Clouded Sky cleared his throat and stepped forward, holding out his sword hilt-first. “If it’s my fault that you are here, then let me put it right. There’s a price on my head. Take it and let these people go.”
“No agreements!” Morning Light shouted.
“No,” the Imperial Sword agreed. “We don’t need you, hero, we need the Golden Phoenix. Give us the sword, princess, and we’ll leave in peace.”
There was a moment’s silence. Under the pines on the hill, the Thorns edged closer and waited. Morning Light smiled down the edge of her blade.
“Give you the sword? Never! You’ll have to kill us all first.” She stepped forward. “Thorns!”
Second Brother took a stance. The guards’ torches wavered, ready to set fire to the hall. The rest of the guards drew their weapons as Clouded Sky grabbed his sword. Battle loomed, but the Imperial Sword stretched out his arms like a wall between his own men and his enemies.
“No! Wait!”
All eyes stared at him. In the silence, the Imperial Sword swallowed. What could he do? Despite his bluff, there was no way he would set fire to the hall. He might be forced to kill Morning Light, but he was under no orders to slaughter the villagers.
That left only one option. The very last resort.
Slowly, still holding up a cautioning hand, he reached under his cloak and drew forth his spare weapon. Clouded Sky’s mouth dropped open as he saw the broken spear of his dead blood brother. Then he flushed with rage.
“Thief! How dare you! Where did you get that?”
“At Wudang.” For the first time in months, the Imperial Sword used his real voice, not the rasping whisper he’d adopted to disguise it. “I took it from your old room, shidi.”
“Shidi?” Clouded Sky repeated in shock. Martial younger brother. “No…”
Broken Spear peeled the fabric mask from his face and faced his blood brother with quiet resolve.
“Am I a thief, Clouded Sky? I only took what was my own.”
Heaven and earth stood still. Clouded Sky stared in horror.
After a moment, Morning Light stamped her foot and cried, “Enough talk! Release my people, or eat my sword!”
As she tensed to spring, Clouded Sky threw himself in front of her with his arms outstretched.
“Princess, no! Please! It’s my blood brother.”
Morning Light’s eyes widened, so that she looked very much like Iron Maiden indeed.
“This—?”
Clouded Sky turned to face the Imperial Sword. For a long, awful moment he searched the other man’s face.
“Tell me it’s not true,” he whispered at last. “Please, tell me this is not what it appears to be.”
For one brief heartbeat, Broken Spear dropped his gaze. It was little more than a flicker of the eyes, but it told Clouded Sky everything he needed to know. The knowledge was far worse than thinking his martial elder brother, his shige, was simply dead.
“You know me, shidi,” Broken Spear began.
“I thought I did! Was I wrong?”
“There’s a reason for my actions.”
His actions. Like holding these villagers hostage. Like what he had done to Iron Maiden. Like choosing to serve the Emperor at all. Clouded Sky stepped back, lifting his sword.
“Why? We fought the Emperor together, shige!”
“He offered me a pardon. My freedom…”
“Your freedom? What kind of freedom comes through terrorising and tormenting innocent people? What about peace? What about All-Under-Heaven crying out for relief? You were the one who taught me to care for those things, shige!”
“I still do!” Broken Spear cried the words like one goaded beyond bearing. “How can you think I would betray that dream?”
“Because you have betrayed everything else!” Morning Light burst out.
“The ultimate goal for a warrior is to put his sword aside,” Broken Spear continued. “The ultimate purpose of war is peace. It was as I meditated upon this truth that I was enlightened, and much became clear to me. I realised why we need the Vastly Martial Emperor.”
Clouded Sky shook his head mutely.
“All-Under-Heaven is filled with suffering, with division, with chaos. Because of division, there is war. Because of war, there is suffering. But the Vastly Martial Emperor will bring unity. There will be no more war. There will be no more famine. No more families torn apart, no more homes burned down. Peace.”
“Peace?!” Morning Light stamped her foot.
She might have gone on, but Broken Spear bowed to her.
“The Vastly Martial Emperor understands the necessity of mercy. Give up the Golden Phoenix and swear allegiance! All your people will be spared.”
“Sooner than live a slave, I and my people will die fighting! Better to be broken jade than unharmed brick!”
“Clouded Sky, shidi!” Broken Spear pleaded. “Help me to reason with her!”
Clouded Sky gasped for breath. His chest felt as though it was bound with iron; he thought the air would explode from tension. His Wudang Sect Elders had declared that they must endure the Vastly Martial Emperor, but Broken Spear had determined to join him. Morning Light moved restlessly. Clouded Sky put up a hand to hold her back.
“Honoured lady, wait. He’s right. We must end this with as little bloodshed as possible.”
“What?” Her knuckles whitened on her sword-hilt. “Give him what he wants? Never!”
Clouded Sky shook his head.
“No. But if there’s going to be fighting, that’s my duty. I brought him here, after all.”
She stared at him for a moment, and then, in acknowledgement, lowered her sword.
“A duel!”
Broken Spear started. “Shidi, no! You’re no match for me!”
“I know, shige. I’m no great hero.” Clouded Sky smiled calmly. “That’s why I’m going to fight you.”
They marked off a space in the village square. Broken Spear gave leave for twenty of the Thorns to descend from the cliffs as a guard for Clouded Sky and Morning Light. Together with the imperial guards, these formed the ring in which Broken Spear and Clouded Sky faced each other. Only the torchbearers on the steps of the hall kept their posts.
At the centre of the ring of warriors, Clouded Sky transferred his sword from palm to palm as Broken Spear twirled his truncated spear and took a stance. Morning Light’s golden sleeves floated in the wind as she held the Golden Phoenix like a bar between them.
“This is a duel to the death,” she announced. “If Clouded Sky kills Imperial Sword, the guards will surrender and my people will conduct them out of my realm. None will ever return on pain of instant death! If Imperial Sword kills Clouded Sky, then the Golden Phoenix Sword will be handed over to him.” She lifted her chin proudly. “But my people will never, never submit to the Vastly Martial Emperor! Not while the Coiling Dragon King’s daughter still lives! Begin!”
She struck the ground with her foot and soared backwards out of the circle, leaving the two combatants to face each other.
Clouded Sky adopted a stance. Broken Spear looked at him sadly.
“Shidi, I don’t want to kill you.”
“You leave me no choice, brother! If I don’t fight you like this, then what happens? Will you burn these people alive?”
A hot denial rose to Broken Spear’s lips, but he forced it back. How could he say it? If he admitted that he would never kill the villagers, then he might as well surrender now and cut his own throat before the Emperor did it for him.
He knew what his reasoning boiled down to: Better that Clouded Sky should die rather than the villagers. Better that the villagers should die rather than himself and his men.
Second Brother was right: there was no way to serve this Emperor and remain a righteous man.
He ought to have known. He ought to have done anything rather than stand here preparing to kill his blood brother so that he could save his own neck.
When did he become such a coward?
/> Clouded Sky attacked first in a low, furious lunge. Broken Spear launched himself into the air, avoiding Clouded Sky’s blade and stabbing toward his head with the half-spear. In the blink of an eye, without warning, Clouded Sky changed direction. His sword-strike was powerful enough to create a howling wind as he swung it.
Boom!
It met the steel-sheathed haft of the spear with an explosion of energy that blew both of them several paces back. They circled warily. Broken Spear could see that the fight was not truly on Clouded Sky’s mind—but when the question came, he was unprepared.
“Did you betray Roaring Tiger to the emperor, shige?”
Broken Spear swallowed.
“Roaring Tiger brought grief and trouble to all of Hubei.”
The colour drained from Clouded Sky’s face; the tip of his sword trembled.
“So you turned him over to the Emperor?”
“I was sure he would see reason!” Once, Broken Spear had thought it would be impossible to make this confession, but in this moment it came to him as a relief. A chance to justify himself. “The Emperor offered Roaring Tiger the same terms he offered me, but he was too stubborn to accept them. It is because of men like him that All-Under-Heaven is in the trouble it is today!”
“It is because of men like you that the Emperor has any power at all!” Once again, Clouded Sky launched forward. Under the intensity of his furious attack, Broken Spear was forced back across the ring, unable to do anything but defend. Clouded Sky’s martial arts were not as polished as his own, but they held a raw, unpredictable force that was new to him. At last, just as the guards began to give way behind Broken Spear, he saved himself with a wild leap, soaring over Clouded Sky’s head. The black sword slashed. Broken Spear landed on his feet, but there was a gash across his left forearm. First blood.
Morning Light and the Thorns cheered.
Broken Spear backed away. One of his guards offered him a strip of cloth to bind the wound, and within a few seconds he had knotted the bandage tight with his teeth.
“You would have trusted me once, shidi. You would have believed that my heart was honest.”
Clouded Sky looked wretched. “Have you behaved like an honest man?”
“I have tried to do the right thing. I knew the emperor’s men were ruthless, and I have always done what I could to mitigate their cruelty. I would not let them lay a hand on Iron Maiden. I kept her alive.”
“You kept her chained in a cage like a beast. Sick, starving, thirsting, in agony!”
“I did her as little harm as I could!”
“But you did not have the courage to do justice!”
Clouded Sky moved with devastating force and speed.
“For Roaring Tiger!”
The force of his blow, though Broken Spear blocked it, was bone-shattering. It tossed him across the ring like a leaf on the wind.
“For Iron Maiden!”
Three strikes of the sword and Broken Spear fell to the ground, clutching a pierced acupoint on his thigh.
“For All-Under-Heaven!”
And Clouded Sky stabbed down toward his friend’s heart.
Shing!
With one last panicked motion Broken Spear managed to deflect the blow. Instead of cleaving his heart the black sword sank into his shoulder, pinning him to the ground. As a line of red welled up around the blade, all the madness went out of Clouded Sky, leaving him shaking and sweating, cold with horror.
Broken Spear gave a soft groan of pain as Clouded Sky yanked his sword out and staggered back, sickened as though the wound was his own.
“Tell your men to quench their torches and surrender. Then go and never return. Or I will kill you.”
Broken Spear seemed to shrink in on himself with shame. Then he turned onto his elbow and looked at his guards.
“Do as he says.”
The guards hesitated. One of them dropped his torch on the ground, but Second Brother did neither. Instead, his hands dipped to his waist and then flung out.
Morning Light gave an exclamation and leaped into the air. Shingg! The Golden Phoenix swept aside a flying dagger. Thunk! A second passed harmlessly under her feet and sank into the wall of the house behind her.
A third embedded itself deep in her shoulder. A fourth, in her stomach. They had flown so fast that no one saw them, not even the princess. Morning Light staggered a little, staring down at them in shocked surprise.
Already Second Brother held new daggers in his hands, ready to throw again.
“Stand your ground!” he shouted to the other guards. “The golden witch must die and her sword taken to Nanjing. Those were the Emperor’s orders!”
“Second Brother! No!” Broken Spear lifted a shaking hand. “We had an agreement!”
Second Brother smiled ruthlessly; Clouded Sky sensed the malice of his killing aura like a desert wind or a dragon’s breath.
“Did I say my name was Second Brother? I lied! I am Snow Wind, the Emperor’s commissioner! Already my Venomous Knives spread poison through the witch’s veins. Now give up the sword!”
Morning Light’s mouth firmed. She wrapped her fingers around the dagger-hilts and grunted as she drew them out. The wounds bubbled as, with an exertion of her qi energy, she expelled the poison from her blood.
Snow Wind’s mouth dropped open.
“Thorns!” cried Morning Light. “Attack!”
At once her twenty Thorns charged the Emperor’s guards. More Thorns leaped from their hiding-places among the roofs and walls of the village; others soared down from the hillside. Snow Wind swore and threw his daggers. Snatching a torch from the guard beside him, he thrust it into the bales of hay that surrounded the hall. Morning Light shouted and lifted her sword to defend herself, but Snow Wind’s flying daggers never reached her.
At Clouded Sky’s feet, Broken Spear coughed blood as the four daggers thudded home in his body.
“Shige!” Clouded Sky fell to his knees.
Flames roared as they took hold of the village hall. For a moment the Thorns were in chaos, as all of them raced to unbar the doors and rescue their oldest parents and youngest children. In the confusion, the imperial guards attacked, killing a few. Then, quickly, the Thorns rallied. A small band joined battle while the others fetched water or blankets to smother the flames.
In front of the hall, Morning Light screamed like a bird of prey and launched herself at Snow Wind.
Among all the warriors of the martial arts world, Snow Wind was ranked among the five greatest. Not a flicker of nervousness crossed his face as the vengeful princess descended upon him. Instead, he loosed his remaining daggers toward her and drew his paired hooks as she swatted the Venomous Knives aside.
Then they met. Snow Wind stomped forward trying to catch the supple Golden Phoenix between his hooks and snap the blade. Morning Light fought like a dragon flying or a phoenix dancing, striking glancing blows, never staying in one place long enough to be caught. The pair looked like the boiling clouds of a thunderstorm, black and flashing with gold, employing not just weapons but also fingers, palms, fists, and feet. The energy their weapons possessed sparked with each blow.
Lying in Clouded Sky’s arms, Broken Spear watched them with glazing eyes.
“The Heaven-Relying Dragon-Slaying Sword Skill,” he breathed. “At last! I see it with my own eyes!”
Clouded Sky blinked back his tears. Even as he watched, the Golden Phoenix danced and flickered like a tongue of lightning, its every motion causing it to thrum with a sweet and deadly melody. Step by step, the princess forced Snow Wind to retreat. As powerful and unorthodox as his martial arts were, he was no match for Morning Light.
Clouded Sky jumped as Broken Spear’s bloody hand clutched at his neck. The wounded man’s fingers tightened and dragged him down, eye to fading eye. Broken Spear stared at the duel, his whole body trembling, his voice the thinnest of whispers.
“I was wrong, shidi!”
Gently, Clouded Sky tried to loosen Broken Spear’s gr
ip. “Lie back, martial brother! Don’t waste your strength!”
Broken Spear only gripped harder.
“I should have relied on Heaven,” he rasped. “But I was too afraid. Look where it has brought me! Don’t—don’t—be afraid—shidi.”
A spasm passed through him. All his muscles contracted, pulling Clouded Sky into one final, involuntary embrace. Then he fell back in Clouded Sky’s arms.
“Shige! No!” Frantically, Clouded Sky shook the body. “Don’t leave me again!”
But there was no reply.
A familiar voice reached him.
“Clouded Sky dage! Quick! Lu Dongbin Pierces the Dragon!”
The words jolted him out of his grief. His sword lay on the ground beside him. He grabbed it without questioning or thinking and stabbed upward as directed.
It struck the acupoint of a guard attacking from behind. The man fell with a howl of pain.
Clouded Sky jumped to his feet and backed away as three more guards converged on him. Aside from Second Brother, still locked in his duel with Morning Light, they were the only guards remaining. Most had now surrendered or fallen, and the Thorns were now busy with the burning hall.
Exhausted by the fighting he had already done, and still reeling from the shock of Broken Spear’s appearance and death, Clouded Sky felt ready to give up. How could he hope to fight them all?
With a shout, they attacked.
The voice called again.
“Hero-Killing Forefinger! Roaming Wind on Rainbow Mountain! Jade Maiden Throws the Shuttle!”
Clouded Sky moved almost blindly, but each stance countered the attacks of his enemies.
“Assault on Heaven-Defying Gate! Iron Rod Breaks the Vase! Serpent-Crushing Divine Heel!”
These were stances he’d never learned. Could they be part of the Heaven-Relying Dragon-Slaying Sword Skill? But that would mean—
His heart soared with hope.
“Heroine!” Somehow, he found his rhythm. The weariness rolled away, leaving him alert and buoyant. “Heroine! Where are you?”
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