The Flames of Dragons (20 page)

The vision of Serona vanished. Rondel, Saito, Iren, and Divinion were back in the white space inside the Muryozaki.

“What did you see?” Iren asked.

“Melwar,” Rondel replied. “Katashi Melwar cast the Kodamas’ curse. He knocked out Saito and took over his magic.”

Saito dropped his gaze. “I didn’t want to believe my friend would betray me, but it makes sense. Katashi believes in Maantec dominance. He knew I was having doubts about the war, and that if the Kodamas took the advantage, I would surrender rather than do whatever necessary to wipe them out.”

Rondel knew Saito was right. She knew it, but it didn’t change anything. She glared at her former husband. Lightning Sight burned in her eyes. “So Melwar cursed the Kodamas. Who cares? You led the war effort. You’re still responsible for all the dead out there.”

“I know,” Saito said. “Akio, that’s why I wanted you to see all this. It wasn’t just so I could show Rondel that I didn’t curse the Kodamas. It was also so I could convince you that she was right to kill me. I need no one to avenge me, least of all you.”

Iren frowned. “Even if I can forgive Rondel for killing you, what about Mother? She had no part in the Kodama-Maantec War.”

Saito blinked back tears. “I never wanted Carita to become involved in my struggle with Rondel, but your mother had the strongest will and the most giving heart of any person I’ve ever met. I should have known she would never abandon me, that she would never stay in the house and away from danger while I faced an enemy outside.”

The emperor paused and cleared his eyes. “Let me tell you a story, Akio. A year after I settled outside Tropos, the villagers came to attack me in a mob. They didn’t want a Left living near them. I stood alone against them, and I would have left Tropos had a young woman not stepped forward and shielded me with her own body. She said I had done nothing wrong, and if the townsfolk wanted to kill me, they would have to kill her too. The people backed down, but they told the woman that since she had defended a Left, she was no longer welcome in their village. Her decision to help me made her homeless. I couldn’t let her be cast aside like that, so I took her in. We were never officially married, but I like to think Divinion would have consecrated it had he been able.”

The Holy Dragon smiled. He hadn’t spoken in so long that Rondel had almost forgotten he was there. But then, this was a Maantec matter. It wasn’t the dragon’s place to force any of them into a decision, and he knew it.

“You two loved each other as much as any pair I’ve seen,” Divinion said. “You were bound together.”

“So, Akio, if you need someone to blame for Carita’s death, then let your anger be with me,” Saito said. “I knew Rondel stalked me, and I knew that living with me would put Carita in danger. I avoided personal ties for a thousand years for that very reason. Every time Rondel caught up to me, I ran from her. But I couldn’t do that with you and Carita, because for the first time I had people who cared for me, and whom I cared for in return.”

“But I can’t just let it go,” Iren said. “ How can I turn my back on what Rondel did?”

“If you won’t accept my reason, then know this: Carita would not have wanted you to burn your life away seeking revenge. What she would wish for is your happiness. If you want to honor her, don’t do it through vengeance. Do it through joy. Do it by living the happiest, most fulfilling life you can.”

Iren exhaled. He looked at Rondel a second. Then his gaze turned away.

Saito faced Rondel. “You’ve both heard what I had to say. That was the secret to escaping this prison, to listen.”

Rondel’s mouth fell open. “What?” she exclaimed. “I thought there was some deep meaning behind all this, like Iren and I had to reconcile and sing songs of praise to one another.”

Saito laughed. “That’s like you. I haven’t laughed in so many years; I miss it. No, Rondel, I’m through being emperor. I’m through forcing people to do what I want. I’ve given you two my side of the story. You decide what to do with that information. If you still want to kill each other, then I can’t stop you. The shield spell only works once.”

Rondel looked at Iren. She wondered what passed through his head. What would happen when they returned to the real world?

She would find out soon enough.

*   *   *

Iren Saitosan stared across the white expanse at his father. He didn’t know what to make of all this. He had seen the truth of the past. His father was innocent of the crime Rondel had slain him for, yet the man himself didn’t hold his murder against Rondel.

It didn’t matter. His father could forgive Rondel, but Iren never would.

Saito spread his arms. “Before you leave, I have a few final words I’d like to share with each of you individually. Once I finish, you’ll disappear from this place and return to the spot where you were fighting.”

Rondel stepped forward. “Let’s get this over with.”

Saito walked over to her, and their mouths started moving. No sound came from them. Iren frowned. They were at most ten feet away, yet he couldn’t hear a word of what they said.

They’d spoken about five minutes when Rondel reached up a hand and slapped Saito across the face. Iren expected her hand to pass through Saito the way it had earlier, but this time the impact rang out.

Saito didn’t get upset. On the contrary, he smiled at her. In that instant, Rondel disappeared.

As though nothing had happened, Saito walked over to Iren. “Your turn, Akio,” he said.

“What did you tell her?” Iren asked.

“If it was meant for you to hear, I would have let you hear it.”

Iren scowled, then grinned despite himself. “Fine. In that case, what would you like me to hear?”

“Exactly what I said to you earlier. Don’t judge Rondel. I don’t want vengeance, and your mother doesn’t either.”

“How do you know that?” Iren asked. “How do you know she wouldn’t want me to avenge her?”

“That’s the first thing I wanted to share with you. There’s a memory you should see. Not here, but later, when you’re in the real world. I can’t watch it again. Tell Divinion you want to see the memory from sunset on the summer solstice the year you were born. He’ll know what you mean. He always does.”

Iren cocked an eyebrow. “What happens in that memory? Some kind of fight?”

Saito shook his head. “Just watch it. If afterward you still want to kill Rondel, then I’ll have done everything I can to dissuade you.”

Iren didn’t see how watching a sunset would change his mind, but his father had said stranger things during this time inside the Muryozaki. “All right,” Iren replied. “I’ll ask Divinion to let me view the memory.”

Saito nodded. “Good. Then before you go, there’s one last thing I want to tell you.” He loosed a deep breath as though steeling himself. “It’s the secret to perfecting Muryoka.”

The last Iren saw of that white space was his father’s smile. In a blink, his landscape changed. He was at the bottom of a crater a thousand feet across and nearly three hundred feet deep. It surpassed even the devastation where the Heart of Ziorsecth had uprooted itself. Iren gulped as he realized what the place was: the aftermath of his failed Muryoka.

He glanced around and started. Rondel was behind him. Iren ducked, grabbed the Muryozaki at his feet, and came up in a defensive stance. Rondel raised her dagger. Lightning Sight flashed in her eyes.

Iren cursed silently. He couldn’t sense his magic. The time spent inside the Muryozaki hadn’t restored it. Rondel, though, had some energy left. If they fought, she would win.

She would win . . . unless Iren used the new knowledge his father had given him. He could defeat her with Muryoka’s perfect form.

He switched the Muryozaki to his right hand.

Rondel saw the shift and must have known what Iren intended. She stepped forward to counter.

Then she stopped. The ground shook beneath them. Iren frowned. Hana should be miles away with Melwar. She couldn’t be causing this.

The rocks beneath Iren and Rondel split open. A tangle of vines ripped from the earth and snarled around both their bodies up to their shoulders. The plants tugged on Iren’s wrist, and in pain he dropped the Muryozaki. The same happened to Rondel, and her Liryometa fell to the ground as well.

“What the—” Iren began, but then a spike grew from the vine closest to his neck. It stopped less than an inch from his windpipe. A similar thorn sprouted in front of Rondel’s throat.

Minawë stepped between them. Her emerald eyes bored first into Rondel, then Iren.

Iren gulped again. He’d never seen Minawë like this. She looked crazed. Her fists worked. Her right hand clenched the Forest Dragon Bow with such fervor that Iren wondered if she would crack the weapon in half.

“What . . .” Minawë seethed, “on Raa . . . do you think . . . you’re . . . doing!?”

Her last word screamed across the crater. It echoed again and again as it bounced off the steep walls.

Minawë’s baleful stare gave equal time to Iren and Rondel. “Which of you is going to Lodia with thousands of soldiers?” she demanded. “Which of you intends to conquer Raa and commit genocide?”

“Minawë . . .” Rondel’s tone was placating.

“Shut up!” Minawë roared. The thorn pointing at Rondel’s throat edged a hair closer. “I swear I’ll kill you if I have to.”

Minawë stormed up to her mother and slapped her across the face. Then she marched over to Iren and did the same to him. The blow sent shocks through his jaw; Minawë hadn’t held back at all.

“Can’t you see we have bigger problems than your stupid feud?” Minawë asked. “This was our one chance to stop Melwar before he launched his war. But no, you two decided the time was better spent blowing each other up.”

Iren’s eyes dropped to the ground. He’d left Goro and Chiyo’s farm to stop Melwar. Instead he’d let the fleet escape.

They were beyond reach now. Even if he left right away, he would need months to get to Lodia over land, and that assumed he could survive the wilds of Aokigahara Rainforest. Melwar had won.

“What would you have us do?” Rondel dared to ask.

Minawë whipped to face her mother, and as she did Iren saw a few tears fly from her face. Minawë was furious, but she was also on the edge of breaking down.

Rondel’s direct question, though, seemed to force Minawë back to reality. “We need to go after Melwar,” the Kodama said. Her voice still hummed with anger, but its manic pitch was gone. “Put your fight aside until we stop him. After that, you can do what you want. I won’t stop you.”

Iren met Rondel’s eyes across the crater’s expanse. “Melwar framed my father and set you on the path to killing him and my mother,” he said. “He’s at least as much to blame for their deaths as you are. I’ll still take my revenge on you, but I’ll agree to Minawë’s terms.”

Rondel glanced from Iren to her daughter and then back to Iren again. Iren wondered what the old hag was thinking. She’d seen firsthand that she’d been wrong about Saito, but she hadn’t changed. She would hold true to Okthora’s Law for all her days. If she saw Iren as evil, she would slay him. That was her duty.

“Evil must be annihilated,” Rondel said at length, “but some evils are worse than others. If I have to work with a lesser evil to defeat a greater one, then so be it. I won’t kill Iren until we defeat Melwar.”

“Just to be clear,” Minawë said, “if either of you breaks your word on this, I’ll kill you myself. I don’t want to, but two of us against Melwar is better than one. We can’t risk another battle like you had today.”

“Blame Iren for that,” Rondel growled, “him and his stupid forbidden technique.”

Minawë’s eyes regained their brutal look, and even the implacable Rondel wilted under them. “Fine, fine, forget what I said,” the old Maantec grumbled. “I’m as much to blame.”

“That’s better,” Minawë spat. Iren gulped for the third time since leaving the Muryozaki. Minawë had always possessed a strong will, but this Minawë scared him.

Still, he had to concede that her sense of authority impressed him. She was starting to sound like the Kodaman queen.

Minawë stretched out her hands, and the vines ensnaring Iren and Rondel slithered back into the rocks. The two Maantecs knelt and retrieved their weapons. Under Minawë’s harsh glare, they put them away.

“So what’s your plan for getting us to Lodia?” Iren asked Minawë. “Going over land will take too long. Melwar will have finished his invasion by the time we reach him.”

“I had a thought about that,” Minawë replied. “Come with me.”

Iren and Rondel followed her up the crater wall. Though Minawë couldn’t see them, they both kept their weapons sheathed.

When Iren reached the crater’s lip, he paused a moment in shock. The crater stopped less than a hundred feet from Hiabi’s northern wall. They had fought away from the city, yet his failed Muryoka had still almost taken out a portion of it.

Considering how close the explosion had been to Hiabi, Iren expected to see Maantecs swarming around the crater. But no one was around. It was as though they knew what had caused it and feared to venture too close.

“That’s my plan,” Minawë said, pulling Iren from his thoughts. She pointed across the city to the sea.

Iren half-smiled. It was a good plan.

A single junk sat in the water. Kelp swarmed over its sides, but its hull was intact.

“I was in the middle of attacking it when I noticed your fight,” Minawë explained. “The crew abandoned it, but all I did was break the oars. Once I remove the kelp, it should be seaworthy.”

She turned to Rondel. “You said you’re familiar with these ships. Can three of us control that thing?”

Rondel put a hand to her chin a moment. “Junks house a thousand people and take a hundred crewmen,” she said. “Then again, Iren and I can move faster than regular Maantecs. It might be possible. She won’t be as responsive as a fully crewed ship, but I think we can get her moving.”

“Good,” Minawë said. “Let’s swim out to her. I’ll be the captain.”

Neither Iren nor Rondel argued with her.