Lis looked at her carefully, then back to the lacquered bridge rail. She could certainly see her own hands, the faint haze around them indicating no one else could see her. She looked more closely at the young woman, who had a similar haze surrounding her as she watched Lis.
Lis walked down the small bridge and in front of two women deep in conversation. Neither one of them looked at her. She smiled to herself and looked back across at the other woman, but she was gone. Lis hurried along the water’s edge, watching the fish. They ignored her, unlike on her first visit, when they had come towards her expectant of something. She leaned over the water and reassured herself that she was invisible, as she found no shadow or reflection. She looked up again, but the other woman was still nowhere to be seen.
Sighing, Lis moved away from the fish and towards the port. She soon realised that there was no way she could take a boat without being discovered. Someone would try to stop a boat drifting away on its own, and it would be obvious if she put the sails up or got wet.
She glanced back at the city within the gate, and her eye was drawn to the royal residence. She chewed her lip and headed back into the main square, where the flags snapped back and forth in the breeze. She managed to walk through the people moving through the city without knocking against anyone. Amongst the people, she was sure she saw the same girl she had seen by the bridge, but once she made it through the crowd to where she had been, the girl was gone.
The residence loomed above her. Taking a deep breath, she headed between the two soldiers standing guard and inside. The walls were covered in beautiful paintings. Golden pillars held up the level above, and the shiny, smooth, dark floorboards echoed her footsteps.
A door to a room ahead was ajar, and Lis pushed it open to look inside. The room was far more beautiful than anything she had in her own palace. Rich red fabrics covered the bed and the cushions that surrounded the smooth, large, square table. She took another step inside and then stopped. The thick rug that covered the floor contained a strange burn in the middle of it. Lis looked around for a sign of fire, but there was none. In fact, the room was quite cool. She moved carefully to the table and put her hand on the pot. Cold.
A large desk stood in the middle against one wall, reports and papers piled neatly to one side. She wondered who had lived here as she moved around, running her hand across the pale wood. Then she sat carefully in the chair.
There were several reports open on the desk before her. She lifted the top one, which simply stated: ‘The child is found.’
She wondered absently if it was about her, but didn’t think so. They had known perfectly well her status and who she was before she came to the island, and it was for the empress to select. The ink was dry in the well and a brush leaned on the stand beside it, the bristles hard with dried ink. It was as though the owner of this room had simply stood here, expecting to return to what he was doing, but had disappeared instead.
Was it her prince, who had been called away to deal with the magic on her family island? Or another prince, she thought, looking again at the mark on the carpet.
She stood, took a deep breath and stepped forward. The death of the former crown prince had been announced, but no details of his illness or the reason for his death had been disclosed. Lis now understood why.
She could taste the faint residue of magic in the air. She squatted down and put her fingers to the burnt mark in the rug. A hot pain ran through her body, and it was all she could do to stop herself from calling out.
She heard footsteps in the hallway, she leapt up and stood by the door to see who it might be. The crown prince strode by, a manservant racing to keep up. He looked angry, and she slipped out of the door and followed along behind them, hoping his heavy footsteps would help mask the sound of hers. She followed him up wide stairs and into another corridor just as decorative as the one below.
He pushed open a door and she followed along quickly, just making it inside before the manservant closed the door behind them. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, or why she was here, but her own anger at the man before her clouded her thinking.
‘Where have you been?’ the manservant asked, although she expected his tone should have been more respectful. ‘The empress demanded to see you hours ago. Apparently as well as a missing princess, the maid has disappeared.’
‘U’shi?’ he asked, turning to the man.
He nodded once as the prince shook his head.
‘I saw her. Maybe she is involved in this mess,’ he murmured, sitting heavily. ‘She did leave the princess alone at the baths, and for some reason took her clothes.’
‘Her clothes?’ the other man asked, his voice rising to an odd octave. Lis thought a tinge of colour touched his cheeks.
‘I told you I had to lend her my cloak,’ the prince said, more distracted.
‘I thought it because she was cold or in shock. Not…’ The prince looked up then as the man gulped. ‘Naked,’ he added in a barely audible whisper.
Lis could feel her own cheeks burning at the memory, but then the prince had hardly looked at her. Was he disinterested or protecting my honour?
‘I needed to be sure she hadn’t run away,’ he said, standing again and moving out to the balcony, which Lis only noticed as he stepped onto it.
‘Shall I tell the empress you are coming?’
He shook his head, looking out over the view, and Lis moved silently to stand beside him. He had mentioned that he could see across to the next island, and she smiled at the world before her. The red-tile rooves poked through the thick green trees. A whole world so close and yet so far. She closed her eyes for a moment, straining to listen, and then she looked at the man beside her, wondering if he was lonely in this world.
She shook her head. She didn’t care about him—she couldn’t. He was responsible for Peng’s death. And if Lis’s disappearing could cause some trouble for U’shi at the same time, she wasn’t going to pass it up. She wondered if there was a way to tell the prince about the maid and the tutor. If she could give it away somehow without giving herself away.
‘Your Highness?’ the man behind him asked, and he turned slowly.
‘No, tell her I’m busy looking for Lis…’ He closed his eyes and sighed. ‘The hidden princess,’ he continued. ‘I will see the empress when I have found her.’
‘What if you can’t find her?’
‘They have already taken my brother. They can’t take her too.’
Lis looked at him closely as he waved the other man from the room and then buried his face in his hands. Did he really care for her so much?
She felt somewhat confused, but then Peng came to mind, and her chest burned with renewed anger at this man who professed to care for her. He was only interested in his own traditions. Her hand went to the veil that still covered the lower part of her face. Why had he done such a thing? Made such a suggestion?
She sighed, and he looked up suddenly. She bit on her lip and hoped he hadn’t heard her, but she could sense the magic grow around him as he reached out with his hunter senses. She didn’t move and, although he looked around the room, his gaze passed directly through her. She wondered just how long she could maintain this, whether the magic to maintain it would start to leak into the world soon. Then he might sense her as she did him.
She smiled then. They were more alike than he realised, him using skills like those she possessed just to find the same. She had the same sense, but not as strong as a hunter. Her father had never explained exactly what they were, only that they should be feared. Given that her father didn’t have any magic of his own, she guessed that he had no idea how they were able to do what they did.
The prince sat at his own desk and picked up a report. Lis was about to step up behind him to see what he read when the door slipped open and the other invisible woman stood in the doorway.
She motioned to Lis, who looked around for a moment and then back to the woman as she motioned again. When Lis stepped closer to her, she
nodded and moved back from the door. Lis stepped through and came face to face with the woman, who took her hand, put a finger to her lips—as though Lis needed reminding to stay silent—and led her towards the stairs. Lis pulled against her, but the woman turned back with a smile and gave her a gentle tug.
Lis was desperate to ask who she was and what she wanted, but she allowed herself to be pulled along and out of the residence.
Chapter 17
Lis sat quietly in the little room and studied the woman across from her, who poured tea and smiled, but as yet hadn’t said a word. Nor had Lis. She had been led by the hand from the prince’s rooms, out into the sunshine and then along so many streets she had lost track of where she was. Although at one stage she had thought she smelt the baths.
They had come across a small gate, faded and weathered. Once through it, the other woman had pushed a bolt across before continuing into a small house, still holding Lis by the hand. Now they were looking across a table at each other while the woman sipped tea. Lis lifted it to her nose and sniffed, then put it back down without taking a sip.
‘I haven’t poisoned it,’ the woman said lightly.
Lis looked back into the cup. She lifted her veil and brought the cup up beneath it to take one sip, then another. She hadn’t had anything since the morning, and she hadn’t eaten since the day before. Her stomach growled.
‘Why can you see me?’ she asked.
‘I have a similar magic to you,’ the woman said, sitting her own cup down. ‘I didn’t realise at first that you were even hidden from the world until I noticed those around you didn’t even glance at you.’
‘Why should they?’
‘The way you are dressed, and your face is covered. No one wears a veil. There is something about you, something that shouts to the world that you are different, yet no one looked.’
‘Why are you hiding?’ Lis asked, trying to deflect the woman’s words.
She shrugged then and leaned back, pouring more tea into her cup. ‘Why were you with the prince?’
Lis cleared her throat. ‘I just wanted to see.’
‘You wanted to see the new crown prince because you had heard stories of how handsome he is?’ the woman asked quietly, a grin pulling up only one side of her mouth.
Lis shook her head. She didn’t want to explain herself to this woman; she didn’t know who she was or what her plans were. She clearly had magic. What if she was behind the damage in the former crown prince’s room?
‘Who are you?’ Lis asked instead of answering her question.
‘I am a just a girl. Wei-Song.’
Lis opened her mouth and then closed it.
‘You are more than just a girl; you are a princess.’
Lis nodded once.
‘A long time ago, many hundreds of years ago, they used to hide away many princesses.’
‘Many?’
‘The Choosing that they do in our time used to be completed at the end of the princesses’ training.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘You can’t tell if a child will make a good empress; you can’t tell what skills or bad habits may come to the fore.’
Lis thought of U’shi and nodded.
‘All of the eligible girls were trained the same, all hidden from the world. When they travelled outside of their palaces, they were covered with veils. No one knew which was which and, in a way, it didn’t matter. They were all interchangeable. All insignificant until they came of age and proved themselves.’
‘Why did the tradition change?’ Lis asked, leaning forward.
‘Too many children hidden away. What were they to do with them once they were trained and ready to be empresses, when only one could be?’
Lis shook her head slowly, and the other woman raised her eyebrows. Lis shook her head again, in disbelief, and the other woman nodded.
‘Noble families began to hide children who were of age. Girls were dressed as boys, or hidden away until they could be claimed to be younger. The number of eligible girls grew smaller until there were only one or two families willing to give their daughters over in the hope that she would be the next empress.’
Lis sighed.
‘It takes many to create change,’ the woman said. ‘Although I see your prince is interested in the old ways.’
Lis put her hand to her veil. ‘I think, in his way, he is trying to keep me safe.’
‘You want to be his wife.’
‘I have no choice.’
‘You have hidden yourself. You could continue to run.’
‘I have nowhere and no one to run to.’
‘Your family?’
‘My mother died. I would bring great shame to my father. I was… There was…’
‘Another man?’ We-Song asked.
‘The prince had him killed. He thought he had magic, but I don’t think he did.’
‘How do you know?’ she asked, tilting her head a little to the side.
‘I would have felt it,’ Lis said, looking at the other woman. ‘Like I felt it on you.’
She drew her eyes together and looked at Lis closely. ‘Like a hunter.’
Lis shook her head, but maybe the woman was right.
‘You can feel magic?’ Wei-Song asked.
Lis nodded again. ‘You can’t?’
‘In some ways, but we are all different.’
Lis thought of the man in the baths again. ‘How many people do you know with magic?’
Wei-Song shook her head and stood from the table. ‘I don’t know you,’ she said, looking out of the window into the overgrown garden.
‘I don’t know you either, but you dragged me here. For all I know, it is a trap like those my father warned me of. Or you are trying to hurt me, like the man in the bath house.’ Lis stood slowly and straightened out her dress. She put her hands together and felt more solid. The other woman could see her, but who else might be lurking around? If she was discovered, she could claim they had taken her, as the prince feared.
‘What man?’ Wei-Song asked, turning back to Lis with concern.
Lis looked her up and down. ‘You haven’t told me everything. I’m not sure I can tell you anything else.’
‘We are safe here,’ Wei-Song said, stepping forward.
‘Until the soldiers come knocking, looking for a hidden princess.’
‘This palace hasn’t been used in many years. There are lots of them.’
‘I know. I spent last night in one, only to discover that others were using it as well. The only way I could escape was when the soldier opened the gate.’
Wei-Song looked at Lis seriously. ‘Who was using it?’
Lis shook her head.
She had opened her mouth to say something when the gate swung open. The squeak was loud and clear, and Lis clapped her hands together softly. Wei-Song waved her hands over the table and Lis felt the heat leave the room, a fine layer of dust settled over everything and hid where they had been. The woman took Lis’s arm and pulled her against the wall.
Lis could still see her, but she hoped they were both as invisible as she thought they were.
Two soldiers strolled into the house, glanced around and then turned back for the gate. Lis breathed a sigh of relief as they reached it, but then she heard a familiar voice and sighed in frustration.
‘You were asked to search for the princess.’
‘There is no one here, nor has there been for some time,’ the soldier whinged.
‘Your prince has asked you.’
‘Yes, General,’ he said, bowed and reluctantly headed back into the room.
‘She could be bound somewhere in a chest or cupboard. Even if a palace has been abandoned, we cannot assume it still is,’ the general said.
Lis wondered if he would let her live for her father’s sake if he found her like this.
‘So it was discovered,’ the other soldier laughed from the veranda as he lifted the lid of a basket. Lis looked at it seriously. Were they looking for c
lues or for her? There was no way she would fit into that basket. She wondered if U’shi had been discovered, or if she had managed to escape. Could that be what the man was talking about, or had they discovered something else?
Lis glanced at the woman next to her, who was watching the men move around the house, and she wondered if this was Wei-Song’s home or simply a place she had brought Lis to learn more about her. Lis needed to know more about who this woman was.
After too long looking at empty spaces, the three men left, pulling the gate closed behind them with a bang. Lis stepped out onto the veranda.
‘I thought you bolted the gate,’ she said, looking at it. It appeared to be bolted. She pulled away from the other woman and walked down to the gate. How could it have been so easy for the soldiers to push it open? Then she reached forward and lifted the catch the bolt had moved through. It had done them no good.
‘What do you want from me?’ Lis asked.
‘I want to know you. I want to know what you can do and what you are willing to do.’
‘Willing to do?’ Lis repeated.
Wei-Song nodded once.
‘Like the man in the bath house.’
‘I don’t know who that was,’ she said, looking away, and Lis wondered if she was lying.
‘Is this where you live?’ Lis asked instead.
She shook her head.
‘Will you tell me who you really are?’
‘What do you want, Lisabet, Hidden Princess of the Rei-Een Empire?’
‘Right now, I want to go home. Apologise to my father, hold my sister and mourn my mother.’
‘And then?’
Lis shook her head.
‘I will take you to your island. If you do not stay, maybe you could come to mine.’
‘Are there others?’
She nodded once.
‘You do not fear the hunters?’
‘He hasn’t sensed you yet?’
Lis shook her head. She didn’t want to think about it anymore, or him. She just wanted to be far away. Far away from the pain and the hurt and the frustration this island contained.
The Magics of Rei-Een Box Set Page 13