Pathway

Chapter 223: Burden Of The Beast [4]

"She's true to her word," Ju Feng said. "Stubbornness has never known a more faithful lover than Chang Chang Tearn."

Chang Chang shot him a look, but Fa Mu said, "Of course your friend will stay. No one will harm her while I keep watch."

"My deepest thanks," Chang Chang said. She looked at Ju Feng. "Are you ready, clevermouth?"

Ju Feng nodded. They made their way to the gap in the hull. Chang Chang paused by Zu Ruo's pallet. The dwarf was still unconscious, her skin the color of the moon, but she breathed evenly and deep.

"She truly would have been killed," Chang Chang said to Ju Feng, "if you hadn't made her come with us. Cerest killed the master of the Cradlesuch a mad action even someone so well protected as Arowall couldn't have predicted it. And Zu Ruo wouldn't have abandoned her master to save her own life."

"Doesn't mean she'll live any longer than she was meant to," Ju Feng said.

"Maybe," Chang Chang said. She looked at Fa Mu. "Do you think your fate can be changed?" she said. "That one day the plague will allow you to die?"

"That is my fondest hope," Fa Mu said. "Until then, I will live as best I can."

"You and I are two halves of the same curse," Chang Chang said. "The plague lives in me. It causes my memory to be nigh perfect, for a price. Ju Feng says it will take my life before age does. The more I use my own magic, the quicker that fate will come for me."

Fa Mu's soft green eyes reflected the spell light. "I am sorry for your burden," he said.

Chang Chang shrugged. "I am sorrier for other burdensloss and pain done to my friends because of my own fear. I think you're right. We, all of us, can only live as best we are able, and hope to change our fates" She stopped as something took hold inside of her.

Memory came, this time uncalled. With trembling fingers, Chang Chang removed her pack from her back and dumped its contents on the floor. The deformed man skittered out of the way.

"What are you doing?" Ju Feng said. Seeing her face, he crouched beside her and helped her gather the scattered letters from Chang Wei. "What's wrong?"

"He tried to live as best he could," Chang Chang said. "Just like us, like Fa Mu, retreating to this place."

She found the letter she was looking for and practically tore it in her haste to unfold the old parchment.

"Cerest isn't after a perfect memory," Chang Chang said. "Chang Wei's scar was different from mine. Here!" She read part of the letter aloud. "I sat upon a rooftop and looked out over Cutlass Island, at the ruins of the Host Tower of the Arcane. The locals say it is a cursed place, and I cannot help but agree. The restless dead walk on that isle, sentinels to its lost power. In my younger days, I would have longed for the challenge and promise of treasure to be found in such a forgotten stronghold. I can see the magic swirling under shattered stone. It drifts among the bones of the once mighty wizards who ruled here."

Chang Chang stopped reading and looked at Ju Feng. "Do you see?"

Ju Feng shook his head. "What are you talking about?"

"I can see the magic swirling under the shattered stone," Chang Chang repeated. "He could detect powerful magic, through stone and earth, just with his eyes. What gift would tempt a treasure hunter more?"

"Cerest will be disappointed when he finds out you inherited a very different gift," Ju Feng said.

"Yes," Chang Chang said. "A perfect memory is of little use to him. His hunt was for nothing."

It was all a tragic jest. Chang Chang was grateful to have the one mystery solved, but there were still missing pieces. "I have to know why he betrayed my family," she said. "If Cerest won't confess it how do you remember something you've managed to forget so thoroughly that even the spellplague can't penetrate the defense?"

She'd meant the question rhetorically, and was surprised when Fa Mu answered, "If your mind has seen fit to bury something so deeply that even the spellplague can't touch it, I would count the power a blessing."

"Blessing?" Chang Chang said. "I don't see how. If I had this memory, it would explain so much about my life. Why would I want to bury it?"

"You mistake me," Fa Mu said. "I didn't mean it was a blessing that you be denied a piece of yourself. I meant to say that if you could find within you the same power that pushes the plague back from this one, vital memory, you might find the power to change your fate."

As Chang Chang digested this, she noticed Ju Feng looking at the old man intently. "Can you help her?" he asked. "Is there any priestly magic in that staff that can help her remember what she needs to know?"

"There are ways of bringing memories to the surface, if you truly want to relive them," Fa Mu said. "When dealing with the bloodplague, such methods are never certain to work and carry their own cost. I have stored the memories of each lifetime I've lived," Fa Mu said. "I don't know if I can impart such a thing to your friend, but if she is willing, I would try."

"At what risk to yourself?" Chang Chang said. "No. We've caused you enough grief."

"Are you afraid, Chang Chang?" Ju Feng said.

Chang Chang could hear the challenge in his voice. "No," she said, "I'm not afraid. But I'm tired of other people risking pieces of themselves for me. I think it's time Cerest was made to answer for what he's done. I will make him tell me."

She stepped to the gap in the hull. She could feel an invisible presence. The old man's magic formed a protective seal over the opening.

"Thank you," she said to Fa Mu. "Whatever happens, I'm glad to have met you."

"And I, you," said Fa Mu. "The gods go with you."

Chang Chang nodded and stepped through the opening. Ju Feng followed behind her.

She didn't know what she expected to happen once she crossed the seal. An ambush, another monster, or a spray of magic from the elf woman who'd taken her on the shore? She got none of those things, but she sensed the change in the air as soon as the harbor scent hit her nose.

"Look above you," Ju Feng said quietly.

Chang Chang looked up and lost her breath. She could see slivers of moonlight through the Ferryman's tangled rigging. The skeletal forest canopy swelled with movement. Sea wraiths circled each other and the wreckage. More were floating up from various parts of the ruins to join the mass. The unearthly choir keened softly, as if singing to the moon or some other, invisible celestial body.

"You said there was wild magic here," Chang Chang said, "that it draws the wraiths. Can they feel itthe three of us here together?"

"I don't know," Ju Feng said. "But it's possible we're stirring up whatever's been lying dormant here since the Ferryman was destroyed."

"Not just us," Chang Chang said, "him too."

Cerest sat cross-legged on Ju Feng's raft. He was alone, and looked completely at ease beneath the canopy of swirling wraiths. Chang Chang knew his men would be nearby, but wherever they were, Cerest had them well hidden. She wondered if Ju Feng, with his sharper eyes, could detect them. The only illumination came from the lantern on Ju Feng's raft and a torch Cerest had propped in front of him.

He looked up when they appeared, and smiled in genuine pleasure. "Well met, Chang Chang," he said. "I received your message. I'm happy to see you are well."

He didn't seem to notice or care that there was a puddle of drying bloodleucrotta and Zu Ruo'sbehind and to his left. The copper scent combined with the leucrotta's naturally pungent stink must have been overwhelming. But like the dying horse that day on the Way of the Dragon, Cerest took the horror completely in his stride. His pleasant expression never faltered.

Somehow, though, the sight of him amid the blood was less intimidating instead of more. Here at last he wasn't trying to hide what he was, the deficiency of mind that had set him on her like a crazed hunting hound. She could see him in this true state and feel pity, though it was a fleeting emotion."Greetings, Cerest," she said. "I hope you haven't been waiting long."

"I'm accustomed to being patient. I was more than willing to wait for you," Cerest said. "In the end, I knew you'd come back to me."

Chang Chang felt Ju Feng tense behind her. She reached back to touch him, but of course he moved just out of her grasp. She dropped her hand.

"Are we alone?" she asked, deliberately affecting a teasing tone

"There's at least one in the crow's nest," Ju Feng said. "Ten feet up." He pointed, and Chang Chang heard the scuff of boots on wood, a figure hastening to conceal himself in the shadows. Ju Feng smiled. "I don't think he enjoys heights."

Cerest was not so amused. Hatred came alive in his eyes when he looked at Ju Feng, an emotion so intense Chang Chang wondered at its root. "I would be more than willing to dismiss my men, Chang Chang, if you would send your friend away," he said. His voice was unsteady. He swallowed.