by Jeremy Bai
Clenching her hands into fists, she walked directly between Underchief Wang and Mao Yun, straight up to the door. Before anyone could react, she placed her shoulder under the door bar and then heaved up and tossed it to the side.
“Hey, what are you—” Before Underchief Wang could finish his sentence, she was pushing the door open.
The door slammed against the outside wall, and Bao leapt out into a wide corridor with a channel of water running down the center. It was raining.
She looked around vigilantly, but no hail of arrows shot through the air toward her. Actually, the corridor almost seemed deserted. Back when the purge of Yu Zhing had just begun, she clearly remembered what everyone said about the Bone General. She remembered him being described as a hammer used to crush resistance. He wasn’t a thinker or a strategist like the Skin General or the Hate General.
He wasn’t known for secrecy or plots; he tended to barge in, kill or torture everyone he could, and then burn the place to the ground.
Because of that, Bao had been fairly confident that there wouldn’t be an ambush waiting outside. Not waiting to see who else came out of the door behind her, she sprinted down the corridor. When she reached the end, she knew which part of the city she was in and was about to turn in the direction of the clan estates when she paused.
There’s nothing for me there, she thought.
Gritting her teeth, she instead turned in the opposite direction, toward the north wall of the city. Relying on everything she had learned about the city during the last year of stalking it during the night, she began to run as fast as her legs would carry her.
Chapter 9: Under the Pillow
At first, the ruffians followed Bao as she ran through the city, but eventually Mao Yun and Underchief Wang took the lead. Bao considered ducking into a side alley to lose them but decided against it. Although it seemed crazy to join with the people who had kidnapped her and threatened her physically, for some reason, Mao Yun made her feel safe. That, coupled with her desire to escape from Yu Zhing and all the horrible memories there, was a powerful driving force.
Mao Yun and Underchief Wang wasted no time leading the group out of the city, utilizing a remote crumbling section of the north city wall to sneak out into the night.
Once outside of the city, they headed north, walking about an hour under the moonlight until they reached a cave network, an oft-used way station and supply depot that the group had used for various criminal purposes.
The group was exhausted and quickly spread out into the various caves to find places to sleep. Mao Yun led Bao to a small side chamber where a cot was propped up in the corner.
“You sleep on this,” he said, laying the cot out. “I’ll guard the door. I don’t trust Underchief Wang.” With that, he lay with his back against the door, which would make it impossible for anyone to enter the room without knocking him aside.
Bao nodded. If someone had told her a few days ago that she would be sleeping alone in a room in a cave with a strange man, she would scarcely have believed it, and yet here she was.
The following day, as the group ate some rice millet, Underchief Wang stood up, cleared his throat, and said, “Listen up, everyone.
“Our old chief is dead, and his group is a thing of the past. From here on out, I’m Chief Wang, and I’m in charge. Anybody got a problem with that?” His gaze flickered toward Mao Yun, who didn’t look very happy but didn’t say anything.
Chief Wang nodded. “I say we make our way north. Things are going to be too hot in the city for us. The farther north you get, the less presence the Demon Emperor has. We head to Fan City, or maybe Mt. Dao. We should be able to do some business there. Agreed?”
Nobody offered any objections, so the matter was settled. After eating, the group ransacked the cave hideout for provisions, then set out to the north. They stayed off the public roads, heading through the countryside, camping at night and eating mostly off the land. To Bao, it was a life vastly different than the one she had lived before, and for some reason, it was invigorating.
She began to train with Mao Yun. He was far larger and stronger than she was, but in her mind that was a good thing. She needed to be able to deal with opponents just like him, and as the days went by, she became more adept at defending herself.
After about a week of travel, a mountain peak appeared in the distance. According to Mao Yun, it was Mount Jing, the location of Gor Shan, one of the five most famous mountain peaks in Qi Xien.
Ironically, although Bao had never traveled outside of Yu Zhing, she knew much of Gor Shan, whereas Mao Yun, who had actually been there before, was unfamiliar with the legends behind the place.
“Gor Shan is associated with the dragon Shui Long as well as the phoenix Li Huang,” Bao explained to Mao Yun as they sat on a sun-soaked boulder, eating a lunch of rice and wild vegetables. “According to most of the stories, Shui Long encountered Li Huang when she was looking down at a long, empty valley. When she said the emptiness of the valley made her sad, the dragon roared, and the entire valley became a river. And that’s where the Chezou River came from.”
Mao Yun shrugged. “Nice story.”
“There’s more…”
Soon they were passing Mount Jing and heading in the direction of Fan.
One morning, Bao woke to find the group abuzz with conversation. Chief Wang had taken to sending some of the men out as scouts, and one of them had just returned with news that they had spotted a traveling merchant.
Chief Wang immediately declared that it was gift from the heavens. He quickly selected ten men, including Mao Yun, who he took with him to “relieve” the merchant of some of his goods.
They returned an hour later bearing chests and sacks full of dried meat, silk, and other goods.
Later, when she and Mao Yun were eating dinner together, Mao Yun grumbled, “We’re turning into bandits.”
Bao swallowed a mouthful of cured pork. “So?”
He sniffed. “I just never thought I would be a common bandit.”
“What were you before, then?”
He shrugged. “Not a bandit.”
She decided not to push him any further.
Eventually they reached the Fei River, and their progress slowed as Chief Wang began to focus more on finding merchants and less on traveling. Soon they were robbing people almost every other day, and Bao realized that Mao Yun was absolutely right. They were bandits, and she was one of them.
Bao’s duties were relatively domestic. She cleaned, packed bags, tended to equipment, even cooked. Although she had never done such things before, the actions seemed to come naturally.
Some of the men, especially Chief Wang, tended to cast inappropriate glances in her direction, but thanks to Mao Yun, nothing ever happened.
One day they reached a riverside trade outpost, where Chief Wang finally agreed to spend a few days of rest and relaxation at a sprawling inn. They had accumulated quite a bit of wealth in their weeks of banditry, and this would be the first time they’d truly enjoy themselves in a civilized manner.
On the first night, Mao Yun and Bao decided to buy some food and wine and enjoy it together, away from the other bandits. Chief Wang had extravagantly agreed to arrange for private quarters for everyone, so Mao Yun joined Bao in her room to drink and eat.
Before long, the wine was flowing through Bao’s veins, and she was laughing and singing. Mao Yun joined in, and eventually the evening turned into a blur.
When the stabbing sunlight woke Bao up the next day, Mao Yun was slumped over the table, and she lay fully clothed in the bed, her head pounding and her tongue dry.
After stumbling downstairs to get some food and water, she returned to find Mao Yun awake and rubbing his temples.
“Well, that was fun,” he said, chuckling.
Bao sat down across from him and handed him some of the food. She looked up and noticed a scroll hanging on the wall next to the window, and on it were a few lines of poetry. She didn’t recall having seen it t
he day before. “What’s that?” she asked.
Mao Yun looked over and laughed. “You don’t remember? Just before you passed out, you leapt up and wrote that poem. You almost seemed like you were in a trance or something.”
Bao squinted her eyes and looked at the poetry. “What’s that third character? I don’t recognize it.”
Mao Yun laughed again. “I’ve never seen it either. Last night you said that it read ‘wyrm,’ whatever that means.”
Bao recited the poem out loud.
The shining Wyrm strides ever north
The graceful Bird due south takes wing
Bao shook her head and thought little more of it. After all, this was her first time getting truly drunk.
When Mao Yun and Bao finally emerged into the light of day, they found that the entire trading outpost was abuzz with news of a fight that had occurred the night before, which had resulted in the death of one of the hired guards. According to the rumors, the man’s head had literally exploded during the fight, a shocking scene which was described by another guard, who claimed to have witnessed the entire fight.
“It was a gray ghost. A woman. With a sword!” he said. Few people believed him.
The days passed at the inn, and Bao started to get bored. However, it soon became apparent why Chief Wang had agreed to stop at this place. It wasn’t just because he sought rest and relaxation; rather, this was the type of place where local ruffians tended to gather. And Chief Wang was recruiting.
By the time the final day came, their group numbered thirty in total, quite an increase from before. Chief Wang also purchased some supplies and arms, ensuring that their bandit group was now much better equipped than before.
To Bao’s surprise, he even bought her a pair of long, thin knives, not crude carving knives like the ones she had used before, but fine steel, sharp and deadly.
She wanted to refuse, but she accepted them in the end.
The group never reached Fan. Chief Wang found some caves near a tributary of the Fan River, where he began to build a fortress to serve as the group’s headquarters. From there, the bandit group began to exert its authority in the region.
Chief Wang issued orders that all members were required to participate in raids, which Bao wasn’t happy about but couldn’t avoid. The first raid she participated in was more of a con than a raid, and there wasn’t even any fighting. The second raid did devolve into fighting, though Bao managed to avoid having to participate.
Months passed.
Eventually, Bao’s friendship with Mao Yun deepened. They often drank together late into the night, though never to the point of passing out like they had that first time. Bao soon learned that Mao Yun’s father had been an important man. And although Mao Yun never explained the specifics, she got the feeling he was a highly ranked official, perhaps even a general, one who had defied the Demon Emperor and paid the price. She also learned that Mao Yun had a sister, Mao Mei, although they had been separated for years, and he had no idea where she was in the vast world of Qi Xien.
One night after Bao had been drinking in Mao Yun’s quarters, she headed across the hall to her own room. After barring the door, she walked toward the bed and had just begun to unbutton her collar when she realized she wasn’t alone.
Chief Wang was slumped against the wall by the door, staring up at her with drooping eyes. He was clearly drunk.
“Hello, Bao,” he said, chuckling.
She tried to jump back and unbar the door, but he lurched to his feet and blocked her way.
“What do you want, Chief?” she said warily, trying to clear her spinning head. Her eyes flickered to a nearby shelf, where the two knives Chief Wang had given her as a gift sat. She hadn’t strapped them to her arms when she went to drink with Mao Yun, a decision she instantly regretted.
Chief Wang licked his lips, his eyes wandering up and down her body. “Oh, I think you know what I want. Weren’t you just about to take your clothes off? Why did you stop?”
She backed up toward the bed, even as he walked toward her unsteadily.
“Chief, you’re drunk. Let me take you back to your room.”
“My room? Oh, your room will do just fine.” His lips twisted into a sneer. “Now get out of your clothes! Or do you want me to cut them off of you?”
He lunged forward, somehow managing to grab both of her wrists, and then pushed her down onto the bed. She grunted as his knee jabbed into her side. She could smell the alcohol on his breath, along with the aroma of garlic and mutton.
“I’ve been wanting this for a long time,” he said, releasing her wrist to grab at the collar of her shirt.
That was all the chance she needed.
He began to rip her shirt off, and her left hand slipped under her pillow and closed around the hilt of a knife. This was one of her original weapons, a carving knife she had pilfered from the workshop back in the clan.
Before Chief Wang knew what was happening, her hand shot out from under the pillow and stabbed the knife into the side of his neck. Blood spurted out, and his eyes went wide. Not waiting for a reaction, Bao pulled the knife out of the wound and then ran it viciously across his throat, sending a waterfall of blood down onto her face. He made a gurgling whimper, and as his grip on her right hand loosened, she shoved him off of her. He toppled over onto the bed, and she straddled him, then stabbed him in the chest, once, twice, three times. Five. Ten times. And she didn’t stop.
Blood was everywhere, soaking the sheets, causing her hair to stick to her face. It smelled both sweet and pungent at the same time. Bao was breathing in ragged pants as she plunged the knife into Chief Wang over and over again. It was almost as if she wasn’t in control of her own body, as if some powerful force were raging inside of her, causing her to become consumed by fury.
Finally, she stopped for a moment to catch her breath. Looking down at Chief Wang’s mangled, bleeding corpse, she gritted her teeth and then slowly stabbed the knife into his right eye, all the way to the hilt. Then she twisted it.
“Fuck you,” she snarled. “And fuck the Demon Emperor.”
Chapter 10: That Spot
Bao lurched off the bed and staggered to the corner of the room, where she emptied the contents of her stomach. She looked at her hands, which were drenched with blood, and then took a shaky breath. Her mind began to race.
What have I done? she thought. What will I do? I need to run! Get out of here!
For a moment, panic welled up, but she quickly quashed it. It was not the time for panicking.
It’s actually not that bad. It’s not like any of these people are his friends.
That was true. Over the months that she had been a part of the bandit troupe, she had come to realize that Chief Wang ruled by force and power. The bandits respected him, but they didn’t love him.
No one would mourn his loss, that was for sure.
However, there would now be a power vacuum, a position that needed filling. A wild thought popped up in her mind, a thought so insane that it seemed impossible.
What if I took over? she thought. After a moment passed, she dismissed the notion. Ridiculous. I’m just a girl.
She looked down at her bloody hands, and she knew what to do.
Not bothering to even wipe the blood off her face, she walked to the door, unbarred it, and strode down the hall to Mao Yun’s room. She knocked lightly, leaving bloody knuckle prints on the rough wooden surface of the door.
After knocking three times, she heard a muffled response from inside, then shuffling. Finally, the door opened to reveal an irritated Mao Yun. As soon as he laid eyes on her, though, his expression changed to that of shock.
“Bao! What happened, are you okay?”
He reached out as if to prop her up, but she stepped back and waved her hand dismissively.
“I’m fine. Come with me.” Not waiting for a response, she turned walked back to her room.
Mao Yun hurried along behind her, and when he saw carnage on her bed, his eyes went w
ide. He opened his mouth as if to speak, then held back.
“You can probably imagine what happened,” Bao said, “and there’s no need to get into the details. The question is… what do I do now?”
Mao Yun’s mouth opened and closed a few times, but apparently he couldn’t compose his thoughts. Bao’s heart began to sink with the realization that perhaps her idea wasn’t going to work. Despite that fear, she pressed on.
“Pull yourself together, Big Bro Mao. I’m the one who just killed someone, not you.”
“R-r-right,” he said, shaking his head. “What will you do now? Run?”
Bao rolled her eyes. “Run? To where? Back to Yu Zhing? I don’t think so. Besides, there’s no need to run. Nobody here cares about Chief Wang. They only care about the money he earns them.”
“So… what do you mean?”
Bao was getting impatient. “Listen, as long as there’s a strong leader who’s willing to take charge and make sure these guys keep getting money, they’ll follow anybody who claims the title of chief.”
“You? But aren’t women called chieftainesses?”
Bao was about ready to smack Mao Yun across the face. “Not me, you fool. YOU!”
“Me?”
“Yes. People here look up to you. They respect you. Plus, you’re one of the manliest men here. Look at your shoulders. And your arms. As long as you exert the authority, they’ll follow you.”
Mao Yun appeared to be completely taken aback.
“Me…?” he repeated.
Closing her eyes for a moment, Bao began to explain her plan in detail.
**
An hour later, in the main audience hall, the bandits were assembled. Lounging in the seat of honor, where Chief Wang usually sat, was Mao Yun. He even wore the same fur-lined cape that Chief Wang often wore in formal settings.
Standing at his right hand was Bao. She had straightened her hair and clothing but hadn’t cleaned away any of the blood. Her face was caked with it, as were her arms, and in her left hand, she held Chief Wang’s head by the hair.