Lan had realized this. Her mother, the grandmaster, and the Order of Ten Thousand Flowers had known—and they had sought to destroy power in the form of the Demon Gods.
Zen shut the pages of the tome, his thoughts racing.
It was time for him to finish this tale. To close the last chapter.
The doors to the dungeons clanged open. Light swirled in as one of the Táng monks guarding his cell entered. “She’ll see you now.”
Change in people arises not as suddenly as storms or floods but slowly, over time, like the shift of a mountain or the drift of a river.
—Kontencian Analects (Classic of Society),5:8
The palace of Shaklahira was filled with the easy, steady bustle of activity and a rare hum of emotion that might have bordered on relief and joy. Lan sat at one of the rosewood tables that had been brought in from the gardens—too warm and too sandy to dine in now that the Crimson Phoenix’s Boundary Seal was gone, along with the Seals that had moderated the climate within Shaklahira. The former cooks of the palace had blessed her with a supper composed of a variety of dishes from their bountiful larders. Lan had learned that these had been kept full by the supplies Hóng’yì had received from merchants of the Jade Trail as tithes in exchange for his practitioners protecting them from sand demons. She tried not to think of this as she tore into the noodles with sesame sauce and the sweet glazed pork buns the cooks had brought to her with shy smiles.
The Seals of the red cinnabar eye had disappeared from the foreheads of the staff, and they moved around with renewed energy and purpose. Dilaya had covered the place inprotective Seals, obscuring it from nearby travelers or less-than-friendly Elantians. The Jorshen Steel clan matriarch had already designated patrol shifts and drawn up several plans to defend against attacks.
Now, with the sun beginning to set and the sky darkening, Shaklahira was grinding to a stop.
Tai sat across from Lan, nursed into recovery by the talented healers here. He had finished his meal of cold noodles and now gazed into the distance. Someone who didn’t know better might have taken his expression for one of apathy, but Lan could see the grief and longing in them.
He missed Shàn’jun.
“Normal. It feels…almost normal.”
She startled at his voice, and then at how much emotion there was to his words. Tai rarely, if ever, spoke voluntarily; much less so about his feelings. There was a hollow, haunted look to his eyes.
But Lan took in their surroundings again, at the former court members of Shaklahira sitting in clusters, the hum of their conversation lending a new and fragile peace to the moment. “I know what you mean,” she said. “It feels a bit like home.”
Home was Skies’ End, its eggshell-white temples tucked into craggy mountains, the chiming of bells among waterfalls and pines. Home was gone, torn apart by the Elantians and buried with the bones of their masters.
Lan dragged her thoughts back to the present. The next steps weighed heavily on her mind.Find the Four Demon Gods. Destroy them with the Godslayer.
The last time she had seen Erascius was on the Öshangma Light Mountain, after she had chosen to give him the star maps to the Demon Gods rather than let him kill innocent civilians. Hóng’yì had escaped with the Crimson Phoenix, and she andZen were here with the Silver Dragon and the Black Tortoise. That left only the Azure Tiger for the Royal Magician to attempt to bind—if she didn’t get to it first.
She did have the Seal of the Godslayer now, yet her attempts to conjure it had failed. She turned her ocarina over in her hands, recalling what the immortal at the Öshangma Light Mountain had told her.The Godslayer will not work for you unless you understand the truth.
Immortal.Yuè.
She was on her feet running before she knew it, toward the faded silk curtains that led to barren gardens. A lone figure stood in the hazy desert sunset.
Elanruya turned as Lan approached her. “You have come to ask me a question,” she said, tipping her head as though to look at Lan through her blindfold. “I will answer if I can.”
Lan came to a stop before the lone survivor of the Yuè clan. “I met one of your ancestors,” she said, “atop the Öshangma Light Mountain.”
Elanruya grew very still. A look of longing crossed her face. “I see,” she said softly.
Lan probed inside herself, making sure the Silver Dragon was dormant, its core tucked away, before she spoke. “I asked her to guide me to the Godslayer, which she did. But she warned me that I would not be able to conjure it without understanding the truth to its intent.” She drew a tight breath. “Do you know what she meant by ‘the truth’?”
Elanruya’s lips parted. “The truth,” she said and, to Lan’s astonishment, reached up and pulled on her blindfold. As it fell away, Lan understood why she had covered her eyes. They were the same white as those of the immortal Lan had met atop Öshangma Light Mountain. As she turned to Lan, she had the feeling the immortal saw right through her.
“I understand now,” Elanruya murmured after a beat, and recited the exact words her ancestor had spoken to Lan.“The truth. Two sides to the coin. The yin and yáng of this world. The duality of reality. The truth, child, to this tale of gods and demons, of demons and gods.”
“How did you know?” Lan whispered.
Elanruya tied her blindfold back on. “Our eyes see the truth to everything in this world,” she replied. “With one look, I see your soul, your deepest desires, and all that you have experienced. It is overwhelming, which is why we have always used blindfolds.” She paused. “As to your truth, you will find it in theClassic of Gods and Demons.Hóng’yì had stolen a portion of it, but it was returned to its rightful owner just this morning.” She gave Lan a smile, and even through the blindfold, Lan had the feeling the girl saw right through her again. “Xan Temurezen.”
Lan’s jaw fell, but before she could respond, they were interrupted by the sharp clack of boots. Dilaya strode toward them from the palace. A few stray hairs had escaped the buns on her head, but she looked triumphant, her hand on her hip, Falcon’s Claw strapped to her side. “Perimeters secured, protective Seals cast, so we are safe for the moment,” she crowed, looking pleased. “I’ve been meeting with everybody. It’s just as I thought: we’re all clan descendants here.”
“Hóng’yì’s family collected us,” Elanruya said tonelessly. A wind shuddered between them. “They wished to control us and collect our unique arts for their use.”
