The Blind Swordmaster Took In His Own Assassin novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: The Crane Draws

The man waiting at the villa gate the next morning was tall and thin, in black clothes wrapped in a traveler's grey cloak.

A scar ran from his ear to his chin.

He sat on the gatepost, swinging one boot.

"Good morning," said Jo Kang-sik.

"I'm looking for work."

This was the Crow, the Hall's second blade.

He was five days early.

Ra-on stood on the porch with a bucket of rice water in each hand and felt his knees turn to water.

Dong-ju came out of the kitchen yawning, with a chicken under his arm.

"Brother Ra-on, who's that?"

"Get back inside."

"Why?"

"Dong-ju."

The man on the post smiled wider.

"I saw you do wonderful things with a ladle last night," he said.

"Magpie."

He said the bird name so lightly, and it was the Hall's way of reminding Ra-on whose he was.

Behind Ra-on, the sliding door of the master's room rolled open.

Ryeo-won stood on the porch in his hemp robe with his hair loose and one bare foot on the step.

His face turned toward the gate.

"Who's there?" he asked.

"A traveler, Master Mok," said the Crow.

"A friend of your servant's."

"We worked for the same people, once."

"I see," Ryeo-won said.

The Crow hopped off the post and strolled up the path.

He stopped in front of Dong-ju and, still smiling, took the boy's chin between finger and thumb.

"Pretty," he said.

"A good jaw."

"A boy like this might do very well with only nine fingers."

Dong-ju went white and did not move.

Ra-on took one step forward, and the Crow's other hand dropped to his belt, and Ra-on stopped.

He had seen what the Crow could do with that belt.

He had seen it in the lower rooms of the Hall, once, on a man who owed money.

"You and I have things to discuss, Magpie," the Crow said softly.

"The nest is warm, I hear."

"Madam says do not let it get too warm."

Ra-on could not breathe.

"Ra-on," said Ryeo-won, behind him.

His voice was perfectly calm.

"Is he hurting the boy?"

"Yes," Ra-on said.

"Thank you."

The Blind Swordmaster walked down the porch steps barefoot.

He walked to the rack against the wall, where the wrapped sword had stood under its skin of dust for two years.

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