Hu Geng's blade blocks my way.
I draw my foot back. He shifts with me, the point moving too. Red light brushes my backpack strap and I shove the bag behind me.
Cao Wu isn't watching me any more. He's already past the battered table, running towards Zuobituo.
‘Let him go!’
Tian Shu heaves up from the ground. A ring of light flares inside his wrist guard, and the arm pinned behind him forces its way up. Zuobituo looks down at the glow. Her fingers release his wrist and immediately reach for his elbow.
‘These iron rings have spiritual power too.’
She says it quietly. I think of the hand passing me water this morning. The cut in her arm.
Tian Shu twists round, his other fist swinging. She tilts her head out of its path; the iron ring skims past her metal chrysanthemum face. One foot slides back.
‘Cao Wu! Don't let those villagers get away! I'll teach this actress a lesson!’
Hu Geng is coming at me before he's finished shouting. I can't stay here.
I dodge sideways. His blade follows, driving me back against the wall. My backpack hits it and my hand comes away wet with plaster. The corner's right there. The steps are just round it.
He grabs for my strap. I duck under his hand and run.
‘Stop!’
You're chasing me with a knife and you want me to stop.
My shoes pull free of the mud with wet sucking noises, my bag bouncing behind me. Round the corner, under the eaves—there. Two stone steps, the puddle in front shining like a mirror.
‘Old man! Stay where you are!’
I glance back. Cao Wu is running towards the bridge. The cart's wheels have only just started moving. They stop again.
Footsteps close behind me.
Keep going. I hitch my backpack higher, plant a foot along the edge of the mud and jump for the steps. My toe catches the stone lip. My knees buckle and I grab the wall.
A wet thump behind me.
Hu Geng's foot lands in the puddle and his other leg shoots out. He throws a hand down, still clutching his blade, and sits hard in the mud.
I lean on the wall, panting. My legs won't stop shaking. Metal clashes by the bridge. Cao Wu reaches for the cart's handle.
I suck in a breath and drag my voice down into Hu Geng's rough growl.
‘Cao Wu! Forget the villagers! Come back and help me!’
‘What? I'm coming!’
His hand pulls away.
The wooden door on the landing is ajar. I push through, then pull it back until there's only a crack. I bite my lip. Don't laugh. Don't even breathe so loudly. Cao Wu runs past the doorway with his blade and bends to pull Hu Geng up.
The old man still isn't moving.
Go.
I ease the door open and stick my hand round it, waving hard towards the bridge. He looks at me, ducks his head and pushes. The wheels rumble over the planks. People with baskets, people carrying children—all following.
Cao Wu tugs at Hu Geng's arm. I watch the last person's back until they step onto the muddy road on the far bank. Only then do I pull my hand inside.
The bridge approach is empty.
‘Hu Geng, are you all right?’
Through the crack I can see Cao Wu has got him standing. Half his trousers are mud. Water sizzles on his blade.
‘What are you doing here?’
‘You called me, didn't you?’
A crash makes me flinch. I look towards the bridge.
Tian Shu's fist smashes into the low stone wall beside it, spraying chips into the grass. Zuobituo is already at his side. Her palm follows his arm guard, guiding it outwards; his whole arm swings round and punches into a tree.
Bark flies. The branches shake overhead.
‘Who called you?’
I jerk back. Too late. Hu Geng has turned towards the door and seen half my face.
‘So that's where you're hiding!’
I slam the door, grab the wooden bar beside it and slot it across the two brackets on the back. He charges up the steps. I throw my weight against the door.
The first impact drives it into my shoulder. My teeth knock together. The bar cracks. I brace both feet, but mud smears under my soles and I slide backwards a little.
He hits it again. The crack bites halfway through the bar; the door opens a hand's breadth. I shove back with my shoulder and twist my face towards the gap. At the bridge, Tian Shu raises his fist again.
The door slams into me. My sight goes dark. I scramble for a patch of floor without mud and bend my knees.
Something rings against stone outside. I catch a glimpse of an iron ring rolling away, then the door forces me back again.
‘Open up!’
And then you'll just leave, will you?
I grit my teeth and lean into it. The backpack strap digs into my shoulder.
Tian Shu roars. Something heavy hits the ground. I try to look, but the door crashes into me again. My heel slips. I put out a hand, smearing a long trail of wet plaster down the wood.
Cao Wu comes up the steps too. Another weight hits the door.
Crack.
The bar snaps. The door flies in and I stumble back. Hu Geng plants a boot over the threshold; Cao Wu peers past his shoulder.
‘That was you shouting? You think you can fool us?’
I clutch my shoulder, trying to breathe.
‘Yes. I called him back.’
‘Forgive me,’ comes Zuobituo's voice from the bridge. Between the two men I can see Tian Shu flat on his stomach, his iron rings fastened together behind his back, his belt binding his ankles. Zuobituo rises and leaps, landing lightly behind them.
‘What did you call me back fo—’
Her hand catches Cao Wu’s weapon hand before he can finish. Her foot taps the back of his knee. His leg folds and he flings his free hand down to catch himself.
Hu Geng swings. She grips his raised arm, turns and throws him over her shoulder onto Cao Wu. Both men tumble down the steps into the mud, their arms tangled together. She grips their wrists and turns them outwards. Their fingers loosen; she draws both blades free.
With a leap she's in front of the steps, between me and them, the blades crossed steadily before her.
At last I let out the breath I've been holding.
‘To let the villagers pass.’
Cao Wu crawls out from underneath Hu Geng, looks at his empty hands, then up. A blade point waits in front of him, glowing a hot red. His neck disappears between his shoulders and he scrambles backwards. Hu Geng props himself up and edges away, looking towards the bridge.
Tian Shu wriggles on the ground. His bound feet kick twice. The belt holds.
‘Monster…’
Cao Wu grabs Hu Geng and pulls him up.
‘Monster!’
They bolt along the houses towards the river end of the lane. Hu Geng stumbles, dragging Cao Wu sideways, and they lurch away together.
‘Hey! Hey! Where are you two going?’ Tian Shu shouts. ‘Come back! Help me!’
They run faster.
I step over the threshold and down the steps. My toe sinks into the mud; cold water floods my sock. This time I don't pull away.
‘They're across.’ I point. ‘The old man, everyone behind him. They all got across.’
Zuobituo turns to follow my hand. The straw hat is still moving. The old man pushes his cart clear of the bridge and stops beside the road. Then he turns back, raises his hands to his chest and bows to us, over and over.
I don't know what I'm supposed to do back, so I wave.
Zuobituo goes to the railing and looks down for a while. Just river below. Nobody along the bank either. She drops the blades over the side. Two splashes, one after the other; the red glow vanishes into the water in puffs of steam.
I edge up beside her and raise two fingers.
‘Victory.’
She studies my hand. ‘What is that hand seal?’
‘It means we won. Look—like a happy little crab. Click, click.’ I lift both hands towards her.
She raises a hand, compares it with mine and slowly spreads two fingers apart. I can't help laughing. She keeps looking at her hand. Keeps it up.
I stand beside her with mine raised too. A child laughs across the river. I pull my phone out of my backpack. Fifty-nine per cent. Whatever.
‘Selfie!’
The phone flashes. Zuobituo's two circles of light blink a few times.
‘Hey, that thing you did. You just pushed, like this, and he fell over.’ I try it. My hand shakes. ‘I thought you were going to hit those iron rings head-on.’
‘You are too kind. Cotton Palm. Softness overcomes hardness.’
She looks at the broken wall. Her hand pauses beside the old cut in her arm, then drops to her side.
Bootsteps come down the mountain road, all in time.
I turn. Helmets first, then a line of long-shafted weapons moving along the lane in front of the houses. Cao Wu and Hu Geng are beside the soldiers. As soon as they see us, they duck behind them.
‘Sir! Help! Those two!’
I straighten up.
Police!
‘You're just in time! Quick, catch those bad guys!’
I wave to the one who must be the officer. He looks over and I point at the battered table.
‘That's where they put the money. They were trampling his rice, too. The old man's across the bridge—you can ask him.’
The man at the front flicks a hand. Two soldiers close in. Hu Geng starts to speak, but his arm is already being twisted behind his back. Cao Wu throws both hands up, his mouth wide open. They press him to the ground.
‘No, sir, we—’
‘Silence!’
Two more head for the bridge. Tian Shu finally stops struggling and lifts his head.
‘Untie me first…’
A soldier crouches to examine the joined iron rings. He pulls. They won't come apart. Instead, the two undo the belt round Tian Shu's ankles and haul him up between them.
The officer's gaze passes over my shoulder and stops.
I look round. Zuobituo stands beside me, her hands empty, a little muddy water still on her metal chrysanthemum face.
‘Isn't that the metal-faced chrysanthemum demon?’
I turn back. The officer has taken a step away.
The soldier holding Cao Wu looks up too, jerking his rope tight. Cao Wu's bound arms are pulled upwards and his face goes straight into the mud.
‘Brothers! Ready your weapons!’
The long shafts swing towards us. Zuobituo lowers into a crouch, her palm coming up in front of me.
One blade after another lights up.