Page 28 of Night's Reckoning
Fabia squinted. “What am I seeing? There’s something there, but I can’t…”
The water vampire in the bow of the ship heard her, turned, and lifted the corner of his mouth in a half smile. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the fog back, revealing a massive, rocky mountain rising from the ink-black sea.
Golden lights spiraled from the base to the summit. Sharp points of light flickered in the darkness like stars fallen from the sky. As they approached the dock, Ben saw a horse cart and two carriages waiting, steam rising from the huffed breath of the animals while humans rushed around the platform, ready to greet guests.
“I feel like I’m in a movie,” Fabia said. “A really fancy one that will probably get nominated for awards. The costumes are going to be epic.”
Andrew smiled. “You’re not far off, Miss Salvadori. Welcome to Penglai Island.”
8
Within minutes, Ben and Fabia had left the ocean behind and were bumping up the cobblestone road to the Palace of the Eight Immortals. As they went higher on the island, the trees grew thicker. The scent of wood smoke and incense filled the air. After a winding journey, they stopped in front of a giant stone gate guarded by two lions.
Andrew descended from the carriage behind them. “Remember, both of you, I will be introducing you. Do not feel like you need to speak unless you are spoken to.”
Fabia looked at Ben. “Will I—”
“I don’t think so,” Ben said. “I told Zhang you were my assistant.”
“Good.” Fabia’s skin was pale in the flickering torchlight. “I’d just as soon remain a spectator to this movie, thank you very much.”
They followed Andrew under the gate and up the stairs to a set of doors guarded by humans in brown robes. The doors were layered in gold leaf and decorated with brightly colored stones.
“This is quite the place,” Ben said quietly. He was silently taking stock of everything he saw. It was perfectly preserved architecture from the same era as the Forbidden City in Beijing. Sloping tile roofs and intricately carved posts and lintels layered with rich colors to invoke a sense of grandeur. The first doors led to a second set of doors with even more gold and more gemstone mosaics.
Through the mosaic doors lay a formal courtyard garden lit with flaming torches and decorated with standing stones and trickling fountains. A lush green lawn led from the doors of the palace to the main hall.
“Welcome to the Palace of the Eight Immortals,” Andrew said. “Here all elements exist in balance. The disputes of an empire are settled peacefully, judged by the eight wisest elders in history.”
They walked through the courtyard and toward the steps to the main hall. Fabia was speechless behind Ben while Andrew narrated their journey.
“You are guests of the most supreme Elder Zhang Guo, master of air and battle. He is the founder and oldest patron of Penglai.” He nodded to the garden they were walking through. “This area was planted by Cao, the youngest of the elders.”
Earth vampire.
“It’s very beautiful,” Fabia said.
Ben was taking everything in. Every symbol, every color, every number. All had meaning. Nothing was chance.
Black. Giovanni had dressed him in black. Why?
They walked up the steps and toward a pair of monks who bowed low before they opened a pair of gold-covered doors. The gold wasn’t leafed. It was layered and chased with the symbol of a giant dragon clutching a pearl.
“The doors are a gift of Elder Lu Dongbin, the current chairman of the council. The dragon, of course, is not a fire symbol here.”
“It’s a water symbol,” Ben said. Water, like Giovanni’s family.
“You are correct,” Andrew said.
Black is a water color.
Though his uncle had been sired to fire, Giovanni was an anomaly. All fire vampires were. They spontaneously erupted like an immortal genetic mutation. No pattern. No prediction. Often they killed themselves at a young age. Only the strongest and most controlled lived to maturity. Giovanni had come from water, and any children he had would be sired to it.
Black.
The Black Tortoise.
Not a simple turtle, a warrior symbol and one of the cardinal points in the sky.
