Chapter 202: Bonds Of One [8] (1/2)

The wave of grief shocked her with its intensity. She slid down the curving wall, curling into a tight ball. She covered her head with her hands, trying to be silent, unwilling to cry out her misery in front of her companions.

She heard a stir in his corner, but Ju Feng said, tersely, ”Leave it, Chang. Go back to sleep.”

He thinks if something comes over, that will be the end of me, Chang Chang thought. I'll be howling, and bring every damn guard above and below the water running to throw us off the ship. He was probably right.

Wiping her eyes, Chang Chang took out the box again and removed the stack of letters. She wanted to read them. Even if they weren't in Chang Wei's hand, they were the closest link she had to her first great-uncle. She removed the ribbon and unfolded the topmost sheet, the one bearing her name.

Dear Granddaughter,

I leave today on a new adventure. Wuzhi calls to me, and I find I must answer her gentle whisper.

Granddaughter. Chang Chang mouthed the word. The letters were from Chang Wei. She read the rest of the letter, hastily scrawled in the same bold writing. There was no mention of spellscars or powerful abilities, just a farewell from an aging adventurer setting off on another journey.

Chang Wei was my best friend.

Cerest's words haunted her. Did she really want to know the man who'd been friends with the monster that hunted her now? She held the letter, staring at it but seeing Cerest's scarred face instead. She folded the parchment and laid it beside her with the other letters. They beckoned to her, silently, but her arms felt weighted to her sides. She couldn't focus her eyes. Sleep, so elusive, was claiming her at last.

You speak to me of adventure, Grandfather. Chang Chang sighed. I know the word. I've already had enough for one lifetime.

Ju Feng waited, alert in the dark hold. He watched the square of dull sunlight above him turn steel gray, and then the rain came with full force. The air in the hold grew chilled, and a puddle formed at the foot of the ladder. The rain did not abate until the sky began to darken and the gateclose bell was near to sounding. Through all the weather changes, his companions slept, the butcher snoring in intermittent gulps and wheezes.

Chang Chang lay on her side, twitching now and then in the throes of some dream. If not for those small movements, Ju Feng might have thought she was a resting corpse. Her face was pale, her cheeks etched with dark circles where exhaustion had worked on her.

Ever since they left the dwarven underground city of Myria, she had not rested. Looking at her, Ju Feng nodded in appreciation. She had done more than enough for her. And now, she's still doing more.

Before the past night's ordeal, she might have been beautiful, in a fragile, glass-blown sort of way. Grief had certainly left its mark on her, but the unstable magical essence she wielded had drained her more than any emotional trauma. She was dangerous, to herself and those around her, anytime she used the Art. Yet, what choice did she have, if she had any hope of survival?

***

The dream took her again.

She stood in the center of the ruined tower, looking straight up at the sun burning through a gap in the ceiling. Her skin tingled. The hair stood up on her arms. She didn't like this place. The shadows moved when she wasn't looking. Frightened whispers—the footsteps of folk who'd walked and died here a century ago—made it impossible to hear her own thoughts. She turned in a circle, searching for the gap in the wall, but something impeded her.

I am a child, Chang Chang thought. Her limbs would not move properly. She stumbled and fell, scraping her knees on rock.

She started to cry. Her knees hurt. The sun burned her neck. It was so hot in the tower. Why didn't someone come to pick her up, to take her away from this place?

”Chang Chang,” said a feminine voice. She didn't recognize it, but it spoke with enough urgency to make her turn. Chang Chang tried again to stand and was suddenly knocked from her feet.

”Get her out!”

The shadows were shouting at her. It was too hot. Chang Chang looked up, and her body burst into flames.