When she opened her eyes, Peng was leaning over her. She smiled, thinking herself transported back to a better time, before the former crown prince died and the new one chose her for a bride.
She reached for him, but he leaned back from her.
‘Lis?’ he asked.
She sat up slowly and nodded.
‘How did you get here?’
She shook her head. ‘It doesn’t matter.’
‘Of course it matters. You are the Hidden Princess of Rei-Een and the whole Empire is searching for you.’
‘I can’t be what they want me to be.’
‘You already are,’ he whispered.
She shook her head. He reached out a hand to run through her hair, but then he stopped and pulled his hand back.
‘It is just me,’ she said. ‘Long Lis.’
‘You can never be Long Lis again, nor could you be my wife,’ he murmured. He looked towards the house then, and Lis turned to see Ting watching them.
‘How easily I am replaced,’ she said, standing slowly and brushing at her skirt.
‘You must return to the Palace Isle.’
She shook her head. She didn’t know where she could go, but it couldn’t be there. ‘Would you take me?’ she asked, unsure where the words came from.
He shook his head. ‘They will assume we took you back. Think of what it would mean for your father.’
Lis looked down at her hands. Perhaps she could magic herself.
‘The boat is returning,’ Peng said, indicating the water with a tip of his chin. ‘The crown prince feared you had run away, but he was equally convinced you were taken.’
‘I was pushed out,’ she said, turning for the water. ‘Someone told me you were dead.’
‘I am,’ he said, and she turned back. ‘To you, I must be dead, for there is nothing for us, Your Highness. You have to return to the palace and your destiny.’
She laughed then, the sound unnatural and sharp, and it carried on the wind. ‘Destiny. You were my destiny.’
He shook his head. ‘No more.’ He bowed low to her and then gestured towards the jetty.
There was no sign of her father, and Ting had disappeared when Lis looked back towards the house. She had wanted to hold her sister one last time. She wanted to be held by them both, for she felt so empty and alone. The little boat pulled against the jetty, and she stepped carefully into it. She sat beside the woman, who smiled and reached forward to carefully pull a twig from her hair.
Without looking at Peng again, Lis nodded once to the boatman and, with a simple flick of a rope, they were sailing back out to the sea.
‘You must be relieved he is alive,’ Wei-Song said.
‘Not anymore,’ Lis whispered, allowing the tears to flow down over her cheeks and across her veil, sticking it to her face.
‘Where are we?’ Lis asked, focusing for the first time on the shore they sailed towards.
‘Somewhere we can be safe.’
The boat pulled up against the little jetty, and Lis accepted help from the boatman to climb ashore. Amongst the trees and up the small slope from the jetty was a large house. Its black tile roof and greying walls made it appear as though it had sat amongst the trees for a long time. It was larger than the one Lis had grown up in, and she wondered just who lived here as she stepped forward.
Wei-Song continued past her on the narrow path. ‘There are some people for you to meet.’
Lis followed her into the house and through a long, wide hallway. Several people moved quietly through the space, but none looked up or acknowledged them in any way. Wei-Song rushed ahead as Lis struggled to keep up and look around at the same time. Paintings hung on the walls, and Lis stopped when she realised one was of a man holding fire in his hand.
Why would they have such images on display? she wondered, moving to the next one. It depicted a woman with her hands above her head as she appeared to stand in the rain.
‘What is this place?’ she asked, pausing in front of one in which a woman was half visible, her hands held together in front of her.
‘A school of sorts,’ Wei-Song said, moving back to Lis and taking her arm.
‘I can do this,’ Lis said, looking over the image.
‘Did someone teach you?’ Wei-Song asked, pulling her along the hallway.
Lis shook her head. ‘Who would teach me?’
Wei-Song shrugged.
‘I was playing around and then realised my sister couldn’t see me standing beside her when I entered her room.’
‘Do they know you can do this?’
Lis shook her head. ‘Why can’t the hunters sense me?’ she asked as she hurried to keep up.
‘I think you are a Hidden,’ Wei-Song murmured, still pulling.
‘A what?’
‘It will be explained. Come.’
Lis found herself in a room lined with paintings and filled with desks. Three men stood at the front of the room and, as they entered, the men turned, stared for a moment and then bowed towards her.
‘Your Highness,’ one stammered.
‘The hidden princess?’ another asked.
‘Why did you bring her here?’ the third asked, finding his voice and turning on the woman with her.
‘She is a Hidden.’
‘You are yet to explain what that is,’ Lis said firmly, trying to show herself to be what these men thought she was.
‘You wear the veil,’ the first said, stepping forward.
‘There have been a number of incidents, and the crown prince thought it safer.’
‘Safer?’ the woman scoffed. ‘How will a veil keep you safe?’
‘It will keep me hidden,’ Lis said softly.
The woman laughed loudly, and one of the men grumbled at her. ‘You do see the irony,’ she said.
‘The crown prince is a hunter,’ Lis said softly.
The three men nodded. ‘His skills are well known,’ the first said.
Lis was about to mention that his hunting ability felt like magic, that she could feel it, when she held back. She didn’t know who these men were or why she had been brought before them. They could be just as dangerous as the man in the baths. Yet so far, she hadn’t sensed any magic on them.
‘Your Highness, I would like to introduce you to our tutors: Huichou, Xiamen and Master Yangshing,’ Wei-Song said, indicating the three men in turn.
The three men bowed in turn and then stepped forward and looked her over again.
‘I still don’t understand what you mean by hidden.’
‘It means that the hunters cannot detect your magic,’ Master Yangshing said.
Lis looked at him seriously. ‘The prince mentioned a magic taint in a place I had been.’
‘He may have sensed something lingering from another with magic. Or when magic was performed long ago. You can sense magic on others?’
Lis nodded.
‘We have one such as this. Call Kei-Bi.’
Wei-Song nodded and disappeared from the room.
‘Can you hide yourself?’
Lis put her hands together and disappeared.
The three men looked at each other and then nodded. ‘This may seem odd, Your Highness, but would you mind sitting behind the desk?’ Huichou asked, bowing a little.
She nodded and moved around behind them, then ducked down behind the desk. She heard Wei-Song come back into the room along with someone else.
‘You sent for me?’
‘We wish you to test your abilities.’
Lis could feel his searching. She wondered what he was doing, but she stayed where she was.
‘There is no one else here,’ the young man said.
‘You may go,’ one of the tutors said. ‘Your Highness, you may come out now.’
Lis put her hands together, reappeared and stood up from her place behind the desk to find the other man had gone. ‘I can disappear and they cannot detect me. What if I do something else?’
‘You are hidden no matter what you do,
’ Master Yangshing confirmed.
‘Are there many with this skill?’
‘There are a few of us,’ he said.
‘The man in the baths.’ Lis said it more to herself than anyone in the room, but they looked at her closely. ‘When I first arrived, there was a man with magic who attacked me in the baths.’
‘Attacked you?’
She nodded and gulped down the feeling that arose when she thought of him, the fear just as real as when he had attacked her. ‘I thought he might kill me,’ she murmured, her hand at her throat. ‘He tried to drown me. He said he knew what I was.’
‘What happened?’ Wei-Song asked.
‘The prince was nearby, felt his magic and…’
‘And?’ one of the men prompted.
‘He killed him,’ she whispered, closing her eyes against the memory.
‘You heard the magic in him fizzle,’ Xiamen said kindly, and he indicated a seat. ‘It is hard to know how you might end.’
‘I have waited every day for the prince to discover me and run his sword through me in the same way.’
‘I thought the prince was to stay away from the hidden princess?’ Huichou asked.
‘He finds reason; he fears for my safety.’
‘He cares for you,’ Wei-Song said, a sadness in her voice.
‘He does not know me,’ Lis said sharply.
‘It does not matter,’ Wei-Song said, looking to the men. ‘He will search for her.’
‘Stay with us one day,’ Huichou said. ‘Eat, rest. We may be able to help you further before returning you to the Palace Isle.’
‘I don’t want to return,’ Lis said quickly.
‘There is nowhere else for you to go, and he will turn the world upside down to find you.’
Lis shook her head. ‘There are other worlds beyond our Empire, maybe others with magic where I can live alone and quietly.’
Huichou shook his head slowly. ‘Rest now, and we can discuss again tomorrow.’
Lis allowed Wei-Song to lead her out of the classroom and through a network of hallways to a small room. The water boiled in the pot on the edge of the table, and the bed looked soft. Lis sat at the table and poured water for herself.
‘I will send for food,’ Wei-Song said and disappeared, sliding the door shut after her.
Lis felt drained. She wondered if she could move around the complex in her hidden state to learn why she was here. Despite the small room and simple furnishings, she didn’t feel like a prisoner.
Wei-Song had brought her for a reason, but the three men appeared to want her to return to the palace. She would just be locked away again in some way or another, and she didn’t think she could bear it.
She couldn’t spend her life hidden and invisible; it took too much from her. Yet she couldn’t return home, for there was nothing for her there. She sighed as the door slid open and a young woman carried a tray in with a bowl of rice and several plates of food. She sat it before Lis, bowed low and then backed out of the room.
She was hardly hidden here; multiple people knew the hidden princess was present. It wouldn’t take long for news to reach the crown prince, and he would ride in and rescue her again.
She moved the food around the bowl with the sticks as she thought about him. Could it really be that he cared for her? That he had chosen her from the others because he had liked her? She shook her head and pushed food into her mouth. She couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten. She was hungry, but within a few mouthfuls she felt sick. Dropping her chopsticks, she pushed herself up from the table.
With a slow spin, she was in only her undergarments, yet she maintained the veil. Her hair was still loose from her time on the island with her family. The way Peng had spoken to her still cut deep in her chest. She had been so relieved to find him alive, yet he was gone. He was older than her, if only by a few years, and Ting would make a suitable wife.
Lis lay down and pulled the cover across her, staring up at the ceiling. Very much like the one in her childhood bedroom. She squeezed her eyes closed, the tears flowing hot down the sides of her face.
She had nowhere to go.
Chapter 20
Lis woke to the sound of scratching. She lay in the dark and listened for a moment, wondering where it was coming from. The door?
She crept out of bed and carefully slid the door open, but there was no one there. She looked out into the dimly lit hallway. Silence. She closed her eyes and stretched out her senses to see if she could feel any magic, but there was nothing. She sensed a hint of something, but she wasn’t sure what it was.
She put her hands together silently, then headed down the hallway towards the faint feeling of magic. She could hear quiet noises of sleep coming from the rooms she passed, but no one seemed to be awake. There was also no sign of rodents or the like inside the passageways, and she wondered just what might have woken her.
With a single candle in his hand, there was a man in the room she had been in the night before. He looked at the paintings on the wall, then sat the candle on the desk and started to look through papers at the front of the classroom.
He was not someone she recognised from the day before. But then, she was sure there were a lot more people here than she might ever be made aware of. Something made a noise in the distance, and the man extinguished the candle. Lis could feel his magic swell. But she didn’t know if he was a threat or if he was searching around him. It felt different from the magic she had felt around the prince, which indicated that the was not a hunter.
Then another man moved through the doorway, just missing her. Lis bit down on her lip to prevent a squeal of surprise. He hadn’t seen her, even in her hidden state, and he was different from the others here.
‘Are you sure she is here?’ he asked the man already in the room.
‘There must be something. I saw the boat leave the docks.’
‘That man rarely has passengers.’
The other man gave him a dangerous glare that made Lis shiver, even in the dim light entering the room. When the candle sparked back to life, she jumped. The man who had entered the room looked very much like the man from the baths.
Could they work with the people here? They seemed to want to help her, although they wanted her to return to the Palace Isle. Would they want her to do something specific there?
And what could she do? She would be locked away again, either as a hidden princess or in some dark cell somewhere when the prince discovered what she was. He had looked so concerned for her when he had found she was missing. Could he care for her, as Wei-Song thought, or was it only that he cared for his reputation and standing? They had only recently lost a prince. They couldn’t be seen to lose a princess as well, or the Empire would start to doubt its leaders.
Lis looked back at the two men now moving through the papers. Was that what they wanted, the Empire to fall? Or just the royal family?
‘What is the girl’s name?’
‘Was she Long?’
‘That is why I am asking. What do you think they would record her as?’
‘Not by her name. They are trying to keep her from us.’
And who are you? Lis desperately wanted to ask. What do you want of me?
‘Someone comes,’ one of the men said, extinguishing the candle again.
It was all Lis could do to get out of the way of the fireball that lit up the world as it hurled towards the desk. Both men held up their hands, and a gush of water extinguished the flames. It all disappeared with a flash.
‘What do you want here?’ a voice asked, and then one of the tutors arrived, another not far behind.
‘We want what you have taken. The hidden princess. She is ours. You know what she is; we need her to win this war.’
‘I know how you think she will help you. Even if she were here, I would not hand her to the likes of you.’
‘You will train her for your own purposes then?’
‘You tried to kill her. It was one of you in the bath
s.’
‘The prince was closer than we realised, and his skills have grown since the death of his brother.’
‘Was that your doing as well?’
‘What would we gain from the death of the prince?’
Lis looked between the men, wondering just what it was they thought she had and what they wanted from her. This school, or whatever it was, didn’t want to keep her safe; they wanted to use her in some way. She may not have agreed with the magic wars or the devastation they caused, and she didn’t pose any threat with her magic. But these people had other ideas.
She slipped from the room, leaving them to their arguments, and she wondered if they would come together in some way. But as she raced down the hallway and out into the garden, she could feel the magic follow her. When she glanced back, she saw a flash of light, and then another.
Everyone wanted something from her.
The jetty was silent when she reached it. She jumped into a small boat, untied it quickly and pushed off. She didn’t know where she was, so she had no idea of where to go, but she raised the sail. It caught the wind quickly and pulled her away from the little island. The moonlight stretched across the water as she looked back at the silhouette of the island. A small one, although hillier than her own. Or it could have been one side of another island, she didn’t know. There was too much of this Empire she hadn’t seen.
The wind pushed her out into the water and away from whatever these people with magic wanted. But she didn’t know where to go. She really wanted her father, but the memory of Peng was sharp in her chest, and she knew he would not take her back. She would need to return to the Palace Isle.
It was the last place she wanted to be, but she also didn’t know where she was or which direction she was traveling in.
She was tired. It was getting easier to remain invisible, but it was tiring. She could maintain it a while longer, so she leaned back in the boat and closed her eyes, hoping the sea would carry her far away.
Chapter 21
Remi was sitting at his desk, trying and failing to read through the reports that had continued to pile up. There had been no sign of the hidden princess or those who might have taken her. One of his men rushed through the door and then paused, bowing low and waiting.
The Magics of Rei-Een Box Set Page 15