The Beggar Who Devoured Heaven

Chapter 11: The Thief and the Sword Girl

"I can explain," said Ren Kai.

"Then explain," said the voice behind him. "Slowly. And do not move your hands. I do not like it when thieves move their hands."

I like her, said Sergeant Pan, with deep feeling. Look at that sword. It is perfectly straight.

Quiet, Pan, said Old Crow. Boy, do not turn around. Do not do anything clever. You have no food in you, and she has a very sharp sword.

"These buns are for my sister," said Ren Kai. "She is sick."

"Everyone's sister is sick when they steal," said the voice. "Turn around."

He turned.

She was about eighteen, and she looked like someone had made her out of snow. Her robe was white and silver, without one speck of dust. Her black hair was tied back with a blue ribbon. In her right hand, she held a long thin sword that gleamed like water in the lantern light. Her face was calm and cool and very beautiful. She was also very annoyed.

"Stealing from a poor farmer," she said. "Disgraceful."

"He is not poor. His cart is full of buns."

"That is what a rich man says."

"I am not a rich man! Look at me!" Ren Kai held out his arms. His shirt had two holes and one very sad patch. "Do I look like a rich man to you?"

She looked. Her eyes went from his torn sleeves to his bare feet to the dried blood on his shoulder. For a moment, something moved behind her cool face. Then it was gone.

"I am Yue Shuang of the Silver Lake Sword Court," she said. "Theft is theft. Return the buns, apologize, and I will let you go."

From the dark under the tree, Ren Lan coughed.

It was a terrible cough, wet and deep and very long. Yue Shuang's sword lowered by one finger.

"Who is that?"

"My sister."

The girl looked at the small shape under the tree. Ren Lan lifted one thin hand and waved. "Hello," she wheezed. "He is not a very good thief. I hope you will be kind."

Yue Shuang said nothing for a long breath. Then she put her sword back in its sheath.

"Stay here," she said. "Do not steal anything else."

She walked across the market straight to the old farmer. Ren Kai watched in horror as she took a silver coin from her sleeve and placed it in the man's hand.

"I am very sorry," she said, bowing. "The boy took two buns without paying."

The old farmer blinked at the coin. Then he looked past her at Ren Kai, and he smiled a slow, crooked smile.

"Oh, I know, young miss. I saw him." He pulled a third bun out of his sleeve. "He looked so thin. Give him this too. He is not a very good thief."

I take it all back, said Old Crow, in a hollow voice. I have lost my reputation.

Ren Kai wanted the ground to open and swallow him.

An hour later, they sat in the corner of a small roadside inn. A fire burned in the hearth. Ren Lan lay on a bench wrapped in Yue Shuang's own white cloak, and the sword girl sat beside her with two fingers resting on the child's wrist. Soft silver light pulsed under her hand, and Ren Lan's chest rose and fell more gently with each breath.

"Her lungs are scorched," Yue Shuang said quietly. "Smoke damage. And something older underneath." She frowned. "I do not know what."

I do, whispered Madam Du. Do not say it.

Ren Kai said nothing.

"Are you a princess?" asked Ren Lan.

"No."

"You look like one."

"I am a sword disciple."

"Does your sword have a name?"

Yue Shuang paused. "It does not. I have not yet found one worthy of it."

"I will think of one," said Ren Lan, and closed her eyes.

A tiny pink color crept into the sword girl's ears. Ren Kai noticed. He decided to say nothing about it, because he liked being alive.

A bowl of hot soup landed in front of him with a thump. The innkeeper's wife had brought it, with a plate of fried rice, a boiled egg, and a whole roast chicken leg. The smell hit him so hard that his eyes watered.

"Eat," said Yue Shuang.

DO NOT, said Old Crow.

Ren Kai pushed the bowl away. "I am not hungry."

His stomach let out a long, deep, thunderous growl that rattled the dishes on the next table. A man at the bar dropped his cup.

Yue Shuang stared at him.

"I am training," said Ren Kai, weakly.

"For what?"

"To be lighter."

"He does that," said Ren Lan, without opening her eyes. "He has been training for days."

"He is training to be a fool," said Yue Shuang. But she pushed the chicken leg toward Ren Lan instead, and watched the small girl eat every bite. Ren Kai also watched. He pretended not to.

Boy, said Old Crow gently, she is looking at you.

"I know."

She suspects something.

"I know!"

Good. A woman who notices is a woman worth keeping.

Ren Kai ignored that.

It was nearly midnight when Yue Shuang got up to look at the notice board beside the door. A dozen papers hung there, curled and yellow. She read one for a long time.

Ren Kai's face went cold.

It was a wanted poster. It had a drawing of a boy with a huge nose and a wild look, and one line in big black letters.

A BOY WITH A MOUTH ON HIS CHEST. FIVE HUNDRED GOLD.

Yue Shuang turned slowly. She looked at Ren Kai. Then, very slowly, she looked at his shirt.

"That is not my nose," Ren Kai said.

She did not smile.

"Five hundred gold," she said, very quietly. "That is a great deal for a boy who steals two buns."

"I am not a good thief."

"I noticed." She stepped toward him, and her hand moved to her sword. "Open your shirt."

Run, said Old Crow.

No, said Madam Du. Wait.

Before anyone could move, the inn door burst open.

Cold night wind swept through the room. A dozen riders in black armor stood outside in the torchlight. They carried the blue banners of the Azure Peak Sect. In front sat a captain on a gray horse, holding a small bronze disk in his hand.

"Search the inn," he said. "Take everyone who is here."

Yue Shuang's hand tightened on her sword. She did not look away from Ren Kai.

"You have a lot of friends," she said.

"They are not my friends."

"I can see that." She drew her sword in one smooth motion and stepped between Ren Kai and the door. "I arrest thieves. I do not hand children to men who burn villages. You will explain to me later."

"I thought you wanted to arrest me," said Ren Kai.

"I do. After."

The captain lifted the bronze disk. It glowed a soft gold, and the light swung slowly around the room, from the hearth, to the bar, to the bench by the fire.

It stopped on Ren Lan.