Stump pressed his horse a few steps forward. “What business do you have here?” he repeated his question. “You didn’t come down from Redwood Cliff in the middle of the night to tell me the Old Grandmother passed away. Foot messengers do that.”

  Tao Hing drew his horse two steps back, yielding the ground with spikes in the snow, smiling. “An adopted bastard coming forth to make a name for himself. If Wei Xi’s son weren’t so worthless, Wei Xi wouldn’t need to adopt a bastard.”

  Stump’s face turned red and he reached for his sword. Tao Hing laughed again and this time, the men behind him also broke into jeering laughter.

  Stump charged, sword fully drawn and raised high. His horse took two steps and instantly reared back with a cry. The spikes were long, designed to penetrate horse hooves, yet subtle enough to remain invisible in the snow. Stump was thrown off his mount. He landed with a sick thud before leaping up with a wail, his feet, legs, and side were punctured and bleeding. He screamed again, yanked the spikes out of his side and lifted his sword to charge. Another step, and he froze. Spikes were everywhere.

  “How dare you attack me at a time of mourning,” Tao Hing said. “The Old Grandmother just passed away, and you Green Dragons are already looking for a fight. Get out of my way! I have an important message for Wei Xi.”

  “Refer to him as Lord Xi, you insolent old fool!” Stump shouted.

  “The message is about the jade dragon.”

  “Jade dragon!” Stump lowered his sword. “What do you know about the jade dragon?”

  “I said before, the message is for Wei Xi only. Let me pass!” The old man’s voice was like thunder. Stump’s men eyed each other for support, and then stepped out of the way. Tao Hing circled his horse around, moving to the side of the road to avoid the spikes on the ground. His men followed.

  “We’ll meet again in three days, Stump,” Tao Hing said with a laugh. “You’re coming to the funeral, aren’t you?”

  Stump staggered to the edge of the road, pulling the remaining spikes out of his foot and legs while swearing under his breath. His eyes were red, murderous.

  In a moment, Tao Hing and his group of mounted warriors were gone. Stump spat on the ground. He screamed at his men while mounting his frightened horse. They formed a single line and trotted past the buried spikes in the snow.

  “Jade dragon ...” Sochai said. “The old man said something about the jade dragon!” He suddenly stood up.

  “What are you doing?” Li Kung whispered. He glanced at Stump, no more than thirty steps away, assured himself that the Green Dragons didn’t notice, then turned to say something.

  The Mongolian was already gone.

  “Where did he go?” Pun asked.

  “I don’t know. He’s in no condition to run so fast. Let’s go. We need to find him. He’s after the old man with the long hair.”

  “He’ll never catch them. They’re on horses, and he’s poisoned and on foot.”

  The last of the flickering Green Dragon torches disappeared from view, and Li Kung ran out into the open. He pointed down the road in the direction they were traveling just moments ago, preparing to chase.

  “What about the spikes?” he started, changing his mind and turning around.

  “The spikes?”

  “They’re still in the snow. People use this road every day. They’ll get hurt.”

  “But ...” Pun glanced at the snow. “Make me a torch. I’ll find the spikes while you go after the Mongolian. We can meet later at the Blue Lantern Inn.”

  Li Kung looked at her in amazement. “You want to split up? You’re not afraid he’ll hurt me?” He smiled and took her hand. “You trust my judgment.”

  “I trust your medical judgment,” she said with a pout. “You said he’s in no condition to run, which means he can’t hurt you. If you really want to find him, you need to go now.”

  He took her hand and drew her closer. She folded into his arms. “Be careful,” she said.

  “I will,” Li Kung said, whispering into her ear. “He’s far from home with no one to help him and he’s very sick. We should at least try to help.”

  She nodded, reached up to squeeze his tall nose. “Make sure he doesn’t cut you in half.”

  Li Kung laughed. He grabbed an old branch from the ground, covered it with green powder and ignited it. The flame roared for a second before calming into a steady ball of light. He handed it to Pun, then turned and hurried down the road.

  For a long time, Li Kung trudged through the narrow trail, stopping often to catch his breath. He found Sochai on his knees, hunched over in the middle of the trail, a small pool of dark blood around him. Li Kung crouched down and peered into his face. The Mongolian was pale, shaking with intense pain and dripping with cold sweat.

  “Why did you run?”

  “Jade dragon ...” Sochai managed to say.

  Li Kung pulled out a small porcelain jar and handed it to his new friend. “Take a couple of these pills. They’ll give you strength.”

  Sochai struggled to lift his body. He planted his saber deep into the snow for leverage, twisted his body, and somehow climbed to his feet. He took the little jar from Li Kung’s hand and uncorked it, dropped two pills into his mouth, and returned the jar.

  “Keep the bottle,” Li Kung said. “Should be at least nine more in there. You’re going to need them.”

  Sochai pushed the jar into his pockets. “Jade dragon,” he said again, his voice weak and lifeless. “The old man said something about the jade dragon. It is mine. My grandfather gave it to me.”

  “Your grandfather? No, no. You made a mistake. The jade dragon belongs to the Dragon House. It’s their ultimate symbol of leadership.”

  “It is the same jade!” Sochai leaned forward, stronger now. “The ugly woman with the tumor stole it from me. The carving is like the three-headed dragon symbol—we saw it in the salt fields. It is the same dragon symbol. Identical to the candles that poisoned me. Whoever has my jade also has my antidote!”

  “I see,” Li Kung said softly. “You had their jade. In Mongolia. From high in the barbaric North ...”

  “We need to find the old man with the long hair. He knows where the antidote is.”

  “He went to the Garden of Eternal Light.”

  “Then we go,” Sochai said, tucking the saber inside his coat.

  “We can’t go there. It’s an island in the middle of Lake Eternal, and it’s heavily guarded. Lake Eternal never freezes, which means we’ll need to ride one of their boats. It’s impossible. Come, I need to show you something. It’s about the jade dragon.”

  ???

  “Stone tablet?” Sochai asked, much later. “At the floor of this lake?”

  “Yes, the lake is almost completely dried. There’s a poem on the tablet about the jade dragon, and how it could be found in the barbaric North. They say the gods engraved this poem down there.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “How much longer?”

  “Soon. We’ll be able to see it when the moon is directly above us. It’s right under the ice.”

  They were seated at the bank of the lake, staring at the moon’s reflection against the frozen surface. The pale, silver glitter of the ice accentuated the mysteriousness of the night, appearing ghostly, like a dream.

  “The Chinese have a saying about the moon in the lake,” Sochai said. “‘The moon in the water, the flowers in the mirror.’ My grandfather told me when I was very young, but I did not understand.”

  “It’s an old Buddhist saying,” Li Kung said. “The moon in the water and the flowers in the mirror. They both symbolize illusions, like all worries in life. Mere illusions of what’s real.”

  “Even if you are about to die? Is that also an illusion?” Sochai asked.

  Neither of them said anything, then. The moon rose quickly, and the reflection against the frozen lake became smaller. Nothing stirred.

  Li Kung shifted his body and turned on his side. “Why did you come here? Just to find out? To find out who did this to you?”

  Sochai’s voice was hollow, distant. “I thought there might be a cure.”

  “There might be. Every element has a counter element. We’ll find something.”

  “I will not have enough time to find it.”

  “My mentors will help you. We’ll be there tomorrow morning.”

  Li Kung turned to face the lake again and noticed the reflection of the moon had changed. He lifted a long, rotted branch and tapped it on the ice.

  “Your home is far away?” Sochai asked.

  “My home’s in the South,” Li Kung said. “It’s always warm and you can see the ocean within a half-day’s walk. Our mansion is large enough to house a hundred guests, so when we held banquets, our dining hall could seat six hundred people. And—” He paused, almost as if a sharp memory had washed over him, covering his eyes, his soul. Suddenly he was lost in thought. “I haven’t been home in many years.”

  “Why?”

  “I ...” Li Kung couldn’t go on. “I’ve been here, in the North, for about a month now,” he said, changing the subject. “We came to find a poison.”

  Sochai turned to him, sitting up. “A poison?”

  “A strange alchemy. We heard that a new type of alchemy appeared in this region, more cruel than anything ever seen.”

  “How does it kill?”

  “It doesn’t.”

  Sochai laughed. “What good is a poison that does not kill? It is like using a whip as a weapon. A man cannot die from a weapon used to punish cattle.”

  Li Kung shook his head. “They say it’s magical. It’s worse than death.”

  Sochai was fully alert then. He turned his entire body to face the younger man. “A poison that is worse than death. Similar to what poisoned me?”

  Li Kung shook his head. “This one is strange, and it can do strange things to you. I heard that a person is able to fly after they’ve taken it.”

  “Really?”

  “But they don’t really fly, they only feel and think that they’re flying. Some people see very strange things. They lie on their own beds, they go far away to a distant land, and they meet the gods in the heavens. But when a man takes it, he can never stop. He becomes dependent, and he wants more, and he will soon become a slave to the man who feeds it to him.”

  “I have never heard of such a thing,” Sochai whispered. “And the alchemy will never kill the man?”

  “I don’t know. So far, no one has died from it.”

  “Who is doing this?”

  “It’s a secret. My mentors went to the only village it was rumored to be in, but they found nothing.”

  “What village is this?”

  “Pan Tong Village.”

  Sochai planted a hand in the snow. “Pan Tong Village? Did you say Pan Tong Village?”

  Li Kung stared.

  Sochai leaned away. “The entire village is dead. Everyone died in their sleep—not a chicken or a dog or even a cat was spared.”

  “They died in their sleep? How could that be?”

  Sochai clenched his fists. “I think they were poisoned.”

  “How did you? What were you ...?”

  “I saw it with my own eyes. There was no sign of struggle. They looked so peaceful, like they were sleeping. But it could not be the same type of poison you are looking for, because this one was quick. It’s a poison that killed right away, not a magical alchemy.”

  “What in the world could have killed off an entire village?” Li Kung asked.

  “The woman with the metal flute—she is a monster.”

  The moon reached the height of the winter sky, but neither of them seemed to notice. The cold air suddenly became much colder. Li Kung leaned back against the snow again, muttering something.

  “What did you say?”

  Li Kung paused.

  “You mentioned a poison-user,” Sochai said.

  “Just rumors. I heard of a great poison-user serving under the Red Dragons. People say that if the gods were to become poison-users, they would study under him.”

  “Really! Then he must have an antidote for my poison!”

  Li Kung became excited again. “Yes! Maybe he can ...” But his expression darkened. “If there is such a person, he’s probably the one who poisoned you. There could be no one else.”

  “Maybe it is! Maybe he is the one who poisoned me. But if he has an antidote, I will beat it out of him! Red Dragons?”

  “That’s what I heard,” Li Kung said. “He serves the Red Dragons.”

  “The Red Dragon House—who are these people?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  “I have time,” Sochai said. “I don’t have much time left, but I have time for a story.”

  Li Kung nodded. “I don’t know the whole story, just pieces from local storytellers.”

  Sochai was staring at the lake, his eyes half closed, as if he were in a daydream. Li Kung followed his gaze. “We have to wait for the moonlight, I guess. Well, here’s what I know. A long time ago, there was only one Dragon House in this land. Back then there was famine everywhere. The government was corrupt and careless. Every time a flood struck this region, thousands would perish. But the Dragon House was strong and virtuous. They organized the people, raised money, sent their men across the country to bring back food and supplies. They fought the famine. They helped people rebuild their homes and farms, almost replacing the government here. Heroes from across the country came to join them. People prospered under their leadership.”

  “It is different now,” Sochai said.

  “Very different. The Dragon House split thirty years ago when the leader died and the twin brothers fought for the throne. The younger twin, Wei Bin, formed the Red Dragons, and he controlled the original zhuang on Redwood Cliff. The older brother, Wei Xi, now known as Lord Xi, formed the Green Dragons and built his zhuang in an island in the middle of Lake Eternal. It’s not far from here. The two Dragon Houses hated each other ever since. Many branches of the original Dragon House broke away. They didn’t recognize either of the twins as true inheritors, since the inheritor must have the jade dragon, but neither had it. I heard that their territories were reduced by half.”

  “The jade?” Sochai was alert again. “What about the jade?”

  “It’s the seal of the House. The one who possessed the jade was the true leader.”

  “But my grandfather had it. Until the woman with the flute stole it from me.”

  “Now, one side will rightfully absorb the other, but not without a fight. There will be a new wave of violence in the Martial Society. The jade coming back is bad news. Bad news.” Li Kung sighed. “I heard that this lake had been drying for years. Then came the drought last year, and an old fisherman found the stone tablet. Everyone said it came from the gods. It described exactly where to find the jade. When the old fisherman discovered this stone, it was embedded in the floor of the lake. The stone must have been there forever—underwater plants grew around it and some right through it.”

  “Someone must have planted the stone. How could anyone carve words while holding their breath?”

  “Some people dived down there to feel the words,” Li Kung said. “And the edges were smooth. Any new engraving couldn’t be that smooth, only stone eroded by water for many years could be that smooth. They say the stone has been there for two generations.”

  Sochai jumped to his feet. “I have to see the poem.”

  Li Kung observed the position of the moon, then at the reflected light from the icy lake. “I think we can see it now.”

  “You said this stone told the Dragon Houses to look north for the jade dragon?”

  “North to the land of the nomads.”

  Sochai stepped onto the ice, tapped it lightly with his boot, and glided toward the center. Li Kung tried to follow but slipped on the first step and landed hard. He struggled to his feet.

  “Near the center of the lake? Did you say near the center?”

  Li Kung inched his way ahead, shouting, “Straight in front of you. Don’t worry about me, I’m right behind you.”

  Sochai didn’t turn his head as the freezing wind slashed through his hair and pierced him—but he moved like he was possessed. Far behind him, Li Kung tiptoed with tiny steps toward the middle of the lake.

  “Here? This?”

  Sochai stopped above a mammoth stone slab underneath the thick ice. He pulled out his saber, and, using the point, pounded the surface, sending thousands of tiny fragments into the sky. Li Kung approached carefully, pieces of ice raining on him while he watched the Mongolian beat the frozen lake to pieces.

  With a splash, the ice caved into the water before floating back to the surface. Sochai backed away from the hole that he punched. More ice collapsed, revealing a large opening of clear water. He tested his footing, dropped to his stomach and stared into the water.

  Though raindrops fall like dying flies

  Though people fear the moon at night,

  The leaders of the greatest House,

  By destiny, should long unite.

  Flying high in the barbaric North,

  The dragon soars without regret.

  Acquire the jade and rule henceforth,

  We see the dragon in the sky.

  The elements of life,

  In five directions.

  The great leader must arm them,

  between Heaven and Earth.

  Facing East, the archer points,

  Man on Earth points back.

  The nine dragons speak to us,

  He will answer, as a god.

  Tonight, the jade dragon sits waiting,

  The true ruler to claim his right.

  Across the desert he’ll seek destiny,

  Though people fear the moon at night.

  The lake was not deep but the words were clear. Sochai lay face down on the ice with all four limbs spread. “Flying high in the barbaric North ...” he muttered to himself, the frost from his breath dissolving into the air. “Acquire the jade and rule henceforth ...”

  Li Kung finally caught up to him. He placed a hand on the Mongolian’s shoulder and looked at the stone tablet. It was huge, magnificent, deeply embedded into the floor of the lake and partially covered with algae and vegetation.

  “The gods planted this here,” Sochai said under his breath. “Only the gods knew where the jade was. Only they could have sent this to the bottom of the lake.”

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