“Guoyu.”

  The name slipped out of Pengfei’s mouth the second he recognized the man. The boy instantly regretted his mistake.

  --Shit!--

  Guoyu was taken aback upon hearing his own name.

  “How do you – oh! You’re the one who they brought from Sichuan. How are your friends? The Tibetan girl and the boy from Qingcheng? The one I –“

  “The one you killed.” Despite the fear, Pengfei managed to put a little venom in his voice for Ma Feng.

  “He died, did he?” Guoyu asked, tiredly. “Well, it cost me my hand. That’s the Jianghu for you… Are you out here alone?” The man took a small limping step to the side, hobbling on a bleeding leg, peering around the boy blocking his path.

  “One of the masters is around here somewhere.” Pengfei bluffed, still nervously gripping the hilt of his sword.

  “Sure, sure.”

  --What is he doing here?! Does he know about his friend’s dead body back there? Should I tell him?--

  A thousand questions flooded his mind, but he only voiced one.

  “Where are your – the rest of your people?”

  “On their way back to the Central Plains. And once I find my brother, we’ll be joining them, leaving this desolate shithole behind. So, no need to piss yourself boy.”

  Guoyu moved towards him, pushing deeper into the canyon. Pengfei moved back, drawing the jian a fraction of the way from the scabbard. The injured man smirked at him and kept shambling forward.

  “Please. Even cut to shreds like I am, you wouldn’t be a match for me, you 3rd rate child. But I’m not here for a fight. I have no intention of violating the pact. So just get out of – ”

  The man froze, stood still with all his weight on one leg while the other bled onto the gravel beneath his feet. Pengfei followed Guoyu’s eyes to the bag around his shoulder, the one with the blue ribbon he had taken from the corpse.

  “Where did you get that?” The words were quiet but with a deadly edge to them, freezing Pengfei in place. “Where. Did. You. Get. That?!”

  “I – it wasn’t me – he was already –“

  “WHERE IS HE?!”

  Guoyu lunged in and Pengfei retreated, finally drawing the sword he had been gripping so nervously.

  --FUCK!--

  The man drew his own weapon with his left hand, but when the blade came out of the scabbard, Pengfei could see it was broken in half. Perhaps in whatever engagement had left the villain so grievously wounded. Guoyu had apparently forgotten the condition of his blade, cursed when he saw the damaged jian, but still held it up to threaten Pengfei.

  “Do you want the bag? You can have it! I just found – “

  Guoyu stifled the words by slashing with his broken sword. Pengfei retreated again, stumbling backwards over a stone. His ass hit the dirt but he scrambled back to his feet instantly, dragging his sword over the earth.

  “Stop, please!”

  But Guoyu did not listen. He made another shuffling attack.

  “Shit!” Pengfei cursed. He saw a madness in his opponent’s eyes.

  --Looks like talking is pointless now… Fuck! What the hell do I do?!--

  Guoyu didn’t allow any time to decide. He took an awkward step and thrusted with the jagged blade.

  Pengfei considered running but could only imagine being stabbed in the back the moment he turned. The Kunlun disciple reluctantly raised his sword and prepared to fight in earnest. When Guoyu put weight on his bad leg and nearly fell, Pengfei stabbed.

  The attack was batted away, but barely. The opponent was clearly still adjusting to wielding a sword in his weak hand. Pengfei stabbed again, again, again, gaining momentum with each thrust. Guoyu hobbled back and parried the blows.

  Suddenly, there was a heat in the air, a power. It reminded Pengfei of his neigong practice and the energy he found within himself. Guoyu gave a shout and lunged forward with a great swing of his weapon. Brutish, unrefined, but powerful. Pengfei blocked the attack, but it wrenched the sword from his hand and sent it scattering across the ground.

  The man-in-black threw his own damaged blade to the side and moved to take Pengfei’s from where it lay.

  “NO!” Pengfei shouted in panic and rushed him. He barreled into Guoyu shoulder first, kicking the sword away, sent it tumbling down the floor of the canyon, bouncing off rocks with sharp unpleasant metallic sounds.

  A backfist yanked Pengfei’s face to the side with a dull thud, sent him reeling backwards.

  The boy stood, wobbling and groaning.

  “Ughh…”

  Guoyu was staring him down, gaze dripping with hatred.

  Pengfei’s eyes darted left and right. He searched for either of the swords but found nothing. He reluctantly drew his fists up to take am empty-handed guard.

  Guoyu stepped in and threw a punch with his one remaining fist. Anxiety had dulled his young opponent’s reactions, and Pengfei took the blow to the face. Unexpectedly, the punch was followed with an elbow from the man’s other arm, proving that missing a hand was not so much of a detriment after all.

  The disciple’s head rocked back, a deep cut from the elbow instantly started bleeding. But the wound also spurred Pengfei to action. He threw a flurry of punches, acting on instinct alone.

  Guoyu made to parry them, but only half succeeded. His reflexes prompted him to block with a hand that was no longer there. A punch darted past his stump and struck him square in the face.

  --Yes!--

  Another flurry of blows, more successful attacks. Guoyu began to anticipate the punches aimed at his weak side, turned his body to block with the other arm. He sent a kick toward Pengfei from his bladed stance but the boy managed to stay upright this time. Guoyu caught himself with a grunt of pain as his wounded support leg buckled underneath him.

  Pengfei began to attack other targets, using the most basic strikes of the ‘Heaven Shaking Fist’. First one, then another of his straight punches came up short.

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  --Range is off! I can see it but …--

  He was scared. The first rush frenetic energy was gone, his jittering brain now grappling truly with the situation he was in. He wanted to sprint at full speed away from danger. Instead, he was trapped in a no-mans-land, a deadly zone where he and Guoyu could each strike at each other with their full power. Every time he went to attack, a part of him tugged in the other direction, pulling towards the false safety of reckless flight.

  A punch from Guoyu – no, not a punch. His hand was open, his fingers curled in a viscous claw that swiped at Pengfei’s throat. The Kunlun disciple pulled back, but fingertips grazed his neck leaving him bleeding from skin-deep gashes. He coughed at the contact to his windpipe.

  Fingers jabbing at the eyes, scraped the side of Pengfei’s face. A punch with one knuckle extended into a short dagger, aimed for the vital points of the chest. Each attack was a killing blow, narrowly avoided as the opponent hobbled forward on his bad leg.

  --Can’t run yet… can’t let him rip me apart…need to go in!--

  A feint toward the missing hand, then a kick to the damaged leg drew a cry of pain from Guoyu. Pengfei drove inward behind the initial attacks, closed the distance to the point that every attack would be guaranteed to reach.

  “I’ll tear you to pieces, you little fucker!” the killer hissed.

  The long attacks of Guoyu bunched up on each other. They missed their targets and lost their power.

  Pengfei sent out another flurry of blows, looping and hooking to the body. It was manic flailing more than technique. But he saw an opportunity for something more. He crunched in, coiled, then struck with his left fist. A rising, curving, punch that had worked for him before. It sailed past the killer’s missing hand, aimed at the liver.

  “Arrrgh!” Guoyu winced with a step back.

  Pengfei followed, trying to stay within the shorter range but was buffeted back by something invisible. The heat in the atmosphere was back, emanating from the panting hunched Guoyu. The man’s face drained of color, his breath came in ragged gasps, even as power wafted off him in fits and spurts.

  --Bloodlust… or his qi?--

  The boy took a step back, then another. But Guoyu jumped into the fray with renewed vigor. Pengfei blocked the attacks, his body still shook with the shattering force. Fist, palm, elbows and kicks. Guoyu even stepped more firmly on his damaged leg.

  The blows came so quickly that Pengfei could no longer deflect them individually, he could only duck behind his guard and try to absorb the impacts on his forearms.

  But the avalanche began to subside. The attacks slowed and the wounded killer breathed heavily. The heat that had burned so intensely a moment ago faltered. Pengfei pushed out with all his strength, and seeing Guoyu at the ideal distance, punched out at the man’s torso. It felt like the perfect attack. Fast, good extension, punching through the target, hips turning with the strike. The contact sent a shiver up his forearm.

  Guoyu stood unfazed. Not even a shift of weight.

  --Not strong enough!?--

  “A punch from a child, with no internal energy in it… Did you think that would work?” The man had read the doubt on Pengfei’s face. But Guoyu’s features sagged with the words, clearly exhausted. “Enough of this… stand still and die quietly.”

  The heat in the air rose again. It seemed to shimmer around Guoyu’s hand, once again constricting into a menacing claw.

  --I can’t get hit with that! Have to get out of here, even if running is dangerous.--

  Desperation rose in the boy’s mind, and then a trick.

  “You said you were looking for your brother? His body is by the water, back there.”

  “What?!”

  A childhood tactic, but Pengfei hoped the emotional bonds between siblings would be enough to bring it home. The man turned to glance over his shoulder and in that instant of distraction, Pengfei was off. He heard a curse, sensed a scramble of feet as the man made a lunging grab and missed.

  A few strides and the Kunlun disciple risked a glance behind, saw Guoyu turning this way and that, frantically.

  --He’s looking for my sword! If he finds it…--

  Engaging in a bare-handed fight against the handicapped opponent had been terrifying enough. The thought of facing a swordsman while unarmed was something beyond fear. He committed to the run, sprinting with all his might. Over and around the boulders, sliding in the gravel.

  He was close to the mouth of the canyon now. He peaked over his shoulder again but saw nothing behind him. Around another bend, then climbing a mound of rocks taller than himself. Horse was just up ahead. She had wandered into the canyon a short distance, where the ground was still even and firm. A short sprint to reach the mare.

  Pengfei made it. He stepped in the stirrup, threw his leg over the saddle and grabbed the reins. A last panicked look backwards to check for pursuit. But there was nothing.

  He began to turn the steed away but paused. Another look back at the bend in the canyon, the mound of rocks.

  “Fuck it. Might work.”

  Pengfei reached toward the quiver hanging off the front of his saddle. He took the bow, nocked an arrow. He waited, battling every instinct that told him to flee, to set Horse to gallop and not stop until he was back at Kunlun.

  Guoyu came around the bend then disappeared at the base of the rock mound. Pengfei drew the arrow back. Horse shuffled beneath him.

  “Shhh…” he soothed the animal, in between his own ragged gasps for air, trying to project calm. He looked down the arrow, sighting the empty air at the top of the rocks.

  Fingers appeared first, a hand grabbing the top of a boulder. Then Guoyu’s head popped up, holding the sword hilt between his teeth.

  The man’s eyes went wide as he took in the scene but the arrow was already flying from the bow. Guoyu reached up for … Pengfei wasn’t sure if it was to take the sword from his teeth, or an attempt to block the arrow with his bare hand. Either way, it was ill-advised. With no hand on the rocks, leaning away from the incoming attack, Guoyu fell backwards.

  Silence.

  Wind blew and Horse whinnied, she nervously dug her foot into the earth. Pengfei was frozen, his arm behind him after releasing the arrow. Like a figure in a painting.

  --What… --

  Pengfei’s mind, that had been blanked momentarily, came into focus again.

  --What happened? Did I get him?--

  “Did I get you?” he yelled aloud, not registering the ridiculousness of it.

  No response came. Just more wind.

  He nocked another arrow, bowstring pulled back taut. Long seconds, time only noticed when his muscles began protesting against the tension.

  He relaxed the bow, grabbed the reins, and dug his heels into Horse’s side, sending her bolting down the canyon. A short distance and she darted out through the narrow opening at the canyon mouth, into the wider valley beyond.

  Bright sunlight hit them as they exited the shade of the rock walls. It was still midafternoon. Gravel turned to grass beneath Horse’s hooves.

  Pengfei steered wide, still speeding away but with the canyon in view on his left flank. He kept it in sight as they rode for a minute, maybe more. The opening in the rock grew smaller and smaller. Nothing came out of it.

  He pulled back on the reins and Horse obediently slowed to a stop. They sat and stared. Still nothing exited the canyon.

  “Do we go back to the sect?” he asked himself and Horse. The animal nickered. Pengfei was tempted to interpret it as a ‘yes’ but he was at war with himself.

  “I think I hit him though…”

  The split second of time replayed itself over and over in his mind. The face, rising above the rock mound. The surprised look on Guoyu’s face. The release of the arrow.

  A fleshy thud, a splash of red… but did he imagine that?

  Pengfei couldn’t remember what the truth was.

  “I think I hit him.” He said again. “I … fuck.”

  He was still breathing heavy. He waited until his lungs moved more easily. There was not much improvement, the nerves still had him tense. His heart beat quickly.

  “I… I need to check. Let’s check.”

  He didn’t move at first. Didn’t compel Horse to move.

  --This is a bad idea… but I violated the pact, whatever the pact is. Kunlun… we’re not supposed to interact, to fight with anybody. If Guoyu is alive, tells the Wulin Alliance…--

  Pengfei rode back toward the canyon. Slowly. Horse moved at a hesitant walk, ready to turn at any moment.

  The canyon bobbed up and down in the boy’s vision. He stared at it so intently that the view lost meaning in his mind. He had to blink repeatedly to refocus his eyes, see the canyon mouth for what it was instead of a black and brown smear in the distance.

  Then he was back.

  Pengfei didn’t want to dismount, but he didn’t want to ride Horse right up to the edge of that drop either. Reluctantly, he stepped down.

  He removed the black bag from across his chest and hastily hung it around Horse’s neck. She tried to nip at the blue ribbon.

  He took the bow, one arrow nocked and another between his teeth. He crept into the canyon, stepping slowly and deliberately to dampen the sounds as he moved across the gravel.

  He drew the bowstring back as he approached the drop of the rock mound. Took a deep breath and slowly looked over the edge.

  Guoyu was lying flat on his back, staring up into the sky. An arrow protruded from his chest below the clavicle. Blood leaked from the wound, dripped from his mouth, and puddled beneath the man’s back. His eyes found Pengfei looking over the rock ledge. His lips moved but only a hint of a whisper reached the boy’s ears.

  Pengfei stood straight and relaxed his bow. Took the spare arrow out from his mouth.

  “What did you say?”

  Guoyu tried to speak again but couldn’t manage any more volume.

  “I can’t hear you.”

  The disciple looked about. Horse was shaking her head back and forth, trying to dislodge the bag he had placed around her neck. Guoyu did not move from his spot on the ground. The sword was several steps away from the man’s grasp, safely out of reach.

  Pengfei considered drawing his bow again and firing arrows until the man stopped moving.

  “You’re the one who killed Ma Feng! Do you know what they did to him? They chopped him up and fed him the fucking birds!”

  The man’s lips moved but Pengfei couldn’t hear the rebuttal.

  “And Zihao? Did you just leave his body to rot somewhere?”

  Stifled emotions began to bubble up in him. The immediate suppressed fear of combat, of course. But the old sadness as well.

  Pengfei pulled his bowstring back again and took aim at Guoyu’s chest. But he could not ignore the man’s pathetic face just visible above the tip of his arrow.

  The Kunlun disciple did not fire his bow. He turned and walked back towards Horse, meaning to ride away.

  He paused.

  “Huggh…”

  The conflicted sigh slipped out between his lips.

  He dropped the bow. Back to the ledge. Penfei climbed down the rock mound, keeping Guoyu in sight the whole time. Upon reaching the bottom, he first moved to pick up his sword. He hadn’t noticed the scabbard still attached to his waist all during the fight and flight, but there it was. The blade slid back into its home.

  Guoyu’s breathing was shallow. His eyes stared into Pengfei’s when the boy squatted next to him.

  “I don’t know how to help you. If you’re anything like a boar, you’ll bleed out when I remove the arrow.”

  “In the bag… the Thousand-Year Ginseng…” The voice was weak.

  “Ginseng? A plant isn’t going to fix this. I can go for help, maybe – “

  “No!” Guoyu croaked desperately. “The ginseng can save me. It’s an elixir… but I …must remain still after I eat it…circulate my energy. Please …”

  Pengfei was incredulous. He had heard of the herb’s medicinal properties, but never of it being used in a situation like this. It sounded like the desperate fantasy of a dying man.

  “Fine, I’ll go get it.”

  He climbed back up the way he had come.

  --Even if it’s just a moment of hope, I’ll try to give it to the poor bastard.--

  He approached Horse to take the plant from the bag with the blue ribbon.

  --How did he know the ginseng was in the bag? Oh, right, that was his brother… did they find it together?--

  Horse had turned to face the other direction. She bent her neck to the ground and pawed at something with her hooves.

  Pengfei stepped around the animal. Found her snout stuffed into the bag he had hung around her neck. The mare looked up from the bag, chewing happily.

  “Are you eating…?”

  Horse cocked her head to the side.

  “Huh."