Chapter 30 - Bad Choices

"Home?" Tang Jin asked. "We went the long way round to visit the fort. If we head straight back won't that be the fastest way to safety?"

"No, it's worse for us," Ao Wen said. "We might not have to deal with more cubs but if we have to deal with the Rage Queen somewhere of her choosing you can bet it'll be a harder fight. Best spot to fight her is probably back at the fort."

"That's far," Feng Xi said. "If we hurry, we get there a bit before dark."

"Option two," Ao Wen said, holding up two fingers. "We go to the den at the base of the ridge."

"Are you mad?" Tang Jin asked a little too loudly followed by a wince as his movements pulled at his wounds.

"You want to pick the one place we know the Rage Queen will come," Feng Xi said. "What about the other cubs?"

"I hope they're there," Ao Wen said frankly. "Think about the options. First, there's no one at the den, the mother and the cubs may be together or separate. We hide, watch for either to return and deal with what comes," she said calmly. "Not the best scenario, but it confirms where we are. Second, we find the remaining cubs. This time, we have the advantage because Xi can fully use her music and we aren't in our night clothes. There probably aren't more than two or three of them and if we take them off the board then it's just us and the Rage Queen. We won't get surprised and trapped in a pincer between the queen and her cubs. This is the best scenario."

"There are several others though," Feng Xi pointed out. If we encounter the Rage Queen in her den with the cubs, then what? Or if she arrives while we're fighting the cubs?"

"If she's in her den with the cubs, we can either flee ourselves or wait till she leaves before eliminating the cubs," Ao Wen said simply. "The problem is that we can't afford to face her and anything else at the same time. If we go anywhere other than the den, we leave the initiative in their hands. If we go to the den, we get a chance to go back on the offense."

Feng Xi sighed. "Jin, you're the one who's injured. What do you say?"

Tang Jin's ears burned in shame at being the only one injured. That most of his injuries were the result of protecting Feng Xi didn't really occur to him but it weighed heavily on her. "Let's go to the den," he said. "It's closest and like Wen said, we can always change our minds if we have to."

Having reached a consensus, the trio set out in the direction of the cougar's den. The morning fog made the world feel like a trap was drawing closed around them and they flinched several times at the sounds of movement in the woods, but no threat ever manifested from the fog.

By midday, the fog had condensed into a cold drizzle, plastering their hair and clothing to their bodies and sending a chill seeping into their skin. Finally, they spotted the cougar den at the base of the ridge. While it wasn't truly a cave, a long rock overhang granted shelter from the rain and wind from two sides. From the piles of bones strewn about, it was clear that the den had been occupied for a while.

At the back of the den, one cub gnawed contentedly on a bone while the other dozed nearby. If the Rage Queen was near, they saw no sign of her.

"Okay Xi," Ao Wen asked. "Do you think you can put the hungry one to sleep?"

Feng Xi gave a helpless shrug. "A week ago, no chance. At least, not from this far away. Since my breakthrough? Maybe," she answered. "All I can do is try."

"Good enough. I'll take the hungry one," Ao Wen said to Tang Jin. "Sleepy is yours. Xi's music doesn't work, we rush. If it does, go slow until we can both strike."

Seeing Tang Jin's nod, Feng Xi began to play a gentle, soothing melody. This morning, everything had been rushed, her playing had been discordant and she felt helpless when Tang Jin knocked her aside as she scrambled to retrieve her zither. Her Chord of Fear had been rushed and nearly arrived too late and she felt so… useless! Helpless! Now, she used that feeling, the helplessness she felt flowed along with the tendrils of white energy emanating from her zither leaving the remaining cubs helpless before her song.

Ao Wen started moving forward first, followed by Tang Jin. When they arrived by the sleeping cougars, both of them acted swiftly, killing them in a single strike.

Feng Xi grabbed her zither and hurried to the other two. "Maybe I was worried for nothing," she said. "What now? Even for a Rage Queen that's probably all the cubs. Wait for her to return or try to make it home?"

"Wait," Ao Wen said, picking up the body of one of the cougars and dragging it out into the open. "Jin, give me a hand with the other one. I want to try to draw her to a space where we have room to fight. Xi, see the boulder over there?" Ao Wen asked, pointing to a fallen rock the size of a small shed. "Do you think you could play from on top of it? It's not perfectly safe, but if you're hard to get to and we're easy targets it should make it easier for Jin and I to move."

"Sure," Feng Xi said, forcing down the hurt. She was the only second stage cultivator here but they were protecting her. She'd practiced sound attacks in the hopes that she could be useful on a hunt with her father but she felt like she was just dragging them down. She swore then and there that after this she would beg her father to teach her how to properly use a bow. Her father was a warrior and a mystic. She could be an artist and a warrior if it meant she didn't have to feel so helpless!

"Jin, when she gets here, she's going to be mad. Rage Queen isn't a name for fun. I want you to stay hidden until she's focused on me. You're faster than I am. Your job is to play harasser. Flanks, sides, whatever you can hit on the move but keep moving in, out and around."

"Once you've got her attention," Feng Xi said. "How would you like me to help?"

"I trust you," Ao Wen said with a smile. "If you can disrupt the Rage Queen, do it. If you can help me or Jin, do that. Most importantly," Ao Wen said looking into her emerald eyes. "Once the fight starts, you're the only one who will be able to keep a clear view. You're in charge. If you see an opening for me or Jin, call it out. If you see the Rage Queen attempting something, let us know. You're our guardian and guide. Once the fight starts, we won't question your commands."

Suddenly, Feng Xi realized how much more there was to Ao Wen asking her to be on top of the boulder. The fact that she'd be safer and out of the way couldn't be ignored but it was also because Ao Wen was putting absolute trust in her to see the bigger picture. Suddenly heartened, Feng Xi picked up her zither and headed to the boulder. "Help me up?" she asked with a smile.

—

In a dimly lit room of a restaurant mostly frequented by laborers and servants Mo Yan tried to hide his disgust at the people around him. He, a proud Son of Heaven, a cultivator, had been summoned to such a place by one of his father's many information sellers. Worse, he couldn't even come to this place openly. He'd been made to don the garb of a common peasant, his long hair hanging limply by his face as he slumped over a jug of cheap wine like a common drunkard. It wasn't until half the patrons of the restaurant had been replaced by newcomers that a nondescript man settled into the seat across the small table from him.

Mo Yan's fingers flicked, tossing a plain pouch containing several taels of silver onto the table in front of the newcomer. "Speak," he said simply.

"Three convenient facts," the man said softly. "Yesterday, Fairy Ao and Fairy Feng spent half the day drinking and eating with Young Master Tang in a private room at the Four Gardens House."

"This is known to half the town," Mo Yan said with disgust. "Tell me something I don't know."

"Their meals were prepared personally by Chef Tang," the man said. "A kitchen assistant noticed that it was the same menu Chef Tang served his wife when he began courting her. That's two."

Mo Yan's eyes hardened. "What's three?"

"Fairy Ao, Fairy Feng, and Young Master Tang left the following morning in the early hours before sunrise when much of the town was still asleep. They haven't been seen since. According to their families, they're hunting Blood Rage Cougars."

Mo Yan's hand clenched on the cheap clay wine cup in his hand, shattering it into powder as his aura flared briefly. "I see," he finally said. "So it's like that. How trustworthy is your man at the Four Gardens House?"

"The man can be bought, but his silence can't be," the person sitting across from My Yan replied. It wasn't that the man in question couldn't be paid to hold his tongue, it was that of threatened or tortured, the man would quickly speak despite whatever sum he'd received.

"Fine. His death can still be useful," Mo Ya said, his eyes cold. "First, I need him to get drunk somewhere like this. He needs to let slip that he saw Chef Tang add aphrodisiacs to the dishes he served to the Fairies and his son. Once Chef Tang hears the rumor, your little bird needs to turn up dead and hastily buried in one of the four gardens. Best if he's killed with a chef's knife," Mo Yan dictated.

"I know my business," the man said, scowling at this young brat who barked orders in a matter that screamed his inexperience. "Second?"

"A rumor in the fields along the road to Red Moon city. Young Master Tang was seen getting into a carriage bound for Red Moon City with two young women who were concealing their faces," Mo Yan said. The fight between the Fairies, Mo Yan and Tang Jin had been news not many days ago. No one would believe that they'd gone from public fighting to hunting together virtually overnight. People weren't that quick to change their opinion of each other. But using dinner with the excuse to apologize and then drugging the Fairies to have his fiendish way with them? People would believe that all day long, just like they'd believe that the spoiled Fairies would flee with the man who'd taken their innocence to marry in a place where no one knew their circumstances. Eventually, they'd return "properly" married with no one to know about the sordid deeds committed to make it happen.

The truth could be boring. What the people wanted was something sensational. By the time Tang Jin and his new 'friends' returned from their hunt, everyone would believe that Chef Tang had drugged the Fairies for his son and the death of the kitchen assistant would leave doubts in everyone's mind that couldn't be dispelled.

"It won't be cheap," the man said.

"What do I care about mortal money," Mo Yan said, dropping another bag on the table, this time containing several taels of gold. "Just get it done.