Page 21

CHAPTER 21

JAEIL

The Under World

Outside the Ninth Ward Mithril Factory

JAEIL STOOD OUTSIDE the gates of the ninth ward mithril factory, staring up at the silent smokestacks. The first order he gave at the start of the raid was to halt production entirely. Even the smallest inhalation of pure, unadulterated mithril was poisonous, and he wouldn’t risk the soldiers in his unit. Through the shield of his filtration mask, he watched as a single mote of mithril dust drifted down from the sky above. He lifted his gloved hand, and it alighted on the tip of his finger, like blue snow.

“Captain!”

Yumi jogged from the compound, bowing to Jaeil as he entered through the gates. He was reminded of the day he met her by the docks, where the first body had been found. Five more had been discovered since then, bearing the same claw marks.

“The factory has been secured, sir,” she said, her youthful voice muffled by her mask. “The guards and workers are ready to be taken back to the base for questioning.”

The medical examiner at Hagye had categorized the murders as death inflicted by wounds from an animal . But there hadn’t been any reports of rabid or wild animals in the Under World. Except for one rumor about a bear in the sewer. He’d sent soldiers to the fifth ward to investigate, but they’d come back claiming it was a false trail.

None of the higher-ups, except for Commander Su, even gave a damn about the murders—all the victims had been from the Outer Ring, after all. Violence and death were common among the dregs of society. Jaeil might have agreed, had the wound sites on the murder victims not been so distinct . Was it a murderer killing these people, an animal, or something else ?

Besides the fact that all the victims were found in or around the Outer Ring, nothing tied them together, not their ages nor their occupations. And then an hour ago, three more bodies had shown up outside the sewers of the fourth ward, all wearing the uniform of the ninth ward mithril factory.

“I have a report of the contents of the documents confiscated from inside the factory foreman’s office,” Yumi said, her expression serious behind her mask. “It’s as you suspected, sir: Minister Jo fled the city by train. The exact reason for his departure we couldn’t deduce; however, we found documents tying him to many illegal activities.”

She went on, listing the minister’s numerous offenses, which included extortion. A muscle in Jaeil’s arm spasmed, and he rolled his shoulder, grimacing at the tightness there; he’d removed his cast that morning against the advice of Hagye’s on-base physician.

They reached the storehouse at the back of the grounds, and another of Jaeil’s soldiers held it open for Yumi and him to pass through.

“The most incriminating piece of evidence was a document recording sales of mithril to Volmar for the past two years, hidden as part of larger cargo of shipments to Sareniya’s holdings in the Occupied Territories.”

Yumi halted past the threshold of the doorway. “I don’t understand, sir.” Jaeil glanced at his subordinate, noting the frustrated edge to her voice. “Why would the minister sell mithril to the northern empire when we’re at war with them?”

Jaeil raised a brow. Catching sight of his expression, Yumi lowered her head. “The obvious answer is that he’s a traitor, I know that. But why would he betray his country? He’s a minister .”

“Money,” Jaeil said simply. He’d had the misfortune to encounter Minister Jo several times and found the man incautious and highly self-interested.

“But he’s a Sareniyan .” Yumi was insistent. “He’s giving them the means to destroy us.”

Jaeil studied the younger soldier’s flushed face. He’d forgotten how passionate Sareniyans could be, especially those who hailed from Mid City, many of whom had never set foot on the Floating World. Maybe it was their perceived closeness to their counterparts in the sky—that having felt the light, even for the briefest of moments, they wished to guard it fiercely.

“You need huge quantities of mithril to power a fleet,” he found himself reassuring her. “The amount that Minister Jo sold is enough to power two or three airships, at most.”

No, it wasn’t the threat of airships that concerned Jaeil. It was the connection with the killings that he was interested in.

Jaeil removed his mask, tossing it to the floor. Now that they were inside the storehouse, which was insulated from the mithril smoke outside, the toxicity of the air was greatly reduced. He left Yumi, climbing the metal stairs to the foreman’s office. Inside, it was clear that his soldiers had searched the room thoroughly. The drawers in the filing cabinets were removed, the chairs, tables, and desk at the back disassembled and pushed to the side. A large map of the city had been slashed to check for hidden apertures in the walls. Another door at the back of the room led into an empty storeroom.

The metal stairs clanked outside. A few seconds later, the door swung open.

Jaeil glanced at his lieutenant; he’d sent Sana to interrogate the factory’s foreman. “Back so soon?”

She sighed, clearly disappointed. “He talked right away.”

He walked to a window, cracking open the shutters to look down at the storehouse below. He watched as Yumi picked up the mask he’d tossed to the floor. “What did he say?”

“The foreman was getting a cut of the profits. He didn’t know the identity of the buyer, only that he claimed they were from Volmar. A different person would show up each time at the drop point, an abandoned shed at the back of Seorawon’s train yard. He never saw their faces; they were always covered by a cowl and each wore black robes.”

Jaeil’s eyes caught on pieces of a folding screen, shoved against the wall to the side. “What’s this?”

While his soldiers had systematically taken apart the furniture in the room, the folding screen was broken into pieces, as if something large had collided with it.

“Apparently some rebels broke into the factory a few weeks ago,” Sana said. “The foreman claimed it was unrelated to Minister Jo’s dealings.”

Jaeil frowned. “What was taken?”

“A map of the mithril mines.”

“Hm.” Jaeil filed the information in the back of his mind.

With most of the furniture pushed against the walls, he had an unobstructed view of the floor. There were the usual scuff marks and wear of boots, but among them was the distinct outline of claw marks.

“The foreman said Minister Jo kept a guard dog,” Sana said, coming up behind him. “A wolf.” Jaeil crouched down to get a closer look. “Maybe it escaped, and that’s what’s been leaving behind all those dead bodies.”

Jaeil shook his head slowly. “An animal like that would have been seen.”

Jaeil pressed his fingers into the grooves in the wood where the deepest of the marks had been carved. There were four of them. The marks on the victims had five claws. The wolf wasn’t the culprit.

As he raised his hand, he noticed debris had attached itself to the fabric of his gloves.

Sana peered closer. “That looks like blood.”

His gloves were dark, but that didn’t stop the dried fragments from glimmering in the light of the lanterns. Iridescent.

He thought of the mote, landing on his finger.

The color was the same. Mithril blue.

“Captain!” Yumi stood in the doorway, breathless. She’d removed her mask. “A telegram just arrived from Commander Su.”

Jaeil stood, taking it from her. He released the string that bound the scroll, unraveling it.

The general is addressing the soldiers at Yongin Military Base , Commander Su had written in bold calligraphy. Report immediately.

YONGIN MILITARY BASE was located north of the Wall, outside the rim of the Floating World.

As Jaeil’s carriage chased the shadow of the world, the air outside lightened, growing brighter and brighter until the horses leaped out of the darkness, whinnying as they were met with an imposing sight. On the northern plains, the Sareniyan army had gathered. Ten thousand troops strong, campfires stretched to where the sun appeared to burn along the horizon.

Jaeil squinted against red rays glinting off the metal hulls of a dozen large airships that surrounded the camp. Each had the capacity to carry up to a hundred soldiers. Smaller aircraft were scattered among the tents in varying sizes, the smallest rigged for a single passenger.

Pulling up outside the camp, he was surprised to see an imperial airship among them, recognizable by its elegant design—it resembled a white bird—and the winged symbol of the Sareniyan royal family.

He spotted Lady Maya standing among the officers who waited for his father’s address. He wondered if she’d been invited by the general or, like Jaeil, had been informed of the general’s plans through a third party. Behind them, the soldiers of the eighty-eight regiments that comprised the bulk of the army stood in unbroken lines. Their discipline, however, was tested with Jaeil’s arrival. A stir ran through the low-ranking soldiers as he approached the line of officers, and one man in particular.

“It’s good to see your reputation still precedes you,” Commander Su said. While Jaeil’s father had three commanders, his oldest—in age and acquaintance—was Commander Su.

Jaeil bowed to the older man.

“Captain,” Commander Su said. “Jaeil.” The commander had known him since he was a young boy, and though the older man showed him the proper respect due to his rank, Commander Su also occasionally lapsed into old habits. Jaeil didn’t mind. “You took longer than expected.”

“I wasn’t at my residence when the telegram arrived but at the mithril factory in the ninth ward.”

He informed his superior of what he’d discovered there. Unlike his father and the other commanders, Commander Su was aware of Jaeil’s investigation into the mysterious bodies. He’d also been the one to discover the second victim. Unlike Jaeil, though, his interest wasn’t strictly utilitarian—the commander was a good person. He cared about the deaths because they were exactly that: lives that had been lost.

“So…” The commander’s face was drawn. “Minister Jo was a traitor. But that amount of mithril won’t make a difference… unless…” He frowned. “They’re using it for another purpose.”

“I discovered dried blood left on the floor of the foreman’s office. It had particles of what appeared to be mithril,” Jaeil said.

He then cleared his throat. What he was about to ask seemed far-fetched, even with the evidence. “Is it possible for mithril to be used to chemically alter an animal’s anatomy? Or… a human’s?” As he said the words, he immediately regretted them, realizing how absurd they were. Mithril was poisonous—in its solid state, it was tolerable; as a gas, it was highly toxic. A liquid form would be lethal.

“There was a program,” the commander said, and Jaeil looked up sharply. “The objective was to create a new type of soldier, one who was stronger than the average foot soldier, using mithril. It failed. The program was shut down two years ago.”

Jaeil’s heart rate sped up. “Could whoever was in charge have survived?”

“Perhaps. The head of the project was a scientist of some renown. He came to the Floating World when he was a boy, not much younger than yourself. He had an older brother, a soldier who was killed…”

“By my father?” Jaeil asked with a frown.

“No, by…” Commander Su’s eyes trailed toward where Lady Maya stood with her retinue. “It was a tragedy. He was touring the eastern gardens when he met Sareniya. They fell in love.”

Sareniya, the celestial maiden. Ren’s mother.

“I don’t understand,” Jaeil said slowly, though he did, in fact, understand. But he wanted to confirm his suspicions. “He was her husband?”

“No, this occurred before her marriage. He was a commoner, a soldier. He was from the Under World. When their affair was discovered, her family had him killed.

“The brother was spared. He was brilliant. His understanding of mithril and its components was uncanny. At the time, he was working on a serum that would counteract the poisonous effects of mithril, so that inhaling it wouldn’t be toxic. It would have been groundbreaking, had he succeeded.”

Perhaps he had. Jaeil’s heart beat even faster as he put the pieces together.

A scientist who hated Sareniya, who had access to mithril for years through Minister Jo…

“We have to inform the general,” Jaeil said. His father was a tyrant, but he would protect the Floating World. Nothing mattered more to him.

Commander Su shook his head. “Maybe a few days ago he might have listened, but matters have escalated in a short period of time. The Floating Council, under the direction of Lady Maya, has been spreading rumors among the people, claiming the light in the east was a sign of the celestial maiden’s return.” Commander Su frowned. “It’s blasphemous.”

Jaeil studied his old mentor. Commander Su had been loyal to the queen, not because he thought she was a better ruler than his father could be, but because he was devout . He’d believed Sareniya, with all her many faults, was a goddess.

While Jaeil believed his father had killed the Sareniyan queen the night of the storm—though he had no way to prove it—the commander did not. If he did, he could never have supported the general.

“The rumors have put your father on edge,” Commander Su said grimly. “It’s a clear indication that Lady Maya hopes to install a puppet on the throne, a pretender , so that she and the other royals can rule without restrictions from the Floating Council.”

Jaeil grimaced. The situation was worse than he’d thought. Cornered like this, he didn’t know what his father might do.

From a pitched tent to the right of the field, Jaeil’s father emerged and walked to a standing position before the line of officers. For several moments he spoke not a word, letting the weight of his presence press down upon the field of soldiers.

Finally, he spoke, his resonant voice carrying over the great distance. “There are rumors that the light in the east was a sign of the celestial maiden’s return. Do not be fooled!” His voice boomed. “If there is a claimant to the throne, she is an imposter. It is a trick by the north to hinder our resolve and distract us from the true enemy.”

Jaeil studied his father. His face was composed, his stance rigid with his hands behind his back. He spoke with confidence, conviction . Had Jaeil not known any better, he might have believed him.

The general’s gaze lowered to the line of officers—and to Lady Maya, who stood among them. “And should I find this imposter”—his voice turned low, menacing—“I will kill her, as an example of what happens to those who oppose the empire.”

At this, Lady Maya broke from the line, turning her back to the general. She boarded the imperial airship, followed by her guards and attendants.

Jaeil’s father waited until her airship had ascended before turning once more to the soldiers. “For hundreds of years, Sareniya has relied on three things to keep her safe: the magic of the celestial maidens, its location in the sky, and mithril. But mithril is being depleted as we speak, and the Floating World is sinking.” His words caused activity among the soldiers, many of whom were unaware of the phenomenon. “And the celestial maiden cannot save us. She perished ten years ago, and even then, her kind had lost all their powers.”

The general leaned forward, his eyes alight, his expression fervent, as if he were possessed by an emotion far greater than his body could contain. “The inheritor of the Floating World isn’t a pretender with magic tricks, but the people who have endured beneath her shadow. We are the ones who have bled, who have sacrificed; it is our children who suffer and die on the battlefield. For ten years, we have fought our northern enemies in the name of Sareniya and her idle, indolent nobles, who even now are paying the Volmarans to spread these vicious rumors, to confuse us, to weaken us.”

His words sparked outrage among the soldiers, shouts and cries of fury.

“The Floating World is ours to protect!” the general roared, his face red, veins straining at his neck. “And it is ours to claim .”

Jaeil’s body tensed. Beside him, Commander Su swallowed a shallow breath, as if the general spoke of plans that even he was unaware of.

“At first light, the day after the Festival of Light has begun, we’ll commence a full assault… on Sareniya.”