The Wandering God

52 Where Mountains And Streams End 3/4

山窮水盡
Shānqióng-shuǐjìn
Where the mountains and streams end.
At the end of one's rope.

*~*~*~*~*~*

The blackness was not absolute. There were moments when I was awake. I felt pain in my heels and arms, as I was dragged across the floor. There was grunting above me, and I felt the floor turn to cool stone. My legs hurt more as I was dragged down stone steps.

Then the dark room swam out of focus, and when I could next see, I was staring up at the torchlit ceiling of the stone cell.

Where am I-

My efforts to sit up were foiled by a clank of chains. Groggily I looked to my left and right to see my hands manacled to the floor either side of me.

Well, it looks like I found the cells.

I tried to turn my head. I saw Kageyama's sword hanging from a rack beside the door to the cell, among other weapons of lesser quality. The door was thick and wooden, with no window or slit to put food in.

I looked around the cell. A wooden work table stood to one side. From the ground I could not see what was on it, but the metal handle of some tool stuck off the side.

The floor around me was clean, but the grout between the stones was died dark brown, from years of staining.

I knew that color brown... this was not a cell for holding prisoners. This was a cell for interrogating them.

My mind flashed memories. The cave, the bandits tying me, beating me. My ankle breaking. Zhen's sick symmetrical face, smiling as I screamed in pain.

I panicked. I twisted, calling out, to anyone, anyone to hear me, to help me. My legs were not bound, and I kicked my feet into the air, but it did little good. My hands were firmly chained, and my arms spread wide, so I could not lift my upper body from the ground.

Fucking phoenix shit, how could I have let this happen again-

The door creaked open behind me. I caught myself before I could look, and instead pretended I was still unconscious.

"You found the cells, if that was what you were looking for. Unfortunately, they already moved my uncle. It's just you and me down here."

The voice was familiar, and yet I could not place it. Then I remembered the face I had seen before I lost consciousness.

Ermi and Zhangyu's younger half brother. Sanyu. The other bastard prince, always in his books.

Sanyu came into my view. "Hello again," he said, smiling shyly through his too long bangs.

That smile was also familiar, but it did not remind me of Zhangyu or Ermi. I realized. It is like the dog's. Captain Duan.

I sighed. Are all the men I meet mad?

"Why am I here, prince?" I asked, glaring. "Whatever game you are playing I do not have time for it."

"Oh I'm not a prince," the boy corrected. "My uncle was formally adopted, so he has a title. I am just a bastard."

The boy's smile turned sour. He envies Sanli, I realized.

"Your- your sister and I are friends," I said, trying to keep the tremor from my voice. "Your brother as well. They will not approve of you treating me this way."

"Oh, I'm aware of exactly the type of 'friends' you and my brother are," said Sanyu. He brushed his long greasy hair out of his eyes, and I saw how red they were. He has taken some sort of drug. Or he is drunk, and weak to alcohol.