3seed

Fate's Attendant 1.47

Added 2025-10-27 19:51:17 +0000 UTC

The timing of a fire now was suspicious. Hong Fei didn’t even bother with thinking it was mere coincidence—not when the house’s only effective Qi Blossoming-realm fighters were away. Chen Wenbin and Zhang Dehua had already headed out to raid the Ma residence.

There was the duchess present, but using her full strength would kill her. No one else should know that, however, so if the fire was a ploy in an attack on the estate, then the enemies had confidence in fighting one Qi Blossoming warrior but not three.

Hong Fei strode toward the courtyard doors. Outside were the soldiers assigned to the Young Mistress. One was an older man with a scar running along the side of his head; the hair grew in patches there. The other was a woman of about the same age. She’d lost her left hand while fighting against the barbarians to the south and had a small, round shield permanently strapped to that forearm.

The guards had heard the same alarm bell and were discussing if one of them should run to check on the fire’s severity.

“Yes,” the dūtóu commanded, “but first, give me your swords, both of you.”

“Sir?” the guard with the shield questioned.

“They’re for the Young Mistress and her companion,” Hong Fei replied. “The two of them are without weapons.”

He left it unsaid that the swords would be better served in the youths’ hands. Though the Body Forged soldiers were both experienced veterans, Yu Ying and Mei Hua were at the Qi Gathering realm. The difference in cultivation was difficult to overcome, and the two young women were more potent as fighters.

These guards were meant as a deterrence. In the case of an attack by someone truly powerful, they’d spend their lives obstructing the way so that the Young Mistress could escape to safety.

“You’ll guard her?” the scarred soldier dared to ask.

“I will,” Hong Fei replied.

The guards nodded then, and offered him their swords.

The one with the shield said, “If there’s a fire, they’ll need help putting it out. We’ll both go.”

“And rearm along the way,” the scarred man added.

They saluted Hong Fei and were about leave when the dūtóu stopped them. “Don’t die,” he said.

The woman’s smile was bitter and wry; the man nodded seriously; and then the two pelted down the corridor at a run.

Back inside the courtyard, Hong Fei saw that Kang Lian and Little Ruyun had come out into the courtyard at the sound of the alarm. He gestured for them to come closer. They’d have to move quickly now, whether it was a fire or an attack. He approved that both had knives tucked into their belts.

Hong Fei handed the swords to Yu Ning and Mei Hua. His own sword he gave to Sun Han, choosing to keep Fortune’s Favor on his belt.

“What is your plan?” Yu Ning asked.

“We’ll jump to roof first to see what we can make out, then head over the walls to avoid danger,” Hong Fei replied. He looked to Kang Lian, “I’ll carry you. Sun Han will take Little Ruyun.” Then, to Auntie Ling, Hong Fei asked, “Can you jump that high?”

The giant badger was considering the distance, when Yu Ning interrupted them. “I don’t disagree it would be wiser to flee in case this is an attack, but we have to ensure my grandmother and brother are safe first… and we take them with us.”

“Your grandmother doesn’t need protection,” Hong Fei pointed out. “As for your brother, he’s likely not the target, assuming this is an attack.”

“I’m not leaving without either,” Yu Ning said, drawing the sword he’d just given her.

Mei Hua drew hers only half a breath slower. The two young women shifted positions so that Sun Han no longer stood behind them.

Hong Fei didn’t know whether to be pleased or disappointed. That had been the right tactical play, because he had been wondering if it was possible to knock out the Young Mistress and remove her from danger, but that seemingly simple act had made the idea untenable.

“Young Mistress—” Hong Fei began.

Yu Ning interrupted again: “Don’t make threaten you. That’s not who I want to be, but I will if you make me.”

Two pairs of stubborn eyes stared at each other.

“You were hired under the auspices of my grandfather,” Yu Ning continued, seeing Hong Fei unconvinced. Her jaw felt tight, like she was speaking through clenched teeth. “But the duke was already dead by then. You’re not truly…”

The rest of the words were left unsaid, but it was clear to everyone involved what they would be: “You’re not truly a Yu-family retainer unless appointed by the head of house.” That ought to have been Yu Yong, and in a matter of days it would be Yu Ning. The statement was a reminder his place in the household would depend on her in the future.

Mei Hua shifted forward to draw attention to herself. “Give the new heir some face, dūtóu. You’ll have to get used to taking orders from her, anyway.”

Hong Fei eyed the black 5 hovering over Mei Hua’s head. He’d not yet decided what part of the board the young woman belonged on. “That’s enough,” he said, relenting. It wouldn’t be possible to subdue the Young Mistress without injuries on either side, anyway, and why do their enemies’ work for them? “If that’s how it will be, then we’d best not delay. The sooner we fetch your family, the sooner we can get them to safety.”

Hong Fei didn’t dwell on decisions that couldn’t be helped, so he quickly reviewed the route in his head. The family’s residences were all clustered together, but there were three gardens, four long corridors, the storeroom for winter linens, the laundry, the oil room, a barrack for soldiers staying overnight, the servant’s dining hall, and the main kitchen in between.

The estate’s layout was labyrinthine, but unless he wanted to expose the Young Mistress’s location, they’d have to travel through it rather than up and over. They’d only risk the rooftops once it was time to flee.

“Auntie Ling takes the fore,” Hong Fei said, “followed by me, then the Young Mistress and Mei Hua. Kang Lian and Little Ruyun will follow them, trailed by Sun Han at the rear. Is that clear?” He checked to make sure they were listening. “If anyone attacks, cut them down, whether they wear our house colors or not.”

“You expect betrayal,” Yu Ning said.

“Always,” was Hong Fei’s reply. When he saw her nod in response, he added, “Let’s go.”

###

The smell in the air was acrid and pungent—not smoke from a wood fire, Auntie Ling thought, but something else and unfamiliar.

Her qi was already flowing through her, sharpening her senses. Her claws left marks on the wooden floor. Hong Fei trusted her to know the way, and she led the others without having to turn back for instructions. She moved from one corridor to the next without the delicacy she normally took while inside the estate.

This was Auntie Ling on the hunt, yet she didn’t encounter anyone. All she heard was the alarm bell in the distance. Everyone seemed to have run in that direction.

The corridor opened onto a garden, one of the ones meant to look wild, and for the first time she heard raised voices. They came from the direction she traveled. Looking upward, she spotted a thick, black smoke rising.

“It’s the oil room,” Hong Fei said from behind her.

“But the oil’s encased by stone walls,” Yu Ning pointed out. “Any fire should be contained.”

“Yes,” Hong Fei replied, his voice tense. “It should be.”

“I know a way around,” Little Ruyun offered. “There are hidden hatches in the winter storeroom that lead to cut ways that make it more comfortable to get to the things inside when it’s cold.”

“Then we’ll head there,” Hong Fei said.

Auntie Ling nodded to let him know she’d heard him, then turned to the left. The winter storeroom was easy to find. The place smelled bitter and terrible from the dried plants the humans used to protect the linens from insects.

The noise in the distance increased in volume. Humans yelled at each other. A second bell joined the first, and Yu Ning muttered, “The fire has spread.”

The scent of woodsmoke came to her, and—Auntie Ling’s snout flared. Ahead was the winter storeroom. The door was closed, but she smelled blood and viscera on the other side.

She paused to look back at Sun Han, then brought her claw to her neck. The look of confusion on his face cleared, however, when the magic ensuring they could understand their summoner and each other took hold.

“There’s someone dead in the room ahead,” the scholar said.

The others had seen Auntie Ling’s gesture, and now knew what she’d meant.

“Sun Han open the door for Auntie Ling,” Hong Fei said. He motioned for everyone else to drop back in case of ambush.

The door slid open, and the scent of death spread into the corridor, so that even the humans could smell it. Two bodies were on the ground. One’s head had rolled a zhang away and come to a stop at the base of a stack of mattresses. The other body appeared to have been split—a third of her to one side, and the rest to the other. Blood had sprayed onto the warren of bedding around them.

Auntie Ling barged into the room looking for enemies, but none were nearby. She followed each turn between the stacks, but only found cabinets and shelves containing human things.

The scents, the ones not belonging to the dead, led to two different hatches. A badger’s sense of direction was exemplary—it was necessary for their burrows—so she knew that one led toward the oil room, while the other pointed to the Yu family courtyards.

“Heavens,” Yu Ning said, turning pale.

She was the only one, Auntie Ling noted. The others seemed to be no strangers to gruesome deaths, not even Little Ruyun. The young girl’s lips had narrowed, and the giant badger could smell the fear on her, but she didn’t show it on her face.

“They were trysting,” Kang Lian said, her voice hoarse. She cleared her throat. “That was a rumor I’d heard.”

“And caught in the act,” Sun Han added, careful to step around the blood. “There wouldn’t happen to be a jealous and spurned third party in the Qi Blossoming realm?”

Kang Lian shook her head.

“A shame,” Sun Han said. “These cuts are not simple. They’re too clean.”

“Metal qi,” Hong Fei observed. “It was likely a spell for sharpness.” He turned to Yu Ning. “Do you still insist on continuing? You risk all our lives by doing so.”

Yu Ning clenched her hands, and the smell of fear intensified, mingling with the other scents in the room. “We keep going,” she said, the words coming out in a whisper.

Sun Han asked Auntie Ling, “Which way, my friend?”

The giant badger pointed with her paw, and he opened the hatch for her. The ceiling was lower on the other side, and the humans had to walk with their backs bent to follow her.

The path was short, and Sun Han was soon required to squeeze past to open another hatch, which opened onto a corridor just outside the main storerooms. The way ahead appeared clear, but Auntie Ling’s instincts tingled, and she stayed where she was.

Her snout sniffed at the air. The intruders had come this way, and their scents pervaded the area more than if they’d just passed through.

A growl sounded deep within Auntie Ling’s chest

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ToC

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