《The Two Keepers (Shuli Go Vol. 5)》 Part 1 In the final decades of the Shan dynasty, the Shuli Go ¨C magic-infused lawmen and women who had kept the peace for two thousand years ¨C were disbanded as a caste. Once arbiters of disagreements and keepers of the peace, their existence outside the law made life difficult for them, and for other parts of society. Possessing greater strength and speed than normal, legend of their abilities persisted long after they had ceased holding official positions in the Central Empire. Lu Qui 16, 3277 CE ¨C Southern Shu Kingdom Brilliant River Valley was a small village in the foothills of the Zhosian mountains. It was a village so simpleminded and lacking any real society whatsoever that its entire name was just a description of its geography. It was in a valley near the Brilliant River. It was a small village of maybe twenty-five homes and a single gathering house that quadrupled as the magistrate¡¯s office, the courthouse, the post office, and the inn. The inside of this building was little more than a wide dirt floor with a few curtains for rooms and a set of individual tables for serving the tasteless, barren fare that passed for food in that remote part of the Central Empire. And it was there that Zhao Lian was having a very bad day. ¡°Hey bitch, I¡¯m talking to you.¡± The bad day was actually the culmination of a very bad week. Lian had left the Zhosian mountains heartbroken. On her way down the mountain path into the Central Empire there had been a small avalanche that had wiped out the road for a few days, and which Lian had helped clear with her bare hands. Then her horse had broken an ankle just at the end of the ride down. She¡¯d been forced to kill the animal and walk the last twenty miles until she reached the first ramshackle little village she could find. The profiteering denizens of which saw a woman desperate for a beast of burden and vastly overcharged her for an old, weathered pony. A pony which groaned, whined, and complained so pathetically under Lian¡¯s weight she was almost certain she¡¯d wind up killing two animals in a week. That pony had just barely made it into Brilliant River Valley, the sound of its tortured whinnies Lian¡¯s only companion on the long, rough ride. ¡°Hey! Look at me when I¡¯m talking to you.¡± Lian¡¯s bad week was just a part of a very bad month. She found that despite her best efforts, the rather substantial amount of money she¡¯d acquired the previous year seemed to be disappearing faster than she thought possible, and she was down to the same amount of money she regularly had after leaving the Zhosian mountains for the winter: none at all. The weather the past month had been cold and rainy, and the temple where she slept every night had the unfortunate habit of ringing very large bells at the break of dawn to begin a morning prayer. And that far south, in the middle of summer, dawn started just a few short hours after the bells had previously rung for dusk prayers. Lian had, more than anything, been looking forward to a single night¡¯s uninterrupted sleep. Sleep she evidently wouldn¡¯t find in Brilliant River Valley. ¡°You fucking cunt. Turn around right the fuck now.¡± But actually Lian¡¯s bad month had been part of a very bad summer. Flush with what she thought was enormous wealth, much of which she¡¯d already donated to the temple that housed and cared for her son Quan, she¡¯d returned to her twelve-year-old boy hoping to find a way to reconnect with him and maybe even discuss a way he could join her in some way in the Central Empire. She¡¯d returned to the Zhosian mountains and the cold, windy plateau where Quan lived, with hope. Hope that the relationship she¡¯d fractured countless times with her son would somehow be mended into something more familiar and comfortable and loving. She¡¯d left Zhosian heartbroken, her son still living in the temple he hated almost as much as he hated his mother. ¡°That¡¯s it,¡± a thick, meaty hand slammed down next to Lian¡¯s teacup, rattling it but not her. ¡°You¡¯re gonna fucking look at me or I¡¯m gonna twist your head to do it.¡± The tea had given her a headache. Shuli Go were allergic to caffeine. Not as allergic as they were to alcohol, which could kill them if they drank so much as a single beer or bowl of wine, but caffeine wasn¡¯t pleasant in the least. She¡¯d asked for a green tea, or a herbal one, but in a village as all-round-purely-terrible as Brilliant River Valley, they¡¯d looked at her, confused. So black tea, cheap, dark and burnt, was what she had to drink. She reached for the tea cup and the rough hand grabbed ahold of hers, stopping her before she could take a sip. She exhaled loudly. The day was not getting any better. ¡°What was it you were asking?¡± She asked, making no attempt to hide her boredom, or the fact that she wasn¡¯t actually looking up at the beast of a man who was looming over her with a hand wrapped around hers. ¡°I was asking if it¡¯s true,¡± he responded with a thick, nasally voice. Like the scent of the rest of the village, she could smell the stupid pouring out of this man. ¡°If what¡¯s true?¡± ¡°If you Shuli Go can sit on a man¡¯s dick and pull him up off the ground with your fuckin cunt?¡± So enthralled by the exceptional quality of his insult, he and the two men he¡¯d been sitting with in the gathering house all laughed aloud, and he released Lian¡¯s hand in order to laugh all the harder. Lian took a moment, then responded in a sad, defeated voice. ¡°It¡¯s true.¡± The laughing altered, half-scared, half-raucous. Lian took a sip of the bitter, burnt liquid, then set the tea cup down and finished her thought. ¡°Of course it¡¯d take a cock a lot bigger than you¡¯ve got for me to hold on to.¡± The big man took a swing at her, but Lian had seen it coming so far away she could have mailed a letter across the Empire and picked it up on the other side before it hit her. She swayed to the side and he tumbled past her. She stood up as he turned around to face her. She¡¯d seen him and his two friends when she walked into the room, gambling over one of the tables, but this was her first chance to inspect him. He was a beast. At least a foot taller than Lian and well over 250 pounds, all muscle that bulged and twitched with every movement. He was unarmed but dressed well for that part of the Central Empire. Based on the diet he¡¯d need to keep that body intact, she assumed he was some sort of minor nobility. The yes-man attitude of his two companions cemented Lian¡¯s interpretation. He was a very, very big fish in a very, very small pond. She¡¯d met men like him in the past, and never felt threatened by them. They were school yard bullies whose yards had grown to tiny fiefdoms owned, most often, by their parents. Since the Shuli Go had stopped policing the rural parts of the Central Empire, she¡¯d found more and more of them popping up, trampling the weaker men and women around them for the sake of a few cheap laughs and the cheaper thrill of watching someone do what they wanted. Lian watched them operate, but she didn¡¯t usually care enough to do anything about them. Walk away, let them keep their dignity, and there was no problem. That was the rational reaction. And Lian never managed any emotional response to these men. She couldn¡¯t even muster pity: they were too simple for something as draining as pity. The simple truth was as soon as someone a little bit stronger than them walked in the door, they needed to beat that person down. It wasn¡¯t just a desire, or an instinct, or even a necessity. It went deeper than that. Their entire existence was based on being the biggest, strongest, most powerful person in any dirt-floored room they walked into, and when that existence was challenged they reverted into an animal state. She¡¯d seen it in bears, monkeys, tigers and eagles. The terrifying notion that they, at the top of the food chain, could become a prey to someone else, terrified them so completely they had no choice but to fight back. They were simple creatures. Lian had no problem letting them believe whatever they wanted to believe, and she usually didn¡¯t want to correct the mistaken thoughts of someone like this hulking man. Walk away, everyone stays calm, no one gets hurt. It was foolproof actually. Worked every time. Walk away, no one has any problem.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Except Lian already had a problem. She¡¯d had a very bad summer. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have tried to do that,¡± she informed him quietly as the room, including his two associates, grew quiet. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have tried to hit me.¡± She saw it in his face, the terror that gave way to the kind of rage required for survival. His voice quaked with anger. ¡°You should have shut your fucking hole.¡± Lian felt her own rage shaking underneath her skin, the way her vision was narrowing in on this man. He wasn¡¯t a threat, but she wanted to kill him just the same. She wanted to break every bone in his body. Not because of what he¡¯d said or done, but just because she wanted to do something about the avalanche and the dead horse and the annoying pony and the son she was absolutely sure didn¡¯t love her. If she was anyone else and still as strong as she was, that would have been it, he would have died right there. But Lian had been well trained, and just as her body experienced the rush of adrenaline and endorphins to prepare her to fight, her mind recognized that it was losing control and reasserted itself. Just like his anger, her re-centering was not conscious ¨C just the by-product of preparing for moments like this her whole life, when letting her emotions and physical responses take over could result in her making the wrong decision. It was automatic and almost instant. So instead of drawing her sword and killing him, she forced herself to breathe deeply, to wash out the adrenaline and center her mind back on the task at hand: making sure no one died. ¡°You think you can make me fight you by insulting me a little bit?¡± She asked him, making sure her voice was calm and even. ¡°You think I¡¯m as dumb as you? Like I¡¯m going to bite into some third-rate piece of shit bait like that? You have no idea what I can do to you and you don¡¯t want to know. So take you and your two friends and back the fuck away, so I can leave. Ok? You win. I leave. Nobody gets hurt. You win.¡± She saw his face register the victory, his eyes clear out the anger for a split-second, and the edges of his mouth distort back into their usual states of dominance. But something ¨C maybe the way she insulted him as she conceded defeat, or the way she¡¯d still insisted she could beat him, or maybe just the fact that she was a woman ¨C rekindled his anger almost immediately. ¡°That¡¯s right bitch,¡± he roared, smiling with a victory he knew would be temporary. ¡°You take that useless fucking pussy of yours out of my land before I let every man in town fill it up.¡± Lian swallowed and began her usual exit strategy. She kept her eyes on him and walked on a path that would take her just past his large frame. She walked slow, keeping one hand on her Wamaian sword in case he tried something stupid. She made it to him, barely avoided brushing against his clothing as she walked past, and continued on, his insults continuing the whole time. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll have to wait to find out what a Shuli Go pussy feels like it. I always imagined it has to be dried up and crusty like the rest of your insides. Of course a pussy that can¡¯t give you any kids isn¡¯t much of a pussy at all. Can you imagine? Fuck. A Shuli Go kid? That fucker would be just as useless as the cunt it fell out of.¡± Lian stopped. Her mind was overtaken as the rage of her very bad summer overwhelmed almost every defense it had ever prepared. She breathed in deeply again, hearing his lips form into a smile as he finally got what he wanted from her: a fight. Her final mental defenses allowed her to pull her two swords off of her body, then place them on the ground as she turned around to face him. ¡°I¡¯m not going to kill you,¡± she said calmly as her mind reoriented itself away from avoiding the fight and on to ending it as quickly and painfully as possible. ¡°Consider yourself lucky.¡± The rage reappeared on his face just as she set her weapons down, and when she looked up she saw the look she wanted to wipe from his face: the drive to survive, to dominate, to stand atop the bodies of the fallen and peer down at the ones weaker than him. She was going to make sure he was the weaker one at the end of the fight. They rushed towards each other. Lian took in his movements in a second and knew how she would beat him. He was big and probably just as strong as her in terms of absolute strength, but Shuli Go were also two or three times faster with their movements compared to normal humans. In comparison he was slow and every swing was telegraphed. She recognized the first punch he threw at her as part of the Southern Shu adaptation of boxing where two contestants generally stood as close to one another as possible and just hit each other until the loser fell. It was the exact opposite of the techniques Shuli Go were taught, and that¡¯s how she would beat him. She ducked the first easily predicted punch and closed the distance between them, delivering two quick punches to his abdomen and liver, before following it up with a flying knee into his chest that hurled him backwards and onto the ground. As expected, the two lackeys ran at her as well because no bully ever actually bullied on their own. Lian moved swiftly, twirling into a side kick that struck the first, much smaller man, just below the ribs, deflating his lungs and sending him back onto the dirt ground. The second man was stunned by Lian¡¯s speed and barely reacted to his friend being taken out before she punched him hard, down and across the temple, smashing his face towards the ground and knocking him out cold. Neither of them would be fighting for several minutes. She turned back to face the bigger man. He could take a hit, that much was certain. He got up and faced her, his hands up in a traditional defensive position this time, his own defeat seemingly dawning on him. He approached Lian more carefully, taking timid steps forward and being sure to keep her limbs in sight at all time. It didn¡¯t matter of course. Lian was simply too fast and strong for him to keep up. She bounced in and out of his range, daunting him into throwing a slow, ill-informed punch or lumbering kick, then responding with three or four direct strikes of her own. At first his defense was too solid for her to hit him in the face, but after two or three series of rapid hits, his hands began to droop and his breathing grew laboured as his giant body struggled to keep itself fed with oxygen and energy. She had to stretch with every punch that went to his head, but even at full extension she managed to deliver enough force to set his nose and mouth bleeding. Then she delivered a kick into his eye socket, breaking his cheek bone and starting the eye to swell almost at once. He began coughing up blood, but he still stood up and lumbered towards her, the desire to win, to dominate, still pulsing underneath the pain and fatigue. She kicked him hard in the knee, wrecking the ligaments there as his foot remained planted and the knee bent. He groaned in pain but his mouth was so full of blood the sound almost didn¡¯t register. Limping, exhausted, and having failed to hit her even once, the push for survival in his face had transformed into that of the tiger right before the hunters hit it with the final arrow. Almost any other time, Lian would have taken pity on such a creature, but not this one, and not this time. She continued with the beating, hitting him over and over again in every part of his body with as much force as she could muster. Finally his hands fell to his side as he became unconscious on his feet. Lian didn¡¯t stop. She jumped into a straight kick that fully extended through his face, the ball of her foot crushing deep into his jaw and skull. He finally toppled over and hit the ground on his knees, his face falling forward and striking the dirt, leaving him like a monk in prayer, his hands at his feet and his head prostrate. Lian knew it was over. She¡¯d won. If he remembered the fight at all he¡¯d not only know he¡¯d lost, but that he¡¯d lost so badly he would never be able to think of himself as the strongest person in any room ever again. Not after a woman half his size had destroyed him so utterly. But she still vibrated with rage. It had been the comment about Quan of course. Not that he knew about Quan, but he¡¯d struck the nerve he couldn¡¯t possibly have known would exist. All she was thinking about was her son, and his last words to her before she¡¯d left Zhosian at the start of that terrible week. ¡°I wish you weren¡¯t my mother.¡± She stepped into the final kick, delivered to the prone head on the floor, with all her strength and venom, she kicked through his head, twisting and turning it across the dirt floor. Something broke. Lian didn¡¯t care what. The breaking felt good, as if it had finally snapped away the pain of Quan¡¯s comment. As if anything could take that pain away. Her clothes were covered in blood, the dirt was coppery with it, and the room was utterly silent. After the final kick, an old man wearing slightly more formal clothes than the rest of the old men in the village ambled forward, terrified of Lian. She looked at him as her breathing calmed down and recognized him as a magistrate. His weathered face reminded Lian of the magistrate she¡¯d worked with when she was a proper Shuli Go: concerned, but unsurprised. He¡¯d seen it all in his age. Local bullies, and the ones who beat them. ¡°You should probably go child,¡± he said quietly. ¡°I¡¯ll have to tell the local detachment what happened here. They might hold you if they find you. His family¡­¡± he let the thought carry out on its own. Lian eventually nodded. The rage was quieting down and she didn¡¯t want to be there anymore anyway. She¡¯d prefer the sound of her pained pony over the shithole that was Brilliant River Valley. She picked up her swords and stomped out of the place. As she threw open the door and reached the outside, a young girl, maybe ten years old, ran into her and was knocked over. The girl¡¯s expression was terrified and hurt, so she looked to the man who was ten feet behind her for reassurance. This man¡¯s face was calm but concerned, and vaguely familiar. Lian didn¡¯t care about any of them though. She just walked past, trying to scrub the blood off her knuckles and shoes as she went. She got back to her pony and cursed at it when it complained about carrying her weight yet again. Part 2 29 Qui, 3281 CE ¨C Zhosian Palden stalked through the candle-lit room, playing with the leather crop in his right hand, occasionally slapping it down onto his left palm with a loud smack that stung slightly. The boy in the meditative pose in the middle of the room sat murmuring to himself, completely oblivious to Palden¡¯s presence. Palden decided that had to change. ¡°Look out, ugly. The pain¡¯s a coming.¡± The boy either didn¡¯t hear or ignored Palden¡¯s warning. He simply sat, continuing to murmur, his eyelids closed and the muscles underneath completely still. He was shirtless, his breathing shallow and slow and his hands in his lap, completely immobile. Palden brought his circling closer to the boy, gradually encroaching until he was within whipping distance. He continued his pacing, letting his threat hang in the boy¡¯s mental space. He¡¯d heard Palden. Palden knew it. A loud snap echoed across the room as Palden whipped the boy on the flat of his back, the leather instantly leaving a thick red mark where it had made contact. Yet the boy continued, completely unfazed. The murmuring didn¡¯t stop, nor did the calm, measured breathing. ¡°Oh, think your tough do ya?¡± Palden goaded the boy, continuing his circle. ¡°Tough, but so very, very hideous.¡± With two quick motions he brought the whip down twice more, once on the shoulder, once on the lower back. Still the boy continued murmuring. Palden grew slightly irritated. He sped up his pace, walking quicker, striking more often. He hit the boy in the chest, the arms, and built a mosaic of red lashes on the boy¡¯s back. All the while he hurled insults at the boy. ¡°You keep whispering like a little bitch, I¡¯m gonna start treating you like one. What? You want a bone? Something your ugly mug can chew on all night? Maybe you can share it with that ugly bitch mother of yours.¡± There was the slightest hiccup in the boy¡¯s chanting. Imperceptible to most, but Palden heard it. Felt it. He kept up with that line of insult, telling the boy how ugly and detestable his mother was. But the boy¡¯s fa?ade wouldn¡¯t shake any further, not even with paired with more lashes across the body. Finally Palden had had enough, and as he crossed around the boy¡¯s side ¨C so he wouldn¡¯t hear it coming ¨C he brought the whip to his side and slashed it across the boy¡¯s face. The boy stopped murmuring. His head turned with the blow, and his face distorted into anger and surprise. He slowly opened his eyes and looked Palden in the face. For a split second he looked as if he would try and take the crop out of Palden¡¯s hands and beat him senseless with it. But then a smile formed on the boy¡¯s face instead. ¡°That wasn¡¯t fair. You weren¡¯t supposed to hit me in the face.¡± Palden laughed and sat down across from the boy, looking him in the face and smiling. ¡°Well you weren¡¯t getting very mad when I hit you everywhere else, was I?¡± ¡°Yeah, I was doing well. That¡¯s the whole point.¡± ¡°No, that wasn¡¯t the point. You know what the whole point was Quan?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You really are ugly. I mean hideous. You¡¯re grotesque. The girls all say so. If they ever need to vomit, they just think of your face.¡± ¡°Screw you,¡± Quan laughed and lunged at his friend, reaching for the crop to take it from him. Palden laughed and held Quan back, occasionally whipping him gently on the top of the head. They wrestled and the crop went flying into a corner. Palden was two years older and more mature physically, so he held Quan back with relative ease. Eventually he pinned Quan down in a head lock and continued berating him. ¡°I mean, I hate to break it to you. But no one is ever going to want to put your penis in their mouth.¡± ¡°Fuck you!¡± Quan tried digging his knuckles into Palden¡¯s bones to get him to release the headlock, but Palden had been trained in the same pain resistance techniques as Quan, only for much longer. ¡°Your mother on the other hand, I mean¡­¡± Palden inhaled sharply, as if the thought of Lian had taken his breath away. ¡°You¡¯re dead,¡± Quan kept driving his knuckles in until they hit bone and finally prompted Palden to release the hold. The pair kept wrestling for a few more minutes, until there was a loud knock on the door and Lian poked her head in. The boys stopped and stood up, looking shamefaced that they¡¯d been caught goofing around. ¡°My my,¡± Lian scolded them gently as she walked into the room. Her Zhosian was accented but clear. ¡°You two are supposed to be the best students around here, and yet every time I see you two together, you look like a pair of newborn monkeys.¡± ¡°We were just finishing, Madam Zhao,¡± Palden said sheepishly, trying to avoid eye contact with the woman. ¡°Ok, well you¡¯re finished now. Master Tinley wants to see you Palden. And Quan and I have some work to do of our own.¡± ¡°Of course Madam,¡± Palden, who was six inches taller than Lian, bowed. He was a handsome, smart, and charming young man, the star of the Tiendu Shu in Zhosian. None of which kept him from sulking his way past Lian, visibly intimdated by the woman. But once he was behind her back he turned around and made a series of rude gestures concerning various parts of her body that only Quan could see. Quan shook his head and laughed. Lian turned to catch Palden, but he was too quick and simply nodded his way out of the room. Once he was out of the room Lian asked in Imperial, ¡°he¡¯s still got a crush on me?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so anymore. Now he just pretends to so he can piss me off.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not working though.¡± ¡°Not really.¡± ¡°Good.¡± She approached her son and embraced him. To her surprise he didn¡¯t recoil as much as he usually did. Maybe because she¡¯d heard Palden using her to insult him, or maybe for another reason entirely. She didn¡¯t care. She enjoyed the embrace. She pulled away but kept her hands on his shoulders. ¡°Are you all packed?¡± ¡°Not yet. I have a few things I need still.¡± ¡°Ok. We¡¯re leaving as soon as morning prayers are over and we have the first meal.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Lian took a long look at her son. ¡°And what about you?¡±Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Quan was confused. ¡°What about me?¡± ¡°Do you have a crush on anyone?¡± ¡°Mom!¡± He flushed with embarrassment and turned away. ¡°You¡¯re almost all grown up. If you were a regular kid in the Central Empire I¡¯d have to start looking for a nice young woman to pair you off with.¡± ¡°Thank Heaven I¡¯m not in the Central Empire then.¡± ¡°Well I know they do things differently here, but there hasn¡¯t been anyone? Not even just, you know, a quickie out in the snow drifts in the middle of winter?¡± Quan¡¯s face hung down in embarrassment and he mumbled, ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re talking about this¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m just saying, I¡¯ve seen the way some of the girls around here look at you and Palden when you¡¯re walking around the temple grounds.¡± ¡°You heard him with your¡­ super ears. They¡¯re looking at him, not me.¡± Lian couldn¡¯t tell if her son was joking or not. That realization hurt her even more than the thought that her son considered himself unattractive, so she just pursued the joke further to distract herself. ¡°I think you just need one good lay to be honest¡­¡± ¡°Damn it, mom, please, just¡­ stop. Look! I have Mittens, ok? She¡¯s the love of my life.¡± Just then Mittens the cat walked into the dim room, spotted Quan, and howled at him. ¡°See?¡± Quan grinned at his mother. ¡°She responds to my every need.¡± He knelt down and the fluffy, long-haired cat trotted over to him and pushed her face into his hand. ¡°She¡¯s a good cat, I¡¯ll give you that,¡± Lian responded, grinning herself. Quan picked Mittens up, where her purr became almost as loud as her howl had just been. Lian had never met a cat that loud in her life until four years earlier, when Quan had first introduced the two of them. She watched the smile on Quan¡¯s face brighten up and thought, Ok. A cat is good enough for now. ¡°Ok,¡± Lian admitted, ¡°I¡¯m going to be at home getting the last of my things ready. I¡¯ll see you for dinner?¡± ¡°Yeah, sure,¡± Quan was mostly paying attention to Mittens, petting her chin and ears. Lian smiled and left the small room in the long northern hallway of the Tiendu Shu temple. The Keepers had the whole north side of the temple to themselves and each of the rooms she passed was occupied by Keepers old and young meditating, chanting, practicing. Even after sixteen winters in this place, Lian still felt out of place amongst the Keepers and their mystic habits. For the most part the people in Zhosian were little different than in the Central Empire. A bit more pious perhaps, but for the most part they were the same farmers, herders, and craftspeople she¡¯d known her whole life. The Keepers were something different though: a little too serious, too disciplined, too full of certainty in their purpose and position. She was fully aware her misgivings about The Keepers came mostly from their similarity to the Shuli Go. Quan and Lian¡¯s ¡°home¡± was two small rooms in the southeast corner of the temple. Most of the monks and lay visitors to the temple lived in the city of Bhuo itself, but a small section of living quarters was kept for the eldest and most senior monks, and Quan. Lian walked through the doorless entrance to their rooms ¨C privacy was not required between the monks ¨C and set about confirming the bags she¡¯d packed for their trip into the Empire were full and ready. It was going to be a short trip ¨C only two weeks, one week down to the towns around Daming for some trading, and then one week back to Zhosian. Even the idea of this short trip terrified her. Most of the prejudices, rage, and animosity that had accompanied the end of the Shuli Go twenty years earlier had passed, but she was, as far as she knew, the only Shuli Go to ever have a child. Quan would still be a dangerous entity in the eyes of almost any authority in the Empire, and she intended to keep him safe. And the older he grew, the more she realized keeping him in Zhosian the whole time was not the way to achieve that goal. ¡°Now where is that heavy coat?¡± She asked herself as she wandered back and forth through the rooms, searching. She found it under a disorganized pile of Quan¡¯s other belongings. As much physical discipline and spiritual awareness as the Tiendu Shu had driven into Quan, he was still a disorganized teenager who couldn¡¯t clean up after himself if his life depended on it. Lian never got mad at him for his clutter, even though she felt she should have. It felt like she was witnessing an important part of his life every time she found his clothes in a dirty pile or his studying scrolls in a mess on the table. That¡¯s probably why I¡¯m prying so hard about a girlfriend, she thought, I missed out on so many other important moments I don¡¯t want to miss that one. She tidied up slightly, triple-checked the three large bundles of goods she¡¯d agreed to sell on behalf of the Zhosians, then set about preparing their dinner. There was only a small fireplace to cook over, but she¡¯d bought fresh vegetables and goat meat to make their last dinner in Zhosian. By the time she unwrapped the bread and pulled out their plates, the room was thick with the warm, roasted smell. Quan walked in not ten seconds later, his timing for the preparation of food also typical of every other teenager Lian had ever known. ¡°Smells good,¡± he licked his lips. ¡°I¡¯m starving.¡± ¡°Of course you are,¡± Lian laughed, ¡°sit down, I¡¯ll serve it out for you.¡± Quan ate quickly and Lian let him. She¡¯d made enough for seconds, and as she poured the thick mixture of meat and vegetables onto his plate the second time, she saw his appetite had been sated enough for conversation. ¡°You nervous about tomorrow?¡± She asked, careful of her tone: she didn¡¯t want to put him on edge or have him clam up like he had about girls earlier. ¡°No,¡± he lied before taking another bite of bread. She didn¡¯t need her Shuli Go senses to read the lie ¨C she was certain any mother could have done the same. ¡°You?¡± He deflected. ¡°A little bit,¡± she admitted. ¡°Not scared or anything,¡± she moved into lying with surprising ease, ¡°just nervous you won¡¯t like it down there.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not backing out of our deal right?¡± The irritation in his voice grew. ¡°No. Of course not. I just don¡¯t want you to be disappointed.¡± ¡°Anything¡¯s going to be better than another two weeks here,¡± he sighed. Lian knew he was looking forward to the adventure of leaving the only home he¡¯d ever known, but she couldn¡¯t help read disappointment from his words too. A familiar wave of guilt swirled over her stomach, eroding the satiation of the food. His life in Zhosian wasn¡¯t always an easy one, despite being the favored student of the Keepers, and every now and then she was reminded of how little of that life she¡¯d been privy to. Some summers she¡¯d only visited for a few weeks. Their relationship had suffered. It hadn¡¯t been until three years ago that things had started to turn around between them¡­ ¡°Mittens!¡± Quan called out after he¡¯d started picking at the last of the food on his plate. At once the cat appeared for leftovers, waiting patiently until Quan was finished and had set his plate on the ground before diving into the food. ¡°You spoil that cat,¡± Lian tried her best at scolding. ¡°Yeaaaah,¡± Quan admitted, stroking Mittens¡¯ long fur while she ate. ¡°Yeah I do.¡± ¡°You going to say goodbye to Palden tonight? Or tomorrow?¡± ¡°Tomorrow. He¡¯s gonna walk with us to the city gates.¡± ¡°Ok. Almost ready for bed then?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Ok. I¡¯m going to sleep. Clean up the dishes will you?¡± ¡°Sure mom.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± she got up and watched her son watch the cat eating. ¡°You all packed?¡± She asked again, knowing the answer. Just wanting the conversation to last a bit longer. ¡°Just a few little things.¡± ¡°Ok. Make sure you go to bed. It¡¯s going to be a long day tomorrow.¡± He just nodded. She¡¯d purchased as much of his attention as possible for one night. She went into the other room, which doubled as her bedroom in the summer. It wasn¡¯t much more than a bedroll in the corner, sandwiched between Quan¡¯s desk and a cabinet full of clothes and his training weapons. In the summer months their two rooms were overflowing with their cumulative possessions. Even packed and ready to leave, there wasn¡¯t much room left for personal space or movement. Lian worked her way into the corner and then lay on top of her bedroll. While the temple was cool in the summer, the bedroll was designed for the winter months and almost roasted her alive whenever she dared sleep inside it. It was hard but not uncomfortable, and she lay on top of the thick wool, listening to Quan playing with his cat and packing the last of his things. She found it hard to fall asleep there. She¡¯d been coming to this room and laying on top of a scratchy woolen mat for fifteen years, and she only remembered falling asleep easily for the first few. Back then Quan had slept right next to her, giddy with her very presence. His little body was so hot and he fidgeted so much in his sleep she remembered her last thought every night was ¡°how am I ever going to fall asleep?¡± right before she did, easily and quietly. Just because he was there beside her. Every night as she lay there struggling to fall asleep, she remembered those earlier nights, the memory inevitably followed by another from the other constant of those early years: his absolute destruction every time she was forced to leave in the fall. His wailing and tears, the trembling that struck his entire body when she hugged him goodbye each year. Every year like clockwork until the twelfth, when instead he stood perfectly still and told her, ¡°I wish you weren¡¯t my mother.¡± Those memories kept her up each night. She didn¡¯t need eight hours of sleep. Not physically. But she started trying to sleep at the same time as Quan, because by the time she actually fell asleep, she needed every minute left in the night. Part 3 The next morning they both awoke early with the chants for morning prayer. Quan dutifully went to the central courtyard and performed the six prayers of the rising sun. When he was done they shared a small breakfast and Lian saw just how excited and nervous her son was: he didn¡¯t even save any leftovers for Mittens. They packed up their horses in the empty courtyard ¨C three horses, one for each of them and a pack animal for the heavier goods ¨C and then started the trek into the city. Palden and Master Tinley ¨C the head monk of the temple ¨C met them at the gates to the temple and then walked alongside them through Bhuo¡¯s packed streets. Mittens trailed them by twenty feet the entire way. The city itself was small enough for most people to know Quan, or at least know of him. No one knew he was Lian¡¯s daughter except for the Keepers ¨C most of the city thought she was a distant relative who visited once a year ¨C so they regarded him as an orphan from one of the Central Empire¡¯s many wars. As much as Quan was convinced he was not the object of affection for Bhuo¡¯s young women, Lian couldn¡¯t help but notice the way many of the girls looked at him. High atop his horse, in traditional Zhosian travelling clothes of rich green and blue, he looked calm, confident, and handsome. Their giggles and open mouths weren¡¯t for him as Imperial oddity the way it had been when he was younger. Lian felt good for her son, as she saw just how much of an impression he¡¯d made in Bhuo. The looks directed at Lian were not as flattering. Most Zhosians hated Shuli Go, and the ones that recognized her braid and sword often looked at her with barely veiled contempt, at least those that didn¡¯t swear outright. Even after sixteen summers she hadn¡¯t won over many people beyond the Keepers and a few others in the temple. Luckily for her, Zhosians held the Tiendu Shu in the highest regard. They had a king, in a palace across the city, but he held only half the power in the country. Master Tinley as the highest Keeper and oldest monk, was a moral authority higher than anyone else. He said Lian was to be treated well, and so she was. At least as well as she could hope for. Quan was too torn between anxiety about leaving and excitement for what was coming to notice anything around him. He knew he should be soaking up the city that he¡¯d grown up in, absorbing it in case something happened and he couldn¡¯t return, but his mind simply didn¡¯t allow him to take anything in. The result was a cool, indifferent look that made him appear a hundred times more prepared than he felt. He trotted his horse down the streets he and Palden had raced through dozens of times, passed workshops where he¡¯d made deliveries, and glanced monuments he knew the history of inside and out. None of it really registered though. He was on autopilot until they reached the gates to the city. There Lian dismounted and Quan followed suit. At once Mittens ran up and rubbed against Quan¡¯s leg. A sudden surge of panic snapped over him. He was saying goodbye to Mittens. He reached down and picked her up on instinct, scratching her into a purr. ¡°I¡¯ll see you in a few weeks,¡± he whispered into her ear, feeling slightly foolish. He never talked much to his cat except when alone with her. He glanced at Palden, expecting the older boy to chide him, but Palden¡¯s face was almost as immobile as Quan¡¯s own. Mittens spotted a bird and scrambled out of Quan¡¯s arms, forgetting him entirely.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°Cats are dicks,¡± Palden stepped forward, breaking into a grin. Quan chuckled uneasily. ¡°Yeah, they are.¡± ¡°So¡­¡± Palden started, his grin still in place but the silence of his thought shining through despite his best effort. ¡°So I¡¯ll see you when I get back,¡± Quan tried to fill in the gap. ¡°Yeah. And hey, don¡¯t forget to buy me one of those silk sashes for my prayer robe.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll remember. You wanted bright pink right?¡± ¡°You bring me bright pink that¡¯s the color I¡¯m gonna turn your ass.¡± Quan chuckled, the familiarity of their banter setting some of his anxiety aside. He was only a bit surprised to find a sadness quickly replaced it. He didn¡¯t want to say goodbye to his friend, even if it was just for a few weeks. Palden had been his best friend for his whole life. He was more of an older brother than anything, but they¡¯d hardly ever fought the way brothers did, and shared a sense of humor that most of the other students didn¡¯t share, and the monks didn¡¯t understand. The thought of not being able to share a joke with Palden on a moment¡¯s notice was depressing in a way Quan hadn¡¯t anticipated. ¡°So¡­ you know¡­ don¡¯t be stupid out there,¡± Palden punched Quan¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I¡¯ll try,¡± Quan smiled and punched him back. ¡°Don¡¯t have too much fun while I¡¯m away.¡± ¡°Like I could¡­¡± Palden¡¯s voice trailed into too much sentimentality for the two young men to appreciate. They stood and stared awkwardly at the ground. Quan glanced up to see Master Tinley wrapping up his goodbyes with Lian. The old monk then slowly approached Quan, his shuffling feet and cane betraying the clear mind Quan knew the Keeper still possessed. Quan bowed his head and folded his hands in the traditional Tiendu Shu posture. He held the pose for several seconds before slowly rising to find Tinley smiling and staring at him. Tinley nodded his head jauntily back and forth, his mouth opening and closing a few times before he eventually decided on what to say. ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid,¡± he said cheerfully. Quan glanced at Palden, but the other boy was busy saying something to Lian. ¡°Yeah, I got that already Master Tinley,¡± Quan responded. ¡°Thank you. I¡¯ll try and do well.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a quick ride to the city and back. There¡¯s nothing to do well. Just don¡¯t be stupid and you¡¯ll be fine.¡± The old monk smiled, either having forgotten or not cared that most of his teeth had recently fallen out. His gap-toothed smile was still infectious. Quan didn¡¯t really count Master Tinley as a father figure: he was too happy, too forgiving, and too hands-off in comparison to every other father he knew in Bhuo. Still, the man had provided for Quan since he was six years old, and had taken good care of him the whole time. Quan knew he couldn¡¯t have asked for a better father if he¡¯d tried. ¡°I will, Master.¡± Quan bowed again. ¡°Ok,¡± Tinley smiled, then turned around, his attention completely used up. ¡°Let¡¯s go Palden! I want to take a bath today. Guess what? That¡¯s your job.¡± He started his slow shuffle back towards the gates. Quan watched Palden roll his eyes and acquiesce, before waving one final goodbye. Lian approached her son and touched his shoulder. ¡°You ok?¡± She asked. Quan looked past her and the horses, towards the mountains and the road he¡¯d never travelled. The anxiety disappeared and he was left with the excitement of not knowing what was down there at the bottom of the path. ¡°Yeah,¡± he replied, smiling. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± They mounted their horses once again and started down the path. Quan took one last look back as they started to follow the road down into the plateau, and saw Mittens standing at the gate, staring at him. The cat titled its head to the left and the right, back and forth, then turned and pranced back into the city. Quan turned and caught his mom looking at him. She smiled, and he smiled back. Part 4 The trip down the Zhosian Mountains was unhurried and quiet. Quan started the trip surrounded by scenery he was used to, but as they traced their way through the mountains and the air grew thicker, he started seeing trees bigger and greener than he was used to, heard birds he was unfamiliar with, and fed the horses grass thicker than anything that could grow on the plateau. His eyes grew wider with every mile, and Lian carefully watched him watching his surroundings change, delighting as he delighted in the novelty of every sight, sound, and sense. The mountain pass was steep at points, where they had to walk their horses carefully down the trail, and Lian almost had a hard time believing she¡¯d made it up the whole way, in winter, on foot, six months pregnant all those years ago. It had, she was the first to admit, taken almost ten times longer than it did to descend on horseback, but surviving the climb at all was quite the feat. She didn¡¯t remember the climb being particularly grueling. She had Quan to think about, and everything else ¨C the cold, the snow, the exhausted feet ¨C had seemed inconsequential. She was, however, glad that his first trip down would be on horseback. As they made their way gradually north, they met travellers heading back towards Bhuo: traders and messengers who eeked out a living on the small bit of trade the two countries carried out. There were small camps spaced for the evenings of the three day trek: it had been designed to be completed in that time, and the supply stops had been built with that in mind. It was customary to bring gifts for the families that manned the camps, so Lian made sure Quan presented some useful tool or preserved food to each of the camps. At night they slept next to roaring fires that kept the mountain predators away, and they listened as the sherpas at each camp shared their prognostications for the coming day¡¯s weather. The last stop was only two miles from the border, and it doubled as Zhosian¡¯s military outpost. Barely more than five hundred soldiers stayed in the small town, but it had high walls and even some makeshift siege equipment to protect against an invasion, but most of its defensive nature was from the steepness of the climb up to it. Horses took almost an hour to move a hundred yards either up or down, and the pass was only big enough for four or five people to go at once. The idea that an entire army could move up the pass was comedic more than scary. They could be shot and killed by Zhosian archers in the thousands before a single man made it to the walls to begin a siege. Lian and Quan passed out the Zhosian walls and made their way carefully down the impossibly steep bit of road. Once the tricky nature of the climb had been dealt with, there was nothing left to do but consider what came next: the Central Empire. ¡°I¡¯ll do the talking,¡± Lian told Quan in a reassuring tone, ¡°don¡¯t worry. But he¡¯ll want you to introduce yourself.¡± ¡°Ok,¡± Quan said simply, his eyes wider than she¡¯d ever seen as they followed the path to the Central Empire¡¯s border fort. It was three times the size of the Zhosians¡¯, with stone turrets and a high, tall gate that stood open. It was possible for an enterprising individual to slip by the fort and into the Empire, say at night, but Lian had built up a relationship with the commander of the outpost over the years, and had no intention of sneaking by. ¡°Who goes there?¡± A cry came out from above the gate, bringing their small train to a halt. ¡°Zhao Lian!¡± Lian responded, ¡°I¡¯ve brought someone to meet Commander Puotong!¡± Two loud beats of a drum sounded, signalling they could enter. Lian nudged her horse forward, followed by the pack horse, and then Quan slightly behind. They walked into the gate and through to the central yard, where a somewhat overweight man with very thin hair and almost no clothes on appeared cheerily to greet them. ¡°Zhao!¡± Puotong smiled wide and walked toward them, greeting her horse and letting it smell his hand as Lian and Quan hopped off their horses. ¡°Puotong!¡± She approached and greeted him with a formal bow before stepping closer and patting him on the shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you.¡± ¡°You too! But I wasn¡¯t expecting to see you for another month at least. What¡¯s this all about?¡± ¡°What¡¯s this all about?¡± Lian pointed to his lack of clothing. ¡°It¡¯s the damn heat,¡± Puotong admitted, ¡°I¡¯ve been too far south for too long. I can handle the winters no problem, but the smallest heatwave comes and I turn into a puddle.¡± He laughed the laugh of a man used to having his underlings join him in that laughter. ¡°The boys don¡¯t mind, do they?¡± He half-turned to his soldiers, who murmured agreement. ¡°Now, who is this?¡± He finally took note of Quan, standing to the side of the horses, awaiting his introduction.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°This¡­¡± Lian pointed at Quan, ¡°is my son.¡± There was a long pause of confusion that passed wraith-like over Puotong¡¯s face. ¡°I¡­¡± ¡°Adopted son,¡± Lian timed the explanation perfectly, forcing Puotong to admit he should have seen it coming. ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°Ah, of course. But¡­ you didn¡¯t tell me you¡¯d adopted a son.¡± ¡°Yes I did. Two years ago. You don¡¯t remember?¡± ¡°No! I¡¯m sure I¡¯d remember something like that.¡± Lian scrunched up her face like she was trying to remember, then cleared the uncertainty away. ¡°Aaaah, I remember now. You were on the third bowl of that wine I brought down from Jin when you got it out of me. I think you had a couple more that night too.¡± ¡°Really? I mean, it¡¯s possible, I just¡­¡± ¡°You were saying, ¡®Ah Lian, it¡¯s such a shame you can¡¯t have kids, you¡¯d be a great mom.¡¯ And I said, ¡®Actually Bo, it¡¯s funny you should mention that,¡¯ and then you said, ¡®What did I mention?¡¯ and I said, ¡®Kids,¡¯ and you said ¡®Why¡¯s that funny?¡¯ and I said, ¡®Because I actually have one.¡¯¡± Puotong followed the mimicked conversation, and Lian¡¯s impersonation of the Commander¡¯s voice was good enough that he couldn¡¯t help but believe her version of events. Plus she had that Shuli Go memory, he knew. He examined Quan closely, then leaned towards Lian and said. ¡°He looks like you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I adopted him.¡± Puotong chuckled, then asked, ¡°he¡¯s not Zhosian I mean. He looks like he¡¯s from the north somewhere.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, from Northern Shu. He was left on the side of the road, and one of the Tiendu Shu monks who was teaching at a temple in Chengwa came across him and carried him all the way back to Zhosian. I¡¯ve known him ever since I started visiting Bhuo. And three years ago I finally did the right thing and adopted him myself.¡± ¡°Why did you wait so long?¡± ¡°I had to make sure he¡¯d look like me first,¡± Lian deadpanned. Puotong laughed again, relaxed and free. Then he stepped towards Quan and performed his own bow. ¡°I am Puotong Bo. A thousand blessings upon you and your family.¡± ¡°And a hundred years peace and joy to yours,¡± Quan replied, returning the bow of a child. ¡°Ah, his Imperial is good,¡± Puotong mentioned to Lian. ¡°The monks taught him Imperial, Zhosian, and Thaan too. That way he can go wherever he wants when he gets old enough.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s good to see you in any case,¡± Puotong threw his hands up in the air and waved off any more concern. He didn¡¯t catch Quan letting out a long-held breath. Their first lie had gone off without a hitch. ¡°What are you doing out here anyway?¡± Puotong asked. ¡°Actually he¡¯s part of the reason. I want to take him to Daming and see if I can get the paperwork sorted to have him officially recognized as my son. Plus, the monks piled me up with some things for sale, of course.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Puotong really only saw the goods for sale. ¡°You¡¯ve set aside the tariff?¡± ¡°Of course, one quarter, there on the pack horse. Quan labelled it.¡± Puotong moved towards the horse and spotted the labelled sack. He lifted it and the weight of the bag registered in a smile that spread across his face. The official tax at the border between Zhosian and the Empire was 25% but Lian doubted very much of that made its way to the Imperial coffers. Puotong was resembling less and less a military commander, and more a typically corrupt bureaucrat, and not just because he couldn¡¯t handle the heat. After cherishing the thought of where all his earnings could go, he turned back to Lian and smiled. ¡°Will you stay with me for a meal? There¡¯s rice from up north!¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m afraid we can¡¯t. Have to be on the move. I promised the monks I¡¯d have him back in school before too long. Daming and back, as quick as possible. If we make good time, maybe on the way back.¡± ¡°Of course, of course. Well, we will see you then.¡± Puotong moved to return to the shade of his office, but stopped to examine Quan one more time. ¡°Left on the side of the road. Just terrible.¡± Quan didn¡¯t know how to respond so he just nodded absent mindedly back at Puotong. ¡°Still,¡± the commander finished, ¡°you turned out alright.¡± He smiled and marched past, leaving one of his men to take the tariff and for Lian and Quan to remount and head north towards the capital of Southern Shu. The road was still winding as they passed through the foothills below the mountains, but Quan wasn¡¯t as interested in the landscape or different animals this time around. He had a quizzical look on his face for hours as they trotted along the path towards the start of the Brilliant River. ¡°What is it?¡± Lian asked. ¡°¡­Would you do that? I mean, formally adopt me, here in the Empire? Call me your son?¡± Lian looked away from her son back towards the path. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about it. It could make a lot of things easier, like it did back there.¡± They had been working on the best lie to allow them to travel together without confusion or incident, before deciding that the truth with the slight twist of adoption was probably the best strategy. ¡°But it could make more problems too. Even adopted children of Shuli Go are not welcome in a lot of places. And if anyone ever asked why we do look so much alike, and arrived at an answer they didn¡¯t like¡­¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Quan thought through the same batch of issues his mother had posed to him since he was a small child. After considering it a few seconds though, he continued. ¡°I think it¡¯d be nice.¡± They both grinned, and if either one had been looking at the other, they would have seen the similarities of that grin were the exact type of giveaway that could cause them both to become very unpopular wherever they travelled. Part 5 The Brilliant River formed out of sixteen separate flows that came down from the Zhosian mountains, but the unimaginatively named Brilliant Falls were considered the true source of the water that slaked the thirst of a third of the Central Empire. They were a towering drop of over a hundred yards that fed a river basin two hundred yards wide, and the sound of the crashing water could be heard from half a mile away. Lian and Quan heard the sound just as the sun was beginning its long descent beyond the horizon, though in the summer the night never truly turned black. ¡°We¡¯ll go see it in the morning,¡± Lian insisted, ¡°you¡¯ll want as much light as you can get for the falls.¡± They camped for the first night in the Empire, out in the open, on the crest of a small hill too steep for the wheat and millet fields around them to reach. Eating a small meal of their prepared provisions, they were feeling safe enough to sleep without watch, and they awoke in the morning well rested. Quan, in particular, was energetic, the excitement of seeing his first natural wonder hitting him that morning. He was not disappointed. ¡°Wow,¡± was all he managed, over and over again, as they stood on the edge of the Brilliant Falls and watched the water cascading down into the deep gorge that had been hollowed out by thousands of years¡¯ worth of water. ¡°It¡¯s pretty great, right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s just¡­ incredible.¡± Lian let him stare until the smile faded from his face, replaced by the dumbfounded look of wonder that she¡¯d expected. ¡°Let¡¯s go. We can stop back here on the return trip.¡± ¡°Yeah. Yeah, sure,¡± he mumbled back, remounting his horse and following his mother back towards the well-trampled path that headed back towards the main road. They rode in silence for the rest of the morning, the steep foothills gradually turning into more undulating rows of crests and valleys. The main road was about a mile from the river, but roughly tracked its course, meandering northeast towards Daming, still a few days ride away. Lian¡¯s stomach was starting to ask for lunch as they approached a small grove that had been cleared away where two roads met ¨C their road north and south, and the other east and west. The fields astride each road were growing tall with golden and pale crops, and they almost didn¡¯t see the young woman leading her donkey along the east-west path, until they all entered the clearing at the same time. The young girl startled at the sight of the pair. She was slender and poorly dressed, a typical peasant from the area, but the fear in her eyes surprised Lian. The Shuli Go smiled, trying to reassure the young girl, who quickly bowed her head and quickened her pace, heading west. ¡°Is she ok?¡± Quan whispered to his mother. ¡°She seems nervous.¡± ¡°Just smart. It¡¯s not a good idea to trust travellers in these parts.¡± Quan though, saw his first opportunity to talk to an Imperial citizen who wasn¡¯t also in charge of a garrison of soldiers. A citizen who appeared close to his own age and whose fear offended him in the way those from close-knit communities tend to distrust fear of their own. His every instinct told him to try and assuage this girl¡¯s trepidation. As the pair reached their closest point to the young woman, he said, in his most non-threatening voice, ¡°Good day, ma¡¯am.¡± She froze for a split second and turned to look at him, but his attention had had the opposite of its intended effect. Instead she seemed more terrified than ever, and practically started running down the western road. Lian smacked her son on the back of the head, toppling the Zhosian hat he wore to keep out the sun. ¡°What?¡± He turned to her, stunned. Surely not all Imperials were so unkind as to not even return a greeting. Lian was shaking her head, thinking of how to explain the young woman¡¯s situation to her son, when the cries started. They were vociferous, heart-stopping shouts that straddled the line between human and animal. And there were many of them. Everyone stopped in their tracks, except Lian, who recognized them at once, who recognized too late the girl¡¯s terror. Bandits. As Quan stood frozen in place, and the young girl clutched to her donkey with the fear on her face multiplied a thousand-fold, Lian sprinted her horse into the millet field to the southeast, where there was a small rise in the land. Once there she saw them, and could echo-locate their cries. There were about twenty of them on horseback, a half mile to the east, trampling through the grain fields and heading straight for the clearing. Fast. From her high position, Lian turned back to look at Quan next to the pack horse. ¡°Get the girl on the other horse! Now! And then head west.¡± Quan was frozen in place for a second, but before his mother could repeat herself he snapped out of the surprise, adrenaline already starting to seep into every part of his body; he couldn¡¯t think clearly, but he could obey orders. He led the other horse towards the young woman. Her terror was sending shocks through her body, her hands quavering even when pressed against the flesh of her donkey. Quan brought the other horse in front of her and shouted, his voice far more shrill and scared than he would later admit, ¡°Quick, get on!¡± She looked at him, their eyes locking but hers failing to understand his instructions. He shouted it again, trying to put more authority in his voice. She nodded as he was yelling, but looked at her donkey and stopped. ¡°You have to leave him!¡± Quan tried to push down his own fear that they were wasting precious time. She nodded again, then stepped up to the horse ¨C luckily the smallest of the three, though it was still a foot and a half taller than her ¨C and hoisted herself onto its back. Quan was worried she wouldn¡¯t be able to ride without a saddle, but she took the horse¡¯s reins from Quan without a second thought and pushed the horse in the flanks with her feet, propelling him into action. ¡°Go! Now!¡± Lian shouted down again before deciding on a course of action. She set off back onto the north-south road and sprinted about a hundred and fifty yards south, where she went off into the field, pointed her right hand down at the ground, and invoked a spell. ¡°Huono liuba,¡± she whispered in ancient Imperial, and a stream of fire poured out of her palm, straight into the crops to her right, igniting the dry stalks into flame. The sudden appearance and heat of the fire scared the horse, and Lian encouraged its fear, kicking it into a sprint. As she moved across the field, she set the crops to her right ablaze, creating a perimeter of fire that she hoped would be enough to keep the bandits¡¯ horses from approaching directly. She pushed her horse as fast as it could go, forming an arc of flames in the field. When she reached the east-west road, the flames found no purchase, but she kept the stream of fire going as she leapt onto the northern field, and until she¡¯d completed the arc on that field, creating a 180 degree shield from the approaching bandits. Her horse was tired by the time she finished, so she let it trot back to the central clearing. Now there was only one direction the bandits could easily approach, right down the middle of the east-west road. She stood in the clearing as the flames crackled and burnt, and the cries of the bandits changed from aggression into confusion. She didn¡¯t know how fast the young girl would be able to ride and how far away they would have to be to reach safety, but she didn¡¯t like their chances with only a minute or two of a lead. She¡¯d have to hold the bandits off for a while. She waited patiently in the clearing, her eyes down the eastern road for the sight of horsemen. As the first one came into sight two hundred yards away, she drew her Shuli Go sword from her back and stood, waiting. She would draw them as close as possible to her so that they wouldn¡¯t be able to reinforce quickly and she could deal with them one at a time. On horseback most of her strength and speed advantages were moot, so she would have to manage the battlefield carefully. The first bandit obliged almost to a tee, sprinting towards her with a sword drawn, aiming to take her head off in one swipe. As he closed down to the last dozen yards or so, Lian pushed her horse forward to match the speed of his approach. The man wasn¡¯t much bigger than Lian and the sword was heavy in his grasp. He swung it ineptly towards her horse¡¯s flank, and Lian parried with her own blow that was much more direct and powerful than the bandit¡¯s. Their two swords met with such force that the sword flew out of his hands and he was knocked off-balance on his horse, forcing him to pull hard on the reins and turn his horse around. Lian, expecting this movement, had already turned hers as well, and before the bandit could regain control of his animal, Lian had circled back and skewered him in the throat. His hands went up to his neck, and a second later his body went to the ground, where he died in a pool of his blood.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Lian turned back towards the road where the second bandit was approaching. This one was brandishing a bow and arrow, but had the same direct mentality as the first. He sprinted towards Lian with an arrow knocked, and let it fly when he was still a hundred yards away. It sailed harmlessly overhead. His second arrow came at half that distance, and missed Lian by only a few inches. The third came when he was close, and forced Lian to deflect the arrow with the flat of her sword, sending it careening into the nearby fields. By the time the archer was readying his fourth arrow, Lian saw it was actually a she, and the she had realized she probably shouldn¡¯t get too close to someone who could deflect arrows with a sword. The archer slowed down but was within fifteen yards when she released the fourth arrow. It was close enough, and the arrow was shot with enough force Lian could finally and fatally prove one of the legends of the Shuli Go: she directed the arrow back towards the archer with a flick of her wrist at just the right moment. It was a dangerous gambit ¨C often the arrow would go off into the wrong direction, potentially injuring the wrong person. But in this case Lian¡¯s accuracy was true, and the arrow went straight back into the astonished woman¡¯s chest. It hadn¡¯t retained enough energy to penetrate very far, but it stunned the woman enough for Lian to close the distance and cut off her head. It had been only a few more minutes, but Lian still didn¡¯t like how close Quan and the girl could be. The flames all around had grown though, feasting on the crops and sending dark smoke up into the sky, sowing even more confusion amongst the bandits. Lian could make out shouts saying they should retreat, and these voices followed their own command, beating a trail away from the burning lands and towards the east. But a few voices cried for calm instead, repeating a name over and over again that Lian couldn¡¯t make out. Then he appeared at the end of the eastern road. A single rider who approached Lian¡¯s clearing with neither urgency nor indecision, but a steady, measured gait. Lian let him close in without any concern. Every second he sauntered towards Lian was a second Quan and the girl would be further away. When the man finally got close enough for Lian to make out clearly, she saw he was armed only with a large metal staff laid across his lap, and was dressed in all black. His robe was thick and he had a long beard with short, thinning hair on top of his head. He was not intimidating looking in the least, but his quiet approach and the look on his face spoke of a confidence that had been tested and upheld many times in the past. Even Lian¡¯s horse seemed to pick up on it, braying and stamping as if it wanted to run. She held the horse firm and stared this new threat down. When he was about fifteen yards away, just past the headless body of the archer, he dismounted off his horse and Lian saw him struggle to lift the metal staff. It was almost six feet long, and with two bulbous ends that had been stained with small cuts and marks of blood. It was heavy enough he required both hands to take it down off the horse with him, and it vibrated when it struck the ground, sending a hum into the air. Lian said nothing, even more confident after he¡¯d dismounted. Then he leaned the staff against his horse, stared Lian in the eye, and began chanting, quiet and low, almost under his breath. She discerned six sounds, over and over, a phrase in ancient Imperial, but she couldn¡¯t make out any of the words, just the pauses between them and the steady rhythm of those pauses repeating after every cycle. She considered striking him right then, before he could finish casting whatever spell he was conjuring, but she didn¡¯t want to rush into a trap, so she stayed still, her eyes focused, her body tense, her son another moment closer to safety. The smoke from the fires in every direction were settling down, obscuring the clearing in a dark, sooty air. She kept her breaths short, avoiding the dirty air while keeping her eyes firmly on the man. It was almost half a minute of this, her staring, him chanting. Then he started moving his hands around his body as he chanted: wavy, slanted drawings through the air and smoke, a pattern of six movements that matched the six words. Lian considered it, and considered how quickly she could sprint away if he truly had power enough to injure her with a spell. She didn¡¯t have a chance to run. Abruptly he completed his chanting, stood upright, clapped his hands together, and shouted something in ancient Imperial she couldn¡¯t hear. The reason she couldn¡¯t hear it was because all the air around her rushed by her ears, drawn in by his clap. And not just the air, the fires too. They were suddenly extinguished as far as she could see. The smoke too, had dissipated. Her horse shrieked and reared up, forcing her to take her attention away from the man. When she¡¯d calmed the animal enough to stand still, she looked back and saw him twirling his staff around as if it were made of light, delicate wood. She had a vague sense of what had just happened, but was too surprised by it to react. It almost cost her dearly. He rushed towards her, closing the first ten yards with ease, then flew towards her, his staff leading the way, threatening to strike her with the bulbous end. She brought her sword into play at the last second, deflecting the staff but not the body that followed it. He crashed into her, his momentum carrying her right off the horse and sending her spinning, crashing to the ground. He rolled a few feet further than her, giving her distance to push herself up off the ground before he came back at her, swinging his staff down right where her head had been. Another vibration, much louder than the first, rang through the air and into Lian¡¯s ears, almost deafening her. She scrambled to her feet and brought her sword back up just as he swivelled his staff back towards her, knocking her down again as it made contact with her sword and her sword threatened to cut into her, prompting her to roll backwards. She continued the roll to create space between her and the bandit, but even that wasn¡¯t enough for safety. He continued pressing, swinging his staff in whirling circles before slashing out at her as she stood up. She made a pointed effort to block this strike, meeting it with her sword and both hands. Even then the sheer weight and speed of it knocked her slightly off balance. It must have weighed over eighty pounds, and he moved it with ease, manipulating and teasing its weight to do his bidding. He struck towards her in a series of quick movements and Lian just barely met them, avoiding the staggering weight of the staff from making contact. She tried to strike back, thrusting her Shuli Go blade over and over again in a sequence that forced him to defend without forcing her to advance, giving her room to separate. Once she was finished they both had a moment to eye the other, and Lian saw a twitch in the man¡¯s shoulders and hands, even as his eyes stayed implacable and his breathing was barely altered. He was stronger than her, and more importantly, they both knew it. She could mount a defense, but if they continued exchanging blows, eventually he¡¯d get the best of her. She attacked all out, her sword cutting wide arcs and driving with short jabs in equal measure, changing angles and peppering her assault with punches, kicks, and even short bursts of fire from her palms when she could manage. The bandit handled it all with relative ease, parrying, shifting, and dodging each of her attacks. But her true intention wasn¡¯t to strike him at all, but to draw him away from her horse, and back down the eastern path. Even when he thrust back towards her, she pirouetted away, always to the east, until her horse was ten feet behind her. She finished a flurry of attacks and he blocked each one except the last, a short kick that pushed him a foot further away but left him unhurt. They stood apart once again, examining one another for weaknesses. Lian saw this one man wasn¡¯t even her greatest worry; in the distance to the east the sounds of encroaching bandits reappeared, with no fire to halt them. The powerful bandit in front of her stood patient, happy to wait for the arrival of his allies. Lian too, was happy to wait. She measured the sounds of the stampeding bandits, calculated how long her escape would take, adding the time Quan and the girl needed. Finally, when she could wait no more, she attacked once again, these attacks designed to force him to defend low, his staff gradually dropping lower to meet her swipes. His hands also fell lower to more easily pivot the staff, exposing more of the staff at the top. Once she saw his hands were suitably low, she swung as hard as she could towards his head. The bandit stopped the attack, but the impact of Lian¡¯s sword on the long end of the staff set it vibrating, the air coming alive with the hum of two metals meeting. Without pausing at all, Lian leapt backwards, held her hand out, and shouted another spell. ¡°Qitu heba xieba!¡± It wasn¡¯t a Shuli Go spell. She¡¯d learned it from someone she¡¯d rather not have ever met, but whose skill with magic was second to none. Even as she cast the spell, she couldn¡¯t help but picture his smug, pretty little face: the mischievous grin, the glinting eyes, the mopped hair. Quan¡¯s father had many effects on Lian, top of which was a desire to vomit. But in that moment, she was glad to have met him. The hum of the staff¡¯s vibration amplified a thousand-fold and its pitch changed, shrieking high. Lian had already turned and started running towards her horse when the air reached its highest register and Lian went deaf. The spell could manipulate any vibration in the air, increasing the volume and changing the tone into one that rattled the inner ear, rendering a person without hearing and temporarily destroying their sense of balance. Lian nearly toppled over, but she¡¯d been expecting as much. The moment the intense dizziness hit her, she closed her eyes but kept stumbling her way towards her horse. The bandit was more adversely affected. Surprised, angry, and wanting to punish Lian, he took one step forward and promptly fell over. He held on to his staff and tried to use it to prop himself up, but that just resulted in him spinning around the pole before falling onto the ground. He yelled and shrieked but couldn¡¯t hear himself in the least. His dizziness grew so overwhelming his stomach began to heave and that day¡¯s breakfast quickly joined him on the floor of the clearing. Lian fumbled her way into her horse, opening her eyes just enough to pick out her footholds and grab onto the reins. She shouted and pushed the horse onward even before she¡¯d fully mounted, not wanting to risk an extra second. Thankfully she¡¯d judged the distances correctly and the horse hadn¡¯t actually heard the explosion of sound, so it ran quickly and freely. Having experienced the effects of the spell before, she knew when she could open her eyes a hundred yards down the road, and when her hearing finally returned into a high-pitched scream, she knew she could turn her head and look back at her attackers without getting sick. They weren¡¯t following. They¡¯d reached the clearing but had circled around their leader, the staff-wielding man. Lian finally let out a sigh and felt all the bruises and scratches she would have from their battle. It wasn¡¯t a victory, but she had done everything she¡¯d aimed to do. They¡¯d all gotten away, and they were all alive. As she began tracking Quan¡¯s trail of hoof prints, she hoped that would be the only victory she needed against a foe that powerful. Part 6 ¡°Left here,¡± the young woman told Quan as they approached another fork in the road. They had slowed to a gallop a half mile earlier, when they could no longer see smoke from Lian¡¯s fires, and Quan couldn¡¯t detect anyone following them. ¡°Where are we going?¡± He asked. ¡°My village. They won¡¯t follow us there. We have sentries.¡± The sentries were two short, middle-aged men with less hair than teeth, and not many teeth to speak of, armed with short bows standing on top of the hills that nestled the village. They looked so terrified of Quan and the young woman¡¯s approach he knew they would be completely useless against the bandits. Quan turned back as soon as the village and its sentries came into view, and told her, ¡°go on ahead. I have to go back for my mother.¡± The young woman said something in return, but Quan was already setting his horse off into a sprint. He retraced his path, and within five minutes he spotted her down the way, coming towards him at a leisurely pace. He released the breath he didn¡¯t know he¡¯d been holding in, and waved at her. She waved back, looking none the worse than when he¡¯d left her. ¡°You¡¯re ok?¡± He asked when she got close. ¡°Yeah. You?¡± ¡°Fine. Got away no problem.¡± ¡°And the girl?¡± ¡°Fine. Her village is just this way.¡± ¡°Ok. We¡¯ll go pick up our horse and be on our way.¡± ¡°¡­What happened back there?¡± ¡°Not much. We¡¯re fine for now.¡± Quan just nodded, but he could tell his mother was hiding something. She looked unwell, almost like she¡¯d just been sick. And her clothes were disturbed, covered in dirt and dust. She¡¯d fought, and not just with spells. As they turned the last corner and started the approach between the two hills above the village, Lian let out a sigh. ¡°I¡¯ve been here before¡­¡± she whispered. ¡°We may need to leave quickly. Let¡¯s get the horse and get ready to go.¡± Quan nodded again, gripping the reins of his horse tightly. The young woman was standing at the opening to the village, next to the horse. A crowd of other villagers had come to see her, but most of the peasants would be out tending their crops. Quan and Lian approached her and remained on their horses. ¡°Are you all right?¡± Lian asked the girl. The other villagers retreated ¨C anyone on horseback in their lives was someone to be feared. ¡°Yes, I am fine.¡± She answered without any of the fear that had dominated their initial encounter. She was at home in the village. She felt safe. ¡°My donkey though¡­¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°I¡¯m afraid I couldn¡¯t bring it back. There were too many of them to keep away.¡± The girl nodded, but Quan could tell the loss of the donkey was a crippling one. Peasants like these survived or died with their animals. Losing one may impoverish the girl and her family. Quan¡¯s heart went out to her. ¡°We should reimburse you for it,¡± he said suddenly. Lian looked at him but didn¡¯t say anything. The girl however, did reply. ¡°No. I could not possibly. You did not take it. They did. You saved me.¡± ¡°Please,¡± Quan pressed on. ¡°I insist.¡± ¡°No, truly. I cannot let you.¡± The girl¡¯s voice indicated she was not refusing to be polite. She refused because of pride. He looked at her again and saw that her clothes, while thin and worn, were slightly better than the other peasants. Her hair was cleaner, and her face had a healthier look than the villagers nearby. A face that was looking at Lian. ¡°You fought him?¡± The girl asked Lian. Quan was confused, but Lian wasted no time responding. ¡°Yeah. I did.¡± ¡°And you survived?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°Then you¡¯ve done better than the regiment ever did.¡± The young woman stared at Lian for a few more minutes, then breathed in deeply, as if stunned. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ I mean, you¡¯re¡­¡± ¡°Yeah. A Shuli Go.¡± ¡°No, I mean¡­ You¡¯re the one who¡­¡± Her voice died, as if the air had been pulled from her lungs. Lian didn¡¯t say anything, but Quan noticed his mother¡¯s jaw tighten and the hand on her Wamaian sword grip squeezed harder. The young woman didn¡¯t say anything more, but her head dropped and the rest of the villagers dispersed, leaving the three of them alone again. ¡°What¡¯s the¡ª¡± Quan asked, only to be interrupted. ¡°Come with me,¡± the girl said with a strained, almost tearful voice. She didn¡¯t look up at either Quan or Lian, just started walking with her head down, her already tiny body shrivelled by some unseen torrent. Quan didn¡¯t immediately follow, but when Lian did he fell in behind her, his questions kept inside by the quietude of her face, the concentration in her eyes. They walked through the village¡¯s simple wooden and straw-thatched homes, each barely big enough for the inhabitants to sleep on the floor around the central fire, keeping the winter cold out as best as they could. They weren¡¯t that different from peasant homes in the Zhosian countryside, but these seemed to Quan particularly decrepit: there were holes in the sides that needed patching, much of the straw looked to be rotting, and the smell that came out of each one when they walked by was almost enough to make him gag. The girl brought them to the largest home by far, more sturdily built but also showing signs of poor maintenance. There was a door made of long branches lashed together ¨C more solid than the wool curtains that served the other homes, but just barely ¨C which she entered without pause. Lian waited for Quan to join her at the open doorway. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Quan whispered in Zhosian. Lian didn¡¯t say anything, just stared into the black of the house. Quan stared too, but his eyes didn¡¯t have Lian¡¯s ability to see into dark places. Eventually she turned to face him and he almost didn¡¯t recognize the face that looked at him. His mother was scared. ¡°I have a feeling it¡¯s going to be bad in there.¡± ¡°¡­Ok,¡± Quan replied, even though he didn¡¯t feel ok. ¡°Just¡­ come with me.¡± She walked into the house and Quan followed. Inside was mouldy and stiff, but not noxious like the other houses. Quan¡¯s eyes adjusted and he made out a kitchen and living space, with sparse shelves and old, warped cooking instruments. Lian had already followed the girl past a curtained partition into another room. Quan trailed them into a bedroom with a simple straw-packed bed and a few small personal affects, including more of the girls¡¯ finer sets of clothes sitting atop a set of drawers. Lian and the girl were standing in the far corner, where yet another curtain had been set up. Quan approached just as the girl pulled the curtain aside and the scent of fresh human shit hit Quan¡¯s nose. A window just above the corner illuminated another bed, this one on the ground. On it was a shrivelled, gaunt man, covered from the waist down. An invalid. Quan looked to the girl and to his mother. Both of them were staring at the man. ¡°This is my father,¡± the girl said. Part 7 The gap between the man in front of Lian and the man she¡¯d beaten nearly to death four years earlier was so wide it was almost impossible to see across. His body had wasted away entirely, his large bony frame sucked down to its essence, his ribs visible and the prominence of his shoulders dwarfing the thin strips of muscle and fat that remained everywhere else. Most disorienting was his neck and head: his head still large, the skull of a man built to trample and tear things his entire life, was now atop a neck that look as frail as his daughter¡¯s, the bulge of his throat the most visible part of his entire torso. His face was thin and bony, his lips pursed where his teeth had fallen out, his hair had mostly disappeared too, and his hands were permanently clutched into unnatural poses, the bones all wrong. But his eyes were the truest indicators. Glassy and dark, they had no understanding of anything. There was a slight pause of recognition as they fell on his daughter, but only as a caregiver, someone who fed and washed him. Lian knew at once he had no awareness to speak of, just the base urges of trying to keep his once huge body nourished for another day, another meal. ¡°How long¡­¡± she started to ask, unable to take her eyes away. ¡°He wouldn¡¯t wake up for seven days afterwards. He threw up or choked if we tried to feed him. When he did wake up we found out he couldn¡¯t move his legs or control¡­anything. He doesn¡¯t talk. His hands have been like that for a year or so now. They¡¯re useless.¡± The man, who had once roared at Lian, suddenly whimpered, a long, pathetic moan as he reached out for his daughter with one hand and made a motion to his mouth with his other. She didn¡¯t even respond immediately, she¡¯d become so numbed to his needs. Lian looked at the young woman and finally remembered where she¡¯d seen her, on the ground as Lian had rushed out of the inn. A terrified little girl who had been running to find her father. Now she was a broken down looking thing, exhausted by the weight of too many responsibilities. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Lian asked. The girl turned and looked at her. A small hint of pride returned to her voice. ¡°Xue Fen.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Zhao. Zhao Lian. This is my adopted son, Quan.¡± The girl glanced at Quan but kept her attention on Lian. ¡°His name is Kang.¡± Lian looked back at the man and nodded. Fen dropped her head and a measure of shame seeped into her words. ¡°If you could step into the other room. I need to clean him.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Lian turned and motioned for the confused Quan to follow her back into the kitchen. Once there Quan immediately started speaking in Zhosian again. ¡°What¡¯s going on here? Who is that?¡± Lian closed her eyes and sighed, wondering where she could begin. The headache she¡¯d had four years earlier seemed to have found her again, this time from all the exertion of her fight and use of magic. When she spoke again, she spoke in Imperial. ¡°I did that to him.¡± ¡°Did what?¡± ¡°I fought him. Almost four years ago now. I was passing through this town, he picked a fight with me, and I¡­ did that.¡± Quan took a moment to consider. ¡°You paralyzed him?¡± ¡°Apparently. I didn¡¯t know exactly what happened, I was run out of town right after. But yes. It looks like.¡± ¡°Why did you fight him? Did he attack you?¡± Lian was going to answer yes, of course she would only fight if attacked. But the reality of that day came back to her. The way his words stopped her. She could have just kept walking. No one would have been hurt. But she didn¡¯t. She looked her son in the eyes, saw the certainty that she couldn¡¯t possibly be in the wrong. She knew she¡¯d have to break that belief to be in the right now. ¡°No. He picked the fight. And I gave it to him.¡± Quan recoiled slightly. As a Keeper in training, he¡¯d been taught every day of his life to only use his techniques in self-defence, and defence of the innocent. They were principles similar to those professed by the Shuli Go. And now one of the few people he trusted entirely had gone against those teachings. She saw the disorientation hit him as he processed the new information. It was a terrifying moment, as she wondered what her son would make of it, and what he would say next. She didn¡¯t know him well enough to know for sure. He could be angry, righteous, defensive. She really didn¡¯t know.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Is there anything we can do?¡± He asked. Lian turned away to hide her smile. He¡¯d accepted it and moved on to doing what right he could. She hadn¡¯t expected that. ¡°Maybe. We¡¯ll talk to her.¡± Quan nodded, then fell silent. They waited in the room pretending to examine the meagre possessions there, but Lian was really just considering what she could say to Fen, and she was certain Quan was still considering how to make sense of the betrayal she¡¯d performed on his image of her. Fen walked back in looking more tired than before. She faced Lian and they stared at each other again. Lian spoke. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Fen¡¯s face remained stony. ¡°You¡¯re sorry?¡± ¡°Not for kicking his ass. He deserved that. Your father was an asshole who wasn¡¯t smart enough to know when someone stronger than him had walked into a room.¡± ¡°You know nothing about my father.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know everything, I¡¯ll admit that. But I knew enough then. And now I know he doesn¡¯t deserve this. He never did.¡± ¡°You just said he deserved it.¡± ¡°Not this. I know when this¡­¡± she pointed at the drab surroundings, ¡°happened. It was the last kick I gave him, when he was on the ground. I heard his neck snap. That¡¯s when the damage was done.¡± Lian breathed in deeply. ¡°When you¡¯ve been in as many fights as I have, you know when someone is beaten. And when someone¡¯s broken. And you can¡¯t always control when they cross that line, but if they¡¯re close, you can always push them across it. That¡¯s what I did to your father. And I¡¯m sorry for that.¡± Fen shook her head and her jaw jutted out, her anger finally surfacing. ¡°That¡¯s not good enough.¡± ¡°Of course not,¡± Lian responded. ¡°I owe you. Your family. I have to make it better.¡± ¡°Make it better?¡± Fen¡¯s voice turned abrasive, ¡°How could you possibly make this better? You can¡¯t cure him! There¡¯s no cure.¡± ¡°No. Not him. But your family.¡± Fen¡¯s entire body vibrated with anger, but she looked down at the ground, then at her hands, the fingers encrusted with dirt and grime. Lian watched the spite exit with each breath, replaced with the possibility that Lian was offering. ¡°You have money?¡± ¡°I¡ª¡± The wooden door flew open and a middle-aged man, tall but thin, with a nobleman¡¯s black hat and a long, thin beard, walked in. A small boy, perhaps eight years old, followed behind. The noble¡¯s eyes went wide at the sight of Lian and Quan, but calmed when they fell on Fen. ¡°Fen, are you alright?¡± He asked. ¡°We saw the fire.¡± Fen made her way to the man and the boy, kneeling down next to the young child, who quickly fell into her arms. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m fine.¡± ¡°The Keeper again?¡± Lian caught Quan¡¯s face perk up. She gave him a look to remain silent. ¡°Yes,¡± Fen continued, ¡°but I¡¯m ok. These two¡­ they saved me.¡± The man¡¯s face brightened at once. He brought his hands together to perform a formal bow, ¡°Ah! Well I am Xue Li Jie and on behalf of my family I must thank¡ª¡± ¡°Don¡¯t thank me,¡± Lian said. ¡°Your niece didn¡¯t mention one important piece of information.¡± The man pulled back, ¡°How did you know she was my niece?¡± ¡°Because you look like your brother. I mean, you look a lot smaller than your brother. And smarter. Plus this isn¡¯t the first time we¡¯ve met.¡± The man looked at Fen, confused. ¡°What is she¡­¡± Fen looked back and forth between the two of them, picking up the small boy in her arms, holding him on her waist like he was her own child, even though she was barely any larger than him. Finally she said. ¡°This is the Shuli Go.¡± The noble took a moment. When he was finished he said, ¡°You¡¯re right. I don¡¯t think I will thank you.¡± Silence fell and awkwardness spread, the tensions between past weights and present gifts sparking the dark, worn out house into a fire of pressure. The boy in Fen¡¯s arms whispered something into her ear. Fen leaned to whisper back, but it was Lian who spoke out loud. ¡°Me too. Don¡¯t worry though, we¡¯ll cook.¡± She tapped Quan on the shoulder on her way out. They left together, defusing the room and walking back into the bright summer¡¯s day. They made their way to the horses and Lian immediately approached the pack horse to remove some of the extra food supplies they¡¯d brought along. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Quan asked as Lian worked. ¡°What are we doing?¡± ¡°Cooking. He said he was hungry.¡± ¡°I mean what are we doing about this whole thing? Do you have something in mind?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°We¡¯re going to take care of their bandits.¡± Quan stared at her. A long, uncertain stare. ¡°Is that a good idea?¡± ¡°Probably not, no.¡± ¡°Then why?¡± ¡°You¡¯re the one who asked if there was anything we could do.¡± ¡°I thought maybe you could pay for them to hire a servant. Someone to look after her father. Or¡­ I don¡¯t know. Something else. Not fight a bunch of bandits.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t help their father. And I don¡¯t think they¡¯d want me to. But this, I can do.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. This seems dangerous. We were supposed to be quiet, under the radar. You made me promise I wouldn¡¯t do anything stupid.¡± Lian stopped, her shoulders hunched over one of the bags. She sighed deep and tired, her braid limp and dull over her shoulder. ¡°I know. But I did something stupid. And now I need to fix it.¡± ¡°But¡ª¡± ¡°Listen. What¡¯s the first rule of the Tiendu Shu?¡± ¡°¡­To bring happiness to one another.¡± ¡°And what¡¯s your first oath as a Keeper?¡± ¡°To stop those that do harm and help those that need it.¡± ¡°To make the world a better place. Right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s what we¡¯re doing.¡± Lian put the last of the food and cooking supplies on the ground. She turned and grasped her son by the shoulders, craning her neck up to look him in the eyes. ¡°Look. I don¡¯t want anything to happen to you. And if you don¡¯t feel comfortable helping me, I understand. You didn¡¯t sign up for this and it¡¯s not your fault what happened to him. If you want, you can wait here, help look after their father, and I¡¯ll deal with this. It¡¯ll be easier if you help. But we both know what that help looks like, and I don¡¯t want to ask you to do that if you¡¯re not ready.¡± ¡°I¡¯m ready,¡± he lied. It was instinctive, forgetting for a moment that his mother could tell. She forced a weak smile. ¡°No. You¡¯re not. But that¡¯s ok. No one ever is.¡± Lian picked up the supplies and put them over her shoulder and headed into the house. Quan called after her. ¡°How do you know getting rid of the bandits is going to help them at all?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t. But they¡¯ll tell us.¡± ¡°When? How?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. But usually a good meal helps loosen tongues.¡± Part 8 The meal did not immediately help. They ate in silence and the Xue family stared at the ground. Occasionally the boy would look up and glare at Lian, sizing her up as his father had once done. Lian pretended not to notice and only made occasional glances at Quan, who seemed almost as transfixed by the food as Fen and her uncle. Lian had prepared the food with a spice called Winter Husk that only grew its peppers in the Zhosian mountains during the warm summers, on thin vines that crumbled each autumn. The pepper had to be collected just after the vine withered, then stored in a dry, cool place over the winter. Once it was dried out it was crushed to dust and became a sweet additive that gave way to a pleasant burn after the sweetness had dissipated. In Daming it was worth almost a silver piece for each handful of the spice. Lian used exactly that much to ensure the large meal she prepared was pleasant. Unfortunately none of the Xue clan were focused on the food so much as the quiet that sat behind it. Li Jie was the quietest. Except for the rise of the foodsticks to his mouth and the rote act of chewing, he was motionless. Lian could tell he was considering all the turns of events of the day: his niece under attack, the return of the woman who had incapacitated his brother, the presence of the bandits. But his silence gave her no indication of what the cumulative effect would be. She remembered the man from her abrupt exit four years earlier. Bumping over Fen, seeing the surprised, scared expression on Li Jie¡¯s face. The memory brought her back to the righteousness of her anger and the fear that she¡¯d be caught. From a distance now she could see the regret already seedling in that moment, the knowledge that she¡¯d gone too far. The one extra kick that had snapped his neck. The single blow from which he¡¯d never recover. Germinating, slowly, until it had bloomed this morning at the crossroad, at the sight of Fen¡¯s horrified expression. Fen had recognized her right away. It wasn¡¯t the fear of bandits that had driven her away, not just that at least. Part of her, somewhere, had remembered her father¡¯s killer. ¡°My brother was not a good man,¡± Li Jie said without prompting, looking forward though not at anyone in particular. ¡°Uncle Li!¡± Fen gasped, the foodsticks in her hand shaking. ¡°But,¡± Li Jie continued, ¡°he was not entirely a bad man either. When Fen was born he was the only one who could keep her from crying, so he rocked her to sleep every night. Then her mother would sing to her. Every night to put her to bed. When Tan was born and Kang¡¯s wife died, Kang didn¡¯t stop the singing. Every night, he put them both to sleep. He was patient with them. And he loved them more than anything.¡± Li Jie looked at Lian. ¡°But Kang was also an asshole. My father told us that because we owned the land the peasants farmed, we were better than them. I never saw the evidence of that, but Kang never questioned my father about anything. And he took it to heart. He was cruel. One time a peasant from one of my father¡¯s farms passed us on the road. I¡¯d never met him before. Neither had Kang. He was nobody, an older man, struggling just to carry his grain. Kang stopped him in the middle of the street. Made him take off his pants and hold his genitals in his hand, like they were on a platter. People were walking by. They watched him humiliate this man, and when they didn¡¯t laugh, Kang smashed the man¡¯s testicles with his fist. For no reason. He left the man there in the middle of the road screaming and sick. And he didn¡¯t think anything of it.¡± Fen and the young boy ¨C Tan ¨C looked to be on the verge of tears. Fen had known some of her father¡¯s cruelty, but Tan was too young to remember it clearly. ¡°Your boy there,¡± Li Jie kept talking, ¡°he¡¯s dressed like a Zhosian. So I assume he¡¯s Tiendu Shu. Well, if they¡¯re right, when my brother Kang is reincarnated, the best he can hope for is a fly that eats nothing but shit.¡± Lian couldn¡¯t help but chuckle, and Li Jie smiled. ¡°What you did to him was wrong. But it was going to happen. He was too big and too stupid to know it, but I knew it was going to happen. If it wasn¡¯t you it was going to be some officer who insulted him and then had his soldiers tear Kang apart limb from limb. Or someone who pulled a knife in the middle of a fist fight. Or just some peasant he mistreated badly enough to get poisoned or stabbed to death in his sleep.¡± Fen started to sob, her head down into the dish in her hands. Lian made sure to wipe the grin from her face. Li Jie however, kept his in place. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Fen, but you deserve to know. Your father was at fault. Maybe not for everything, but he could never help himself. Let¡¯s just be happy he didn¡¯t die.¡± Fen¡¯s sobs filled the small room. It was Quan who replaced them. ¡°We¡¯re going to help you with the bandits.¡± Everyone looked at him and his face grew more uncertain than his words. ¡°We can get rid of them. My mother and I.¡± Li Jie smiled at the brashness of Quan¡¯s reply. ¡°I appreciate the offer, but it won¡¯t be that simple. These aren¡¯t just any bandits. Even a Shuli Go can¡¯t possibly take them on by herself.¡± Lian took a last bite of food but said nothing, letting Li Jie continue. ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong, the fact that you survived an encounter with the Keeper is impressive. But he has almost a hundred men and horses. You couldn¡¯t get close to him, and even if you did, it wouldn¡¯t be a fair fight.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the second time you said there was a Keeper,¡± Quan interjected. ¡°You mean a Tiendu Shu Keeper?¡± Fen spoke up this time, wiping away tears. ¡°That¡¯s right. He¡¯s one of your stupid wizards, and he¡¯s been around here for two months now. It started off with just him and two or three others. Now he has enough men to destroy our whole village if he wants.¡± ¡°Why hasn¡¯t he?¡± Lian asked. ¡°Our farms are on good land,¡± Li Jie explained. ¡°If he burns down the villages and the taxes don¡¯t get paid at the end of summer, the Prefect will send someone to find out why. And as strong as he is, he doesn¡¯t have enough men to withstand a battalion moving in and cutting him down. But after the summer is over¡­¡± ¡°The army won¡¯t do anything now?¡± Li Jie shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ve written letters, met with magistrates to raise the alarm, but nothing. That¡¯s because the bandits aren¡¯t even our biggest problem.¡± Lian had walked into enough small towns to have a familiar, tired cadence when she asked: ¡°What is the biggest problem?¡± ¡°The prefect,¡± Fen responded, almost at a whisper. ¡°Well,¡± Li Jie cut in, his voice also falling low, ¡°not just the prefect. About five years ago, the governor introduced a new rite of inheritance. It forbid children younger than fourteen from inheriting. Instead, according to the rule, any inheritance over ten silver in value was to be presided over by the local prefect until the boy turned fourteen.¡± ¡°What about girls? Are you fourteen yet Fen?¡± Lian asked. ¡°I¡¯m almost fifteen,¡± she responded, ¡°but daughters haven¡¯t been able to inherit if there is a boy in the family for ten years.¡± Lian reared up. She had not heard that, and couldn¡¯t believe it. She knew Southern Shu had always been a more patriarchal part of the Empire ¨C it had joined after the Peace of Antiquity, which had seen a series of Empresses rule competently for almost a thousand years ¨C but Lian couldn¡¯t believe they¡¯d actually taken away a woman¡¯s right to inherit. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that,¡± she admitted. ¡°The important part is until Tan turns fourteen,¡± Li Jie said, ¡°we can¡¯t let my brother die. When my father died, he had a young son with our stepmother. By rites he was to have a third of my father¡¯s land. And he did, until the governor changed the rules. The prefect took the land I¡¯d been helping look after, under the authority of the new laws, and then within six months our half-brother had suddenly fallen ill and died. And since the inheritance only flows down the family tree, neither Kang nor I had any claim on it. In which case¡­¡± ¡°¡­in which case it reverts to the ownership of the state,¡± Lian filled in.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Yes. Which in this case meant the prefect, who himself has eight sons. And he¡¯s looking for land for all of them.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Lian leaned back, tapping her empty dish with her foodsticks. ¡°So he doesn¡¯t care if the bandits come and kill you or not. In fact it¡¯s probably easier for him than waiting and hoping Kang dies on his own.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. That¡¯s why none of my messages seem to get to anyone who¡¯s listening. I¡¯m considering riding straight to Daming myself, to see if I can raise it with the governor or someone in the court. But we¡¯re a minor family, and I don¡¯t have the money to bribe my way to the right people.¡± Lian looked around at the poor quality of the home. If the farming lands were rich, she couldn¡¯t understand how the family appeared to be so poor. ¡°Kang was well dressed and very well fed when I¡­ met him. What¡¯s happened?¡± Fen bristled, her back upright and anger returning to her face. ¡°The governor has raised taxes every year for the past five years. Because we own the land we have to pay the taxes, and we can¡¯t take much more from the peasants. So we¡¯ve had to sell everything. Everything, you understand? We don¡¯t even own this piece of shit home. We rent it from the old magistrate. And it¡¯s your fault!¡± Quan tried to interject, confused. ¡°I thought you said the taxes had gone up¡­¡± ¡°They have, but we have to stay here and look after father, and uncle Li is running himself to death going back and forth between the estates, and Tan can barely read! He¡¯s a nobleman and he can barely¡ª¡± Fen¡¯s entire body shook and she forced herself to stop, her hands in fists and her eyes closed. Li Jie patiently filled in the details. ¡°Kang also had a very good job working for the governor. Personal security, henchman, that kind of thing. He made enough to keep the family well served, so the taxes could pay for themselves out of the land. Now that¡¯s the only source of income.¡± ¡°And if he were still there, working, the governor probably wouldn¡¯t be letting the prefect harass us anyway,¡± Fen¡¯s voice turned steely. Li Jie smiled again to try and defuse some of the tension. ¡°So does that answer your question, Shuli Go?¡± ¡°About the army? Well yes¨C¡± ¡°No, not about the army. The other question that you didn¡¯t want to ask.¡± Lian looked at Lie Jie, then at each of his niblings. Tan looked slightly confused by the politics of the situation, but he understood enough to show a bit of his father¡¯s stubborn defiance in his face. Fen¡¯s jaw was shut tight, her high cheekbones shaking as she ground her teeth, her eyes rattling back and forth in their sockets. Li Jie had the stoic look of a scholar, asking questions he already knew the answer to, taking a joy in sharing information he knew another person needed. It was only in the eyes that he actually resembled his brother. ¡°That¡¯s why you¡¯ve kept him alive,¡± Lian finally admitted. ¡°You need him alive.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Li Jie nodded, ¡°for another two years. Once Tan is fourteen, we¡¯ll do the right thing and send his spirit on. Right now it¡¯s trapped between his body and the afterlife, and that¡¯s not fair to him. He deserves better. He at least deserves to be judged by the Gods. Or the Great Tiendu. Whatever you believe.¡± Fen stood up angrily and announced, ¡°I¡¯m going to feed father. Tan, come with me.¡± Tan obeyed, falling in behind her as she grabbed a pot and a nearly empty sack of rice and headed into the other room, snapping the curtain behind her. ¡°She doesn¡¯t like to talk about him like he¡¯s already gone,¡± Li Jie said. ¡°She still loves him so much.¡± Lian looked to her own son, wondering if he¡¯d feel the same way should she ever be incapacitated. She hadn¡¯t sung to him, or put him to bed. Not for most of his life. So she wasn¡¯t surprised when Quan failed to return the look. Instead Quan was staring at the closed curtain, and his face was concentrated on the young woman behind it. Despite everything, Lian smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s focus on the problem at hand first.¡± Lian tried to bring the conversation back around. ¡°How long have the bandits been in this area?¡± ¡°Just since the spring,¡± Li Jie said. ¡°That¡¯s when the first reports of the Keeper appeared. Since then he¡¯s just drawn more and more people to him.¡± ¡°Where are they coming from?¡± ¡°All over. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s very different from other bandit groups you¡¯ve probably run into. Young men mostly, the youngest siblings, never going to inherit enough land to survive or support a family. I lost two from my village ¨C good boys, but the best life they could have hoped for was the military. I guess they figured dying running free on the foothills was better than marching to death in some other far off corner of the Empire.¡± ¡°And you said he has almost a hundred men and horses?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°He¡¯d need a lot of grazing land to keep the horses. Do you have an idea of where he might be keeping all his men?¡± Li Jie smiled again. ¡°Actually, I do.¡± ¡°Where?¡¯ ¡°One of the first families to be affected was the Gaos. Herders who keep sheep up on this one rocky set of hills. They¡¯ve done it for hundreds of years. Now it¡¯s really just one old man and a distant nephew. They came down into my village badly shaken up in the spring, saying a Keeper had taken their livestock and told them never to come back. The boy had a badly broken arm from when he tried to say no. Almost lost him to a fever too. Anyway, that¡¯s where they seem to be coming from most times. Or at least that¡¯s where people see them going back to afterwards.¡± ¡°Ok,¡± Lian nodded slowly, a simmering decision suddenly made. ¡°That¡¯s where we¡¯ll go.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡± Li Jie was confused. ¡°You¡¯re going to go after them?¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the best way. Groups like this ¨C they¡¯re new and fresh and don¡¯t have many experienced people ¨C they¡¯re only comfortable when they¡¯re on the attack. You come after them, in their new home that they¡¯re filling with all the goods they steal, and they panic. All we have to do is take out a few of them, especially this leader, and they¡¯ll break up.¡± ¡°And what happens then?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°What happens to them then?¡± ¡°They usually go back home. Beg forgiveness.¡± ¡°And if that doesn¡¯t work?¡± ¡°Then they wander. Some of them will get arrested for stealing. Some will wind up in the city, begging or looking for work. Some of them will wind up with another band of people just like it. Some starve to death.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way to bring them back peacefully?¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s not up to you or me. That¡¯s up to the families they left behind.¡± Li Jie nodded. ¡°Ok. So, we attack them. How?¡± ¡°Well, you round up every man and woman capable of doing some fighting. How many do you think that¡¯ll be?¡± ¡°That depends¡­ what do you mean by fighting?¡± ¡°I mean they can march twenty miles a day carrying food and a spear. And then at the end of the day they can take down a horse charging at them with that spear.¡± Li Jie thought for a moment. ¡°Not many. Maybe ten or twelve between Brilliant River Valley and Lily Valley ¨C that¡¯s the village on my land.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I figured. We¡¯ll need help from the army then.¡± ¡°They¡¯re not going to help.¡± ¡°Not that army. I have a friend who may help. I¡¯ll need two messengers and some paper.¡± ¡°We can go see the Magistrate tomorrow. He¡¯s away for a wedding.¡± ¡°Ok. You should probably get started rounding up your people. We¡¯ll need everyone ready to go tomorrow morning. How far away is this sheepherder¡¯s land?¡± ¡°About twenty five miles to the southeast.¡± ¡°Ok, too far for one day. Is there a high spot we could camp between here and there where we could camp tomorrow night?¡± Li Jie considered it. ¡°Yes. An old stone fort from before Southern Shu was part of the Empire. It¡¯s mostly broken down but I¡¯ve used it before if I had business to the south. It¡¯s probably fifteen miles away.¡± ¡°Ok. So we have a plan. We pick everyone up tomorrow, camp at the old fort, and then we go straight at them. Sound good?¡± Li Jie stood up and walked over to Lian. He put his hands together and performed a formal bow. Lian stood and responded with the same. ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re here to help us. I haven¡¯t slept in a month. Just waiting for the Keeper to come and finish the job, destroy one of our villages. Or both. It might have been today if it weren¡¯t for you.¡± Lian just nodded. ¡°Go start getting your people ready. Do you have a horse?¡± Li Jie shook his head with a hint of embarrassment: a noble without a horse wasn¡¯t much different from the peasants who farmed his land. ¡°Take our third one. Quan will take all the goods off and give you his saddle.¡± ¡°Thank you. I¡¯ll have both villages ready tomorrow morning. I think they¡¯ll be happy we have a Shuli Go to help us.¡± Lian nodded and smiled, then motioned for Quan to go with Li Jie. A few minutes later her son returned carrying the heavy goods they¡¯d brought with them into the house. He dropped them with a heavy thud onto the worn dirt floor. He sighed and looked at his mother. ¡°You¡¯re sure this is what we should do?¡± She looked at him and smiled. ¡°I already told you no, I¡¯m not sure about any of this. But we¡¯re doing it.¡± Quan nodded and sighed again. He was staring at the ground when he asked his next question. ¡°Was he really a Keeper? The bandit?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Lian replied. This time she didn¡¯t have to imagine what her son was feeling. It was the same feeling she¡¯d experienced when she¡¯d been told of a rogue Shuli Go. The sense of betrayal from someone who¡¯d taken the same oaths she had. And not just any oaths: these made you more powerful than other humans, and that made them more solemn than a simple swear. Keepers were in some ways even more powerful than Shuli Go, and having one leading a band of rebels out pillaging the countryside was antithetical to everything Quan had been taught. Not only was his mother not a great Shuli Go, but now a member of his own order had, in a sense, betrayed him. It was turning into a more emotionally challenging day than she¡¯d expected. Lian didn¡¯t have a chance to console Quan though, because just then Fen made an abrupt entrance from the other room, stepped one foot into the kitchen, hoisted her chin high, and announced. ¡°I¡¯ve decided you may stay here the night. But in the morning we have to begin the hunt for the bandits.¡± She avoided looking at either Lian or Quan but kept her proud stance, waiting for assent. ¡°Agreed,¡± Lian responded. Fen deigned to nod in their direction, before adding, ¡°Good. And I will be going with you. These are my people too.¡± She stepped back and snapped the curtain shut again, ending any discussion on the subject. ¡°Well, looks like we¡¯ll have at least one willing soldier tomorrow,¡± Lian joked. Once again though, Quan¡¯s attention was focused more on the curtain than anyone on his side of it. Part 9 Fen and Tan spent the rest of the afternoon in the other room, leaving Lian and Quan alone until Li Jie returned as the sun was setting. ¡°I have fifteen people who volunteered and who I think can make it. Weapons are going to be a problem. There are only two real spears between the two villages. And only five or six archers with decent bows.¡± ¡°Then scythes, pitchforks, shears, anything that can cut. Preferably with a long handle on it to keep them from cutting themselves.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I told them.¡± ¡°Then you did well. Let¡¯s eat.¡± Lian had been waiting to eat until Li Jie¡¯s return, so she eagerly pulled out more of the food and seasonings she and Quan had brought along, and set about making a second meal. The three of them ate and exchanged a few words, but mostly found themselves thinking of what was coming the next day. After he was done eating Li Jie bid them goodnight and brought the rest of the food across the curtain to his niece and nephew. Lian and Quan extended their sleeping rolls and felt the air cool as the sun went down. Whispers floated in from the other room so they whispered themselves, their heads close together as they stared at the unfamiliar ceiling. ¡°Will Puotong help?¡± Quan asked. ¡°No. Not willingly.¡± ¡°But you¡¯re going to ask anyway?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°¡­Ok.¡± ¡°You ok?¡± Lian asked. ¡°It was a bit of a day.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Quan responded. ¡°I just¡­¡± ¡°The Keeper is getting to you.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Lian sighed. ¡°When I was twenty, about two months before the Emperor set the Shuli Go aside, one of us went off. Left his Go behind and started murdering people. No reason, nothing. Just started murdering people all across the Kingdom. ¡°Well, the only way to catch a Shuli Go is through other Shuli Go. And there was a protocol for exactly those kinds of situations. A band of ten Shuli Go are set up and they hunt the Shuli Go down and kill him. So one day I¡¯m sitting at home and nine other Shuli Go show up on my doorstep and suddenly I¡¯m part of this hit squad. ¡°And we did. We found him and we killed him. Turns out he was killing people he knew were guilty of all sorts of things ¨C rape, theft, murder ¨C but for some reason or another he hadn¡¯t been able to convict them. Some of them were powerful people, others were just everyday criminals who¡¯d gotten lucky and escaped. He was still trying to do what he thought was best, right up to the end. ¡°I¡¯ll never forget what he said to us. He said ¡®The law can¡¯t do justice anymore.¡¯ And that meant something to us back then, because a Shuli Go serves the law first. Even though some laws may not be just all the time, if there¡¯s a law we follow it because we were all taught that the law makes all justice possible. Without the law, there¡¯s no justice. And he was saying the opposite. And that really shook me. ¡°He also had this crazy idea about the Shuli Go setting up our own kingdom. Just saying goodbye to the Empire and kidnapping a bunch of kids and building our own country somewhere. He said the Empire had outlived us. And then two months later it had. And I¡¯ll tell you, there¡¯s not a day that¡¯s passed that I don¡¯t wonder if he was right and the ten of us were wrong.¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Lian paused for another sigh. ¡°The point is it¡¯s impossible to judge someone when the only way you¡¯re getting to know them is with a blade to their throat.¡± ¡°You¡¯re saying this Keeper might be right to go around robbing people?¡± ¡°No. No he¡¯s definitely wrong. But so was their dad¡­¡± Lian¡¯s voice drifted towards Xue Kang and his children. ¡°What I¡¯m saying is that we all make decisions without all the facts. Maybe if we got that order to kill that Shuli Go two months later, we would have met him and the eleven of us could have started that country of his. Maybe with all the facts, we all make different decisions.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no new fact that¡¯s going to make me not want to kick this guy right in the face.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I thought four years ago. But here we are, trying to save the life of the man whose face I successfully kicked right in.¡± ¡°But¡ª¡± ¡°No, Quan, you¡¯re missing my point. I¡¯m not saying this Keeper bandit is redeemable. I¡¯m saying there¡¯s no way you¡¯re going to know one way or another until it¡¯s too late. That¡¯s just reality. It¡¯s not a good thing or a bad thing. Not really. It¡¯s just the way it is. Maybe killing him is the right thing to do. Maybe leaving the village tonight would be the better thing. We will never know. And every time you do something, especially kill someone, you have to be ready for not knowing. That¡¯s my point.¡± Quan lay still, the anger in his chest and his fists draining slowly, seeping into his head, until it was thick with thoughts and second thoughts, his own point of view drowned under his mother¡¯s experiences. He lay awake considering it over and over again until his mother started snoring softly next to him, which seemed to dissipate most of her words from his mind. So he lay awake a bit longer, his ears ¨C not quite as discerning as his mother¡¯s, but far better than most ¨C tuning out the other faint sounds in the house until there was only a rough scratching coming from the other room. He thought perhaps it was Kang, but there was a baritone rumble that Li Jie didn¡¯t seem capable of, and the sound was too irregular for it to be someone asleep. It was someone awake, like him, on the other side of the curtain. He couldn¡¯t be certain who it was, but the idea that it was Fen kept him up another hour. They left early the next morning, Quan tired but too excited to notice. He mounted his horse as the sun came up, but when his mother, Li Jie, and Fen joined him outside Lian took one look and shook her head. ¡°Nope,¡± she said. ¡°Li Jie gets the horse. You¡¯re young, you can walk.¡± Quan was embarrassed but didn¡¯t want to make it worse by arguing. He dismounted and handed the reigns to Li Jie with a smile. Fen was busy packing the third horse with a few extra provisions and Quan approached to help her, his throat suddenly dry and the embarrassment creeping into his voice as he offered, ¡°do you want¡ª¡± ¡°No,¡± she cut him off and continued loading the horse. Quan¡¯s embarrassment multiplied by the theoretical factor of infinity his teachers back in Zhosian had repeatedly told him must exist, and he just nodded, backing away slowly, his eyes stuck on the ground in front of him. Fen continued packing until Tan came out of their house, rubbing his eyes and pouting his lips. His hair was messy and he looked like the kid he was: sweet but confused, not ready for what was happening to him and his family, but determined to be brave in the face of it. He stamped his foot into the ground and declared, ¡°I¡¯m coming too!¡± Fen approached the younger boy with a smile, running her hand over his hair, smoothing it out and whispering to him. In the stillness of the morning Quan could make out their conversation. ¡°You have to take care of father,¡± she whispered. ¡°We¡¯ll be gone for a few days. You have to feed him and wash him and talk to him, ok?¡± ¡°But I¡¯m the man, I should be out there fighting the bad guys.¡± ¡°Not yet Tan. There will be plenty of time for you to fight bad guys once you own all the land, right?¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t want you to go,¡± he whimpered. ¡°It¡¯ll be ok. I¡¯ll make sure magistrate Wen sends someone by every night to make sure you¡¯re ok. You can ask any of the villagers for help. You know that.¡± Tan nodded, holding back tears. ¡°Hurry back, ok? And don¡¯t let the woman who hurt dad do anything bad ok?¡± ¡°I won¡¯t. Don¡¯t worry.¡± She squeezed her brother in a tight embrace and Fen kissed him on top of his head, then shooed him back inside. ¡°Quan,¡± Lian ordered her son, snapping his attention back, ¡°you come with me to the magistrate. Li Jie is going to gather up the villagers and bring them to meet us.¡± Quan nodded and walked round to his mother¡¯s side, striding alongside her horse as they set off across the village. As they pulled away from the Xue family, he looked over his shoulder to find Fen doing the same. Their eyes locked for a moment and then they both looked away. Quan smiled. Part 10 The magistrate had arrived back from the wedding he officiated in the middle of the night and was not happy to be awoken so early, but when Lian explained who she was and what Li Jie and she had planned, he was happy to provide the paper and ink she required to reach Captain Puotong. The magistrate also presented a new problem though. Li Jie, Fen, and seven villagers walked into the same dirt floored building Lian had originally fought Kang in, and she told them the bad news. ¡°We can¡¯t take the extra horse.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Li Jie asked. ¡°The magistrate¡¯s horse is sick. Came down with a fever last night as they came in. And we¡¯ll need the messenger to get to my friend today.¡± ¡°We packed an extra three days¡¯ worth of food on the horse, and tents for everyone.¡± ¡°Split the food among everyone, but we¡¯ll have to go without the tents. If we don¡¯t do this in three or four days anyway, we¡¯ll probably have bigger problems than sleeping outside.¡± Li Jie nodded and led the villagers outside to redistribute their supplies, as Lian wrote her notes. Quan watched her, and after she finished the first letter asked, ¡°Two letters?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I still need him to let me ¨C let both of us ¨C in and out of the country after this. Have to be polite. In the first letter at least.¡± ¡°What¡¯s in the second letter then?¡± Lian looked at her son and smiled. ¡°The universal currency of bureaucrats, politicians, and the army. Dirt.¡± The magistrate provided an older woman as the messenger and set her off for Puotong¡¯s outpost with the first letter and instructions to meet again at the ruins Li Jie had spoken of with any reply. The rest of the party set off walking towards Li Jie¡¯s Lily Valley. The villagers were in surprisingly good hopes, holding their makeshift weapons with confidence. Lian knew that confidence would disappear the instant a single bandit with a real weapon was bearing down on them. In reality she didn¡¯t expect the villagers to do much, but Lian had fought enough bandits to know that a single arrow ¨C even fired haphazardly ¨C hitting the right person at the right time could break spirits and end the threat of a group of outlaws. She just hoped the arrows coming back weren¡¯t too accurate to break her little troupe¡¯s spirits first. Lily Valley was mostly the spitting image of Brilliant River Valley, except lilies grew there and there was no river nearby. The other exception was Li Jie¡¯s house, which was much statelier than his brother¡¯s rented home. The villagers there were all related to the villagers from Brilliant River Valley, and when the two groups met there was much laughter and back slapping. It was by far the most adventurous thing any of the villagers had ever done, and the thrill of it was contagious. When word got out that the fearsome Shuli Go who¡¯d singlehandedly defeated Xue Kang and his dozen followers ¨C such was the growth of her legend ¨C four years earlier, was the same one now sending word for a band of troops, their spirits raised even more. They marched off to the southeast singing local folk songs about great battles and ancient heroes. Lian smiled and said a few words of encouragement to the young men and women, though she ensured she and Li Jie remained ahead of the pack on their horses, to keep from letting slip just how useless she knew the villagers were likely to be. Quan and Fen followed close by, the two teenagers sullen as they walked a half-dozen paces away from one another. Lian had noticed just how obvious their glances towards each other were, and she was pretty sure Li Jie had noticed it too. Lian knew Zhosian boys and girls didn¡¯t mix in the liberal way Imperial children were raised to, but she couldn¡¯t believe just how bad her son was at approaching someone he was attracted to. Especially when it was clear Fen was just as attracted to him. Granted, she thought, there are obviously going to be some confusing emotions on both sides considering the larger situation. But Imperial teenagers weren¡¯t usually shy about putting the larger situation to the side if there was a chance to cut through some sexual tension. Her son¡¯s love life was just a distraction though ¨C most of her thoughts were on how to find and defeat the Keeper and his bandits. Li Jie didn¡¯t have a map of the countryside available, but she picked his brain for the best way to approach the bandit¡¯s potential camp the next day. The terrain he described was hilly, with a few especially tall peaks that would allow for good scouting positions. The problem was the bandits, if they¡¯d returned to their base already, would probably have their own lookouts on those very same hills. Lian knew she could easily dispatch a few sentries on her own without raising alarms, but without a very clear idea of the geography, their entire group could go over a small crest and suddenly be visible to the enemy. The second day¡¯s marching would have to be much less direct than the walk to the old fort. The boisterous songs and loud smiles of the early day gave way to quieter conversations and furrowed brows as the heat of the bright summer day beat down on the group of travellers. They stuck to the roads and stopped for lunch at another fork between north-south and east-west. As they continued to the south and east the road nestled into a series of valleys as the hills started rising up around them. Even then the slight incline of the path started taking its toll and the pace of the group slowed. Lian estimated they had only made it eight miles when she decided it was time to turn off the road. ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s smart?¡± Li Jie asked. ¡°We¡¯ll move much slower across the hills.¡± ¡°Maybe, but it¡¯ll give us a chance to keep an eye out for the bandits if our paths are going to cross. Plus we can move straight towards the fort instead of winding back and forth through the hills like this.¡± The decision to trample up and down each hill ¨C some of them planted with crops despite their incline ¨C didn¡¯t do wonders for the morale of the villagers, but they continued on without complaint and Lian felt more comfortable at the top of each hill when she couldn¡¯t spot any signs of horse movement. At the top of one such hill Li Jie pointed just to the east and said, ¡°There¡¯s another village just below there. We could see if they know anything more about the bandits. They may even pitch in a few more soldiers.¡± Lian agreed and they headed towards the village, a few excited shouts from those who had family there injecting some excitement back into the march. When they arrived the excitement died. As had most of the village. There were only six homes still standing: the rest had been burnt to the ground or smashed by the bandits. When Lian¡¯s group approached from on high, there were terrified shouts from the locals thinking the bandits had returned, but one of them recognized Li Jie before a full panic set in. Not that it would have mattered, the people there were in no shape to do anything ¨C panicked or not. Lian and Li Jie led their horses down into the village amid the smell of death and waste, some of the burnt down homes still smouldering. There were only twenty or so villagers left ¨C Li Jie explained that at least fifty used to live there ¨C and they were all exhausted and dishevelled. Half the survivors were out in the fields, harvesting half-finished crops because the bandits had taken almost all their food, along with their young men and women and almost every tool the villagers owned. The survivors told them how the ones that had fought back had been killed ¨C almost a dozen. Particularly brutal was the Keeper, who killed with ease and apparent pleasure. There was only a single shovel left behind, and they had just finished the last of the graves, still fresh enough for the families of the dead to kneel over them, weeping and tearing their hair in mourning. The bandits had attacked two days ago, on their way to Brilliant River Valley ¨C where they¡¯d run into Lian. Lian told everyone in her group to break out the food and prepare a meal for everyone in the village from their supplies. It meant their makeshift army would only have enough food for three days, but she didn¡¯t care. She was going to deal with the bandits before then ¨C a fact she explained to the village elder when she pulled him aside and handed him a piece from her purse. His eyes lit up ¨C he hadn¡¯t seen that much money in one place in a long time ¨C but the joy dimmed quickly.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°It¡¯s no use. They¡¯ll just come back and take any tools we buy anyway.¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t for tools. It¡¯s for food. Head to the nearest town and get enough for a few weeks. Bring the people back off the farms.¡± ¡°But we¡¯ll still need tools eventually.¡± ¡°You already own them. I¡¯ll be bringing them back. Hopefully with your young people.¡± The old man nodded without any belief in her words, grateful for the money just the same. After they ate a number of the local villagers announced ¨C with vast quantities of rage and determination ¨C that they would join Lian¡¯s group on their noble battle against the Keeper and his men. Lian appreciated the thought, but they were mostly middle aged or older, and the lack of tools meant even makeshift weapons weren¡¯t an option. She told them instead to do their best with what they had, and leave the bandit killing to the professionals. They left the village behind, still smouldering, and the mood among the villager-soldiers had plummeted. Whispers started to swirl: ¡°What hope do we have?¡± and ¡°They killed the ones who fought back, just like us.¡± Lian let the murmurs bubble for a while before stopping on top of a hill and facing her makeshift soldiers. ¡°I¡¯m going to tell you all the same thing I told Xue Li Jie.¡± The villagers looked up at her, some already beaten, others hopeful she could convince them otherwise. ¡°A bandit trampling down a villager who just woke up is not the same kind of bandit we¡¯re going to be fighting. We¡¯re going to be fighting people just as scared as you are right now. We¡¯re going to fighting them in their homes, when they¡¯re not ready for it, and they¡¯re going to break apart and beg for mercy before it¡¯s over.¡± The peasants looked to one another, obviously not convinced. One, a young woman, just stared at Lian. Their eyes locked and the young woman asked what the whole group was wondering. ¡°How can you be sure?¡± Lian smiled and replied. ¡°Because I¡¯ve done it before.¡± She then stared right into the eyes of every other villager, holding their gaze for a second before moving on. The solemnity of her vow shone in her eyes, and even infected some of the villagers. Not all of them, but enough for the group to believe they could do it. She turned her horse about and led them on. ¡°I hope you¡¯re right,¡± Li Jie said as they rode side by side. ¡°I am.¡± She said. Li Jie smiled at Lian¡¯s confidence. ¡°Ok.¡± They continued the march across the hills towards the old fort as the sun started its slow summertime descent. When Li Jie said they were about a mile away, Lian spotted a large hill with an almost sheer rock face on its northwestern edge. ¡°That would make a good lookout post for us. In case the bandits come back in the night time.¡± Li Jie nodded. ¡°Yes, there¡¯s actually a small ledge you can sit on there. It¡¯s a great view of the countryside.¡± ¡°Ok, let¡¯s head there first.¡± The hill was taller than anything for a mile around, and while the northwest face was too steep to climb, she left the villagers at the foot of the hill and took Li Jie, Fen, and Quan up the southern slope to examine the ledge. It wasn¡¯t much more than a plank of stone accessible by a small path beaten by travellers over the years: the whole surface was only twenty five square feet of uneven stone. The four of them made their way to it and Lian looked out. The entirety of the paths and roads to the north were visible ¨C if the bandits were coming in this direction, there was no way to sneak by without being spotted from here. While the stone fort they were heading towards wasn¡¯t visible form the ledge, it was from the top of the hill: an overgrown mass of white stone walls that had mostly crumbled, a reclaimed roof of tall trees and bushes providing shelter from the elements. ¡°Ok. We¡¯ll need some sentries here for the night,¡± Lian instructed. ¡°Should I bring up some of the villagers?¡± Li Jie asked. Lian looked at him, then circled around the small space, stamping her foot on the hard rock. ¡°Nah,¡± she replied dismissively, ¡°this is going to be very uncomfortable. And your villagers have already put up with a lot today. No, I think we have our sentries here already.¡± She turned to Quan and Fen and smiled. The surprise on their faces lasted too long for either of them to object with any skill. Quan eventually stammered out, ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡± ¡°Yes. Now no fire tonight, understand? It¡¯s still almost a full moon and they¡¯ll be able to see smoke.¡± ¡°What are we supposed to do if we see them?¡± Fen asked. ¡°Ah, good question,¡± Lian then rummaged around in the bag she¡¯d taken off her horse at the bottom of the hill. She withdrew a thin, tall cylinder with a pointed top and a thin wire poking out the bottom. ¡°A firework?¡± Fen and Quan both asked at once before looking at each other and blushing. ¡°That¡¯s right. Put it in the ground, Quan can light it. And this way you can tell us which way they¡¯re moving. If they¡¯re coming around to the east, fire it to the east. If it¡¯s to the west, around the west.¡± ¡°That will give away our position though,¡± Quan pointed out. ¡°Yeah, and then they¡¯ll come and capture you. But they¡¯re not going to hurt you if that happens. They¡¯ll just pack you up with the rest of their loot. If it happens, don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll save you when we capture all their other stolen goods. In the meantime, you¡¯ll have saved the rest of us from getting caught with our pants down.¡± Fen nodded, but Quan began to pose an objection. ¡°But mom I can¡ª¡± ¡°No,¡± Lian stopped him before he could finish. Then with her eyes she said: not in front of other people. Not yet. Quan understood and nodded silently. ¡°Ok,¡± Lian instructed, ¡°come grab some extra food off the horses and then try and get comfortable for the night. One of you has to be awake at all times, so figure out who sleeps first.¡± The teens walked down and gathered their things in silence, and made their way back up in quiet too. Lian and Li Jie bade them good night, then gathered up the villagers and made the half-mile trek to the ruins, which were just as broken down but still useable as Li Jie had promised. As the villagers rolled out under the cover of the trees, the messenger arrived with word from Puotong. She stood next to Lian¡¯s third horse outside the fort and delivered the message. ¡°I believe his exact words were: not for all the spices in the Slave Islands,¡± the messenger explained. ¡°Ok,¡± Lian replied. ¡°Come in and sleep the night here. As soon as the sun¡¯s up I need you to go back to him with this,¡± she pulled out her second prepared letter. ¡°When he says yes this time, I need you to bring him and his men to the base of that mountain,¡± she pointed to the first of the ridge of Zhosian mountains, to the southeast, just south of where she approximated the bandits¡¯ camp would be. ¡°You understand?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± the messenger replied, exhausted and just happy to be able to rest. ¡°I¡¯ll tell him.¡± Inside the broken down old walls, Li Jie was feeding and rubbing down his and Lian¡¯s horses. Lian walked up next to him and rubbed her horse affectionately behind the ear. ¡°How do you think we¡¯re doing?¡± She asked the nobleman. ¡°Well,¡± he responded hesitantly. ¡°It could be worse. But I really hope your officer friend comes through. Everything the villagers were saying back there was accurate. These bandits have been cutting people down all year. And I¡¯m not even sure some of these people will be able to swing a weapon at a living person.¡± ¡°I know. I¡¯m hoping they won¡¯t have to do much fighting at all. If this works out, I think we can get the majority of the bandits to thrown down their weapons without much bloodshed.¡± ¡°And what if they come after us tonight?¡± ¡°They won¡¯t,¡± Lian reassured him. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just the logistics. They¡¯ve already raided everything close to here. Say a day¡¯s ride away, by horse. They hit that last village two days ago, and then yesterday they were heading towards Brilliant River Valley. Since they didn¡¯t take anything from there, they have to keep going, probably straight to the north. Say another day¡¯s ride away. That puts them at three days worth of riding and pillaging, which for about eighty to a hundred men means they¡¯re probably getting to their maximum for what they can carry, and as much as they feel comfortable being out of their home base. So they¡¯ll be heading back soon, but it¡¯ll be another day and a half worth of riding probably.¡± Li Jie looked at her with surprise and admiration. ¡°You really have done this before.¡± ¡°Yeah, I have,¡± she smiled. ¡°If we¡¯re lucky, we¡¯ll get to their camp with almost no one there. And then we can spring a trap for them. With my friend¡¯s soldiers along for the fun part, I like our chances.¡± Li Jie nodded, his own spirits lifted. Then he considered a moment. ¡°Then, why did you ask Fen and Quan to act as lookouts?¡± Her smile turned mischievous. ¡°Honestly? I¡¯m just kind of hoping your niece puts the moves on my son.¡± Li Jie couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°They were looking at each other quite a bit, weren¡¯t they?¡± ¡°Yes, and Zhosian children are not raised quite right in my mind. I don¡¯t think he¡¯s ever had any kind of¡­ experience.¡± Li Jie was stunned. ¡°None?¡± ¡°No. They tell teenagers there to wait until marriage for any sex.¡± Li Jie shook his head. ¡°How unnatural.¡± ¡°I know.¡± The nobleman kept shaking his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know though, I mean¡­ my niece. I don¡¯t see it happening.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Lian scoffed. ¡°I do. And here¡¯s how. It¡¯s a beautiful, clear, starry night. They have a wonderful view. It¡¯s a sheer cliff face for a reason ¨C probably a weird prevailing wind or something ¨C so it¡¯ll be chilly. She¡¯ll snuggle up next to him, insisting it¡¯s just to stay warm. Maybe they decide to put both their blankets on top of one another and sleep next to one another ¨C you know, to stay warm. They¡¯ll be looking up at the stars, and they¡¯ll both say they¡¯re too excited to sleep, so they¡¯ll put off picking out who sleeps first. And they¡¯ll talk and they¡¯ll keep getting closer and closer, you know, to stay warm, and then maybe it¡¯ll be an accidental bump or they¡¯ll have to roll off of an uncomfortable rock or something, and then there they are.¡± Li Jie chuckled for a few moments, but eventually his face grew less joyous. ¡°Maybe. I¡¯m not sure you¡¯ve got quite the right read on my niece though.¡± Part 11 It was a beautiful, clear, starry night. Quan and Fen were sitting side by side on the ledge admiring the hilly landscape to the north and the twinkle of the stars overhead. A wind came across the cliff in gusts, cooling the otherwise pleasant nighttime air. Fen shivered. ¡°Are you ok?¡± Quan asked. ¡°¡­It¡¯s a little chilly.¡± ¡°You can have my blanket if you need.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be silly.¡± They sat in silence for a few seconds. Then they both spoke at once, their shared sentence a jumbled mess: ¡°It¡¯s could beautiful share tonight warm.¡± They looked at each other and giggled. ¡°Sorry,¡± Quan apologized. ¡°You first.¡± Fen smiled at him and his heart rate increased with each word she said. ¡°If you wanted, we could share the blankets.¡± She paused a second as he felt the blood rush to his head. ¡°Body heat is the best way to stay warm after all.¡± ¡°O¡­¡± he swallowed, forcing himself to speak clearly. ¡°Ok. That¡¯s a good idea.¡± He rose, swept his blanket up into the air, and extended it over Fen, as she pulled her own blanket loose and allowed him to drape the two layers over top of them. They sat side by side, a few inches apart. ¡°I¡¯m not quite all covered¡­¡± Fen complained. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry. Here¡­¡± Quan moved closer and the blankets fell into place. They were joined at the shoulders and knees, and Quan had never had so many emotions destroying his very essence. ¡°What were you saying?¡± Fen asked. ¡°Oh, um¡­ just that it¡¯s very beautiful out tonight.¡± Fen nodded and stole a glance in his direction. ¡°Yeah. Yeah it is.¡± They stared forward in silence for a while longer, the night completely still except for the wind keeping their faces cool. Fen¡¯s longer hair fluttered in the breeze and occasionally she reached up to push it out of her face. Every time she moved Quan¡¯s heart fluttered as well. He found it impossible to concentrate, even on the very serious task at hand of keeping watch for the bandits. His mouth was getting dry and he wanted to fidget very badly, but didn¡¯t want to disturb his proximity to Fen in the least. He tried a number of Keeper meditation techniques, but never got past the first few steps of any of them. ¡°So¡­¡± Fen brought up. ¡°Do you want to take the first watch? I can if you want to sleep.¡± ¡°No,¡± Quan responded a bit too quickly. ¡°No, I¡¯m not tired.¡± Fen smiled again and Quan smiled back involuntarily. ¡°Me neither,¡± she replied. ¡°I¡¯m too excited.¡± ¡°Me too,¡± Quan admitted, though he wasn¡¯t sure the sources of their excitement were identical. ¡°Ok, let¡¯s stay up until one of us gets tired.¡± ¡°Yeah. We can admire the view.¡± Fen leaned gently against him, their bodies swaying together. ¡°Good idea,¡± she grinned. Quan tried to quell the speed of his heart, but it was in vain. Even just sitting beside her seemed to break his mind. He¡¯d had crushes on other girls back in Bhuo, but most of the girls there didn¡¯t talk to Keepers-in-training, and all the really pretty girls had always liked Palden anyway. Quan was just the odd Imperial ¨C a novelty, not a boy of interest. And Fen was pretty. He turned his head just slightly and strained his eyes to get a good look at her in the moonlight. She wasn¡¯t the prettiest girl he¡¯d ever seen, but he loved how she held herself, the pride she¡¯d shown every step of their journey. He even admired the way she cared for her father so much, even the hostility she¡¯d shown for his mother had been endearing in a way. Fen¡¯s head started to move and Quan whipped his own back into a neutral position, but out of the corner of his eye he thought she was actually stealing a look back at him. He wanted nothing more than to confirm it, but being caught looking at her would be too embarrassing. Eventually he couldn¡¯t hold back and quickly glanced in her direction. She was staring at him. Their eyes locked and he reconsidered: she was the most beautiful girl he¡¯d ever seen. They both smiled and looked down. ¡°So, um¡­¡± Fen said once they were both staring ahead again. ¡°What¡¯s it like in Zhosian?¡± Quan thought for a moment. ¡°Cold. Usually very cold.¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s the same here. We¡¯re not that far north you know.¡± ¡°Do you get a lot of snow too? Sometimes we get two, three feet of snow in a day.¡± ¡°Not that much, no,¡± she admitted. ¡°But the winds coming off the mountains. They¡¯re really cold.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± ¡°What else though, do you go to school?¡± ¡°Yes, but now that I¡¯m training to be a Keeper I don¡¯t go with most of the kids I grew up with.¡± ¡°A Keeper? So, you know magic?¡± ¡°¡­A little, yeah.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°Small stuff mostly. They don¡¯t teach you the really good spells until you get older.¡± ¡°That¡¯s so interesting.¡± ¡°What about you?¡± He asked. ¡°Do you go to school?¡± ¡°No, not anymore,¡± her voice deflated slightly. ¡°I actually had a tutor, but we had to let him go after we sold the house.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°I can read and write and everything though. I learned a lot. Poetry. Singing. Some of the classics. I might still try and take the exam one day. After Tan takes over the land.¡± ¡°You want to become a bureaucrat?¡± ¡°Sure. It¡¯s a good career, safe. I won¡¯t have anything here once Tan inherits everything. So it¡¯ll be a good way to get out, live somewhere else in the Empire.¡± Quan nodded, thinking it over: her position, the way the Empire worked according to his mother. At one point Lian had told him the civil entrance exam was challenging even for students raised in the best families ¨C a rural girl with a limited education probably didn¡¯t have a chance. But at that moment he believed in her and he pushed the doubt down. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll do it,¡± he said. ¡°You seem like you can do anything you put your mind to.¡± Fen looked at him and smiled. ¡°Thank you.¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. A few more moments of silence before Fen asked another question. ¡°So, you¡¯re a Tiendu Shu¡­ I mean, as a Keeper, you believe all that.¡± ¡°All of what?¡± Quan asked, genuinely unsure what she meant. ¡°Well, like enlightenment and reincarnation and all that stuff¡­¡± ¡°To be honest,¡± he admitted, ¡°there are some parts of it I¡¯m not sure about. Like reincarnation doesn¡¯t make much sense to me. Or at least, it doesn¡¯t matter, you know? Like if you¡¯re reincarnated but you don¡¯t remember anything about your past lives then how is that any different from just being born?¡± Fen nodded. ¡°But you do believe in most of it?¡± ¡°Yeah, I guess so. As a Keeper they train you to meditate, go inside yourself. That¡¯s where magic comes from, and it also, I don¡¯t know¡­ shows you things.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard to describe. When you touch magic for the first time, it¡¯s like being in touch with the Tiendu. That experience alone made me believe in a lot of it.¡± ¡°What does Tiendu mean, anyway?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know the Imperial for it, really. I think¡­ maybe, oneness? It¡¯s basically the whole idea of our religion: that everything is connected into a single living entity called the Tiendu. You, me, the grass on the trees, even the rocks. It¡¯s all part of one giant life force.¡± ¡°¡­That¡¯s nice,¡± Fen responded, ¡°I like that.¡± ¡°Um, but what about you? You¡¯re not Tiendu Shu then?¡± ¡°No,¡± she shook her head, ¡°my dad raised us Shei. Not that we had anything against Tiendu Shu or anything, but it was what we were taught to believe.¡± ¡°So you believe all those stories, about the Gods and Heaven and Hell and everything?¡± ¡°Maybe some of it,¡± she admitted. ¡°My dad used to say that the Gods were probably just important kings and queens and their stories got mixed up over the years. The stories turned them into Gods battling against evil, when really it was just people fighting, you know, nature and barbarians and those sorts of things.¡± ¡°Yeah that makes sense.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she continued. ¡°There are a lot of rules with being Shei. A lot of rules about family and praying and what you can and can¡¯t do.¡± ¡°Is it¡­ hard?¡± Fen chuckled. ¡°No, not hard or anything, just¡­ restrictive. I don¡¯t know, I think I¡¯d like to learn more about Tiendu Shu, is all.¡± Quan¡¯s chest almost broke at this point, swollen by the pressure in his lungs and heart. He was about to offer to teach her when she came up with a much better idea. ¡°My back¡¯s a little sore,¡± she flexed it out and brushed more of her body against Quan. ¡°Do you think we could lie down? Maybe look up at the stars?¡± ¡°Sure. Sure, yeah. Good idea.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll hear the bandits coming on horseback right?¡± ¡°Yeah. Definitely.¡± They both leaned back slowly, keeping the blanket on them and kicking it out with their legs to cover their feet. The ground was hard and rocky, just as Lian had pointed out, but Quan barely noticed it. Now the full lengths of their sides were pressed against one another, and their heads fell close to one another, close enough for him to smell her. He looked up at the stars and they almost seemed to be spinning. ¡°So teach me¡­¡± Fen whispered, their proximity now enough to bring her voice directly into his ear. ¡°¡­About what?¡± ¡°Tiendu Shu.¡± ¡°Oh, right. What do you want to know?¡± ¡°Well, why did they pick Shu as the word for love?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± He asked, puzzled. ¡°Well, there are two words in ancient Imperial for it, right? What¡¯s the word in Zhosian?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ just ¡®love.¡¯ What do you mean there are two words?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± She asked back with a chuckle. ¡°My mom always told me ¡®Shu¡¯ means love. That¡¯s it. I didn¡¯t know there was another word for it.¡± Fen laughed aloud. Quan turned his head to find out what was so funny but only found himself grinning ear to ear at the sight of her being so happy. ¡°What is it? What¡¯s funny?¡± ¡°How do you not know that?¡± Fen asked between laughs. ¡°Not know what?¡± ¡°Your adopted mother. She¡¯s a Shuli Go. Did you not ever ask what that meant?¡± Quan thought for a moment. ¡°No. I mean, she explained to me what a ¡®Go¡¯ was, like a division of some sort. But she never brought up Shuli. I thought it was just some nonsense ancient Imperial.¡± Fen¡¯s smile remained on her face, and she turned to face him and explain. ¡°In ancient Imperial there were two words for love. Shu, and li. Shu is the love you have for family, mostly. It¡¯s a long-lasting love, almost more¡­ dedication. Commitment. It¡¯s a love you have to choose to make every day. Li is the love that you can¡¯t help. Like¡­ an intense love, where it takes over every part of you and you start doing stupid things because of it. Kind of like lust, but¡­ more than that. It¡¯s the love you feel when you meet someone and all you think about is them.¡± Quan listened to her explain and understood everything, especially the part about ¡®li¡¯ because he was almost certain he was feeling it right then. Instead of being too cold, his entire body was on fire ¨C he felt he was going to start sweating any moment ¨C but he didn¡¯t care because this beautiful young woman was staring into his eyes and teaching him about love. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that,¡± he admitted in a quiet voice, not wanting to disturb the way she looked at him right then. Her smile slowly faded but her eyes remained on him. And then she asked him the question he¡¯d hoped she would. ¡°Have you ever felt that kind of love? Li?¡± ¡°No,¡± he admitted. ¡°No?¡± She asked. And then she moved closer, rolling her body slightly and pressing her leg on top of his, her hand squirming down to find his own. She wrapped her fingers around his palm and he squeezed them back as his heart raced. ¡°Never?¡± Her whisper was almost inaudible. Quan licked his lips and looked at hers as they came closer. He mumbled a silent phrase, ¡°maybe right now,¡± before she leaned in all the way and kissed him. The fullness of her lips on his was more than he expected, almost draining the air out of his lungs. His first kiss. For some reason he told himself to remember this, every detail. The stars up above, the cool wind, the warmth of her hand, and the pleasure of her on his mouth. So committed to remembering every single aspect of the kiss was he, that it took him several moments to realize his eyes were open, and hers were not. He shut them and somehow that made it even better, his every sense attuned to the kiss. She pushed harder against him, tilting her head slightly and sending new sensations into his brain. He had no idea what to do, but eventually he realized he should probably do something. He pushed into her, way too hard, and their teeth clashed painfully. He apologized quickly as he pulled back but she just smiled and moved back to kiss him again. He let her guide him, his body vibrating with the new sensations. Not just his body either, he realized. Through her hand, her lips, he could feel the rest of her, her other free hand moving up and stroking his cheek, his hair. Even with his eyes closed he knew her every move as her hand went back down to her own body and her other hand squeezed his. This is what love is like, he thought. This is amazing. Then he felt her free hand and the blade of the knife pressed into his throat. His eyes shot open and the girl he saw rising up from him was not the same one who had been kissing him a second earlier. Her eyes were stony, her face completely immobile; a face that had never smiled, not once. It was the same face she¡¯d had when she¡¯d displayed her father. Quan stared at her and she stared back, the sharp edge of the small blade firm against his artery. The artery that was pumping blood in a frenzy, now from a different source of excitement than moments earlier. He didn¡¯t say anything for a while, mostly because he was too confused to think of anything. Fen said nothing either, just squeezed his hand in place and kept the blade tight against his skin. Eventually Quan knew what he wanted to say. ¡°This won¡¯t bring him back.¡± Fen¡¯s face turned into disgust. ¡°You and your mother. You¡¯re both fucking idiots. It¡¯s not about him anymore. It¡¯s about her.¡± ¡°My mother?¡± ¡°She got to go home. She was fine at the end of it. She didn¡¯t get any punishment. She deserved punishment.¡± ¡°Maybe. Yeah.¡± He admitted. ¡°She should have been forced to take the same beating. The same thing should have happened to her. She should be on a straw mat in a pile of her own shit right now. You should be the one feeding her fucking¡­ gruel. Every day. For the rest of her life.¡± Fen started crying, not large, sobbing tears, but tears nonetheless. Quan made the slightest motion to move the hand she was still holding, but her face redoubled in anger and she pressed the knife right into the skin, piercing it just enough to elicit a terrified moan from Quan. He closed his eyes and relaxed. He couldn¡¯t kill her. He didn¡¯t want to either. But he didn¡¯t want to die. Slowly he opened his eyes again and saw that she was actively frowning, her chest heaving as she fought whatever decision was going on through her head. The same kind of decision Lian had warned Quan about. A decision she couldn¡¯t possibly know the consequences to. ¡°You think this will hurt my mother?¡± Quan asked. ¡°Yes.¡± Fen replied, firm. ¡°It would. And after she killed you, she¡¯d feel bad about that too. That¡¯s a kind of pain, Fen. My mother already hurts because of what happened to your father.¡± ¡°Not enough. Not the right kind of pain.¡± ¡°Maybe not. But if you kill me it won¡¯t be the right kind of pain either. That¡¯ll be your pain. Not your father¡¯s.¡± Fen stared into Quan¡¯s eyes. ¡°You¡¯re disgusting,¡± she said. ¡°You still have an erection you sick bastard.¡± Then she pulled back quickly, ripping her blanket off the boy and going to the wall of the ledge against the cliff. She rolled into a small ball there and covered herself with the blanket, her face to the rock. ¡°You can stay up all night. I¡¯m going to sleep.¡± A few more seconds passed, then she added. ¡°And if you ever touch me again, I¡¯ll kill you.¡± Quan¡¯s heart kept racing for several more minutes. He reached to his throat and dabbed at the small bit of blood she¡¯d brought out. By the time his breathing returned to normal, he felt exhausted. But he dared not sleep. He realized his lips were dry and he licked them. She was still there, on his lips, a different taste than he¡¯d expected. He sat up and moved to the edge, looking out to the north, and focused on staying awake. Part 12 Lian woke up early so that the villager on the last round of fireworks watch could sleep an extra few hours. She toured the outside of the fort in an early morning chill, the grass damp with dew, and stretched as the sun began its long appearance over the horizon. Her body was finally registering the soreness from her battle with the Keeper two days earlier, and almost every part of her hurt in the tender, gnawing way endemic to sore muscles and bruised skin. After twenty two years straight of one kind of battle or another ¨C not to mention a childhood spent learning to fight ¨C she¡¯d grown used to those particular agonies. But as forty threatened she¡¯d started noticing the pain lasted longer and the bruises didn¡¯t disappear as quickly. Stretching had become a necessity. She was finishing her suite of exercises when the first stirrings came from inside the fort and Quan and Fen trudged their way back from their lookout position. Quan looked tired, which Lian briefly considered to be positive, but Fen looked well rested and angry, which was not. Fen walked by her first, a dozen paces ahead of Quan, and said nothing, just stalked into the fort to speak to her uncle. ¡°How¡¯d it go?¡± Lian asked as Quan plodded by, his face particularly exhausted and some sort of scratch mark on his throat. ¡°Fine,¡± he said, clearly indicating it had not gone fine. Lian considered pressing for more information, but she knew Quan had said everything he felt comfortable sharing. Lian let it drop and followed her son in to help organize breakfast so they could send the messenger on her way and start their march for that day. That march turned into a slow, laborious one as the terrain grew higher and sunk lower in alternating waves, the relentless feeling of going uphill pervading each step along the way. When Li Jie announced they were closing in on the herder¡¯s fields, Lian forced everyone to move even slower ¨C including taking Li Jie and herself off their horses ¨C so that she could approach each rise and examine the horizon for sentries. They had only covered five miles by the time the sun was directly overhead, and they ate in plaintive quiet next to a small stream. Another two miles slogged by when Lian ¨C with Li Jie, Quan, and Fen all just a few steps behind ¨C came over a hill and then dropped to her stomach. ¡°Everyone, down!¡± She whispered, waving for the peasants who were thirty feet behind with the horses to stop where they were. Fen ran back to them with Lian¡¯s instructions, and the air turned absolutely still. She surveyed the wind first, ensuring it was still coming down off the mountains, then she slowly peeked over the edge of the rise. The sentry was on a high, isolated hill, similar to the one Quan and Fen had used the night before, about 200 yards to the southeast. It didn¡¯t have the sheer face, but it did come to a high point, upon which a single figure was pacing back and forth, twirling a red flag without purpose. The ground between Lian and the hill was remarkably flat compared to the rest of the countryside, and Lian felt grateful they¡¯d approached as they had; if they¡¯d taken the less difficult slope to the east, they might have been spotted. She examined the surrounding area. The hill she and the villagers were hiding behind extended only twenty feet south before sloping off and joining the plateau. To the east the hill extended further, but then fell steeply off, producing the only true valley of any noticeable height. There was no way to approach the sentry without being spotted. So the best thing to do was to bring the sentry to them. ¡°Quan,¡± she whispered to her son when she¡¯d crept back below the sentry¡¯s viewing line. ¡°Go with Li Jie and take everything off his horse except the saddle and bridle. Lead it to the edge of the hill there ¨C make sure you can¡¯t see around the hill though. When I give the word, nudge it out into the valley. Ok?¡± ¡°Ok,¡± Quan responded, the excitement of the situation wiping away the tired expression he¡¯d worn all morning. Lian watched as Li Jie and Quan started working, silently removing the food, water, and other baggage from the horse. As they worked Fen scaled the hill and knelt next to Lian. The younger woman said nothing, just stared at the ridge past which her enemy was waiting. Lian in turn stared at her, wondering what had happened the night before, and what the young woman was thinking. It was Fen who pointed out the bushes to the south. ¡°We could hide in there,¡± Fen pointed to a set of small bushes that formed a thin line where the hill met the plateau. From higher up they¡¯d looked like the grass that covered everything else in the landscape, but Lian now saw that it was tall and thick enough to obscure the view of the sentry who didn¡¯t know there was someone behind the bush. ¡°Good thinking,¡± Lian thanked Fen, grinning. Fen didn¡¯t smile in return, just started to move towards the bushes unprompted. Lian followed and overtook her, then showed her how to slowly enter the sentry¡¯s field of vision in a slow, gradual crawl. The two women lay on their stomachs, their view of the sentry mostly obscured by the bushes, but clear enough that they could watch to ensure their bait was being taken. Quan approached the corner of the hill and looked to his mother. Lian gave a nod and Quan raced back. Lian and Fen watched, both of them breathing slow to avoid being spotted, waiting for the sentry to notice the horse. It did. At once its body tensed up and the red signalling flag it had been playing with was replaced with a spear and a long, intense stare at the lone horse, followed by a thorough scan of the horizon where it had come from. More than once it looked directly at Fen and Lian, causing Fen to hold her breath and Lian to freeze her movements. Lian couldn¡¯t be sure, but the horse must have stopped to eat some grass, because after several minutes, the sentry¡¯s stare became fixated on the small valley. It was another few agonizing minutes before the sentry took the bait. It bounded down the steep hill with excitement, but then walked across the plateau slowly, almost expecting an ambush. It even called out a few times ¨C shouting names of fellow bandits who could have lost a horse ¨C in a higher pitched but distinctly male voice. He made a final approach towards the horse, avoiding climbing the hill and instead going directly into the valley. As he did so he slipped out of Lian¡¯s vision. ¡°If you want to follow me stay low and stay absolutely quiet,¡± she instructed Fen before rising up slightly and looping east towards the horse and the sentry. She heard Fen get up to follow, though quiet enough she wouldn¡¯t ruin Lian¡¯s stealth.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Lian sprinted low, her feet gliding along the ground to avoid making a pounding sound. As she passed around the curve of the hill and onto the plateau, she saw the sentry standing next to the horse, patting it gently, mere feet away from being able to spot Quan, Li Jie, and the villagers. Lian moved even faster, hand on her Wamaian sword in case she needed to strike quickly. She couldn¡¯t let this one raise any sort of alarm, and if he mounted the horse before Lian could strike she¡¯d have to cut them both down. She remained silent and lucky however ¨C silent enough to reach the sentry without his ever noticing, and lucky enough that he¡¯d rested his spear against the horse and never had a chance to bring it into play. Lian tackled him at the waist and arm, then spun him into a hip throw and slammed him into the ground, retaining a grip on his right arm as she did so, which she instantly put into a wrist lock. She clasped her other hand around his jaw and mouth, squeezing them both shut, and dropped her knee into his other arm, pinning him down. He struggled for a split second until Lian tightened the wrist lock, drawing a pained growl out of his shut mouth. He shuddered then slowly opened his eyes and looked into Lian¡¯s. ¡°Do you know who I am?¡± She asked. She allowed him to shake his head very slightly. ¡°Do you know what I am?¡± He looked at her, the swords and the hair, and nodded. ¡°So you know I can tell if you¡¯re lying?¡± He nodded. ¡°If I take my hand off your mouth, are you going to scream?¡± He shook his head. Lian snapped his wrist with an audible crack, then held him tightly as he squirmed under the intense pain. Behind her Fen recoiled slightly before steeling herself. Quan and the villagers also moved out into the valley to watch, their faces a mixture of interest and terror. Few of them could remember a Shuli Go, and none of them had seen one break a man¡¯s bones with ease. The sentry screamed and writhed against her for a while. That kind of scream she could handle, muffled as it was, but a full on scream may raise another alarm closer to the bandit camp. She waited until his shouting had reduced to a whimper and he¡¯d stopped wiggling underneath her before questioning him again. The armbone she was resting her knee on was starting to dig in into her shin and it was very uncomfortable, she wanted to get this over with. ¡°Now you know it¡¯s true. I can tell when you¡¯re lying.¡± She moved her grip off of his now limp wrist and encircled his arm at the elbow, the next joint she could easily destroy, although technically there were three other bones in his wrist she could always return to. ¡°So now let me ask you again: if I take my hand away, are you going to scream?¡± He paused for a moment, tears starting to pour out of his eyes and a thin layer of mucus pouring onto the top of her hand. He nodded. ¡°Fuck,¡± she mumbled, ¡°that¡¯s not the kind of honesty I¡¯m looking for. Ok, don¡¯t scream. I just want to talk to you. Nobody has to get hurt anymore. We¡¯re just going to talk. I¡¯m going to ask questions, and you¡¯re going to answer them truthfully. Ok?¡± He nodded again. ¡°No screaming, right?¡± He nodded. Lian slowly removed his grip over his mouth, but kept everything else tight. He didn¡¯t scream, but he did sigh out in pain, then started snivelling. His entire face was covered in terror, and as the other villagers crowded around it only grew worse as he realized how desperately he¡¯d failed at his mission. ¡°Has the Keeper returned with the other bandits yet?¡± He swallowed before responding in a weak, terrified voice. ¡°No.¡± ¡°How many days have they been gone?¡± ¡°Four. Four and a half now.¡± ¡°When are they supposed to be back?¡± ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know.¡± Lian eyed him, but he was telling the truth. She reconsidered the question. ¡°How long are they usually gone?¡± ¡°Five days. Maybe six.¡± ¡°Ok. Where is the main camp?¡± He paused, looking around for help from any of the villagers. When he found none he returned to Lian, the desperation of a cornered animal on every inch of his face. He¡¯d made a decision to join the bandits because it had seemed better than all the other available decisions. The obvious choice. Now the decision to betray this better life to spare himself pain seemed just as obvious. The disharmony between the two obvious choices ¨C join the bandits, betray the bandits ¨C confused and troubled him. He had not learned the lesson she¡¯d taught Quan: that sometimes the right choice can still lead to very bad things. ¡°They¡¯re not worth it,¡± she told him, tightening her grip on his elbow at the same time. The sentry broke down, explaining in a teary speech that the main camp was in a deep furrow in the rancher¡¯s land about three miles to the south east, close to the mountain where Lian had directed Puotong. There were only six people in the base at that time, with another two sentries to the east, covering the most direct routes into the camp. With such a small compliment on hand, the flag system the Keeper had set up for sentries was useless ¨C it required intermediaries every half mile ¨C and he was supposed to shoot a flaming arrow into a pile of grass if anyone approached. With him out of the way they could take over the camp and lay their trap without much difficulty. Lian released the bandit ¨C not much older than Quan really, and asked for her son to come over. ¡°See what you can do about this,¡± she pointed to the bandit¡¯s broken wrist. Quan knelt down next to the man and gave him a reassuring smile. ¡°This will hurt a bit,¡± he warned, as he felt the man¡¯s wrist, already swelling from the trauma. When he located the broken bone he tenderly felt the edge of it and traced its path. Quan snapped the bone back into place and this time the man writhed and screamed out in the open, falling on the ground and shedding more tears. Quan remained kneeling, moved into a meditative pose on both knees, and concentrated, whispering in Zhosian and bringing his hands up towards the sky. All the villagers and even the sentry watched him in wonder, as he completed the Keeper spell, gently grasped the man¡¯s wrist and clamped over it with both hands. The man¡¯s pained expression disappeared and he looked at Quan with marvel. ¡°You¡¯re one too?¡± He wondered aloud. Quan just smiled, then tore off a piece of his Zhosian robe. ¡°The freezing only numbs the pain, it doesn¡¯t heal anything. So keep your wrist straight. I¡¯ll wrap it but it won¡¯t be perfect, so make sure you don¡¯t use it for a few weeks if you can.¡± Quan bound the man¡¯s wrist into a makeshift cast and said, ¡°The pain will come back in a few hours. Best thing is to try and sleep it off. Ok?¡± The former bandit was too mesmerized to say anything. Lian ordered the villagers to repack the horse and put two of them in charge of keeping an eye on the sentry as they marched. Everyone snapped into action, energized by the display of their leaders. The mission that had seemed hopeless just twelve hours earlier was suddenly not just possible but probable: an unguarded bandit base, time to attack, and a Shuli Go and Keeper capable of breaking and setting bones at will. Not to mention the soldiers that were still promised. They moved into a dervish of action ¨C even Fen and Li Jie moved with newfound purpose. ¡°You didn¡¯t have to break his wrist,¡± Quan said to Lian as they stepped aside. ¡°But then how would you have fixed it?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t need to fix it.¡± ¡°But then how would you look both tough and compassionate in front of your girlfriend?¡± Quan¡¯s eyes went wide, but he didn¡¯t blush quite the way Lian expected. ¡°She¡¯s not my girlfriend.¡± ¡°Fine. Fuck-friend. Whatever it is you kids are calling it these days.¡± ¡°Please, mom, this isn¡¯t the time,¡± he said with a sense of resignation that caught her off guard. It truly wasn¡¯t the time for him. ¡°Ok,¡± she relented. ¡°Are you alright though?¡± Quan just shook his head and walked away, muttering, ¡°you didn¡¯t have to break his wrist.¡± Lian watched him go and shook her head. The lesson still hadn¡¯t gotten through. Part 13 The bandit¡¯s base camp was exactly as the sentry had described: a long gash into the rocky earth where the base of the mountains had met the more pliable soil, creating an open tunnel structure with large overhangs that provided protection against the elements. The entire length of it was two hundred yards, growing in depth from the entryway to the north, and culminating in a set of recessed wings at the south where the captured food, weapons, and riches had been gathered. With so few bandits on site, Lian and her crew were able to sneak right up to them, approaching from the west and standing over them on the lip of the overhang, watching. Three of them were playing some sort of card game on a poorly constructed table, one was sleeping next to the remnants of a fire, and one was hauling goods into one of the adjoining caves. The sentry guessed the sixth was out tending to some of the horses on the plateau that stood just to the north, directly on from the mouth of the camp. ¡°Ok, here¡¯s what we¡¯re going to do,¡± Lian gathered everyone about one hundred and fifty yards from the edge of the gash, keeping her voice low. ¡°Li Jie, you take the villagers down about a hundred yards, near where the fall into the crack isn¡¯t so high. Keep away from the edge until you hear me start trouble, then I want all of you to jump into the tunnel and stop anyone from running away. Hopefully once they see they¡¯re outnumbered they¡¯ll just give up.¡± Li Jie just nodded. He had little of his brother¡¯s fearlessness and his face was as tight as the grip on his spear. Lian wasn¡¯t worried however. She¡¯d developed a good sense of people¡¯s potential for bravery in her years, and Li Jie was no coward. The fear he showed was the healthy one: of dying. ¡°What will I do?¡± Fen asked, without any fear, healthy or otherwise. ¡°You,¡± Lian explained, ¡°will take the bow and arrow we took from the sentry, and guard him with it. If he so much as whispers, you shoot him, right in the chest.¡± Lian handed Fen the bow and arrow from off her horse and stared at both her and the bandit to let them know she was serious. The former sentry, his arms bound together behind his chest, clenched his jaw tight. She wasn¡¯t worried he¡¯d make a sound. ¡°What about me?¡± It was Quan¡¯s turn to inquire. ¡°You¡¯re with me. It¡¯ll be more imposing if they see a Keeper and a Shuli Go together. Just stay close.¡± They all moved into position, silent enough to avoid detection over the raucous laughter and taunts of the card game. Once Li Jie and the peasants were in place, Lian inched to the edge of the opening, directly above the bandits. She crawled forward on her stomach so that she could poke her head over and determine a safe landing site. Quan inched up next to her. There were only five feet of open space behind the card players, beyond which the overhangs came together completely to form a cave. The drop into that space was almost twenty feet. Easy enough for Lian, but she worried about Quan. ¡°It¡¯s a deep fall,¡± she whispered to him. ¡°Find a handhold and drop down the extra few feet, ok?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be fine,¡± he whispered back. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°You will not be fine. You are not getting hurt before the fighting even starts.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t get hurt. I promise.¡± ¡°Just do this, ok?¡± ¡°No, I can make the jump. It¡¯s not that high.¡± ¡°It¡¯s too high. You¡¯ll get hurt.¡± ¡°Oh ok, so I¡¯m not allowed to get hurt protecting innocent people from bandits, but I¡¯m allowed to sleep with women.¡± ¡°What? What are you talking about? How is that a bad thing? Sex is awesome. Breaking your leg is not awesome. How can you possibly compare the two?¡± ¡°You can make babies from sex, and that is not awesome. Not when you¡¯re sixteen years old.¡± ¡°You only make babies if you¡¯re an idiot. Are you an idiot? No! Gods, those Zhosians gave you all these weird neuroses about sex.¡±Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Well I¡¯m sorry I think sex is something special that you should share with the person you love!¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with that except you don¡¯t have to be twenty-eight and married with a house on the edge of the city before you find out if you enjoy fucking the person you love!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see how it¡¯s any business of¨C¡± but Quan stopped when Lian touched his arm. Her eyes were on the bandits below. The card game had ended. He looked down and saw their eyes were all up at the two of them, curious. At some point their whispering had gotten a little out of hand. ¡°Fuck,¡± Lian stood up, ¡°just don¡¯t break anything,¡± she told him before she jumped down. The thrill of free fall and the air whipping her braid about focused her attention back to the task at hand. She landed on both feet and collapsed into a squat, her legs managing to absorb all the energy of the fall. As she rose up to face the bandits Quan landed next to her. His legs did not absorb the fall, and he toppled over onto his ass and then his back, his legs suspended in the air for a long moment. Lian shook her head. ¡°I didn¡¯t break anything,¡± he said defiantly as he scrambled up next to her. ¡°I¡¯m ok.¡± Lian ignored him and stepped towards the bandits, who were so confused at this point they hadn¡¯t even raised a weapon or even considered sounding an alarm. The one who had been hauling goods stared at them from the mouth of a cave. The one who had been sleeping had propped himself up on his elbows, but was otherwise unperturbed. She withdrew her Shuli Go sword and moved into a defensive stance, then spoke. ¡°My name is Zhao Lian. I am a Shuli Go, and I¡¯m here to arrest you all for crimes of banditry. If you set down your weapons now, you will be treated humanely and tried in accordance with Imperial codes. If you don¡¯t, you will die.¡± The biggest bandit ¨C a man who reminded Lian of Xue Kang at once ¨C took a look at her, a look at Quan, and then asked. ¡°And him? Who¡¯s he?¡± Quan stepped forward and introduced himself. ¡°I am Zhao Quan. I am a Keeper of the Zhosian Tiendu Shu. And this is my mother.¡± The bandits looked at each other, unable to process all this information or make any sense of it. But Lian could read their faces well enough to tell they were leaning towards disbelief. Since she didn¡¯t want to kill anyone she didn¡¯t have to, so she took this opportunity to provide more visual evidence of their situation. ¡°And they!¡± She shouted, loud enough for Li Jie to hear. ¡°Are with us as well.¡± She pointed behind the bandits, who turned to see the villagers and Li Jie jumping down into the tunnel, their makeshift weapons pointed at the bandits. They weren¡¯t numerous enough to spread across the entire width of the tunnel, and they weren¡¯t that imposing either, but they were unexpected and more numerous than the bandits. And they were effective. The bandits reacted quickly, panicking and looking to one another for someone to make a choice. Of course it was the big one who made that choice, and he chose incorrectly. He picked up the heavy axe at his side and rushed towards Lian, bellowing and telegraphing his every move. Lian feinted in one direction, he moved to meet the feint, and she darted around him and cut off his head in one slice. Blood showered out as he fell to the ground and the air turned still. Lian looked at the rest of the bandits and their decisions had all been made as well. The villagers approached and helped tie up the bandits as Lian and Quan started exploring the network of caves that shot off from the main tunnel. Most were empty, but space had been cleared and even a few characters had been carved into the stone, indicating that a room was to be used for food, weapons, horse supplies, and so on. The two largest caverns were half-full though ¨C one with basic stores, and the other with loot. Considering they¡¯d been raiding mostly small farming villages, the loot was not extensive or particularly rich, but there was some silver, family heirlooms, fine clothing and delicacies like sugar and wine. For a poor rural area, it was quite the wealth they¡¯d amassed. Lian pulled out the items she thought would be of use in the coming days and started distributing them to the villagers: weapons to replace the more ridiculous substitutes they¡¯d carried thus far, quality food to celebrate their first victory, and some of the wine so they could drink themselves into a good sleep that night. Then she pulled Fen aside. ¡°I¡¯ve got something for you,¡± Lian pulled out a pistol she¡¯d found at the very back of the fine goods room, hidden amongst a few other valuable pieces: obviously the Keeper¡¯s personal stash. ¡°You know what this is?¡± Fen nodded but said nothing. Lian extended it to her and waited for her to take it. ¡°It¡¯s loaded and the charge looks good. Just don¡¯t get it wet and it¡¯ll fire once. Just cock that back,¡± she showed the young woman how the hammer moved, ¡°and then aim and pull the trigger. I¡¯d wait as long as you can to use it ¨C it¡¯s probably only accurate about ten or fifteen feet in front of you, so wait until you feel like they¡¯re right on top of you. Ok?¡± Fen nodded absent-mindedly and ran her fingers over the weapon. The handle was steel with a wooden grip, and the barrel was elaborately carved: a pair of dragons curling around with their mouths open where the sparks and bullet would fly. She looked up at Lian and nodded her appreciation. When the camp had been adequately prepared, Lian gathered her son and Li Jie. ¡°I¡¯m going to meet my officer friend. The soldiers will be back here tonight.¡± ¡°Do you want me to come?¡± Li Jie offered. ¡°It¡¯s my village they¡¯d be helping.¡± ¡°He¡¯s not helping anyone but himself,¡± Lian confided. ¡°You stay here. Quan and I will ride out and meet him. And we¡¯ll grab the last bandit on the way.¡± ¡°What about the two sentries left out there?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll get them tomorrow morning before the sun comes up. I¡¯ll wait until we know how many soldiers we have to work with, but I have the start of a plan forming.¡± Part 14 Lian took Quan and their two horses and headed further south towards the base of the mountain. As the land rose up to meet the mountain, she spotted the distant figures of a group of horses, grazing. It was only about three or four miles away, but there was a small hedge of forest along the base of the mountain through which they¡¯d be able to approach unspotted. But the last bandit and their horses were secondary. First they had to meet Puotong. It was early evening when they got to the forest of the designated mountain, and Puotong was not there. ¡°He¡¯ll be here,¡± Lian reassured her son. He arrived almost an hour later with a group of twenty-five soldiers in full armor marching behind him. They looked tired and had obviously been marching all day, but none of them looked as unhappy as Puotong, even though he¡¯d ridden horseback the entire way. ¡°Zhao,¡± he stopped his horse a dozen yards away, his voice completely without mirth. ¡°I should have my men kill you right now.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good to see you Puotong. Old friend.¡± ¡°Are we friends Zhao? Because what you wrote in that second letter¡­¡± ¡°Was true,¡± Lian stated flatly. Puotong clucked his tongue and eyed the woman warily. Sweat was dripping off his helmet and falling into his eyes. He wiped his forehead but kept his eyes on Lian. ¡°Let¡¯s go talk,¡± he set his horse off to go into the forest. Lian gave a quick glance to Quan, indicating he should flee if the troops attacked suddenly, but followed Puotong into the woods. Once they were safely out of earshot Puotong hopped off his horse and let out a long sigh as he stretched his riding legs and back. Lian also dismounted and followed the commander next to a tall, thin fir. ¡°I can¡¯t ride like this too much more,¡± he complained, seemingly to no one in particular. ¡°My ass feels like I took a twenty-minute shit on the top of the Shuddering Peaks.¡± Lian hesitated a moment, uncertain she was actually being addressed. ¡°Um, you mean, it¡¯s numb.¡± ¡°Zhao my whole bottom half is going to be on pins and needles in a minute.¡± ¡°¡­Is this what you wanted to talk about? Or¡­¡± Puotong turned to look at her, his face in a grimace. ¡°Zhao, I was hurt. Do you really think so little of me that you had to resort to blackmail to get me here?¡± ¡°I asked you politely in the first letter. I explained it all there.¡± ¡°But you knew I couldn¡¯t possibly say yes. You know this isn¡¯t my territory or responsibility. They have a word for soldiers who leave their post to go deal with another soldier¡¯s business. Here¡¯s a hint, it rhymes with raider.¡± Lian had to think a second. ¡°Oh¡­ traitor. Yeah I got it.¡± ¡°I could lose my commission, my career. My life. If Daming finds out I¡¯m here doing this for you, that¡¯s it. As it was I had to tell my second in command I was taking the men out for a training drill. Everyone in that fort knows I don¡¯t do training drills. The chances that I get all twenty-five of these men back and have none of them talk is zero. I can deny as much as I want, but if three or more of them are willing to testify, that¡¯s all it takes to start a court martial. And then I¡¯m completely fucked.¡± ¡°Then why are you here?¡± ¡°Because you blackmailed me.¡± ¡°Then you probably shouldn¡¯t be pocketing all those tariffs all these years.¡± ¡°That¡¯s another thing,¡± Puotong rose up, furious, and took two steps towards Lian. Then he repulsed in agony. He let out another long, pained sigh and looked at her. ¡°Pins and needles,¡± he explained, shaking out his legs and breathing through his teeth. ¡°Listen Puotong, these people are going to lose everything. Their lives too.¡± ¡°What about my people Zhao? You think I¡¯ve been stealing from the Zhosian tariffs too much? Think again. I got a silver commendation for my tax collection duties last year. Straight from the Governor. I sent more tax in to the collector than any other border post in the eastern half of the Empire. Which includes all the border posts with Thaan and Huenen, which each do about ten times more trade with the Empire in a month compared to what Zhosian does in a year. And for all my honesty my soldiers and I get nothing. My men haven¡¯t been paid in five months, Zhao. Five months. After the first month they were going to mutiny, so I started paying them half their salaries out of my own money. And I¡¯m running out. My wife sold the house in Daming two months ago. She¡¯s living with my daughter and her mother in a tiny little apartment on the lowside while my son¡¯s waiting for his placement in the bureaucracy. And I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m going to do next month when all the money¡¯s gone. I can try paying them out of the stuff you brought, but if I send nothing in next month I will get a visit I don¡¯t want from the Governor¡¯s office.¡± ¡°¡­I didn¡¯t know it was that bad,¡± Lian admitted. ¡°How can you not get paid for five months?¡± ¡°A question I ask every week by letter. And so far nothing from my superiors, from the Governor, even the local Prefects aren¡¯t writing back.¡± ¡°Well if you weren¡¯t scared by the threat of me going to the authorities about you skimping taxes, why did you come?¡± ¡°Your other threat.¡± Lian thought. She hadn¡¯t made any other threats. ¡°What threat?¡± ¡°¡­The Keeper.¡± ¡°What about him?¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Puotong laughed. ¡°Good one Zhao, good one. As if allowing a Zhosian Keeper through the border wasn¡¯t enough to get me executed without a trial. If word reaches the Governor or an agent of the King, I¡¯ll be dead a lot faster than next month.¡± ¡°¡­I¡¯m going to be honest with you Puotong, I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about.¡± Puotong looked at her, then rolled his whole body in exasperation, mentally kicking himself for falling for a trap she hadn¡¯t set. ¡°Are you serious? You haven¡¯t heard about the King? He¡¯s terrified of Keepers. Convinced one of them almost killed him last year. He¡¯s been hunting them down in every prefect. Rounding up a lot of innocent Tiendu Shu believers in the process apparently. And then there¡¯s little old me who let a Zhosian one slip into the country and set up a petty kingdom without so much as a warning.¡± Lian hadn¡¯t actually mentioned the Keeper who¡¯d attacked her was Zhosian, because she wasn¡¯t sure he was. She had assumed he was because it was illegal to train Keepers in the Central Empire. Their powers didn¡¯t require the kind of modifications to the body that Shuli Go and Shei Chaste were forced to endure, and without a defined point at which the Empire could regulate how many people became Keepers, Tiendu Shu were banned from training them. Which didn¡¯t stop them from being trained anyway, secretly or openly as the tolerance for their existence varied between regions. ¡°Well,¡± Lian considered the situation, ¡°if he hates them so much, there must be some kind of reward for capturing a Keeper. Or even killing one.¡± ¡°Yes. There is. But I won¡¯t be in a position to collect when my superiors learn I disobeyed my orders and came here to hunt him down.¡± ¡°You might not be, but I would be.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t help me.¡± ¡°It could help your money situation for a while at least.¡± Puotong considered it, then nodded. ¡°Fine. A deal. Last I heard it was one gold for a Keeper. That would get my men almost another month.¡± Lian walked up to him and extended her arm. He grasped her forearm and they shook. ¡°Agreed,¡± she said. ¡°Fine, what¡¯s the plan then. Do you know where this Keeper is?¡± ¡°No, but I know where he¡¯s going to be. We took their camp this morning.¡± Puotong leaned back in surprise. ¡°We? You and your son?¡± ¡°I rounded up some of the villagers who were being harassed too. They¡¯re waiting back at the camp.¡± Puotong couldn¡¯t help grinning. ¡°I¡¯m impressed. Most of these villagers couldn¡¯t fight a snake.¡± ¡°Well they haven¡¯t done much fighting yet. And I¡¯m hoping they don¡¯t have to do much tomorrow either. We¡¯re going to set a trap that should take most of the fighting out of their hands.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s get to it. The sun will be down soon.¡± ¡°First we have to pick up a straggler.¡± Lian and Puotong exited the woods. Lian told Quan to guide the soldiers back to the bandit camp and wait there until she and Puotong returned. Commander Puotong instructed his sergeant to follow the Zhosian boy and not do anything stupid until they met the commander again. After the group split off, Lian guided Puotong into the thin forest and they started their skirting around the pasture land so they could catch the last bandit by surprise. Which they did. The last bandit was a short, waddling woman who didn¡¯t look up once as Puotong and Lian trotted their horses out of the woods and into the midst of the ten other animals that she was leading into a ramshackle stable on the edge of the woods. She trundled her way back and forth between the horses nudging and prodding them, but otherwise remained completely oblivious of her surroundings. It wasn¡¯t until she went to pat Puotong¡¯s horse on the nose ¨C covered as it was by Imperial armor ¨C that she even looked up. ¡°Oh. Hello there,¡± she said, only mildly surprised. ¡°Hello,¡± Puotong replied. ¡°You¡¯re under arrest.¡± The woman looked at Puotong, then Lian, then the other horses, then back to Puotong. Then she threw up her arms and sighed deeply. ¡°Finally!¡± Lian and Puotong exchanged a look of surprised confusion, but the woman wouldn¡¯t let them have it. ¡°You know how long I¡¯ve been out here, watering and feeding and herding these sons of bitches? Months! That Kalsang¡¯s been promising me adventure and riches and all sorts of shit for months, but all I¡¯m doing is the same shit I was doing before! Except I don¡¯t get the breaks I used to, and my bed is a fucking floor mat under the fucking trees. Last night I had to run into this here shit of a paddock for protection from a fucking mountain leopard. Guess what? I didn¡¯t have that fucking problem at my last job. And the food¡­¡± This speech continued completely unabated for the entire ride back to the bandit¡¯s hideout. Lian ensured the animals left behind would have enough food and water available for a day, then loaded the bandit on a horse and the three of them set out. Lian tried interrogating the woman for a while, but her responses inevitably came back around to the same winding narrative of how poorly she¡¯d been treated. She revealed little valuable information except that her name was Shi, the Keeper was named Kalsang ¨C confirming a Zhosian background ¨C and that Shi and Kalsang did not see eye to eye on the management practices of either horses or humans. ¡°That idiot¡¯s been taking almost the entire group out on these stupid raids, hardly brings much back at all, leaves our base completely open ¨C how did he think this was going to work out? I swear the man¡¯s a complete moron. I kept telling anyone who would listen that he was gonna get us caught. And now look! A Shuli Go and the Imperial army right on his doorstep. He deserves whatever you give him I swear. And those poor dumb bastards back there¡± ¨C meaning the horses ¨C ¡°getting run ragged every day, and we don¡¯t have hardly any hay or a decent place for them to stay in the winter. Everything about this screams that the man doesn¡¯t have a plan or even half a brain. I swear the next time I see him¡­¡± Puotong more than once threatened to hit her to shut her up, but even when he did strike her it only worked for a few minutes before she was right back at it. Her flow of complaints continued unabated right up until they reached the bandit camp, as the sun was finally beginning its long descent over the horizon. ¡°Well shit,¡± Shi said, dismounting her horse and walking towards the group of villagers, one of whom rose up at the sight of her and started to approach. ¡°If that isn¡¯t my cousin Niu, I haven¡¯t seen her in¡ª¡± Cousin Niu, the same woman who had had the courage to confront Lian about their chances for success the previous day, walked right up to Shi and slapped her hard across the face. Everyone fell silent and all eyes ¨C bandit prisoners, villagers, soldiers, Shuli Go ¨C watched. ¡°How could you?¡± Niu seethed, venom in her voice and eyes. ¡°You disgraced our entire family when you ran away. And for what? This?¡± ¡°Niu, please,¡± Shi started again, her voice already completely broken into a shadow of its former self. What a dozen slaps from Puotong had failed to do, a single one from her family had achieved with ease. ¡°I, I was scared¡ª¡± Another slap. Then another. Shi started to cry, but Niu just starting shouting at her louder and louder. ¡°You fucking whore! Trading your family for a few more horses! They killed Aunt Shufen! Did you know that? Huh? Did you?¡± Another slap. When Shi spoke again, she was on her knees, begging forgiveness, her words cluttered under a mass of tears and sobs. Niu was having none of it though. She continued striking and shouting at her cousin, ejecting insults and listing all the damage done to their family. When she started kicking Shi hard in the ribs, as the former bandit lay curled on the ground in tears, Lian finally stepped in and pulled Niu away, almost struggling despite the other woman¡¯s small, poorly nourished peasant stature: such was her fury that she could almost overpower a Shuli Go. A group of the villagers took Niu and tried to calm her down, while Puotong¡¯s soldiers dragged Shi away, coughing blood. Lian walked over to where Fen and Li Jie had sat, watching, and crumpled into a cross-legged pose next to them. ¡°Is that what it¡¯s going to be like for all of them?¡± Li Jie asked. ¡°When they get back, I mean.¡± ¡°Yeah that¡¯s pretty normal,¡± Lian informed him. ¡°For the ones who make it back.¡± Li Jie shook his head. ¡°Let¡¯s eat,¡± Lian said, ¡°then I¡¯m going to tell everyone my plan. So that we can all make it back.¡± Part 15 Xue Fen was alone in one of the bandit¡¯s caves, her bed roll out and the sun already long set, but she was too excited to even think about sleep. She sat on the ground next to the small fire she and her uncle had set to keep warm, examining with one hand the dagger ¨C longer than a knife, too short for a sword ¨C she¡¯d taken from the bandits¡¯ stash as her weapon, its blade matte but its point sharp and illuminated in the firelight. And her other hand was wrapped tight around the handle of the pistol Lian had picked out, tight as if it was going to escape her grasp at any minute. When she¡¯d held the knife to Quan¡¯s throat the night before, she¡¯d felt a rush, but not the one she¡¯d expected. It had made her sick to her stomach, the way the blade cut through that first layer of his skin, as if it was nothing. She¡¯d thought it would be harder ¨C she¡¯d needed it to be harder. She¡¯d never killed anyone, hardly even slaughtered an animal until these last few lean years, and she¡¯d expected it to be more difficult somehow, different from carving a chicken or slicing a roast. But it wasn¡¯t. His skin had given way just like any other animals¡¯, and that disgusted her from the stomach out: just how easy it would be to kill someone. Li Jie had left over half an hour earlier, saying he needed to urinate. She figured he would be out talking to the peasants, reassuring them, and she knew that was his rightful place. But right then she wanted someone to reassure her. Not about the next day¡¯s trap ¨C she knew that was well designed. But she needed someone to talk to about what it would be like to actually put the sharp end of that dagger into someone¡¯s skin. Someone¡¯s bone. Someone¡¯s heart. She needed someone to tell her she could do it without throwing up all over the battlefield the next day. Just then that someone arrived. She stood a few feet away, staring at Fen¡¯s fire, and casually asked. ¡°Can¡¯t sleep?¡± Fen looked up at Lian, but the Shuli Go didn¡¯t look back. Fen answered truthfully. ¡°No.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not usually like this,¡± Lian said vacantly, her eyes flickering in time with the fire. ¡°Usually you don¡¯t know when it¡¯s coming, or even if it¡¯s coming. It just happens and you react.¡± ¡°¡­I don¡¯t know how you did it,¡± Fen admitted. She held the blade out at arm¡¯s length against the backdrop of the fire, where its dull surface could block out most, but not all, of the firelight. The edge still gleamed under the mixture of stars, moon, and whispery flames. ¡°I don¡¯t know how you could take someone¡¯s life so easily.¡± Lian sighed. A sigh that said ¡®I can¡¯t believe we¡¯re back on this topic again¡¯ as if there had ever been any other topic worth discussing between the two of them. Fen felt the same rage that had taken hold of her the night before, when she¡¯d decided she would kill Quan. Then she remembered the convulsions in her stomach and they came back to her again. She let Lian talk and just held the dagger out there, admiring the contrast between the dull and the shine. ¡°I could lie and tell you it isn¡¯t easy. And maybe it wasn¡¯t, once. I don¡¯t remember that though. It¡¯s always been easy.¡± ¡°There must be something wrong with you,¡± Fen said. Lian laughed and Fen dropped her short sword to look at the older woman. The laugh was not, to her surprise, dismissive. ¡°You¡¯re right, there probably is,¡± Lian admitted. ¡°There¡¯s something wrong with anybody who kills someone. That¡¯s true.¡± ¡°But you¡¯ll still do it.¡± ¡°Sure¡­ and so will you.¡± Fen shook her head and placed the dagger on the ground. ¡°I don¡¯t know. When I think about it¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s not the same. Thinking about it and doing it. Not even close.¡± Fen thought for a moment then said, ¡°Quan told me the Tiendu Shu believe all life is connected. That makes them pacifists right? I mean, if you¡¯re killing something, you¡¯re hurting the universe, right?¡± ¡°Is that what you guys talked about last night?¡± ¡°Something like that.¡± ¡°Well yeah, that¡¯s how I understand it.¡±The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°But you expect him to kill tomorrow?¡± ¡°I expect him to survive tomorrow. Tiendu Shu doesn¡¯t teach absolute pacifism. Eating meat to survive is part of their world. Fighting for survival is a part of life.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can do it.¡± Lian stepped between Fen and the fire, stood over the girl, and said, ¡°Let¡¯s find out.¡± She pulled Fen up, then took a dozen long paces away from the girl before turning back to face her. ¡°The pistol, aim it at me.¡± Fen¡¯s heart began to race and she felt a tingle erupt across every surface of her body before turning in on her, tingling her lungs, her heart, her soul. Her hand had left a layer of perspiration on the pistol and she almost dropped it out of her grip. She stared at the Shuli Go, who stood in utter relaxation not twenty feet away. This was her chance. Her chance to finally get vengeance for her father, to right the wrong that had been done to her family. She was asking for it, literally, asking her to point the gun at her. She could say it was an accident. Or she could be upfront and claim the victory for her family. No matter what it would be done ¨C this woman she¡¯d hated since she was ten years old would be gone. And it would be her bullet that killed her. It would be her victory. She looked down at the pistol in her hand then back up at Lian. She wiped her palm on her clothing, then the handle of the weapon as well. She transferred the gun to her right hand and lifted it up. ¡°No,¡± Lian instructed her, ¡°keep your arm straight. Raise it directly from the shoulder. Now put your other hand on the other side of the handle. That¡¯s right. Now make sure your legs are a bit further apart. Yup, just like that. That¡¯ll keep you steady. Ok. That¡¯s good. Now when you aim make sure the gun is all aligned and you can only see the back of it, and your target. That means it¡¯s straight. Ok, now you pull back the cock. Right. Then it¡¯s just the trigger.¡± It was just the trigger, cold and metallic under Fen¡¯s finger. One simple pull away from everything she¡¯d wanted these past four years. Every night waking up to clean and feed her father, every prayer of atonement she¡¯d sent to her mother and her ancestors, every red face of shame she¡¯d felt selling another prized family possession to pay for food and shelter. All of that weighed against one thin strip of metal, curved to fit her finger. All she needed to do was pull it and all those feelings could disappear. She breathed in deep and held it, felt her arm go rigid so she wouldn¡¯t miss, and looked down the length of the barrel again, then onto her target. And her target looked back at her. Placid, as if her life was not in someone else¡¯s hands at all. The thought hit her like a stone to the side of the face: a life in her hands. That¡¯s what this feeling was. The nausea ¨C that was still there ¨C but also the thrill she¡¯d expected the night before, the bile in her throat and the expected joy rising in her chest. It was all there. And so was the other woman, standing there, looking completely unfazed, an entirely different world where she was not aware she was about to die. Fen pulled that thought as if on a string, then tied it to another. She dropped first one hand, then lowered the pistol with the other. ¡°You didn¡¯t load it,¡± she said. ¡°There¡¯s no bullet in here is there?¡± Lian¡¯s response was flat, almost bored. ¡°Fen tomorrow there could be fifty men on horseback riding down to trample you to death. The last thing I need in this world is another member of your family hurt because of something I¡¯ve done. The gun¡¯s loaded.¡± Fen shook her head. She didn¡¯t believe it. She couldn¡¯t believe this woman who she hated so deeply. ¡°Your father didn¡¯t believe me either when I told him to leave me alone and look¡ª¡± Fen raised her arm and pulled the trigger. The small cave erupted into an explosion of light and sound as the gunpowder ignited and Fen¡¯s arm was thrown back by the force of the bullet leaving the barrel. A huff of smoke lingered in front of her for a moment before dissipating, revealing Lian still standing, completely untouched. Fen dropped the pistol as the nausea replaced everything else, and she turned to the ground to heave the contents of her dinner onto the ground. A crowd of villagers and soldiers approached to find out what was wrong. ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine,¡± Lian reassured them, ushering them out of the cave, ¡°was just giving Ms. Xue here a lesson in firearms.¡± Li Jie was slightly harder to turn away, but when he saw Fen wiping her mouth, he decided to leave her with her privacy for a while longer. She spit a few times to get the last terrible, bitter taste out of her mouth, but it wouldn¡¯t disappear. The vibration that affected her entire body had turned it into convulsions, long after it usually did when she became sick. She remained hunched over, staring at the pistol and hating it, hating everything, hating this entire series of events that had led her there that night. But her anger towards Lian had diminished slightly, somehow. She couldn¡¯t explain it. Then Lian did. ¡°How do you do it?¡± Lian asked rhetorically, standing next to Fen¡¯s curled up form. ¡°It¡¯s easy. It¡¯s your life or theirs. Their life or the life of someone you love. And after a while you don¡¯t even need to hate them first. Because hating someone doesn¡¯t make it easier to kill them. It just makes it easier to forgive yourself after you¡¯ve done it.¡± Fen suddenly felt exhausted, as the bitter taste left her mouth and the shaking was replaced by a deep, gnawing hunger. She just wanted to go to sleep, but Lian picked up the pistol and shoved it back into her hand. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go back to that storeroom and I¡¯ll show you how to reload. And next time, remember what I told you. Fifteen feet, no more.¡± Lian took the girl under one arm and led her away by the shoulder, out of the fire and into the starlight. Part 16 Quan heard the bang of the pistol firing and jumped just like everyone else. He had a half-second of confusion and fear, just like everyone else. But he wasn¡¯t scared for his mother or Fen, and he closed his eyes to return to his meditation before Lian emerged to shoo everyone away. He knew his mother wasn¡¯t going to come all this way just to get killed the night before a battle. He¡¯d watched her go in there and thought that some sort of sparks would fly, though gunsparks were not quite what he¡¯d had in mind. Most of the villagers were too scared or nervous to fall asleep. The few that had taken his mother¡¯s suggestion and drank a bowl or two of wine were in the best shape, but even they tossed and turned in their sleep. Quan knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to sleep ¨C he¡¯d aim to get a few hours in before sunrise ¨C so he¡¯d forced his mind into meditation. Just like when Palden had been whipping him a few days earlier, meditation brought Quan to a mental place where things like hunger, pain, or not having slept for forty hours, were distant nuisances. Usually he could stay in that mental space for hours, oblivious to the outside world. Usually. As he sat cross-legged next to some of the unconscious but restless villagers, he could sense every one of their rustled movements: every scratch, every turn, every sigh and snore. And each one met him on his plane of mindfulness, disturbing the quietude he could usually hold close. He tried pushing further into himself, centering his breathing and reciting the mantra the Keepers had taught him. But nothing worked. Every whisper from across the network of caves magnified and slammed into his exhausted brain like a blacksmith¡¯s hammer, forging louder, stronger steel. He¡¯d encountered those kinds of distractions before, but never with so much exhaustion hanging over him, burning through him. It wasn¡¯t the physical exhaustion ¨C he¡¯d had practice managing that ¨C it was the emotional drain of the past few days. The excitement of setting off, the terror of the first meeting with the bandits. Hearing about his mother beating a relatively innocent man. Fen. His eyes snapped open and he stood up out of the meditative pose, all hint of patience gone. He set off for a walk away from the camp, north up the gash in the earth, the rage of failure setting his heart to tremble. He left the din of the camp behind him and enjoyed the cool night air on his face. It urged him awake but also to calm, the free flow of it achieving what the stale, windless sweep of the campsite had denied him ¨C a reminder of his place in the larger world. Those were the two dilemmas of Tiendu Shu life: to find the universe in one¡¯s self, and to find one¡¯s own place in the universe. The monks taught that the two were the same, that spiritual truths would illuminate the social worries that plagued each and every human being. Quan had always found truth in those teachings, even beauty. When his mother had left him when he was a child ¨C every year around the same time, abandoning him to people whose love felt conditional at best ¨C he¡¯d found wisdom in meditation, in striving inwards. And when he¡¯d grown older and developed a better appreciation for Lian¡¯s situation, he¡¯d reflected his own discoveries of who and what he was back upon her. That was how he¡¯d forgiven her for all the tearful goodbyes and resentment. He¡¯d found a vacuum somewhere beyond conscious existence where he could release all the hatred he¡¯d felt towards her, and in doing so, he¡¯d finally seen just how much love she¡¯d had for him. Love enough to come back every year, around the same time, despite the poverty she endured or the toll the travel took on her every year. Forgiveness was what he discovered, inside and out. But Fen seemed incapable of forgiveness, and that, more than anything else, tore at him. He couldn¡¯t sleep, not because of the bandits the next day, but because of the night before. The rush of feelings, the terrifying embarrassment of having so incorrectly judged her, of that shift from li ¨C love ¨C to terror as she pressed the knife into him. He¡¯d felt his body alight with wonderful new senses, and then tremble at its own fragility, all in one short sweep of time. And yet still, when he thought of her, he thought she was the most beautiful woman he¡¯d ever seen. And that confused him more than any type of meditation could possibly fix. He¡¯d wandered off, out of the tunnel and stood looking at the wide open plateau before him. The wind cooled and relaxed him, to the point that he barely heard when Li Jie walked up next to him. ¡°Can¡¯t sleep?¡± He asked.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Quan turned to him formally and bowed his head slightly, as he¡¯d been instructed to do around elders. He knew Imperials could take offense from the young from the slightest movement. Li Jie didn¡¯t respond, just looked where Quan had been looking: nowhere. ¡°There was too much noise back there,¡± Quan admitted, turning again to follow Li Jie¡¯s gaze. Li Jie nodded. They stood side by side for a long minute, staring at nothing, before the nobleman spoke again. ¡°I don¡¯t know what she did to you last night, but I hope you can forgive my niece.¡± Quan was taken aback. He hadn¡¯t expected such a direct address on the previous night, and he certainly hadn¡¯t expected it to come from Li Jie. ¡°It¡¯s fine. We have¡­ an understanding,¡± Quan responded. Li Jie continued almost as if Quan hadn¡¯t spoken. He quickly saw it wouldn¡¯t have mattered what he¡¯d said. Li Jie was speaking from concerns that had nothing to do with Quan. ¡°She never had a mother, you know. Not really. She was so young when she died. All she had was her father. And she idolized him for so long. If he was still doing it today ¨C beating up peasants, that sort of thing ¨C she¡¯d probably start to question it. Question him. Just because she¡¯s a teenager. But he was taken from her too early. She can only remember him for the good things. ¡°And by the Gods, she wanted to be just like him. Big and strong. That was always her father. Big and strong and nothing could hurt him. And she wanted to be like that ¨C invulnerable. Then suddenly he wasn¡¯t and her whole world started to fall apart, a piece at a time. You understand what I¡¯m saying? It was slow enough she felt the pieces coming apart, like limbs peeling, and every one hurt worst than the last. From invulnerability to a torso floating out in some ocean, the water creeping above her neck every day. And this is her chance to feel like her father made her feel. At least for a while.¡± ¡°Her chance? You mean, to kill my mother?¡± Li Jie shook his head. ¡°No. It¡¯s not really about Lian. It¡¯s about Fen. This whole thing is in her head. She¡¯ll see that too. Soon.¡± Quan considered it for a moment, reconsidered the look in Fen¡¯s eyes when she¡¯d held the knife to his throat. Reconsidered the gunshot. Two empty attempts at revenge gave credence to Li Jie¡¯s understanding of his niece. Perhaps, Quan thought, she¡¯ll find forgiveness too. ¡°We really are fine,¡± Quan reassured the nobleman. ¡°If you were worried about¡ª¡± ¡°You have a very important role to play tomorrow. I wanted to make sure you didn¡¯t have anything on your mind that might distract you, or keep you up.¡± Quan realized, with too much exhaustion to do anything about it, that his own role in tomorrow¡¯s plan hadn¡¯t even registered yet. His mother had lain it out plainly for him, but it was some distant moral point on a map he knew he wouldn¡¯t visit for some time. Fen was real and nearby and for the moment, he could feed on her own troubled moral location. Quan smiled weakly, flattered and wanting to reassure. ¡°Thank you. I will be fine.¡± Li Jie looked at him and smiled back. ¡°Good.¡± They remained on the open field, the wind soothing them both. Then Puotong ambled up out of the tunnel and next to them, bowing to each in turn before addressing Quan directly. ¡°Young master,¡± he went straight to the point. ¡°You are very important to tomorrow¡¯s plan. You should probably go to sleep.¡± ¡°Thank you, commander,¡± Quan replied, ¡°I was just about to head back to my bed roll.¡± ¡°Ah, yes, well,¡± Puotong glanced at both Li Jie and Quan for a second before again hitting the point in the face. ¡°We¡¯re all men here. Right? Well, one of my archers ¨C her name is Peng ¨C she was making some, um, rather lewd comments about you earlier this evening, when the wine was being passed around. Now, she¡¯s not much to look at, but I¡¯m sure she could help a young man like yourself relax before bedtime, if that would help at all.¡± Quan no longer had any embarrassment to spare regarding the interest in his sex life. All he had left was a long sigh and a question. ¡°Is it some sort of Imperial rite of passage to pimp out those closest to them?¡± Puotong was mildly insulted, but remembered that, despite looking Imperial, Quan had been raised amongst the Zhosians and their moral puritanism. The officer scoffed. ¡°Actually yes. Imperial soldiers can¡¯t be married without the approval of their superiors. But that¡¯s not what this is about! We¡¯re going into battle tomorrow boy. Lives could be lost. Fucking the night before is a tradition across borders.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what I¡ª¡± Quan stopped mid sentence and hung his head. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ fine. Thank you. In fact, I think I¡¯ll go to sleep right now.¡± He bowed curtly to both men before hurriedly walking away back towards the camp. Li Jie and Puotong watched him go. Puotong nodded in the boy¡¯s direction and shook his head. ¡°Youth is wasted on all the wrong types these days. Nobody knows how to enjoy themselves anymore.¡± Li Jie chuckled. ¡°Commander Puotong, why do I have no problem believing you have enough stories from your youth to make a brothel full of prostitutes blush?¡± ¡°Blush?¡± He scoffed. ¡°There aren¡¯t fans enough in the Empire to keep them from passing right out.¡± Li Jie laughed aloud and then bowed formally towards the officer. ¡°I¡¯d love to hear one or two tonight. Over wine. I don¡¯t want to be completely sober tomorrow morning.¡± ¡°It¡¯s the only way to go into battle ¨C a little hung over. A little lighter on semen works too.¡± ¡°Yes, about that archer. Peng was her name? Does she like older men too?¡± Part 17 Kalsang gathered his men after the sun had risen and trotted his horse at the front of their column, riding tall and proud upon a chorus of cheers. It was the end of another successful raid: their bags filled with food and coin, their ropes tied around the hands and necks of prisoners who would soon join them or die. Some had already turned, revelling in more wealth than they¡¯d ever held in their lives. A small taste was all it took sometimes, a taste of a life not played by anyone else¡¯s rules. A life of true freedom. Kalsang liked to savor that look in his new recruits, that taste of freedom from the tyranny of a life lived for someone else¡¯s benefit. Kalsang was a liberator: from peasantry, from drudgery, from Imperial servitude to a dictator that lived rich upon the work of a people she would never meet. He relished those faces, when it dawned on them what life upon horseback could be like: free and bold, there for the taking. Kalsang was happy that day. It was only three miles to their camp. They passed a single sentry ¨C a woman on a hill a hundred yards off the main road who waved at them and whose smile could almost be seen from the distance. Kalsang had so many people under his leadership he couldn¡¯t even think of her name. He returned the wave and saw the joy in her body at the sight of even more wealth, even more manpower and supplies. The lone guard pulled out her sentry flags and waved their arrival to no one. Kalsang chuckled at her exuberance. An exuberance that felt fitting that day. Before winter they would be strong enough to strike the Empire directly. There was the outpost on the Zhosian border, or the town with the local supply depot. Grain enough for the winter and more horses, more weapons. More people he could shepherd. Kalsang the shepherd. It was how his wife described him in their letters. Her, safe in her tiny home village a hundred and fifty miles to the southeast, on the very edge of Imperial territory. Their son, only seven but already deep into the Tiendu Shu texts Kalsang had taught him to read. Their letters in Zhosian text no censor in that part of the Empire could read. Kalsang the shepherd, taking in the poor, the weary and downtrodden, and feeding them. Giving them strength once again. He glanced back at his flock as they approached; happy and hungry and ready for more, a hundred and twenty strong all on horseback, all ready to ride with him to death. Kalsang vibrated with excitement that day. When he and his troupe reached the gash in the ground that served as his base, his excitement was diminished slightly by the sight of two of his least favorite underlings being there to meet him. The annoying herder, Shi, and Tsan, the younger boy who he didn¡¯t entirely trust yet. Neither of them were supposed to be there, and Tsan had some strange wrap on his hand. But Kalsang didn¡¯t think anything of it. He was loaded with the overjoy of a bright, hopeful future that day. ¡°I was tired of sitting out there with the horses,¡± Shi explained when he questioned her. ¡°I sent them out there to stay with them and the boy and I here got to spend the night here, under some proper fucking cover.¡± Tsan said nothing. Kalsang wanted to discipline her for disobeying orders, but he decided to let it slide. That day. Because that day Kalsang felt invincible, like a God surrounded by true believers. Kalsang was immortal that day. Kalsang was going to die that day. They had been in camp only fifteen minutes or so when the smoke started rising from the north. A dark, viscous smoke, from tar or oil. Smoke from a fire that was meant to burn for a long time. Kalsang knew that type of fire ¨C it was the fire made for archers to rain a particularly fiery form of death on their victims. Kalsang¡¯s eyes narrowed as he sent his fastest rider to get word.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The mood in the camp grew tense, but there was no panic. He¡¯d warned them this may come sooner rather than later. He had no doubt they could handle it. When the word came back that yes, there was a small army group ¨C maybe two hundred ¨C marching towards them, he turned to his soldiers and saw the fear in their eyes. He remained invincible, and he told them so. ¡°This is it, men and women. This is the day we confirm that our birthright is not given to us by some Emperor on a chain, but gifted to us by the great Tiendu. We know that all human beings are made equal, and we will show them that they cannot beat us back into the ground once that great truth has been made clear to us!¡± They roared to life at his words, and he reformed the column of men, women, horses and weapons, their chant tenfold stronger than it had been that morning. He donned the steel war helmet he¡¯d taken from a retired officer, and they set out at a sprint back the way they¡¯d come. He left thirty or so men behind to guard the new prisoners and to act as reinforcement if needed. They gathered in the center of the camp, each one next to their horse, ready to ride on a moment¡¯s notice. Kalsang hoped they would not be needed. He knew they wouldn¡¯t be. Because he would take this first wave and crush the Imperials before they could do any harm. He would kill all who fought and he would spare those who surrendered. He would teach them forgiveness, and he would welcome them in, more flock to tend, and more forces to build his great revolution of freedom. He led their race back to the sentry post they¡¯d passed just hours earlier, but the woman was not there. The smoke was not far away, only a half mile ahead, and the air had become thick with it, obscuring the force that was to meet them. The first uncertainty crept into Kalsang¡¯s mind, where it was quickly put down under the weight of his confidence, but not before planting a seed of fear somewhere deep inside him. He urged his force on harder, the hill slowly passing by his periphery as he pushed on. Just as the smoke started to strike his nose, a rock struck his helmet. It took him a moment ¨C as he hauled his horse back to a stop and cried for his men to do the same ¨C to determine where the rock had come from. There was nothing else on the horizon except the smoke and the hill. He stared at it and saw her. The Shuli Go. Her long braid flapping in a light wind, the body of his dead sentry in her other hand, recently murdered. He looked to the encroaching army, shrouded in smoke, then back at the lone Shuli Go, taunting him from on high. It was a trap. He would send his cavalry to strike down the woman and she would signal for the army to flank them ¨C the only chance an army without an equally strong cavalry would have against him and his riders. He called his most trusted advisor ¨C a man named Dai who had been with him since the beginning, since he¡¯d first realized the complete moral corruption of the Central Empire ¨C and instructed him. ¡°Take the men and attack the army the way we¡¯ve trained. A wide attack, two horses deep. Straight into their ranks. They will break.¡± ¡°Kalsang,¡± he¡¯d instructed his followers to call him by name, there would be no honorific titles in his future country. ¡°You should be leading us. The soldiers will be looking to you.¡± ¡°They will do fine,¡± he reassured Dai and gave a smile of confirmation. He was not worried about his riders. They would crush anything they came across, just as he¡¯d taught them. And he owed this woman. He knew she would be trouble the moment he rode up to her in the clearing. Now there she was helping lead an attack on his very way of life. He had to take care of her personally. ¡°I will join you after both our victories are complete,¡± he nodded and clapped Dai on the shoulder. ¡°Go. Now.¡± Dai¡¯s face wasn¡¯t convinced, but he set off nonetheless. Kalsang moved his horse off the path and his army headed north to confront the Imperials. Their thundering hooves and a battle cry of encouragement brought a smile to his face. His faith, at least, remained invincible. All that he required was for his body to be too. As his riders disappeared towards the smoke, he led his horse in a leisurely walk towards the hill and the Shuli Go atop it. She descended too, and he began the chant of the Keeper¡¯s Strength, drawing on the great Tiendu to poison the seed he felt taking root deep in his soul. Part 18 True stillness had an infuriating quality to it: an oppositional energy of restlessness that sat in every corner of the stillness and hummed and vibrated in anticipation. In moments of true stillness ¨C differentiated from regular stillness by both the extremity and necessity of the immobility ¨C this energy was all anyone sitting in the quiet could feel. It became an overwhelming nuisance, an itch that demanded scratching even though the scratching would only spread a terrible rash further and further. Yet still the itch was there, burning and demanding attention, annoying the shit out of everyone in its clutches. Fen had never had a chance to experience a stillness like that before. Her whole life there had been things to do, chores to attend to, and people to speak with. Even in moments of forced quietude ¨C prayers, meals, sleep ¨C there was the anticipation of the next rush of movement, the next place to be and the next activity to perform. But in the far recesses of the bandit¡¯s cave network she felt her first true moment of stillness, and all she could think of was the energy that sat underneath it, waiting to be unleashed by one stray scratch, one tiny bluster of movement. Fen and the forty plus men and women standing in the cave with her refused to give in though, they held onto the stillness for all they were worth. No one spoke, no one sniffled, no one even sweat. And no one had said it, but they had grabbed onto the stillness when they heard the bandits approach. When the first test passed ¨C their two planted bandits did not give away their location or plan ¨C their grasp on it only tightened. In actuality they could have made quite a bit of noise without alerting the bandits. The cave network was long and winding ¨C they were almost a hundred and twenty yards away from the opening of the cave into the gash-tunnel, and they had taken shelter in an offshoot from the main cave, which the bandits had never used but which they had discovered when they¡¯d surveyed the camp. The room was small ¨C too small for forty to fit comfortably, but it had one very special aspect why they¡¯d chosen it ¨C a tiny hole to the surface that they had dug out enough for an individual to crawl out of. Their plan was simple: the archers would exit out the hole, one by one, then flank onto the sides of the tunnel base. They would rain arrows down on the remaining bandits, at the same time as those with melee weapons charged into their ranks. This was the trap Lian had devised, and they knew it was the best chance they had to win, so they were not going to let anything like a stray cough or even the shuffling of feet give away their position before they were ready. As a whole they committed to the stillness, and they didn¡¯t let its more annoying properties overwhelm them. They sat in it for almost an hour ¨C as the bandits returned to camp, and then after Lian had faked the approach of an army, as most of the bandits from the camp left to fight their supposed enemy. Trapped as they were in the recesses of the caves, they had no idea how many had left, but they could make out the shouted orders and the trampling of horses that indicated at least a good number of the men had taken Lian¡¯s bait. When the stampede faded completely and the only sounds that came into the caves were the echoed restless murmurs of the remaining bandits, they gave into the stillness, and eviscerated it. A makeshift ladder was put up to the hole, and the archers ¨C mostly villagers, who were more comfortable with bows and arrows than rushing up close with spears and swords ¨C scrambled up, into the daylight, where they kept low and fanned out to approach both sides of the gash. Li Jie went with them, which had been decided only that morning when Fen absolutely refused to go. It was the safer route, and she made the point that her uncle¡¯s safety was more important to their family than her own. She would be on the ground with Puotong and the majority of the soldiers, leading the rush. With the stillness broken, the nervous energy poured through her body. The dagger in her palm felt like it was going to slip out of her grip, she was sweating so much. She tried to keep time with the quick, still hushed movement of the armed soldiers in front of her, but she almost tripped over every loose pebble and indentation in the cave floor. All night she had been trying to build a resolve that would prepare her for battle, for killing. She¡¯d been unable to get out the feeling of sickness since she¡¯d fired at Lian. Everything about it made her ill: the thought of what a bullet would do to another person; the smell and feel of the pistol as it fired, shocking every part of her body; the very idea that she could have pulled the trigger. Ever since then she¡¯d been fighting the illness so that she could fight, and failing miserably. It wasn¡¯t until she followed Puotong and his soldiers out of the cave and into the light that she realized what she was actually trying to steel herself from: the fact that Lian was right. Because right away, after the soldiers had speared through the first few unsuspecting bandits and before the archers had started to fire, in that brief moment when the bandits¡¯ resolve to fight was stronger than her own, the truth of Lian¡¯s statement came over her: it was her or them, and it was exactly that simple.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Her grip on the dagger tightened and a cry of pure bloodlust ejected from her mouth without any prompting as she charged at one of the bandits who had managed to mount his horse and had turned it around to face the soldiers¡¯ attack from the rear. His eyes made contact with Fen¡¯s, and she saw there was nothing in them except hatred and fear and death. There was nothing human about what they did next, it was animal. The bandit tried to kick start his horse to mow over her, but a nearby soldier thrust his spear into the horse¡¯s chest. The horse reared up before it died, and the bandit had the sense to jump off before it thrashed into its death throws. He was armed with a spear of his own and he thrust it at the Imperial soldier, whose armor saved him from being impaled. Fen rushed forward and hacked down with her dagger, sloppily but with all the force she could muster. Her short sword caught the bandit in the arm, just above the elbow, and he grunted in pain as blood sprayed into the air. He recoiled and dropped his weapon, but Fen didn¡¯t stop. She thrust forward and he threw himself onto the ground to dodge, but it did no good, she kept going, and thrust again. He tried to roll away but the blade found purchase into his thigh. It sunk in deep, just like it would have on any chicken she¡¯d ever decapitated or any game she¡¯d ever skinned. The blade embedded in her victim, and Fen firmly attached to her blade, they formed a small chain and the bandit¡¯s rolling pulled Fen on top of him. She crashed onto his body and the edge of her blade sliced her on the stomach as they continued rolling. She felt nothing, and just remained focused on holding onto the blade. The man screamed into her ear as she lay on top of him, and screamed even louder when she scrambled to stand tall and pull the blade out. Then she raised it again and struck it firmly into his chest. His scream turned to a gurgle as the knife cut through his lung and his entire breathing halted as his air sacs filled with blood. She struggled to pull the blade out again ¨C it had become lodged between two ribs, and she had to stomp onto his chest to remove it. She lifted it one more time to strike again, then looked back at his eyes, which were staring into nothing. Blood was pouring out of his mouth and she knew he was dying. Their battle was over, and she had won. She turned and looked for more enemies. But most of the enemies were gone. Their ambush plan had worked perfectly. As Puotong had led the charge out of the cave, the archers had risen up and fired at the bandits in the northern, shallower end of the gash. They¡¯d felled almost all the horses and most of the soldiers there, blocking any path of retreat. The soldiers had likewise gotten a good jump on the bandits near the cave, and few of the bandits in the middle had any idea what was happening when the arrows starting falling on them too. Puotong¡¯s soldiers had continued pushing on, making short work of the ill-trained and panicked bandits, leaving Fen behind to finish off her enemy. None of the soldiers had noticed the small group of men and women off to the side, many of whom were bound and cowering as the bloodshed started. Fen forced herself to listen to their terrified screams. ¡°We¡¯re not bandits!¡± ¡°We¡¯re prisoners!¡± ¡°They captured us!¡± She rushed towards them to reassure them it would be ok. As she approached though, one of them, who was not tied up, leapt up and attacked her. He was a small, young man, not much bigger or older than Fen herself, but his ferocity overwhelmed her. He knocked her backwards and struck the dagger out of her grasp. She scrambled to avoid falling, but her foot struck a stone planted in the ground and her ankle twisted. Unlike the scratch on her belly, her body was not in shock enough to dull the stab of pain that rocketed up her leg and caused her to shriek in agony. She fell to the ground on her side and instinctively pulled her leg close, gripping her ankle. She held the pose for a second, until she saw the man who had attacked her. He¡¯d picked up her small sword and was scrambling towards her, preparing to do to her what she¡¯d done to the bandit. She felt the start of a panic take her, and she began crawling back, pushing with her good leg and the same side hand. The other hand fell to her midsection, where it found the pistol tucked in her belt. He was almost upon her by the time she drew it. Far less than fifteen feet. She cocked it back and looked at him as she aimed and fired. Another noxious mix of gunpowder and deafening explosion struck her, but something far worse struck him. He crumpled to the ground only a foot away from her, clutching the very middle of his chest where the bullet had struck him. He rolled about on the ground as blood pooled under him. Then he stopped rolling, but the blood kept pouring. The pain in her ankle began to dull, and she forced herself to stand up on her good leg. Puotong was yelling at the surviving bandits, who had coalesced into a small circle at the center of the camp. She looked up to the sides where the archers had them in their sights. The Imperial commander was offering them their lives in exchange for surrender. They surrendered. Fen had won. And she felt it. The other half of the animal instinct she hadn¡¯t wanted to admit she would feel. The joy of victory. Of survival in the face of a threat. It brought a giant, joyous smile to her face. To all their faces, peasant, soldier, noble alike. She could see it on her uncle¡¯s face, high up on the tunnel edge, waving at her. She waved back and the joy became so unbearable she began to cry. And before she knew it the tears were not joyous at all, but sorrowful and pained. And guilt. Guilt above all else, as the smell of blood and gunpowder came back to her and she heaved her empty stomach over and over, as a new stillness came over the camp. This one too, had a nervous energy, a knowledge. A knowledge of death, humming just below the thrill of their continued lives. Part 19 It would be a glorious republic. Every man and woman would choose someone to represent their interests, and those interests would be debated against the interests of everyone else in the land. No more mini despots ruling over their slice of land at the point of a sword. Decisions would be made on the merits of those interests: a great debate full of ideas and figures and diction. No one would need protection from the law anymore; the law would protect each and every citizen from injustice. This was the world Kalsang was building, even if right now it existed only in his head. But slowly they were coming to see the truth of it, each new recruit convinced of the beauty of a future world where the strong protected the weak. Kalsang had seen enough of the world, as it existed, to know that the one they dreamed of could only be built if it was protected by a strong fist. And his fist was the strongest in this corner of the world. His only shame was that this Shuli Go did not know it yet. He¡¯d taken it easy on her during their first battle as he¡¯d considered recruiting her: a Shuli Go¡¯s strength would make her a valuable asset. Perhaps even a lieutenant of sorts, if she could be persuaded to support his vision. His hope had been strong: if anyone knew the persecution of the Empire more than Keepers and peasants, it was Shuli Go. He¡¯d been impressed with her skill, and had been close to offering her a chance when she¡¯d used that forbidden Shei magic to escape. The incident had piqued his interest even more, but now that she had clearly aligned herself with the Imperials there was no chance of mercy. She would be dealt with. He had already recited the chant of inner connection and cleared his mind of everything but the coming battle by the time they neared one another on the plateau. The great Tiendu opened itself to him as it always had, each particle in the air and each blade of grass twinkling and curving over themselves into intricate patterns before his eyes, as if some sort of abstract painting made real. They gave themselves to him willingly, offering up their energy to supplement his own. It would take only a few words and a deep inhalation, and it would all course through his body, giving him even more strength than a Shuli Go. She stopped ten feet away and stood, one of her swords already drawn. She said nothing. Kalsang dismounted his horse and pulled down his heavy staff. It was too dense to use with any agility in his normal state, but once he¡¯d invoked the Strength of the Keepers, it would feel like no weight at all. He held one end out in front of him and planted the other by his feet. He smiled at her. ¡°We could have been allies, I thought,¡± he said in his accented Imperial. ¡°I¡¯m sad that it¡¯s come to this.¡± She said nothing, just watched him wearily. Her face had no visible scars, but her eyes spoke of a lifetime of battles and wounds, some of them never fully healed. The Keeper in him wanted only to heal those wounds, but the man in him ¨C the man who had been scorned by his own people for his politics and persecuted in the land of his wife because of his religion ¨C knew some wounds could never be healed. Just excised from the body. ¡°You might think I don¡¯t have the fire to draw on this time, and that puts me at a disadvantage,¡± he explained. ¡°But that¡¯s why I chose these mountains as my base. Fifty feet down there is a hotspring along the entire length of this land. And all its energy is mine at a moment¡¯s notice.¡± He enlightened her as a final offer of salvation. If she backed down there would be no need for her death. No need for anyone to die other than the few Imperials she¡¯d mustered against him. She looked him straight in the eye and settled into an attacking stance. ¡°Fine,¡± he sighed, the decision made for him. ¡°Then you die.¡± He picked up the heavy staff and slammed it into the ground, then reached deep below the surface to the geyser-fed waters rippling through metal veins, and shouted out in Zhosian: ¡°Great Tiendu, feed me your strength!¡± The energy entered him at once and coursed through his body, every muscle fibre coming alive: expanding, flexing, the power almost overwhelming. He drew on as much as he could possibly handle ¨C he wanted to make this quick ¨C until he felt his very bones quake under the pressure of all of his newfound strength. Then he cut it off, having tapped only a limited amount of what was available. It was an incredible strain, and he could only fight at that potential for a few minutes at best before his body would need to expel the energy or start to destroy itself. But he had no concerns: it would last barely a minute this time. He was right. He attacked quickly, sprinting towards her and twirling his heavy iron staff as if it were a child¡¯s baton. He could see the surprise in the Shuli Go¡¯s face as she narrowly avoided his first attack, then her utter concern as she met his second with her sword, being knocked to the ground from the force of it. He almost had pity on her as she rolled away and drew her other sword. He knew neither would help her.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. He moved to begin a series of attacks that would limit her ability to dodge ¨C he was sure one would make contact along the way and break her bones ¨C when she struck the two flat edges of her blades together. He paused, but it was too late. She once again shouted out her ancient Imperial and his world once again inverted itself in an instant. This time though her little Shei trick wouldn¡¯t work ¨C she gave no hint of escape, and he knew what to expect this time. He closed his eyes to avoid the spinning that would give him cause to lose his stomach. Even then the nausea started to arrive, as his senses instructed him he was actually upside down and spinning in a tight circle. He fell to a knee and placed his left hand on the earth so that he had five points of contact with the ground. He forced himself to breath and meditated, pushing away the incorrect sensations. He had clarity of mind enough to admire her decision ¨C it had extended the time he had to carry the Keeper¡¯s Strength, and turned it into a race against time as to which of the two of them would recover fastest. But it was a race he was sure to win. He forced his breathing to return to normal, and instead of relying on his senses, he opened himself to the great Tiendu once again, feeling the various pulls of the air, the earth, and the woman, in order to re-orient himself. It would only take a few seconds before he could open his eyes and finish his attack. Then something went wrong. His left arm suddenly gave out, as if all the strength had been drained from it. He collapsed face-first onto the ground and his staff slipped from his grasp. The sudden motion and surprise re-asserted his nausea, but after a second into the dirt he felt well enough to open his eyes to check what was wrong. What he saw was enough to make him sick. His left arm had been severed, above the elbow, and his blood was pouring out. He felt nothing. No pain, but also no loss. On instinct he tried to move his fingers, and the strangest sensation came back to him. He felt the fingers moving, but it was like they had been delayed, as if they were on strings a mile away, taking their time to act on and respond to his requests. He looked up and saw the severed hand and the fingers were indeed moving, curling inwards one final time before their messages were lost entirely. Kalsang screamed and rocked himself back up to a kneeling position, as panic quickly took over his mind and the inner calmness that had been keeping his dizziness at bay broke, flooding his brain with yet another sensation of sheer terror. He heaved and threw up his breakfast from that morning¡¯s first ride, then kept heaving and heaving, the muscles he had charged into a state of superhuman strength convulsing and spasming, their incredible force breaking his ribs one at a time as he shuddered on the ground. By the time a pool of frothing stomach acid bubbled beneath him, he was completely defeated. The dizziness began to abate and he rolled onto his back and looked up. The Shuli Go stood over him, blocking out the sunlight and casting a silhouette over him. He watched her remove two spongy fungi from deep inside her ears. She casually mentioned, ¡°Calcium Weitong. I¡¯ll have a terrible rash for a week, but you can¡¯t ask for better earplugs.¡± Her voice was distant though, hazy and echoing. His dream of a great republic lay in the distance between his face and hers, and finally he saw it as just that: a dream. As ephemeral and make believe as every other dream he¡¯d ever had, every other fantasy he¡¯d ever concocted in his life: juvenile and selfish. Except, he reminded himself, I¡¯m not the only one who believes it. The dream would continue, even if he did not. He smiled. ¡°What¡¯s funny?¡± Lian asked, towering over him. Kalsang could feel blood entering his lungs, but for a few moments he could talk at least. ¡°My men. They will come and finish what I started.¡± Lian shook her head. ¡°Your men are already dead.¡± He coughed, a great, heaving pain that split his insides apart, causing him to gasp and moan. In spite of the pain, he needed to know. ¡°What do you mean?¡± He asked in a whisper, the blood now at the back of his throat, inching its way up. ¡°How big¡­ of an army?¡± ¡°No army,¡± she informed him. ¡°Just my son.¡± ¡°Shuli Go don¡¯t have¡­¡± ¡°No. We¡¯re not supposed to. And his father was a Shei Chaste, who also aren¡¯t supposed to have children. And he¡¯s been raised as a Keeper his whole life. So he doesn¡¯t need an army. He only needs himself.¡± As the blood began to dribble out of his mouth, Kalsang pictured this creature, this amalgam of the three most powerful magic users in the world. He imagined what strength such a man would possess. And at once the dream in front of him became a vision. It adjusted itself in tiny, almost insignificant ways ¨C a color there, a face here, a feature there ¨C and the path to it became as clear and real as he¡¯d always hoped it would be. A great nation, rising out of the ashes of a corrupt one, protected by the strength of a Keeper: punishing the wicked and protecting the innocent. Only he was no longer that Keeper. He was not the centerpiece of the vision, but a minor player on the edges. One of the wicked, who had believed the evil he¡¯d done to be good. This Keeper was someone else, someone brilliant and powerful and unsullied by poor moral judgement. Someone who could forgive an impatient man for his faults as easily as he could punish him for them. Kalsang smiled. Lian looked down at his blood-covered teeth and put him out of his misery. A sword, straight up the jaw, into the brain. That last sensation a strange one: more pain. A new pain, intense and profound. If he¡¯d had the time, he would have shrieked: the incision into the soft flesh, the forceful entry through vocal cord, tongue, then brain stem each more heinous and distinct than he¡¯d imagined possible. But there was no time for a shout or a scream, just one final reach for the great Tiendu. He took hold of it with his mind and hoisted his vision into it: a painting into a roaring fire that would never burn, but one day shape the fire into its own image. One day, when the people ruled themselves, and justice was not handed out at the point of a sword. And then he was gone, another intricate swirl in the universe¡¯s unending tapestry of pain, love, life and death. But his vision lived on. Part 20 The field was empty of life. Every cell had been burnt away, every trace of the men and horses gone. The grasses of the plateau were blackened too. Even the flies and the birds had disappeared. It was no longer a living part of the world. Quan felt that when he reached out for the Tiendu: the emptiness of the plot of land where he¡¯d killed them. It was a scar upon the earth, and he¡¯d made it. They¡¯d come over a rise in two thick rows: a standard cavalry charge. But when they saw him alone, they¡¯d all stopped, confused. They waited for a trap, some sort of counter-attack. When none came, one man trotted towards Quan on his own horse. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°My name is Zhao Quan. I¡¯m here to ask you to surrender.¡± The man had been smaller, another malnourished peasant pulled into Kalsang¡¯s crusade. But this one had believed in Kalsang¡¯s vision. He¡¯d examined it and seen great beauty. He was not someone who would surrender it easily. ¡°My men will slay you if you don¡¯t stand down. You and any allies you have hiding out there.¡± ¡°No allies,¡± Quan had replied. ¡°Just me and my word. I¡¯m sorry, but you¡¯ve fallen into a trap you don¡¯t even understand. Surrender now, or you die.¡± The man had shaken his head and then turned around back towards his cavalry. As he¡¯d done so, Quan had ignited the fire in his palm: a simple spark like the one his mother could create on a moment¡¯s notice. But where his mother¡¯s control ended, his was just beginning. It had always been like this for him, as far back as he could remember. Another limb that responded to his thoughts and inputs, just like any digit, any joint. As a child he¡¯d learned its purpose and limits, but he couldn¡¯t control it ¨C for good or evil, thankfully. It was a vestigial limb at that point, twitching and flicking, but it obeyed no commands. Then at six he¡¯d started training to become a Keeper, and when his mind first broke into the great Tiendu, it all made sense to him. The Tiendu was the limb: another set of arms and legs that flexed and shifted under his commands. And over time he strengthened the muscles, toughened the cartilage, and quickened the reflexes. His mind was in control of the greatest power known to mankind, and it moved as gracefully as a dancer¡¯s body, each step and each contortion flowing into the next. It took a moment for him to clear his mind and let the limb take hold of what it needed. But then it was over. The fire spread out, igniting the very air, manipulated and teased by Quan into the shape and direction he wanted. He thickened the oxygen, the carbon dioxide expelled to a higher altitude, and the fire burnt with a pure blue flame as it ran across the plateau and encircled the horsemen. They had been too surprised to be afraid, their eyes entranced by the roaring flames even as the circle came complete on their southern flank. It wasn¡¯t until he settled the flames onto the grasses that they started to shriek in terror. Quan fed the fire more oxygen, pulling it in from all around, and soon the flames were ten feet high and they moved in on the fresh fuel under the feet of the bandits. The smartest of them tried to escape early, forcing their horses to try and push through the flames. But that level of heat ignited the beasts too, their legbones turned to burnt mush before they¡¯d even exited the flames. The men atop the horses fared no better, their clothes melted into their skin, the armor and helmets searing to the bone at once. They flailed on the ground for a few moments before their own limbs and faces lit the grass they¡¯d landed on. It was a painful, hideous death they all endured. From the edges to the center, it was the same one, and Quan had done it all. He¡¯d done all the killing. Now he stood there atop his horse, both lightheaded and unsteady from the thin oxygen left behind, and he was overcome with the terrible quietude of having murdered over a hundred men and just as many beasts. He trembled for a few moments, whether from the thin air or the weight of his actions, he was not sure. For years afterward he would try and remember that feeling, and he could never separate the cloudiness in his mind from the trouble he felt somewhere deeper, in his soul.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. What he did remember afterwards was the act of convincing himself. He knew he had not needed to kill them. There were a wide range of options available to him, right up to the moment the first of them died. He could have simply shown them his power and again demanded their surrender. He could have started the fire before they¡¯d crested the hill, and not encircled them entirely, perhaps terrifying them into running away. He could have manipulated the air in other ways, giving his voice power and depth: a giant, booming voice from the sky had convinced men throughout history to throw down and pick up arms. He could have not used his magic at all. He could have surrendered and tried to convince them to give up their arms ¨C surely their leader was dead by then, and they could have given their allegiance to someone else. But he¡¯d killed them. And despite his many options, he knew it was the right thing to do. He¡¯d known by the brief conversation with the leader that he was not going to surrender: he was a fanatic to whatever grand idea Kalsang had placed in his head. He¡¯d known that scattering or retreating the bandits would have just led them back to the camp. He¡¯d known that leaving survivors would have raised rumors that someone like him existed at all ¨C rumors he knew would haunt him right until the moment they killed him and everyone he loved. Everything he knew said it was the right thing to do. More terrifying still were the things he didn¡¯t know. If he hadn¡¯t acted at all, would the bandits have been able to return to their camp and destroy everyone there? If he¡¯d killed one as an example, would it have been enough? If he¡¯d taken the form of a booming voice from the sky, wouldn¡¯t that just start another, just as deadly set of rumors? Greater than what he knew, what he didn¡¯t know was what convinced him ¨C standing alone on that flat piece of grassland ¨C that he had done the right thing. He knew it. He knew it was the right thing. Except right then he finally saw what his mother had meant. Because he didn¡¯t know it. He thought it. He felt it. He was sure of it. He¡¯d convinced himself of it. But there was no way he¡¯d ever know it. There was no right on a battlefield, only the different levels of wrong available to him. And he¡¯d chosen his. He looked down at the blackened skull of one who had attempted to escape, every piece of flesh already incinerated in the blue flames. He looked at it closely: the line of the jaw bone, the round of the cheeks, the dimples where remnants of eyes were still bubbling away, sizzling against the superheated bone. This was what humans were, himself included: bodies to be nourished into muscle, fat, brains and eyeballs. Thirty, forty, a hundred years of battling against hunger, brutality, weather and fate, all seared away in ten seconds through the action of one other human being. And then he thought, but what of the soul? Those too had needed ministering, nourishment of their own kind. Do they not continue? But he knew what awaited when he looked at the great Tiendu: a black shape of nothing. All his life he¡¯d been taught that when a creature died, it returned to the great Tiendu to be reincarnated. The universe could never gain or lose energy, just cycle it over and over again until the end of this universe. That was why, when a Tiendu Shu peered into the Tiendu itself, they would never notice or be able to locate a single soul: it would be like picking out a single grain of sand from a mountain made of them. But when Quan looked out into the multicolored and neverending folds of the Tiendu that day, there was a hole that he¡¯d made. And it didn¡¯t matter how wide he cast his vision of the Tiendu, that hole was there, etched into a place and time that didn¡¯t know reincarnation or hope. He was faced with the reality that his teachers had been wrong. The Keepers had been wrong. Perhaps everything he¡¯d been taught was wrong. But his mother was right. His mother knew something that all the gurus and monks had not: she knew what her actions meant ¨C in the cold, hard daylight of the world in which that skull and the man inside it had lived, she knew the many wrongs that existed and the single right that she hoped would be enough: to do good for the good people, and to do wrong to the bad. Once she¡¯d called it the law, now when he asked her about it, she called it good enough. He stared at the remains for a long, long time. He led his horse on a slow walk around the ashes and dead bodies, heading back south. Part 21 Dealing with the living had been difficult enough for Li Jie, but sorting the dead was proving even more arduous. Three of the villagers from Brilliant River Valley had been injured in the fighting, along with three of Puotong¡¯s soldiers, but it was one man from his village of Lily Valley that had fared the worst. He¡¯d been crushed by a horse after he¡¯d stuck the animal with a spear. Everything below his thighs were crushed, yet somehow he¡¯d avoided bleeding. The pain had knocked him unconscious and it wasn¡¯t until he¡¯d awoken screaming that anyone found him. One of Puotong¡¯s archers was also a skilled medic, and she carefully checked which bones had broken and which were still intact, setting the ones she could feel were reparable, then determining that he would have to have his legs amputated below the knees to keep the rest of him alive. The sentry they¡¯d captured the day before informed them there was willow tree bark already liquified in one of the storerooms. They gave the screaming man as much as they could, followed by a few large gulps of wine, before they went to work. It was a gruelling operation that took over an hour, and the man screamed without end. But the archer had done similar amputations before, and the soldiers and peasants alike came together to hold the man down, to sooth and wash him, and to help wrap the stubs as he lay crying in a pool of his own blood. Li Jie had never seen as much kindness and cruelty mixed together. The bandits had avoided major injuries: they¡¯d either died or surrendered. A few had taken temporarily incapacitating blows ¨C a knock to the head, a cut to a limb, an arrow to the knee ¨C but they were patched up and tied together with the other surrendering men and women in short order. Combined with the five they¡¯d captured the day before, a total of seventeen bandits were tied against a pole in the ground, their hands and ankles shackled and their heads all held low. There was a brief moment of satisfaction then, as their victory finally started to ring true, but that was followed too quickly by the remembrance of the dead. One soldier had died, stabbed then trampled by the bandits. Puotong and his soldiers saw to the man¡¯s cleaning and wasted no time in burying the man where he¡¯d died: an old army tradition that ensured his spirit could travel straight towards his family before he began to forget who and where that was. One villager had also perished, perched too close to the ledge of the gash, she¡¯d taken a thrown spear in the chest and died at once. She was an older woman, in her forties. She had four children and two grandchildren. Li Jie had attended the weddings of each of her children, had given gifts at the birth of the grandchildren. Her name was Taiping and she was dead and it was Li Jie¡¯s responsibility to care for her body. He had no idea what to do. There was nothing to save, and she was no soldier. She should have died next to her grandchildren, where she could be mourned and cared for properly, their tears washing her sores and their prayers masking the hollow echo that emanated from her open mouth. ¡°We have to take her back home,¡± he decided, standing with several others over her corpse. ¡°Just¡­close her eyes. Her family will do the rest.¡± Most difficult were the dead bandits. Almost twenty. The soldiers looted them, as was their usual right. Stripped to underwear and strewn about the tunnel, their sight and stench would only grow more troublesome, but Li Jie had no idea what to do with them. He¡¯d asked Lian every question he could think of the night before and that morning, before she and Quan had left. But he¡¯d never considered what to do with the dead. Disgraced and criminal, he didn¡¯t know what they deserved or didn¡¯t. All he knew was he hated looking at them, festering and sweltering as the sun continued its climb. Birds were already circling, waiting for a meal. And Li Jie didn¡¯t know whether to feed them. He was about to order them covered under blankets and tarps until Lian returned, when Fen, limping on a bad ankle, started to drag them into the middle of the clearing. The peasants joined in, pulling the dead horses to the sides near the caves, and the bodies into the middle. Fen arranged them into a line, limbs akimbo but otherwise orderly, faces up, eyes still open. The peasants gathered around and stared with Fen: into the open eyes. ¡°Did anybody know them?¡± She asked, quiet wrapped tight in her voice. A few small nods. ¡°This one was my second cousin.¡± ¡°This was Bo, my aunt.¡± ¡°This one¡­¡± a woman from Brilliant River Valley pointed to a younger man with blood spread all over his chest, ¡°was my brother.¡± Fen started to tremble and burst into tears, throwing herself at the woman¡¯s feet and begging. ¡°Please forgive me,¡± she said through sobs, ¡°I killed him. Please, please forgive me.¡± The woman was close to Li Jie¡¯s age, perhaps a few years older. She too, soon had tears in her eyes, but tempered them with a sad, knowing smile. ¡°It¡¯s ok,¡± she picked Fen up off the ground, then knelt in front of her and brought their two heads against one another. ¡°He chose his path. You did what you had to.¡± It was the dead Li Jie would remember for years afterward. Not just for Fen, but for himself. He knew which one he¡¯d killed. Shot with an arrow right through the neck. He¡¯d remember his first murder too.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Lian and Quan arrived on horseback a short time later, the horse cantering along at a slow trot. The sight of them elicited cheers in all the soldiers ¨C professional and amateur. They¡¯d seen the smoke from the trap during the operation on the crushed villager, but mostly they¡¯d tried to ignore what would happen if the Zhaos failed. Any defence to a counterattack would be short and ineffective. The mother and son walked back to clapping and shouts of joy. Lian allowed a hint of a smile to enter her face, but Quan was subdued and quiet. He grinned weakly when Puotong and Li Jie congratulated him on a job well done, but he refused to go into detail on just how they¡¯d managed to bait the contingent of bandits into the circle of oiled grasses which they¡¯d set up and then ignited. Li Jie couldn¡¯t blame him for his shyness ¨C the body count they¡¯d built in the camp would keep Li Jie up for nights ¨C he couldn¡¯t imagine what the young man had seen. Lian likewise kept the secrets close to her chest. ¡°We got them all,¡± was all Quan confirmed a few times, but he refused to say anything more. Eventually his dour attitude infected the others and the mood turned back into sombre reflection. ¡°What do we do with the dead bandits?¡± Li Jie asked Lian. ¡°That¡¯s up to you,¡± she informed him matter-of-factly. ¡°Well what do you usually do?¡± ¡°Me? I usually look for something I can take with me to see if there¡¯s a reward.¡± ¡°Well... what do you think we should do?¡± It was only once he outright asked for help that Lian finally realized he was asking for help. She walked over to the row of bodies and looked over each of them. ¡°I¡¯d take them back with you. I¡¯d put the bodies on the horses and make the prisoners walk alongside. And I¡¯d try to find their families.¡± So they did. Before they left, Puotong took all the riches the villagers couldn¡¯t directly claim as their own ¨C a process that devolved into name calling and shouts of ¡°prove it¡± on both sides, which Lian had to mediate ¨C and sent half his troops with the peasants to ensure the captives didn¡¯t make a break for it. There were enough horses left alive for each of them to take one. The villagers wondered at their newfound wealth, and some of them joked a life in the army might just be for them, which prompted laughter from Puotong¡¯s more knowledgeable soldiers. They left the bandit camp empty except for the food they couldn¡¯t carry, and the firewood they didn¡¯t need. The prisoners walked next to their slain comrades, some of them crying, some defiant, some stunned and bewildered at the turn of events. All of them asked about Kalsang, and soon word spread that the Shuli Go had killed him ¨C with ease apparently. Even the most ardent believers among them were ashamed that they had followed someone who had spoken so bravely, yet fallen so quickly. Puotong led the other half of his men back to the west with a train of riches. Before they parted, he and Lian had a brief conversation. The jovial nature of it surprised Li Jie. ¡°He seems to be in a better mood,¡± Li Jie noted as he rode alongside Lian, out of the camp. ¡°Victory does that. So does money. He¡¯s got both.¡± ¡°¡­then why don¡¯t you seem very happy?¡± Lian said nothing, but he caught her quick glance towards Quan. The boy was at the front of the train, twenty yards away from anyone else. Even at that distance, Li Jie could sense the contemplation coming off the young man in waves, although his body betrayed nothing. He rode calmly, head straight ahead, shoulders bobbing with the path. Li Jie¡¯s eyes moved to his niece. She was riding alongside the woman whose brother she killed, off to the side of the convoy, the two of them talking in quiet tones. Li Jie sighed. Neither of them had really been prepared for what had happened. It answered the question he¡¯d posed to Lian. And it also explained it to himself: he wasn¡¯t happy in the least. Comfortable, in a strange way, but not happy. They stopped for the night in a small valley in the foothills, the wine and food again coming out, their group feasting and singing into the night, just as the bandits had done the night before. This juxtaposition finally struck the surviving bandits and they fell into a depressed stupor. Li Jie stayed up for the first watch to make sure none of them tried to escape. When Lian woke up to replace him, Fen woke up too. They both approached him by firelight, a united front. ¡°Go to sleep, uncle Li.¡± ¡°Yes, we want to talk.¡± Li Jie yawned and put up no defense. ¡°Ok,¡± he said, bundling off to slip into Fen¡¯s already warm sleeping roll. He heard the two woman speaking, but as sleep cornered him they sounded very far away, their words turned into echoes and whispers. The next day they made it back to Lily Valley. They were hailed as heroes, and Li Jie in particular had his name sung louder than the rest. Whether it was the good night¡¯s sleep or the admiration of peasants he usually had to press for taxes and other services, happiness finally came to him. There was sorrow, of course, for the man whose legs had been crushed, and greater sadness still for Taiping. But her family announced with pride that they would sing the funeral song of the warrior for her. It was an honor usually reserved for war heroes, but no one would object to calling her that in a place as isolated as Lily Valley. Her eldest daughter even offered Li Jie a small purse of copper coins as thank you for returning her body. He rejected it of course, but the offer stayed with him. Alongside the dead, the offer stuck with him. The generosity of it. He said goodbye to Lian, Quan, and Fen then. He wanted to return to Brilliant River Valley with them, but there was too much to do in Lily Valley. Most of the prisoners would stay with him, put to work in the fields until harvest time, when the magistrate would decide their fate. In the meantime there was food to distribute, stolen goods to allocate among the people, and funerals to arrange. Fen and Li Jie shared a quick meal in his house. His wife and two children, both younger than Fen, had been overjoyed at his return, and had set about preparing a feast for the evening, but for the afternoon a few quick dumplings sufficed to tide them over. Fen remained quiet throughout their meal, but played with her cousins for a short time, the familiar smile she saved for family gatherings returning, in an altered form. Li Jie said little to her, letting her own her quiet, but after she finished eating he took her to a tucked away corner and hugged her tight. She went limp in his arms for a moment, before returning the embrace. They both squeezed tight, and then she was gone. After the feast, which the villager-soldiers and Puotong¡¯s army both attended, Li Jie¡¯s wife Ruyi took him to the same corner and pressed herself into his chest, crying. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°I was so scared for you. I don¡¯t know what I would do if you died.¡± ¡°Sounds like you were scared for yourself,¡± he joked. She playfully struck him on the chest before falling back into it and crying more. ¡°Don¡¯t do that again, ok?¡± He hugged her tight and answered truthfully. ¡°I hope I never have to.¡± Part 22 Lian felt the silence of the two children on her flanks as a chill, like some sort of illness that had crept into her bones and set them aching. Quan¡¯s silence she¡¯d expected ¨C she knew him well enough to understand when he needed time to think ¨C but the quiet still stung because of its origin. At sixteen he was carrying the weight of philosophical arguments that had been debated for thousands of years. Except they were not just arguments, they were real consequences to his very real actions. She¡¯d attempted to prepare him for the realities of his powers for years now, and the Keepers had done even more, but she knew from experience there was no preparation for taking his first life. That was why his silence gnawed within her: its familiarity. She¡¯d longed for the same silence when the voice and face of the first man she¡¯d murdered had echoed in her head. Fen¡¯s silence was surprising. The night before they¡¯d spoken for hours. Very little of the conversation was about the battle, or her father, or any of the other topics Lian had assumed the young woman would want to discuss. Instead she asked about Zhosian, about the beliefs of the Tiendu Shu, and about life as a Shuli Go. Fen¡¯s voice had been neutral, inquisitive. When they did touch on the events of the past few days, she was quiet and thoughtful. It was only at the end, as Fen fought against a series of yawns, that she finally came around to the topic at hand. ¡°I owe you an apology,¡± she said. ¡°No you don¡¯t,¡± Lian replied. ¡°You had every right to be angry at me. You still do.¡± ¡°Not for that,¡± Fen yawned again. ¡°For the way I treated Quan.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Lian was confused. ¡°Well, perhaps you should apologize to him.¡± ¡°I will. But I can see the way you care for him. You must have been angry at me on his behalf. You¡¯re a good mother to him, even if he is adopted.¡± Lian¡¯s voice caught in her throat. She forced herself to swallow and reply. ¡°Well, I do love him. Even if he is adopted.¡± Fen smiled, her entire face tired. But she had more to say. ¡°I can¡¯t remember my mother. And my father refused to remarry. He always said he only had room for one girl in his home. Right before he was¡­ hurt, I remember thinking that he should move on. That I was going to be a woman soon and there¡¯d be room for another girl in his life then. I never got the chance to tell him that.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Lian finally felt a desire to console the young woman. She didn¡¯t dare, but still the desire was there, surprising but warm. ¡°You still can.¡± ¡°He¡¯ll move on soon, I¡¯m sure,¡± Fen admitted, then yawned again, the loudest of the night. ¡°And I should too. Good night, Madam Zhao.¡± ¡°Goodnight, Madam Xue.¡± Their conversation vibrated inside Lian¡¯s chilled body on the silent march to Brilliant River Valley. And just like the spell she had used against Kalsang, the conversation¡¯s vibration amplified into a deafening roar when they reached the village. Tan, Fen¡¯s brother, was standing at the entrance to the village, his face distorted under the weight of long carried tears. At first Lian thought they were tears of joy for Fen¡¯s safe return. But as Fen disembarked off her horse and limped towards her brother, her face distorted as well, and instantly the size and shape of the weight that had crushed Tan to tears was made clear. ¡°Father,¡± they took turns saying, over and over, as if the word could bring him back. The magistrate explained it to Lian as Quan helped the peasants with the supplies and remaining prisoners. Fen¡¯s father had developed a fever the night they¡¯d left, and it quickly worsened. By the next night the fever had run away from all their attempts to calm it, and he began to struggle to breathe. His stools turned to liquid, then blood, and the night before, just as Fen and Lian were talking by firelight, he¡¯d passed away. Fen and Tan knelt in each other¡¯s arms where they¡¯d met, both of them wailing. Lian ordered Quan to retrieve the goods they were to sell in Daming, then left a few coins with the magistrate. ¡°We should go,¡± she told the magistrate. ¡°The bandits?¡± ¡°These are what¡¯s left. When Li Jie arrives, he can tell you more. But they won¡¯t bother you anymore.¡± ¡°Thank you, madam Shuli Go.¡± Lian smiled, then helped Quan pack their goods. The magistrate collected the children, leading them into the village and their father¡¯s body. ¡°We can¡¯t stay and help?¡± Quan asked. ¡°What kind of help did you have in mind?¡± Of course there was none, and Quan saw that quickly enough. ¡°They need some space, and time to mourn,¡± Lian added. ¡°We¡¯d only get in the way.¡± Lian finished packing the third horse and mounted her own animal. They were half a week behind schedule and many of the goods the Zhosians had sent for sale would either start to spoil or go down in price if they delayed any further. Plus she wanted to be on her way. She¡¯d had enough of small villages and their problems, both big and small. She wheeled her horse around and caught Quan still staring at the village, at Fen, she realized. Whatever she¡¯d done to the young man, she hadn¡¯t done enough to get herself entirely off of Quan¡¯s mind. Lian smiled. ¡°Come on. Let¡¯s go.¡± Quan nodded, climbed onto his horse, and they set off, the day nearly over. They would camp under the stars, and in a few days their worries about daughters, fathers, and bandits would be pushed out by fears of the big city, and its half a million inhabitants all teeming with their own worries, two of which would be a Shuli Go and her son. Part 23 ¡°Are you nervous?¡± Lian asked her son. ¡°About what?¡± He responded. ¡°Seeing her again.¡± ¡°No. Why would I be?¡± ¡°¡­because she broke your heart.¡± Quan rolled his eyes and sighed. ¡°Ok, well, just don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll be there if you need a shoulder to cry on.¡± Quan looked at his mother and saw her holding back a laugh. ¡°You¡¯re cruel,¡± he said, unable to keep from smiling himself. ¡°You know that right?¡± ¡°I have been told¡­¡± she nodded and let her jovial tone hang in the air as they approached Brilliant River Valley. A week and a half had passed since they¡¯d left the village and the Xue family behind. Most of that time was spent in Daming, selling the Zhosian goods. Their commercial exploits had gone rather well, all things considered, and she was sure she¡¯d even be able to turn a small profit once everyone in Zhosian was paid. More important than their trading experience though, Lian had watched her son revel in his first taste of Imperial city life. Daming was one of the larger cities in the Empire ¨C over half a million people lived there ¨C but it was nothing compared to Liangyong or Nianjang or Binpei. Still, it was twice as large as Bhuo, and had all the trappings of an Imperial capital: street entertainers, parades, an old castle, brothels, theatres, even an opera house. Every corner they turned was a new set of sights and experiences, and Lian was overjoyed to watch him absorb each one with joy and enthusiasm. Quan, in his Zhosian robes, also stood out, drawing attention from passersbys, as well as each merchant and wholesaler Lian introduced him to. One had even taken Lian aside and asked if the boy was ready for marriage to his daughter. Lian hadn¡¯t mentioned that particular incident to her son. Finally they¡¯d left the city behind, and without any planning, headed towards Brilliant River Valley. Both were anxious to see the Xues again. Not that Lian questioned her decision to leave abruptly: she simply wanted to check in and see how Fen and Tan were getting along. When they entered the village, it was mostly empty with everyone out tending to their crops, which were nearing the harvesting period. The pair made their way to Fen¡¯s home, and saw the customary white and black flag planted outside their door, indicating that they were in mourning. There had been several in the village, casualties of the bandits in one form or another. They tied up their horses and then Lian knocked on the door. Li Jie appeared and a smile came over his face. ¡°Zhao!¡± He stepped outside and bowed, then clasped her forearm in his. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you again.¡± ¡°And you, Mr. Xue,¡± she responded. ¡°Quan,¡± Li Jie stepped towards the younger and also shook hands. ¡°Mr. Xue,¡± Quan responded, smiling. ¡°Have there been any troubles since we left?¡± Lian asked. ¡°No,¡± Li Jie shook his head and assured her. ¡°The magistrate has been dealing with the bandits, one per day. If they have any family nearby they come in for the hearing, and together they make decisions. If the family is willing to take them back, they usually do. Some haven¡¯t. It¡¯s been¡­ difficult, but we¡¯ve managed.¡± ¡°And, uh¡­¡± Lian glanced past Li Jie into the dark house, ¡°your family?¡± ¡°The children are¡ª¡± Li Jie started before Fen appeared in that darkness, dressed in pure white, and stepped outside. ¡°You¡¯re back.¡± She said. ¡°Fen, you should be inside,¡± Li Jie told her, trying to usher her back indoors. ¡°Father¡¯s spirit has already gone, uncle,¡± she reassured him, ¡°my prayers aren¡¯t doing anything at this point.¡± ¡°Fen, please,¡± he begged, but she held up her hand and silenced him. ¡°I owe them. Both of them.¡± She turned to her uncle and smiled, ¡°I promise, I¡¯ll be back inside in a minute. But for now, could you leave us alone?¡± Li Jie considered it, then nodded and smiled at all three of them before heading back inside.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Fen examined her clothes in the sunlight ¨C she had been indoors ever since they¡¯d buried her father, observing the traditional rites of two weeks mourning and prayers ¨C and hadn¡¯t realized how dirty her pure white funeral clothes had become. ¡°I¡¯m filthy,¡± she admitted, a tone of self-ridicule in her voice. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°You look fine,¡± Quan said quietly. Fen looked up at him and smiled wider. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°How are you and your brother?¡± Lian asked. ¡°Fine. We will be fine.¡± ¡°Has the prefect already¡­¡± ¡°Yes. He¡¯s claimed the land. Tan is to report to his residence as soon as our prayers are complete. But I¡¯m not going to let them have him too. All they want is the land, and they have it. There¡¯s no need for them to lock Tan up or hurt him. I think we¡¯re going to head to Daming.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Lian was skeptical. ¡°You¡¯re not going to live with your uncle?¡± ¡°He¡¯s already spread too thin. My aunt and their children should be his focus. We¡¯d just be a drain.¡± ¡°What will you do in Daming?¡± Quan asked, concern tactile in his voice. ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± she admitted. ¡°I can read and write. I¡¯m quite good with figures. Maybe I can learn bookkeeping or something. I¡¯ve been running our estate for the last few years, maybe someone will think that experience has some value.¡± ¡°Actually,¡± a thought occurred to Lian. ¡°someone does. Me.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I have interests in¡­ a few businesses in Daming. One of them is an inn, where I usually stay when I¡¯m in the city. And we just lost our bookkeeper. I¡¯ll tell you what. When you head into the city, find a place called the Blue Mountain Lodge. Tell them I sent you, and that you¡¯re there for Da Li¡¯s job. He was our old bookkeeper. And¡­¡± Lian reached into the small purse she kept on her belt, removing a single gold coin. ¡°Give this to them when you arrive. They¡¯ll know it¡¯s from me.¡± Fen started to shake, her hand vibrating as she slowly reached out for the coin and took it. ¡°Thank you,¡± she responded in a coarse whisper, tears welling up in her eyes. ¡°Thank you.¡± She repeated, stronger. ¡°Thank you so much.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± Lian responded. ¡°It¡¯s hard to find good financial help these days. Just promise me one thing Fen.¡± ¡°Anything.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t become a full-fledged accountant. You¡¯re too pretty for the haircut.¡± Fen laughed, then broke down crying. Lian approached and pulled the girl in close. ¡°You¡¯re going to be ok,¡± Lian reassured her. Fen recollected herself quickly, wiping away tears before she spoke again. ¡°I should thank you also for everything you did with the bandits. I realized after you left I never did formally thank you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing,¡± Lian said. ¡°Just helping where I can.¡± ¡°Still,¡± Fen righted herself and exhaled deeply. Then she bowed formally and smiled. ¡°Thank you. Sincerely.¡± Lian returned the bow and replied, ¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡± Then Fen turned to face Quan. ¡°Now,¡± she said, ¡°you.¡± The boy froze. ¡°Um, what about me?¡± ¡°I owe you an apology.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± he scratched his head. ¡°You were under a lot of stress, I know.¡± Fen laughed, then stepped forward and gave him a hug. ¡°Still,¡± she whispered in his ear, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± They parted slightly and she continued. ¡°Your first kiss really shouldn¡¯t have been like that.¡± Quan blushed, but the hug had given him a chance to smell her again. Even a week and a half inside a dirty old home, she smelled lovely. ¡°It¡¯s, it¡¯s ok,¡± he responded, then smiled. ¡°Hey, at least I¡¯ll never forget it.¡± Fen chuckled again, then nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right, you won¡¯t.¡± Then she stepped forward, took his cheeks in her hands, and said. ¡°Or your second kiss, I hope.¡± Then she kissed him again, fully. A long, soft kiss he had no idea how to respond to. When she pulled away, his entire face was dazed. Lian fought vainly to keep from breaking into laughter. ¡°Nope,¡± Quan eventually responded. ¡°Won¡¯t forget that one either.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll find your Shuli eventually. Or at least some good Li,¡± Fen said, then backed away to face both of them. ¡°Thank you both, again. Perhaps, I will see you in Daming then, later this year?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Lian replied, ¡°I¡¯ll be down there in a month or so probably. Just taking Quan home first.¡± Fen nodded, smiled deeper again, and then went back inside, shutting the door behind her. Quan stood there, staring at the door, so completely immobile Lian had to snap her fingers to break him out of it. ¡°You ok?¡± She asked. ¡°Yup,¡± he responded. ¡°Yup, I¡¯m good.¡± ¡°Reconsidering everything I told you about sex?¡± She asked as they headed back towards their horses. Quan took a moment to think about it as he lifted himself onto his saddle. ¡°Maybe a bit,¡± he admitted sheepishly. ¡°Well, if the girls in Bhuo are as frigid as you, you¡¯re probably going to strike out for at least the next nine months or so. But maybe next year when we go down to Daming¡­ let¡¯s just say I know a great little brothel in town.¡± ¡°You own it don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Only like¡­ eighty percent. It¡¯s nothing really.¡± ¡°You¡¯re terrible,¡± he shook his head as they started their exit from the village. ¡°You really don¡¯t think I could convince any of the Zhosian girls?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, you tell me,¡± Lian chuckled. They started off towards the south and the Zhosian mountains. They trotted along in silence for several minutes before Quan asked, ¡°You told me Shuli meant love.¡± Lian glanced at her son but didn¡¯t turn. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°Fen told me there¡¯s actually two words for love.¡± ¡°Well, yeah, that¡¯s right.¡± ¡°So Shuli Go actually means love-love, Go?¡± Lian chuckled. ¡°Kind of. In ancient Imperial, Shu was the long-lasting love¡ª¡± ¡°And Li was the short term love,¡± Quan cut her off. ¡°That¡¯s right. And in ancient Imperial, marriage was supposed to be both. You were supposed to marry someone you could love intensely, for a long time. So there¡¯s another word for marriage, yin, but I guess you could say the romantic word for it was shuli.¡± ¡°So Shuli Go were, what? Married to their Gos?¡± ¡°Basically, yeah. We were supposed to love every one of the citizens we protected with enough intensity to keep them safe, and enough¡­ familial love¡­ to keep them in line.¡± Quan rode on in silence, thinking it over. ¡°That sounds hard.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Lian admitted. ¡°But I¡¯ll tell you what. You¡¯d have made a pretty good Shuli Go.¡± Quan¡¯s smile crept into, then consumed, his face. And it didn¡¯t go away until they set up camp for the night. Part 24 ¡°I wish you weren¡¯t my mother.¡± They arrived back in Bhuo late in the evening, though the sun still had its summer strength, beaming through the mountains and casting the city in a beautiful array of lights and shadows. Lian didn¡¯t like to admit it, but she loved Bhuo in the summer. It had none of the majesty of the Great Cities of the Empire, and the people and her generally did not get along, but it was striking. The trees, though sparse, were arrayed in green, the sky was usually bright and clear, and the air had the cool, refreshing quality of an oceanside beach, only cleaner, crisper, and thinner. Each summer she¡¯d come back to see Quan she¡¯d loved that first ride into the city. And now her son was experiencing it himself for the first time. She left the room, destroyed. Utterly destroyed. And he knew it. Not the impact of it, he couldn¡¯t imagine that, but he knew it would hurt her and he¡¯d wanted to hurt her. He hated her. He despised the way she talked to him, her empty promises and all the ways she¡¯d ever lied to him. And most of all he meant it: he wished any of the other mothers he¡¯d ever met had been his. Anyone but her. ¡°It¡¯s beautiful,¡± she said. ¡°I love coming back into the city.¡± Quan just nodded, that same smile he¡¯d had on his face the last few days still there. She couldn¡¯t tell if it was from his kiss with Fen or the conversation afterward. She didn¡¯t care. She was happy he was happy. It had been the culmination of a very bad day for Quan. He¡¯d woken late and been reprimanded for missing the morning prayers: latrine cleaning duty all morning. And he¡¯d had plans to go rat hunting with Palden in the temple warehouse. It was their favorite game at the moment, and Quan was finally getting close to catching up with Palden in skill. The week before Quan had caught six rats to Palden¡¯s seven. Now he wouldn¡¯t have the chance to show Palden he was almost as good. They marched into the city and were greeted by Mittens, who meowed loudly the instant Quan stopped his horse. ¡°Hello, kitty,¡± he smiled. Mittens rubbed against the leg of the horse. It was always like that ¨C every time Quan got good at something, Palden got a little bit better. He knew it was mostly because Palden was two years older, but Quan also knew he had special gifts and he was anxious to grow them and show them off. He didn¡¯t see why he should have to wait two more years to do the things Palden did. That frustration had been brewing for months, and when he couldn¡¯t even best his friend at a simple hunting game, to twelve-year-old Quan, it seemed an insurmountable problem. He cleaned the latrines, gagging the whole time, swearing under his breath when he wasn¡¯t gagging. And then Palden had the nerve to get angry at him. As they marched through the streets, Lian noticed Quan noticing the looks, finally. The way the girls all stared a little bit longer than they should. He finally stared back. Some of the more worried parents shooed their daughters away, but Lian knew the damage had already been done. Quan had announced he was ready for a woman after all. ¡°I thought we were going to go hunt rats.¡± ¡°I slept in. They¡¯re making me do this.¡± ¡°Shit. I really wanted to go.¡± ¡°Me too.¡± ¡°Well just forget about it. Blow it off. They won¡¯t get mad at you.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t, I¡¯m already in trouble.¡± ¡°You¡¯re such a baby.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You heard me. A baby. Can¡¯t kill the rats better than me. Now you make an excuse so I can¡¯t show you how much better I am.¡± ¡°Shut up. Like I want to clean this shit.¡± ¡°Just a big baby.¡± At the Temple, Palden and Master Tinsley met them, and they both gave Quan great big hugs. Quan¡¯s face lit up too. He pulled a bright pink prayer sash from his bag and held it out to Palden. The other young man looked at him and shook his head, prompting Quan to laugh hysterically before replacing the sash with a more manly deep green. Palden snatched them both from Quan¡¯s grasp. ¡°I¡¯ll give the pink one to one of my girlfriends.¡± By the time he finished cleaning the latrines, he was exhausted. He couldn¡¯t sleep in the summer. When he was little it was because he wanted to spend every waking moment with his mother. Then it just became a habit, even as he wanted to see less and less of her as he grew up. As his body started demanding ever more sleep, the summers left him tired and cranky. He was on lunch duty and had to start cooking immediately after he cleaned himself up. He stirred the thick porridge that was the monk¡¯s meal that day, the heat of the fire and the tiredness in his arms combining to make him even more exhausted by the time it was over. His anger and frustration grew and grew.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. They set about distributing their earnings to the various artisans and producers who had given them goods to sell. Those who had gotten a good price were overjoyed, those that hadn¡¯t were miffed, but even in the worst case it was more than they could hope to make in Bhuo. They all thanked Lian and Quan warmly. Some of them gave some money back, as a thank you for a job well done. After lunch he was supposed to meditate. But he was too tired to concentrate and too angry to focus. The harder he tried to bring his mind to attention and connect with the Great Tiendu, the further it slipped from his grasp. Master Tinley came by and admonished him further ¨C told him the same old tricks he¡¯d already tried and failed with. He wished the old man would just realize this was not a good day, but he didn¡¯t, he kept hammering away at Quan, insisting he try harder. But that only made it more difficult. By the end of it, Quan couldn¡¯t even feel the Tiendu, no matter what he tried. His whole life it had been out there, like a good friend sitting just around a corner: he only had to call and it would answer. Now it felt as if it were on the other side of the mountains. He¡¯d never felt lonelier. They returned to their small home and found a small gift basket waiting for them, from the monks. Lian had brought some new stoneworking tools from the Empire on her entry that summer, and the monks who looked after the temple had decided to repay her with sweet meats and a local jam made from a berry that grew in the King¡¯s orchards. ¡°Looks like we¡¯re gonna have a bit of a feast tonight,¡± Lian said approvingly. On his way back home he¡¯d seen them: mothers picking up their children from the temple schools. Most everyone in Bhuo sent their kids to learn from the temple monks, and since women looked after the children in Zhosian, they always came down like a wave upon a shore when the schools let out for the end of the day. Quan walked through them and felt the second hand love and dedication on every smile, every tired expression, every hug or clasped set of hands. His school and home were one of the same, and neither of them featured a mother there to meet him at the end of most days. One month a year, yes, there she was. But she was nothing like these women ¨C domestic and safe, a caregiver but not a disciplinarian. Zhao Lian was nothing like what he wanted, and that became very clear as he trudged home, exhausted and beaten by the day. They made the meal together, roasting the meats on skewers and spreading the jam on biscuits, then smushing the ingredients together into a delicious sandwich. Lian poured Quan a small bit of some of the wine Puotong had given them as they¡¯d ridden through back to Zhosian, and Quan poured her some of the fruit tea he¡¯d purchased for her in Daming. They ate and talked about their travels and the cities: the differences and similarities, the senses of both and the absences of either. Lian watched her son¡¯s eyes come alive with something she knew very well: hope for the future. A future that was more than just being the most powerful Keeper in the Great Temple of Bhuo. A future out in the world. That whole summer had made it worse too. She¡¯d come in raving about the basket of gold she¡¯d sent to the temple earlier that year. It had arrived, yes, and it had made some of the monks hate him less, but to many of them he was still an Imperial orphan and a dead weight who did not belong. The only one he belonged with was his mother, and when he finally allowed himself to hope that this would be the end of their separation, and that she would take him with her, or stay in Bhuo herself, she said no. She couldn¡¯t. It was still too dangerous for him. She still needed more money. Excuses. She had nothing but a long chain of excuses for why they couldn¡¯t be together. But deep in his heart he began to suspect another reason altogether: she didn¡¯t love him. She didn¡¯t want him. He was a burden she couldn¡¯t bare. And so it came out easily from his mouth. Because he wanted to hurt her the way she hurt him. She felt lucky to be there still. Sixteen years since he¡¯d been born, and she was still alive. It was a minor miracle, all things considered. Her job was not a simple one or a safe one. But she was alive, and she had experienced a great many things. Things he would need to know if he was going to join the world one day. Things the Keepers could never teach him. Things only she could teach him. She¡¯d started already ¨C maybe sooner than she¡¯d liked ¨C with the bandits and the weight of taking another human life. But she was lucky also: he was an amazing student. ¡°I wish you weren¡¯t my mother.¡± He regretted it almost at once. The moment she left it crushed him almost as much as it had her. Because as soon as she left, he was alone again. He had no other mother, and none of those other women out there in the streets of the city would ever care for him. The anger and indignation disappeared with Lian, and at the end of his very terrible, no good, very bad day, he burst into tears and missed his mother. The meal finished, Quan started cleaning up. ¡°No, don¡¯t. You go check in on Palden or something, I¡¯ll clean up.¡± Quan acquiesced after a little nudging, but insisted on putting away his belongings from their trip before anything else. They worked together in the tight environs of their little home, and Lian was overcome with the joy of this domesticity. Theirs was not a normal family, she knew, but it was the family they had, and she loved it. He¡¯d wanted to apologize to her, but she was gone. Back into the world where he couldn¡¯t reach her, and where the love he felt for her seemed to disappear. He spent every night meditating, reaching out into the Great Tiendu to try and feel for her. She had a particular glow in the Tiendu, a unique sensation he could pick out at once. That winter he grew strong enough to track her wherever she went, even to feel distant aftershocks of what she felt. He felt triumph at her successes, and suffered her defeats. And the next year when she returned, she walked up to him and said, ¡°I¡¯m going to spend the whole year here. With you. I promise.¡± And she did. ¡°You¡¯re a pretty good mom,¡± he told her, standing in the doorway, preparing to go. She looked up at him and forced herself to smile even though her insides were breaking. ¡°You¡¯re alright too,¡± she joked. ¡°I¡¯m glad we could go out together.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll do more next year. I promise.¡± Quan smiled, knowing it was true. She had a good track record of keeping her promises. ¡°Good.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Lian confirmed, the nodded out the door. ¡°Now get out of here.¡± He grinned and left, and Lian ensured he was gone before she let herself cry in the very same spot he had four years earlier. Both of them missing the only family they¡¯d ever had.