{"id":6341,"date":"2021-08-28T21:44:53","date_gmt":"2021-08-28T13:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.benjamincheah.com\/?p=6341"},"modified":"2021-08-28T21:44:53","modified_gmt":"2021-08-28T13:44:53","slug":"the-wind-blows-from-the-west-part-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/?p=6341","title":{"rendered":"The Wind Blows From the West Part 10"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

you can move.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee helped Cheung out of the wagon and on his feet. Cheung walked a little, wobbling, but quickly gained strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank\u2014thank you,\u201d Cheung said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lanterns appeared behind them, followed by shouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not done yet,\u201d he said. \u201cCome on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s Ayan?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDead. We have to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They ran for the steam car of the Imperial Guard. Lee got the driver\u2019s seat. Cheung rode shotgun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhere are we going?\u201d Cheung muttered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSomeplace that\u2019s not here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

**<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee drove and drove until he found himself in a seedy-looking neighbourhood. He parked in a secluded alley and changed his clothes. He left his bloodsoaked clothes in the backseat and ignited them. He didn\u2019t want to give a ritualist blood to track with. Not if he could help it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The adrenaline wore off and a cacophony of aches and pains emerged. Lee kept going, urging Cheung along. They halted, near a secluded alley, only when it became clear that the old man was losing his sense of direction. They waited until dawn, not quite sleeping, not quite resting. Lee meditated, restoring his chi<\/em> as best as he could and channelling the excess to the old man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee shook Cheung awake and they set off again. Cheung recovered enough sense to find the main road, where they flagged down a horse-drawn taxicab. The driver dropped them off at a bus station at the edge of town. From there it was a ten-hour journey to T\u2019aip\u2019ing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They sat side-by-side, dirty and scuffed and shunned by the other passengers. Which was, for now, fine by Lee. Lee continued meditating, while Cheung stared out the window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy did you kill Ms Tung?\u201d Cheung asked, finally, in Liangtunghua.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe wasn\u2019t going to listen,\u201d Lee said, \u201cand the Guard were coming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou shot her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen two tigers fight, one dies, the other is crippled.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheung pondered that in silence for a few hours. When the noon sun came and went, he asked, \u201cWhy help us escape?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ethan Thomas Lee inhaled. Exhaled. \u201cThe Boxers killed my father in the early days of the Uprising. After the Uprising, the Imperial Guard executed my mother for being a \u2018collaborator\u2019. You know what they had in common? Closed-mindedness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYemaitai is coming. The only question is how to discourage or defeat them. Discarding something because it is Western is the height of foolishness. Did we not defeat the Westerners with their own technology?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheung smiled at that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

**<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They went their separate ways at T\u2019aip\u2019ing. With no cargo to guard, and the Imperial Guard looking for an old man and a young mixed-blood man travelling together, going separately was the only choice. Cheung boarded the evening train, Lee left in the morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Occasionally Lee got out at random stops, spending a day or evening in a strange town or city. He kept his ears out for word of an Imperial Guard manhunt and heard nothing. Once in a stopover he sent a coded telegram to the Risk Taker\u2019s Guild in Sum Kong, to Lam. The next day, Lam told him everything was calm in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee returned to the city four days later. He stopped in at the International Quarter. Cheung\u2019s office was shuttered, the signboards removed. The bank told him he had been paid in full, plus a three-peso bonus. He returned to his apartment, inventoried his equipment, cleaned what could be cleaned and made a list of what he needed to replace. Then a long bath and a short walk to his bed. That night, he awoke in the dark only five times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the morning, he left his bed, changed into something presentable and returned to the Risk taker\u2019s Guild. In the tea hall found a chair next to the radio and ordered a bowl of pork porridge. He ate slowly. Carefully. No need to rush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At eight o\u2019clock precisely, the music faded away and the radio announcer came back on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is Sum Kong Radio, with breaking news. Two days ago, at one in the morning, saboteurs from Yematai were caught in the Northeast Province near the cross-border railway with Ch\u00fcsenkuo. They were armed with dynamite, pistols and rifles and dressed like civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were discovered by Imperial Guardsmen patrolling the border. Our forces heroically killed all five saboteurs with no loss to themselves. Shortly after this incursion, Yemai forces were observed massing at the border. Our glorious army is moving to protect our sovereignty against the Yemai imperialists. More news to follow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee finished his breakfast quickly. Paid the bill, walked out. He had equipment to replace, new items to buy, experts and contacts to talk to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More jobs would be coming. And soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While this story has ended, there are many more to come! Sign up for my mailing list here<\/a> for writing news and updates!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

you can move.\u201d Lee helped Cheung out of the wagon and on his feet. Cheung walked a little, wobbling, but quickly gained strength. \u201cThank\u2014thank you,\u201d Cheung said. Lanterns appeared behind them, followed by shouts. \u201cWe\u2019re not done yet,\u201d he said. \u201cCome on.\u201d \u201cWhere\u2019s Ayan?\u201d \u201cDead. We have to go.\u201d They ran for the steam car […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[102,138,143,253,289,303],"class_list":["post-6341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","tag-cultivation","tag-fiction","tag-free-story","tag-pulprev","tag-singlit","tag-steampunk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6341"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}