Xuelei, Tears of Blood

Chapter 14 - Double-Crossed

Li and Jin had returned to the place where they had been ambushed the day before. They looked around noting the signs of the fight and finally found a trail.

"Here," Jin pointed to the ground.

"Let's follow the tracks. Xuelei should have left us a clue."

"If he could, he would've."

They followed the tracks until they came to a gruesome sight. Dead bodies littered the forest floor. Arrows protruded from the corpses. The bodies were still fresh, some still oozing blood from their wounds. Wild animals had not gotten to them yet.

There was an overturned cart. No one was hiding under it. Quickly, the brothers checked the bodies.

"None of them are Xuelei," Li heaved a sigh of relief.

"Let's go."

They tracked their way to a river. The camp site was easily found. The guards had not been thorough in wiping out the traces of their camp. The assassins found traces of blackened sand from two fires and wild animals had dug up leftover food that had not been buried properly.

"Someone was tied to this tree. The grass here is flattened. There are scraps."

"Xuelei?"

Li nodded and pointed to the root of the tree. To anyone else, the almost unnoticeable scrapes looked natural but to their trained eye, and probably because they were looking for signs, they recognised the Sect's mark worked discreetly into the root.

Jin squinted. "Don't tell him I said so but the boy is good."

Li smiled. "Let's go."

"I hate rivers. They leave no tracks."

"You stay on this side. I'll cross over and check the other side. Keep pace."

Jin nodded understanding. They searched along the river banks until Li finally found something gleaming in the sun. He bent down to pick up a hairpin. He grinned as he recognised the hairpin they had stolen from Mei Ling for Xuelei's disguise.

He signalled Jin and waited for the younger man to cross. The river was cold but it not deep. Jin crossed the fast flowing water carefully.

"We are on the right track." Li held up the hairpin for Jin to see.

Jin smiled grimly, "At least he is still alive."

They searched the area until they found another hairpin. The kidnappers had changed directions and were moving East. Armed with a direction, they increased their pace.

They soon found more dead bodies. These were fresh too. The archers had killed them the same way as their unfortunate brethren.

"Looks like the men who caught us."

"If they are dead, they must have taken Xuelei too. He is not here."

"I don't like this. There are two groups of kidnappers?"

Something caught Jin's eye. He went to Xuan's body. This one did not die from an arrow. His throat had been slashed from close range.

"I recognise this man. He was the one who hit Xuelei."

"Search his body. See if we can find anything useful. Something does not add up here."

Jin searched the dead man's body, patting him down and checking the folds of his robes for hidden pockets. He found a letter of instruction. His expression darkened when he read it.

"What is it, Jin?"

"This man was an officer under the Minister's command."

"What? Which Minister? Not the Minister who contracted us?"

"Yeah. They were sent to intercept us and use our expertise to capture the kidnappers. They were going to rescue the Minister's daughter themselves. He sealed the order with his chop. Look."

Li frowned angrily. "They were using us as a distraction while they rescued the girl. Then they wouldn't have to pay the Master full amount for a job not completed by us."

"They are trying to double cross us. The Master and Mistress won't like this."

"It doesn't matter. They failed. They are all dead."

"Let's continue and find out. We can kill all of them and complete our mission."

Jin narrowed his eyes in disgust and kept the letter. "I'm keeping this as proof. We will make them pay double for trying to trick us."

They followed Xuelei's pins. There was one pin every few miles, until they found no more. He must have run of hairpins. They searched and found some stones piled in a specific formation. They were on the right track. They followed their younger brother's discreet trail. He had used stones, sticks and anything he could get his hands on along the way. He had even torn bits of fabric from his robes.

They followed the trail until they came to a large mansion. Guards were posted at the main entrance door. The brothers backed away to find a suitable waiting spot. They would study the guards and find a pattern to their patrols. Then they would enter the premises under the cover of dark.