There’d been other hot and humid days while he’d been in Ruby Swift City, but they’d not started so early in the morning. The shift in weather presaged the beginning of summer’s long and blistering days. Ironically, it was also the season when typhoons regularly assaulted the island.
Hong Fei went to the window. A light breeze brought some relief, though only a few patchy clouds lingered. The sky was otherwise clear, letting the clear sunlight bear down on the land. No doubt, the clear weather would be helpful for the planned raids. Hong Fei told himself so.
He spotted Kang Lian coming toward the salon with a wash basin in her arms. Hong Fei rushed outside to help her with it. He’d feel better after he rinsed off and prepared for the battle ahead.
###
The estate buzzed with activity—soldiers and servants alike retrieving weapons from the armory and jogging toward their designated posts for the supposed drill. Hong Fei nodded to them as he went past. They in turn gawked at seeing Yu Yong walking with the dūtóu and the dūtóu’s people. Only the Kangs had been left behind.
Hong Fei led the way to the main courtyard where Cai Shi’s squad waited in two rows of ten. Among the soldiers, only the shízhǎng knew that they would be raiding the Rock Knife headquarters in the middle city. The change in plans stemmed from Yu Yong’s participation—a decision by the senior leaders to insulate the young master from danger.
Cai Shi’s squad looked on with curiosity as the dūtóu’s motley group joined them. More than a few soldiers were amused by the apparent tension among Hong Fei’s followers: Ugly Dog bounced up and down with nervous energy, while Yu Yong could be seen rehearsing the sword strokes of the imperial army style. Only Auntie Ling and Sun Han appeared to be at ease, treating the drill like the exercise it was supposed to be.
Time passed, about as much as it would take for a stick of incense to burn, then the day’s second bell rang, causing Cai Shi to open a ribboned packet of papers. They were his squad’s official orders, which he read out aloud.
Any amusement among the soldiers that had been present earlier dissipated, and several immediately moved to ensure their gear and weapons were ready for action. Elsewhere, the squads inside the estate should also now be opening their orders.
Hong Fei watched for anything suspicious among Cai Shi’s squad, but all he saw was the expected tension, anticipation, and fear. “Get ready to move out,” he told his own people. “We’ll match their pace.”
Then, when all appeared ready, Hong Fei gestured for Cai Shi to get started.
“Begin!” the shízhǎng yelled.
In response, the soldiers took a step at a normal walking’s pace, their boots landing in unison. A second step followed, a check to ensure everyone had the correct timing, then they all shifted into a coordinated jog. That, in turn, quickened a moment later. The result wasn’t quite a run, but instead a compromise between speed and staying in formation.
Hong Fei nodded in appreciation. Cai Shi’s squad was well trained. Every soldier was Body Forged, so none of them would struggle to maintain the pace until they reached their destination. In comparison, his own people were more haphazard, though they too would be fine jogging halfway across the city.
People on the street stared as Cai Shi’s squad exited the main gate. They murmured to each other when they saw Hong Fei and his people following after. One child was so bold as to point at Auntie Ling. His mother quickly brought his arm down, scooped him up, and rushed him away.
Hong Fei’s eyes moved across the pedestrians. They also sought out the people watching from their windows. The odds were good that one or several were spies stationed near the estate to observe the Yu family. No one gave themselves away, however. Not even when more squads of Yu soldiers appeared after Cai Shi’s squad or when a contingent of cloaked horsemen road past. That latter was the xiàowèi and the steward escorting Yu Ning to the Department of Crime and Punishment.
As the soldiers continued toward the city’s center, the stares accumulated like rice grains poured into a granary. This show of strength was intentional. It demonstrated that the Yu could afford to keep so many soldiers, as well as a tame spirit beast. The people of Ruby Swift City ought to reconsider the rumors they’d heard of the family’s downfall.
The wind blew more strongly at the Wing Span Bridge, offering a moment of relief from the steadily increasing temperature, and then Cai Shi’s squad and Hong Fei’s people were across and climbing once more into the middle city.
Along the way, they caught sight of guards from Yu-owned businesses joining the ranks of the other squads. The Yu had committed nearly their entire strength to this operation—a dangerous throw of the dice perhaps, but the potential reward was estimated to be just as great.
Eventually, the mixed troop of Hong Fe’s people and Cai Shi’s squad entered the neighborhood containing their target, one of the poorer sections of the middle city. Here, the people scattered at seeing the assembled troops. Doors closed and windows shuttered, despite the heat.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Auntie Ling at the fore with Sun Han in support,” Hong Fei commanded. “The two of you will be the vanguard. Don’t let anyone or anything stop you. Eliminate the most severe threats.” He turned toward Yu Yong and Ugly Dog. “You’ll work Cai Shi’s squad to cover what the vanguard misses. Mind the shízhǎng’s orders. Do what he says.”
“Where will the dūtóu be?” Yu Yong asked.
“I’ve had my eye on this prize for a while now,” Hong Fei said, the hint of a smile on his lips. “I’ll be going in through a different route.” Then he moved up the line to coordinate with Cai Shi.
Hong Fei’s final instruction to the shízhǎng was this, spoken in a whisper: “Don’t pamper the young master. I know what the duchess asked of you, but let the lad risk his life as he sees fit. Just be ready to pull him out when he overreaches.”
Cai Shi looked at Hong Fei afterward like the dūtóu was a madman, but whether the shízhǎng intended to be obey or not went unsaid. The man was outside of Hong Fei’s chain of command, yet there was hope he would see the wisdom of letting Yu Yong find his limits.
A last inspection told Hong Fei the troops were alert and ready, so he took off at a sprint, leaving his people in Cai Shi’s hands. At the next intersection, he turned. The streets were laid out in a grid, which let him easily find a way to circle around to the back of the Rock Knife base.
Casting the spell Mountain Hares are Righteous, his enhanced hearing picked up on the sound of people yelling beyond the wall. The Rock Knives had been alerted that a contingent of soldiers from the Yu family were heading their way.
With a burst of essence, Hong Fei leapt to the top of the wall and a second leap took him to the building’s second floor. He clung to the side, his hands finding easy places to grip among the sharks engraved into the wall.
From there, he worked his way toward the nearest window. It was already shuttered and locked, so he sent a flow of essence to his arms and back. The marble used in the wall’s construction cracked under his right hand, while the left tore the shutter from its hinges.
The room inside was big enough to contain four beds, each only wide enough for a single person. These beds were all empty, with the sheets left rumpled. From the smell, it seemed like there was a waste pot under the window.
Hong Fei slipped inside, careful of the pot that was indeed there, and went to the door to listen. Steps pounded as people ran past. “At least twenty,” someone yelled.
“Where are the crossbows?” Another responded.
“Unless you want to end up like those at the Ox, get moving!” came a third voice. There was a pause while more steps pounded past. “And open the windows on the second floor, in case some of them try to go around the back. Shoot them as they come over the wall—”
The door opened to reveal a man in a yellow tunic, his head turned so he could yell at the people behind him. In his hands was a cocked crossbow with an iron-headed bolt already mounted upon its string and ready to shoot. A white number 1 hovered above his head.
Hong Fei stepped aside and stabbed the crossbowman in the heart.
“Urk.” The loosed bolt shattered against the wall after the man’s hands had clenched, firing the crossbow in the process. His eyes bugged open at seeing an intruder already in the building.
Hong Fei pulled him to the room and stabbed him again, this time in the throat. A cool energy flowed into the area above and behind the dūtóu’s eyes.
“What was that?” someone yelled from down the corridor.
“This direction’s clear!” another replied.
A quiver on the crossbowman’s belt contained eight more bolts. Hong Fei took it and attached it on his own belt. Then he grabbed the crossbow, put his foot on the stirrup, and pulled the string up to re-cock it. Mounting a fresh bolt on the string, he stepped out into the corridor, lifting the crossbow into firing position as he did so.
A man skidded to a stop not half a zhang away. Hong Fei shot him in the mouth. He’d aimed for the throat, but the bolt didn’t fly true. The dūtóu’s crossbow fell away in one hand, while he drew his knife with the other to slash his opponent’s throat.
“This one’s clear too,” a voice said from behind him, the sound shifting partway. A woman was coming out of a room two doors down. “Intrud—” she began to yell, but was silenced when Hong Fei rushed her with his knife.
She died from a slit throat.
Afterward, Hong Fei re-cocked his crossbow, then he checked the other doors. The rooms were empty. The running he’d heard earlier must’ve taken most of the Rock Knives down below.
Hong Fei spotted a deathly white number 1 at the top of the stairs. It bobbed as the woman under it pelted up to the second floor. “We got the crossbows—”
She fell backward as a bolt hit her cheek and deflected up into her eye, jutting out the top of her skull. The number 1 disappeared as the cool energy flowed into Hong Fei.
“They’re inside! The second floor!” a man yelled. It’d sounded like it’d come from the base of the stairs.
Then Hong Fei heard a great smashing noise, followed by a giant badger’s growls and alarmed shouting from the Rock Knives. His sense was that both Auntie Ling and Sun Han were now in the building.
“Spirit beast! Spirit beast!” came the screams from below.
Hong Fei ducked through one of the open doors on the second floor to re-cock his crossbow. He went to the open window to check the street in front, then immediately ducked back when one of the Yu’s soldiers shot at him.
The bolt flew past to ricochet off of the ceiling and into the corridor.
The dūtóu stepped into the light to make sure he was visible this time, and the crossbowman responsible dropped to the ground in apology. The other soldiers with him grimaced but focused on keeping the Rock Knives on the second floor away from the windows.
Not intentional, Hong Fei thought. A mistake due to nerves. He loosened his grip on the qi he’d summoned in case that hadn’t been the case, put the error out of his head, and gestured for his allies to focus on the first floor.
The sound of a body being moved came from the direction of the stairs. He popped out of the room, crossbow at the ready, and saw that his next opponent was using the dead woman’s body for cover. The man lay behind the corpse with his crossbow supported by it.
Both men fired. The two bolts flew past each other, each of them missing.
Hong Fei dropped his crossbow and rushed toward the stairs. His opponent scrambled to stand, threw his crossbow to delay Hong Fei, and pulled a pair of stone clubs from his belt. The dūtóu drew a second knife to match him.
His opponent had a slight edge in reach, while Hong Fei held the high ground, which turned out to be not much of an advantage. The clubs whistled when the gang member swung them at Hong Fei’s legs. The dūtóu retreated to keep his knees intact.
There was a sword on Hong Fei’s belt, but the corridor was narrow and the ceiling not that tall. He judged the knives were a better choice for the time being.
His opponent knocked his clubs together in what must be either habit or an attempt at intimidation. The motion was repeated once more then followed by the faint scent of essence.
Hong Fei observed his opponent and thought, This Two Clubs has shown good judgement so far. I wonder how far his skill extends.
Hong Fei flourished his knives; a smile came to his lips.
ten chapters ahead. :)
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Auntie Ling, a summon
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Sun Han, a summon
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Cai Shi, a shízhǎng of Yu soldiers responsible for the morning gate
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Kang Lian, a resident of Hong Fei's courtyard
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Yu Yong, the brother of the Yu duchess