Tonglong felt a rare smile form on his face. The snake had grown considerably since the last time he'd seen it. He stood and untied a large cloth bag from his saddle, holding it at arm's length. As he set it on the ground, a drop of reddish brown liquid fell from the bag's stained bottom into the hole. The snake began to stir. It raised its enormous head and flicked out its huge forked tongue, collecting the scent of the fresh kill above, as well as the intruder.
“Welcome, ssstranger,” a soft voice hissed from behind Tonglong. “I sssee you bear gifts.”
Tonglong spun around and saw a small, hooded figure rise from behind a pile of stones. His smile grew. “Of course,” he said. “It would have been rude of me to arrive empty-handed. I wouldn't want to disappoint you, or your friend.” Tonglong nodded toward the pit.
The figure drifted forward. “I've never known you to disappoint me, or my friend. You are always ssso generous. I wasn't expecting you for a few more days. How is everything?”
“Everything is perfect,” Tonglong replied.
“Then we are on ssschedule?”
“Ahead of schedule, actually,” Tonglong said. “And I'd like to keep it that way. You know how much I hate to waste time.”
“I do indeed. In that regard, you are just like your father.”
Tonglong frowned.
The figure paused. “I'm sssorry to have brought that up. Why don't you give me my present? What is it you brought this time?”
“A little something that was meant for the Emperor, but I would feel much better if it were in your hands.” Tonglong motioned toward the bag. “Go ahead, open it.”
The figure knelt down and reached a tiny hand into the bag, feeling around. “Is this what I think it is?”
Tonglong nodded.
“What a thoughtful gift! You really shouldn't have. This is going to cost you dearly, you know.”
Tonglong shrugged. “You're worth it.”
The hooded figure bowed. “Thank you ever so much. I know just what I'll do with it.”
The figure pulled Grandmaster's severed head out of the bag and dropped it into the pit.
The sun had barely risen above the horizon when Seh stopped at a wide bend in the trail NgGung had told him to follow. Seh hadn't slept all night, and he had been through a lot of stress since the attack. His normally strong connections with the world around him were growing fuzzy. He had to be careful. Seh focused his attention beyond the bend and, sure enough, the pit of his stomach began to tingle. There were several people ahead.
Seh decided to find out who they were before he made his presence known. He stepped off the road into a thick stand of pine trees and looked down at his new blue silk robe. Seh shook his head. Why couldn't it be green?
He pulled the silly merchant's hat onto his head and slipped through the trees toward the opposite side of the bend. Seh followed a carpet of damp pine needles in slow, smooth strides. He took his time, keeping his heart rate low and his chi masked. Eventually, he heard a voice. It was definitely a bandit.
“That's not how you do it, you big oaf. Watch me. We didn't go through the trouble of stealing all this gold just so you could leave it scattered all over the road. This is how you tie down a tarp—”
Seh was about to introduce himself when he realized that just because the man was a bandit didn't mean that he was one of Mong's bandits. Seh needed to be sure. He took a cautious step forward and the hat snagged on a low tree limb, tumbling off his bald head. He had forgotten all about it.
“Hey, did you hear something?” the bandit asked.
Seh didn't wait for the response. He picked up the hat and raced silently back the way he had come. He would wait and try approaching the bandits from a different direction. He was nearly to the road when a huge forearm draped in red silk flew out from behind a tree.
The arm caught Seh square in the chest, and he had to grab the gigantic arm to keep from falling to the ground.
Seh expected the arm to drop under his weight, but it didn't. It held firm, parallel to the ground, and Seh found himself hanging from it like a tree snake dangling from a mighty oak.
“You should watch where you're going,” Mong said as he stepped out from behind the tree. “You never know what you might bump into.” Mong shook his huge arm, and Seh lost his grip, dropping to the ground. He landed on his knees.
“Be more careful out here,” Mong said as he adjusted his enormous red silk robe. His thick neck and shoulder muscles rippled beneath it. “Ours is a dangerous business. If that had been a sword instead of my arm, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. Do you understand?”
Seh nodded. He could have kicked himself for getting caught—by Mong, no less.