The Firebird's Vengeance (43 page)

Any sorcerer could feel a spell being created or destroyed, especially if it was being done nearby. Inside Lien’s house there were surely tools for magic that would make what he had to do easier, but the risk of the old man’s sensing the working was greater. Outside there was far less to work with, but the chances of discovery were also fewer.

Kalami turned Anna’s path across the grass. The dew had fallen and her bare feet quickly grew wet. She must have felt the damp and chill, for Anna’s own mind stretched and opened. She woke.

“Father? What is it?” She blinked, looking around her, her footsteps hesitating and a child’s startled fear running through her.

Be easy, Daughter. It is time to arrange our escape
.

“You said you’d wake me.”

And so I have. I needed to get you out of your room before I did. I did not want you to make any sound that might have woken Mae Shan
.

Anna accepted this answer.
Where do we go, Father?

Down to the trees
.

Light, swift, and strong, Anna ran across the lawn toward the grove. Her dexterous child’s fingers quickly stripped the twigs from the tree branches Kalami indicated and she deposited them in her deep sleeve. Kalami found a moment to marvel in what it was to be a child again. His own boyhood was so far away and the visceral memory of it had been let fall wherever his body lay.

But there was no time to revel in this. Who knew how long the bodyguard would remain asleep, or whether diligent Cai Yun would take it into her head to make a midnight tour of the gardens now that the “sailors” had been sent away on other errands.

Now, we need a round stone and a sharp stone, and a place by one of the ponds or streams where we will not be easily seen
.

A stream chattered and murmured beyond the trees. In the style of Hung-Tse gardens, it had been carefully routed in an auspicious direction, its bed worked over until the right mix of stone and sand gave it its particular pleasing song. Anna’s eyes were as quick as her fingers and she picked up a knife-edged flint from the shallow edge of the stream and a water-rounded piece of sparkling granite from the bank. She retreated deep under the branches of an ancient willow and knelt down, spilling her finds out onto the grass that grew sparsely among the hunching roots.

Now, Anna, you must remain quiet and let me work. As I begin, you must draw on your magic for the shaping. Can you do this?

“I will try, Father.”

You will succeed, Daughter. With these things, we will put the household to sleep. Let us begin
.

Gently, as he had once reached out to encompass the shaping of spells, Kalami took his daughter’s hands and the fibers of her voice. She was nervous, and he tried to soothe her, but he had little attention he could spare. He had to think now, to remember clearly. He knew this working. He only had to bring it to him again, but it seemed so very far away. Anna’s hands shook a little as they began laying the twigs out in neat piles beside the granite stone.

“I am come into the dark night. I am knelt beside the flowing waters before the clean washed stone. I have taken the sacrifice of the forest and brought it to the earth.”

Anna, holding herself still inside her own mind, felt the pattern inherent in the words and the laying out of the tools and reached within and without and drew up the magic.

Kalami almost lost himself in the rush of it. He had expected a stream, this was a torrent, a roaring flood. Had he lived, this would have drowned him. As it was he had to struggle to keep from being washed away. He could no longer move Anna’s hands, he could only hold them frozen while he tried to grasp even the tenth part of Anna’s power to shape into what suddenly seemed his pathetic weaving.

He had known himself to be strong in life. He had known Anna’s mother carried a strength even greater, but neither of them could be compared to what they had created together.

What would Bridget have thought had she known?

“Who’s Bridget?” asked Anna.

Kalami started and snapped back to himself, fighting to stay whole against the wild current of Anna’s gift.

Help me, Daughter, we must concentrate
.

Anna, schooled to obedience of her elders, immediately began to concentrate. In control of himself and her once again, Kalami reached for the flint. He pressed the fine edge against Anna’s palm.

Anna balked, but Kalami held her hands still.
It is necessary, Anna. It is a small thing, but it is the only true power we have
.

“But it is blood magic. Master Liaozhai forbid …”

Master Liaozhai is dead and his understanding is over. If we do not do this, Lien will take me from you
.

That silenced Anna’s protests, and Kalami swiftly tore the soft skin of her palm, feeling her wince with the pain.

My brave child
, he told her approvingly. To himself he thought there was a great deal his daughter had to unlearn.

But he must concentrate. The tide of her magic would ebb otherwise. He must bring his mind and her spirit to the task. Kalami focused on the world before him, on the blood that welled from his daughter’s palm and on the shining stone.

“As my blood covers the stone, so shall my will cover the house of Lien.” Anna’s voice was light, almost a whisper, as he pressed her palm against the stone’s curving surface. She winced again, although he held her still.

“As the stone is surrounded by the sacrifice of the forest, so shall the house of Lien be surrounded.”

One twig from each tree, their ends overlapping to form the beginning of the pattern. Bitter willow, poison laburnum, chokeberry, bright fire maple, and all the rest. With Kalami’s silent prodding, Anna found the pattern, laying down the twigs, making three rings of seven twigs each around the stone. This was not the sort of working she was used to, but with Kalami there to guide her hands, her power moved willingly to the strange shape, and her mouth spoke the words, adding another guide, another shape, another way to draw the power to the work. He found the rhythm of it, and the rhythm guided the current of the power, drawing in and down to wash into the working, and Kalami knew himself to be strong once again.

“I have made three walls of stone and three gates of iron and in them place the house of Lien. Let no creature stir, let no vapor enter or exit, let no thing that flies or creeps or walks find entrance or egress from the house of Lien …”

Again Anna hesitated. To her, the red palm print of her blood over the stone seemed to glow in the moonlight. Fear touched her spirit, raising her thoughts into sharp relief. This was too strong, too much. Her will trembled under the rush of her own power. Would this not smother them? She felt her power being drawn into the stone through the weaving, through her blood, and it frightened her, even as she realized this was a great working and she could complete it easily.

Kalami held back his anger with difficulty. He had to concentrate, had to hold the shape of the working.

No, no, Daughter. They will not smother. When we are gone, the wind will blow away the twigs and break the spell. We are only buying time to make our escape
.

Her fear abated some and Kalami held tighter to her.

“I have made three walls of stone and three gates of iron.” Anna’s hands gathered up the last of the twigs and began to lay them down. “And in them I place the house of Lien. Let no creature stir, let no vapor enter or exit, let no thing that flies or creeps or walks find entrance or egress from the house of Lien …”

The whole world was the sticks and the stones, the bright red blood and the power that spilled forth, making the words true, shaping the world. Anna ceased to struggle or fear, caught up in her own strength and the delight of it.

How great his daughter would be when he returned her to Tuukos. What they would accomplish together!

“This is my word and …”

Motion flashed across Anna’s field of vision, scattering the twigs and knocking the stone into the stream. Startled, Kalami lost his hold and Anna stared up into Lien’s thunderous face.

“Did you think my house so poorly defended, Valin Kalami? Did you think I would not know what you do here?”

Anger rushed through Kalami, too swift to be contained. He thrust Anna aside and took hold of her voice.

“You know nothing, old man. Had you been willing to let me take my child and go, no threat would have come against your house.” Such words sounded incongruous in Anna’s high-pitched child’s voice, but it was the only one available to him.

In the back of her own mind, Anna cried out, but Kalami ignored her.

“Do not waste your time with us,” he said. “Hung-Tse is falling. Isavalta will fall. I only want to take my daughter back to the Holy Island so we will be able to aid our own during the time that follows.”

“Were you a living man, I might take your word,” said Lien softly. “But you are of the dead. You will drink up the life of this child, and then of any others who you touch. You will give all to the Old Witch because you cannot stop yourself. It is now your nature and your dictate.”

“I have no dictate!” Kalami shouted. “Do not stand against me, Lien.”

In response, Lien drew back his hand and tossed out a length of silken ribbon that shimmered in the moonlight. Kalami threw Anna to the ground before the stream, and the ribbon passed overhead. Her hands grasped the bloody stone and he heaved her to her feet so she could throw it hard. The effort made her scream, but the stone caught Lien squarely on the knee, knocking him off balance.

Kalami took command of Anna and together they ran. The gate would be locked, but its slats were spaced to prevent a grown man from creeping through, not a slender child. Anna’s heart and lungs labored and her bare feet stung. Distantly, he felt her calling to him, wanting answers, wanting comfort, but there was no time for that now.

A pair of hands seized Anna’s shoulders, jerking her off her feet. They turned her roughly around, and Kalami saw the bodyguard, Mae Shan, tall and angry in the moonlight.

“It’s late for mischief, mistress,” she said coolly.

Startled, Kalami’s control of Anna slipped for a moment. “Help me, Mae Shan,” she gasped, her tiny frame shaking. “I don’t know what’s happening. Lien Jinn tried to take Father away. Father …”

“I’m taking you back into the house, mistress,” said Mae Shan. “It’s not safe for you to be out.”

“No!” cried Anna, struggling in Mae Shan’s grip. But the bodyguard was evidently used to this, and she easily kept a firm hold of Anna while propelling her toward the house where a light appeared in the windows of the lower story.

“Mae Shan, he’s going to try to take Father away,” said Anna. “Don’t let him do this. I won’t be able to get to the Holy Island.”

Mae Shan said nothing, she just kept walking, her hands heavy on Anna’s shoulders.

“You’re supposed to keep me safe!” wailed the child.

“I am, mistress,” was all Mae Shan said.

A reply, Kalami realized, he had been expecting. The guard was unimaginative, but she was steadfast. Anna would not reach her through such pleading.

Hush, Anna
, he told her
. Be still. We must wait our chance
.

“What’s happening? Why are they afraid of you?” Anna whispered.

Your guard does not understand, so she fears. Her uncle …
Anna’s quick ears caught Lien’s footfall coming up behind.
Her uncle seeks to curry favor with those now in power in Isavalta by delivering you to them
.

“But I thought the dowager …”

The dowager is no more, Anna. Her son rules Isavalta now, along with his wife who is of Hastinapura
. The name of the southern empire sent a chill through Anna’s mind and Kalami was pleased to feel it.
She has clever sorcerers to aid her, and they will be very glad to make use of you
.

“I don’t want to go there,” murmured Anna.

I will not let them take you, but we must be watchful and wait for our time to escape. Trust me, Anna, keep silent and let me help you when the time is right
.

He felt her acquiescence and let her, in turn, feel his pride and approval. So much, so strange, and so fast, especially for such a young child, and yet she was still ready and able to obey her father. There was obviously much to be said for Hung-Tse’s emphasis on filial piety.

He did not dare let them enter the house. There would be locks there that no working of his, or Anna’s, could quickly undo. But the memories his daughter had shared with him showed him a way.

The bodyguard who paced behind her with one hand on Anna’s shoulder carried a knife beneath her sash, and Anna knew exactly where.

They reached the stone steps that led to the back door of the house. For one brief moment, Lien was in arm’s reach.

Let me work, Anna
, murmured Kalami to his daughter, and he made Anna shrink, just a little toward Mae Shan.

Lien set his foot upon the stair. Kalami twisted Anna in her guard’s grip and she snatched at the knife. Mae Shan shouted. Lien turned.

Kalami moved Anna’s arms and plunged the knife deep into Lien’s belly.

Lien’s eyes widened in surprise, as the blood fountained out, spattering Anna and Mae Shan with bitter warmth. He did not pause to wrench the knife free again. While Mae Shan stood frozen, Kalami ducked Anna beneath her arms and ran, holding out her hands and arms that dripped red with Lien’s life blood. Here was all the power he needed to make their escape.

In the back of her own mind, Anna was screaming. Terror poured through her in waves as he made them race back toward the trees, toward the stream, before the blood dried and hardened and became useless.

Anna, Anna, calm yourself. Calm yourself. I need your help
.

But the child would not be calm and Kalami realized this much he would have to do himself. For him to cross back into the Land of Death and Spirit should be a fairly simple matter, what would be difficult was bringing Anna with him.