It was already evening when Lady Kaitun had finally agreed to buy the demoness' dao shards, Mercurial Snake ring and most of the materials Xin had collected — for an impressive 150 spirit stones. Xin left the old woman's shop a well-off, miserable man.
The hag's bounty earned him another 130 stones. Although it was only 120 stones when he first visited Zadana, it was raised after the Riversong manor massacre. Unfortunately, the payout was significantly reduced by having destroyed the target's head and a ten percent tax on top, yet these gains still more than covered the price of his flying sword.
Xin had soon mounted his cherished artefact and pierced the sky. His scarf was too thin to protect from the cutting autumn wind, eyes felt dry and heavy, and heart was unmoved by the boundless scenery underneath — the boy who once dreamt of flying was now a busy man.
Almost a day later, he landed in the Horqin tribe's encampment. The nomads were alarmed at first, drawing bows, yet they quickly recognised him and lowered the weapons.
He sheathed the sword into a rough scabbard on his back, then looked around the camp. There was a simple makeshift stable there — half-empty last time, yet filled with horses now, some even stood aside, having not found a place within. Several of these horses had their manes braided with golden silk strands, and had their tails painted red.
Weird, Xin thought. Isn't this how the Skyfolk mark their elite sworn riders? I've seen images of such horses in the history books. This can't be Horqin tribe's other riders returning, which can only mean one thing — they're hosting guests! And these other horses, are they… gifts?
"Master Xin!" Erdeni's younger brother Horhu ran up to him, then bowed. "You come!"
"Your pronunciation improved, Horhu. What's going on?" Xin circularly gestured around the camp.
"Sister teach me say right so I don't lose face! Now I try improve. People watching us, let's go." He waved for him to follow, and they went past the confused nomads into his family's tent.
Inside, the tent was warmer than before, and smelled of sweet incense. There was a set of new rugs on the floor, thicker and more elegant than the worn out ones that lay in their place last time Xin visited.
"Wine-ah?" Horhu handed him a cup. Silver. Polished. New.
"Nah, thanks." Xin sighed and gently pushed it away. "Just give me some poison so that I can finally rest."
"This can't do. Sister love you." Horhu smiled, yet his face looked rather tense.
"You have to tell me what's going on here, kid." Xin glanced briefly at the tent's renovations, then back into Horhu's eyes.
"You kill demon woman, yes?!" The boy asked in response.
Right, they still don't know, I forgot! Was too busy thinking about…
"Yes, yes. Of course. She'll never harm anyone again. I won't go into detail and there won't be a celebration feast, though. Be glad it happened, that's it. How's Erdeni?"
"She was bad two days! Had the… ehm… thing on face and body, little dot. Grow, then yellow and white… blood, then she wake up and all no there!" Horhu showed the facial transformations on his own face, then "collected them" into his palm and blew them away superstitiously.
Xin's heart sunk.
"Where is she?"
"You can't go talk her! Big shaman come and his riders! They is dining with chief Oygun and Erdeni, important clan stuff!"
"Care to elaborate?" Xin asked.
"No, sorry! Important clan problem! Good for our clan, but!"
Xin rolled his eyes and sighed:
"I know about the Fung Morin, squirt. No point hiding. That malady of hers, she was possessed by the Plague Mare, am I correct?" He looked at the teen sternly.
"Ehmmm. I don't speak Imperial good! Very hard I don't understand! What you mean?"
"You little cunt!" Xin grabbed him by the collar and pushed his forehead into Horhu's. "That illness of hers, is it the Fung Morin? Is this why the shamans came?"
Why am I even asking?
"I don't know…"
Slap! Xin left a red hand-shaped mark on Horhu's face.
"Speak! Don't piss me off."
"No, Mastar!" He reverted to his old accent immediately. "Me don't know a lot but yes! Spirit is back! We happy!"
"A fucking plague spirit is back and you're happy? What kind of animal are you?" Xin stared in his eyes with disdain.
"You don't understander! Spirit not bad, it…"
Clap! Xin slapped Horhu's other cheek.
"Who told you to speak? I'm asking questions now! What do these riders want?"
"Teach Erdeni, then teach son. He needs to learn…"
They're taking my son away…
Xin wanted to rage as if he was possessed by the tiger totem, yet all he scrambled was emptiness.
"Fuck…" Xin sighed and pushed Horhu away. "How much time before she leaves?"
"She suppose leave yesterday night! But she say she wait for you! To know if you alive! Many say you die but she say she know you live! She love you, Xin!"
Xin's heart stung. Love, what a joke…
"Then I'll go talk to her." Xin stood up and walked out of the tent, heading to the main one.
"No, you can't!" Horhu followed him, keeping a respectable distance and holding his aching cheeks. "She busy!"
"Fuck off!"
Xin soon reached chief Oygun's tent. As soon as he approached its entrance, a man stepped out, clad in fish-scaled nomad armour, wielding a thick-bladed cavalry glaive. Matching Xin in height and stature, his gaze was quite determined, and he quickly closed the entrance cloth to obscure Xin's view.
"I need to talk to Erdeni, nomad. Back off." Xin didn't notice his own fingers tense into the shape of tiger paws.
"Shoo, steppe strangar." The man replied in an accent thick enough to rival Horhu's. "She speak to our mahongu, you wait."
"I'm not negotiating, you prick! Step aside." Xin's eyes were bloodshot, and he felt his martial spirit surge. "I'm not going to warn you again, I'm seeing my woman or…"
"You don't get it, do…" The man walked up to Xin and pushed a pointing finger into his chest. Xin didn't let him finish.
Snap! Shaped like scissors, Xin's fingers slashed the man's finger off! Shocked, the man still tried to point his glaive with his other hand…
Autumn Herald's Roar! Empowered, Xin rushed forth and lifted the man up above his head, then threw him face down into the mud. The Horqin tribe nomads, who stood at a respectable distance, gasped, horrified.
Two more men rushed out of the tent, their weapons drawn. Xin, whose rage burnt like a cold flame, stepped on the prone man's neck and spoke in a calm voice:
"I had warned him, and I'm warning you two, cumstains. I'm talking to Erdeni, whether you like it or not. Look, I'm…"
"Xin!" Erdeni popped into view, but an older man clad in shaman's outfit, covered in red feathers, held her close, whispering something. Xin heard it clearly, yet he didn't understand Skyfolk. "Please, stop! They're friendly! Please calm down!"
"Who told you I'm not calm?" Xin pushed his boot firmer against the downed nomad's neck. The man was concussed and bleeding, and squirmed as he struggled for breath. "Come, let's talk."
Erdeni pleaded something to the shaman holding her, and after a few long moments of silence, he signalled for the blood riders to lower their weapons. Erdeni rushed to Xin, her eyes getting teary mid-way.
"Xin!" She opened her arms in embrace as she charged to hug him.
Bump. He caught her forehead in his palm, denying her.
"You have no idea how pissed I am." He turned away and waved for her to follow, heading into the open steppe.
"Xin, what happened?" Erdeni asked once they reached some privacy. "I'm so, so glad you're alive! So many sleepless nights, so many tears spilled! Why are you angry at me?"
"Spare me your crocodile tears. Yes, I'm alive, and the hag's dead. I killed her. You owe me sixty spirit stones, by the way. And give back the dao shards I left you."
"Sure… They're in my tent. But… I don't get it, Xin. What did I do?" Erdeni sobbed, her tribal mascara turning into two muddy downstreams.
"You're joking, right? Fung Morin. Steppe stranger. Possessed child. I know everything. What have you done?" He looked past Erdeni as he spoke.
"How did you…?" For a moment, she was more surprised than upset. "Xin…"
"Don't you dare utter my name. If I hadn't found this out myself, would you even tell me?" Xin noticed the blood riders in the distance, watching their discussion from between the camp border's tents.
"You don't understand, Xin, it's not what you think…" Erdeni's eyes were filled with longing — to be embraced, to be accepted. To be one with Xin once more — he who was once her kindred soul was now stabbing her so gravely!
"Fine, explain it then!" His voice rose in irritation. "The way I see it, you used me to spawn a spirit inheritor to restore your tribe. Fuck me, it's all too convenient — you'll probably push for the child to inherit in place of Horhu, to elevate your own status status even further — the mother of a clan spirit bearer, what a position! A hand guiding a living weapon — sounds influential, if you ask me."
Erdeni shuddered.
"Xin! I know you're exhausted from your travels, but that's utter nonsense! You think I thought this far? You can't be serious!"
The young hunter shook his head.
"I AM serious! And I see no regret in your eyes — you're only upset you were caught! You were preparing to tell me a lie-filled sob story, weren't you? Too bad! I have my own sources.
Never planned this far, huh?! The only way this whole situation could happen is if you fucked a steppe stranger, so you went out of your way and fucked a steppe stranger, out of all people, and now it's somehow your happy little incident? You cunt, take some fucking responsibility!" Xin spat on the ground.
"Don't you dare insult my pride, you clayman!" Erdeni's face, bloated from crying, went crimson, and her voice broke as she screamed. "To think that I wanted to sever my ties with our clan spirits, to run away, to live like a clay woman — what a shame! And you spit in my face like that, you hatanur? What a fool I was!"
Xin felt the need to stab back.
"Oh, thank you for being so considerate! And thank you for telling me about all the risks involved! You used me as a semen bull to revive an ancient plague spirit, and somehow it's I who must feel guilty? What a twisted joke, imagine ruining three lives with one lie!"
"Do you think I knew it would happen?" Erdeni shook her head. "It was a miniscule possibility, something I never seriously entertained, and now you're trying to paint it like my master plan? You're giving me too much credit, when it seems I'm just a stupid whore who spread her legs for a clayman!" She spat on the ground.
"Bullshit!" Xin scoffed. "You knew the omens and you knew the legends. You're a trained shaman, not some helpless young maiden. Being in denial about it doesn't justify you. You're full of shit, anyway. Wanted to leave with me, huh? Last time we spoke, you weren't too eager!"
"Wasn't too eager? I never wanted anything more than to submit at that moment, yet it was you who rejected me! Yapped some bullshit about your mother, as if I have anything to do with that, then refused to be a real man! How was I suppo…"
"Bullshit about my mother?!" Xin pulled terrified Erdeni by the collar. "Bullshit about my mother?!" The blood riders instantly rushed towards them, yet Erdeni gestured for them to stop, and they reluctantly obliged.
"Xin, don't be stupid. You already shed blood." Her eyes wide with fear, just like the day they met, she still held her composure.
Xin released her and performed a dragon breath exhale, a Qigong technique meant to calm one down.
"What I said about my mother, it wasn't bullshit. It was you who never asked to leave with me, and I thought I'd tear your soul apart if I asked for it! And now that we're done, it turns out that you wanted to leave all along, and I'm not a real man for not picking up on this and insisting? You're such a fucking clown."
"What do you mean, done?" Erdeni stared at her feet, her voice weak. "Are you leaving me?"
Is she serious?
"Of course! What did you think this is, a lovers' quarrel? I'm done with you! I'm never trusting another woman again. I'll visit my child and help you sometimes — hush, it's not up to discussion. But we're done, and I'll never forgive you.
These past few days, it was a torture, I even considered killing you and the child at some point… Imagine being forced to entertain such thoughts! That's what you did to me. We are done. Done." Xin crossed his arms.
Erdeni stared at Xin's feet, then fell on her knees, drained. She had no strength left to cry.
"I love you, Xin. You know this, right?"
"And you think I'm numb to you? You smeared feces over what we had, and doomed an unborn human to a life of suffering. There's no regret in your heart, only denial and excuses. It's over."
"Xin, you're too hot-headed, you don't…"
"Hush. Go get my dao shards, then we'll talk about how we handle the kid. We need to be smart about this, he might be in danger." Xin stared at the yellow sea flowing into the sunset. It meant nothing to him.