Descendant of the Crane(73)

Hesina shook her head. “I’m going to the moat.”

“Then so am I.”

“No.”

“And I,” said Mei’s mother, coming up beside her.

Absolutely not. “Neither of you,” Hesina said at the same time Caiyan said, “That won’t be necessary,” which Hesina found dreadfully hypocritical.

“You don’t know their faces,” said Mei’s mother. “And they won’t trust you.”

“Then give us a sign, a code, something that will make them trust us,” said Hesina.

Mei’s mother considered for a long moment. “Tell them the crane has died.”

“What about me?” piped Rou.

“Stay here to receive the newcomers and keep order,” said Hesina. Rou nodded. If only all her brothers were as obliging.

Together, Caiyan and Hesina headed for the main boulevard, where mobs barged into shops, demanding that everyone submit to a cut on the palm, while the city guards stood by, letting it happen—condoning it, probably. Disgust rippled through Hesina, but Caiyan tugged her down a side alleyway before she could act on it, and soon, they were at the moat.

It snaked through the market sector and the residential wards like a silver chain strung with small barges and passenger rafts. The pushers whistled and hollered their fares, blessedly oblivious to what was happening elsewhere in the city.

Hesina wished she were a pusher. She wished to be the one wearing the broad-rimmed straw hat, leaning idle against a long bamboo pole, and not the one tasked with marching up to a raft and blurting out, “The crane is dead.”

The raft rocked as the pusher straightened. “Eh? Is it now?” Hesina held her breath, but the man simply sang, “A shame, a shame. But there are many more to be seen, just around the bend. I can take you to them for two banliang. Consider it a deal…just two bronze!”

It sounded like a lovely deal. Hesina hated to turn it down.

“It really is a fine day for a ride!” the pusher called as Caiyan ushered her away.

“We should try under the bridges, milady.” Caiyan nodded at the one up ahead, and Hesina discerned a group of workers sitting under the arch. “It’s more efficient—”

His hand tore from hers as a gaggle of giggling noblewomen swept between them, wrapped in rabbit-fur-lined cloaks dyed in sepias, grays, and roses—all the colors that Lilian had made fashionable this winter season. A mule-pulled wagon stacked high with porcelains barreled by next.

“Caiyan!” Hesina rose to the balls of her feet, relaxing when she spotted her brother’s topknot beyond the rattling pots.

He would catch up to her. Alone, Hesina hurried onward to the bridge, down the pebbled slope, and through the frozen cattails. She ducked under the spandrel arch and stumbled into the company of men and women. There were six in all, either drinking wine, playing the trick-taking card game of madiao, or both.

She interrupted with, “The crane is dead.”

And now, thanks to her, so was the conversation.

A young man lowered his hand of cards, setting it facedown as if he expected to return to the game. “Who are you?”

Hesina ignored the question. “Your lives are in danger. You need to follow me to safety now. Gather the others, and I’ll explain as we go.”

“Really, A-Lan?” sneered one of the women as the young man pushed to his feet. “We don’t even know who she is! Lose the hood,” she snapped at Hesina.

“Bring the others first,” Hesina snapped back.

The one called A-Lan left and returned with three men. One had a mass of angry-red scar tissue in place of his right eye. Hesina drew back as he leaned in and sniffed.

“A-Lan claims we have a brethren among us. A brethren who hides her face.” He chuckled as she took another step back. “There’s nothing to be scared of, darling. I know all the people in this city.”

He made a grab at her hood. Hesina, seeing the attack from a li away, snatched and shoved two of his fingers back, wringing out a howl. She dropped his hand like a hot coal, and he cradled it to his chest and laughed.

“A little skittish, aren’t we?”

He whistled. In an instant, someone grabbed Hesina’s arms and yanked them behind her. She bucked, but the person was too tall, and her head thumped against a chest.

“Skittish, so skittish. Why?” mused One-Eye. “If you’re really one of us—”

He stripped away her hood.

“—then you should know we have only one enemy.” His left eye studied her, slow and thoughtful. A smile spread over his pockmarked face. “And that enemy would be you, dianxia. Well, well.” He twirled one of his good fingers, and the person holding her spun her around for the others to see.

Cards went down faceup. Wine jiutan overturned as people leapt to their feet.

“What do you know?” said One-Eye, licking the pad of his thumb. “It seems that we’ve caught ourselves the queen.”

Hesina was in danger, but so were her attackers. She’d made a promise to Mei and Mei’s mother, and through the thrum of her panic, she told the situation as she had before.

She finished to laughter.

One picked up a rock. Another seized a piece of frozen driftwood. The others pushed up their sleeves, crowding in, forcing Hesina back until the underside of the bridge curved cold against her spine.