Don Bassingthwaite - The Yellow silk

They weren't alone. Against the plank fence lounged five rough-looking men. All armed. Beyond the rail fence stood two other men, one in red robes, the other in normal clothes but wearing confident power like a cloak. Wizards? Li's breath hissed out. His fingers curled against the scabbard one final time then stayed still.

They had expected to be outnumbered, but not like this. "Tycho…" Li murmured.

Brin nodded and Li caught sudden movement out of the corners of his eyes as Bor and Ovel stepped away from the wall behind them. Ovel reached out and shoved the door closed. Laera squeaked in alarm.

"Stick to the plan," Tycho whispered back, but his voice was thin. Li fought to keep a wince off his face. Their plan was meant for seven, not thirteen.

Did they have another choice now? He glanced around, taking careful note of where their opponents stood and trying to guess how they might move, as Tycho stepped forward. "Olore, Brin," the bard called. "You didn't mention that there'd be such an audience."

"But you still brought the full chorus." Brin looked at Laera with a hungry leer and she shrank back. "Dantakain's daughter. Mard's been tearing up the town looking for her and you had her the whole time."

"I don't have her," said Tycho sharply. "/ don't take hostages."

Brin smiled. "Why, neither do I. Is it wrong to invite people around for some conversation?" He pricked Ve-seene with the dagger and the old woman hissed. Her face was pale and she was shaking badly, though Li couldn't tell whether that was because of her palsy or the cold. Above her gag, however, her faded blue eyes flashed angrily-at them. If she'd been able to talk, Li guessed, she would be berating them for walking into so obvious a trap.

Tycho's eyes narrowed. "Take the gag out of her mouth. Let me talk to her."

"I don't think so," said Brin. His gaze shifted between Tycho and Li. "Do you have the Yellow Silk of Kuang? "

Tycho reached into a pocket of his coat. It seemed as if half the people gathered-but especially Brin and the two wizards-leaned forward in anticipation. Li tensed. Tycho, however, produced only a small velvet bag. "The beljurils, Brin," he said, spilling the winking gems into his hand.

"You know it was Jacerryl who stole them. He sold them. I got them back." He tipped them back into the bag and held it out. "How about you take them and we part ways? All square?"

Brin's sneer was no surprise. In fact, they had been counting on it. Li forced his expression to remain neutral. Let the hin think they were desperate, he thought, that he had them backed into a corner…

That if he let them simply exchange the Yellow Silk for Veseene and walk out of the Eel, he would be losing the valuable beljurils. Blood in the water draws sharks, Tycho had pointed out. And in spite of his sneer, Brin's eye followed the bag as Tycho passed it to Laera. Lander's eyes followed it as well. Li murmured a silent prayer to Hsing Yong, the patron of fortune and prosperity. The sharks had the scent. It was time to whip them into a feeding frenzy-and, he hoped, to draw out an answer to the question that had brought him from Keelung to Spandeliyon. He stepped forward.

Black Scratch shifted at the sudden gesture and let out a snort, hot breath producing a great cloud of vapor. Brin's hand tightened on the boar's head. Li ignored the beast and glared at Brin with all of the confidence he could muster. "You know who I am and what I carry," he snarled. "You must know why I'm here."

"Kuang Li Chien," Brin replied without hesitation, "dutiful younger son of Kuang." His sneer grew even broader and more mocking. "Seeking vengeance for the death of his beloved brother, Yu Mao."

In spite of himself, Li felt anger rising inside him. "Seeking vengeance on him," he said. "I know how he betrayed his ship and our people to join the Sow." It was gratifying to see Brin stiffen in surprise. So the hin hadn't guessed everything. Li returned his sneer. "You sailed with him for a year before the Sow sank. That's how you came to know about the Yellow Silk." He reached for his own pocket. "Before you take it, tell me this and I will not also seek my vengeance on you: where is Yu Mao now?"

Brin released Black Scratch and grabbed Veseene with both hands, dagger tight to her throat. The old woman's eyes were wide. "You're in no position to make demands!" he spat above the enraged bellows of Black Scratch. Lander jumped in to grab the boar and hold him back, but the beast's squeals spread to the pigs in the shelter. The din was deafening.

Li's hand moved closer to his pocket. "Tell me! The Silk is mine to give. Without an answer, you will never get it, no matter who you threaten!" Brin's face twisted and Li added, "If Yu Mao told you about the Silk, he told you I'm stubborn. Vengeance drove me along the Golden Way. Will one old woman's life stop me?"

"All right!" spat Brin. His sneer was fading, but his eye was as hard and bright as one of the beljurils. "He's gone. Yu Mao died when Sow sank."

The words hit Li like a hammer in the gut, even though he had been half-expecting them. Even though he had been half-hoping for them. The captain's curse-Yu Mao had not lived to forget Sow. Yu Mao was already dead. Suddenly it felt as though a great weight had been lifted from him. The fire of his rage faltered.

Brin must have seen it in his face. His grip on Veseene tightened. "Now give me the Silk!"

Li clenched his teeth and his rage flared back to life. His hand dropped away from his pocket. "Give us Veseene first."

The trick to dealing with Brin, Tycho had said as they made their plans, is always to give him exactly what he wants. Do that and you're safe. It's when he's thwarted that he gets angry, and when he's angry, he's dangerous. Just like a shark.

"The Silk!" Brin snarled.

Li braced himself. "Veseene," he said. In his mind's eye, he saw Tycho's crooked smile. And when a shark is angry, it can't control itself. Try to spear a shark when it's in control and you'll never hit it. Get it mad and it will throw itself on your spear.

Brin's lips curled back. His dagger-bearing right hand flinched away from Veseene to point at his gathered thugs. "Get them!" he howled. "Get the Silk, get the beljurils, and kill them!"

The men lounging against the plank fence hurled themselves across the sty. Lander, Serg, and Nico lunged forward. Bor and Ovel closed from behind.

Words had done all they could do. It was time to spear the shark.

Li drew in a sharp breath, focusing himself. Grace and strength seemed to flow into his limbs. In a single smooth motion, he whirled around, left leg snapping out in a spinning kick that cracked into first Ovel then Bor. The thugs staggered back, stunned. Li let his momentum carry him over into a whirling horizontal flip that took him halfway across the sty. He rose with his sheathed dao held horizontally in front of him and a shout on his lips. "Hrah!"

Stunned by Li's acrobatics, Lander and his men pulled up sharply in confusion and turned to face him-just as Tycho had hoped they would. Mostly as he had hoped, at least. Extra men and wizards? Red Wizards, too. Tycho knew them-Mosi Anu and Hanibaz Nassor. He growled a few choice words for Brin under his breath. In their original plan, he had counted on Li's stunning fighting to keep attackers back. The halfling's additional men, gathered up from across dockside, complicated things. At least he was still in the clear. He spun around to face the thugs from the fence, his hands swirling through the air and his voice ringing out with a song of gentle power.

Four of the thugs dropped to the ground in mid-step, fast asleep. The fifth stumbled, startled by the display of magic. Tycho stepped forward and kicked him viciously in the groin. The man dropped hard. Tycho turned back to face Ovel and Bor as they shook off Li's kick and came back to their feet.