The fight lasted twelve breaths.Ren Kai counted them. He had never seen anyone fight like Yue Shuang. She did not shout. She did not jump. She moved through the riders like cold water through a crack in a wall, and where she passed, men dropped their swords and fell down. The captain with the bronze disk lasted longest. He lasted eight breaths. Then he looked at the thin silver line across his sleeve, and he fainted.Exquisite, said Sergeant Pan, in a trembling voice. Look at her feet. Look at her back. I have waited a very long time to see a back like that.Do you want a moment alone? said Madam Du.YES.Yue Shuang wiped her sword on a rider's cloak. She picked up the bronze disk from the floor, looked at it, and crushed it between two fingers like a dry biscuit."Rules," she said without turning around."What?""You have been hunted for days. That is clear. You steal badly, you lie worse, and you flinch at every sound. You will not survive another week alone." She turned. Her cool