by Ben Wolfe
The Lianshi’s head swiveled around and barked orders in Romani that the Jintai followed immediately. She turned around and barked at the wraiths in a tone used to command, “get your weapons if you want to live. The assassins aren’t mine.”
Ariane’s foot went to wedge the door as someone tried to burst through the door the same as Ariane did. She jerked the door open just after the door was hit and raised her arm, firing several darts out the door as one arrow took her through an eye and another took her through the throat. The Lianshi dodged behind the door as Esther, Tarla, and Lisei scrambled out of the bath for their weapons and Allia threw her weight at the door.
The women started screaming and scrambling for the far edge of the pool as the other door burst open and members of the brotherhood burst into the bath. Esther saw a shimmer in the water as she was attaching her gauntlet. She motioned for the women to each take a door and slipped back into the water sliding below the surface. Half the Jintai were firing arrows at the far door while the others rushed to the aid of the Lianshi, training arrows on the door she was struggling with. “Watch above as well,” the Lianshi cried out as several Jintai immediately trained arrows towards the ceiling. Dozens of the brotherhood had poured through the far door and half a dozen of them lay dead, shot by the Jintai. At least the same number of Jintai lay unmoving, shot by the brotherhood. Arrows were flying across the grotto as Jintai and members of the brotherhood sought refuge though there was little to be found. An arrow was deflected off the Lianshi’s gossamer robes as she put her hood up. The master assassin called Sulmein entered and saw the arrow deflect off of her cloak and whistled. They stopped firing and the Jintai stopped as well.
The Lianshi yelled, “Who do you take orders from? They are assassins. Kill them.” A ripple of light caught her eye in the pool as one of the wraiths, Esther, emerged from the water and plunged her knife forward towards where she had seen the ripple of light. The last thing Allia saw before Sulmein’s dagger found her eye was Esther’s surprised look as her hand plunged through what looked like water in the air before her.
Esther fell unbalanced through a vertical pool of water in front of her. There was a face that should have been attached to a body standing waist deep in the spring that flashed before her eyes as the water swallowed her.
Allia’s eye fluttered open as she reached up in panic and yanked the dagger out of her other eye. The dagger skittered across the stone floor before falling into the water of the baths. She blinked her eye in the semi darkness, watching as the assassins were going around the chamber lighting the sconces on the wall.
One of the assassins was collecting something from the stone floor by her when she scrambled to back away from him. “Jintai!” she called out.
Grendahl removed his hood and flipped the water cloak back over his shoulders so that she could see him.
Allia’s head swiveled to the left and right, trying to see out of her one good eye. She saw the assassin who had thrown the dagger slide out the door closest to her into what now appeared to be night. “Peace, Lianshi. The masters have obtained what they came here to get from you.”
Allia’s eye fell on the Jintai, cut and filled with arrows, tied together and seated against the far wall. Nearly a dozen still moved and groaned as well as the two wraiths, though one had an arrow in her shoulder and both wore blood as their only garment. “What did you do?” she asked Grendahl. “The west knows this will mean war.”
“The only reason we haven’t killed the western women is because we did not know whether you granted them sanctuary or not yet. As for the Jintai and the wraiths, they attacked us, firing the first shots before we had a chance to talk to you.” Silently appraising the Lianshi and realizing she was more panicked for her Jintai than herself, he said, “So the rumors of your immortality are true. We could not be sure until we saw it with our own eyes. The only women immortals in this world until now have been among the aelfen.”
“Yes. But I am not like the others,” she said. “I can’t be killed and now you will know what it is like to deal with me.”
Grendahl smiled. “Oh I don’t know. Immortality like that can be a curse. You see, there are so many ways to torture someone without killing them and if you heal, the assassin’s guild would love to dissect you and see how your immortality works.”
A flash of panic showed in her eye though Grendahl was impressed at how quickly it turned to anger. “There are over a thousand Jintai in this encampment alone,” she said. There are only fifty of you. Do you think they will just let you walk out of here with me?”
Grendahl’s smile faded. “Yes, that is unfortunate, he said. We have been at an impasse for some time now. Slowly, through an expensive trial and error, the Jintai have rooted out where our sentries protecting the rear doors leading to the western slope have been hidden though it has cost them. Oh. And there are closer to nine hundred Jintai now. If you had over a thousand here that is. As I said, it has been expensive for both sides. But it has also hurt us. We did not know of your alliance with the Dravin or even of his continued existence. The wraith that killed the Konigar. Is she still alive or do we need to kill the two that remain?”
She shook her head but winced at the pain that shot through her skull. “No. Based on the horses they rode in on, she and another returned north, to what purpose I was not able to determine before you arrived. You have to know that you will not leave here alive.”
“Well, as to that,” he said, shrugging one part of the water cloak over a shoulder and nearly disappearing from view, “I can walk out whenever I want and not even the Dravin will see me in the darkness of night provided I move slowly enough. But our issue is not with you, Lianshi. Did you grant sanctuary to these women yet?”
“That depends,” said the Lianshi. “They were asked if they were willing to pay the price for it but none had yet answered. I have not given sanctuary yet to the wraiths either though they had stated their case for it.”
The one who had been outspoken amongst the women of the west said, “I will pay your price, Lianshi. Whatever it might be.” The rest of the women echoed her words.
“There you have it,” Allia said. “They have sanctuary though I am not sure it was worth the price to me.”
“It was worth the price,” replied the one the Lianshi recognized as Artemis.
The Lianshi flipped blood-encrusted hair from her face and blinked her good eye trying to focus it on Artemis. “For you, maybe. I’m not so sure about the rest.”
Grendahl looked at Artemis and at the other women. “What makes this one so special?” he asked.
The outspoken one sneered. “She is a handmaiden and knows nothing.”
Grendahl smiled. “So you were the one who got away from the Konigar that night.”
“You stupid woman,” the Lianshi hissed. “Everyone but her, that is,” replied the Lianshi, referring to the outspoken woman amongst the western women. “I do not grant sanctuary to her.”
Grendahl got up and walked over to the outspoken one who looked up at him defiantly.
“And just what do you think you will do? Do you know who I am?” she asked.
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Grendahl said. “It only matters who you are now.” Drawing a dagger, he slashed her throat before she had a chance to scream. Whatever would have come out before came out instead as a gurgle as her eyes glazed and her lifeblood poured out. Looking for a place to wipe his blade and giving up, he walked back over to the Lianshi. “The others are under your protection, Lianshi. Our masters have all since long gone and those that remain are expendable to the guild though I would greatly prefer if we were allowed to leave without pursuit.”
“You will have safe passage under only one condition and it is probably something you are not empowered to promise,” Allia said.
“I am empowered by Lord Arizian, the guild master, to make any agreements in his name on behalf of the guild.”
“Then know that you will only be allowed to leave
here without pursuit if you swear never to lay a finger to me or my heirs or to attack any Jintai or their officers in service to the empire.”
“That is asking a lot, but we are busy enough in the west.”
She continued, “The Dravin and his race are also under my protection and you must train one of my own Jintai as a master in your guild.”
“That,” he replied, “is not possible. The only women who serve are in Lord Arizian’s personal guard and they are aelfen. No human women serve in the brotherhood.”
“Then she will be the first.”
“There is a second reason that a Jintai could not become a member of the brotherhood.”
“Why is that?”
“She must swear her allegiance to the brotherhood.”
“Granted, so long as when she is a master she is returned to my service to found a guild here in the east.”
Grendahl considered her words carefully and then nodded. “Okay. Done. But she will have to swear fealty to the brotherhood, here in your presence before me and swear to follow the orders I give her until she enters the service of Lord Arizian to begin her training. She must be willing to prove herself.”
“Done,” said the Lianshi. “Artemis!”
Artemis struggled to her feet against the wall near to where the woman had just been murdered. “Yes, Lianshi?”
“You came here to swear your allegiance to me?” she asked.
“Yes, Lianshi. I would ask to serve in the place of Akemi who gave her life defending these women and carrying out your orders.”
“I thought as much.” The Lianshi struggled to her feet as well. “Come here and kneel before me.”
“Wait,” said Grendahl. “Not her.”
“Our agreement is made, assassin. If you still want to leave here alive then say nothing further.”
Grendahl looked about to protest again but looked into the Lianshi’s one eye. “As you say.”
Artemis came and knelt before the Lianshi, who looked at the gash on her arm and the blood that had pooled on the stone ground near her feet. Seeing it smeared, she looked at Grandahl. “They took my blood?”
Grendahl shrugged. “As you say, Lianshi.”
The Lianshi looked angry but placed a hand upon Artemis’ head. I hereby initiate you into the order of Jintai. Do you pledge your life, your honor and your loyalty to me, your sisters and the women who follow me who you will be pledged to sacrifice yourself for?”
“I do.”
“You pledge that your life now belongs in service to that cause and you pledge to follow my orders. Every order that I command, without question and you pledge to do this to honor the memory of Akemi?”
“I do, Lianshi.”
“Then arise as my Jintai and receive your first order.”
When Artemis stood, Allia looked her in the eye and said, “You are to follow their every command without hesitation until such time as you achieve the rank of master after which you are to return here, in service to me to create a branch of the guild here in the east. I know I ask a lot to send you back into the service of men.”
She turned to Grendahl and asked, “how long will the training take to become a master?”
“If she survives the culling and her assignments, at least ten intervals.”
“Then if you are gone more than that length of time without being returned to me, my truce with the assassin’s guild is forfeit.”
“We cannot guarantee her survival,” he said.
“Then you have ten intervals of a truce.”
Grendahl nodded an acknowledgment. He looked at Artemis. “The brotherhood will never ask you to take your own life but by nature the work requires you to risk it all the time. Are you prepared to prove your loyalty, initiate? After which you will be ours and will need to follow our commands.”
Artemis looked to the Lianshi who nodded her assent. “Whatever they ask. You are founding a new order for me and this is required.”
Grendahl held out the handle of his dagger, still wet with the woman’s blood. “Kill her,” was all he said, but motioned to the Lianshi. Every Jintai who was conscious began to call out to her and the other women who had arrived in the group with her began calling her a traitor until Grendahl looked at them and the Lianshi held up her fingers to silence the Jintai.
Allia nodded once to Artemis who thought of Akemi continuing to blow the horn knowing that she was going to die. Her hand reached out and grabbed the Lianshi by her gown and pulled her toward her as she drove the dagger into her throat. As the Lianshi sank to her knees, her hand going to the dagger in her throat, Artemis walked to one of the baskets where the wraiths had their clothes and began pulling on their loosely flowing black garb without a word as Grendahl marshaled the rest of the assassins and began moving them out into the cover of night. Several calls were silenced and she could hear the whistle of arrows being exchanged outside. When she had donned the loose-fitting black robes and her own sandals laced up the back of her leg, she came to stand by Grendahl who was the last one in the grotto. “Follow the causeway, he said. Move slowly and as silently as you can. Stay in front of me and if you see something, stop and crouch down. I will cover us with the cloak and we will be invisible to all and immune to harm.”
Silently, they slipped out into the night, Grendahl checking the small vial he had used to collect the Lianshi’s blood before moving out into the night after Artemis.
The Lianshi woke in her bed, her soft, finely woven sheets brushing lightly against her skin. She immediately reached up and felt the stone scales across her throat and felt a patch over her left eye. Groaning, she attempted to sit.
She heard a male voice say, “Go. tell them. She is awake as I promised.”
“You,” she croaked. “What are you doing in my tent?” she asked.
“Making sure you awaken, which I assured them you would. I do not think they would have allowed me to leave here alive had you not.”
“Lord Dravin, if you keep coming into my rooms, they are going to think I have taken you as my concubine.”
He smiled and gestured to Mirabel who brought a cup of chilled water.
Allia took a sip and smiled. “You finally remembered the ward.”
“It doesn’t work as well for me as it does for you, but it works well enough.”
Mirabel brought a basin with cool water and a wet small cloth to wipe her warm flesh.
The Lianshi smiled and thanked her before waving her off. “How many?” she asked.
The Dravin looked pained as the door opened and several Jintai entered and saluted fists over hearts. As one, they went down to one knee.
“Lianshi,” they repeated in unison, “we have failed you and present ourselves for judgment.”
Allia looked at the bloody bandages of two and judged that one had been hit by an arrow in the shoulder. Another, slashed across her forearm accompanied by a purple and black eye as well as a bloody lip. The third seemed uninjured. She recognized the one who had taken the arrow as one of the sub-commanders of the group that had entered the grotto with her. She recognized the one with the gash and black eye as one of the women sent to take the wraith into custody in the stables. The other she recognized as the garrison commander for Karsova.
“How many?” she asked the Dravin, leaving the women where they were as though they did not exist.
“Nearly a hundred Jintai dead, twenty-three wounded. No women in or around the city were injured. One of the wraiths was killed, one is missing and the other two are being tended to with the western women. Two were killed in the exchange of arrows while fleeing the baths. Another was executed after your protection was rescinded.”
“Yes, well, I protected Artemis the only way that I could.”
“Artemis?” he asked.
“The handmaiden who tried to save Akemi. She was one of the women who was there when the attempt was made on the Konigar’s life. If I would have extended her my protection without making the arrangement I did with the assas
sins, either she would have been killed as part of their mission or it would have meant war with the assassin’s guild. You see what fifty of them did to us. We don’t have the skills yet to find them or kill them. But we did have a way to train someone in those skills while providing the best protection for her that I could. They probably won’t kill one of their own outright so long as she does not overplay the hand I dealt her. She is protected by their charter from persecution and she is now a part of the assassin’s guild. They will have to hide her identity for political purposes. They are now caught between us and the kings of the west.”
Looking at the women kneeling with fists over their hearts, she said, “Nearly a hundred and thirty dead. You have some work to do,” she said.
Staying on their knees before her, the Jintai exchanged glances with each other before the commander of the garrison spoke. “Lianshi, what would you have us do with the western women and the wraiths? The two wraiths that remain are demanding to see the body of their companion, the one called Esther, and to speak with you directly.”
“They demand?” she asked, surprised.
The one with the shoulder bandage where the arrow had been removed spoke quickly, “More like a strong request, Lianshi. They have been through the trauma of the past day and are concerned about their friend. They claim the last they saw her she had slipped into the water in the grotto and they never saw her again after that. Her body was not found among the dead.”
The garrison commander spoke, “Lianshi, regarding the dead, the pyres are being prepared in the manner you told us on the eastern approach in the fields that were left fallow this season. A feast is being prepared before the northern approach. The merchants in the bazaar know not to approach either. The dance troupe and musical performance have been rescheduled for the remembrance feast.”
The one who had spoken before looked about to say something when the Lianshi raised her hand with two fingers extended, her signal for silence. After some thought, she said, “You are the one known as Samira, a recent addition to the imperial guard, were you not?”