"The dragon is on the wing in the sky"—the great man rouses himself to his work.
---Book of Changes
"I'd like to ride storms, kill sharks in the open sea, drive out the aggressors, reconquer our country, untie the binds of serfdom – and never bend my back to be the concubine of whatever man."
---Lady Trieu, 3rd-century Vietnamese shaman and resistance leader
////////
Kajio stood before Leila and Selva with a solemn look on his face. After a sleepless night contemplating his options, Kajio had resigned himself to the knowledge that it was a terrible decision, but that he probably didn't have any other choice.
"So, unfortunately, that is the decision I have come to. Whether or not everyone agrees, it is the one I will have to stick to for now," Kajio explained.
Leila frowned. "Have you told your brother yet? Surely he would have some way out."
"Things are moving too fast, by the time he returns from Persia things will have heated up already," Kajio shook his head regretfully.
If his older brother were here, Kajio would know for sure that he'd have the backing of the community and their allies, and then the Flying Dragon's plans could actually be plausible. For now, it was literally just one spirit, one shaman, and one unwilling harbor merchant. There wasn't much he could do but tag along as damage control.
"You know, it's hardly impossible. They have the backing of Mohan, that means a lot to people," Selva suggested. "A lot of the new shamans were actually really impressed by their stunt with the wards. It made them feel like Jia Xu's not all that after all."
"Problem is, Mohan's just a bluff. Spade hasn't met that man since he was ten. If he turns up dead halfway through things will get really ugly," Kajio said.
"You seem to assume that things won't get ugly otherwise, and that's a bold assumption," Leila cut in, frowning as she scrolled through a map on her phone. "In either case, I'll make evacuation plans."
Kajio held in a sigh at Leila's disapproving tone. She glanced at him. "So you won't defend your decision? That's not like you, Kajio." She put her phone down and focused her gaze on him. Selva did the same.
"Yeah, bro, I love you but this is kind of...unexpected," Selva said, making a confused gesture with his hands. Kajio took in a deep breath.
"Remember how Father said that we have to ride the tides instead of being swept along? Just think about it: There are more shamans in Canton right now than there has ever been in history.
This was a volatile situation to begin with, and Taeyun and Jia Xu are both waiting for the other side to fuck up so they can take the city. There's no way either one of them actually plans to maintain the peace much longer, they just haven't had a chance until now." Kajio paused to take a breath, glancing at the somber looks of acknowledgment on Leila and Selva's faces.
"Once they start the brawl the fight's going to drag on for a long time unless one side has a crushing advantage. If Joyce joins with either one, there's a possibility it could go relatively bloodlessly if the other side completely caves, but..." he shook his head.
"I think we all know neither side is a pushover. They're both prideful as hell, and they've spent a decade grooming loyal subordinates. Even if the newer recruits cave, there's still going to be a sizable chunk that will keep fighting until they're dead. As for how many people will die with them...it won't be a pretty picture."
"Joyce came up with a ridiculous idea, apparently she lived in a democracy where sometimes a third party would come out of the blue and gain an advantage over the two major parties. Not really applicable, but the concept of a third party isn't impossible," Kajio said.
"You're betting a lot on a not impossible," Leila said gently as if he were a hotheaded teenager in over his head. Kajio had to admit he felt the part a little.
"Joyce's idea of publicizing her identity and then declaring herself as a third faction can be carried out with a bit of planning," Kajio pressed on.
"First off, a lot of the new shamans in town don't want to choose between Jia Xu and Taeyun, and a lot of the new recruits only chose because they felt they had to. They would be willing to take an opportunity to join a third faction backed by significant firepower. The same goes for the refugees and civilians that want protection, but not from the two about to kill each other, it'll make for decent revenue if I also add in my shares in the wine trade."
"Second off, Jia Xu and Taeyun can't actively declare war on Joyce, because as a spirit-sent she is considered a sacred existence to shamans, it would be demoralizing to try to fight her. Additionally, neither of them may have the ability to actually take her on, if her abilities are indeed what we think they are."
"Finally, it will become possible to undertake the Northern Expedition. Joyce proposed to form a coalition with both Taeyun and Jia Xu, and honestly, this is my main reason for taking this on. If Joyce does not move to destroy the other two, and it will be difficult for them to take her on, the Northern Expedition can continue even if no victor is decided in Canton."
Kajio finished and took a drink of water, feeling unusually parched after the short presentation. After all, Leila's critical gaze had lingered on him doubtfully the whole time. It was worse than being in school again.
"These are all highly idealistic situations," Leila warned. "Even if they can't defeat her outright, they can assassinate her."
"We've considered that, but they are capable of mitigating that threat," Kajio admitted. "I've also considered the possibility of the whole thing falling through. Even if she fails to form a faction or fails to achieve a coalition with Taeyun and Jia Xu, it won't worsen the current situation, just fail to improve it.
If Jia Xu and Taeyun do declare war on Joyce, she will likely flee outside of Canton, and they will be unable to stop her from leaving. But they would then be diverting resources outwards rather than fighting within the city, and that's still better than the alternative."
Leila and Selva frowned silently. "Look, this isn't based on data or intel, but my instincts tell me that Canton will erupt soon, Joyce just sped that up. This is stupid, and risky, and desperate, but I'm stupid and desperate," Kajio said weakly.
"I trust your instincts, Kajio," Leila suddenly looked very tired, but she spoke in a gentle tone. "But you're even throwing in your shares in the wine trade...if you ally with them, you'll go down with them if they fail, you know that?"
Kajio swallowed hard. "Yes, I know." He had already prepared for the worst, a will in his desk drawer, an emergency duffel bag to start running whenever. "That's why I want you to take complete charge of the family business, Leila. I'm resigning as a partner."
Leila looked stricken. "Oh Kajio," her voice wavered a little. "Is it really necessary?"
Kajio looked away. Selva cleared his throat loudly. "Hey, um, you know I'm still here," he said. Kajio shot him a glare.
"I'm well aware, Selva."
"Good, I was starting to think you'd forgotten," Selva said snarkily.
"Yes, and what nuggets of wisdom are you going to impart?" Kajio snapped back.
"I'll throw my lot in with you," Selva said it casually like it wasn't his life that he was promising away. Kajio tried to blink past the sudden rush of emotion at the back of his eyelids.
"You don't have to," Kajio choked out.
"I'm screwed anyway, Jia Xu definitely knows I'm lying by now. If I'm going to leave without my severance pay, I'd be glad enough for a new job," Selva said, turning a toothy grin at Kajio. "Plus, I trust your instincts, Kajio. This might just be my ticket to the top."
///////
The ship headed forward at a steady pace. Within another hour they would reach Canton. Captain Xiang Yu nodded in satisfaction. They'd made good time, and the cargo would make for some decent money. She could buy the crew drinks to celebrate later. The weather would cool down in the evening, and their favorite bar would be open by then. The day was looking to be a good one.
The ship gave a tremendous jolt that lifted her straight off her feet. She crashed to the deck as the alarms began to blare. Xiang Yu jumped up and headed straight for the control room.
"Captain!" the second mate ran towards her frantically.
"What the hell's happening?!" Xiang Yu barked.
"The radars – something hit the bottom of the ship! It's damaged the engine, but we're still functional." The second mate jogged next to her to keep up with her pace.
"Well, what the hell is it?!"
"We don't know!" The second mate looked close to tears. Whatever the fuck it was, it better be covered by the insurance. She kicked open the door to the control room to a gaggle of frightened faces.
"What the hell is going on?" she demanded. The first mate looked at her helplessly.
"Captain, I think you better look at this," he said. Xiang Yu squinted at their underwater sensors and marched to the display.
She stared at it in shock. There was something underneath their ship. It looked like a giant snake, covered in strange crater-sized markings. Almost like the arm of an octopus, if the tentacle was longer than the whole damn ship and almost as wide. The sensors couldn't even tell how long it was.
'This was what hit us?' She felt vaguely nauseous.
"Request aid from shore," she choked out. "Tell them our ship has been damaged by an unidentified sea creature and we are in need of aid." She glared at the closest person. "Now!" They scrambled to comply.
The control room door flew open again. "Captain!" the youngest member of the crew rushed forward with wild eyes.
"What is it?!" she snapped. The girl ran forward and grabbed Xiang Yu's arm.
"Please, Captain, you need to see this," she begged. Xiang Yu nodded.
"Lead the way," she ordered. Xiang Yu followed the girl onto the deck, where a clamor of shouts and screams were ringing out. She ran the last few paces, leaving the girl behind. Xiang Yu breathed in sharply.
"What the fuck," she gasped. She moved to the railing dazedly. A giant shadow was appearing beneath the waves, almost the size of an island. On all sides of the shadow, there were the snakes the ship had sensed underwater, extending into the water like winding roadways. It took her a moment to understand what she was even looking at.
Beneath the water, a giant eye opened. The crew screamed almost collectively. The eye was at least the size of four men standing in a circle.
'Oh Gods,' Xiang Yu thought near-hysterically. On the other side of the giant shadow, almost two cargo ship's length away, the other eye opened as well.
"It's a Kraken," the second mate said faintly.
'No way,' she thought. The ancient spirit was only known to have appeared in European waters and hadn't appeared for over a millennium, even if rumors kept circulating.
"It's a Kraken," the second mate said again, insistently this time. The frenzied whisper grew into a scream as it spread around deck. Xiang Yu drew in a deep breath and steeled herself.
"All hands prepare to escape at full speed in 10 o'clock direction! We've got ourselves a Kraken!" she shouted.
////////
"Kajio said he and Selva are in," Spade called over from the living room. Joyce filled up a fourth of her cup and pattered back.
"Nice! If they team up with us, I think we have a chance," Joyce said cheerfully, sipping at the overly-sour lemonade in her cup. Her mouth puckered, and she quickly went back to the kitchen to mix in more water. Spade sighed in annoyance as she came back but didn't say anything.
"The problem is that Jia Xu and Taeyun are apparently sending new investigators," Spade said, looking through the new messages.
"So we don't have long to make a move?" Joyce said. That couldn't be good. That was like a candidate was revealed by Russian hackers to be Batman during the Presidential debate levels of bad.
"Selva said he'd upset the owner enough that it won't be so easy to just call again," Spade said, "But still wouldn't be as much time as I hoped. The campaigning thing you talked about, how long does it need?"
"Not a lot if I make big news soon," Joyce frowned. Going viral had never been one of her life aspirations, but now her life depended on it.
"This one Congresswoman in my city had a campaign that really kicked off once she got media attention, and I've got to admit she had a lot of factors going for her, but honestly, it takes a lot of luck."
"Leave the actual planning to us," Spade said drily, "This actually takes more than one step at a time." Joyce grinned shamelessly.
Given the pigeon incident, the cat incident, that time with the fireworks, that episode with the pole-dancers, and the dozen other things she could think of, it was a good idea to keep her out of the planning process.
"I was wondering if breaking it up for you into one-step plans would be a loophole," Spade continued, "But we should test it on something that doesn't risk our lives first."
At least the book had explained that the spirits attempted to bend things to the spirit-sent's will, but it took effective governing for them to achieve the desired effect, so at least that might explain something. Maybe it wasn't that her luck just took a nosedive once she got here, but that spirits were acting as meddling relatives whose well-meaning attempts led to disastrous effects.
"So the thing with the winged-snake," Joyce began. Spade groaned in misery.
"Didn't Kajio say we have to do something if we don't want to go for it right now? So we have to go banish it, don't we?" Joyce continued.
"I know," Spade groaned, "I fucking know. I hate dealing with this kind of thing."
"Well, I need a better chance than the snake, so I guess I still have to do this for now," Joyce said. She watched enough viral videos back home to at least recognize what wouldn't go viral.
Spade shook his head. "Put on your uniform," he sighed.
A lot more people were staring at them on the subway, and Joyce thought she might have a faint idea why. After all, a lot of people had seen her carrying the winged-serpent down to the harbor in her soaked robes.
It had actually made it onto the local news. Under the headline of "Flying Dragons and the Shaman Council Returns Harbor Shrine to Rightful Place," there was a picture of her looking like a drowning possum being strangled by a python.
Their third time entering the Shaman Council building, the number of suspicious stares had dropped a little. People were instead looking at them with the tired gaze of 100% done New Yorkers watching the fifth viral dancer twerk on the Wall Street bull.
"You really can banish that thing?" Feng Xia asked doubtfully. "To the Spirit Realm?" Joyce shrugged.
"I'm just here to try so that you can't say I slacked," she replied. Feng Xia rolled her eyes. Spade ignored them in favor of keeping a vigilant eye on everyone in the near vicinity, with some kind of Russian-samurai awareness that required a badass sword and motorcycle to pull off.
Joyce supposed they should get a motorcycle at some point, when the budget allowed.
"Anyways, the Chairman hasn't told everyone about the origins of the spirit yet, we'd appreciate if you could keep quiet on the matter," Feng Xia said. Joyce and Spade shrugged. After all, Jia Xu was helping them by increasing the shock factor for when she actually pulled off some ridiculous stunt.
Joyce wasn't half as badass as her father, an unassuming restaurant worker who would rob whoever tried to rob him, but there were enough big personalities in her family for her to have some flair of drama, in case the neon lightning wasn't enough of an indicator. She briefly considered doing something so there would be a low rumble of thunder in the distance every time someone said her name but decided to save that for later.
Jia Xu greeted them as they entered, and they bowed back politely in response. Joyce looked at the spirit. It looked miserable, coiled within eight layers of wards in the corner of the room.
"So can I have at it?" Joyce asked Jia Xu.
"Of course, please do whatever you deem necessary," the Chairman replied, looking like some cool female executive in a James Bond movie.
"Okey-dokey," Joyce wiggled her fingers and reached through the wards to lift the serpent into her arms. The spirit hissed at her, looking incredibly irritated to be within her unwelcoming arms again.
"Careful," Spade warned from behind her, opening his bag to ready the 500 grams of salt they'd brought. Joyce turned towards him so Spade could pour the salt over the spirit. It flailed and made a loud raspy noise in protest as the white powder dropped over its head.
'Wait!'
The foreign voice sounded out in her head, sounding garbled as if it came from underwater. Was that the goddamn snake? Joyce blinked and nodded at Spade to pause.
'Hey bro, the hell?' She tried to reach the voice, fumbling blindly with no idea how to do it.
'The Azure Dragon had a message, but you left before it could be delivered,' the spirit's voice hissed out in her head. Damn, Joyce really didn't think she could get used to this telepathy shit.
'Um, sorry I guess? You wanna spit it out now so we can all go home?'
"Joyce," Spade said in a warning tone. She glanced at Jia Xu and Feng Xia staring at her intently.
'The ancient one approaches on tides of foreign water. The Azure Dragon would offer its aid to the spirit-sent if the spirit-sent is willing to take it.'
'I have no idea what that means, but hey, thanks. Really nice to offer.'
'The Azure Dragon would request the spirit-sent honors its temples, left abandoned and derelict by unfaithful shamans,' the serpent actually sounded a little annoyed now.
'Sure, where is it?'
'The Great Temple, the shrines throughout the country...the Heavenly Pillars await their rightful dues.' Joyce blinked at the spirit's response.
'Oh, so like long-term? I don't think I can get up North that fast, is that alright or is it gonna bite me if I'm slow?' Joyce ran through the process in her head. It wouldn't be any time this year for sure, and she had her doubts as to how patient the spirits could be.
'Of course, it is long-term. So long as you do not renege your promise, the Azure Dragon will be willing to aid you.' The spirit definitely sounded annoyed.
Joyce wondered if she should be proud that she could piss off even a spirit within two minutes. If she'd joined her older sister's biker gang she could've been the fight starter.
'Deal. Alright, can I send you back now? Those guys are staring at me really hard.' Joyce grinned a little and felt the spirit let out a huff of irritation. She'd take that for a yes.
She nodded at Spade again, and he hastily dumped the rest of the salt over the spirit. It disappeared with a noise that sounded like someone's AC had fallen off the window and crushed that same person's boom box.
She blinked at her empty, salt-covered hands and quickly shook off the white grains.
"Uh, all done," Joyce gave Jia Xu a salt-covered thumbs up. The woman flashed her a professional smile, evidently the polite equivalent of 'what the fuck you salty demon-child.' Well, whatever. That was probably the best she could get under any circumstances.
////////
Spade sighed, pressing the buttons of the vending machine a third time as the bottle stubbornly refused to move. Under the incredulous gaze of Jia Xu and Feng Xia, they'd beat a quick retreat, Joyce sending something about a deal with the Azure Dragon of all things through their mental link. Before heading back, she'd spotted an ice cream flavor she wanted to try and dived into the convenience store.
He shook his head. Whatever possessed Joyce to go for a salted-egg flavor ice cream was beyond him. He'd stick with his no-human-interaction herbal tea, thank you very much.
A sharp ringing noise buzzed painfully against his eardrums. Spade winced at the sudden noise and stumbled away from the vending machine. A shadow flickered over the ground. He snapped his head up.
The midday light instantly blinded his vision. Spade raised a hand to shield against the sun, squinting at the approaching figure. A strong gust of wind swept through the empty road and flapped through his robes, plastering them against his body.
A giant shadow cast itself over the entirety of the ground, growing in size as the shape approached until it was spreading over the nearby walls and fences. Spade braced against the growing wind, trying to see what was coming at him.
His eyes widened. A clunk of ice clustered in his chest, spreading into every vein of his body like a river to the sea. A bright red bird took up half the sky, covered in feathers of every shade of red, with glints of orange and gold. Its wings blocked out the sun, coated with a shimmering membrane of power like a veil of fire.
There was only one spirit that it could be.
The Vermillion Bird, Ling Guang.
Spade stepped back despite himself, gripped by an instinctive fear of the ancient spirit before him. It was the only one of the Four Heavenly Pillars that was known to remain in this realm after the last spirit-sent had died, and the one Mohan had contracted with to destroy the army at Guanyang Pass. Other than Spade, few even knew the Vermillion Bird still existed.
The bird descended, shrinking as it approached until it was the size of a crane, but the shadow stayed as large as before. Ling Guang's vermillion feathers seemed to intensify in color as energy glittered over it in a mesmerizing wave.
"I humbly greet the Vermillion Bird, Lord Ling Guang," Spade hurriedly bowed deeply as the bird folded its wings and landed before him.
"You may be at ease," Ling Guang's voice sounded out, an entirely unearthly noise that echoed in Spade's head, sending shivers down his spine.
"And how may I be of service, Lord Ling Guang?" Spade asked, desperately drawing on the ritualistic formalities his mother had drilled into him.
"I bring a message from Mohan," Ling Guang said. Well, shit. At least he couldn't die a second time but Joyce –
"You seek shelter beneath a spirit-sent and thoughtlessly invoke my name," Ling Guang's voice suddenly sounded exactly like Mohan's, but slightly raspier and wearier than Spade remembered.
"And so you will receive the consequences. I am coming to Canton. Prepare yourself," Mohan's voice said, deep with a tone of finality.
Spade felt his heart freeze with a lump of coldness. "Wait," he choked out, "Let me reply to him." He ignored how close it sounded to begging.
"Mohan needs no reply. You will meet him soon enough, you may give your excuses then," Ling Guang said in its own voice. It unfurled its wings.
"Wait," Spade cried out. Ling Guang ignored him, rising into the sky without a second glance in Spade's direction.
The wind began to swirl with a vengeance as Ling Guang grew, becoming larger and larger until it blocked out the entirety of the sky. Its shadow seemed to press down with physical weight until Spade strained under it. The world turned entirely black, save the blazing red of the Vermillion Bird.
And then it was gone, with no sign of having ever appeared.
Spade blinked weakly at the empty sky and the hazy midday sun. The sound of rapidly approaching footsteps rang out behind him. He turned slowly, squinting at Joyce's worried face.
"Dude, what the hell happened?" Joyce asked. She was breathing a little heavily and there were drops of sweat dripping off her face. Spade stared at her guiltily.
Mohan probably would kill a minor. He certainly did back at Guanyang when a quarter of the army was composed of teenagers. He could only hope that Joyce either A. Ran really fast or B. Was actually capable of taking on Mohan.
"Sorry," he groaned. "We're really screwed now."
"Why? What happened? There was this really weird energy earlier, was it something to do with that? Hey, I can probably –" Spade cut her off with a sharp sigh.
"Mohan. It was Mohan's contract. He's coming to Canton."
Joyce blinked at him and raised her eyebrows in a dramatically slow gesture. "Well, shit." She tried to calculate something on her fingers and gave up. "How much of a bribe can we afford again?"
///////
Luco made his way down the hall, looking around in hopes of spotting Pania. He found her by the printer, flipping through a copy of the Salehrad house's file.
"Pania," he greeted. She flashed him a smile.
"Look at this," she offered, "Malik Salehrad's the primary lobbyist for the Persian Diaspora Association. No wonder he's not around, he's too busy trying to get dual nationality."
"Figures, they can't get citizenship here anyways," Luco shrugged. "Technically, we're all stateless." Pania laughed at that.
With no central governance, no one could really offer nationality for immigrants. Luco's mother was Chinese-Thai, but he didn't have citizenship anywhere. Similarly, Pania's parents had Indonesian citizenship, but Pania couldn't inherit the status. All in all, at least a quarter of the city had no nationality anywhere. At least Malik was trying to do something about it.
"Still gotta pay taxes," she nudged him teasingly. "You gonna file yourself this year or you need me to do it again?"
"Please," Luco clasped his hands together and gave her his best puppy eyes. After he hit six feet and bulked up, Taeyun, Helang, and Pania were the only ones who still caved to it.
Pania flashed him a smug smirk and turned back to the file. "Anyways, what did you want again?"
Luco grinned. "I was just looking through my mom's old photos again, and it made me want to ask Spade about something, so I was hoping to exchange jobs with you next time you go?" he asked innocently. Pania raised an eyebrow.
"Teacher's photos? Sure, I mean, but what does that have to do with those two?" Pania asked.
"One of the photos was kinda blurry, but it was from when mom was really young, like our age. There was this dude in it that was blonde, looked kinda like Spade, actually. I think it might be his dad," Luco shrugged. "I don't know, but I was hoping to ask about it since everyone else in those photos is dead now."
Pania nodded slowly. "Yeah, yeah that could work. Teacher Lin never liked to talk about anything, but I'm sure Spade would be a little more obliging."
Luco smiled gratefully. "Thanks," he said sincerely. Pania patted his shoulder.
"Don't worry about it, just let me know if you find anything juicy," she teased. Luco squeezed up his face.
"Oh, ew," he groaned. She laughed at him unapologetically.
"Lin Bo knew Spade's father?" Helang's voice rang out from behind them. Luco jumped, shooting a foot into the air.
"Oh my god, Vice-Chair, you scared the hell out of me," Luco groaned.
"Vice-Chair," Pania greeted. Helang nodded at both of them.
"What were you saying about Lin Bo again?" Helang asked.
Luco blinked. "Um, my mom knew Spade's dad, I think. There's a photo of the two of them, it's really blurry, but I thought I'd ask about it."
Helang nodded thoughtfully. "Do you want to bring the photo in? The Intelligence Department's good at making photos high-resolution. They can even salvage shitty surveillance cameras nowadays."
Luco bit back a twinge of confusion. "Oh, sure, yeah, that'd be really great. Thanks, Vice-Chair." He smiled at the man. Helang smiled back before turning to leave. They watched him go silently.
Luco turned towards Pania. "What was that?" he asked. Pania shrugged back.
"No idea. Pretty sudden though." She looked thoughtfully in the direction Helang had left. "Either way, it might be a good idea to get a higher-res version. Bet you'd get to see if that guy was your mom's type."
"Oh my god, Pania!"