CHAPTER 2

Joing off with the man in the red tunic was a risk. Li clenched his teeth as the door of the stinking tavern slammed shut behind them. That had been his intent though, hadn't it? Find a dockside tavern and use one of the locals to locate Brin. The information he had obtained through haunting the wharves of Telflamm had been enough to suggest such a strategy would be the quickest and least obtrusive means of finding the hin-man. He could feel that he was close now-anticipation was a knife twisting in his gut. Maybe he should have waited for daybreak. Maybe he should have found a more reputable guide.

The short, hairy singer's pathetic look of warning had been an insult. Li didn't need to be warned. The man in the red tunic would most likely try to rob him. But to be so close to Brin… sometimes it was necessary to walk with the wolf when you were stalking the tiger.

Out in the yard, the corpse was still hanging from the tree. The man in the red tunic gave it a lingering gaze as they passed then glanced briefly at Li. The Shou pressed his lips together and said nothing. The man wouldn't let the silence rest. "I'm Lander," he said.

"Kuang Li Chien."

"So what's your business with Brin? Why are you looking for him?"

Li gave Lander a thin look. "It is a thing between Brin and me."

"Brin doesn't like being bothered. Just to warn you."

"Thank you for the warning, but what Brin likes or does not like is of little concern to me," Li said bluntly.

His guide shrugged.

They walked on. The falling snow was forming a thick blanket on the ground and made Lander's torch hiss threateningly. Apparently used to such miserable wet and cold weather, Lander tramped ahead, ignoring the layer of snow that built up on his head and shoulders. He began to talk, filling the snow-muffled silence with pointless prattle. Questions about Li's arrival in Span-deliyon. Comments on the quality of ale at the Wench's Ease. Biting remarks about the hairy singer, Tycho-it seemed the thug and the singer didn't get along. That was little surprise. Based on his own brief experience with Tycho, Li didn't much care for him either. He only half-listened to what Lander was saying, though. The man had a gravelly, clipped voice that turned every word into a rough grunt, and following his babble closely would have taken most of his concentration. As it was, his concentration was already focused on peering through the thick curtain of snow and trying to keep track of their surroundings.

It wasn't easy and the glare of torchlight on the falling snow only made it worse. The street that they followed was narrow and twisting, clearly not the same route that he had taken to the tavern from the docks, though it had seemed when they left the Wench's Ease that they were headed back in that direction. Still, they should surely have passed close to the water once more by now. If they were following a reasonably straight route. Li fixed his gaze on a particularly crooked doorway. "When I said I was looking for Brin," he said, choosing his words carefully, "the people in the tavern were afraid. Is Brin dangerous?"

An extended commentary on winter weather interrupted, Lander blinked. "Yes," he said after a moment.

That was no surprise, Li thought. By all accounts, the hin had been a scourge as a pirate. "Dangerous enough that even the mention of his name is frightening?"

Lander shrugged. Snow fell from his shoulders. "Brin controls this part of the docks. He's a bad man to cross. Someone goes looking for Brin, they're looking for trouble."

"And yet," commented Li, "you would anger him by robbing someone who is looking for him."

Lander's pace faltered, but not by much.

"We've come this way before," Li said.

"It's the snow," grunted his guide. "It's confusing if you're not used to it."

"I have walked in snow before." He paused then added, "The reward I mentioned is easier earned than taken." He gave his dao a meaningful rattle in its scabbard. Lander glanced down at it once and then looked away. He said nothing more.

Neither did Li. The Shou allowed himself a slight smile of triumph. If things went so easily with Brin, he would be well pleased.

The first hint that his warning had perhaps not been as successful as he thought came in the form of a sudden sound in the darkness, the abrupt crunch of a foot on old snow. Quick as a thought, Lander was whirling on him almost before Li had a chance to register the sound or the four figures that came rushing out of the shadows on three sides-the men Lander had been sitting with in the tavern. Li drew a sharp breath. Lander's silence hadn't been shock, he realized. He had been listening for his allies!

The men wasted no words on threats. Lander was closest and he swung his torch like a mace straight at Li, the flame of it guttering blue with the force of the blow. If he had been expecting Li, his blade not drawn, to jump back, however, he had guessed wrong.

Li stepped into the arc of the torch and swept up his sheathed dao to turn Lander's swing. His right hand jabbed forward underneath, stiff fingers hitting Lander just below his ribs. The thug choked, doubled over, and staggered away. In the wild light of the swinging torch, Li stepped back, let his pack fall to the ground, wrapped his hand around the grip of his dao, and drew the weapon in a swift, smooth motion.

Two of his attackers wavered, startled by this sudden whirlwind of action. Li slashed at a third in a threadbare coat, driving him back a step. "Damn it, Serg, hold your ground!" Lander croaked in warning. "Nico, watch the saber!"

The fourth attacker managed to get his own sword up. Blades clashed, the lighter western sword skittering under the wide, heavy dao, but still stopping it. Li lashed out with his empty scabbard, cracking the stiff wood into Nico's side. The blow would do no more than sting, but it was enough of a distraction to force the man's guard to slip; his stance wavered. Li surged forward and thrust him away into a snowdrift. The man in the threadbare coat- Serg-was advancing again. With a snap of his wrist, Li flung his scabbard at him. Serg brushed it aside with his weapon, a stout club, but looked up to find Li whirling at him. He flinched and raised his club to meet the dao. Li just dropped and knocked his feet out from under him with a leg sweep.

"All at once!" cursed Lander. The thug was upright again. The torch had been planted in the snow and Lander had a sword out, a thin, fast blade. "Ovel, Bor-get in there!" He began to close in cautiously himself.

At least he wasn't a rearguard leader. The two attackers who had been hanging back glanced at each other and stepped forward as well. Nico was staggering out of the snowdrift. Serg was slowly climbing to his feet. They still had him very nearly surrounded. Li drew a deep breath and stepped into the clear space between them, dao at the ready. "I think Brin will be angry if you stop me," he said. "I have come a long way to meet him."

Lander smiled like a wolf. "Now, here's the thing. If Brin really wanted to meet you, you'd know where to find him. You wouldn't need to be asking for directions in places like the Wench's Ease. I don't think he's going to be angry if he never sees you."

"You presume to know what Brin wants?"

"As it happens," said Lander, "I work for Brin. I do know what he wants. And he doesn't want to see every blood-mad lunatic who comes looking for revenge." Li's breath hissed and Lander's smile grew wider. "If you're smart, you'll give us everything you've got, get out of Spandeliyon, and forget Brin. What did he do to you? Kill someone?"

"Brin?" Li replied. "No."

This was no time to fight. He spun sharply. The men who had stayed back were Lander's weakest. Li threw himself at them with a vicious scream, dao slicing through the falling snow. Sure enough, the men's nerve broke and they scrambled aside. Li hurtled between them to freedom -and a snowdrift. Suddenly snow that had been barely above his ankles reached almost to his knees as his weight broke through the icy crust that fresh snow had hidden. Legs trapped, body still moving, Li fell flat. Ice crystals scraped against his face. Snow packed into his mouth and nose. Before he could do more than haul himself half-upright, a heavy mass slammed into him, forcing him back down into the snow. A club cracked against his right forearm and again, numbing it so that someone could seize his hand and wrench away his dao. Other hands slapped off his cap; the club came down across the back of his head in an explosion of pain. More pain came after. The weight-someone's body-rolled off his back and blows began to rain down on him, knocking him out of the snowdrift and tumbling him across the ground. Lander and his men were laughing and spitting insults at him. Li tried to shield himself, to roll back to his feet, but all that earned him were more blows. The end of a club jammed hard into his ribs. A fist slammed across his face. The snow that clung to him dulled some of the pain, but Li could taste blood on his lips.