The Veiled Dragon h-12 Page 16

  Waves of acid began to lap at its shores, filling the air with hissing white smoke and reducing the isle to little more than a sandbar. The witch pictured the sand chang- ing to granite. She felt a strange tingling deep within her stomach, then experienced a momentary burning all over her body, as though she had exerted every muscle at once. The little island hardened into dense stone and stopped dissolving, but Ruha felt her foot slide a little closer to the rear of the wagon.

  A deep-throated growl rumbled from Cypress's throat; then the yellow acid inside Ruha's mind began to churn and froth like a storm-tossed sea. Mountainous waves rose and crashed over the witch's small isle, threatening to submerge it entirely. She envisioned the island erupt- ing like a volcano, pushing its way higher above the sur- face and spreading immense blankets of molten stone across the lake. Again, she experienced a strange tingling deep within her abdomen, followed by a momentary burning over her entire body. She felt physically drained, as though she had been running for a long time in the scorching sun.

  You only anger me. Cypress's voice broke like thunder inside Ruha's mind, and she felt her foot touch the wagon's tailgate. Are untrained mind cannot prevail.

  The stars vanished from the purple sky over the witch's growing island of hope. Spears of lightning stabbed at the summit of the erupting volcano, and a few hissing drops of acid began to fall on its slopes.

  Then, before Cypress could unleash the full fury of his storm, a pair of familiar forms came rushing across the spicehouse floor.

  "Cypress!" gasped Wei Dao. "What do you want here?"

  Prince Tang drew his sword and pointed it at the dragon. "You go!" Then he looked toward the door.

  "Guards!"

  Cypress glanced away from Ruha long enough to flick his tail at the approaching prince and send him crashing through the flimsy door of a spice bin. That instant was long enough for the witch. She envisioned her volcano bursting apart, flinging lava and ash in all directions. A tremendous wave of fatigue rolled over her body; then her island erupted as she had envisioned, pouring forth molten stone in such prodigious quantities that the acid lake completely vanished beneath its fiery blanket.

  Ruha felt control of her limbs return. Gasping for breath and trembling with fatigue, she slipped back to the center of the wagon. Her mind was not entirely free of its attacker, however. The dragon locked gazes with her again, and once more his bat figure appeared inside her mind, rising from beneath the sea of flaming rock like a phoenix reborn. An angry rumble rolled from Cypress's throat; then the flaming bat transformed itself into an immense, black-haired Cyclops. The brute floated down to the ground, then waded through the lava toward the witch's volcano. He stood as tall as the summit, and his knobby hands looked powerful enough to crush stone.

  Ruha pictured the ground beneath his feet turning to quicksand, but this time she experienced no strange tinglings in the pit other stomach. She felt only a dull, nauseating ache, then a searing wave of pain as the last of her energy drained from her muscles. The witch col- lapsed to her knees, so exhausted and enervated that she could not find the strength to rise. The cyclops stopped beside her volcano, then reached out and tore away a huge chunk of glowing stone.

  As I annihilate this mountain, so I annihilate your mind! the cyclops cackled. When I finish, your head will be naught but a smoking hole, as empty and useless as a spent sulfur pit!

  Ruha tried again to change the scene inside her head, but succeeded only in exhausting herself to the point that she almost dropped the fireball. The wagon rocked as someone climbed in behind her, but the witch could not rip her gaze away from Cypress's empty eye sockets to see who it was. She thought about trying to drop the fire- ball before the dragon seized control of her body again.

  The resulting conflagration would kill her as well as the newcomer, but she felt fairly certain that destroying the ylang blossoms would also delay the theft ofYanseldara's spirit.

  Prince Tang kneeled beside Ruha, holding several slender yellow leaves in his hand. His eyes appeared glassy and vacant, and he seemed to be chewing some- thing. Cypress glanced away from Ruha and glared at Tang. Inside the witch's mind, the cyclops stopped tearing apart her volcano. She was too exhausted to take advantage of her foe's distraction, but she found herself free to look away from his gaze. A small company of Shou guards had appeared at the door and were cautiously advancing into the shadowy spicehouse, squinting at the dragon as though they could not quite believe their sun- dazzled eyes.

  Whatever the dragon said to Tang, Ruha could not hear it but the prince's response was short and angry:

  "No. If you want oil, you leave now-or I burn wagon myself." Tang raised one of the slender leaves to Ruha's lips, then instructed, "Chew leaf, wu-jen."

  Ruha clenched her teeth and considered thrusting her fireball into Tang's face.

  "Trust me. This no love potion. It is lasal. Leaf protects against Invisible Art."

  Ruha allowed the prince to slip the leaf into her mouth and began to chew. The wail of a distant wind arose inside her mind, and the cyclops slowly turned toward the sound. Cypress glanced at Wei Dao, who immediately stepped to the wagon side and spoke to her husband in Shou. The prince responded sharply and pointed toward the guards, who were advancing on the unconcerned dragon with polearms leveled for battle. They seemed rather unsteady on their feet, and even from halfway across the spicehouse, their eyes appeared more glassy than Tang's.

  Inside Ruha's mind, the wail of the wind became a roar, then a howling sand cloud billowed across the boil- ing plain. Cypress groaned, and the cyclops turned to face the storm. The brute took a deep breath and began to blow, but his breath was no match for the fury of the gale. The sand blasted over him, and he vanished into the tempest.

  Cypress grunted, his empty-eyed head recoiling as though the storm had struck him physically. He backed away from the wagon, trembling and sputtering and madly scratching at his temples. Tang's guards charged, filling the spicehouse with a tremendous clamor as their blades struck their foe's impenetrable scales. Several of the blades snapped on impact, but most either bounced off or became lodged without causing any damage. The dragon lashed out with fangs, claws, and tail, littering the floor with the shattered bodies of Tang's loyal guards.

  Finding herself completely in control of her own body-if somewhat exhausted and fuzzy-headed-Ruha rose to her feet and swung a leg over the side of the wagon.

  "No!" Wei Dao shrieked.

  The princess leapt toward Ruha, causing the witch to hesitate just long enough for Tang to grab her by the shoulder.

  "If you leave wagon, we all die." The prince's words were slurred, and he seemed to be having trouble focus- ing his eyes. "Only fear of burning blossoms saves us now."

  "I know that." Ruha scowled, struggling against the roaring storm in her head to remember why she had decided to throw the fireball in the first place. "But I must attack… while we have the advantage."

  You have nothing.

  Cypress cast aside the bodies of two more guards, then pointed his long snout in Tang's direction. The dragon was far from destroyed, but he looked as haggard as

  Ruha, and more than a few of his thick scales had been pulled or cut away. Tang called something to his surviv- ing guards, who looked rather relieved and backed away.

  "But wu-jen is under my protection," the prince said, speaking in Common.

  Your protection? This time, Ruha heard Cypress-though whether it was intended or an accident of his anger, she did not know. She is a Harper, sent to take Yanseldara away from me!

  Tang cringed at the dragon's anger, but did not back down. "Nevertheless, while she remains in Ginger

  Palace, she is under my protection." The prince glanced at his battered guards and nodded once. They leveled their weapons and took a single step forward. "If you do not agree, we finish this now-and you lose Yanseldara anyway."

  "Are you mad. Husband?" Wei Dao cried. "Give him barbarian! She causes too much trouble already."

&
nbsp; Tang glared at Wei Dao. "I hear enough from you, Wife.

  I am Prince of Shou Lung, and to call me mad is treason."

  Wei Dao's face darkened to an angry ocher, but she obediently lowered her gaze and mumbled, "Please to for- give outburst, Merciful Husband."

  Cypress observed the exchange in silence, then pointed his snout in Tang's direction. Why all this trouble for a barbarian, Young Prince? he demanded, still allowing Ruha to eavesdrop. Could it be you have fallen in love?

  "That is not your concern," Tang replied. "I have ylang oil by evening. Please to bring Lady Feng, and we make exchange."

  Cypress stepped forward, bringing his nostrils almost to within arm's reach of Ruha. You are fortunate that I understand the power of love. Harper. Treat Tang well.

  You owe him your life.

  Ruha brought her fireball around. So exhausted was Cypress that he barely pulled his head away in time to keep her from stuffing the sphere into his nostrils.

  "I'll treat Tang as well as he deserves, I assure you." Ruha said.

  The dragon backed away and swung his snout toward Tang.

  The prince listened for a moment, then pointed to the door. "You bring Lady Feng. I see to wu-jen."

  Cypress allowed his empty gaze to linger on Ruha for a moment, then turned away. With a weary beat of his wings, he lifted himself into the air and flew out the door.

  Tang waited until he was gone, then turned to Ruha.

  "Perhaps now you understand wisdom of my actions."

  The prince's voice was smug and condescending. "Or do you still believe Cypress is destroyed?"

  Ruha shook her head. "I do not-but how could he have survived?" The lasal haze inside her mind was already beginning to clear, but it had not yet grown thin enough for her to understand what she had seen.

  "I blasted him into a thousand pieces."

  "You destroy body, not spirit," Tang explained, assum- ing a superior air. "Cypress is dracolich. He hides spirit inside gem-"

  "Wise Prince," Wei Dao interrupted. "Cypress says she is Harper. Is it prudent to tell her so much?"

  By the scowl Tang shot nis wife, Ruha could see that the prince wanted to impress her with his proscribed knowledge-and she wanted him to. The witch allowed an expectant gaze to linger on the prince's face for a moment, then rolled her eyes and looked away, letting out a deliberately loud sigh of disgust.

  The silent put-down worked as no verbal upbraid could have. Tang's face reddened, and he snapped at Wei Dao,

  "I decide what is prudent!" When the princess lowered her gaze, Tang looked back to Ruha. "Cypress hides his spirit inside gem. After his body is destroyed, he pos- sesses new corpse and consumes old one."

  "But the sharks ate his old one," Ruha said, thinking aloud. "And that is why he smells like rotten fish now. He is eating the creatures that ate him!"

  Tang nodded. "It is impossible to stop process. Even if you burn old corpse and spread ashes, he can find them and swallow them. When he has eaten enough, he becomes dracolich again."

  "How close is he now?"

  Tang shrugged. "It does not matter to you. For your protection, I must not allow you to leave Ginger Palace."

  "Is that by Cypress's command, or yours?"

  "By dragon's-and he warns me you have no gratitude.

  He says you do not repay my bravery as woman should."

  Ruha's eyes narrowed. "And how is that?"

  The prince smiled. "Ginger Palace still has need ofwu- jen. Our union would be most blissful."

  "Prince Tang, that will never be," Ruha said, speaking sharply. She climbed out of the wagon and moved several paces away. "But I have a better way to show my grati- tude. I shall let you leave the wagon before I throw my fireball into it."

  In the blink of an eye, Ruha was surrounded by Tang's battered and bloodied guards, each holding a long-bladed halberd or square-tipped sword within an inch other body. Wei Dao stood behind them, looking more than a little disappointed that she had not been able to draw her dagger quickly enough to kill the witch before her hus- band's soldiers got in the way.

  Tang eyed the witch's fireball and did not climb from the wagon. "Burning blossoms would be unfortunate mis- take for all concerned-especially Yanseldara."

  Though the heat of the fireball felt as though it were melting her arm, Ruha stopped short of flinging it into the wagon. "Do not lie to me. I heard you say this morn- ing that Cypress needs something more from you to com- plete his spell." The witch waved her flaming sphere toward the wagon. "It seems obvious enough that what he needs is fresh ylang oil."

  "Yes, that is true." Tang scowled at Wei Dao and motioned for her to return her dagger to its sheath.

  "Cypress needs fresh ylang oil to make love spell."

  "Love spell?" Ruha gasped.

  "You know what ylang blossoms do," Tang replied. "You see that this morning."

  "A dead dragon-a dracolich-wishes the love of a half- elf?"

  Tang nodded. "He loves Yanseldara for many years, since she wounds him and sends him away from Elversuit." Tang placed a hand over his heart. "Love unrequited is most sad."

  Wei Dao rolled her eyes, then gestured at the fireball still burning in Ruha's palm. "We have no time for this foolishness, Wise Husband. Tell witch why she cannot destroy ylang blossoms."

  Tang looked into Ruha's eyes and, finding no sympathy there, reluctantly nodded. "Very well. Love is matter of spirit. To save Yanseldara's spirit or to steal it, same thing is needed-powerful love potion."

  "Then there must be a difference in how it is used."

  "It is not necessary that you know that," said Wei Dao.

  The witch ignored Wei Dao and hefted her fireball.

  "Perhaps you would prefer that I assume you are lying about the blossoms?"

  Prince Tang looked genuinely hurt. "You call me liar? I risk my life-life of royal Shou Prince-to save you, and this is how you repay my love?"

  Ruha lowered the fireball and used her free hand to snuff it out. She had learned all she was going to about the blossoms, and it was just enough to keep her from destroying the wagon.

  "Prince Tang, you cannot love me, any more than Cypress loves Yanseldara." Ruha spoke softly, for her intention was more to explain than to hurt. "Only a man can love, and you have yet to become a man."

  Tang leapt out of the wagon, pushing several guards aside as he stepped toward Ruha. "Shou prince becomes man in tenth year. I am man for twenty years!"

  Ruha shook her head. "You want me because I deny you, and that is the emotion of a child, not a man."

  Tang's face contracted into a shriveled mask of rage and pain. His mouth opened as though he were going to speak, but all that emerged was an unintelligible sputter.

  Wei Dao stepped to the prince's side and took his arm.

  "She knows nothing. Great Prince."

  The princess motioned to the guards and spoke in Shou. A pair of them sheathed their swords and seized Ruha by her arms. They started to drag her from the spicehouse, and Prince Tang made no move to stop them.

  Ruha glanced over her shoulder. "A man takes respon- sibility for his actions, Prince Tang."

  As she spoke, the witch tried to summon to mind the incantation of a wind spell and discovered she could not.

  Only the faintest hint of the lasal haze remained in her mind, but it was enough to prevent her from using her magic.

  Keeping her gaze fixed on the prince's face, Ruha con- tinued, "A man does not allow his fear to dictate his actions, and a man does not hide his mistakes from those who can help him correct them."

  Prince Tang looked away, and Wei Dao urged, "Pay her no attention. After Lady Feng is returned-"

  "Returned?" Ruha snapped her arms free of her cap- tors and spun around, then found the tips of several hal- berds pressed against her body. She ignored them.

  "Prince Tang, if you believe Cypress intends to return your mother, then you truly are a child."

  The guards seized Ruha's wrists and started to d
rag her away, until Tang spoke to them in Shou. The two men stopped, but still grasped the witch's arms so tightly her bones ached.

  "If he wants potion, Cypress must return Mother," said Tang.

  Ruha shook her head. "Does he not need her to cast the magic that will make Yanseldara love him? And even if he can do it himself-which he cannot, or you could not have been confident of her safety until now-remember why he attacked the Ginger Lady. Does he not fear that Hsieh intends to put someone else in charge of the Gin- ger Palace? Would Lady Feng not make an excellent hostage to guarantee approval of the mandarin's choice?"

  Tang turned to his wife. They began to argue in Shou.

  "You need help to recover your mother." Ruha spoke loudly to make herself heard over the quarrel. "Admit that, and you have taken your first step to becoming a man."

  Tang jabbed his index finger against his wife's fore- head and shouted something angry at her, then whirled away and strode over to Ruha.

  "I need no help to rescue Mother!" The prince glared at Ruha for a moment, then stepped past her and started toward the door. "And I am no child-I prove that soon enough!"

  Ten

  The dungeon beneath the Ginger Palace was unlike any of those dank, deep, dark places from which the Harpers had taught Ruha to escape.

  Instead of mildew and offal, it smelled of cedar and lamp oil, and the sound that filled its corridors was not the wail of tortured prisoners, but the silken swishing of Shou robes. The doors hung on brass hinges rather than leather straps, and they were made of red-lacquered mahogany instead of rusty iron-a con- struction that would make them no less sturdy once they were barred shut. The stone walls were smooth- plastered, washed with white lime, and a foot thick; the ceiling, nearly fifteen feet above, was formed by the exposed underside of the floor planks above, and therein lay the only weakness Ruha could find.

  The long procession of guards reached an intersection and, when Wei Dao attempted to turn right, came to a sudden halt. The leader of the soldiers spoke to the princess in Shou. She replied sharply and pointed at Ruha. The witch had again been gagged with her own veil, her arms were pinned behind her by two separate men, and she was surrounded by a ring of warriors hold- ing naked sword blades within inches other throat.