Chapter 7:
Reirin Seals
LET’S TURN BACK THE CLOCK to a short time before the dove reached Reirin and the emperor. While carrying out Genyou’s orders to scour Treacherous Tan Peak and find Tou, Akim yawned loudly beneath the moonlight.
He also did some complaining while he was at it. “Another bust. Can’t find this guy anywhere.”
The sorcerer had yet to be found. Akim had received his orders the previous morning, which meant it had been two whole days since he’d headed to Treacherous Tan Peak, met up with Keikou and Shin-u, and split back off from the other two to search the mountain.
Only one day remained until the Day of Ultimate Yin. With his mission deadline closing in fast, this would normally be the time to start panicking, but after traipsing up and down the precipitous mountain over the past couple of days, his frustration was winning out.
“His Majesty sure does overwork his men,” he grumbled, brushing aside a vine of ivy with his foot. Obviously, the sorcerer was not hiding underneath. Yet Akim had already searched all the most likely hiding places, such as the charcoal burners’ huts, hunting grounds, and water sources, so the vegetation was just about the only thing left to check.
The props he carried to don his “Anki” disguise at a moment’s notice weighed him down, and sneaking around to avoid detection was a pain in the neck. It would be over the moment Tou saw him coming, so he couldn’t even light a torch. He had to constantly watch his step, monitor what his subordinates were doing, and keep an eye out for any incoming messenger pigeons carrying instructions from Genyou or the Maidens. With so many tasks to juggle, he was well within his rights to heave a sigh or two. And it was cold to boot.
I hear we’re avoiding magic in case the sorcerer picks up on it, but I bet there’s a spell that would let us find him in a flash. Thinking back to his encounter with Shu Keigetsu and the first display of magic he’d ever witnessed, Akim sighed and lifted an overgrown tree branch out of the way. Magic sure is convenient.
He envied the ability to forgo a messenger pigeon or courier and communicate in real time. Sure, that kind of power certainly could spark a political conflict, but its potential was so great that he would personally love to add a Daoist cultivator to his team.
Oh, but speaking of people I’d love to have on the force…
As Akim got lost in his thoughts, he picked up an incoming sound. His first instinct was to adopt a fighting stance, but upon recognizing the footsteps heading toward him, he lowered his arms.
“Greetings, Sir Akim!” Along came Keikou, heir to the Kou clan, parting the foliage in his path with a rustle. “How are things going on your end? Have you found the sorcerer yet?”
Like always, the man enunciated clearly and showed not a hint of fatigue despite the late hour. His search had been centered around the western side of the summit; it seemed he had come up empty and made his way back to the midpoint. The trio had arranged to meet up at the halfway point every so often to stay informed of each other’s progress.
With only the moonlight to guide him yet no hesitation in his gait, Keikou strode over to Akim, who shrugged. “Sadly, no. Frankly, I doubt we’re going to have much luck searching this enormous mountain with so few people. I’m way too old for this.”
Keikou bellowed a laugh and bumped shoulders with the spy. “No need to be modest! You’re capable enough to handle the work of a hundred men. Just look at how many traps you laid to fluster ‘Shu Keigetsu,’ and all by yourself!”
“You’ve got it all wrong. I handled everything out in the open, but my men helped me with the finer details behind the scenes. As you know, they’re even stationed around the base of the mountain to intercept the sorcerer.” Akim spread his hands, grimacing. “Though I can’t get in touch with a few of ’em, for whatever reason.”
“Ha ha, that would be my fault! I was steamed that you killed three of my dearest doves, so I decided to return the favor.”
The pair crunched their way through the thicket.
“Whew,” Akim eventually said with a chuckle. “I knew you were secret service material. Wanna join up?”
“Hmm, no thanks! A sleazy way of life wouldn’t suit me.”
“Hey, I oughta take offense to that.”
Akim’s own subordinates had been murdered, yet he laughed without a care in the world.
The man walking alongside him was no different. Keikou’s messenger birds had been killed, so he’d gotten payback—or perhaps he’d made an example of the men because his little sister had been tortured. His policy was to always claim compensation for damages done to him, but once he considered the scales balanced, he had no problem engaging an enemy in casual conversation. It was pragmatism taken to an almost twisted extreme, but it was a stance the two men shared.
“There you both are,” came a voice. The bushes rustled, and a third man popped out. It was Captain Shin-u of the Eagle Eyes, who had received the same order to catch the sorcerer and been assigned to cover the eastern side of the summit.
“Hello, Captain,” Keikou said with a smile, undaunted by the man’s cold, blue eyes. “Any luck?”
Despite the friendly greeting, the way Shin-u subtly avoided eye contact indicated that the two weren’t on the best of terms. Akim stood back and observed their interaction with interest.
“I haven’t seen the sorcerer himself, but on my way to the summit, I spotted footprints on the surface of a lake,” said Shin-u.
“On the surface of a lake?” Keikou parroted. “Wait, I get it! The lakes are frozen over, so nothing’s stopping him from walking across. I didn’t think of that.”
“When I climbed a tree to investigate, I saw a cave of some sort on the opposite shore. I suspect the sorcerer is hiding in there.”
“You could make out a cave on the opposite shore?” Akim blurted out. “At night? Without a light?”
The handsome, blue-eyed man matter-of-factly replied, “I have good night vision. I’ve always managed without light to see by.”
Keikou’s eyes widened. “Oho. Sounds like the captain of the Eagle Eyes lives up to his title.”
Akim, meanwhile, dove into idle chitchat. “Wow, must be nice. Look at me in comparison, getting farsighted in my old age…”
Shin-u ignored them both. “I considered chasing him down then and there, but I ultimately refrained from crossing the lake. Were he to sense the approach of someone with the same Gen heritage as His Majesty, it might put him on his guard. It wouldn’t seem strange for the Maiden’s escort or ‘Anki’ to be on Treacherous Tan Peak, so I would appreciate it if one of you two checked to see if Tou is inside.”
Keikou curled his lips into a grin, pleased to hear that Shin-u had backed down exactly when he was supposed to. “Excellent work.”
After finding out the exact location from Shin-u, Keikou and Akim headed straight for the cave, figuring it was best to strike while the iron was hot. The target might see them coming if they cut straight across the lake, so they went all the way around the shore and approached the cave from the side, stopping a little under a hundred strides away. Given Tou’s mastery of the Daoist arts, he might sense their qi if they got too close.