Reckless IV: The Silver Tracks E-Book

Cornelia Funke

• Herausgeber: Pushkin Children's Books
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Serie: The Mirrorworld Series
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 458

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

The fourth gripping instalment in Cornelia Funke's internationally bestselling Reckless series 'A born storyteller' Guardian Jacob and Fox may not have found Jacob's brother Will, but they have found something even more unexpected in the Mirrorworld: happiness. Just as they give up the search to enjoy their new life together, Will appears. But now Jacob isn't sure he can trust his own brother. Travelling with Jacob and Fox's deadly enemies, Will is on his way to Nihon, beautiful land of sea serpents and samurai, talking forests and magnificent foxes, in pursuit of another magical Mirror. The pair can only follow. If they are fortunate, what they find could save them. If they are not, they will find painful truths, terrible risks and a greater danger than they could ever have imagined.

Leseprobe

 

pushkin press

“A born storyteller”

Guardian

“Germany’s answer to J.K. Rowling”

Telegraph

“A master”

Independent

“A highly distinctive imagination”

Daily Mail

 

THE RECKLESS SERIES

I

The Petrified Flesh

II

Living Shadows

III

The Golden Yarn

IV

The Silver Tracks

3

5

For Garcia

MAP

CONTENTS

TITLE PAGEDEDICATION 1:TOGETHER2:BROTHERS3:JUST ONE DEAD 4:YANAGITA HIDEO 5:IN FOREIGN WOODS 6:THE FORTRESS OF THE MOONS 7:FOX AND GOYL 8:VERY OLD ENEMIES 9:GURASU10:NO TIME 11:THE OTHER MIRROR 12:THE NECESSITY OF LIES 13:LIKE THEN AGAIN 14:A DROP OF GLASS 15:DEATH MAKES KEEN EYES 16:THE PRODIGAL SON 17:CREATOR18:FOUND19:TAKEN20:THE ALDERELF WHO STAYED 21:JOY22:SO MANY STORIES 23:A CELL OF SILVER 24:TREASURE HUNTERS 25:A FAMILIAR FACE 26:A MESSENGER FOR SPIELER 27:THE ESSENCE OF LOVE 28:WINGS29:GRAY GOOSE FEATHERS 30:CHILDREN’S TALES 31:THE APPLE 32:SHADOW33:HIDEO’S PICTURES 34:BROTHER’S DEBT 35:NEVER36:EAVESDROPPERS IN THE DESERT 37:UNBELIEVABLE38:HIS MOTHER’S FACE 39:SILVER TRACKS 40:VISITORS41:THE RAT 42:THE KOI 43:THE WOMAN IN THE MIRROR 44:ENDED45:BURIED ALIVE 46:MIRROR IMAGES 47:A WORLD AS PRIZE 48:FLOWERS49:AT HOME 50:THE SHRINE  AVAILABLE AND COMING SOON FROM PUSHKIN PRESSCOPYRIGHT

9

1

TOGETHER

Fox felt Jacob’s breath on her neck, warm and familiar. He was sleeping so soundly that he didn’t wake up when she gently eased out of his embrace. Whatever he was encountering in his dreams made him smile, and Fox ran her fingers over his lips as if she could read what he was dreaming. The two moons that shone on her world dappled his forehead with rusty red and pale silver, and birds whose names she didn’t know cried outside the inn.

Doryeong… Her tongue could barely pronounce the name of the port city where they had arrived the day before. They had given up. Maybe that was why Jacob was sleeping so deeply. After all the months in which they had lost his brother’s trail and picked it up again countless times. A time or two, they had almost caught up with Will. But by 10now they had been searching in vain for weeks for any sign of him, and yesterday, as the sun had set over a strange sea, they had finally decided to call it off. Even Jacob believed that his brother did not want to be found after all that had happened, and that it was time to go their separate ways. So why could she still not sleep? Was it because she wasn’t used to being so blissfully happy?

Fox pulled the quilt over Jacob’s shoulder. Their own path. Finally. A sprig of white blossoms filled the room they were sleeping in with lush, sweet fragrance. Two more travelers were sleeping on the mats the landlady had wordlessly rolled out for them. The ferry to Aotearoa ran out of Doryeong. An old friend of Jacob’s, Robert Dunbar, kept sending enthusiastic telegrams from there, which told of three-eyed lizards, of enchanted whale bones, and of wild kings who had the fern forests of their homeland tattooed on their skin.

Their own path. Fox kissed the moonlight off Jacob’s face and carefully slipped out from under the quilt that warmed them both. The night lured the vixen outside. Maybe if she wore the fur, all this human happiness wouldn’t make her heart overflow so much.

She stole past the two stone dragons that guarded the entrance to the modest inn, and under trees that swayed their branches in the breeze from the nearby sea, she changed. The inn stood on an unpaved road, and the flat wooden houses that lined it wore their roofs like wooden cowls. Doryeong was nothing like the seaside village where Fox had grown up. Even the fishing boats on the dark waves that lined the harbor just a few houses away seemed to come from a fairy tale she had never heard of before. 11

The vixen looked up at the stars, and in their constellations she found images of all the roads she had traveled with Jacob these past months. Varangia, Kasakh, Mongol, Zhonggua… A year ago, all these names had meant nothing. Now they were tied to unforgettable memories—of the time when she no longer had to hide her love. They had soon lost count of how many weeks they had traveled farther and farther southeast. At some point, they had even almost forgotten that they were searching for Jacob’s brother. Perhaps, in the end, they had simply wanted to leave everything behind them that might cast a shadow on their newfound happiness: the renewed treachery of Jacob’s father, the death of the Dark Fairy and the role Will had played in it—and the Alderelf who wanted their child and sent hunters of glass and silver after them. In a foreign land, all of this was so much easier to brush aside.

The vixen paused. Sniffing, she raised her nose. Even the sea smelled different from that of her homeland. The wind carried the biting scent of pepper from the ships and coaxed a gentle chime from the little bells that hung in the branches everywhere. Like the inn, the empty square in front of the ship docks was guarded by stone dragons. They crouched everywhere, between the harbor barracks and in front of the jetties. Most of them were garlanded with flowers. In the past few months, they had seen many dragons: made of stone, of wood, of clay, so small that they could be carried around for good luck, and so large that you had to crane your neck to look at them. But even in Zhonggua, where swarms of Dragons had once darkened the sky, they had only encountered their lifeless effigies. ‘Somewhere,’ Jacob had whispered to her as they’d made 12love in the shadow of a stone dragon looking down on them with eyes of lapis lazuli, ‘there must be a magic thing that brings statues to life. And when we find it, we’ll come back and wake them all up.’

Fox took human form and stroked the scales of one of the dragons. He wore a wreath of red and yellow flowers. A petal clung to the gold yarn that snaked around her wrist. So much in the world was lost for all time. The Dragons, the Giants, and now the Fairies. She had found the golden thread next to the motionless body of the Dark One. Fox had hated and feared her so much. But now, it seemed that without her and her sisters, the world suddenly lacked rain.

As Fox crossed the empty dock to study the ferries’ departure times, the moons gave her two shadows. Very fitting for a shapeshifter. Aotearoa… Yes, she was looking forward to meeting three-eyed lizards and searching for carved whale bones that gave one the shape of a fish. She wanted to continue traveling like this with Jacob for all time, searching for magical things that they fantasized about during long nights of lying side by side.

The first ferry, whose passenger list hung by the first jetty, departed for Tasmania. The second one sailed to Nihon. The Islands of the Foxes… Maybe that’s what made her stop and glance at the passenger list.

Will’s name was the third on the list. He had also entered a wife. The Goyl had put “The Bastard” after his name.

Fox stepped out onto the empty dock. The ferry to Aotearoa was leaving from the next pier. There was a flag flying on the shack where tickets were bought, showing the giant ferns that grew only there.

Nihon’s flag showed a flying crane against a red sun. 13

What if she didn’t tell Jacob about the names she had seen on the passenger list? Surely there was a ferry to Aotearoa that left later than the one to Nihon, and the list would be long gone by the time they got to the port. Stop it, Fox. Who was she kidding? Jacob could read any lie from her face, and this one he would not forgive, even if she told it to protect him.

She made her way back to the inn in human form. Not even the fur would have made her heart any lighter. It will make Jacob happy to see his brother, Fox. Yes, it probably would, but what about the Goyl? The Bastard hated Jacob. And the wife Will had put on the list… was that Sixteen, Spieler’s glass and silver assassin? As far as Fox knew, Will’s girlfriend Clara was in the other world, and Jacob’s brother had slain the most powerful of all the fairies for the Alderelf. What if Will was still doing his bidding?

Spieler… His name nestled in the chime of the bells moving on the wind. It whispered in the wind, in the rustle of the trees and the murmur of the sea.

No, they had not escaped the shadows.

Fox climbed the shallow steps in front of the inn, past the dragons and the trees whose branches whispered Spieler’s name. You have to tell Jacob, Fox. You have to wipe the smile from his lips.

She slipped off her shoes, as her landlady demanded, and opened the sliding wall of wood and milk-white paper through which lay the bedroom. The two other guests were a man and a woman. When they stirred behind the partition the landlady had put up, they looked like figures in a shadow play.

Jacob was still sleeping as soundly as when Fox had left him. She stroked his sleeping face. She liked to read his 14familiar features with her fingers as much as with her eyes. Why had she gone to the harbor?

He woke as she lay down beside him.

“The vixen went wandering.” He reached for her hand. “Didn’t you hear what the landlady said? There are undead out there that look like humans, and—”

Fox closed his mouth with a kiss. “And Bulyeowoos, fox demons who like to pretend they’re women. I feel right at home!”

It still felt like something deliciously forbidden to her when she kissed him. He was so happy. Why didn’t she just keep quiet, and they could simply forget about his brother and instead go back to doing what they were so good at together—treasure hunting? All the magical artifacts they still wanted to find, all the places they hadn’t seen yet… Aotearoa… There, no one knew anything about Elves and Fairies, did they?

“What is it?”

No. He knew her too well.

He sat up and stroked her fingers, one by one. Love could manifest itself in such inconspicuous gestures.

“I was down at the docks. I wanted to see when the ferries were leaving for Aotearoa. Your brother is registered to sail for Nihon tomorrow morning.”

Yes, for a moment, she could see that he was thinking the same thing she had thought at the harbor: if only she hadn’t spotted Will’s name, if only they could have finally given up the search. Of course, he was ashamed of the thought. Older brothers probably never stopped feeling responsible, especially when they had left their little brothers alone for years. And yes, there was joy too, the relief that Will was 15alive—even though he had gotten caught up in the war of immortals.

“What about the Bastard and the Mirror Girl? Are they still with him?”

“Will is traveling with a woman. And yes, the Bastard is with him.”

Jacob stared into the alien night. Yes, the smile was gone. He was probably asking himself the same question that had haunted Fox on the way back to the inn. Was his brother now on Spieler’s side?

During their search, they had passed through villages where they heard stories about a man whose skin turned into pale green stone. It seemed to happen only when Will was angry, but there was no doubt. He was the Jade Goyl again, though Jacob had risked his life to save him from becoming that. And he was traveling with two of their fiercest enemies.

“When does the ferry leave?”

“In six hours. Just after daybreak.”

They made love, but the peace she had felt so often in the past months was gone. They lay awake next to each other afterward, listening to each other’s silence. It would all be all right. Fox simply would not allow any other thought. And no matter how Jacob’s encounter with his brother turned out, hopefully it would finally absolve him of the responsibility of being Will’s keeper. She wrapped her arms around him and felt his warmth ease her to sleep. But Will was waiting in her dreams. He had a face of jade, and by his side was not the girl made of glass or the Goyl who had sworn revenge on Jacob. The man at Will’s side had no face. It was an empty mirror, and Fox whispered his name in her sleep.

Spieler…

16

2

BROTHERS

The first thing Jacob glimpsed when he and Fox made their way through the waiting crowd outside the ferry dock was the Bastard. No wonder. Everyone kept their distance from the Goyl. Even the Dokraebi avoided him, pixie-like creatures, some one-legged, some two-legged, who fought the gulls for scraps. No one in Doryeong Harbor had ever seen a man with stone skin and golden eyes.

Who was the most successful treasure hunter in the world? Likely, Jacob Reckless would have been the most commonly heard answer. But the Bastard was a fierce competitor, and he was never going to forgive Jacob for depriving him of the most precious magic weapon in existence behind the mirrors: the crossbow that had killed entire armies with one bolt and, by his brother’s hand, had killed the Dark Fairy 17as well. Is that why the Bastard was at Will’s side? Because the crossbow was still in his possession?

The Bastard did not try to hide how much he enjoyed the almost reverential shudder he elicited from the bystanders. He owed his name to the malachite that dappled his dark onyx skin. The onyx lords usually drowned their bastards, but Nerron, as he was in fact called, had survived his childhood and was now spying for the onyxes’ worst enemy— Kami’en, the King of the Goyl.

Most who stared at the Bastard probably thought he was a foreign demon, but even on this side of the world, people had heard of the Goyl and their invincible king.

THE KING OF THE GOYL HAS BROKEN OFF PEACE TALKS WITH HIS HUMAN ENEMIES. BAVARIA AND WALLACHIA CAPITULATE. THERESE OF AUSTRY EXECUTED FOR KIDNAPPING KAMI ’EN’S SON.

Such had been the headlines they had seen even in the remotest villages. The Dark Fairy was dead, but her former lover proved every day that he didn’t need Fairy magic to defeat human armies.

Jacob hid behind a cart as the Bastard’s golden gaze wandered in his direction. The merchants loading their wares, the mercenaries guarding a lord’s palanquin, the overly made-up women offering company with a red smile to the sailors arriving in a foreign land—the golden gaze touched them all. The sea had long set damp limits to the Goyl’s conquests. They feared the open water, but Jacob was certain that the lords to the east were nevertheless scanning the horizon with alarm, for the more than ten thousand human Goyl who now 18fought for Kami’en knew no such fear. Jacob had learned this firsthand. After all, his brother had been one of them. He still was, presumably.

Jacob slipped out from behind the cart. Forget the Bastard, Jacob. Was he really hiding from the Goyl, or was he afraid of meeting his brother? Would Will’s eyes be golden? Jacob was surprised to find that there was something else he feared more now: that his brother was in Spieler’s service.

Fox made a sign to him and pointed to a palanquin that the porters had set down just beside the jetty. Will stood beside it. There was no trace of Jade in his face, even though to Jacob, he appeared taller and stronger than when they had last met in the other world. Will had leaned forward and was talking to the occupant of the palanquin. Sixteen hid behind curtains of orange silk. Had her mirror skin healed, or was it covered in bark like her brother’s who had frozen into a tree in the mountains of Kasakh? Will looked around as if he had heard the question. Yes, his little brother had changed. He was all grown up. What did you expect, Jacob? After all, he killed the most powerful of all the Fairies.

“Shall I distract the Bastard?” Fox stepped to his side.

Jacob shook his head. What was hiding behind the orange-red curtains was far more dangerous than the Goyl. “Stay away from the palanquin. Promise?”

She just gave him a bemused look. Love was doing odd things to him. He worried about her all the time, or maybe he’d just been afraid for her too many times in the last few years.

“Go to him. The ferry is leaving soon.”

Yes, what are you waiting for, Jacob? Go. Even if you have no idea what to say to your brother. How are you doing, Will? Your traveling companions both tried to kill me already?19

A group of Ronin was waiting a few steps away, masterless samurai from the islands that were the ship’s destination. Nihon. One of the most powerful magic swords in the world was there: the Sword of Murokamo, with a blade that commanded the wind. Nihon held so many magical things that the Bastard’s mouth was probably watering with excitement. But what was there for his brother? There was also a caterpillar in Nihon that spun a cocoon, which stopped the rapid aging of shapeshifters. Spieler had told Jacob about it. Of course. The Elf not only read mortals’ most secret wishes from their foreheads but also their most secret fears. And then… he played with that fear.

Someone grabbed him by the shoulder.

“On the lookout for new enemies, Reckless?” The Bastard’s smile was as wolfish as ever. “How about them?” He motioned to the Ronin. “I hear they fight even in their sleep.”

The last time they had met, the Goyl had shot an arrow into Jacob’s chest, and in return, Jacob had stolen from him. They had no reason to trust each other.

“What do you want with my brother? Let me guess. He has the crossbow.”

“Oh yes? Then I would have taken him to Kami’en long ago, along with the crossbow, wouldn’t I?” the Bastard spat out. “Imagine, he even let me have it because he was so distraught over what he had done with it. For three days, I was the most powerful mortal in this world. Three days. They were good days. And then… that damn crossbow dissolved into silver smoke. Like all magic things that were created for one purpose only and had fulfilled that purpose. I’m sure it’s happened to you too, so spare me the incredulous stare!” 20

Yes, it had happened to Jacob. More than once. He believed the Goyl, as much as he hated to admit it to himself. The most powerful magic weapon in this world had been made to kill a Fairy, and it had done just that. Jacob had to admit he was glad the crossbow was gone.

“Then what is it?” He glanced at his brother. “Still harboring dreams of Will making your king invincible?”

“Sure.” The Bastard enjoyed making Jacob feel his dislike. “That’s his destiny. Your brother doesn’t doubt it any more than I do, but all in good time. I have his promise that he will come with me as soon as he gets a few more things settled. And your brother keeps his promises.”

Jacob didn’t get to answer that.

“Well, well, the Bastard.” Fox emerged from behind the Goyl as silently as if she were wearing her fur.

The Bastard eyed her with the same distaste he had shown for Jacob. “The vixen. Dressed in men’s clothes, as usual? In these latitudes, that is easily rewarded with death.”

Fox did not dignify that with an answer. She didn’t take her eyes off the Goyl as she stepped closer to Jacob’s side. “The ferry leaves in half an hour,” she murmured to him.

Go, Jacob.

Will was still standing by the palanquin. He turned only when he heard footsteps behind him. Oh yes, he had changed. But this time, Will hadn’t forgotten who he was, unlike when the Jade had first grown on him—as a result of the Dark Fairy’s curse. Had he perhaps killed her in retribution for that, too?

He hesitated for an incredulous moment as he realized who was coming toward him. Then he walked up to Jacob and hugged him as tightly and as long as he had as a child.

“How did you find me? I can’t believe you’re here!” 21

He let go of Jacob and then hugged him again.

“She found you.”

Fox approached hesitantly, but Will hugged her almost as warmly as Jacob. The two hadn’t always gotten along so well, but now they were united by the fact that they both shifted forms at times.

The Goyl stepped to his brother’s side as if he had always stood there. Don’t be fooled, Jacob Reckless, his gaze mocked. He’s one of us. Will, too, seemed to trust the Bastard completely. Was he more Goyl than human now, though it didn’t show? What had his brother experienced since Jacob had last seen him, aside from becoming the doom of a Fairy? Whatever it was—it was the Goyl, not Jacob, who had been at his side.

Ask him. Ask Will how he feels about Spieler, Jacob. But they’d both always been really good at not talking about what was truly on their minds, and Jacob didn’t want to talk about the Elf in front of the Goyl. The Bastard might hear how much he feared Spieler. So he pointed to the ferry instead.

“Why Nihon?”

Will glanced at the palanquin. Could what Jacob saw on his brother’s face be love? Love for what? A thing made of mirror glass and silver?

“Her skin is lignifying. The curse continues to work, though…” His brother didn’t have to finish the sentence. Though he had killed the Fairy. He hadn’t done it for Sixteen, or had he?

The curtains moved subtly as Jacob glanced over at the palanquin. That the curse still worked was good news. If it was defacing Spieler’s creatures, then maybe it was still doing the same to him, keeping him in the other world. 22

Will grabbed Jacob’s arm and pulled him along. The Bastard wanted to follow them, but like Fox, he stayed at the ferry dock. Still, he didn’t take his eyes off them.

Will stopped among the crates piled between the jetties. “Sixteen says there’s another mirror in Nihon,” he murmured to Jacob. “She says she can sense them all.”

“Well, sure, she’s made out of the same glass.” Jacob couldn’t hide his disgust. He remembered all too well Fox’s figure frozen into silver after Sixteen’s brother had touched her.

“It’s not her fault!”

Heavens. His brother was actually in love.

“I have to go back to our world to check on Clara. It’s a long story. Spieler lied to me. But I will find him and demand that he help Sixteen.”

Demand? Help? Should he explain to him that Spieler’s help cost dearly? Jacob was relieved nonetheless. Sixteen seemed to resent her master for sending her to this world, and Will must have realized that he couldn’t trust the Elf. Spieler lied to me. Of course.

The sailors waved the first passengers onto the ferry. The litter bearers looked around searchingly for Will.

“Sixteen says the mirror belongs to another Elf. An old enemy of Spieler’s. He calls himself Krieger, and right after…”

Right after… He avoided speaking of what he had done as if saying it out loud would make it happen all over again.

“Will.” Jacob reached for his arm. “The Fairy had thousands on her conscience.”

Will just nodded.

“Tell me about the other Elf. Does that mean he’s already in this world?” 23

“Yes. Sixteen says they’re all coming back.”

This was bad news. As long as Spieler had been in the other world, Jacob had at least been able to fool himself into thinking that he and Fox could hide from him. And even Spieler’s joy over the end of his exile certainly wouldn’t make the Alderelf forget the debt Fox and Jacob owed him.

Will stared out to sea, lost in images Jacob could not see. One day he would ask him how he had killed the Fairy. But not now. No. Jacob could tell by the look on his brother’s face that he had no words for what he had done—and that Will wished he could undo it. No wonder. Spieler had seduced him into it. His help always carried the silver hook, like bait on a pole.

“Sixteen thinks the other Elf will let us use his mirror if she promises him some information about Spieler in exchange. I guess those two have been enemies for a long time.”

This wasn’t a plan. This was madness.

“Didn’t Sixteen tell you about her maker? Spieler is just as dangerous as the Fairy. And a lot more devious. I’m sure this Krieger is no better! If he helps you, it will cost you dearly!”

That sounded very much like a big brother. Shut up, Jacob. Just shut up! Will’s look said the same thing.

“He lied to me! He sent Clara a Sleeping Beauty spell and made me think it was the Dark Fairy.”

Ah, of course. All you had to do was fool Will into thinking he was saving the world or his girlfriend, and off he went. Spieler read mortal hearts more effortlessly than an instruction manual.

“Trust me!” This time Will’s embrace felt a little cooler. “I know what I’m doing. I’m an adult, brother! I’ll see you around. Here or in the other world.” 24

Jacob wanted to reach for his arm, as he had done so often when they were children. Wait, Will. He hadn’t even told him he’d met their father… But his brother was already walking toward the ferry. The porters hoisted the litter onto their shoulders, and Will followed. ‘Take care of Will, Jacob.’ How he had hated it when his mother had said that. And then he’d usually done it anyway.

I’m an adult. Yes, he was, and had been for a long time now. Jacob no longer had to tell him stories of this world. Will was writing his own story behind the mirrors, and as far as their father was concerned, it was better to just forget about him anyway, the way he’d forgotten about them.

You can take your time with the payment. But you will pay. Jacob thought he heard Spieler’s voice as clearly as if the Elf were crouching inside him. Today I bake, tomorrow brew, the next I’ll have the young Queen’s firstborn child. What if Sixteen still served her creator after all? What if she let Spieler know that she had seen them? So often, he thought of the Elf when he made love to her. Was it the same for Fox? He was glad that years ago she had had a witch show her how not to get pregnant.

The Ronin boarded the ship.

Your vixen will make beautiful children. I hope you don’t take too long. Absurd, how the memory quickened his heartbeat. As if the Elf was standing behind him, whispering the words in his ear.

“I hear there are very powerful foxes in Nihon.”

Jacob winced, even though it was Fox, not Spieler, standing behind him. Powerful foxes and butterfly cocoons that extended the lives of shapeshifters. No. Spieler told you that, Jacob. Reason enough never to travel to Nihon. He pulled 25Fox to him and buried his face in her hair. Your vixen will make beautiful children.

She raised her hand. The reddish-brown henna stamp on the back of it showed a crane in the circle of the sun’s disk.

“You get your stamp there.”

She pointed to the shack next to the dock. “I already paid for our passage.”

She pressed her hand over Jacob’s mouth when he tried to protest. “The Goyl told me that your brother is looking for an Elf who is an old enemy of Spieler. Perhaps he will tell us how to break our bargain with him.”

Jacob thought he detected a dread in her eyes that he had not seen there before. She wasn’t pregnant, was she? He didn’t dare ask. Your vixen will make beautiful children.

“No,” she whispered to him. “I’m not pregnant, but I want to be one day, so let’s take the chance. You have to know your enemies as well as you know your friends. Isn’t that what you always say?”

Yes, but knowing an immortal enemy all too well had almost cost him his neck once.

Will stood behind the railing, looking over at them.

“They also call Nihon the Islands of the Foxes.” She actually thought it was a good idea. And he had thought he was the only one who kept thinking of Spieler.

“The Elf calls himself Krieger.” He stroked her red hair. “Does that sound like someone to meet willingly?”

She laughed. And kissed him.

“You actually want to run away, Jacob Reckless,” she murmured to him. “I never thought I’d live to see this. You want to hide from the Elf, like a rabbit!”

“No, like a clever fox.” 26

Her face became serious. She looked toward the mountains from which they had come to the old port city, as if recalling the long journey and all the days and nights that had brought them here. Then she looked to the ship.

“I think Krieger sounds promising.” She grabbed a Dokraebi that was about to crawl into her jacket pocket and shooed it away. “Go get the stamp. They’ll be casting off soon. Or do I need to tell you about all the magic things they have in Nihon?”

27

3

JUST ONE DEAD

The porters had set the palanquin down by one of the ship’s masts. Fox could not take her eyes off it. She remembered well the muddy pond to which she had fled with Jacob after Sixteen had chased them like rabbits before her. ‘You won’t be fast enough, fox-sister.’ How she had spread her deadly fingers. Like a cat looking forward to sinking its claws into the mouse. Would Fox have believed then that one day they would follow Spieler’s assassin, hoping to learn what protected her from him? No. And yet, Fox still felt that getting on the ferry had been the right thing to do.

Jacob was leaning against the railing with Will, even though the sight of waves made him seasick. Did he trust 28his brother, even though Will was traveling with Sixteen and the Bastard? They had talked since the ferry had sailed. Was Jacob telling Will how John Reckless had made off with the Flying Carpet they had stolen from the Czar? Was he admitting to Will how it had broken his heart to once again have been merely used and then abandoned? No, Jacob found it hard to talk about such pain, and the two kept falling into silence as if there was too much they couldn’t bring themselves to say. Had Sixteen told Will things about Spieler that could help them? And had Jacob told him that they owed the Elf their firstborn child? No. He also didn’t talk about what scared him, and didn’t she feel the same way?

The moonlit night had been followed by a hazy, cold morning. Wisps of fog hung over the waves, and the mainland of Honguk had long since disappeared. ‘South Korea,’ Jacob had replied when she had asked him what name the ancient kingdom had in his world. ‘Another country I’ve now only traveled to behind the mirrors. I know your world so much better than mine.’

One of the sailors had climbed the mast soon after they had cast off, but he kept the spyglass pointed not at the horizon but at the waves. Fox didn’t have to wonder long why he was scanning the water with such a worried face.

“Funayùreiiii!”

Fox would have liked to know what creature inspired such fear that the passengers immediately jumped back from the railing. But all that emerged from the morning haze was a fishing boat, and the lookout gave the all-clear. The crossing from Honguk to Nihon seemed to be considered a dangerous affair. The lookout sounded the alarm several 29more times. Still, they encountered nothing more threatening than a school of flying fish. The Ronin remained so calm amid all the clamor from the mast that Fox finally decided to look only at them when the sailor thought he saw something frightening again. The most dangerous creature sits in that palanquin there! she wanted to call out to the lookout at one point. Even as the silvery body of a giant sea serpent rose from the waves in the distance and most of the passengers forgot their fear in the face of its beauty, Fox thought she could feel only the silver into which Sixteen’s brother had once transformed her.

The sea serpent wriggled away without paying any attention to the ship, and the litter bearers recovered from the fright by queuing up for an old man who was serving warm soup at the bow on the captain’s orders. This was the opportunity Fox had been waiting for.

The curtains covering the palanquin looked precious only from a distance. The silk was soiled and torn in some places. Do you have to eat when you are made of glass? Fox wondered as she ambled toward the palanquin. She remembered Sixteen’s eyes, so unaffected by the fear of her prey, almost amused. Spieler’s silver dagger. Which of her stolen faces had she shown Will, or had he fallen in love with them all? Fox kept some distance between herself and the palanquin as she stopped in front of it, just enough so that the occupant could not touch her.

“The vixen. Have you come to feast on my misery?” Of course, she had recognized Fox. Faces were Sixteen’s specialty.

“Why should I? I hear we’re on the same side now. Even if that’s hard to believe. I haven’t forgotten who made you.” 30

A hand pushed back the curtains just enough for Fox to catch a glimpse inside. Sixteen’s face was wood and glass. Tree bark grew on her cheeks and neck.

“The one who made me also did this to me. My left arm is wood, and my brother is dead.”

Brother… You have no brothers, Fox wanted to say. But who decided what the word meant? She loathed her two oldest brothers, even if they all shared the same mother.

Will had noticed that Fox was standing by the palanquin. He didn’t take his eyes off her, but he stayed with his brother.

Ask her, Fox.

“Is Spieler still in the other world, or is he back as well, like the Elf you told Will about?”

Sixteen didn’t get to answer. The lookout shouted again, but this time he pointed not to the sea but to the ferry deck. Something took shape beside the mainmast as if the haze that was still drifting up from the water was taking the silhouette of a human being. Even the sailors stumbled back in such horror that one almost fell over the railing.

The Bastard seemed to know who was showing himself. He shoved everyone who stood between him and Will out of the way and drew his saber as he planted himself protectively in front of Will. But weapons could not hurt the handsome young man who, paler than the mist, suddenly stood beside the mast. The turban and tunic he wore were from a time long past.

“Why the shouting?” asked Sixteen.

“It’s just a ghost.” Fox had encountered too many dead people to find them any more troubling than the living. The Ronin didn’t stir either, but their faces were rigid with respect—for death and those who came back from its realm. 31

The Bastard had been right to stand in front of Will. The ghost had eyes only for Jacob’s brother. He walked slowly toward him—with soundless and weightless steps. Jacob had drawn his saber, like the Goyl, but Will needed no help. He had pushed the Bastard aside and faced the Shadow unmoving. The jade came as naturally as skin tans in the sun, and Will’s stiffening face showed no trace of fear. Just guilt. And pain.

“How do you like the world without my dark mistress, Fairy killer?” The shadowy young man stopped in front of him. The words did not seem to come from his lips. They were whispered by the wind, salty and wet, and they were made of rage. “Tell those for whom you murdered her that she is not forgotten! And hear Chithira’s promise that you will never again have joy in life, for I will be waiting for you in your dreams.”

Fox could not read the look with which the spirit eyed her as she stepped to Jacob’s side. The yarn on her wrist grew cool as dew, and the anger on the hazy face gave way to a smile. The dead man bowed so low to her that she almost returned the bow. Then his form dissolved with a sigh, and a black moth the size of Fox’s hand, with skull-white spots on its frayed wings, fluttered away and lost itself among the sails.

The jade in Will’s skin disappeared as quickly as it had come, and the Goyl snapped so gruffly at all those who continued to stare at him in bewilderment that they retreated to the other side of the ferry to discuss what had happened in hushed voices. Had anyone understood who the dead man meant when he spoke of his dark mistress? Probably not.

The Ronin had watched the ghost’s appearance as unmoved as when they had heard the lookout’s cries of 32alarm, but Will’s transformation had clearly impressed them. They did not take their eyes off him and seemed to wonder what kinship he had with the Goyl. How did Will see himself now, as Goyl or human?

The Bastard was not as unaffected by ghosts as the Ronin were. As he slid the saber back into its scabbard, he did so with an unsteady hand.

“I take it you recognized him?”

Will nodded.

How do you like the world without my dark mistress, Fairy killer?

He turned and walked to the palanquin as if the only thing keeping him steady waited there.

Jacob leaned his back against the railing. He was certainly seasick by now. He hated sea voyages, but his pallor was surely also to do with the dead man.

“Whose ghost was it?” he asked the Bastard. “Tell me. You’re dying to talk about it, aren’t you?”

The Bastard shoved something into his mouth. He also avoided looking at the waves. It was said that the Goyl grew mushrooms that alleviated their fear of the water. “That? That was the Dark Fairy’s coachman. I guess when he was alive, he was also her lover. He tried to protect her, but your brother has good aim.”

Fox closed her eyes. The yarn on her wrist was still cool as frost, and for an instant, she thought she felt the crossbow’s bolt drive into her chest. Had the Dark One found no remedy to save herself because she had trusted Will to the end? Her coachman probably knew the answer. She was so cold!

The wind freshened as if the spirit had left its wrath behind. Jacob cursed as the ship dove bow-first into the waves. Damn it, Fox, his gaze said. I didn’t want to go to Nihon. 33

“I thought the moths died with the Dark One,” he said.

They had been her deadly companions and were supposedly the souls of her dead lovers.

“Maybe the coachman was her favorite, and she gave him some more protection before your brother…” The Bastard motioned the firing of a crossbow.

Jacob’s gaze sought Fox as if she could shield him from the images summoned by the Goyl’s gesture. She had not told him that, since she had picked up the yarn from beside the dead Fairy, she had often seen these images herself. She found them waiting in pools and streams, even in the dirty harbor water that had washed around the ferry’s dock. She didn’t just see the end of the Fairy. Sometimes she saw the lake with the lilies and the island where the Dark One had lived with her sisters before leaving them for Kami’en. Kami’en. Sometimes the water showed Fox the King of the Goyl so clearly that she looked around for him. Why didn’t she tell Jacob about the images? Or how sometimes she thought she could feel the crossbow’s bolt in her own chest? Because she knew what he would have said. Throw away the golden thread, Fox! But she couldn’t just throw it away. She ran her fingers along it while Jacob argued with the Bastard about how they could protect Will from the ghost. She often caught herself tracing the golden thread with her fingers. She felt life in it, beauty, strength, and love. More than anything else, love. And sometimes she felt—Jacob would have laughed at her—as if the golden thread left behind by the Dark Fairy was protecting all the love in the world. Including the love between her and him.

The lookout called something down from the mast again, but this time his voice sounded relieved. Several islands had 34appeared on the horizon. They floated on the sea like a chain of green jade.

The Islands of the Foxes. Fox felt curiosity, hope, and the shadows of coming danger.

35

4

YANAGITA HIDEO

When, by the stench of all the lava lizards, was the Pup finally going to tell his big brother to go to hell? Nerron had thought several times about pushing him discreetly over the railing, but the Pup would probably have jumped after his big brother. And so, when they docked, all five of them went ashore.

Why? Had he and the Pup not been doing just fine without the fabulous Jacob Reckless? “Happy” was not a word Nerron usually used to describe himself. It was, in his eyes, an emotional state only possible when paired with stupidity. But in the last few months, he had come perilously close to that emotional state. The Pup just had a way of stealing into your heart, even if your heart was made of stone. His unreserved trust, the friendship he draped around his onyx 36shoulders like a warm blanket, the esteem Nerron hardly even had to earn. All of them were very suspicious and unfamiliar sensations that made the Bastard shudder, and at the same time, filled him with—yes, damn it, he just couldn’t call it anything else!—happiness. The only living creature that had ever granted him such unconditional affection had been his mother, and what choice did a mother have?

The Bastard and the Pup… It sounded like they had always been meant to be together. Even the malachite in his onyx skin no longer seemed like a blemish but an echo of the jade that made Will Reckless his equal in rage. Yet despite all this Nerron could not forget that the Pup was first and foremost the hero of his childhood fairy tales, the Jade Goyl who would make his king invincible. True, Kami’en was conquering one country after another, but the good times never lasted long. Other times would come, dark times, all signs pointed to that because every victory also increased their enemies’ number. And then? Then Kami’en would need the Jade Goyl; until then, the Bastard would take good care of him.

It wasn’t going to be easy. The glass viper was very good at making the Pup forget what he had been born to do. Sixteen… Too bad the Fairy hadn’t killed her. Oh, what a sad spectacle to see how much the Pup adored her. Nerron, of course, pretended that he understood this adoration. He didn’t know much about friendship, but he knew that if he had told the Pup what he really thought of Sixteen, he probably would have been sent packing. It was a mystery what he saw in her. The bark disfigured her so badly that one might as well have been caressing a tree. Offset with a few shards of mirror. But—as Nerron kept telling himself, to 37keep his patience—it was better to let some more time pass before he took Will to Kami’en. After all, the Jade Goyl had killed his king’s lover. On the other hand—what could dead love weigh against the promise of invincibility?

Yes, better to let a few more months pass, Nerron reassured himself as he disembarked behind the palanquin. Perhaps it was even better not to return the Jade Goyl to Kami’en until he was in need. That would also allow him to follow the Pup to the other world if they did indeed find the mirror. After all, he had to make sure the fool came back. Yes, of course, he had to follow him. A new world… Since childhood, he had dreamed of finding a new world behind some enchanted door! But in his dreams, he had done it alone, not side by side with a friend.

Side by side with a friend… Just listen to yourself, Bastard!

Nerron almost laughed out loud. The ferry had docked in a bay surrounded by green mountains and a cluster of houses that looked like a sleepy village rather than a port city. No matter. It felt so good to finally have solid ground under his boots again, even if Jacob Reckless was trudging ashore just behind him. Surely he would soon see to it that the Bastard’s happiness was dimmed.

None of them spoke the local language. But waiting at the docks, along with white-painted prostitutes and obsequiously smiling porters, were men who offered their services as guides and translators. Some were Ronin, like the warriors who had traveled with them on the ferry. But most wore the patched garments worn the world over by those who had not been born to princes or warriors.

Jacob Reckless walked up to the same man the Bastard would have chosen as a guide: a hulking young giant who 38tried to keep an attentive expression on his face, though he was visibly bored with waiting at the docks. Boredom came only to those who had a good measure of cleverness and imagination. Nerron saw the beginnings of a tattoo on the fleshy neck and the powerful forearms. The rest of the massive body disappeared under an unadorned dark tunic and wide pants, like those worn by most of the waiting men. Even the Ronin had worn such wide, shapeless pants on the ferry, very unbecoming of warriors, Nerron thought, compared to his tight lizard-skin garments. But though their clothes did not imply it, the fighting skills of Nihon’s inhabitants were legendary.

The young giant seemed to have no trouble conversing with a Westling. The dove-eyed hulk did his best not to stare at Nerron as Reckless pointed first to the palanquin and then to the rest of their traveling party. The sight of the vixen, on the other hand, had an undeniably dramatic effect on the mountain of flesh. He could hardly take his eyes off her, but finally, he nodded several times and followed Reckless eagerly to the palanquin, watched by the envious glances of his guildmates. When Nerron joined them, the hulk was explaining to Reckless in fluent Albian where they could buy horses and donkeys. Then he greeted Fox in Lorrainian with a bow that was noticeably deeper than he’d given to the others, and finally, he addressed Nerron with the correct Goyl salutation.

“Last but not least, may I introduce myself? My name is Yanagita Hideo,” he explained with a smile that was at once friendly and as guarded as the vaults of an onyx lord.

“Your very esteemed brother,” he said to the Pup, as he ever so scrupulously avoided looking toward the palanquin 39as if to demonstrate his respect for the drawn curtains, “has informed me that your destination is Kakeya. This is usually a journey of five days, but we must regrettably make a detour. In the vicinity of Ómi, the Mizuno and Ikeda clans are fighting each other, as the former supports the Shogun and the latter supports the Imperial House. Sorry to bore you with the political squabbles of my country, but our empress is old and ill, and the crown prince is still very young…”

Yanagita Hideo did not elaborate on his last words. He rightly assumed that the foreigners knew the dangers it brought to a country when a veteran ruler departed.

“May I further ask what business brings you to Kakeya?” He bowed his head as if apologizing for the rude inquiry. “I am obliged to report to the imperial authorities your reasons for traveling our lands.”

Nerron saw the Pup seek his older brother’s gaze. Old habits died slowly, even with a skin of jade.

“We want to take my brother’s wife to one of your sacred shrines,” Reckless said. “Even in our distant homeland, people know of their healing power.”

Ah, of course. Jacob was a fabulous liar. A pinch of truth and the whole soup tasted of it. Yanagita Hideo swallowed it without hesitation, but he glanced at the palanquin with slight concern.

“It’s not contagious,” the Pup assured him, disregarding his brother’s warning look. “Someone cursed her.”

The wrong word.

“A holy curse!” added Nerron quickly. “She touched a sacred tree, and now she is turning into its likeness. We’ve heard that the gods of Nihon dwell in trees, mountains, and 40rivers, so we’re hoping one of them can return her to human form.”

It was probably better not to mention that she was actually made of glass.

The relief on their guide’s face proved that Nerron had judged him correctly. How convenient that years ago, he had casually quizzed a monk from Nihon about his islands while stealing some magic amulets from him.

“A sacred tree!” Yanagita Hideo lowered his voice reverently. “Which one was it? A sakaki?”

“It was a Silver-Alder,” came the voice from the palanquin.

“Ah.” Yanagita Hideo nodded as if that explained everything. “I take it that is your name for hannoki. I’ve heard it’s better not to get too close to these trees, despite their beauty.”

He nodded again as if all his questions were answered to his complete satisfaction. “Our path will take us through the Misasa mountains,” he continued. “There are many yōkai there: karasu-tengu, mujina, kitsune,” he gave Fox a quick glance, “and many yùrei… angry spirits of the dead.”

Reckless reached into his coat pocket. The coins he held out to their guide were, as far as Nerron could see, not the gold talers he used to pull out of his pockets in inexplicable quantities, but Russian silver ducats.

“Reckless-san, please do not insult me,” Yanagita Hideo said with a dismissive gesture. “I am in no way outlining these dangers to increase the fee for my services. I admit that such dishonorable behavior,” he looked to the other guides, “is quite common on these islands, but my motivation was different. You are strangers in my homeland, and I must make you aware of the dangers before you entrust yourself 41to me. I am no warrior, but I will protect you as best I can and guide you by safe paths to your destination.”

The giant emphasized his honesty too much for Nerron’s taste, but the other candidates didn’t necessarily look any more trustworthy. As for all the dangers Yanagita Hideo had so carefully enumerated—well, they would have to be on their guard. So? The only reason Nerron was alive was that he had been doing precisely that since he’d been able to walk.

Yanagita Hideo was still trying hard not to stare at him. But after the customs guards waved them through, at last, Nerron finally caught him at it.

“What?” he snapped at him. “No, I have not touched any of your sacred stones. I was born with this skin. But if it reassures your countrymen, tell them it was your stones.”

The monk had also told him about those. Supposedly, they were all over the roadsides. Yanagita Hideo surely found it disrespectful the way he talked about the sacred objects of Yanagita’s islands. But his face remained expressionless.

“You are not mistaken, Nerron-san. You are the first of your kind I have met,” he replied in a dignified, controlled voice. “But even in Nihon, one has heard of the great Kami’en who has brought Austry to its knees and made Albion and Lorraine forget their old enmity. Our newspapers have told of his campaigns in Wallachia and Bavaria, two conquests in only five months. On the battlefield, no one can match the King of the Goyl. Many of our samurai admire him, and only last month a hundred Ronin set out for Vena to offer him their services.”

This speech from so strange a mouth filled Nerron with the unpleasant feeling that he had not served his king very 42well in recent months. But after all, he was guarding the Jade Goyl and with him the embodied assurance of Kami’en’s invincibility.