His fingers emerged from his sleeve clutching a glowing thread. As he swept his arms down again, the thread pulled out-and out, thickening and lengthening. Its glow intensified, pulsing in time with his song. He drew back the arm holding the bolt.
Brin gaped and flinched. Flinging Veseene to the ground, he scrambled for safety as Tycho whipped his arm forward and hurled the bolt at the table. Radiance burst out, splashing around the sty. Brin shrieked, pigs squealed, and even Lander staggered, though he recovered with a single graceful step before Li could swing his dao.
Mosi Anu snorted derisively as the light faded. "An illusion."
Hanibaz Nassor shrugged. "Nicely done though. A good distraction."
Brin's shriek choked off. "What?" He whirled around. Halfway between the shelter and Veseene, Laera froze.
Tycho took a step forward, still singing desperately, and drew another thread from his sleeve. This time when he threw it, neither wizards nor Brin so much as flinched.
The explosion of heat and light from the real Yellow Silk knocked the wizards to the ground. It picked Brin up bodily and sent him tumbling through the muck. Tycho grinned as he raced across the sty. "That's right," he crowed. "A very good distraction!"
The force of the Silk's bolt sent Lander staggering again. This time Li was ready. He dropped his dao and hurled himself at the thug. A sharp blow knocked Lander's sword from his hand; another hammered into his injured hip. He gasped in pain. A third cracked hard across his face and sent him reeling.
It seemed supernatural grace, Li thought, wasn't quite as much good close up. "Didn't I tell you my reward was easier earned than taken, Lander?" he spat. He spun around and leaped, putting all of his weight into a kick.
His foot took Lander squarely in the chest and sent him flying into the pigs' shelter. The thug slammed into the back of it hard enough to make the whole structure shake and groan. Something snapped and the roof sagged down. Any pigs that had lingered inside came running out with frightened squeals.
Some of them charged right over the huddled bundle that sprawled in the filth of the sty. Brin yelled, opened his eyes, and scrambled to his feet. Or tried to. Li scooped him up by his belt, swung him around twice, and flung him into the shelter after Lander. The hin screamed as he flew, twisting desperately in mid-air, but he still hit with a thump.
Li charged after him-but not into the shelter. Three posts across the front held up the rickety structure. Li hurled himself at the center one with a shout of "Hrah!" His shoulder hit the wood and cracked it in two. Inside the shelter, Brin yelped. Li whirled and slammed his foot against the nearest outside post. "Hrah!"
The post shattered. The shelter collapsed entirely. Under the roof, Li could hear Brin screeching and squealing like one of his own pigs. He spat on the ground and turned away.
Tycho's smile faded as he slid to a stop beside Laera and Veseene. His old mentor's chest was stained a deep red. "Blessed Lliira!" he groaned and slid his arms under Veseene's shaking body, lifting her into a sitting position. Laera had her gag off and was fumbling to cut her hands free. "Veseene! Are you all right? "
The old bard's eyes fluttered open. "Tycho?" she said distantly.
"I'm here."
She reached up and slapped him. "That was a rescue?" Her face trembled and she pulled him close. He gasped.
"Veseene, you're bleeding!" He pushed her back and looked at her chest. She looked down-and laughed.
"My tea, Tycho!" She reached under her shirt and pulled out a dampened pouch. Red oozed between her fingers. "It got wet when I fell!"
His mouth worked, but no sound came out. He wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "Veseene, I…"
Li squatted down beside them. "She's all right?"
"I'm all right," Veseene said irritably, pulling back to glare at the Shou. "I'm right here-"
Laera's shriek interrupted her. Tycho twisted around.
Where the second bolt from the Yellow Silk, the real bolt, had struck, the portion of the rail fence that had been his target-close enough to catch the two wizards and Brin, but not Veseene-was charred and smoldering. Wet, steaming ground, any trace of snow melted away, made a perfect circle all around it. Within the circle, Hanibaz and Mosi were picking themselves up. Hanibaz's front was covered in mud. Likewise Mosi's back, matting his fine robes against a skinny backside. The two looked at each other and almost in unison muttered spells. The mud simply slid off of them in a rain of dirt, leaving them clean and unsullied. They looked at the little group huddled within the sty.
Specifically, they looked atTycho. "That," said Hanibaz, "was impressive. The Yellow Silk of Kuang, I presume?"
Tycho swallowed. Mosi's eyes narrowed. "Cooperate now, duel for it later, Hanibaz?" he proposed.
The bearded mage smiled. "That seems fair." The wizards moved forward as one.
Tycho eased Veseene out of his arms and stood up quickly. Li rose as well.
A horrid coughing grunt and a chorus of porcine squeals stopped them all.
Out in the middle of the sty, Black Scratch was climbing heavily-impossibly! — to his feet. "Li?" breathed Tycho.
"I killed him!" the Shou said. "I swear I did!" The boar's bristly head turned at the sound of his voice. His dark eyes were intense. For a heartbeat, he stared at the stunned humans-then reared back and stood upright. Animal legs lengthened and thickened into powerful human legs and heavy arms. Hooves became hands and feet, tusks shrank to teeth, and bristles shriveled into thick hair on a broad, muscular torso. Dark, intense eyes remained dark and intense, but folded and blinked behind almond-shaped lids.
A Shou man stood where Black Scratch had been. Li gulped. "Yu Mao!"
CHAPTER 15
"Yu Mao?" Tycho stared at the man the boar had become. From all that Li had said of his brother, he had built up a picture of a stern and proper Shou, elegant and dignified, a subtle, well-groomed villain. The man who glared at them had the black hair, dark eyes, and golden skin of a Shou, but the resemblance to Tycho's imagined vision of Yu Mao ended there. This man was filthy, golden skin smeared with dirt. His hair was thick and wild on his head and simply thick everywhere else. Everything about his body was thick and heavy-where Li was lean and spare, he had big muscles padded with a firm layer of fat. Like… like…
Like a boar. Like Black Scratch.
Li was staring, too, his eyes incredulous. "What… how…" he gasped in Shou. "What kind of magic is this?"
"The darkest magic, younger brother," the man-Yu Mao-snarled. He spat the words in Common. He curled massive hands into fists and stepped forward. Pigs twined around his legs like happy cats. He kicked them away and stooped down to Serg's groaning, coat-shrouded form. Another kick stilled Lander's man. Yu Mao ripped Li's coat off him and knotted it around his waist, covering his nakedness. Li shook his head in astonishment.
"Yu Mao, I thought you were dead!"
"It takes more than a dao to kill me, Li Chien," growled Yu Mao.
Tycho saw Li flinch at his brother's words. Conflict and confusion burned across his face. Li spread his hands. "No! I mean, you…You're alive! Brin said "He gestured at the collapsed shelter. Brin was still yelling from underneath and banging at the tangled wood, maybe even louder now. Yu Mao just growled again.
"I know what Brin said! And he was right. The Yu Mao you came looking for is gone. He went down with Sow. Not that it matters. I know why you came west. You want me dead one way or another-you and our father. Am I right?"
Li's breath hissed between his teeth. "You murdered the other people on the trading expedition. You've shamed Kuang-"
"So you want vengeance." Yu Mao bared teeth that shone sharp and white. "It's not going to be that easy, Li Chien." His eyes darted to the wizards, standing as still and startled as anyone. "Hanibaz! Mosi! You still want the Yellow Silk of Kuang?" A thick finger, the nail on it yellow and cracked, jabbed at Tycho. "He's yours. Take it from him and you can keep it." The finger shifted to Li. "But him. He's mine."