Five Kingdoms (44 page)

“Clear everyone from the temple,” Xu Liang said. “Attend to the injured quickly. No one may enter this temple who isn’t escorted by either myself or General Jiao Ren.”

The damage done
to Tristus turned out to be far less dangerous than it appeared at first. He had been struck windless by the impact of the spell, more than the stone, and while the pain was significant, the worst of it would be just that until it subsided. A surface scar might remain, but that seemed an unlikely consequence for Tristus to fret over, especially considering the manner in which he had acquired it. The real danger would have been in allowing the enchanted stone to complete its work…work that had been designed for Xu Liang.

Shirisae contemplated this while standing between the bedrooms granted them within the mystic’s home. Alere was stood in the corner beside the compartment bed where Tristus lay beneath the ministrations of a Fanese doctor. Taya also stood nearby, observing with no real option of understanding what the elderly man was doing medicinally. The foundation of treatment appeared basic enough; the bandages were treated within what looked to be an oil and upon the wound itself, the doctor had applied some manner of poultice. Again, it appeared basic enough, but without knowing the language and with Xu Liang absent, there was no way for young Taya to ask the questions she undoubtedly had. She was a compassionate little soul. Shirisae had come to admire that about her, in spite of their initial disdains toward one another. Dwarves had been easy for her people to ignore while they sustained themselves in Vilciel. All other peoples had been, until the peculiar company led by a sorcerer of Sheng Fan had passed through the mountains of Lower Yvaria. The significance of that was only now beginning to fully settle upon Shirisae.

“Attempted assassination,” Tarfan muttered while stepping into the doorway. “And the pup throws himself directly in the way of it.”

“As is his nature,” Shirisae reminded the dwarf.

Tarfan made a noise that may have been some form of concession to the fact, but then said, “Well, he might learn to suppress his unnatural desire to get himself nearly killed.”

“Of course, if he had, Xu Liang might have been killed,” Shirisae said, also in plain reminder.

Tarfan sighed noisily, admitting, “Aye, he might have been. And we’ve been through that once already.”

Shirisae ignored the comment. In truth, she could only wonder whether or not Xu Liang would have actually been killed, or if the Phoenix would have protected him from the assault. There was no question that her god was present and active, in a way it only had been through specific rituals performed by her mother in the past—the past Shirisae knew, at any rate. The Phoenix had a cycle; It became vibrant and alive from periods that were dark and still…a deathlike hibernation from which it stirred very little until it was time to rise again. Its phases of resurrection were accompanied by ‘awakenings’, events that would bring about seasons of significant change in their world. At times these events were joyous and prosperous. They could also be dark and intimidating. It seemed that it would be the latter this time—the first time that Shirisae would witness an awakening.

The Phoenix was rising, and it had chosen a vessel to deliver it. Not Tristus or Alere—both of whom had been immediately present in the moments
Firestorm
had been seized by gods’ hands—and not another of her own people. The Phoenix had chosen Xu Liang.

Of course it had. She understood it now. Xu Liang was himself in a doomed state, dying even before the ice giant put him down. His spirit had been moving freely from his body during the clash of the Storm and Twilight Blades. The Phoenix chose him in those moments. Not long afterward, Xu Liang’s death upon the Flatlands supported her god’s claim; both would be reborn from that event. Xu Liang was now being carried by the Phoenix. Because of that, it seemed unlikely that he would die until the Phoenix released him. Tristus’ sacrifice might well have been for little or nothing, save the devotion that it proved before the eyes of Xu Liang’s empress.

The incident at
the temple was reported to the Empress. Han Quan was officially labeled a traitor to the Empire and a fugitive. Now free to take full action, Xu Liang hurried to organize the capture of the former chancellor.

“Patrol the outer reaches of the city,” he said to Zhu Meng. “If Han Quan is found, he’s to be brought before the Empress.”

The Prefect bowed, then departed to set upon the task at once.

To Jiao Ren, Xu Liang said, “Double the watches at all gates. We must assume for now that escape is his goal.”

Yuo Shang gave an expression of agreement to that.

“Han Quan will be found,” Xu Liang said to the remaining audience while Jiao Ren left the hall. “He will be brought to justice. If anyone here knows of his whereabouts, you are obligated to speak, for the benefit and protection of the Empress, and of all of Sheng Fan. The acts committed tonight were acts of treachery, of destruction, and of war. Han Quan has declared himself an enemy. If he escapes this city, he will undoubtedly seek the shelter of those who support him and in doing so he will announce them as enemies as well. My suspicion is that he will flee to the kingdom of Xun if allowed.”

“Xun has demonstrated with violence, but Lord Ha Ming-jin has not attempted to secede,” said the Minister of Policy, Hao Feng.

“He has acted with aggression against Ji, and therefore against the Empress,” Xu Liang reminded. “Grievances expressed through violence are the result of specific command or neglect. The troops at Fa Leng are not peasants. They are soldiers.”

“But there have been such outbursts from Du as well,” the Minister of Justice pointed out.

Xu Liang bowed his head in stipulation to that fact. And then he said, “Lord Xu Hong has made no secret of his malcontent. His ‘outbursts’ are the quakes before an eruption. I believe he too will declare himself an enemy in time. The primary difference between Lord Xu Hong and Lord Ha Ming-jin is persistence. Xu Hong can be mollified and convinced to retract his threats. Ha Ming-jin is proving relentless. His goal is to overtake the border between Xun and Ji. Expansion of kingdom territory is prohibited under the Five Kingdoms Resolution. Loyalty to the Empress is also the foremost condition.”

Agreement rose throughout the room, even among those who normally did not support him. It was possible that Han Quan’s boldness had startled them and they wanted to ensure that they were in no way associated with his actions.

“What of the possible escape route beneath the temple?” Huang Shang-san asked.

“It seems a very dangerous route for a man of his years to navigate alone,” Tian Qi said.

Xu Liang agreed. However, “It is not impassable. It must be investigated.”

“And if it’s the entrance to a dragon’s lair?” Yuo Shang asked.

“Yes,” another officer said. “What if it’s as the Empress has dreamed?”

“I share your fear,” Xu Liang admitted to all of them. “I have also dreamed of a dragon beneath the ground—a true ancient of this world. I have also dreamed of its progenies.”

“More than one dragon?” said the Minister of Agriculture, and discussion became instantly urgent among the officers of the court.

Xu Liang held his hands up to quiet them. When stillness had returned to the chamber, he said, “Many of you doubt my motivations and my departure into the outer realms. It was for this reason—this threat that we now face—that I left the Empress’ side, though I remained with her in spirit. I was separated from her briefly, but now we are joined by others…others who may unsettle you, but whose honor will be proven, by challenging whatever lays beneath the Temple of Divine Tranquility.”

Sounds of concern and disapproval rose within the chamber.

Xu Liang silenced them again. “This is why the Swords were set down upon this world. It is our assignment, to defend ourselves against Chaos. And we will do so.”

“Should I have
seen his intentions?” Song Da-Xiao asked from the terrace of her study.

Xu Liang stood beside her, looking out across the lights of Jianfeng. “Perhaps we all should have. Though none of us can predict what is to come. That is for the oracles.”

“I sometimes believe that you are one,” Song Da-Xiao said, turning her face toward him enough that the moonlight caught several of the stones set in her headdress. “I sometimes believe that you might be anything.”

The comment reminded him that they were both still touched by their earlier conversation. “I am a man, and a servant,” he told her with one of the many smiles he felt that he owed her, after years withholding them in the name of safety. “All that I am is devoted to you.”

“Not all,” she said, not argumentatively. She seemed to have come to a level of contentment with having demanded his affection, at least in the spectrum of oathbound siblings, if they could have nothing more. “I know that we’ve discussed this subject, but I have not yet repositioned my thoughts on the matter. Not entirely.”

Xu Liang found that both understandable and fair. She had been denied many things as a daughter of the Song family. “You are young, yet,” he said to her. “Your heart yearns, just as the heart of any young woman, though you are not like any other woman your age.”

“No,” she replied. “I understand why. I know that I was selected by the Heavens to assume this role, and to follow the path of my ancestors. But is it really the duty of an empress to remain alone?”

“You are never alone, my Empress. I apologize if I have contributed to such feelings in my dedication to your safety and protection.”

The Empress excused him with a nod, turning her gaze back to the city. After a moment, she said, “Xiang Wu spoke of the advantages of marriage.”

Her words held Xu Liang to a brief, tense silence. He had already held misgivings about the angle of Xiang Wu’s loyalty. This news only confirmed them. “There is no advantage for you in marriage, beyond romantic,” he told his empress. “A union of that nature would only compromise you.”

“My brother was married,” she pointed out.

And Xu Liang reminded her, “His position was not as delicate.”

“Because he was a man.”

“Because you are young.” Xu Liang stressed the words, and the facts that followed. “If your ages had been reversed, and it was Song Lu at your age standing before me, I would still advise against marriage. I would do it for fear of an ambitious father-in-law. In your situation, it is for fear of an ambitious husband.”

She nodded again, this time in the manner of one who no longer wished to discuss the matter.