Fate's Attendant 1.27

Hong Fei peeked around the door’s jamb. The Rock Knives stood over the body of an older man who’d had his head bashed in. To the right, a plump woman in servant’s clothes stood with a hand pressed to her mouth in shock. She appeared to have just entered from the corridor behind her.

Missing-Fingers rushed toward the servant, who in turn fled back into the corridor.

Split-Face watched her go, then stepped away from the body on the ground to keep the pooling blood from touching his shoes. He gestured at the remaining Rock Knife to search it.

Hong Fei named this unnumbered gang member Crooked-Nose to make it easier to remember her. The young woman had clearly had her nose broken in the past, and it hadn’t healed right afterward.

Crooked-Nose found a ring of keys on the dead man’s belt.

The steward, then, Hong Fei thought.

A moment later, Missing-Fingers came back into the room, dragging the servant with her. The woman was badly frightened but appeared unharmed except for a bloodied lip.

They didn’t kill her, Hong Fei observed.

Split-Face approached the servant and demanded, “Where’s the dowager?”

The servant’s wide eyes couldn’t look away from the scar running down the gang member’s face. She vainly attempted to pull away.

“You either tell us,” Split-Face explained, “or we’ll have to go looking, and you don’t want that. Anyone who sees us has to die.”

“M—me?” the servant whispered.

Split-Face nodded. “And any family and friends among the staff. They’ll all be killed if we end up barging into their rooms.”

The servant’s teeth chattered. She looked from side to side for anything to save her. Missing-Fingers slapped her across the face, and the woman began to sob.

“Please! I don’t want to die.”

Split-Face sneered. “You can’t escape your fate, but you can help the others of this house. Now, tell me. Where is she?”

“The family left for the evening—” the servant began.

“—but not the dowager,” Split-Face finished, near growling at the end. “I won’t ask again.”

 “You—you won’t hurt anyone else?”

“We won’t need to,” Split-Face answered dismissively.

“The last door in the corridor behind me,” the servant said, her voice barely audible. “I’d just come from checking on her when, when I saw…” She looked down at the steward’s blood spreading steadily across the polished wooden floor.

In dawning horror, she realized that these intruders hadn’t come masked. They had never intended to hide their identities. Some among the servants and the family were meant to die from the beginning.

“Take care of her,” Split-Face said, ordering Crooked-Nose, then he strode past the soon-to-be-dead woman with Missing-Fingers following him.

The servant closed her eyes, lips quivering, and didn’t see the giant badger being painted into reality just outside the building. Neither did Crooked-Nose who’d grabbed the woman’s arm to keep her from running. She pulled her stone knife from its sheath and wondered if she should gag the servant first to keep her from screaming again. No one appeared to have heard her the first time, but asking fate to overlook them twice would be stupid.

A hand locked onto the Rock Knife’s own mouth, and she felt a terrible pain in her back. Suddenly dizzy, the gang member lost her grip on the servant. Her last thought was that the boss was going to be angry…

Hong Fei slid the body to the ground and covered the servant’s eyes with his hand. “Keep them closed,” he whispered.

The woman startled. “Who?”

“Shush.” Hong Fei checked the corridor, then pulled the woman aside to sit her on the ground.

A glance showed him that Auntie Ling was taking in her surroundings. When the giant badger moved closer, she concentrated on lifting her claws so that they didn’t clack on the wooden floor.

That had been a risky kill just now, but Hong Fei had pulled it off. Everything from this point onward would involve some level of uncertainty.

The servant trembled under his hand. He whispered, “Calm yourself. I’m a retainer of Duke Yu, and I’ve been searching for these Rock Knives. Just wait until the fighting starts to look. I don’t want you to give me and my… compatriot away.”

The woman gulped. “I’m really not going to die?”

“Not by my hand,” he replied.

The woman nodded, finding hope in the words, and Hong Fei slowly removed his hand. She kept her eyes shut.

With a breath, Hong Fei rose to take a position to the side of the opening to the corridor. Auntie Ling looked a question at him, and he held two fingers up in reply, then pointed toward where the Rock Knives had gone.

A peek around the corner showed that they’d entered a room at the end and left the door behind them open.

Was the gang sending a message to this family? Were they looking for a hostage? Hong Fei couldn’t be sure, so he slipped into the corridor, gesturing for Auntie Ling to wait for him.

He heard the sound of something fragile shattering on the ground, then an imperious old voice: “Who are you? What are you doing in my room?” Followed a moment later by: “Get your hands off me!”

Hong Fei quickened his pace. Dashing past the open door, he saw Missing-Fingers dragging a old woman from her bed with Split-Face watching. The dowager, presumably, was shocked by this ill treatment and briefly silenced by it. There seemed to be some trouble with the woman’s legs. Then Hong Fei was out of view again.

That hadn’t been enough information to make a judgement about their intentions. An intervention was likely the best course of action, especially since these Rock Knives probably wouldn’t survive capture. Hong Fei hadn’t forgotten the magic that killed the Yang brothers.

Thankfully, he’d kept Crooked Nose from killing the servant. The witness would likely prove useful.

Hong Fei sheathed his knife and shook the tension from his hands. Slowly, he drew his sword, moving toward the corridor’s end where he could crouch out of sight of anyone exiting the dowager’s room.

Auntie Ling saw him gesture toward her, but the motions weren’t clear. Then the magic ensuring she’d always be able to understand her summoner activated, and she knew she was meant to make a distracting noise then hide.

At her snarl, the woman beside the giant badger squeaked. The servant clamped her mouth shut with her hands afterward, though, and her eyes were most firmly closed. Auntie Ling backed away from the corridor’s entrance, the woman shuddering as the giant badger’s fur brushed against her.

The commotion inside the dowager’s room halted. “What’s that?” Split-Face said. “Go check it out.”

Missing-Fingers poked her head out the door, but the corridor was clear. Stepping out, she moved her knife to her weak hand, so that she could use the other to make a low whistle. “Third cousin?” she called out in a loud whisper.

Hong Fei held utterly still as she turned to face the room.

“He’s not—” she started, then she caught Hong Fei at the edge of her vision.

The sword took her through the throat before she could summon essence to defend herself. As the energy of the number 1 flowed into him, Hong Fei swept the attack to the side, cutting through the woman’s windpipe and spurting her blood into the bedroom.

“Evil gods!” Split-Face cried out.

“Heavens!” came the dowager’s voice. Then: “Help me, son! There are intruders in the house.”

A slapping sound came next. “Shut it! And you, out there. Don’t do anything hasty or the dowager dies!”

“I’m not afraid to die, you cur. Kill me if you dare; my son will cut you down like the dog you are.”

Another slap followed the first, followed by a third.

Hong Fei listened carefully, but couldn’t place where the sounds were coming from on the other side of the open door. He hurriedly slung off his backpack to retrieve his long coat, throwing it on. He tore off the scarf and stuffed it into his pocket.

Hong Fei tightened his grip on his sword, ready now for whatever came next. He gave the dowager even odds for survival.

“She’s not dead yet,” Split-Face called, “but she will be if you don’t let me go. I’ll kill her before you can do anything, taking her with me to the Yellow Springs. Don’t think I won’t!”

“Come out, and we’ll make an arrangement,” Hong Fei replied. “She’s worth more alive than you’re worth dead.”

The response was silence at first, followed by the sound of bodies shifting. An old woman’s head stuck out from the doorway, lolling in unconsciousness. Her gray hair was loose and falling everywhere.

The rest of the body emerged slowly, wearing a loose shift that made it difficult to judge if she still breathed. The old woman was bent over the arm carrying her.

Hong Fei’s eyes narrowed. It was within his skill to cut the arm and not the woman, but he smelled the refreshing scent of qi in the air. Split-Face was either being sloppy with its usage or warning him of the realm he faced.

Sloppiness, Hong Fei decided, or else the man wouldn’t have run the other day. Unless he’s a coward?

Split-Face hefted the dowager so that her body shielded him while checking the corridor for enemies. The way out was clear, but at the other end… “It’s you!” he exclaimed and immediately withdrew into the bedroom.

A breath later, Split-Face stepped out with the old woman hugged tight to his torso, his stone knife at the ready, and he began to walk backward. “Follow me, and she dies,” he said, his voice low and threatening.

Hong Fei paced the man and maintained a distance at the edge of an extended lunge plus an extra four fingers to account for the tip of the blade entering through the eye to pierce the brain behind it.

“Back off!” Split-Face demanded. “I meant what I said; I’ll kill her.”

Hong Fei shrugged and replied, “Who is she anyway?”

Split-Face steps stuttered in surprise. “What? You don’t know? Then why are you here?”

Hong Fei made a thoughtful expression. “I saw you at the night market and followed. My hope was that I’d come across something to use in negotiating for your gang to leave the Kang family alone.”

The scar on the Rock Knife’s face twisted as it morphed due to his increasing incredulity. “You… you killed my people because of that?”

Hong Fei grinned mischievously. “I wanted to talk to you, and they were in the way.”

The scar turned white as the blood rushed to the Rock Knife’s face. His control of qi slipped and released more of that pleasant fragrance into the air.

“I’m going to kill you,” Split-Face vowed. “It may not be now; it may not be soon; but the day will come—” The man stopped speaking and spun to slam his back into the corridor. He’d heard someone approaching from behind him. His eyes bulged when he saw it was a giant badger.

Auntie Ling was embarrassed she’d been caught in the middle of her stealthy attack. In her defense, the wooden floors were clicky and clacky.

Split-Face gulped, his vow suddenly forgotten. The only way out now was through one of the other bedroom windows. Unfortunately, he was between doors.

“That’s it, then,” Hong Fei said. “You’re trapped. You can’t even duel me, because that would open your back to my friend over there.”

“I’ll take the dowager with me,” Split-Face promised, his breath coming fast. The knife in his hand didn’t feel heavy enough, and he rushed more of his qi into it. A good hit on the spirit beast might see him slipping past it.

“I don’t know her name yet,” Hong Fei pointed out. “And don’t think you can outrun my friend there. Two legs versus four is a race lost before its even begun.”

The giant badger snickered, the sound devilish.

Hong Fei backed up to create more distance between him Split-Face. If the man wanted to attack him, he’d absolutely be forced to give up his back Auntie Ling. The Rock Knife was trapped; there was no way out for him…

“Don’t you know?” Hong Fei asked, watching carefully. “You’re captured.”

“You lie,” Split-Face hissed.

“Whether you kill the woman or not, you’re ours.” Hong Fei tilted his head to the side as if in thought. “The family who owns this house is surely influential, and I’m sure the authorities would love to know what you planned to do with one of their elders.”

Auntie Ling shifted closer, a subtle vibration emanated from her chest as she growled. Her claws glowed as qi suffused them. The message was clear: there would be no surprise attack against her.

And the swordsman left no openings—the tip of sword held steady through everything he’d said and continued to say: “We can stay here for as long as necessary. The family will return from their outing, and there will be even more people to listen to you being interrogated.”

The words triggered a gulp in the Rock Knife, and the motion turned into a spasm, his throat closing. Wide-eyed, Split-Face threw the woman at Hong Fei and lunged for a door behind the swordsman. He could go out the window, and the spirit beast wouldn’t be able to fit—

Auntie Ling’s claws carved through him, from the back of his head to the base of his spine. She’d lunged along with the Rock Knife and proved to be the faster of the two. And stronger. Split-Face had reinforced his body with qi, and it might’ve been enough against another man, but not the giant badger.

Hong Fei breathed out a sigh as the cool energy entered his body. He carefully set the dowager down to examine her for injuries. There were places on her face that were starting to bruise, and a gash along the back of her that left his fingers bloody.

The injury was light in his eyes, but the woman didn’t wake up after his examination. She was clearly Dustborn and would need a doctor to confirm she would be well.

“The servant!” Hong Fei yelled out.

A moment later, a head peeked out at the end of the corridor. “Yes,” the woman tentatively replied.

She must’ve seen Auntie Ling already, because she didn’t panic at the sight of the giant badger filling the corridor.

“Call for a doctor,” Hong Fei instructed. “Your mistress is alive but injured.”

“Y—yes,” came the answer, and he heard her running off.

Hong Fei got up to deal with the last member of the Rock Knives, likely waiting for his comrades in the other alley. He’d walked a pair of steps before recalling that gallantry required moving the dowager to a place where she wouldn’t see the dead gang member’s exposed spine upon waking.

There was a couch in the entrance that would work, and it was on his way.

ToC

Characters Mentioned in this Chapter 

• Split-Face, Hong Fei's name for a Rock Knife gang member who once escaped from him

• Missing-Fingers, Hong Fei's name for a Rock Knife gang member