“That is what you want? For us to suffer like you?” Zhumu pressed.
“You despise me,” Budai snarled. “You do not treat me as an equal. If not for these men, you would be just as ruined as I am. No ships set sail to Wangfujing when I was in trouble. Everyone abandoned me. Everyone. I will not be part of this. You are all going to die.” He rose from his chair and flashed them a haughty look.
“Where do you think you are going?” asked General Tzu calmly.
“Away from here. I’ll . . . I’ll hire a fisherman to take me away.”
“You know our plans,” General Tzu said, stepping forward.
Budai’s eyes widened with fear. “What . . . what are you going to do? I won’t reveal what I know. I swear it.”
General Tzu nodded to two guards standing at the doorway. “Take him to the dungeon. Maybe the loss of your freedom will change your mind.”
Budai’s face became pale as the guards marched forward and grabbed him by the arms. Bingmei felt some satisfaction at seeing Budai so humbled, but she suspected his resentment would only grow. Would he become even more obstinate in the humid cell beneath the palace? What would those feelings grow into?
Once Budai was gone, General Tzu turned and faced the rulers. He sighed. “There is no instance of a kingdom benefitting from prolonged warfare. We will gather all our forces for a single attack, leaving no men or ships behind to defend in case we lose. We’ve debated already the ideas of attacking Renxing by land and Tianrui by sea, to add to our force if possible. They will be expecting that. I have determined that we must attack Fusang itself. If we win, the other kingdoms will surrender. If we lose, it won’t matter anyway.
“We go to war, brethren, and we do it together.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
A New Life
When the sun rose on the third day, she felt the quivering tug of her body. There was a rushing feeling, like a leaf caught in a river’s torrent, and she was drawn back to the phoenix shrine beyond the Death Wall. For the return trip, she did not pass from bird to bird, but was pulled back quickly as if in a vortex.
As she neared the sarcophagus, she sensed the power of a glyph, one she had not noticed before, but there was no time to analyze it. Suddenly she was once more enshrouded in the darkness of the tomb. She’d anticipated it would hurt, easing back into her body, just like it had before she reached the phoenix shrine. But again there was no pain. It felt good slipping into her own skin again, feeling all the muscles and blood and sinews that held it all together. So different from the fragile form of a bird with its tiny bones, feathers, and wildly beating heart.
Her eyes itched, and a little tickle went to the tip of her nose. She felt the hard stone beneath her, and then, with anxious fingers, she felt along her abdomen, expecting it to be swollen and ripe.
It felt just as it always had, and a flicker of panic went through her.
Do not fear, Bingmei. The babe sleeps and grows within you. It is too small to feel yet.
She smoothed her hand over her front again. She’d wondered if the process would be quicker, somehow, since she’d traveled into the future.
It was encouraging to hear the phoenix’s voice, but it didn’t allay her concerns for the general’s offensive.
But when? she asked. We need the help now. If they attack Echion, they’ll be destroyed.
I know.
The thought struck her forcibly. Dread swelled inside her. She thought of the rulers who had finally united against their common foe. It had taken incredible defeat before they’d been willing to do what King Shulian had been wise enough to believe in from the start. And it would all be for nothing. The phoenix had confirmed General Tzu and the surviving kingdoms would indeed be sailing to their deaths. The need to warn them blazed inside her.
You cannot go, Bingmei. If you leave this rock, the dragon will hunt you, and I cannot protect you. This is your sanctuary until your child is born.
Bingmei didn’t want to accept that. She felt tears sting her eyes as she imagined the countless deaths coming in the near future. Hadn’t enough people died? The pain she felt was overpowering. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes.
Is there no way to stop it? she pleaded.
Would you have me break eternal laws? That is the way of the Dragon of Night.
But isn’t your power supposed to protect the innocent?
Is Budai innocent? Or Zhumu?
Bingmei realized the phoenix was right. The voice inside her was not harsh or mean-spirited. It spoke the truth.
They are not, Bingmei confessed. But they are what they are because of Echion’s legacy. It will take years to overturn it. This is only the beginning.
The phoenix didn’t respond this time. It horrified her to think of more violence, more death. She covered her face, stifling her sobs, and waited for the aching to subside. When it finally did, she reached into the darkness and placed her palms on the lid of the sarcophagus. She didn’t know how it had gotten there. Echion had stood over her, ready to drive his spear into her dead heart in a final act of revenge. Perhaps Quion had set it in place? She pushed against the stone and felt its heaviness. Her arms were weak from lack of food. It gave her a light-headed feeling.
She pushed again, frowning as she did so, and the stone began to budge. The grinding sound of rock against rock filled the interior of the crypt.
When she felt she could push no more, the lid was pulled away, and the smell of fish rushed into the void, along with
