Chapter 10—Sho
It was only a little while before Eona realized she was going around in circles. Gritting her teeth, her grip tightening on the sword handle, she forced herself to close her eyes and take a deep breath. She waited it out for a couple seconds before exhaling and repeating. When she opened her eyes, her head a little clearer, she took in the space around her. She noted the directions she'd already gone in. She paid attention to the arrangement of the trees above her, the clouds in the sky, the pattern of the rocks to her left, the arrangement of pebbles to her right. Each and every single detail. There had to be something that she'd missed.
Squinting her eyes at the group of bushes a couple feet in front of her, she decided to go through them once again. She could've sworn she'd already tried that several times and had come up with nothing, just more trees and dirt and a dead end altogether. But since her eyes kept falling on that place and her instincts were screaming at her to go there, for no other explainable reason, she climbed through the bushes.
On the other side she almost noticed nothing different. She was about to turn back around in frustration when she noticed something beyond the leaves and dirt—its brown color almost blended in with the dirt. She stepped through more bushes and low-hanging branches, getting scraped in the face multiple times, before getting a full view of it.
A wide stone structure stood in front of her almost entirely covered with vine and ivy. The top door was rounded at the top and framed with stones. The door itself was further in and was covered with symbols that were not familiar to Eona, but that she thought she might've seen in some of the books in the library. There were large boulders in front of it that she had to step over, as though to keep out intruders.
It looked far different from the large structure that her mother and her had been in. But something about the place drew her forward. She could not leave it uninspected, lest one of her allies be in there.
Am I going to regret this? she wondered. She took a deep breath. Here went nothing.
Pushing the door open, cold and wet and slippery on her hands, she stepped into the narrow walkway with barely any light to lead the way, save the light from outside. Leaving the door open, she crept slowly and carefully through the tunnel. The ceiling seemed to get lower too, until her head nearly grazed it. Being a relatively short person, she couldn't imagine how difficult this would be for a taller person. The surroundings were like a cave. Stalagmites and stalactites were here and there, and Eona had to be careful not to hit any of them. The air was cold, unlike outside, and muggy and humid. The light from the door grew less and less visible. Her hand tightened around the hilt of the sword.
On her left she spotted a giant opening in the wall—no door, no hinges where it looked like a door might've once been, just a hole in the wall that for all she knew had been made by nature. It didn't look to have been carved by human hands. When she walked in, she could see it was dimly lit by torches along the walls. It was not another tunnel, but a room, with a high ceiling and a cage in the far back, currently holding two prisoners.
It certainly must have been something more than mere coincidence that Eona happened to stumble upon Chart and Lady Dela in there. They were sitting on the ground of the cage, their hands and feet shackled with chains and ropes. Their mouths were gagged. The cage was criss-crossed with bars both horizontal and vertical, creating squares. When Eona entered, her feet scraping on the ground and creating a loud echo with what would normally be such a small sound, they lifted their heads in startled unison. Eona was equally startled and confused. Eona was almost certain she was still somewhere in the west, maybe a little more south now, due to the heavy forests, albeit some of it was thinning out. But Dela was supposed to have been in the north with Ryko. Chart was supposed to be with Kygo and the rest of the villagers…
Kygo.
Before Eona could go over to them, she felt her stomach heave and she ran over to the corner of the room and threw up, facing away from Dela and Chart. When she finally recovered, she turned and walked back over to a puzzled Dela and Chart. Eona reached through of the squares the bars made with the cage and gently pulled down the gag covering Dela's mouth. "Eona!" she exclaimed while Eona did the same with Chart, who'd started moaning excitedly. "What are you doing here?"
"It's a long story…" She explained to them in as full detail as possible what happened from the day they'd left the village. From the disappearance of their soldiers, to her and Lillia's kidnapping, to the servant boy, down to this very moment where Eona discovered the cave. Dela's eyes widened and she looked a couple times like she wanted to comment, but she held back until Eona was all finished. "What are you two doing here?" asked Eona. "What happened? Where—"
"The same thing happened with our men," Dela said. "When I awoke…Ryko was gone. With all the others." She looked as though she might cry. "Then I was ambushed. I honestly couldn't tell you what happened or who it was. I just remember being knocked out and…I woke up here. They must travel fast. This seems pretty far from where we had been. We'd been getting closer to the mountains."
"The village was ambushed too," Chart said grimly. "It was when we were sleeping. Cowards," he spat. "It's as though they don't dare try to fight us in a fair fight. The last I saw of Emperor Kygo, he was being dragged away. I don't know where my mother is…or Lon…I don't know where anyone is. I hope they're all okay."
Dela frowned. "They must've been somewhere in the hundreds! How could they have overpowered us so easily…" Her voice was abruptly cut off when Eona began shaking the cage doors, unable to open them. They were locked from both the outside and inside. Whoever did this must've thrown away the key. Dela sighed. "It's no use, Eona. If it were that easy, we'd have already escaped."
Eona took her sword and started to smash it against the lock. She did it a couple more times but nothing broke. She stood there, panting, with a hand on her hip.
"Eona, that doesn't look like your sword," said Dela suspiciously.
"It's not. Both of mine were taken, remember? Look, I'd like to find them just as badly as you do," she added, seeing Dela's shocked and outraged expression, "but I have NO idea where they are, and this is all I have right now. I found it off of…someone. In the woods. They were dead."
Just then the door all the way at the beginning of the tunnel slammed shut, the torches now brighter than ever. Eona spun around, sword raised, seeing a silhouette at the entrance to the room. Soft cackling sounded from the figure and it could only be matched with one person.
"Why do you want to save them?" Ido asked, stepping into the dancing shadows the torches threw on the floor. They danced around on his face, elongating his already high cheekbones, narrow nose, and slitted eyes.
"That's none of your concern."
"No, it's not. But it is…curious. Very, very curious." He put a hand to his chin, mocking deep thoughts. "After all, even though they're your friends and everything—"
"They're not my friends," she said flatly. "They're Eon's friends."
A cold and calculating smile spread across Ido's face. "Ah, yes. Eon. The dear beloved Eon. Ryko's last hope. Hope of the resistance. Dela and Ryko's prized fighter." Ido began a slow clap, pacing around the room, staring mockingly at Eona. Eona kept pace with him, never letting him leave her sight. They were stepping around in a circle, keeping in each other's view. Abruptly he stopped. "My Lady, they've never appreciated you one bit. Why appreciate them?"
"You may be right," Eona said, "but that doesn't mean that what you're doing is right."
"Well, since we've seemed to reach an agreement, why not work with me? We could do great things together."
"It is not that simple. I trusted you once, and I won't ever make that mistake again."
"Power does not cause those who have it to become corrupt. Power causes those who don't have it to become bitter and envious." Just then he leaped over towards Eona and grabbed her. She held onto the sword, struggling to free herself from his grip, as he dragged her across the floor, her feet sliding loudly against the gravel. When the both of them were across the other side of the room, the floor where Eona and Ido had been standing was shaking. Actually the entire room, cave, and torches were shaking. Dela and Chart's cage rattled and the two of them winced and glanced around, eyes wide with fear and alarm. Then Eona saw the floor begin to open—not a crack as if from an earthquake, but two boards sliding open, clearly man-made and built there. When it was all the way open, Eona and Ido and the cage with Dela and Chart were all on the edge of the deep opening in the earth. It turned out Ido had dragged her out of harm's way.
When Eona glanced below, and got a peek of what was under, she almost jumped back. There was a horde of large, angry, hissing alligators, about six total. They looked to be about twenty feet long each, maybe longer. Eona gulped and looked at Ido. "How did they get here?"
Ido smiled. "That's for me to know, like so many other things. And you will just have to live on wondering. If you live on at all after that." He walked over to the cage and grabbed a fistful of Chart's shirt. "And that might not be possible with you."
Suddenly Ido pulled a key from a small pocket in his shirt, jammed it in the cage door, and yanked it open. He yanked Chart out—the chains breaking from inside the cage, still attached to his wrists and ankles. He was barefoot. Ido gripped Chart around the chest and held him near the edge, easily able to drop him down into the pit of alligators any second.
Chart stared down in horror at what possibly awaited him as his fate. She had never seen him look this terrified before. Not even when she'd compelled him. Never.
"What are you doing?!" Chart yelped.
"I'm going to feed you to them. Unless…" He glanced at Eona and put a finger to his chin. "Unless Eona compels you."
"What?" she yelled. "Why? What purpose does this all serve you?"
"It just does. I don't answer many questions my dear, in case you haven't already noticed."
"Don't you realize that if I were to compel him, I'd compel you too?" She kept holding the sword, wanting to charge Ido with it, but anytime she came close, he used Chart as a shield.
"Not if I can help it." He gave that mysterious grin again but said nothing more.
Eona gulped and glanced up at Chart. She swallowed again. Her throat felt swollen. Or like there was a big heavy weight in it that kept her from being able to swallow at all. "Chart," she said so quietly that she could barely even hear herself.
One of the alligators opened its mouth up big and wide, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth, its jaws big enough to crush any human to pieces in seconds. In fact, it already had—there was leftover flesh and blood and crushed bones in its maw from some earlier victim.
"Chart," Eona said, louder. "Let me…let me…It's better than…" She gestured toward the gruesome scene right beneath them. Surely he couldn't choose getting eaten alive over compulsion.
Chart was already nodding his head fiercely. "Yes. Do it Eona! Hurry up!" For a moment he stopped talking. He'd felt something, the tiniest thing inside of him, so tiny he thought he might've imagined it. It was less than a second of energy in him, gone before he could decide how it even felt. Like a swift presence of a bird flying by you, then gone.
Eona looked at Ido. "There, I did it," she said through gritted teeth. "I compelled him."
"Do it again," he commanded.
Eona's heartbeat reached out and connected with Chart's, for a solid second. She promptly severed it.
Chart and Ido glanced at each other, dumbfounded. Ido released Chart and made his way over to Eona in fast angry strides. "Okay, here's the thing," he said. "Do it right."
"I am doing it right—"
"No you're not! He's supposed to feel it! I'm supposed to feel it! Neither of us felt it!"
"Well, I—I felt it—"
"Shut up," Ido snarled, hitting Chart on the head so hard the sound echoed off the walls. He turned back to Eona. "This is your last warning, Lady Eona. If you don't compel Chart right now, I will throw him to the alligators and you will watch him die a vile, bloody, violent death right in front of your eyes. They haven't eaten in a while…they're very hungry." He licked his lips as if to imitate a hungry, salivating alligator.
Once again, Eona slid her heartbeat underneath Chart's, connecting their Huas. Only this time, she held on a little longer, barely making an effort to compel him. Ido seemed to enjoy the whole thing, not feeling a bit of pain from it. Eona couldn't feel her Hua connect to his at all, which was odd and maddening. Anytime she'd tried to compel Ido in the past, Ryko would get sucked into the whirlwind of it. So why was it not happening to Ido now?
"Very good!" he said at last, sighing heavily as though having taken a breath of refreshing air. On the contrary, Chart was panting and breathing laboriously. "Now see my boy? That wasn't so bad. How did you not ever trust the Lady? She wouldn't hurt you…those alligators, though, they would've given you something to cry about. They would've done more damage to your form than your deformity did. They would've deformed your deformity." Ido howled with laughter. "But then, maybe that's what you wanted anyway."
"How…how did that happen?" Eona asked. She'd felt Ido's own heartbeat connect to hers momentarily, but it had gradually pushed hers away. She couldn't understand it. No one had ever been able to do that before.
"I told you: There are many questions that will remain unanswered. So long as I'm around, you'll just be in the midst of its mystery, my Lady."
The floor began to push back into place, making the entire cave vibrate once again. Eona's sword rattled in her grasp, and she hung on to a stalactite to keep from sliding toward the still-open floor where the alligators were. Once the floor finally shut, she looked at the place where Ido had been standing and saw that he was gone. She glanced around, head whipping in every direction, sword raised, but he was nowhere in sight. The entire cave was occupied once again by only Chart, Eona, and Dela. The cave was still shaking, only much harder now, giving no sign that it would stop. Since the cage door was open, Eona ran over and cut the ropes away from Dela's wrists and ankles. She cut the chain links away as well, though the cuffs themselves would have to remain attached to her wrists for now. But at least they were free to go. Which needed to be soon if they didn't want to end up caved in and buried alive.
All three rushed around the corner, Chart and Dela at Eona's heels, heading toward the light at the end of the tunnel. Ido must've gone out that way, although that had been very quick…perhaps the shaking and rattling of the cave had opened it back up.
Chart and Dela had to crouch under the low ceiling, small rocks falling everywhere, and Chart tripped over a stalagmite and fell flat on his face. Eona and Dela crouched down to help pick him up as they continued their way out.
About only three seconds after they'd made it outside, where there were giant gusts of wind that practically blew them off their feet, Eona saw it in the sky: The Rat Dragon. Its hungry snout and long scaly neck was a deep blue against the sky, right behind the structure about to tear it down like a tornado, and its glowing yellow-gold eyes looked vicious. She could hear its roar, not just through her ears, but her whole body. Even though it was a celestial dragon, she was almost sure it would eat them. So many questions ran through her mind. Where was Ido? How had he done that? Were the alligators dead or did they have another escape? Even though they were predatory towards humans, Eona couldn't help but feel sorry for them as well.
When the dragon faded away and the howling stopped, Eona realized it had only lasted for a few seconds, even though it had seemed frozen in time. The three of them stood there, breathing heavily, gazing at each other with wide, confused eyes. Eona turned and started walking up the path toward the hill she'd come down. Dela and Chart followed without word.
After about a minute of slow, cautious walking, Dela said, "Where are you going?"
"I'm going back the same way I came, to the place where I was separated from my mother. And maybe take a different route."
"Are you sure you're leading us to the right place?"
"Of course I am."
"You don't exactly have a history of leading people where you say you're leading them."
Eona stopped dead in her tracks, so abruptly, that Chart accidentally walked into her. She took no notice and spun around to face Dela. "That history includes you and Ryko," Eona snapped. The words came out before she'd mentally okay'd them. But she didn't care because it was the truth, and therefore she didn't care when Dela looked like her breath caught in her throat. Was she really surprised? Her and Ryko had abandoned Eona during her darkest hour. She'd been all alone. And Ryko had taken every opportunity to slam her left and right, while Dela stood and watched, barely lending a hand to Eona.
Eona saw Dela frowning and saw something…hurt?—disbelief—in her eyes. "We've always been on your side, Eona. Through thick and thin."
"No, I was always standing on my own. I was so happy…so happy…when I was chosen as the Mirror Dragoneye. I felt like a champion, like everything I'd done finally paid off. But most of all, I felt like I wasn't entirely alone anymore. Especially after my master died." She swallowed the lump in her throat. "Then you instantly took all that away from me." It was ironic how people had been very vocal, always, about her literal ability to control others, but not a word was spoken about others' ability to control her. Not in the same way, but certainly with the same severity. "That's real power, Dela. When you care about someone. They immediately have power over you. And you didn't even ask for it." She turned away. There was an uncomfortable heavy silence that hung in the air. Finally, Dela spoke.
"Ryko is and always will be an honorable, dutiful man. He is a gentlemen—" Eona snorted at this—"who has done far more for you than he ever had to. For you to just spit on him like that…" Dela shook her head.
"How can he protect me when he's the one I need protecting from?"
"How can you say that?"
"You know what, Dela? I can't help it that unlike you, I go after what I want in life. That unlike you, I don't let others step in my way. I didn't wait too long or overthink things or hesitate. I went for it. I didn't care that people said I couldn't or shouldn't do it just because I'm a girl. You stood back and kept your hands behind your back like a good woman." She saw Dela's nostrils flare. "And yet weirdly enough, at the same time, the two of you wouldn't know your place if it smashed you in the face. And that's not sacrificing yourselves for me. I never asked you to do that. So stop being angry at me because I'm the thing standing in the way of you and Ryko being able to be together. I've always urged you two to be together. I'm not the one who has a problem with it. Others, on the other hand, are." There was an underlying implication in her tone.
"You…you heard my father when he was speaking to me about Ryko?"
"I did. But unlike Ryko, I'm not the type to run around blabbing about peoples' private matters because that's your business, and I have my own to mind."
"He was only trying to warn Chart about something very serious. He didn't know if you were going to tell him or not. You were being influenced by Ido at the time, and we were trying to keep him from fully taking over your mind, because it was our job to guide you into the right direction."
"Don't flatter yourself. You were never my guiding light."
Chart glanced back and forth between them. "You guys, can we just keep moving? We probably have a long enough way to go as it is."
"Very well," Eona said, having had her say anyway. Dela pursed her lips, but they continued to trek onward. It was soon going to be nightfall. The outlines of the trees and branches up above were becoming more clear and bold. When Eona had finally reached the place she'd witnessed her mother get kidnapped, she stopped and closed her eyes, trying desperately to recall which direction her mother had been taken.
There was a sound of a twig snapping. A few more followed. They all stopped and glanced around anxiously.
From the right, the body of a man fell out of the bushes flat on the ground in front of them with a plop! The flesh was rotting heavily now, and worms and maggots were crawling around, including in and out of its eye sockets. Chart's face screwed up in disgust. "Ack! That's ungodly." Dela turned away, covering her mouth. Eona kept her same blank neutral expression as she stared at the body, only wondering how it had gotten there in the first place. Why had it just fallen out of the trees? Had it been propped up somewhere or did someone throw it towards them? It was a horrible way to treat someone after they died.
As if on cue, her answer was granted. Several men, maybe ten or a dozen, stepped out of the bushes, swords raised. They surrounded them and all looked as if they might slice them to pieces for dinner. It was very much the opposite, but still just as frightening, as how her and Lillia had been ambushed the first morning after leaving their village.
"Alright, here's how it works," said one of the men. "You can either come with us willingly and cooperatively, or we can beat you to the ground until you are still conscious enough to obey but too weak to disobey. And believe me, we can do it faster and easier than you think."
Eona, Dela, and Chart were standing at each other's backs. Though Eona was the only one who had a weapon, it wouldn't have mattered if all three of them did. They were still vastly outnumbered. For each of them, there were about three more soldiers. Dela and Chart knew this just as well, and grudgingly stepped forward. Eona tentatively lowered her sword and stepped forward with them. But before she did so, when she was still an inch away from Chart's back, she held the sword out behind him and slid into his hand. She felt him take it willingly but reluctantly.
"Hey," said one of the soldiers. "What are you…"
He grabbed out to her and Eona twisted out of his grasp before he had a full grip on her. She was encircled now by about five soldiers. She tried looking over their shoulders, but could not see Dela or Chart. Quickly she zig-zagged through the swords and soldiers, miraculously avoiding the blades. The last thing she saw before darting through the trees was Chart wildly and clumsily swinging the sword out, ready to hit anyone that came near him, and Dela cowering behind him. The soldiers quickly overpowered both of them however, and soon they were dragging them away in the opposite direction. Others were rounding in towards Eona, and she had no choice but to keep moving further away. Eona turned for the last time and fled until she could no longer hear heels behind her.
She would never surrender.
She spent the entire night running, walking, practically crawling through the woods. She had no idea what new path she would find, if she were lucky enough to find one. Ido was unstoppable; how had he gained so many followers, in so many areas? They all seemed ready for them, at any time, to jump out and capture them. At this rate, everyone, including the emperor himself, was probably captured. Eona had never felt so empty and vulnerable in her life without her ancestress' swords.
Slumping down near a tree, her feet could no longer carry her.
When she awoke hours later, the sun shone through the slitted branches. Squinting her eyes, she got up and pushed one of the branches down and out of the way. She'd made her way out of the woods the night before without even realizing it. For beyond the trees, down the slope of a rolling green hill, there was a village. Instead of coming out of the trees and being in vulnerable plain sight, Eona moved sideways along the edge of the forest, staying hidden from view, until she was at a lower place where she got a better, even closer view of the village.
People in brown and black cloaks shuffled around, doing everyday chores such as chopping wood, gathering firewood, fetching water from the well, and taking care of the horses. Most of them seemed relatively tall and broad. When Eona paid distinct attention to their faces, she could see that all of them were men and boys. She did not see a single woman or girl in sight.
The lodgings here were quite different from the ones Eona's people used. These cabins had wooden doors with handles rather than the thin sliding doors she'd been used to. The cabins seemed to be made entirely out of wood or clay, and while many looked old or corroded, they still seemed sturdy and the foundations seemed fairly strong. There was no glass in the windows or anything fancy to hint at what they believed in or what their values were. It was neutral and very blank-looking, almost mysterious. She couldn't conclude anything about this place just from structure alone.
She turned her head and glanced carefully around the forest she was ready to step out of. Carefully considered her options. Should she go and ask for help? Ask for information about this place, about where she was? She did not know any of these people, and for all she did know they could be with Ido too. But there seemed to be nowhere else in sight. She might be days' worth away from the next nearest village.
Her eyes fell on something at the base of a tree nearby. When she stumbled toward it, she found that it was a heap of dark fabric. Slowly reaching downward, she saw that it was on a corpse. The person was facedown so she never knew their age, but she presumed it was a male. Holding her breath and gritting her teeth, she forced herself to take the cloak off of the corpse, murmuring apologetic prayers. She glanced at the villagers again, catching sight of their hooded cloaks—she was holding one just like theirs. Was this person from the village? What had happened? Were they executed there and then dumped unceremoniously right here on the outskirts of the village? She inspected it for any blood, rips, anything to indicate foul play, but there was none. She pulled her hair up into a tight knot, then quickly put the cloak on over her clothes and pulled the hood up. It was way too big for her, but comfortably warm and soft. Rolling up the sleeves and hem as best she could, she made her way across the grass, remaining as inconspicuous as possible. Her eyes fixed on an empty cabin with a wide-open door and she went slowly and casually toward it, as though walking past it. She caught a glimpse inside and saw an assortment of weapons. Swords, bows and arrows, daggers, and clubs made up rows upon rows among other weapons hanging on walls, sitting on shelves—
"What do you think you're doing?" came a sharp voice. She gasped and turned, her hood falling over her eyes, shielding him from view. Lifting it, she saw a young man in a long cloak of his own that was opened, revealing a simple tunic and trousers underneath. He looked not much older than Eona, with medium-length dark hair and a serious look. Not a threatening look, though the step he took towards her was threatening enough in this place full of strangers.
"Oh. Um…hello," she said, sounding much calmer than she felt. She tried to deepen her voice only a little, to sound natural but more masculine.
"Who are you?"
Grappling for a boy's name, she said, "Ping. My name is Ping." She kept her voice even, contrasting the nerves going haywire in her body.
The man narrowed his eyes. "Ping…I've never heard of a Ping around here before." He put his hands on his hips. "Where are your relatives Ping?"
Eona gulped. She almost reached at her waist for her sword out of habit, only then remembering its absence. She had no way of answering the question.
"I knew you weren't from around here. You're an orphan from the next village over. That's why I saw you coming out of the trees."
Just when she was about to run, he stepped forward and put on hand on her shoulder. "Relax," he said in a low voice. "No one here is going to hurt you, so long as you stay out of their way. With a boy as small as you, you could be easy prey for the big guys here. So just stay with me and you won't get run over."
Eona was surprised by his sudden warmth. She took a deep breath and nodded.
"Alright then. Follow me. I will show you to an available chamber. It's not very much, but it will do." She followed him, not needing to try very hard to regain her boyish composure and way of carrying herself. She imagined it would always be natural to her, even if she eventually quit it for good. "My name is Sho," he said. "My master is Liang. He will allow you to sleep in our extra quarters, but he's not very fond of me, so it's doubtful he'll be fond of you either." He stopped in front of a small structure that one could probably easily walk all the way through in just a few steps.
"May I ask you a question?"
"Certainly, Ping."
"Where are all the women and girls?"
Sho turned to her with a dark look on his face, glanced back at the structure. "We're here."
A twisted feeling rose in her gut at his lack of response, but Eona returned her focus on the matter at hand. When she entered the cabin, it was a wonder how even one person could reside in it. There was a narrow path leading to the back where there were two squares cut out from the wall situated closely together that resembled windows. A cloth covered the outside of them as a makeshift curtain—or perhaps a permanent one—for the sake of privacy or shade, but one could still hear conversations right outside of it, and it probably wouldn't do any good against cold or rain. On the left side of the narrow space was a large rectangular space cut out of the wall that served as a bed. There was nothing on it. Everything else in the cabin was completely bare as well, save for a small empty crate beneath the windows.
"This is where you will sleep. I'll come by later to deliver you some food. I'd introduce you to Master Liang right now, but he is off on a mission."
"What kind of mission?"
Sho glanced sharply at her, a look that said Don't push it. Then he smiled. "Here is your living quarters." He swept a hand across the room, as if to make it look bigger than it was. Then he stood there awkwardly, his hands folded in front of him, not quite knowing what to do. Eona was only standing an inch away from him and when she looked up into his eyes, a strange feeling overcame her—she felt like he was someone she'd known before. He didn't look the least bit familiar, but somehow she felt at ease with his presence, like he was a safe person to trust. But she just met him. She didn't know anything about him. Why was there this overpowering feeling that he wasn't going to hurt her, even if he found out the truth? Especially in this world where it was the survival of the fittest? She'd never felt that way about anyone when she was Eon.
Suddenly there were shouts and screams coming from outside. Sho sprinted out the door, Eona following him. There was a large crowd of men gathered outside. He tried to weave his way through it, and Eona had another massive gut feeling take over—one that told her she wasn't going to like what she was about to see.
She turned to Sho. "What's happening?"
A crowd had gathered around to see what all the fuss was about. Eona and Sho both being shorter than the majority of people there, struggled to see over the shoulders of the onlookers. Eona immediately darted forward, squeezing through annoyed people, until she finally reached the front to the open circle where all the commotion was going on.
Three men were holding down a man, writhing and struggling to get free, gripping the back of his neck and shoulders, on a slat of wood propped up by two boulders. Eona recognized him immediately—Ryko. He was in a tunic and trousers, having been stripped of his armor. They must've captured him and thought he was an enemy soldier there as a threat or possibly leading an ambush. While two of the men continued to hold him down, the third went and grabbed an ax from a nearby shed and walked back over, raising it above his head.
"NO!" Eona screamed, rushing forward and leaping herself on top of Ryko's back just as the ax began to fall. It stopped midway. Silence.
Sho had made his way through the crowd now too. "Ping, what are you doing?"
The two men grabbed her and thrust her to the ground like a rag doll. "How dare you?" one of them shouted in her face, so close she could feel spittle flying from his mouth.
"You little rat," the other one chided. His teeth were crooked, yellow, and filthy. "What gives a little boy like you the right to come and interrupt this execution? Why, we ought to take yours right off your puny little shoulders too while we're at it!"
The crowd cheered at that. Eona had thought she'd already known how barbaric people could get. She'd had no idea.
"He's…he's…he's my brother." Perhaps the years of pretending so much hadn't been just a burden after all. Perhaps they'd at least taught her how to think quick on her feet. But Ryko would need a different name. "This is Shin. My brother. He means you no harm," she announced. "Please, I beg of you…let him live." She heard a confused grunt come from Ryko and she leaned into his ear, whispering, "Just play along."
The crowd had been silenced for a moment, then erupted into jeers, sneers, and protests. Eona glanced back at Ryko. Trust me, she mouthed.
A thick heavyset man emerged from the crowd, approaching her with both his beefy hands balled into fists. "How about this? We duel until there is a winner. If you win, he can live. You can both stay, without any trouble, unless of course you cause any. If I win…if I win, both of you must be executed." Eona expected an evil grin to appear on his face as he said this, but he just stared at her, awaiting her response. He was completely serious.
Sho bristled beside her. "H-how about you just exile them?" he asked weakly.
"Shut up, fisher," the man snarled.
Ryko was shaking his head at Eona, mouthing the word, 'No'. Eona bit her lip and tore her gaze away from him. She looked the man right in the eye and said, "Alright."
There were several excited whispers and exclamations throughout the crowd, followed by a hush.
"What are you doing?" Sho hissed into her ear. "Ping, you can't—"
"That's my brother," Eona said, playing her part, gesturing toward Ryko. He made a sound of protest. "I have to."
"Ping," Sho said, his face turning sympathetic. "I know that. I know, but…nobody's ever been able to defeat him." His forehead, wrinkled with worry, was practically touching hers and she could feel his intense breaths on her face as he glanced anxiously over to her opponent.
"I have to try," Eona said.
Barely suppressing a sigh of frustration, Sho skittered over toward one of the nearby cabins and disappeared inside. Almost instantly he reappeared, returning toward Eona with a long sword in hand—it must have been one of his Master's creations.
Eona, feeling a bit strange and almost intrusive taking hold of someone else's sword, felt the hilt of the foreign object become steadily more familiar in her grasp. She was a fighter, a warrior—a Dragoneye.
The clash of swords echoed throughout the vicinity, seeming to send ripples in the air. Faces and eyes stared all around them as Eona and her opponent's feet scraped across the dirt and sand, her moving backwards with every swipe of the sword. The man proved how much looks could be deceiving. He may have been big, but he could move quick. He was as light on his feet as a cheetah. Eona blocked his every blow without much difficulty, but not without surprise at how fast he moved. His sword was a blur—she was becoming breathless.
Finally she blocked his most fierce blow yet, a high-pitched cling! filling the air as their swords connected. It left everyone's ears ringing. A few of the onlookers, mostly the elderly ones, even winced. Eona could feel her feet and back up against a wall—she could not move back any further. She felt pinned there, trapped. She was eerily reminded of her duel with Ranne on the day the Rat Dragoneye apprentice would be picked. How shocked everyone was when the cripple fought back—none too different from how shocked people were now that the young skinny boy was fighting back. Eona could only imagine how stunned and aghast they'd be if they knew she was a girl. Using all of her strength, beads of sweat dripping down her face, she pushed back against his weight and freed herself from his hold, swinging her sword out and leaping away from the wall of the cabin.
He was clearly caught off guard, and from the whispered gasps in the crowd, so was everyone else. Panic flashed across his eyes, followed by anger. Eona raised her sword up, tilting her chin up. He raised his sword and they began again. They stepped around for the first few seconds and it quickly escalated to jumping and dodging out of danger.
For two more eternities did they battle sword to sword, until Eona could've sworn she'd heard someone scream her name. The word "Eona!" reached her ears, and her moment of hesitation was a deadly one—she could feel the sword go through her before she fully realized what was happening. For a second everything seemed silent, as though someone had muted any and all sounds around her. Her sword's handle slid from her hand but she didn't hear it clatter to the ground. She didn't know if she couldn't get her gasp out, or if she just hadn't heard herself. Her hood flew off her head as she slowly stumbled back. Her hands flew to her stomach to staunch the blood flow, but the blood oozed between her fingers and dripped down, the thick coppery smell reaching her nostrils. She could almost feel the life leaving her body. She could feel her veins emptying, her vision leaving her, and then the familiar and comforting tug of cinnamon and vanilla orange as she used everything she had to summon Eona. It made the pain in her head explode ten times more to do it, but she was going to die anyway. This was her only chance.
The wind rolled, blowing bits of dust and hay across the ground. She could feel the energy traveling through her, energy healing her Hua and giving her strength. Her breath steadied and she became less afraid. She lifted her head and dared to look into her opponent's eyes—his eyes bulging out of his head, his mouth hanging open, as if frozen in a scream. Eona raised tentative fingers to her stomach. The pain was gone. So was the blood. Not a drop of it left. No stain on her cloak. She was as dry as hay. It was as though she'd gone back in time.
She picked the sword up off the ground, catching Sho's look of astonishment, awe, and confusion in her peripheral vision. But she only had eyes for the man across from her, who had already recovered from his shock. He didn't care anymore how the little boy had healed himself of a fatal wound. The trouble was he was still alive, and he needed to rid him. He did not need this little runt humiliating him in front of all his peers.
Eona nodded. Ready? They went again, on and on, neither giving in a bit. It was like the sun and the moon, each refusing to fade, each wanting to prevail the victor. Eona's blade finally sliced through the cloth of his shirt, sinking all the way through his breastbone. His adamant look of disdain vanished. His mouth dropped open and blood bubbled out of his gurgling throat.
Already by his side, sword thrown down, Eona placed a hand on his chest, ready to begin the healing process again.
One of the men rushed over and shoved her aside. She tumbled to the ground and looked up into his cold, angry eyes. "Rules are rules," he said. "He would not want you to bring him back with your…your…" He might've wanted to say 'power', but his confused, afraid, and disgusted look prevented him from finishing that sentence. "He wants to die this way. We will respect that."
Eona gazed past him, into the man's eyes which were now rolling into the back of his head. His big body fell to the ground with a heavy thump, his eyes shut as though he were asleep. His skin, which had been glowing and tan minutes ago, was now pale and ashen and gray. Bits of dust had slightly risen into the air around his head.
Her gaze briefly lingered on Ryko. His eyes were wide and slightly dazed, as if he still didn't have a clue as to what was going on. In fact he seemed to be looking right through her, as though he were seeing someone else completely.
The other man, who'd stopped her from healing her opponent, turned back to her while several others came and lifted her opponent's body off the ground and carried him out of the vicinity. He stared at her for a long time and then said, "You and your brother may take up residence in one of my cabins. I hope the two of you don't gain an arrogant mind from this. You are still lowly working slaves and will remain as such. Do not intend to move any higher up the ladder."
"Master Liang," Sho said, bending forward in a low bow. "I assure you I will watch over them and make sure they do not cause any trouble. I shall take responsibility for the both of them. And Ping here can already show Shin the way to their quarters."
"See to it that you do," Master Liang barked.
So this is Master Liang, Eona thought. She hadn't known how to picture him—big like he was, or small but fit like some power holders were. But he was every bit as sharp, sour, and intimidating as she'd expected him.
As she led Ryko away from everyone toward their cabin, he leaned down to her ear. "Why are we pretending to be different people?" he hissed.
Ignoring him because she did not want to attract attention, she continued toward the cabin. Briefly she wondered if he thought she'd only done what she just did because she was playing a 'part', or to ensure he lived so that she could have one more person—especially one of the most skilled fighters—out looking for Kat. The truth was, she couldn't bear watching him die. Just like she couldn't bear watching Dela or Chart die. She was still angry at them. She still felt betrayed. She still thought they were ignorant, hypocritical, and selfish. But she could not sit back and watch someone kill them.
Her stomach clenched as they stepped inside, Ryko letting the door fall shut behind him. It was hitting her that she'd just killed someone, and that Ryko had been seconds away from getting his head sliced clean off. And all because they were outsiders? What was wrong with these people?
She walked all the way to the back, which only took a few steps, and lightly pushed the curtain aside, feeling the heat from outside the window. She turned and saw Ryko still standing by the door, arms folded, awaiting an explanation.
"These may or may not be Ido's men," Eona said firmly. "We shouldn't divulge our identities. I'm here because they may have some of our own people. It does seem like they're awfully suspicious of anyone who comes here, which may mean they're hiding something," she said, surprised as she said it, the thought just striking her. "How did you get here?"
Ryko frowned. "We were ambushed, kidnapped, separated, the whole thing. I've been trudging through the woods for days. How did you get here?"
Eona explained to him all that had happened since they'd left their encampment to search for Ido and Kat, which admittedly wasn't too different from what Ryko just said happened to him. She hadn't realized how much had really happened in such a short time span, making it seem a lot longer. She found herself exhausted after explaining everything. Ryko perked up when she mentioned Dela and Chart. She asked him if he'd seen Kat or her mother or anyone else. Unfortunately, Ryko had seen no one. He had also gotten separated from his own fellow troops and Dela, just like Eona had from hers and Lillia. There seemed to have been traps set up everywhere for them or clusters of Ido's men lurking behind every bush. Like it was all planned and set up. They'd been heavily diverted from his path to the north, but the few areas they'd explored seemed more than deserted anyway. The north was filled with such unforgiving and cruel cold temperatures, he found it impossible for anyone to reside there anyway.
Eona delicately moved the curtain aside, glancing out the window again, as if just looking at the people out there would help her figure them out. "Oh, and there's only one bed. So you can have it."
She could hear footsteps coming her way, and then Ryko was looking out the other window. "It's too small for me. You can have it."
Eona glanced at him curiously and then passed by him—the space was so narrow they almost brushed against each other with barely any movement. She crouched, sitting down on the bed. Her head grazed against the ceiling. She wished there was another window beside the bed so she wouldn't feel so closed in.
"Why are you pretending to be a boy?" Ryko asked. He tried unsuccessfully to keep his voice casual.
"Do you see any girls or women around here?" Ryko didn't respond, except for a sigh. "Besides," Eona added quietly, "it's easier for me." She had not shaken off four years of pretending so easily.
Ryko glanced back at her, opening his mouth to say something, then shutting it. He reached out to put his hand on the wall near the bed to lean against it, and Eona flinched. It was completely involuntary and she didn't meant to do it, but she realized Ryko saw it and he frowned, taking his hand away from the wall.
"My Lady. You look nervous." The look of fear and suspicion in her eyes, mixed with resentment, suddenly clicked. "You think I'm going to expose you. Or…or hurt you." He sounded offended.
"You do have a tendency to grab me whenever you please. Will I need to sleep with one eye open?"
"I won't grab you again. I'm…I'm sorry." He seemed to use all his might just to say the words. Eona looked at him wearily, not knowing whether to believe him or not. "You know we're on the same side. And you know I was never trying to hurt you."
"It seems like you're always waiting for the perfect opportunity to gloat over my misery." She willed herself not to be sorry for it when she saw his mouth hang open. It was true, and that was all that mattered.
"My Lady," Ryko said firmly, "we're in this together. I will not put you out there if you don't put me out." He paused, and Eona somehow knew his next words were almost vital. "It's something I wish you'd known when you were Eon. That you could've told us—trusted us."
Eona gave a curt nod and turned away.
She heard two distinct clapping sounds, followed by, "Wake up, Ping and Shin." Sitting up groggy-eyed, Eona hadn't realized she'd fallen asleep and that it was a new day.
Sho was standing above them, smiling apologetically. Eona had thought she'd heard a knocking on the door a little while ago, but must've been half asleep and thought it was a dream. "I'm sorry to just barge in on you like this, but I just thought I'd better properly introduce myself to you two again, have some proper introductions amongst all of us, and then get you started on tomorrow's work."
Eona sat on the edge of her bed while Ryko stayed on the ground where he was, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. Sho situated himself down in front of the door, between them, barely an inch or two away from each of them. There really was no room in here. Sho let the door shut behind him, but not before Eona caught a glimpse of outside, where it looked like the sun was just rising, and there weren't very many people out yet.
"Tomorrow's work?" Ryko asked hopefully. "Not today?"
"I managed to convince Master Liang to give you two one more day's rest before giving you any official tasks. It might sound mighty generous of him, and I suppose it is, but the reason he gave for it is that he wants to see if he can trust the two of you before treating you like one of his own. Like one of his servants—like me. Like you belong here." He sighed. "He wants to see that you will not cause any trouble here. He's always very suspicious of outsiders. You understand, don't you?" But Eona got the distinct feeling even he didn't understand. She also got the distinct feeling that he was here on Liang's orders, but was trying his best to remain calm and friendly, keeping the atmosphere normal, as demonstrated by how he crossed his legs comfortably and folded his hands and smiled. "So! Let's get acquainted. Let's get to know each other."
After an awkward moment of silence, Ryko cleared his throat and said, "Well, I'm Ry—uh, Shin," he amended when Eona shot him a warning look. "And that's Ping."
"Your son, right?"
"No," Ryko said irritably, "my younger brother."
"Oh! Yes, yes, sorry. Your brother. There must be a massive age difference between you two," he said, clearly not noticing Ryko's reddening face as if thinking, Do I really look that old?
Suppressing a yawn, Eona pushed off the bed and knelt down on the ground next to them. "And you're Sho."
"Yes," he confirmed. There was something about him—not familiar necessarily, but striking. As if he looked like someone she knew, or perhaps was related to someone she knew. But she couldn't think of any associations with him. And she was almost certain she'd never seen him before—
"And what of your parents?" Sho asked. "Where are they?"
Ryko and Eona looked at each other as if waiting for the other to answer. Eona started to say, "Our parents are—" but that's all she got out.
"Dead," Ryko said flatly, his voice outweighing hers. "Our parents are dead. Murdered when I was eight, and sh—er, he was a baby."
Sho frowned and nodded. "I'm terribly sorry." He sounded like he meant it, but Eona couldn't tell for sure. "I can somewhat relate. I was brought up by my own parents until about age ten. Then they, they were swept away in a flood." The three of them sat there for a moment, as if for silence to honor their fallen parents. Then just as it had seemed the mood couldn't get any dimmer, Sho said, "I enjoy getting to know you guys, but we really must get to an important point here. Though I'm sure you've already noticed, there are certain—'rules' here, for lack of a better term—that the vast majority of people in this village must abide by. Certainly Master Liang, who took me in right after the death of my parents, firmly believes in them. He's been relatively merciful on me, if only because I work for him and am his responsibility, but if he knew how deeply I disagreed with his views, he'd have the entire village on top of me for it." His face was set in a grim, resigned expression. "And they would. They would do whatever he told them to, because Master Liang is looked at here, revered here, as nothing short of a deity. The Liang River not too far from here wasn't named after him for no good reason."
Though afraid to ask, because she had a fairly strong vibe about what the answers would be, Eona said, "What kinds of beliefs do the people here have?"
"For starters, they don't like anyone they consider 'impure'. This includes the young, old, small, poor, crippled, women…I didn't say any of it made sense. This is just how they are. They also very, very much hate contraires. Are you familiar with contraires?"
"Yes," Ryko and Eona said in unison. By this time, both could not hide the shock on their faces, even though they both knew they shouldn't be at this point. Where they came from, there certainly had been a fair amount of people who opposed contraires, some of which even firmly despised them.
"Have either of you ever known a contraire before?" Sho asked.
This time Ryko and Eona answered again in unison, but with a different answer each. "No," he'd said, just as Eona said, "Yes."
"Sorry, could you repeat that? Come again?"
"No—"
"Yes."
Ryko shot her a glare. Sho didn't seem to notice it, his eyes widening with intrigue. "Really? And—who was it?—if I may ask."
"Lady…Lady Lila." She had no idea why Lila was the first name that came to her. Maybe because it sounded like 'lilac' or 'lily', and Dela had a variety of flowers in her garden back at the settlement.
She remembered back when Lady Dela cared about Eona as a person, and not simply her gender.
Lady Dela unfurled the fan and hid us behind it. "Ryko thinks my mouth runs as fast as a rickshaw's wheels," she said in a loud whisper that easily carried to the guard.
"No, lady. I think that if Lord Eon is under your instruction in matters of court intrigue, he could not have a better teacher."
She widened her eyes at me. "Now he thinks I am an intriguer."
"I certainly find you intriguing, lady," I said, attempting to match their banter. Lady Dela nodded her approval.
"Her mouth ran as fast as a rickshaw's wheels."
Sho burst into laughter, something Eona could hardly imagine anyone doing in a place like this. She'd remembered how Ryko had said 'Lord Eon' with such pride, like he was so proud of her—him. Now as she looked at Ryko she first saw confusion followed by recognition on his face.
"That is quite a charming fact you have about this Lady Lila," said Sho. "I'm sure she's a delightful woman."
Eona gave a lopsided smile, trying to match his mood. "Yes," was all she could say.
"Speaking of delightful women," he said, "Are the two of you from the Celestial Empire?" he inquired.
Eona and Ryko both stiffened slightly, but kept their expressions neutral.
"It's just that I've heard many great things about that place. I've heard they rely on celestial dragons that help take care of the lands and weather patterns. And that each dragon has a Dragoneye lord to summon them whenever things have gotten too rough. I ask about this, because I've heard that they've recently acquired a Dragoneye lady as one of them in the last war that occurred."
Eona and Ryko continued to keep their expressions neutral, though now there was a highly uncomfortable air to the small cabin and both were clearly struggling not to look at each other and not to give anything away with their faces.
"Anyway, I just think it's incredible and amazing that after 500 years, a woman—a girl, she was so young, only sixteen—was able to do it. I've heard many a story about her." He smiled, though Eona wasn't sure she wanted to hear any of those stories.
"So," he said awkwardly when neither Eona nor Ryko had spoken, "it was a pleasure and an honor to meet you two, officially, and get acquainted with each other. You can get some rest now, as I'm sure you're still tired and reeling from shock of this place and…the events of yesterday." He got up and turned toward the door. Halfway out, he looked back and said, "Get some rest, Ping and Shin. For tomorrow, there will be a lot of work to do."