Shade & Sorceress (The Last Days of Tian Di, #1)(5)

The one with the red bird on his robe did most of the talking.

“Eliza, have you heard of the Shang Sorceress?” he asked. His voice rolled over her, making her skin vibrate.

“No,” she said truthfully.

Obrad looked outraged. “What do you remember of your mother?” he demanded. Aysu put a hand on his arm to quiet him.

This flummoxed Eliza entirely, leaving her speechless.

“The line of the Sorceress is passed through the mother,” Ka explained. “You must have noticed, Eliza, that you have abilities unlike other girls your age.”

“I’m a prize swimmer, aye,” said Eliza. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew this was not the kind of thing he was talking about, but it was all so bewildering that she didn’t know what to think.

“She has no power,” said Rom Tok, almost inaudibly. “I am telling you the truth.”

Eliza gave her father an imploring look, but he did not look up to meet her eyes. Rom Tok had faced down armed bandits in Quan; he had built their house in the Karbek Mountains with his own hands; she had seem him tame wild horses no other man could lay a hand on and heal animals so sick they were closer to dead than alive. She had always felt proud and safe to be his daughter, to see the way he commanded the respect of humans and animals alike. More frightening than the Mancers was his passivity now, the way he just stared at the floor.

“That remains to be seen,” said Ka. “Eliza, your mother, Rea, was a very great Sorceress. You are her daughter and as such share her power. We have been searching for you for many years now, and we are not the only ones. It is good we found you first. We have come to bring you to the Mancer Citadel, where you will be safe and can begin your studies.”

Eliza wondered why nobody had said anything about her missing school. Nobody seemed to care. She waited for her father to stand up and say that it was all a lot of nonsense and take her home. He would scold her for skipping out later, no question about it. He just didn’t want to do it in front of these...things.

“Do you understand me, Eliza?” asked Ka gently.

When she did not answer immediately, Obrad broke in. “What has your father told you, to keep you from the truth?”

Eliza’s mouth was dry, and her father still would not look up. She hated the Mancers for frightening him, for implying that he had lied to her. She stood up suddenly and was startled and emboldened when the Mancers took a step back, tensing. They’re afraid of me, she realized, astonished.

“You’re liars!” she said loudly. “You’re liars and you didnay know my ma and I’m nay going anyplace with you!”

In a fury, she took one of the burnt cookies from the bakery out of her pocket and hurled it at the Mancers. The cookie struck some kind of invisible wall in the air before them and broke in half. The Mancers looked at the broken cookie cautiously. Ka poked it with his toe. Eliza pelted the rest of her crumbled cookies at them, emptying her pockets, only vaguely aware that they were all chanting something now. While the others fended off the cookie assault, Ka opened his hand and blew a light powder straight into her face. Her arms and legs went limp and she felt her father’s arms close around her. He held her tight, saying her name over and over, Eliza Eliza Eliza, while everything spun into darkness and then there was nothing at all.





Chapter 2


Eliza woke in what felt like an ocean of soft pillows and silk sheets. Straight above her was a high, gilded ceiling. There was a dizzying moment of incomprehension before she remembered the events in the mayor’s office. When it came back to her, she sat bolt upright. A Mancer was looking at her from the end of the bed with incandescent eyes.

“I am glad you are awake,” the Mancer said. “I am Anargul, manipulator of wood. We were not properly introduced, before.”

Eliza just stared at her a moment, too stunned to reply. Then she threw aside the covers and ran to the window, pushing open the ornate curtains to look outside. Sprawling grounds were walled in by a vast square of gleaming white buildings. A tower stood at each corner. She looked out onto woods and a lake and low grassy hills lined with rows of brilliantly flowering bushes and fruit-bearing trees. Colourful birds dipped and swooped and sang, and at the centre stood a white domed edifice. It was quite beautiful, though at that moment Eliza barely noticed the beauty, was only frightened by the strangeness of it all.

“Where am I?” she asked, spinning around to face the Mancer.

“If you mean where in Di Shang, the location is not fixed. It moves,” said Anargul. “But this place is the Mancer Citadel.”

Eliza took a deep breath and managed to keep her voice steady as she asked, “Is my da here?”

“A visit will be arranged soon,” said Anargul. “Now you must dress yourself. His Eminence the Supreme Mancer is waiting to see you.”

Eliza looked down and saw that she was wearing a white nightgown. Her clothes were washed and pressed and sitting on a chair next to the bed. It was bright day outside, but she had no idea if she had slept for an hour or even for days. She turned away from Anargul and dressed herself quickly, closing her teeth over her fear, grinding down on it with her jaw. She willed her eyes dry and her voice steady and her gaze hard and sharp as an axe.

“I’m ready, aye,” she said to Anargul.

The moment she said it an ear-splitting sound rent the air, a wail so shrill and powerful that Eliza fell to her knees with her hands over her ears. She felt Anargul’s large hand close around her wrist. The brilliant face of the Mancer was transformed, twisted with fear, white and loathsome. Her voice leaped into Eliza’s mind, What have you done?