by Resa Nelson
They’re not dead!
Asu Chu assumed the royal guards had been too high on the mountainside for him to see when he created the avalanche. But now he thought they must have crested the peak and gone over it while chasing the mysterious figure they’d presumed to be Frayka—before Asu Chu had spotted Frayka in the woods.
Now the guards picked their way through the broken mountainside, its ground so rough and torn apart that it looked as if a giant had plowed it like a field ready for planting. They still called Asu’s name, but he didn’t want to answer yet. He would feel safer once the guards were closer to him than he was to the village.
Finally, when Asu Chu felt safe enough, he stepped out of his hiding place and waved his arms at a descending guard. That guard shouted to all the others, and they made their way to the boy’s side.
“What happened?” one guard said. “We heard a horrible noise and came back when we saw you hadn’t come with us.” He gestured at the broken slope. “What caused this?”
Because he considered the royal guards to be beneath him, Asu Chu decided they didn’t need to know the truth. Why risk the chance that one of them might figure out that he’d created the avalanche with no regard for the lives of the guards who could have been swept away by it? The boy shrugged. “I felt the earth shaking under my feet, so I ran to a safer place. The next thing I knew, all kinds of dirt and rocks came hurtling down.”
A few of the guards exchanged worried glances. One of them said, “It’s good we found you.”
Another guard said, “We’ve wasted enough time.” To Asu Chu, the guard said, “That woman we chased—we followed her along the ridge, but she turned to sticks and crumpled to the ground right in front of our eyes. We should tell the empress. There’s no point in trying to find Frayka.”
“I think that’s her.” Asu Chu pointed at the crumpled figure in the village below.
“Look,” another guard said. He pointed at the bay. “The people got into their boats and went out to sea. They had enough time to run away before the avalanche got to them. They’re coming back now.”
“See?” Asu Chu said. He fidgeted, barely able to contain his excitement. “They would never leave one of their own behind. It must be Frayka. I know it’s her. I saw her in the woods.”
All of the guards became still and stared at Asu Chu. One of them said, “When did you see her?”
Terrified by the question, Asu Chu steadied himself. “When the avalanche started. I saw her running away from it. I called for you, but no one answered.” He did everything he could think of to look innocent.
“She ran to the village?”
“I don’t know where else she would go.” Asu Chu blinked his eyes as if something had startled him. “That must be her. I think the avalanche killed her.”
“There’s one way to find out.” The guard headed down the mountainside and gestured for his fellow guards and Asu Chu to follow.
Asu Chu kept his focus on the ground beneath each step he took in order to contain his excitement.
I can’t let the villagers see I already know it’s Frayka who’s dead in the streets. If I do, they’ll guess I started the avalanche. If the villagers accuse me, the guards will know I did it. They’ll know I put them in danger.
The guards outpaced Asu Chu. By the time he eased his way down the slope to the flat dirt roads in the village, the guards already formed a crowd next to the people who had moored their boats and come back to what appeared to be the heart of the town. Asu Chu pushed his way through the crowd until he reached its center, where everyone stood several steps away from the prone dead woman. He suppressed a grin when he saw the same black cloth worn by Frayka when he spotted her in the woods. Now all he had to do was extract the baby from the crumpled body. Maybe Frayka had fallen upon it and crushed it.
Even so, the baby’s blood will cure Ti. But we should take it back to Zangcheen right away so it won’t go bad.
“No, we had nothing to do with the avalanche,” one of the guards said. “We’re here by the order of Empress Ti. We’re searching for her cousin.”
“You expect us to believe that?” An old man spat on the ground. “There’s been no landslides since I was a boy. No reason for one to happen now. I know the warning signs. There weren’t any. This makes no sense.”
“We believe this is the cousin we need to find.” The guard pointed at the crumpled woman on the ground. He then pointed at Asu Chu. “This boy saw her killed by the avalanche.”
Not wanting to have any attention drawn to him, Asu Chu shrank and took a step back into the crowd to make it harder for anyone to see him.
“Avalanche?” the old man said. He spoke to his fellow villagers. “Did anybody see an avalanche kill her?”
A few people shouted “No!”
Startled, the guard said, “Then what happened to her?”
A young woman spoke up. “Ice came down with the avalanche, and it took the shape of a man. He picked up a shard of ice and stabbed her in the head with it.” She swept her arm toward those around her. “We all saw it.”
To Asu Chu’s relief, the guards laughed. “An ice man,” one of the guards scoffed. “Where did he go? Maybe we can capture him and take him to court on a charge of murder.”
The guards laughed again.
A man who appeared to be the young woman’s father spoke up. “She tells the truth.”
“Then point us to this ice man, and we’ll arrest him,” a guard snickered.
The villagers pointed at the road, now muddy and littered with small chips of ice.
“He melted,” the young woman said.
“Enough of this nonsense,” the guard said. “We’re here to find a member of the Po Dynasty.” He stepped forward, gripped the shoulder of the body, and turned it over to reveal a face covered in black cloth. When the guard removed the cloth, everyone stood in silence. Looking up at them, the guard said, “This isn’t the empress’s relative. This is an old woman!”
Asu Chu gaped, shocked to see the woman wasn’t Frayka.
Where did she go? And where is the baby?
The guard confronted the crowd of villagers. “What did you do with her?”
A grizzled fisherman pushed his way through the crowd. When he saw the guard holding the black cloth, the grizzled fisherman snatched it from him. “Get away from my wife.”
Unable to contain his frustration, Asu Chu blurted, “Where did she get that black cloth?”
For a brief moment, the grizzled fisherman’s eyes showed a flicker of fear.
He knows something about Frayka!
Asu Chu spoke rapidly to the guards. “I saw Frayka wearing that same black cloth. She was here, and he knows something about it!”
“Black cloth is common.” The grizzled fisherman knelt on creaky knees and draped the cloth he’d taken from the guard over his wife’s body. “Take a look around.”
Along with the guards, Asu Chu glanced at the people standing in the crowd. Sure enough, many of them wore clothing made of black cotton cloth.
The grizzled fisherman placed a hand on the ground and pushed against it to gain the momentum to stand up again. “Leave us be.”
Several people broke out in protest. The young woman shouted above them. “But your wife—what if they’re responsible for the ice man that killed her?”
“What’s done is done,” the grizzled fisherman said. He glared at the guards. “And if they’re the likes that brought that kind of dark magic to our village, I say let’s be rid of them!”
The guards looked at Asu Chu.
The boy panicked. “It wasn’t me! I don’t have that kind of power.”
“Power?” the young woman’s father said to the guards. “Who is this boy?”
Asu Chu tried to redirect the attention aimed at him by pointing an accusing finger at the grizzled fisherman who had just become a widower. “His wife had something to do with Frayka. I know it!”
“It’s not just me you’re dealing with,”
the grizzled fisherman said. “It’s all of us. And there’s more of us than you.”
The villagers around him stood their ground, some of them crossing their arms in defiance.
The guards exchanged glances. One of them said, “We’re only here because of the empress’s relative. If she’s not here, we’ll leave.”
“But she is here!” Asu Chu cried. “She has to be!” When everyone stared at him, Asu said, “I saw her run toward here.” He pointed at the grizzled fisherman again. “And he knows where she is. I can see it in his eyes!”
This time the grizzled fisherman gave a bitter laugh. “Look for yourself. No one here has anything to hide.”
I can still see the fear in his eyes.
Taking him up on his offer, the guards searched every house and building while Asu Chu hovered near the grizzled fisherman and tried to eavesdrop on the hushed conversations he had with his fellow villagers. Unable to understand anything worthwhile, Asu watched men from the village lift the dead woman’s body onto a cart and take it to a house, presumably the one where she’d lived.
Once the guards finished their inspection, they spoke to the villagers again. “You have the blessing of the Empress Ti. We leave for now, but if you see or hear about the whereabouts of the empress’s relative, understand it’s your duty to report whatever you know.”
The grizzled fisherman squinted at the guard. “Understood.”
“Lend us one of your boats,” the guard continued. “Our duty is to keep searching, and we need to search from the sea as well as on land.” The guard flipped up the bottom of his shirt to reveal coins tacked to the hem. He used his dagger to free one coin at a time. “Of course, we will pay the owner of the boat for its use and return it when we’re done.”
Asu Chu watched in fascination. As the royal magician’s son, he had no need of money because the royal family provided anything he or his father needed. But he’d seen the money of Zangcheen before: decorated coins with square holes in the middle. Asu had heard stories of how the common folk threaded coins on strings and carried them or wore them like bracelets or necklaces. How clever of the guard to hide them on his person while still having easy access to them.
But when the guard offered the handful of coins to the most obvious candidate, the grizzled fisherman shook his head and walked away.
“I’ll take it,” the young woman who had spoken earlier said. “Our boat’s the one painted green with the blue fish decorating the side. We need it back in two days.”
The guard dropped the coins into her outstretched hands. “And if we need it longer?”
The young woman smiled. “It’ll cost you more.” She grinned and then mimicked the way the guard had spoken a short time ago. “Understood?”
When the other guards came to attention as if ready to attack, the one speaking gestured for them to stand down. To the young woman he said, “Understood.”
CHAPTER 26
Frayka made her way down the beach before the incoming tide cut it off. After trudging through the sand for a good while, she discovered the path the grizzled fisherman had described. For the rest of the afternoon, she followed it up the mountainside while Dagby slept in the sling keeping her firm against Frayka’s chest.
When she neared the summit, Frayka discovered a strange sight by the side of the path. A boulder emerging from the ground had been carved into the shape of a flat tabletop. Small stones, bits of leather, a corked bottle, and dried meat and fruit covered the surface of the carved boulder.
Wendill promised to stay close to me. Maybe this is a gift from him.
Famished, Frayka devoured food so quickly that she swallowed large chunks before chewing them enough. It made her throat feel constricted. She uncorked the bottle and took a swig, surprised to find her mouth full of rich, red wine. She swallowed but replaced the cork and drank from her flask of water instead. Frayka wanted to keep her wits sharp until she found safety.
After gorging, Frayka sat with her back to the carved boulder and rested while nursing Dagby. Grateful for a moment to relax, she thought about all she’d experienced since leaving her home in Blackstone to come to the Far East.
Frayka always felt pride in knowing and understanding herself, believing it to be the benefit of having a father who constantly praised her for her good qualities and gently suggested when he thought she might be heading in a useless direction. All her life, she’d felt bold and strong and had no use for fools. In Blackstone, she’d felt free to live her life however she pleased, even when she married Njall, who had proven himself to be a fine and worthwhile companion.
But once they arrived in the Far East, things began to change.
GranGran insisted I learn how to respect elders instead of speaking my mind. I thought it was a matter of showing respect. I didn’t realize I would need it to talk to the dragon gods and persuade them to help me.
Even though Frayka believed she’d mastered the art of respecting elders, she still struggled with the cost of muzzling her true thoughts for the sake of appeasing others.
She paused and reconsidered that notion.
If I shout and make demands among other Northlanders, they listen. But Far Easterners and dragon gods don’t. Shouting and making demands accomplishes nothing here. Showing respect isn’t about appeasing others.
It’s about speaking in a way that makes it easier for them to understand me.
GranGran’s advice of respecting elders had benefitted Frayka. By controlling her anger and trying to show respect to Emperor Po in court, Frayka had saved her own life. Instead of being sentenced to death for the Far Eastern crime of being married to a Northlander, she’d been sent to the Hall of Concubines.
Maybe the emperor knew I would escape. Maybe he was counting on it.
When Frayka met Kikita, the dragon goddess of air, showing respect had earned Kikita’s willingness to aide Frayka in convincing the other dragon gods to help make peace with the Northlander gods. Instead of failing, Frayka had succeeded.
When Empress Ti sent Frayka to these mountains on an errand to slay a serpent dragon, Frayka’s efforts to respect Far Eastern villagers made it possible for her to stay alive and escape. And once she found the Gate of Earth and met Wendill, offering respect to him led to a safe place to stay until Dagby’s birth.
But at what cost?
Frayka missed Njall. She’d assumed they would spend their lives happily together.
I should have insisted more that he stay in Blackstone with our families. I shouldn’t have allowed him to come with me to the Far East.
But Frayka reminded herself that Njall wasn’t her servant. Just as she’d learned to respect her elders, she knew she must respect her husband as a man who must make his own decisions. Just as Frayka knew she must take responsibility for every decision she made, Njall bore the responsibility for every decision he made.
As much as she missed Njall, Frayka also believed that the world owed her nothing.
And her own responsibilities had shifted.
If Njall is still alive, I must trust him to fend for himself. The most important thing is to win the help of every dragon god. But the most important thing is also to take Dagby to a place where she can live in safety. And where she can speak her mind freely, knowing she won’t be harmed for it.
Frayka felt as if she’d aged decades since coming to the Far East. She felt as strong and fearsome as before. But now she felt as if she’d begun to understand the world a bit better.
A twinge inside her chest startled her. Looking down, the sight of the scars reminded her how Wendill had taken her to a blacksmith who strengthened her ribs with gold. She remembered what Wendill said: When the serpent dragon invaded my garden and attacked you, it set off a reaction inside your body. The water you drank from the Dragon’s Well at the Temple of Limru saved your life. It dissolved the poisons from the serpent dragon’s mouth. But the dragon meat you ate combined with the dissolved poisons and turned them into something stronger that attacked y
our heart.
Wendill’s blacksmith had infused gold into ribbons of iron and placed them around her heart by shoring up her ribcage.
The gold permeates my heart and blood. The gold cleans them.
Her heart and blood ached because she had lost Njall. She ached because her portents—as important to her as a lifelong and loyal friend—had abandoned her.
But she had gained Dagby as well as a deeper understanding of herself.
Just as she had on the day Wendill’s blacksmith saved her life, Frayka remembered her father and a story he loved to tell about a blacksmith covered in scars that he once knew. A female blacksmith chewed up and spit out by a dragon, and she later became one of the finest warriors of the Northlands.
If a woman scarred like me can be one of the greatest Northlander warriors, then I can, too.
“We need to find a place to spend the night, little girl,” Frayka said.
Once Dagby finished, Frayka stood and put most of the remaining food into her pouch. She steadied Dagby with one arm while cradling the bottle of wine under the remaining black cloth draped around her shoulders and head.
Frayka continued hiking up toward the summit. By the time the sun skimmed low on the horizon, she found a small cave that would serve well to shelter them through the night. She placed the bottle of wine she carried just inside the entrance, planning to drink it with the hope it would lead to a good night’s sleep. After gathering kindling and pieces of fallen branches, she stepped into the cave and used her flint to light a fire.
She cried out in surprise when the flames illuminated the interior of the cave enough to reveal a wild-looking man awakening from his slumber.
CHAPTER 27
Asu Chu spent the afternoon moping aboard the rickety boat rented to the royal guards, who now steered it alongside the beach in search of Frayka and her child. Asu had first spent some time at the railing alongside a guard and scanned the mountain as they sailed next to it.
But the forest covering its side stood thick and dense. Asu Chu saw nothing but foliage and gave up quickly.
