The Long Road to Freedom 2: Fire on the Water

Suspicion

1453 mid-Muromachi Period, Winter, Shanghai

Kintsuke snapped awake, claws slashing out to grasp whatever they could, finding only the curtains of her bed. Sweat matted her hair and clothes, her breathing ragged as she slowly came to.

'Wha-..? I don't... Where..?' She sighed. 'Goddamnit...'

She pressed her palm against her aching head and slowly came down off the adrenaline rush. It had been that same dream again. It was plaguing her more often now, and she felt the threat of danger in it more keenly; not just to herself, but to the little ones here as well.

She trembled even as she forced herself out of bed and into the sobering chill of her room, focusing on steadying her breathing and slowing her heart to a reasonable pace.

Her ears flicked, picking up the slight sounds of someone else there.

Her eyes snapped up, edging red, her fangs bared...and she found that it was only Xia Li. The woman was used to these reactions by now and did not flinch. Kintsuke spotted the small tray baring several cool, damp cloths, and she motioned the woman over, gladly using one to blot the sweat from her face and neck.

"Thank you, Xia Li," she said softly, receiving a quiet nod. "I think...I am going to go for a walk. Please prepare tea for my return."

Another silent nod and Xia Li departed, leaving Kintsuke to take her time dressing in thick warm layers before making her way outside.

She meandered out and through the trees toward the northern edge of the island, slowed both by her gradually calming nerves and the depth of the snow that blanketed everything in shimmering white. The air was still, sharply chilled, and her breath came out in great puffs of grey.

Only experience told her when she'd reached the snow-covered shoreline, and she glanced back for a moment toward the other end of the large island where Zheng's fortress stood. Its braziers burned higher than ever, throwing their lights up to writhe across the dark expanse of the night sky like a rainbow-colored dragon. In contrast, the moon hung low and huge on her side of the island, the points of its pearly crescent shape slicing boldly across the blackness there.

Even as Kintsuke bathed in its soothing and splendorous glow, her heart ached; perhaps she was still recovering from yet another of her almost nightly panic attacks. She barely noticed the way her youki swelled, heating the air around her to keep her warm until the snow had melted away and she found she was standing not on land, but in a puddle atop the frozen surface of the lake. Below, all was darkness, wrapped in a death-like stasis as it awaited the rejuvenating warmth of the coming months.

She felt it more than she saw it, and her heart stopped as something stirred in those depths. Kintsuke held her breath and waited. Perhaps, in her current state, she had imagined it?

It stirred again.

No, she wasn't imaging it.

Her instincts screamed, still riled from her nightmare, and she bolted back to the safety of the land. She dove through the barren forest, refusing to stop until she was well beyond the gates of her manor. Even here, on the steps of her courtyard walkway, gripping the banister, she did not calm. Flashes of her dreams griped her, and she clutched at her chest as her heart threatened to force its way out of its cage of flesh.

Whatever doubts she'd had before were gone now. There was something in that lake; something evil and ravenous, and far stronger than herself. She wasn't safe here.

'The children,' she thought, frowning. Were they also unsafe? 'No. NO. Whatever that...thing...is, I will not allow it to have them!'

A soft, tired voice drew her from the precipice of hysteria, and she shifted her gaze to the small shape that stood, shivering, just inside the sliding doors that lead inside the manor.

"Sister Kiki...?"

The little girl was rubbing at one of her silvery eyes, her tiny fangs flashing as she submitted to a yawn. Kintsuke made herself smile gently at the pup.

"Did I wake you, Shu-Ting?"

The little girl nodded, and Kintsuke strode inside, shutting out the cold as she walked her back to her room with her siblings.

"Come, back to bed with you."

"But what if the bad dreams come back?"

Apprehension gripped Kintsuke, but she didn't let Shu-Ting see.

"Did you have a bad dream?"

Shu-Ting nodded again.

"Don't let it upset you, little one. It's only a dream, you can't let it affect you. Try to sleep, hm?"

She patted the girl's hair and ushered her into her room, watching as she snuggled in with her older sister before sliding the door closed and returning to her own room.

'You hypocrite.'

Kintsuke shook the thought away. It was different for her, she told herself, settling in to sip at the tea Xia Li had left.

'But what if it isn't different? What if Shu-Ting's dreams are similar to my own?'

She chewed her lip a bit, frowning at her own reflection in the amber-colored liquid. She tried to think back to the first time she'd had such a dream and every time thereafter, how it had changed and when. Slowly, a timeline formed in her mind, and she realized that each time she'd mastered a new skill or hue of fire, the dream had worsened until it took on its current form.

'I began training the new healing flame only days ago, and tonight's dream was the worst I've had so far.'

A thought occurred to her, and despite her greatest efforts to discredit it, she found she couldn't shake it. She recalled the way Zheng had continued to push her, the wicked smile he got every time she succeeded with her fire. The more she thought it through, the more she was convinced.

There was something nefarious in the depths of Lake Tai, waiting, desiring; and Zheng, somehow, was in league with it.