Page 42 of The Wind Dancer
She silently studied me, as if she could see my thoughts racing. Heavens, it seemed like I had chosen the right side. Tang Fei was older and had been an elder for quite some time. This meant that his position in the Secret Chancellery hierarchy couldn’t be higher than Scale Lord. No commoner would ever rise higher. This wasn’t an official rule, but it had been so since the very foundation of the dynasty.
“Seems you have realized everything?” Mei Lin’s voice brought me back to reality. This was all so much, I wanted, no, needed to get drunk. I picked up a jug and started drinking straight from it, and a thin trickle of rice wine escaped from a corner of my mouth.
“Yes, Claw Lord Mei Lin.” I said, releasing a slow breath and reassuring myself that she wouldn’t lie while declaring her part of the deal. “My life and my freedom in exchange for crucial information.”
“Then tell me everything.” Mei Lin stared at me over the rim of her teacup. There was a fire in her eyes. And despite it, she didn’t rush me. She was dangerously patient.
I finished the rest of the wine and took a deep breath, pushing away the pain in my temples. I had to complete our deal, despite my condition.
“Alright, here’s what happened.” I took the other cup and began.
I told her everything. How I had received a job from the elders, that I had been monitoring the dragonblood’s house for a week, memorizing patrol routes and making possible escape routes. How I was on a tight deadline. I didn’t give an exactexplanation of how I got into the estate. We both studied each other’s reactions as I recalled the events.
I told her about the corpses. The maid with her throat torn out, the mangled guard, about the woman whose skull was crushed like pottery. I saw Mei Lin’s fingers grip the tea cup slightly harder, but her expression remained the same.
I told her how I reached the office and found the owner slumped in an armchair, so badly tortured he was difficult to look at. I had taken him for dead, yet he was still alive and able to speak.
“During his service, Li Yanjin held the rank of Third Dragon Lord of the legion. He personally led the heavy infantry, destroying enemies by the dozen. He was estimated to be at the fourth level on the path of Ascension. Who could have done this to him?”
“The Broken Seal Cult.” Despite her control, I could feel her tense at that. Sheknewwhat kind of bastards they were. “He told me about it himself, and he made a deal with me in order not to fall into their hands.” For a moment, I was back in that creepy mansion, the air heavy with the smell of freshly spilled blood. “I had to kill a few people to get out of there. And...” I stopped, not certain how to tell her this.
“Go on.”
“You’ll think I’m a fool who believes in tales for children.”
“What did you see there?”
“The Carver. That thing scared me so much I could only think about escaping. And there was some other freakish thing with it, something I had never even heard of.” I looked her straight in the eye and expected dismissal or mockery.
“In your Heaven-forsaken corner of the Empire, such creatures and distorted people are rare. But closer to the Perimeter, they’re far more common.” She took a sip of tea and continued. “Cultists don’t seek a path to Heaven. They make deals with the Underworld or the Hell Lords, so I believe you. Go on.”
I told her how I got away, again skipping mentioning the Heavenly Wing. Yes, she knew a lot about my mentor, but that was no reason to share all my secrets with her.
Lastly, and most importantly, I told her that I had seen a very tall dragonblood with golden eyes.
“Well, you’ve earned your life with this information. This is high-priority intelligence.”
“And if you can capture or kill those responsible?”
“It would raise my status in the Chancellery.” She didn’t shy away from how beneficial this was for her. “You mentioned the Eight-Petalled Lotus?”
“I did. The dragonblood’s right-hand man is looking for me. He wants to meet me in three days. That’s what the Lotus creeps were hired for. To follow me, and theninviteme to a meeting.” I let the sarcasm bleed into the last words. “I only removed one petal.”
“Which means there’s at least one more looking for you. I doubt anyone would pay for a full-fledged hunt on you.”
“Agreed. I had something else aside from what I’d learned from that interrogation.” I took one of the sheets from my sleeve, like a magic trick. Mei Lin froze for a moment, and I could tellshe recognized my mentor’s handwriting. Her gaze ran quickly over the neat column of characters.
“So you finally found Jian Wei’s legacy.”
I shook my head.
“Only a small part of it. I had a key to one of his hideouts, but someone had already been there and taken most of it. This and a few other documents were all I could find. They missed them because they didn’t know where to look.” I lied without a single twitch or tell, holding her gaze as I did.
It seemed she bought it. She was too used to people being so afraid of the Secret Chancellery that they readily gave information.
“I need to find that person. And...” Her lips curled into a wicked smile. “The guild will have to lose its Nightmaster. What do you think, master Shadow Feng Lao?”
When I handed over these documents, I knew exactly what I was doing. I was taught toalwayssettle the score.
