The first carrion bird to arrive was Mistress Fu, along with several of her children. Her eyes were bleak and cold, but she held back her tears. We wouldn’t last long in the cold and the open, so they had to wait.

“They arrived in Rivermill just after you left,” she explained. “I wanted to warn you, but his watchers and scouts were too observant. They would’ve seen one of us if we’d left before they did. Now they’re off to that fat bastard’s giant fortress, where they’ll doubtless hold feasts and orgies over what they did here, and add Song’s head to his trophy collection.”

I imagined the concept, and was sickened all over again. Clearly, the man had no respect for life and thought killing was nothing less than momentary amusement. But the idea of keeping parts like some sort of sick bonus…

“I’m glad you three survived. It was quite clever, using illusions and circulation tricks to make him see what he wanted to see. Even among the Emperors, he’s particularly arrogant.”

“I… wanted to be like him, once.”

Li’s face was ashen, his eyes unfocused. The statement had been so blank, so emotionless… I walked over and hugged him.

“He called us beasts, Li. But from my perspective, such a moniker is earned. Now, we need to talk this out, but it’s best that we do so after we’ve found shelter. Mistress Fu?”

She nodded, and draped a blanket over each of our shoulders.

“Going straight back to Rivermill would be suicide. We need to take a different route in. From there, I can help you three get on your feet, but you’d draw too much attention if you stayed for long. Any ideas?”

I nodded. “There’s a small village a couple of valleys over, the people there just manage to get by on hunting and cutting timber. We can probably stay there.”

Li blinked. “How would you know?”

“Because my warren wasn’t too far away. I’ve lived in this area all my life, Li.”

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Kaoru nodded, though somewhat absently.

“I migrated here from my family’s territory, but I know of that village. Best avoided if you have fur or meat worth selling, but in human shape…” She winced, clutching her belly with one hand. “It’s our best shot, and we can get there before dark easily, even with Xiang and I slowing us down.”

Fu nodded. “I’ll follow you then, just in case there are any stragglers from the army. Worst case, I can hold them off until you can hide again. And meanwhile,” a tear fell from her cheek, in spite of her control, “my kids will handle the dead. No cultivator deserves to be left for scavengers.”

I nodded, my own mind still focused on what came next. I could hurt when we were safe.

There wasn’t really a road between the monastery and the village Kaoru and I knew of, but there were plenty of trails suitable for game and hunters. Li knew of them too, for all he’d never travelled beyond the monastery’s valley. I could only hope it would recover from this attack, but the way the qi was flowing now… I think the Tortoise King did something. Where the monastery had once been a natural wellspring of qi with the valley forming a lake, now things felt like a gaping wound, with pus and rotted flesh stagnating at the edges. What little qi there was… felt wrong. Sick. Corrupted.

I can only imagine this is what Mistress Song feared, if I’d become too comfortable with killing.

Well, we’d come to that. The next valley was the one my warren had been in. Li had only travelled there once, the day we met, but Kaoru and I knew the area well enough to keep our party moving in the right direction. I led, and tried to keep the pace as quick and steady as Kaoru and I could manage.

Doubly so because Kaoru was still clutching at her belly, in obvious discomfort. We weren’t due for another couple of weeks, but the stress might have started Kaoru’s labors early, and such things never follow a timetable anyway. I kept quiet, knowing our best bet was to get to the village.

When we got there, two men aimed a bow at our party. Merely guards, non-cultivators, but neither Kaoru or myself were disguised, and Li was still too deeply in shock to do much than lean on Mistress Fu and walk along.

I wanted to talk them down, to explain all that happened, to do something that would keep them from firing, but Kaoru’s sudden scream had them loosing in surprise. Thankfully, they’d aimed at Mistress Fu and myself, and we both were tough enough that the arrows just bounced off.

Mistress Fu knelt beside Kaoru, a puddle beneath my friend as her waters had broken. Li just stared, still in utter shock and unable to do anything.

“Move aside, young ones! Can’t you see the poor girl’s in labor?!”

An elderly woman approached, shoving the guards aside as she approached Kaoru. She was a cultivator, but I was too worn out to gauge anything more.

Safe at last, I passed out on the spot.