Chapter 6: The Night Raid

The bell did not ring a second time.

Shuyao grabbed her brother's wrist.

"They're after the study. The tally is in the lacquer cabinet."

"What tally? What bell? Shuyao, slow down."

"Get your sword."

Zhengyu was a good soldier, so he did not ask again.

He pulled his boots on quickly, took his sword from its stand, and followed her into the passage barefoot to the knee.

The house was dark.

Somewhere on the far side of the garden, a man cried out and was cut off.

"Gatekeeper," Zhengyu said quietly.

"Yes."

"How do you know where they're going?"

"I'll tell you after."

"You'd better."

They ran.

The study door stood open.

Two men in black were already inside, tearing at the lacquer cabinet with a pry bar.

A third stood watch in the hall, a long curved knife in his hand.

He saw them and lunged.

Zhengyu met him halfway.

Steel rang in the narrow hall, and Shuyao flattened herself against the wall.

Her brother was good.

He turned the first cut, took the second on his guard, and drove the man back through the door with a shoulder.

Then a fourth man came out of the dark behind him.

He was low, fast, and aiming for Zhengyu's left knee.

She had seen that blow before.

In the first life, a blade had taken her brother's knee in a cell, after a guard decided he was too proud.

She had never forgotten the sound.

"Left!" she screamed. "Zhengyu, low and left!"

He dropped without thinking and turned his body.

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