by Claire Luana
He chuckled. “Running the country is hardly tending the hearth.”
Armsmistress Emi cleared her throat. “Is it wise to send a monarch at all? Is it not an unnecessary risk? Send an emissary, a messenger. Take their temperature.”
Hiro shook his head. “I don’t want to risk offending them by sending someone without the proper authority. Besides, I want to take their temperature myself. Me and my men can take care of ourselves.”
“I think it’s a necessary risk,” Kai said. “Master Tato, I’d like you to accompany Hiro. You’re good with languages and perhaps can lend some aid in communicating.”
Master Tato inclined his head. “As you command.”
Rika had watched the exchange silently, but inside she was jumping up and down. She bit her lip in indecision but ended up blurting out: “I want to go too.”
All heads swiveled towards her. “Absolutely not— “Kai began but was cut off as Koji swung down from the rafters in the corner of the room, dropping onto the floor.
“If Rika gets to go, I want to go too!”
CHAPTER 4
“KOJI!” KAI SCOLDED. “How long have you been hiding there?”
Rika snorted. That much was obvious.
Hiro threw his hands in the air. “Why have the gods seen fit to punish me with such obstinate children?”
“What did I do?” Rika asked, wounded. “I should go because Roweni thinks that the great shadow from my prophecy is the fleet of ships on the water.”
Hiro’s head swiveled up at that, and he looked searchingly at Kai. She nodded grimly. “It could be.”
“If the prophecy is correct, my power is necessary to defeat these invaders.”
“If the prophecy is correct,” Hiro said, “these newcomers aren’t here for trade and cultural exchange. The prophecy speaks of great danger. I don’t think it’s a good idea to send you into that before we know what we’re dealing with. We might need to make a quick exit.”
“I agree,” Kai said. “I’m sorry, but it’s too dangerous. Until we know more, you stay here. And you definitely stay here, Koji. I’ll deal with you later.”
“But, Mom,” they both began.
“End of discussion.” Kai’s voice cracked like a whip. “Now unless anyone besides my children has anything else to add, Hiro should ready his team.”
Rika crossed her arms over her chest, slumping in her chair. It wasn’t fair. The first time in sixteen years where her powers might have a chance of manifesting, and she wasn’t allowed anywhere near it.
The adults stood, beginning to file out of the room. Her parents talked by the door in hushed tones, Kai tracing her fingers along Hiro’s ear and jaw. Ugh. Rika looked away. Emi was rounding the table and leaned down beside her. The moonburner’s face was half-scarred from a fire that had occurred when she’d been young, but it somehow only served to accentuate how beautiful the rest of her was. “It was a valiant attempt. But don’t be so hasty to rush into danger, panda. I have a feeling we’ll all see plenty of action before this plays out. Your time will come. Be patient.”
Rika attempted a half-smile. “I know. Thanks, Emi.”
Emi stood, squeezing her shoulder as she walked around the table and slipped her hand into Daarco’s outstretched palm.
Koji stood at the door, the last to leave besides her. He paused. “They were never going to let you go. You can’t protect yourself without any powers.”
Rika narrowed her eyes and exploded out of the chair, running towards him. She grabbed his arm before he knew what to do and twisted it behind his back painfully like Emi had taught her. Then she stuck her finger in her mouth, wet it with her tongue, and waggled it in his ear.
“Ugh, Rika, stop! Gross! You’re hurting me!” Koji cried, his voice squeaking in protest.
She grinned. “Tell me again how I can’t defend myself without powers?” She felt a heat growing around her wrist, warming before it became a searing pain.
“Let go,” he grunted, and she released his hand, stepping back in shock, cradling her wrist to her body. As soon as she released him, the pain stopped. She looked down. A red welt circled her wrist, growing angry and puffy.
“You sunburned against me?” She couldn’t believe it. Students were forbidden to burn outside of training. Plus, it was always forbidden to use burning to harm someone.
Koji shrank from her, his face a mix of emotions. “I told you,” he said. “You can’t fight someone with magic.”
“Just get out, Ko,” she said, suddenly unable to stand the sight of him. She pointed to the door. “Go!”
He fled, and she sagged against the door frame, hissing at the pain. She’d need to go to the hospital ward and get a poultice to soothe the pain. Tears stung her eyes, but she welcomed them this time. They left hot streams down her cheeks, fueling her anger. Be patient. Wait. It’s coming; you’ll see. That’s all anyone ever told her! Well, she was sick to death of waiting. And she wouldn’t do it anymore. It was time to take matters into her own hands.
After stopping by the hospital ward for a cooling balm for her wrist, Rika skulked about the palace eavesdropping on her father’s preparations. Hiro would lead a team of three sunburners (including Master Tato) and two moonburners. The beach where the foreigners had landed was only about ten leagues from Yoshai, and so they would ride lion-horses, rather than flying on golden eagles, with the hope that they would give the invaders time to prepare for their presence, rather than see a sudden landing as a threat. They would set up camp on the outskirts of Antila, the little fishing village on the seaside. From there, they would send an emissary to invite the leader of the new arrivals to treat with them.
In the meantime, Rika made her own preparations. Her excitement was like a taut bowstring; it took all of her self-control to hold in her excitement. As much as she wanted to, she knew she couldn’t tell anyone what she intended, not even Oma or Sadele. She packed her supplies: her cloak and a change of sensible clothes, her hunting knife, flint for starting a fire, thin leather rope to set a snare for game, a small medical kit with herbs, gut and a needle for sewing wounds. Both her mother and late grandmother were excellent healers, and though Rika wasn’t as passionate as they were, it was a sensible skill, so she had soaked up as much knowledge from them as she could. She threw a bedroll and a waterskin on the pile and went to the kitchens to steal some food.
Though Rika had grown up amongst these sandstone walls all her life, her clandestine mission lent a sense of newness to them. Suddenly, there was someone lurking around every corner, intent on foiling her plan. At one point, she heard her mother’s voice, and she darted into an empty room to let the queen pass by. She didn’t want any probing questions. Much to her chagrin, Rika wasn’t a very good liar. Or perhaps her parents were just able to sniff out a lie at fifty paces.
Luckily, the cook wasn’t so discerning and swallowed Rika’s cover story about a hunting trip without blinking. Rika helped herself to dried meat and fish, a few apples, a packet of nuts, and some hard cheese. She didn’t think she was going to be gone for more than a day or two. It would be enough. She swiped a hot honey cake on the way out, blowing to cool it as she called a thank you to the cook. The sticky pastries were her favorite, and she was feeling tremendously pleased with herself by the time she got back to her room, licking the sweet crumbs from her fingers.
Hiro’s team was to leave at sundown. Rika and Koji were summoned to the main courtyard to say goodbye. Enzo trotted next to Koji, too regal for words, his golden mane fluttering in the wind. Rika shot Koji a look of as much venom as she could muster, and for once, he looked away, rather than meeting her glare with one of his own. Clearly, he was still feeling guilty about sunburning against her and scalding her wrist earlier. Good. He should feel bad. What he had done was inexcusable. To use magic to harm was forbidden, except in cases of self-defense. And he could hardly argue that her arm-twisting justified true self-defense. It was a move Emi had taught twelve-year-olds how to elude. She huffed,
tossing her ebony hair over her shoulder. It didn’t matter. She would be gone from here within the hour, on her way to her destiny, to challenge these invaders and finally get her silver hair and magic and her seishen. When she returned, he would have nothing to lord over her. She relished the prospect.
Hiro and Kai were wrapped in a tight embrace, murmuring into each other’s ears. When they finally pulled back, they shared a long kiss, and Rika looked away, drumming her fingers in impatience. Yes, the whole kingdom knows you’re desperately in love, she thought. Let’s get on with it!
Hiro went to say goodbye to Koji first, placing a big hand on the side of his son’s face. Ryu stalked at his side like a shadow. “Take care of your mother while I’m gone. No pranks or provoking your sister or running off. This is a dangerous time, and your mother needs to be focused on running this country, not chasing her errant children.”
Rika swallowed her guilt at that. Mother would be fine. She’d leave a note.
Koji nodded as Hiro continued. “I love you, son. Be safe.” He pulled him into a hug. They were the same height now, Rika realized. Hiro still dwarfed Koji with his bulk, but they were even, head to head. When had her brother gotten so big?
Then Hiro turned to Rika, his green eyes full of concern. He drew her to the side, where he could speak to her without her brother hearing. He took her hands in his own and kissed one. His hands were calloused, rough. “My little girl, you’re all grown up. More beautiful and smart than your mother and I could have ever hoped.”
“Dad—” Rika rolled her eyes.
“I’m serious. This world has treated you unfairly. Made you wait and wonder about something that should have been your birthright. And you have handled it with grace and poise. Most of the time.” A smile flicked across his face, and she swallowed the lump in her throat.
“You must be patient a bit longer. I know you must be thinking of the prophecy, but we don’t know what we’re dealing with here. Don’t try anything that could put you at risk. Promise me.”
She averted her eyes, examining veins of the stones beneath her feet, nodding.
“Say it.”
“I promise.” The words were a whisper. I’m sorry, Father, she thought, but I can’t make that promise. Guilt needled at her. She hated to lie to him. But she must. And he must believe her. She straightened, meeting his eyes. “I promise. But don’t talk like this. It feels like you’re saying goodbye.”
“I don’t know what we’ll be facing. A warrior prepares for all outcomes.”
“No,” she said. “Prepare to come home. That’s the only outcome we’ll accept.”
He chuckled. “As stubborn as your mother. I’m a fool, but it only makes me love you more.” He pulled her into a hug, and she closed her eyes, breathing in his scent of oiled leather and fresh mint. He released her and turned. She knelt and opened her arms to Ryu to give him a hug too, squeezing his fluffy lion mane tightly in her arms. “Keep him safe, Ryu,” she whispered in his ear as his wiry whiskers tickled her neck.
“I always do,” he rumbled back.
“Take care of Master Tato,” she called to Hiro. “He’s hopeless with a sword.” The librarian was far enough from her that he didn’t turn as his name.
Hiro winked at her and strode from the courtyard—Ryu at his side—in an instant shedding the skin of father and husband and king, and donning the aspect of warrior. He didn’t look back.
Rika managed an encouraging smile for her mother, who stood, her hand to her heart, worry lining her brow. Then Rika was off, turning and slipping through the corridors back to her room to grab her bag and bedroll. She quickly changed into plain clothes—thick, chocolate brown leggings, a deep purple tunic belted with a plain leather obi, and sturdy lace-up leather boots, worn in from years of training, hunting, and riding outside the city. She twisted her long, black hair into a bun, securing it with two wooden hair sticks. She wanted to jump with giddiness. She was ready.
She took the servants’ hallways through the palace, making her way down to the stable. The lion horses, the huge hybrid creatures favored by armored sunburners, were kept in a separate stable from the horses, so this one was relatively deserted. She pulled her horse’s tack off the wall and slipped inside his stall, dropping her bag. “Hello, Michi,” she said, giving the bay a scratch behind the ears. He shook his head, seeming surprised to see her. “We’re going on an adventure,” she whispered, sliding the bit into his mouth and the halter over his flicking ears.
She finished saddling Michi and stole across the stable to scoop out a small bag of grain to add to her food stores. There should be plenty of grass for Michi, but he liked oats, and he would be in a better mood if she had a little treat for him at the end of their ride. Michi huffed at the bag in curiosity as she stuffed it down beside her cloak and other food. “For later,” she whispered.
Rika opened the stall door and led him out into the starry night, her heart thundering in her chest. They walked towards the side entrance of the palace, Rika cringing as the iron shoes on Michi’s hooves clanged against the stones of the courtyard. The sound seemed deafening—she was sure her mother would come running any second. But no one did. At the gate, the guard nodded to her but didn’t inquire where she was going. She could hardly believe her good fortune. It took all her restraint to keep the smile of glee off her face as they walked under the arch of the high palace walls. On the other side, the smile broke out in earnest as she swung up onto Michi, nudging him forward with her heels. She had done it. She was on her way!
CHAPTER 5
THOUGH RIKA WANTED to urge Michi into a gallop, she reined him in when they were a few streets away from the palace, settling into his rocking gait. It wouldn’t do her any good to attract attention by trampling some innocent Yoshian citizen in her haste to get out of the city. Rika almost never traveled anywhere without at least one or two guards, and so it felt strange to be alone. Strangely freeing.
It took her about half an hour to make her way through the winding streets of the city, past street vendors offering fragrant vats of spicy noodles, people drinking sake at sidewalk cafes, shopkeepers blowing out lanterns and locking their doors for the night. Yoshai was by no means a perfect city—it had its share of crime, poverty, and unrest—but Rika loved it. Everything felt so deliberate, as if some divine hand had planted the buildings where they sat. From the colorful tile roofs to the fragrant blooming vines clinging to sandstone walls, right down to the ornamental grates covering the storm drains. There was a loveliness and care about it that she hadn’t seen when she visited Kyuden or Kistana, the other seats of her parents’ rule. According to Kai, Yoshai had been buried under the desert for most of her childhood, and it had only been the act of Taiyo, the sun god, that had raised it again. So perhaps there had been a divine hand in the city’s original creation.
Rika was headed for the Dragon Gate, a small pedestrian entrance in the southwest corner of the city. It was named for the elaborate carving of a serpentine dragon that slithered around the arched opening—so lifelike, its scales seemed to ripple as you walked beneath. Hiro and his soldiers were leaving through the main southern gate—the Sea Gate—and she planned to follow them south on a parallel track. Close, but far enough to stay out of sight. Once Hiro had made camp and it was too late to send her back, she would present herself. She’d have to take whatever punishment her father saw fit to give her, but whatever happened, it would be worth it. She would be right in the thick of things, the perfect spot for her powers to come to life.
The land south of the city walls was made up of rolling farmland that gave way to tall, sweet-smelling grass. Here, the cloudless sky stretched wide, a velvet blanket dotted with glittering stars. With no walls to keep them at bay, it seemed as if the heavens stretched down low, reaching out to touch her. The constellations winked cheerfully at her—the black tortoise that guarded the northern star, the red phoenix standing in the south, the white tiger in the west. Her favorite constellation, the clever fo
x, seemed especially close, starlight wagging the cluster of five stars that made up its bushy tail. She stretched a hand up, imagining she could scoop him up and bring him down to Earth, to ride on her saddle like Quitsu. When her neck began to ache, she finally looked back to Earth, giving the fox a little wave goodbye.
She rode for an hour or so in silence, listening to the clicking of the wild koumidi, the little bats whose tame brothers they used to send messages. The air was warm, but a wind blew from the south, bringing the tang of salt and something else. Something that tasted bitter on her tongue. She shivered, her skin prickling, her senses roaring to awareness. It was then that she realized that she was being followed.
She wasn’t sure what first clued her in. The nervous swiveling of Michi’s ears, perhaps, as if he were searching for something. Or maybe it was the sound of the grass slipping past the muscular legs of a beast. Beast, or man? Rika resisted the powerful urge to turn about in her saddle and confront the interloper, knowing that it was hard to defend herself on horseback. Should she kick Michi to a gallop and put distance between them? But that might alert her father to her presence. The road wasn’t far from her current position, and he likely had at least one man scouting around their position as they traveled. No, if this person intended her harm, they would be doing a better job of stalking her. If they were here to fetch her back to the palace, they would have announced themselves. That left just one person it could be.
She reined in Michi, making a show of yawning, stretching her arms wide. She swung down from the saddle, her knees popping. She opened one of her saddlebags, rummaging around for a piece of dried salmon. She actually was hungry. A break couldn’t hurt. She stood, munching, watching the dark horizon where she knew the ocean to be. She took a swig from her waterskin. A twig crunched behind her. She whirled and darted for the noise, tackling it into the thick grass.
