Taxman Part 3

Gaansukh was pleased to hear about Bo-Jing’s success in disrupting the bandit’s activities. He called for two yurts to be erected within the walls of Khuzu Kala for use by Bo-Jing and his men. Likewise, Bo-Jing was pleased by the way his men had conducted themselves in their fight with the bandits; he spent a few weeks training them in more advanced maneuvers. Gan Yul, a member of the Nergui horde, asked to join Bo-Jing's company and was accepted.

During this time, Beatriss returned to the bandits’ tower alone. Having lived the first half of her life in the underground city of Cynadicea, she was most comfortable in the darkness. Plus she owned a magical sword that let her become invisible. She left her horse below the camp and traveled the rest of the way on foot. She found many fewer tents in the camp and she found no men in the tower. Going from room to room, she concluded that most of the valuables had already been taken by the other bandits. She claimed a staff, likely magical, that they had missed, and returned to Kazhu Kala.

Despite his martial prowess and reputation for decisive leadership, Bo-Jing was discouraged, that unlike Beatriss, Bangqiu, and Hyamsam, he had no method for becoming invisible. So, together with Beatriss, he found an old woman named Tolai who lived in a fine yurt all by herself outside Khuzu Kala and who made her living brewing potions purported to have magical powers. Bo-Jing gave her a potion he had found in his adventures and asked her to analyze it for him. She collected her fee and conducted various tests, finally pronouncing that it would make the imbiber vanish.

“Do you mean I can turn invisible?”

“Well . . .what do you mean by invisible? Their body would, for a time, turn into a cloud of mist, which is indeed very difficult to see.”

 Bo-Jing was grateful for this information but what he wanted was to be invisible, to be able to sneak up on his enemies and attack them with surprise.

Tolai shook her head and laughed to herself before asking Bo-Jing if he knew the legend of the Four Coins. Tengri had made them for his four sons, the Kings of the North, the East, the South, and West.  A fox had stolen them and hidden them
and they would never be found.  "But if anything could make a powerful warrior invisible, it would be one of those four coins."