Pathway

The guards opened the portal and Ju Feng ushered Chang Chang through.

Chang Chang's mouth fell open in shocked amazement.

She'd expected to enter another cramped cabin, but instead she beheld a tunnel through the seawater. It extended eight feet above their heads, reinforced by another magical shield. Water beaded and dripped on their heads in a steady drizzle. The air reeked of salt.

"They drain the water periodically," the second guard said, "so it doesn't flood the passage."

"Don't look sturdy to me," Ju Feng said.

"It isn't." Chang Chang pointed to the stutters in the shield. The sensation of walking on water unnerved her. She kept her eyes off her feet. "Was the shield here before the bloodplague?" she asked.

"Yes," the guard said. "The enchantments held. Most people who come to the Haven come from WaterWay, walking above water. Only the lucky souls who can't afford to be seen entering the Cradle use this entrance now."

"Who?" Chang Chang asked.

The guard shrugged. "Maybe a young noble. He wants a night of fun but doesn't want his face known in WaterWay. Long as he doesn't mind a swim, this is the way he comes."

The tunnel began a gradual, upward slope. At the end loomed another water wall.

Ju Feng passed through the opening first. Chang Chang followed, bringing up the rear.

Behind the wall Chang Chang could tell they were in the belly of another ship. The hull had been reinforced several times over. No visible magical shield greeted them beyond the water wall. A ladder led up to the main deck, and Chang Chang could see a square of dull sunlight above. The breeze blowing down the ladder was cool and smelled strongly of rain. She couldn't see anything beyond the opening, but she heard muffled voices.

She turned around and noticed for the first time the pair of guards standing on their side of the wall. One of them, a young man not much older than Chang Chang, stepped forward to speak to Ju Feng.

"Saragui sends his greetings, and I bear a message. If you wish his protection, the cost will be one of you fighting in the Haven. Can I tell him you will fight in the Haven?"

"Yes," Ju Feng said.

"No, he won't," Chang Chang interrupted. "Ju Feng, what is this? We're not here to fight. You told us you were taking us someplace safe."

"Safety comes with a price, Chang" Ju Feng said. "This is what you know. Fighting is Sarugai's business. So if we want to stay here, that's what we do. Tell your master that I'm in," he told the guard. "Expect his champion to fall tonight."

"Bold words," the guard said. His face split in an involuntary grin. "Changa has no equal this past tenday."

"Changa?" Sull said. He snorted. "The champion is called Changa?"

"Death knells, that's why," said the guard. "They nicknamed her after she sent that poor bastard Tanshi into the pool. She hates it, but everyone likes a good nickname, you know."

"We need time to rest," Ju Feng said.

"Saragui says if you're committed to fighting, you can stay here in safety for the day," said the guard. "Fight's tonight, after gateclose."

"Give him our gratitude," Ju Feng said. The guard nodded and climbed the ladder. His partner followed, leaving them alone in the cabin, which reeked of mildew and the general stink of the harbor. Chang Chang found she was growing used to the smell. She wrinkled her nose. Likely because she was soaked in it, she thought.

"You've not been here before. So, how do you know much about this place?" Chang Chang asked Ju Feng when they'd arranged themselves on the floor near the back of the cabin.

"I only heard people talking about how they come here when they need protection," Ju Feng said, "when they desperate enough. We're safe here for the day, I guess. We should both sleep." He looked at Chang Chang. "We'll need whatever spells you can muster if things don't go well tonight. I see no way Cerest could track us here, but I want to be prepared."

"You said one night, and then we'd renegotiate the price for your aid," Chang Chang said. "The cameo can't possibly cover all you're doing for us."

Ju Feng laughed. "That, my lady, is the most profound understatement I've yet heard from you."

Chang Chang bristled. "You don't need to throw it in my face. In fairness to me, I hardly expected to be menaced by the undead, ambushed by a dozen men, interrogated by an insane elf who knows more about my life than I do, which, considering my powers of recollection, is distressing in the extreme. Then you drag me underwater, half drown me, and where do we end up? Back in WaterWay, in the teeth of gods alone knows what type of men, with only a warm place to sleep as consolation." Her brow furrowed. "Come to think of it, that's not terribly awful under the circumstances."

"Hehehe," Ju Feng laughed.

"Only when I'm under immediate threat," Chang Chang said. "Keeps me calm."

Ju Feng nodded politely—a ludicrous gesture, considering his previous attitude toward her. 

re, she'd admitted it. He would abandon them now, Chang Chang was sure, but at least she'd offered him truth. She heard Sull, already snoring softly in the opposite corner. Gods, she hoped she could keep him safe. She would give anything if he would abandon her to her fate too.

Ju Feng looked at her for a long breath. Chang Chang couldn't guess what he was thinking. The boy had little range of expressions she could measure. He wasn't cold at all. In fact, he was livly. Isolated, was more like it. His eyes curtained his emotions. She remembered the child she used to know back in Lorra.contemporary romance

Ju Feng reached into her pack and pulled out the gold box. The feathery designs caught the dim light from above and sparkled.

"You can give me that," he said. "Keep the letters."

Chang Chang considered. "What about our friend's protection?" she asked.

Ju Feng's eyes hardened. "Saragui is not our friend. He won't give us aid unless we fight in the Haven. You heard the guard. His champion's been on a streak for a tenday; his crowd will be getting restless for new blood. No matter how much they may like Bells, they love an upset even more."

"So if you beat his champion, you help his business," Chang Chang said. She was beginning to understand the stakes. "You have to win his aid, not buy it."

"Yes. If I can win, we can negotiate with Saragui to hide us all, maybe for days."

"Then… we are agreed?" Chang Chang could hardly believe it. "You'll stay with us?"

He kept his eyes on the box. "I'll stay with you. Where else would i go?"

"You have my deepest thanks," Chang Chang said.

Ju Feng slid the box away into her pack. "Keep it hidden for now. And don't thank me. We made a bargain, and I'll keep it."

And with that, he was removed again, aloof. For those few breaths, he'd seemed like a normal man. Now he was the scarecrow—a blank face and a floppy hat, which he seemed always to hold onto, no matter how many times they'd been dunked in the harbor.

Chang Chang leaned back against the hull. With her immediate concern assuaged, she could feel her body relax. The frightened energy that had kept her moving was beginning to ebb, and she could feel the effects of the wild magic on her body.

To say that she was more exhausted than she'd ever been in her life would be a vast understatement of what was happening inside her. She felt like a child coming around from a long illness—or descending into one.

Every time she cast a spell, her energy returned more slowly. She'd never felt that strain before, not during her most arduous lessons with her master. What would the implications be if she was forced to cast more spells?

Ju Feng was right. She needed sleep to recover as much strength as she could. Her eyes burned, but she couldn't drift off. Restless questions flitted through her mind: Cerest, Ju Feng, the letters, her family. She couldn't settle on which mystery baffled her most. To distract herself, she picked the easiest.

"Why did the guard recoil when you touched him?" she asked Ju Feng. She remembered vividly the shocked, frozen look on the man's face.

"Because I have cold hands," Ju Feng said. He shrugged dismissively.

"No, that was what you said about him."

"Did I?" Ju Feng leaned his head back and closed his eyes. "You have a perfecf memory."

"I have a perfect memory," Chang Chang said.

No one has ever said that to me, Chang Chang thought. The observation was so simply, absurdly true, an echo of everything she'd ever tried to tell people, that she started to laugh. At first out loud, then under her breath, until tears streaked her cheeks.

done.co