Pathway

Leaving the house of the blood oracle, they walked slowly back to the Chang's home. Ju Feng was lost in thoughts as he continued to walk. The oracle had confirmed hos impending death. She had told them his fate was intertwined with that of Chang Chang. And that he was locked in a Frozen Time array. If he didnt open his soul space, he might never survive his predicament. The oracle had told them to find the Heavenstone. That they must find the talisman that was needed back into the city of the Four Lands. But the fact that in all probability it was still inside the Shadow Keep—where Shadow Curses resided—put them at a great disadvantage.

So for the day following their unpleasant discovery, as they walked beside and sometimes rode within the caravan wagons, she puzzled over what to do. By the following morning, on arriving at their destination, they still did not have an answer. Their choices were admittedly unattractive.

Because they had left Dragon scryer orb behind, they had some connection with Heavenstone, however tenuous. Their decision on the matter had been deliberate and purposeful. Should they somehow survive the Keep's Guardian—unlikely as that seemed—they would be happy. The orb would provide her with a way. But now matters had moved beyond simply satisfying their curiosity. Now it appeared that their only chance for recovering Heavenstone lay in them having succeeded in doing what they had intended do—avoid the death they were walking into. And if they were still alive by then, they needed to not only confirm the presence of the guardian, but also learn whether or not he actually had possession of the Heavenstone.

Just at the moment they could not think of a way to proceed without tossing everything up in the air. They needed to be certain if the shadow guardian was active—but without giving away their chase after the Elfstone. If the guardian found they were after the stone without them setting the arrays in place first,  eventually they would die—which would be the simplest outcome. But then the Heavenstone, the shadowkeep, and all its vast and treasured magic would be lost to them. 

As they continued walking, Chang Chang couldn't help it but be lost in thought.

What would eventually happen to her?

The answer to this conundrum eluded her, so instead she quit thinking about it and looked at Ju Feng. That he would stay only a short time in Anjing was a given. 

She had no regrets about what she had done for him—just as she had no regrets about what she was doing for him now. She knew Ju Feng had to leave. Apart from the fact that he would die if he stay longer in the Frozen Time array, the dreadbloods oj Anjing would kill him. They had lost their bearing and diminished their ability to impact proper reasoning. Increasingly, they were becoming dangerous in their blindness. She might save him, had she had enough might of her own. 

So once they had secured and provisioned a transportation means, they departed the city and set out for the Wasteland. A three-day journey lay ahead of them—of her, though at her age, she required little sleep and could probably be in Deathkeep in two more days if she drove herself hard. It was a small concession to discomfort given what she hoped to achieve. She could have secured the services of a talisman and avoided expending the energy to navigate a transportation beasts with her family. But then she would have had to decide what to do with Ju Feng afterward, and there was only one acceptable choice given her determination to keep her thoughts to herself.

Besides, she was a passable blood with a few years of experience—even if most of those years were in the past—so she opted to keep herself to herself for now. And she believed the time spent wandering alone would provide her with a chance to think through her future plans and divine the means for carrying them out. There was much to consider, and it would be best accomplished if she was left undisturbed. But now, they would have to find the means for Ju Feng to be able to return to his home world.

One of the more intriguing prospects she found herself considering for the second time since leaving lost Anjing centered on what use she might make of the mysterious words of oracle and the ancient prophecies. Drisker did not waste time on those lacking ability to employ magic, and she sensed there was something more to her than what the oracle had revealed. There was an air of secrecy about her, revealed not by any act of the oracle but by her ecpressions alone.

Chang Chang was very good at reading people. She prided herself on being able to see right through anyone. The oracle was archaic but her face was a book waiting to be read, and as a blood herself, she could do that.

───

They arrived in Juyan close to sunset on the third day of travel, weary and hungry to get on with things. They brought theI'd transportation cloud down in a landing field occupied by less than half a dozen trees, all looking decidedly safe. Her items was not new, either, but it was well maintained and fully provisioned. She left it under the care of the field manager—a man who seemed willing enough to look after it, especially after she promised him a sizable bonus if she found her craft to be in the same condition when she departed as it was now.

A more extensive inquiry into the location of Drisker's home than she had anticipated proved necessary; it appeared that it had been burned to the ground some weeks earlier and a number of brigands had paid the ultimate price for doing so. Informed that he had found temporary lodgings, she set out to find them, carrying a sack filled with food and clothing—a black-cloaked wraith, bent and gnarled and unapproachable.

They found the new home dark and silent amid other similarly shadow-bound residences, its bulk hunkered down within a heavy screen of trees and noticeably set apart. A brief scan with the spiritual sight of Chang Li revealed no one waited within. They climbed the porch steps, opened the locked door with ease, and entered. They had hoped to find the girl still in residence—assuming they hadn't been scared off—but it appeared no one had been there for at least several days.

There were bodies and left over items in a back chamber that might have been one of the dreads, but no other trace of its presence. They undertook a cursory search, but they did not waste their time trying to discover where the guardian of the keep might be residing, saving that for when they were better rested and placed the arrays.

Then they began checking the spaces inbetween. When they found nothing but more ruins, they moved to the inner hall of the ruins and began their search for the guardians in earnest. Whatever else the keep had lost in the fire that had destroyed most of the place, the guardian would have made certain to protect the heavenstone. They went from one area to another, determined minds.

They took their time, considering every possibility as they went. Their sharp old eyes missing nothing. They rummaged through all the drawers and closets, hunting under and behind the bamboo keeps, moving quite deliberately from one chamber to the other. Afterward, they went on to consider what might be under the ruins below. They searched every place they could think of, no matter how far-fetched, but turned up nothing.

The day was nearly done when they finished checking the ruins, and she had nothing to show for her efforts. Non items and no traps. It was an empty ruins. It was disappointing, but they were not discouraged. They had never once believed that finding something of such importance would be easy. The guardian was nothing if not clever, and he would have been more so concealing the Heanenstone. Toward evening, an oddity surfaced, one they could not explain.

Glancing haphazardly into the trees surrounding the ruins, they caught sight of movement. It was gone as fast as it came, but they thought from the glimpse they caught that it might be anything. They saw it again a little later, no clearer than before. Who or what was out there or what its purpose might be in prowling about remained a mystery. They thought to lie in wait for it or track it or even set a trap. But that seemed a foolish waste of their time, given what little they was apt to discover. The thing could be more powerful than them.

Lingering at the periphery of their expectations was the faint hope that the guardian might appear, but still there was no sign of him. Chang Chang and Ju Feng were determined and strong-minded, but they knew their limit in terms of power. As a result, they began to wonder if they should abandon this effort and go in search of the Heavenstone somewhere else. The stone would be useful for Ju Feng to get back, but dying before that could happen would be efforts in vain. Quite possibly, they began to think, it might be the better choice.

And then abruptly, on that same evening, everything changed.