Some consider wandering cultivators an unwashed plague that undermines all that the sect-bound do...I, for one, enjoy having someone I can actually afford to protect my goods from bandits and monsters. -Trademaster Xu Xen of the Bayori Province
* * *
My old friend, what are you doing here? I wondered silently, wistfully examining my sword from across the room. From within its sheath, it was hard to see if the Sword Saint had taken good care of it in the time since my defeat. The blade had been shattered during the last battle, my friend killed before my very eyes. For all I knew, I was only looking at its husk, and the shattered shards within the sheath remained useless after all these long years.
Brown eyes met my silver ones as the cultivator finally sensed my gaze. I looked away, panic brewing inside me. She’d noticed me. What was I supposed to do?! To be carrying not just Eclipse, but Razor Wind, as well, there was no way she wasn’t an agent of the Sword Saint. There was every chance she was a disciple or successor to my old friend, which meant her motives in being here were very likely related to my escape from prison.
The disciple of an Ascendent would be nothing to scoff at. I couldn’t feel a suffocating presence, but, if she was good enough at hiding it, there’s no guarantee I’d notice anything at all, even at Iron. She could be any advancement from Salt to Gemstone, to even the lower echelons of Ascendency. My only hope of getting out of this unscathed was to slip away before she could truly identify me.
I stretched my arms over my head, using the motion to snatch Chiho from my hair and slip the angrily vibrating pin into my sleeve. After that, I stood and bowed to our employer.
“My apologies, I fear the wine may be clouding my thoughts,” I excused. “I will need to cycle my qi and expel its effects before our departure.” Tenri cast a quizzical look at me, but I only smiled and shrugged sheepishly. This was neither the time nor place to explain that there was almost certainly an assassin on the other side of the room who would be more than happy to end my merry jaunt outside the Labyrinth’s walls.
Master Feng laughed uproariously, making me flinch as several gazed around the tavern turned to us. “You cultivators. Spend so much time denying the pleasures of life that you become lightweights, even with your supposed resistances.” He waved a dismissive hand. Tenri stood and joined me as I began to walk towards the stairs, keeping my pace as unhurried as I could. Every inch of my being screamed to run and run far, but what good would that do? The agent had tracked me this far, and, if she knew even a fraction of Jinshi’s path and techniques, she would be one of the few people to be immune to the vast majority of my techniques. It was why the other Ascendents needed Jinshi himself in order to take me down and lock me away.
“What is it?” Tenri asked softly as soon as we’d climbed the stairs. “You and I both know you didn’t drink nearly enough to be in any danger.” He’d seen me at the small party we threw for Pollen and Pharyx. As visiting dignitaries, their arrival in Saikan had warranted a small celebration, a feast, and all the finest alcohol Tenri had stored in the back of the administration building. I’d been excited to actually have alcohol strong enough to affect me, after so long as an Ascendent, and had partaken liberally. That was the first time since my youth that I’d truly gotten drunk.
“There’s an agent of the Sword Saint downstairs,” I whispered, pulling him along until we reached our rooms. I described the woman in a hushed tone, and Tenri’s expression turned grave.
“I saw her, too,” he admitted. “She didn’t seem to be watching you, though. Maybe she didn’t recognize you?”
“I hope not.”
Chiho vibrated its growing irritation from the confines of its sleeve prison. With a sigh, I unlocked my door and threw the angry pin inside, closing the door before it could escape. I could hear its trilling from within.
“Let’s just keep low for tonight, then head out as quickly and quietly as we can in the morning,” I whispered. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Be careful, Tsuyuki,” he said. For a moment, his brow furrowed, and I thought he might say something more, but, in the end, he shook his head. “Let me know if you need anything.”
I nodded and slipped into my room. Chiho whirled around my head, angrily poking at me. It took several minutes of quiet praise before the vain little pin was placated enough to settle back into my hair. Even then, it was clearly sulking, but what else was I supposed to do? The little pin was a gift given to me by Jinshi himself. If the agent was tracking me, then there was no way they wouldn’t recognize it. I couldn’t risk it. Until we were out of town and out of danger, Chiho would have to remain in my sleeve while in public.
I laid down on the bed, trying to ignore the fact that my doom was in the same building. Part of me wanted to jump out the window and run all the way back to Saikan, but that would be foolish. She might not be alone. If anyone saw me acting suspicious, then the jig would be up, and I’d be hunted down and killed.
However, waiting for her to come and slit my throat in my bed also seemed like a bad idea. I tossed and turned, trying to come up with a solution. I needed to be on guard, but also not suspicious. Ultimately, I decided to stuff a pillow beneath the comforter before crouching behind the bedframe, an arrow in my hand ready to stab at the first person who entered the room unannounced.
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It…wasn’t comfortable, but it was better than waking to a sword through my stomach or a nail in my heart. I tried to relax, but what little sleep I did manage was filled with images sent to me by my tenuous connection to the Labyrinth. Featured most prominently was Jinshi, as always. He mocked me, chased me, and tried to kill me, which was probably the most relaxing part of the night. At least it was something I was used to.
* * *
“Hey, Tsuyuki?”
Something shook my shoulder, and I leapt into action, thrusting my arrow towards the blurred figure standing over me. There was a yelp of surprise, and I blinked the exhaustion from my eyes. It was…Tenri?
“What are you doing here?” I asked sleepily.
“It’s morning, you idiot. Time to go,” he snapped, nursing a cut on the back of his hand. It was light, barely even a scratch, but he still eyed me warily. “Did you get much sleep last night?”
“Does it look like I got much sleep last night?” My clothes were wrinkled, and I did my best to smooth it out while pulling my hair back into a ponytail. I tied it with my blue ribbon, but shooed Chiho away when it got close. “You need to keep hidden until later,” I told it. It drooped like a pouting child before tucking itself into my sleeve.
We gathered what few supplies we had and quietly stepped out into the darkness. The dawn was just starting to color the eastern horizon with light, which only served to make me even grumpier. Daylight was precious, especially for a caravan trying to avoid the attention of a shade, but that didn’t make the abysmally early hour any less dismal to be a part of.
Master Feng’s caravan was already prepared and waiting by the time we arrived at the stables. The merchant was accompanied by seven apprentices, all of whom seemed under the age of twenty. They were to drive the wagons while several mortal sellswords kept the local wildlife off of them. Anything more than a normal beast would fall to the cultivator escort, otherwise known as Tenri and me.
“We’re just waiting on one more before we can set out,” Master Feng said as we tucked our bags into one of the wagons. “Just hang tight.”
“One more?” Tenri asked. He and I both examined the caravan, looking for any role that was lacking. Were this anywhere other than the Moon-Soaked Shore, a caravan of this size would have warranted a cultivator escort of at least seven, one to guard each of the wagons from attacking yokai. However, due to the moon-shifted nature of the Shore’s qi, not as many monsters called this place home. Two should have been more than enough, and there were plenty of other guards. Was Master Feng waiting on a third party that wanted safety in numbers? Or was there someone else missing?
We waited so long that Master Feng began to pace in irritation. I leaned against one of the wagons and let my heavy eyes close. It seemed like an instant later that the sound of running footsteps jolted me awake.
“Sorry! I’m so terribly sorry!” called a woman’s voice.
To my horror, it was the same woman from the night before! The Sword Saint’s agent, complete with both Eclipse and Razor Wind at her hip, was here at our caravan! She slowed to a stop and bowed deeply before Master Feng.
“Please, forgive this one for losing track of time,” she begged. “It was not my intention to delay us.”
Master Feng sneered at her. “Be glad your skill warrants the wait, else I’d have left without you.” He raised his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly. “Alright! Let’s get a move on while we still have daylight on our side!”
The woman breathed a sigh of relief before turning to Tenri and I. “You must be the rest of the escort,” she greeted. “I’m called Kansi Ren. Pleased to meet you.”
“Pleased to meet you as well,” Tenri offered with a bow. Like me, she wore no badge on her arm, making it difficult to directly ascertain her advancement, but it was always better to be more respectful than less. “I am Tenri Lin, and this is Tsuyuki Yoru.”
“Oh, yes, I believe I saw you two at the inn last night,” Kansi noted as we began to walk alongside the wagons. “I hope you don’t mind that I tagged along. I’m on my way to Saikan, and my purse is just a touch too light to do so on my own.”
Tenri laughed good-naturedly. “Well, if you’re looking for work, we never turn down wandering cultivators in Saikan. Tsuyuki here has been helping us out for a few months.” I nodded my head.
“Oh, you’re from there? I heard a rumor that a girl was snatched by a shade, there. Do you know what has gotten the shades so agitated lately?” Kansi’s words were genuinely curious and harbored no malice I could hear. That only made me more suspicious. If she was really here for me, then why was she playing at being a caravan guard?
“Snatched?” Tenri paused, trying to remember what she was talking about. “Is someone missing?”
Kansi frowned. “Yes, they said that in the capital when I passed through. One of the four shades snatched a girl and killed a bunch of cultivators, no? The chained something or other?”
“Right, that.” Tenri flushed. I rolled my eyes. I might not technically be a shade, but, as far as the world was concerned, I was one. How could he forget that?!
While Tenri was busy burying our hopes of survival in a shallow grave, I studied our foe. She was a few inches taller than Tenri, making her much taller than me, but her movements weren’t as fluid as I expected. Either she was really good at pretending not to possess the inhuman dexterity and predatory grace of a cultivator in the Refining Realm, or she was a lot weaker than I suspected originally.
Did that mean she wasn’t Jinshi’s agent? But, if she wasn’t, then how had she gotten her hands on both Eclipse and Razor Wind? The Sword Saint wouldn’t have just given his prized swords to just anyone. If she wasn’t affiliated with him, then she could only have stolen them, but even that seemed unlikely. Even if Eclipse was worthless and shattered, Razor Wind was not. That blade only answered to two people: me, and the Sword Saint himself. Though, at this point, I was willing to bet that my inclusion in that list had been revoked ages ago. It was an extremely intimate act to share authority over one’s blade with another. Jinshi would certainly have removed my permission after my defeat.
My eyes drifted back down to Eclipse, and my heart ached. Despite the fact that I’d shared authority over Eclipse with Jinshi ages ago, the sword itself had always been disobedient and unruly with him. “The blade is a reflection of the master,” he used to say. My lack of discipline made Eclipse a wild spirit, but his heart was in the right place. He just wanted to help, and it had destroyed him.
“Hey, do I know you from somewhere?” Kansi asked, breaking me out of my thoughts and making me jump.
“I…uh…probably not?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Then why do you keep staring at my swords?”
Busted.