Julia Defiant

by Catherine Egan

“Well done,” she tells me, sinking into her chair. I can see the morning has taken a lot out of her, but I’m not much inclined to sympathy.

  “All very well to have the princess,” I say. “But what about Ko Dan? Or the Ankh-nu?”

  “I will visit Si Tan tomorrow,” she says.

  For a moment I’m speechless, and then I splutter: “You’ll visit him? Why am I sneaking around getting assaulted and kidnapped when you’re just going to go sauntering into the monastery or the Imperial Gardens for a chat? Why didn’t you do that to begin with?”

  “It is a last resort, Julia,” Mrs. Och says wearily. “Perhaps I can persuade him to help us. If not, we will have to leave immediately.”

  I want to kick my chair over and storm out of there, but not as much as I want to hear what she’s going to say next, so I stay put.

  “I need to know what passes between Gangzi and Lord Skaal today. We may have even less time than we think. You will go to the Imperial Gardens now and report straight back to me.”

  “Fine, I’ll go,” I say. “But d’you really think you can just go have a chat with Si Tan and he’ll say, Oh, I understand completely, look, I’ve got Ko Dan stashed in this cupboard, you can borrow him whenever you like, and here is the Ankh-nu as well?”

  She stares at me unsmilingly. “No, I do not anticipate that. But I will see what I can get from him.”

  I can tell I’ve been dismissed, so I get up. I’m almost out the door when she says, “You are doing well, Julia. You really are…most remarkable.”

  “Thank you,” I say, a bit taken aback by this. She looks terribly tired. Professor Baranyi helps her toward her bed, and I go out, closing the door behind me.

  Spira City will be only beginning to shake off winter’s clutches, but today feels almost like summer in Tianshi. The air is warm, and the Imperial Gardens are full of the smell of flowering trees, pollen drifting on the breeze. For all that it frightens me to think about what I am, what might be in me that enables me to walk the edge of the world, unseen, I can’t deny that at times like these I enjoy it tremendously—walking right past the Ru, slipping through the gate and making my way through this forbidden sanctuary and up the steps toward the pavilion.

  It seems that I am just in time. Si Tan is there with Gangzi at his side, exchanging elaborate greetings with the ambassador and Lord Skaal, who is dressed unprepossessingly in a long black coat and riding clothes. A servant comes with drinks and little cakes, and Si Tan begs his visitors to sit. His tone is gracious, as always, but his eyes are like flint. He is an intimidating figure, but Lord Skaal does not appear to be intimidated in the slightest.

  Once the servant is gone, Si Tan breaks the brief silence: “Lord Skaal, I am pleased to meet you. I have heard some interesting things about you. They say you are Agoston Horthy’s most prized official and that you have almost single-handedly eliminated magic from Frayne. Which seems surprising, given the rumors I have heard of your own background.”

  “People love to invent stories, and I’m sure my exploits have been exaggerated,” says Lord Skaal coolly.

  “Your prime minister is lucky to have you,” says Si Tan.

  “It is I who am lucky to serve under him,” Lord Skaal returns. “Please, thank Gangzi for agreeing to speak with me. I am most grateful to have you here as a translator, Lord Grand Librarian. I’m afraid I speak no Yongwen at all.”

  Si Tan smiles thinly. “If you mean to take up this matter of visiting the monastery, I am afraid you will have no more luck than your predecessors in persuading Gangzi to go against his honor.”

  “Indeed, you have refused all that the good ambassador here has offered you thus far in exchange for the girl pretending to be the traitor Roparzh’s daughter,” says Lord Skaal. “I wonder if there is any inducement we can offer.”

  He doesn’t pose it as a question, but he pauses. Si Tan murmurs to Gangzi in Yongwen, and Gangzi, in a cracked, angry voice, responds at length. Si Tan seems to do some editing in his translation, which is briefer:

  “There is nothing, no threat or reward, that your tiny kingdom can realistically offer to tempt or compel Gangzi. He is not interested in anything more you have to say. However, I would be glad to give you a tour of the Imperial Gardens.”

  “I do hope you appreciate the fact that we haven’t just gone and snatched her,” says Lord Skaal.

  Si Tan raises his eyebrows. “If you made an assault on the monastery, Lord Skaal, Yongguo would crush Frayne utterly in swift and justified vengeance.”

  The ambassador’s jaw drops. He would be a terrible poker player. But Lord Skaal is unfazed.

  “To be sure. As a matter of fact, I didn’t come here only to plead for entry to the monastery. I have some news, as well. Agoston Horthy wanted me to inform you in person that Lady Laroche has been captured, charged with witchcraft and treason, found guilty, and sentenced to death.”

  Lady Laroche. Count Fournier called her his aunt, said she was the head of the Sidhar Coven in Frayne. No wonder he hasn’t heard from her in a while. I’m not going to enjoy delivering that news to him.

  Si Tan doesn’t miss a beat. “The penalty in Frayne for treason is hanging, and the penalty for witchcraft is drowning. Which did you choose? Or did you attempt both?”

  “The prime minister’s intent, after getting whatever information from her he could, was to behead her first, before casting her body into the river Syne, so that the head could be sent to you as proof. I understand your reluctance to break your agreement with such a lady, but now that the lady herself has expired, surely we can come to our own agreement.”

  Si Tan translates this to Gangzi, who rises and does a fair bit of shouting and spitting and finger waving before hunching back into his seat.

  “He doesn’t seem happy,” remarks Lord Skaal. “Was he fond of the lady?”

  “He is expressing disgust at your barbarism,” says Si Tan. “You are such backward fools, he says, with your heads in the sand, imagining you can eradicate something as elemental as magic. Might as well try to fight the air we breathe, et cetera, et cetera.”

  “Perhaps he is right,” says Lord Skaal. “Nevertheless, the lady is dead by now, as are most of her associates. There is no reason for you to keep hanging on to the girl. What use is she to you?”

  Si Tan translates. Gangzi creases his face and mutters something in reply.

  “Gangzi does not intend to do anything for you because he does not like you,” says Si Tan. “Shou-shu is peaceful and independent. The monks have no quarrel with outsiders, and outsiders have always given them the respect due to them. The monastery stood unguarded for centuries because it had no need of guards. If you desecrate that place by breaching its walls without Gangzi’s permission, I have promised him that Yongguo will destroy Frayne. Shou-shu is a jewel in our country, and it is under our protection. Any defilement of the monastery will mean the annihilation of your little kingdom.”

  “Frayne is rather a distance,” remarks Lord Skaal. “An awful lot of mountains to cross in one direction, and an awful lot of ocean in the other. Can’t think it would be worth your while invading us for a girl that means nothing to you.”

  “I say nothing of a girl. I am talking about respect,” says Si Tan. While his voice remains calm and polite, it seems to me that his entire body thrums with violence. “You have no knowledge of magic, only your fear of it. You have no idea what our empire can do.”

  The ambassador has gone quite white. He bursts in: “No need to talk of war, my friends! We have come here openly and honestly. There will be no desecration of the monastery.”

  “No, of course not,” says Lord Skaal smoothly. “I just thought the threat of invasion rather out of proportion.”

  Si Tan says nothing, and I’m thinking that our snatching the princess might have repercussions we hadn’t imagined, since surely the Fraynish delegation will be blamed for it.

  “Well then, it appears we have gotten nowhere,” says Lord Skaal. “If I can persuade this
fellow to like me, might he give me the girl? Is that really what all this hinges on? Shall I buy him a drink or let him beat me at cards? What do monks like to do, anyway?”

  “I do not think he can be persuaded to like you,” says Si Tan, smiling slightly.

  “Pity. In spite of all my charm. It causes me to doubt myself.” Lord Skaal rises, and the ambassador scrambles to his feet as well. They both bow to their hosts. Si Tan stands up, taller than both of them, and bows in return, but Gangzi just turns his head aside, staring through me, his face crinkled with contempt.

  “If you wish to extend your stay in Yongguo, come and see me again,” says Si Tan to Lord Skaal meaningfully. “I could find you a position here, if you wanted one.”

  The ambassador gapes again, but Lord Skaal only says, “That is very kind of you, but I am happy with my current position.”

  I follow closely as the two men are escorted to the gate by the Ru. The ambassador’s entourage is waiting outside with a small battalion of motor cabs.

  “The prime minister will not be pleased. What are we going to do?” says the ambassador in a low voice.

  Lord Skaal shrugs. “Lady Laroche is dead. The girl is no use to them; they’re just being disagreeable. They’ll turn her out eventually, and we’ll be on hand when they do. The main thing is that we know where she is and that we find out who is supporting her here. Clear them out of the way and the girl will be hung out to dry. Cheaper than the alternatives, honestly. Don’t worry, my good fellow.”

  “Well, you seem to have it in hand,” says the ambassador uncertainly.

  Lord Skaal laughs—the same pleasant laugh I remember.

  “I’d like to think so,” he says. “But nothing ever goes as one expects. Especially when dealing with people like these. We will speak again later. I have some other business I need to attend to in the city. I’ll go on foot.”

  “Alone?” asks the ambassador, shocked.

  “Yes.”

  “We’ll dine at six?”

  “I look forward to it.”

  Lord Skaal shakes the ambassador’s hand and sets off into the city with me at his heels. I am still so preoccupied with the fear of what our kidnapping of the princess might mean for Frayne that I don’t notice where we are going until we are right at the door of the Hundred Lantern Hotel.

  The girl behind the counter is rubbing her eyes with the heels of her palms. Lord Skaal approaches and drops a string of heavy coins on the counter, startling her. She gives him a wary look.

  “Looking for a foreign woman,” he says in Fraynish. He makes circles with his fingers, holding them up to his face like goggles and mimicking a whirring sound. “You know who I mean. Which room?”

  She shakes her head. He drops another string of coins in front of her, then draws back his coat to show her the pistol at his hip. “Go on,” he says. “It only gets worse from here.”

  She looks at the coins for a half second, then sweeps them off the counter into the pocket of her apron. She makes for the stairs, beckoning him to follow. Suddenly I have the feeling that we are being watched. I turn around, scanning the dining hall, but I see nobody, and Lord Skaal and the girl are already halfway up the stairs, so I run after them. In the hallway, the girl is pointing to a door. Lord Skaal mimes unlocking it, but she shakes her head vigorously and he shoos her away. My heart is in my throat as he knocks. No answer. He sniffs at the door, gives an impatient sigh, then backs up and kicks it down.

  “Sorry, were you sleeping?” he calls out, backing away from the door. He knows quite well who is behind it and what she is capable of. Still no reply. He approaches the broken door cautiously.

  “I came to say hello, since we both happen to be here in Tianshi. Thought I could buy you a drink.”

  He inches into the room, and I go after him.

  “Ah. There you are.”

  She is standing by the window, her curved knife in her hand. I find myself fixating on it, unable to look away from the bright blade. Hello, Pia’s knife edge, old friend.

  “You broke my door down because you want to buy me a drink?” she asks dryly.

  “Sorry—bit extreme, perhaps. Only I’m short on time and you weren’t opening up. Shall we call a truce and go down to the bar?”

  “No,” says Pia. “Tell me why I should not kill you.”

  “Because my mother would weep for me,” he says lightly. “Come, there is no reason for either of us to be killing the other. Though I’d feel better if you’d put that knife away.”

  She sheathes the knife and says, “I don’t need a knife to kill you.”

  “I’m sure you don’t,” he says. “But I really did come here to chat. After all, we’re very nearly allies, aren’t we? The prime minister thinks of Lord Casimir almost as a brother.”

  “A brother?” Her lip curls.

  “A mentor, perhaps,” says Lord Skaal.

  “A benefactor,” suggests Pia. “And too fearful an enemy to risk provoking.”

  “Well, that describes my relationship to my own brother quite well,” says Lord Skaal. “You see, it is as I said.”

  “Why are you in Tianshi?” she asks.

  “Do we have to do this standing across the room from each other? Can we at least sit down?”

  But there is nowhere to sit. The room is bare except for a bed that looks as if it has never been slept in and a nightstand.

  “No,” says Pia.

  “Very well, we’ll be uncomfortable if that is what you prefer. You know, I’ve been curious to meet you for a long time.” He looks around, looks at me with that one yellow eye, as if perturbed. For a moment my heart stalls, but no, he is only looking through me.

  “Why are you in Tianshi?” she asks again.

  “For Princess Zara, or whoever she is,” he says. “You know Lady Laroche?”

  “I know the lady,” says Pia, all ice.

  He looks in my direction again and says, “Somebody else is here.”

  Horror threads its way up my spine. Pia’s goggles whir. He steps toward me, and I pull back farther, far enough that I can barely make out his features and he is just a blurred silhouette, my fingers and toes tingling, that nothing-nowhere right at my back, ready for me to fall into it.

  I hear his voice only faintly, as if from very far away: “It is gone. Almost.”

  And Pia’s voice: “There is nobody here. Why are you asking me about Lady Laroche?”

  “She cut a deal with the Shou-shu monks a few years back and they took in Prince Roparzh’s daughter, or someone pretending to be his daughter. The ambassador tried to get her handed over as soon as he learned of it, but there was no budging Gangzi. We set about cutting off the princess’s organization at the roots, drowning the witches who made the deal and supported her. Capturing Lady Laroche was the final blow to the girl’s support system, and once it was done, I was sent here to try again to get hold of the girl and identify her.”

  I feel faint, so far back from the world. I ease a little closer so that I can feel my fingers and toes again. Their voices come clearer, though I still cannot make out the expressions on their faces.

  “You captured Lady Laroche?” asks Pia.

  “Personally,” says Lord Skaal with a bow. “I hope she was not a friend.”

  “No,” says Pia. There is something odd in her voice. “She was not that. Is she dead?”

  “Yes.”

  “I do not believe it.”

  “I assure you, it was quite the operation, and Agoston Horthy’s greatest triumph since he crushed the Lorian Uprising. What remains of the Sidhar Coven topples with her.”

  Pia is quiet.

  “Anyway, that’s what I am doing in Tianshi. Casimir supports Agoston Horthy’s efforts to get rid of this girl, particularly now that King Zey is so ill, but I doubt his interest in the matter is strong enough to send you, and I received no word. So what are you doing here?”

  “I am here for something else,” she says.

  “Yes, that’s what I w
as just implying,” he says, sardonic. “Is Casimir in Tianshi?”

  “No.”

  “His sister? Mrs. Och?”

  Pia’s goggles whir.

  “I am only curious. My orders concern the princess, that’s all.” He looks toward me, through me, again. “There it is again. This scent has been with me since I met with the grand librarian. I assumed—”

  “There is nobody here,” says Pia again.

  He gives a sniff. “Somebody is here,” he murmurs very softly, like a threatening purr. He can’t see me, I tell myself. He can’t see me.

  “I am tired of this game,” says Pia sharply. “It is time for you to leave.”

  He is uneasy now. “I have a very keen sense of smell, you know. I trust it over my eyesight. There is somebody else in this room with us.”

  “This is my room. It is not your concern.”

  “Then you know who it is?”

  She pauses and then says, “Yes.”

  I am torn between panicking and laughing. So they both know I’m here, but neither of them can actually see me.

  “You’ve been having me followed?” he asks, and when she doesn’t reply, he says, “Well, that seems unfriendly, but I’ll let it slide. Are you here because of that same old matter with the little boy? That has been bothering me a long time.”

  “Why should it bother you?”

  “I saw him once, you know. Obtained some samples—blood, tissue, hair. His pretty witch mother did not like me much. What is he?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Really? You don’t know?”

  “Nor do I care.”

  “Would you be interested to know what I found out about him when I ran my tests?”

  “No.”

  “What an incurious creature you are!” He glances toward me again. Since they know I am here anyway, I have allowed myself to draw a little closer. “You and I both know that there are a great many variations on the human. Some of us are born a little different, or become so later on. This boy, however—he is woven through and through with something potent, something incomprehensible. He is not touched by magic, he is made of magic, as far as I could tell. And the Xianren covet him. What could he be? How can you not wonder?”