The Lady of Toryn Anthology (Lady of Toryn trilogy)

by Charity Santiago

  Ashlyn stared at the floor, deliberately ignoring the lump in her throat, the tears that stung at the backs of her eyes. "I understand," she said softly.

  Kou shifted, glancing sideways at Skye- or maybe at Skye’s sword, which was balanced against the wooden beam next to the blond. The giant sword and its owner looked formidable enough on its own, but the magic-charged stanes that gleamed from its hilt added to its deadly intimidation factor.

  "I'd been here less than a month before Lord Li showed me shift." Kou drummed his fingers nervously on the floor, hunched over and looking more vulnerable by the moment. Almost like a child who was confessing to a lie. Ashlyn stayed still, waiting for him to continue.

  Finally he said, "This was a new magic, one that wasn't in the scrolls. Lord Li made me keep it a secret." Here he looked at Ashlyn, his gaze pleading. "I thought that we should take it to Cosmea and let the scholars study it, find out if there was any history of its use. I couldn't believe that he had found a magic that no one had ever discovered before- it just didn't seem possible. But Lord Li said that we had to hide it, keep it locked away, and Drago help me, I let him make that decision. I let him keep shift for himself while I tried to find mention of it in the Elders' scrolls."

  Kou shook his head, miserably tracing patterns on the mat beneath him. "It was a mystery to us all, you see. The other Lords had tried to use shift and could make nothing of it, and yet Lord Li could shape-shift with ease. One by one, each of the Lords endeavored to use the magic, but none could…except for him." He looked up, smoke-dark eyes hollow. "In the early months, I was forbidden from attempting the magic. After the Lords failed, Lord Li gave his consent for me to try."

  "Makes sense," Ashlyn said. Her heart was pounding and her mouth was dry, but she refused to show any emotion. The way Kou was talking about her father, the fact that he wasn't here to hold her and tell her that everything would be all right because he was her dad and he could make it okay again, was somehow scarier than the sickening display she'd seen in the basement. But it all seemed so impossible, so surreal.

  "I hate the feeling of shape-shifting," Kou admitted after a long pause. Done with drawing shapes on the floor, he had started to twist the long ends of his belt into complex knots. "Although it is really just a simple physical reconfiguration, your entire body feels as though it is being torn to pieces. I'm sure you could see it with Tag."

  "Yes, it was fairly obvious," Skye said, staring unsympathetically at the ceiling. "So go on. Why were you and Lord Li the only ones who could use the magic? And if it was just the two of you, then how do you explain that?" He jerked his chin towards the stairs, presumably referring to Tag's transformation.

  Kou wet his lips, eyes flicking back and forth from Skye to Ashlyn. "It took some time to understand why some could channel the magic, and some could not," he said. "I continued with my research until at last I found mention of the shift magic."

  "It's been discovered before?" Skye said, raising an eyebrow. Taking his sword in one hand, he slid down until he was sitting with his back against the support beam, and laid the weapon carefully across his lap.

  "Yes. Well- not in so many words. It was not called shift in a century long ago; in fact, it is not even mentioned in our Toryn scrolls. I read of it in a translated text from Cosmea, which spoke of an appearance-altering magic, so powerful and so dangerous that even the Angels themselves feared it. To protect themselves, and future generations, they buried it deep in the mountains of Na Michico."

  "So it- the magic- didn't start out here in Toryn?" Ashlyn asked, eyebrows knitting. She had no idea where this was going.

  "Not originally, no. In the text it says that one of the reasons the Angels were afraid of this magic was because its powers not only altered one's physical appearance, but one's mental capacities also. It could evolve itself to match the person who cast it- in the first instance, the Angels. They were, and as far as I know still are the only true masters of shift."

  He cleared his throat before going on, "The original Angels, unchanged by life on this planet, could wield it without danger, but later generations were too weak- too human to successfully maintain control over the magic. It began to change them. At first they dismissed it as something trivial. A passing illness, a head cold- whatever seemed fitting at the time. Eventually however, the infection worsened, and they realized the truth. Without the immunity of pure immortal blood, the magic began to overpower them. It began to control them."

  Ashlyn had heard stories about Kresmir's beginnings. She knew that all humans were descended from the Angels, at least in theory, and that life on the planet had been simple and unchallenging enough that the lesser members of the race eventually devolved into what they were now. Humanity. Personally, she'd pretty much always taken offense to that theory. But there wasn’t enough proof to dispel the lingering rumors.

  "Okay," she said, keeping her tone light. "I got the history lesson. Now tell me why you, my father and Tag are the lucky ones. Why doesn't everyone else get to wield this magic?"

  "I was just getting to that." Kou smiled faintly at her, but there was no humor in his expression. "Shift has been buried beneath Na Michico for the better part of two thousand years. The magic has already proven itself an evolving force. It could not lay dormant for such a length of time without some sort of mutation."

  Ashlyn nodded. It wasn’t unheard of. Some magics grew more powerful with time. Some stanes evolved into a different kind of magic entirely. It wasn’t common, but it also wasn’t impossible.

  "Based on what I have read and researched on magic adaptation," Kou said, "I believe that shift has made itself indigenous to Toryn, or more specifically, to the Li bloodline. Thousands of years ago, it called to the Angels, and they discovered it. This time it called to your father, and he was the one who found it, which was the magic's intention all along." He swallowed as he stared at Ashlyn. "The magic is calling to you now- it’s why you feel ill. Shift has changed itself so that only a Toryn whose veins flow with the blood of the Li clan is able to wield it."

  Blood of the Li clan.

  Ashlyn could have babbled for hours about how ridiculous the initial part of Kou's proposed theory was. He spoke as if the magic was thinking for itself, which was of course utterly impossible. But those five words- blood of the Li clan- stopped her cold. She stared blankly at Kou for a single heartbeat, then another. It took three more, and a sudden roaring in her ears, before Ashlyn realized what he had meant.

  The world abruptly tilted, and she started to her feet.

  "The blood of the Li clan," she said, "is my blood. My father's blood."

  He said nothing, perhaps waiting for her to realize what she was determined to deny. But Ashlyn was just warming up.

  "My blood," she growled, "is the blood of kings. Of ninjas and emperors and- and me- and you can't…you can't possibly claim to have even a toehold in my gene pool!" She knew she sounded like an absolute snob, but her righteous pride was more important to her than anything, and somehow she couldn't stop herself from halting this ridiculous charade. "I can trace my ancestors back a hundred generations. I know my grandfather's grandfather and every frigging one of his cousins by name and birthright. The line has never been broken. You are not Li. You are not, because it is simply not possible!" She turned away from Kou and began to pace the length of what used to be her bedroom, fuming.

  "Ashlyn," Kou said, standing and moving towards her.

  "What's more," Ashlyn continued, her voice rising with each word, "is that you are younger than me. Younger. Don't try to deny it. You can't be more than- what, sixteen? Seventeen?”

  "Seventeen," he said, "but, Ashlyn-" He tried to touch her arm. She shrugged him off and promptly stumbled over a steel trap, a remnant from the days she had lived here, which thankfully had already been tripped by some unlucky soul. Seeing it there and knowing that Kou had been staying in her house under false pretenses just made Ashlyn angrier.

  "This is just ridiculous! I'm app
alled you would even suggest a thing like that!" she spluttered, slapping a hand to her forehead as if it should be so completely obvious. "My father and I are the last of the Li bloodline."

  "Ashlyn!" Kou snapped, grabbing her arm and yanking her towards him. "You don't believe me? Fine. Have Skye try to use the magic. Any of your friends- try it. They won’t be able to. But you will.”

  "You're lying," she said evenly. "My father was faithful to my mother. He never even noticed another woman."

  "He noticed my mother," Kou said, dropping his hand to his side. "Tag's, too."

  A silence followed his vengeful reply as she stared at him in horror, the reality of his words sinking in through her denial.

  Kou, for his part, looked absolutely miserable. "I'm so sorry to tell you like this," he said. "He sent me away because he didn't want you to know. Even afterwards, when you'd been gone for so long, he couldn't acknowledge me outright as his son. I don't think he realized-"

  Ashlyn's knees gave out very suddenly, and she crumpled to the floor before the thought even registered that she didn't feel much like standing anymore. "You liar!" she cried, smashing a fist into the floor and sobbing with the pain. "I know what happened. I know you lied to my father and said you'd seen me die, just so you could worm your way into his good graces. You are a disgrace. The Li bloodline is pure. I am the Elder Heir! I am-" hiccup- "I am-" hiccup- "I am the only heir!"

  Skye was beside her now. As she moved to hit the floor again, he intercepted her hands, preventing her from injuring herself. "Leave," he said to Kou. "We'll continue this later."

  Ashlyn pulled free and wrapped her arms around herself, sobbing uselessly. Keeping his hand on her shoulder, Skye stood and faced Kou, and she found herself wishing that the swordsman would simply kill this awful man, this strange ninja who had deceived her from the beginning and now claimed to share her birthright.

  "This cannot wait much longer," Kou said. "There are things I must say-"

  "You have said enough," Skye cut him off, and even in her distress Ashlyn could feel the anger radiating off of him in waves, the unspoken challenge that she knew no man in his right mind would accept.

  Kou hesitated a moment longer, then nodded and turned, his sandals scraping against the wood floor in time with her own laboring heartbeat. Below, Ashlyn could still hear the horrible screams of the beast that had once been Tag, in the basement of what had once been her happy home.

  Chapter 12

  Severed Ties

  Ashlyn scrubbed at her legs with the sanding stone, water sloshing loudly against the sides of the metal tub in time with her furious movements. The dirt on her feet seemed to be encrusted there permanently, but that made no difference to Ashlyn. Her goal was the small symbol that had been tattooed on her left ankle at birth- the sign of the House of Li. The dark green ink was gone now, lost in a complex myriad of deep, criss-crossed scratches gouged into her tanned skin. Tiny rivulets of crimson dripped down her leg and swirled into intricate patterns in the water.

  "Pure of heart," she growled under her breath, rasping the stone jerkily back and forth across her ravaged skin. "Pure of blood, pure of flesh. Training for leadership, learning five languages- for what? To earn the respect of a womanizer who tainted an ancient bloodline and betrayed my mother for no reason besides…" She sniffled. "…besides common lust…"

  Her hand slipped and the stone scraped against the side of the tub, sending a metallic screech resounding through the tiny bathroom. Ashlyn shifted in the cold water, trying to ease the awkwardness of her position, but the tub was too narrow for any other angle of attack. Grimly, she braced her ankle up on the side of the tub again and continued scrubbing, noting for the first time how shriveled her bloodstained fingertips looked. No telling how long she'd been in here.

  There was a knock at the door. "Ashlyn?"

  It was Skye's voice.

  She contemplated for a long moment on how to answer, finally deciding against responding at all. What could she possibly have to say to him?

  "Ashlyn, come on out. I know that water's freezing by now." He hesitated. "The others are on their way. I…I told them what happened."

  Oh, great. Way to go, Skye, shout it to the masses and bring the rest of FLD to Toryn when they weren't even entirely sure of Kou's- Devlyn's- intentions. Ashlyn threw the remaining scrap of sanding stone down and wrapped her arms around herself, sinking nearly to her chin in crimson-tinged water. Maybe Skye would go away if she maintained her silence.

  Another knock. "Ashlyn, come on."

  Maybe not.

  Ashlyn took a deep breath before submerging herself entirely. She squeezed her eyes shut as the cold rushed up to meet her, every sound intensified, her entire world enveloped in an icy prison.

  If she could just stay underwater and stare at the backs of her eyelids all day, maybe she could find a way to regain some frigging trust in the human race again. Or she could drown while she was thinking about it. Either option was more appealing than talking to Skye right now.

  Even with her eyes closed, Ashlyn could feel them stinging. It wasn't from the soap she knew was lingering in the water- she felt like crying again, except that there was nothing left in her to cry. She was just a hollow shell, some sick, shriveled replica of a human. Her limbs were heavy, her eyes dry and scratchy, and she doubted there would be relief anytime soon.

  She laid there, arms folded across her chest, feeling the water tickling air bubbles at the end of her nose, her drifting hair eventually settling across her arms and stomach like a shield from the world above. It would be so easy just to stay here, breathe like she was breathing air instead of water, let herself go…

  Let everything go…

  Could she?

  She remembered Vargo, the expression on his face just before he had kissed her. His electric eyes alert, focused completely on her, his lips curving slightly as he leaned closer. Ashlyn recalled the way her heartbeat had quickened, even though he had been going exactly with her plan- even though she'd known that he would be kissing her and had steeled herself against it.

  Then she remembered that she'd puked afterwards.

  Reluctantly, she opened her eyes, exhaling slowly and watching the different hues of red shift above her. It was quiet, surreal- and quite like an old painting that she'd seen in the Eastern City mansion, flashes of crimson overlapped by jagged shards of burgundy, every color some variation of red, each one slightly different from the next, the darkest shades almost black. Ashlyn had been fascinated by the painting the moment she'd laid eyes on it, and often wondered if it was still there.

  Now she was seeing the painting in her bathwater, which really did not bode well for her mental state.

  Ashlyn sat up, slicking her hair back from her face and shivering as the cool air hit her skin. Even if the water hadn't been cold, she would have felt the chill. Autumn was slowly turning its back on the island. Winter would be here soon.

  She rested her forehead against the side of the metal tub, miserably staring at nothing at all.

  She took a deep breath, steeling herself against the emotion that racked her thoughts. This wasn't the way of a ninja. Self-pity was destructive in any situation, and this was no exception.

  Another knock sounded at the door, and Ashlyn groaned. "Skye," she yelled, and her voice must have bounced off the water because it seemed to echo back at her much louder, "can't you take a hint? Buzz off!"

  "It's not Skye, it's Tag," came the reply. "And I'm afraid you'll have to cut your bath short, Lady Li. Toryn is under attack."

  Ashlyn sprang out of the tub and scrambled into her kimono. "Under attack?" she demanded, flinging open the door as she belted the sash around her waist.

  Tag stood there with his hand up as if he were just about to knock on the door again. He was human now, mercifully bearing no resemblance to the monster who had tried to attack Ashlyn in her basement such a short time before.

  This was her brother.

  In a heartbeat, all th
e pain and heaviness that Ashlyn had been fighting for the past several hours came rushing back to hit her full-force. She almost staggered, physically staggered under the weight of her emotional burden. Tag's face, his eyes, so similar to her own and to her father's, danced before her like a mockery of all that she'd ever held dear.

  This was her brother. Her brother. Something deep inside of her told Ashlyn that this was a good thing, the knowledge that she wasn't alone, that someone could share the pressures of being the child of Lord Li. But instead the knowledge turned into a series of sharp edges, cutting her heart to pieces and telling her, over and over again, You are impure. Elder Heir no longer. You are disgraced.

  Ashlyn blinked and shook her head. Now was not the time.

  Behind Tag stood Restlyn and Vargo, looking very out-of-place among the sparse furnishings in Ashlyn's house. Ashlyn noted briefly that Restlyn had pulled her hair back into tight bun, looking a little more like herself.

  Vargo, on the other hand, was making no secret of the fact that he was enjoying the not-so-modest way the kimono clung to Ashlyn's wet skin.

  Scowling, Ashlyn folded her arms across her chest, stupidly attempting to maintain some modicum of dignity while water dripped down her chin. "Under attack by whom?" she asked Tag stiffly.

  Tag shifted his weight nervously from one foot to the other. "I…do not know, my Lady. Kou will be able to tell you more. He requested that you meet him at the gates."

  Ashlyn opened her mouth to reply, but Restlyn rushed forward suddenly. "What happened?" she exclaimed, falling to her knees in front of Ashlyn.

  "What are you-" Ashlyn broke off in a yelp and slapped her hands against the doorjamb to keep herself from falling as the dark-haired martial artist grabbed Ashlyn's left foot and yanked it forward. She swallowed hard when she saw her blood-streaked ankle and the gaping wound that had replaced her tattoo.

  "Ashlyn, this is down to the bone," Restlyn said, tucking an errant lock of hair behind her ear as she turned concerned eyes upward. "We need to have a healer look at it, or you could develop a serious infection."