Jade Fire Gold(27)

And the man who murdered her.

I pause my climb, staring at the cloud of fog circling the mountain peak. It will take me at least two days to get all the way up to Jiyu Spring—the Spring of Memories—where the Oracle Bones of the Soul Beast are said to rest.

No one knows for certain if the Phoenix is alive.

Will this be a fool’s errand? Am I wasting my time on a myth when I could be hunting for the bastards who murdered my family?

Unbidden, memories of my sister return again. We were twins, but Father used to say she had a will made of iron. He never said that about me. Even as a child, my sister was the fearless one. The one who would single-mindedly pursue every one of her enemies and strike them down without a second thought. She would not doubt herself. She would not waver. She would be disappointed in me for even thinking twice.

Mother often said I was the sun to her moon. But if she were the moon, I was the tide that ebbed and flowed with her pull.

My sister should have been the one to survive the sandstorm ten years ago. Not me. But the gods, as always, have a twisted sense of humor.

I take a deep breath and banish all doubts. My sister isn’t here.

I am.

On the third morning, I reach the edge of the misty ring. Early dawn ribbons of radiant red and orange streak the pastel sky, haloing the mountainside. The icicles on the coniferous leaves will melt with the rising sun, but right now, they sparkle in the light, and my breath puffs like small white clouds. An opaque silence cocoons this place. No stirrings of wildlife. No breeze. No scent. It is as if time has stopped.

Something tells me this is the place.

I disarm myself, removing my double sabers, bow, and quiver of arrows. I leave a couple of knives sheathed along my belt. Just in case. Then, I sit cross-legged, palms faceup on my knees with my eye closed. Focusing on my breathing, I settle down for a long wait.

Legend has it that a woman made the arduous trek up the Wudin Mountains in search of the Phoenix. Her only son had been blinded in an accident, and she was desperate to find a way to heal him. For seven days and nights, she meditated. On the seventh night, when she opened her eyes, the mountain revealed a cavern, and in it, the Spring of Memories. She drank from it, and a Soul Beast appeared. A fènghuáng, the guardian of the skies.

Touched by the woman’s devotion, the Phoenix granted her a wish, but it was one that needed to be repaid. She agreed, and when she left the cavern, she found that she had lost her sight. Back in her village, her son woke and saw the world bathed in light again.

It sounds absurd, like a fairy tale to remind children of their parents’ love. But Shīfù always says that there is truth woven into our stories, passed down from fathers to sons, mothers to daughters. One only needs to believe that a truth does exist.

Gradually, my breathing steadies. The silence grows louder like a constant reminder that I am alone here on the mountaintop surrounded by magic and mist. Time liquefies, and my body feels weightless. A tingle starts at the tips of my fingers and spreads to my toes. I open my eye.

My breath hitches.

I’m sitting in a cavern in the mountain. The knives on my belt are gone. So are my cloak and gloves. But it isn’t cold here. Jewels glitter above me, some dripping down like stringed stars. Flashes of brilliant light pulsate all around.

I blink. Not jewels, but glowworms.

Their blue-green fluorescence casts an eerie light on the cavern floor ahead of me. Water. Dark and still, the pool reflects the pinpricks of light from the ceiling. Jiyu Spring. This must be it. I get up and walk cautiously forward. The ground seems firm enough. There are no rocks, just a smooth surface eroded for centuries.

Something floats on the surface of the water. A shape made of ivory sticks. Bones. A bird’s skeleton. The wingspan looks over ten feet, bigger than any bird of prey I have heard of.

The Oracle Bones of the Phoenix.

For a few seconds, I don’t move. It’s too easy. I haven’t done anything worthy to be in here. This feels like a trap. Instinct urges me to leave.

Don’t be a coward, Altan, my sister’s voice drawls in my head.

I can’t fail her. I can’t fail my family. I can’t fail my country.

I scoop some of the water in my hands and bring it to my lips. It tastes of nothing. Not even of water, if water had a real taste. Will it poison me? Will it show me something? The Phoenix, perhaps?

I take another sip. But nothing happens.

The cavern looks exactly as it was: soft glowing bugs masquerading as gemmed necklaces strung across the ceiling. Have I come all the way here for nothing? A frustrated noise rumbles at the back of my throat.

I dry my hands, wondering if I should leave.

Then, I see it.

Tendrils of smoke slither up from the water like sea serpents of lore. They float toward me. Some spiraling, others swaying. Faint and translucent at first, the human-shaped figures of smoke and mist gain density and their faces fill out. Faces I have seen in my dreams and nightmares, but not in reality.

Not for a while.

“Son.” The specter of my father looks too real. Beside him, my mother smiles.

“Impossible,” I whisper. My parents are both dead. These are illusions. They must be. This is a test. But what does the Soul Beast want from me?

“Altan,” wails Mother’s ghost, moving closer.

I stumble back. They’re just illusions, Altan. Prove yourself. Pass the test.

“You’re not real,” I say loudly. My own ears pick up the tremor in my voice.