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Post by Linyü on Jul 31, 2020 20:28:13 GMT -6
Rei would be posted near the south gate, on lookout.
It was an exposed position, but she was small, and they were working by night. There would be places enough where she might hide out of view from any passers-by. San’s concerns hadn’t abated, but he had no room to indulge them now.
The most he could do for her was seeing her to the entrance. By the time they reached it, the others had already split up to head to their respective parts of the Bell House, and once Rei was safely hidden, San would do the same.
He wouldn’t patronize her by reminding her to stay hidden or to take care. They had practiced enough, and she must have known it by now. He only tapped his earpiece, and whispered, “-Call if there’s trouble.-” She nodded once, and slipped into the shadows along the eaves.
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Post by Linyü on Jul 31, 2020 20:29:08 GMT -6
As soon as he lost sight of her, San set off. He stayed close to the wall, moving soundlessly in the dark. He had to find a point of entry quickly. Out here, even with his best efforts, he was conspicuous. Once he was inside, it would be easier to stay out of sight himself.
There were windows situated along the outer wall, but he ignored them all. That would be too obvious, and he suspected they would be monitored. Instead, he found a little-used storage area where he could make his way over the wall.
He stayed there for a moment, crouched low where the low roof ran against a taller building, and scanned the area below. At a glance, he couldn’t make out anyone in the small courtyard garden, nor could he hear any guards. Holding his breath, he counted to three, then let himself drop down on the other side.
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Post by Linyü on Jul 31, 2020 20:29:59 GMT -6
The storeroom was on the south end of the mansion grounds. Normally San wouldn’t have wasted his time here, but Hachi had emphasized how the Wen household would be on guard. The innermost chambers were the most likely place to look for something of value, and a crafty - or possibly paranoid - Wen Yusheng might have hidden it somewhere less obvious. San checked once more that there was no one else about, then entered the storeroom itself.
There was no time to search the entire premises. San could only look for signs of disturbance: clean areas in an otherwise dusty room, or containers that looked hastily stashed or out of place. But this room had clearly lain undisturbed for quite some time, and he made only a cursory scan for anything of interest before ducking out of it and into another. Any more, and he risked leaving traces that the room had been searched.
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Post by Linyü on Jul 31, 2020 20:30:19 GMT -6
Out of one storeroom and into another. Boxes of incense; sacks of grain; cleaning supplies and old clothes and shelves upon shelves of scrolls. San drifted his way through them all. Not all were in such a state of disuse as the first one had been, and in those more often visited, his search was slower. He had to make do with searching for signs of tampering, or something that might give away secret compartments. Heaven above would have their heads if the contraband had been stuck into the depths of a bag of grain.
But they could only do so much in a night, and San found nothing of note in the storerooms. Knowing his time was better spent elsewhere, once he had canvased them all, he moved on.
Beyond the storerooms and servants’ quarters were the rooms of Wen’s household itself. The elders of the household, and Wen Yusheng’s immediate family, were housed in the main hall to the north, but the man was wealthy enough to keep a host of concubines.
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Post by Linyü on Jul 31, 2020 20:32:08 GMT -6
Indeed, he had almost more of them than he could comfortably afford. Though he was not an amorous man, he liked to emulate the nobility where he could, and there were pretty daughters enough from poor families who wouldn't - and hadn't - turn their noses up at a rich merchant’s offer.
Tonight, San found himself wishing the man had been more amorous after all. It was slow going to work his way through each room, filled as they were with dressers and cabinets, jewel boxes and chests; it was slower still when he had to do so without waking the women still sleeping within. Some of the rooms lay empty, bringing to mind a circulating rumor that Wen’s fortunes had been on the decline. Several looked as though they had not seen use in quite some time, though a few of the others looked to be only recently vacated.
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Post by Linyü on Jul 31, 2020 20:32:26 GMT -6
He found a great deal of things, including several stashed letters whose contents he perused before replacing them. But San had not come here to gather information, and the longer they went without finding their goal, the greater their odds of being detected. The comm line stayed silent except for the occasional update from Roku, delivered in a quiet voice: here a shift of guards heading north, there a servant returning to his quarters. The household was quiet tonight, and San could feel an oppressive atmosphere hanging over the entire house.
The night stretched on. Roku counted the hours out for them, one after another. With each reminder came the unspoken reproach: they were taking too long. And the longer they took, the greater the risk.
At last, Hachi’s voice came over the line. San felt his heart in his throat, for a moment thinking he had found it, whatever it was, but Hachi’s words were only this: “One more hour.”
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Post by Linyü on Jul 31, 2020 20:32:41 GMT -6
One more and then they were out. San paused in the shadow of an alcove to glance out a window at the sky: dark, but it was the heaviest darkness which preceded dawn.
They were out of time.
Grimly he entered the next room, though not with much hope. It was smaller than many of the others had been, still in the concubine quarters, but out of the way. As soon as he entered, he recognized it for a child’s room, though the bed was queerly large - and empty, as many of the others had been in the rooms along this courtyard. Shelves lined one wall, filled with fine painted kites, exquisite dolls, scrolls and inks and brushes.
Once, his breath might have caught to find himself in such a place, the trappings of his own childhood staring back at him. But San had been Watchful too long for that, and he swept past them with only a critical eye, probing for any sign of the contraband they sought.
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Post by Linyü on Jul 31, 2020 20:32:51 GMT -6
It was slow going. The room had been well maintained, and there were too many individual objects. Almost, he regretted entering at all, knowing that every moment he spent here was more time wasted. The shelves, when he was done with them, held nothing. The line was quiet. The prospect of a night’s work for nothing loomed over him, loomed over all of them - and he had neither missed nor forgotten the tension that had dogged Hachi ever since Shi had been reassigned.
He felt along the bed almost distractedly, and it was only training and habit that held him to the task - training and habit, too, that made him stop, startled, when he realized his gloved fingers had caught something strange.
It was a subtle thing, a piece of the bed frame that had been whittled just barely away. Careful coaxing saw a section of the wood slide free, revealing a crude hidden compartment.
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Post by Linyü on Jul 31, 2020 20:34:45 GMT -6
This wasn't something that had been present when the bed had been built, he thought, looking at it, but a later addition. It seemed that even children had their secrets.
He reached in, expecting to find some note or sweet or forbidden book. He was only a little surprised to trace the shape of a knife in the dark. He was on the verge of replacing the panel when his probing hand glanced something else. More cautious groping, and his hand closed something small and hard and round.
Something the size of a marble.
Dread shot through him.
The words rose in his throat, though he bit his tongue against them until he drew his hand out. He had to be sure. But his instincts had not betrayed him; there in the darkened room, he uncurled his fingers, and in the palm of his hand lay a small orb glowing faintly green.
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Post by Linyü on Jul 31, 2020 20:35:22 GMT -6
A node. A conduit - a vessel for magic, made from crystals and the soul of a ritually slain man. Contraband, and that of the highest order. A shudder shot through him, despite - despite everything. The Watchful Ones had elementals, and every one of them had one such node resting within them. His sister had been the same. But even so - the phantoms that had haunted the nightmares of every Xin child walked through San’s waking mind for a moment, and the hand that held the node felt cold.
“I have it,” he said over the comm. “Northwest courtyard, eastern hall---”
A sudden premonition made him tense. San dove sharply to the side just as something slammed into the bed where he had been crouching. The dark shape resolved: a youth in nightclothes, wide-eyed and breathing hard. A knife. A look, when it turned to him, wild-eyed with accusation.
”-San.-”
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Post by Linyü on Jul 31, 2020 20:38:46 GMT -6
Rei’s voice. San drew a breath, words on the tip of his tongue, but there was no time. “Give it back,” said the youth, the whispered voice hot with fury. “You can’t have it. The demon said I’d be free if I took it from him.”
San said nothing. His grip tightened on the node. The youth’s gaze flew to his closed hand, and with a cry, they - he - dove for it again.
There was no time.
It was painfully easy. The sheath at his waist. The blade sliding free. Let the boy get close. Closer. A flick of the wrist. The feel of the dagger as it sank into his gut. A hand to his mouth to stifle his cry of pain.
The boy crumpled around his wound, all the fight leaving him at once.
San pulled the knife out slowly, then buried it between his ribs.
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Post by Linyü on Jul 31, 2020 20:39:00 GMT -6
The boy convulsed once, and then was still. San laid him out carefully on the ground, that the blood might not get on his shoes, before wrenching the knife free once more. He wiped off the blade on the boy’s robes, then returned it to its sheath.
A movement at the edge of his vision. San tensed, wheeling - only to find Rei standing at the door, watching him with wide eyes. -How long,- he almost began, but the words died on his tongue before he could speak them. He knew. He knew from the look on her face how long she had been there. Long enough to see, and to know.
“-Go,-” he said.
Rei didn’t move. Her gaze drifted to the corpse, and he could see her trembling slightly where she stood. Distantly, the sound of footsteps - and a voice through the comm. ”San. Have you secured it? The guards are mobilizing. You have to get out.”
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Post by Linyü on Jul 31, 2020 20:39:18 GMT -6
“-Go, now!-” he said sharply. Rei startled, and her wings fluttered once, twice - and then she was in the air, flying away like a shot. San allowed himself a single deep breath, then felt for the node. It was still there in the pouch where he had stashed it. “Roger.” ----- “And here comes the man of the hour,” said Hachi, as San walked into their meeting room. He clapped San on the shoulder, grinning from ear to ear. San scanned the room. Nana was there, cleaning her weapons. They hadn’t seen use tonight, but he knew it to be her post-operation ritual. If she had any thoughts about what happened, she didn’t share them. Roku wasn’t there. Rei wasn’t either. Wordlessly, San handed over the node. Hachi took it, holding it up to the light for a moment as if to ascertain what it was, though anyone who saw it could have no doubt.
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Post by Linyü on Jul 31, 2020 20:40:45 GMT -6
It was roughly the size of a marble, no bigger than the tip of a finger, and by touch alone it might have fooled some. But there was a radiance to it and a hum that spoke of something more. Hachi made a soft noise like hmm, then pocketed the node himself. No doubt when he left he would go to turn it over to their superiors, for them to do with it as they will.
“The northwest courtyard, huh?” said Hachi. “I didn’t think he’d… Well, it always is in the last place you look, isn’t it?”
San made no reply, but the words bothered him a little, and he thought back to the room and the boy who had been hiding in it. A closet - he should have checked. It had been a long night, and there had been enough empty rooms already, but even so, he should have checked.
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Post by Linyü on Jul 31, 2020 20:40:57 GMT -6
The boy had been a pretty thing, with delicate features; a year or two ago San might not have been able to tell him from a girl at all. His robes had been simple and without decoration, but the cloth had been fine. A child’s room in the concubine’s wing, tucked away from view.
There had been nothing of Wen Yusheng in his face.
Revulsion stirred in the depths of his stomach, but could not fight its way past the leaden weight that had settled over him since he had arrived back at the warrens. With practiced effort, he drove the thought from his mind.
He turned to go, and neither Hachi nor Nana stopped him. He was two steps out the door when the sight of Rei brought him up short. She jerked to a stop in mid-air, as though startled; her wings stuttered for a moment before finding their rhythm again.
Neither of them spoke.
She would not look at him.
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