Shuli Go Stories Vol. 5: The Two Keepers

Part 9

Fen and Tan spent the rest of the afternoon in the other room, leaving Lian and Quan alone until Li Jie returned as the sun was setting.

"I have fifteen people who volunteered and who I think can make it. Weapons are going to be a problem. There are only two real spears between the two villages. And only five or six archers with decent bows."

"Then scythes, pitchforks, shears, anything that can cut. Preferably with a long handle on it to keep them from cutting themselves."

"That's what I told them."

"Then you did well. Let's eat."

Lian had been waiting to eat until Li Jie's return, so she eagerly pulled out more of the food and seasonings she and Quan had brought along, and set about making a second meal. The three of them ate and exchanged a few words, but mostly found themselves thinking of what was coming the next day. After he was done eating Li Jie bid them goodnight and brought the rest of the food across the curtain to his niece and nephew.

Lian and Quan extended their sleeping rolls and felt the air cool as the sun went down. Whispers floated in from the other room so they whispered themselves, their heads close together as they stared at the unfamiliar ceiling.

"Will Puotong help?" Quan asked.

"No. Not willingly."

"But you're going to ask anyway?"

"Yeah."

"...Ok."

"You ok?" Lian asked. "It was a bit of a day."

"I'm fine," Quan responded. "I just..."

"The Keeper is getting to you."

"Yeah."

Lian sighed. "When I was twenty, about two months before the Emperor set the Shuli Go aside, one of us went off. Left his Go behind and started murdering people. No reason, nothing. Just started murdering people all across the Kingdom.

"Well, the only way to catch a Shuli Go is through other Shuli Go. And there was a protocol for exactly those kinds of situations. A band of ten Shuli Go are set up and they hunt the Shuli Go down and kill him. So one day I'm sitting at home and nine other Shuli Go show up on my doorstep and suddenly I'm part of this hit squad.

"And we did. We found him and we killed him. Turns out he was killing people he knew were guilty of all sorts of things – rape, theft, murder – but for some reason or another he hadn't been able to convict them. Some of them were powerful people, others were just everyday criminals who'd gotten lucky and escaped. He was still trying to do what he thought was best, right up to the end.

"I'll never forget what he said to us. He said 'The law can't do justice anymore.' And that meant something to us back then, because a Shuli Go serves the law first. Even though some laws may not be just all the time, if there's a law we follow it because we were all taught that the law makes all justice possible. Without the law, there's no justice. And he was saying the opposite. And that really shook me.

"He also had this crazy idea about the Shuli Go setting up our own kingdom. Just saying goodbye to the Empire and kidnapping a bunch of kids and building our own country somewhere. He said the Empire had outlived us. And then two months later it had. And I'll tell you, there's not a day that's passed that I don't wonder if he was right and the ten of us were wrong."

Lian paused for another sigh. "The point is it's impossible to judge someone when the only way you're getting to know them is with a blade to their throat."