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It was the Mohunite who came down the steps, walking between the throne and Parahan. The captive man tugged his leash hard enough to make it jingle, hinting that he considered tripping the mage. The Mohunite ignored him and stopped before Briar to extend a gloved hand palm up.
Good of him to ask, under the circumstances, Briar thought. He held the medallion out to the length of the silk cord and placed it in the mage’s hold. The Mohunite turned it over in his fingers, saying nothing.
Sometimes Briar wished he’d never gotten the thing. Their teachers had given the medallions to Briar and his three foster-sisters two years ago, before he, Tris, and Daja had set forth on their wanderings. It was rare for mages so young to have them — medallions were the proof that they were accredited mages, able to practice magic without supervision and to teach. The four were forbidden to wear them publicly before they were eighteen, to prevent trouble. At this point, Briar was sure he wasn’t going to wear his openly even at eighteen. Older mages were often furious to see it on him, though Dedicate Initiate Dokyi hadn’t seemed to care. Most mages didn’t receive theirs until they were in their twenties. Briar hated the aggravation.
The Mohunite gently placed the medallion on Briar’s chest, gave him a small bow, and then climbed the dais. He raised his robes slightly to climb the steps. When he reached Parahan’s leash, he placed one foot on it firmly, looking down at the captive.
The big man replied with a wide grin. He placed his palms together and bowed. The Mohunite shook his head slightly and returned to his place beside the other mages.
“Truly impressive,” the emperor said. “I should have expected as much from a student of the great mage Rosethorn.”
Briar bowed, wondering if his spine would start to curve after much more of this. “I will never be what she is, Your Imperial Majesty.”
There was humor in the emperor’s eye as he said, “And modest! Are you certain you are a youth of sixteen years?”
There was a ripple of laughter among the listening courtiers, though no change of expression on the faces of the mages that Briar could see. Briar himself chose to smile — and bow — again. “She has trained me very well, Your Imperial Majesty,” he explained. “I learned manners under many bloodcurdling threats.”
The emperor chuckled. His court responded with more soft laughter. “She does not seem so terrifying to me, Nanshur Briar.”
Briar smiled cheerfully. “She fools a lot of people that way.”
Once more the emperor chuckled and his court followed suit. He did seem truly amused. Briar liked him better for that.
“The messenger who guided you here tells me that one of my former subjects travels with you,” Weishu said. “Evumeimei Dingzai, you may rise and come forward.”
Evvy did as she was told. Briar could see her hair ornaments trembling. He knew it was probably against protocol, but he stepped closer and put an arm around her anyway for reassurance.
The emperor leaned forward, resting his weight on his elbows. He was the very picture of an indulgent uncle, except for all that gold, Briar thought. Kindly Weishu said, “We are told that you, too, have magic in your veins, unlike these poor servants of mine, who must pull it from spells and potions.”
Evvy bowed low and almost lost her balance. Only Briar’s arm kept her from collapsing. Gently he drew her upright again. “You’re all right,” he whispered.
“I get my magic from stones, not my veins, Your Imperial Majesty,” Evvy said as she stared at the floor.
The emperor smiled. “And how did you learn to get magic from dull stones?” he asked. “Or do you use those that have been spelled already?”
Evvy glanced up at him, startled, then down again. “All stones have magic in them, Your Imperial Majesty,” she said, a little more confidence in her voice. “I can feel it — or I could even before I studied. Now I can see it, too. Just like Briar and Rosethorn see the magic in plants.”
“We are taught of qi, the power that binds all things.” The speaker was the older of the two male mages, a tall, slender old man with silver hair and long silver mustaches. His face was a maze of wrinkles. Like the other two Yanjingyi mages he wore beads of many kinds strung in loops around his neck and worn in multiple bracelets under his full sleeves. Briar closed his eyes briefly, adjusting part of himself. When he opened them again, he saw the light of magic everywhere, enough so that he didn’t want to use the spell for long. He did hold it until he saw the blaze of power from each of the beads that were wooden. Even the other mages in the room didn’t blaze with power as much as the two men and the woman in black robes. The oldest of the mages who stood with the emperor went on, “It would seem this young student has learned more of qi than many of us have forgotten.”
Evvy bowed to the old man, to Briar’s surprise. “I am certain that cannot be true, Master,” she said politely. “I am deeply honored, but I can also recognize the depth of wisdom in a face, a depth I will be lucky to ever attain.”
“Such respect, when we are told those of the west are rude barbarians,” said the emperor, applauding softly.
The emperor held a hand out to Evvy. It was laden with rings that gleamed with jade, rubies, sapphires, and pearls. “Tell me what my ring stones say,” he urged. When his armed guards and mage guards alike stirred, he held up his other hand. “I think I am quite safe. Go on, Evumeimei.”
Gently Briar urged Evvy forward. Slowly she climbed the dais and knelt beside the emperor, knowing that her head must never be higher than Weishu’s. Then, nervously, she took the emperor’s hand in both of hers. Suddenly she smiled at him. “They love you,” Evvy explained. “Not the pearls. Well, maybe they do, I don’t know. I don’t understand pearls because they aren’t really stones, just dirt that got in an oyster. Did you know that?” Weishu nodded, his eyes dancing. “I think it’s a cheat to call them precious stones when they aren’t really,” Evvy went on, happy as always to talk about rocks. “But the others, they love you. They just glow from the inside. They’ve been with you for a long time, and some of them are very old.”
The emperor laughed outright. Evvy quickly released his hand. “I’m sorry!” she cried. “I wasn’t trying to insult you — I didn’t mean —” She looked frantically at Rosethorn, then Briar. “That’s not what I meant!”
“Calm down,” Briar murmured to his student. “See? He’s laughing.” He bowed to the emperor. “She’s all wound up. She’s heard stories of the imperial court most of her life, and she’s been scared to death about coming here.”
“She has nothing to fear,” Weishu assured Evvy, smiling at her. “The stones I believe you meant have come to me from my imperial ancestors. You are right — they are very old. And much may be forgiven so talented a young girl in so overpowering a place. So tell me, Nanshur Briar Moss, how can you teach Evumeimei if her power is drawn through stones and yours through plants?”
Briar didn’t shrug. That would have been impolite. “I could teach her the basics, Your Imperial Majesty — meditation, reading, writing, mathematics. The names and everyday properties of stones, and what they’re traditionally used for. Evvy does the rest herself.”
“First Dedicate Dokyi helped me a lot this winter,” Evvy said. “He’s head of First Circle Temple in Garmashing, and an Earth mage. And so far it isn’t too hard once I read the spells and have the sticky parts explained to me. A lot of stone wants to be shaped, even jade, if you know how to explain it right.” Her face was brighter and livelier. Briar thought he might swell up completely with pride in her. “Stone gets pretty bored, holding the same form all the time,” Evvy explained. “Even mining it doesn’t help, because nobody likes being smacked with a hammer. But if you wheedle just right, and tell it how it will like being smooth and bouncing light, and feeling its magic ripple along its inner surfaces, it’s all you can do to keep it in the shape you want. Sometimes I just let the stone shape itself, for fun.”
“And this Dokyi helped you to do this?” The emperor had retreated be
hind his blank, official mask suddenly. “He showed you how to shatter rocks?”
Evvy screwed up her face and shrugged. Briar nudged her to remind her where she was. “Oh, no, Your Imperial Majesty,” she said, bowing swiftly. “No, he said he never tried it my way. He uses spells, and puts the spell on stones. I don’t see why. He could probably do it like I do, but he thinks stone is dead.”
The emperor laughed, so those who could hear them did so as well. Evvy had that effect on people.
“Did you enjoy your time in Garmashing?” Weishu asked Evvy. “It is a very old and mystical place, I am given to understand, with much that is unusual in the way of temple art.”
Evvy bowed. “It’s very cold, Your Imperial Majesty,” she said as she straightened. “And it’s harder to breathe than it is here. The mountains were splendid.” Her face lit up. “Granite and other stones, scratching at the sky. Have you seen them, Your Imperial Majesty?”
“Sadly I have not,” the emperor told her gravely.
“When my family went west, we took the north caravan route, so I didn’t see them then,” Evvy explained. “We came to Garmashing the same way. It was snowing so bad that nobody would let me get any closer to the mountains than the cliffs along the Tom Sho River, but I caught glimpses on clear days. Now I believe the books that said they’re the tallest mountains anywhere.” Evvy shook her head. “I wish we’d seen the Drimbakang Sharlog on the way here, but your messenger was in such a hurry, and there were storms that your weather mages were holding off us. I couldn’t see anything but the storms overhead. I thought I could hear the mountains, though!”
The emperor clapped his hands with delight. “Dedicate Initiate Rosethorn, it is wonderful that you have brought Evumeimei and Briar to visit us. I must ensure that Evumeimei has a suitable companion while we absorb ourselves in the wonders of the palace gardens.”
The rippling bang of a small gong interrupted every conversation in the room. The emperor looked toward the entry with a frown. Everyone else turned that way with interest except for Rosethorn. Briar saw that she was looking the room over, paying special interest to the plants.
An emerald-robed eunuch, his face painted white like that of the Master of Presentations, stood by the entry with a small gong in his hands. “His Most Glorious Excellency, the War Lion of the Empire, the Sword of the Emperor, Defender of the Long Throne, Terror of the Foreigners, Commander of the Imperial Armies, Great Mage General Fenqi Hengkai!”
A short, stocky man in iron-scale-and-leather armor under a scarlet robe strode across the room without so much as a glance for any of the courtiers. His square, blunt-nosed face was marked with scars and cruelty. He carried a pointed metal helm and wore no weapons. Once he reached the foot of the dais, standing near Evvy, he set his helm aside, went to his hands and knees, and touched his forehead to the floor.
The emperor stood. All of the Yanjingyi courtiers went to their hands and knees, as did Parahan and those who shared the top of the dais with Weishu. Foreigners bowed deep, including Rosethorn, Briar, and Evvy.
“You have met my captive Parahan, have you not, Dedicate Initiate Rosethorn, Nanshur Briar, Student Evumeimei? He will entertain you now,” the emperor said, motioning to Parahan. The big man sat up on his knees with a jingling of chains. “He might have been the king of Kombanpur, in the Realms of the Sun, one day — if his uncle had not sold him to me.” He looked at his mages. “The leash may come off.” To Rosethorn, Briar, and Evvy, he said cheerfully, “Once his uncle captures Parahan’s twin sister, I will have a matched set. Now, Mage General?”
The emperor snapped his fingers and led his mages down the far side of the dais. His general walked around to meet him there while every courtier nearby backed off in a hurry. That left only Parahan, Rosethorn, Evvy, and Briar near the throne. No one else was within earshot. Briar would have liked to meet some of the other courtiers and listen to the local gossip, but he was not going to get the chance. Everyone had drawn away from Parahan and his foreign companions. If Briar tried to amble away, anyone who looked in their direction would notice, and no doubt report it to the imperial snoops. Briar hated being without information in a strange place, but for now he would simply have to smile and play the part of an overwhelmed imperial guest.
Parahan’s leash drew away from him to curl itself at the foot of the throne, snake-like. Evvy glared at it, then asked the man, “Does he keep you chained up all of the time?”
“Evvy!” Rosethorn snapped.
Parahan rested a hand on Evvy’s shoulder. “It’s all right,” he said. “Evumeimei —”
“Evvy,” she interrupted.
“Evvy,” Parahan corrected himself with a grin, “reminds me very much of my sister Soudamini. She is full of questions, too. No, at night I am returned to my cage,” he told Evvy.
Evvy’s face fell. “It isn’t a joke? They really put you in one of those things?”
“I do not joke about the many torments Yanjing has developed over its centuries,” Parahan replied, a shadow passing over his face. He smiled abruptly. “My lot has improved since my first days as the imperial captive. Now, if the emperor is receiving guests or out and about, he takes me along. I believe you will see a great deal of me during your visit, particularly if someone grows tired of gardens.” He winked at Evvy.
The gong was rattling again. The eunuch who had announced the general came forward to proclaim that an imperial courier had come. This person trotted over to the area on the far side of the dais where the emperor conferred with his general.
Parahan was telling the three of them about the different treasure chambers of the palace when the Master of Presentations found them.
“The Son of the Gods, Light of the Heavens, Glory of His Dynasty, His Imperial Majesty has asked me to say that he must end your audience. The business of the empire calls him away. You should be honored that he deigns to share his reasons with you. He does not explain himself to many. Now come with me.” The Master walked away, leaving them no time for polite farewells to Parahan.
Briar knew that Rosethorn would be as aware as he was that they were being steered away from the rest of the imperial court and any other foreigners who were present. Briar had hoped to glean some information on the emperor’s plans for Gyongxe, if any, for the God-King, but that would be impossible if the emperor’s people kept them buttoned up this way throughout their visit. He also would have liked to examine the many flowering plants set throughout the room. Instead the Master of Presentations shooed them through a side entrance Briar had not noticed before. They were outside; their palanquins waited there on a small side road. No slow walk through a corridor meant to overwhelm visitors! Briar thought cynically. Now they just want to rush us back to our pavilion before we can talk to anyone. But why?
The Master of Presentations didn’t even wait to see them off.
THE IMPERIAL GARDENS
THE WINTER PALACE
DOHAN IN YANJING
Slowly Evvy drifted to the end of the procession that followed Emperor Weishu, Rosethorn, and Briar through the series of gardens they had entered shortly after dawn that morning. She was starved. In their rush to watch everything bloom, or whatever reason they had chosen for getting out of bed at this hour, they had not stopped for breakfast. Also, she was bored. The servants wouldn’t let her touch the ornamental rocks on the walkway borders and the odd decorations within the gardens. Other than those, Evvy could see no stones anywhere. It was hard to believe that they had all been dug up and carted away, but she felt nothing other than the border stones within a couple of feet of the surface. So where were they?
She was so busy pouting that she didn’t realize someone was behind her until his hand touched her shoulder. Startled, she jumped with a squeak.
“Easy, easy,” Parahan said. “I didn’t mean to frighten you!” He was dressed just as he’d been dressed the night before, in the very loose, loincloth-like garment that seemed to be all the emperor would allow him. He still wore ch
ains, too. They hadn’t even given him shoes. Drops of water shone in his short hair and on his scarred shoulders.
“Are all those from fighting?” she asked, pointing to his scars.
“No, my mother gave me my shoulders,” he said. “Silly, if they look like cuts, of course they’re from fighting. I was leading soldiers from the time I was fourteen. I bet you’re hungry.”
“They didn’t give us time to eat this morning,” Evvy complained.
“Come on. I’m hungry, too.” Parahan put his finger to his lips and steered Evvy down a side path. Two of the guards from the entourage broke off to accompany them.
Evvy spun and glared at them. Parahan turned her back around. “Don’t blame them. I have to have guards whenever I’m off my leash,” he told her. “Weishu likes me too much to let me escape, though how far I would get in these chains, I can’t imagine. I doubt there are many smiths who would take them off or pick the locks. And the palace gardens may be huge, but the wall around them is quite high and well guarded by magic and by soldiers.”
Evvy’s heart sank. “If he really liked you, he’d give you an army so you could go home and kick your uncle all the way to Namorn,” Evvy replied.
“Now you sound like my sister. Weishu likes to dangle me over my uncle’s head,” Parahan explained. “Right now my father lives. One messenger from the emperor, and my uncle dies. So long as my uncle sends gold, opium, and jewels to the emperor, he is safe. When my father dies, if my uncle does not continue his tribute to the emperor, he knows the emperor will send me home, with an army. So I am the emperor’s most rewarding toy.”
“That would make me angry,” Evvy informed Parahan.
“You’re free,” he replied. “You can afford anger. Besides, I hear many interesting things at the emperor’s feet. My father always complained that I spent all my time in school joking around. He would be very pleased if he knew how much I was learning now.”
