Chapter 217: A Song Of The Past [X] (2/2)

The conversation was short. When Ju Feng returned, the familiar tightness was in his jaw, the only sign of concern he ever betrayed.

”They're not far away,” he said.

”Good. Would you help me, Zu Ruo?” Chang Chang asked.

The dwarf helped Chang Chang to her feet. When she could walk steadily, she went to Fa Mu.

He was unconscious, but he still breathed. His face had no color, and his skin was cold. Did it feel worse to Ju Feng?

”I never touched him,” Ju Feng said, in answer to the unspoken question. ”I couldn't know—”

”Of course you couldn't,” Chang Chang said. ”And I wouldn't have listened, if you'd tried to tell me. I would have denied it until I was blind to everything else.”

Ju Feng removed his gloves and slid his silver ring off his finger. Replacing his gloves, he picked up Fa Mu's left hand. The ring would only fit on his smallest finger. Ju Feng slid it snugly into place.

”It'll keep his heartbeat strong until the Watch gets here,” Ju Feng said. ”He should live, if they hurry.”

Chang Chang nodded. ”How long do we have?”

”Not long.”

”Then I need to get going.”

She kissed the back of Fa Mu's hand, folded it over his chest, and stood up. Her eyes fell on the bound man hanging over the walkway. The sense of detachment settled over her again as she approached him.

He watched her seat herself on the walkway so he could see her in his peripheral vision. She left him as he was, dangling over the water. The threat was there. She didn't need to tell him.

”He was your friend,” Chang Chang said, pointing to the shirtless, dead giant. When Za Tau didn't answer, she said, ”Fa Mu is mine. You don't know how hard it was for me to tell that man”—she pointed at Ju Feng—”not to kill you. A tenday ago I could never have conceived such a thought in my mind, but time and hunger and desperation and fear work so many worms into the most pristine thoughts, and mine weren't clean to begin with.

”You can't imagine how much I want to kill you myself right now. It should matter that you're helpless, that you can't fight back. I know it should, but it doesn't. I just want to punish someone, for all of it. Perhaps it's the same for you, and that's why you could kill Fa Mu without even knowing him. I don't care about that either.”

She put a hand in the air. He flinched, and she took a gross stab of pleasure in his fear. ”I talk too much. It's a curse Ju Feng warns me against, but I won't waste much more of your time. I'm going to release you. You'll go back to Cerest—you've got no other employment, or you'd have taken it by now. Go back to Cerest, and tell him that I want to talk to him.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ju Feng and Zu Ruo exchange glances. She didn't look at them or try to explain. They knew this conversation was as much for their benefit as Za Tau's.

”Do you know what the Thousand Ferryman's Clove is?” she asked Za Tau.

For a breath the man didn't answer. Then he nodded, a quick jerk of the head.

”That's good. That will make things easier. Tell Cerest to meet me in the heart of Ferryman's Clove.”

”You're mad,” Za Tau said, breaking his silence at last. ”No one—”

”No one goes there,” she said over him. ”That's why it has to be there. No one to hurt, no more friends to kill. Only enemies. If you come there, Za Tau, I will kill you, with no words preceding the deed. If Cerest wants me, he'll have to come to the Clove. Will you carry that message to him?”

Za Tau nodded again. Chang Chang flicked her hovering hand. The bands around his chest flickered and melted away. He exhaled sharply and slumped on the walkway. Until then, Chang Chang hadn't realized how tightly the bands had constricted his breath.

She sensed Ju Feng stepping toward her. His protective shadow fell across her, seen clearly by Za Tau as he got to his feet and took off running down the walkway.

When his footsteps receded, Chang Chang stood and faced the others. Fa Mu was still unconscious, his head tossing fitfully from blood loss and fever. She knelt, dipped her arm in the harbor, and smoothed her cool, wet fingers across his forehead.

”Do you approve?” she asked Ju Feng without looking up.

”Of your plan?” Ju Feng said. ”I don't know. It's very possible that if Cerest doesn't kill us, the wild magic at the Clove will do the job.”