The Firebird's Vengeance (42 page)

An image rose in Anna’s mind with the strength of a spell-wrought vision. She saw the Phoenix, not as she had seen it before spread out across the sky, but much smaller, crouching in a cage with filigree bars of charred gold. The sacrilege of it bit hard in Anna’s mind.

“I would not have thought such a thing possible,” Mae Shan was saying, her voice filled with dread and wonder.

Uncle Lien’s face took on a brief expression of grudging admiration. “It took great skill, and cost a life for the making of that cage. It took much of Medeoan’s strength and sanity to keep it whole. Her judgment began to fail, as did her life. In her middle years, she took to her court a chief sorcerer, the lord sorcerer they called him, named Valin Kalami. He came from a province of their empire called Tuukos. The Tuukosov, however, hate the Isavaltans with a passion that will not die. The empress did not know that Kalami sought nothing less than the destruction of Isavalta.

“To help accomplish this end, he contacted certain representatives of the Heart of the World within the boundaries of Isavalta. Eventually, he was allowed to speak with the Nine Elders. He promised to free the Phoenix, so long held captive by Medeoan, and to facilitate an invasion of Isavalta by Hung-Tse, so that the threat to our northern borders would finally be ended.

“The Nine Elders of course wished to ensure his good behavior, and so asked that he send to them a hostage as a guarantee that he would do as he said.”

Is this true, Father? What they say?

Some of it, Anna, but they do not know everything
.

“Anna.” Mae Shan’s gaze flicked up to the ceiling, surely thinking of Anna where she believed her to be, asleep in bed.

Uncle Lien nodded. “Kalami was treacherous, and his only loyalty was to the land of his birth. How he met his end is uncertain, but there are those who say it was brought on him by the queen of the fox spirits. What is known is that his death was bound up with the death of Medeoan, and that these two things freed the Phoenix from its long imprisonment.”

Father?

This is why I brought you here, to understand whose roof we are sheltered under and who your so-called protector is seeking advice from. Keep listening
.

“But why raze the Heart of the World?” Mae Shan was asking, her voice coming close to cracking. “Why did it not take its vengeance on Isavalta?”

“I do not know. Who can say what such imprisonment would do even to one of the guardians. The great threat was always that Medeoan had found some way to alter the nature of the Phoenix. Perhaps she succeeded.”

She did not. The Nine Elders underestimated the anger of their guardian at being left to languish
.

Anna shuddered, remembering the heat and noise of the fire, and the sacred guardian presiding over it all.

Courage, Anna
, whispered Father.

“And this treacherous spirit has rested himself in his daughter’s heart,” said Mae Shan and disbelief dropped Anna’s jaw. Mae Shan couldn’t believe what her uncle was telling her, surely? He was a pirate, a thief. How could she take his word for anything?

I’m sorry, Daughter, but you had to know
.

“How powerful is the child?” Lien asked.

Powerful enough that all walk quietly around her. Powerful enough that ones she had thought she could trust must speak in whispers of her after dark.

Anna trembled. She did not want to think about that.

Be proud, Daughter, as I am proud of you
.

Anna tried, but she just felt sick.

Mae Shan was looking down at her hands. “I don’t know, Uncle. But I can tell you she saw what the Nine Elders did not. She knew the Phoenix would return for revenge.”

Startled pride reached Anna from her father’s place inside her.
Powerful enough that the Nine Elders ignored her and brought down their own destruction. Oh, my child, you are greater than I dared to dream
.

Lien sat silently for a long moment. “It was good that you brought her here.”

“Uncle,” said Mae Shan tentatively. “Is it possible the father’s spirit means no harm? That he only seeks to protect his daughter and see her safely home? There are legends that speak of such things …”

Yes! That’s how it truly is, Mae Shan
. Anna’s fists tightened. She longed to burst from the shadows, but Father held her steady.

“Indeed, but such stories do not involve possession, nor do they come of calling a spirit forth from the Shifting Lands. Such magics bring only grief.”

“What do I do? I have sworn an oath to protect the girl with my life.”

Another tremor shook Anna’s frame.
You see? She wants to believe what is right. When I tell her the truth …

Keep listening, Anna. Be strong
.

“What do you know of the girl’s mother?”

“Only that her mother is dead.” Mae Shan paused. “I don’t believe I’ve ever even heard her name.”

I would have told you anything you wanted to know
, thought Anna petulantly.
I would have told you her name was Kaija and that she died when I was born, and that my father sent me to the Heart of the World so I could learn the magics and ways of Hung-Tse so one day I could be ambassador between Hung-Tse and Tuukos
.

“Then you do not know if she has maternal kin in Isavalta or Tuukos.”

Father remained silent and still while Mae Shan shook her head. Anna wanted to go. Surely they’d heard everything they needed to. They didn’t need to stay here crouched on the floor and listen while Mae Shan kicked over the last part of what Anna thought of as her safe world.

Uncle Lien smoothed his sparse beard thoughtfully. “You are right that the child cannot stay here to face what comes now that the heart has been cut from the body of our country. In fact, now that it is full dark those … sailors who you saw manning my walls are now manning the boats and making certain pairs of eyes think I am already gone. I am not sure that I will permit even Cai Yun to stay, although I may not be able to order her away … and with the throne having changed hands in Isavalta, my name and word there will not be what it once was …”

“You served Isavalta?” said Mae Shan, shocked.

“I aided the Empress Medeoan on occasion,” answered Uncle Lien calmly. “Do not look at me so, Mae Shan. You have known for years what I am. It is because of what I am that I can help you now.”

Guiltily, Mae Shan dropped her gaze.

Why do you listen to this thief?
Anna felt tears start to stream her cheeks.

Just a little longer, my brave child
, said Father.
There is one thing more we must learn
.

“I must make some final provision for your cousin and several others of my household,” Lien went on. “But as soon as that is done, I will take you and the child to the shores of Isavalta. You will have several letters and names with you that will be of help.”

“And the ghost?”

Anna’s mouth went dry.

“I must consult my texts for the most efficacious method, but I believe by dawn I will be able to free the child.”

There
, murmured Father deep in the back of her mind.
That is what I needed to hear. That tells us how much time we have
.

Mae Shan bowed again. “Thank you, Uncle. This was more than I could have hoped for. I hope … I want …” She stammered and tried again. “I will come back once Tsan Nu, Ah-na, is safe. I must go home and see that my parents are well, and then I must return to T’ien and do what I can. I hope …”

Come now, Anna
, Father said within her.
They will not talk much longer and we cannot be seen
.

Anna ducked her head back, wiping her tears silently with her sleeve, something else Master Liaozhai would have chided her for, but Father remained silent about this as well. Back in the scroll room, Lien kept talking, unaware of her departure.

“Your heart is with your duty, Mae Shan, and it will steer you correctly. I will tell you this much, my grievance was old and long, and with the Nine Elders. They have been punished in a way I could not foresee despite my art …”

Whatever else Lien had to say to his niece, he said in private. Anna was beyond the range of his voice when she reached the stairs. She hurried up the steps and back into her room. Anna slipped into her bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. She lay there, staring at the ceiling.

Rest now, Anna. I’ll wake you when it’s time
.

But Anna did not feel sleepy anymore. Too much of what she had heard was ringing through her mind. Mae Shan, who had saved her life and had seemed so nice, was talking about possession, even after Anna had told her that this was nothing like that. She was talking about stripping away Father’s ghost and leaving Anna alone again with no home and no friends and no teachers … and Lien calling Father treacherous. And Mae Shan believed him! Her duty was to Anna, she’d sworn it, no matter what her family said. She should not have sat there listening to those lies. Why would Mae Shan listen to lies?

But she could find no answer, and if Father knew she asked that question, he said nothing. She listened awhile for Mae Shan’s step and did not hear it, so she rolled over and closed her eyes. But as sleep reached its soft hand to cradle her, unbidden, one question repeated itself to Anna.

Why would Mae Shan listen to lies?

Chapter Seventeen

Through Anna’s slitted eyes, Kalami watched the bodyguard Mae Shan enter the darkened room and come to the bedside to inspect her charge. Kalami shut Anna’s eyes quickly. His daughter stirred a little in her sleep, but did not wake, although Kalami was startled to feel Mae Shan’s light touch smoothing Anna’s hair down.

When he heard her move away again, he risked another look through Anna’s eyes. The body was so much easier to claim while she lay sweetly asleep, her mind occupied with her dreams. Mae Shan closed the latch on the man-sized shutters that opened onto the balcony and then considered the inner door, which had no means of being secured. At last, with a sigh, she shifted the pallet she had made up earlier and composed herself to sleep in front of the door.

Eventually, Mae Shan’s breathing grew slow and even. Kalami lifted Anna’s little hands and pushed the covers back. Mae Shan did not stir. He stood Anna up on the floorboards, cooling now in the night’s chill. There was no interruption in the rhythm of the soldier’s breathing. The woman was no doubt very tired herself, and despite her automatic precautions, she most likely knew how difficult it was for someone to enter a sorcerer’s house unbidden or unwelcome. That sense of security dragged her into a deeper sleep than she might otherwise have known.

But he could not count on that, so he moved Anna gently and patiently toward the shuttered balcony. It was odd. He felt himself within her body, perceived the world through her senses, and yet he felt distant. It was not the feeling of life. The deeper he reached, to know again the beat of her heart and the surge of her blood, the farther those pulses of life receded. It vexed him for reasons he could not understand and distracted him constantly. But his life had been one of concentration and control. There was no need for concern yet. He would surely become used to this new mode of existence.

Under his guidance, Anna moved as deliberately and unconsciously as a sleepwalker. Her fingers quickly found the shutter’s latch and eased it back. Lien’s house was obviously well kept, for they came open without a creak. This was the dangerous part. Any change in the level of light would wake a trained bodyguard from the dead. He turned Anna so her body blocked the moonlight that tried to trickle past her shadow. He slipped her through the shutters quick as thought, closing them swiftly behind her. He held her there, listening. Her heart was surely pounding in her chest, and he longed to feel that beat, to know the press of breath again in his lungs. To feel warmth. He felt temperature only vaguely, although he could feel all other sensations through her hands, her skin. It was so strange that he should care about these things. As it was, he was well hidden and almost beyond harm. Very few magics could touch him, and his skills could keep Anna safe to shield and shelter him, and yet he did not want to remain as he was. He wanted with all his strength to be alive again.

No sound issued from within the room. Thankful, Kalami urged Anna forward.

The balcony wrapped itself around much of the second story of the house, a style favored by those in the south of Hung-Tse grand enough to have a second story. Kalami made Anna flit lightly along its length. He felt her dreams twist and crowd against him. He tried not to touch them. He did not wish to intrude, although he did itch to know what those dreams told her. He did not know the whole of his daughter’s mind, and that worried him. He did not wish her to be able to hide from him.

Well, perhaps that could be dealt with, but there were other matters to be settled first.

The silver-and-shadow gardens spread out below the rail at Anna’s left shoulder. The doors and windows on the right were flanked by terracotta images of various guardian spirits — dogs and dragons, cranes and horses, even soldiers, some as big as Anna. But the household did not rely too much on such protection because all the portals were securely shuttered. Annoyance rippled through Kalami and Anna’s dreams stirred uneasily. Kalami calmed himself at once. This would all be easier if Anna could remain asleep. Clarity of thought was more difficult when she was awake. It was as if her mind intruded on his, instead of the other way about.

I must come to a good understanding of this way of being or I will remain in danger
.

A set of stone stairs led down to the lower floor of the house. At the bottom, it did not take much looking to see that the lower entryways were also shuttered tightly. In the distance, he thought he heard, or perhaps Anna thought she heard, the crackle of a fresh fire starting. Somewhere beyond the garden walls, someone shouted. Kalami suppressed his impatience. This was no good. The prospect of riots on his doorstep had made their host careful. It would have to be the garden. Together he and Anna were surely strong enough for what needed to be done. The little distance might give them a certain advantage.