Chapter 213 - A Song Of The Past [6] (1/2)

Chang Chang looked around. ”Where's Ju Feng?”

She heard footsteps on the ladder. Ju Feng climbed down to them.

”I've been scouting,” he said. ”It's almost full dark. We can move around soon.” He looked to Chang Chang. ”If you're ready to leave?”

”I've read the letters,” Chang Chang said, aware of Wang Jin and Zu Ruo listening. ”My grandfather, Chang Wei, tried to warn me about Cerest. He knew he might come after me.” She looked at Wang Jin. ”Brang must have known. Even if he'd never read the letters himself, he must have known about Cerest. Chang Wei wouldn't have left his own brother ignorant of the danger.”

”Of course he wouldn't,” Wang Jin said soothingly. ”Your great-uncle probably thought, after so much time, the elf had given up lookin'. And what was the sense in frightenin' you if that was the case?”

He had given up, until I saved his life in the street, Chang Chang thought. The bitter irony of it made her dizzy. She remembered thinking, in the moment she'd pushed the elf to the ground, that she was doing something good—a small act of penance for all the harm she'd done. The gods had a cruel streak in them.

”Why's he so interested in you?” Zu Ruo asked. ”Begging your pardon, but you don't seem worth all the men and coin he must be losing.”

”I couldn't agree more,” Chang Chang said. ”I thought Cerest wanted revenge, but he said he wanted me for my abilities. He said Chang Wei had a powerful spellscar; he thought I shared it. Why he would pursue someone with such unstable magic is beyond me, though Chang Wei did allow that Cerest's interest lay heavily with magic.”

Kredaron had said the same, that Cerest was fascinated by the Art. He'd thought, just as she had, that the elf's scars were a result of a brush with wild magic. If that was the case, Cerest should want nothing to do with her.

”Is there more?” Ju Feng asked.

”Yes,” Chang Chang said. ”This is the part where things get muddled. Cerest used to work with my parents and Chang Wei. They adventured together. But for some reason, Cerest betrayed them.”

”Why?” Ju Feng asked.

”I don't know. The letters end. They were either lost or sent incomplete to Brang. I'm sure Cerest would tell you the tale, the next time he catches up to us.”

”Maybe it's time that happened.”

It was Wang Jin who had spoken. Chang Chang looked at him. ”You can't be serious?”

”I am,” Wang Jin said. ”That elf's used to huntin' us, drivin' us to ground. Let's turn the tables on 'im, see how he likes being chased.”

”We're outnumbered,” Ju Feng reminded him, ”even with Zu.”

The dwarf snorted. ”I'm not afraid of an elf with a mashed-in face.”

”None of you are attacking Cerest on my behalf,” Chang Chang said. ”We're not discussing it.”

”There's another option,” Ju Feng said.

Chang Chang waited, but the monk didn't speak. She c.o.c.ked an eyebrow at him. ”This option involves throwing us headlong into more danger and strangeness, doesn't it?”

Wang Jin threw up his hands. ”I thought it didn't get any stranger than this!”

”I think it's time we go to the Watch,” Ju Feng said.

Silence fell over the group. Chang Chang thought at first he was jesting.

”You're mad,” she told Ju Feng. ”I'm not giving myself up to the Watch. I'd rather spend my life in WateraWay.”

Zu Ruo regarded her as if she'd just asked what color the sky was on clear days. ”You're just as daft as he is, if you mean that,” she said.

”She's only a child,” Ju Feng said, which made Chang Chang want to plant her fingernails in his eyes. ”She doesn't know what WaterWay is.”

”Then what is it?” Chang Chang said, forgetting to keep her voice down. ”Open my eyes, Ju Feng, to more horrors. I don't think I've had enough thus far.”

”He doesn't mean to hurt you, girl,” spoke a voice, and everyone except Ju Feng jumped.

Fa Mu rubbed the sleep from his eyes and regarded them blearily from his curled-up pallet. There was a crust of dried blood at the corner of his mouth.

”I'm sorry,” Chang Chang said, ashamed. ”I didn't mean to wake you.”

”Doesn't matter, I wasn't sleeping anyway,”  said. He sat up slowly. Wang Jin put his hand on the man's shoulders to steady him. ”The problem is that when we're children we're only conscious of our own suffering.”

”I don't understand,” Chang Chang said. She felt like a child, and she didn't like it. Nelzun had never made her feel this way.