Blue City Blues Part 1

Bo Jing sent his Baghatur, Batu, along with a small retinue of footmen, to the Imperial Blue City to investigate rumors of growing disquiet and even insurrectionist intent.

The new Governor in Blue City as well as his ministers were beyond reproach. Following the scandal the had led to execution of the last Governor, there was no tolerance for corruption at any level of the government.

But there was still the problem of the local temples. Among the dozens of shrines that had been established over the centuries, The Bright Path enjoyed official favor, but a variety of foreign merchants had brought their own beliefs, and their own rivalries. In recent decades, the Fire Temple had been most prominent among this population, but now that preeminence was being challenged by the followers of One Law. Unlike the Bright Path, which catered mainly to government ministers, and unlike the Fire Temple, which fully closed itself to outsiders, the followers of One Law eagerly sought and claimed new converts among Tuigen nomads, caravan guards, and imperial soldiers. So when the name of the Prophet of One Law was insulted by the High Priest of the Fire Temple, men from all quarters reacted with outrage.

The High Priest of the Fire Temple was arrested. But the Governor of Blue City refused to execute him, or to turn him over to the One Law to stand trial. The High Priest was a holy man and when it comes to blasphemy and the edicts of the Emperor, two wrongs did not make a right. There would be no trial, no punishment. Instead, the High Priest was ensconced in the Governor’s palace.

In retaliation, some men of One Law attacked an imperial caravan, taking two dozen prisoners, most of them government bureaucrats. Three of the prisoners were devotees of the Fire Temple. Their heads were found in Blue City markets over the next three days. The followers of One Law announced they would allow a week and then begin killing the other prisoners.

The Governor of Blue City officially ignored these threats.

Batu was approached by a group of low-level bureaucrats who asked for his help. They had collected some money and offered to pay him to rescue their friend who was among the hostages. Batu declined the offer of payment, but agreed that he and his men would help as a matter of his honor and that of his lord, Bo-Jing. He also assisted the desperate clerks in securing the assistance of Wujin Fen, Zaire, and Tayo. These were not Baghaturs, but they had talents that would be helpful. And they would gladly accept payment.

Given that the decapitated heads had been placed in the market, the party reasoned that the prisoners were being held somewhere in the city.  Following a chain of rumors, they found a dilapidated mansion in the merchants’ quarter that allowed access to the maze of wells and caverns on which the temples of Blue City had first been established as small shrines, long before the city itself was organized.

Here they met a pair of men, outfitted in armor made from giant crabs, and Tayo’s skills proved most useful. Relying on her arcane abilities, she understood their strange language and communicated that she had come to assist them. For their part, the crab men were keen to destroy some interlopers from the “blinding world” above.  The crab men led the way to the hideout of small-time teenage gangsters.

Greatly outnumbered, the teenagers were eager to surrender. The crabmen, on the other hand were eager for blood. Batu intervened, drawing his sword on the crabmen and forcing them to stand down. He ordered his men to keep the crabmen at bay while he and the rest of the party followed the teenagers to their boss.

Arriving in a large cavern filled with giant mushrooms, the party began to doubt their decision. When their guides began singing, and were answered by other songs throughout the cavern, they knew they’d been led into an ambush. But then the boss made the mistake of showing himself, sitting on top of an especially large mushroom. A small man with a long beard, he asked what Batu had brought him.  Zaire responded by shooting a bolt of blue energy, knocking him off his mushroom and killing him. Except it wasn’t a giant mushroom, they were simply in a large dank cellar. The dozen or so teenage thugs, deprived of their illusory camouflage looked like the lost boys they were.

The two sides struck a deal. The boys admitted that they were holding a number of prisoners on behalf of “the big sword men.” And, they agreed to free them in exchange for the small bag of coins collected by the bureaucrats.

The crabmen were allowed to return to their own part of the caves, the thugs, returned to their miserable den, and the party, together with 12 rescued hostages returned to the surface.

Tetsukichi and Salt follow Bo-Jing Part 2 - the Grand Reunion

 

Tetsukichi and Salt, disguised as Guardians, joined a group of the Master's soldiers who were pursuing the mysterious foreigners that Tetsukichi and Salt hoped in fact were their friends.

The soldiers were happy and honored to be joined by such learned companions and the group set off. Conversation was awkward as most of the party, despite their disguises could not speak Hun-Yi. However, the white-robed soldiers did not question the apparent reticence of their superiors; they set themselves to their mission and with their locals’ knowledge of the countryside, the group traveled quickly, reaching the banks of a river by the end of the day. Here, the soldiers, explained, they should camp for the night and the make a plan to ford the river the next day.

The travelers, still disguised as Guardians, agreed to the plan and made their own camp some distance from the soldiers. According to Mustapha, the effects of his magic would wane as the sun set.

The soldiers, accepting another rebuff with little protest, made their own camp next to the river, and prepared a fire.  A few hours after sunset, the party noticed another group approaching from the other side of the river.  A woman from the other group called out a greeting, and then asked if any of the soldiers spoke Zhou.  By luck, two of them did and they exchanged banter with the woman and her friends across the river.  In time, the party recognized the voices of Nar-Nuteng, Dolkar, and Bo-Jing.  They called out to them from the upper camp, and using a few words in Tuigen, confirmed that they were all friends. The soldiers, confused at first, gratefully accepted the words of their “superiors” that these charming foreigners were not spreading Misinformation. The soldiers were especially grateful to recognize the foreigners as “allies” when they suddenly joined them from the other side of the river (thanks to clever use of Salt’s portable apartment and Bo-Jing's night-colored flying horse.)

The still-disguised “Guardians” explained to the soldiers that they had fulfilled their mission. They should sleep until morning and then return to Gilgat alone.

The night passed and in the morning, the soldiers followed the instructions they’d received the night before, breaking camp and departing with an awkward salute to the sleeping tents of the Guardians on the hill. When the soldiers had gone, the assembled company greeted each other and planned their next move.  Salt the sorceress, finding the presence of Narnutang the woman warrior even more objectionable than her reputation, retreated into her magical apartment.

The others began their journey home, sharing stories about their respective journeys across Hunza and pondering the strange words of the giant bird. Bo-Jing made frequent scouting sorties and assisted his companions to avoid any more encounters with the remnants of the Master's armies and other followers.

Bo-Jing Follows HIs Wife Part 2

Based on Batar’s directions, Bo-Jing flew west, following the course of a rod. When the road forked North and South, he didn’t follow either fork but continued westward, toward the darkest spot in the mountain range before him. Towards sunset, Bo-Jing saw an enormous bird rising into the sky, carrying a limp body in its talons. He urged Tse-Hemi to gradually descend as he continued his approach toward a group of people and horses on the ground. Some men were struggling to manage panicked horses while others cowered behind rocks or under trees. Among the horses and shouting men was Narantsetseg. She had seen Bo-Jing and was walking toward him, even as he glided toward the ground.

Bo-Jing slid off his horse and walked slowly toward her. Her eyes fixed on his face and she smiled and ran to him and kissed his haggard cheeks. 

“Let others have the morning sun. Too long I have waited for the cool evening rain.”

Bo-Jing received a full recounting of his wife’s quest to find him. He thanked Narnutang and Dolkar for protecting her and mourned the loss of Altani, who had been killed a band of savage and cunning bears, seemingly of the same ilk that had harassed Bo-Jing on the red dragon’s bluff. Finally, he dismissed the bandits who had trailed her from Banua.

And so it was time to return home. After giving the bandits an opportunity to ride out of sight, Bo-Jing asked his wife to join him on Tse-Hemi’s back and started the return journey. After an hour’s travel in darkness, they made camp, with Narnutang and Dolkar agreeing to share responsibilities for keeping watch. The next morning, they were met once more by the giant bird, who spoke to them in Zhou: “Your friend was a holy and righteous man, a most noble soul. His beautiful and generous heart has nourished my children.”

The bird continued, “So, you human children must nourish yourselves for a time is coming when you will be tested like never before. Hosadas was a wicked man, corrupted by power, but centuries ago he defeated a greater evil. When Hosadas gone, the Zaharans are preparing their return.”

The Zaharans, according to the bird were an people besotted with death and cruelty. The remnants of their capital lay beyond the Dark Wall. “Whoever told you to seek passage to the place of Hosadas was not your friend.”

The Roc explained that at the time Hosadas first came to the land of Hunza, he had a rival, a man remembered only as the “Broken Saint” who preached that the Zaharans could not be defeated by any human army, but only by the power of love and righteousness. When the Broken Saint was killed, his followers buried him in secret, and their descendants might still be found in the most remote corners of Hunza. But that was a quest for another day.

The Lingering Disquiet of the Khatun Part 2

Narantsetseg left a letter with Batu explaining that she feared for her husband’s life and would find him though it cost her her own.

As companions, she chose Altani, the long trusted shaman, and Narnutang, the woman warrior would had established her reputation for prowess and loyalty fighting at Bo-Jing’s side during some of his most desperate battles, and Dolkar, a baghatur of high birth, so far unproven. Tetsukichi, visiting hero of the Sansar clan, had identified Dolkar as a youth of great promise, despite his penchant for gambling and other reckless behavior.

The people of Banua would speculate why the Khatun selected this small retinue to escort her on her journey. Less conscientious chronicles might join in these speculations, this one only reports knowable facts.

Narantsetseg and her retinue made their way first to the monastery on the ridge. The monks there did their best to persuade the Khatun that she should trust her husband to return and failing that, she should trust her people to protect her and, remembering her young child, return to the safety and comfort of Banua. But she would not be persuaded and, after threatening to venture into the wilds with nothing to guide her but her love stricken heart, the monks took pity and gave her their best counsel.

The monastery had a well-stocked library including several maps. The monks that they should travel due north for a day, changing their course to the west as the sun set. For another week they should travel westward, through the open country that separated the Empire from Hunza. The Master’s realm was surrounded by steep mountains. As they reached the mountains, they should find a stream and follow the reverse of its course. Finally, they copied from a map, the sketch of the safest pass between the mountain peaks.

Even with the monks directions, the journey was a difficult one. It was cold and the stream bed was dry. Narantsetseg responded to the hardship of the journey by insisting on her status of the Khatun. The three members of her retinue, being little acquainted with each other, did not dare to discuss their misgivings about the journey, their questions about what they would find in the land where a larger, more powerful group of adventurers with no queen to escort had disappeared.

By the time they reached Hunza, Altani, Nanutange, and Dolkar had gone two days with nothing to eat or drink but gravelly snow scooped from a crevasse I the pass. So when they saw a farmstead, they approached boldly. The farm was deserted, and the scavenging travelers made a meal of half-spoiled grain. The water in the well was clean.

The next day, they reached working farmland. The farmers did not speak to them, but happily received the Khatun’s gold in exchange for good food and decent beds.

After several days, they reached Magden, a large market town on the river. The Khatun found a good inn and the others split up to try to learn more. The Most people were unfriendly, or didn’t speak Zhou-Yi, or both. No one wanted to the discuss the Knowledge of the Master, but the Guardians of the Knowledge were even stricter in enforcement, closing the town gates at dusk and shuttering townspeople in their houses after dark.

Nevertheless, the Khatuna and her retinue did confirm that yes, almost a year ago, Magden had been visited by a company of foreigners, led by the “One with a the Face Like the Morning Sun.” The people of Magden didn’t know why he had come or where he had gone, and before they could find anyone to answer such questions, Narnutang did something that forced them to leave the town quickly.

With no other plan, they followed the road westward, passing through more farmland, and then into forests and wilderness. One night, when camping in a clearing under tall trees, they heard deep moaning from deep in the forest. As the sound drew closer, it was answered by another moan of the same timbre. Narnutang recognized the sounds as belonging to bears, but heard something alien in their vocalizing. Altani, long accustomed to leaving among the beasts, called out to them, imitating their ursine moan. The voices answered viciously, even seeming to pronounce insults and invoking the name “Zahra.” And then the bears rushed into the clearing.

Dolkar stood by the Khatun and readied his bow. Narnutang and Altani stood on opposite sides of the clearing, with weapons ready. The bears charged in, each taking an arrow from Dolkar without recoiling. Altani raised his staff in front of him and continued to murmur soothing words. The bear attacking Narnutang was met with similar slashes from her sword. Neither charm nor force deterred the bears attack. They swatted with their enormous paws and lunged with open jaws. Narnutang was knocked to the ground, but when the bear stooped to finish her, Narnutang braced her sword against the ground and drove its point into the bear’s throat; Narnutang rolled away, extracting her blade as the beast feel with a heavy thud.

Altani, meanwhile had been severely beaten, slashed and, and bitten. Narnutang rushed in, and while the bear was doing its best to bite through Altani’s staff, thrust her blade into its side, finding its heart.

Altani tended to the Khatun, and then to Narnutang, and then to himself. Guessing that it was close to dawn, the party elected to press on in the darkness, and put the danger of the forest behind them.

Over the next few days, they timed their travel carefully, and paid liberally to sleep in huts and barns along the road to a town named Gilgat.

As the sun was setting, the lights of Gilgat came into view. Remembering the curfew in Magden, the travelers elected to camp in the hills. But as they were starting a fire, they heard the moans of bears; as in the party’s previous encounter, the ursine voices seemed to call to each other across a distance, and seemed to be drawing closer on all sides. Leaving their fire still burning, the party mounted their horses and made haste toward the lights of the town. Narnutang led the way and when, she encountered a bear, closed with it to fight, urging the others to press on. The bear was eager for the fight, and called for its fellows. Narnutang slashed at the bears head, severely wounding it, and then followed her companions.

Gilgat provided a most uncivil welcome, demanding that the travelers prostrate themselves and declare their allegiance to the Master. When Narantsetseg refused, she was thrown to the ground and beaten until she wouldn’t get up again.

The Guardians summoned their superior, Batar, one of the Experts of the Knowledge, who ordered that they brought to his own house for questioning. At Batar’s house, Altani was permitted to tend to Narantsetseg’s wounds, and they were provided a place to sleep.

Batar woke them at dawn and fed them. As they ate, he asked why they had come and seemed very pleased with their answer. Yes, he had heard about the One With a Face Like the Morning Sun. He and and his companions had visited Gilgat close to a year ago and left in secret after offending the Guardians.

Batar had given it little thought at the time, accepting his subordinates assessment that this was just a foreigner troublemaker. But there were rumors now that he was The One. The Master’s successor. For since that time, there had been no new Knowledge from the palace over the mountains. Instead of Knowledge, there were rumors that the war had been lost, the Master’s armies broken and scattered, his bright-eyed soldiers returning in confusion.

Batar pressed the travelers on the identity of the man they were seeking. Why had he come? Was he the One? Was he the new Master? They didn’t know.

Batar had never been to the palace over the mountains. The only way he knew to get to the palace of the Master was over the Dark Wall, the citadel of the Zaharans before the coming of Hosadas. The Master, of course, had another way, but Batar didn’t know it. Again, he had never been invited. The Dark Wall was a dangerous place and becoming more so. The beasts who lived there were turning wicked and migrating from the wilderness to the fields and villages. There were rumors—not Knowledge—about flying lizards gathering in the sky above the old Zaharan citadel.

“If your friend is the Master’s Successor, then he will protect you from these forces of ignorance and help you cross the Dark Wall. Whoever he is, if you live long enough to find him, tell him that Batar showed you kindness.”

Batar allowed Narantsetseg and her retinue to leave Gilgat by a rear gate, directing them to the Dark Wall.

The next day, the retinue were met by bandits. Not Guardians or soldiers, but bandits. Zhounese thugs who had followed them all the way from Zhou-Deng. “We were supposed to escort the Khatun, but you left before we had the chance.” They were eight in number, but carried poor weapons, and did not sit strong in the saddle. Dolkar’s hand drifted to his sword and the Khatun looked to the open road. But Narnutang spoke up. “We are glad you have found us. The Khatun will gladly pay you handsomely for your escort. And give you an additional reward when we return to Banua.”

The bandits smiled and their leader gratefully accepted a heavy bag of coins.

The bandits were poor escorts. They rode badly, had difficulty crossing the river, drank at night, and didn’t wake in the morning. But when the group reached the Dark Wall and the bears attacked, they were the easiest prey. While the cruel beasts tore apart two of the cowardly bandits, the Khatun’s true protectors secured the high ground and prepared their bows. As a half-dozen bears gathered around them, Dolkar and Narnutang assailed them with arrows. Some fears fled and others chased another of the fleeing bandits into a canyon. One bear, however, did scale the archers’ post and fell on Altani, seizing him with both arms and crushing his body. Narnutang drew her sword and killed the beast, but the loyal Altani was dead.

In the distance, the sound of screaming bandits were silenced and the few remaining bears retreated with their feast, but the party knew they would return.

Naransteseg collapsed in hysterical sobs. “What have I done?”

A shadow fell over them and Dolkar looked up to see an enormous bird descending.

Tetsukichi and Salt follow Bo-Jing

Tetsukichi and Salt, with their followers in tow, traveled overland toward the monastery on the northern ridge, the lonely outpost that marked the edge of the Naran horde. The monks there confirmed that Bo-Jing had passed through some weeks earlier. They showed Salt and Tetsukichi the same worn maps they had shared with him, detailing a proposed route into Hunza in search of Narantsetseg. After a night of rest and study, the party pressed on.

They crossed the borderlands without incident. After several days of hard riding, they passed through the stone choke-point of the mountain pass and descended into Hunza. The country felt merciful after the barren ridge: water ran freely, grass was abundant for their horses, and the forest thinned into open land where game could be hunted. With their rations of dried beef and hard bread supplemented by fresh forage, morale remained high.

One night they found shelter in a deserted farmstead. The next morning they struck a main road and soon encountered a column of soldiers—most on foot, marching slowly in the same direction. Tetsukichi and Salt’s Hunzan-born henchmen hailed them. The soldiers, gaunt and exhausted, explained they were returning from the front. They gratefully accepted the party’s food and use of spare horses. Before long, the two groups agreed to travel together to Magden, the nearest town.

On the road the soldiers shared their story. The Master’s attempt to spread the Knowledge across the world had failed; the Ignorant were simply too many. The war had collapsed. Their retreat had been costly, but to their own surprise, they were alive—and returning home to find that the Master’s warnings had not come true. Their villages were not being overrun. No Ignorant hordes hunted them. They were simply… home again, alive in a war that no longer seemed to exist.

Their arrival in Magden caused a stir. After separating from the soldiers, the party took rooms at an inn—also paying for a couple of destitute men who had marched with the column. Over the next days they began quietly gathering information.

Tetsukichi befriended a talkative, silver-tongued merchant who had traveled widely across the Northern and Southern empires and spoke excellent Zhou-Yi. Though uneasy about accepting the man’s hospitality, Tetsukichi welcomed the information. The merchant reported that several foreigners had indeed passed through Magden recently. They were bound for a place called the Dark Wall, a dangerous region in western Hunza.

As he spoke, Tetsukichi overheard a loud dispute in the street: three factions of robed men and women arguing fiercely. The merchant, flushing with embarrassment, explained the turmoil. There had been “controversy about the Master.” A visitor had come months earlier—“a man with a face like the morning sun”—and rumors claimed he had been chosen as the Master’s successor. But the question remained unsettled. Some said the Guardians of Knowledge had mishandled the crisis. Order was slipping, and even commerce was suffering. And no one seemed entirely certain whether the war against the Ignorant was truly over… or merely paused.

Meanwhile Salt noticed a darker development: returning soldiers were being accused of spreading enemy propaganda. Red-robed Guardians entered the inn and arrested the two soldiers the party had sponsored.

Salt and Tetsukichi exchanged a single look. They would not be spending the night in Magden.

The party slipped out of the city in twos and threes, riding different roads until they regrouped on the western route toward Gilgat.

Their journey continued through farmland. Now and then they glimpsed wary residents at a distance, but no one approached them, and they did not linger to ask questions.

They entered Gilgat before dawn. Using Mustapha’s magic, they disguised themselves as native Hunzans—a patrol of red-robed Guardians. While they oriented themselves in the shadowed streets, a squad of white-robed soldiers hailed them.

“Oh reasoned ones,” the soldiers pleaded, “will you give us some words of encouragement?”

The white-robes explained their assignment: they had been ordered to locate and arrest a band of ignorant foreigners who had passed through Gilgat days earlier and were now believed to be spreading ignorance toward the Great Wall. The group included a finely dressed woman—almost certainly Narantsetseg.

Hearing this, the party—still cloaked in their magical disguises—offered to accompany the soldiers and assist in the hunt.

Their path was now clear:

Narantsetseg and her entourage, and likely Bo-Jing as well, were ahead of them, heading toward the Dark Wall.

Bo-Jing Follows His Wife

Satisfied that he had established himself as the new protector of the Master’s Palace—though mourning his lost beauty and aching with longing for his wife—Bo-Jing finally concluded it was time to return home. He activated the wondrous teleportation chamber deep in the Master’s sanctum, and in a flash of sorcery stepped back into the world beyond Hunza.

He did not travel alone. In addition to his loyal henchmen, Bo-Jing invited two natives of Hunza to join his retinue:
Nagar Ahmar, a clever carpenter whose wits had been sharpened under tyranny, and
Lin Zhou, a strong and earnest young farmer whose parents had emigrated from Zhou-Deng when he was an infant. Entrusted to the Master’s community, Lin Zhou had known nothing but toil, but carried a brave heart and a deep desire to see the world beyond the endless wheat fields. Bo-Jing promised him that he would meet the Khatun—and then accompany the party to the fabled “Island of Angels,” where Bo-Jing hoped to regain the youthful appearance stolen in an instant by the true spirit of Hosadas.

Salt, likewise, welcomed new companions:
Zhak-Shi, once a red-robed enforcer skilled in both sorcery and the blade, and
Wu-Jin-Fen, a young scribe from Zhou-Deng who had studied the Master’s lore and was eager to learn true magic from Salt herself.

Finally, Hu-Fei, veteran resister and friend to Tetsukichi, accepted the latter’s invitation to follow him to the “land of horses.”
Bangqiu and Hyamsam elected to remain in the Master’s Palace, happily experimenting with the bizarre relics Hosadas had hoarded over centuries.

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The Homecoming

Bo-Jing’s return should have been triumphant, but the faces of his people were tight with uncertainty as they looked upon him—changed, prematurely aged by forces no mortal should encounter. He read their discomfort clearly, though none voiced it. It was his protégé, Batu, who finally spoke the truth.

The Khatun—despairing of his unexplained absence—had gone to look for him.

For nearly a year she had waited:
• for news of his battle with the Master,
• for his return to name the son she had borne him,
• for a sign that he still lived.

Five weeks earlier, entrusting the infant prince to a nurse, she had taken only Altani the holy man and Nar-Nuteng the warrior woman and set off toward Hunza, determined to discover her husband’s fate.

Bo-Jing wasted no time.

He called for Tse-Hami, his jet-black khimori stallion, and within the hour was airborne, flying hard toward the mountain monastery—the most logical waypoint Narantsetseg would have reached on her road to Hunza.

---

Into the Wilderness

A storm of icy rain greeted him, lashing across his face and armor as Tse-Hami cut through the night. The monks of the high monastery received him warmly and confirmed that they had sheltered the Khatun. They had begged her to remain where it was safe, but she had refused. In the morning, they showed Bo-Jing the same maps she had studied.

Between the monastery and Hunza lay a hundred leagues of untouched wilderness—no towns, no roads, nothing but pine forests and high meadows. The monks had told the Khatun to ride west until Mt. Baltistan stood centered on her horizon; then, upon reaching the snowpack, to angle southwest toward the Green Pass.

Bo-Jing would follow the same route, but from the air.

The sky was clear. The moon would be full.

He decided to fly at night.

---

The Night Flight

It was an exhilarating journey. Mt. Baltistan gleamed like a silver spear in the moonlight, and the lakes below shimmered like scattered coins. Wrapped in furs against the cold, Bo-Jing urged Tse-Hami onward. At dawn, the mountain peaks blushed pink. Together they descended through thinning clouds, searching for the cleft that marked the Green Pass.

Crossing the ridge, they drifted into the warmer air of the Hunza valley. Bo-Jing intended to rest before seeking a large settlement, and he chose a steep, boulder-crowned bluff as a secure perch.

Tse-Hami circled to land.

That was when Bo-Jing saw it.

---

The Red Dragon

An enormous, bright-scarlet reptilian shape uncoiled from the rocks below—a dragon, long-bodied and ancient, its scales gleaming like lacquered flame. Its eyes snapped open. It loosed a torrent of fire.

Tse-Hami plunged into a dive; flame licked his barding but caused no harm. Bo-Jing, already rising in the saddle, shouted for a counterattack. The khimori banked sharply, and Bo-Jing leapt from his back onto the dragon’s spine, driving his sword into its neck.

The beast roared and rolled, clawing at air. Tse-Hami climbed skyward, scorched but living.

Bo-Jing crashed onto the rocks and immediately sprang to his feet, parrying strikes from the dragon’s tail. He leapt again onto its back, running along its spine as it writhed, stabbing deep between the shoulders. The dragon twisted its neck, jaws gaping wide enough to swallow him whole.

Bo-Jing dropped low, then thrust upward with all his strength. His blade pierced its throat. A single savage slash tore open a crimson geyser. The dragon shuddered and collapsed, blood spreading black across the stones.

The dragon hide he would later wear—his famed red armor—began here.

---

The Bears and the Butchering

Tse-Hami landed beside him, trembling with exertion. Bo-Jing made a rough meal of dried yak meat and mare’s milk, then set about butchering the dragon. He harvested tongue, heart, and what he hoped were the lungs—dragons were strange creatures, and their anatomy obeyed no simple rules.

Then he heard animal voices below.

Four bears—massive, sharp-toothed, and disturbingly articulate—were clawing their way up the bluff. When Bo-Jing attempted to command them through a magic ring, they responded with obscene mockery.

He tossed them a dragon’s leg. They descended, tearing it apart in a frenzy.

Working quickly, Bo-Jing flayed the hide, packed it, and took to the skies just as the maddened bears began climbing again.

---

Shelter with the Farmers

Exhausted, both rider and steed sought refuge. Spotting a lone farmhouse, they landed a mile distant. Bo-Jing concealed Tse-Hami’s wings beneath a tarp and approached on foot.

The young farmers who lived there stared without expression. But silver needs no interpreter; they accepted his coin, offered him their woodshed, and brought him water. He slept heavily.

In the morning he awoke to the sound of children’s laughter:
“Bird-Horse! Bird-Horse!”

Three small children climbed all over Tse-Hami, stroking his mane and wings. Their mother alternated between horror and scolding. Their father glowered. Bo-Jing smiled, offered a gold coin, and their hospitality transformed instantly—chickens were slaughtered, a feast prepared, and Bo-Jing slept again through the afternoon before departing at sunset.

---

Magden and Gilgat

He navigated by the lights of distant farmsteads and eventually reached the town of Magden, which he had visited a year earlier during the quest to defeat the Master. The guards recognized him—first with excitement, then discomfort as he drew close.

They questioned his burden. He questioned them about his wife. Tension flared; red-robed Guardians of Knowledge appeared and demanded to know his “true purpose.” When they dismissed his inquiries about the Khatun, Bo-Jing’s temper rose.

“I do not lie,” he told them coldly. “Last year I came to kill your Master. I have done that. I do not need to do it again.”

He left with no friends, but enough hints to follow Narantsetseg’s trail to Gilgat.

There, hostility greeted him immediately—until a Guardian named Batar intervened.

Batar had met the Khatun. He admired her devotion and had assisted her, though he feared it now.

“She said you had gone to seek the Master’s Palace. She heard there was no way to reach it without the Master’s invitation—except by the Dark Wall. So I told her how to find the Dark Wall.”

Bo-Jing demanded to know the rumors circulating about him.

“That the Master was to choose a successor,” Batar said, “and that you were the one with a face like the morning sun.”

Bo-Jing responded simply:

“No. I killed the Master.”

Batar collapsed in grief. The guards reached for weapons, but he waved them back.

“So, you are not the Chosen One. The clouds are gathering, and the seal will break. But still there is a woman who loves you and I have likely sent her to her death as she is going to the Dark Wall and among the ones who will meet her, there will not be the one whose face is like the morning sun.

“Before you release your wrath on me, allow me to give you the same advice I gave her, I can tell you the way to the Dark Wall. Perhaps you will reach her before she reaches the Wall.”

Bo-Jing relented and heard Batar’s directions: “Go now, if you hope to reach her in time. No reason to wait as you are not welcome in Gilgat. If you survive long enough to remember your time, remember me as the one who helped you when no one else would.”

Against the Bear People

 

Having defeated the Master—and destroyed the older, darker force that birthed him—the heroes of Zhou Dang lingered in triumph at Hosadas’s palace. The Master’s minions had scattered, hauling away what treasure they could carry, yet leaving behind more than enough food, drink, and comforts for their conquerors. The party traded travel-stained garb for new finery, slept in warm beds, and debated whether conquest obliged them to rule.

• Bo Jing – young khan, imperial agent, skilled swordsman
• Bangqiu – mercurial wu-jen, master of destructive spells
• Salt – Mongolian udgan, shaman with natural attunement
• Tetsukichi – disciplined warrior from Zipang, adopted by the Sansar clan
• Hyamsam – unpredictable magician, sometimes ally

Even without seeking it, power gravitated to them: former attendants of the Master now pledged fealty to Bangqiu, Bo Jing, Tetsukichi—or even to Salt, who wanted nothing of dominion. Among the obsequious courtiers, four stood out as valuable allies:

• Sahir, a wizard who had feigned loyalty only to pursue magical knowledge.
• Nagar Ahmar, a carpenter who survived by playing the fool, gaining access to storerooms.
• Zhak Shi, a vengeful wanderer who had lost his family to the Master’s cruelties.
• Hu-Fei, who had led them from Hunza’s heartland to the secret valley where the Master had built his citadel.

With their counsel, who had pledged loyalty to Tetsukichi, the party turned to the testimonies of Hunza’s farmers. These laborers, once promised “enlightenment” through endless toil, knew the land best. They spoke of the northern frontier, where rice paddies met dark forests haunted by savage cave-dwellers. These raiders—primitive yet deadly—kept no herds, sowed no fields, and struck the farms with terrifying ferocity. The Master had driven them back once, posting patrols of Red Robes to enforce an uneasy truce. But since his fall, the raids had grown bolder, threatening even the heartland of Hunza.

Zhak Shi had walked those patrols. He remembered their totems hidden in trees, their arrows striking unseen, and a fire glowing behind a waterfall at the mountains’ edge. Now, with raids unchecked, the new rulers faced a choice: to leave the savages to their own realm, or strike them in their lair. The heroes chose the latter—and even summoned Hyamsam to join them.

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Into the Caverns of the Bear People

Zhak Shi guided them west, then north, along ridges above the forest, until they found the river that plunged as the waterfall concealing the raiders’ den. Behind it lay a vast cavern and a tunnel flanked by crude statues of wide-mouthed women. When Nekhil strode forward, lightning leapt between the figures, scorching but not killing him. 

Bangqiu and Hyamsam transformed themselves into small birds and tried to fly past the statues. They, too was struck by lightning, but shook off the pain and flew deeper into the cave. The passage descended steeply, soon reaching a low point from which two other passages rose back up, with flickering torchlight visible at the top of each of the interesting passages. From one side, the torchlight grew brighter and more steady, and was accompanied by voices. Six huge men emerged at the top of the slope, their torches casting bizarre shadows about the cavern. They were dressed in furs with helmets fashioned from bear skulls. Spotting the little bird that was Bangqiu, one raised his spear. Bangqiu and Hyamsam dropped to the ground, resuming their human forms and enveloped their would-be attackers in clouds of scalding steam. The men dropped to the floor, their torches extinguished. Bangiqu and Hyamsam dashed up the slope and examined their still steaming bodies. Each carried a leather pouch containing a few polished greenish gray stones.

Experimentation revealed that greenish-gray stones, taken from slain warriors, could be fed into the statues’ mouths to permit safe passage.

The party explored a labyrinth of tunnels leading up and down, choosing their way carefully to avoid meeting any large groups. When forced into combat, the magicians used their most devastating spells before Bo Jing rushed in to quickly dispatch any survivors. And in this way, they avoided raising any alarm. They were intrigued to find a stout, well-constructed door in an otherwise rough natural cavern. They were especially intrigued to note that it was barred from their side. But when Bo Jig removed the bar and pushed it open, the door squeaked loudly. Knowing they had given up the advantage of surprise to whatever horrible thing resided within, they moved away quickly, bypassing a nearby group of women engaged in cooking to follow a narrow twisting passage deeper into the caverns.

Exploring the home of the “bear people” the party found crude murals depicting houses on fire and screaming people being pursued and eaten by snakes, animals, and horned men. Sudden drafts carried pungent, eye-watering smoke. A shrill discordant piping, like that of a bird, could be faintly heard above the sound of the party’s footsteps, ceasing when everyone stopped to listen.

They wandered into a large cavern, the floor slick with guano and the foul air almost unbreathable. Choosing another path, they found a short flight of steps carved into the rock. The steps, thickly covered with filth, led into a small forgotten shrine for a single dusty idol. Searching the tiny chamber, they heard voices. A fissure behind the idol provided a second means of egress. In a room beyond, a group of bear-man warriors sat next to a smoldering fire, passing around small jars and sniffing the contents. They sat with heir backs to the fissure and gave half attention to the wide corridor in front of them.

Hyamsam, using his magic to conceal himself from being seen or heard, climbed through the fissure and into the room.

The party watched the men closely and silently, waiting for any sign that they had detected Hyamsam.

While the rest of the party was watching Hyamsam, Salt, ever wary heard the noise of someone creeping up behind them; without asking any questions, she turned and blasted the approaching figure with boiling steam—only to discover she had slain a lone woman.

The sound alerted the bear-men. Bangqiu attacked them with magic missiles and Bo-Jing charged in with his sword, followed by the other warriors. The bearmen barely had time to stand before they all been cut down.

Salt, fearing that she had overreacted, inspected the body of the woman she had killed and found that she had snakes growing from her head in place of hair. With a mixture of relief and horror, Salt reported to her companions that the caverns could be filled with strange creatures, among whom the bear people were perhaps the least fearsome. 

From his position beyond the fissure, Hyamsam reported that he had found a large corridor that led back to the entrance. What now?

Though their incursion was devastating, the caverns proved too vast to conquer in a single push. Hungry, tired, and unwilling to risk rest in such a place, the heroes withdrew. They returned to Hosadas’s palace alive and unscathed, having slain many of the raiders and penetrated deep into their lair without alerting the tribe.

It was not yet victory, but it was a show of strength. The caverns of the bear-people remained—a lurking threat. Yet for now, the heroes returned secure in their dominion over Hunza, their claim bolstered by both triumph and fear.. The sound alerted the bear-men. Bangqiu blasted them with magic missiles and  Bo-Jing charged in with his word, followed by the other warriors.  The bearmen barely had time to stand before they all been cut down.

Salt, fearing that she had overreacted, inspected the body of the woman she had killed and found that she had snaking growing from her head in place of hair. With a mixture of relief and horror, Salt reported to her companions that the caverns could be filled with strange creatures, among whom the bear people were perhaps the least fearsome.  Hyamsam reported that the large corridor led back to the entrance.

After a brief conference, the party agreed that they had been very successful in infiltrating the bearpeople’s lair, having killed several of the warriors without having raised the alarm or even leaving any living witnesses.  They had suffered no casualties themselves, but they were hungry and tired and none wanted to risk finding a place to rest with the caves. Thus, the party heartily agreed that it was time to leave the caves and return to the Master’s palace, feeling all the more secure in claiming it as their own.