Cry Havoc

Prologue-3

Sickening.

Lihua set a hand on his shoulder and left it there for a moment before she backed away from him. “You had better go now,” she said. “My father has grown accustomed to my stubbornness, but even he has his limits. If we are to be together, then…Well, he will want to do things properly.”

Guo Dong nodded.

Sui decided that he had better depart as well. He could not say why, but he did not want Lihua to know that he had witnessed her conversation with the young man. Why she vexed him so was a mystery he could not unravel. As well try to discover why the old hag had raised him from the dead and cursed him with this body.

Try as he might to forget her, Lihua remained in his thoughts that night. She kept sleep at bay and forced him to endlessly ponder his fascination with her. Why did she vex him so? It wasn't love. Sui Bian knew that emotion well, and he felt not a spec of it for this vixen. No, what he felt in Lihua's presence was akin to what he might experience when contemplating the battlefield tactics of his enemies.

It was as if their every interaction had become a contest. Her stubborn defiance was a challenge, and Sui would have answered that challenge decisively if not for the fact that he would incur Feng's displeasure upon doing so. The old fool was determined to coddle his daughter, and Sui had nowhere else to go.

Lihua did more than just annoy him.

She filled his thoughts often now, more often than he would have liked. Too often! His patience was waning. Sooner or later, she would exhaust the last of it.

Two days later, he found Guo Dong in the fields, tending a pair of oxen that were hitched to a plow. The young man was gently stroking the nose of one beast, murmuring something to it.

Sui Bian approached the boy with his head down, forcing the snarl from his face. “Put them back to work,” he snapped. “We have very little daylight left. You should not waste it.”

Guo Dong turned around to face him with a jovial smile. “Hello, Sui,” he said. “I am sorry that I teased you the other day. You just seemed so very unhappy. I thought that I could change that.”

“My happiness is no concern of yours,” Sui muttered. “Now, put them to work.”

A frown compressed the boy's mouth, and he scanned the tall grass as if searching for something. “A pair of wild dogs ran past a short while ago,” he said. “They frightened the oxen. I thought it best to let them calm down.”

Crossing his arms, Sui answered the young man's stupidity with a stony expression. “If the oxen are too frightened to work,” he began, “then whip them and have done with it. They will put up no resistance if they fear you more than some mongrel hound.”

He turned to leave, stomping through the grass, but he had barely gone ten steps when Guo Dong blocked his path. The boy's face was red, his eyes hot with anger. “Why are you so angry?” he demanded. “You insult Lihua; you sneer at me. Feng has given you a home and food and kindness, but you show him nothing but disrespect.”

Sui pushed the boy out of his way.

He was trembling, sweat beading on his forehead, as he made his way to the other side of the farmyard. There were weeds that needed hoeing, and he preferred that task to the displeasure of Guo Dong's company.

The sound of footsteps behind him put him on edge. He turned to find Guo Dong running to catch up with him and skidding to a stop perhaps five paces away. “Enough,” the boy growled. “Feng may tolerate your disrespect, but I will not. It stops now.”

For the first time in a very long while, Sui Bian grinned. “Ah,” he said. “Come to teach me a lesson, have you?”

Guo Dong retreated a step.

“Where's your bravado now, boy?” Sui demanded. “How old are you? Seven years and ten? Eight years and ten? Do you know anything about combat? Have you seen the fear in a man's eyes as he dies on your sword? No. I thought not.”

The young man was backing away, his face now pale, his eyes wide with fright. More fool him. He had honestly believed that Sui Bian was not dangerous. It was time to disabuse him of that falsehood.

“I don't want to fight you,” Guo Dong whispered.

“Then you should have kept your mouth shut.”

With two quick strides, Sui closed the distance and slammed a hand into the young fool's chest. Guo Dong was shoved backward. He tripped over his own feet and fell on his backside.

“Get up,” Sui hissed.

“Leave him be.”

To hear a woman commanding him so was enough to set his blood on fire. He spun around to find Lihua watching him. Her face was stern, her posture stiff, and the wind teasing her loose, flowing hair made her look almost like a vengeful goddess. “I pity you, Stranger,” she said. “I sometimes wonder what tragedy broke your mind. But pity has its limits. If you wish to remain in this house, you will not threaten those whom I love.”

Striding toward her with teeth bared, Sui felt intense heat in his face. “And you will not presume to command me!” he spat. “Learn your place, woman!”

Lihua hesitated.

Something changed in the way she looked at him. At first, he thought it was fear – and that pleased him – but he quickly realized that she was not cowed. No…Not cowed in the slightest. Lihua understood what it was she faced. She recognized, somehow, that she was standing before a man who knew how to kill. But she would not yield to him. “You will gather your things tonight,” she said. “We will provide you with enough food to last three days, but you will leave this farm tomorrow at sunrise.”

“How dare you?”

“Do not push me further, Stranger.”

His hand moved like a striking snake, fingers closing around her throat before he even realized what he was doing. Feng's anger be damned. It was time to teach this girl a lesson that he would not-

Clamping one hand onto his wrist and the other onto his elbow, Lihua twisted his arm and pushed down on it. Pain lanced through him from fingertips to shoulder. This should not have been possible. How could a woman-

Her foot landed in his stomach, driving the wind from Sui's lungs. The next thing he knew, he was bent double and stumbling away, trying to catch his breath. Lihua was saying something, but her words did not register until he pushed his way through the pain. “…will never touch me again,” she concluded.

Rage boiled within him.

Sui drew a bronze knife from a sheath upon his belt. The weapon had belonged to Feng during his time in the army, but Sui had taken it after finding himself empty-handed the other night. He felt more at peace with a blade at his side.

Lihua was focused on Guo Dong, her eyes full of pity and sadness. He was tempted to leave the pair of them to their fate. No woman could respect a man after seeing him so thoroughly defeated. But the rage could not be denied.

He charged Lihua.

The girl rounded on him just in time for him to grab a fistful of her clothing and drive the knife through her flesh, up underneath her sternum to pierce her heart. Her eyes widened, and her mouth hung open. A soft whimper escaped her as her body went limp.

He had to kill Guo Dong too, and then there was nothing to do but run. Run and pray that he was nowhere near the farm when Feng found his daughter's corpse. He went east, seeking a place to hide, and from that day onward, he was no longer Sui Bian.

PART I