Fox and Phoenix (Lóng City 1)

Or never.

Jing-mei chewed on her fist a moment before she spoke. “Very well. Kai, you and Quan unload the thr

ee crates marked with blue stripes. Then bring out the two smallest chests. Danzu, show them which ones I mean.”

We obeyed, hauling out the crates as though we were nothing more than thick-witted grunts. Jing-mei and Danzu stood next to the captain. I noticed the two junior officers remained close to the gates, clearly unhappy, but alert. If the captain refused our bribe, we couldn’t jump them before they gave a warning with their talk-phones.

When Quan and I finished unloading the crates and chests, we stood off to either side. Jing-mei imperiously ordered Danzu to give her room. She shooed him away toward the gates, then bent over the smallest of the chests. “Here is the finest jewelry in my collection,” she told the guard. “But I would be honored if you chose this.”

Gold and jewels poured from her hands into the captain’s. Magic flux gleamed from the gems and flowed down link by golden link. These were items saturated in protective spells, priceless items that made my breath freeze in amazement.

The captain shrugged. “Not interested.”

She said not interested to the miniature vid-screens. She sneered at the silvery disc talk-phones that Jing-mei demonstrated. This was not going well at all. I glanced at my other companions, trying to figure out what we could do.

Quan yawned and stretched, as though working the kinks from his back. That brought him a couple steps closer to the gates. Danzu stared at Quan, then he, too, stretched and shook out his legs. The difference wasn’t much, but it put a bit more space between him and the captain. Less between him and the other guards.

My turn.

I yawned and scratched under my shirt. Turned half away from the guards and slid the knife from my wrist sheath into my hand. When I turned back, the captain had rejected the contents of all three chests and half the first crate.

“Junk!” the captain declared. “Who buys this worthless crap?”

I sauntered to the back of the wagon, lowered the front of my pants, and released a stream of piss onto the stones. Behind me, I heard a muffled choking sound from the closest crate. Lian or Yún. Trying not to think of them, I wiped myself and refastened my trousers. Then I turned back to the wagon and wiped my hands on the blanket covering the other crates.

“Yao-guài,” I whispered.

The griffin emerged from the straw, his eyes bright and eager, chuckling softly. Without me saying anything, he wriggled underneath my shirt. I fiddled a while longer, then lurched back gracelessly to my old spot, between the wagon and the gate. Quan had inched closer too, but not much. Danzu was opposite us. And Jing-mei was lifting the last item from the last crate for the captain’s inspection.

Time for ingenuity, I thought.

I yelped as loud as I could. All three guards swung around to face me.

Danzu bent down to his boot. In one swift motion, he’d extracted his knife and nailed one guard by the shoulder. Quan downed the second one with a rock to the temple. At the same time, I flung Yao-guài into the air. The griffin swooped at the captain and snatched the talk-phone from her wrist, then disappeared in a cloud of glittering magic. Before the woman could react, Jing-mei grabbed her around the neck, squeezed tightly, and lowered her to the stones, unconscious. Quan and I took care of the other guards, and soon had them bound and gagged.

“Hurry,” Jing-mei said. “We don’t have much time before the patrols return.”

She searched the captain for keys to the gates. Quan and I released Lian and Yún from their crate. Among all of us, we unharnessed the horses and got them inside the palace storerooms. The wagon we left outside to confuse our pursuers. Then we took off at a run for the nearest stairwell to the upper floors.

We met Gan in the hall of Royal Audience Chambers for Intimate Friends and Enemies. A dozen guards followed him, most of them young, but also one or two senior officers. “Your Highness,” Gan said, with a salute. “I brought a squad of loyal men for your protection.”

Lian’s eyes shone bright with emotion. “I thank you all. I will remember this.”

From far off came a thundering, as though a hundred feet galloped toward us. Lian pointed toward a side corridor and a wooden door that screamed servants’ passage. All but three of Gan’s friends took up positions at the foot of the stairs, their weapons ready. Gan and two others followed us up the narrow winding stairs. In the back of my mind, I heard Chen grunting in eagerness, and a faint whistling from Qi. Jun had turned visible, bristling with anger, her fox tail switching back and forth.

We reached the next landing. A crash and shouts echoed from below. Lian never hesitated. She swung the door open and marched into the room beyond, with Quan a step behind and their companion spirits swarming after them. The rest of us spilled into a brightly lit chamber.

It was just like the vision the ghost dragon king showed me—crowds of servants hurrying this way and that, a line of courtiers off to one side, gossiping, and in the middle, the bed where the king lay. Two royal physicians, surrounded by their attendants, gave orders and counter-orders. And there was a third physician, this one dressed in layers of silk robes. His collar was trimmed with silver lynx tails. His sleeves were embroidered with symbols of health and influence.

Quan shoved through the crowd to the bed. He bent over the thin, old man who lay unmoving underneath the linen sheets and pressed his fingertips against the slack throat. The king’s face was as pale as new parchment, his wrists limp atop the sheet. He looked dead, I thought, then gulped to think my ill-thoughts might rise to heaven to influence the gods.

Tense and unmoving, Quan listened. “He lives,” he said at last. “Just.”

Lian, at his side, released a cry. “Can you save him?”

“I will do everything possible.”

Our entrance had frozen everyone. Now shouts went up, the attendants scattered to summon the guards. The third physician, the stranger to Lóng City, tried to drag Quan away from the king. “You idiot,” the man bleated. “You will disturb the pattern of my spells. Do you wish to murder the king?”