A priceless ancient vase hurtled to the floor. The hundreds of rubies that studded its sides exploded in a shower of red, skidding across the throne room and coming to stop at the Emperor's feet.

‘Do you hate me?’

The Emperor’s mouth remained firm, ‘Jade, we need him.’

Another priceless vase shattered on the ground, ‘Do we? I have mustered the forces of the Swan Academy. We have hundreds of cultivators by our side. Plus thousands of extra reservists training in the eastern hills. What good is one more slimy, coward going to do us?’

Sparrow glanced at the Emperor, ‘I told you this was a bad idea.’

‘Need I remind the both of you, that I am still the Emperor of this realm. My word is the law. Sparrow will stay as a member of my guard.’

Seeing that the words wouldn't work, angry pillars of red blossomed on Princess Jade’s cheeks, ‘You know what he did to me. The years of hurt and anger I have endured since.’

The Emperor coughed into a white silk handkerchief, ‘and I hope you know that if there was any other way. I would take it, but in the same way that people pledge allegiance to me, I pledged my allegiance to my people. The horde will destroy us. We've seen what Sparrow can do, the lengths he's willing to go. I don't know how, but I've convinced him to help us in our cause.’

‘And I have convinced the academy. Your time and energy has been wasted papa. Make sure he stays out of my way.’

The Princess walked from her father's throne room and the Emperor seemed to shrink back into his throne. He gave a few more deep coughs into his handkerchief and then held it up for Sparrow to see. Splotches of red coated the fine-woven silk.

‘You see this?’ the Emperor said, ‘This is my ultimate weapon. Death brings about a perspective that life never could. I am focus on the priorities; what matters most and for me, my daughter and my people – that is why what you have done in the past no longer bothers me. I know you want to leave and I thank you for staying. There aren’t many cultivators who have experienced half the things you had seen and done, Sparrow. It is all well and good to go to the finest Academy in the land. But to really experience life... that is worth beyond all the gold and academy scrolls that this world holds.’

Sparrow shook his head ‘I will watch the battle and when the Academy wins, I will leave.’

‘That is all I ask.’

****

The battle was lost before it had even begun.

Drip. Drip. Drip. The blood ran down Sparrow’s nose and left a little indent on the floor of the cave he was cowering in.

Drip. Drip. Drip. It was like a drumbeat, no – a hoofbeat. The horse-lion hybrids had beaten it into his mind as the horde poured through the rocky gates, with cultivators hanging from their spears. Master Lee’s eyeballs being slurped from his head like oysters. Piss soaking through soldier’s armour as they tried to run.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

‘I think I need you to burn me,’ the Emperor murmured, ‘the scab is bleeding again.’ Sparrow’s eyes fluttered open and a weak beam of flame rose from his hand and scorched the stump that was left of the Emperor’s leg. Burnt hair and sizzled skin hit Sparrow’s nostril. His brain told him to throw up. His stomach told him there was nothing left to throw up. Hoofbeats sounded on the rocky wall behind him. And Sparrow hung his head. He was done. They were done. Only these hoofbeats sounded more of rock than screams. And they were less regular, more probing. More like a snake than a stallion.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

‘Damint, damnit, damnit!’

An iron key crashed against Sparrow’s skin. The cultivator twisted and spotted a small section of rocks slipping away from the end of the cave above him. The Emperor – or at least what was left of him – was still balanced on Sparrow’s shoulders and he grabbed the unconscious Princess Jade’s right hand and dragged her towards the space where a small tunnel had started to open up. The mound of rock skidded away as Sparrow tried to climb it. He dug his feet deeper and pushed hard from his core. Princess Jade’s face bumped against the rock and dust wove through her hair. At the top a large, chubby face grinned at Sparrow.

‘Boy, do I have a deal for you.’ the face said in a voice of squeaky grease, ‘we’ve just secured three hundred crates of rice from the northern empire, not easy in a time of war so it’ll be expensive, damn expensive, I’ve been dodging the emperor’s taxmen left, right and center to get it here but...’

The squeak man with three rings on each finger, two double chains of pure gold and a piece of tomato between his teeth squeezed his lips together, ‘Oh god, that’s the emperor on your shoulders, isn’t it.’

‘Yes.’

‘Why do his legs look like chicken drumsticks that a dog threw up?’

‘They got eaten. Twice.’

‘And his eyes?’

‘Pulled out and swallowed like oysters.’

The round man squeezed the sides of his head, ‘So you lost the war? That’s not good for business.’ He pulled a case from his pocket and carefully took out a mutton chop, dripping in runny fat that he chomped between his teeth, ‘Tell ya what... I’ll give you the rice half price Emperor.’

The Emperor gave a grunting sound, ‘Piggy, I’ll take all the rice you have if you can get us the hell out of here.’

Drip. Drip Drip.

The man wiped a greasy hand on his shirt, then took the shirt off revealing a round, smiling stomach. He wrapped the shirt around the Emperor’s stump leg tying the linen in a careful knot so it wouldn’t hurt the Emperor.

‘Emperor - you just made yourself a very well-fed man. Come on, this way.’

With a flick of Piggy’s wrist a large ball of flame grew in front of them, lighting their path as Sparrow carried the Emperor and Princess Jade down a tunnel carved into the side of the mountain.

‘I didn’t know such a tunnel existed,’ the Emperor mumbled, ‘but trust a merchant to find it.’

Piggy shrugged, ‘Listen, Emperor, all that stuff I said about evading taxmen and whatnot... that was just banter between friends.’

‘Friends? You’ve never even met this man Piggy.’

Piggy shook his head. The tunnel was starting to flatten out and the aching in the back of Sparrow’s legs died away. They reached a door.

‘Emperor, when you have a hundred thousand grains of rice and someone offers you another, do you treasure it?’

‘N-not really,’ the Emperor said.

‘And if you have never had rice, but have hungered for it your whole life, and then one day a little boy the same age as you is washing in a stream beside an academy and he offers you a single grain of rice do you treasure that?’

The Emperor nodded, ‘You run hundreds of businesses Piggy, have almost as much gold as me. I forget that you were academy trained.’

‘Sparrow was my first friend Emperor. You don’t forget eyes like Sparrow’s.’ Piggy gave Sparrow a smile, ‘even after such a long time.’

They reached the end of the tunnel. Piggy pulled a key from the chain that hung on his now bare chest and unlocked the door. On the river that lay beyond the door a large barge with crates of rice stacked in its center lay waiting.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

Three sets of oars dipped into the water, a sail was flying and Sparrow, Piggy, the Emperor and Princess Jade were hauled aboard by burly men with swords at their side while crossbow-wielding warriors covered the bank from a mini-fortress built into the middle of Piggy’s boat.

‘Where to Master?’ a bald man with eagle talons tattooed onto the sides of his head asked Piggy.

‘To Stormwater.’ The Emperor spluttered, ‘get us there Piggy and you shall have all your heart desires.’

Piggy smiled, ‘Emperor, I have riches beyond measure, I tell a man to do something and he does it based solely on my name. Today you have brought my first friend back to me.’ Piggy clapped an arm on Sparrow’s blood-soaked shoulder, ‘There is nothing more my heart desires.’