Chapter 9 - Spirits in Disguise

“Oh yes, everything is fine,” Lu Na said. “I think I got something in my eye, that’s all.” Lu Na rubbed her eyes with her free hand, hoping that what she saw wasn’t real. Except the more that Magistrate Hu ate, the more his chopsticks glowed green.

“Magistrate Hu, thank you for taking us in,” Sun Ren said. “I’m sure that my father will greatly appreciate the gesture when he comes back as will my entire Sun family.”

“Of course. It is my duty.” Magistrate Hu picked up his cup of tea and that started glowing green.

How did a spirit become a magistrate? Wait, how did a spirit have kids? Lu Na stared at the two kids. They showed nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe it had something to do with their mother? But Mrs. Hu looked ordinary, too. This was an interested discovery. All the possibilities in Lu Na’s head were swirling around. What could she do with a spirit that looked and acted like a human?

“You’re staring. It’s not polite,” her spirit said.

“Magistrate Hu, how long have you been working here?” Lu Na asked.

“It’s been four years since I’ve been assigned to this post.”

That sounded right to Lu Na. That means he probably didn’t get replaced by a spirit. But that’s all she knew about the man.

Magistrate Hu picked up a long piece of meat and ate it. The meat didn’t glow green like the chopsticks. Maybe he can only affect non-living things.

“It’s a shame about all those girls being kidnapped,” Sun Ren said.

“That’s why I can’t allow my children to watch the lanterns,” Mrs. Hu said. She started eating alongside everyone. She didn’t glow at all.

“It has been a bane to my yamen that these people can kidnap maidens in broad daylight,” Magistrate Hu said. “I’ve requested additional aid from the governor, but I fear it will be too little too late. By the time he can send any aid, the fate of those maidens will be in severe danger. It would have been better if your father lent some of his men to help with this.”

“My father is under orders from the Emperor himself to quell the rebellions,” Sun Ren said.

“While that is important, but even a small contingent could be helpful.” Magistrate Hu reached in to a dish of lotus roots and pork with his chopsticks. The moment he touched it, the dish started glowing green as well.

So Lu Na was wrong. Magistrate Hu can affect living things. What would happen if she ate it? What would happen if Sun Ren ate it?

“Are you okay? You’ve stopped eating.” Mrs. Hu reached into the same dish as her husband to pick up a glowing piece of lotus root. She took a small bite of it and the glowing green lotus root made her mouth glow.

“What’s going on?” Lu Na whispered.

“Hmm?” Mrs. Hu said.

“I don’t know, but I would not suggest eating whatever is in there.”

“Nothing, sorry. I was just surprised at how delicious the food is,” Lu Na said. As far as she could tell, Mrs. Hu looked fine. Lu Na picked food that Magistrate Hu had not touched to pretend everything was normal.

“Do you ignore Imperial Decrees, Magistrate Hu?” Sun Ren asked.

“Of course not. But the small contingent your father left under your brother’s command has done nothing but spend time in that brothel. They have done nothing to help the people of Jianye.”

Magistrate Hu had touched at least all the dishes, making them all glow green. As far as Lu Na could tell, there were no ill effects. The only weird thing was that their mouths were glowing green.

“I’m sure my brother has his reasons,” Sun Ren said.

“I guess being a young master from a rich family is reason enough. The protection of the people is not enough to motivate him while people like me are working day and night to return these girls back to their families. I’ve lost my appetite.” Magistrate Hu got up from the table and left the room.

“I hope he doesn’t think it’s my fault that my brother is doing what he’s doing,” Sun Ren said. She reached over and picked up a lotus root.

“Wait, don’t eat that!” Lu Na said. She was too late.

Sun Ren had put it in her mouth already, making her mouth glow green like Mrs. Hu and her children. She spat it onto the table.

“Why? What’s going on?”

“You don’t see it glowing green?” Lu Na asked.

Sun Ren pushed the piece of lotus root with her chopstick and examined it carefully.

“There’s nothing there.”

“It’s glowing green.”

At the mention of that, Mrs. Hu looked from Sun Ren’s mouth to the lotus root. Then she looked at her children’s mouths.

“That idiot.” Mrs. Hu got up from the table.

Sun Ren coughed really hard. She held her chest.

“That’s not good. Look at the spirit energy that’s still there,” Lu Na’s spirit said.

The green spirit energy from Sun Ren’s mouth mixed with the red spirit energy in her chest from the earlier attack. It pulsed brighter. The ward that Lu Na used earlier had stopped working and no longer converted the remaining spirit energy into water vapor.

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Sun Ren coughed harder. She was slumped over the table, clutching her chest.

“Are you okay big sister?” the girl asked.

“Maybe she needs some honey for her throat,” the boy suggested.

“I’m sorry about this. Maybe there’s something in the food. I’ll get you some water.” Mrs. Hu left the room.

Lu Na wasn’t sure what to do. But maybe putting on another ward might help Sun Ren. It can’t get any worse, could it?

Lu Na pulled Sun Ren up and placed another ward around her neck so it hung right over her chest. She twisted the corner of it and activated the ward. It started converting the spirit energy again. Just in case, she put two more.

“What are those?” Sun Ren asked.

“It’s something I made to help with the foreign spirit energy in your chest,” Lu Na said. “It absorbs it and turns it into water vapor. But if you ever feel like it’s harming you or your spirit, take it off immediately. I didn’t have time to test it.”

“It feels better.”

Lu Na looked and indeed, much of the spirit energy had settled down back to its original soft red glow. With three of the wards working it looked dimmer than before.

Magistrate Hu rushed into the room, his robes disheveled.

“What’s wrong father?” the boy asked.

“The Wintersweet Sect are here. There are too many of them,” Magistrate Hu said. “They want you two.”

“How many of them are out there?” Sun Ren asked.

“Too many for my yamen runners or constables to fend off,” Magistrate Hu said.

“How did they find us?” Lu Na asked.

“I don’t know, but I think you two should surrender or else there will be a lot of bloodshed.” Magistrate Hu turned to look out into the hall, as if afraid the fighting had already started.

Sun Ren glared at Magistrate Hu.

“You told them we were here. You were planning on giving us up all along.”

Magistrate Hu stayed silent.

“Was it for the reward?” Sun Ren asked.

“No. I just wanted peace again. They only demanded a few girls and young women. They promised to stop.”

“And you let the Wintersweet Sect have them? My father, the Marquis, expects you to protect this city and its citizens in his absence. How can you let some summoner sect dictate the law here? Where is the imperial might?”

Magistrate Hu glared at Sun Ren. He stood up straight and fixed his robes.

“You’re right. I am here to protect its citizens. And I would have continued to do so if your father was here. He took most of his army with him, leaving only a small contingent under your brother’s control. I have no way of contacting him. Most of my yamen runners and constables are here to keep the peace, not fight an army. So it is in the interest of not only my people, but the citizens that I hand you over to them.”

Lu Na didn’t like where this was going. She was having flashbacks to when her father and mother argued back before she left. Arguing with men that had other people’s interests at heart and not your own is an impossible task. Yet, Magistrate Hu was different here.

Lu Na looked over at the boy and girl who were as quiet as she was whenever she heard her parents argue. Magistrate Hu was trying to protect them. They weren’t even old enough to bond with a spirit yet. They had so much more to live for. Was it fair for her to risk their lives for her own?

“Come here to big sister.” Lu Na opened her arms up toward the two. They came willingly.

“Why are they yelling?” the girl asked.

“I think it’s because big sister Sun Ren is scared that your father can’t help her. I’m scared too.”

“Don’t worry, my father will help you. He helps everyone,” the boy said.

“Sun Ren, maybe we should just go. Leave the magistrate alone,” Lu Na said.

Sun Ren looked at Lu Na, her eyes hardened with anger. But it went away quickly.

“I don’t think we could get far, not with my limp. They’ve probably already surrounded the magistrate’s yamen. At this rate, we might as well tell them to kill us where we stand.”

“What can we do?” Lu Na asked.

Magistrate Hu looked at the two ladies and his children wrapped in a hug with Lu Na.

“Just surrender. I’ll guarantee your safety with them. I know their sect leader. They wouldn’t harm anyone in the city.”

Sun Ren yanked the boy from Lu Na’s arm and wrapped her arm around his neck. With her free hand, she took out a small knife.

“What are you doing?” Lu Na asked.

“Whatever I need to survive,” Sun Ren said. “Look Magistrate Hu, I don’t enjoy doing this, but I need you to find a way for the both of us to get out of here alive. I don’t intend to die here today and if I do, I’ll make sure that your boy dies with me.”

A porcelain cup shattered on the ground. The water spreading over the floor. Everyone turned to see Mrs. Hu.

“No, please, let him go.”

“Tell your husband to help us get out of here.”

Mrs. Hu turned to Magistrate Hu and slapped his arm.

“You idiot. You should be helping these two poor girls, not giving them up to that evil sect. Get my boy back or I swear, I will end you.”

This was turning into a nightmare. A loud thumping came from outside. The Wintersweet Sect were getting impatient.

“Fine, fine. I’ll show you two the secret escape route built into the magistrate’s office,” Magistrate Hu said. He walked to one wall off to the side. There was a large painting of Confucius conducting class with a hundred students in the shadow of a mountain. He moved it aside and revealed the wall beneath. Slowly, he felt around the top part of the wall until something clicked and a hidden door slid open.

“Go through here and you will arrive outside of the city walls. Now give me my son.”

“I don’t think so. He’s coming with us,” Sun Ren said. She pulled the boy along with her.

“Please, he’s of no use to you,” Magistrate Hu said.

“I’ll release him the moment we are free.”

Lu Na saw Mrs. Hu tense up. It would devastate her if anything were to happen to her boy. In a way, she understood, as she felt the same toward her younger brothers. They were annoying, but they were her family.

“No, we should leave him here. He will only slow us down.”

“And if Magistrate Hu chases us down for the Wintersweet Sect? We will have no leverage,” Sun Ren said.

Lu Na couldn’t have the boy face the same dangers she and Sun Ren have already faced running away from the Wintersweet Sect. It wouldn’t be fair to him and his mother who treated them with kindness. They didn’t hurt them. It was Magistrate Hu.

No child should ever suffer for their father’s deeds.

“Let’s go before the Wintersweet Sect comes. We don’t need the boy.”

Sun Ren looked from Lu Na to Mrs. Hu. She let the boy go.

“I hope you don’t regret this.”

Sun Ren walked into the tunnel first, limping a little as she went.

Lu Na followed behind and Magistrate Hu closed the door behind them. It was completely dark in there. She took out one of her wards from inside her chest pocket and turned it on by pulling the string off it. A soft glowing light came from the yellow paper that was bright as a burning candle. Slowly, the light became brighter and the entire tunnel was lit.

“That’s useful,” Sun Ren said. “Remind me to get a few of these gadgets from you when we get out of here. There are so many things I can do with them.”

“It’s one of my first inventions. Turning spirit essence into light is easy. I can teach you.”

“Teach me? I can’t learn spirit techniques. I’m not a spirit.”

“Then I’ll teach your spirit. But first, let me add a little insurance to our escape.”

Lu Na took out three of her earthen wall wards and activated them behind her. As long as there was earth spirit essence around it, it would keep going. Being surrounded by earth in the tunnel it would probably last for days.

“Let’s go.”