He staggered forward. The snow fell heavily across the square, soldiers and magics alike lying unmoving or slowly climbing to their feet. The dark clouds still hung thick above them. If the magics had been stopped, he had thought their magic would dissipate. But it hadn’t, and the lightning flashed.
Yang pulled himself to his feet and headed towards Wei-Song, who was kneeling in the snow. He couldn’t see Lis, but he was sure they were together. As he staggered towards them, the men on the ground starting to move. Magic flared in the air and a soldier cried out.
He couldn’t see her.
Wei-Song looked around, but when she locked eyes on Yang, she shook her head. Panic roiled in his stomach as he continued towards her. ‘Where is she?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know,’ she cried, surprising him by throwing herself into his arms as he dropped to his knees beside her.
‘What did she do?’
‘I think she was trying to slow him down, but he was too strong,’ she said.
Fire and lightning flared across the square, and Yang reluctantly pulled back from Wei-Song to help her to her feet. There wasn’t the same power behind the magic as there had been, and when he looked around he couldn’t see the prince.
Something dark and charred caught his eye. Despite the movement around him, Yang pushed forward, dragging Wei-Song behind him.
Could it be that they had killed each other? he wondered as he stood over the dark mass on the stones. The world was unnaturally quiet around him; maybe others had the same thought. Wei-Song squeezed his hand, and pain overwhelmed his senses.
‘Yang,’ Wei-Song’s voice echoed through the fog filling his mind. ‘She’s there,’ she whispered.
Hope filled his chest, pushing out the fear as he turned to look where Wei-Song pointed. They raced together towards the edge of the square.
At the entrance to a small street, he looked over Lis’s bruised and battered body. He leaned forward and grabbed clumsily at her wrist. She made no movement to resist him, and her hand hung limp. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the slow ebb of life running through her. He looked back over his shoulder towards where the magics had gone.
The magics had disappeared from the square. As some soldiers looked warily in their direction, the general and the hunter strode towards them. Lis remained unmoving.
‘Get her off the island,’ the general whispered hoarsely. ‘Take her home to her father to hide.’
‘Or bury,’ the hunter said, the tear clear on his cheek. Yang could feel the sadness pushing across the square.
Yang pulled her into his arms and staggered to his feet. Wei-Song put her hand to his elbow, and he felt the flow of magic give him strength. He bowed to the general and hurried through the soldiers who moved closer, worried they may realise she was not as dead as they believed. He didn’t know how they would react. They all knew what she was, but could they consider working with the Hidden as the general and the hunter had? Once the emperor had his say, Yang was sure the Hidden would be in just as much danger as the others.
He didn’t know what was to come as he held her close, allowing the tears of his fear to flow freely, letting those around him think she was gone. It might be the only way to keep her safe.
Chapter 33
In the distant room of the temple, the priestesses sat in silence. The magic of the white stone kept the space protected from the noise of the battle going on around them. They had no idea if the fighting continued or had ended. The high priestess fought to keep her eyes closed and her mind focused on the visions the gods provided as she wondered at what the prince and princess might have done to each other.
When the fighting had started, there were some amongst them who feared it would come to them, working its way inside the temple and discovering what they were. The magics knew far too well just what power the priestesses had, and the high priestess wondered who had shared their secret.
She knew they were safe from both the fighting and discovery; she was more distressed by the visions she had been granted. The future before her was changing, fuzzy. She wasn’t sure if that was because of the decisions being made on the battlefield or if the decisions of importance were yet to come. Each moment changed the vision; every step a soldier took, or magical power used, what she saw of the future was altered.
The magic was strong, as was the prince. She had expected him to lead the magics to victory over the Empire’s soldiers with little effort. Yet it had not happened as she had hoped, and the visions showed her that many more than expected had followed the princess into battle. The general and the hunter amongst them, men she hadn’t expected to stand against the prince, no matter what magic he had.
Why didn’t I see that before? Surely the gods would have realised these men would follow the girl.
The visions faded as her frustrations increased. She looked over the room, where the other priestesses also appeared to be struggling to see what was to come. Some sat rather than knelt, looking down at their hands instead of keeping their eyes closed. Those who remained in their prayer positions wore pained or frustrated expressions.
The high priestess climbed slowly to her feet. Several of the priestesses looked up at her, but no one questioned why she no longer tried to pray. When the world is clear, we should return to the Sacred Isle, she thought, looking over the group. Perhaps when they were all together with others of their kind in such a place, the future would become clearer. She knew there were others headed to the Sacred Isle already. Young girls with the skill of visions who had heard the call, who knew it was the place they were meant to be.
There was one who fought the call. The high priestess wasn’t surprised; there was one in every generation, one who thought she was better placed to tell others of what she saw. But then there had been such a girl already. The high priestess had seen her sharing the visions, but she had been sickly and had seen little. This other child was very strong. She saw far more than the high priestess would have expected for one of her age. She appeared to have a strong link to the gods, and she had impressed upon the little princess Wei-Song just what the crown prince and hidden princess could be together.
The high priestess looked over the mess that was the meditation room and headed out through the temple. She glanced over the gods and their offerings as she made her way towards the door, but she didn’t pause or pray before any. Standing at the base of the stairs, she could hear no sound of fighting, and she wondered if it had ended. She closed her eyes as she emerged from the doorway of the temple. She wanted to see what the gods would show her before she looked over the world before her.
The visions that formed were fuzzy, and when she searched for the prince in them, she couldn’t find him. She knew she should allow the visions to come in without pushing for something. But she was becoming desperate. She sucked in a deep breath and opened her eyes. The main square of the Palace Isle was not what she expected.
The smooth stone surface of the square had been ripped open; mud and blood and plant debris littered the space. Soldiers and magics lay dead, unevenly spaced throughout the area, swords abandoned. A faint mist hung just above the fallen. It appeared as though neither side had won.
She took a step forward. There was no sign of the princess or the prince. Could they have run away together? Or have they killed each other? She didn’t know which she hoped was true.
They needed him to bring the magic back, but his betrayal of his father might be enough to shift the balance of power and put them where they needed to be. Surely the Empire couldn’t believe in the royal family now that the magic war had returned, and to the very centre of Rei-Een.
The residue of magic was thick in the air, but there was no one nearby. It appeared that even the soldiers had disappeared, but then she saw the general. He moved slowly through the dead, directing the men behind him. The high priestess focused on the man and could feel the sadness emanating from him. But she wasn’t sure if it was because of the situation or the d
ead.
She took another step forward and closed her eyes. An image of the princess came to her, lying lifeless in the arms of the healer with tears tracking down his cheeks. Uncertainty and fear in those around them.
She opened her eyes, unable to contain her smile. She is gone. But had the magics been killed, or had they escaped?
‘General Zho-Hou,’ she said softly, walking towards him through the dead. The low mist was becoming thicker to fill the square, and she wondered if it was a remnant of the magic or the weather. She glanced up at a dark sky that warned of a coming storm. But then it might be that the storm was still clearing.
He bowed his head to her and then pointed at the man on the ground at his feet. Several of the men behind him moved forward, picked him up and disappeared. ‘It appears to be over,’ he said softly, walking past her to another man, whom he tapped with his foot before moving on.
‘Are not all the dead worthy of your time?’ she asked.
‘Not all are dead,’ he answered without looking back at her. ‘Once we have those who are injured safely with the healers, we shall return for the dead. They will all be burned here. Ours and theirs alike. I apologise for the stench that will fill your temple.’
She screwed up her nose. ‘I have decided to send the remaining priestesses to the Sacred Isle. I fear it is not safe enough for them here.’
‘Everyone else is leaving, and there would be no one for you to advise if you were to remain.’
‘Surely the royal family would need our council.’
He laughed, the sound disappearing oddly into the mist that surrounded them. ‘There is little you could offer them. Their princess is lost, their prince an unknown.’
‘He lives?’ she asked.
‘I cannot say. I fear they have killed each other. But there are no bodies to confirm my theory. If he lives, he is a threat to the Empire. An enemy of the throne and crown. Are you to go with your priestesses?’
She wondered just where the magics had withdrawn to. ‘I cannot stay. This is not the place for me now,’ she said, turning back to the temple. She tried not to look at those who littered the ground around her. The mist clung to their bodies. As the general had already been this way, she could only assume they were dead.
She looked out across the square through the thickening mist and felt the magic surrounding them. Whether it was the prince or not, it was angry magic. The mist grew thicker, until the she could no longer see the general or his men moving amongst the dead. Dark clouds hung low in the sky; there was the crackle of lightning and the rumble of thunder.
The magics were still strong in the Empire, and close. She would send the others away to ensure they were safe and that the priestesses’ secret remained hidden. She would scour the island and find the magics. She might be able to sense them better than any hunter. With her decision made, her mind cleared and she felt calmer. The image of a black gate appeared to her, and she knew where they were. All she had to do was find the gate.
The Hidden Phoenix
Chapter 1
Lis blinked into the dim early-morning light. The walls and bare room were familiar, and yet it took her a moment to recognise the room she had previously stayed in at the Hidden school. She stretched beneath the covers, but then curled again as the aches in her body protested. Every part of her ached. The silence of the room was somewhat overwhelming, and she closed her eyes to the world again.
Remi flashed behind her eyes, burning brightly. All she wanted was to save him. Hot tears rolled down towards her ears as she refocused on the ceiling above her. It had been the first time she really wanted to help him. Not just because he was to be her husband, but because of the man he was. He was lost, and she should have been the one to stand up for him rather than against him. But the magics hadn’t helped either of them. They were only using the prince to get what they wanted. They weren’t trying to put him on the throne—they were planning a revolution.
She wasn’t sure how she had survived the explosion that had followed her trying to end the fight peacefully. She had wanted to pull him inside her barrier and keep him close. But instead, the action had pushed them apart. Even breathing hurt now, and she could only hope he had survived her failed attempt to save him.
She looked around then, a little more panicked. Who else might she have lost that day? Her father came to mind. She had already lost her family when she’d been chosen, and yet her father had managed to find her again and again. Lis wasn’t sure he would fight on the right side, but then she wasn’t really sure which side was right. The Empire was not as it had been, and the comments of her sister Ting’s new husband had worried her more.
She shivered at the thought of him. She had planned to marry him herself before she had been chosen for the new crown prince and sequestered into a life she had never imagined. She doubted now that a life with Peng would have been what she had hoped.
Lis was relieved she’d had Ting removed from the Palace Isle. She would be safer elsewhere, away from the fighting and Peng. Wei-Song had allowed herself to be talked into taking Ting to the little island, and now Lis wasn’t sure if Wei-Song was safe. She closed her eyes again, trying to remember the chaos of the square, the movement of people and soldiers. But more than she wished came to mind, including the smell of blood and the crackle of the magical storm threatening to strike them down. She couldn’t picture where Wei-Song had been standing. Remi returned in sharp focus, his face pale, his hair loose and his body being pushed away from her. She had tried to maintain a distance, but she couldn’t.
‘How do you feel?’ Healer Yang asked, sliding open the door to the small room.
‘Well enough.’ She tried to sit, but she quickly gave up. ‘Sore,’ she murmured.
‘You took quite a beating,’ he said softly, sitting gently on the edge of the bed, and she tried not to moan at the pain the movement caused.
‘How long did I sleep?’
‘Days,’ he said, resting a shaky hand on hers. ‘I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to bring you back.’ He looked down at her hand, and she put her other one over the top of his. ‘He nearly knocked the life right out of you. But I think it is now time to get you moving. You will be stiff, but if you don’t move now you may never.’
‘You have always done too much for me.’ Lis struggled into a sitting position and reached for her old friend. He felt frail and uncomfortable in her arms. ‘What have you done?’ she asked, hearing the fear for his welfare in her voice.
‘What I had to. What I would always do for you.’
‘You have given too much,’ she said, holding him tighter although it hurt her to do it.
‘I would do all I could for you,’ he said. Then he pulled back from her and stood, and Lis noticed he was a little shaky.
‘You need to rest,’ she said.
He nodded slowly and left her room. Despite her pain, she moved carefully from the bed and stood, holding on to the bed post and hoping she wouldn’t crumple to the ground.
She sucked in a breath and steadied herself. She looked towards the door, but she knew she could not make the distance. She hadn’t asked after the crown prince, she realised. She hadn’t asked if Remi had survived. For a moment she wondered if they would tell her the truth. Yang was still protecting her, giving all he had to keep her alive. Did others know she was alive? How had they gotten her out of the square and off the Palace Isle?
She squeezed her eyes closed, but all she could see was Remi burning. She remembered being exhausted and having no energy to hide. She couldn’t remember getting to the school, and she wasn’t sure if her being there might have put them all in more danger. She stumbled towards the door. What if someone had followed?
She slid the door open and looked out into the silent hallway. What if this was the dream? That had happened before, where things weren’t quite what she’d hoped. The hidden princess compound came to mind, and she wondered if the prince might have hidden there. Or had his mother taken him in and s
omehow kept him safe from his father?
She shook her head, trying to clear the idea of him and what might have happened to him. Despite their fight, she hoped she wasn’t the one responsible. She stumbled along the hallway towards the sound of hushed voices. She tried to keep her feet moving, but it felt as though they were dragging across the floorboards.
She paused by a door and leaned against the wall.
‘She has found her reason,’ a child’s voice said, and Lis wondered who she was and who she was speaking of.
‘Truly?’ Wei-Song asked. Lis could hear the relief in her voice. ‘It is the only way they will end this.’
‘It will not be so easy,’ the child continued. ‘The hidden princess has found her love for the crown prince. But there is still a barrier between them.’
Lis thought of her own barrier and wondered what might have happened if she had allowed the prince inside it. She shivered. She was sure they would have burned together. Then she realised what she was listening to. This was the child with visions, the child who could see what they would become.
‘Tell us,’ an older man said.
‘I cannot see it all,’ the child said. ‘Only what the gods have granted me.’
Lis wondered then who else might have visions and whether they would see anything different. There had been stories before, and the magics who had tried to kill her had spoken of visions and prophecies. Did this child prophesy their end or their salvation?
Lis tried to rest over the next few days, but her mind wouldn’t let her. All she could think about was Remi, whether he had survived or not, and what he was doing if he had. Yang checked on her regularly, but he wouldn’t stay with her, partly because he was so clearly drained himself. She heard from Wei-Song that he kept to himself. Not that Wei-Song was willing to talk much about what might have happened or what the child thought was to come.
The Magics of Rei-Een Box Set Page 53
