Chang"s round face beamed with delight. "We thought we"d never see you here again. The queen will be so happy to hear you"re safe."
"My mother," Taejo said, moving forward. He pulled the servant up onto his feet, as the man continued to bob his head in respect.
"Tell me, where is my mother? Is she still imprisoned?"
Chang frowned and nodded. "She is in a bad way. King Shin has lost his patience with her and locked her up without food or water. She is very weak."
Taejo"s whole body jerked, his face enraged. He ran for the door but was caught by Kwan.
"We have a mission!"
Taejo raised anguished eyes to Kwan and then Kira. "I know you"re right. But I only came because I thought I"d have a chance to save my mother."
"You"re going to jeopardize everything!" Kwan said.
"I"m sorry," Taejo said. "But please, you must help me. I need to see her before it is too late."
It pained Kira to see him beg for help. Before Kwan could respond, she stepped between them.
"I"ll go with him," she said. "We owe it to our aunt to try and save her. You waste time arguing when you need to be gone. We"ll meet up with you at our rendezvous point."
Kwan released Taejo and embraced Kira hard.
"Be safe, little sister. Keep the prince alive. Keep yourself alive." His eyes were alight with worry.
"We"ll be fine, Oppa. I will see you soon."
Kira nodded and bowed, watching as Kwan and his men disappeared down the tunnels. She turned to Chang, noticing his wide-eyed expression.
"Can you show us the safest way to the dungeons?" she asked.
Chang nodded, but his narrow eyes twitched nervously. Taejo gripped Kira"s hand hard in silent thanks. They followed Chang down many tunnels to reach the dungeons on the other side of the palace.
At the dungeon entrance, Kira signaled Chang forward. She stood to the side and crouched low as Chang knocked on the door.
It opened to a large guard, holding a bowl with chopsticks. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" he asked.
While Chang stuttered a response, Kira peeked between their legs and noticed only one other guard in the room, sitting at a small table slurping noisily from a bowl of noodles. The guard stepped aside and let Chang enter.
Kira jumped forward. Bending low, she threw a reverse lunge punch hard into the guard"s groin and then back-kicked him in the chest. He crashed to the ground as the other guard came charging forward with his sword drawn. Kira crouched and executed a reverse roundhouse kick and took out the guard"s legs. She cut off his shout with a bash to his head.
Babbling about his need to return to his duties, Chang murmured an apology and fled.
Taejo ran down the dungeon hall, peering through the barred windows, searching for his mother. Kira checked on the guards, making sure they wouldn"t rise anytime soon. Closing the door behind her, she picked up the guard"s sword and hurried down the hallway. In the last cell, they found the queen asleep on a dirty straw pallet. Her long hair hung in a tangled mess about her beautiful face. Taejo ran in and knelt by her side.
"Mother, I"m here," he said, his voice breaking. "I"m here."
For a long moment, she didn"t move, and Kira wondered if they were too late. Then they heard a soft moan, and the queen opened her eyes.
"My son! My son!" she cried. She grabbed hold of Taejo and hugged him tight.
With her free arm, the queen reached over to hug Kira as she wept. "Thank you, thank you."
Kira"s flesh tingled all over as she caught a whiff of demon. Pushing herself up off the floor, she tiptoed to the door and peeked down the corridor.
"We need to go now," Kira said.
"Mother, have they have been starving you?" Taejo asked.
The queen nodded, trying to control her tears. "But it"s fine now that I have seen both of you again." She caressed Kira"s face. "How I miss my poor sister!"
Kira was in a panic. She had no way of knowing how much time they had left, but she knew danger was imminent.
"We have to get out of here," she urged. She slid an arm around her aunt"s body and lifted her to her feet, leading her to the door. She was unsteady but could walk. At the guard"s table, Taejo poured a cup of water for his mother. The queen gulped the water down.
"We have to go," Kira hissed at them.
Taejo jumped and nodded. Kira half carried her aunt toward the door. They were moving too slowly. How were they ever going to escape with the queen in her weakened condition?
"I feared I would never see you again," Queen Ja-young said. "Now I can die happy."
"No, Mother, we are going to get you out of here," Taejo said.
The dungeon door flew open with a crash. The queen tried to push Taejo behind her, but he resisted. Kira stepped in front of them with her sword raised.
"Well, well, well. I see the son has returned to his mother"s loving embrace," Shin gloated. "What a pleasure to see you again, Prince Taejo. But who is this grubby urchin in front of you? Let me guess. Can this be Kang Kira?" He laughed mockingly. "What a fine lady you make-or is this a new court trend you wish to begin: the dirty, smelly, lady soldier look?"
Shin entered the guardroom with a dozen Yamato soldiers behind him.
"I fear it will not be very popular with the other ladies," he said.
Stupid, stupid fool! She could taste the acid burning in her throat as her gut knotted up. It was her fault. She"d known that they were in danger. She should have forced them to leave immediately. There was no chance of escape now.
"But you"ve never been popular at court, have you, my dear?" he continued. "What with your ugly yellow eyes and your masculine predilections, you are a disgrace to your name."
Lord Shin moved closer, his black eyes glittering with malice. "You must have been so shocked when I agreed to your betrothal to my nephew. For what man would want to marry a freak like you? But the queen was so desperate to see you married. So happy to throw you away at the first eligible man willing to sacrifice himself. My queen was very grateful to me."
"You dog!" the queen spit at him.
"The truth is hard to hear," he chuckled. "The betrothal was merely a ruse to gain everyone"s trust, particularly General Kang"s." He pointed at Kira. "I fear your father never liked me. But once his only daughter was promised to my nephew, he would have to respect me."
"My father never trusted you," Kira muttered.
"Yes, that"s true. But he had to stop speaking badly of me to the king, and that was all I needed."
"If it was all a trick, then why send your nephew after me?" Kira asked.
"Correction, I only sent him after the prince. I told him to kill you. But it appears that my nephew actually finds you attractive. Which makes me question his wisdom."
"Well, you don"t have to worry about it anymore, since he"s dead," Kira said.
Shin"s face tightened as his eyes narrowed into gleaming slits. "Then I have no reason to keep you alive. Lower your gaze or I"ll cut your eyes out!"
Kira looked down, unwilling to antagonize him further.
"I must thank you both, for your timing is impeccable. I"ve grown weary of the queen"s refusals, and my threats have had no effect," Shin said. "But now that I have you, I predict a sudden change of heart. Guards, seize the prince."
Four Yamato soldiers moved forward. Kira shoved her aunt and Taejo farther behind her. Taking a deep breath, she centered herself before attacking. She raised her arms high and twisted her right side toward the first soldier, executing a lethal head strike. Kira let the weight of the heavy sword swing her arms around for an underbody thrust at the second soldier. The third soldier wasted a precious moment pushing away his comrade and met Kira"s sword across his neck. Her aunt"s scream stopped her from finishing off the fourth.
Taejo was dragged over and forced to kneel before Shin. With a swift movement, Shin pulled a dagger from beneath his cloak and placed the sharp point against Taejo"s throat.
"Put down your sword or the prince will die," Shin said.
Kira caught her cousin"s eye as she let the sword slip from her hand. She gave a tiny shake of her head. Don"t do anything stupid.
Showing her empty hands to the guards, she reached down to help her aunt up from where she"d fallen to the ground.
"What say you, my queen? What is your answer now?" Shin tightened his grip on Taejo.
"Don"t hurt my son!" the queen cried.
"You know the only answer that will save him."
"No, Mother! Don"t do it! Don"t disgrace my father"s memory by marrying his murderer!" Taejo shouted.
Shin smashed the hilt of the dagger on the top of Taejo"s head. He fell unconscious onto the dirty floor. With an anguished cry, Queen Ja-young clung onto Kira.
"You"re naught but a pretender!" she spit. "A lowlife. Worse than a peasant. I"ve been the consort of a real king, one you could never hope to replace."
Kira wished her aunt had remained silent as Shin"s face flushed. He grabbed a whip from the belt of a prison guard and lashed it at Kira"s face. A strangled cry broke from her lips, too painful to swallow. She put a hand to her left eye and felt blood course through her fingers.
"Stop it!" the queen raged. "I"ll do what you ask of me, only don"t hurt them!"
"Too late!" Shin snarled. "Let"s put out those ugly yellow eyes forever!"
He lashed the whip again. This time, the queen covered Kira with her body, taking the blow on her back. Kira embraced her aunt, who trembled in pain.
"Don"t protect me," Kira whispered. Her left eye was rapidly swelling shut.
Shin had lowered the whip, listening as a stocky Yamato officer spoke to him.
"Yes, you are right, Lord Ito. They would make an excellent example for the people!" Shin said. He tossed down the whip. "Before the sun rises, we will bring them to the cliff! Just think how glorious it will be! The rising sun in the background for our falling royals."
With a final glare at Kira, Lord Shin left with several of his soldiers, leaving Lord Ito and a few guards behind. Kira found Ito"s menacing face more frightening than all of Shin"s histrionics. She stared into his narrow, black eyes and saw a flicker of madness-and something else. The foul, charred smell of demon magic filled her nostrils. It wasn"t strong enough to be an actual demon. But she recognized it. She knew exactly what it meant.
"You"re a shaman!" Kira"s voice was hoa.r.s.e.
His lips curved into a travesty of a smile.
"I"ve been looking forward to meeting the great Demon Slayer. But how strange, you look nothing like your mother," he said. "Although she was brave, like you. She didn"t make a sound when I killed her."
With a scream of rage, Kira pushed away from her aunt and launched herself at the shaman. He punched her injured eye and grabbed her by the throat, strangling her.
"Some of our soldiers have been babbling about a water dragon," he said, his tongue flicking between his lips like a snake"s. "Only one thing in the world is powerful enough to control the waters in this manner." He leaned forward, bringing his mad eyes level with hers. "The tidal stone."
He released her throat and ripped the pouch from her neck.
"No!" Kira choked.
Ito pulled out the tidal stone and the little haetae statue. He laughed maniacally as he held the large ruby up to his face.
"Lord Shin is an idiot. He had the greatest treasure in the world before him and walked away. But then again, my master, Daimyo Tomodoshi, never told him about the treasures."
He placed the tidal stone back in its little bag and tied it around his neck. He flung the haetae to the ground. Before she could retrieve it, a guard kicked it beyond her reach.
"How ironic that you brought the most powerful treasure directly to us! Who needs the other treasures now that my master, Daimyo Tomodoshi, can rule the seas," Ito said. "You are no longer a threat."
He was heading to the door when Kira shouted.
"Why did you curse my mother? Why send her and all the other women to the shadow realm?"
Ito stopped at the door and faced her. "It"s so simple, really," he said. "Their souls for my powers. Quite an excellent bargain for me, wouldn"t you say?"
The door slammed behind him, leaving Kira in despair over the loss of the tidal stone and her haetae.
The remaining soldiers roused Taejo by roughly slapping his face. They pushed the royal family down the hallway, back into the queen"s cell.
Queen Ja-young helped Kira down onto the straw pallet. She ripped off a strip of white cloth from her underskirt and patted it against Kira"s wound while a dazed Taejo stared in horror at the b.l.o.o.d.y mess that was her face.
"I"m sorry, Mother! I"m sorry, Noona," he said. "I made a terrible mistake! I have failed again."
"No, my son, you are a blessing to me," the queen said. "I longed to see you once more. It"s all I wished for, and here you are. You and Kira. It"s as if the G.o.ds have answered my prayers."
The pain was intense, but Kira was devastated by the realization of what she"d done. She"d destroyed them all by losing the tidal stone. And the loss of her father"s haetae felt as if a part of her had been cut off. She gulped air to stop from crying, but the tears began to fall.
"He has the tidal stone," she said to Taejo. "It was in my pouch-he"s wearing it around his neck."
She leaned against the wall. It was hopeless. What could any of them do now?
Her aunt took Kira"s hand and placed something in her palm. It was her precious haetae. She sobbed in relief and closed her hand tight, pressing it to her chest. She thought of her brother"s mission and Eojin"s army so close to the city walls. Kwan was a great warrior. She knew he would succeed.
They still had a chance. She tucked her little haetae within the bindings of her bust wrap. Her sobs died down. Tears wouldn"t help her now. What she needed was her strength. She heard Lady Mina"s voice again: Don"t give up on the world, trust in the heavens that you are on the right path.
The queen sat between Kira and her son, holding their hands.
"Your clothes are all wet," she said.
She wrapped the only blankets in the cell around Kira and Taejo and then hugged them close.