The Wandering God

51 Part With What You Treasure 1/3

Kageyama sighed. "War is never pretty. There is always cruelty on both sides."

"It's disgusting," said Sanli. "And now someone is killing in Linjing? Disgusting."

Kageyama did not reply. Something was niggling at the back of his mind. Why use a sedative? Surely the rebels had strength and bonds enough to restrain one man while they tortured him.

A sedative required more expertise, more finesse. It required someone who knew how to make such things. Someone like himself, or...

They reached Ao, who stood to meet them. Kageyama noticed the statuette of the tiger in the small shrine had been knocked on its side.

"Ready for lunch?" Ao said cheerfully.

"We just pulled a dead man from the river!" said Sanli in exasperation.

"Oh. So not ready then?" asked Ao, disappointed. Sanli stomped off.

*~*~*~*~*~*

They bought a tall tack of lunch boxes from a restaurant and headed home to eat.

By the time they had returned to the house, Sanli's mood had worsened.

"What is the point of having troops if they can't do their job? What is the Golden Army doing? What is my brother doing with our own army?" he ranted to the alley walls.

They approached Kageyama's home from the alley. There was a small gateway that led from the alleyway to the courtyard. A wooden sign carved with the characters hung over the gateway, and Kageyama glanced up as they passed beneath it. 柳居. Liu Ju. Willow House. Kageyama had always refused to call it that. There were no willow trees on the property. And so the house remained nameless.

"I should have studied the martial arts, like Zhangyu. Instead I focused on magic." Sanli spat the word with hatred. "And now I know the handful of pretty spells the gods permit us to use."

Sanli's derogatory tone was nothing new. At times Kageyama had patience for it. But not now, tired and with the smell of a four day-old corpse in his nose.

"You focused on magic because it was what you are good at. And there are plenty of useful spells. Stop being dramatic," Kageyama ground out.

"I focused on magic because you didn't have the patience to teach me the sword," Sanli snapped.

"Not all the patience in the world would help me teach you the sword," Kageyama snapped back, and immediately regretted it.

Though they often joked about it, Sanli's lack of martial skill was a sensitive topic . It was not for want of ability, or trying on the prince's part. Sanli simply lacked the instinct to harm that was required for a good fighter. He could defend well, but a fight was not won on defense alone. One had to eventually attack.

Sanli's already tight jaw grew tighter. "I am sorry I am such a disappointment," he said, and then turned on his heel and marched into the house.

Kageyama sighed, bringing his hands to his temples.

"Oh my," said Ao, her voice distorted. Kageyama looked up to see she had opened the top of the lunch boxes and was popping shrimp dumplings into her mouth until her cheeks bulged. "What was that all about?"

Kageyama shook his head. "He does this. He somehow thinks the fate of the world rests on his shoulders, and then feels responsible when bad things happen."

Ao shrugged, swallowing her huge mouthful before popping another dumpling into her mouth. "Why? He is not a god. Or a king. The fate of the empire does not rest with him."