Chapter 209: A Song Of The Past [2] 首歌 (1/2)

”How wonderful,” Kaerin said. ”It will be a fine tale. Clear the stage! Places!”

The lute player vanished. She reappeared a breath later, without her lute and wearing a black cloak. She flipped her hood over her face and joined the rest of the troupe assembling at the back of the stage. They were all dressed identically, their clothes and features covered by the cloaks.

Kaerin jumped onto the stage, taking his place at the front of the assembly. ”Who will play the lead?” he asked. He put his hand theatrically to his ear to hear the response of the crowd.

”Kaerin!” they cried on cue.

”Yes, and don't you forget it,” Kaerin said. ”Tonight, I will be playing the part of the boy lost in another world, the boy named Ju Feng.” He swept an arm up, and suddenly he was swathed in black too.

Ju Feng sat forward, his jaw muscles rigid. ”What are they doing?” he said.

Bao answered. ”They're going to tell your story,” he said eagerly. ”You're lucky to be chosen. Most newcomers never get picked until they've been here at least a season.”

”How do they know what to say?” Chang Chang asked, as Ju Feng lost more color. ”They know nothing about us.”

”Silence before a performance! We know all we need, just by touch,” Kaerin said from the stage. His voice sounded deeper, older. He swept off the cloak. It dissolved into a flurry of crows that flew out over the crowd. The stage transformed in the birds' wake.

The bow of the boat was now a forest glade, draped in dense green ferns. A small, stagnant pond dominated the scene, its watery arms wrapped around the exposed roots of an oak that crawled up the hull.

Chang Chang's eyes blurred at the sudden appearance of the illusion. She knew it wasn't real, yet she swore she could smell the moss clinging to the pond stones. Unseen, a sparrow chirped its shrill song. Wind rustled in the wild grasses.

”Not natural,” Zu Ruo said. She swiped a hand across her nose, as if she could smell the green too. ”Magic can't mimic life, not like that.”

”Ah, but death can mimic life. The dead remember.” Kaerin's voice echoed from the heart of the glade, though they could not see him. His voice still sounded strange.

Two cloaked figures, male and female by their shape, came from opposite ends of the glade to stand in front of the pond. They faced each other. Only visible were the skin of their hands and bare feet.

”Where is my son,” the woman cried, ”my foolish, fanciful boy, who runs through the forest like a wild animal?”

”He likes to run,” hissed the man. ”Loves to run away and worry his mother. What a terrible boy; he thinks the village is not good enough for him. Poor, foolish boy.”

”This is not true. I never remembered this. This wasn't me. ” Ju Feng murmured in confusion, but only Chang Chang could hear him above the cloaked woman's wailing.

”Where are you, Ju Feng!” With her slender arm extended to the forest, the woman dropped to her knees as a blue light foun-tained from within the green pond. The light cast the ferns and the cloaked figures in glowing relief. The woman shouted, ”He is doomed!”

She disappeared. The man crouched to address the audience in a stage whisper.

”But does the boy know why he is doomed, of his prophecies? Did his mother never warn him of what lurks in the dimensional worlds? Poor, poor mother. Poor, ignorant son.”

The blue light faded, and the man vanished, his cloaked form revealing a small figure sitting by the pond, his back to the audience. Lazily, he reclined on his elbows and tossed a fishing line into the water. Somewhere, a bird called, and the boy turned his head to stare at the audience.

Chang Chang felt Ju Feng stiffened in confusion next to her. She made to put her hand on his arm, but he moved away, closer to the stage. Chang Chang looked at the boy. It took her a moment to realize that it was not Kaerin sitting there, but an older boy. He lacked Kaerin's mischievous air and had an overly serious demeanor, his mouth twisted in an introspective frown.

His hair was dark, with brambles and grass clinging to its wild strands. But his eyes… they were common brown, yet so familiar.