Poisoning, Part Two
Shintu’s awkward words were followed at once by Sister Seol’s voice, thick with grievance.
“Three of us can’t go. If you were men, I’d sling two of you over my shoulders and run, but both of you are women, and Yeong-ryeon can’t carry two people at a sprint.”
“I don’t want that woman piggybacking me either! I’ll just walk!”
“I—I’m sorry. But I’ve already said I was sorry, haven’t I?”
“Does saying sorry make everything go away!?”
Yeong-ryeon, Shintu’s disciple, apologized to Sister Seol once more, but Seol’s anger refused to cool. The residual grudge over having her pressure points seized and her clothes stripped still sat heavy in her chest. Between her usual outfit and being undressed, the difference in actual surface area was almost nothing—yet psychologically it was another matter entirely.
“But no one else saw anything, did they?”
“What!? You saw!”
“I—I’m sorry.”
And so the meeting to decide who would leave for the Murim Alliance had become a thoroughly uncomfortable affair.
The party bound for the Alliance was me, Sister Seol, and Hwa-eun. Sister Seol carried the Tang Family’s letter of recommendation and her adoptive father’s petition for membership, so she had to go as a principal party. I was needed to explain the poison we were delivering. Hwa-eun would attend as the family’s representative.
The reason Grandfather Mandok Shin-gun and my father-in-law were not joining us—and why Hwa-eun was going in their place—was almost comical.
In short: it would look undignified.
Shintu could reach Wuchang in three days only because he possessed light-footwork of staggering speed. The only way to ride that bullet-train of a taxi was to be carried on Shintu’s back—or on the back of his disciple Yeong-ryeon. Neither my father-in-law nor Grandfather Mandok Shin-gun could possibly ride a woman, and riding Shintu himself was equally out of the question. Which left Hwa-eun representing the family.
As for me, once Shintu promised a three-day round trip I could hardly refuse. Seol-i and Bing-i might lay their eggs while I was gone, but three days was short enough that I could still make it back in time.
The real problem, Sister Seol’s lingering fury aside, was that we only had two taxis. The Murim bullet-taxi was a single-seater, and only two were currently in service. That was why Shintu’s face had gone so awkward. If the passengers had been men he could have roughly slung them over his shoulders, but Hwa-eun and Sister Seol were women, so he could not carry them—and Yeong-ryeon lacked the realm to take more than one rider.
So do we leave Hwa-eun behind?
“Then we’ll have to leave Hwa-eun out. I’m a little worried about So-ryong not knowing Murim etiquette. This is the Southern Savage Beast Palace joining the Alliance—we really need someone who knows the proper forms.”
“You’re right, Father.”
As Grandfather Mandok Shin-gun said, Sister Seol and I were country bumpkins from the Central Plains Murim who barely knew the etiquette. We needed someone experienced like Hwa-eun—and the situation was stuck.
-Chureut?
Cho, who had been circling overhead, dropped down, took one look at our tense faces, and asked what was going on.
“It’s nothing, Cho. We’re not fighting—just talking. You don’t need to worry. Go play for a bit.”
I stroked Cho’s head and told him not to fret. He rose again above my crown. Watching him spin a slow circle up there, a sudden idea struck me.
Ah! That’s it! That would work!
A way to bring Hwa-eun along and spare Sister Seol the indignity of riding Yeong-ryeon’s back. I turned to Shintu at once.
“Elder Shintu, do you know how to fly a kite?”
“A kite?”
“Yes—a rather long, rather large one…”
The kind that would make you an instant celebrity if you flew it on the Hangang riverside park.
“……So everyone’s satisfied? We’ve even done a test run.”
“Fine. Let’s go. Tch.”
“All right, then—off we go.”
Once my idea had sorted everything out, Shintu wanted to leave at once. A few days and we’d be back; no need to pack, just go.
“One moment, Elder Shintu. I have to say goodbye to the children and explain where I’m going. Otherwise they’ll all try to follow.”
I could not simply vanish when I had charges of my own. If Hwa-eun and I disappeared at the same time, chaos would erupt.
“Hm? The children? Ah—those children. Right, of course.”
So we went to bid farewell to the ones who would stay behind. Of the venomous beasts, only Hyang-i and Cho would travel with us. Seol-i was mid-way through forming eggs inside her body, so she would remain—and if Seol-i stayed, Bing-i stayed by default. Snakes can go a month or two without food, but only when they truly have no choice. Yeondu needed baby fire carp every two or three days, so travel was impractical for her.
Seol-i seemed to understand Bing-i’s condition; when I told her to stay she simply nodded. Yeondu, not yet deeply attached, showed little reaction either way.
The problem, as always, was Yo-hwa.
“Yo-hwa, just ten days, all right?”
-Kishi…
Wearing Hwa-eun’s face, Yo-hwa folded her arms in a clearly sulking pout. After taking Changryong’s yang energy last time, her resistance to other sources of yang had lessened enough that she had agreed—when I begged—to stay behind. Even so, the hurt was plain.
She had said she understood, yet just like before she would not let go of my sleeve. I was starting to think we would never leave today when Yeong-ryeon, apparently moved by the sight, stepped forward and asked me for a favor.
“Young Hero So-ryong—a little of that thread from earlier, please.”
“Thread?”
“Yes. That thick thread.”
I had drawn silk from Yo-hwa only a short while ago; Shintu’s disciple Yeong-ryeon wanted some of it. Specifically, two short lengths.
“Well… all right.”
Whether she wanted a souvenir or had some other purpose, I nodded, took a little silk from Yo-hwa, and handed it over.
“Now then—both of you, hold out your wrists.”
“Our wrists?”
-Kishit?
At the sudden request Yo-hwa and I hesitantly extended our hands. Yeong-ryeon tied the silk I had given her around my wrist and Yo-hwa’s.
She looked at Yo-hwa as she spoke.
“Yo-hwa, was it? There—I’ve bound Young Hero So-ryong with Yo-hwa’s own thread. Even if you’re apart, you’re still together. How about it? Can you let him go now?”
Hwa-eun smiled at the woman’s words.
“Is it meant like the Red Thread?”
“The Red Thread?”
“Yes—the Old Man Under the Moon binds a red thread around the ankles of two people, and they are destined to meet. They’re fated for each other. You’ve bound their wrists instead, so it’s a promise that he will certainly return. Something like that, I thought.”
Ah—the red thread of fate?
I nodded; I had heard the story once or twice myself. Then I looked at Yo-hwa, wondering if this would finally persuade her to let me go—and a sharp cry answered me.
-Kishit!
Yo-hwa snapped both lengths of silk—hers and mine—right there on the spot.
“I—I’m sorry, I thought you’d like it…”
Yeong-ryeon hurried to apologize—only for the furious spider to do something none of us expected.
She began spinning silk again.
Vivid, unmistakable red.
“Red?”
She had never produced red silk before. It came out as if already dyed. While I was still staring in surprise, a thick red thread looped around my ankle and the ankle of Yo-hwa in Hwa-eun’s form—not tied, but formed into seamless rings, no knot visible.
Looking thoroughly satisfied, Yo-hwa shoved me in the back and waved me off as if to say, Go on, then. Have a safe trip.
-Kishishi.
“Eh?”
“Huh?”
“What?”
Hwa-eun, Sister Seol, and Yeong-ryeon all stared at our ankles with identical expressions of blank astonishment. I waved both hands awkwardly under their gazes.
We were different species, after all.
“N-no way. It can’t mean that.”
Right? Yo-hwa? We’re… different species! It’s a love that can never be!
I loved my venomous beasts, truly—but my mind had gone pure white. Because if she meant it for real… what then?
Giant-centipede kite-flying.
A massive centipede coiled around one passenger and hovering in the sky, hauled along like a kite—when that spectacle arrived at the gates of the Murim Alliance, the welcoming crowd was spectacular.
“O-Oh! The Great Sage!?”
“The Great Sage is flying through the sky!”
“That’s not the Great Sage—isn’t that an Azure Dragon!?”
Exactly as I had predicted: Shintu, instant celebrity.
We had been forced into this arrangement because Sister Seol refused to ride Yeong-ryeon and we still had too many people to transport. So I had Cho coil around Sister Seol, then told Shintu and Yeong-ryeon to run while towing Cho by threads of Yo-hwa’s silk. Cho floated aloft with the Qi-Riding Ascent; once airborne he was nearly weightless.
The oversized reception, it turned out, was because something grotesque had been spotted approaching from a distance and the whole place had gone on high alert… until Elder Shintu proved his identity, at which point the clamor died and everyone hastily stepped back.
“Is the Alliance Leader present!? This is urgent—send word to the Leader’s Hall at once! I am Shintu!”
He loosed a length of silk from his wrist and cracked it through the air; the martial artists recoiled in terror. Heavenly Silk, Shintu’s signature treasure, caught the light and scattered glittering sparks around him. The warriors dropped into full prostration and cried out.
“S-Shintu!”
“We pay our respects to the Peerless Shintu!”
-Tang!
Having scrambled to prepare a seat the moment he received word of our sudden arrival, the Alliance Leader slammed the table with a face equal parts fury and shock. Every agent he had dispatched on intelligence work had just been reported killed in the line of duty.
“What!? Th-they’re all dead!?”
“Th-this can’t be!”
Even Strategist Jegal Hu, whom I already knew by face, wore an expression of pure dismay.
“Yes. Including Vice Pavilion Master Bang Sun of the Flying Dragon Pavilion, nearly all twelve team members appear to have fallen. As we withdrew toward the Central Plains we searched the area, and Grandfather Mandok Shin-gun scoured as far as the inner side of the border—but we found no survivors.
“The only survivors are Changryong, Sword Phoenix, and Blade Dragon, who happened to be traveling with us. All three are so badly wounded that they will need at least three months of convalescence at the Beast Palace…”
“Kh… I should have committed more experts… This is my failure.”
It seemed Strategist Jegal Hu had planned the operation; he bowed his head with a stricken look. The Alliance Leader shook his head firmly.
“Is this the hour to assign blame? Don’t speak that way, Strategist.”
“Ah—this, please…”
I held out the paper we had brought to the two grim-faced men. The sacrifice had not been meaningless.
“What is this?”
“Hero Bang Sun gave it to us as he charged into certain death to clear our path. It records several locations suspected to be strongholds of the Blood Sect…”
I handed over the sheet—punctured where Sword Phoenix had been run through by a spear, the blood long since dried. The Alliance Leader took it with trembling hands.
“You have my thanks. The Murim Alliance is once again deeply in your debt.”
After that I introduced Sister Seol to the Alliance Leader and reported that the Blood Sect had allied with the Five Poisons Sect. I also explained that, as a result, the poison of the Bloodweeping Tree might now be useless—and that we had found a new poison to take its place.
“A poison that seals the blood vessels this time?”
“Yes, Strategist. Alliance Leader.”
“Hah…”
“A great blessing for the Murim.”
The Southern Savage Beast Palace’s application to join the Alliance was received with open arms. As the force stationed nearest the border of Dai Viet—where the Blood Sect was all but certain to be based—they made an excellent forward post for watching the enemy’s movements. Membership was a free pass.
We quickly agreed that envoys would be sent via Sichuan, and as we were walking out of the Leader’s Hall a voice called after us.
“Dokhwa. It’s been a long time.”
I turned. Two women and three men stood there. Hwa-eun clasped her fist in salute toward the man who had spoken.
“It has been a while, Earth Dragon.”
Earth Dragon?
People who belonged to the same Dragons and Phoenixes as Brother Blade Dragon, by the feel of it. Hwa-eun introduced the man to Sister Seol and me.
“So-ryong, this is the Earth Dragon of the Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes. Earth Dragon—this is my fiancé, So-ryong, son of the Southern Savage Beast Palace. And this is Seol, daughter of the Beast Palace Lord.”
“A pleasure, Young Hero—and Young Lady Seol. I am the Earth Dragon, Jegal Yong-cheon. Strategist Jegal Hu of the Murim Alliance is my uncle. These are Fist Dragon and Sword Dragon; the ladies behind us are Eumbong and Gungbong.”
The man’s identity was Strategist Jegal Hu’s nephew—and, as expected, one of the Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes. The three men who returned our salute were the pale-featured Jegal Yong-cheon, a thick-browed fellow called Fist Dragon, and a taciturn-looking man called Sword Dragon. With them stood a vacant-eyed woman called Gungbong and a woman whose lips were as red as if a mouse had bitten them—Eumbong.
“But what brings you to stop us?”
When I asked why they had called us over, Jegal Yong-cheon pressed his temple as if nursing a migraine and answered.
“Mm… To be honest, I wanted news of Blade Dragon, Changryong, and Sword Phoenix. Just now my uncle said Dokhwa seemed to have brought word of them and hurried off, so…”
“Ah…”
Fellow members of the Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes, curious about their friends. I still could not announce that nearly everyone on the intelligence mission was dead, so I gave a carefully vague answer that they were well. The Strategist and the Alliance Leader would release the details in their own time.
“I can’t say much. But they are safe—you needn’t worry.”
“I see… Understood. Then—”
Whether because he was Strategist Jegal Hu’s nephew or simply sharp-witted, the Earth Dragon accepted that with a nod. They did not seem especially close to Hwa-eun; once their business was done they exchanged parting courtesies and drifted away.
Not particularly close with Hwa-eun, then?
That same evening, while we were dividing the famous wines and dishes of Wuchang that Shintu had “acquired,” he pushed a cup toward me.
“Here, try this. Ten-year Shaoxing aged wine.”
“Did you steal this too?”
“What, you think this Shintu would pay for it?”
Then Strategist Jegal Hu came rushing in and blurted a request.
“Forgive me for disturbing your rest, Shintu. Dokhwa—can you help me!?”
Not me—he was asking Hwa-eun for something. She tilted her head.
“Me, Elder?”
The Strategist nodded, urgency written all over his face.
“My nephew Yong-cheon has collapsed. The Alliance physicians say it looks like poisoning.”
“What!? Yong-cheon—the Earth Dragon!? Poisoned?”
The nephew of the Murim Alliance’s own Strategist had nearly been poisoned to death—inside the Murim Alliance itself.
Outside, the noise was already rising.