“Take me to the ferule,” Lan said. “I’ll tell Ulara myself—”
“No.No,”Tai said at the same time as Shàn’jun said, “Your blood pressure, Lan’mèi—”
“I don’t care about my blood pressure!” Lan yelled. “Zendid this to save our lives. If anyone should be punished, it’s me. We were there becauseIasked to go! And we found the ocarina my mother left me, Shàn’jun. It holds star maps to—” She drew a breath, stopping herself short. Zen had warned her that the masters would forbid them to leave the school if they knew just what they planned.
What if, as much as she liked Shàn’jun, her friend felt the same way?
Shàn’jun and Tai exchanged glances. The Medicine disciple sighed. “Lan’mèi, nothing you do will help now. Yeshin Noro Ulara has long been awaiting her chance to make the case to have Zen banished from the school. She holds seniority in position at the school due to her clan bloodline, which gives her immense sway over the others. And there is not even anything youcando. Zen is under an inquiry, the strictest form of trial under the Code of Conduct.” He hesitated. “Not to mention, they are waiting to begin yours after you awaken. I have pleaded for them to grant you a day’s rest. So please, let us not stir up any more trouble, lest you are expelled from the school.”
“Expelled?”Shàn’jun raised a placating hand as Lan’s voice rose again. She ignored him, gesturing wildly. “The Elantians are planning an invasion! If we wait any longer, there may notbea school for me to be expelledfrom!”
“Please, Lan’mèi,” Shàn’jun said. “I believe you, truly. And I overheard Zen explaining this to the masters earlier. I am certain he will present this at the inquiry.” He pressed cool fingers to her hand, squeezing gently. “If we plan our moves right, we may yet save the schoolandsave Zen. Ulara is hot-tempered, yet she is not without reason.”
“Stay,” Tai urged suddenly. “You must stay. Barging into Zen’s inquiry will only add fuel to Ulara’s flames.”
Lan’s chest was tight; she focused on steadying her rapidbreaths. They had no idea, no idea, about anything that had happened the previous night, had not seen the Elantian outpost built on the backs of Hin prisoners. They knew not what Erascius was capable of, what he planned to do—
Her head pounded with such thoughts, yet all that she could whisper was “Why does she hate him so?”
Tai folded his arms and gave Shàn’jun a significant look. The latter nodded. When the Medicine disciple turned back to Lan, his expression was unusually grave. “When Zen first arrived at the School of the White Pines, his demon was unfettered. It controlled him more than he controlled it. The grandmaster convinced everyone to give him a chance. He believed that teaching him the Way at this school would save him. But in Zen’s second year, there was an accident.” He lowered his gaze and, through his long lashes, swept a look around the chamber. “It happened right here. There were three of us, play-fighting, and I believe the other disciple wrestled with him too hard. Zen lost control and nearly killed the other disciple.”
The story made sense of all that she had come to learn of Zen in the past few weeks. His rigid adherence to the principles of the Way. His status at the school, powerful and revered yet feared. The guilt with which he spoke of demonic practitioning.
Last night, history had repeated itself.
But he is free of the demon now,Lan thought, yet the image of his pale, unmarred hands flashed in her mind’s eye. Zen had been released from his bargain with the demon—at a huge cost.
“Who was the other disciple?” she asked quietly. “The one he almost killed?”
Tai’s gaze shuttered. Shàn’jun drew a deep breath.
“Yeshin Noro Dilaya,” he said. “Zen’s demon took an arm and an eye from her before the grandmaster stopped it.”
Dilaya. Yeshin Noro Dilaya, with her eye patch and empty right sleeve.
Lan closed her eyes. It all made sense now—the Yeshin Noros’ previously unexplained hatred for Zen, their fear of demonic practitioning. Would they listen to him if he spoke the truth, of the Elantians’ outpost and their plans to invade the Central Plains in search of the Demon Gods? Would they forgive him long enough to work together to stop their common enemy, or would they yield to their hatred?
She thought of the destruction Zen had wrought. An entire squadron of Elantian soldiers and so many Hin prisoners, all fallen at his hands.
At hisdemon’shands, she corrected herself.
You saw what my lesser demon alone could do.There had been a terrible emptiness in Zen’s eyes as he’d spoken those words.Now imagine the sheer power four legendary beings might possess.
Erascius had seen the star maps; he had an idea of where the Four Demon Gods were located. If they found the Demon Gods, the Central Plains—including the School of the White Pines—would fall into their hands, whatever little hope remained for the Hin to regain their freedom destroyed.
If she could not help Zen right now, there was one other thing she could do.
Lan’s knuckles were white as she gripped the ocarina and turned to Shàn’jun. “I need your help,” she said, and then looked to Tai as well. “And yours.”
The Medicine disciple nodded with grim determination; the Spirit Summoner threw her a look of confusion.
“I need to know more about the Demon Gods.”
Shàn’jun almost dropped the bowl of broth he had picked up anew in an attempt to feed her.“Pardon?”
So Lan began at the very start, telling them of how her mother’s Seal had given her a vision that led her to GuardedMountain and to the ocarina. Of how Erascius had pursued her, how the Elantians had caught them at the School of Guarded Fists. How she’d played the ocarina and unlocked the star maps to the Demon Gods. By the time she finished, Shàn’jun was wide-eyed; Tai’s jaw had gone completely slack.
“But half of the Demon Gods have been lost for dynasties,” Shàn’jun said. “The Black Tortoise disappeared with the Nightslayer. And”—he shot Tai a covert look—“the Imperial Court lost its hold over the Crimson Phoenix when the Elantians invaded.”
