?”

  He grinned. She looked out onto the street she’d stopped paying attention to. It was empty now. Apparently, everyone in the neighborhood had received a message she hadn’t. And near the alleyway Cha Ming had disappeared in, a crowd of thugs was waiting. They’d set up a trapping formation.

  “I hate you,” Mi Fei said.

  “I gave you a good piece of advice,” the man said indignantly. “In exchange for not tearing up the place, I’ll give you another: You’re not on their list. It’s obvious, because if you were, there would be people here right now to come get you.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Mi Fei said. She placed her payment on the table then strode up to the railing. She jumped off the balcony onto the street. She looked to the gathered thugs, who were eyeing her warily. Then, like any sensible person, she ran in the opposite direction. She ran two blocks farther before ducking into another alley.

  Too strong, she thought. Can’t do anything about them. He can’t either, if he’s stupid enough to charge them.

  She tried warning Cha Ming but got no reply. Of course they were blocking communications. That happened way too often. She should really get an alarm that would warn her when that happened.

  Xiao Bai, are you there? She sent through her bond of equals. Communications are cut. Clear Sky is in danger.

  … Are you safe? Xiao Bai replied.

  For now, Mi Fei said.

  Well, it seems something’s happening, Xiao Bai replied. Huxian isn’t answering anything. Seems communications are blocked on his end as well. Is someone stabbing Clear Sky as we speak?

  I don’t know where he is, Mi Fei said.

  Well, don’t bother me unless he’s actually getting stabbed, and even if you do, don’t have high expectations, Xiao Bai said. I’m fast, but I’m not the best at teleporting. It would take a while for me to get to you. Oh. Shit.

  What? Mi Fei asked.

  That stupid prefecture lord who lost his loser son is here, Xiao Bai said. He’s interrupting my posturing. Stupid convention says that I need to yield to him for now. I need to wait, since straight-up running out would be an embarrassment. I wouldn’t be able to guarantee a meeting.

  Mi Fei bit her lip. I’ll figure something out on my own.

  Don’t worry about him, Xiao Bai said. He’s stronger than he looks.

  I’m the backup, Mi Fei said. I can’t just abandon him.

  Fine, Xiao Bai said. My advice—don’t die. Dying is painful. Obviously.

  Mi Fei ran, keenly aware that the best way to help him was not to charge in and help him like a hero. If he was getting chased, then he was reacting. She might be able to get him out of whatever trap they’d laid if she could take the initiative. But before that, she needed to accomplish an important first step. She needed to find him.

  A thought struck her as she saw one of the broken-down safety ladders on the side of a building. Most people at her level would be afraid of heights, wouldn’t they? But her? Falling from such a height was inconvenient at best.

  “He went that way!” a woman shouted as Cha Ming jumped through the shop’s back window. He’d been hiding amid a group of cowering people courtesy of his Seventy-Two Transformations technique. It was a useful skill and difficult to detect when blending with mortal civilians.

  “Hope you give them the slip!” one of the men in the building whispered encouragingly on his way out. He gave them a thumbs-up. This place might be crime infested and poor, but not everyone here was a criminal. They didn’t mind the criminals—or so Cha Ming had gathered with his mind-skimming technique—but they didn’t like them either. They were a necessity that the residents reluctantly put up with.

  You don’t have a lot of options left, kid, Sun Wukong said. You going to fight on your own terms, or are you going to let them decide?

  Cha Ming hesitated. Though it wouldn’t hurt to dwindle their numbers, doing so would attract attention. What was worse, the city watch had yet to show their face. He assumed corruption was involved.

  Huxian’s communications were blocked, and Cha Ming couldn’t get a hold of Mi Fei. Given that one prefecture lord and another rune-gathering cultivator happened to be where Huxian and Xiao Bai were, that could only mean one thing: They were interfering with law enforcement in the area, and Captain Xing had done nothing about it. But that was life, he supposed. He’d grown complacent.

  Cha Ming turned a corner. He spotted a pile of garbage, which he dove beside and used creation qi to materialize a dirty, broken-down crate all around him. It was locked, and another crate lay atop it. He heard footsteps as the first group ran past him. The second group’s footsteps were louder. When the third group came, Cha Ming burst out from the crates using destruction qi.

  He didn’t have much time, so he didn’t bother using anything flashy. He infused the Concept of Erosion into his staff and struck out with a fury of blows. His second-tier concept fused with the tricolored domain and crushed all the cultivators but their group leader.

  “You little shit!” the sole surviving Dao God yelled, deflecting Cha Ming’s staff with a thick meat cleaver of a saber. His reeked of blood and death, and whatever muscles gave him his great strength were hidden behind layers of fat that had been exposed the moment Cha Ming’s strike had destroyed his clothing.

  “Get some enchanted robes, you cheapskate,” Cha Ming said. He struck the man in the head three times with his staff before kicking him away, binding the man’s arms with metal and sand. He didn’t finish him off—doing so would take too much time. He instead ran in the opposite direction and hoped he had enough of a head start. Already, the others were heading his way.

  Let’s see what you can come up with, Burning Lake, Dripping Blade. Let’s see how brave and direct you’ll get.

  Mi Fei ran through the open air above the district’s rooftops. She ignored inconvenient roads and alleyways in favor of uneven footing and tiles that sometimes broke when she stepped on them. The streets below were deserted, as residents had safely tucked themselves away in the many buildings.

  She journeyed across the crumbling rooftops of once-glorious buildings with an eye on what lay below. Would she be too late? Was she even going in the right direction? She didn’t know. She ran, and as she did, the air around her rippled. Reality warped around her in small, unconscious ways. Too much wind? Deflect it. Slippery rooftiles? Adjust their friction. Obstacles fell away at her presence.

  Mi Fei was relieved when she finally spotted a group of black-cloaked figures in the streets below. They were chasing a lone figure who, every once in a while, hid in a tricky manner. They would pass him by, looking for him, but every time, he would find a way to trick them, kill someone, then dart away. Yet no matter what he did, they always found him. He might not know the reason, but she did. From her vantage point, it was easy to see. The streets were flooded with men, and three figures were watching from the rooftops.

  He’s outmatched, she thought, inspecting the men from behind a small maintenance shack at the top of one of the buildings. In the streets, there were no less than three peak-rune-carving or equivalent cultivators.
Till now, he’d been fortunate not to tangle with them all at once. Not even he was that good. It was a tense chase, and the slightest mistake would end in his death.

  I need to buy him time to escape, she thought. Even if there were no reinforcements, she wouldn’t be enough to tip the scales.

  She looked around and quickly came to a decision. He couldn’t escape because of their eyes in the sky, so she had to blind them. That should be easy… The three cultivators weren’t strong, but they weren’t weak either. They spotted her the moment she got within fifty feet of them. That was fine—how they responded would determine how she would act. Would they try to fight her off, or would they run away and abandon the chase? Either option was fine in her books.

  She sent a sword at the first of the scouts, who, surprised by her swift attack, summoned a hasty shield of wind. It blocked the sword, but Mi Fei jumped and kicked it away and struck with a second sword. It stabbed him through the throat. She jerked the sword free and sent spikes of gray ice at her next target. He was much smarter than the first and summoned a cloud of darkness to hide.

  Mi Fei jumped across the narrow street to the next rooftop, then, sword in hand, summoned her Grandmist domain in full force. There was a scream as the intense gravity she summoned yanked the man out of the shadows. Her sword pierced his heart, and he fell, limp. By the time she looked to the third scout, he was already gone. Clearly the smartest and luckiest of the bunch. Mi Fei looked to the streets and saw that Cha Ming had been surrounded.

  What could she do? From all the way up here, no less? She supposed she could find a flight of stairs. But what fun would that be? “I hope this works,” she muttered, positioning herself before taking a deep breath. This could really backfire. But the nice thing about Grandmist was that it was really good at absorbing and redirecting energy. Huge tidal wave? No problem. Forest fire? She’d done that. What she’d never really tried was weight and gravity.