Old Slim

"Can you tell me what old Slim is going to do with a couple of kids?" he shouted to Laki and Kiyu, "You're all skin and bones, anyway!"

He wedged the rope that lifted the trap into the air in a stone so it didn't move, no matter how much Kiyu and Laki fidgeted.

"How would I know? After all, we didn't choose to end up in a trap like this!" yelled down Kiyu. "And who is this Slim guy, anyway?"

"Let's get down here so I can punch this Slim!" yelled Laki after him.

"That doesn't sound tempting at all. Putting you down just so you can punch me!" Slim grinned at them and Kiyu could see, upon closer inspection, that he seemed to miss a few teeth. And the ones that were still there weren't quite in the best shape either.

He coughed hard and pulled out a knife, which he used to make his way to the rope.

"AAARH!" Before Slim even got to the rope, Zhèngyi had snuck up on the old man and hit him hard in the back of the head with a rock, causing him to fall to the ground unconscious.

"What are you doing?" roared Kiyu in shock. "He was just about to lower us, wasn't he?" Had that much force been necessary? After all, he was nothing more than an old man in awful shape.

"Who's to say he's not a Spiritformer, too?" retorted Zhèngyi, looking at the unconscious man on the cold, hard ground before picking up his knife and cutting the rope.

Kiyu and Laki landed on the ground, rubbing their aching butts as they straightened up. "He doesn't look dangerous to me," Kiyu countered, looking with pity at the old man on the ground.

"He looks pretty weakened," Laki mentioned after inspecting him.

"Whatever." replied Zhèngyi, seeming to take no further interest in the old man. "We should move on."

"If he's that weakened, there's no chance he walked up the mountains just now!" continued Laki.

"What are you getting at?" retorted Zhèngyi.

"To the fact that he might have a shelter here!" she said. "Supplies and a breather wouldn't do us any harm, don't you think?"

"I see" Zhèngyi scratched the back of his head and seemed to consider how they should proceed. "Well, I guess it won't hurt if we go to the safe house. Maybe we'll find something useful there." Wasting no time, he continued on his way and Laki followed him at a distance.

Only Kiyu had stayed behind and looked at old Slim, who was still lying unconscious on the ground. Now that she could look at him up close, he gave off a starved sight. 'Was he hunting animals?'

The smugglers were not an honorable people if they left a frail old man on the mountain pass. But honor was the last thing on Kiyu's mind.

"Are you coming?" called Laki, who had turned around and noticed that Kiyu had stopped. Zhèngyi had also turned around and the two of them looked over at Kiyu, who was still staring at the old man in front of her.

'It would be neither brave nor just!' Without further hesitation, Kiyu bent down and lifted the old man up. Since he didn't seem to wake up soon, she carried him in her arms in front of her.

"What are you doing?" retorted Zhèngyi, upset. "Just leave him behind. It was risky enough to take him out once!"

"Oh yeah. So dangerous to put down a decrepit old man." Kiyu didn't make a face as she expressed her opinion. Shrugging her shoulders once to make known her disinterest towards Zhèngyi's opinion.

"Hmph! Don't complain afterwards that I didn't warn you!" he scolded her, continuing to look for what seemed like shelter.

They walked up for several minutes until they spotted a small pass which led off the main path.

"This must be it" he whispered and headed down the side path, followed by Laki and Kiyu. Near to the main pass, they spotted a small, run-down wooden hut hidden behind a rocky outcrop.

"So this is where he lives, huh?" They didn't even need to inspect the building to see that the hut was in shambles. In several places in the wooden walls, Kiyu saw holes through which the cold mountain wind was just whistling. 'No wonder he's so weak. His body must have suffered from the cold all the time!'

Kiyu crept forward with the old man in her arms and entered the ramshackle shack which seemed to be his house. From the doorstep, she could already see the entire interior. It was a single, large room, and no one was inside. 'So he lives alone?'

There was a fireplace, a simple wooden bench that served as a bed, and a small table with spoiled food scraps on it. 'How can anyone live like this?

"You can come in!" she called outside, first placing the old man on the wooden bench before inspecting.

"Anything useful?" asked Zhèngyi, who had just stepped over the threshold and had not yet seen the inside of the dwelling. "Oh, shit...", escaped him, while he also looked around.

"No..." replied Kiyu disappointed and shook her head. "I'm afraid there won't be anything useful for us here."

"Great, then the whole thing was for nothing, too." Zhèngyi jerked his arms in the air and stomped outside, while Laki stayed inside with Kiyu.

"So what now?" she asked straight-faced, glancing at the old man, who was tossing and turning. "He seems to wake up at the moment."

"I don't know," Kiyu gulped, looking around in frustration. "I had little hope anyway, since he was out hunting, despite his frail frame..... But I hadn't suspected that things would be this bad."

'I was hoping he could give us a tip on how to sneak into town unnoticed,'

< If you get your hopes up about something that's out of your control, you're going to be disappointed > It had been a long time since Cheryu had interfered, but when he did, of course, it always came when it hurt the most.

'I know. But I can't go through life without hope either, can I?' she hissed inside.

< Hope is a flexible term. > he explained. < It's important not to focus on external events. Focus all your power on what is within your control. >

She would have preferred to ask him if spirits were good for anything more than dispensing wisdom that seemed impossible to fulfill, but the raspy cough from old Slim had snapped her out of her thought conversation.

"Darned bastards!" he cried out, coughing. "Taking a swing at an old man. Impudence!" The old man straightened up, rubbing the spot on the back of his head where Zhèngyi had punched him. His gaze fell on Kiyu and Laki, who were still inside of the hut.

"It'll just be a minor bump," Kiyu countered, standing up to full height in front of him. "But I want to apologize for the thuggish behavior of my companion. He is one of the sort who lives by the motto ´act first, think later´."

"Wohahaha. Well, not the worst way of life.... if it doesn't get me right now." he laughed and straightened up. "But now tell me. What are three little.... two little ones and a big kid doing here in this pass?"

Kiyu glanced at Laki, who shook her head. Zhèngyi, who by now had re-entered the run-down hovel, also shook his head. They thought it was too dangerous to tell the old man anything about their plans. 'I understand.... but it's no use.'

"We have to get to Oras. As unseen as possible and without attracting attention," she said. "And what is an old, frail man doing here on this pass?"

That he seemed to live here on the pass only made this stranger more conspicuous.

"Living." He shrugged and looked at the three. "Guarding the pass, by the way. But nobody has used that one in years."

"Anyway. Is there still a safe way into the city?" requested Zhèngyi, dashing forward.

"Looks like someone's in a big hurry," Slim replied with a grin. "Whose toes did you step on to make you so desperate?"

"Promise to help us if we tell you?" asked Kiyu, suppressing her annoyance. Somehow, the entire conversation hadn't turned out as expected. But as long as it helped her along, she wouldn't care.

"That depends. If you take me with you, I promise before I even learn the name. Otherwise..... it depends on the name." he replied, coughing into his fist again, and for a moment Kiyu was sure she had seen blood.

"I don't care if you come with us or not. Even though I think you perhaps don't want to after learning the name. It is the lord of Jarifa, Xianzhu," Kiyu said, waiting for her counterpart's reaction.

"Xianzhu?" In a split moment, Slim's eyes had widened, and he was staring open-mouthed at the group. "You guys angered Xianzhu, the lord of northern Purista? That's some… guts."