Heaven's Golden Finger

Monkey Business

The General gazed at Shun searchingly, clearly waiting for an answer and slowly coming to his own conclusions. "You aren't a singer at all," he said. "I know those eyes. You're Shu Duan's boy, his and Queen Xing's son."

Before Shun could think of an answer, or even prepare to defend himself, a shout from outside interrupted. "General! The enemy is on the move!"

#

Everything around them was chaos and Shun couldn't help feeling to blame. He dodged between the rushing soldiers, Shirong Shidi at his side without needing to be told. At least Shun's junior brother had learned that much from his experiences. They were best off together.

"You! Don't go running off. I want to talk to you!"

Shun had no intention of doing anything of the sort. The General obviously knew something about his father and Shun wanted answers. He tossed his outer 'robes' aside, so all he wore were the cotton trousers and underrobe he'd found in the tent. There wasn't any point in pretending to be a woman anymore. Not when the General knew who he was.

The white-haired woman appeared at Shun and Shirong Shidi's side. "Can you fight?"

"This isn't our war."

"True, but you're in our camp and that damned stone monkey will think you're our allies."

"Monkey? Stone Monkey... Sun Wukong?"

Shun shushed his Shidi. Obviously this was another of those future knowledge things of his. Sohn Wuakan was the leader of a band of Houttan robbers. Rumor said he and they were monkey spirits and that he was particularly powerful because he'd been born from a stone pillar at the border of Houttan and Pamir. He didn't tend to be murderous, but he loved making trouble for everyone.

"Little bastard stole our King's wind fan. We're here to get it back. You two aren't part of this unless you want to be." The woman grimaced. "You don't want to be. That brat's more than you can handle."

Likely she was right. Chosen and Adversary though they might be, Shirong Shidi and Shun hadn't come into their powers yet. Besides, this wasn't their business. Not unless Sohn Wuakan made it theirs. "We'll hide," he agreed, catching Shirong Shidi's hand and heading the opposite direction from the fight.

Soldiers ran past them as they escaped, too busy with their own business to pay attention to two weak seaming youngsters with no weapons. It only took a minute for them to reach the far end of the camp. "The trouble is, there's no place to hide," Shirong Shidi said. "Unless you want to go back into our spiritual space?"

That would be risky. They didn't know how long the fight would last and they wouldn't be able to tell when it was over. Given the way things kept going, they'd return to the world right in the middle of the fight. "No. Let's just stay back."

"Oh, but that's no fun at all." The speaker was a man in light armor, his black eyes bright with interest. He was tall, thin and rangy, with narrow features and thin brows. That alone didn't prove him one of the Pamir camps' enemy, however. His tail, a slender appendage covered in fine brown fur, on the other hand, made his nature clear. "Wouldn't you like to fight, instead?" A half dozen more of their kind leaped into view, coming to stand behind their comrade with bright and dangerous grins.

If Shun were still wearing his embroidered 'robe' he might have tried to fool these two the way he'd fooled the Pamir soldiers earlier. Instead he said, "We're not involved in your fight. Don't force us."

"What if we refuse?" the monkey spirit asked gleefully. "It's not as if you have anywhere to go. Nowhere to hide, either, now we have your scent, little snake."