The Wandering God

15 Knife, Saw, and Cauldron 3/3

刀鋸鼎鑊
dāojùdǐnghuò
Knife, saw and cauldron
Ancient instruments of torture

Silently Kageyama crept down the old narrow stairs. He placed his feet as near the side of the step as possible, where the step was sturdiest, and lowered his weight slowly step to step. In this way he reached the foot of the stair and peered into the store beyond.

His eyes were already adjusted to the dark, and in the light of the moon that came in through the large, dusty store window, Kageyama immediately spotted the figure. Dressed all in dark clothes and with a scarf wound around their head, they appeared to be searching for something. The figure was small and slight, too small to be the Dashe. It was probably a woman or young man, and Kageyama knew it would be easy enough to overpower them.

Kageyama was hesitating, wondering whether the person before him was just a simple sneak thief he could ignore, when they turned, staring at Kageyama.

The figure froze, considering him for a moment. Then they bolted for the door.

Kageyama leapt to put himself in the figure's path. He grabbed at a wrist, but the figure spun away, knocking a jar to the floor with a tinkling crash, then retreated further back into the shop, behind the acupuncture table and snatched up a needle. Kageyama frowned beneath his scarf at the reminder that this was the Dashe's store. That this was just a sneak thief was too much of a coincidence.

Kageyama launched himself forward.

They were fast, avoiding Kageyama's kick and twisting to counter. Kageyama deflected and reached out again to grab their wrist again. He succeeded, and forced them to drop the needle, but then the figure retaliated with a punch and a swift kick designed to break his knee. Kageyama was able to relax his leg to the side just in time to avoid the kick.

Whoever this was, they were skilled. Definitely not just a thief.

Kageyama knew he needed to incapacitate the small, writhing figure as soon as possible if he wanted to question them. He dragged them nearer using their own wrist, avoiding the punch aimed at his nose. He grabbed the figure's other wrist, twisting their arms around them and then pulling them tight against his chest.

Got you, thought Kageyama.

He started to look around the shop for something to bind the figure thrashing within his arms, but before he could, they kicked off the acupuncture table, sending Kageyama and his captive. staggering backward until Kageyama's back collided with the shelf behind them with a great crashing of jars. "Ooooooffffff," was the sound from his mouth as the air left his lungs.

Kageyama felt sharp pain in his back, and realized the glass jars had cut him.

Angry, Kageyama pulled his arms, and the arms of the figure, back and behind them both. The figure stopped struggling and sagged, as if defeated. Kageyama could feel the tension in their wrists however, and so he was able to swiftly move his head to one side when the figure snapped their neck back, trying to break his nose. Their head struck his cheek bone, causing Kageyama to grunt, but his nose was intact.

The figure realized that they had been caught, and started struggling afresh. "Get your hands off me, snake!"

Kageyama froze as he recognized the voice. "Ao?" he asked in disbelief.

He let go of her wrists and reached out, pulling the scarf from her head, her long black hair coming with it.

The girl, the one he had left Chuanfang not an hour before to get away from, stood before him. She staggered back, watching fearfully until he removed his own scarf and she recognized him.