Pathway - Chapter 215

Fresh air and startled cries from the beggars swamped her. Chang Chang blinked in the darkness, trying to adjust her eyes. She heard a clattering on the ladder and looked up.

Tarvin stood halfway up on the rungs, the crossbow leveled at her chest.

“Well met, lady,” he said. “I’m glad you could see reason.” Ju Feng released her and rolled to his feet. He was an easy target, but Tarvin kept the crossbow trained on Chang Chang.

“I’m not going to bother with you, Ju Feng,” he said, his gaze never leaving Chang Chang’s. “Tales of your weapon-catching skills abound. But I don’t think your lady is quite as talented. Step back, please. Give Chang Chang room to climb the ladder.”

He climbed back up, slowly, keeping the weapon level on her. When he was back on the dock, he motioned to her.

“Climb up and keep both hands on the rungs,” he said. “Bring your clever disguise.”

Chang Chang picked up the cloak and spared one last glance at Ju Feng and the cluster of beggars. She made her eyes move unseeing over Zu Ruo and Fai Ma, who were huddled near the back of the crowd.

They must have been herded there by the others, for protection, Chang Chang thought. Zu Ruo gripped Fai Ma’s arm to keep him from moving. Chang Chang inclined her head a fraction at the dwarf, as if to say, keep him back. Zu Ruo returned the nod.

“Thank you,” Chang Chang said to Hatsolm, who stood at the front of the group.

“Be wary, lass,” Hatsolm said. His eyes were sad. “Remember what I said. You aren’t in a child’s world now.” She nodded. She didn’t look at Ju Feng.

The ladder climb was quick, much faster than the descent had been, though she tried to go as slowly as possible. When she was on the dock, she held out her disguise cloak to Tarvin.

“Put it on,” Tarvin said. “I want to see what you look like.”

The group below stirred angrily, but Chang Chang didn’t react. She unfolded the cloak and draped it over herself. Immediately, the sores reappeared, and her flesh took on the ghostly pallor of disease.

“Is this to your liking?” Chang Chang said. “It’s not a punishment equal to Therondol’s death.”

“You’re right,” Tarvin said. “I take my vengeance where I can.”

“I understand, but if you march a plagued woman through WaterWay at the end of a crossbow, you’re bound to attract unwanted attention. Is your vengeance worth that?”

“Worth my life and yours.” He took her by the shoulder and spun her around so her back was to him. He put the crossbow at the base of her spine. “Walk, lady, and don’t fret. We aren’t going far.”

Wang Xiu was cold, and he didn’t like the harbor smell. Not that anyone asked his opinion. He walked slightly behind Liu Da, his partner. The yaomo with the funny face had told them to split up, but Wang Xiu never went anywhere without Liu Da. When Liu Da wasn’t around, things got fuzzy. If the yaomo was angry, well that was too bad.

“What we doing out here, Liu Da?” Wang Xiu asked. He must have asked this question before, because Liu Da turned around and made a dirty gesture at him. Wang Xiu grinned. He couldn’t help it if his memory was short.

They fell into step together, but Liu Da was quiet for a while. That didn’t bother Wang Xiu. He knew Liu Da would answer him before too long.

“You know, Boss, I’m walking here, asking mysyaomo that same question. Frightening that I’m starting to think at your level, isn’t it?”

Liu Da always called him “Boss.” Wang Xiu wasn’t any higher rank than anyone else in the band, but he was bigger than all of them, and stronger.

“If you don’t know why we’re out here, Liu Da, how do you know where we’re going?” Wang Xiu asked, not because he was overly curious, but because he didn’t want to get lost in WaterWay. He didn’t like the place.

He didn’t like the city much, either. If they were traveling, he’d be happy. Outside the walls, the air was cleaner, and there weren’t so many people. People scared him. They moved too fast, and he had a hard time keeping up with their speech.

It wasn’t that way with Liu Da. Liu Da had lost part of his leg in a tomb raid, had it chopped off by a portcullis that hadn’t stayed up like it was supposed to. So now he walked with a limp. Wang Xiu had no trouble keeping pace with Liu Da.

“We’re going to stay close to those whale bones, or whatever they are,” Liu Da said, “maybe go in for some ale. Let the yaomo rot for a while, I say.”

“Boss won’t like that,” Wang Xiu said, referring this time to their actual boss, Huizhong.

Liu Da stopped again, so suddenly Wang Xiu almost ran him over. “Have you got maggots for brains?” Liu Da said. “Huizhong’s dead. He got himself killed in that fight with Saragui’s guards. We’re thin in numbers, my dumb friend, and it’s starting to make me anxious.”

It took an effort, but finally Wang Xiu remembered. That’s right. Huizhong was dead. So were others of his friends. What if Liu Da was next?

Liu Da seemed to know what he was thinking. “Don’t you worry, Boss, nothing’s going to happen to me. I’m thinking the coin’s not enough to find this little girl. I’m thinking we go off, round up the rest of the company what’ll come with us, and leave the city tonight. What you think of that?”

Liu Da seemed confident, and that made Wang Xiu feel somewhat better. “Where will we find the others, Liu Da? We’re all split up.

Liu Da?”

But Liu Da wasn’t listening to him. He was looking at something behind Wang Xiu. Without a word, he grabbed Wang Xiu’s arm and pulled him behind a stack of barrels.

“What is it, Liu Da?” Wang Xiu asked, but Liu Da waved a hand for him to be quiet. He pointed across the harbor. On a walkway that ran paralell to their own, two figures stood. One of them, a woman, had a crossbow pointed at her face.

“That girl look familiar to you, Boss?” Liu Da asked. He sounded delighted.

Wang Xiu squinted at the woman. She was shaking out a bundle of rags. She looked tired and underfed. Pretty, though. He would have liked to have a wife as pretty as her. Then, the larger impact of Liu Da’s question hit him.

“Is that her?” Wang Xiu said. “The girl the yaomo wants?”

“I’d lay any amount of coin it is,” Liu Da said. “Looks like someone got to her first, though.”

“He doesn’t look nice,” Wang Xiu said.

The man with the crossbow was talking to the girl; they couldn’t hear what was said. The girl cast the rags over herself. Her body shriveled and transformed, assuming a horrifying shape.

Wang Xiu clutched Liu Da’s arm. “What’d he do to her?” he said, frantic. “He’s cursed her!”

Liu Da shook him off. “No, he didn’t. He’s no wizard, not a dark god’s priest, either. It’s just a disguise, so people won’t know who she is. Doesn’t matter, though, we’ve already seen her.”

“We should tell the yaomo,” Wang Xiu said. The yaomo would come and get the girl, and they could finally leave Mistshore.

“Still trying to think, are we?” Liu Da said. “Don’t you remember, we’re supposed to bring the girl to the yaomo. Then we get our reward.”

“But it’s only the two of us,” Wang Xiu said. “I thought the yaomo wanted us to tell him so all of us could go after her together.”

“The yaomo hasn’t managed to do anything right since we started this chase,” Liu Da said angrily. “We bring the girl to him, we get more coin than the others, and we get out of here sooner. That sounds right to me, Boss. What about you?”

The explanation sounded simple enough, but it still bothered Wang Xiu. He tried to put the doubts out of his mind. He could never remember anything properly. Maybe Liu Da was right, and it would be better to bring the girl directly to the yaomo. It would save time, and Wang Xiu wanted to get out of WsterWay more than anything.

“What’s the plan?” Wang Xiu asked.

“Well, seeing as that fellow with the crossbow’s not one of us, he must be a Watch spawn in disguise. First we take her from him, but we have to make sure he doesn’t shoot her, or us. Think you can get the crossbow if I get him?”

“Yes,” Wang Xiu said. The one thing he was good at was taking things. Lately they were objects from tombs and ruins, but he’d taken people before, for coin or food.

“Let’s go, then,” Liu Da said. “There’s a lady in distress.”