Heavenly Shae

Chapter 3: "The Old Town Road."

Shae decided to wait by the gates, only taking short trips away to stretch her legs, see more of the town, and keep herself from boredom.

Curly showed up within the next hour but Lari did not. Shae was getting worried. "Guard Captain Hua?"

"Heav- I mean, Wise Shae. Have you found your companions?"

She pointed to the man beside her. "Curly is here, and impatient to leave. But we've seen no sign of Miss Lari."

"And yourself? Are you impatient to leave?" The woman didn't seem worried.

"Hrm, I wouldn't say impatient. Yet, I'd rather be on the road now, so we don't have to run in the dark."

"You're going to the geyser?"

"Huh? Is that what the Jian Quan is?" Shae tilted her head, and the captain nodded. "Huh. I suppose the name makes sense, then."

Captain Hua nodded. "Our runners say she was seen leaving town through the east gate, shortly after you all arrived."

She turned to Curly. "Is that where her deliveries were?"

"Yea, probably. A few farms all around Xengo, and close enough for quick deliveries. I had one to the west."

Shae exhaled in frustration.

The captain made a suggestion. "Would she have other business here? Maybe she cut around on the old road?"

Curly shrugged. "Could be, I don't know her jobs."

"Where does it meet up?" Shae asked while glancing between the two.

"Hmm, 'bout ten li up." He pointed north.

She nodded slowly. "So, she might already be waiting on the road ahead?"

He shrugged again.

"But she should have said that, if that was her plan." Shae grumbled.

"Plans change." Captain Hua added with a smirk. "She was probably delayed and used it as a shortcut."

Shae sighed and looked up at the sun, squinted, then looked down at the sundial nearby. "We have to leave, Captain, could you do me a favor?"

She nodded. "I'll let Lari know to catch up if she arrives."

"I was more thinking sending someone east to make sure someone saw her using the old road?"

Captain Hua inhaled sharply, then frowned. "Sorry, Wise Shae. We stick to the city unless a crime is reported. Missing persons isn't our bag, unless you have a lead that says it's a kidnapping."

The younger girl grimaced, "Right. I was worried about that."

"If you don't find her, you can make it back easy. Even sweep the old road and come back in the east gate, not many connecting roads like that around here." She offered.

Shae nodded and bowed. "Thank you for your time, Captain."

"And thank you for earlier, Wise Shae." She gave the girl a slight bow.

They left immediately, Captain Hua waved them through the gates so they were not held up longer.

As they made it out of earshot of the gates, Curly asked "You know the Captain? She's not usually that nice."

"We had a chat earlier. I think I said something useful."

"Huh. Girl stuff?"

"No!" Shae said a bit too quickly and loudly, she blushed and lowered her voice. "Cultivator stuff."

"Uh. Right."

They got up to speed and didn't speak again until they reached the first ten-li watering hole, Curly led them off the road and up to a farmhouse.

"If she came via the old road, she would have stopped here, no wells along it."

Shae nodded and followed the runner to the front of the farmhouse, where he banged on the door.

"Papa's round back." A soft yell through a window. The voice clearly from a young kid.

"Hey, Milo. We're getting some water!" He yelled back.

"Eh?" Shae heard the kid shout, followed by some scuffling noises.

"Round back." Curly shouted back again, as they walked around the farmhouse.

They were greeted by a grizzled old man. More beard and hair made up his face than bare skin. He was concentrating on carving details into a small piece of wood. Many more were in front of him on the table he was seated at. Shae flinched as she saw that he had the stump of his right leg propped up on his bench.

Curly frowned at him. "Leg acting up again?"

"Always." The old man said with a smirk, then titled his hat. "Welcome, miss. New runner?"

"Not really, just running with Curly and Lari to catch the caravan."

"Hmm." He looked around. "Don't see Lari."

"Hoping you have, pops. She missed the meetup leavin' Xengo."

"Hmmgh." He shook his head.

"We thought she might have taken the old road from the east." Shae offered, getting an uncertain look from Curly.

Pops blew dust off his carving. "Hmh." He pointed to two pieces in front of him that matched.

"He means 'same' or 'same answer' or... well, yea, you got it already." Curly helped out.

Shae leaned in to get a better look at the pieces. "Is this chess?"

That got her a sharp look from the old man. He pointed at the pile of pieces then the board.

"Do I play? Depends on the rules, I guess. Who knows if they are the same."

He pointed again, repeating the gesture with a bit of intensity.

"Ah!" She said, then began seeing the pieces up.

Curly watched, then grabbed her water skin to go fill it up. The farm's well was nearby so he didn't get out of sight.

When she finished she turned the white pieces towards Pops.

He made the first move with a knight, slipping over his wall of pawns.

Shae smirked at the clear use of one of the rare odd rules. She matched by advancing a pawn two spaces.

He grunted and pushed it back one square.

Shae nodded. "One square for pawns. Except off the start position, where they can move two. Added later to speed up games."

He hesitated in his own move, then nodded and pulled her pawn forwards again, before making his own move.

The rest of their turns went smoothly. None of the other weird chess rules like castling or en-passant needed to be used. Which Shae was glad for, she didn't want to be seen as just making up rules if the man didn't know them. She lost after about two dozen moves each. The man played fast and well.

Shae stood from the bench after, bowing to the man. "Well played, Master."

He gave a chuckle and waved off the title.

Only then did she notice that Curly and the kid from inside had moved off together to chat.

He set up the set again as she prepared to leave, drinking and topping off her waterskin. When she walked past his table again, he had the white side turned to her, and two silver taels set out on his side of the board.

"Bets?" She shook her head. "I know when I'm beaten."

He held up a finger, then reached under his bench for something. He revealed a small pill bottle with a green jade colored pill in it. He gave it a shake and a grunt.

She inhaled sharply and couldn't help but lean in to look at it. She had no idea what it was, but any good pill was worth something, and this one looked to be in good condition. "Tempting. If I didn't have somewhere to be I'd probably waste most of my coin, just to test my luck."

He snorted a laugh.

"Yes, yes, even though there's no luck in this game." She bowed to him again, just enough to show respect. "I was never a studied player. Maybe I'll put more time in, and come challenge you again."

He chuckled. "Don't wait long. I'm not that young, or that good." He waved her off and went back to carving details into one of the pieces.

Curly was up and ready when she got to him. "You decide how far down the old road you'll search?"

"Hmm, hopefully none, she might be waiting there."

"Yea, but she coulda been waiting here instead."

Shae grimaced. It was a solid point. "I'm not sure yet."

He rolled his eyes and nodded. "Yea, you'll go the whole way. Leave your pack here, it'll let you run faster."

She considered it. "And if Lari is waiting there?"

"Then we'll both gladly wait for you to come back and get it. But I don't have the time to wait by the old road for ya ta wander the whole thing. I'm already going to be pushing hard getting to the Quan before nightfall."

"What happens at nightfall?"

He looked at her with a confused glance for a beat, then shook his head and smirked. "It gets really bloody dark out."

They found the old road about a li from the chess-master's house, which was affectionately named ten-li-house according to the signage. The road was nearly barricaded off from the main road, brush and branches piled where it should connect. Curly guessed that it was to stop merchants from skipping the town on their journey.

"I'll give ya a few li wait. Just in case ya find something right away." He said.

"Your accent is showing more." Shae teased.

He shook his head. "Bloody Milo, always brings out the country in me."

She smirked and set off. Speeding up quickly, but not reaching her top speed. The road wasn't well maintained, and it swerved and curled more than the main road did.

As she ran she kept grip on her good bow. It was one of the few items she had brought. Along with arrows, her waterskin, a snack, and Wise Kwan's escape talisman. She almost felt silly expecting to need it so soon. She had considered the sword, but the bow worked just as well as a club in a pinch.

As the second li passed by, an old white stake that marked the distance, she realized she wouldn't find Lari here. The chance of them crossing paths was just too slim. She almost stopped, she probably would have, if stopping was easier. Her loping run wasn't meant for stopping.

She swallowed her anxiety at what happened to Lari and just decided that she would make the whole trip out and back around to the east gate. She could even ask the eastern locals if they had seen her. Track her down that way.

At the fourth li marker she almost missed it. An odd lump of something hanging from a tree. She glanced down as she was landing again, and spotted a large black blotch in the light-gray dirt road.

It took her a while to stop and find it again. When she did her stomach almost turned. The blotch was definitely dried blood.

She found the thing hanging from the tree again. Just a small flag of sackcloth. She felt so relieved that it didn't look like Lari's clothing, and that it wasn't anything else.

The blood stain also extended into a smear. A clear sign something had been dragged away, off the old road, and towards the hanging cloth. She took a deep breath, looked around more carefully, took a second deep breath, and followed.

Ten paces in and she nearly lost her supper. Scratch marks in a tree. Made by a human, she matched her own fingers up, her scratches would have been closer together. A torn out fingernail embedded into the bark as proof. She turned away and gagged, spitting up a mouthful of mostly water right after she spotted it.

She didn't want to look again, she just wanted to keep following the trail. Yet, she had to. Have to check it again. To see how fresh it is.

She looked, then vomited again. More this time, still mostly water, it had been hours since she ate.

She had seen enough: the fingernail was dried and old. Blackened by a drop of blood. No red to be seen on the tree.

She exhaled in relief and stepped down the trail again. Towards a killer. Towards something that could drag off humans, kicking and screaming, larger humans. She froze in place.

Tears welled in her eyes as she decided what to do. Decided what she could do. If Lari had come this way, would she have stopped? Would she have investigated the obvious danger?

She was nearly a li away when she had calmed herself enough to start running again. Running back to the main road, the way she came, then back to town.

"Wise Shae? Woah, Woah, calm down, breathe." Captain Hua grabbed the girl staggering towards her. Steadying her as she gasped for breath.

"Old road. Blood."

"Breathe, Shae. Is it an emergency?"

She took a huge breath of air. Focusing on the question. Then shook her head.

"Then just catch your breath. Come, sit and drink something." She led the upset girl into the guardhouse.

A short while later, there was a warm cup of over-steeped tea in front of Shae. Captain Hua had found a blanket somewhere and wrapped it around her. The warmth and comforting tea working fast to calm her down.

Captain Hua spoke first. "Did you find Lari?"

Shae shook her head. "No. I hope we don't, I hope she left before us."

"Where's Curly?"

"He ran ahead to the caravan. When I went down the old road."

"What happened? Can you tell me about it?"

She nodded. Then slowly explained what she had seen.

The other woman took it in calmly. Shae noticed her demeanor hardening as the details came out. The woman fading away, and the trained guard captain and cultivator talking over.

"Okay." Captain Hua finally said, a few breaths after Shae was done. "We've had more reports of runaways than usual. We thought it was just the caravan attracting the desperate." She nodded sternly. "Could you show me the location?"

Shae swallowed the nerves that spiked at the request. Then put on her best serious face. "Yes."

A few shouts to organize guards in the Captain's absence later they were on the road. "Fast as you're comfortable, Wise Shae. I'll keep up."

The experienced cultivator gave Shae some looks as they ran, especially when she tapped into her qi, but she didn't say anything.

"It's about four more li." Was all Shae said as they switched onto the old road.

The fourth li passed agonizingly slowly as Shae slowed down to keep her eyes open. She didn't re-tell Captain Hua what to look for, she had already described what she found.

The captain sped up suddenly, then stopped at a dark spot in the road. Shae slowed as she recognized the blood stain. Catching up, she looked around. "I don't see the sackcloth."

The captain's head snapped up from the road and she quickly glanced around. Her hand went to her weapon. She used a short spear, and a small buckler was strapped to her off-hand bracer. The weapons looked larger because of the woman's small stature.

Qi pressure began pressing down on Shae, slowly ramping up. Because of her tempering training she barely noticed it.

It let up suddenly when the captain saw her again. "Sorry about the pressure, I'll need to head in alone because of that. You can head back up the road, or all the way to town."

Shae had her bow ready, and strung an arrow. "It's fine, I've been tempered, I can handle much more than that." She walked into the trees where the trail led, to the tree with the scratches, it was unchanged. She just motioned to it and looked away.

Captain Hua looked at her instead of the tree. "Are you a good shot with that?"

She looked down at it. "No. Just got it a few days ago. Seems better than nothing, though."

The armored woman frowned. "Just don't point it at me. Even if something attacks me, I can handle it, arrows would distract me just as much as it."

Shae was nervous again. "I've shot a few dozen arrows with it, most of the last dozen hit the target." She flinched at her own words, realizing how it sounded.

The captain smirked at her. "Try a hundred and you might be able to hunt something alone. A few thousand and you might be considered good."

"How are you with that spear?"

"I'm fantastic." She grinned wide and checked the tree, then immediately swapped the grin for a stern frown. "Yes it's ... you were right." She quickly scanned the area then cautiously moved deeper into the woods. "Stick close and just watch our backs."

Shae felt a light touch of qi rush past her, then back to the captain a few breaths later. The experienced cultivator nodded confidently and picked up her pace.

A tense fifty paces later they slowed and Captain Hua whispered. "A mound, there. Maybe a burrow. I'm going to use qi pressure, stay out here, watch the trees."

Shae nodded and watched the woman approach the natural looking mound. She circled it once and Shae felt her qi pressure spill out again. Stronger this time. In a blur she moved to the other side and stabbed at something. Then jumped a few paces back into a defensive stance, with her buckler up and the spear point glinting in the light. Nothing jumped at her.

She cautiously moved around the mound again. Finding one of the larger openings that Shae could see. Even with her petite size, it was still a tight fit for the grown woman in armor. After checking the entrance, she flicked her spear tip to the side, then drove the base down into the earth with a single movement. She looked back at the girl and pointed to her eyes then the woods around them.

Shae got the message and quickly glanced around, checking the woods. Her curiosity made her look back at the guard captain. A short sword was in her hand now, and she took up a different stance. Her buckler and sword were far ahead of her as she moved into the burrow.

Shae felt the qi pressure spike again, actually forcing her to focus and be aware of it. It was enough that she might lose her balance, or misstep if she wasn't careful. She scanned the forest around them, unsure what she could do if something did come for them. She fumbled with the arrow, it had slipped off the string and she had trouble nocking it with the pressure assaulting her.

The arrow snapped onto the string and she pulled it taught, only about half drawn. She looked up at the forest again and scanned the trees. Following her eyes with the bow she swept over the path they had come from. She tried to relax, forcing herself to breathe evenly.

"Shae."

The girl jumped, the string slipping from her grasp, the arrow flying off into the woods at chest height.

"Heh, at least you didn't turn and shoot me." Captain Hua teased.

"Hua. You did that-" Shae turned to quip at the woman, but froze when she saw her.

Only a few smudges of dirt marred her armor and clothes. Yet, her sword and face said so much more. Her sword was bright red. Her face strained by anger and concern. She looked down at herself then flicked the sword at the ground, shedding it of color. The splatter of blood on the ground sounded like a tidal wave crashing in the quiet forest.

"Wha- what was...?" The girl stuttered.

"Scavengers."

"Any...survivors?"

She shook her head. "Ah, and no sign of Lari. Nothing fresh at all."

Shae nodded, then relaxed. A lot of tension falling away that she didn't know she had. "So, just animals? Any meat or skins?"

"Wh-" Hua froze, disgust flashing across her face. "Ah, they are not good for that."

Shae looked confused.

"Sometimes, if something- I mean, things can go wrong. Spirits can be twisted. Then there is nothing to salvage. All we can do is deliver a quick death."

Shae still looked confused but nodded. "I.. feel like you're avoiding saying something. Do I want to be protected from that?"

Captain Hua tried to smile but settled on a grimace of sorrow. "Yes, I think so. You are still so young. You shouldn't have to-" she swallowed and glanced at the mound, "know about that." She flicked her short sword at the ground again.

Shae moved closer, grabbing her shoulder and squeezing. "Thank you for this. For coming here, and for protecting me. I can imagine a lot, but getting it confirmed..." She shuddered.

"Go." The captain said. "I've got it from here. Trust that Lari is safe. She's fast, she would not have been caught by these monsters."

Shae's reply was only a look of concern.

"I'm fine. I've... seen worse, but it's hard when it's this close to home." She flicked her sword again, then sheathed it so she could pat the girl's hand, still on her shoulder.

Shae tried to give a friendly smile. "I'm going up to the sect. Keep in touch, would you?"

The cultivator returned the girl's attempt at a friendly smile. Much more conflict on her own face. "Yea, I'd like that."

She made good time back to ten-li-house. Drank a full skin of water then sat at the old man's table. After an inscrutable stare, he just gave her a nod.

Then she lost a few coins to him at chess. "You're worse." He said after the game, and "Still worse." after the second. She thought the game had lasted longer than her first. He refused a third, pointing her away. "Go. Run." Was how he said goodbye, giving her a shoulder pat for the road.

She collected her pack and left quickly; knowing she had time to make up.

The road flew past. She skipped most of the water stops. Only when her skin was empty and she was thirsty. Which was only once over the short forty li journey.

She lost track of how far she had run, and so she was surprised when she saw the geyser in the distance. A huge plume of water shooting above the trees. The setting sun sparkled through it, hinting at rainbows.

"The setting sun." She mumbled. Curly was expecting to arrive just before dark, or was it just after? She couldn't recall. She wondered if she was about to catch him, and worried she had passed him somehow. Probably by skipping the water stops. She shook her head at running so far in one day.

At the peak of the next lunge she exhaled to calm herself, and focused on running again.