Chapter 9: The Alley

They came for him three nights later. Three men, knives, the narrow space between a tannery and a warehouse. They were better than the brawler. They did not announce themselves. They simply stepped out of the shadows as if they had always been there.

Hao Min had been walking back from buying ink. Real ink this time, not rust paste. He wanted to see if a brush and proper ink would make the circle more precise. The experiment would have to wait.

The first man struck from the left. Hao Min moved into the blow, not away, and let the knife slide past his ribs. His elbow caught the man's jaw. Bone cracked.

The second man came from behind. Hao Min dropped to one knee. The knife passed over his head. He drove his shoulder into the second man's knee. The man went down with a shout.

The third man was the dangerous one. He waited. He held his knife low and steady. He had been trained.

Hao Min stood up slowly. The alley was narrow. Good. They could not surround him. The ground was dirt and old ash. Better.

He dipped his fingers in the rust paste and drew a tight circle on each palm. Two circles. He had never tried two at once.

The third man watched him. "What are you doing?"

"Making a choice harder for you."

The man attacked. He was fast, almost cultivator-fast. Hao Min caught the knife with his right palm. The blade rusted as it cut him. The man pulled back in shock. Hao Min hit him with his left palm, open-handed, against the chest plate.

The chest plate was bronze. It had never drawn blood. The circle did nothing.

The man kicked Hao Min in the stomach. Hao Min folded, gasping. The man raised his knife for a downward strike.

Sao dropped from the roof.

She landed on the man's back, wrapped her forearm around his throat, and pulled. The man staggered. Hao Min drove his fist into the man's groin. The man went to his knees. Sao kicked the side of his head. He fell.

The first man was crawling away. The second was still holding his knee.

"You were following me," Hao Min said to Sao.

"You are my investment." She wiped her hands on her shirt. "Who are they?"

Hao Min searched the third man's belt. He found a bronze token. Iron Bone Sect. The same square shape Hao Min had thrown into the river.

"They are from my old master," Hao Min said.

"He wants you dead?"

"He wants me erased. Death is one way. Humiliation is another." Hao Min stood up. His stomach ached. His right palm was bleeding. "This was a warning. The next group will be larger."

"Then we should leave Gao Ling."

"No. We should finish what we came here for."

Sao looked at him. "You have a plan."

"I have a circle. I am learning how many problems it can solve." Hao Min picked up the rusted remains of the third man's knife. It was a red flake in his hand. "Tonight I find out if I can make the circle wider."

They dragged the three men to the main street and left them there. Let their employer explain why his messengers were unconscious in public.

When they returned to Zhen's house, the old man was waiting in the doorway.

"You were careless," Zhen said.

"I was observed."

"You are always observed. The trick is not to be where they expect you." Zhen looked at Hao Min's bloody hand. "Tomorrow you learn to fight with your off-hand."

"I am right-handed."

"Not anymore. Not until that heals."

Hao Min looked at his wounded palm. The circle there had already faded into a rust-colored stain. He flexed his fingers. The cut was deep but clean.

"I can draw with my left," he said.

"Then learn to kill with it too."

Sao brought water and cloth. She bound Hao Min's hand without being asked. Her fingers were gentle. Her eyes were not.

"You are going to get me killed," she said.

"Probably."

"Good. At least you are honest about it."

Zhen examined the bronze token. He turned it over in his hands.

"This is not a simple message," he said. "This is a recognition token. The kind given to sect enforcers. They were not sent to warn you. They were sent to bring you back."

"Bring me back for what?"

"Trial, perhaps. Execution, more likely. The Iron Bone Sect does not forgive public defeats." Zhen tossed the token into the fire. "Bao wants you alive long enough to die properly."

"Then I should disappoint him."

"You should leave Gao Ling. Tonight."

Hao Min shook his head. "If I run now, I will always be running. Bao will chase me from city to city until I am too tired to draw. I need to face him here, where I have prepared the ground."

"You cannot beat him in a fair fight."

"I do not intend to fight fair." Hao Min looked at his bound hand. "I intend to fight like a man with nothing to lose. That is the only fight I know how to win."

Sao finished the bandage. "Then we prepare. No more markets. No more alleys. We stay in the house until Bao comes to us."

"He will not come to the house. He will want witnesses."

"Then we choose the witnesses." Sao smiled. It was a sharp smile, full of teeth. "I know how to spread a rumor. By tomorrow noon, the whole city will know the duel is happening. Bao will have his crowd. And you will have your circle."

Hao Min looked at her with something like respect. "You are dangerous."

"I am a thief. Dangerous is the job."

They began to plan.