Their Spirit Unbroken (Relentless Book 3)

by Ryan Kirk

  “You do not think?”

  Delun stood his ground. “This has never been Lei’s fight. He doesn’t care what happens within the empire. He only wants to live in peace.”

  “You drugged him! If that was your plan, why didn’t you just kill him?”

  Delun sensed himself nearing the edge of a precipice. Chao doubted him; of that, Delun was certain. Between Lei and the princess, Delun suddenly wasn’t sure how far he could push the man before Chao simply had him killed.

  But the truth seemed his best way out.

  “I don’t want to kill Lei. He is a good man and a remarkable warrior.”

  Chao’s eyes were cold. “You would put your friendship with the man over the lives of your brothers out there?” He gestured toward the rest of the warehouse.

  “I would be honored if that man called me a friend, but I didn’t think that I would have to choose. I want to build a new world, too, but I don’t want to do it over the bodies of good men.”

  Chao stood up from his desk, rounded it, and stood right in Delun’s face. “Sometimes, good men must die for a cause greater than themselves. I thought you understood that.” He turned on his heel. “I thought you understood me.”

  Delun defaulted to obedience. He felt as though he walked on the edge of a knife. “I am sorry, Master. What would you have of me?”

  Chao’s fist clenched again as he turned to his maps. “I don’t believe you are sorry.”

  “Not that I let Lei go. Had I known your exact desire, I might have done differently. But I am sorry that I have failed you. I thought with him out of the way, your objectives would be met.”

  Chao growled as he spun on his heel. “It is his life that matters, not his presence in the city. Where did you leave him?”

  Indecision tore Delun in two. Chao only had one purpose. He would send people for Lei, people who didn’t possess the mercy Delun had.

  Delun saw the lack of trust in Chao’s eyes. The wraith wouldn’t allow Delun to make another mistake.

  The choice wasn’t as hard as Delun thought it would be. Lei was the strongest warrior Delun had ever met. No doubt, Delun’s confession would put him in danger, but the man had faced far worse. Delun trusted him to stay alive.

  “Do you have a map of the land to the west of Jihan?”

  Chao gestured to an aide, and within a minute, Delun was pointing out the abandoned farmstead he’d left the couple at.

  Chao looked up at Ping, who had observed the entire exchange in silence near the back of the room. “Summon the questioners. Have them kill Lei. They’ll have a better chance of it than any wraith will.”

  Delun noted the command. Chao continued to work closely with the questioners. He was connected to someone close to the emperor, but who? How was he so well connected with the palace’s secrets?

  Chao turned his attention again to Delun. “Trust is more valuable than gold, Delun. As a gesture of my faith in you, I will say this: You are welcome to speak with the princess whenever you wish. She will confirm what I have told you.”

  Delun sensed more coming. He wasn’t wrong.

  “But if you fail me one more time, I will not be able to trust you. Do you understand?”

  Delun heard the threat perfectly. He nodded.

  Chao dismissed Delun, leaving him again with more questions than answers. Chao had a specific endgame in mind, but Delun couldn’t unravel it. What was the wraith planning, and why did Lei need to die for it to happen?

  33

  Lei opened his eyes and stared at the unfamiliar ceiling. He blinked and a wave of memory washed over him.

  The wine with Delun.

  His first thought was for Daiyu.

  He sat up, surprised not just that he was alive, but that he felt completely fine, as though he had slept long and hard through the night. His body was stiff, but that was hardly news anymore.

  Lei didn’t recognize the room, but Daiyu lay next to him, wearing the same clothes she had when they met with Delun. For the briefest of moments, Lei worried that she had died. Then he saw the subtle rise and fall of her chest.

  Lei exhaled sharply and held his head in his hands. If Daiyu had suffered at Delun’s command, no amount of understanding would ever lead to forgiveness.

  Lei watched her for a few minutes to make certain that she was fine. Once he had convinced himself, Lei turned his attention to his surroundings. They looked to be in the bedroom of a small house. Lei’s sword rested in a corner of the room.

  Lei rolled out of bed, the aches and pains in his body familiar friends. He pulled the sword from the sheath, checking it carefully. The steel looked untouched.

  Tying the sword at his hip, Lei glanced again around the room. It held no decoration and no furniture beyond the bed.

  He was fairly certain they were alone. He hadn’t heard any movement beside his own, and he didn’t sense anyone gifted nearby.

  Lei took one more look at Daiyu to ensure she slept well, then stepped through the bedroom door.

  They were indeed in a small house. Lei found a low table and plenty of food. As another surprise, he found their chest of clothes that had come with them to Jihan. He opened it, finding it in much the same state as he last remembered.

  Besides that, the house stood empty. Lei saw a folded paper on the table but ignored it for the moment. Following his curiosity, he stepped out the front door.

  Endless plains greeted him. As far as his roving eye could see, they were alone. He turned back to the house. From the outside it looked well-maintained.

  The geography provided few clues as to their location, though Lei was pretty certain he could guess well enough. Delun wouldn’t have been able to move them very far, at least not easily. And Jihan itself was surrounded by plains. Delun had removed them from the fight, but little else.

  He wanted to be angry with Delun. The man had drugged him and forced him to leave Jihan. Lei hated being told what to do at the best of times, and this was an order of magnitude beyond that.

  He wasn’t upset, though. If anything, he felt better, being out here in the middle of nowhere with his wife. Perhaps he should be thanking Delun for his efforts.

  Lei returned to the house, checking on Daiyu once again. Satisfied that she slept well, he turned to the letter on the table. There were no surprises within. Delun apologized for his actions, again explaining the necessity. The house was theirs to remain in as long as they wished.

  In all, Lei found himself impressed by Delun’s thoughtfulness. Lei wasn’t sure if the monk was friend or enemy, but he respected the man.

  His stomach rumbled. He didn’t know how long he had been drugged, but he figured it was no wonder he was hungry. He set about making some food with the supplies on hand.

  Lei wasn’t as versed in kitchen duties as Daiyu, but he was no fool, either. Within a few minutes he had a fire going and water heating for noodles.

  He had almost finished his preparations when he heard Daiyu waking up in the next room. He went to her.

  She smiled when she saw him enter. Despite the fact she had been drugged and carried to a location without her consent, she seemed remarkably at ease. “Delun?”

  Lei nodded.

  “He’s one of the more interesting men you’ve ever met. I hope he survives this storm. You will need friends soon.”

  “Please don’t talk like that.”

  “There’s no hiding from this, love. I can feel it in my bones.”

  He walked over and then supported her as they made their way to the table in the next room. She felt as light as a bird in his arms. She needed food.

  Lei finished cooking as she watched, smiling at his efforts. “I should have taught you how to cook better.”

  He gave her a warning look, but there was no intensity behind it. Was he nearing acceptance, finally?

  He poured the noodles into two bowls and set them down on the table. Daiyu gave them each an exaggerated examination. Lei handed her a pair of chopsticks. “Your food is getting
cold.”

  Daiyu took a tentative bite. “This isn’t as bad as I was expecting.”

  “Thank you,” replied Lei, sarcasm dripping from every word.

  Like Lei, Daiyu was hungry enough to eat several bowls. Lei figured the food had been good but not great. Daiyu certainly would have done better, but she was kind enough not to remind him of that.

  The meal complete, they both relaxed at the table. Since her waking, they hadn’t spoken at all about their situation.

  “Remember when we first came to Galan and that thief tried to steal your sword?”

  Lei laughed at the memory. With a gesture, he’d blown the kid across the tavern. “I do.”

  “Life seemed simpler then, didn’t it?”

  “Complexity comes with age.”

  Daiyu’s mood turned more serious at that. “I used to think so, but not anymore.”

  Lei turned to her. “How so?”

  “I think there are only a few things that matter in life. Family. Duty.” Daiyu met his gaze, her eyes still smoldering with intensity. “Love.”

  Lei leaned across the small table and kissed her. She returned the gesture, grabbing him by the back of the neck and pulling him close. Her eyes wandered toward the bedroom. Lei stood up, came around the table, then picked her up and carried her there.

  The next few days challenged them both.

  Daiyu took a turn for the worse. Lei didn’t know if something in Delun’s poison had harmed Daiyu or if the disease had simply advanced further. Daiyu struggled to do much more than walk around the house.

  She didn’t talk anymore about him returning to Jihan.

  Their days were spent in quiet companionship. They made love when Daiyu felt up to it, and Lei felt the desperation in the act. His wife clung to life. He did most of the cooking under Daiyu’s watchful gaze. The quality of their meals improved.

  At night, they bundled up in their heavy clothes and watched the stars spin overhead.

  As the days passed they ran out of words to say to one another.

  Four days passed, and Lei wished they would never end.

  That night, as evening fell, Lei sat on the edge of the bed while Daiyu sprawled across it. He could tell, as the moonlight cast soft shadows over her, how much weight she had lost. Her hunger had disappeared.

  A coughing fit wracked her body, and as she bent over double, Lei thought he’d never seen anyone more frail.

  Once the fit passed, she turned her head to meet his gaze. There were tears in her eyes, a deeper understanding within than he wanted to acknowledge. “I love you, Lei.”

  He reached out for her hand and lifted it to his lips. “I love you, too. I always have.”

  “Will you keep watch tonight?”

  A knot formed in Lei’s throat, catching his breath, choking the life from him. Somehow, she knew. Unable to speak, he nodded.

  She smiled, then pulled him closer, her lips expressing truths deeper than words. Their kiss lingered, and when they separated, there was nothing left to say.

  He held her hand as she fell asleep, sitting up on the bed while he watched her rest.

  The night lengthened, and his thoughts wandered to matters of the soul. He knew the monastic teachings, the belief that some part continues past death. He knew it personally, too. He still felt the lingering effects from his brother’s death.

  The belief provided some slim comfort. It helped, knowing that something waited on the other side of the veil.

  It wasn’t death that caused him to mourn, but the absence of a presence in his life. Over three decades had passed and he still missed his brother. The loss of Daiyu would be worse.

  Outside, the world spun. The stars turned overhead, pinpricks of cool, uncaring light.

  Daiyu was at ease, her breath soft and slow. More than once he leaned over to ensure she still breathed. Her face was serene, painted by the silvery glow of the moon.

  The moon reached its apex and started to fall. But Lei barely noticed, his eyes focused exclusively on Daiyu. There was no place he would rather be.

  She breathed deeply, a sudden change in the steady tempo of her breath. A slight change, but with every sense turned on her, he couldn’t miss it.

  Then she breathed out, and didn’t breathe in again.

  34

  Bai’s plan, for the moment, seemed to be working. Every night, Bai and Rong led teams of monks through the streets of Jihan. When they encountered wraiths, they attacked, delivering vicious beatings.

  Their interrogations hadn’t revealed anything of note, but Bai hadn’t expected them to. The wraiths hid in the warehouse. They followed orders. Unless they came upon someone high up in the group, there was little to be learned.

  After the first night, the wraiths changed their patterns. Instead of wandering in pairs, they wandered in groups of four.

  The additional help didn’t save them.

  After three nights, the wraiths stopped wandering the streets altogether. Bai and Rong estimated they had crippled over twenty men in the last three nights.

  The city watch returned to the evening streets.

  For the moment, order held within Jihan. A few buildings suffered damage, but it was a shadow war, conducted at night between two small groups of warriors. The citizens obeyed curfew.

  It couldn’t hold. The wraiths would respond.

  Their progress, encouraging as it was, wasn’t enough. The wraiths still outnumbered them, and by all accounts, they still had the princess. Bai worried that if they wanted the princess, they were eventually going to have to attack the warehouse.

  She didn’t know how to do so.

  During the day, when she wasn’t sleeping, Bai studied the warehouse from a distance. The building took up an entire block, and was surrounded by large streets. Wraiths patrolled the buildings across the street, forming a perimeter around the warehouse. Bai would barely be able to get close before being spotted. As soon as the first blast came at her, she’d have dozens of monks attacking.

  Bai had thought of plenty of plans, but all of them ended with her dead on a warehouse floor. She couldn’t get the numbers to work.

  She needed a distraction, but she couldn’t think of any. The best idea she’d come up with was to have Rong try to lead a group of monks away, but she didn’t think the diversion would be big enough. At least half the wraiths needed to be removed from the building before she had a chance.

  Bai walked into the monastery through the front gate. She felt the pressure of time building on her shoulders. They needed a break.

  Shu found her as soon as she was through the gate.

  Bai had less patience for the woman than ever before. Since her plan to attack the warehouse had been overruled, she’d been prowling the monastery grounds silently. She barely spoke, and when she did, the results were less than pleasant. Today, however, she looked eager. “Bai, the questioners might have just the information we need.”

  What Bai wanted was to go to bed and hide under a pile of warm blankets. Exhaustion gripped her tightly, but Shu’s news didn’t look like it would wait. She followed the other woman.

  Shu led her to Rong. She didn’t look any happier to be there than Bai.

  Shu kneeled down in front of them, acting more like a child with exciting news than the woman entrusted with guiding Yang’s students. “The questioners have discovered where the wraiths’ leadership is going to be this afternoon. It’s outside of the warehouse.”

  Bai perked up at that. “They’re certain.”

  Shu nodded. “The wraiths have been meeting quietly with some nobles, it seems. They are meeting later today.”

  That explained why there hadn’t been a greater outcry over the kidnapping of the princess. The wraiths had learned from Kulat. They didn’t seek a violent coup, but one coordinated by nobles and wraiths alike.

  Still, Bai didn’t like trusting information she hadn’t found herself. The questioners hadn’t led them wrong yet, but it was hard to trust those who traded informat
ion for a living.

  She didn’t see how she had much choice, though. If there was a chance to drive a stake through the heart of the wraiths, she needed to take it.

  Rong looked as uneasy as Bai felt, but they both nodded. They would do it. After their long night on the streets, they needed rest. Shu promised to wake them when the time neared.

  Bai and Rong walked together toward the dormitories where their beds were. Rong spoke softly. “Do you trust her?”

  “No.”

  “Do we go through with it?”

  Bai nodded. “We need the break. It’s worth the risk. We’ll keep our eyes open, though.”

  The two women crashed in their respective bunks, not waking until Shu shook them each awake.

  After a few minutes to stretch and wake up, the women were off.

  The streets of Jihan recovered slowly from the excitement of the last few evenings. More people were on the streets than before, but the mood was still subdued.

  Shu led the two warriors directly to a house near the outer wall of Jihan. Bai kept glancing behind her, looking for signs they were followed. She saw none.

  Shu pointed out the house from a few blocks away, as soon as it came into view. Rong and Bai nodded, then took to the roofs on an unspoken signal. It didn’t take them long to find a vantage point above the building.

  The house was nicer than most in the area. It was two stories tall and the walls were kept well. Bai saw the windows were all boarded up, but beyond that, saw little to remark on.

  Rong whispered next to her. “What do you think?”

  Bai shook her head. “It’s an excellent location for an ambush.”

  Rong agreed. “What should we do?”

  “Don’t go in, no matter what. If they are there, they’ll have to leave eventually. Do you want to work your way around the back? If you see anyone, give me a wave.”

  Rong nodded and took off across the rooftops.

  Bai didn’t like the look of the house. With the windows boarded up there was no way to see inside. With two stories and multiple rooms, there were plenty of places for warriors to ambush them. She wanted to trust Shu, but she wouldn’t go into that house without a very compelling reason.