The Yellow silk r-4

by Don Bassingthwaite

  "The darkest magic, younger brother," the man-Yu Mao-snarled. He spat the words in Common. He curled massive hands into fists and stepped forward. Pigs twined around his legs like happy cats. He kicked them away and stooped down to Serg's groaning, coat-shrouded form. Another kick stilled Lander's man. Yu Mao ripped Li's coat off him and knotted it around his waist, covering his nakedness. Li shook his head in astonishment.

  "Yu Mao, I thought you were dead!"

  "It takes more than a dao to kill me, Li Chien," growled Yu Mao.

  Tycho saw Li flinch at his brother's words. Conflict and confusion burned across his face. Li spread his hands. "No! I mean, you…You're alive! Brin said "He gestured at the collapsed shelter. Brin was still yelling from underneath and banging at the tangled wood, maybe even louder now. Yu Mao just growled again.

  "I know what Brin said! And he was right. The Yu Mao you came looking for is gone. He went down with Sow. Not that it matters. I know why you came west. You want me dead one way or another-you and our father. Am I right?"

  Li's breath hissed between his teeth. "You murdered the other people on the trading expedition. You've shamed Kuang-"

  "So you want vengeance." Yu Mao bared teeth that shone sharp and white. "It's not going to be that easy, Li Chien." His eyes darted to the wizards, standing as still and startled as anyone. "Hanibaz! Mosi! You still want the Yellow Silk of Kuang?" A thick finger, the nail on it yellow and cracked, jabbed at Tycho. "He's yours. Take it from him and you can keep it." The finger shifted to Li. "But him. He's mine."

  The wizards glanced at each other and Hanibaz shrugged. "Fair enough." They took a step back. Hani-baz's hand reached into his cloak.

  Tycho choked and looked at Li. The Shou's face was pale, but the expression on it was hard. "Give them the Silk," he hissed. "Save yourself." Tycho nodded. He reached for his sleeve and his fingers closed on its astonishing warmth.

  We were so close, he thought. It almost worked, we almost got away. We took down Brin and Lander and all their men-and even Hanibaz and Mosi. Red Wizards, Tycho, he reminded himself, you pulled one over on Red Wizards!

  And you're going to stop fighting now?

  Anger flared inside him, warm and powerful as the Silk itself. A crooked smile spread across his face and he grinned at Li. "Bind me if I will!" he spat. Li's eyes narrowed and a smile tugged on his face as well.

  They moved at the same moment, Li charging at Yu Mao with a shout, Tycho whirling to dart across the sty and away from the wizards-and his aged mentor. "Laera!" he shouted over his shoulder. "Get Veseene out of here!"

  Words of magic shimmered in the air. One of the wizards was working a spell. Tycho's hand went to his sleeve and the ragged edge of the Yellow Silk, and he tugged loose another thread. It grew in his grasp, pulsing and warm. He spun around, sliding in the muck of the sty, and hurled it at the mages without pausing.

  Hanibaz dived away from the glowing bolt, but Mosi stood firm. He spoke the final syllable of his spell and flung up his hands. A wispy curtain of flame flared before him, catching the Silk's bolt. Light spattered like water and Mosi staggered, but there was no explosion. Hanibaz hissed. He reached into his cloak once more and whipped out a long, slim wand of pale wood tipped with a vivid red gem. A harsh world rippled from his lips. He flicked the wandatiycho.

  The bard didn't wait to see what unpleasant effect the wand might produce. He threw himself forward, tumbling across the ground. Hanibaz hissed in frustration. Tycho rolled to his feet, snatching another thread from the Yellow Silk as he moved, and rose with a golden bolt ready in his hand. The Red Wizards were separated now, though, too far apart for a single bolt to affect both! His gaze darted from one to the other, trying to choose a target. Mosi, readying another spell behind his veil-thin shield of magic, or Hanibaz with his wand? He lunged toward Mosi in a desperate feint-maybe he could at least startle him into dropping his spell before hurling the bolt at Still in his grasp, the bolt changed as he lunged, flexing and lengthening in the air. The tip of a long lash of light cracked, whiplike, against Mosi's shield with a shower of sparks. Mosi yelped and the spell that he had been weaving collapsed in on itself. Even Hanibaz jumped, wand momentarily forgotten. Tycho's own surprise gave way almost instantly to fierce, angry joy.

  "Bind me, yes! " he shouted and sent the lash cracking out again, first at Mosi then at Hanibaz, driving the startled wizards back. Another snap of the lash caught the wood of the fence between him and them. Flaming splinters fell hissing into the mud below. "Come on," he screamed defiantly. "You want the Silk? Come and take it!"

  Movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Laera was struggling with Veseene, trying to drag her away from the fight-and Veseene was resisting with all of her feeble strength. Tycho cracked the lash at Mosi again. This time, the bald wizard stood his ground, letting his shield absorb the blow of the lash. Sparks flew once more, but Mosi didn't even flinch. Tycho swung the lash back at Hanibaz desperately. At least he could still hurt him! "Veseene, get away! Go with Laera!"

  "No! You're not going to win this fight alone!" The old woman's voice was strangely thick, almost muffled.

  Tycho twisted around. "Veseene, go-"

  Mosi's hand flicked out. Five darts of ruddy light swarmed from his fingertips, streaking like arrows to pierce Tycho's side. The bard gasped and the lash fell from his hand, vanishing in a silent flare as pain sent him stumbling to the ground.

  Yu Mao's finger pointed at him. "He's mine."

  "Fair enough," said the bearded wizard.

  Li's gut squeezed down into a knot. How light had he felt when he had believed Yu Mao was dead? The weight that had been lifted from him had come crashing back, heavier than ever. Yu Mao alive-even though he had unwittingly killed him once! Now…

  In the Hooded's lair, memories of happier times-of the brother he had known-had stayed his hand.

  Now his brother had just offered up Tycho and the greatest treasure of their family. For what? He looked up and into Yu Mao's eyes.

  All he saw there was murder and bloodlust. The same madness he had seen in Black Scratch's eyes. What kind of monster had his brother become?

  Honored ancestors, give me courage, he prayed silently.

  Lords of Karma, judge me kindly. He tore his gaze away from Yu Mao and looked to Tycho. "Give them the Silk," he said. "Save yourself."

  But the bard's face twisted into a crooked smile. "Bind me if I will!"

  A smile touched Li's face, too. Thank you, honored ancestors. For what better courage could I ask?

  Li forced doubt out of his mind. A fast, hard blow could end this quickly. He shouted as he turned away from Tycho and charged at his brother. He launched himself into a leap, a high-flying kick at Yu Mao's head.

  With a speed that belied his barrel-chested size, Yu Mao spun aside and punched out with a blow of his own that slammed Li to the ground. Li twisted, soaking up some of the impact with a roll that brought him back up to his feet. Yu Mao was right on top of him, though, and unleashing a flurry of vicious hand strikes. Li got his arms up to block the strikes, but the ferocity of his brother's attack forced him back and brought a gasp out of him. Yu Mao smiled savagely.

  "Not up to the challenge, younger brother?" he grunted.

  A break in the storm of his attacks. Li's arm shot out straight, stiff fingers driving into Yu Mao's thick neck. Yu Mao dodged back before they could strike. Li bared his teeth. "More than up to it, elder brother."

  He threw himself forward. Yu Mao leaped to meet him, not to strike or block, but to grapple. Suddenly Li found himself fighting-really fighting-to tear himself out of his brother's embrace. Yu Mao reeked like a pig, the stink of his body enough to make Li retch. His skin was greasy with filth as well, and his near-nakedness made if difficult to grasp him. His own clothes, on the other hand, made it easy for Yu Mao to get a grip on him and hold him tight.

  Massive arms squeezed and Li gasped as the air was crushed out of his lungs.

  He wrenched his a
rms free desperately. Cupping his hands, he clapped them against Yu Mao's ears. The big man gasped and his arms loosened. Li thrust against his shoulders, drawing his body up and out of the deadly embrace, and threw himself backward in a long flip. The heel of his boot caught Yu Mao's chin with a snap and sent him staggering back. Li landed in a crouch beside his fallen dao, swept it up, and rose into a position of balance. "Hrah!"

  Blood was trickling out of Yu Mao's mouth as he stood up straight. He wiped it away with the back of his hand. "You've gotten good," he said.

  Li didn't move. "And you've gotten foul. You're more pig than man." His eyes narrowed sharply as Staso's tale came back to him-along with Tycho's caution of curses as fickle things. "It's the captain's curse," he breathed. Yu Mao's eyes narrowed as well.

  "So you know about that." He sneered. "By my blood, you shall not live to forget Sow. Well, I haven't forgotten her or her bitch mistress-every night when the moon rises I send a prayer to whatever hell she burns in and I thank her for her curse because it's a greater blessing than Kuang ever gave me!"

  Li stiffened. "You like it?" He hissed. "You were the pig that enabled Brin to escape his part of the curse!"

  Yu Mao laughed. "Black Scratch was more than anybody guessed. I was the one who recognized your dao-" Li's eyes widened and his grip on the weapon tightened.

  "You couldn't have. You've never seen this dao!"

  Yu Mao touched his nose. "More than anybody guessed," he growled. "I could smell you on it. I was the one who decided we should find you first. I was the one who realized you were carrying the Yellow Silk and told Brin that we should sell it."

  Li could feel the heat of rage rising in his face. "The greatest treasure of our family. You betrayed-"

  "I betrayed Kuang?" Yu Mao's lips drew back from his teeth. "Yes. I did. I betrayed Kuang. I betrayed the trading expedition. I betrayed Sow. I betrayed you to Brin!" He tossed his head at the collapsed shelter, still shaking with the hin's efforts to free himself. "I'd even betray him if it helped me!"

  Li's jaw clenched. "You disgust me."

  "No," snarled Yu Mao, "you disgust me! All the way from Keelung to Spandeliyon-why? To satisfy an old man's honor?"

  "The honor of Kuang." Li was trembling. "My honor. Your honor!"

  Yu Mao snorted. "No," he said, "not mine. I left all that behind in Shou Lung-and I wish upon that yellow rag you brought with you that it had stayed there!"

  Spit flew from his mouth with the vehemence of his denial. Li's eyes went wide and the day of Yu Mao's Blessing Ceremony flared in his memory once more. It was almost beyond belief that this brute could be the same Yu Mao who had learned his etiquette and practiced his rituals with such flawless precision. Yu Mao, heir to the workshops and fortune of Kuang. Stern Yu Mao. Dignified Yu Mao. Perfect Yu Mao. Breath caught in his throat.

  "Why?" he gasped.

  Yu Mao's expression twisted. "You," he said, "wouldn't understand."

  Behind Li, Tycho screamed suddenly. He looked over his shoulder. The bard was on the ground, his face tight with pain. Li looked back to Yu Mao-just in time to see his brother throw back his head and give a boarlike bellow.

  All around the sty, in the corners and holes where they had jammed themselves, Brin's scattered pigs pricked up their ears. With angry squeals, they came charging out at Li. The Shou yelped and spun around, besieged. Yu Mao sprinted past him, surging through the crowded pigs and headed for the trough on the other side of the sty. He flipped it over with one hand. From underneath, he snatched out his butterfly swords. He sneered at Li again. "I don't know how you found these," he said, "but they're the only piece of Shou Lung I've missed." He grinned at them and looked up.

  "Ayeh!" he spat and clashed the blades together as he brought them over his head. He lowered his arms and pushed them out slowly with a long intense breath. "Ayeh!" The weapons crossed over his chest for a heartbeat before thrusting out, then up high, then out again, then down. With each thrust Yu Mao took a stomping step forward, ending with his massive legs braced like pillars as he breathed in slow and deep. "Aayye-hhhh."'The muscles of his chest expanded and flexed, and Yu Mao raised his butterfly swords up until their sharp edges pointed straight at Li.

  "You shouldn't have come, brother," he rasped-and charged.

  Li tried to spin out of his way, tried to dodge back, tried to do anything, but pigs battered at his legs with every step that he attempted. It was all he could do to stay on his feet among the angry, swarming animals! They darted aside for Yu Mao, though. "Ayeh.'"the big man roared. Butterfly swords swept in, one following the other. Li planted his feet and whirled his dao desperately, blocking one sword, then another, and then the first again. He struck back, or tried to; Yu Mao caught the dao on the back of a sword. Li's blade grated along Yu Mao's — right into the hook over the butterfly sword's hilt. Yu Mao twisted, locking the dao. His other sword chopped down from above.

  Li brought his arm up and Yu Mao's forearm cracked against his. Before his brother could force the sword down, Li clenched his teeth and punched sideways into his face, hard and precise. Bone cracked. Yu Mao's head snapped around. Li wrenched himself and his dao away and jumped back.

  His right foot came down on a pig and the animal writhed away with a squeal of pain. Li flailed his arms, just barely regaining his balance as Yu Mao turned back to him. His cheek was deformed, broken bone pushing it out of shape. He bared his teeth and growled, eyes narrowing for a moment in concentration.

  Boar's bristles sprouted and faded in a ripple across his face. For a moment, his entire head changed shape, turning long and heavy, a pig's head on a man's body. The change vanished and Yu Mao was entirely human again. And entirely healed.

  "Mother of dogs," choked Li. He brought his dao up again.

  Awareness came back to Lander amid frantic slapping and a rain of curses from Brin. "Wake up! Wake up, damn you!" Lander reached over and punched at the halfling. Brin just slid back and kicked at his injured hip. Lander howled and sat up.

  His head smacked into a beam and he dropped back down. He stared around through a haze of pain. They were trapped beneath a tangle of wood in a space so low Brin could barely stand up. "We're under the shelter in the sty," the halfling snarled. "Li Chien brought it down on top of us. I don't have the leverage to move anything." He kicked at Lander's hip again. "You have to lift the roof up! I need to get out there!"

  Lander shifted himself away from Brin's foot. The noises coming from outside didn't sound promising: shouts, screams, and a lot of squealing pigs. There were tiny holes in the thick thatch that covered the roof of the shelter, presumably torn open by Brin. Through one, Lander could see Mosi Anu and Hanibaz Nassor. Tycho was writhing on the ground before them. Through another, he could see Li Chien as he struggled in the midst of a seething herd of pigs. Facing him was the biggest, hairiest, dirtiest Shou he had ever seen. "Who is that? " he yelped.

  "Kuang Yu Mao," spat Brin. "Lift, damn-"

  Kuang Yu Mao's head flowed, shifted, and for less than a heartbeat became a boar's. Black Scratch! "Bind me!" howled Lander, shoving himself as far back into thetr little space as he could go. Brin reached out and slapped him again.

  "We need to get out there!"

  Lander slapped him right back. This time he caught him, and the force of the blow spun him around. "Bind and tar you, Brin!" Lander cursed. "I'm staying right here!"

  The halfling glared at him and opened his mouth. Anything he might have said, however, was lost in a sudden, sharp yell from outside, a bellow so loud it shook straw from the broken thatch above them. Lander cursed again and covered his head.

  Li felt the sudden cry all the way through his body, from his ears deep into his bones. Magic, it had to be more magic-except that whatever spell had been cast, the wizards seemed to have caught the worst of it. They were staggering, hands pressed over their ears.

  He wasn't going to question a lucky break, though. The abrupt noise struck terror into the pigs, fear breaking through Yu Mao's ee
rie power over them. The animals scattered and ran in panic. Li ran, too. Yu Mao might call the pigs again and he wasn't going to be trapped a second time! In the corner of the sty, a wheelbarrow had been propped up between the tall, plank fence and the wall of the Eel. Li sprinted for it; leaping onto the wheelbarrow; bouncing off a stout fencepost; and vaulting onto the Eel's low, almost-flat roof. Up out of the shadows of the alley, red sunlight caught him, the last light of the day. He dashed away from the edge of the roof and whirled around.

  With shocking grace, Yu Mao-following the same route-leaped up onto the roof as well. "Ayeh!" he screamed, shaking his swords.

  "Hrah!" shouted Li. His dao flashed bloody light as he whirled toward his brother.

  A second volley of Mosi's darts stabbed into Tycho and he writhed with the agony that wracked his body. The Yellow Silk winked at him from his sleeve. A bolt. A lash. Anything to deliver swift retribution to the mage! He stretched and reached, but it seemed as if his arms wouldn't obey him. When he tried to move them, they flopped about like long eels squirming in the bottom of a boat. He looked up. Hanibaz, wand at the ready, and Mosi, still veiled by his fiery shield, were stepping warily closer. Tycho groaned and forced himself to his knees. "Stay back!" he said. Some strength flowed back into his arms and he raised them threateningly. "Stay back or-"

  "Or what?" laughed Hanibaz. "What are you going to do to us, bard? " He lifted his wand.

  The roaring, musical shout that blasted them was so loud that the force of it swept debris along the ground and set Mosi's robes flapping, so loud that it was an almost-visible rippling in the air. Even on the edge of that power, Tycho howled and covered his ears. Within it, Mosi and Hanibaz were sent staggering. When the shout ended a heartbeat later, their ragged screams filled the seeming silence. He stared at them. What…?

  "Tycho!"

  A voice filled with music and maybe just a hint of the power that had blasted the wizards called his name. A voice he hadn't heard speak with that strength in two years or more. He whirled around.