14 Part 13

They took a rickshaw to the Golden Slumbers, but didn't rush the young man pulling them. Lian wanted him fresh and told him they'd pay him double if he got them to the edge of the city in under twenty minutes from the Golden Slumbers.

Lian kept a tight watch out for Duan or any thugs he might hire to impede their progress, but there wasn't any sign of them. The night was still and quiet as a whole, a regular work night in a city that made most of its living off of men and women who worked hard from sun-up to sun-down and then recuperated overnight. There were only a few pedestrians and even fewer carriages out that late in the evening.

They made it to the Golden Slumbers just after 10:30 by Lian's estimation. Her mind was acutely focused on time, and she kept a very accurate internal clock. She would know down to the minute when Mei finally broke contact with the brothel. They approached at the back, the two high stories of old white stone standing tall above them both as they disembarked from the carriage and instructed the driver to take a breath. There were no guards. No sign of life at all except the two women and the driver. Lian didn't like it, didn't like what it implied: that Duan already knew everything he wanted to know.

Mei made her way to the wall of the building slowly, and Lian followed behind. Their steps were audible, each settling of a foot and the rustling of their clothes seemed to shout in the middle of the quiet night. It gave their approach weight, as if they were about to steal something priceless. Which they were.

Mei reached the wall and paused. Lian stood next to her and looked to the woman, then to the wall, and back. Mei's face was unreadable, but her eyes were not. They were staring at the wall with a mixture of feelings, and Lian realized that of course this would be the place Mei would have some difficulty leaving. The one place that had been her home.

"Are you scared?" Lian asked.

"…No," Mei responded, more fact than confidence in the word. She breathed in deeply, then raised her hand up and pressed her palm to the stone.

Lian watched, then did the same, both of their hands on the cool wall. There was a thin texture to it, small pockmarks and grime where the street had eaten away at it over the years. It was old stone, Lian realized. Older than she expected.

"Goodbye," Mei whispered, and dropped her hand.

Lian dropped hers, grabbed Mei's, and they were off. They boarded the rickshaw again and commanded the driver to hurry. His legs were thick and his cart was well-oiled. The bearings in the wheels rattled occasionally but he didn't slow down, just ran and ran and ran, impressing even Lian. They made it to the hole in the wall in the twenty minutes. Lian was encouraged they were making good time.

There though, Lian finally found someone waiting for them. Not at the hole itself, but on a balcony a street over. Mei didn't notice – her face was focused beyond recognition – but Lian didn't miss it. As she paid the driver his double wages and then followed Mei into the abandoned drain, she saw the man on the balcony wave something into the air. It would not be a clean escape.

The drain was a narrow dirt semi-circle of a cave that ran under the walls and was held up by rotting wooden planks for another two hundred yards after that. It was only two feet tall and just as wide, so they were forced to crawl the length of it in complete darkness. Mei went first, but despite having gone out this way before, she seemed unfamiliar with the curve of the tunnel, and more distressingly, she was scared. Her breathing was hard and fast after the first fifty yards, and she stopped more than once to catch her breath in the stagnant, almost putrid air. There were mounds of dirt and tree roots that jutted their way through everything, bringing a stop to their progress every five yards. Mei had to constantly navigate through the debris and obstacles, pushing and pulling in the dark, removing her bag and then pulling it after her.

"Do you want me to go first? I can use my magic to light the way."

"No." Mei responded with determination and frustration. "I can do this."

She could, but it was slow going and Lian quickly grew agitated at the thought that their lead in the theoretical schedule Lian had concocted was slipping away. She wasn't worried the stableman would leave without delivering their horses, but she was unfamiliar with the country to the east, and the thought that they were sacrificing valuable minutes when there could be any number of impediments to the east, terrified her.

She decided on reassurance. She groped for Mei's ankle just in front of her – invisible even to Lian's eyes, and assured her. "Yes you can."

They continued down the dark dirt hole for another half hour. Lian knew it was at least 11:45 by the time they emerged into the moonlight in the middle of a dried lakebed, the city's walls far behind them to the west.

Lian saw just how badly Mei had done in the cave. Her face was stricken with panic – whether claustrophobia or just fear of failure – and she couldn't calm her breathing. Usually Lian would instruct someone like this in one of the Shuli Go meditation rituals, but they didn't have time.

"We have to go, I'm sorry," she told Mei, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Mei couldn't even reply, just nodded painfully and swallowed, her mouth slack-jawed as she tried to gulp in the warmer, cleaner air. Mei pointed toward the forest in front of them, then shakily got to her feet and started walking forward.

This close to the end of the month, the moon was out in full force, and it lit their way, even through the thickness of the forest. The ground though was still rough, and Mei continued to have trouble doing anything more than a brisk walk. Lian considered picking her up and carrying her to the horses, even though she knew it would tire herself out right when they might need her to access her swords the most. Eventually Mei began to pick up her pace, and they started making progress on the mile it would take them to reach the clearing and the horses.

Neither of them talked. Mei was focused on the stressed logistics of each step, and Lian was focused on discerning which of the forest's creaks and snaps could be an encircling horde of Duan's mercenaries. The mile passed slowly, and in Mei's stressed focus on the ground beneath her, they wandered slightly off course. As the trees started to thin around them, Lian realized they were slightly south of where they had intended to meet their horses. But they were right where Duan had expected them to be.

"Mei, stop!" Lian whispered to the woman who had fallen behind her. Mei froze, her mouth snapped shut in fear too powerful even for her need for oxygen. Lian had smelled him – rich perfume he wore even when he was miles away from the city. "Out with it! You and your men!" Lian shouted, withdrawing her Shuli Go sword and holding it in both hands, ready.

Duan's chuckle greeted her from another fifty yards away, behind the last tall tree before the clearing. He emerged alone, his robes embroidered in gold reflecting the moonlight. His arms were held out and his palms were visible. "There are no men," he shouted, his hands waving for the two women to come closer.

Mei ran up to Lian's side and gripped her arm. Lian glanced at her. The woman's face was alive with terror. "Lian," she whispered, almost crying already.

Lian focused on assessing the situation. There was a moment of stillness in the forest, then a gush of wind that swirled around her. It seemed like Duan was telling the truth. She couldn't smell, hear, or see another human being. If he had brought men with the intention of killing Lian and Mei, they were better trained than any mercenaries or guards she'd ever met.

"It's ok," she whispered to Mei. "Let's go see what he has to say. And if we don't like it, I'll kill him," she winked at Mei. The gesture didn't even register. Mei was frozen, her hands a vice on Lian's arm.

Lian moved forward slowly, keeping Duan in her sights, and Mei was attached at her side. Lian wouldn't let him hurt Mei. She wasn't scared of that. But she was scared.

"That's right, come here," Duan goaded them on, smiling the whole way. They made it to within ten feet of the man, the last tree just to their sides, when Mei froze in place and dragged Lian to a stop. "No men," Duan repeated. "I didn't come here to hurt anyone."

"Why did you come here then?" Lian asked, forcing calm into every corner of her voice.

"To get my property back."

Lian's anger turned physical once again, and she fought back the temptation to kill the man. "She told me about your contract. I don't care about it."

"You should," he replied with the confidence of the rich and arrogant. He took another step toward them, and Lian pointed her sword in his direction. He stopped, but his smile just grew. "You should. She does."

"We're leaving," Lian insisted. "Tonight. We're going to get her away from the curse, and you're going to go without one more prostitute. It won't hurt you."

"No, I suppose it won't. But it will hurt her."

Lian's mind raced. He knew something about the curse. Would trying to leave hurt Mei? The thought made her sick. "What do you know?" Lian asked through gritted teeth.

"The same as her," he nodded to Mei, putting his hands in his robe and rocking on his feet. "She signed the contract, she knows all about it."

"Her parents signed the contract," Lian spat back. "And you've just been exploiting her since then."

Mei's grip tightened even more, and she croaked something from Lian's side, but Lian couldn't make it out.

"Is that what she told you? I don't remember seeing her parents' signatures on it. Of course I wasn't there when it was originally signed, but… well…"

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Ah…" Duan's smile grew in tandem with Lian's hatred for him. "She didn't tell you the truth, did she?"

Mei's voice grew, and suddenly she was pleading with Lian. "Please, Lian. Let's just go for it. Let's run." To the northeast their horses whinnied, beckoning them.

"Her parents didn't sign a thing," Duan said. "She did. She agreed to the contract."

Mei's voice grew angry, and she finally spoke to Duan. "My parents owed money…"

"Yes, they must have. But you did sign the contract, didn't you dear?"

"What is he talking about?" Lian asked Mei, doubt seeping back into her – all the half-truths she'd detected in Mei's behavior suddenly looking more like lies. When she looked into Mei's face she found it tortured, and she realized they weren't truth or lies. They were just Mei's own truths, the solitary ones in her head.

"I was just a child…" Mei said to both of them and neither of them.

"Yes, it was so, so long ago," Duan agreed in a patronizing tone. "What now? 120 years? 125?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Lian demanded to one of them, both of them.

"Lian, please, let's run."

"She didn't tell you everything, did she?"

"Please, Lian. Let's just go. Now."

"She can't do that," Duan stated, as a matter-of-fact. "She can't leave this forest."

"You!" Lian pointed her sword at Duan and took two steps towards him, until it was mere feet from his chest and Mei was left behind her. "Tell me what the fuck you're talking about."

Duan's hands went back up to show he was no threat. "She lied to you. You shouldn't feel bad. She's a whore, and whores lie. Whores are whatever you want them to be."

"Tell me!" Lian took another step forward.

Duan nodded, then explained. "She signed the contract. Yes, her parents' debts were written off, but that's not why she did it. She did it for what it promised. Eternal youth and beauty. Like from the Book of Dragons. She's almost 150 years old, madam Zhao. And so close to fulfilling her end of the contract. Just another fifty years and she'll be free to go wherever she wishes. No more nights needed at the Golden Slumbers."

Lian snapped her head back to look at Mei, hoping to find confirmation, anything that would stop Lian's mind from spinning. But instead Mei was shaking her head. "No! He's lying! Don't listen to him Lian."

"I assure you I'm not lying. The contract was quite clear. It was written by the Shei Chaste who created the magic. It's a shame they caught those men and cut their heads off in the square like that. If only we could have had more long-serving employees like Mei here."

Lian's sword dropped to her side and she trembled back to Mei. "Is it true?" Her voice was weak, her entire body felt weak. "You… you saw those men get their heads cut off? After they did…something to you?"

Mei's indignation rose, tears streaming down her face as she shook her head no and shouted back. "No! I just heard that story, I swear it!"

Lian stared at her lover's face, but that love was getting in the way. All she saw were fights and jokes over badly prepared meals, songs by firelight, and books scattered over the bed before sleep claimed them. She had no idea who was telling the truth.

"Lian," Mei pleaded. "Please. We can do it. We can outrun this curse."

"She can't leave," Duan repeated.

Lian looked back at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean she can't leave," Duan repeated. "The contract says she has to stay within two miles of the Golden Slumbers until her term of service is up. If she were to leave, well… let's just say time would be looking for back pay on all the years she's cheated it."

Lian looked back to Mei, whose face was entirely clouded in tears. It was there, crying on the edge of the forest by moonlight, that the tears framed her beauty beyond measure. Lian felt stupid. Idiotic. She realized how much she'd lied to herself in getting to this point: she knew nothing of this woman except that she was beautiful. Everything else had been a set of lies to make herself believe she was in love. Lian, it turned out, had been the whore all along.

She opened her mouth to ask more questions, to get some measure of the truth out of both of them, but she had nothing to say. It was past the point of words, she knew. They were there, on the threshold, and it was only action that could decide it. She could pick Mei up, knock her out, take her back to the brothel where at least she would be safe, physically. Or she could take her by the hand and run, out into that field and hope for the best.

Except it wasn't her action to take.

"Mei," she whispered, "it's up to you. I'll go with you wherever you want."

Mei broke into a smile amid her tears. She reached out for Lian in a frantic pawing motion, until Lian stepped towards her and took the woman's hand in her own. Lian looked Mei in the face until Mei had wiped away the tears and was smiling again, her grip on Lian's hand harder than stone. "I want to go with you. I want to be part of a family again."

Lian nodded, then turned to face the field. Mei did the same, their hands joined together at perfect height, both of them comfortable for a moment. They looked out into the open grass, and they set off to walk.

It took four strides and then it struck. Mei's grip weakened and she collapsed. Lian dropped her sword and pulled Mei close to her. Mei's entire body convulsed and she screamed in agony. Lian flipped her over so she faced upwards, and the Mei who was looking at her had aged ten years, her features shrunken slightly, the skin wrinkled and worn, her hand a little more frail than it had been moments earlier.

It took minutes. Long, painful minutes in which she died. Lian watched her lover go from beautiful treasure to a withered mass of skin and bone in horrifying slow motion. At first the pain was too much for Mei to do anything but writhe, but as she approached what would have been the end of her life – her body shorter, her flesh shrunken, and her hair deathly white – she began to whisper something. Lian leaned in close to listen, but only caught a few words before those too stopped, along with all of her breathing entirely.

"Tell him… Quan… tell Quan…"

And then she was dead.

But the spell was not finished, because just as Duan had said, time continued to eviscerate her. Lian let go when she realized the hand she had been holding had turned to bone. She watched as the bone disintegrated slightly, until there was the corpse of an old woman who had died seventy years earlier on the ground in front of her.

Lian stood over the body for a few seconds, completely numb. Three rivers of thought and emotion flowed through her, jamming into one another and forming a dam through which nothing could emerge into her mind.

The first great river was of self-doubt, re-analyzing everything Mei had said and done for clues she should have deciphered.

The second river was of who this woman had been, what had driven her to lie, and why she had chosen to die.

The third river was of their lives together that would never be, but had been so close they were already real in Lian's mind.

Lian was aware of each of these rivers as if she were aware of three distinct pieces of music being played at once. Nothing rose to the surface, nothing was decipherable, but each had a distinct melody, each a distinct threnody for this woman she had loved.

"A shame, really," Duan said, suddenly very close to Lian. "One of the best workers I'd ever had. My great great grandfather was wise to offer her the job."

Lian's head rose up and she turned to face Duan. She was going to kill him, and he saw it on her face almost at once. He took a step back, his own arrogance and stupidity in actually coming alone dawning on him, but there was no stopping her. She took two steps, drawing her Wamaian sword from her hip in the smooth, flowing motion her friend Ida had taught her the month before. Duan raised his hands to defend himself, but that only resulted in him losing five fingers and a thumb as well as his head when the sharp sword cleaved through the bones as easily as it did the clear night air.

His body crumpled beside her and she looked at the blade, coated in blood but without so much as the tiniest nick where the bone had met the edge. It felt good, to have used that blade for the first time on someone so rich, so arrogant, and so brutally honest.

Lian walked to the stablemen and picked up her two horses and supplies, bade them farewell, then headed back to edge where Mei and Duan lay dead. She used the shovel she'd purchased – always necessary for travel on the open country – and buried a hole ten feet deep, where she buried Duan. Then she filled that hole half full, and carefully placed Mei's remains there along with her bag full of possessions. Someone knew Duan was there, but no hounds would be considered trustworthy if they came back to the same spot to find a body, when one had already been found. Duan would be considered missing, and after three months the law would declare him dead. But no one would ever give his body the proper rituals or ensure his spirit passed on. If Mei could not find peace, then neither would Duan. He and Mei could haunt that clearing together for eternity.

She covered the fresh graves with upturned grass, then destroyed the rest of the surrounding sod, making the grave hard to discover. Then she packed up her bag, jumped on her horse, took the other one by the reins, and led them north, towards the main gate of the city.