Wei-Song stepped into the room. The two men who had been with Lis bowed low and then appeared unsure whether they should leave or stay. One of them saw Lis and bowed low again as Wei-Song ran to Master Yangshing. Lis was on her feet and across the room before Remi could hold her back.
Wei-Song threw her arms around Lis and held her close.
‘Thank you,’ Remi said to the two men. ‘Has it settled down?’
‘Your Highness,’ one of them said as he bowed. ‘It appears to be worsening. There is a fear that no one knows who the enemy is. Every man fights for himself and his family, only sure of those he arrived with.’
‘Is there any magic?’
‘A little,’ the other said, looking at his own hands. ‘It is unpredictable and…’
‘It will return,’ Remi tried to reassure him. ‘It takes time, and it depends on the dust.’
‘There is more dust and spice in the air. It is difficult to breathe,’ the man said. ‘It is difficult to know if we can ever be what we were.’
Remi looked across the room at Lis, still standing with Wei-Song and talking in hushed tones. Wei-Song wore a reassuring smile, and he was sure Lis was apologising for leaving her behind. But it might have been the safest place for her, despite being alone. The madness was in the open.
‘She put herself between us,’ the man said, and Remi turned to find him watching Lis as well. ‘I heard what she did in the square that day. The world thought you both dead.’
‘I think we thought the same for a time.’ Remi turned back to look at Lis. ‘Where were the soldiers?’
‘I haven’t seen many soldiers out there,’ the other man admitted. ‘Some, trying to stop the fighting, but not in the numbers I expected.’
Where had they gone? Could it be Chonglin? But the island had been covered in soldiers not so long ago, as though every soldier in the Empire had been on this one island, and other than the healers they had been the only ones here.
‘Where is Yang?’ Remi asked, and both Lis and Wei-Song turned to him.
‘You said he was helping the healers,’ Lis said as they walked towards him.
Remi looked at the doorway. He needed to know if the dust the healers had developed was a way to end this, if it really was working. Lis wasn’t as badly affected by the dust as she had been previously, but she wasn’t working to capacity even though she had only been exposed to it for a short amount of time.
‘I want you to stay here,’ he said to Lis.
She glared at him, but she nodded once. He headed out into the square and paused in the doorway. Despite his wanting to keep Lis safe, he was sure it would only take her a couple minutes before she was following him out.
But it was the master from the school who appeared in the doorway.
‘I may be able to do something,’ he said.
Remi nodded, and they headed towards the healers. People ran past them, but no one seemed to pay them any real attention. ‘I don’t think the healer’s dust is working,’ the master said, looking over those around them.
A tickle started in the back of Remi’s throat. He thought he must have breathed in the dust, but then the healers had spread theirs just as easily. He looked up at the wall, distracted by the idea of the dust, and noticed many of the soldiers around the top of the wall. They may have gone up to help spread the dust, but they weren’t coming back. It might be that they didn’t want to get caught in the fighting. It might also be that they weren’t able to get back down.
A man with a sword nearly caught Remi off guard as he lunged at him. Remi lifted his own sword in defence, and the master was pushed against him. ‘Do you have a sword?’ Remi asked as the man before him suddenly dropped his and moved away. ‘That was strange.’
‘I have some skill with the mind, but my own feels quite foggy.’ The master took the sword Remi offered. ‘I am a teacher. I never expected a time when I would need one of these.’
Remi nodded. Half of the men on this island weren’t trained for fighting, and he hoped some of the soldiers had remained near the healers to ensure they were safe. The sounds of swords and fighting were all around them, and Remi wondered if the Palace Isle would ever be what it was before. They were trying to restore an Empire, and they couldn’t even keep the peace on an island they had invited the only current inhabitants to.
Chonglin was ahead of him in the crowd, moving through the people, and he appeared to have some skill with a sword as well as fire. Remi watched it splutter in Chonglin’s hand, and then he held out his own.
Someone nudged him from behind. He tried to ignore the people around him as he focused on the flame struggling in his own palm. He took in a deep breath, but the flame didn’t grow any further, and then it died.
‘Something is wrong,’ he said. ‘Why isn’t the healer dust working?’
‘Perhaps it hasn’t quite covered the whole island yet,’ the master murmured, and Remi turned then to look at him properly. He held the sword out in front of him, but he leaned forward, and there was a slick red line across his side. Remi just caught him before he fell.
He crouched over the master in the increasing noise of the square and wondered if he could make it to the healers. He lifted the older man up, his arm around his waist. He took a moment to orientate himself completely and then, as the sword dropped from the master’s hand, he ran.
The fighting wasn’t as intense as he’d thought. Or perhaps it was more so, as the fighting seemed limited to swords and blades. There didn’t appear to be any magic working at all on the island, and Remi thought the dust must have worked. Could they have spread it across other islands of the Empire? Might this actually be the end? Although he had seen fighting like this before, the world had never quite looked the same for Remi since he had faced Lis in the square.
He wasn’t quite sure how he had made it as far as the healers’ compound, but it was not what he had hoped to find. There wasn’t a soul present. He pushed his way into the Imperial Healer’s office. The whole place smelt of herbs and spices, just as it had before, and he wondered if the coughing medicine might be of any use.
His mother sitting in a corner of the room was a surprise, as was the look of fear on her face.
‘Why are you here?’ he asked.
‘I wanted his advice on a matter,’ she said formally, standing and brushing at her skirt.
‘Mother?’
She waved off his words and focused on the master. Remi lowered him down to the floor. ‘I hoped for some help,’ he said.
‘There is none left,’ his mother said matter-of-factly.
The man groaned and then clutched at Remi’s hand with surprising force. ‘You will take care of her?’ he asked, his voice a shadow of what it was.
‘We’ll find help,’ Remi said, looking around.
‘Promise me,’ the master croaked.
Remi nodded slowly.
‘You are so alike,’ the master murmured, and then his eyes closed and his body relaxed.
The empress closed the distance between them quickly. Kneeling down over the master, she shook him wildly, but Remi knew he was already gone.
‘Why didn’t he ask me?’ She looked even more lost than she had when Remi had found her in the corner.
‘You abandoned her once already,’ Remi said, standing and looking down on her.
‘That was not my choice,’ she stammered. ‘You know that. If I could have kept her…’
‘There is always a choice, Mother.’
She cleared her throat and stood slowly. ‘Where are the healers?’
‘I don’t know. I thought they were working on a way to stop this. Have you seen anyone?’
‘Not here,’ she said.
‘Where is Yang?’
She shook her head. ‘Will you take me back?’
‘No,’ he said, heading for the door. But he paused. He wasn’t sure where he was going, or who he was looking for. If Yang was in the middle of all this, it might already be too late, he thought, look
ing back at Master Yangshing.
Chapter 34
Lis couldn’t wait any longer. Not that she had waited very long. She understood why Remi had asked her to wait behind, but there was too much happening. If she could help, then she should. She tested her barrier, nodded to Wei-Song and headed out the door.
‘He has taken the master with him,’ Wei-Song said, catching Lis on the steps. ‘Where are the soldiers?’
‘I think they went to help distribute the healer’s dust.’
‘Do you think we have enough magic strength to be out here?’
Lis longed for the little sword then, unsure if she should have the confidence in her magic that she did. It didn’t take long for her nose to twitch, and Wei-Song rubbed at her throat.
‘We are looking for Yang, aren’t we?’ Wei-Song asked.
Lis nodded. He had been working with the Imperial Healer, and he would know what they could do. Only the last time the two of them had come out alone, it hadn’t gone very well. Even the men who had found her and helped her back had now disappeared. There was no one near the throne room, yet she could hear fighting. The shouting and screams, metal on metal.
‘I can’t feel any magic,’ she said softly, taking a step towards the fight.
‘Maybe your senses are still dulled,’ Wei-Song offered. When Lis turned back to her, she shrugged. ‘I can’t sense any either,’ she admitted. ‘I’m not sure I want to head into this fight. We aren’t what we were, and you are not safe from them just because you are the crown princess. What if they have pulled the prince in again? What if they can turn him as the priestess did?’
‘He isn’t so easily swayed,’ Lis said. ‘Not now.’ She pushed out with her barrier, and it failed. ‘I thought the Imperial Healer had found a way to fix this. That their dust countered the other.’
‘I don’t know how it works, but the prince thought it safe.’
Lis shook her head. ‘I don’t think it is as safe as he thinks. My barrier is gone,’ she added softly, taking a step closer to Wei-Song. ‘Try something.’
Wei-Song held out her hand, and her forehead crinkled in concentration. She lowered her hand and shook her head.
‘Do we continue to find Yang? Or do we go back inside and wait?’
‘Yang,’ Wei-Song said determinedly.
They headed down the steps and towards the main square. They would still need to go that way if they were to reach the healers’ compound. She wasn’t sure if he would be there or not, but it was the best place to start since they hadn’t heard anything other than that he was helping them. The square before them was a different matter.
It was much like Lis remembered the square on the day she had fought Remi. Only there was no magic in the air. Men, magic and non-magic alike, faced each other with swords.
The sound was overwhelming. She wondered why they hadn’t heard it inside the throne room. The noise distracted all her other senses. And without her magic, she was feeling increasingly vulnerable. Then she saw Remi across the square.
He held his sword out and moved through the crowd as though he too was looking for someone. He had headed out to find Yang, and Lis wondered why he wasn’t at the healers’ compound. Or was there no one there? Several people moved out of his way. She wondered if he was still the great hunter, rather than a prince with magic—if the people would still fear him as they had.
Another man took him on without hesitation, and Remi tried to push rather than fight him. Given his size and the small man trying to jab at him with a sword, she was pleased he was trying to stop more death.
‘Where is the master?’ Wei-Song asked beside her, but Lis could only shake her head. So far, they hadn’t really been noticed, but it wouldn’t be long.
One of the men who had helped her stood up on the steps of the temple, raising himself up above the crowd. He was calling into the people, but Lis couldn’t hear his words with the noise of the fighting. The other man joined him, but the fighting continued.
Lis looked back into the people, but she had lost sight of Remi. She only hoped he hadn’t been hurt. She took off towards where he had been, Wei-Song just behind her and calling out for her to stop. She could just feel the flicker of magic and recognised it as Remi’s, and then it was gone. She turned on the spot, trying to make him out amongst the people, and a sword came crashing down towards her. She put her arm up. The sword bounced from the barrier and out of the hands of the man using it. And then her barrier disappeared.
She had really hoped the healer’s dust would be working by now. But there was no consistency to her magic. The man before her glared, and she recognised Chonglin. She held out her hand, but he swatted it away before he stumbled and dropped to his knees at her feet. Wei-Song was between them, and another man stood behind him, a bloody sword in his hand.
‘The magic must stop,’ he said, stepping forward.
‘It has,’ Lis said, and he paused. ‘The dust in the air has stopped our use of magic.’
He looked out across the square then. Lis felt a pulse of Remi’s magic, but she couldn’t see the flames.
‘We have won,’ he said. The look on his face made Lis step back, and she pulled Wei-Song with her. For a moment, she wished Mu-Phi and her sword were there, but Mu-Phi might have sided with this man. Lis tried to pull her barrier around the two of them, but it wouldn’t work.
Then another man was there, fighting the man who had killed Chonglin. Lis wondered if this would truly continue until nothing and no one was left. She tugged at Wei-Song, pulling her away from the men and through more fighting towards where she hoped Remi was.
Amidst the crowd and fighting, she had lost sight of him. If his magic was also failing, she wasn’t sure what he might be able to do. Although, she tried to reassure herself, he had once only fought against magics with a sword.
She caught sight of him across the square, knocked to his knees. Blood covered one side of his face, and she hoped it belonged to someone else. A man stood over him with a sword.
‘No,’ Wei-Song cried beside her. Lis wondered where her own voice had gone. The world appeared in slow motion as the sword was drawn back and Remi lowered his head. Yet Lis’s heart beat so fast, she thought it would burst through her chest.
Suddenly, one of the men who had saved her was pushing the large man out of the way, and the other man was pulling Remi back and helping him to his feet. Lis found her ability to move then and raced forward, unseeing of those around her except Remi. Then she was standing before him, wanting desperately to throw her arms around him, yet too scared to touch him in case he wasn’t real.
She turned to one of the men first and took his hand. ‘Thank you,’ she said.
‘You should not be here,’ he said.
‘I thought the magic would return,’ she said, turning to the other man and bowing before him. ‘And I’m looking for my friend, a healer, Yang.’
‘No one should be in this, Your Highness,’ the first man said again.
‘They shouldn’t,’ she admitted. ‘And if this continues, there will be no Empire left.’
Remi wrapped his arms around her. She could feel the fast beating of his heart, and he squeezed her tighter.
‘Did you find Yang?’ she asked.
‘No,’ he said. ‘There are no healers at the compound. I…’ He stopped then and let her go. He looked over her head and then smiled. ‘I am surprised every day that he has managed to survive.’
Chapter 35
Remi watched as Yang put his hand on another magic. He coughed, and then a wind blew around them. Pushing the dust up into the sky, it sparkled in the sunlight. If Remi hadn’t known just how dangerous it was, he might have been impressed.
Yang wore something over his face, and despite the dust in the air, Remi moved closer. A fireball sailed into the sky, but as it neared the spinning cloud of dust, the movement shifted it. It dissipated, again falling to the ground. The magic standing beneath it, whom Yang had helped shift the dust from, looked about
in a panic. Remi could see the dust settle back on his clothing even as he tried to run.
The fighting and noise were still too loud, and although Yang was covered in dust, he continued to lay his hands on people. It was only when he stumbled and Lis stepped in to take his weight that Remi realised she had followed him across the square.
Any more exposure to the dust and she might never get her magic back to what it was. She had returned to normal when the Imperial Healer had helped her to cough up the dust. Was that what Yang was trying to do? As he reached them, the wind bearer working with Yang sighed. He wasn’t a man that Remi knew, not someone who had fought with the magics in the square that day, and he wondered where the man had been hiding. Although he too was wearing a dark cloth tied around his face, like Yang.
‘Are you Hidden?’ Remi asked him.
He shook his head. ‘You should not be here.’
‘None of us should be,’ Remi said.
‘I couldn’t leave Yang,’ Lis said, coughing a little, as though something scratched her throat.
‘No one should be out here until we can remove this dust.’ Yang said.
‘How will you do that?’ Remi asked. ‘You are just spreading it around.’
‘And using all the power you have to do it. What if someone is hurt and needs your skills?’ Lis asked.
‘Every magic on this island is hurting, and so is everyone else. Look around you,’ Yang said, his voice husky behind the mask. His anger was apparent, even though he spoke to Lis. ‘There is nothing but turmoil. I am trying to stop this, but we may just be standing in the middle of the end of the Empire of Rei-Een.’
‘Why are you trying to use wind and fire?’ Remi asked. ‘You are spreading it. Use the antidote the healers developed.’
Yang looked down then. ‘It doesn’t work. It works once, but when a magic comes in contact with the dust again, the healing dust no longer stops it taking hold.’
The Magics of Rei-Een Box Set Page 76
