‘Why you?’ I say.
Captain Zhao blinks at me, confused. ‘We are to escort—’
‘Yes, I heard you, but why aren’t Lord Nioh or Lord Ma here?’
‘We are the South Wind elite division—’
‘Blah blah blah blah. You are only the third division. Babies. Where is the North Wind troop?’
Captain Zhao’s eyes widen at my insult. The guards jab their blue flaming jian towards me, like I should be frightened.
‘Are we playing you show me yours I’ll show you mine?’ I smile as sweetly as I can, wishing I’d brought Mafan with me. Instead, I slowly remove my jacket. Captain Zhao splutters, his face goes red. I drop the nicey-nicey. ‘I am going nowhere with you turd-eggs.’
The guards confer with each other in low whispers, but their voices rise like puffs of steaming farts. Idiots either don’t realise or don’t care that I can hear every rotted word.
‘Not again,’ says one. ‘Do we have to?’
‘We have orders,’ Captain Zhao says, his tone full of rebuke. ‘She came out of a burning Treasury. This is a security matter. We must take her into custody.’
‘How are we gonna do that?’ yet another voice asks. ‘You’ve heard the stories. She’s a complete pain in the pigu.’
Another guard barks a short, harsh laugh. ‘The North Wind division all complain about her.’ He lowers his voice, casts a glance at me. I glower at him, but he’s already turned back to his comrades. ‘She used to run through the streets in nothing but her underclothes; they had to chase her down and force her to dress properly.’
They all look at me. ‘What is she wearing now?’
‘At least she’s got clothes on.’
A few of them chuckle. I feel the heat rising up my neck, reminding me why I hate spending time with anyone other than Bullhead and Horsey. At least those two have the balls to disparage me to my face.
‘She’s that arsonist,’ another guard pipes up. ‘The one who set fire to the robes of a Hulijing Court emissary.’
Tian. I threw a burning drink on that bitch theone time, and now I’m forever known asthat arsonist. Rage fills me. He has no idea what he’s talking about. She got what she deserved.
‘She’s feral as a monkey,’ another says, tsking. ‘Poor Lord Ma. His hair has gone white from her antics.’
‘Lady Jing,’ Captain Zhao says. ‘You must come with us.’
Across the street, Mr Lee stands before the teahouse gate, Mafan clutched in his right hand and diminutive Madame Meng on his left. Both watch me with worried expressions. They must have heard all the commotion.
The guards rearrange themselves, and I see an opening between their flanks. A chance to escape. I’m faster than they are. I could easily outrun them, have done on more than one occasion. But I’d have to leave Mr Lee here. I glance at him. He’s none of my concern, and yet, that irritating guilt snaps at me like an angry tortoise. Damned inconvenient mortal.
If I allow the guards to take me, they could take both me and Mr Lee back to Big Wang. But then I’ll be punished. I accused Soo again without evidence or witness. No doubt she’ll hear of it and demand I apologise. And since I disobeyed Big Wang’s direct orders to stay away and stop causing mafan, no doubt he’ll force me to do it, just like before. I shake my head, back away from the guards. No way in Hells am I kowtowing to that bitch ever again.
Captain Zhao sheathes his sword, but does not relax his stance. ‘Please, Lady Jing, don’t make a scene.’
I can feel Mr Lee’s doe eyes on me. He’s got Mafan, I reason with myself. And Madame Meng. He’ll be fine. Shoving the guilt away, I snarl at Captain Zhao and run.
Eleven
The Dragon Pearl
The empty street should be an easy escape, but halfway to the next crossroad, another contingent of guards steps out from the lanes and blocks my way.
With their appearance, my nose starts to burn something fierce. I rub at it, but the pain doesn’t let up, it only increases, causing me to sneeze. I pivot, start to run in a different direction. I only manage a couple steps before I sneeze again, and then I can’t stop sneezing and it’s impossible to run at all.
A guard catches up to me and pulls a string of garlic from his pocket. My eyes water, my nose runs, and I am sneezing so hard I can barely see. He leans towards me. ‘You have no choice. Captain Zhao also has silver bi in his pocket. Don’t make us use it on you.’
If I could stop sneezing, if I could see, I would spit in his eye. Guards grab my hands, bind them with rope festooned with garlic and bring me back to Captain Zhao.
