Would she heal? He wanted her to. He wanted her to be what she was, yet with that came uncertainty as to what she could truly become when her powers were restored. And once she had the ability to hide from him and run, would she do so at the first opportunity?
It was not something he could do anything about. The only certainty he had now was that he couldn’t kill her. No matter what she was, what she would become or what threat she posed to him, he could only protect her.
He looked out into the ocean and breathed in the fresh, pure scent of the world. It had seemed like so long since he could take a breath without magic filling his senses. But he knew it was out there and, despite the comfort it gave him, it worried him that he couldn’t sense it now.
He turned back for the house and found himself a quiet, dusty corner for the night.
The following morning, they sailed out for the next biggest island. One he knew had seen much during the war. A musty scent pervaded the air as they grew closer, and broken, burned cottages marred the hills. It seemed very real. Despite the years since the fighting, Remi wondered if he would still see blood on the grass.
Although the world had tried to reclaim the land, the horror that had occurred there was still evident. As he waded ashore, Remi could see the glint of white bones amidst the grass and stones. He entered a small cottage, or at least what remained of it. Scorch marks covered the walls, some of which had fallen down along with part of the roof, but he could see that was due to a lack of maintenance. Bones covered the floor. Some of them may have been pulled at by animals, but many remained where they had fallen. Remi wondered whether the animals wouldn’t touch the magics.
He knew that, during the war, they had killed all those with magic, no matter who they were—yet he was surprised to see smaller bones, clearly children. He wondered what killing a child would do to a man. Women would have died as well. He felt a different war here. Perhaps it was his sword pushing into Lis that had changed his feelings about such a fight.
He could still see the determination and pain on her face as the metal pressed against her too-soft skin, the fear that flashed across her face as the sword actually pushed deeper inside her. Terror had washed over him in that moment, terror that he might have actually killed her. And when he had withdrawn the sword, the lack of a fizzle confused him. He wondered if he had been misled.
He worked his way to the top of the island, through the death and destruction and out to a place where he could look over the world. He turned slowly, taking in the whole island, and for a moment he could hear the battle: the death, the screaming and the swords.
He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. The musty scent that had met him as he came ashore was thick, but it was tinged with something else. Almost a hum of magic, but not quite. Then it overwhelmed him, flooded through him, and he wondered if it was the ghosts of the island. The magic felt solid around him. He turned back for the village, looking over the calm movement of his soldiers searching cottages and hillsides. He wondered only briefly what they thought might have happened here when the first fireball fell from the sky.
‘Magics!’ he screamed, but it was redundant. The soldiers were already moving, swords flashing, shields deflecting fire. A strong wind blew up around him, knocking him from his feet. Thankfully, he had his sword already in his hand and used it to prevent himself from falling, the tip digging into the dirt. As the sand blew about his face and stung his eyes, he was sure he saw another child half buried before him.
By the time he regained his composure and moved down the hill towards the shouting, it was all over. Men lay tired but unharmed. He looked out towards the sea. The boat they had travelled on burned in the bay, and another ship sailed out and around it, disappearing quickly against the rough waves.
They were out here, and he had lost them. And for the moment, he couldn’t follow. He watched them disappear into the horizon, then sank down into the grass. They hadn’t fought like he had expected them to, and he wondered for a moment if they were survivors of the island rather than the magics he sought. Could they be different? Could there be magics who would be allies rather than enemies?
He shook his head, dispelling the idea, then looked again over the island.
‘Someone get out to the boat and put out those flames,’ he called. He could see movement on the ship. A couple men stripped their armour and took to the water. He only hoped they would be able to make it back to the Palace Isle. But then, he hadn’t done what he had set out to do. He would need more if he was to face his father’s displeasure at his leaving.
‘What are we to do, sire?’ a young soldier asked.
‘They were hiding here somewhere. Find the place; find anything to give us an idea of who they are and what they want.’
The man bowed and disappeared. The faint hum of magic still surrounded him, and Remi wondered whether something or someone else was still here. Fire and air. The various skills of the magics were no longer spoken of, but many texts referred to them. His father had wanted them destroyed, wiped from the world along with any idea of magic. But they needed to know what they were fighting, and some of the earlier hunters had kept good records and kept those records safe. The only magic not recorded was of the Hidden, who had been only a rumour.
Remi now knew them to be true, only he knew nothing of what they could do. Lis had shown great strength, but he wasn’t sure what she had done. In a way, it was like she had pushed the others back. Did she even know herself what she had done to save them?
He resolved to talk with her when he returned, to see what she could do, what she knew, and what she might be willing to share with him. He wasn’t sure it would be everything, but she was all he had as a reference.
Remi walked back to his place at the top of the hill and then over to the other side. The water stretched on to the horizon, uninterrupted on this side of the island as well. He wondered what might be out there that hadn’t been mapped. He slipped on the steep gravel path and reached out to the tree by the side, but the branch was rubbery, and he landed on his seat in the dirt. He looked at the branch in his hand and let it go. The tree sprang back to its original position, and he climbed to his feet to look over it. It wasn’t natural at all. The bark, although appearing rough, was smooth, and the leaves were hard to pull off. Remi pulled it again and watched as it bent like bamboo. Behind it, a darkness opened in the hillside. Remi let the tree snap back and stepped back to the top of the hill.
‘Fetch me a torch,’ he called.
After some moments, a soldier appeared with a torch blazing in his hand. ‘What have you found?’
‘I’m not sure,’ Remi said. Moving carefully over to the tree, he pulled it back. The man looked with raised eyebrows and, without hesitation, headed into the darkness with the torch held out before him.
Chapter 10
The room lit up around them as strange shadows played out across the walls. It had been carved deep in the hill from the earth and, although simple, it appeared many had been living here for some time. Without his falling and finding the strange magicked tree, Remi knew this place would have remained hidden for some time.
The soldier with him reached for a pot on the table.
‘Don’t touch anything,’ Remi said.
‘They won’t be back.’
‘They may be. And if it looks as though we haven’t found this place, they may feel safe to use it again.’
The man nodded and withdrew his hand. Remi circled the large table that sat in the middle of the room. Curtains hung from the cavern wall, behind which were shelves of food and stores. Bedding was rolled up along the other wall. Unlit lanterns dotted the space. He wondered if they lived here all the time or only used it to hide. At the back of the room, a small crawl space was cut into the rock.
‘Wait here,’ Remi ordered. He crawled into the darkness and discovered a narrow tunnel that ran deeper into the hillside. It was dimly lit, although he didn’t understand how. It was tight, but Remi trav
elled quite quickly on his hands and knees. When the tunnel came to an abrupt end, he banged his head on the wall. As he sat back to rub his head, he realised the ceiling above him had been cut away.
He reached up and then stood. It was light in the shaft above him, and he noticed steps cut into the wall. He took a breath and climbed. It felt like a long time climbing, but it grew lighter the higher he got. Eventually, when he reached out, he felt wood. He pushed and found himself inside one of the abandoned cottages with a clear view across the sea towards the main islands of the Empire.
They saw us coming. He closed the hatch and started back down.
‘Can you hear me?’ he asked the darkness.
‘Your Highness?’ came the reply, and Remi smiled. They knew what they were doing. But how could they get so many out so quickly? he wondered as he made his way back to the room. Or were there not as many as they thought hiding in the dark?
‘Any other crawl ways or trapdoors?’ he asked once he was standing back inside the room.
The other man shook his head.
When they headed back out into the sunshine, Remi wondered how long he could remain locked away from the world if needed. He thought of Lis, locked away in her little palace, unable to even enjoy the garden due to the number of soldiers occupying it.
But then she wasn’t in the dark; she was surrounded by friends. And it was for her own protection. Although he wondered if she considered the two maids and a healer as friends. Yang certainly was, and there was more to his friendship with her and the maid who had looked after his mother. She would do anything for Lis, Remi thought. Despite what she was—or did she not know?
He shook his head. There were bigger problems now. He had found proof magics were hiding in the Empire, only now he didn’t know where. And they had been determined to kill the hidden princess. His hidden princess. He needed to get back to her to ensure she was safe.
‘How is the boat?’ he asked the first man he came across.
‘Sailable, although our captain thinks it will be a slow trip.’
‘We just need to get to the nearest island and find another. I want us back on the Palace Isle before nightfall.’
‘I don’t think…’
‘I don’t care what you think. You will make it happen.’
The man bowed and raced away. He had been gone too long already, and with little to show for it.
Lis woke to the sound of the gate, pushed the healer away from her feet and was out of bed when the door opened. Wei-Song sighed in her sleep. Lis was tempted to wake her, but she didn’t want to draw attention to herself. She stood in the shadows and watched the dark shape of a man creep into her little home.
It was not what she had thought she would consider the little palace. In the last few days, with quiet reading and conversations with Yang and Wei-Song around so many issues—while Mu-Phi kept her opinions to herself—Lis had relaxed into her little world. The tutors had returned that day. The lessons were brief but, as Yang had said, they were starting to see that she knew far more than they had given her credit for, and so they had started to stretch her learning beyond what she’d thought they would.
The man reached her bed and leaned over Yang before looking about. Lis had wondered if the soldiers would allow someone in rather than protect her as the prince had promised. But then, someone determined to kill her might not move quite so quietly.
She squatted down by the table and breathed lightly into the coals beneath the kettle. They glowed red, lighting the room briefly. In the red glow, the prince turned her way, his face worried, his eyes wide.
‘What has happened?’ she asked, stepping forward.
His eyes stayed on the coals for a moment before he looked at her, real concern etched on his face. She wondered if he worried what she might do to him.
‘What is it?’ she asked again, the fear more evident in her voice than she wanted to show him.
He shook his head.
A gentle light lit the room as a candle sparked to life. Wei-Song stood with it in her hand. ‘What did you find?’ she asked him.
But he didn’t take his eyes from Lis, who gulped under his intense stare. Yang murmured in his sleep, moving across the bed to lie where Lis had been, and the look on the prince’s face changed to anger.
Lis was tempted to see if she could hide from him. And she wondered if Yang should as well. In the time she had been too ill to leave her bed, Wei-Song had taught him to hide, but he’d had little time to practice. He had grinned so broadly when he’d discovered what he could do, and he had immediately launched into all the places he would like to test it. The idea of it made her smile, but then there was the fear of what Mu-Phi might do if she learnt the healer was not a hunter, but a Hidden too.
Despite the efforts of Yang and Wei-Song to make things as easy as possible for Lis, she still didn’t sleep as deeply as she needed, and although the mark on her stomach had healed and the creeping rot had vanished, she could still feel the cold steel inside her skin.
She had relaxed without the prince’s constant visits. Although she missed him and his warm body of a night, she had felt a freedom she hadn’t felt in some time.
Lis lifted the little kettle over the coals and handed it to Wei-Song. ‘Fetch water,’ she said, ‘and wake that useless maid. Her prince is here and requires whatever it is she provides him.’ She sat with a sigh at the table.
‘I did not mean to wake you,’ the prince said, standing tall and rigid and unmoving.
‘But you did. What can I do for you?’
‘I wanted to check that you were well. The magics…’
‘What about the magics?’ she asked, interrupting him. ‘Did you find them?’
He shook his head. ‘I found where they were, but I fear they have returned to the Palace Isle.’
‘I haven’t felt them,’ Lis said quickly, looking beyond him at Wei-Song as she stepped forward with the kettle.
‘They may not be close, but they may have had the time to plan.’
‘They have been planning this for a long time. Where were they?’ she asked.
‘On a distant island.’
Lis allowed her head to drop into her arms. ‘This is never going to end,’ she murmured.
‘We will not let them get close.’
‘You haven’t been able to stop them in the past,’ she murmured.
‘It is my objective to keep you alive,’ he said, his voice carrying frustration.
She squeezed her eyes closed. ‘Would it not be easier to let me die?’
‘Why do you do that?’ he asked.
‘Consider what your life was before I came. What it would be if I were not here. I have to admit that my life was easier without you in it,’ she added softly.
He sighed, but he didn’t move.
‘Your Highness,’ Mu-Phi said, her voice still thick with sleep. ‘What can I do for you?’
‘I don’t want her here,’ Lis said, lifting her head slowly. ‘She is not keeping me safe.’
‘She has much practice; she is a strong soldier. She was on the guard that watched over the former crown prince,’ Remi said.
‘And she did not save him.’
Mu-Phi lunged at Lis, and as Wei-Song held out her hand, Lis held her own up, blocking the woman. Mu-Phi pushed against the barrier, face twisted in anger, arms swinging. A hot anger flooded over Lis.
‘Do you share with this prince what you did the last?’ she asked, not hiding the venom in her voice.
‘No,’ they both said in unison.
‘So there was something.’ Lis lowered her hand and allowed the shield to drop, causing Mu-Phi to overbalance. ‘I don’t care if you fill my courtyard with men—they may stand in the doorways and by the table and over my bed, if that gives you comfort—but I want her out.’ Lis tried to keep her voice level, but she couldn’t look at them.
The prince sat at the table opposite her and waved everyone else from the room. Wei-Song waited a moment before she dragg
ed the poor healer with her.
Lis poured water into a cup. It sat between them as the prince’s eyes studied her again.
‘You have your strength back,’ he said.
She nodded once.
‘And will you run away?’
‘Where would I run to?’ she asked.
He sighed.
‘I have already made my promises to you, but it is never enough. Are we to live the rest of our lives like this? Or is mine to be shortened, as you threaten me with each time I see you?’
‘Do I?’ he asked, reaching for the cup.
‘What do you want?’ she asked. ‘What do you think I can give you?’
‘That is an interesting question. I’m not sure I have an answer. Yet despite our differences, I would still like for you to remain as you are, the hidden princess. I think you will make an excellent empress.’
‘A figurehead the people look to, with no real power.’
‘Do you want power?’ he asked, and she shook her head. ‘What do you want?’
‘No one asks that,’ she said, pouring another cup and sipping at it slowly.
‘I have asked.’
‘Why is there so much training, learning the ways of the world and history, when you will see less of me as Empress than you would as Hidden Princess?’
‘I think our traditions are changing,’ he murmured.
‘That does not answer the question.’
‘My mother acts as advisor to my father. She has a say.’
‘Is it heard?’ Lis asked, then bit her lip. She knew far more of what his mother had sacrificed than he did, and yet she had betrayed the Empire by hiding her child away. Lis looked towards the door and wondered who else might know this secret. There were those who referred to Wei-Song as Princess; they knew her history. As did the priestess.
The Magics of Rei-Een Box Set Page 35
