It was empty. The cabinet was completely empty, save for a few meters of rope in a dusty corner. Immediately, Ru Meng felt the tiny hairs on his arms and neck stand on end. Something was horribly wrong.
There was almost certainly no doubt in Ru Meng’s mind that the stranger that attacked his father that day had searched their house. He had been lying in wait for them and he knew about what happened to his uncle. However, that meant that he was here because of what happened to his uncle and therefore, had no reason to steal from them. Indeed, he didn’t seem to have taken anything with him that belonged to them when he attacked his father.
He could have returned to the house after they left and taken what was left, but why? He had no reason to steal. Moreover, Ru Meng knew how badly he had injured that man. The bear trap was meant for a beast, not a human. A lesser person would have passed out from the pain alone. Even if that man had made it out of the trap, looting would be the least of his concerns. Unless he was ransacking the house for bandages? Ru Meng entertained the possibility for a moment and immediately dismissed it. The blood trail led into a tunnel away from the house, which meant that that man had never even approached the house.
Ru Meng felt a chill settle into his bones at this realization. Having excluded that man as the perpetrator, there was only one possible conclusion. Someone else had ransacked the house. Bandits. Ru Meng drew the skinning knife once more and hastily whispered the Spell of Sharpening. He could feel his fingers tremble slightly and he forced himself to calm down and think.
Ru Meng took a deep breath. What was the most important thing he needed to figure out right now? Whether the bandits were gone, or if they were still around. If they had taken everything from the locked cabinet, where all of his father’s traps and weapons were stored, they would have taken everything of value. They would have no reason to stay. The rest of the things left behind in the room seemed to support this conclusion: they were simply not interested in the less valuable possessions. But that didn’t make sense either— a spell-book was worth something, if only for the value of the paper; and wood was always useful one way or another. Why would they not take those objects along with them when they had the capacity to carry heavy weapons and traps? Why did they leave all these things behind, in their usual places?
In their usual places. The final puzzle piece fell into place. The things had been left in their usual places to make it seem like no one had touched them. Which meant that whoever ransacked the house was trying to hide the fact that they had been here, and the only reason they would have to do that was to trick the owner of the house into staying. They intended to rob whoever came back! Since they hadn’t put that much effort into concealing their tracks, it meant that they were not planning on stalling the owner for too long. Which meant that it was very likely that they were extremely close by. In fact, they had probably already converged on him. If there was anyone waiting in ambush, the light orb Ru Meng used earlier had most definitely tipped them off.
All of a sudden, Ru Meng became acutely aware of the numerous footsteps closing in on the house. They weren’t even trying to hide anymore. Cold sweat condensed on Ru Meng’s eyebrows. He had to move now. He snatched the floating light orb out of the air and deactivated the light talisman immediately. As darkness shrouded the room, Ru Meng noticed several pairs of glinting red eyes staring at him. The rats! They weren’t just wild animals; somebody was controlling them. He couldn’t even hide in the darkness now. Ru Meng felt the walls closing in on him, like a prey caught in a trap.
He could imagine what would happen if those bandits caught him. They would sell him to those child slavers and he would slowly starve to death. Or perhaps they would just kill him, stick a dagger in between his ribs and make the light go out of his eyes. Ru Meng could hardly breathe. It was happening again. He was being pushed into a corner again. What did he do wrong this time? Why do all these bad things keep happening? What was it? It was his fault. He wasn’t careful enough. He didn’t prepare for this possibility. He was going to die and this time, like all the other times, he deserved it. Ru Meng felt his mind spiraling into despair.
He clenched his left hand tightly into a fist. The cooling sensation of pain shot through his nerves and assaulted his mind like an ice-cold river. Now was not the time for weakness. Ru Meng stared at the creaking door as he assessed his options. One door, one exit. At least three enemies. Adults, armed and likely capable of magic. Light started spilling into the room as the door slowly swung open. Of course they brought their own lights as well. The things at his disposal— two knives, a pouch of iron marbles, two light talismans, everything else in this room and information. The bandits knew as little about him as he knew about them. Hopefully, they didn’t know that he knew magic yet. They didn’t know he was alone; or at least, they couldn’t be sure of it. They didn’t know he was expecting them. That was enough. Enough for a shot in the dark.
“Where’s the little rat?” A sing-song voice said as a man stepped into the room, just as Ru Meng finished whispering to himself in the shadows.
The bandit was about his father’s height, his long facial features accentuated by the deep shadows cast by the light talisman he held in his hand. Ru Meng turned around like he had been startled and screamed when he saw the bandit.
“Shush,” the bandit said, stepping forward as he brandished his weapon. He held a finger up to his own mouth as he slowly walked up to Ru Meng, who was sitting on the ground. He squatted down and caressed Ru Meng’s cheek with the cool steel of the dagger.
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“Don’t be scared. Uncle just wants to ask a few questions. Ok?” Ru Meng could see the pockmarks on the man’s face and smell his unpleasant breath as he leaned close and talked.
Ru Meng leaned away from the dagger and nodded eagerly. The man smiled. The rats from earlier clambered up the man’s arm and sat perched along his shoulder. The man stroked one of the rats and turned his attention back to Ru Meng.
“Good boy. Now, tell uncle, are you alone? And remember, don’t lie.”
Ru Meng shook his head. The bandit was still smiling as he continued, “Are you here with your father?”
Ru Meng nodded.
“Good. And where is your father?”
Ru Meng gingerly turned his head in the direction he came from. The bandit patted him on the head and turned to look at his companion, who was standing by the door. He tilted his head in the direction Ru Meng had indicated and the man nodded back.
Ru Meng heard two pairs of footsteps running towards where he had come from.
“So, my little friend, what’s your name?” the bandit asked calmly while he waited for his companions to return.
“R-Ru Meng,” Ru Meng replied as he counted the seconds in the back of his head.
Eight. Nine. Ten.
The fingers on his good right hand dug into the dirt.
“Well, Ru Meng, could you do this kind uncle a favor and turn around? And keep your hands behind your back, ok?” the bandit said as he placed the light talisman in his left hand on the ground and pulled out some rope from the pouch on his waist.
Sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen. He needed more time.
Ru Meng shuffled back slightly, putting on a nervous expression on his face.
“Come on, kid, you don’t want me to use this, do you?” said the man as he waved his dagger about.
Ru Meng shook his head. Twenty-three. Twenty-four. Twenty-five.
“What are you going to do to me?”
“Well, we can figure that out later, can’t we?”
The bandit leaned forward and grasped Ru Meng on the shoulder so tightly that tears came out of his eyes.
“Turn around,” demanded the bandit, any veneer of joy or playfulness instantly fading from his voice. Ru Meng couldn’t stall for much longer.
Thirty-two. Thirty-three. Thirty-four.
Ru Meng reluctantly turned around. Suddenly, he stopped and turned back, throwing a fistful of sand into the bandit’s eyes. The bandit cursed and howled in pain as he instinctively swung his dagger. Ru Meng rolled aside, dodging the expected attack with ease. A skinning knife slipped out of the shadows, slicing the light talisman on the ground in half and plunging the space into darkness. Meanwhile, a carving knife silently cut through the air, striking at the bandit’s jugular. Several rats leapt off the bandit’s shoulder and launched themselves at the carving knife, deflecting it off target. The knife was still on course to carve into the bandit’s shoulder, but with the sickening crunch of bone and flesh accompanied by the pained screech of a rat, it was evident that the ambush had failed.
Never mind; Ru Meng wasn’t trying to kill the bandit anyway. He relied on his familiarity with his house to navigate his way outside as quickly as he could. The rest of the rats chittered loudly and swarmed around Ru Meng’s feet, clambering up his feet and nipping at his ankles, tearing up small pieces of flesh with every bite. Ru Meng suppressed his cries of pain and batted the damned critters off his feet as he continued running for the door.
“Boy, you’re dead meat! Chen Lin! Ah Gou! Get back here!” the bandit shouted loudly. Ru Meng started counting down.
Forty-four. Forty-three. Forty-two.
Ru Meng was overjoyed to feel the contour of the wooden door against his palm. He burst out of the house, spilling half of the iron marbles onto the ground as he sprinted left, in the opposite direction that the bandits had gone searching. He then took out an individual marble, wrapped a light talisman around it and cast the Spell of Metalworking on it. He sent that iron marble flying in the other direction, hoping it would distract the bandit that would be chasing after him. It was unlikely to be effective, but Ru Meng was desperate. Hopefully, the iron marbles would trip him up and the light orb would confuse him for a while.
Thirty-one. Thirty. Twenty-nine.
Ru Meng could hear extra footsteps coming from the tunnels in the other direction already. He forgot to account for them running back instead of walking! He didn’t have much time left. Two or three rats were still stubbornly trailing on his heels. He could tell somehow, from the subtle sounds their paws made as they scampered across the earth, maybe; and they could track him as well, with their sense of smell and hearing.
Twenty-two. Twenty-one. Twenty.
No, he had less time than that. They were running at a faster pace than when they walked away earlier. Maybe ten seconds left until they returned to the house and another twenty seconds until they caught up with him. Ru Meng thought for a moment and pulled out his last light talisman. Darkness was not his ally here, not when the rats could track him. He closed his eyes and chanted the activation phrase. He could see the rats clearly now. He waved his hand and the floating knives made short work of the critters while they were blinded by the sudden flash. He kept the light on as he hurried down the passageway. He had to find some way to escape his enemies’ pursuit, but how? They were adults; they would catch up to him eventually. His only hope was to throw them off his scent. To do that, he had to reach a branch in the tunnels.
Ru Meng sprinted with all his strength, counting the seconds and praying that the arrow-straight tunnel he was running down would come to a branch soon. He needed to stay ahead of the bandits. He couldn’t let them get close enough to him that they could see him. He would never be able to shake them off then. Fortunately for Ru Meng, his luck hadn’t run dry yet. After a few seconds, he came across a small fork in the path.
Ru Meng didn’t recognize these caves at all, but he had to make a quick decision. One tunnel was wider and seemed to lead to more passageways, while the other was smaller, with odd terrain and places that required crawling to get through. Ru Meng considered his options for a split second and immediately decided to go down the larger tunnel. He didn’t know these tunnels; running into a dead end would spell certain doom.
Ru Meng played the last trick he had up his sleeve. He pressed his foot firmly into the ground as he sprinted towards the small passageway, leaving clear footprints along the way. He scattered the rest of his iron marbles all over the ground as he did so. Then, as fast as he could, he retraced his steps back and ran down the larger tunnel. Footsteps echoed down the pitch-black tunnels.
They were coming.