The Phoenix Ascent: The Fifth Column Page 2

  ‘OK, so we’re not going out there.’ He helped Syà to her feet.

  ‘No, we’re not.’

  She seemed able to walk, but not fast. She directed him into the building and along the main hall. It was large enough to be a palace in its own right, with dizzyingly high ceilings and passageways wide enough to race horses, most of it swathed in shadow, rarely used and sparsely lit. He knew the way, but he let her give directions. It would help keep her focus off her wounds.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he said.

  ‘For what?’ she asked, limping slightly. ‘Take a left here.’

  He followed her direction, leading them through to a wide passage.

  ‘I’m the reason you’re hurt,’ he said.

  ‘No, the Phoenix is the reason I’m hurt.’

  He walked two paces in front of her, his bow in both hands. Unlike Syà and her saber, he wasn’t covered in the blood of Mongol soldiers. But he had killed someone, and that felt strange.

  He could hear her drawn breaths behind him.

  ‘You’ve been in the emperor’s service for some time,’ she said. ‘Before the Phoenix, why did he need you?’

  ‘I’m good at what I do.’

  ‘And what do you do for him?’

  ‘I give him elixirs for the plague. From the comets.’

  ‘Now that makes more sense,’ she said. ‘It’s wiped out more than half the population. Why don’t you share it with the common people?’

  Zhu kept walking. He didn’t reply.

  ‘It doesn’t work, does it?’ she said.

  ‘I could never get it working and I—’

  ‘Still wanted to stay in the palace?’ she said. ‘Where it’s nice and safe and there’s food and water and no comet plague? Or at least if you could trick the emperor into thinking this, yes?’

  ‘The food served in the palace is like nothing else. Meat from animals and fowl,’ Zhu said. ‘The poor eat nothing but rice. And the plague takes them quickly.’

  Syà laughed. ‘So you have the royalty fooled into thinking it’s your fancy elixirs keeping them alive when it’s nothing more than roast mutton and fried sparrow?’

  Zhu shrugged. ‘Or the wine. The emperor drinks enough of it.’

  ‘Quite a charade you have going there,’ Syà said. ‘Shame it’s come crashing down.’

  ‘I lost my family to the plague,’ Zhu said. ‘Everyone except my brother. I’ve been trying to find a cure ever since. Then the emperor gave me a skystone to study. The skystone was from a mountain in Tibet. It was just the first, but it changed everything.’ He turned to her. ‘I thought comets brought us nothing but the plague. They were vile stars. But these are worse. I started to think of them as a gift. But now I understand they are destined for horrible things. If you knew what they could do …’

  ‘That’s why I’m here,’ she said.

  Zhu drew to a halt in the center of an antechamber. ‘How do you know so much?’

  She blinked but said nothing.

  ‘The secret tunnel you’re taking us to,’ he said. ‘The way you fought those soldiers. The Mongol’s feigned retreat. The skystone. My three elixirs. How can you know all of this?’

  ‘I know enough to help you,’ she said. ‘I know precisely what I need to know.’

  Zhu found himself drawing an arrow. He was aiming it at her.

  Her jade eyes burned. ‘We don’t have time for this. Once they realize you’re missing, they’ll comb the entire inner city. We don’t have long.’

  ‘You’re not the royal guard. And I’m not going into the tunnel with you until you tell me who you really are.’

  ‘You could ask without the bow,’ she said.

  Zhu smiled. ‘The bow speeds things up.’

  She sighed and lowered her saber until the tip rested on the ground.

  ‘I’m not of the dynasty,’ she said. ‘And I’m not of the Mongol empire.’

  ‘Then what are you of, Syà of the yet to be determined?’

  ‘The White Lotus.’

  Zhu felt his stomach tighten. He drew his bow to match.

  ‘White Lotus,’ he said. ‘The one everyone’s calling a—’

  ‘Heretical cult? I’ve heard the stories too,’ she said. ‘Like the one with the sorceress for a leader who can command gods and demons. That’s my favorite.’

  ‘Your orders are to take the Phoenix skystone and my three elixirs,’ he said. ‘Not to destroy them. Why is that?’

  ‘It’s not my place to question orders,’ she said.

  ‘But it’s mine.’

  She exhaled slowly, her face glistening with sweat. ‘It’s very simple, Zhu. We don’t want it falling into the wrong hands.’

  ‘If there’s one thing I’ve learned through all of this: all hands are the wrong hands,’ he said. ‘You don’t even care about me. I’m not your mission. You don’t need me. You could get rid of me right now.’

  Her saber moved fast, cutting the bottom of his bow and severing the wood. The tension on the arrow disappeared and the arrow dropped uselessly to the floor. He leapt backwards, clear of her blade.

  Syà stood before him, strands of raven hair stuck to her face. But she didn’t strike again.

  ‘I don’t need you,’ she said. ‘I needed you to put everything in that satchel and then I was going to take it. Otherwise you would slow me down. Get me killed. Which you almost did.’

  Zhu dropped the broken bow. ‘At least you’re honest.’

  ‘But then those soldiers breached the hallway and I couldn’t just leave you there. Not like that.’

  ‘I can’t stop you from taking this,’ Zhu said. ‘But if you do, I’m not going with you.’

  Syà pointed the saber at Zhu’s chest. ‘Hand me the satchel.’

  Zhu took the satchel from his shoulder. ‘It’s not too late.’

  He dropped it on the floor, hoping the impact was hard enough to break the elixirs, but then remembered the sheaths he’d sewn to protect them.

  Syà stepped forward, the tip of her saber pushing him back across the antechamber.

  ‘You could smash the elixirs on the floor,’ he said.

  She reached down with her injured hand and picked up the satchel by its strap. He watched her search the bag, confirming the skystone pieces and the elixirs were inside.

  ‘You could drop the skystone into the ocean,’ he said.

  He watched her wince as she pulled the strap over her shoulder.

  ‘And then it’s all over,’ he said.

  ‘It will be for you if you don’t come with me,’ she said. ‘I’m giving you the chance to escape.’

  Zhu shook his head. ‘I won’t be part of this. Not anymore.’

  She shook her head and walked away. Syà watched her turn right at the end of the antechamber and disappear. She didn’t even bother to look back.

  ‘Well, that didn’t go as I’d hoped,’ he said to himself.

  He turned to see three Mongol soldiers standing at the other end of the antechamber. The stout heavyweight one in the center smiled. Zhu noticed blood congealing on his axe.

  The three soldiers separated, two moving around the edges of the antechamber. He thought of running, but the pair quickly closed behind him, cutting off his escape. One carried a bow and quiver on his back, but like his partner he wielded a scimitar. Zhu figured they knew that would be all they’d need for him.

  ‘There’ll be a nice reward for this one,’ the soldier with the axe said. Then he blinked. ‘Where’s your magic rock, little man?’

  Zhu took a deep breath and yelled, ‘I don’t have the magic rock!’ He held up his hands in surrender. ‘Someone stole it from me!’

  His voice echoed through the passageway. He hoped Syà would hear, but a sickly shiver ran across his back when he remembered she was injured and she had what she’d come for. She would be foolish to come back for him.

  The soldier with the axe approached him.

  ‘Where is the magic rock, little man?’ he said, his deep vo
ice menacing.

  ‘I told you—’ Zhu said. ‘Wait, I’m taller than you.’

  The soldier straightened up. ‘So?’

  He placed the head of his axe lightly on Zhu’s shoulder, the sharp edge facing his neck.

  ‘I’m the one with the sharp axe,’ he said.

  Zhu tried not to swallow but he did anyway. ‘Someone else has it,’ he said.

  The soldier leaned in and sniffed him. ‘Gunpowder,’ he said. ‘This someone is a friend of yours. Is he close by?’

  One of the soldiers behind Zhu screamed. He turned his head, the heavyweight soldier’s axe still resting on his shoulder. From the corner of his vision he saw one soldier fall to his knees as the other collapsed against the wall, blood shooting from his inner thigh. Their scimitars clanged on the tiled floor.

  ‘Yes, she’s close by,’ Syà answered.

  She stumbled past the bleeding soldiers as her blade cut their throats.

  Zhu ducked his head under the axe but the soldier’s foot caught him and sent him tumbling. The axe swung down after him. It struck the floor next to his face, making a resounding ring. He rolled over the broken bow. The axe came after him again.

  In a blur of movement, he saw Syà step in range. She wielded her saber in one hand, a scimitar in the other. She sliced them through the air. But the heavyweight soldier easily batted her strikes aside with the head of his axe, lunging and twisting for her. He smacked the scimitar from the loose grip of her wounded arm and came in with his own strike. Zhu searched for the scimitar but Syà and the soldier were between him and it.

  Syà ducked under the axe, moved behind the soldier and sliced. The soldier was quick to respond, shifting his weight. Syà’s saber rattled across his armor.

  He pushed in, slinging his axe into her saber. The hooked edge of the axe captured the saber and tore it from her grasp. The blade almost took Zhu’s head off as it went flying past, clattering across the other side of the antechamber.

  Syà was unarmed. The soldier took his axe comfortably in both hands and stepped forward.

  For a moment, Syà’s eyes met Zhu’s.

  She’d come back to save him and now she was going to die for him. His chest tightened. He might as well have put the arrow through her himself.

  The axe swung down on her. She sidestepped it. The edge of the axe clipped the floor and she kicked it, pinning the axe on its side. The soldier stumbled, and leant forward to keep purchase on his axe.

  Zhu grasped the broken bow and slid it across the worn stone. It found its way into Syà’s grasp and she brought the broken, jagged end up, rammed it deep into the soldier’s eye.

  He screamed and raised his axe, swinging wildly.

  Syà grasped the soldier’s wrists and directed a mighty swing. Zhu saw the sharp edge move and looked away. He heard the scream and the gurgle as she directed his axe back onto himself. It gave way to a chilling rasp. When he looked back she was standing above the lifeless body, her face and arms glistening with sweat and the blood of Mongol soldiers.

  ‘Why did you come back?’ he asked.

  She walked to him and pulled him up with her good hand. Her sweat smelled oddly sweet now.

  ‘If anyone’s killing you,’ she said, collecting her saber, ‘it’s me.’

  ‘That’s reassuring.’

  Zhu found the courage to look at the fallen soldier. He lay motionless, his axe embedded in his neck and the broken bow standing upright, jammed in his eye socket.

  ‘I won’t be doing this a second time,’ she said evenly. Her jade eyes were faded now. ‘Are you coming with me?’

  ‘To the White Lotus?’

  She smiled and handed over his satchel. ‘Who said I was going there?’

  He took the satchel but didn’t say a word. Instead he followed her past the dead soldiers and into the passageway, pausing only to take a new bow and quiver from one of the bodies.

  She led him into what looked like the royal bathhouse. Pale bathtubs gleamed in the moonlight.

  She pointed to the small door behind him. ‘The tunnel is through that door. We should go before they take this building too.’

  ‘There’s something I need to tell you,’ Zhu said.

  She paused. ‘What?’

  ‘The Phoenix elixirs,’ he said. ‘You know what they do, right?’

  With a heavy push, she opened the door. ‘One reads emotions, one reads behavior, the other reads minds.’

  ‘And all three combined?’

  ‘Three out of three,’ she said.

  Zhu shook his head. ‘No. Unstoppable. With all three, you don’t just read minds, you control them. You become the Controller. And that’s something your sorceress might want.’

  ‘And it’s something the Great Khan and his general might want,’ she said.

  ‘We could save the world.’ Zhu walked over to a bathtub, an elixir in his hand. ‘You and me. We just have to pour them down here.’

  ‘It’s an incredible waste, you can’t do that,’ Syà said.

  He opened the elixir bottle and held it over the bathtub. Syà’s saber gleamed in the moonlight, moving steadily towards him.

  ‘Don’t,’ she said.

  He watched her hand move across the edge of the bath and touch his. He wanted to see her smile again.

  ‘Imagine what good could be done with it,’ she said.

  ‘There’s no good. You must know that.’

  His thumb quivered, touching her palm.

  ‘There’s only bad,’ he said.

  Syà withdrew, her saber lowered. He smiled, but she didn’t return it this time. He heard movement behind them and looked over his shoulder. Mongol soldiers were standing at the bathhouse entrance. They parted to let their leader through.

  Under his helmet, the leader wore a mask made of bronze, with narrow slits for his eyes, nose and mouth. He moved stiffly and his armor protruded around his midsection. The man standing before them was the commander of the invasion, the Great Khan’s greatest general.

  The soldiers behind him held axes and scimitars. One aimed an arrow at Zhu’s head, in case he was thinking of using his bow. He wasn’t.

  ‘Syà,’ the general said. ‘It is a wonderful surprise to meet you again.’

  His voice was low enough that it rippled through Zhu.

  Syà tightened her grip on her saber, but didn’t raise it.

  ‘Wonderful, but not a surprise,’ she said.

  Zhu felt his cheeks burn. ‘You know the general?’ he asked.

  Syà didn’t respond. She remained perfectly still.

  ‘All I had to do was let you lead me to him,’ he said. ‘And you did exactly that.’

  He strode towards Syà. Amazingly, for a man who was reputed to be a brilliant military strategist, he stepped into her striking range.

  Zhu watched Syà’s saber rise, but it did not strike the general. Instead, her sharp blade moved to her own throat. Zhu watched her struggle against it.

  ‘Shall I consider this your surrender?’ the general said.

  Syà was about to slit her own throat. Zhu couldn’t believe what he was seeing. She shifted against it, her fingers pressed white against the saber’s grip, her teeth clenched. She was fighting it. But he didn’t even know what it was. Had he cast a spell over her? Zhu didn’t believe in magic, but he had no other way to explain what he was seeing. The saber pushed against her skin and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

  Zhu held the elixir bottle further over the bathtub. It hovered above the open pipe, small enough to drop straight through.

  ‘Let her live,’ Zhu said. ‘Or your Phoenix elixir is gone forever.’

  The general paused to observe him. Zhu could tell his mind was working through multiple scenarios, calculating the angles. If he could read Zhu’s mind, he would know Zhu was not bluffing.

  The general laughed and turned back to Syà.

  Suddenly it all made sense to Zhu. How the general could so easily command armies around the world.
>
  The general wasn’t after the Phoenix for its abilities. He was after it so no one else could get to it first. He already had all three of them.

  The general was the Controller.

  For the first time, Zhu saw fear in Syà’s eyes. She looked at him, watching the tears in his. He yelled as the saber sliced her throat.

  Syà dropped to the ground, blood pouring from her neck. He felt something inside himself boil dark and become rage. With the elixir bottle still clasped between his fingers, he drew his bow and aimed for the general’s head.

  His aim wasn’t shaky this time.

  An arrow caught Zhu in his midsection, driving between his ribs. Pain burnt through his body, stealing the breath from him. He loosed his arrow as he fell backward into the bathtub. It missed the general and struck the far wall.

  The general would kill him now, he knew that.

  The elixir bottle rolled down his chest and came to rest on his neck. He felt the cool liquid trickle over his skin. He hadn’t tested the third elixir yet, so he didn’t know if it would work. Or if it would kill him. Such was the risk an alchemist took in pursuit of immortality.

  He reached for it. Most of the elixir was still in the bottle.

  He raised it to his lips, drank it all.

  And he knew he had made a mistake. The elixir moved through him, burning him with fire. His body broke into a sweat. He started to shake uncontrollably. Saliva spluttered from his mouth, over his face. His fingernails sank into the flesh of his palms, drawing warm blood.

  He couldn’t tell if he was breathing. He couldn’t tell if he was alive.

  The general looked down at him. His bronze mask twisted and distorted. Zhu was certain he had died and this was just a ripple in the afterlife. But then the general reached down and grabbed him by his robes. He hauled him out of the bathtub and, with an inhuman roar, threw Zhu into the air. He struck the wall and fell, landing first on his arm and then his hip. Pain was real again.

  Everything around him became solid and sharp. The pain subsided. He could breathe. He saw the general’s helmet roll towards him. It had fallen off when he’d thrown Zhu out of the bathtub. The general’s leather boots approached him. Looking up, he smiled at the bronze mask.