Page 1 of Two Thousand Shadows

Prologue

ZHANG JUNJIE

18 BCE

Luoyang, Zhang clan home

Asummer breeze swept through the plum orchard, stirring the dense covering of leaves. Junjie tensed, waiting for another sharp burn of pain as the fading sunlight shot through a fresh break in the foliage. Sunset was still more than an hour away, but his torture wouldn’t stop just because the sun had disappeared below the horizon.

“Attack now!” Jiang Chong ordered, his voice as sharp and cutting as a blade.

Across from Junjie, Xiang stared at him with an expression of frustration and pain. As a daywalker, the sun offered Xiang no torment, so Jiang Chong liked to use him as a training weapon for the rest of the clan. He expected them to fight and defeat Xiang despite being constantly burned by the sun.

“Attack now, while he’s weak!” Jiang Chong bellowed from his haven in a thick bank of shadows.

“Junjie is not my enemy,” Xiang gritted out between clenched teeth. “He’s suffered enough. The wind is picking up. There’s no way he can avoid the sun.”

“Then he must learn to fight through the pain,” Jiang Chong snapped. His hard, lean features twisted into a sneer. “This entire sect is soft and weak. Your last shifu?1 coddled you, allowing endless excuses to stunt your ultimate potential. Even after all my tireless dedication to your training, it’s clear that not one of you will ever be more than a mediocre fighter.”

Junjie tightened his hold on the hilt of his sword to stop the trembling in his hand. Shifu Zhang Shi Lei had been both a brilliant teacher and a loving uncle. He couldn’t stomach another harsh word against him.

Before he could take a step toward Jiang Chong, he caught a tiny movement out of the corner of his eye. He peeked at another shaded spot where Xiao Dan stood under a tree, ever so slightly shaking his head. His dark eyes were full of fear and warning.

“Now attack him, Xiang! I am your creator, and you will obey me!” Jiang Chong’s fierce words rang through the orchard.

But it was Xiang’s low, icy words that struck them all. “No. I’d much rather kill you.”

No one had a chance to react, let alone stop him. Xiang lunged at Jiang Chong, aiming to slice the vampire’s head clean off his body. A surprised cry broke from Jiang Chong as he leaped back and raised his sword in time to block Xiang’s blow.

Junjie hesitated for a heartbeat of indecision. To attack Jiang Chong and fail to kill him meant putting the entire clan in danger. Retribution in Jiang Chong’s eyes was whatever inflicted the most pain. And most of the time that was harming the innocent.

But doing nothing meant abandoning Xiang. It also meant staying trapped under Jiang Chong’s control for another night, and none of them wanted that.

This might be their one chance.

Junjie shot forward as Jiang Chong forced Xiang to retreat. He moved too close to a dancing shaft of golden sunlight, and searing pain cut across his cheek, but he ignored it. He fought Jiang Chong, driving him out of his pocket of shadows, but it didn’t last long. The vampire was older and faster.

Yet, before his blade could touch Junjie, another stopped it. Junjie gazed up to find that Xiao Dan had stepped in to save him.

“Leave now or we will destroy you,” Xiao Dan said evenly to Jiang Chong.

“Never!”

“Good. I was hoping you’d say that,” Yichen growled. He jumped in to fight alongside Xiao Dan.

The battle ranged all over the orchard, various members of the clan leaping in to join the fight when one had to retreat. They attempted to herd Jiang Chong toward the sunlight. If they could injure him, they might create an opening to end his life once and for all. It was amazing that he wasn’t disappearing into the dead realm to escape them.

Of course, if he ran now, he had to know he’d never be able to reclaim control of the clan. His cowardice would undermine his every order from this day forward.

To Junjie, it didn’t matter if he ran or died here. This was a turning point. Jiang Chong had pushed them too far for too long. They would reclaim their freedom from him or die in the attempt, but there was no going back to being his tormented “student.”

Chen sent spikes of ice hurtling through the air, but Jiang Chong darted away at the last second to miss being impaled. Ming Yu and Mei Lian stepped up to drive him into the fray. When he found himself overwhelmed yet again, Jiang Chong sliced a hole between the dead and living realms and slipped away.

“Be careful! Protect each other!” Xiao Dan shouted. As he spoke, he waved his hand across the surrounding orchard. For a moment, the world seemed to waver and shimmer as Shixiong’s?2 glamour washed over everything. He’d placed a forest scene on top of the orchard but kept the time of day the same, so they knew where the sunlight and shadows fell.

“Where is he?” Mei Lian demanded. She clenched a spear in both hands while pressing her shoulders against Ming Yu’s.

“Stay calm. He’ll reveal himself, eventually. There’s no way he’d leave without killing one of us.”

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