A Peasant’s Guide To Sorcerery: 20

A Peasant’s Guide To Sorcerery: 20

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Commissioned by Ichypa

Wordcount: 2500

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Interlude: Su

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Lord Zhang had a schedule that he kept without err.

In the mornings, he would always rise just as the sun began to dissipate the night. Before the roosters crowed, he would already be tending to numerous matters. Water would be drawn from the well, fires snuffed out for the night relit, and breakfast prepared for the whole household. Then, he would tend a range of chores, ranging from cleaning the house, to washing clothes, or taking stock, before going out to the fields.

It would be very demanding and consuming of time, if not for his use of his magic to make mundane tasks so simple.

Water would flow out of the well by his will and fill large tanks in the kitchen. One tank will be hot for the whole day and the other cold. The fires didn’t need kindling or even fuel, as he would simply glance at them, and a ball of flame would come alive and exude a constant heat without tending. There’ll be no smoke, nor even ash to clean, within any of the stoves of the household.

Breakfast came in the form of fruits that he desired, grown in an instant from seeds that produced small trees that walked off to join the groves after he collected the bounty. He cooked rice porridges in clay pots that stirred themselves, while preparing game meat or fish with just thoughts alone. Flesh would be stripped of the animals, bones placed to simmer in a broth to waste nothing, and everything would cook in light oil and greenery.

All the tasks he had would be finished within a few waking moments, and when everyone awoke, breakfast would be ready along with every other necessity in the house.  It was that moment between breakfast and him tending to the starting chores of the day that I sought him out at.

“Oh, good morning, Su! You’re awake early today!” I found him at the stables. Magic swept through dirtied straw and moved them into the churning earth. The churning earth ground up the waste of the horses, along with pests that entered the stable, and created invigorating soil that crept to the rest of the farm. I swallowed my fear, as memories of what happened to my companions resurfaced, and I gave the powerful man a nod. “Did you need something? Are you feeling unwell?”

“No, Lord Zhang, I’ve come to make a request of you, if you’d be willing to hear it.” The words felt like impertinence manifested. I awaited a strike that would end my ability to speak and walk, while I was dragged into the earth to be ground up. However, what I feared did not come to pass. Why would it come to pass, when I have been spared for so long already? I knew this fact, but still the fear I felt was immense indeed.  “I’ve come to speak regarding the weapon you’ve created for me.”

“Oh, the Phoenix Talon? How is it? Is there something wrong with it?” He voiced his concerns amicably, assuming that there was something wrong with his craftsmanship upon being approached, and once again I was struck. Questioning the work of a skilled smith would get one berated and thrown out of a shop quickly. Effort and work were expended on every tool, along with the cost of materials. To have the tool be questioned is to spit upon all of that. It’s better to quietly look and observe, and perhaps lightly bargain for a lower price, than to address the matter of a weapon directly. “I can fix it up no problem!”

I took a measured breath and spoke honestly.

“I fear that it’s too strong, especially if you intend to sell them to others. This in the hands of others will cause much grief and conflict.” I hesitated, but explained further. “I know this as a former bandit. This weapon in the hands of such people, or even plain soldiers, will cause chaos throughout the lands. Please, Lord Zhang, even if it can make you immensely wealthy, you cannot sell these like the regular, new weapons in town.”

Lord Zhang’s eyes widened, then narrowed, as he placed a hand on his hip and waved a finger at me.

“Su, why would you think I’d ever do that? I don’t have the license to make weapons and sell them! Giving them to friends is fine, but not selling them! That’s against the law!” I blinked at his admonishing words. They lacked malice. Instead, he seemed affronted that I didn’t know the letter of the law. “And, you can’t sell weapons and be a farmer at the same time! Father said so. You need to focus on one thing and do it very well, and I’m a farmer first and foremost!”

The words sounded insane, but they calmed me down immensely.

Everything that he did. Everything that Lord Zhang did… was for the sake of being a better owner of the lands he now held for his ancestors. He worshipped them and gave them all offerings daily. Helping others, creating God Soldiers, and even teaching me was all, somehow, because of his path towards fulfilling his ancestor’s wishes of having a grand farm. As absurd as it sounded, put in the context of selling weapons means not being a farmer, his words gave me great relief.

I bowed my head.

“My apologies, Lord Zhang, for thinking such a thing. I should have known that you wouldn’t do such a thing without the proper papers, or divest your attention from the farm.” Lord Zhang puffed out his chest with pride at my words. He fully believed that he addressed all my concerns. He didn’t. Not in the slightest. In the various houses around the farm, tending to small fields, were God Soldiers. There was an heiress of a famed sect here, too. Then, there was the woman with Dragon’s blood. The chief concern he addressed was my personal fear that showing him the weapon that I purchased would lead to frightening weapons spreading across the land. That was more than enough to satisfy me. Let everything else fall as fortune dictates. “As for the weapon itself, my sole request would be a method to lower the strength of its attacks. If I were to use it near others, I fear that they would be harmed without my intention.”

“Oh, that makes sense! If you fired it in the city, you’d ruin a lot of buildings and hurt loads of people. That would be bad.” Zhang extended his hand towards me, and I gave him the weapon without thinking. I wished that he would keep it, but he looked at it, and forced it to change. On the gun’s body, where my thumb could easily reach while holding the grip and readied to fire, was a small lever in a half-circle. “Make the lever point all the way down and it’ll fire enough heat to just make people feel like they’re burning and need to run. If it’s all the way up, it’ll be as strong as it used to be. Be sure to test everything in between so that you know exactly what you need, Su!”

Zhang beamed at me, and waited to be dismissed, so I gave him a bow while holding the weapon to my side.

I thanked him profusely and fled.

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The one thing that I truly loathed, after gaining all the power that I now had, was temptation.

When I was mortal, when I didn’t have the ability to bend iron between my fingers or swim for hours without needing to breathe, I knew that some paths were best left untaken. It was for the sake of survival. Treading a path of vengeance was a swift way to meet your end. However, such a truth only persisted when one remained mortal.

I am no mortal no longer.

Not completely.

The nightmare that plagued my sleep spurred the temptation. As I slept, I remembered the hideous laughter of those who destroyed my home, the scent of my friends and family burning, and the cracking of wood they struggled to hold themselves after being set aflame. I remember hiding, daring not to breathe, while smoke and tears stung my eyes. The heat and pain of being in the shelter with no one else, as I waited to burn and die, only for rain to save my life.

The calm of my new life, the constant source of food, and the lack of struggle beyond training, made the nightmares more constant. Now, I did not have to worry about my next meal. I didn’t need to tend to my tent and ward away those who would steal from me without a second thought. There was no preparation to be made for a long, arduous journey through mountains, covered in mud and with my scent masked, so that no monsters would find me.

No.

Now, I only had to train, and that was not enough to ward away the dreams of that night.

The dreams where the laughing figures, who cursed and left like drunkards when the rain came, beheld me their crest.

A crest that was present in the city that I could reach in a few moments if I wished.

They were there. The Ba clan was there. They were a middling clan, below that of Fei’yen, and they were troubled. They focused on the destruction of mystic beasts and foraging of rare ingredients for alchemy. Lord Zhang’s constant culling of beasts in the region, as well as his constant growing of many ingredients, did away with their prosperity. Now, they were escorting merchants through the region to other cities, and offering security to surrounding villages.

And, if those caravans did not want them and if those villages refused them, they would do to them as they did to my home.

I stopped them.

When I realized the truth, I went out there and stopped their attacks with Lady Ying’s blessing.

But I could do no more than stop them.

Lady Ying said that she would investigate the matter, that she would speak with Fei’yen, and leverage her influence. She was strong and well-known. The Ba clan will be put into a vice and their efforts to regain power will be curtailed. They will be beggared and dissolved.

But was that enough?

It would be enough for who I used to be. A bandit girl surviving after the wrecked and burning of her home would’ve cried in relief at that retribution. She would’ve feared retribution, if she were known as the one who spoke against them, but she could’ve fled across the known world. The person who I used to be would’ve been happy, would’ve taken up the plowshare, and perhaps had a family and forgotten what happened after contentment soothed her grudges.

Me?

Now?

I could go there and kill them all at this very moment.

It would be easy.

Their walls are low and there are no barriers protecting their compound. The patrols are weak, and they are also too far apart. Inside they are usually unarmed and unarmored. They have no immortal benefactors because of their wanning business. If I did everything correctly, if left not one of them alive and did not use the weapons I trained with, then none would know it was me that did it. It would take a mere hour, and none would be the wiser… except those who I lived amongst.

Lady Ying’s protections will cease if I did such a thing, and I will surely die if it ended. Lady Yuen can kill me with ease. Lady Bai will not even allow me to speak before dispatching me.

Lord Zhang would frown and feel sorrow, but he will carry out the sentence for a murderer.

But what if I ran after I did it?

I’m fast now. Much faster than I’ve been before. They are faster than me, but I know the lay of the region, and have visited the neighboring ones to hide from the reach of bounty hunters before. They are not trained in tracking others down. I have lived a life on the run and have learned so much. With my new prowess and my new ability, I can do it. I can see those who killed my family and friends dead, while keeping my own life.

A life of solitude, away from all that I know, and fearful of retribution from a far more potent force than the clan I wished to destroy.

My elbows shook with exertion, and I swiftly moved the block of metal on my back off, so that I could let fatigue claim me.

I turned onto my back and looked upon the night sky as it chased the final dregs of the day.

Temptation filled me to my core, despite even the knowledge that I would be hunted by Lord Zhang and his people if I fell for it.

I called so many people fools for chasing revenge, but here I was, barely able to hold myself back.

“Why can’t I let go?” I asked the question to no one. “I can leave it to her. Then, I can do as I wish with those who abandon everything for banditry.”

The fate of these people was set. Their actions will be known. After they are broken apart by the Fei’yen, they will be unable to find jobs. They will have no choice but to go to another city and start anew. Many will not endure such a struggle. They will turn to what they know, and when that time comes, I will be able to have my vengeance.

But what of the people who do manage to start anew?

Do they deserve that after all that they’ve done?

To that question, I had another for myself to answer.

“Will I only be satisfied with them all dead by my hand? Is that the only thing that will give me peace?” With those words, my tempted mind had no answer, and I mustered the will to banish the thoughts away. But it will return. It will return because I am not beset by so many needs any longer. Now, my mind wanders even as I sleep, reminding me every few weeks of the horror that I witness. Then, the temptation returns, and each time it’s more difficult to refuse. I got up from laying on the dirt and stared at my hands. Hands capable of crushing iron and breaking bone with ease. If I let this temptation continue, then I will fall into it. I was sure of that. “I need to speak to Lord Zhang and ask him for his help.”

He terrified me, but I knew one thing for certain: he will solve this matter and I will no longer be tempted.