‘Once you reach him, it will be enough.’
‘Will it?’ Lis turned back to the master. ‘I can’t even raise my barrier. If the prince or any of them attack, I’ll be lost.’
‘You will do what you need to,’ the girl said.
‘I know you are trying to help, but you can’t see it all.’
‘I have seen enough to know. You only have to find him.’
Lis shook her head slowly, and the master waved her forward. When she’d needed to protect herself from the prince, she had found the strength to do so. She had once shielded many more than that. But she’d had help. She looked at the weary Yang. Wei-Song had never looked so serious. If only she had been able to protect them better in the last fight.
There had been a fear, she remembered as they moved through the fight. Too many, too close. If one of them had come within the barrier, she didn’t know what might have happen.
‘What will happen if he comes within the barrier?’ she asked.
‘You need to be able to raise it first,’ Master Yangshing said, balling his fist. She could sense the magic in it. She tried to refocus on why they were there and held her breath as she pushed forward, but it wasn’t enough. The magic he threw at her knocked her to the ground.
Yang rushed forward, but she waved him off.
‘I have to work this out,’ she mumbled, climbing to her feet.
‘It doesn’t have to be done now,’ Yang said, stopping midway across the room. ‘It is too soon.’
‘I have to get to him before it is too late,’ Lis said, feeling an overwhelming helplessness.
‘Before he comes to us,’ Wei-Song murmured.
‘He won’t. He will stay close to the palace, close to the throne. It is where he thinks he needs to be. Hiding.’
‘And we can guess where,’ Yang said.
‘It doesn’t matter where. We know he is on that island, and I need to get back there.’
‘You will find it when you need it,’ the child said.
Later that evening, Lis stood alone in her room, trying not to think too much on how she had failed during the day. No matter what they had tried, she couldn’t muster the barrier, and she wondered how long it would take before she was ready to find Remi.
‘You need to go now,’ the child said hurriedly, sliding the door open. ‘They won’t forgive him.’
‘Who won’t?’ Lis asked, sitting carefully at the little table. Her body still ached far more than she wanted to admit, partly in fear that Yang would want to help her more. But she couldn’t take any more from him. He was still struggling from his use of magic in the fight, and he had spent far too long trying to heal her.
‘The people, the ministers, the emperor.’
Lis had expected it would take some time for the people of the Empire to forgive their prince for what he had done. Yet she was more relieved every time the child mentioned him and their future. It reassured her he had survived. ‘He does live?’ she asked.
The girl nodded. ‘But he may not survive much longer.’
Lis had been so worried she had killed him. She wondered if he feared the same, and whether he could ever feel about her as he had before he’d learnt what she was and the magic had taken him over.
She tried not to sigh. She felt so tired.
‘You have to save him. You have to work together.’
‘I can’t,’ Lis said, resting her head on her arms across the table. ‘I’ve got nothing I can use to save him.’
‘You dream of him,’ the girl said, standing over her. ‘You are the only one who can fix this. You are the only one to save the Empire.’
Lis shook her head without looking up. She wasn’t anyone to try and save anything. She had only succeeded in nearly killing the prince. They hadn’t defeated anyone. And she had felt so strong, so sure of her magic, allowing it to be what it was. But she had nothing left. She tried to form a barrier around her hand, but it wouldn’t take.
The master had told her it would take time, that she needed to heal before the magic returned to what it was. ‘He doesn’t want me,’ she murmured.
‘That doesn’t matter. What matters is whether you want to be with him, whether you choose him.’
Lis sighed again. It was not nearly as simple as the child thought. Despite all that she saw, she still saw the world from a child’s point of view. Lis had known she cared for the prince just before she’d tried to hold him in her barrier. That she wanted him to live, whether with her or not.
Chapter 6
Lis threw her arms around Yang and pulled him close, surprising them both. ‘I need to do this,’ she whispered.
‘Sure,’ he said, pushing her back to look at her properly. ‘He will be only too happy to see you and not want to kill you at all.’
‘I can still hide from him,’ she said, turning away and wondering how good an idea this really was. She walked down the last of the path on her own and smiled to the boatman as she climbed into the little boat.
‘Are you sure?’ he asked her, his hand on the rope.
She nodded once. Lis was the only one sure that the prince could be saved, other than a child who didn’t really know it, but was certain she had seen it.
The boatman pushed them out into the water and pulled another rope to shift the sail around, and they moved out from the little island. Lis hid and then waved at Yang. He lifted his hand—like a farewell, she thought—and then he turned away and headed back to the school.
Lis tried not to sigh. It was only because he worried, she told herself. And it would take far longer than she would like to reach the Palace Isle. Despite there being no one in sight and no boat on the horizon, the boatman pointed them in the opposite direction to their destination. They would be taking the long route to ensure there was no chance they could be traced back to the school. She wondered why this man, with no magic of his own, was so willing to assist them.
‘The princess said you could sense us,’ she said softly, and he barely nodded. ‘Is it magic?’
‘No, just an awareness of the world around me.’
‘You don’t fear the risks?’
‘The risk for others is far greater.’
‘What if you were discovered to be helping us?’
‘Do you mean if they discover I like to sail my little boat around on my own?’
Lis laughed softly. Maybe he was safer than she’d thought. She had lived so long in fear of discovery. But now she worried she wouldn’t be able to stop this from destroying them all.
She had curled at the end of the boat and drifted to sleep during the many hours it had taken them to reach the Palace Isle. She was awakened by the boat bumping against the pier, and then the loud voice of a soldier.
‘What are you doing here? No one is allowed to enter the Palace Isle.’
‘I pick up those from other islands without a boat and ferry them about.’
‘You don’t have any passengers now,’ the man said. Lis moved as carefully as she could towards the dock, but as yet the soldiers weren’t allowing him to tie up the boat. She wondered if she would end up in the water.
‘I usually pick up an old couple from Second.’ He looked towards the gate and, as the soldiers turned with him, Lis leapt the small distance to the dock and tried not to squeal with delight.
‘No one is coming or going from the Palace Isle.’
‘What has happened?’ he asked.
‘Where have you been, man? There is magic trying to destroy us.’
‘I don’t want to wait around here then,’ he said, turning the sail and directing the boat from the dock. Lis watched as he sailed away. Then she turned and looked up at the large red gates of the Palace Isle. They looked so much bigger closed against the world, and she knew there was little chance of her sneaking in. On top of the wall by the gate, soldiers looked out over the world, and the soldiers who covered the dock walked back and forward.
‘No one will come,’ one of them said. ‘We will just walk ab
out here in the sun.’
‘Would you prefer it if it rained, or snowed?’
The man shivered and went back to walking the edges of the dock as he stared out across the water.
Lis hadn’t realised until she was on the island with the school just how much she had missed the water. She had been isolated in her palace of one type or another, and the rivers that ran through the palace grounds were not the same as the broad expanse of the ocean she had looked out on her whole life.
She tried not to sigh. She was trying to get away from it again, and it might be that she would be locked away for a very long time with no view at all. If she survived the day.
‘I can’t believe he did this,’ the soldier murmured. Lis was sure he was speaking of the prince. They had such a clear idea of the man he was, yet he had behaved so very differently. She nodded slowly. She had also lost the man she’d thought he was, but perhaps with the right influence she could help bring him back. The child had certainly given the indication that she could. All she needed was a way through the gate.
As she moved along the dock, there were not as many soldiers as she’d first thought. She stepped up to the shiny red lacquer and ran her hand over it. The large pointed bolts glinted in the sunshine, and she wondered if they served a purpose other than decoration. She sighed and then stepped back. Was that a hint of silver glowing through the red?
She looked around, but none of the guards appeared to have noticed anything. She stepped back and pressed her hand to the gate. Then she sighed again across the surface, and a string of characters appeared in a line running down from where she had sighed, each character as big as her hand. She heard movement behind her, so she stepped to the side.
‘What the…?’ one of the men asked, coming forward.
‘Who wrote that?’ another soldier asked.
‘It just appeared.’
Weapons were readied as the men stepped closer together around the gate, their backs to each other, looking out at the world. Lis was pressed between them and the gate.
‘What is going on?’ the hunter, Hui Te-Sze asked. He appeared through a smaller door in the gate, access Lis had not realised was there.
‘A message,’ one said, pointing at the gate without turning.
‘The phoenix will rise,’ the hunter read from the gate, and Lis realised the small gate was still open.
She crept closer, aware he might hear her. She thought he looked in her direction.
‘Who wrote this?’ he asked.
‘It really did just appear on the gate,’ one of the soldiers implored.
The hunter moved slowly forward, and Lis wondered if he might guess she was nearby, or someone like her. He ran his hand carefully over the silver characters. Lis waited for them to disappear, but they didn’t. She stepped through the gate and then pressed herself to the inside and looked over the Palace Isle before her. There were soldiers everywhere, but no one else.
The damage from her fight with the prince was still clear across the square. Alongside rubble from some damaged buildings, the road and courtyards were charred and marked by fire and blood. Small gardens grew in some places, and Lis smiled at the idea. But it hadn’t been her intention when fighting. She hadn’t been sure she could fight; she had only tried to protect herself and others, and keep the prince from hurting himself.
She didn’t know whether she should just walk into the grounds where she thought they would be or try something else. He had to be here. She couldn’t have killed him—she wasn’t strong enough for that. She sighed before she realised it, and when she made to step away from the gate, she found the hunter standing beside her. He tilted his head in her direction, and she froze.
‘Princess?’ he asked softly, a wobble in his voice.
She bit her lip as he leaned toward her, as though listening for her breathing. She needed to find the prince before she let anyone else know she was alive and on the Palace Isle.
He bowed his head and slowly made his way across the square. It was the hunter who had talked the general into allowing her to fight that day. And in that trust, she’d found more strength and ability than she’d known she had. Only she didn’t have it now. And despite all that had gone on between them before, she was sorry she wasn’t able to reassure him now.
She made her way towards the ruins of the residence first and wondered why, in all the months since it had fallen, no one had done anything to rebuild. It was a strange reminder of what the emperor had said they had no need to fear. The Palace Isle looked a very different place from what she remembered. Other than some soldiers, there was no one in sight.
She continued past the space where she had once lived and towards her little palace, but she veered off so she could check Remi’s first. There was no sign of life when she pushed the door open, and the desk was still covered with reports that had gone unread. She couldn’t tell when the advisor had last been here to add more to the pile. She moved over and lifted the top one, only then looking around to ensure there was no one else there. She hid the report in her hand before she started to read it.
It covered the sightings of magics in the area, but nothing of any use. Lis wondered if he had read it. She allowed the report to fall back onto the desk, then moved around the room for a better idea of what he had been thinking before he left and where he might have gone. But there was nothing. It was no different than when she was last here, when he had tried to burn her and Mu-Phi had bowed low to her prince.
Despite Mu-Phi’s hatred of her, Lis was sad she had died as she had.
Lis took one last look around the room and then headed back out into the street. There was no one around her own palace as she drew close. When she pushed the gate open, she stopped, surprised by the lack of soldiers inside the wall. It had always seemed so full to her, and it was strange that there was no one there now. She walked around the garden she had never really entered before, taking in the flowers and the small pond she hadn’t even known existed. She stood over it now, watching a lone fish swim in lazy circles before it disappeared into the dark water.
She turned to the house, unsure if she wanted to enter it or not. Taking a deep breath, she stepped slowly across the path and waited for the crunch of gravel to bring soldiers from inside. But no one came. It looked just the same, yet so very different. It felt cold and empty, and she looked for Yang and Wei-Song in the corners of the room.
She sat at her desk and looked over the papers. Someone had been through them, had pushed them from the desk and piles they’d were in. She wondered who it might have been. Someone looking for her, or looking for information? The hunter would have taken more time and been more respectful, she thought, and the prince might not care where she had gone. If he lived.
It was something she worried for. Particularly when the hunter appeared so sad. Could he know where the prince was?
Lis already knew where they could hide—the hidden princess palace. It was the only place he could stay nearby and be hidden from the rest of the island. She shivered at the idea of him taking the other magics to such a place. But then, in a way, it was theirs as well. If the war hadn’t started, could the world have been a different place? Could they still have lived in harmony?
Lis walked towards the hidden princess palace. The streets were eerily quiet and, although she was hidden, she jumped at the slightest noises. It took her longer than she remembered to reach the gate that once would have marked the princess palace for what it was. But as she looked over the faded lacquer and the lack of characters or plaque, she doubted that it ever had. They must have been truly hidden from everyone, disappearing into a corner of the Palace Isle without anyone ever knowing where they went. Although someone had known. She just didn’t know if it was the priestesses or simply tutors.
She rested her hand on the gate, but she didn’t try the latch. She would have to find a way into the compound without alerting the magics she was there. The other gate had been melted closed by the prince himself. She stepp
ed forward slowly. She was about to put her hand to it when it swung open, and she pressed herself against the wall.
A man rushed past her, dusty and still splattered with blood. She glanced into the training area to see others sparring with each other. The prince nowhere in sight. She wanted desperately to find out what they might have done to the grounds, or whether the prince hid amongst them. She also wondered what they might be planning to do next. She hovered for a moment, then heard footsteps coming back along the street. She moved to the side as the man marched past her and slammed the gate shut again behind him.
She couldn’t hear anything beyond, and she wondered if the magic that hid the compound also hid what was done inside. She wasn’t going to be able to reach him as easily as she had hoped. Not on her own. She sighed, then headed back to the square and the soldiers she knew were there.
Chapter 7
The emperor sat back on his throne, the empress beside him. She at least smiled a little; he looked like he wanted to take her head from her shoulders. Lis tried to stand amidst the men she had fought with not so long ago. Although it felt like an age had passed, and now she wanted to cower behind General Zho-Hou and the hunter from the wave of anger that flowed from the emperor.
She gulped down her fears and stepped forward. She wished Yang had been well enough to travel with her. The child had seen that Remi needed her, and the certainty that he lived had sparked something significant in her chest. She had to do what she could to save him.
‘Is there any word at all?’ the emperor asked.
The general shook his head rather than answer, and the emperor stood slowly. The three of them dropped to their knees at the same time and touched their heads to the floor.
‘He must be somewhere. They all must be somewhere on this island. Have you searched every inch?’
The hunter sat up slowly. ‘Your Eminence, there is no sign of them.’
He glared again at Lis. ‘You have some special skills. Can you hunt them out?’
The Magics of Rei-Een Box Set Page 57