I grunted as the rocklike paw of the Stone-skinned Bone Crusher slammed into my rising block, then grabbed the extended arm and twisted, shoving my hips underneath the eight-foot-tall monster and bending down, yanking down on its arm and flipping it over my back. The bear-like monster roared as it soared over me and crashed onto its back. It tried to roll onto its stomach, but I slammed my brass knuckles down into its upturned face. I felt the stone armor coating it crunch as my celestial qi shattered its protective skin, and the spikes on my knuckles buried themselves in the flesh beneath. A gout of thick, brown blood spurted from the wound, but I was already rolling to the side to dodge another slash from its metallic claws.

I came quickly to my feet as another of the beasts charged me. I slipped past the monster’s rush and smashed my elbow into its side as it passed me. Polished stone skin cracked, and metallic ribs bent beneath the force of the qi-powered blow, and the bear stumbled and fell to the side. I spun back to the first creature, which was just struggling to its feet, and fired a Sun’s Scorching Ray into the wound in its skull. Smoke rose from the wound as the beam burned into its head, and the creature dropped to the ground, its brain cooked. I turned back to the one that had fallen and moved it on it, dodging one slash and blocking another. My first crashed into the stone where I’d wounded it already, and the stone there crumbled away, exposing the brown, rubbery flesh beneath. I placed my hand over the vulnerable spot and fired another ray. The bolt of qi tore into its body, and a font of thick, dark blood bathed my hand. I stepped back and watched as the monster sank slowly to the ground, its lifeblood pouring out into the rocky mountainside.

I looked around and saw Jing’s thrust kick crack the armor of another of the beasts. She spun and slammed her opposite heel into the damaged spot, and blood spurted from its open mouth as her technique passed through its armor and ruptured its internal organs. She held her stance for a long moment, regaining her balance, but the damage was enough to put the monster down. It collapsed heavily to the stony road, its eyes going blank and glassy.

“That seems to be the last of them,” I said neutrally, looking around at the mountains that soared over us.

“It does,” she agreed just as carefully. “You…you did well in disposing of your foes.”

“So did you,” I agreed. It was true; she had done a good job handling the armored bear-creatures. Most of that, though, was practice; in the past three days, we’d faced far more Metal-aspected creatures than anything else, and most of those were thickly armored. She’d had to learn to defeat those monsters through attrition, slowly whittling down their armor rather than trying to power through it with a single blow that left her exposed to other beasts’ attacks.

I hadn’t said a word to her, of course, but her father had; he’d spent almost a full day training with her, and she’d been busy putting his lessons to use. She’d become far more effective in the frequent combats we faced. More importantly, though, that effectiveness seemed to calm down her hostility a bit. We still weren’t talking much, but at least she wasn’t acting angry all the time anymore. I decided I’d call that a win.

I’d spent that training day reading the text on alchemy Dif gave me. Technically, I wasn’t reading the book, in all honesty. Instead, I’d flipped through the pages and let Sara memorize it. Then, she’d appeared in front of me, invisible to everyone else, and gave me a tutorial on the subject. Unlike the book, she could generate mental images to show me exactly what she was talking about, and when I didn’t understand something, she was able to explain in a different way. The upshot was that while it had looked like I was parsing through the book, in truth, I’d cheated my way to learning the whole thing already.

After that, we’d set off again, this time with Jing and I in the lead, Shi Lo walking behind us to direct us. The former slave had guided us away from the low hills toward the mountains, where we’d struck a road that led up into the peaks to the north and dropped down to the west, heading toward the other range there. I’d expected to continue west, but Shi led us into the mountains themselves, following the road around and through the towers of stone that reared above us.

I hadn’t been happy with Shi staying this close to us, and I’d been less happy at the idea that the rest of the women were out of my sight, but Wim and Dif had both assured me that they would watch over my admittedly unwanted charges. Shi had also proved to be adept at hiding; the moment a creature attacked, she vanished into the rocks or back down the road, staying out of sight until the monsters were defeated.

As if my thoughts had summoned her, Shi Lo rose from behind a pile of tumbled stones beside the road and brushed herself off. “I will tell the others it is safe to continue, master,” she told me, turning and running down the road, which curved out of sight behind the mountainside.

Jing sighed. “Xu Xing,” she said slowly, “you are aware of why my mother and father insisted that we scout ahead, are you not?”

“Oh, yeah,” I chuckled.

“They – there is a thing I must say to you,” she finally spoke. “It is a thing that I do not wish to say, but it must be acknowledged.”

“You don’t really have to, Jing,” I tried to cut her off, but she shook her head in emphatic refusal.

“No, I must, for my own sake. You…you saved my life, Xu Xing,” she said, the words seeming to almost stick in her throat as she spoke. “I had fallen before the Chief, unconscious from my wounds. He…he had defeated me. And you slew him, gave me medicines to keep me alive, and carried me back to the farm, knowing that to do so might mean the deaths of those we now protect.”

I didn’t say a word. I wanted to say that I almost wished I hadn’t, that she hadn’t exactly been grateful, and that it felt like I valued her life more than she did, but I couldn’t imagine any of those helping the situation. I’d made a decision to try and at least behave like a decent human being – or whatever the hell I was – but saying that was much easier than doing it. Since I couldn’t think of anything positive to say, and I had a feeling if I opened my mouth, something terrible would fly out, I wisely kept my trap shut.

“I owe a life debt to you,” she finally said. “You must tell me how I can repay it, for I do not like having such a debt to you.”

“I honestly have no idea how you can do that, Jing,” I said evenly. “I suppose that the easiest way would be to save my life sometime, but I’m pretty sure that your father’s going to sign you up with his school when you get to the city, so I don’t know how you’re going to be able to do that.”

An odd smile quirked across her face. “You think he will try to convince only me to join the Brilliant Desert?” she asked. “I am equally certain that he intends the same for you.”

“Unfortunately, I have other plans,” I shrugged. I did; I’d been thinking about what steps I could take when I got to the city, and one simple one had jumped out at me. “They don’t include your father’s school, I’m afraid.”

“Then…” She hesitated and seemed to gather her courage. “Then I must join you in whatever you wish to do, Xu Xing. If I do not, I will have no chance to expiate my debt, and I can not leave it lingering over me.”

“Maybe you’ll get to save me before we get to the city,” I suggested, half-sarcastically.

“That is my hope, as well,” she nodded with perfect sincerity. “That would ease my mind and make things far easier. I must plan for it to not be so, however. I will follow you in the city, Xu Xing, and eventually, I will find a way to repay my debt.”

I concealed my uneasiness. What I had planned would be simple enough for me – at least, so I thought – but it would be a lot harder to do with Jing, especially if her parentage was well-known. Still, my only choice was to take her along and work it out, or to reject her out-of-hand and deal with the consequences. Sure, saying nothing until we got to the city and then vanishing would be the easiest thing, but that was the option I’d already ruled out.

“I’ll be honest, Jing, I’m not sure if that will work,” I finally said. “Here’s the thing; I have a job to do in this city, and it’s likely that some of the things I’ll have to do to complete it are things that…well, that you might be unhappy about. However, I can’t let your feelings or disapproval get in the way of the things I have to do.”

“I am…unsure of what you are saying,” she admitted after a moment.

I sighed. So much for sugar coating it, right? “Okay, I’m going to say this, and I don’t want you to get angry. I want you to think, and then maybe you’ll understand what I’m saying. Jing…you made a big mistake at the cursed camp, and it almost killed you.”

“Yes,” she nodded. “The Chief’s ability to poison my qi was unexpected…”

“No, not that,” I cut her off. “Your mistake was not following the plan. If you’d followed the plan, we would have been able to ambush the Chief and take him together. We would have been able to bring the women back to the farm to rest and recover, or one of us could have gotten your father and had him decide what to do with them. All you had to do was stick to our plan…but you didn’t.

Her face was pale, and her eyes were angry, but I continued on, saying what needed to be said. “Instead, you did what you wanted to, what you thought was right. You didn’t stop to think about what that might do to me – I could have been behind one of the rockfalls, or sneaking up on the cursed, and you would have given me away. You didn’t consider what your challenge might do to the women that we were helping, the ones who were helping us in turn. Your challenge brought order to the camp, and if they’d been found, they would have been lucky to just be killed for it.

“That was your mistake, Jing. You put what you wanted to do, what you believed to be right, ahead of anything else – and you put everyone else in danger when you did that.”

I kept my voice carefully calm and neutral as I spoke. I didn’t want to sound too accusatory, but the fact was, she had put us all in danger with her actions, and she needed to know that.

“Do you understand my concern, now?” I asked. “If you’re with me in the city, and I have to kill someone, or lie to someone, or whatever, and you think it’s dishonorable or wrong…can I trust that you’ll stay silent? Or will you take matters into your own hands and do something that might cause me to fail – or even be hurt or killed?”

She remained silent for long moments, and I let her. Her eyes were angry, and her jaw was set, but she hadn’t lashed out at me for anything, yet. That was something; it meant she was at least considering what I was saying. At least, I hoped she was.

“I – I cannot change what I believe is right and wrong, Xu Xing,” she finally said.

I nodded. “I wouldn’t ask you to, Jing. That’s the thing, though. I don’t think that killing people is a good thing. I think that sometimes, it’s a necessary thing. Sometimes, there are things that aren’t good or right but that are necessary. Sometimes, what has to be done isn’t clean, or pretty, or nice; sometimes, it’s ugly and dirty and makes you feel horrible.”

“Then why would you do it?” she asked quietly.

“Because the alternatives are worse,” I shrugged. “Take killing the cursed at the quarry. What would have been the result if you’d challenged that Chief and beaten him, Jing? Assuming for a second that he and all of those cursed had enough honor to follow through on their promise to leave the quarry?”

“Then we would have been successful, and there would have been far less death,” she said, although I could see the doubt in her eyes. It occurred to me that she knew things weren’t that simple.

“No, then they would have left the quarry. And then what?”

“I – I do not know. They would have gone elsewhere…”

“And they would have done the same thing there that they did at the quarry,” I finished for her. “They would have captured more travelers and locals, killed or conscripted the men, and used the women until they died. You wouldn’t have stopped deaths; you just would have made sure they didn’t happen in front of you. To spare your conscience, you would have sentenced countless innocents to death, torture, and rape. I know you wouldn’t have done it deliberately, but that would have been the result.

“My way, the only people that died were the ones who’d earned that death through their actions,” I finished. “That was the best way; anything else could have hurt people that didn’t deserve it. By killing them, I knew that they wouldn’t harm anyone else and would never be a threat again.”

“You cannot know this to be true, Xu Xing,” she said accusingly. “You may believe it, but you will never know it.”

“That’s true, I don’t know. However, I wasn’t willing to take that risk, not when it was other people’s lives I was gambling with – not to mention ours. If I was wrong, then I still removed a bunch of murdering rapists from the world. If I was right, though, then I saved countless others from the same fate those women and their traveling companions suffered.

“You’ve lived a sheltered life, Jing, and I kind of envy you that. A long time ago, I thought the same way you did: in moral absolutes, right and wrong, good and evil, black and white. However, even though I’m not from around here, I think it’s safe to say that I’ve seen a lot more of what people can be like than you have. I’m seen them at their absolute worst; I’ve watched people do things that would make you weep just from hearing the stories.”

“You make it sound like people are no better than beasts,” she shuddered.

“Good, because that’s exactly what I mean to sound like. People can be just as bad as beasts…and some can be worse. Beasts hunt for food; some people kill and hurt others for fun, or just because they can. People can hurt you without killing you, to make the pain last longer, so they enjoy it more.”

I shook my head. “I’m not saying that every person you meet is like that, Jing, but there are people out there who will rob you, rape you, and kill you just because they feel like it or think they can get away with it. Sometimes, like with the cursed, it’s obvious. Other times, you won’t realize it until it’s too late – unless you’re already prepared to defend yourself when they show the knife they intend to plunge into your back.

“Those are probably the type of people I’ll be dealing with,” I said. “And that means that I might have to do things like killing or hurting them to stop them from doing the same to others. If you come along with me, you’re going to have to accept that, because if you can’t, you might get us both killed, or worse.”

“I do – I do not know if I can do that, Xu Xing,” she said softly.

“Then you need to decide before you tag along with me. If you join me, you might have to watch as I do things you don’t like and keep quiet about it until we’re alone. If you can’t do that, then we can part ways, and no hard feelings.”

“I must think…”

Jing stopped as we both heard a sound coming from farther ahead up the road. It was a rhythmic, metallic sound, like someone was jogging with keys in their pocket…a lot of someones, in fact. The sound grew louder, and we instinctively moved closer together, watching the road, wondering what strange monster was bearing down on us. I gathered my qi, readying myself for whatever it was to attack us, and I felt Jing step into a ready stance beside me. A spike or spine of some kind rose over the horizon, followed by twenty more, the spikes bouncing up and down in time with the jingling sound.

I almost sighed in relief as a human face appeared above the road. The face wore a wide, flaring, metal helmet, with some kind of chain screen pulled across their face, obscuring their identity. The person’s torso rose above the road next, revealing the source of the sound as the metal plates of their dark, scaled armor bouncing against one another. More people appeared behind the leader, the spike resolving themselves as the tips of long spears; all the humans wore armor that looked like dark iron or bronze, and they marched in perfect step as they trotted along the road. From the precision of their steps and their matched armor and weapons, I guessed that they were soldiers, although I supposed they could be mercenaries. I didn’t really know how things worked in this world, after all, and for all I knew, there was no such thing as standing armies.

Seeing us, the leader of the group barked an order and held up his hand. Immediately, the group shifted from a trot to a walk, closing the gap between us and halting ten feet or so away. That was far enough for them to bring their spears into play, I realized, but too far for us to easily attack them. At least, that was probably what they thought; I was pretty sure both Jing and I could reach those people before they could drop their spears into position.

“I have an analysis of the leader, John, if you’re interested,” Sara said quietly.

“Wait, their leader’s name is John, too?”

“No, I…” She stopped and sighed in my mind. “Do you want to see it or not?”

“Go ahead and show me, thanks.”

Soldier Leader

Level ??? Soldier

Estimated Physical Stats:

Prowess: 9 Vigor: 8 Celerity: 8 Skill: 7

“Those stats are pretty low for this world, aren’t they? I was higher than that back on Earth.”

“Those stats are typical for someone who isn’t a cultivator but has some martial training. None of these soldiers are showing signs of having access to their qi.”

I relaxed a bit; if the soldiers didn’t have qi powers, then they weren’t really much of a threat to me. To us, really. That didn’t mean I wanted things to head south or anything; I didn’t know who these people were, where they were from, or what they represented. I didn’t need an entire army gunning for me because I picked a fight with some soldiers. I relaxed my stance, and a moment later, I felt Jing do the same beside me. I’d expected the soldiers to relax, as well, but they didn’t, and that bothered me for some reason I couldn’t explain.

“Halt, travelers,” the leader said in a pompous voice that at least identified him as male, holding up his hand. I resisted the urge to look around to see who he was talking to; we were about as halted as you could get. “Identify yourselves!”

Jing opened her mouth, but I spoke before she could. “My name is Shining-Blade-in-the-Sun,” I said, making up a name that sounded like something from this world, then holding a hand out to Jing. “This is Morning-Fog-at-the-Window. We’re escorting a group of women to the City of the Sunrise Moon.”

The leader somehow managed to sneer through the chain veil covering his face. “It appears that you have misplace your charges, then,” he barked in laughter, and I heard some snickers rising from the soldiers. I repressed a sigh; this wasn’t going to go well. I’d seen this man’s type before; he’d been given a little authority, and it had gone straight to his head. He either wanted to bully us – and I couldn’t see Jing letting herself be bullied – or extort us for money, of which we had zero that I knew of.

“They are behind us, down the road,” Jing said, her chin raised imperiously. “We travel ahead to clear the way of beasts, so they may travel in safety.”

The man’s face darkened at those words. “You have been killing beasts along our road?” he asked, his tone angry.

“Of course,” she replied nonchalantly. “Beasts are the enemies of the kuan, and they must be slain whenever possible. All know this; we merely followed our duty.”

“Your duty?” the man scoffed. “You seek to claim the bounties that rightfully belong to us!”

“Bounties?” Jing replied almost as contemptuously. “We do not know of what you speak! We battle the beasts because it is the right thing to do, not for gain!”

“All know that the Dark Ocean Sect pays a bounty in qi stones for every beast head brought to the city gates,” the man replied angrily. “You have stolen our bounty!”

“Actually,” I interjected, “we didn’t take anything.” I pointed to the nearest body of the stone bear thingy. “As you can see, we killed the beasts, but we left their heads. Feel free to go along behind us and claim them; we don’t much care.”

The man’s eyes narrowed as he looked at me. “You seek to trick me,” he said quietly. “You send us off to claim these supposed bounties, and then you are free to walk to the gates of the Sunrise Moon and redeem them yourselves, making us look foolish and stealing our prizes.” He shook his head. “No, if you wish to pass, you must either turn over the beast heads you hold – or pay us in spirit stones.” An evil light shone in his eyes. “I am certain you must have at least…twenty of them, one for each of us.”

“And if we don’t want to pay?” I asked tiredly, having a feeling that I knew the answer.

“You will pay, one way or another,” he said, lowering his spear and pointing it toward me. “You will pay in blood for this affront.” He swung the spear toward Jing. “You, however…we can find other ways for you to pay, I am quite certain.”

My hand flashed out, grabbing the shaft of the man’s spear just behind the head, and instantly, the spears of the rest of the company lowered to face us. I set my feet, ready to move, but before I could, a familiar voice cut through the impending violence like a sword thrust.

“Is there a difficulty, here?” Wim spoke, sauntering almost casually into sight with Dif at his side. Shi Lo followed meekly behind the pair, with the rest of the women trailing behind them.

“It is nothing for you to concern yourself with, elder,” the soldier snapped. “We are dealing with two who stole our bounties…”

“And yet, it concerns me greatly, Patrol Leader,” the old man interrupted, moving to stand beside Jing, “as these two are with me, assisting me as I bring these women to the City of the Sunrise Moon.” As he spoke, the old man shifted his robe slightly. A flap of fabric fell away, revealing a glittering, silver rune of some sort sewn into the robe on his left breast. The soldier’s eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Dif stepped forward.

“As well,” she said, pointing to me, “this one is my apprentice, and thus my responsibility.” She took out the medallion she’d shown me before, and the Patrol Leader dropped into a deep bow.

“Master of the Brilliant Desert, Master of the Amber Tear,” he said almost grovelingly, “forgive this one his great impertinence.”

“Ah, I do not believe we will,” Wim said with a shrug. “Certainly, the Dark Water Sect must know of your actions, Patrol Leader. Out of respect for that house, we are obligated to make a report that details your attempts to blackmail and extort our companions.” He looked out at the rest of the soldiers. “Of course, if that report were to be made by someone other than us, it is likely that only the Patrol Leader would be punished for his actions.”

The soldiers got the old man’s point instantly, it seemed. They shifted their spears to point at the silent, still Patrol Leader. One stepped forward and took their former leader’s spear, then stepped back and leveled it at the frozen man.

“Patrol Leader, you will return with us to the city,” the soldier said. “We must give a full report to the Strike Leader of this incident.” The leader opened his mouth to speak, but the soldier prodded him none-too-gently with his own spear. “I am certain you will be given the chance to explain the matter to the Strike Leader, Patrol Leader. Until then, I must insist that you say nothing and return with us to the barracks.”

The former leader flashed Jing and me a gaze filled with hatred and anger, but I simply stood there, saying nothing. He walked to the back of his men, who opened up around him, keeping their spears trained on him and holding their distance. As he neared the back, though, the man jerked one of the spears free from a soldier’s grip, spun, and flung it directly at me. I ducked, but before the spear could reach me, the old woman stood in front of me, holding the flung spear in her outstretched fist. Beyond her, Wim appeared before the Patrol Leader, his hand extended, his palm a foot or so from the leader’s chest. Blood erupted from the man’s mouth, and I heard his sternum and ribs collapse with a sound like bubble wrap popping. His eyes went wide, and he collapsed to his knees, clutching his shattered chest.

Wim merely stood over the man, and when he looked back at us, his face was impassive. “I am certain the Strike Leader will be less than pleased if this one dies a warrior’s death after such a treacherous attack,” he said calmly.

“Yes, Master of the Brilliant Desert,” the soldier who’d taken the man’s spear bowed to my teacher. He reached into his armor and pulled out a thin cord of what looked like leather with a handle at each end. I recognized the cord’s function instantly; I’d never really used a garrote, but I knew how to.

Apparently, so did the soldier. He stepped up behind the kneeling leader, who tried desperately to scramble away. He dropped to his hands and knees, trying to crawl away, but two other soldiers grabbed his arms and lifted him back to his knees. He struggled to free himself, but with his chest crushed, I was amazed he could even breathe, much less fight. The first soldier whipped the cord around the man’s throat, crossed the handles behind his neck and set a knee to the leader’s back. He leaned backward, pulling hard, and the leader choked and gagged as the cord cut off his air instantly. The soldiers released his arms, allowing him to scrabble and claw futilely at the thin cord that had sunk into his throat. It wasn’t a quick death; despite what movies sometimes show, people don’t die of asphyxiation in a few seconds. They pass out pretty quickly, but that’s usually from having the blood flow to their brain interrupted, not from lack of oxygen. The leader fell still in less than a minute, but the soldier kept holding the garrote tightly even after his victim slumped into unconsciousness.

“I trust that you will deliver his remains and a report – an accurate report – to the Strike Leader of the Dark Water Sect?” Wim asked calmly.

“We will, Master of the Brilliant Desert,” the man holding the garrote bowed his head low.

“Excellent. Then we will consider this matter closed, and I will but mention it in passing to the masters of my school. I am certain that not only will no blame fall upon you, you may find yourself a new Patrol Leader when this is done.” He looked down at the unconscious man, whose face was dark purple – what little of it I could see, that was. “I hope that you comport yourself with more dignity than this one did.”

“Of that, you may be certain, elder,” the man replied.

Wim turned back to us, his face still utterly still. “Come,” he said brusquely. “We must continue to the City of the Sunrise Moon with no more dawdling. Your leisurely stroll through the mountains is ended.”

I didn’t think what we’d just gone through could count as ‘dawdling’, but I wasn’t about to argue with the man. I hadn’t even seen him move when he attacked the Patrol Leader, but I had felt the energy surging through him as he casually crushed the leader’s chest without damaging the man’s lungs or heart significantly. All I’d caught was the echo of his technique, the energy reflecting off the leader’s chest, and that had dwarfed anything I thought I could bring to bear. I knew Wim was scary, but I hadn’t known he was that scary.

And, judging from the troubled expression on Jing’s face…neither had she.

What a fantastic welcome for both of us to the City of the Sunrise Moon.