Crown of the Starry Sky: Book 11 of Painting the Mists

by Patrick Laplante

  Cha Ming took something from her hands and inspected it. It was soft. Colored. “What’s this?”

  “For you,” Clever Dusk said. It looked like a braided piece of string. It was multicolored and shimmering. A beautiful bracelet, though he didn’t usually wear such things. It was the kind of thing a young girl would make for a friend.

  “It’s beautiful,” Cha Ming said.

  Her father smiled. “Take a closer look, lad.”

  Cha Ming did so. He focused on the bracelet, using his keen eyesight to inspect it in detail. Now that he really looked, it wasn’t a normal bracelet. Many colored threads had come together to make a thin band that sported a familiar pattern. The pattern made from the intersections of lines in the thread. The threads were not of a single color—they changed as required of the pattern.

  “Interesting,” Cha Ming said. He opened his eyes a second time. This time, he used his Eyes of Truth. His jaw dropped. The bracelet didn’t just incorporate the familiar pattern. It was enchanted, just like a talisman or runic weapon. Yet it wasn’t enchanted by virtue of inscription, formation stones, or paint. It was the cloth itself that was enchanted, despite its mundane base materials. No expensive demon silks or hides had been used to make it.

  “Do you like it?” Clever Dusk asked.

  “This is an early-rune-carving artifact,” Cha Ming said. “It offers soul protection.” Rare indeed.

  “Mental protection,” she corrected. “The soul is different. The soul is subtle, but the mind is sharp. If your mind is attacked, it will break. It will not bend like your soul.”

  “You made this?” Cha Ming asked. “Yourself?”

  “With my father,” she said. “It took half a day. It was very draining.”

  Huxian spurted beer from his mouth.

  “What’s so surprising about that?” Mi Fei asked. “Many natural materials can provide such effects.”

  Cha Ming looked at her. “She made this using ordinary materials. Moreover, she cooperated with someone else to make it, which is extremely difficult. The time she made it in was also very short. She’s a fledgling demon, Mi Fei, though her father is an early-grade demon.”

  “Oh, my cultivation advanced,” Clever Dusk said absently. “Something about a quest. Progeny of Ink. Space-time. Something like that. Maybe I gained so much because I was the first to make one?” This time, Xiao Bai’s jaw dropped as well.

  “Do you like it?” she asked, seemingly oblivious to the attention she was getting from two Godbeasts.

  “I like it very much,” Cha Ming said. “Will you be selling this?”

  “It is a gift, for showing us good things,” Clever Dusk said. “You will keep doing so, won’t you?”

  Huxian, who was trying his best to look calm, was sending him crazy amounts of mental messages.

  “While I have time, of course,” Cha Ming said. “Thank you for the gift, Clever Dusk. I’m sure it will be helpful.”

  “I think so as well,” she said, then looked around awkwardly. “Well, I will go teach this to the others. I think there will be many more good things we can make like this. Yes. That would be interesting, wouldn’t it?” Then, as an afterthought, she looked at Huxian. “Is this helpful?”

  “Absolutely,” Huxian and Silverwing said simultaneously.

  “Let me clear out an area for you,” Silverwing said. “If Gua objects, I’ll beat him up.”

  “That would be most appreciated,” Clever Dusk said.

  Silverwing escorted both Star-Eye Monkeys out of the room, leaving the two humans and their bonded Godbeasts.

  “Well,” Huxian said, “she’s strange, but wow, did we ever hit a gold mine.”

  “Treat them fairly,” Cha Ming warned.

  “What am I, a fiend?” Huxian said. “Of course I’ll treat them fairly. My word of honor on it. Anyway, that’s a great talent. I’ve heard of spider demons weaving enchantments, but not monkey demons. Especially something that works like armor. I’m telling you, demand will be through the roof.”

  “For armor?” Mi Fei asked. “No one uses armor. Except maybe soldiers.”

  “Yeah,” Huxian said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “First comes small bracelets, then before you know it, they’ll be making cloth. Naturally enchanted cloth. We’ll be able to make clothes that are both fashionable and offer substantial protection. There will be no need for expensive metal pieces. Won’t hamper movement in any way.”

  Xiao Bai sniffed. “The Runebound Python Clan does something similar.”

  “Yeah, but they physically cut runes into their flesh and use scarring to strengthen themselves,” Huxian said. “This is something that could be used by anyone. And it’s light!”

  “It’s good to know they’re good at something,” Cha Ming said.

  Mi Fei snorted. “You would have saved them anyway. You have knight-in-shining-armor complex.”

  Cha Ming coughed uncomfortably. “I’m not saying I wouldn’t have, but it’s good to know it won’t break the bank. Demons eat a lot.” Huxian nodded in agreement. “Anyway, it looks like I’ll be busy for the next while. We’ll have to delay our sparring.”

  “Special Night said she still needs a few days,” Mi Fei said. “Perhaps I’ll ask if she needs help.”

  “She was supposed to finish tomorrow,” Cha Ming said. “What happened?”

  “Her vendor backed out,” Mi Fei said. “No one knows why. Killjoy secured funds from her family and found someone else to work with her.”

  “Glad to know I’m not needed,” Cha Ming muttered.

  Mi Fei shrugged. “At least you have a job to do. I’m not so sure where I’m needed. You take care of things here, and I’ll deal with Killjoy and Special Night.” She left, and so did the others.

  Cha Ming retreated to his room and into the Clear Sky World. He entered the small shack on the mountain and took out the cracked jade tablet. His soul entered the piece, and while it stayed longer than it did most times, like all times, his soul came out empty-handed. He failed once again.

  “Just what am I missing?” Cha Ming wondered. He didn’t know, but he had a feeling. An inkling that whatever he was looking for, he would find it in that puzzle.

  Chapter 22: The Li Clan

  Three days passed. Three wonderful days of doing nothing more than sitting in a courtyard and peacefully studying his puzzle. He painted with the Clear Sky Brush, and where the paint passed, colors appeared from the tower itself.

  How interesting, Cha Ming thought as he finished the 150th stroke. He was successful, and the next sequence appeared. He was going for the 151st stroke now. To a beginner, that meant completing the same thing as before and adding a single stroke, but to Cha Ming, it wasn’t so simple. An extra stroke meant a world of difference.

  Adding an additional stroke was like adding an extra piece to a game. Say, a resource game. It was an important resource, among many other starting ones. The mere presence of this new resource would affect the entire game. It wasn’t just something you reacted to at the end. But how was this best done? How would an opponent react to it? This question could only be resolved by predicting the entire game.

  Cha Ming worked patiently, considering the other runes he had to work with. Some were major runes—they would decide how most of the puzzle unfolded. They were to this puzzle what karmic anomalies were to events on the Inkwell Plane. There was no avoiding their presence. Everything else would accommodate. They were focal points that needed to be answered in order of priority.

  This time, Cha Ming failed at the 121st stroke. He wasn’t disappointed. Rather, he was curious. Why had he failed? Fortunately, the puzzle no longer went backward now that he’d completed what he called the introductory sequence. It lingered on the 151st piece and would do so until he solved it.

  Ah, this rune was entangled with another, he thought. There’s an interaction effect with the new rune that rearranged the groupings in the puzzle.

  So it went. Three days of painting. Withou
t pause. Without rest. They were blissful and relaxing days. Yet he knew that they would soon have to end. He was not surprised when the door opened and Killjoy entered the shop. Cha Ming stowed the puzzle, and the group of Star-Eye Monkeys ended their training session, disappointed.

  “I’m afraid it’s time to end our sessions,” Cha Ming said to Clever Dusk.

  “I believe we have learned enough for now,” Clever Dusk said. “We can teach ourselves more on our own. We are not helpless now that we have a starting point.”

  “Trial and error is the way,” Shallow Moon said. “We will help the others.”

  “Then I wish you the best of luck,” Cha Ming said. “Stay safe.”

  “We will,” Clever Dusk said. And that was that. The father and daughter retreated, leaving Cha Ming alone with Killjoy.

  “What happened?” Cha Ming asked. Three days had passed, during which time no one had contacted him. Special Night ought to be done soon, and he had a feeling her success had much to do with Killjoy’s visit.

  “Raids picked up,” Killjoy said. “Merchants decided to try a new tactic. A sudden flood of ships and cargo.”

  “Bet you there was someone on the inside,” Cha Ming said. “How did it turn out?”

  “They didn’t listen to my advice,” Killjoy said. “There was massive damage, many casualties. No survivors. I’ve confirmed that the most expensive cargos have been taken. They didn’t even bother with the other routes and focused solely on shipments from Stargazer City and Shimmerwing City.”

  “Something tells me that’s not the only thing that happened,” Cha Ming said.

  Killjoy nodded. “Walk and talk?”

  “Sure,” Cha Ming said. They headed for the exit, passing through the sales area. The new fabrics were all the rage, and everyone was rushing to buy them. Huxian appeared on the way out, however.

  “Should I come with?” Huxian asked.

  “Stay here,” Cha Ming said. “I’m not leaving the city, and our guests need a guard. Besides, you can come find me anywhere in the city, right?”

  “Not across the whole city, but half, for sure,” Huxian said. His spatial affinity and their bond was very handy.

  “I’ll let you know,” Cha Ming said. They left the tailor shop in Killjoy’s personal grav ship. They didn’t fly off to the center of the city, but toward the outskirts. Cha Ming immediately saw where they were headed. “The Mi Clan?”

  “We’re going to need her, and her bunny friend is strong,” Killjoy said. “What? No objections?”

  “None,” Cha Ming said. The misunderstanding had persisted.

  Cha Ming watched the city’s buildings as they passed. From tall to short they went. People milled about their daily lives. Once again, he was drawn to the details. To the people. To individual ships. Each of these was a key element that decided how the daily traffic and everyone’s lives unfolded. If he had all this information, could he predict their behavior? It was difficult to say.

  Ten minutes into their drive, Killjoy finally answered the question he’d asked. “It was a passenger ship, Clear Sky,” Killjoy said. “Part of a convoy. They thought it would be safer because of the guard.”

  “Demons?” Cha Ming asked.

  “You know it,” Killjoy said. “Any guesses?”

  “Judging from what I know, it’s probably people from the Iridescent Phoenix Clan. Important people.”

  “Good guess,” Killjoy said. “Craftsmen. Famous ones. They were headed for a trade conference that, for some reason, no one thought to cancel.”

  “Was it a particularly important event?” Cha Ming asked.

  “It happens every ten years,” Killjoy said. “Stargazer City sent no one. They were smart. But the Iridescent Phoenix Clan is full of showboating birdbrains, and they couldn’t resist going. Even if it was risky. Thing is, now they’re angry. I’m sure you can imagine who they’re angry at.”

  “The Star-Eye Monkey Clan of course,” Cha Ming said. “The timing is inconvenient. We could have prevented this a day later. They knew we were coming.”

  “It’s possible I gave things away with my work,” Killjoy admitted.

  “No use worrying about it,” Cha Ming said. “What’s done is done. Have any of them been offered up for ransom?”

  “None,” Killjoy said.

  “I’d like to take a stab at who hired the ship with the passengers,” Cha Ming said.

  “That would be the Li Clan,” Killjoy said.

  “Killjoy, I was supposed to guess,” Cha Ming said.

  “But you already knew the answer,” Killjoy said. “I wasn’t surprised when I saw it either.”

  The Mi Clan estate was the largest of all the family estates—nearly twice the size of the Wei Clan estate—despite the family being less wealthy. It was less due to the size of their clan and more due to necessity. The Mi Clan grew many spirit plants and raised many bestial demons, the most expensive of which were raised directly on their estate.

  They waited a while at the entrance. They didn’t bother going inside. They knew they weren’t welcome. It didn’t take long for a woman to come flying out of the manor. Servants, and even some clan members, were chasing her, but she was yelling at them and fending them off. It was savage for a family exchange. It took a few minutes, but eventually they ducked into the household, resigned. Lady White was with Mi Fei, of course. She’d done most of the physical fending off.

  “I’m sorry about that,” Mi Fei said when they hopped onto the ship. “They get clingy whenever I’m back. They really don’t like me going out on missions.”

  “They’re wimps,” Xiao Bai said. “They’re also boring. It’s good you came to get us. Where are we going? Is there trouble? Are we fighting anyone?”

  “We’re going to the Li Clan,” Killjoy said. “Though my parents tried to raise me as a proper lady, I was never one for etiquette.”

  “I’m sure that’s it,” Mi Fei said. “In fact, I’m sure your clan’s feud with the Li Clan has nothing to do with it.”

  Killjoy grimaced. “To answer your question, Lady White, yes, there is trouble. We may fight someone, though that isn’t optimal.”

  “What will we be discussing?” Mi Fei asked.

  “We’re looking to determine if they know anything about what’s happening,” Killjoy said. She also explained the recent disappearances.

  “I’m not sure if I can help,” Mi Fei said. “From what I know, the Li family does not like other people getting involved in their problems. They’re territorial and evasive. Bringing any truth artifacts or a truth watcher or anyone of a similar profession would be particularly intrusive. They might refuse to speak altogether.”

  “They’d refuse the Guard?” Killjoy asked.

  “If they’re guilty, yes, but also out of principle,” Mi Fei said. “Not outright, of course. They’d see us. The more official this is, the less important people we will meet. They’ll send people who know nothing or just give us the runaround. You don’t have to directly answer a question to tell the truth.”

  “So no truth artifacts,” Killjoy said. “Troublesome.”

  “It is, but if we don’t abide by the custom, we’d be inviting other trouble,” Mi Fei said.

  “It would be best if you could get them to answer some questions directly,” Cha Ming said. “We might not have a truth artifact, but assuming their cultivation is low enough, I should be able to obtain some measure of their words.”

  “Your eyes?” Mi Fei asked.

  “Yes,” Cha Ming replied. “I should be able to tell if they’re lying. It’s not a perfect solution, and probably not legally binding, but it will give us some clues. Until Special Night gets our item crafted, we won’t be able to move anyhow.”

  “I’ll do what I can,” Mi Fei said. They flew back toward the center of the city.

  “Hello, dear guests,” said a rather flamboyant man mere moments after their entry into Li Metal & Trading Company. “How can I help the Kingfisher Guard at this auspicious ti
me?” He was disarming, well dressed, and extremely exaggerated in his expressions.

  “We simply had a few questions to ask you,” Cha Ming said. “Nothing serious. Perhaps we could find a more private setting to discuss?”

  “Of course, of course,” Li Yang said. “Come. Follow me.” He led their group of four across a large lobby that occupied many floors and a good half of the building.

  The Li Clan estate was a well-decorated place. It was filled with a combination of traditional artwork, including jade ornamentation and guardian dragons made of pure gold, as well as some more modern pieces of art. That included metal sculptures that were, in Cha Ming’s opinion, atrocious.

  “I’ve been expecting you,” Li Yang said. “I asked our staff to keep a lookout in case you came. Just let me know what I can do to help.”

  “Many thanks for taking the time to see us,” Mi Fei said, walking up beside Cha Ming.

  “And whom might this flower be?” Li Yang asked. “No! Don’t tell me. I’d recognize your smile anywhere. You must be from the Mi Clan. There are only a few of you in the Guard. I’m guessing… Mi Fei? Is that correct?”

  “Yes, you guessed correctly,” Mi Fei said. “You’re not doing bad yourself. I’ve only qualified for the Guard, and you’re a full manager in your family. You mustn’t be a hint over fifty.”

  “I’m fifty-five, but thanks for the compliment,” the man said. “This way.” He led them to an elevator, the type that you needed a key to take. He touched a glowing stone to a piece of jade, and the door opened. It functioned using a mixture of basic physical science and runic arts.

  Li Yang was a peak-rune-carving cultivator. Quite strong for his age. Most cultivators made their initial breakthroughs early in life, and advancement was much more difficult. Should he not advance past his current realm, Li Yang would still live to be a thousand years old. Thus the comment on how young he was. As for the next realm? Only a few key figures in any family ever reached the Rune Gathering Realm. Those who did would obtain the title of elder. As for the rest? They would work. Fulfill roles. Alternate between secluded cultivation for years at a time and active service. It was impossible to keep a member of your clan productive for a full thousand years. The slim hope of advancement kept them going throughout their long lifespan.