The Blind Swordmaster Took In His Own Assassin novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: The Lantern Rules

They spent the day getting ready for a man who might not come.

Ra-on strung wire across every doorframe at ankle height and sharpened four knives he had not touched since the Hall.

Ryeo-won stood in the middle of the yard with the Crane across his open palms for an hour, saying nothing, listening to the mountain.

Dong-ju filled every bucket they owned and lined them up under the eaves.

"In case of fire," he said.

"Kang-sik doesn't want to fight," Ra-on told him.

"He wants to be seen not fighting."

"He'll burn something."

"Which?"

"Whatever you love most."

The boy looked at the plum tree and then, very carefully, at nothing.

At dusk Ra-on took the first watch on the porch roof.

At the second hour Dong-ju took it, with the sword on his knees and his cowlick standing up.

Ra-on came down the ladder, and Ryeo-won was waiting at the bottom of it.

"Walk with me," he said.

They walked across the black yard to the loft.

Ra-on climbed first.

Ryeo-won came up the rungs behind him without a single misplaced foot, and the planks creaked once under his weight.

The room smelled of dust and apples and the sleeping mat Ra-on had stopped using a month ago.

"Tell me what you're afraid of," Ryeo-won said.

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