General Tzu started pacing and stopped by his armor. She saw by his expression that his mind was whirling with the news she’d brought.
“General,” Bingmei said. “Echion wants you to attack Fusang. You shamed him when you defeated his attack on Sihui, and he plans to do the same to you. First, he’ll give you the false impression that you’re succeeding. And then, when it is too late to turn back, he and his dragons will descend and wipe out your army before you’ve reached the walls of the palace.”
He turned his head to look at her. “My plan was going to fail all along,” he whispered.
“Because he knew what you were going to do and had prepared for it,” she said. “But consider this, General Tzu. You know what he is going to do, which means you can prepare to face him. Dragons are vulnerable to meiwood weapons.”
“And meiwood weapons are cursed by the killing fog,” General Tzu said. “When someone invokes their magic, it brings the fog.”
“There is a word of power, one of the Immortal Words, that will protect your soldiers from the killing fog. The one you used previously was only a temporary protection, for Echion would never have taught this one to his servants. It will protect you, doubly so. You can summon the fog on purpose, making it more difficult for the dragons to find you. The rest of them are not like Echion. They follow him blindly. I can write this word for you.”
“There is a tablet on the desk,” he said eagerly. Liekou joined them at the table, looking on as Bingmei took the wax tablet and drew the symbol in the wax. She made the glyph large, easy to be seen and copied. “This is the glyph Shu. It means many things, but the closest meaning is a ransom that has been paid. The killing fog will not exact its toll when someone has this glyph written on them. Echion never taught this glyph to his army because he feared they would become too strong and defy him. He has cursed meiwood itself . . .”
She paused, blinking, remembering the huge grove of meiwood trees beyond the Death Wall. The lions had drunk from a pool of water. Inside that pool of water, she realized with astonishment, lay the curse.
“What is it?” the general asked, seeing the look on her face.
“I think I know how to stop the killing fog for good,” she said. “I think . . . that doesn’t matter now. This symbol, this glyph, will protect you from it. You need to gather as many meiwood weapons as you can in preparation for the attack.”
A sickening feeling fluttered in her stomach. She sensed a dragon coming. She’d hoped she would have more time.
Turning, she looked at the door. “He’s already here.”
A stone carving of a giant eagle perched at the pinnacle of the roof at Eagle Palace. The tiles sloped downward in tiers, with swan statues marking the edge of the next level and falcon statues decorating the next tier down. Bingmei concealed herself behind the eagle statue but watched the skies to the east.
The upper windows of the throne room were just beneath her, and they had all been left open so she could enter from any of them. Upon Bingmei’s suggestion, the general had already ordered Jidi Majia to take Rowen’s sister, Eomen, on a boat and get her and himself away from the palace.
Bingmei continued watching until she saw a gray slit in the sky that grew larger and darker. She’d drawn the symbol Shu on the rooftop, bringing its blessing of protection to everyone within the palace itself. It was the same symbol that had protected her ensign in the phoenix pagoda atop the hill outside Fusang. But it would not protect the entire city, not unless it could be drawn on every building and home, which there was not time to do.
As she waited, she wondered. Would Echion come as he had before, landing on the bridge and spewing clouds of blackness and terrifying the people? Would he summon the fog?
She wasn’t sure what he would do, but she knew the glyph for light and hoped it was strong enough to dispel the darkness if it came.
The dragon vanished before Bingmei’s watchful eyes. She blinked in confusion, but she still felt him—he’d merely hidden himself from the sight of others. He was anticipating a surprise attack and didn’t know that Bingmei knew he was coming. The presence came closer. She worried he’d fly over the palace and possibly spy her on the roof. But if he did, she’d fly away and draw him after her. The others would still be safe.
Instead, he descended to the courtyard behind the palace wall. When he appeared again, he wore a soldier’s uniform, complete with the eagle badge. He looked like one of Zhumu’s soldiers. His stench was so potent it wafted up from the courtyard to where she crouched on the roof.
Duplicity. His usual game.
Bingmei waited until he had entered the palace doors, unchallenged, and then swung off the edge of the roof with her staff in hand. She landed on the sloping tiles and ducked inside the small window. With a flex of her wings, she glided down to the floor of the audience hall, which was now teeming with soldiers. Kexin and Budai had been brought back to the chamber to lend to the illusion that Echion’s arrival was unexpected. Neither of them had been informed of the situation, and they looked more nervous than the rest of the group, who were pretending all was well.
She walked up to General Tzu and King Zhumu.
“He’s arrived, in disguise as one of your soldiers,” she whispered. The doorway leading to the corridor had been deliberately left open. It was a trap, and she was the bait. The swarm of smells
