Stolen Goods 5
The sun was sinking low on the fifth evening of the hunt for stolen goods.
The final check brimmed with unbearable tension. Sunset was almost upon them, and Hyang-i still kept mixing up the Chen hour and the Xu hour.
Chen and Xu were completely different characters, yet to Hyang-i’s eyes they must have looked the same. Both of them had that lid-like covering, maybe? Chinese characters really are a nightmare to learn. At this rate I’m going to give my own daughter a complex. I was starting to worry she might develop Hyang-i depression. In my past life I’d overheard the casual claim that for every ten English-language kindergartens that opened, one pediatric psychiatric ward had to open right after. What Hyang-i was learning wasn’t English, and I couldn’t say for sure whether she actually needed a shrink, but still.
“Come on, Hyang-ah, you can do this. Let’s try again. The Chen hour!”
Hwa-eun’s warm, encouraging voice wrapped around Hyang-i. Grandfather, Father-in-law, and Mother-in-law all held their breath, eyes locked on wherever Hyang-i would point.
Tsz… tszrr…
She still couldn’t find it on the first try. Once again Hyang-i hovered uncertainly between Chen and Xu. Watching her dither, Cho finally lost patience and gave the Chen hour a light poke with an antenna.
Tok…
That was Cho’s fatal mistake. The moment the help arrived, Hyang-i whipped around and charged at Cho with a furious, ear-splitting wail.
Tszrrrr! Tszrr! Tszrit!
The feelings pouring off Hyang-i were pure I already knew that!! I already knew!! Nothing in the world is more irritating than having an older sibling hover over you while you’re doing workbook problems or memorizing the multiplication table and act like they know everything. Backseat drivers are out, period.
Come to think of it, Cho really is a backseat-driver bug. Technically an arthropod, so an animal, but in this era centipedes counted as insects, which made what Cho had just done pure backseat-driver-insect behavior.
Cho stared at the tiny creature growling at her, then turned an utterly baffled look on me and twitched her antennae. Having a little one scream and charge like that was just too ridiculous. Sensing a full-blown fight about to break out, I decided to take Cho outside for a while.
“Cho-ya, Cho. Come outside with Daddy for a bit.”
Tszrit.
I hadn’t taught Cho the twelve hours. Had she been bored? Or had she felt left out because the whole family’s attention was locked on Hyang-i? Either way, I stroked her head once we were outside and piled on the praise.
“So our Cho already memorized all twelve hours, huh? Amazing. That’s my Cho.”
Tsz, tszrit.
She ducked her head shyly at the praise. Apparently Cho had already learned every single double-hour just by watching over someone’s shoulder. Funny how things you study yourself take forever, yet the stuff you pick up sideways sticks right away.
“Good girl. Our Cho. But for now let’s let little sister figure it out on her own, okay?”
Tszrrrit.
I made sure to praise her thoroughly so she wouldn’t feel left out, then sat on the stepping stones outside the Family Head’s Hall and waited. A cheer erupted from inside.
“Yes! Well done, Hyang-i! Mommy’s so proud of you!”
“Heh heh, the little rascal memorized it in a single day. That’s plenty good.”
“She’s just as clever as Hwa-eun was.”
Hyang-i’s preparations were clearly finished. That meant it was time to catch a thief.
I stroked Cho’s head one more time.
“Cho-ya, the second the sun goes down you head straight up into the sky and wait for Daddy’s signal, understand?”
Tszrrrit!
I told her exactly what to do, then dashed back inside. Hyang-i sat proudly on Hwa-eun’s shoulder, antennae held high and arrogant—the very picture of a genius centipede. She thrust her head toward me as if demanding praise of her own, so I scratched under her chin and lavished it on.
“Aigoo, our Cho is amazing.”
Tszrit!?
“Ah—no, Hyang-i.”
A sharp little prickle of indignation stabbed into my mind for getting the name wrong. The sibling rivalry between my daughters was no joke. From now on I was going to have to be careful never to mix up their names. Whew… how on earth did Mom and Dad raise my sister and me in my past life?
The time written on the Divine Thief’s challenge notice was after the Xu hour—after seven in the evening. The moment the sun set, the family’s warriors and elders moved to their prearranged positions. We were in the mountains; the sun dropped the second it passed six, so we had agreed to move only after full dark. No one wanted to risk being spotted while there was still light.
“Everyone, move in secret!”
“Yes, Family Head!”
“We should be off as well.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Understood, Grandfather.”
Grandfather Man-dok Shin-gun and my in-laws took the center of the estate. The other elders fanned out evenly around the perimeter. All but a small rapid-response force of warriors melted into hiding places across Mount Tangga, waiting for the Divine Thief.
As for me, I was inside Yo-hwa’s nest—woven from her own warm spider silk—right beside her as she clutched a thick bundle of threads. The fact that her silk blocked infrared vision also meant it was ridiculously good insulation. I’d felt it before, but Yo-hwa’s web was so warm. Curled up with my companion spider inside her warm silk house… if we weren’t hunting a thief this would be the perfect rest.
Everyone waited in their positions, nerves stretched thin as time crawled by. The endless waiting made my eyelids heavy; I closed them for just a moment—
Dang!
Far away, the temple bell softly announced the Zi hour of midnight.
Kishit?
Shaa!
Holy—I slept way too deeply!
“Mm… n-no, Daddy wasn’t asleep.”
Yeondu coiled around my neck and Yo-hwa both made scolding little sounds at me for dozing off. The distant bell kept ringing gently. Being underage still, my body started getting sleepy the moment ten o’clock passed; I slapped myself awake again.
“Seriously, when is this thief even coming? Please don’t tell me he’s going to pull the worst possible hours—three or four in the morning.”
Even army night watch considered three and four the hours that crossed the line. I was half-convinced the bastard would be vicious enough to show up then—and sure enough, the moment the bell rang out the Yin hour, Yo-hwa immediately gave the signal.
Dang! Dang!
Kishit!
Someone had appeared on the Mount Tangga side, in the direction of the Zi hour—due north.
“Huu…”
Yeong-ryeon let out a long breath to push the tension down. Below her lay the walls of the Sichuan Tang Clan. Beyond them not a single person was visible, and every light was out. The place looked thoroughly prepared; that was exactly why she felt so tense. But if all of this was simply her master testing her, she still had to break through.
Clenching her fists, she shot toward the wall. Using the Shadowless Soundless Body Art she vaulted the Tang Clan’s wall from the mountain side and took two steps inside—
Piyuuuu!
A signal flare screamed overhead.
“What!?”
There had been no warriors nearby, and no one should have been able to spot her even from a distance—yet a flare was already flying above her head. Worse, it had gone up the instant she took two steps past the wall. That meant they had known the moment she entered.
Her eyes flew wide. Warriors burst out from every direction and began searching for her. Something was very wrong. Yeong-ryeon instantly withdrew back over the wall and watched the area.
“Did you find them!?”
“Nothing!”
“They’re definitely nearby! Search!”
From the voices it was clear they still hadn’t actually seen her—yet somehow they knew she had entered the estate. She retreated quickly into the mountains, scouted the surroundings, then reappeared a short distance away holding two rabbits she had caught. I need to find out how they noticed.
People thought the Divine Thief stole everything with nothing but blinding speed and lightness arts. That was only half the truth. More important was reading the watchers, studying their patterns, and finding the gaps. That was the true posture of a Divine Thief. To test what had given her away the moment she crossed the wall, she tossed the two rabbits inside. Signal flares shot up at once.
Piyuuu!
Piyuuuuuu!
How on earth are they detecting this?
The second the rabbits hit the ground, two flares flew. Warriors appeared just as quickly. It felt as though anything that set foot inside the walls was instantly located, no matter what it was. From beyond the wall Yeong-ryeon heightened her vision and peered in.
A river ran near Mount Tangga; once the Yin hour passed, river mist began to rise. In the moonlight the interior of the Tang estate was revealed: something white and glittering covered everything from the ground to the rooftops of the halls.
That—what is that!?
She pushed her Hundred-Ri Eyes to the limit. The glittering things were fine threads, sparkling because they held dew. Threads had been laid meticulously over every path and every rooftop. Threads so thin they would have been invisible in pure darkness. Yeong-ryeon looked at them and smiled.
As expected of the Sichuan Tang Clan… what an ingenious method!
Competitive fire leapt in her chest. She calmed her racing heart and vaulted the wall once more. If they had strung threads across the paths and halls, she simply needed to use Grass-Top Flight.
Stepping only on leaves and stones, she slipped deeper into the estate and had just barely cleared the outer ring when a strange sound came from overhead.
Tszrrrr!
Something different from a signal flare cried out above her, and warriors immediately began to converge.
“There! That way!”
What now!?
She was using the Shadowless Soundless Body Art—no sound, no visible form—yet they still knew exactly where she was. As the cries continued she looked up.
Something floated in the sky.
A dragon!?
For a moment the blue shape gliding through the moonlight looked like the legendary Azure Dragon. But when she stared harder it wasn’t a dragon at all—it was a centipede. A sky-flying centipede was following her and making noise the whole way.
I-insane. The Tang Clan has a spirit beast!?
The information she’d received from the Beggars’ Guild had said nothing about spirit beasts, yet one was broadcasting her position from the air. The only silver lining was that it wasn’t particularly fast. Startled as she was by the sudden appearance, if it was chasing her she could simply shake it off.
The secret of the Shadowless Soundless Body Art—Gale—erupted from Yeong-ryeon’s body. Her form stretched like a drawn line in one direction, and in the next instant she vanished completely from the Sichuan Tang Clan.
“We lost them!?”
The feelings Cho sent had been clear: she had been right on the Divine Thief’s tail, then the thief had suddenly accelerated and vanished. They’d also noticed Yo-hwa’s threads. The thief had definitely slipped inside the estate, yet no one could pin down a location. The greatest thief in the Central Plains lived up to the name.
“Yo-hwa, just in case—let’s head to the Golden-Haired Bee King’s nest.”
As planned, I climbed onto Yo-hwa’s back and we raced toward the old tree that housed the Golden-Haired Bee King. Yo-hwa landed lightly in front of the training ground. I slid off and sprinted into the hollow tree, calling to Seol-i and Bing-i who had been waiting.
“I’m counting on you two. Seol-ah, Bing-ah—don’t overdo it, okay?”
Kkukku!
Kyuu!
I left the last line of defense to them and stepped into the hive. The sound of countless wings filled the air.
Wung!
“It’s me, girls.”
I’d already warned them not to treat the training ground as hostile, but the bees still gave a warning buzz when I entered the hive. Once they recognized me the sound settled. I soothed them and waited inside the old tree while the commotion outside continued. Just as the first gray light of dawn appeared, Sister Seol showed up at the entrance of the training ground and called out.
“So-ryong! We caught them!”
She must mean the Divine Thief. I bolted out of the hive toward her.
“Really, Sister Seol?”
“Yeah. We caught them and dragged them to the Family Head’s Hall. Come on!”
“I’m curious what the thief looks like. Let’s go!”
I stepped out of the training ground and stood in front of her. In that instant Sister Seol’s face melted into that of a woman I had never seen before, and a cold voice spoke.
“Caught you.”
A sharp pressure closed on the back of my neck. My legs went limp. A pressure point had been struck. As the woman toppled backward with me she seized my wrist—and Yeondu shot out and sank her fangs viciously into the back of the woman’s hand.
Shaaaaa!
I caught you too!
The woman landed on top of me as I fell flat on my back.