Page 44 of Reign of the Talon
“Wretched thing,” Rui snarls. He whirls to me. “Lina,” he pants. “Run.”
He’s right. The Dalgyal Gwisin has the advantage in this fight. It’s limber and ready, while I have been huddled up in a cell for…for so very long. Already my muscles are quaking. A fight is more exertion than I am ready for.
“I will hold it off for as long as I’m able,” Rui breathes to me. “I’ve an easy escape.” The golden door, ready to appear at any moment for him. “Go, little thief. I will find you again soon.”
Every instinct screams for me not to leave him, but as the Dalgyal Gwisin launches itself forward again, I know I have no choice. Behind me is the stairwell. I sprint toward it, fists curled, with sickness churning in my stomach.
Be brave, I tell myself.Be strong.
Although I do not deserve to, I pray frantically to the gods as I round the corner. The staircase looms into view, leading to some level far above. Some innate sense tells me I am still far, far down in the mindscape and have some ways to go until I break free.
Behind me, the Dalgyal Gwisin roars in frustration. I glance over my shoulder one last time to see Rui taunting it, disorienting it with his flashes of fire. I clench his sword in my hand as I finally reach the stairs and race up that first cold, stone step.
Terrified. I am utterly terrified of what comes next.
But still, I take the next step.
And the next…
And the next.
PART TWO
PRISONER OF THE PROPHECY
INTERLUDE
Kang
Alone in his Gyeulcheon apothecary, the royal advisor carefully collects the first ingredient in the Calm Death.
His fingers tremble as he picks six unripe poppy pods from their jar and sets to them a multi-bladed knife. Kang’s mouth tastes of bile as he makes the first incisions, allowing the opium to seep from the pod in a trail of milky fluid. Shaking even more violently than before, he reaches for his curved, wooden spatula. This will collect the gum, allowing him to deposit it in an open wooden box, where it will harden. The next step will be to add the opium to the Calm Death.
He does not want to be doing this. Sweat rolls down his face as the fire in his humid workspace crackles and pops, each sound reminding him of the breaking of bones. His fingers tighten around the spatula as he harvests the fluid.
This is war, he reminds himself. Innocents dying. Commanders captured. Armies barely staying afloat in every battle.One sacrifice, to save many. To stop a Prophecy.
It is a decision that his teachers in the Wyusan Wilderness, from so long ago, would approve of. It is logical, designed to save as many lives as possible, stop a Prophecy, and end a war.
Three birds with one stone—one life of an emperor.
Kang deposits the gum into the wooden boxes and leans heavily on his gnarled staff, breathing hard. The next step, while it dries, is to—
The door of his apothecary bursts open, and Kang jumps as his emperor lurches through the doorway, silver eyes bright, frenzied, and mouth curled into a smile that is raw with manic energy.
“Kang,” Rui breathes, striding over to the worktable and slapping his hands down on the rough wooden surface. The wooden boxes full of the drying opium rattle, and Kang feels sweat slide down his back as he hopes Rui does not know the ingredients to the Calm Death, the ingredients of which are spread haphazardly around the very surface against which Rui now places his weight. “Kang, it has been done. We just need some time…”
Kang stares at him in bewilderment, not understanding the words his emperor is saying. Evidently seeing this, Rui pushes off from the table, and begins to pace, hands clasped behind his back. He does not see Kang slowly taking the wooden boxes of drying opium and sliding them into a drawer underneath the worktable, out of sight.
“Somebody,” Rui says carefully, and there is a…cadence to his voice, as if he is trying to say something without saying it. Kang knows his emperor is wary of the Prophecy’s eavesdropping yet still frowns in puzzlement. “Somebodytold me that the army en route to Sanyeongto, travelling by land, destroying the villages, is a diversion.”
The still, cool waters of Kang’s mind ripple in surprise. A diversion…
How can he possibly know this? Bewildered, he can do nothing but lean on the table, watching Rui closely. Suspiciously, if he is to be honest. They have no moles on the opposing side. How came by he to this information?
“Imugi forces come by sea to breach the Beast Wall from the western edge. I have alerted our troops; as of now, forces are preparing to cover the western edge. If the Beast Wall falls, Sanyeongto will follow, and Wyusan will be captured. Chan—” Rui grits his teeth.
Kang, too, winces as he thinks of his friend and the foolish and infuriating idea of going rogue that ended in his capture.
