“I’m afraid, Bingmei, that we face an unwinnable battle,” he said after they’d climbed to the middle of one of the defensive bridges. She stared down at the boats, which were gathering to carry the general’s soldiers to their enemy’s lair. The plan to attack Fusang was unchanged, except Bingmei had helped inform their strategy. “Even if we had all of our past strength, the full might of Sajinau, plus the assistance of the kingdoms east of here, which have fallen to the dragon, it would have been no assurance of success.”
“In other words, Prince Rowen was right all along,” she said, giving him a wry smile.
General Tzu pursed his lips. “He wasn’t right in how he went about seeking change. He would have started a civil war in Sajinau. One he would have lost.”
She ran her hand along the rough stone wall and stared down at a fishing boat that disappeared beneath the bridge a few moments later. “You don’t believe we can win.”
“It seems inevitable that we will not.”
“Yet you prepare for war still.”
“A good general must,” he answered. “I cannot see a better opportunity than this. If we wait, then he will attack us here, and many innocents will perish. And more innocents will perish every single day that he rules over his dark empire. Every female child born to die. It does not take much imagination to envision the sort of world that will be spawned from that ruthless law. A world of men. Even if he lifts it after a season or two, it will upset the balance of things. We must fight to give the unborn a chance to live. I see no other way.”
Bingmei sighed. Her own child was being suckled by a concubine in Fusang—a woman who had lost her daughter to the Iron Rules. Grief ripped at her heart at the thought of all the mothers who had lost a child to Echion’s decree.
“His rule of madness has gone on for too long, General. We must find a way to stop it.”
“Yes, but how? I saw the arrow that Liekou shot at him. It pierced him, as you said it would, but he did not die. He did not even bleed like you and I would. The dragon cannot be killed.”
“He can,” she said, shaking her head. “He’s died many times.”
“He claims he did it voluntarily. To restart the cycle and regain control.”
Bingmei turned to face him. “No. He’s been murdered by his wife, Xisi. When Quion and I traveled beyond the Death Wall, we discovered a skeletal tree inside a chasm in the mountains. Instead of leaves, it was covered in strange blue insects. It was a powerful place, a place with deep magic. Those insects, I believe, are poisonous. Xisi came while we were there, and she took one of the insects. I believe she has used it to poison Echion in the past. There’s a history to that place that I don’t understand.”
“There is no history, Bingmei,” the general said, shaking his head with profound weariness. “We know nothing of the past.”
“For a purpose. It’s part of Echion’s plan to keep people in ignorance.” She pressed her lips together. “He seeks to remake the world in his own image, but every time he does, he fails. I suspect he’s already given up on our generation. His new rule proves that. And he slaughtered the army of Sajinau because he knew the men would remember the integrity of King Shulian.” She shook her head. “We have to stop them, General, before they end up destroying all life. Echion and Xisi cannot procreate together. Imagine the world in desolation, with only the two of them alive, clawing at each other forever. We have to stop them. Even if we risk losing.”
“Do you know where Echion is now?” he asked.
“I don’t, but I suspect he’s weary. No one can fly indefinitely. I’m still exhausted, but I can’t rest for long before I go back for Shixian.”
“I need you here, Bingmei,” he said. “If he comes back—”
“He won’t come back if you attack him. Take the fight to Fusang. You will be protected from the killing fog.”
“But not the dragons.”
“Do you have Budai’s cache of weapons? The ones he hid?”
“Yes,” he answered. “After a few days in prison, he gave us the location in order to be released. In return, we promised to give his nation back to him. We brought the artifacts in several ships back to Sihui. Only one didn’t return, due to the ferocious winter storms that came out of nowhere.” He gave her a sidelong look. “Well, now we know the cause.”
“You have weapons to help fight the dragons. What you need is more warriors, General. Ensigns willing to fight.”
“That’s why we need you. We have so few skilled fighters, Bingmei. Most have joined Echion.”
She remembered Zhuyi, her former bond sister. Without her emotions and empathy, she was no longer a complete person. She was a xixuegui. That was likely true of many of Echion’s and Xisi’s servants. They’d been stripped of an essential part of themselves, left with nothing but blind loyalty.
“I have to go,” she said, shaking her head. “I have to find my son. Bring your ships to Fusang.”
“You said yourself that he’s expecting that. Why not attack Sajinau and liberate it? Strike where he does not expect?”
She felt an ill omen at his words. It unsettled her. “No, General. We must attack Fusang.”
His mouth flattened. “The odds are against us.”
“Even still. I feel it is the
