Daughter of Heaven

Chapter 39 - The Thief Lord

Yue Kingdom - Ning City 

Yu Zhu tried to muffle her scream, biting on a damp cloth as Zhuo Hao sewed the skin on her shoulder back together in the dim candle light. His grey clothes were soaked with blood and his mask lay forgotten in a corner of the room. There were still a few hours before dawn, if she screamed now, the neighbors would wake.

"He hit bone " Zhuo Hao cursed, "This will take a while to heal."

The door opened and Lin Yu rushed in, the smile on her face dropping as she saw the bloody rags piled around Yu Zhu. "Move" She said brusquely, her eyes began to glow as green fire sprouted from her hands. Zhuo Hao didn't need to be told twice and backed away. This wasn't like the normal powers of well practiced martial artists. This was something he had never seen before.

But Yu Zhu grabbed Lin Yu's arm with her good hand, her fingers digging into Lin Yu's arm in panic.

"No! A cut like this? Not worth it" Yu Zhu gasped. Lin Yu ignored her, "Demon magic is strong, you'll be better in a few hours."

"Every demon catching priest within thirty miles will be here within the hour if they feel your power. We live next to a monastery, don't you think they have demon catchers there? Do you want to be the second snake in your family to die at the hands of monks?"  Yu Zhu's face was covered with sweat, but she looked Lin Yu firmly, "Don't you dare. Once I'm strong enough I'll can heal myself."

"Who did this?" Lin Yu asked, her face a mask of rage, "I'm going to bury him in his family plot." Zhuo Hao fumbled the towel he was holding, neither of the girls noticed.

"No. He was waiting for me." Yu Zhu shook her head, sweat dripped from her forehead, "Zhu Zhan Ye's already too familiar with the Midnight Thief's methods. Also, Zhuo Hao showed up to rescue me tonight. I don't want him to know anymore about us than he already does."

"Should we wait until he attacks us?" Lin Yu asked incredulously, "This is more or less a declaration of war!"

Yu Zhu sighed and laid back down, "For now we don't provoke the beast. I misjudged his intelligence. It's a mistake that I can't afford to make again."

Zhuo Hao walked forward with a sleeping draught, "Rest, my team should've taken care of the gold already." Yu Zhu drank down the vial gratefully and fell into a dreamless sleep.

Lin Yu and Zhuo Hao walked into the sleepy autumn air. Four figures moved quietly in the shadows around them. Zhuo Hao smiled, "I think my people are almost done."

"Master Zhuo!" A woman in similar grey clothes like his appeared like a ghost by his side, she was tall and reed-like, two long strands of hair framed her heart-shaped face. She scowled at Zhuo Hao, "When you said you needed us to move some very small things out of the city by dawn, did you mean the ton of gold you had in the back room?"

She was covered in sweat as she looked at Zhuo Hao with annoyance, "Three of my men strained their backs moving the gold. The others nearly fainted in exhaustion. I caught four trying to stuff gold down their drawers." She grimaced at the last one, they were all thieves by trade, seeing the gold nearly made their mouths water. Some of them outright drooled.

"I know you're always smiling and carefree, but will you for once get it into your addled head that we are not field workers?" She hissed as she rubbed her aching arms, "We're not use to carrying thousands of gold bars across the city, we could've been caught anytime."

Zhuo Hao slung an arm around Pei's thin shoulders, "But you're here, so I knew there was nothing I needed to worry about." Pei's eyes nearly threw sparks and Zhuo Hao hurriedly took his arm off, for fear of losing it, "I'm sorry." He grinned contritely, "This was an emergency."