He counted his steps to occupy his mind and to measure the distance traveled, and it was approximately half a li before he came upon the tunnel’s end. Auntie Ling waited for him there. She pointed up toward the outline of a wide shaft in the ceiling.
Hong Fei also saw that a ladder had been carved into the wall. “There’s no other exit?” he asked.
Auntie Ling shook her head and huffed. The ladder was apparently the only way out.
“Wait, then,” Hong Fei said, “and I’ll let you know when I’ve reached a spot where you can join me.” He glanced down at his blistered left hand. “It may be slow going.”
The badger whickered softly, her assurance that she would wait.
Fortunately, the ladder’s rungs had been carved into the stone at frequent intervals, so Hong Fei’s legs could do all the work. Even so, he climbed the nearly three stories slowly, not willing to let the effort strain his breathing and cause him to cough midway. A fall from that height would be painful.
At the top of the shaft, he crawled onto the floor of a new tunnel, and immediately noticed a series of grooves and holes carved into the pale stone. They looked like they might’ve once held a winch or some other mechanism in place. Otherwise, his surroundings appeared to be similar to the area below.
The shaft had been sunk in the center of the tunnel, so Hong Fei stood and walked closer to the wall before unsummoning and then resummoning the Uncommon Badger. Immediately, her ears swiveled to his right. Her nose sniffed the air, and he realized there was a faint draft coming from that direction.
With a nod, he released Auntie Ling to go scouting. “Mind your qi,” he whispered. “Use the silence spell if necessary.”
She huffed softly in reply before disappearing into the darkness. A moment later, he followed after her, once again keeping the wall close by.
At fifty-seven steps, he paused to restrain a nascent cough, then he did it again at eighty-four and one-hundred-twenty-six steps. The air, he realized, was dustier up here. He’d already been covered in a thin layer of the stuff, and he was quickly accumulating more. Using the hem of his robes to cover his mouth seemed to help, so he continued that way.
At an even three-hundred steps, Hong Fei heard the faint trilling of birdsong. He dismissed the card’s projection and saw that the area ahead was a shade lighter than the rest of his surroundings. Encouraged by the prospect of finding the exit, he empowered his eyes with essence, which revealed the glimmer of dust hovering in the air. A light from outside was intruding into the darkness.
Hong Fei quickened his pace and soon saw a turn in the tunnel. The light was coming from there. Before he could reach it, however, Auntie Ling came from around the corner. Her steps were silent, even when it seemed her claws ought to be clicking against the stone.
“A good cast of the spell,” Hong Fei mouthed. “Well done.”
Auntie Ling nodded. Normally, she lifted her head in pride when praised, but her focus was clearly elsewhere. She gestured toward the exit and made a fluttering motion with her claws.
“I’m not sure what you mean,” he mouthed.
The badger pointed upward toward the ceiling, then made the same fluttering motion again.
“Is it birds?” Hong Fei asked.
Auntie Ling nodded, then gestured for him to follow her, which he did.
As Hong Fei approached the corner, the birdsong grew louder. Then, at the corner itself, the exit became immediately obvious. The section of the tunnel continued for approximately another li before opening onto a chamber that was the source of the light.
Motion fluttered against the walls there, since a good number of small birds had found places to nest in the nooks and crevices. Auntie Ling eyed these birds with clear annoyance. She gestured to Hong Fei as if to say, “Watch and see what happens.”
The two of them continued together until they got to about ten zhang from the closest nests. The birds in them went silent at the giant badger’s approach. She stopped, then gestured helplessly toward the exit. If she continued onward, then more of the birds would quiet and that would alert anyone in the chamber beyond to her approach.
“I understand the problem,” Hong Fei mouthed. “And perfect silence won’t help, since you’d still visible.” He gauged the distance to the exit. It’d take some time, but he ought to be able to reach it without disturbing the birds.
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Turning back to Auntie Ling, he continued, “Don’t take this setback to heart. You’ve done everything right. This is simply an instance when the situation suits me more than it does you.”
With his good hand, Hong Fei petted her nose. The badger sighed, then nodded in reply. A moment later, she vanished in a series of brushstrokes.
Hong Fei stood quietly for a time, preparing. He let his head empty of thoughts, released the tension constricting his chest, and knelt to carefully pat rock dust onto his hair and his clothes, focusing on his back since that would be the side facing the birds’ nests.
An urge to cough arose within him, which he ruthlessly strangled. Once he was sure the impetus had gone, he went fully prone to begin crawling toward the exit.
There was nowhere to hide, so his only ally was the pace of his progress—slow like winter ice melting or a sprout unfurling its leaves before climbing up toward the sun. The world knew how to move with careful deliberation, and for a time Hong Fei embodied that principle.
Some of the birds noticed him, of course. Yet, they didn’t become alarmed as he crawled beneath them bit by bit toward the tunnel’s exit.
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Even a snail eventually arrives at its destination, so Hong Fei found himself peeking over the edge of a gallery high above a chamber nearly five times the size of the Yu’s training hall. Sunlight streamed in from a massive opening to the right, reflecting on the creamy marble floor and walls to create a warmth at odds with the space’s solidity.
Rivers of gray, silver, and black flowed through the marble. Combined with the now-familiar geometries of stone chiseled free in sheets, they gave the chamber the feeling of a hidden temple overrun by nature.
The remains of two winches were bolted to the walls alongside the entrance to “his” tunnel, as well as to other entrances leading elsewhere in the mine. Clearly, marble was no longer quarried here. Instead, the chamber had been taken over by people in gray robes, one of whom had a tiger mask hanging from his belt.
Hong Fei gripped the stone edge; his eyes narrowed. The careful calm he’d cultivated disappeared behind the sharpness of his attention.
The Tiger Masks had assembled a work space under the wall farthest from the mine’s entrance. There were tables, chairs, and even a cookpot over a fire, which were all things one might expect, but there were also cages in which a handful of captives were held.
With a jolt, he realized that among the prisoners was a young man with red 3, along with an older woman with a white 1. This pair with the numbers had been isolated in a cage of their own.
Is that Rock Head with the 3? Hong Fei couldn’t help wondering. Then, before he could consider the matter further, a masked man entered the cave, dragging a young woman behind him.
This new Tiger Mask walked toward his compatriots, dropped his prisoner off among them, and then made his way to the cookpot to pour himself a bowl of soup. He tossed his mask on the table before drinking from the bowl.
Meanwhile, the young woman had attempted to flee, but another of the Tiger Masks had caught her by the neck and thrown her onto… Hong Fei sent a trickle of essence to his eyes. That looked to be a scale, but there was no counterweight. Instead, the lever connected a geode that had been cut in half so that the crystals inside were exposed.
The crystals glowed a dim purple in response to the woman on the tray, and the Tiger Mask overseeing the scale’s operation directed her to be put in the cage with the majority of the captives.
They have a way of detecting fluctuations in the flow of fate, Hong Fei thought.
There were five Tiger Masks down below, all of them in gray. It’d be reasonable to assume that none are Qi Blossoming. He looked toward the other passages. I don’t see any beds, so there are likely barracks deeper in. Also, an office or two for their senior officers. The question is: are those people here or are they out?
The light entering the mine was bright, casting sharp shadows. It’s around noon, Hong Fei decided, and the Yu raids are still ongoing. He licked his lips as a sense of anticipation rose within him. The Tiger Masks might’ve sortied to either observe the raids or defend the Rock Knives. If so, then Auntie Ling and I can handle these five. None of them move like competent fighters.
Nothing visible gave any clues about the disposition of the enemy’s missing personnel, so Hong Fei turned to his ears for help. He checked the state of his lower cauldron and found more than enough qi to cast Mountain Hares are Righteous.
The birdsong coming from above dramatically increased in volume, and he ducked his head in rueful frustration. He’d forgotten about the birds, which was a novice’s mistake. He ought to be well beyond those kinds of errors.
Steadying himself, he focused his attention on the quieter sounds coming from the Tiger Masks’ direction. Mixed in with the trilling and chirps was the sobbing of the newest captive. Hong Fei couldn’t catch every word, but a prisoner was attempting to explain the situation to her.
“What… happen to us?” she asked.
“… know,” a gravelly voiced replied. “… take us inside… dead bodies come out.”
“So, we’re… die,” she said.
“Be brave,” the gravelly voice answered.
They’re meant to be sacrificed, Hong Fei realized. Likely, there were also rooms deeper in that were similar to the one found at the Ma estate, a place where a person could be bled to facilitate a curse on fate.
None of these sacrifices had numbers of above them, however, even though they were meant to die. Perhaps they’re not important to fate? I suppose most people aren’t, or else everyone would have a number above them.
Hong Fei noted a Tiger Mask walking toward the table with the one drinking soup. “How… out there?” she asked.
“A mess,” came the reply. “Some dogs… when to die.” He set the bowl of soup. “Will… act?”
The other shook her head. “A dying dog barks. It won’t… anything. In the end, fate… ours.” She laughed, the merriness blending with the songbird’s trilling. “Both Ash… and… Blade have gone south. Another prize…”
“How long?” asked the Soup Eater.
“A day or three…,” was the reply, followed by, “It’s us for… We’ll see.”
Hong Fei scanned through the Tiger Masks once more and re-examined each one carefully to see how they moved. His earlier assessment held: Auntie Ling and him alone would be enough to reap their lives. There was a good chance the Tiger Masks’ upper ranks were out on an expedition of some kind.
He had Fortune’s Favor with him, but a bladed weapon would be useful. He spotted a chisel down below left behind by the laborers who’d once worked this quarry. The tool was made of iron and about a chi long, with a tapered end like one would expect from a spearhead. It would do until he could take a sword from one of the Tiger Masks.
“Get ready,” he whispered, knowing that Auntie Ling would hear him.
ten chapters ahead. :)
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Auntie Ling, an Uncommon Badger, now 3 | 3
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Rock Head, a young man with a RED 3, likely meant to be with Ugly Dog