The first stirrings of trouble occurred on the very first night of the journey. The caravan rested on a wide curb in the road, beneath the pale glow of a protective spirit lantern. They had made good time, but the lights of the capitol could still be seen in the distance. Fireworks cracked off over the urban sprawl, reminding Huang Jin of a meteor shower. He shouldn’t have been distracted; he was on his first night watch.

  His companion in the endeavor watched the lights without understanding. The red dog, who looked a bit like a lion, had not been ‘assigned’ to him. Nobody actually knew who owned it, it just kind of showed up in their midst soon after leaving the city. Nobody would complain about having a guard dog, however, and the animal had stuck to the prince like glue since the moment their eyes met. He named it ‘Dog.’

  Dog sniffed at the air, then turned toward the curb. He stalked to the edge of the road and stared into the dark forest beyond. His erstwhile master followed close behind. A single, candle-like torch burned somewhere not far from the sleeping caravan, barely visible through the trees. As a guard, the prince had to investigate.

  With all the stealth that came naturally to the very young, he picked through the branches and tiptoed around tree trunks until he could make out the figure. It was the merchant- well, most of his new friends were merchants. But it was the first one he met, the glass merchant, burying something in the loamy soil. He finished up, then doused his torch and made his way quietly back to the carriages.

  Huang Jin waited for a moment, until he was sure the fellow had made it out of earshot. Then he crept to the disturbed earth. Lacking a shovel, he did the next best thing, gesturing for Dog to join him. “Can you dig?” As if it could understand him, the animal obeyed.

  The prince marveled at the object in the hole. A stamp, or a seal… or a crude impression of one. Kind of like the tax stamp, he realized. But… what could he do about it? Possibilities occurred, and were rejected. Turn the man in, after he’d gotten Huang Jin a job and, indirectly, this great dog? Earn the bad will of his new charges and traveling companions? His current course, he decided, was his only realistic option. “Heaven’s net is wide, and none can escape its mesh,” as Elder Fu used to say; the problem would surely resolve itself.

  -

  For three months, the journey continued with only the difficulties to be expected of a child on the road. The people of the caravan expected nothing of their little “protector,” but he took his nightly patrols seriously. The mortal guards might be trusted in the case of bandits, but any spirit beast could completely scatter this moving town of peasant merchants.

  People and wagons came and went as cities and towns passed. Merchants would veer off the main Path of Lanterns onto smaller roads; arterials that transported the lifeblood of commerce to smaller villages. As many left and joined at every major trading hub, the prince stuck ever to the bulk heading North.

  Landscapes shifted slowly. Forests became plains and vast lakes, canyons stretched to fill the horizon, plateaus rose up and fell away. In every case loomed the threat of the Wild, warded off by the spirit lanterns of the Imperial roads.

  The prince patrolled at night, either resting or meditating during the day, but the midways forced an exception. When the group reached the exact midpoint between points of civilization, everybody went on high alert. Spirit lanterns that far out were prone to failure, and road patrols were inconsistent at the best of times. Yet, through all the harrowing passages, they made it to the next destination without incident.

  Huang Jin heard “We’ve got the blessings of Huanle on us,” from a seasoned caravanner.

  “That, or the kiddo’s really doing his share,” another laughed.

  He shouted down from his perch, “I’m as surprised as you are!” and the folk laughed again. Of course, not every group on the road could meet with danger and trouble; if every band of merchants had to weather constant attacks, trade would be impossible. The prince could only pray in thanks and hope the good luck continued.

  Finally, the peaks of the White Mountains rose above emerald-green pines; the end of his journey grew close. Perhaps it happened because he grew excited. Perhaps it was because he had grown lax. Perhaps it was because the passage up the slopes of the Lesser Head had required two days of constant vigilance.

  He heard a concerned and familiar voice say, “Lad, you don’t look like yourself. There’s hours left before your patrol, why don’t you take this chance to get some rest in the sleeping wagon?”

  “I’m fine, thank you.” He rubbed his eyes and yawned, all the same. “I need to take care of Dog, still… I don’t think he’s eaten today.” The faithful animal had been nearly as wary on the pass as he was, and lacked the benefits of cultivation.

  “Come now, we haven’t hit a safe stretch just yet. We can’t have our best night guardsman half-asleep on watch! I’ll see to the little lion, you see to yourself.”

  The prince took the generous offer. While it remained otherwise unoccupied, he bedded down in the rolling accommodation.

  It was not the stopping that awoke him, but the quiet. He could sense an uneasy stillness. The sleeping wagon had no windows, but he made out a faint light outlining the door; it was not yet night. That peculiar kind of panic struck him, as if he’d forgotten about an assignment, or left Sister unfound in a game of hide-and-seek. He’d let something slip! He chastised himself as he rocketed from the blankets and took up his sword.

  Even as he burst through the door, two tall figures flanked him. Both were unfamiliar, armed and armored but with weapons sheathed. Their faces were rough, one scarred and the other sporting a very untidy beard. Before Huang Jin could draw his sword, the bearded man spoke.

  “Ah, the sleeper arises! Did you have a nice nap, your grace?” The voice dripped with condescension. His partner, on the other side, kept a hand on the haft of his spear. The speaker didn’t bother, and kept his arms crossed as he wore a tolerant expression.

  The prince whipped around to take in the rest of the scene. More armed men- bandits, certainly. The setting sun glinted off of rusty metal, and the smell of old leather dominated the air. Those of the caravan, and all of the guards he could see, were on their knees before brutish men, held at sword and knifepoint. Noticeable by its absence, was the looting. They were just… holding their ground. It required no effort to guess at their target.

  There was no hint of qi within any of them; mere mortal rabble. Even in the first stage of the first Realm, a cultivator was worth ten fighting men, though in Huang Jin’s case it would be more like five. But then, he’d never fought outside of a spar, and raising a hand or drawing his sword would doom many of the merchants. He sagged. No way out.

  Looking to the other side, he noticed a tall, broad, bald man carrying a hairy bundle over his shoulder like a bag of rice. “Dog!” Dog didn’t struggle… but he was breathing. Out cold. The tall man grinned wide and snaggletoothed, brandishing a knife in his free hand.

  “Now, now, your grace,” the bearded man cooed. “If you make it easy, it’ll be easy. If you make it hard, it’ll be hard! You’ll be a good boy, won’t you?”

  Their eyes met. Huang Jin bit his lip so hard he tasted blood, looking into those laughing eyes. Training reasserted itself, he breathed deep, kept his energy flowing, and shrugged. “What do you want me to do?”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Let’s drop the letter opener, for one.”

  The prince unbuckled his sword, letting it drop to the ground sheath and all.

  The bandit nodded. “You catch on quick.” He leaned down and snapped his fingers beneath the child’s nose, saying “Now come on. You’re a real guardsman, aren’t you? You know how to march?” Men sneered and laughed as they gathered behind, leaving their hostages where they lay and shouldering their gear. A minor commotion; all of Huang Jin’s concentration remained on the leader.

  He barked another order. “You there! Bring the dog.”

  “Another damn mouth to feed?” his bald subordinate complained.

  “Insurance! Kids just love dogs, you know.” He laughed. They didn’t even bother tying their tiny captive’s hands as they marched him off of the road and toward the treeline. The forest swallowed them.

  They hadn’t been walking for long before a voice cried out for attention from behind. “W-wait just a moment, would you?” The glass merchant came sneaking forward through the underbrush, head held low and face hesitant.

  The bearded man in the lead sneered, but did not chastise him. “What is it, Uncle? Your ‘friends’ are gonna get suspicious.”

  The merchant kept his hands clasped. “Well, my, uh, dear boy… my cut?” he asked at last, holding out one hand.

  “You’ll get yours when we get ours. Now get!” the bandit barked.

  The merchant bowed, then retreated. Before he got far, he looked back only long enough to meet Huang Jin’s eyes. “Er, tough break. But that’s the life of a merchant, you see, always gotta be on the lookout for new revenue streams.” Then, he was gone.

  The prince held his stomach, forcing down searing pain as the forced march resumed.

  Their hideout did not turn out to be one of those abandoned fortresses or sturdy redoubts, as the heroic tales told about. No, they hid in a dingy, musty wooden wreckage, half sunken into the mossy ground. Probably, somebody had tried to build a temple here before realizing the foundations wouldn’t hold.

  The bandits led their captive into an underground chamber, a bit drier and less decayed than the rest. “Here, your grace, your suite. Writing materials will be provided, free of charge. Why don’t you get to jotting down a note to daddy, real quick?”

  As he said, a quill had been furnished, along with a piece of rough paper. “Sir, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” the prince finally said.

  “Nonsense! Tell you what, we’ll be nice and give you all the way ‘till morning to figure out what to tell papa. Past that… we can look for ‘alternate means of encouragement,’ alright?” He left the cell without waiting for an answer.

  Huang Jin took up the lotus position in the corner of the room and thought. He could not afford the time to enter a full meditative state right now; the bandits had Dog and ill moral character, and actually writing to his father did not enter the equation. He realized he might actually have to fight his way out. Could he? He could certainly overpower a number of half-trained mortals, but he couldn’t possibly subdue them non-lethally, or before they could hurt Dog.

  It did not take until morning for another man to show his face. This one could have been the leader’s twin, though he clearly took better care of his appearance. He lacked the scruffy beard, wearing instead a tidy mustache. The prince said nothing, but kept his eyes trained on the bandit’s. The man squinted, as if in recognition, and then all at once his face went pale. He bolted from the room.

  The rotting wood did not work well for soundproofing. Still in the lotus position, the prince listened with all of his being. Vague sounds and whispers became words. Angry words.

  “Brother… you know that, what did you call him, ‘aristo brat’ Uncle tipped you off to?”

  “Yeah, we got it covered. Depending on what house he’s from, I figure we can expect-”

  “Anything unusual occur to you, looking him over? His coloration, for example?”

  A pause. “You know that isn’t my thing, and if any of the boys try it I’ll have their damn-”

  “No, you idiot!” The smoother voice got loud. “The gold hair, the blue eyes, rich kid wandering unsupervised on the open road…”

  “He sticks out, I get that.”

  “Been on the road for three months, measured from our dear Uncle’s point of departure…”

  “What are you getting at?” The words came out so loud that the prince could have heard them clearly even if he wasn’t concentrating.

  “Gold-in-Jade, Peace between East and West, dao journey, etcetera, that ring a bell? Brother, that person in the cell is the Emperor’s fucking son!”

  Absolute silence, as if even the decaying structure forgot to creak for a moment. When the bearded man’s voice emerged again, it could barely be heard. “What do we do? Just, you know, bury him someplace and pretend we never saw him?”

  “The Empire’s got agents that can read your whole life from one hair. No,” and then the slightly-more-together bandit’s voice became low and intense, as if he were leaning forward and viciously whispering into his brother’s ear. “No, I’ll tell you just what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna situate the kid in the best room we’ve got, we’re gonna give him his dog back, give him as much food and water as he can carry, put him back on the road, and send him on his way with a smile and a pat on the goddamn head.”

  The leader, likewise, replied in an aggressively loud whisper. “What, we just take a total loss on this?”

  “You wanna take a total loss, or a total loss?” After another long pause, “You go make nice, I’ll tell the boys. And if we ever see Uncle again, he’s getting one to the fucking gut.”

  “Agreed.”

  Huang Jin tried to act aloof and regal as the leader of the bandits came in fawning and apologizing, releasing him from the damp room and offering him a place at the feasting table. He really tried his best, but he couldn’t suppress his low mood. He had been defeated, helpless before mortal criminals because of inattention, and only nepotism had gotten him out of it.

  They did their best to cheer him up at dinner. The fare consisted of dried meat and nearly-dry rice, but at least they brought Dog out into plain view. He still slept soundly; whatever “Uncle” had put into his food, it had an effect that lingered.

  Disdain for every aspect of these people warred with the tradition of sacred hospitality. He was a guest, now, and no longer a prisoner. The prince chose to compromise, not bothering to get their names but giving them face by making conversation. “You’ve been here for a while, haven’t you? Has the Roiling Pines’ disappearance affected business?”

  The bald one laughed like a donkey. “Ooh, we’re real involved with those Sect types, sure! They’re all keen to leg it through the middle of nowhere for a bunch of-”

  A look from the leader’s mustachioed brother killed the laughter in the bald man’s throat. Then he took over, saying, “Yes, it’s been a boon. The Sects don’t bother with the likes of us, but where the Sects go, the money follows. Merchants move with the money… and where the cattle roam, the wolves grow fat. With the nearby cultivators racing to claim the vacant territory, it’s been a season of harvest for the highwaymen.”

  “Er, yeah, what he said.”

  After dinner, Huang Jin was indeed given their finest accommodations, which were not especially praiseworthy. After a night of little rest, he arose to find Dog absolutely livid. The confused animal sheltered in a corner and growled bloody murder at any who dared approach, until the prince came and calmed him. Then, as the brothers had discussed, they gave him all the food and water they could spare, and set him back on the road.

  With one small detour. “You know the area. Is there a path through the woods that would get me to the town of Songying faster than the road?” As a matter of fact, there was, and Huang Jin made better time than he would have if he had taken his intended route.

  The time came to part ways. The prince could hardly give them a fond farewell, given the circumstances. The leader actually tried to make good on his brother’s suggestion of sending him off with a pat on the head, too, but was rebuffed by Dog’s hysterical growling.

  “Now, uh, you aren’t going to tell your father about this whole, you know, misunderstanding, right?”

  The prince shook his head. “I don’t believe I will. You have been very kind, given the circumstances. I’m sure that’s worth something.” He meant it, too.

  Then, it was onto Songying, the closest town to the fallen Roiling Pines Sect. He actually beat the merchant caravan there. Amid the bustle of the town- large enough by provincial standards, but a dismal backwater compared to the City of the Gate- he heard the sound of music.