Bingmei watched the concubine walk away, still dabbing tears from her eyes, and then she was gone.
Her heart pulsed with excitement. The door was locked, but the windows, high on the walls, were still open, letting in the cool morning breeze. She smelled the peace and contentment coming from the crib. She smelled her son.
Using her invisible wings, she lifted off the roof and circled around to the front of the window. She squeezed through it and dropped down to the floor, staff in hand.
Bingmei crept to the cradle and felt power coming from it. Blinking in surprise, she saw that it was made from meiwood. Glyphs had been carved into the wood. Her stomach wrenched with dread. Of course Xisi would not have left the cradle unprotected.
A slight scuff on the floor behind her was the only warning.
Bingmei whirled around, bringing her staff up just in time to block the saber slicing at her. She deflected it and found herself face-to-face with Mieshi.
No smell had warned her, and the cruel look on Mieshi’s face showed no sisterly affection. The answer was obvious: only half of her bond sister had been brought back. Bingmei winced, realizing she’d stumbled into Xisi’s trap, but there was no time to regret the decisions that had brought her here. She parried another thrust and dodged back as Mieshi’s elbow came at her nose. The attack was full force. Suddenly Mieshi’s hand touched Bingmei’s side, and she started to draw a dianxue glyph.
Bingmei broke the connection by kicking forward sharply. The kick was blocked. The room was too small for her to use the staff effectively, so Bingmei shoved it at Mieshi before letting go. That surprised and confused her, which gave Bingmei the chance to land a blow of her own, invoking her phoenix powers. Mieshi was flung backward by the open-palm strike and sprawled on the bed where she’d been concealed the whole time.
Bingmei rushed to the cradle and reached in to grab her baby. A jolt of searing pain sizzled up her arms and shoved her back violently, causing her to crash into the far wall. The noise of the combat hadn’t woken the infant yet.
Mieshi disentangled herself from the sheets, her expression grim and determined. She wielded her saber but had set the staff aside. Bingmei felt darkness come down quickly as all four windows shut by themselves. She saw the Immortal Words glowing on each of them. She hadn’t noticed them from outside, but the words had been drawn there all along. The protective wards had been invoked, and now there was no way out of the dark room. No way to lure the fighting away from her child, who’d started wailing because of the commotion.
Mieshi launched at her again, sweeping the saber at her, but Bingmei dived and rolled. She turned back to Mieshi and caught her arm before elbowing her in the face. The blow stunned her friend, and she managed to disarm her just as a wooden panel on the far side of the room opened. It revealed another smell—Xisi herself.
Bingmei kicked Mieshi hard in the ribs to keep her stunned and spun to face the new threat, whirling the saber around in a slashing sweep. It wasn’t just Xisi. Zhuyi was with her.
“Look at the new bird I’ve caught in my cage,” Xisi said with a delighted grin.
Mieshi lunged at Bingmei, trying to kick her side. Bingmei didn’t want to kill her friend, but it was three against one now, and her powers were seriously weakened in such a confining space. Her worry for Shixian was also a constant distraction. She had to think and act quickly.
She dropped the blade and defended herself, blocking the attacks, and then drew the word for “still” on Mieshi with a quick swipe of her hand. Mieshi’s body locked up, and she dropped helplessly to the floor.
The cries of her baby tormented and distracted her. Zhuyi’s foot struck Bingmei in the temple.
She went down hard, her skull throbbing, and then felt a punch to her stomach before she managed to throw a kick upward and knock Zhuyi back. Bingmei flipped over backward and collided with the bed. When her bond sister came for her again, Bingmei yanked the curtains in between them and then hoisted herself into the air with her wings. Zhuyi kicked out at her through the curtain, attempting to fight even while temporarily blinded, but Bingmei landed behind her and did a phoenix fist to the back of her head. Zhuyi went down on her knees, but the fight wasn’t out of her yet. She whirled around and lunged her fist into Bingmei’s stomach, although Bingmei blocked it and countered with a punch of her own to Zhuyi’s cheek, which finally dropped her to the floor.
Bingmei turned and saw Xisi standing over the cradle. One of her pointed metal finger guards was aimed right at the child’s quivering chest. With the cessation of fighting, Shixian had started to calm. The baby was too innocent to sense the danger right above him.
“I have poison in this claw that will kill your child instantly,” Xisi said. “You know I mean it. I cannot lie in front of you, Bingmei.”
Her heart filled with fear, and she stood, staring at Xisi with horrible feelings racing through her.
“If you touch him . . .” Bingmei warned.
“You can’t kill me, Bingmei,” Xisi said. “I am immortal. But you are not. Did you happen to see a silver-barked tree on your journey? You might just be wise enough to have survived it, little bird.”
Bingmei’s heart was racing. One false move . . . Her staff lay nearby, but Xisi was too close to Shixian for her to risk lunging for it. The saber also lay beyond her reach.
