‘I keep my sword,’ she said. ‘And you keep your distance.’
‘By all means.’
There was disdain in his tone. These men weren’t afraid of her. Li Feng considered running once again, but she had a feeling that, if she was caught, these men would not be so accommodating after the added trouble.
‘Where is this Black Eagle?’ Her lips curled around the lofty moniker.
‘Outside the city.’
‘The gates are closed.’
‘We know of other ways.’
They led her into what appeared to be a garden in an abandoned property. There was a well at the corner of it, which she was told led to a tunnel. Li Feng took the rope after the first two had disappeared into the blackness. She forced herself to breathe as she sank past the stone ring. The old fear rose up her throat like bile as she was surrounded by stone and rock. She tried to quiet her mind as Wen
shifu
tried to teach her, but instead of calm, she found a chilling numbness that deadened her fear along with the rest of her. It would have to do.
At the bottom, the water rose up past her ankles. The space was just big enough to walk through at a crouch. Li Feng held her hand against the dirt walls as a guide and an anchor. The rest of the gang followed in behind her and together they shuffled blind through the tunnel.
Whoever these men were, they were organised. She was reminded of her time among rebels. Perhaps that was how she was able to hold back her fear as they took her into the unknown.
As soon as the passage widened, her lungs opened and her muscles relaxed. They emerged in a shallow cistern outside the city borders. The suffocating enclosure of dirt and rock was replaced by clean night air.
The leader retrieved a lantern hidden behind a pile of stones. They had planned this, she realised as he lit the lantern and beckoned her towards the nearby woods. The gang kept their distance as promised, but they formed a ring around her as they ventured into the wilderness.
She wondered who this Black Eagle could be and why he would be intent on speaking with her. Though the men dressed and acted like outlaws, there were signs of discipline among them.
The air grew cool and damp as they continued on foot. The whisper of open water cut through the hum of insects and other night creatures. She tested the ground, checking for her footing against the springiness of loam and moss in case she needed to run. Out here, they no longer had her trapped. She could escape and hide among the brush and the trees if there was any threat.
A lone figure waited inside the tree line with his back to them. He was long-limbed and lean of build. When he turned, his eyes immediately sought her out. The dim lantern light revealed features that were hawkish and well-
defined, a mouth that was a bit on the harsh side and eyes that were set deep and pierced into her. His jaw was covered by a rough growth of stubble. His long hair was tied back, but that didn’t make him look any less feral. He looked more like a stray wolf than an eagle.
He swallowed nervously, the knot at his throat lifting and lowering. ‘You don’t remember me.’
‘You were following me that morning in the market.’
It wasn’t the answer he was looking for. His posture was tense as he regarded her. ‘Li Feng,’ he began, his voice rough with emotion.
She was startled to hear her name on his lips.
‘Little Sister.’ He tried again. ‘I’m your brother.’
Li Feng sifted through memories. As always, there was the running, her mother shutting her inside the rock. Before that moment, her mind was a blur of disconnected images. There was another presence beside her. Someone bigger than her. She remembered reaching for a hand. She remembered someone pulling on her braids. She remembered laughing together.
She had a brother.
It was a truth she had known without knowing. After searching for so long, after hoping against hope, she’d found what she was looking for.
‘How did you know it was me?’ she asked finally, in a whisper.
He smiled, looking happy, looking sad. ‘You look like Mother.’
* * *
Li Feng followed her older brother to a shallow part of the river, crossing it in several well-placed leaps from one rock to another. It was like a game, so much like the ones they must have once played.
‘Black Eagle is a silly name,’ she called ahead to him.
He was without shame. ‘Who knows how these nicknames come about?’
His feet made a splash at the edge of the bank. She cleared the jump without any problem, landing on soft grass and springing after him. They regarded each other once again, not yet knowing how to be with one another. This man had suddenly become the closest person in the world to her. Such was the pull of blood, of family. But they were still strangers.
‘I don’t even know your real name, Brother.’
‘It’s Liu Yuan. Our family name is Hua.’
Hua Li Feng. Hua Liu Yuan. The names felt right on her lips. She took them into her heart.
They had left the others behind as they went deep into the woods, winding around the tall and straight tree trunks which gleamed pale in the night. The surrounding hills engulfed them, blocking out the moon and the stars. Their final destination was a cavern beneath an outcropping of rock. Inside, Liu Yuan lighted an oil lamp and placed it on a flat stone which he used as a table. He produced a gourd and poured the contents into two ceramic cups.
She was at a loss. Here was a brother she barely remembered. A man who clearly lived as an outlaw. She sat down obediently at the table and struggled to find something to say. Liu Yuan seemed similarly lost. He raised his cup wordlessly to her, before downing it. She did the same.
The brew seared her throat and brought tears to her eyes. It was raw, harsh, with a taste that was earthy and medicinal. She felt vindicated as Liu Yuan choked back a cough as well, before grinning at her. She smiled back, feeling foolish. Feeling happy.
‘Little Sister,’ he began.
‘Elder Brother.’ She tested the feel of the address on her tongue.
‘Do you remember when I tried to lift you on my shoulders, the way they do in those acrobatic routines?’
She shook her head as he refilled her cup. This time, she took a much smaller sip, barely wetting her lips.
‘You were all the way up there. Standing.’ He gestured with both hands over his head. ‘And then suddenly you started wobbling. I started yelling, “Don’t move! Don’t move!”, as I tried to regain my balance, but we both ended up falling.’
Li Feng stifled a laugh behind her hand. ‘So we were troublemakers!’
He nodded. ‘You hit your head on a rock and started wailing. By the time Father came, you were bleeding so badly. I was so scared.’ He looked up at her and the lamplight danced in his eyes. ‘I don’t know why I think of that time so often. I should apologise now, hmm?’
‘No matter. I’m sure it didn’t hurt that much.’ She tilted her head towards him, teasing.
‘You were afraid of nothing, Little Sister. Ever since you could walk, you wanted to fly.’
He finished his cup and she felt obliged to do the same. The liquor burned a little less this time and her cheeks were beginning to tingle with warmth. She wished she could remember the incident more clearly.
On a whim, she reached up to feel the spot just above her left ear. There was a small scar there, hidden beneath her hair. She’d always had it, but had never known how she got it. Her brother’s story found its place inside of her and she had that feeling she had longed for all these years, of the pieces of her life falling into place.
A knot formed in her throat and she didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. She became hungry for more memories. What other games had they played? What were the cities they’d visited? What was Father like?
‘Father played the flute,’ Liu Yuan said.
The flute. The beautiful sound that floated through to her on the mountainside. A lightness filled her. There was pattern, a will, a rightness to the world that had led her to this moment.
Her brother went on, ‘He had an instrument made of bamboo and would play it at night when we couldn’t sleep. I tried to learn, but…’
His voice trailed off and he looked away.
The moment of joy began to fade when she noticed Liu Yuan was no longer speaking. He was staring into his cup. This time when he drank, it was as if he was forcing the bitter brew down.
He brushed the back of his hand over his mouth, pausing to search for words. ‘When we were separated, I never thought—’
‘Everything will be all right now,’ she said. ‘We’ve found each other.’
When he met her eyes, his look was bleak. It was the same look that had frightened her the first time she’d seen him, when she hadn’t known he was her brother.
‘Li Feng, so much has happened. I brought you here so we could at least meet. So you could know who I was.’
‘Don’t talk like that.’
‘You can’t remember what it was like.’ He scrubbed a hand over his mouth again. It was an agitated, frustrated gesture. ‘I was with Father when they came to arrest him.’
Where had she been? She was with Mother. Li Feng remembered hiding in a boat and her mother telling her to be still, be quiet. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know the rest of it now, but she had to find out the truth. She couldn’t be afraid of it any more.
‘What did they do that was so wrong?’ she asked, dreading the answer.
‘Nothing.’ Liu Yuan laughed and the sound was awful in the night. ‘Nothing, Little Sister.’
The story came out in a flood. Mother was a dancer. Father was a musician. They travelled together with a troupe of performers who were like family. The band would move from city to city throughout the province, making enough to survive at each stop. It was a carefree existence.
‘Then we came to Minzhou,’ Liu Yuan explained. ‘There was a special performance for the Full Moon festival. It was a great success and everyone was so happy. Father brought us moon cakes.’
‘How old were we?’ she asked.
‘I was eight at the time. You couldn’t have been more than four.’
She had been half his age. He would remember the events clearer than she did, though still through the eyes of a child. Liu Yuan was the key to everything she’d been searching for.
‘There was to be another performance the next night. A private one.’ At that, his jaw tightened. ‘The prefect had taken a liking to our mother and it was impossible to deny such an important official such a simple request.’
She tensed as if preparing for a physical blow. ‘What happened then?’
‘Father and Mother went to the prefect’s mansion with several other members of the troupe. No one is certain what happened, but after the performance there was a dispute. I was later told…’ He paused, gathering his breath. ‘Much later, I was told by the troupe master that Guan He propositioned Mother after the performance. He tried to drag her into a chamber where they would be alone.’
‘She fought him.’
‘Of course she did!’ Liu Yuan said vehemently. ‘Our father saw them and struck the prefect. A blow to the head. There was blood everywhere, they said. He nearly killed that bastard.’
Li Feng dug her nails into her palms. She didn’t need to ask what happened then. The court would think little of the prefect attempting to violate her mother, but the crime of striking an official, committed by someone of such low birth, had to be punished.
‘I wasn’t allowed to watch when they executed Father.’ For the first time his voice broke. ‘The ykilled him like a dog in the street.’
He took another draught and hid his eyes from her. She drank as well. The burn of the liquor down her throat covered up a pain that was sharper and deeper.
The rest of her brother’s story was full of a seething anger. Liu Yuan stayed with the troupe. The first time he tried to leave, he was caught stealing, but was young enough that the authorities had sentenced a beating with the light rod before returning him to the troupe leader. He grew older, stronger and angrier before he left again. When he was caught this time, the beating was with a heavy rod and they’d inked a tattoo on to his hand so honest men would know not to trust him.
‘I learned how to use the knife out of necessity,’ he told her. ‘And turned to banditry because there was nothing left to lose. They had already marked me as such.’
He held up the back of his right hand to her. A black character had been etched near his thumb.
‘Thief,’ he read aloud. ‘Such a mark ensures that I can never walk among honest society. I knew this life would kill me or teach me to kill. One or the other, I didn’t care.’
‘Liu Yuan,’ she murmured softly.
Her heart ached for him. She wished she could offer some comfort. Her life had been easy in comparison.
Shifu
hadn’t treated her with the warmth and affection of a parent, but he’d been caring and patient and tried to teach her in his own way. He had taught her how to channel her restlessness into the study of the sword.
‘I was sentenced to labour once, building ships on the coast. But wherever they sent me, I always knew I had to return to this place. I had left something unfinished in Minzhou.’
‘I feel the same way, Brother,’ she said in a near whisper.
His sentiment echoed the emptiness that Li Feng had felt in her own soul.
‘I never knew what happened to you or Mother,’ he said after a long pause. ‘There was no way to find you.’
‘They caught her as well.’ She couldn’t say more. Her throat had closed up.
The finality of what had happened shook them both. Li Feng finally had her answers. Her father was dead, executed for crimes committed. Mother was gone as well.
‘They said Father fought when they arrested him,’ her brother continued. ‘He cursed the magistrate and the prefect at the trial. He was unrepentant. His spirit is still here, Little Sister.’
The thought of Father’s spirit wandering the city as a hungry ghost chilled her. She’d been neglectful as a daughter. ‘We’ll set up an altar and light incense to send him our prayers.’
Her words didn’t seem to reach her brother.
‘You carry a sword.’ Her sleeve had fallen away and Liu Yuan stared at the hilt of the weapon. ‘Do you know how to use it?’