Despite the danger of meeting Imperial troops, I'm obliged to stay on the road because of the roughness of the terrain.  The morning passes without trouble, but in the early afternoon, I see a large cloud of dust up ahead and know instantly what it is:  a body of troops moving fast.

As luck would have it, there’s a group of travelers on horseback just up ahead, so I urge Swift on and catch up with them, just as a group of soldiers gallops past yelling at us all to get out of the way.  We scramble to one side.  I dismount and stand between my two horses, screened from view.

I count about three hundred men.  I don’t recognize any of the officers at their head.  They’re carrying an Imperial banner but the device on it is unfamiliar to me.  They sweep past without a glance either to right or left and disappear westwards.  I remount, surrounded by speculative chatter, and we ride on.  I stick with this group till sunset and camp with them, but in the morning I’m the first to leave.  By the end of the afternoon, I’m back at Jiayuguan Pass, for the third time since I left Qiu City fifteen days ago.

Bounty-hunters live by information.  Also there’s a tacit understanding between them and the army, as bounty-hunters mop up many criminals whom the army hasn’t got time to bother about.  Accordingly once through the west gate of the fort, I make my way to the guard-room and ask for any information about the two men who may be following Jinhai.  There’s no way round the Pass.  If they were going east, they’d have had to risk coming here, wanted or not. 

I’m shown into a stuffy office where a bored officer is shuffling paper round a battered desk.

“Half-Ear and the big guy?” he says, looking up at me.  “You’re too late.  They were brought in five, six days ago and the reward collected.”

This is a complete surprise.

“Dead or alive?”

“Dead.  Very dead.”

“Who brought them in?”

“Two guys.  One was a bounty hunter called Lang Huo.  We know him.  The other was a young guy I’d never seen before, very good-looking, name of Zhao Jing.”

“This Lang Huo.  What’s he like?”

“Young, not bad-looking, wears a lot of flashy jewellery.  But he’s a chancy bastard.  Likes to step on people’s faces.”

He sits back in his chair and grins.  “They seemed to be together.  Odd that.  I’d always figured Lang Huo for a ladies’ man, but that kid was really something.  I suppose if you’re looking at a face like that, you don’t care where you’re sticking it.”

“Did they head east?”

“Yup.  Five days ago, it was.  I remember because there was total chaos that day.  Both directions, never seen anything like it.”

Five days ago?  Total chaos?  The Gods are laughing at us.  Jinhai and I must have been here at the same time, he going east while I was going west. 

The officer misinterprets the look that flashes across my face.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but there are plenty more bad guys out there.  Take a look at the wall outside.  There are a few new faces.”

“I’ll do that, thanks.”

As I walk out, he calls after me, ‘Oh, they had a dog with them, a grey dog.”

Outside, I suddenly feel a terrific sense of relief.  This is real proof that Jinhai’s still alive.  Lady Han could have been wrong, or her interpretation of events faulty.  Not only is he alive, but he and this Lang Huo have dealt with the threat from Bamboo Hat’s friends, and very efficiently at that.  Here I am dashing to rescue him and my clever little fox has already handled the problem.  And that damn dog which follows Jinhai around like a shadow is still with him.

But I don’t like the sound of this person accompanying him.  The sooner I catch up with them, the better.

For form’s sake, I check out the wanted posters on the outside wall of the guard-room and see, brand-new, one for myself.  The charges are conspiracy and treason.  The drawing’s very unflattering and they’ve got my height wrong.  The reward offered is a large one.  Dead or alive, the poster says.

I’m going to have to be very careful.

I pay the toll and leave the fort, glad to see the back of it.  Then I'm hit by the inevitable reaction to my relief.  For the past few days,  Jinhai has occupied my mind to the point of obsession.  There's only so much misfortune that one person can take, so I have single-mindedly pushed all other thoughts out of my head.  Now my worries about him have eased somewhat, I’ve got space in my mind to think about the consequences of the Second Prince’s coup.   And the first thought that hits me is an agonizing one:  that of my little sister in prison, along with her young husband and his family.  I'm thousands of miles away with a price on my head.  I can do nothing.  The pain's almost physical.  I find myself leaning over my horse’s neck in anguish.  Swift slows to a walk, sensing my disarray.  This is no good.  I have to pull myself together.  I can't afford to lose my grip now.  I have to find Jinhai and get back to the capital as soon as I can, hoping in the meantime that nothing bad happens to Ah-Lien and the Li family.  And then Ma Xiuying’s words about the danger to everyone in Li Wei’s network come back into my mind.  What about Lord Zhao? 

Originally, we’d planned that Jinhai would accompany the troop as far as Eagle Rock and stay with Lord Zhao.  It’s possible he decided to do just that.  But those Imperial troops I met on the road – suppose they had instructions to go to Eagle Rock?  And if Jinhai went there……

I have no way of knowing.  It means time lost, but I have to go and check it out.

I get to the turn-off to Eagle Rock a day and a half later.  My worst fears are realized immediately:  at this season there should be people in the fields, but there are none.  The water-wheels are silent. The silence pursues me right up to the ruined walls of the house.  The smell of death’s everywhere.  It unnerves the horses, which are reluctant to go in.  I dismount, cover my nose and mouth, draw my sword and walk in.

It’s a charnel house.  The weather’s been warm, so the bodies have started to decompose and have been attacked by scavengers.  I’ve seen battlefields before, so the sight of bodies is nothing new, but this is a place which welcomed us in the past and the impact’s greater than that of anonymous slaughter.  I check the bodies, dreading what I might find.  There are about a dozen, unrecognizable, but all in the rags of the dark blue uniform of Lord Zhao’s personal guard. 

There are no bodies inside the house, the contents of which have been wantonly destroyed.  Lord Zhao isn’t here.  Neither are Zhao Zhan and Jinhai.  But from my recollection, there were around fifty men in Lord Zhao’s guard.  Where did the others go?

I have a vague memory from last year, of Lord Zhao mentioning an escape route and a hideout up on the plateau.  It would amaze me if a man like Lord Zhao didn’t have such a thing planned.  Given his history, it would be foolish of him not to, and foolish is the last word I’d associate with Lord Zhao.

I abandon my search, leave the house and get back to the restless horses.  There must be a way up to the plateau.  It takes me a while to find it, but I eventually strike a narrow trail leading upwards.   Here and there where the path’s muddy, there are the recent tracks of two or three riders.  There are also dog-tracks.  I was right.  Jinhai came here.  After a while the ascent gets steep and I have to dismount and lead the horses, all of us scrambling for footing.  Then quite suddenly, we come out onto a level space in front of a cave mouth.  There’s a hitching rail to one side.  There are horse-droppings and the ground’s all churned up by hooves. 

The cave shows signs of recent occupation.  A fire’s been lit not too long ago and there are braziers still half-full of charred wood.  There are supplies of food, water and firewood.  I investigate the cave and find that it runs a long way back into the mountain.  There are confused footprints in the soft soil, as if many men have passed that way.  I guess suddenly that the cave must run right down to the base of the plateau, maybe even into the house itself. 

There’s no way to tell who was here, but this must be how the survivors escaped.  Perhaps two or three lingered here for a couple of days, injured or exhausted.  In any case, it’s a good place to spend the night.  I see to the horses, light the fire, scour out the cooking-pot and put food on to cook.  Unexpectedly, investigating the barrels for water, I come across one containing wine.  I pour myself a cup and salute Lord Zhao for his forethought.

Eating, I ponder.  What’s Jinhai likely to do?  I’m betting that he’ll head back to the road, to follow the troop.  He’ll hear about the change of Emperor and realize I’m in danger.  He may even see the wanted notice with my face on it.  He won’t know that I’ve come back for him.  Or he may guess that I have.  In any case, he’ll know that the sensible thing is to stay on the road, because that’s where we’re most likely to find one another.

This is assuming that nothing’s happened to him in the meanwhile.  I can only hope for the best and follow the trail.

Before I’ve really noticed it, I’ve drunk several more cups of Lord Zhao’s excellent wine.  Despite all my worries, my sleep’s dreamless.

Dawn comes cold and grey and I have a headache.  Cold water fixes it and I saddle up my horses as the sun starts to penetrate through the trees.  Halfway down the trail, a side-path leads away from the Zhao estate.  I guess that this will take me down to the road and so it proves.  The morning becomes warm and sunny.  The landscape changes to well-tended farmland with many people working in the fields.  A warning bell rings in my head.  This must be the Ding estate!

The last thing I need is to fall into the hands of the Ding family.  Fortunately, there aren’t many people on the road.  I ride all day without incident and at dusk arrive at what ought to be a public watering place, but which has now been fenced off.   Guards at a stout gate demand money for entrance, in the name of the Ding family.  My horses need water and I need sleep, so I have to pay up, but the place is filthy.  I sleep badly and leave as early as I can.

A few miles down the road, a body of horsemen appears, coming towards me fast.  There’s nowhere to hide, so I just ride on, hoping they’ll pass by.  They’re in Ding uniform.  But as they draw level, someone barks an order and before I can react, they’ve surrounded me.  A hated, familiar voice says, “Liao Shan!”

Fuck! 

Ding Bao’s sneering face confronts me.  “Take his weapons!” he orders.  He leans forward in the saddle to gloat.  “Well, well, we meet again, Commander.  One of my guards recognized you in the encampment last night.  How did you find it?”

“Disgusting, like you.”

A fist with a metal glove strikes me in the face.  I turn my head aside just in time to avoid having my teeth knocked out and take the blow on my jaw instead.  Then somebody hits me hard on the side of the head.  Several more heavy blows knock me out of the saddle.  Half-conscious, I roll among the horses’ hooves. 

“Get him on the horse,” Ding Bao orders.

My hands are tied in front of me and I’m heaved face down across Swift’s back.  My ankles are tied and the rope’s linked to my hands under the horse’s belly.

In considerable pain, I’m vaguely aware that we gallop for some time.  Then I hear more shouts and, struggling to lift my head, I see a cluster of buildings.  There’s a large mansion surrounded by stables and warehouses.  We trot a little further on and stop.  I’m dragged down off my horse and into a building which looks like a prison.  The men haul me into a cell and throw me down on the floor of beaten earth. 

“Well, look at you now.  The high and mighty Commander Liao,” Ding Bao says, looking down at me with his thumbs hooked into his belt.  “Thought you had it made, didn’t you?  You and your little bitch of a Prince.  See where you both are now.”

He squats down beside me, grinning.  “I hear they embalmed the body.  I wonder if he still looks as pretty as he did the last time you fucked him.”

Provoking the bastard will only lead to more violence, but I can’t help myself.  Summoning up what’s left of my strength, I kick out and bring him down heavily.  He comes to his feet white with fury.

“I’ll teach you manners, you son of a bitch,” he says between his teeth.

He starts to kick me in a frenzy of anger.  I curl up to protect myself as best I can, but my wrists and ankles are still tied and there’s nothing much I can do except endure it.  The assault seems to go on forever and only stops when another voice shouts, “Bao-er, stop, stop!  If you kill him, we won’t be able to make a deal.” 

I dimly recognize the voice of Ding Lim, the younger brother.  Ding Bao’s frenzied panting slows down.  He delivers a final vicious kick and an agonizing pain shoots through my left arm.

“Come on, leave it,” Ding Lim says.  “It’s not worth it.  Come and have lunch.”

Footsteps move away.  The door clangs shut.  Silence falls, except for my laboured breathing.