A Burning Beam

"Susu! Watch out!"

Xuxian leaped up the steps and grabbed her from behind as the beam burnt through and collapsed with a shuddering groan. Bewildered, Suzhen froze. She felt herself caught tightly in Xuxian's embrace and knocked flat against the ground under him. The bandits nearby jumped back as the burning splinters of wood rained down on the snow, and retreated gingerly.

Yuanzheng cried out, one hand springing up as if he could not bear to watch, yet falling short of shielding his eyes as he stared desperately, trying to see through the flames to tell if the two figures crouching on the porch had been crushed under the falling beam.

Suzhen felt Xuxian give a shallow gasp as something thudded into them heavily from behind, and suddenly realized what had happened. Coming to herself with a jolt of panic, she abandoned the sword and wrenched round in his grasp. "Xuxian!"

Her eyes, when she turned, were dazzled by the flare behind them, and for a moment the only thing she could see was the flames. Squinting, she managed to make out Xuxian's face in the dark shadows.

She struggled up, clutching his shoulders, and saw the scorched patch on his tunic where the end of the beam had glanced off the back of his shoulders.

"Your back," she gasped. "You're hurt."

He managed to get his arm around her. "It's all right. Gong Yezi--"

They turned to look at the motionless body lying besides them. "He's dead," whispered Suzhen brokenly.

Xuxian took her hand, which was covered in Gong Yezi's blood. "At least he didn't suffer long."

She looked at him, the tears still gleaming forgotten in her eyes among the smoke and blood staining her face. There was a cut across his cheek and she reached out instinctively to touch it.

"We need to get out of here," he said urgently.

She nodded hastily, and took his arm. "Can you stand up?"

Looking up, she realized that a second beam was about to collapse. Suzhen glanced out and saw the bandits, still fighting with the villagers. A few had managed to loot items from the huts nearby, and one had even snatched up the bundle Gong Yezi's killer had dropped.

She looked up again. The second beam was about to fall any moment. Suzhen made a rapid decision. She caught Xuxian around the neck, pulling him back down onto herself, and flung out one arm over his shoulder, releasing a strong force field just as the second beam burnt through and came hurtling down towards them.

Forcing herself to keep her eyes open as the flaming mass came towards them, her hand shook as the energy gushing from it deflected the second beam, sending it tumbling off the porch steps and crashing among the bandits at the front of the hut, scattering them like frightened ants. Her arm fell back limply onto the ground and she lay back, breathing heavily, clasping Xuxian tightly to herself.

There were screams of agony as the fiery missile pinned several bandits beneath it and flung sparks over the others, setting fire to their ragged clothes. The bandits abandoned the fight to beat at their burning clothes, and the ones trapped under the beam shouted wildly for help. Realizing that it was over, the remaining ones grabbed whatever things they could see and beat a quick exit, running for the horses they had left tethered to the fence. They slashed through the ropes tying the horses down and leaped onto the saddles, making high pitched cries to the horses as they urged them forward. In a moment the bandits disappeared into the night, like a nightmare one woke up from with a choking gasp. Only the broken fence gaping drunkenly open, the blood and the flames, showed that it had been a nightmare too real to wake up from.

"Physician Xu--Sister-in-law--"

Yuanzheng hacked aside the burning spars and dashed to their side. "Are you all right?"

He helped them to get up. "Quickly. You need to get out of here before anything else collapses. That second beam missed you by a miracle."

With Xuxian supported between them, Suzhen and Yuanzheng stumbled down the steps, coughing and choking in the smoke. The last beams came folding down, hiding Gong Yezi's body from view, never to be seen again.

They emerged from the flaming remains of Gong Yezi's hut to see the ruins left behind from the chaos. Bodies were lying on the ground, some still shuddering in their last agonies. Flaming chunks of wood spluttered out slowly in the snow. Random items littered the ground, and patches of crimson bled into the snow. The villagers were clustered in little knots, some in shock, some bending over the wounded, others were busy beating out the fires on their roofs.

Xuxian drew a deep breath. He withdraw himself from Yuanzheng's supporting arm and turned to Suzhen. "Susu, sit down here. I'll get my medicine pack, and dress your arm."

He pushed her down gently onto the remains of a bench that had stood outside Gong Yezi's hut. She looked down confusedly and realized for the first time that there was a gash on her left arm, which had stained the rabbit fur lining of her cloak. Xuxian was already making his way to their hut.

Yuanzheng put down his axe slowly. "They're gone," he said dully. He sat down on the ground heavily, and let his head sink between his knees. His shoulders shook once or twice, and then he was motionless.

Suzhen watched him with compassion in her tired eyes. She reached out with a bloodstained hand and patted his shoulder. "You fought well," she said quietly. "You would make a good warrior. You kept your head, and you directed the people. And you handled that axe with skill."

He looked up and gave a short, broken laugh. "You praise me. You were the one who really saved the day, Sister-in-law. If not for you--"

There was anger in his eyes. "Scum like that don't deserve to live," he said savagely. "If I could fight better, not a single one of them would have escaped today."

Suzhen had a brooding look on her face. She thought of the last sight of the bandits as they fled, and closed her eyes, recalling how many of them there had been. Twelve of them, still at large in the mountains, probably licking their wounds now and counting the loot they had stolen from the village.