The next day, Chang-li slipped into the gathering throng as they prepared to leave for the expedition camp. There were eight young nobles, five women, three men, all of high rank. One was draped in deep purple garments. Chang-li knew his courtly etiquette. The Violet royals never left the imperial grounds, so this shade of purple must be Indigo. The girl was being helped into a palanquin. Heavy poles ran the length of the gilt box. As soon as the girl entered and seated herself, her black-clad attendants pulled the curtains closed, shutting her off from sight.

Eight slaves waited beside the poles, looking tired and sullen. One of them was Joshi, the Darwur slave who had saved his life. Joshi stood near the front of the palanquin, sullen face straight ahead, as the guard approached the slaves. He had a key in his hand, and he unlocked the heavy iron collars around each slave's neck, carefully collecting them and taking them back to a porter for carrying.

The collars were made of thick iron, two inches tall and an inch or more thick. They had no padding, and they had cut the necks of their victims cruelly. Chang-li winced at the sight of the sores around the slaves' necks.

Chang-li's family had never owned slaves, being of too poor and humble a stock to afford such a luxury, and his father and brother had spoken dismissively of how slaves would take jobs away from honest working men. He had never realized the petty cruelty involved. What reason was there to force them to wear such heavy iron collars, and why were they being removed now?

He got the answer soon enough. As the expedition started forward, the slaves lifted the palanquin to their shoulders, resting the heavy carry bars against their necks. The collars would have got in the way.

Chang-li melted into the throng, staying near the back where the attendants walked. They passed through the gates of the city and onto the road, passing the first li marker, a three-foot-tall stone pillar carved with symbols indicating the camp lay eight li ahead.

A contingent of soldiers marched quickly past, heading up the road. Though they'd brought down a full three squads, only one was accompanying them back. The other two were being rotated out of this province. Still, twelve soldiers seemed like enough. Six went ahead to scout, the other six remaining close by the palanquin-bearing slaves.

Chang-li had his pack slung over his shoulders. He wore the warm cloak Min had given him. His pack was heavy. He wasn't looking forward to keeping up with the expedition today. But every bit of the weight meant just that much longer he might survive inside the tower.

As they started up the road, he began to grow nervous. He'd been so busy planning this expedition, he hadn't had time to think about all of the dangers that awaited him inside the tower. He was about to set foot inside a floor that no one had entered for years. The creatures inside would be fearsome opponents.

He leaned heavily on the thick staff the night before, five feet tall and as wide around as his hand. It made a good walking stick, and he'd be able to use it in a pinch. But he wasn't trained in the art of staffs. He wasn't trained in any kind of martial arts.

He took a deep breath. One step at a time. He had to find the entrance and see what the tower was like. If it was too dangerous, he would retreat, return to the encampment, and make more plans. As soon as he knew where the entrance lay, other opportunities would open up to him. He might make a bargain to reveal its location in exchange for being allowed to progress through to the Peak of Bodily Refinement. Or perhaps he could get hold of a weapon he could use. One step at a time.

The expedition halted for the midday meal just after they had crossed the first of the bridges. Chang-li ate as he watched the rest of the expedition spread out and relax. He planned to slip away from the expedition as they set off again, acting as though he were stepping off the trail to relieve himself and then melting away. He didn't think anyone would notice. But he would not make his move until the expedition was ready to go again.

The slaves had set down the palanquin and stood a little ways away, eating their own meager rations. The palanquin's curtains fluttered open, and the indigo princess stepped out. Immediately, her two black-clad attendants fluttered to her side. Chang-li could hear their scolding from here. The girl was shaking her head, making insistent motions. At last, the attendants gave up and trailed her into the forest.

Chang-li was just finishing his food when he heard the scream and the roar. The scream sounded like a dying man. The roar was that of a monster.

All conversation stopped. Everyone leapt to their feet. Chang-li jumped up, hiking his bag back onto his back and grabbing his staff. The roar sounded as though it had come from farther up the mountain.

A moment later, a man came stumbling down the road toward him, one of the soldier scouts, his helmet missing, blood streaming down his face. One of his arms hung limply at his side.

"Run!" he shouted. "It's..."

And then a monstrous beast leapt out of nowhere, landing on him, driving him to the dirt. The beast was a jet-black lion, twice as big as the lion sculptures in front of the governor's palace back home. It had three sets of legs. It brought its front left paw down onto the soldier's neck with a swipe and cut his head clean from his body.

Women were screaming in panic. People were running back down the road. The soldiers were trying to get together, pulling out their weapons and shouting. Chang-li's blood froze. He stood rooted in place, staring.

Another pair of black lion monsters appeared with the first. They were clearly lux-touched beasts. They must have escaped from the tower. This was exactly the sort of creature that a cull was meant to clear out. Where had they come from? If they had escaped from the third floor, the camp above should have seen and stopped them.

Could they have come from the first floor? If so, he had no chance at all. But no, surely not. Beasts this large and fierce couldn't be first floor monsters. They were more terrifying than the jade wolves he had run from before.

The single cultivator on the expedition, a junior member of the Soaring Heavens sect, leapt forward. He held a black staff similar to Chang-li's. He twirled it in his right hand, channeling orange lux to form a spearhead at one end and an axe head at the other. Chang-li could feel the power coming off him. He raced forward toward the first of the beasts, showing no fear as the soldiers backed him up.

The cultivator tossed out a technique, blasting a wave of lux forward at the beasts. It crashed into them, bowling one over. The other two growled and began pawing at the dirt. The cultivator moved in. He swung his staff and cut into the first of the beasts with the orange lux axe head. It severed one whole limb.

Chang-li felt his heart racing and blood rushing back into his head. This was it. This was his chance. He could stay here and risk being eaten, or he could flee.

Chang-li ran for the edge of the forest. He dimly noted that two of the slaves were gone, the others cowering together in fear. More than half of the expedition had fled back down the mountain. Chang-li plunged deeper into the woods until the shouts and screams and clash of battle were lost behind him.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Then he slowed. He leaned against the trunk of a spreading beech tree and waited as his heart rate began to pound down. Just as he was about to press on, he heard voices from nearby, women's voices.

"Daughter of Heaven, we must go back."

"You saw those monsters," came a younger woman's voice. "It's not safe. But you go back if you like, Fan."

Chang-li peered around the tree. The indigo princess stood not twenty feet away. One of her black-robed maidservants was kneeling at her feet, tugging at the hem of her robes, clearly pleading. The girl didn't look at all afraid. More amused and delighted.

"Go," the princess ordered.

"I cannot leave you, my lady."

"Then go tell them I need help. I won't tell."

The black-robed woman hesitated. After a moment, she climbed to her feet, glanced at the princess, and then ran off through the woods, back more or less in the direction of the road.

The indigo princess threw out her arms and spun on the spot, her face filled with delight. She bent and plucked a wildflower from where it grew beside a tree, sniffing it. She let out a deep sigh of contentedness.

Chang-li watched her in bemusement. She approached a bush laden with ripe red berries and picked one. As she raised it to her mouth, Chang-li realized what it was. He stepped out from behind the tree.

"Don't!"

She turned, her face filled with horror. As her mouth dropped open, her hands fell to her side. She blinked, and suddenly her face was an impassive mask. "Ah, pardon me, gentle scribe." her eyes running across Chang-li. "I merely was waiting for my servant to return with help. Is the crisis over?"

"I don't know.” Chang-li took a step forward. He shouldn't have revealed himself. She knew that he was a scribe, and if he was missing at the end of this, she might report on him. He felt awkward. "Ah, it's just, that berry is poisonous."

She held a hand to her mouth as she gasped. "Poisonous?"

He nodded. “Yes, highness.”

The girl looked away. "I should have known," she mumbled to herself.

"Well, how could you? You're not used to this." He caught himself speaking to her as if she was almost an equal and reminded himself not to address her.

She shook her head. "In the Imperial Gardens, every fruit is safe to eat, every flower safe to smell, and yet there's none of this," she gestured around her. "This wildness, this deepness." She caught herself. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be speaking.” She sighed. "I should be getting back to the expedition, I suppose."

There was a roar from a lot closer than the road. They both froze. Then, racing through the bush, burst the bald-headed slave, Joshi.

"Run, you fools!" he snapped, not even pausing as he raced past them.

Chang-li glanced where he'd been as the crashing and crashing sounds came closer.

Another roar.

"Run!" he told the princess, and staggered after Joshi. The princess shrieked and followed them.

Chang-li pounded through the woods, hearing the roar of the monster behind as it chased them. The indigo princess's panting was loud in his ears. She was right on his tail, keeping up remarkably well, considering that she wasn't dressed for this and presumably had no experience in running for her life through a forest. Not that he did, either. Joshi was out of sight in front of him.

Chang-li kept his head down and followed the trail of broken branches. The only part of him that could think coherently insisted it must be safer to stay together than to separate.

There was another roar. It sounded like it might be a little farther back.

And then, Chang-li made a fatal mistake. He looked back over his shoulder to make sure the princess was there and the monster wasn't, and his feet slid out from under him. He slipped down a slope, tumbling head over heels. His staff flew from his hand. He heard a shriek as the princess shouted at him, and then he tumbled hard against rocks.

Water soaked his robes. He blinked. He was on his hands and knees in a mountain stream. Chang-li struggled to his feet. His clothes were soaked and weighed him down. The banks of the river were steep. He set a foot on one and slid back down again.

A moment later, there was another scream. The princess came tumbling down right after him. He tried to catch her, only for them both to land in the water, sprawled in a mass of tangled limbs.

Someone laughed. Chang-li looked up. Joshi was standing on a boulder ten feet away, hands on his hips.

"You're both a sight.”

Chang-li felt himself annoyed. "Are you going to help us or what?"

"Why should I?" The slave cocked his head to one side. "I was rather hoping that you'd slow down the monster for me." He looked up the river. “No sign of it now.”

The girl untangled herself from Chang-li and stood up. She put her hands firmly on her hips. "You, there, you will help me return to our expedition at once," she said imperiously.

Chang-li clamored to his feet. He felt his heart drop. His plan was ruined. He'd have to go back. He didn't have any excuse not to.

Joshi shook his head. "Look, your highness, I'm trying to decide right now whether to knock you both over the head and leave you for that monster to eat. It'll save me a lot of trouble in the end."

The girl gasped. "How dare you?"

"It's because he's an escaped slave," Chang-li said wearily. “Now we've seen him and we know."

The princess's eyes went wide. "You — you would dare lay a hand on me? My father will visit more pain on you than can be believed."

"I don't think there's anything any man can do to me that's worse than what I've been living with," Joshi considered them and shook his head. "But no, I was taught to respect the value of human life. If you are not attacking me, I will not seek to harm you. Just go your own way."

Chang-li started to speak. There was a growl. He looked up the slope. One of the black lion monsters was there, staring down at them.

"Run!" he yelled and splashed upstream.

Joshi was already several boulders ahead, leaping from one to the next. The princess screamed and splashed. “Help!”

Joshi stopped like he'd been struck. He turned and swore, raced back to the princess. Her robes were sodden. They must weigh ten pounds now with all the water in them.

The slave reached out and grabbed the princess's belt knife. She shrank away. He pulled her to him, one hand on her shoulder, before slashing her belt with the knife. It fell open. He ripped the indigo robe from her, leaving her standing in pure white silk underclothes that clung damply to her body.

"Now run!" he said and pushed at her.

The princess sobbed and stumbled upriver. Chang-li followed. There was a splash as the lion monster entered the water behind them. It roared again.

Chang-li ran. They raced along the ravine, tripping over boulders and leaping over logs. Every time Chang-li looked, the lion was just a little closer. It was toying with them, he realized, like an enormous cat playing with a mouse it had caught. The creature could have been on them already, but it knew they were trapped and it was having some fun.

They rounded a curve and found themselves facing a wall of stone. The stream ran down it, spreading in a white veil across the face of the cliff, staining the whole rock face with water. The sides of the ravine were far too steep. Chang-li didn't think he could have climbed out even if there wasn't a monster waiting.

Joshi turned and roared defiance back at the monster. He had the princess's belt knife in one hand. He shouted something in a language Chang-li didn't know.

The princess kept stumbling forward, sobbing. She staggered all the way to the waterfall before she tripped, falling forward and vanishing into the water.

Chang-li stared. She was just gone. Joshi was looking the wrong way. He hadn't noticed.

Chang-li was certain what he'd seen, the princess stumbling forward one moment and gone the next. There wasn't enough room behind the fall of water for her to be hiding, was there? It seemed as though he could see through it to the rock beneath.

Chang-li approached the curtain of water. He reached through. He couldn't feel the surface of the rock face. He pushed his face through the pounding veil of water, forcing his eyes open. A great black nothingness gaped in front of him, and he knew he had found the entrance to the tower.

He turned back. Joshi was tossing the knife from one hand to the next. "Come and take me monster, you cowardly son of an ally cat."

Chang-li was torn. He didn't want to reveal the secret to anyone else. The more people knew about it, the less valuable it would be. They would find some way to take it away from him, to keep him from cultivating. And yet, Joshi had already saved his life more than once. He couldn't just stand there and do nothing.

"Joshi," he called. "Here. There's a way. Come."

Joshi glanced at him, eyes wide. He started forward just as the lion pounced. It must have disliked the water, because it landed on a boulder at the edge of the pool and lashed out with its front paw, knocking Joshi off his feet. Chang-li darted forward without thinking. He grabbed Joshi's arm and pulled him back toward the waterfall.

Joshi regained his feet but stumbled. He fell against Chang-li and they both tumbled forward into darkness. Behind them the lion shrieked in fury.