Silver Phoenix by Cindy. Pon Page A

should cease immediately. And you will heal as if you were never hurt.” He smiled at her, eye to 102

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    eye. Even as he spoke, the searing agony faded. “I hope this teaches you to not look where you shouldn’t.”
    “You knew my name.” The realization hit her long after he had said it, her mind was so crushed by the pain.
    “Master Tan spoke of you when I was called to his manor. I performed purity rites throughout the home,” the seer said.
    Ai Ling’s thought flew to the new writings and characters plastered on the Tan manor’s main door. They must have been part of the purity rites, to ward off evil and cleanse the home.
    “I am Lao Pan, an old friend to Master Tan. Please follow me.”
    Lao Pan’s bright torch threw glimmers of light across the incandescent walls of the cave. After walking only a short distance, they were outside again.
    It was a natural courtyard, oval in shape, nestled within the mountainside, with a small house tucked against the steep rock face at the back. A welcoming fire glowed in the middle of the wide-open space.
    “We have no fresh grass, but there is hay for your horse.”
    Lao Pan pointed toward what looked like a small stable. Li Rong led Feng there, speaking softly all the while. The seer swept an arm toward stone benches under a giant starfruit tree, and the weary travelers seated themselves.
    “It’s a breach within the mountainside. Nature shaped a perfect facade for my humble home,” Lao Pan said. A boy of about thirteen years emerged from the house with a tray of tea. “My grandson, Rui. Also my apprentice.”
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    “Did you carve the tiger head into the mountainside?”
    Chen Yong asked.
    “Ancestors did. This place has been used by my family to pass on the art for many centuries.”
    Ai Ling wondered what he meant by “the art,” but the seer spoke as if everyone should know, so she didn’t ask. “Were those enchanted fountains at the cave entrance?” she asked instead.
    Lao Pan chuckled. “No, no. My water pets are fish caught from the Sea of Zhen.”
    “Fish! That speak?” She touched her cheek. The skin felt smooth now, the pain completely gone.
    “Indeed. They are mentioned in The Book of Lands Beyond .
    But scholars often read it as myth.” Lao Pan smiled as if amused by the foolishness of it. “The Zhen fish spit venom.
    The poison will eat flesh to the bone, then spread if not treated.”
    A cool sweat broke over her brow. She could have died, slowly eaten away by venom until her entire body was nothing but agonizing pain and corrosion. As if reading her thoughts, the seer continued. “I keep the antidote at the cave entrance. It’s the scales of the fi sh themselves.”
    “But I didn’t see any fish,” she said, her hand still pressed against her cheek.
    “You wouldn’t. They conceal themselves to their environs.
    It’s why I laid colored stones at the bottom of the fountains,”
    Lao Pan said.
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    Chen Yong shook his head in amazement. “I didn’t know what to do when I saw that canker growing in Ai Ling’s cheek.”
    She was glad she hadn’t seen it herself. The image would have been nearly as frightening as the pain.
    “Have you not heard the tale behind these creatures?” Lao Pan asked.
    “I’ve read some from The Book of Lands Beyond ,” Chen Yong said.
    “It’s not a tale Father ever shared,” she said.
    Li Rong joined them on the stone bench. They could hear Feng’s contented snorts.
    “It’s a love story, as so many of them are.” Lao Pan smiled.
    “Emperor Yeh, from many dynasties past, collected women for his pleasure as one would collect trinkets. He had more than one thousand concubines sequestered in his inner quarters, but it wasn’t enough.”
    Rui returned with warm, wet cloths for the travelers. Ai Ling was relieved to wipe her face.
    Lao Pan continued with the tale, his gaze intent on the fire.
    “One day an official near the borders