by Jeremy Bai
“The rest of you have two options. The first is to come with me. Travel north to where there is still freedom from the Demon Emperor. The second option is to go your separate way. Head south, east, west… wherever you want. The choice is yours, but you need to make it quickly.”
Not even a second passed before Mao Yun said, “I’m with you, Big Sis Bao. Let’s ride to the Hen-Shi Empire.”
Bao looked back at him and nodded, then turned to the rest of the bandits.
A moment passed, and one of them spoke up. “I have no friends or family anywhere else in Qi Xien. I’ll ride with you, Big Sis Bao.”
“As will I,” another said.
“Me too!”
In the end, only one bandit chose not to join them, a jovial fellow known as Fatty Bo. “I wish you all the luck in the world, Big Sis Bao,” he said. “But I have a sweetheart back in Yu Zhing, I can’t just travel to the other end of the world and leave her behind.”
Bao nodded. “I understand.”
There were only fifteen horses. They gave one to Fatty Bo and then split the others between the remaining bandits, with Bao getting the finest of them, a Harqan steed from the Kushen Basin that was likely worth ten thousand spades or more.
And then, they rode off into the night.
***
Once again, they were traveling through the countryside. This time, though, they didn’t live off the land. They had plenty of supplies and were well equipped with tents and other traveling equipment.
They stayed away from the roads, which wasn’t too difficult in the lands north of the Fei River, which were mostly wide grassy plains. Before long, they were in the foothills of Mount Dao, about a day’s ride east of the city of Tung-On, where they set up camp.
As they were eating dinner, the bandit known as Third Zhou cleared his throat and said, “Big Sis… Er… Chieftainess Bao… the road leading from Fan to Tung-On is sure to have plenty of merchant caravans. Should we maybe… get back to work?”
Bao didn’t respond at first. She had been pondering this issue as they fled north, even discussing the matter with Mao Yun. Considering the wealth that Chief Wang had built up, their little group could definitely be considered rich. However, that wouldn’t last forever. They needed some source of income, some way to survive, especially once they reached the Hen-Shi Empire.
Banditry was an option, but to both Bao and Mao Yun, it was a distasteful one at best.
A long moment passed, after which Bao said, “Third Zhou, let me ask you a question. What did you do for work… before?”
Third Zhou frowned for a moment before replying. “I used to be a pig merchant in Xuanlu.”
“So how did you end up like this?”
“The Demon Emperor accused the pig merchants’ guild of conspiring against him. Most of the other pig merchants were killed, but I fled north to Yu Zhing.”
Bao nodded, then turned to another of the bandits. “How about you, Second Zhou?”
The bandit called Second Zhou replied, “I was a soldier in Qi Fao. After the Demon Emperor conquered the city, I managed to escape south.”
“And you, First Zhou?”
“My family was killed in the purges in Yu Zhing.”
Raising her voice, Bao said, “How about the rest of you? How many of you reached this point because of the Demon Emperor?”
Of the twenty bandits present, nineteen raised their hands.
“Think back to your life before the Demon Emperor ruined it. Did you ever imagine that you would be a bandit? Did you ever want to be? No. None of you.
“Things happened, your life changed, and in order to survive, you had to break the law. Well, I say the time has come to rise above being bandits.” As she spoke, the words rang true for Bao as well.
“The common people are suffering because of the Demon Emperor, so there’s no need for us to cause them more suffering. We have money now. We have horses. We have weapons. Why not use them for good? Or at least refuse to use them for evil!
“We are only a few days’ ride from the Chezou River, beyond which is the Hen-Shi Empire, and Nansun. I say that tomorrow we go into Tung-On to resupply. If we can, we sell our services as escorts. Instead of robbing the merchants, we make money off of them, open and aboveboard. If no such work is to be found, we make haste for Nansun.
“We have plenty of spades in our coffers, plenty of money to last for many, many days without having to resort to banditry.
When we get to Nansun, I’ll find a way for us to earn money. The righteous way.
What do you say?”
This time, Mao Yun held his tongue, for which Bao was grateful. The other bandits exchanged glances, and a long moment passed. Finally, Third Zhou broke the silence. “Very well, Chieftainess Bao. I’m willing to try.”
One by one, the others voiced their consent.
Later that night, Bao and Mao Yun were sitting on a boulder, drinking together under the moon.
“Nice speech,” Mao Yun said. He held his drinking glass up. “To you. Bottoms up!”
Bao nodded, and together they drank. Wiping her lips dry, she sighed. “The only question is, is it really possible to make money the righteous way?”
***
About that same time, much farther to the south, at the base of Mount Jing, a camp had been set up. Numerous tents of varying sizes stood at the center, with the horses neatly hobbled on the western side of the camp, and guard posts had been erected.
In the central tent, the largest of them all, a long table had been set up. Tied down to the table with thick hemp ropes was an overweight man whose eyes bulged with fear.
A hulking figure loomed over him, a figure who was clearly not human. He had broad shoulders and wicked, protruding teeth. He wore a helmet that appeared to be fashioned from the skull of some bizarre creature, and his armor was apparently constructed from the rest of that creature’s skeleton.
“Do you know who I am?” the figure asked in a growling voice. His accent was strange. Clearly this was no human, but an ogre.
The overweight man nodded, and sweat dripped down the sides of his face.
“That’s good,” the ogre replied, slowly drawing a long knife out from his belt. “Then you’ve no doubt heard why they call me the Bone General.” He rested the knife on the man’s forearm. “Now, tell me who it was that killed the ogre five days ago. And where is that person now? The sooner you tell me, the less pain there will be.”
A moment later, a bloodcurdling scream ripped through the night.
Chapter 17: Crazy!
Tung-On was a typical city, situated almost exactly halfway between Fan on the Fei River and Nansun on the Chezou River. It had a longer and more complicated name that came from a foreign tongue, but to most people it was simply referred to as Tung-On. To the west was the Little Demon Forest of Zhang Chang, and to the east was Mount Dao. There were rumors that the Demon Emperor planned to build a canal connecting the two great rivers, a canal which would run directly through Tung-On. However, those were just rumors.
It was a bustling travel hub, and in some ways a frontier town as far as the forces of the Demon Emperor were concerned, being the northernmost city under his control. Everything north of the Chezou River was considered free, although some regions to the far northeast of Qi Xien had been invaded or sacked in recent years.
Trade still went on between the Hen-Shi Empire and the southern cities. After all, the rich gold deposits in Jinxu were controlled by the Hen-Shi, and even the Demon Emperor needed gold to run an empire and fund his campaigns into southern regions such as the Dai Bien and Jin Suk Forest.
In the end, Bao decided to take only a small group into Tung-On—herself, Mao Yun, Third Zhou, and Li Runfa, who had previously handled supplies for Chief Wang and had even been to Tung-On in the past. They split into two groups, with Bao and Mao Yun entering through the north gate and Third Zhou and Li Runfa through the south gate.
Despite the fact that Tung-On was a frontier town with mo
re strange-looking characters than you would expect to see in the central regions of the empire, Bao still didn’t feel comfortable riding into the city gates as a woman. Therefore, she disguised herself as a man, something she had become quite adept at doing in her days wandering the streets of Yu Zhing at night.
As planned, Bao and Mao Yun wandered the city for a few hours to become familiar with the place before meeting up with Third Zhou and Li Runfa at a teahouse in the middle of the city. After the scouting, the group confirmed that nothing much had changed in the city since Li Runfa’s previous visits. Thus, they quickly split up to handle their assigned tasks.
Third Zhou went to purchase dried meat. Li Runfa acquired staple food, which this far north in Qi Xien meant wheat-based foodstuffs like buns and a newly invented food called “noodles.” Mao Yun found wine and tea, and Bao hunted down some basic spices like star anise and cumin.
Fortuitously, Bao found what she was looking for almost immediately, leaving her with plenty of extra time to search for what she really wanted to find in the city: a bookstore. After a bit of asking around, she found a wonderful shop that even had paper books, which she found surprising considering how far Tung-On was away from the center of the empire.
Two hours later, she was back in the teahouse, reading a copy of The Tears of Emperor Chanku, a colorful account of how the last emperor of the Hao Dynasty had been assassinated. According to the official histories, when Emperor Chanku attempted to purge his government of perceived corruption with a string of executions, his enemies united against him.
However, in this more romantic version of the story, a jilted concubine allied with the Empress to slay the Emperor out of revenge for the excessive attention he lavished upon his newest and youngest concubine.
Nearly an hour before the appointed meeting time, Li Runfa hurried into the teahouse and sat down across from Bao. He looked out of breath and a bit flustered.
Shoving the bamboo scroll he held in his hand into his sleeve, he said, “Chieftainess, Mao Yun has been arrested!”
Bao’s eyes went wide. “What? How?”
“One of the local constables recognized him and accused him of being a rebel just like his father!”
Bao clenched her jaw. She had never pressed Mao Yun for more information about his past, including his father, but from various comments she had overheard during her time with the bandits, she knew that he came from a famous family.
“Dammit, where did they take him?”
“The constabulary next to the west gate.”
“Were you with him at the time?”
“No, but I was just across the street.”
“What about Third Zhou?”
“Last I saw him, he was negotiating with a vendor to buy some Harqa drinking vessels.”
Bao ground her teeth. “All right. You wait here for Third Zhou. I’m going to go check out the situation.”
“Be careful, Chieftainess.”
***
You can do this, Bao, she said to herself. It was a seemingly ridiculous situation. She, a young woman who had lived virtually her whole life within the walls of her clan’s estates, was now leading a group of newly reformed bandits. One of them had been arrested by constables loyal to the Demon Emperor and needed rescuing. By her.
She shook her head as she first looked up at the moon overhead, then down at the ornately decorated cask of yellow wine she held in her hand. Then she straightened her long silk dress and took a deep breath. The dress was a type she had never worn in her entire life, nor would ever have imagined herself capable of wearing.
It was not a dress a lady would wear but rather the type of dress that “professional” women would be seen in. Bao could not be considered voluptuous, but she was clearly a woman, and this dress made that embarrassingly clear. Just thinking about how revealing it was made her blush.
Finally, she took a deep breath and strode forward. When she entered the door of the constabulary, she quickly looked around. There were two constables on duty, and in the far corner, Mao Yun was locked up in a cage with iron bars. As soon as she entered, he looked up, whereupon his eyes went wide and his jaw dropped.
Tilting her chin up, she turned to look at the two constables and smiled in the most seductive manner she could.
The constables’ eyes narrowed, but before they could say anything, she said, “I’ve come bearing gifts!”
She held the wine flagon out and cocked an eyebrow.
The two constables exchanged a glance, then one of them said, “Gift? Or gifts?”
Bao’s smile deepened, and she said, “That depends.”
Inwardly, her heart was pounding and her mind was racing.
What am I going to do? I can’t just murder them! Her original plan had been to somehow kill the constables, probably by slitting their throats. But now that she was standing in front of them, real, living people, men who had actually done her no wrong, she realized that she was not so cold-blooded. They might be employed by the Demon Emperor and were surely corrupt, but she couldn’t simply end their lives.
“Who is this gift from?” the other constable asked.
Think of something, she thought inwardly, swaying forward and coming gracefully to her knees across the table from the constables. She produced three drinking vessels from within her sleeve.
“Oh, I think you know who it’s from,” she said said with a wink, placing the drinking vessels on the table and filling them, making sure that her own cup was much less full than the other two.
The first constable thought for a moment and then said, “You mean it’s Lord—”
Before he could finish, the other constable elbowed him and said, “Don’t say it out loud!”
Bao chuckled. “That’s right, no need to say it out loud.” With that she raised her cup. “Big Bro constables, please, let’s drink! I wish you health and prosperity!”
The constables chuckled, raising their cups and drinking.
Meaningless banter and drinking following. Bao’s alcohol tolerance had grown thanks to spending so much time drinking with Mao Yun. Furthermore, she was careful to pour herself the bare minimum and the constables the absolute maximum. Soon they had had enough to drink that they didn’t notice she wasn’t even pouring anything into her cup.
She occasionally glanced over at Mao Yun, who seemed both nervous and angry.
After about an hour, the constables were clearly intoxicated, whereas Bao only felt slightly tipsy. By this time, she had her plan fixed firmly in mind.
Her eyes flickered to the side of the room where an oil lamp burned, one of the three sources of illumination in the room. It rested on the wall next to a rack that contained numerous bamboo scrolls and paper books, which were clearly the records of this constabulary.
She had also identified the location of what appeared to be the key to the cage, which was within the sleeve of one of the constables.
She bit her lip as she tried to decide when to make her move. The alcohol flagon was almost empty. She didn’t have much more time left.
It’s almost time, she thought.
However, that was when one of the constables said, “Hey, darling, didn’t you mention gifts?” He chuckled and leaned forward, grabbing her by the wrist.
Before she could do anything, he pulled hard, causing her to slide across the table and land halfway into his lap. His arm slipped around her waist, and he leaned forward as if to kiss her.
Time seemed to slow down as Bao’s hand shot toward her sleeve. As the constable’s face neared hers, her hand closed around the hilt of her knife. This constable was lucky, because his hand happened to be placed on the table next to him, making it the perfect target. Were it not for that, Bao might have aimed for his throat or heart.
A thud could be heard as Bao violently stabbed the knife down, pinning the man’s hand to the table.
His head swiveled in shock, and his eyes went wide, and Bao shoved herself out of his grasp, reaching into his sleeve and grabbing
at the key ring tucked therein.
The other constable’s jaw dropped at the sight of his partner’s hand pinned to the table, blood already oozing out.
A miserable shriek spilled out of the first constable’s lips.
While the two constables were focused on the knife, Bao leapt up and dashed across the room, tucking the key into her sleeve. She grabbed the oil lamp and was just about to toss it onto the rack with the bamboo scrolls and paper books when something caught her eye.
It was a small paper book with the words “True Fighting Manual” on it. Not hesitating, she grabbed the book and then smashed the oil lamp on the rack. Flames leapt up.
The constable had pulled the knife out of his hand and was on his feet, as was his fellow.
“You’re dead, bitch!” roared the first constable, cradling his hand as he took a step toward her.
The other constable drew a dagger from his belt and also began to approach. Instead of facing them, Bao danced to the side. Only a meter away to her left was another oil lamp, the second in the room, which she immediately smashed onto the ground, causing flames to leap up.
“Dammit, this whore is crazy!” barked the second constable, backing away from the flames.
Bao continued to hug the wall as she dashed toward the third oil lamp. The entire east wall of the constabulary was in flames, and the constables were hesitating.
Then her hands wrapped around the third oil lamp.
“Let’s get out of here!” the first constable said. “Let her die in the fire!”
As the two constables ran out, Bao, keeping the third oil lamp held in one hand, hurried over to the cage and used the key in her other hand to open it up.
“Bao, you’re crazy!” Mao Yun blurted.
“I know. Come on. Let’s get out of here!”