Mauvrey was also trying something unexpectedly new today—she had put her flowing golden hair up in a tight ponytail, which spilled through a specially-designed hole in her helmet.
“Are you nervous?” she asked, glancing at me.
“I would be insane not to be,” I replied.
“But you seem so calm.”
I released a deep breath. “I am channeling my belief in the crazy and the impossible.”
The doors opened inward and Mauvrey and I strode into a type of throne room. Nian Zhen sat at the head of the room on an elevated platform at the end of a red carpet. Hundreds of wind chimes in the shape of golden cranes dangled from the ceiling. A thousand candles flickered in cubbies along the walls despite the sunshine pouring in from the high windows.
The entire congregation of Mount Aborra warriors had assembled here; they stood in perfectly straight rows on both sides of the walkway. Daniel was in the front row across from Nian Zhen. Ray and Whisper—the Bixie and Tianlu—sat on either of the warrior leader, wearing saddles. Meanwhile, behind Nian Zhen dwelled several additional women and Yunru, who held Mulan’s sword in its sheath.
Mauvrey and I stopped at the end of the carpet. Daniel was right next to me.
“Princess SJ and Princess Mauvrey,” Nian Zhen said. “We are gathered here in our school’s most sacred space to honor you. The Splendid Hall is our temple—built by our founders to pay tribute to the Khan, their era’s name for emperor or Son of Heaven. Nowadays, we assemble in this place for our most important school-wide gatherings, such as sending warriors off on their blessed quests.” Nian Zhen gestured toward Yunru, who stepped forward and raised the sheath with Mulan’s sword high for all to see. I gulped, accepting what was about to happen.
“Mulan’s ancestral sword was blessed with heavenly power after she died. The good spirit energy that resides within this blade makes it the only weapon that can truly affect Xēshēng. Although the demon cannot be destroyed permanently, if you weaken him with the power of this sword, he will need many moons to regenerate, and you can reclaim your lost friend. We recommend stabbing the monster through one of its eyes or the throat; that is what has worked effectively for our heroes in the past.”
Nian Zhen paused, letting silence fill the room for a moment, then addressed Mauvrey and me sternly. “Ladies, warriors, heroes. Do you accept this sword and vow to complete this challenge alone?”
I exchanged a glance with Daniel. His brow was crunched and his lips were tightly pressed together, but he exhaled a deep breath, causing his face to soften. Then he gave me the smallest nod. I did not need that nod to know he was okay with this, with us, and with me. I saw that in his eyes. There was trust there, and faith, and also—for the first time I was absolutely, one hundred percent certain—respect too.
“I do,” I said to Nian Zhen.
“I do too,” Mauvrey seconded.
“Then prepare,” Yunru said. I expected her to hand Mulan’s sword to one of us, but instead she stuck the sheath into a holster attached to the Bixie’s saddle. Ray and Whisper prowled forward to stand in front of Mauvrey and me.
“I am sorry, what is happening?” I asked.
“In ancient times, the Bixie and Tianlu were ridden by those aspiring to ascend to heaven,” Nian Zhen said. “In our times, they ride us into battle.” Nian Zhen waved her hand and the women behind Yunru pushed on the back wall, which was in fact a grand sliding door that now revealed a perfectly clear view to the outside.
Mauvrey pointed at the Tianlu. “You are telling me I need to ride him?”
“Come on, Mauvrey, where is that enthusiasm you had this morning?” I said teasing her gently. I lifted myself onto the Bixie—careful with her wings—and took up the reins. They were attached to her two horns while the Tianlu’s reins were attached to his singular horn.
Okay, no big deal. I ride a Griffin all the time. This is simply a giant, magical, ancient lion with wings. This is fine. This will be fine. I—
Yipes!
The second my feet nestled in the stirrups, Ray bounded toward the exit. Before I knew it, my Bixie had leapt from the room—wings spread—and jumped into the air. I held tightly to the reins and glanced back as we soared higher.
Part of me expected Mauvrey to be screaming or looking terrified. Instead, as she joined me in the sky she grinned wildly and let out a “Whoo!” that made me grin too.
The landscape we had marveled at yesterday was even more stunning from the air. The massive chasm we had walked down was like a crack in the world. The valleys resembled perfect brushstrokes of green paint. And Mount Aborra—our hostesses were right—was inarguably the largest mountain in the Wonderlands.
Our approach was speedy. Ray and Whisper veered left, angling lower as we approached the mountain. When we rounded to its other side, I was shocked by the huge opening in the rock—like a giant, upside down V filled with foreboding darkness. Ray and Whisper landed just outside the entrance. Then they stood there, wings folded, and refused to move an inch more.
“I do not believe they will be taking us any farther,” Mauvrey said.
I drew Mulan’s sword sheath from Ray’s holster. The gold leaf design glinted in the sun. “Do you want to hold the sword?” I asked Mauvrey. “I have my slingshot and potions sack.”
“SJ, I only recently learned how to use these fighting gloves.” Mauvrey lifted her hands. “I have skill with these, but I do not think I am ready for another weapon. I will follow your lead gladly and with complete confidence.”
I studied the sincerity in her eyes. “You really mean that.”
“Of course I do,” Mauvrey said. “Daniel, Blue, Jason—all our heroic friends are admirable. But you are not simply admirable because of what you can do, but also because of how far you have come. If I have to stroll into a death cave to face an ancient monster a few hours after breakfast, I am only able to gather the courage to do so because a princess like you is leading the charge. You were not born to do this or to be good at this, but here you are anyway—brave and tall in the face of the unknown. It makes me want to be the same. I think it would inspire any princess—any person for that matter—to believe she can be the same.”
My heart filled with genuine affection toward Mauvrey for the second time in the last twenty-four hours. I gazed at the immense crack in the mountainside. It split the rock like an opening a surgeon had cut into a body and forgotten to sew back together. It was intimidating in itself, but even worse was the mystery inside it. But if a girl could not feel confident in herself after so many stirring pep talks then there was no hope for her. I released a last short, but deep breath and tightened the sword sheath strap around my shoulder.
“Here we go.”
Mauvrey and I forged into the mountain. I fretted we would soon be consumed in darkness. Though when we left the sunlight, I was amazed to find that the stone floor within the mountain was coated with luminescent smoke. It caressed our legs as we walked through it.
There was never any fork in the road or option between paths; a singular route forged deeper into the mountain at a downward angle. At one point we entered a huge cavern and Mauvrey suddenly squeezed my arm and pointed up. Dozens of the huge owl demons, the Núcái, hung from the high ceiling like bats—wrapped in their own wings, asleep.
Well, that is frightening.
Thankfully, the Núcái were only in that cavern; it must have been their nest. Mauvrey and I proceeded with extra caution from then on until the floor ended.
Oh my . . .
The path dropped off into a massive black pit the size of three swimming pools. No floorspace to walk around it, no other routes. That was it.
“Do you think we made a wrong turn?” Mauvrey asked, glancing back.
“There were no other turns,” I replied. I knelt and gazed at the pit. A soft breeze blew up from it, fluttering loose hairs around my face. “It does not sparkle or swirl like a wormhole,” I said, getting to my feet. “And there is air coming out of it.�
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“I wonder why the other warrior women did not say anything about this part,” Mauvrey thought aloud. “Why not warn us about what to do here?”
“Perhaps this is part of the challenge?” I said. “We were chosen as worthy to come here—maybe that means figuring things out and making choices for ourselves.”
“So what should we do?”
“Careful and logical me would say we get the Bixie and Tianlu to fly us down.”
“They refused to even enter the mountain.”
“Which brings us to dangerous and logical me,” I responded. “We know Xēshēng lives in this mountain. This is the only path. Other warriors have faced this creature before and come back fine. I think we should jump.”
“Jump inside the pit? You think that is what the others would do?” Mauvrey asked.
“I think it is what I would do,” I said. “Come on, Mauvrey, what do you say two princesses, whose mothers are famous for falling in love and falling asleep, fall together in the most interesting way possible?” I offered her my hand.
After a moment, she took it. “Sounds like a good plot development.”
I stared down into the pit. It felt like it was staring back. Then I nodded.
“On three,” I said. “One . . . two . . . three!”
We jumped off the edge. For a few seconds, I saw nothing but darkness and heard nothing but the wind whistling. Thank goodness I had Mauvrey’s hand to cling to.
All of a sudden we ejected from the ceiling of a cavern bigger than the Lady Agnue’s campus. The rear wall had a waterfall of pure magma that made the whole space glow burnt orange. Its contents fell into a fiery pool that split in two and snaked around the perimeter of the cavern. The other walls seemed to be pockmarked with dark holes. That was all I could discern before a pressing matter distracted me—the fact that Mauvrey and I were plummeting toward the stone floor.
“SJ!” Mauvrey shouted.
Death rushed toward us until a bubble of air shot out of a crater in the floor and acted as a merciful airbag to cushion our fall. We hit the ground with a painful thump instead of a lethal splat. I grimaced as my bones settled. “Are you okay?” I asked Mauvrey.
She groaned. “I am not a princess pancake so I suppose I cannot complain.”
Mauvrey and I got to our feet. Various craters across the cavern periodically produced large bursts of air like the one that had saved us, which explained the breeze I felt way up . . . there. I gazed at the faraway opening in the ceiling. We would need a very creative plan to get back out that way.
I took in what we had to work with. There was no monster in sight. I could not see anything beyond the waterfall of magma on the far wall. Its intense orange light washed us in its radiance. The other walls of the cavern, now that I could concentrate on them, were composed of hundreds of mini caves like alcoves. They were all empty except one.
“Kai!” I shouted.
I ran toward the cave where she dwelled. I did not see any bars keeping her in like a cell, but when she knocked on the cave’s threshold, a pulse of light rippled over the area.
“There’s a force field!” Kai called down, about thirty feet above me. “Where’s Daniel?”
“It is just me and Mauvrey.”
“What do you mean, it is just you and Mauvrey?”
“Daniel could not come,” I replied.
“Excuse me?” Kai said.
“It is not like that,” Mauvrey called up as she came beside me. “Facing the monster that took you is a female warrior thing.”
“Then where are the female warriors?”
“That would be us,” I replied. “We were chosen to save you.”
Even from a distance, Kai looked angry. “You have got to be kidding me. Now is not the time to play hero, SJ. You know you’re better at singing and making potions and leading debates. And Mauvrey has only really been alive for a month. You’re not warriors. You get an A for effort, really, but please come back with Daniel.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Kai—”
The entire cavern shook. A large, distorted silhouette appeared behind the magma waterfall and the cavern shook again. And again. Unharmed by the magma, Xēshēng emerged from behind the waterfall, each footstep causing another mini-earthquake.
Aside from his massive size, part of the reason his steps were so thunderous seemed to be because of his body’s odd weight distribution. Xēshēng’s build was basic enough—two legs, two feet, one torso, and two arms—but the proportions were off. Xēshēng’s torso was as long as his legs, and his knuckles hung past his kneecaps. It made his gait a bit uncoordinated.
White fur covered the demon’s body, and three flashing red eyes formed a triangle on his forehead. Long, gray dreadlocks grew from his skull and floated around him like they had minds of their own.
The creature roared. Mauvrey, Kai, and I cowered to our knees from the volume. I thought it was a battle cry until Núcái began descending from the giant black hole in the ceiling. This was a call to arms. As a dozen Núcái circled above, Xēshēng continued taking slow steps toward us.
I ripped my slingshot from my hip. Based on the space between us, and the size and pace of his footsteps, I calculated that maybe we had sixteen seconds before Xēshēng reached us. That was more than I needed.
“You take the ones that get close. I will do the long shots,” I told Mauvrey. She nodded and activated her gloves.
I began firing potions—blasting, icing, and sliming creatures out of the sky. Two swooped for us; moments before they came within grabbing distance, Mauvrey took aim. Her glove wires latched onto the feet of one Núcái, electrocuting it. Then Mauvrey heaved her entire body left to slam that Núcái into another demon bird.
Xēshēng continued toward us. His earth-shaking strides caused us to stumble, but we were getting used to the timing of the steps and kept fighting. We could not afford to pay more attention to the giant monster past that; the Núcái kept descending.
I brought down two more with explosion potions while Mauvrey ran forward. She tripped when Xēshēng took his next step, though she righted herself swiftly. Mauvrey spread her hands in opposite directions and released both wire sets at a pair of incoming Núcái. They wrapped around the owls’ feet and Mauvrey electrocuted them. A third Núcái landed directly behind her and spread its wingspan to entrap her.
“Mauv—”
My warning was not needed. Mauvrey released her hold on the first two demons. In a instant the wires whipped back to her and she clapped her hands together, spun, and electrically punched the encroaching Núcái in the gut.
Yipes!
The next Xēshēng footstep was too close to handle. I tumbled over. My helmet fell off my head as I bounced on the ground, and my slingshot escaped my grip. I flipped on my back and looked up into three flashing red eyes and a furry hand coming toward me.
I scrabbled for my slingshot, but before I reached it Xēshēng grabbed me in his fist as if I were a dainty doll and he was a psychologically troubled young boy about to rip my head off. He lifted me forty feet off the ground.
I still clutched a couple of potions in my hand—an ice potion and a tornado potion. Xēshēng brought me toward his gaping mouth. I slammed the ice potion onto his pointer finger. The ice spread from the impact area, freezing the digit entirely. He howled, whether from shock or ice burn I did not know, and dropped me. I toppled through the air.
Please let this work.
I crushed the tornado potion in my hand and was consumed in a swirl of wind. The personal tornado darted around erratically but in a descending pattern until we touched ground level where it spun me away. I rolled to a stop on the cavern floor.
Come on. Get up.
I clambered back to my feet and glanced over at Mauvrey, who was still fighting the Núcái. I started to run toward her, but she waved me back. “I have this!”
I had faith that she did. I dashed to retrieve my slingshot and then spun back toward the monster anew. He was coming af
ter me again. I sped straight at Xēshēng, pulling ice potions from my sack and firing as I went. I knew the sword had to be used to eventually—gulp—stab the monster the ruthless warrior way, but for now I would delay him my way.
Xēshēng howled. I launched so many potions that his feet and ankles became one big block of ice and he was stuck.
Temporarily trapping the demon gave me the chance to free Kai now. I moved to the side of the cavern and climbed up the rocky incline to her alcove.
“Get back!” I yelled, struck by inspiration.
Kai dashed away from the opening. I fired an ice potion at the entry. When it released its enchantment, the front of Kai’s prison froze over. I launched an explosion potion at the ice and it shattered. Kai hesitantly stepped forward, waving her hand at the opening. The force field was gone. As I had hoped, the ice had frozen the magic of the barrier and after that it was just a matter of removing the ice.
Kai glowed silver and I did too as she activated her powers of levitation to float us down to ground level.
“You seem to have a lot more control of this than you gave yourself credit for,” I told her once we landed.
Before she could respond, the cavern shook, knocking us both down. Xēshēng had freed one foot and was stomping it powerfully to shake away the fragments of ice still clinging to it. The massive shards sprayed out and Kai and I dove behind a boulder.
I stuck my head out to see Mauvrey at the far side of the cavern dealing with the Núcái. There were not many of them left, and they kept their distance—circling with caution now that they knew what she was capable of. Still, additional owls continued entering from the hole in the ceiling and I feared soon she would be overwhelmed.
“I’m waiting to hear the plan, SJ,” Kai said.
I stole a glimpse at Xēshēng. His freed foot had shaken off all the ice and now he struggled to yank his second foot free. I ducked back down.
“This sword is the only weapon that can truly affect the monster,” I said, gesturing to the sheath strapped to my shoulder.
“Well, give it here.”
“No, Kai. Only Mauvrey or I can wield the weapon. It is a magical blessing thing.”
Midnight Law Page 42
