Chapter 407 — Repeat Customer

CHAPTER 407

Repeat Customer

“He's coming back,” Shi Feng said.

“Obviously,” Sima Lan said.

They were crouched in the rafters of the Valley's herb drying shed, on the fourth night after the ransom. Below them, long racks of moonroot and dusk-fern hung in the dark like sleeping bats. The shed stood against the northern wall, one gate away from the Heart Garden. If the Blood Lotus wanted to do real harm, this was where they would try next.

Bai Chenxi was in the far corner, with her frost sword across her knees. She had agreed to the plan with three words. “Fine. Be quiet.” That was the longest speech she had made since the ransom.

“How can you be sure?” Bai Chenxi whispered.

“They need the raid to succeed after paying so much to get him back,” Sima Lan whispered. “He won’t choose to return, but the people sending him will insist. A cornered dog jumps the wall.”

“They didn't pay for him,” Bai Chenxi said. “They paid to get him back.”

“That's the same,” Sima Lan said. “He knows the price now.”

Bai Chenxi opened her mouth, shut it, and looked at Shi Feng.

“She's usually right,” Shi Feng said.

“You can admit it without sounding surprised,” Sima Lan whispered. “Now lower your voice. We’re supposed to be waiting quietly.”

A latch clicked outside. All three of them went silent.

The shed door opened a hand's width. A red cloth mask appeared in the gap, with a black lotus stitched on the cheek. Then another. They came in one at a time, slowly, and this time nobody was shouting. Eight raiders. No jars. They carried coiled rope and short knives, and they moved on the balls of their feet.

The last man through the door limped.

Xue Mang limped in without a mask. He’d trimmed his beard short since the fire caught it. With the saber held low, he checked the racks and ceiling, visibly dreading what might be waiting above him.

“Captain,” one of the raiders whispered. “Are you sure—”

“Quiet,” Xue Mang whispered back. “They'll be waiting. They're always waiting. The boy with the grey sword has a mind like a ledger.”

“Then why are we here?” the raider whispered.

“Because the Third Banner is behind schedule,” Xue Mang said, and his voice cracked. “And if I go home with nothing again, I will be carrying water for the rest of my—”

Shi Feng dropped from the rafters.

He landed behind Xue Mang with the Sword already out. Sima Lan came down on the other side of the door, closing it with her heel. Bai Chenxi stepped out of the corner and the whole shed filled with cold white light from her blade.

The raiders spun. Two ran for the door and found it blocked. One threw his knife and hit a rack of moonroot.

“Mind the herbs,” Shi Feng said. “Those are billed.”

Xue Mang turned very slowly. His saber had not left its place against his leg. He looked at Shi Feng, at the grey blade resting on his collarbone, and then at the ceiling.

“Not you again,” Xue Mang said.

“You again,” Shi Feng said. “Ransom's gone up.”

“What?” Xue Mang said.

“Second offence,” Sima Lan said, appearing at the captain's elbow with her slate. “Attempted entry into a drying shed, which is an aggravating location. Repeat customer surcharge. Rope, eight lengths, confiscated. Knife in the moonroot, damage assessed at sixty. The knee, still unpaid, with interest.”

“Interest?!” Xue Mang cried.

“Seven percent each night,” Sima Lan said. “Four nights. You had the terms before you left. I didn’t add this because you came back.”

“Four thousand five hundred,” Shi Feng said.

“Four thousand, five hundred and twelve,” Sima Lan said.

“We round down for loyal customers,” Shi Feng said.

“Thank you,” Xue Mang said, in a tiny voice.

Nobody said anything. The seven other raiders, still frozen, looked at their captain.

“Did he just thank us?” one of them whispered.

“I didn't hear that,” another said.

“Captain, are you all right?” a third raider whispered.

“…”

“I'm fine,” Xue Mang said, with enormous dignity. His whole face was pink. “It is a courtesy. One does not abandon courtesy because one is on the floor.”

Xue Mang had lowered himself to the floor without being pushed. His injured knee trembled. The captain had feared another capture for four days, and now that it had happened, he seemed too exhausted to stand.

Bai Chenxi lowered her frost sword. She was looking at the captain the way a person looks at a stray dog that has been kicked once too often to bite.

“Alchemist Shi,” Bai Chenxi said, in her flat voice. “He's not lying about the schedule. The Banner is behind. Somebody is pushing them.”

“I noticed,” Shi Feng said.

“Who?” Bai Chenxi asked Xue Mang.

“I will say nothing,” Xue Mang said, with the exhausted bravery of a man about to say something. “Not under torture. Not under—”

“Dinner is at six,” Sima Lan said. “We serve rice.”

Xue Mang closed his mouth.

Shi Feng sheathed the Sword on his back and was about to give the order to take them to the woodshed when something made him look up. Through the shed's high window, above the north wall, he could see the Heart Garden's protective array.

It was a dome of pale green light, and tonight it looked thin. For a breath it dimmed, as if something very heavy had leaned against it.

Then it steadied.

“That's the third time this week,” Sima Lan said, so quietly that only he heard.

“I know,” Shi Feng said.

Somewhere beyond that wall, one person was holding it alone.