Shade and Sorceress Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Publisher

  Publication Information

  Dedication

  Table of Contents

  Tian Xia Map

  Di Shang Map

  Part 1

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Part 2: Tian Xia

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Part 3: The Sorceress

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  www.coteaubooks.com

  © Catherine Egan, 2012

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll-free to 1-800-893-5777.

  This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Edited by Laura Peetoom

  Designed by Jamie Olson

  Maps by Jonathan Service

  Printed and bound in Canada at Friesens

  Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

  Egan, Catherine, 1976-

  Shade & sorceress / Catherine Egan.

  (The last days of Tian Di ; bk. 1)

  EPUB-ISBN 9781550507218

  I. Title. II. Title: Shade and sorceress. III. Series:

  Egan, Catherine, 1976- . Last days of Tian Di ; bk. 1.

  PS8609.G34S53 2012 jC813'.6 C2012-904407-5

  Issued also in print format.

  Library of Congress Control Number 2012936051

  Print books available in Canada from:

  Coteau Books, 2517 Victoria Avenue, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada S4P 0T2www.coteaubooks.com

  Publishers Group Canada, 2440 Viking Way, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada V6V 1N2

  Available in the US from: Orca Book Publishers • www.orcabook.com • 1-800-210-5277

  Coteau Books gratefully acknowledges the financial support of its publishing program by: the Saskatchewan Arts Board, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the City of Regina Arts Commission.

  For Joshua and Jordan

  Table of Contents

  Part 1: The Citadel

  Part 2: Tian Xia

  Part 3: The Sorceress

  Map of Tian Xia

  Map of Di Shang

  PART 1:

  The Citadel

  ~

  ~ Chapter 1 ~

  The Mancers came without warning on a windless, azure-skied day. At first they looked like a flock of birds in the distance, but as they came closer the islanders paused in their tracks to look up and wonder aloud what they were seeing. When whatever was approaching from above became very obviously not a flock of birds, the streets began to empty. The war had ended ten years ago, but fear was an old habit not easily shaken off. They all remembered stories of the terrible beings that had crossed over, whole towns laid to waste before help came. Throughout Holburg Town bolts were drawn and windows firmly shuttered. Nobody imagined that the five bright, winged shapes growing larger and larger in the sky over Holburg might be Mancers. None of the islanders had ever seen a Mancer before.

  ~

  Eliza Tok was squatting perilously close to the edge of the rocky promontory. It was nearly a thirty-foot drop to the crashing surf below. The waves rolled in, one great blue swell after another, smacking against the cliff and bursting into white foam.

  “I seriously doubt that Nat Fillion really jumped off here,” she said.

  “Adwin saw him,” said Nell, twisting her glossy chestnut hair into a ponytail.

  “Adwin worships Nat,” said Eliza. “They made it up.”

  Nell gave Eliza a sideways look and shrugged, adjusting the straps of her swimsuit.

  “So what if he didnay jump? We can be the first, aye! What did you come here for, if you dinnay want to do it?”

  Eliza chewed her lip. The south of the island, with its craggy cliffs and lack of clear trails, was deserted even on a bright June day like today. They should have been at school, sitting at their desks and listening to Mentor Frist spit out arithmetic problems as if he couldn’t stand the taste of them. It was a fair question: Why had she come, if she didn’t want to do it? She wasn’t scared, not really, but still.

  “I knew a boy in Huir Kosta broke both his legs jumping off a cliff into a lake,” she said darkly. “You should’ve seen him round town in his wheely-chair for months, both legs in fat white casts and sticking out in front of him. Water was nay as deep as he thought it was.”

  But Nell just rolled her eyes and made a final irrefutable argument for the jump by canon-balling off the cliff’s edge, screaming the whole way down. She landed with a great splash and disappeared, the waves rolling over her. Eliza watched anxiously until Nell’s head bobbed up again and she waved her arms, laughing and shouting something that Eliza couldn’t hear. Eliza grinned with relief and shook her head. There was no getting around it now. She would have to jump too.

  As she stood up, something made her look over her shoulder. She saw the five glittering shapes descending over Holburg Town to the north. She squinted but couldn’t make them out well. A small, dark fist of fear clenched tight in her gut.

  “Look, Nell!” she shouted, pointing, but Nell couldn’t hear her. Eliza took a deep breath, shut her eyes, and leaped out into the warm salty-spray air. Her fear was wiped out by the exhilaration of the drop and then the crash into the sea, the rush and roar of white water all around her. When she surfaced, Nell was already splashing towards their Secret Beach, a half-moon of pale sand enclosed by the cliffs, visible only from the sea. Eliza followed with swift, strong strokes.

  “Was nay that prize?” shrieked Nell as soon as she reached the tiny beach. “Let’s go again!”

  Eliza pulled her wet hair back from her face and blinked the seawater out of her eyes. “Nell, I just saw something...some things over the town,” she said, still a little breathless. “Like huge birds.”

  “Like huge birds?” said Nell. “Were they birds or nay?”

  Eliza thought about this, doubting what she had seen for a moment. “They were nay birds,” she said. Of that much she was sure. “They were bigger than birds. Much, much bigger.”

  Forgetting all about their jump off the cliff, Nell grabbed Eliza by the arm. Her eyes sparkled with joy under wet, spiky lashes. “Come on, let’s see what’s going on.”

  From the beach it was an easy climb diagonally along the cliff for a nimble child unafraid of heights. They clambered up like twin monkeys and made for the Lookout Tree, one of the only trees on the cliffs that withstood the yearly battering of typhoons. This was the highest point on the island. From its topmost branches they could view the whole archipelago. The sea shone bright and blue to the horizon, dotted with emerald green clusters of islands, and the sky was clear. Far in the distance, a ridge of dark volcanoes smoked.

  “Lah, I wish we had binoculars,” said Nell, squinting towards the town. “I ca
nnay see a thing. Does your da have binoculars?”

  Eliza’s father was a source of endless mystery and fascination for Nell. As far as she was concerned he might have a chest full of pirate treasure and it would not be the least bit surprising.

  “I dinnay think so,” said Eliza doubtfully. They didn’t have much in the way of belongings.

  “We’ve got to go back and find out what’s going on!” said Nell. “Say again what the things looked like when you saw them.”

  “They were big, aye,” said Eliza. “And shiny. And they had wings.”

  “Wings!” breathed Nell. She had a faraway look in her eyes that Eliza knew all too well. “Holburg might be under attack. Eliza, we might have to save the whole town!”

  Eliza’s heart began to beat a little faster.

  “What do we do?”

  “We’ll go back through the caves,” said Nell firmly. “That way we can get a peek without anyone seeing us first.”

  Eliza agreed, and the two girls swung down from the tree.

  ~

  The police force on Holburg was not large. Ander Brady, the chief, was a native of the island and a decorated war hero. Everybody liked Ander. He was an affable fellow who took good care of his aged mother and was always up for a barbecue or a game of cards. If you brought up the war, though, he’d get a haunted sort of look and then excuse himself. He must have suffered something terrible, the islanders agreed, and they felt even more kindly towards him. Ander knew more than most about the otherworldly threat. Ten years on and his dreams kept the war alive inside him night after night. The five young men and women on his force had never faced anything more dangerous than a domestic dispute or a con artist from the mainland. How could he prepare them for what they had to face now?

  They roared through the empty streets on their little scooters to the square, where they drew their guns and clustered together. Whatever meagre defence the tiny police force of Holburg could put up was, at that moment, clearly futile. But they stood their ground.

  Five enormous, gold-green dragons sprawled, gleaming, around the statue of the first president of the Republic, Ernest Noxon. Their flame-coloured, reptilian eyes surveyed the little group of police officers with utter disinterest. Smoke curled from their nostrils, and their chins rested slothfully on powerful black-clawed forelimbs. Standing in a row before the dragons as if waiting to be greeted were five tall, slender beings with shining skin and eyes like suns. They wore billowing white robes trimmed with gold, and their fair hair fell about their shoulders. One of them began to walk towards Ander, indifferent to the guns trained on him. The brilliance of those eyes forced Ander to look away. Up close, the being stood a full head and shoulders over the six-foot-three chief of police.

  He spoke in accented Kallanese, the official language of the Republic. He had a rich, sonorous voice that Ander felt deep in his bones.

  “I apologize for our unannounced arrival, Mister Brady. We five are the Emissariae of His Eminence the Supreme Mancer. I am Ka, manipulator of fire. My colleagues: Anargul, manipulator of wood, Obrad, manipulator of earth, Trahaearn, manipulator of metal, and Aysu, manipulator of water.”

  “You’re Mancers,” said Ander, flooded with wonder and relief. “They’re Mancers, aye!” he said to his officers, who were momentarily too stunned to react. Then they holstered their guns and began to shout the news all at once.

  At the exuberant cries of the police, doors and windows were being opened again in the streets and telephones were ringing all over town. Within minutes, the streets around the square were full of people curious to see what a Mancer looked like. Each of the Mancers had an emblem on their robe over the heart. The speaker, Ka, bore the image of a red bird, Anargul a blue-green serpent, Obrad a yellow human figure, Trahaearn a white bear, and Aysu a black crab.

  Ka, the manipulator of fire, observed the crowd forming and then said to Ander, “I would like to speak with you privately.” As Ander tried to think of where they could go and how they would get there, the Mancer’s voice came again, this time from inside his head: We are looking for Eliza Tok. Ander stared in disbelief at the Mancer. His face was grave and his lips did not move as he continued to speak in Ander’s mind. There is no need to speak out loud. Answer me with your thoughts. Where is the girl Eliza Tok?

  I dinnay know her, Ander thought. Then he remembered that Tok was a Sorma name and that there was a Sorma fellow who lived just outside town and kept bees or some such thing. Was his name Tok? He couldn’t remember.

  Take us to the beekeeper, then, replied the Mancer in Ander’s head. Ander shivered and his eyes itched. He didn’t want the Mancer in his head. He stepped away and said, “Aye, the beekeeper,” out loud. The Mancer Ka gave him a sharp look, and at that moment the mayor arrived in her car.

  Leaving the dragons waiting in the square where children gawked a safe distance away, the five Mancers were escorted by the mayor, the police force, and a large group of townsfolk to Rom Tok’s house.

  They found him in his garden on his knees in the dirt, ruefully looking at the tatters of lettuce and ruined tomatoes rabbits had left behind. He was a big man, dark-eyed and black-skinned, with strong, capable hands and a shock of black hair that stood straight up. Smile lines were worn deep around his mouth and eyes. He looked up at the crowd with mild surprise, but when he saw the Mancers among them he was on his feet in an instant, casting his eyes down.

  “No,” he said, backing away from them towards the door of the house. “No.”

  “This is he?” said Obrad, manipulator of earth, in disbelief.

  Ka nodded to Aysu, manipulator of water. She was the most diplomatic, the best at dealing with other beings and humans in particular. Ka’s ascendancy was in the summer, but he found it uncomfortable acting as leader of the group. Aysu’s ascendancy was in the winter, and it seemed to Ka that they all relaxed when she and the powerful manipulators of water took the lead. Though it was her weakest season now and the journey had been hard for her, she approached Rom, kindly dimming her eyes.

  “You’ve been expecting us,” she said, her voice high and melodic.

  He shook his head.

  “You know that we have been looking for you for many years,” said Aysu, and she laid a hand on his shoulder. “It is very lucky for you, your daughter, and all your kind that we have found you.”

  Rom didn’t answer, but he flinched slightly at her touch.

  “You may think you are protecting your daughter,” said the Mancer. “But you are leaving her open to great danger, along with all of Di Shang. The Crossing is unguarded still. You know this.”

  “She is not what you think,” said Rom hoarsely. “She doesn’t have her mother’s gift.”

  Obrad lost patience and stepped forward. “This is unheard of! We have come for her and we will not leave this place without her. Will you tell us where she is?”

  Again, Rom uttered simply, through clenched teeth, “No.”

  “Then we will find her ourselves,” said Obrad.

  ~

  On maps of the archipelago Holburg looked like an upside-down comma. The cliffs in the south were the thickest part of the comma, a long broad wedge of land surging high up out of the sea. The northern part of the island was lower ground, a sliver that stretched out around the bright harbour. Holburg was one of the smallest of the inhabited islands in the archipelago, and its only town was Holburg Town. The island was thickly wooded in the north and also riddled with caves from the war. The citizens of the island had prepared themselves for a possible attack by creating these underground warrens in which to hide. The attack never came; now the caves were mainly used by children, who dared one another to go deeper into the tunnels, and young lovers who wanted to hide from prying eyes. Given the danger of a collapse, entering the caves was strictly forbidden, which naturally made them all the more appealing to the island children. Nell and Eliza knew every inch of this underground world and could find their way from one end of the island to the other throug
h the maze of narrow passages and dark, low rooms hacked out of the ground. The southernmost opening was near the cliffs, beneath a rocky outcrop. As they climbed into the cool, dark tunnel, feeling instantly the relief of the shade, Eliza whispered, “I didnay bring a flashlight.” They always whispered in the caves.

  “Neither did I,” Nell whispered back. “I thought we were just swimming today. Lah, if there’s something really going on, maybe nobody will notice we were nay at school and we’ll nay get in trouble.”

  At a brisk pace it was half an hour to Sunset Hill on the south side of the harbour, overlooking the town. Going through the caves in total darkness, it took rather longer. They felt their way along the walls, whispering theories about what was going on, how they might have to rescue Roje Gerombe, Nell’s latest crush, and whether or not they would try to save Mentor Frist’s life if he ended up in mortal danger. Eliza felt they should, but Nell was undecided.

  Eliza and Nell had been inseparable ever since Eliza and her father had come to the island three years ago. Each girl secretly longed to be more like the other, and a friendship between them sprang up immediately and naturally. Nell was pretty and self-assured, with chestnut hair that fell arrow-straight down her back, large violet eyes and a smooth, honey-coloured complexion. She was the picture of enchanting innocence, though most on Holburg knew better by now. She had lived in the same house on the island since she was born, with a father and a mother and a great crowd of noisy brothers. Eliza loved nothing more than to have supper at Nell’s house, pretending to be a part of this boisterous family, even as she felt a twinge of guilt for leaving her father to eat his supper alone.

  As Nell saw it, her own life was painfully dull compared to Eliza’s. Eliza had traveled all over Di Shang, and even better, her father was Sorma, which Nell found so incredibly glamorous that she could hardly speak around him. The Sorma were nomadic desert people, reputed to be great healers and good with animals. Eliza and her father had not lived with the Sorma since Eliza’s infancy, however. Rom Tok said it was because he didn’t like the desert, but Nell and Eliza had come up with various other theories, the most convincing of which was that because Eliza’s mother had not been Sorma her father had been cast out of the tribe. If there was anyone who fascinated Nell even more than Eliza’s father, it was Eliza’s mother. First of all, she was dead, which in Nell’s opinion made her infinitely more interesting than anybody living. Second, they knew next to nothing about her and so were free to make up whatever they chose. Eliza barely remembered her mother, who had died of pneumonia when Eliza was just two years old. She had only one photograph of her. It was her most prized possession and she had showed it to Nell many times. In the photograph a red-haired woman with hazel-green eyes and a narrow face stared at the camera as if she’d just been asked an unexpected question.