I manage to climb back up on the stage, giving me a limited view of the scene as well as a brief respite from the stampede. No one wants to be here; everyone is trying to get away. The soldiers are riding around the center, trying to trap my people within it. If some flee, the soldiers herd them back in. One man—the tall, intimidating one I encountered earlier—stands up to a soldier, but his brawn is no match for the sword that runs him through. I’ve never seen anyone killed that way, and the horror of it leaves me frozen for a moment. Another villager doesn’t challenge the army, but he also doesn’t get out of the way when a soldier comes thundering down on him on a large black horse. The man wavers, too petrified to move, and the soldier simply runs him down, trampling the man under those powerful hooves. That thoughtless killing is almost more gruesome than if he’d used his sword. It spurs me back to action.
Even those who are simply captured are subject to brutality, struck and herded with dispassionate force. I don’t know what it all means, but I know I can’t be caught here. I hop down, relying on my smaller size to weave through the panicked crowd. I head in the opposite direction the soldiers have come, hoping I can escape from the village’s heart there. As I glance back, gauging the soldiers’ position, I am shocked to see a group of people entering behind them: a group of thin, ragged people in chains. Even more shocking is when I recognize one of them: Li Wei.
He can’t be here. He can’t. It’s impossible.
We’re pretty good at the impossible.
Incredibly, despite the pandemonium filling the gulf between us, he spots me as well. Our eyes meet, and in a moment I have changed direction and am heading back into the heart of the village. I don’t care that it’s the most dangerous place to be right now, not if Li Wei is there. He’s standing on the fringe of the chained prisoners, where there are fewer guards. There also aren’t many villagers there, as most of them are running in the opposite direction. I have to do a fair amount of dodging as I make my way across the center. A number of times I am shoved and kicked in the frenzy of capture-and-flee going on. A soldier on horseback eyes me as I run past him but then decides a larger, muscled miner is a better prize to go after.
Breathless, I reach the chained prisoners and find Li Wei, my heart lifting at the sight of his beloved face. I throw my arms around him, unable to believe he’s real and in front of me, particularly after all the terrible outcomes I’d been imagining for him. He looks worn and tired, and there are new bruises on him, but the fire in his eyes glitters as fiercely as ever when we finally break away to regard each other. He can’t speak easily to me, not with his hands chained, but suddenly a cry escapes his lips as his eyes focus on something behind me. I don’t need to understand any spoken language to get his message, and I spin around in time to see a foot soldier waving a sword at me. Li Wei hurls himself forward, swinging his manacled hands up to intercept the blade coming toward my head. The soldier isn’t prepared for Li Wei’s considerable strength, and as chain and blade hit, the soldier is thrown backward, stumbling. His sword slips from his hands in a flash, and I pick it up, aiming it for the soldier’s neck.
I’ve never held a sword before. Until our trip to the township, I’d never seen a real one. And I’ve certainly never killed someone before. But as I keep the blade at the soldier’s neck, there must be something convincing in my face. Even though he is a trained fighter, even though he is bigger than me, he looks uneasy about this new situation he finds himself in. He should. Maybe I’ve never used a sword or killed anyone, but I won’t hesitate to use one now. I will do whatever it takes to save Li Wei.
I jerk my head toward Li Wei, and the soldier stares in confusion. Frustrated, I wish not for the first time that I had vocal powers of communication. Quick as lightning, I swing the sword tip to Li Wei’s manacles and then back to the soldier’s neck. I give him a meaningful look, and he finally understands. I put on a fierce expression, hoping I appear as though I’m seconds from puncturing his neck with the blade.
Tentatively, he reaches forward to unlock Li Wei’s manacles. It’s a trick, though, and he suddenly makes a play for me, diving for the sword. I hold my ground, catching the man on the cheek with a deep cut that immediately begins bleeding. In his moment of surprise, Li Wei swings his bound arms together, making the chains smack the man’s head. The soldier stumbles and falls, one more blow from Li Wei keeping him down. With trembling hands, I unlock Li Wei’s manacles and then look uncertainly at the other bound prisoners standing nearby. I can’t help them all, but perhaps some will be able to help each other. I toss the key to the ground in front of them, and Li Wei and I take off, running out of the village’s center toward a cluster of trees.
It is quiet here, giving us a brief respite, and I run into his arms again. He holds me tightly, burying his face in my neck as the safety of his strength engulfs me.
Looks like you rescued me this time, he says, once we are able to speak.
How are you here? I was so worried about you, I say. I didn’t know what they’d done to you. I didn’t know if you’d be able to escape.
Actually, I did escape, he says. And then I found out they were marching back here . . . so I surrendered.
I try not to gape. But why?
I couldn’t leave our people to this fate, especially once I experienced the cruelty of the soldiers for myself. And . . . He gently traces the line of my cheek before continuing. I couldn’t leave you, Fei. I don’t care how dangerous it is here or what wonders Beiguo could hold for me. My place is with you, wherever that is.
I’m glad you came back. It’s an understatement. Shouts nearby force me to turn from him. We must go, I say, thinking frantically. We must get back to the Peacock Court.
It isn’t safe, he counters. They will most certainly attack an important building like that.
There are underground storage rooms beneath it, I tell him. I know a way that won’t be obvious to the soldiers.
His expression shows surprise at this news, but he gives a quick nod. Okay, show me.
We take off again, and I secretly hope Zhang Jing has also remembered the existence of the underground facility. Although the way to the school is fairly direct from here, we find many obstacles blocking our way. The soldiers have reorganized and are moving in small groups, trying to intercept those who made it out of the town square. Li Wei and I find ourselves taking a roundabout way, and at one point we cut very close to the mine itself. There, from the cover of the trees, we see a group of soldiers standing outside the entrance, having a heated conversation in those words I can’t understand. From their gestures—and the shocked look of a miner who runs up and halts when he sees them there—the mine has been used as a place of refuge by some of the villagers. Now the soldiers are squabbling over whether to go in or simply wait out those trapped inside. I wonder if the soldiers know about the poisonous metals and fear them.
How did all of you even get up here? I ask Li Wei. There’s no way you could have climbed in so short a time. There’s no way the horses could.
We took the mountain passes, he explains. If you go to the other side of the mountain, they lead straight up here.
I know about the passes, of course. Everyone does. But they are blocked, I point out. The giant boulders that fell in that ancient avalanche can’t be moved by human hands. Those who tried in the past were crushed by rockfall.