Chapter 11: The Offer

At sunset a servant girl in green came down the west stair and stopped at the door of the carriers' shed.

"The Sect Master asks for Meng Lian," she said. "Under guest law. Only to talk."

The Sect Master's house stood at the top of the east cliff, and her study was smaller than Lian had imagined.

It held a desk, two chairs, a brazier and a window full of evening sky.

The room smelled faintly of a fire that someone had put out with water.

Nie Hanyue poured the tea herself, with her white gloves on.

"Sit," she said. "You must be tired. That spear went into your ribs this morning."

Lian sat.

"I was a carrier too, you know," the Sect Master said. "Every carrier knows that."

"They tell it in the sheds," Lian said. "The girl the stone got wrong."

"The stone did get me wrong." She set the cup in front of Lian. "Drink. It's only tea."

Lian didn't.

The Sect Master smiled a little.

"I'll be plain," she said. "There is a boat at Willow Ford tonight. Fifty taels in a purse on the seat."

"Take your sister and go down the mountain before moonrise. Send word that you withdraw from the final."

"Nobody will ever say a carrier didn't climb. You climbed higher than anyone has a right to."

"And if I stay?"

"Then at the closing bell, the guest law ends, and the well law begins."

Her voice was as soft as ever. "I don't enjoy the well."

"Then why is the law yours?"

The Sect Master looked at her over the teacup for a long moment.

"You held it still on the Root Stone," she said. "In front of the whole sect. That is very hard to do."