“Another day or two and we’ll be in Qi,” he said jovially after Wu took the proffered food without comment. “Boy, they’ll be glad to see you!”
Wu said nothing as he started in on the sparse meal, and Hai winced at his friend’s demeanor. Wu had always been quiet, but never this quiet. It was becoming increasingly difficult for Hai to keep up the good cheer, especially when he had to force it, as was happening more and more.
“How long do you think it’ll take for you to crush House Tian?” Hai said, pressing on despite Wu’s mood. “Two weeks? Three at the most?”
Hai smiled his brightest smile but Wu didn’t even look at him, just kept slowly chewing his food with that faraway look that Hai had come to recognize all too well. Unable to keep up the pretense of good cheer any longer, Hai lapsed into silence himself and the two men stared out at the rain around them while silently chewing their food.
TWO
“There it is at last!”
Hai pointed excitedly at the stone marker along the road that marked the border between the Qi and Zhao lands. Finally, after nearly two weeks of riding and walking, they had reached their goal of making it to the State of Qi.
Hai turned back to Wu, an eager look on his face, but Wu just gave the slightest of nods and walked by him. Undeterred, and his excitement undiminished, Hai rushed up to walk beside him.
“Now that we’re in your home state I bet we could secure some horses rather easily,” Hai said, beaming up at Wu. “With horses we could be in Linzi in a day or two.”
“If we can get horses,” Wu replied. “House Jiang only controls the capital and another small area, House Tian the rest; and I don’t think that House Tian will be too eager to see me to the capital any time soon.”
Hai’s brow furrowed. “Surely House Tian doesn’t control every horse trader in the state.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Wu said, “and I’m not sure if I want to find out. I think it’s best if we stick to the smaller roads for awhile and just keep walking. I’m known in Qi, and the last thing I want is for House Tian to know I’ve come back.”
“I’ve never been in Qi before, so I’m not too familiar with the politics,” Hai admitted.
“All you need to know is that House Tian and House Jiang have been fighting for the past hundred years,” Wu explained. “House Jiang, which Duke Kang leads, has been steadily losing ground to House Tian during that whole time. Now they’re barely holding on at all.”
“That’ll all change when you reach the capital, though, right?” Hai asked uncertainly.
“If I can meet with Duke Kang and he gives me men to command, yes,” Wu said. “If for some reason he refuses my offer, then I don’t see House Jiang lasting much longer.”
Hai stopped and a moment later Wu turned back to look at him.
“It’s that bad?”
Wu nodded. “It’s that bad.”
Wu began walking once again but Hai stood a moment longer with the puzzled expression on his face before rushing to catch up.
“Well, if that’s the case, then-”
Wu suddenly raised his hand up, cutting off all further talk. He stood for a moment, then turned back to face Hai.
“Riders,” he said. “In the distance, coming from across the border.
Hai’s eyes grew larger. “Should we…”
“Just keep walking and act normal,” Wu said.
Hai did as he was told, keeping a step behind Wu. After a few more moments the horses could be heard distinctly, coming up on the other side of the low rise that marked the border. After another few moments the first rider appeared, his dark purple robes dust stained from the road. Two more men came up behind him a moment later and all three slowed their horses to a walk as they spotted the two horseless men on the road.
Wu let out a sigh of relief when he saw from the men’s robes: they were of House Jiang and not House Tian. Purple had always been the color worn by the rulers in Linzi, green the color favored by the rebels. Wu lengthened his pace, confident that the men would help him get to the capital that much faster.
“What are you two about?” the lead soldier called down, a grizzled man with few teeth showing in his mouth. Wu and Hai were within ten yards of the three riders, who were now completely stopped next to the border marker atop the rise in the road. “You’re obviously not peasants, and from those swords at your belts I’d say that you’re soldiers, deserters most likely.”
“But from which army?” another of the soldiers asked, this one with a nose that’d been broken at least ten times. “Leaving Zhao, are they?”
“My name is Wu Qi, former general of the Wei Army in Xihe,” Wu said confidently when he had gotten closer to the men. “I come to Qi seeking an audience with Duke Kang.”
The three soldiers looked at one another then back at Wu. The toothless soldier, obviously in command of this small group, kicked his horse and circled around Wu and Hai, looking them both up and down before joining his two companions again.
“Former general,” he said, a frown on his face, “why is that?”
Wu stared back at the man, his face revealing nothing. “After Marquis Wen died, his son, now Marquis Wu, deemed that my services were no longer necessary. I was dismissed from the Army.”
“And now you’ve come here, back to your homeland,” the broken-nosed soldier said. “What makes you think that we want you here?”
Wu narrowed his eyes at the man, but returned his gaze to Toothless. “I feel as though I would be a great help to Duke Kang in his fight against House Tian.”
“How do we know this isn’t some kind of trick?” the third soldier finally piped-up. This one seemed to share none of the sheer ugliness of the other two men, so Wu thought of him as Handsome; he’d learned long ago to name his enemies long before battle commenced.
“General Zhai Jue was supposed to help us against House Tian, but in the end he betrayed us,” Handsome continued.
“And all of the other Wei soldiers have pulled out of Qi weeks ago,” Broken Nose added, “along with those from Zhao and Han.”
Toothless reached for the sword sheathed at his belt. “And now you come here, claiming to be the great Wu Qi. I don’t believe you.” He pulled the sword out and held the gleaming blade up in front of him. “I don’t believe you for one second.”
The man kicked his horse forward to cover the few yards separating him from Wu, but before his horse made it more than two steps an arrow suddenly sprouted from his chest. Wu saw the man’s eyes open wide at the impact, and wider still when he looked down at the arrow sprouting from him. His horse made it a few more steps before he leaned over the side and then fell onto the road with a sickening thud. Toothless was no more.
Wu turned and rushed back the few feet to Hai, who was already nocking another arrow to his bow.
“Hai, no, wait!” he yelled.
“They’d have killed you,” Hai said loudly as he drew the bow up to his face. He began aiming at the next soldier, Broken Nose, who was already racing toward them, his sword held high.
Hai loosed the arrow, but instead of striking the man in the chest as he’d aimed, it struck Broken Nose’s left shoulder instead. The man grunted in pain, but his charge continued on.
Wu raised his sword up just in time to block the first blow from Broken Nose’s sword, bringing it up again to block Handsome’s charge as the first man flew by him on the horse. Steel rang in the air as their swords met, and Wu hoped that Hai had dropped his bow and pulled his own sword.
Handsome continued to swing down at Wu, but Wu was quicker, and in between blocking the man’s wild swings he thrust up with his own sword. One of his thrusts proved successful, piercing into the man’s side. Handsome grunted in pain, but was able to swing down once more, although the attack didn’t have the same force as the others, and Wu knew the man was finished. He thrust up again, piercing the same spot, then pulled his arm back to slash open the man’s stomach. The man fell from his horse onto the
road, but Wu was already turning back to Hai and the other soldier before he’d even hit the ground.
He was a moment too late. Ahead of him Broken Nose was pulling his sword from Hai’s chest. Somehow the man had gotten off of his horse while Wu was engaged with the other soldier. Either he got knocked off by Hai or dismounted on his own. Either way, Wu realized, didn’t really matter anymore.
Broken Nose glanced up at Wu and a smile spread onto his face when he met the General’s eye. He pulled his sword up in front of him, the blood-stained blade taunting Wu. Wu clenched his sword tightly in his hand and moved toward the man at a slow but deliberate walk. Their swords rang in the air once, twice, and then again. The man was capable, but Wu had spent years training men in the finer points of swordsmanship, and this man had just killed his only friend and companion. Anger boiled inside him, but he kept it in check, using it to fuel his attacks. Fear crept into Broken Nose’s eyes as Wu opened up with his full potential, increasing the frequency of his thrusts and swings, bringing down the man’s defenses entirely. First Wu slashed across the man’s left leg, then his left arm. A moment later two more slashes appeared on the opposite sides, the last causing the man’s grip on his sword to falter. It was all that Wu needed: with a quick thrust he drove his sword into the man’s chest, pulled it out, and turned away before the man was even sure of what had happened.
Wu was already at Hai’s side when Broken Nose fell to the ground dead. He peered into his friend’s eyes, but they just stared back at him vacantly. Wu squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, silently cursing House Jiang and Qi. He came to help them, and this is how they repaid him, by attacking him and killing the only friend left to him. He opened his eyes and brought his hand up to close Hai’s eyes, then stood up and looked at the scene around him. There were four dead men in the middle of the road, three of them House Jiang soldiers. The road was not a busy one, Wu knew, but it was still well-traveled. At any moment more soldiers could appear, and the last thing he wanted was to be accused of murdering his own countrymen. Still, he could not just leave Hai lying in the middle of the road, not after the man had left Xihe and traveled this far with him. They had been through too much together for that.
Wu moved over to one of the dead soldiers and wiped his sword clean on the man’s purple robes before sheathing it in his belt. He then moved over to one of the horses and gently took its reins, smoothing down its mane as he did so. The animal was skittish, but didn’t try to run from him. He led it over to Hai’s body then reached up and unbuckled the saddle, letting it fall to the ground. He then bent over, lifted Hai’s body, and threw it over the horse’s back. Well, he thought sadly, Hai finally had a horse again.
The animal took a few steps back, and snorted its discontent. It didn’t like the smell of blood, Wu knew, but he only wanted to ride a short distance until he was off the road and near some trees. Even a small stand would provide enough cover to bury Hai without anyone from the road noticing.
Satisfied that Hai’s body was secure, Wu took the reins and led the animal over to one of the other horses and pulled himself up into the saddle, his robes bunching up about him. He took one last look at the three dead soldiers from House Jiang and shook his head before turning the horses back toward Zhao. As far as he was concerned Qi was dead to him. He kicked the horses into action and didn’t look back.
THREE
“Your name?”
Wu stared down at the man in silence until he stopped writing and raised his eyes to look at Wu.
“Your name,” he said with more insistence.
“Wu Li,” Wu replied quickly.
“Wu Li,” the man repeated as he made the brushstrokes onto the thin parchment, then moved down the page to write several more lines.
Wu stared off as the man wrote. After what had happened at the Qi border he didn’t want to use his real name. Even this far south in Ying, the capital city of the State of Chu, he could be known. While he doubted that swords would be brandished in this small government office full of clerks and scribes, he knew that Chu Army soldiers were only a stone’s throw away and could easily respond to a shout of recognition. He doubted that his name would elicit the same reaction as it had those many weeks ago along the Qi-Zhao border, though. Still, he wasn’t about to find out.
“Qualifications?” the man asked, drawing Wu’s eyes back.
“For more than ten years I’ve served in the bureaucracy of the State of Wei,” Wu said, his words slightly true. “I started out at the bottom and worked my way up to quite an important position assisting their army.”
The man leaned back in his chair. “Is that so?” His eyes bore into Wu as he brushed his long grey beard with his ink-blackened fingers. “If you had attained such an important position, then why did you leave?”
“Following the death of Marquis Wen there were…several shakeups to the army,” Wu said slowly. “The bureaucracy was not immune, and my position was eliminated.”
The man nodded, satisfied with the answer. If anyone knew the fickleness of bureaucracies it would be a pencil-pusher in Chu, Wu thought.
“You’ll certainly not be going right up to an important position in Chu,” the man said, once again resuming his writing. “In fact, you’ll have to start at the bottom, like all new applicants. You’ll be working with men half your age, and they won’t think twice of stabbing you in the back on their rise to the top.” The man stopped writing and looked up again at Wu. “But with if you work hard, and with your experience, I’m sure that you’ll have a decent chance of advancing.”
Wu nodded. Satisfied, the man continued his writing and after another minute came to the end of the paper. He made a few quick flourishes, stamped it, then turned the sheet around to face Wu.
“Seeing as you served with the army in Wei, that will probably be the best place for you in Chu.”
“Oh, no,” Wu said quickly, waving his hands in front of him. “If I have to start at the bottom I’d much rather try my hand at something new.” The last thing that he wanted was a post in an army office where he might be recognized, but of course he couldn’t say that.
The man frowned and turned the paper back around. “Well, in that case, why don’t we put you into…oh, how about administration? It’s the largest department of government, but advancement is still possible.”
“That sounds fine,” Wu said, relieved that the man hadn’t asked more questions.
The man crossed out a few characters here and there, then again turned the paper around to face Wu.
“If you’ll just put your name down here we’ll be all set.”
Wu took the brush and started to write his name. He paused, remembering that his name was now Wu Li, and wrote appropriately before turning the paper back.
“Well, that’s it then,” the man said with a bored look. “You’re to report to administration tomorrow morning. Your duties will begin then.”
Without another look the man put the paper onto a similar stack and reached for another. He quickly began writing once again, all thoughts of Wu forgotten.
Wu turned to leave. The busy office was full of men, both young and old, though mainly young, rushing about with stacks of parchment in their hands or quickly writing with brushes dipped in blank ink from small pots atop their desks. It was haphazard, and their seemed to be no purpose to any of it, but then Wu reminded himself that he was in Chu now, where the bureaucracy had become so bloated in the past fifty years that it was an entity unto itself, a living animal that pulsed and breathed with life, and which could just as quickly rise up and attack as sit at bay.
Wu made it to the door of the inner office and stepped out into the outer office, which was even worse. He managed to parry and dodge his way past clerks busily shuffling about and get out of the building unscathed. He turned back to look at the large stone structure, one of many in that area of the city, and frowned slightly. He hadn’t anticipated spending his waning years shuffling papers in a government office, but he had l
ittle choice. He had left Xihe in a hurry, both angered and humiliated by his loss of rank, and had taken little with him. Not that there was a great deal to take in the first place, but he had regretted his hasty departure several times over the days and weeks since then, especially when his small supply of money began to dwindle. The largest expenditure, and the main reason for his current lack of finances, had been the purchase of the two horses that lasted he and Hai for all of two days before they were confiscated by Zhao Army soldiers. Confiscated wasn’t quite the right word; robbed would be more appropriate. Still, there were half-a-dozen of the soldiers, and while Hai had argued vociferously afterward that he and Wu could have easily dealt with the men, Wu hadn’t been so confident that would have been the right decision. Dispatching them with their swords and bows would have been a simple manner; he doubted any of the six men had been well-trained, at least not as well as he and Hai. It was the worry that more could be a short distance away. The discovery of six of their own killed would have ensured a much larger force was sent out to deal with anyone found, whether guilty or not.
Wu shook off the thoughts as he turned away from the large stone structure and began walking down the cobbled street, careful to keep his eyes out for any gaps in the stones, of which there were many. Despite the large bureaucracy of Chu, they couldn’t keep their streets properly paved.
Wu reached into his robes as he walked and bounced his money pouch in his hand. He could tell by the weight and by the sound of the coins that he was nearing the end of his rope. Within the pouch was barely enough money to secure even the poorest of lodgings and a few meals with it.
It had been much the same a few weeks before, when he had made the difficult decision to sell his sword. Down to his last few coins, he’d walked into a small town near the Wei River. The price he’d received was half of what he would have expected, and at least ten times less than the weapon was worth. But there was little he could do for it; he needed the money more than the steel.
The Warring States, Books 1-3 Page 28
