Page 55 of Drawn into Oblivion

They stepped out of the residential palace into a rapidly cooling evening. The quickest way to the closing ceremony was the way they had come, and they passed the same bored, lonely guards they had earlier. One smiled as they approached, and nodded smugly at them. She couldn’t help blushing and had to turn her face away.

“Does everyone know?” she whispered once they were out of earshot.

“They have eyes,” Rosuke said. She tipped her head back and moaned with mortification. “Don’t worry. They’ll move on to some other crumb of gossip soon enough.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek. Grudgingly placated, she gave him a wry smile.

“Do you know what has been planned for the closing ceremony?” she asked.

“I believe the empress herself prepared something spec—”

A deafening, resounding crack pierced the sky. Mai instinctively ducked as fear threw her heart against her ribs. Her training had her reaching for the dagger at her back, but she paused as thousands of screams filled the air once the residual boom had faded. She and Rosuke shared a quick glance.

“The empress,” Mai whispered. They broke into a run. “I shouldn’t have left her alone!” Another boom shook the air as they sprinted down the central corridor to Lantern House. Festival attendees, wide-eyed with panic, ran past them. There was another explosion and then another. They didn’t stop.

“I don’t see any smoke,” Rosuke yelled over the screams. “The blasts must be hitting the barrier over the city.” The peal of an artillery shot ended with another heart-stopping boom, renewing the screams of the fleeing crowd.

Panic set in, for Mai didn’t have a plan nor could she conjure one up. As house elder, she had been drilling her members on where to go and what to do in an emergency, but perhaps everyone was too frightened to remember? Should she set about corralling them? Or was the empress her first priority? Shumei was most likely near the stage, but what would Mai do when she got there, empress or no empress?

All those thoughts ground to a halt when several imperial guards appeared from the rear doors of Lantern House. In the middle of them, Vallen carried Shumei’s limp body.

“Divine One have mercy,” Mai cried, running toward them. The empress’s eyes were shut, but Mai didn’t see any blood. Vallen’s dark expression relaxed a degree when he saw them, though she wasn’t sure if relax was the right word. “Where’s Oka?” she called. She didn’t see him even though he never strayed far from his sister.

“Safe,” Vallen said, haggard. When they reached the high general’s side, Mai felt for Shumei’s pulse and was grateful to find it beating strongly. Her eyes fluttered and she even moaned, still barely clinging to consciousness.

“Your orders?” Rosuke asked.

“Gather up whomever you can find, and disable that damned artillery,” the high general barked. “Kill everything, and do it quickly. Shumei’s barely powering the shell over the city.” He looked to the empress’s guards. “You three, go with him.”

“Yes, sir,” they said before looking to Rosuke for their next orders. Mai looked at him as well and found his gaze already upon her. He nodded curtly, jaw tight. Mai couldn’t help a shiver of fear.

“Let’s go,” he said, turning to the three guards. “We’ll sound the bell first.”

“Mai, come with me,” Vallen ordered. He strode past her toward the residential palace, and she had no choice but to follow, though her feet hesitated. Another shower of artillery shots beat upon the city’s protective shell, making it impossible to hear her own voice, let alone call a goodbye to Rosuke as he disappeared inside Lantern House.

Instead, she silently prayed to the Divine One to keep him safe.

⁂

Mai ran ahead to the empress’s quarters to open the door, and quickly went about the room lighting candles. Vallen laid Shumei on the bed. She had passed out when they’d entered the north wing, just as the echo of the last round of artillery shots had died out.

“Ka,” Mai whispered over the last candle. The room was silent, too far from Lantern Park to hear the echoes of chaos. The artillery had not begun again, leading Mai to assume Rosuke and his force had engaged the enemy. She tried not to think anything past that.

“Come on, love, wake up.” Vallen stroked Shumei’s cheek. “Okite,” he whispered desperately.

Mai approached the foot of the bed, feeling like an interloper in their bedroom, especially when she had no idea how to help the empress. Vallen caressed the joining mark on Shumei’s neck, fingers shaking.

“High General?” she called softly, clenching her hands. “What can I do?”

“She won’t wake. I don’t know why. Perhaps she will wake in time, but I must know now if she’s all right. I fear she’s being bombarded by some sort of magical attack.”

“How can we find out?”

He stood and turned to her. “I don’t suppose you know what mind-walking is?”

“No, but I can guess. How do we do it?”

Vallen smiled forlornly. “I can see why Rosuke loves you.”

She ducked her head in sudden shyness, taken aback by the comment and baffled at how it flustered her. She was grateful her hair was still loose, and that she could hide behind it.