Shuli Go Stories Vol. 5: The Two Keepers

Part 10

Her son's love life was just a distraction though – most of her thoughts were on how to find and defeat the Keeper and his bandits. Li Jie didn't have a map of the countryside available, but she picked his brain for the best way to approach the bandit's potential camp the next day. The terrain he described was hilly, with a few especially tall peaks that would allow for good scouting positions. The problem was the bandits, if they'd returned to their base already, would probably have their own lookouts on those very same hills. Lian knew she could easily dispatch a few sentries on her own without raising alarms, but without a very clear idea of the geography, their entire group could go over a small crest and suddenly be visible to the enemy. The second day's marching would have to be much less direct than the walk to the old fort.

The boisterous songs and loud smiles of the early day gave way to quieter conversations and furrowed brows as the heat of the bright summer day beat down on the group of travellers. They stuck to the roads and stopped for lunch at another fork between north-south and east-west. As they continued to the south and east the road nestled into a series of valleys as the hills started rising up around them. Even then the slight incline of the path started taking its toll and the pace of the group slowed. Lian estimated they had only made it eight miles when she decided it was time to turn off the road.

"Are you sure that's smart?" Li Jie asked. "We'll move much slower across the hills."

"Maybe, but it'll give us a chance to keep an eye out for the bandits if our paths are going to cross. Plus we can move straight towards the fort instead of winding back and forth through the hills like this."

The decision to trample up and down each hill – some of them planted with crops despite their incline – didn't do wonders for the morale of the villagers, but they continued on without complaint and Lian felt more comfortable at the top of each hill when she couldn't spot any signs of horse movement.

At the top of one such hill Li Jie pointed just to the east and said, "There's another village just below there. We could see if they know anything more about the bandits. They may even pitch in a few more soldiers." Lian agreed and they headed towards the village, a few excited shouts from those who had family there injecting some excitement back into the march.

When they arrived the excitement died. As had most of the village.

There were only six homes still standing: the rest had been burnt to the ground or smashed by the bandits. When Lian's group approached from on high, there were terrified shouts from the locals thinking the bandits had returned, but one of them recognized Li Jie before a full panic set in. Not that it would have mattered, the people there were in no shape to do anything – panicked or not.

Lian and Li Jie led their horses down into the village amid the smell of death and waste, some of the burnt down homes still smouldering. There were only twenty or so villagers left – Li Jie explained that at least fifty used to live there – and they were all exhausted and dishevelled. Half the survivors were out in the fields, harvesting half-finished crops because the bandits had taken almost all their food, along with their young men and women and almost every tool the villagers owned. The survivors told them how the ones that had fought back had been killed – almost a dozen. Particularly brutal was the Keeper, who killed with ease and apparent pleasure. There was only a single shovel left behind, and they had just finished the last of the graves, still fresh enough for the families of the dead to kneel over them, weeping and tearing their hair in mourning. The bandits had attacked two days ago, on their way to Brilliant River Valley – where they'd run into Lian.

Lian told everyone in her group to break out the food and prepare a meal for everyone in the village from their supplies. It meant their makeshift army would only have enough food for three days, but she didn't care. She was going to deal with the bandits before then – a fact she explained to the village elder when she pulled him aside and handed him a piece from her purse. His eyes lit up – he hadn't seen that much money in one place in a long time – but the joy dimmed quickly.