But all I could see was a city built on the backs of commoners like me, people who labored and lived far away in quiet towns, never able to glimpse the wealth planted by our own hands.
Soon we arrived at another set of gates, this one to the royal palace itself. The walls loomed three stories high, crowned by battlements and fortified with red stone.
The imperial guards must’ve expected my arrival, because unlike the city watch, they were prepared to meet my advancingskeleton army at the gate. The archers on the parapets raised their bows, strings pulled back and ready to fire on command. A line of soldiers was positioned outside the gate, spears and swords in hand. Their golden armor gleamed in the rising sunlight, the plates elegantly shaped like feathers and their helmets adorned with red plumes. They all watched me warily, too afraid to meet the skeletons’ gaping eyes. Not that that’d do them any good.
I counted at least a hundred men, almost twice as many as I had. But my skeletons couldn’t die or feel physical pain. They experienced no such thing as fear or anger—or superstition. And I could tell that if not for their orders, these men would’ve fled long ago.
I decided to give them a final chance.
“Open the gates,” I demanded. “I’ve come for an audience with Prince Liqin.”
One of the soldiers stepped forward, an older man with more elaborate armor. Likely the captain of the guard.
“You dare ask for an audience while leading such amonstrousarmy?” he barked. “Who do you think you are, girl?”
I lifted my chin. “I’m Kang Siying, priestess of the Moon Cloud Monastery. If you won’t move, then I’ve no other choice but to cut through you.”
In response, he unsheathed his sword and pointed its blade at me. “You’ll be punished for your insolence.”
Sighing, I stamped my staff against the pavement. The bells rang sharply through the morning quiet. Focusing on the skeletons beside me, I glared at the king’s guards and said, “Attack.”
My army raced past me, chilling in their voiceless onslaught. Their bones clacked against the ground, their blades hissingthrough the air, but they gave no battle cry, no shout of fury. Instead, they emotionlessly met the swords and spears of the enemy, their supernatural strength greater than the average man’s.
I gritted my jaw to maintain concentration. My link to the skeletons dragged at my energy; a vague ache had begun to grow in my skull over the past two days. But I ignored it and focused on my soldiers.
I watched as the archers above shot down at the skeletons, their arrows grazing bone and piercing into the flesh of their own comrades. I watched the mortal men recoil at the Fu talismans and dried skin still attached to the skeletons’ frames, the way their resolve faltered when they realized their opponents were unkillable. When one soldier ran, others followed. The guards’ terror of the unknown was proving to be as dangerous as their undead opponents.
But I hadn’t come to defeat an army.
I’d come to kill a prince.
As my warriors continued to shove against the human soldiers, I advanced toward the gate. Two of the skeletons flanked me as I navigated through the battle.
I’d just reached the front steps when an arrow whisked past, barely slicing my shoulder. My eyes cut to an archer stretching back his bowstring for another shot. Though his hands trembled, there was a desperation in his gaze that made my heart lurch.
He let loose his arrow.
A sword knocked it away just before it pierced my left eye.
But the weapon didn’t belong to one of my soldiers. As I lowered my head, I recognized the flushed face of Anshi, the Wen governor’s assistant.
“What are you doing here?” I blurted.
Anshi grabbed my arm and yanked me under the gate’s overhang, out of the archers’ range. She looked as travel-worn as I did, the skin beneath her eyes shadowed and her clothes dusted with dirt.
“I followed Liqin here, of course,” she said. “He arrived just hours ago, and I’ve been searching for a way inside.” She glanced over her shoulder at the chaos of the living and the dead. “Did you do this?”
“Yes,” I said. “I’ve come for the prince as well.”
Anshi shook her head, looking horrified. “All this for the seal?”
“I care nothing for the seal. I only want the prince’s head.”
She nodded at that and placed her hand on the wooden doors. “Then shall we?”
Together we shoved the doors open, stepping into a spacious courtyard framed by offices and halls. More guards were stationed at the buildings, behind the embossed pillars and along balconies. They shouted when they saw the gates open.
I didn’t make myself an easy target. As I strode forward, my skeletons flooded in after me. Any guards nearby were too distracted by the undead soldiers to focus on two young women hidden in the skirmish and running toward the main hall.
