Born a Monster

Narrator: Wa Fenya

When investigating spies, don’t do what Lord Xho did, barging in the front door and shouting: “There is a spy in this very building, and I can PROVE it!”

I may have seen the crossbows come up first, but it was Pharmacist Hwa who pulled the lord under the cover of a nearby desk.

There were over a dozen of them in the front of the building, but they weren’t focused just on us. The officer and secretary... I just wasn’t fast enough.

There is a fallacy that all chi cultivators use martial arts because our enhanced strength and speed are such that normal weapons cannot stand the stress. Myself, I like using a thrusting sword. Most days, I detest sharpening the thing.

I mean, all the gifts the spirits bestow upon us, you’d think we’d have swords that sharpened themselves, or maybe a self-moving whetstone. Because although I calm myself and make the repetitive motion part of my daily meditation routine, I can’t say that I’ve ever gotten to where I like it.

Maybe that’s why the higher level cultivators just stop using weapons. Whatever the cause is, I could still kill more people faster with my sword.

#Narrator: Hwa Song

.....

When the crossbows came out, it was only natural for me to seek shelter before pulling out my own bow and arrow from inventory.

“Why do you even HAVE those?” his lordship asked.

“Animals don’t often negotiate.” I said, taking aim around the edge of the desk I’d taken cover behind. There are Farmers who forget that the Soldier caste kill people; after seeing Wa Fenya in action, I never shall again.

It is said that a Champion is worth five or six normal soldiers; I think that this evaluation was made with a team of them, all attacking at once. In the wild fray, with soldiers grabbing weapons to attack each other, she was a tornado.

I could not tell friend from foe; I shot only at those who had crossbows at first, and then only on those attacking either us or the specialist.

Somehow, Lord Xho got his hands on a crossbow, with which he seemed adept. His rate of fire, thankfully, was very slow. “Curse it to the deepest hell!” he exclaimed. “While we are doing this, our quarry is doubtless escaping out a side door.”

“We might be able to break around the left side.” I mocked.

“Then hurry! Hurry!” he urged.

I hurried. You hear a lot about archers able to move and shoot; it was a skill I didn’t have. We moved, and most people ignored us.

“There! You there, stop! By the authority of the admiral!” his lordship commanded, pointing to a group attempting to escape.

“Your ladyship, you must escape!” said one, drawing a blade, “We shall hold them off.”

“Pharmacist Hwa, we must stop them!” Lord Xho ordered.

“My lord, there are four of them and only two of us.” I said.

“He’s right, CHARGE!” said another of the traitors.

Against my own survival instincts, I swapped my bow out for a battle sickle.

“They have numbers, but we have them out-leveled.” Lord Xho said.

“In combat levels?” I asked. But then they were upon us, more vicious than wolves.

#Narrator: Wa Fenya

I didn’t even see the men sneak off. It was when the battle was over, and we found them by the left exit, Lord Xho having his forehead bandaged, and a sullen Pharmacist Hwa getting his arm stitched up, that I learned why.

“Again, our quarry eludes us.” Lord Xho said. “The disruption caused by this revelation will cripple the quartermaster for weeks.”

“True.” I replied, “But at least they can no longer use our own quartermaster organization against us.”

“That they were ever able to do so is a clear failure.” He replied. “I’m not certain of whose failure, but someone has grandly failed to secure our military infrastructure. Who is in charge, here?”

“Third Colonel Fu Ren, sir, but I’m certain he has nothing to do with this!” one of the sergeants replied.

“Bring him here at once.” Lord Xho tried to stand to do that imperious thing nobles think impresses us. Usually, we go along with it; who knows what ridiculous things they’d come up with if we didn’t? He wobbled, though, and Pharmacist Wa moved in to support him.

“Your lordship,” he said, “I respectfully suggest that you have a seat and let the soldiers bring this man to you.”

Lord Xho let himself be guided to sitting again, and Pharmacist Hwa made his apologies, and sat back down to let his arm be sewn on again.

“We saw her.” Pharmacist Hwa said. “I didn’t get a clear look at her features, but they addressed her as a noble.”

Lord Xho clenched both his hands. “A fragment, a mere piece of the information we should have had! Who knew that she had corrupted so many minions for herself?”

I shrugged. “Do we have anyone we can send those surviving minions to, or should we prepare to interrogate them ourselves?”

Lord Xho looked comical, the kind of surprised you see in poorly acted plays. “Yes, yes. Gather the survivors! Bind them! We shall learn everything they know before granting them the honorable deaths they’ve earned.”

I rubbed my eyes; this was exactly the sort of diplomacy that I hated.

Narrator: Sister Yoshi

I read the report with amusement, more than concern. Little Monitor’s pulse and blood circulation were up, his breathing... well, one does not improve from those sorts of injuries all at once.

PATIENT WAS BRIEFLY AWAKE. PATIENT REQUESTED MORE FOOD. I REQUESTED BETTER MANNERS. SUBJECT PASSED OUT. CAUGHT FELLOW SOLDIERS FEEDING HIM FOOD. HAVE PROPERLY REBUKED THEM, BUT EXPECT THE BEHAVIOR TO CONTINUE.

Well of course, it would. With the sheer number of their fellow champions who have joined the spirits, it was only natural to believe that the universe owed them a victory, even a token victory represented by the socially awkward foreigner.

So sorry, but the universe is not fair; the Celestial Emperor provides order, but his justice is for the heavens, not this earth that we live in.

Take heart in this injustice, and treasure your moments of good fortune. Know that luck is not a finite resource; your happiness need not come at the expense of anyone around you. It is merely a moment of happiness in a life that requires those of us with the miko light more than ever.

Speaking of which, I should probably find Captain Feng. He was easy to find, in his normal spot on the roof with a spy-glass. It was a copper tube, with lenses of glass at both ends. He has let me use it, and it is a wonderous device. It allowed me to see the plumage of newborn birds, still safe in their nest.

“You are using that again to look at things that upset you.” I told him. “I can tell by your breathing.”

“Things I need to see.” He said, “If the enemy were doing things that made me happy, this siege would already be over.”

“It would be something to see, would it not, if this dispute could be ended without further bloodshed?”

He opened his mouth, then closed it.

“Come. Let me loosen the straps on this side of your armor to get my hands nearer that kidney.”

“Does nobody else need your touch more?”

I clucked my tongue. “Who is your assigned healer? Do you think me so ignorant of the ways of triage?”

He sighed. “I need to focus on what they are doing. So long as this doesn’t interfere with that mission, let’s skip the usual banter.”

So dedicated! But yes, a gentler tongue would not have hurt his demeanor any. I loosened the straps I needed to, wedged my hands in, and called the light to them.

“So, has the blood returned to your urine or night soils?”

“Not that I am aware of.” He said.

“So what are they doing? Building siege engines, strengthening their walls, sharpening their swords and making more arrows?”

“They’ve got a spirit circle and the people to keep it working.”

That was a surprise. “Whatever do they need to keep spirits imprisoned for? It’s not like they can use them to siege the walls.”

He sighed. “I cannot fathom what they will or will not do. In the siege of Honsoyama, the forces of the Green Women used catapults to hurl spirit cages over the walls.”

“Should I tell the Burned Woman to be ready to repel such minor spirits?”

The others don’t like talking to the Burned Woman. I find her a tragic figure. Not because of the burns she suffered before dying, but because she continues to wait for a young spearman who cannot return to her. It was an effort to direct her attention to the living world, and she would not harm a living being. Spirits, though, she was very territorial about.

“Let us NOT do this thing.” He decided. “If they’re so desperate as to use such tactics, to my mind it means there is nothing more mundane they can do that will break us.”

Ah, if only we had known!

He deftly took the needle from a very surprised soldier, and then left it to dangle as he moved. I am assured that this is not considered good form, and is likely among the reasons he received an ugly scar on that arm.