Chapter 4:
Keigetsu Yells
“WHERE IS DOCTOR TOU, the community counselor?”
“About that,” answered Keikou, frowning on the other side of the flame. “I tried to ask him what had happened, but I was told he ran off into the mountains to pick herbs. Apparently, this happens a lot, so he ought to be back within half a—” He cut himself off, the color draining from his face. “Wait, do you think it’s him?”
“Yes. He could walk despite a large scar running from the knee down, and he called us siblings even though we look nothing alike. It’s highly likely that he is the sorcerer who stole Prince Gomei’s body. He uses his qi to overcome his blindness and physical disability.”
“Augh! So he was using magic to pretend he can see!” Keikou raked his hands through his hair, frustrated.
Genyou rose from his seat and leaned over the brazier. “Tou, was it? What did he look like? How tall was he? How old?”
“He was shabbily dressed, and his beard obscured most of his face, but given his full set of teeth and lack of pockmarks, he appeared to come from a wealthy background. He was a bit shorter than me, I believe, and around fifty years old.”
“Take him into custody,” Genyou all but growled. “That’s our man. Do not let him escape. I will join you on Treacherous Tan Peak shortly.”
No sooner did the words leave his mouth than he turned on his heel and grabbed his sword from its stand. His black eyes gleamed with hatred.
“I must hurry. He may have already realized I’m here. I assume he drained those brigands of their life force in preparation to flee.”
He appeared intent on heading straight into the mountains, forgoing a carriage or palanquin. The rest of the group shot up from their seats as well, but surprisingly, Keigetsu discouraged this.
“P-please wait! You mustn’t approach Treacherous Tan Peak in an agitated state! That would only increase the risk of alerting the sorcerer to Your Majesty’s presence!”
Genyou urged her to explain herself. Although she grew flustered under the eyes of the crowd, she proceeded to state her opinion. “Based on what we’ve heard so far, the sorcerer is using qi as a guide to ‘see’ the things around him. His Highness has his dragon’s qi, and Your Majesty has very strong water qi. If either of you gets too close, he is bound to grow suspicious.”
“Hm? My qi is stronger than average?”
Keigetsu nodded stiffly. “Yes. Very much so.”
Although Genyou didn’t possess the same radiant dragon’s qi as Gyoumei, he did give off an overwhelming aura of water. Perhaps he had inherited quite a bit of his mother’s Gen blood.
“That reminds me… When I proposed that Doctor Tou come along to Cloud Ladder Gardens, he initially seemed quite interested, only to turn me down as soon as I mentioned that he might meet one of exalted status there,” said Reirin, recounting her previous conversation with Tou. “That suggests he’s quite cautious about coming into contact with the imperial family.”
Genyou punched the wall in frustration. “What would you have me do, then?! Sit back and watch as he makes his escape?!”
“Calm down, Your Majesty,” Akim drawled in place of the startled girls. “This is the entire point of having a secret service. I already stationed a few of my men along the road to Treacherous Tan Peak so they’d be ready and waiting to shake up ‘Shu Keigetsu.’” He jabbed a thumb in Reirin’s direction. “And after this lovely Maiden trekked down a cliff two days ago, I increased their number fivefold and had them surround the foot of the mountain.”
Reirin blinked. “What? All that because of me?”
When she’d rushed to Cloud Ladder Gardens, she had descended a cliff simply because it was the most direct route. She never would have guessed she had slipped through the secret service’s surveillance net in the process.
“We ought to thank you for putting us on our guard,” Akim said with a chuckle. “I’ve yet to receive a report of anyone attempting to come down from Treacherous Tan Peak. That means the sorcerer is still up there somewhere.”
“But he’s gone into hiding. Does that not imply he’s caught on to us and begun plotting his escape?”
“Even so, he hasn’t gotten away yet. I reckon he’s got his hands full with the preparations. It sounds like he has to refill his qi supply from time to time to keep his eyes working, so maybe he doesn’t have enough to last him a long trip.”
“He just drained ten brigands of their life force! How much more could he possibly need?! You claim to have him surrounded, but if a mere Maiden was able to break through your blockade, that isn’t exactly reassuring.”
Despite flinching when Genyou raised his voice, Keigetsu thrust herself forward and said, “I-If I may…I believe the chances of him escaping are quite slim.”
“What? Why?”
“The sorcerer is likely in a great deal of pain at the moment.”
Genyou’s eyes widened. He hadn’t expected that. “Explain.”
“K-keeping in mind that this is merely speculation based on my own experience…” After leading with that caveat and taking a deep breath, Keigetsu worked up the courage to present her theory. “As the Day of Ultimate Yin draws near, yin and yang slowly but surely fall out of balance, such that even I’m having difficulty controlling my spells. The sorcerer likely attacked those brigands because he requires more qi than usual to aid his bodily functions. However, I suspect this scenario was very similar to a starving dog eating carrion.”
“What do you mean?”
“He partook of some terribly corrupted life force—or spoiled food, as it were.” The rest of the crowd looked confused, so Keigetsu turned back to the fire connecting the call. “Those corpses have been bothering me since the start of this call. They’re so tainted with impure qi that I can tell through the fire. I doubt it was quite this bad when they were alive, but now that they’ve died and amassed more yin energy, it’s nigh intolerable.” She covered her mouth with her sleeve, disgusted, and timorously pointed to the visual of the corpses. “Those he robs of their life force are a sacrificial offering, in a sense, and offerings must be pure. Otherwise, the yin will grow too strong, and the invocation will turn to a curse. And these brigands were horribly impure.”
“Why? Because they were of low moral character?”
“Oh, you better believe they were,” Akim piped up, raising a hand. “Those weren’t just any old brigands. They were a group of felons I rounded up for the express purpose of disrupting the Congee Conferment Rite. I can vouch for the depth of their sins.”
Hearing the man laugh and confess to his own machinations brought a frown to all their faces.
Keigetsu glared at the spy, then quickly turned her gaze back on the blackened skin of the men reflected in the fire. “Their criminal record certainly doesn’t hurt, but what stands out to me here is that the corruption has manifested in patches, as though they were sprayed with something. Hm, a potential source of impurity… Perhaps they fought to the death and bathed in each other’s blood?”
As Keigetsu’s mutterings grew less confident, Reirin leaned in from the side. “Oh! Could it have been the congee?”
“The what?”
“During the Congee Conferment Rite, one of the court ladies mixed the contents of a spittoon into the congee. Long story short, I ended up trouncing the brigands with a rain of said congee.”
Keigetsu’s face twitched at this slapdash summary of events, but as soon as she stopped to give the idea some thought, she nodded. “That would do it. Congee—especially the congee served for a rite—is sacred, the grace of the gods given form. Mixing in the contents of a spittoon would absolutely defile it.”
“As much as it pains me to say this, the spittoon also contained a good deal of animal blood and human waste.”
“Even worse. The fact that the congee was once so pure would make the resulting corruption all the more extreme.” Keigetsu’s brow creased, perhaps at imagining it for herself, before addressing Genyou once more. “Absorbing that impure qi must have left the sorcerer in agony, Your Majesty. I doubt he could run very far at the moment. I would humbly suggest that you leave the search to someone else rather than risk your qi alerting him to your presence.”
She spoke so firmly that Gyoumei gaped at her from the side, impressed. Keishou likewise stared long and hard at Keigetsu from his place by the wall, and the two court ladies clasped their hands in front of their chests.
Genyou made a show of thinking this over. “Very well,” he eventually said with a sigh. Then he returned his sword to its stand, picked up the flute in its place, and fired off a series of orders. “Tan, you head to Treacherous Tan Peak first. Begin the search, and tighten the perimeter around the mountain to ensure that he cannot escape. Kou Keikou, you are to scour every nook and cranny of Treacherous Tan Peak. Call upon Shin-u to aid you.”
“Will do,” the spy replied like it was second nature.
Over the flame, Keikou cupped his hands in a respectful salute and said, “As you command, my liege.”
One man slipped out the window, while the other blew out the flame to cut the call short.
“As for you, Shu Keigetsu and Kou Reirin…” Genyou turned his back to the brazier, his icy gaze settling on the Maidens. “It’s all over if the sorcerer takes advantage of the Day of Ultimate Yin to steal a new body. As you have been quite adamant that I stay out of the way, I expect you to come up with an alternative plan to catch him. You have until noon.” After setting the deadline, he added, “Or you’re both dead.”
Having been held back at the brink of revenge twenty-five years in the making, it was no surprise that he would be in a bad mood. As Genyou left the room with his flute in hand, Reirin offered no response but a silent bow.