The Yellow silk

CHAPTER 15

"Yu Mao?" Tycho stared at the man the boar had become. From all that Li had said of his brother, he had built up a picture of a stern and proper Shou, elegant and dignified, a subtle, well-groomed villain. The man who glared at them had the black hair, dark eyes, and golden skin of a Shou, but the resemblance to Tycho's imagined vision of Yu Mao ended there. This man was filthy, golden skin smeared with dirt. His hair was thick and wild on his head and simply thick everywhere else. Everything about his body was thick and heavy-where Li was lean and spare, he had big muscles padded with a firm layer of fat. Like… like…

Like a boar. Like Black Scratch.

Li was staring, too, his eyes incredulous. "What… how…" he gasped in Shou. "What kind of magic is this?"

"The darkest magic, younger brother," the man-Yu Mao-snarled. He spat the words in Common. He curled massive hands into fists and stepped forward. Pigs twined around his legs like happy cats. He kicked them away and stooped down to Serg's groaning, coat-shrouded form. Another kick stilled Lander's man. Yu Mao ripped Li's coat off him and knotted it around his waist, covering his nakedness. Li shook his head in astonishment.

"Yu Mao, I thought you were dead!"

"It takes more than a dao to kill me, Li Chien," growled Yu Mao.

Tycho saw Li flinch at his brother's words. Conflict and confusion burned across his face. Li spread his hands. "No! I mean, you…You're alive! Brin said "He gestured at the collapsed shelter. Brin was still yelling from underneath and banging at the tangled wood, maybe even louder now. Yu Mao just growled again.

"I know what Brin said! And he was right. The Yu Mao you came looking for is gone. He went down with Sow. Not that it matters. I know why you came west. You want me dead one way or another-you and our father. Am I right?"

Li's breath hissed between his teeth. "You murdered the other people on the trading expedition. You've shamed Kuang-"

"So you want vengeance." Yu Mao bared teeth that shone sharp and white. "It's not going to be that easy, Li Chien." His eyes darted to the wizards, standing as still and startled as anyone. "Hanibaz! Mosi! You still want the Yellow Silk of Kuang?" A thick finger, the nail on it yellow and cracked, jabbed at Tycho. "He's yours. Take it from him and you can keep it." The finger shifted to Li. "But him. He's mine."

The wizards glanced at each other and Hanibaz shrugged. "Fair enough." They took a step back. Hani-baz's hand reached into his cloak.

Tycho choked and looked at Li. The Shou's face was pale, but the expression on it was hard. "Give them the Silk," he hissed. "Save yourself." Tycho nodded. He reached for his sleeve and his fingers closed on its astonishing warmth.

We were so close, he thought. It almost worked, we almost got away. We took down Brin and Lander and all their men-and even Hanibaz and Mosi. Red Wizards, Tycho, he reminded himself, you pulled one over on Red Wizards!

And you're going to stop fighting now?

Anger flared inside him, warm and powerful as the Silk itself. A crooked smile spread across his face and he grinned at Li. "Bind me if I will!" he spat. Li's eyes narrowed and a smile tugged on his face as well.

They moved at the same moment, Li charging at Yu Mao with a shout, Tycho whirling to dart across the sty and away from the wizards-and his aged mentor. "Laera!" he shouted over his shoulder. "Get Veseene out of here!"

Words of magic shimmered in the air. One of the wizards was working a spell. Tycho's hand went to his sleeve and the ragged edge of the Yellow Silk, and he tugged loose another thread. It grew in his grasp, pulsing and warm. He spun around, sliding in the muck of the sty, and hurled it at the mages without pausing.

Hanibaz dived away from the glowing bolt, but Mosi stood firm. He spoke the final syllable of his spell and flung up his hands. A wispy curtain of flame flared before him, catching the Silk's bolt. Light spattered like water and Mosi staggered, but there was no explosion. Hanibaz hissed. He reached into his cloak once more and whipped out a long, slim wand of pale wood tipped with a vivid red gem. A harsh world rippled from his lips. He flicked the wandatiycho.

The bard didn't wait to see what unpleasant effect the wand might produce. He threw himself forward, tumbling across the ground. Hanibaz hissed in frustration. Tycho rolled to his feet, snatching another thread from the Yellow Silk as he moved, and rose with a golden bolt ready in his hand. The Red Wizards were separated now, though, too far apart for a single bolt to affect both! His gaze darted from one to the other, trying to choose a target. Mosi, readying another spell behind his veil-thin shield of magic, or Hanibaz with his wand? He lunged toward Mosi in a desperate feint-maybe he could at least startle him into dropping his spell before hurling the bolt at Still in his grasp, the bolt changed as he lunged, flexing and lengthening in the air. The tip of a long lash of light cracked, whiplike, against Mosi's shield with a shower of sparks. Mosi yelped and the spell that he had been weaving collapsed in on itself. Even Hanibaz jumped, wand momentarily forgotten. Tycho's own surprise gave way almost instantly to fierce, angry joy.

"Bind me, yes! " he shouted and sent the lash cracking out again, first at Mosi then at Hanibaz, driving the startled wizards back. Another snap of the lash caught the wood of the fence between him and them. Flaming splinters fell hissing into the mud below. "Come on," he screamed defiantly. "You want the Silk? Come and take it!"

Movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Laera was struggling with Veseene, trying to drag her away from the fight-and Veseene was resisting with all of her feeble strength. Tycho cracked the lash at Mosi again. This time, the bald wizard stood his ground, letting his shield absorb the blow of the lash. Sparks flew once more, but Mosi didn't even flinch. Tycho swung the lash back at Hanibaz desperately. At least he could still hurt him! "Veseene, get away! Go with Laera!"

"No! You're not going to win this fight alone!" The old woman's voice was strangely thick, almost muffled.

Tycho twisted around. "Veseene, go-"

Mosi's hand flicked out. Five darts of ruddy light swarmed from his fingertips, streaking like arrows to pierce Tycho's side. The bard gasped and the lash fell from his hand, vanishing in a silent flare as pain sent him stumbling to the ground.

Yu Mao's finger pointed at him. "He's mine."

"Fair enough," said the bearded wizard.

Li's gut squeezed down into a knot. How light had he felt when he had believed Yu Mao was dead? The weight that had been lifted from him had come crashing back, heavier than ever. Yu Mao alive-even though he had unwittingly killed him once! Now…

In the Hooded's lair, memories of happier times-of the brother he had known-had stayed his hand.

Now his brother had just offered up Tycho and the greatest treasure of their family. For what? He looked up and into Yu Mao's eyes.

All he saw there was murder and bloodlust. The same madness he had seen in Black Scratch's eyes. What kind of monster had his brother become?

Honored ancestors, give me courage, he prayed silently.

Lords of Karma, judge me kindly. He tore his gaze away from Yu Mao and looked to Tycho. "Give them the Silk," he said. "Save yourself."

But the bard's face twisted into a crooked smile. "Bind me if I will!"

A smile touched Li's face, too. Thank you, honored ancestors. For what better courage could I ask?

Li forced doubt out of his mind. A fast, hard blow could end this quickly. He shouted as he turned away from Tycho and charged at his brother. He launched himself into a leap, a high-flying kick at Yu Mao's head.

With a speed that belied his barrel-chested size, Yu Mao spun aside and punched out with a blow of his own that slammed Li to the ground. Li twisted, soaking up some of the impact with a roll that brought him back up to his feet. Yu Mao was right on top of him, though, and unleashing a flurry of vicious hand strikes. Li got his arms up to block the strikes, but the ferocity of his brother's attack forced him back and brought a gasp out of him. Yu Mao smiled savagely.

"Not up to the challenge, younger brother?" he grunted.

A break in the storm of his attacks. Li's arm shot out straight, stiff fingers driving into Yu Mao's thick neck. Yu Mao dodged back before they could strike. Li bared his teeth. "More than up to it, elder brother."

He threw himself forward. Yu Mao leaped to meet him, not to strike or block, but to grapple. Suddenly Li found himself fighting-really fighting-to tear himself out of his brother's embrace. Yu Mao reeked like a pig, the stink of his body enough to make Li retch. His skin was greasy with filth as well, and his near-nakedness made if difficult to grasp him. His own clothes, on the other hand, made it easy for Yu Mao to get a grip on him and hold him tight.

Massive arms squeezed and Li gasped as the air was crushed out of his lungs.

He wrenched his arms free desperately. Cupping his hands, he clapped them against Yu Mao's ears. The big man gasped and his arms loosened. Li thrust against his shoulders, drawing his body up and out of the deadly embrace, and threw himself backward in a long flip. The heel of his boot caught Yu Mao's chin with a snap and sent him staggering back. Li landed in a crouch beside his fallen dao, swept it up, and rose into a position of balance. "Hrah!"

Blood was trickling out of Yu Mao's mouth as he stood up straight. He wiped it away with the back of his hand. "You've gotten good," he said.

Li didn't move. "And you've gotten foul. You're more pig than man." His eyes narrowed sharply as Staso's tale came back to him-along with Tycho's caution of curses as fickle things. "It's the captain's curse," he breathed. Yu Mao's eyes narrowed as well.

"So you know about that." He sneered. "By my blood, you shall not live to forget Sow. Well, I haven't forgotten her or her bitch mistress-every night when the moon rises I send a prayer to whatever hell she burns in and I thank her for her curse because it's a greater blessing than Kuang ever gave me!"

Li stiffened. "You like it?" He hissed. "You were the pig that enabled Brin to escape his part of the curse!"

Yu Mao laughed. "Black Scratch was more than anybody guessed. I was the one who recognized your dao-" Li's eyes widened and his grip on the weapon tightened.

"You couldn't have. You've never seen this dao!"

Yu Mao touched his nose. "More than anybody guessed," he growled. "I could smell you on it. I was the one who decided we should find you first. I was the one who realized you were carrying the Yellow Silk and told Brin that we should sell it."

Li could feel the heat of rage rising in his face. "The greatest treasure of our family. You betrayed-"

"I betrayed Kuang?" Yu Mao's lips drew back from his teeth. "Yes. I did. I betrayed Kuang. I betrayed the trading expedition. I betrayed Sow. I betrayed you to Brin!" He tossed his head at the collapsed shelter, still shaking with the hin's efforts to free himself. "I'd even betray him if it helped me!"

Li's jaw clenched. "You disgust me."

"No," snarled Yu Mao, "you disgust me! All the way from Keelung to Spandeliyon-why? To satisfy an old man's honor?"

"The honor of Kuang." Li was trembling. "My honor. Your honor!"

Yu Mao snorted. "No," he said, "not mine. I left all that behind in Shou Lung-and I wish upon that yellow rag you brought with you that it had stayed there!"

Spit flew from his mouth with the vehemence of his denial. Li's eyes went wide and the day of Yu Mao's Blessing Ceremony flared in his memory once more. It was almost beyond belief that this brute could be the same Yu Mao who had learned his etiquette and practiced his rituals with such flawless precision. Yu Mao, heir to the workshops and fortune of Kuang. Stern Yu Mao. Dignified Yu Mao. Perfect Yu Mao. Breath caught in his throat.

"Why?" he gasped.

Yu Mao's expression twisted. "You," he said, "wouldn't understand."

Behind Li, Tycho screamed suddenly. He looked over his shoulder. The bard was on the ground, his face tight with pain. Li looked back to Yu Mao-just in time to see his brother throw back his head and give a boarlike bellow.

All around the sty, in the corners and holes where they had jammed themselves, Brin's scattered pigs pricked up their ears. With angry squeals, they came charging out at Li. The Shou yelped and spun around, besieged. Yu Mao sprinted past him, surging through the crowded pigs and headed for the trough on the other side of the sty. He flipped it over with one hand. From underneath, he snatched out his butterfly swords. He sneered at Li again. "I don't know how you found these," he said, "but they're the only piece of Shou Lung I've missed." He grinned at them and looked up.

"Ayeh!" he spat and clashed the blades together as he brought them over his head. He lowered his arms and pushed them out slowly with a long intense breath. "Ayeh!" The weapons crossed over his chest for a heartbeat before thrusting out, then up high, then out again, then down. With each thrust Yu Mao took a stomping step forward, ending with his massive legs braced like pillars as he breathed in slow and deep. "Aayye-hhhh."'The muscles of his chest expanded and flexed, and Yu Mao raised his butterfly swords up until their sharp edges pointed straight at Li.

"You shouldn't have come, brother," he rasped-and charged.

Li tried to spin out of his way, tried to dodge back, tried to do anything, but pigs battered at his legs with every step that he attempted. It was all he could do to stay on his feet among the angry, swarming animals! They darted aside for Yu Mao, though. "Ayeh.'"the big man roared. Butterfly swords swept in, one following the other. Li planted his feet and whirled his dao desperately, blocking one sword, then another, and then the first again. He struck back, or tried to; Yu Mao caught the dao on the back of a sword. Li's blade grated along Yu Mao's — right into the hook over the butterfly sword's hilt. Yu Mao twisted, locking the dao. His other sword chopped down from above.

Li brought his arm up and Yu Mao's forearm cracked against his. Before his brother could force the sword down, Li clenched his teeth and punched sideways into his face, hard and precise. Bone cracked. Yu Mao's head snapped around. Li wrenched himself and his dao away and jumped back.

His right foot came down on a pig and the animal writhed away with a squeal of pain. Li flailed his arms, just barely regaining his balance as Yu Mao turned back to him. His cheek was deformed, broken bone pushing it out of shape. He bared his teeth and growled, eyes narrowing for a moment in concentration.

Boar's bristles sprouted and faded in a ripple across his face. For a moment, his entire head changed shape, turning long and heavy, a pig's head on a man's body. The change vanished and Yu Mao was entirely human again. And entirely healed.

"Mother of dogs," choked Li. He brought his dao up again.

Awareness came back to Lander amid frantic slapping and a rain of curses from Brin. "Wake up! Wake up, damn you!" Lander reached over and punched at the halfling. Brin just slid back and kicked at his injured hip. Lander howled and sat up.

His head smacked into a beam and he dropped back down. He stared around through a haze of pain. They were trapped beneath a tangle of wood in a space so low Brin could barely stand up. "We're under the shelter in the sty," the halfling snarled. "Li Chien brought it down on top of us. I don't have the leverage to move anything." He kicked at Lander's hip again. "You have to lift the roof up! I need to get out there!"

Lander shifted himself away from Brin's foot. The noises coming from outside didn't sound promising: shouts, screams, and a lot of squealing pigs. There were tiny holes in the thick thatch that covered the roof of the shelter, presumably torn open by Brin. Through one, Lander could see Mosi Anu and Hanibaz Nassor. Tycho was writhing on the ground before them. Through another, he could see Li Chien as he struggled in the midst of a seething herd of pigs. Facing him was the biggest, hairiest, dirtiest Shou he had ever seen. "Who is that? " he yelped.

"Kuang Yu Mao," spat Brin. "Lift, damn-"

Kuang Yu Mao's head flowed, shifted, and for less than a heartbeat became a boar's. Black Scratch! "Bind me!" howled Lander, shoving himself as far back into thetr little space as he could go. Brin reached out and slapped him again.

"We need to get out there!"

Lander slapped him right back. This time he caught him, and the force of the blow spun him around. "Bind and tar you, Brin!" Lander cursed. "I'm staying right here!"

The halfling glared at him and opened his mouth. Anything he might have said, however, was lost in a sudden, sharp yell from outside, a bellow so loud it shook straw from the broken thatch above them. Lander cursed again and covered his head.

Li felt the sudden cry all the way through his body, from his ears deep into his bones. Magic, it had to be more magic-except that whatever spell had been cast, the wizards seemed to have caught the worst of it. They were staggering, hands pressed over their ears.

He wasn't going to question a lucky break, though. The abrupt noise struck terror into the pigs, fear breaking through Yu Mao's eerie power over them. The animals scattered and ran in panic. Li ran, too. Yu Mao might call the pigs again and he wasn't going to be trapped a second time! In the corner of the sty, a wheelbarrow had been propped up between the tall, plank fence and the wall of the Eel. Li sprinted for it; leaping onto the wheelbarrow; bouncing off a stout fencepost; and vaulting onto the Eel's low, almost-flat roof. Up out of the shadows of the alley, red sunlight caught him, the last light of the day. He dashed away from the edge of the roof and whirled around.

With shocking grace, Yu Mao-following the same route-leaped up onto the roof as well. "Ayeh!" he screamed, shaking his swords.

"Hrah!" shouted Li. His dao flashed bloody light as he whirled toward his brother.

A second volley of Mosi's darts stabbed into Tycho and he writhed with the agony that wracked his body. The Yellow Silk winked at him from his sleeve. A bolt. A lash. Anything to deliver swift retribution to the mage! He stretched and reached, but it seemed as if his arms wouldn't obey him. When he tried to move them, they flopped about like long eels squirming in the bottom of a boat. He looked up. Hanibaz, wand at the ready, and Mosi, still veiled by his fiery shield, were stepping warily closer. Tycho groaned and forced himself to his knees. "Stay back!" he said. Some strength flowed back into his arms and he raised them threateningly. "Stay back or-"

"Or what?" laughed Hanibaz. "What are you going to do to us, bard? " He lifted his wand.

The roaring, musical shout that blasted them was so loud that the force of it swept debris along the ground and set Mosi's robes flapping, so loud that it was an almost-visible rippling in the air. Even on the edge of that power, Tycho howled and covered his ears. Within it, Mosi and Hanibaz were sent staggering. When the shout ended a heartbeat later, their ragged screams filled the seeming silence. He stared at them. What…?

"Tycho!"

A voice filled with music and maybe just a hint of the power that had blasted the wizards called his name. A voice he hadn't heard speak with that strength in two years or more. He whirled around.

Veseene stood on the table as if it were a stage. She stood strong and proud, a hand on Laera's shoulder for balance only. Her body trembled, not with palsy, but with a charged and vibrant energy, like a tuning fork that had just been struck. "Tycho!" she called again.

Her mouth was stained red. A pouch, likewise stained red, lay at her feet. The tea pouch. Empty. Laera's eyes were stunned and frightened.

No wonder Veseene's voice had seemed muffled when he had ordered her to run. No wonder she had fought Laera to stay.

She'd eaten the raw, wet tea herbs at full strength.

A moan forced itself out of Tycho's throat. He staggered to his feet. "Veseene, what have you done?"

"Tycho!" she said a third time, a note of command creeping into her voice. "Come here! Do you have your strilling?" Numbly, he nodded and slid the instrument around from his back. It had acquired a few fresh scratches and one of the tuning pegs was cracked, but a strilling was a sturdy instrument. Veseene smiled and power gleamed in her eyes. "Then come here! I need you!"

She straightened herself, held her head high and began to sing with a force that seemed impossible for her frail body. Tycho froze, caught up in the beauty and strength of her song. It pulled on him like the moon on the tide, a wild and liquid music. Magic swirled among the notes. Even when he'd first met her, before the palsy had set in, he'd never heard Veseene sing like this! For a moment, he could picture her as she must have been at the very height of her power. Veseene the Lark, magic flowing like a second voice in her song.

Then she hit-very briefly-a false note. Her voice, her song, faltered for just a heartbeat.

The clash of metal on metal broke into the music. Tycho whirled. Up on the rooftop of the Eel, Li fought with Yu Mao. Butterfly swords fell in unison against dao. Li staggered.

"Tycho!" called Laera. "Tycho!"

Veseene needed him. But so did Li.

Tycho tugged the Yellow Silk out of the sleeve of his coat. Golden light flashed in the sty as he unfolded it a little bit, just enough that he could snatch up a rock and wrap it in the brilliant fabric. He darted forward. "Li!" he shouted-and hurled the rock-weighted Silk up onto the roof. It shone in its arc like a shooting star. With a whispered prayer that Li got to it first, he turned his back, set his strilling against his shoulder, and pulled his bow from the strap.

Bow on string brought music echoing out of simple wood. He found the note that Veseene had missed and threw it back to her, pure and sweet. Her voice caught it and sent it ringing into the gathering night, her song restored. Tycho picked up the melody as she sang, improvising a harmony to accompany it. He walked back toward her, taking up a position beside her makeshift stage. Magic-Veseene's magic-wrapped around him. It tingled across his skin and in the tips of his fingers, a thrill that sank deep inside him and brought shivers to the pit of his stomach. Laera could feel it, too. Tycho could see the wonder in her face. He smiled at her — a smile that slipped a bit as another voice joined their song. A deep and powerful voice, soft but cold, a chilling susurration. The shiver in him turned to a shudder. He glanced up at Veseene. Her face glowed with exaltation and confidence. And control. Whatever this new voice was, she had called it. He swallowed his fear and played.

Old Veseene's singing was amazing. Lander had frozen, listening in wonder, as soon as her voice took flight. And he had laughed at her weakness the previous night? If he got out of this, he was going to be making some deep, deep apologies!

Brin was still raging at the wood and thatch that trapped them, barely aware, it seemed, of Veseene's music. Li Chien and Yu Mao had taken their fight to the roof and Brin seemed determined to join them. Lander could hear the sound of swords from high above, but there was nothing to see.

Other figures were stirring out in the gathering shadows, though. Lander's teeth ground together as he peered through the ragged gap in the thatch. Hanibaz and Mosi were finally shaking off the effects of whatever magic Veseene-it could only have been Veseene-had blasted them with. Hanibaz had his wand out. Lander felt an urge to shout out to Veseene and Tycho, to warn them. The two bards seemed completely caught up in their music and entirely unaware of the recovering wizards.

But Hanibaz hopped suddenly from one foot to the other, looking at the ground and cursing. Mosi looked down, too, and hissed audibly. The veil of flames around him winked out. Lander sat forward, peering through the gap and trying to see whatever it was they saw.

His knees came down in a pool of ice-cold water. He gasped and rocked back again. Outside, Mosi called out a word and bright light flared.

It flashed across dark water. Rapidly rising dark water. Lander's knees weren't the only things wet now. The water was rising in the collapsed shelter as surely as it was outside. "Brin!"

The ranting halfling was standing on a sloping board. He turned around and slipped, hitting the water with a solid splash-and a scream so loud the water might have been boiling! He leaped for Lander. "It's the sea!" he shrieked "The sea is rising! Get us out!"

This time there was no point in protesting. Whatever dangers there might be outside, they were preferable to drowning in a pigsty! Lander sloshed around in the water-it had filled a third of their little space in just moments-getting his legs under himself and bracing his arms against the fallen roof. He heaved.

It didn't budge.

"Harder!" shouted Brin. He was back on his sloping board, huddled desperately as high above the water as he could get without clinging to the roof itself. His eye was wild. Lander glared at him.

"You could help!"

Brin hissed like a wet cat and whipped a nasty little knife out of his belt. "Lift!" he spat. "Or you won't have to worry about drowning!"

Lander stared at the knife, then at the wild-eyed half-ling, and heaved again, straining with all his strength.

Icy water soaked into his wounded hip. His leg spasmed. He went over, slipping under the water. He righted himself hastily, shaking water out of his hair, and thrust as hard as he could against the roof. The water was at his belly now. "Wait," Brin said desperately, "it's wood, right? Wood will float, won't it? You'll be able to lift it then."

"It's thatch over the wood," growled Lander. "When it's wet, it's heavier!"

Brin wailed. Lander cursed as he slammed his shoulder against the roof. The water was at his chest-his shoulders. It clamped him in cold. Through the narrow gap, he could see pigs struggling in the water. Terrified squeals and shrieks echoed around Veseene's song. Brin wailed louder with each one. "Be quiet!" Lander yelled finally. "Be quiet!" There was another sound in the air- the alarmed shouts of men. Who…? Lander bent down and peered through the very corner of the gap. Men were stirring at the far side of the sty. The extra thugs Brin had called in, the ones that Tycho had put to sleep with a single spell-the cold water was waking them.

"Hey!" he screamed. "Over here! Help us! Help us!"

The only response he got was a frightened glance. Most of the men took one look at the wizards and the singing bard, and waded quickly through the waters toward the door into the Eel. The first one heaved it open-and was met by a wave of water. The festhaU was flooded, too! The water in the sty rose sharply. The thugs yelled and struggled on, making their escape. Veseene kept singing.

"Li!" Tycho's shout drew Li's attention. He spun away from Yu Mao and looked.

A shining light flashed up out of the alley like a comet, bright fabric a flickering tail. Li hissed. The Yellow Silk! He lunged toward it.

But Yu Mao had heard the shout and seen the light as well. He leaped forward, landing in a crouch and bringing his leg up in a sweeping kick that caught Li in the belly. The blow sent him flying backward across the pitch of the roof. Slates cracked and skittered under him, the broken edges shredding his clothes and slicing into his back. He gasped, and gasped again.

The Yellow Silk, given weight by whatever Tycho had wrapped it around, hit the roof and bounced. The fabric fell loose and a stone fell out to roll over the edge. The Silk slid to a limp stop, alone and ignored. He twisted toward it-and Yu Mao sprang at him.

Li pushed back hard against the roof and flipped up to his feet, dao meeting butterfly blades with a discordant ring. He twisted away from the block and stepped higher onto the slope of the roof, trying to get around Yu Mao. His brother flung out an arm and a sword. Li parried, knocking the blow aside, but another hard blow followed. "Ayeh! " shouted Yu Mao. "Ayeh! Ayeh!" Each blow forced Li a little farther away from the Yellow Silk and a little higher on the roof until he was straddling its very peak.

The sun was under the horizon now. Purple twilight lay across Spandeliyon-Li could see across the waterfront and most of dockside. Down in the shadows, there was music. Tycho's strilling. And a song, a beautiful song. Veseene! The power of her music spread out into the night like the wind of a storm.

Some small part of that power touched him, too, surging through his heart and blood. Li drew a deep breath and clenched his fist tight around his dao as Yu Mao stepped up to the ridge of the roof. His eyes were narrow and hard. His butterfly swords were raised for a killing blow.

Li looked at his brother. "Why?" he asked again. "Why throw everything away to join pirates? Why murder the expedition from Keelung when you could have been first among them?"

Yu Mao's reply hissed between his teeth. "Because I was tired of being the first among them!" Li froze. Yu Mao's face writhed with hate and anger. "I said you wouldn't understand! Younger children never do! What was the name of Kuang for you? Something to be proud of, a key to open doors. For me it was the lock on a prison." Butterfly swords slashed the air. "Always perfect, always the heir. When you're older, Yu Mao, you must do this. When you lead the family, you must do that. This will be your house. Mei will be your wife. And what was there to do but nod and obey? I was the responsible elder son of Kuang, molded by the family, the traditions of eighteen generations of elder sons pressing down on me from dawn to dusk and in all but my deepest dreams."

He pointed a steady sword at Li. "No more. All my dreams are free. Now I'm the first generation!"

"Yu Mao-"

"What do you know of the weight of family, Li Chien?"

Li's jaw tightened. "Family," he said, "sent me to kill my brother." Yu Mao sneered-and thrust out, thrust high, the butterfly swords cutting deadly, spreading arcs through the air.

"Ayeh!"

Li swayed away from one flashing blade and swept his dao up against the other. His empty hand punched forward, forcing Yu Mao to dodge back. He whirled around, swinging the dao with all of his strength. "HrahfYu Mao got a sword up. It turned the blow, but only barely. Yu Mao staggered and Li pressed him, swinging again. "Hrah!"

His brother dropped. Both butterfly swords came up this time. Straight up, the hooks along their backs catching the dao. Yu Mao twisted his massive forearms and the blades locked together. He stared up at Li. "When you see our honored ancestors," he said, "let them know I won't be joining them."

With a heave of his shoulders, he wrenched the dao away and sent it plunging over the edge of the roof. Yu Mao surged back to his feet. Li flung himself aside as the butterfly swords chopped down.

The water rose fast. Tycho hopped up onto the bench beside the table, and onto the table itself with Veseene and Laera, trying to stay ahead of it. Still playing, he stared in amazement as Veseene's song brought a flood into the sky and the alley. Hanibaz and Mosi weren't just staring, though. For a single moment as Mosi called up magelights and they saw what Veseene had done, they were, perhaps, startled, but then each mage cast a spell. Hanibaz spoke a word, spread his arms, and soared up into the air above the flood. Mosi spoke a different word and spun his finger in a circle. The water before him calmed and flattened into a disc-he stepped up and forward, standing firmly atop the water.

Their eyes shining in the magelights, the wizards turned to the trio caught on the table. Hanibaz's wand rose. Tycho swallowed. Grouped together with nowhere to go, they were an easy target! "Veseene!"

His old mentor's eyes crinkled. She raised an arm. Her song changed.

The other voice that had joined her song, the chill susurration of waves crashing against rocks, surged to a crescendo. Behind Mosi, the floodwaters began to froth and churn. The wizard spun around just as they rose up into a dark, swirling column. He gaped. Hanibaz, whirling in midair, gaped. Tycho gaped, too.

Magelights made bright reflections on the column's surface. The reflections blinked. Jets of water erupted from the column and swept out like arms.

Hanibaz swooped around, diving away from the ele-mental's watery grasp. Mosi, however, pointed his hand at the arm that reached for him and shouted a word. Fire roared out in a scorching path and the creature's limb hissed away in a cloud of steam. A shriek like a storm crossing the open sea burst out of the elemental and it seemed to sway and shrink back. Veseene's eyes narrowed and she poured new force into her song. Hastily, Tycho picked up the intensity on his strilling, adding to her voice. The elemental surged back to its full height. A new arm emerged and lashed out. Mosi flinched and almost stumbled off his disc before gasping out another spell. A veil of fire swept around him once more. The elemental hissed and recoiled.

Hanibaz came about in the air, his cloak whipping with the breeze of his passage, and dived back at the creature. His wand flicked and the red stone in it flashed. For a moment, the same red light flickered through the elemental, and it shuddered. The dark water swallowed the light. Both arms crashed up at Hanibaz. The mage dipped and swooped desperately.

Over the wash of surging waters, the shouts of the mages, and the music of his own strilling, Tycho heard another cry. He looked up and saw metal flash through magelight as Li's dao plunged down into the swirling floodwaters. Up on the Eel's roof, two figures struggled. "Veseene," he shouted. "Li needs help, too!"

Veseene looked up. Tycho saw her tense. The fingers of her raised hand opened wide and her song rose with the power of an entire choir. Like a woman gathering her skirts, the elemental turned and swirled. Water surged after it, flowing up and into its liquid form, adding to its bulk.

And it grew. The arms that pursued Hanibaz Nassor swelled-an entire river of water snaked across the sky and swatted him out of the air. He slammed down hard into the already collapsed and partially submerged pig shelter. Mosi Anu cried out as the water grabbed his disc and sucked him right into the elemental's body.

Likewise caught in the pull of the rushing waters, the entire Eel shifted and lurched. On its shuddering roof, Li and Yu Mao staggered apart.

The impact of Hanibaz Nassor did what Lander had been unable to do: the roof of the collapsed shelter folded under his falling body, lifting up a full foot above the water at its near end. Magelight flooded in. Hanibaz lay half-submerged among the wreckage caused by his crash. Lander stretched over and hauled the wizard's head up out of the water. His eyes flickered briefly. "Brin," Lander called against the sudden roar of the water elemental outside, "he's still alive!"

The halfling unwrapped himself from the post he had been clinging to and looked at the barely conscious wizard. He flicked his one-eyed gaze to the gap above the water. With an unholy cry, he swarmed through the beams of the broken roof and squirmed out, flipping up on top of the roof. "Brin!" Lander yelled. He gave Hanibaz a push that rolled him out of danger of drowning and half-swam through the water over to the gap.

New light-golden light-flared like dawn as he stuck his head out through the gap. He squinted against it and looked up.

The water elemental that swelled up abruptly above them shook even Yu Mao. His swords hesitated in their fall and Li rolled aside. Not enough! Yu Mao's eyes snapped back to him and he swung his weapons sharply.

The Eel shook as the water elemental turned. Thrown off balance, Yu Mao staggered. His butterfly swords chopped down into slate. Li staggered, too, though, slipping to one knee and sliding across the shaking roof.

Loose slates clattered past him as he slipped and spun.

Light flashed in the periphery of his vision. He twisted around.

The Yellow Silk hung by a fold of fabric that had become wedged between two slates.

He looked up. Yu Mao was crouched a few feet higher on the roof. Their eyes met and Li's heart twisted one final time. "Yu…" he breathed. His brother snarled and lunged. Li scrambled for the Silk, snatching it free, and letting it unfurl as he rolled to his feet.

Sunlight caught by weavers and dyers in ancient times shone out as bright as the day it had been captured. It blazed across the night of Spandeliyon, turning the dark Jfloodwaters blue-gray and the writhing column of the water elemental green and froth white. Li held the Yellow Silk high and the pride of Kuang rippled like a hundred summer days. Yu Mao's charge thundered on the Eel's roof. Li whirled toward him, the Silk billowing out in his hand.

"Ayeh!"

Yu Mao's butterfly swords sliced down. Their edges met the Silk-and slashed the shining fabric into ragged ribbons. Its light winked out.

Most of it. Yu Mao met Li's eyes again. They both looked down. One last shining bolt was clenched in Li's hand, plucked from the Yellow Silk of Kuang and hidden behind the rippling fabric.

Its other end pierced Yu Mao's chest. Li opened his hand and the bolt of light vanished. Yu Mao's eyes rolled back. Li watched his brother crumple backward. Smoke curled from the edges of a wound that showed no sign of healing.

Up on top of the shelter roof, Brin let out a wordless cry as the big Shou fell. Twisting around, Lander could just see the halfling's face blotched white and red with rage. His entire body trembled and his hands clenched into tight fists, his right squeezing his little knife so hard that blood oozed between his fingers.

Lander choked and flinched back into shadow.

Brin screamed again and whirled around. His right hand flicked out***

At the first scream, Tycho turned, still playing along to Veseene's song. Brin was standing on the roof of the collapsed shelter, staring up at Li and Yu Mao's fallen body. The bard caught his breath. "Ves-"

Brin screamed again and this time he whirled around, one hand flicking out. Tycho caught the flash of a knife streaking toward him before he could duck or even flinch — and suddenly he was playing alone as the elemental collapsed in a rushing cascade and the floodwaters began to drain away.

He turned. His bow froze on the strings of his strilling. Veseene hung in Laera's arms, her faded blue eyes still wide, her mouth still open, her expression still exalted.

Brin's knife stuck out of her skull, embedded up to its hilt just behind her left temple.

Laera stared at Veseene then up at him, and a horrible high whimper shivered out of the young woman's throat as she sank to the ground, Veseene's body clutched to her. Li was calling something from the rooftop of the Eel. Tycho couldn't really hear him. The blood in his ears was rushing too loud. His strilling fell from his hand and slid down to hang at his side. His bow clattered to the tabletop and splashed into the receding water below. He turned back around. Slowly.

Brin still stood on the broken roof of the shelter, one-eyed gaze glittering in the magelight. The halfling looked around at the destruction of the flood, at the bodies of pigs that hadn't managed to swim away, at the bodies of the men killed fighting. He smiled. Savagely. "You stupid dock rat!" he howled. "You want me? You want me? " He pounded a hand against his chest. "You can't take me! You killed Yu Mao-I killed Veseene. And that's just a start!"

He leaped down from the shelter into water that was now barely waist deep on him and splashed toward the table. His eye shone with madness. "You're going to wish-"

Music, magic, and rage twisted together inside Tycho's heart and he sang. Sound buffeted Brin and sent ripples across the water all around him. The halfling staggered, sloshing sideways. His gaze met Tycho's and he staggered on. "You're going to wish," he continued, "that you had never met me. That you had never met hen" His head jerked at Veseene. "No one beats me!" He pounded his chest again. "I beat them. Just like I beat you. Like I beat the curse of Sowl" His hands slapped the surface of the water, splashing Tycho. "Not even the sea can take me! Not a pig around but I'm still alive. I outsmarted the-"

Tycho blasted him again. This time the surface of the water jumped and when Brin looked up, blood was oozing out of his nose. He stared at Tycho. "Is that the best you can do?" He surged forward through the water.

New songs come where you learn them. Veseene's words.

Tycho tipped his head back and drew a deep breath, focusing his mind, focusing his magic-focusing his song. He looked down at Brin and sang a new song. New to him at least. Veseene had been a teacher to the end.

A chill voice answered his song. It wasn't the deep voice that Veseene had commanded, but it didn't need to be. The water behind Brin frothed and surged. The halfling spun around, staring, as an elemental no larger than he was reared up out of the darkness, seized him with liquid limbs, and swept him down into cold seawater. Brin let out a squealing scream-a scream that ended in an explosion of bubbles. Tycho leaned out, watching Brin's struggles and singing until no more bubbles came up.