Li led the way up the stairs, creeping slowly, knife at the ready. Both of them were alert for anyone coming down from above. No one did. Just before they reached the top, Tycho touched Li's leg. "Let me go first," he whispered. "If there are more of the Hooded's men in there, I can take them down with a spell. I might even be able to catch Yu Mao." Li frowned. Tycho shook his head. "It won't hurt them," he reassured him. Li's frown didn't lighten, but he stood aside. Tycho squeezed past and climbed to the top of the stairs. Putting one hand on the door handle, he held the other up to Li, three fingers extended.
He folded the first finger and his hand tightened on the handle.
He folded the second and drew a deep breath.
He folded the third, ripped open the door, and stepped through, spell on his tongue.
The Hooded's hall was empty.
"Bind me!" he hissed as Li came bounding in after him. He darted over and checked the gang boss's table. Its top was clear, though the stroke of Li's scimitar cut a light line across the wood, and there were no drawers underneath. Other than the table and its matching chair, the room was empty.
"Three other doors," said Li quietly. He pointed at one. "The leatherworker's shop."
Tycho pointed as well. "Cado brought me a chair from that one. It's probably a storeroom."
"Or a private room."
Tycho's finger paused and swung to the third door. "That one? Which way did the Hooded's men come from before?" Li shook his head. Tycho hissed. "All right." He strode up to the third door and opened it.
Gathered around a table, talis cards in their hands, three men looked up in surprise. One of them dropped his cards and grabbed for a cocked crossbow.
Tycho choked and slammed the door shut. An instant later, there was a sharp thunk against the other side. He whipped the door open again. Exactly at head height, a crossbow bolt quivered in the wood. The men were on their feet, cards forgotten in favor of daggers and swords. Tycho swirled his hand through the air and sang out a spell, powerful yet at the same time as soft and gentle as a breeze.
First one man, then another, and finally the third, staggered and slid to the ground in deep slumber.
Li looked in past Tycho and nodded in impressed approval. He pointed at a fallen sword with a questioning look. "Go ahead," Tycho told him. "They won't wake up." He stepped into the room himself and looked around. Table, bench, a bed-and no other way out. He cursed.
"The other door," said Li. He picked up the sword and took a second and offered it to Tycho. The bard shook his head. Li shrugged and put the weapon back down. "How long will they sleep?"
"Not long." Tycho led Li back out into the hall and closed the door. He took the Hooded's chair and wedged it under the handle. "That should hold them long enough if they wake up too soon."
"Can you cast that spell again?"
"If I need to."
They opened the final door more cautiously. There were chairs-the one Cado had produced for Tycho and two others like it-set just beyond, but there was also another flight of stairs, this time going up. They ended in another door.
Li wrinkled his nose and said, "I smell incense and pipeweed."
Tycho nodded and led the way once more. This time, however, he listened closely at the door. He could hear murmuring on the other side-but only one voice. No, there were two, but one was very faint. The Hooded and his young interpreter. Tycho caught Li's eye and counted down on his fingers again. One. Two. Three.
The upper door swung open to a room draped in silks and rich hangings, lit by softly glowing magical lanterns, and strewn with thick carpets and cushions. In the midst of this luxury, the Hooded and his interpreter scrambled to their feet. The Hooded-his robes set aside to reveal a simple tunic and trousers, but the leather hood still draped over his head-leaped for a rack of swords. His interpreter, however, reached no farther than her belt, snatching out a knife and sending it flickering at Tycho.
He threw himself into a roll and the knife soared above his head, though Li, plunging through the doorway, was very nearly not so lucky. He jerked back as the bright metal flashed just in front of his chest. "Mother to dogs!" he snarled in Shou. The Hooded's interpreter reached back to her belt.
"Hey!" shouted Tycho. He grabbed a cushion and flung it at her. She batted it aside, but the distraction was enough for Li to get through the door. He hurled himself at the Hooded with a shout.
“Yu Mao!"
The Hooded had a sword off the rack and came spinning around just in time of meet Li's blow. Metal clanged on metal. Li struck again, driving the Hooded back with a flurry of attacks. The Hooded's sword worked desperately; the gang boss was trying to get in some kind of counterstrike, but the blows Li was doling out were fierce and angry. The Hooded was forced into a desperate and constant defense.
His interpreter shrieked and turned to her master, but Tycho leaped into her and slammed her to the ground. Howling, she raked at him with her fingers. "Stop that!" he spat sharply. He grabbed her wrists and shoved them back over her head until he could pin them against the floor. She just snapped up at him with her teeth as he bent over her, forcing him to arc away or be bitten. He cursed, shifted her wrists so he could hold them with one hand and groped with the other for a piece of silk hanging from the wall. It tore free in an enormous sheet. Tycho cursed again, and tried wrapping the fabric around the young woman's hands and wrists. Anything to restrain this wildcat!
Every time he shifted his attention to her hands, she kicked. Every time he tried to pin her legs, she thrashed. The whole time she was howling and snapping. Teeth finally found his arm. Tycho yelped at the sudden pain and flung himself off of her. She twisted after him, but he pointed a hand at her and sang a sharp note.
Magic flowed, quick and dirty, and she staggered in a momentary daze. Tycho snatched up the long silk and wrapped it around her entire torso, pinning her arms against her sides and twisting the fabric sheath tight before she could recover. When she opened her mouth to let out another feral shriek, he jammed a trailing edge of the silk into it. "Bind me," he gasped, "what gutter did you crawl out of?" He kicked her feet out from under her and knocked her to the floor.
Across the room, the Hooded flinched at his interpreter's fall. His defense faltered for just a moment. Li drove his blade in. The Hooded twisted and the sharp metal sliced across his side. His foot shifted. He kicked up a cushion at Li. The Shou caught it with his sword. Fabric split and a storm of feathers exploded out. The Hooded gave a strange, muted cry and thrust his sword into the downy cloud.
Li spun out on the other side, sweeping his blade down. It hit hard just above the hilt of the Hooded's sword with a clear, sharp ring and slapped the weapon from his grasp. Li's sword flicked back to the other man's chest. The Hooded froze.
But so did Li. His face twisted. His eyes were fixed on the Hooded's masked face as if they were the only two people in the room-in the world.
Tycho stared at him. "Li?" he asked cautiously.
"Li?"
Memories played through Li's mind. Memories of his father's face as he showed him the letter from Tieh Fa Pan. Memories of the drawn faces of the silk families of Keelung as they mourned sons, daughters, sisters, and brothers lost in the lands of the west-with no idea of the truth behind that loss. Memories of the shame and righteous anger that had driven him the length of the Golden Way, of the stabbing agony of Cado's words in the cellar. He said get rid of you faster.