Book 11: Chapter 69: Valuable Things
A dull ache waited inside of Sen when he woke up the next morning. An ache that refused to go away, which told him that he’d pushed too hard the previous afternoon. The worst part was that he knew that it wasn’t physical. As swiftly as he healed, any physical ailment would have repaired itself while he slept. He’d kept making the shadow constructs long after he knew he should stop. Some of it had been simple fascination with the process, as flawed as the final products might be in his opinion. The rest had been a more practical concern. He wanted enough of them so each mortal could ride on one. It wasn’t a concern that the constructs would grow tired. They wouldn’t.
Rather, he didn’t want two people to die instead of one if a sneak attack came. If more than one mortal was riding each construct, the odds of two or more deaths happening during a fight went way up. Even when making them shadow beasts in smaller batches, he could feel something inside of him being strained more and more. He told himself that it was just like training with the jian when he’d been younger. Of course, doing something new wasn’t easy. Of course, it wouldn’t feel great. However, he’d forgotten just how prone he was to overtraining in those days. It seemed that some things hadn’t changed that much.
“I can’t make more of those for a while,” he mumbled to himself.
Fortunately, he shouldn’t need to make any more in the immediate future. There was the ride back to the capital, and then there would be the march south. Sen thought that the march could be sped up by having the constructs simply pull everyone in wagons, but he doubted that there were enough wagons in the entire capital to carry that many people. Maybe he could have people trade off riding while doing a faster march. That was something he’d need to discuss with General Ko when he got back to the capital. Either way, he should have plenty of time to recover and start making more long before they ran into any serious resistance from the spirit beasts.
He kept breakfast light. The meal was mostly an excuse for Ai to get a little extra time with him and Falling Leaf before they left. Her new shadow wolf had kept her largely distracted the day before, but the almost pained expression his daughter wore told him the reality was sinking in. He was leaving again. He was taking Falling Leaf with him. Sen knew he wasn’t abandoning her in the usual sense of the word. Auntie Caihong had agreed to stay and watch over Ai, which meant that there would be some stability. Fu Ruolan would still be around, which he mostly saw as a good thing.
He did take some comfort in the knowledge that Master Feng and Uncle Kho would return at some point. Ai adored both of them, which might ease the burden on her. He was also leaving her with the shadow wolf as a companion and protector. Then, there was the sect. Everyone there would watch out for her. He kept telling himself all of that, but it did nothing to alter that he felt like he was abandoning her. If you don’t like the situation, come up with a better option, he told himself. Except, he was positive it had all gone too far for him to back out now. Maybe, maybe, he could have before he’d gone to the capital. He’d done too much there. Changed too much. And there was no one to take his place. At least, no one he trusted enough.
Having had the argument with himself and lost, he did his best to sear every moment with his daughter into his mind. Leaving again was heartbreaking, but he had needed this time to come to grips with everything he was about to do. He had also needed this reminder about why he was doing it. There was no convincing himself that he was at peace with all of it. Then, he thought about all of the people who didn’t have his choices. People who were dying. People who were fleeing for their very lives. As hard as this might be for him, others were suffering far more. Using his pain as an excuse not to act was too much selfishness, even for a man who had embraced the selfishness of cultivation.
When the moment came, he hugged his daughter for a long time. Sen hoped that, somehow, it would make up in a tiny way for all of the hugs he wouldn’t be there to give her in the years to come. He heard her sniffle a few times, but she put on a brave face for him. When they parted, he brushed the tears from her cheeks.
“I want you to listen to Auntie Caihong and Auntie Ruolan. They’ll protect you.”
“I will, Papa,” she said, her bottom lip quivering.“I also want you to remember that you’re my beautiful orchid, and I love you more than anything else in the whole world.”
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“I’ll remember. I love you too,” she said, the tears running freely again.
Sen pulled her in for one last hug.
“Go say goodbye to Falling Leaf, now,” he told her in his gentlest tone.
Sen stood back and did his best not to listen to what turned out to be a surprisingly lengthy conversation between the two. Auntie Caihong helped by coming over to speak to him.
“I wasn’t sure you’d be able to bring yourself to leave again.”
“Neither was I,” admitted Sen.
“I wouldn’t have blamed you if you changed your mind.”
“I know, but I would have. And, someday, she might have,” said Sen, nodding to Ai.
“Perhaps. It’s hard to know what people will believe when they grow up.”
“I’ll take your word for that. I just know I couldn’t face that. As much as I hate this, that would be so much worse.”
“Yes,” said Auntie Caihong, “I expect it would be. I will keep her safe for you, Sen.”
“And I’m more grateful than you can know for that. Speaking of keeping things safe, take this,” said Sen, handing her a storage ring.
“What’s in here?”
“Alchemical ingredients I don’t dare give to anyone else. Dangerous, valuable things I might have used someday, but that I’d never want to lose to the spirit beasts.”
“I imagine most of what you carry now for alchemy falls in the dangerous or valuable category.”
“It does,” he agreed. “That should give you a good idea of what’s in that ring. Use anything in there that you think you can do something with.”
Before Auntie Caihong could comment more or really examine the contents of the ring, Falling Leaf stood up from her hug with a once more sniffling Ai. The ghost panther came over to them, her face tight. There was another brief round of goodbyes before Sen, Falling Leaf, Lai Dongmei, and Grandmother departed for the camp of prisoners. When they arrived, there were more than a few glares from the mortals and the cultivators. He ignored all of that. It was time to put Lu Sen away.
“It is time to depart,” he announced. “But there is a slight change of plans. I will not be forced to trudge for a month.”
He lifted a hand and snapped. He carefully controlled the air in the immediate area so that the sound wouldn’t make anyone who wasn’t a nascent soul cultivator bleed from their ears. A few moments later, there were gasps from the cultivators and some outright screaming from the mortals. More than a hundred shadow constructs charged out from the far side of a city wall, where they had been kept out of sight. The constructs were silent as they approached. Unbound by most of the laws of nature, they simply stopped in place when Sen snapped his fingers again.
“The mortals among you will ride these to the capital.”
“What are those?” asked a wide-eyed cultivator who sounded like he was on the verge of open hysteria.
“Mine,” answered Sen. “Now, pack your things onto these beasts. I mean to leave this place within the hour.”
No one raised a protest or uttered another word as they hesitantly approached the still forms of the constructs. Sen let his gaze rest on the cultivator who had led the attack. The man went pale and started to tremble before lowering his eyes.
“It seems you’ve mastered the look of imperial fury,” said Lai Dongmei.
Sen lifted a shoulder slightly in response. It hadn’t been his intention, but he supposed it had hastened everyone’s preparations.
“Will I be riding on your shadow beasts, Sen?” asked Grandmother Lu.
Sen glanced at her before he asked, “Do you want to?”
She studied the constructs for a few moments before she said, “Not right now, but before we reach the capital.”
Sen almost let it go, but he had to know.
“Why?”
“Because it looks like it would be fun,” she said, giving him a puzzled look. “Why else?”
Sen’s mouth worked a few times before he said, “I suppose that’s fair.”
It actually took most of an hour to get everything packed onto the shadow constructs and for the mortals to get settled on their backs. Most of them looked extremely nervous, no doubt because there was nothing like a saddle or rein to be found. Sen looked to the cultivators.
“You will make yourselves useful. They’ll freeze to death as fast as we’re going to be moving. So, it’s up to you to ensure that they all stay warm enough.”
The cultivator prisoners traded a lot of uncertain glances that Sen pretended not to notice. Gesturing for Falling Leaf and Grandmother Lu to come closer, he lifted all three of them into the air on a qi platform. He led the mortals and cultivators around the walls to reach the road south. He wasn’t willing to give any of them the opportunity to create mischief by taking them through the small city. He did notice that there were more people than usual standing on the walls and watching. They might have been mistaken for parade watchers if there had been more smiles and fewer hateful glares.
When they reached the road, Sen saw Ai, her shadow wolf, and Auntie Caihong standing to one side. There were dozens of cultivators from the sect standing a discreet distance behind them, including Long Jia Wei and most of his brood of aspiring assassins. Sen couldn’t help but worry about where the missing members were, but he was soon distracted by Ai’s frantic waving. He, Falling Leaf, and Grandmother Lu all waved back to her as they flew by. Sen had to resist the urge to look back, worried his resolve might falter in these final moments. He picked up speed to deny himself the temptation, and the shadow constructs followed in his wake.