Page 39 of The Wind Dancer
I burned each page into my mind, turning characters and diagrams into vivid images that could be easily remembered. Lian Shu associating with officials? In my mind, he became a sprout feeding on the rotting earth of the bureaucracy. Old Yun was now a network of golden cobwebs trapping lost souls. Fu Shang? A rotten, twisted root that plunged into darkness, where many-armed shadows swarmed.
Then I had to make the connections.
I built them like rickety bridges at first. They creaked, and threatened to crumble, and then I’d reinforce them. Every moment working in this memory palace was accompanied by an increasingly aching pain in my temples, my mind straining to perfectly contain so much information in so little time.
But I couldn’t stop. Even a moment of faltering would ruin everything.
I gritted my teeth as my mentor’s notes flashed before my eyes. I’d make them stay with me forever.
My head was throbbing, but I kept going. I needed to memorize all their hideouts, where their sacrifices were held, and who their contacts were. Everything about them and how they operated. All of it had to be etched into my mind, no matter how unsettling.
I groaned and clutched my temples. I was seeing double from the pain.
I pushed just a bit more... and committed everything to memory.
I went over everything one more time, just in case. All of the shady dealings, the webs of betrayals, and the madness were perfectly preserved.
I collapsed into the chair, clutching my head. He had warned me about this. The head-splitting pain would last for a few days, my thoughts would be a mess, and my dreams would twist into nightmares. But I’d handle it, I had to.
Ideally, I would’ve also memorized the maps, but I was afraid that if I tried, my brain would burst. Thankfully, they weren’t as urgent or dangerous as those documents.
Now I had everything I needed for my meeting with Mei Lin. All that remained was to hide the originals.
With this headache and less than half an hour to handle everything and still make it to the meeting, I really only had one option: a small hiding place in one of the Lower City alleys.
Before leaving the hideout, I returned everything to its place. I chose a few random documents and put them in my mentor’s hiding place in the door, taking the originals with me. As a final step, I reset the traps.
As soon as I took a step outside, a powerful gust of wind hit my face. It seemed to wash over me, and I felt myself being pulled toward the underground tunnels.
Deep breath in, and out, and I put all this mystical nonsense aside. I had to focus now. I had no time for strange sensations.
The shadows reliably hid me in the streets of Cloud City. I managed to get out of the way of the guards before they even crossed paths with me. The wind seemed to be pushing my back, helping me and quickening my pace.
Handing a few copper coins to the right person made the wall between the Middle and Lower City no obstacle at all. I could’ve used the underground tunnels, but speed was more important right now.
My consciousness seemed to expand to take in my surroundings. I was sure that I wasn’t being watched, but I still did everything to ensure my safety.
The dark alleys of the Lower City held many secrets, and one of them was another one of my hiding places. It wasn’t the best, given how difficult it was to approach, but it was almost impossible to find.
It was a small pagoda temple, once a solitary building. Over the years, makeshift shacks crept closer and closer until they pressed up against its walls and merged with it.
I pulled myself up and climbed onto the pagoda’s first-floor roof. Thick, hazy clouds hid me from the moon’s all-seeing eye. Keeping low, I made my way silently to my hiding place. I had discovered it as a kid, climbing rooftops in search of nooks and crannies.
The wall, covered with cracks and moss, had a weak spot — a narrow crack, hidden from prying eyes. If you put your hand inside, you could feel a large stone that turned easily, opening access to a niche. I did so, and the stone shifted in that familiar way.
Deep inside the niche, there was a small chest. It was old, the wood surface worn, and the iron corners had already begun to rust. To me, it was safer than any safe. I opened it, and inside, as always, was my emergency money. But that wasn’t why I was here.
I took out the journal, the neatly stacked documents, the marked map, and the bags of pearls and precious stones, and placed them all inside. The chest closed with a soft click. After looking around the niche once more and making sure that everything was in order, I sealed the hiding place. The stone turned, making it look as if the niche had never been there. The cracks and moss merged seamlessly, and only I knew what terrible secrets they now concealed.
I arrived at the Garden of the Nine Gates a minute before midnight. The narrow streets leading there were empty, with only the occasional light casting long shadows. My head was still pounding, and I urgently needed to ease the pain. I entered the establishment, nodded to the bartender.
“A couple of jugs of rice wine. A girl should be waiting for me?”
“Oh, you mean our new healer. Yes, she said you’d be looking for her.” He nodded toward the private rooms. “She’s quite the looker.” He smiled widely, as if he was about to let me in on something amusing. “Some idiot just mistook her for a whore.”
“And?” I asked, already sensing how the story would end.
“She broke his arm in three places.” He laughed loudly as he handed me the wine. I laughed as well, even though I knew this meant Mei Lin was in a bad mood.
