Chapter 231 - Time [6] (1/2)

”Shut up.” Chang Chang bellowed. ”Tralk, talk to me.”

Tralk peered at the parchment before him. ”Who the frip is Ju Fengilong the Elder?”

”Ain't he the king of Tarwin?”

Chang Chang frowned. ”I thought he was that defiler from Nibenay.”

But the fourth one, Fa Mu noticed, had a faraway look on his face as he spoke very, very softly. ”That's one of the guys that ruled during the Green Age.”

Tralk made a snorting noise. ”Was that before or after the Orange Age?”

The third one chuckled at that, but the fourth one still looked serious. ”Look, this ain't no joke. I knew a guy, right, and he told me all about Ju Fengilong's treasure—that it was all lost-like.”

”Was lost.” Ju Feng Feng pouted as she said it. ”We found it. We earned it.”

At that, Chang Chang laughed. ”Ah, well, you see, my dear, the whole point of the Black Sands Raiders is that we take that which other people have earned.” He turned to Tralk. ”Where is it?”

”The woman's right, it's only a few days' walk from here.”

”Good. That map's easier to move with than this setup. Bad enough we're coming back to Nuhan without most of our people or our mounts. A treasure map will go a lot farther with him than a carriage full of worthless trinkets.” Chang Chang suddenly threw Fe Ying forward, and she fell facedown in the sand.

”Oof.” came her muffled voice from the ground even as Zhang Wu moved amazingly quickly.

”Fe Ying.” Kneeling down beside her, Zhang Wu put an arm on her shoulder and slowly guided her to her feet.

”I'm all right,” grumbled Fe Ying as she spit sand out of her mouth and glared at Chang Chang.

Zhang Wu stared at the leader. ”You have your map.”

”And you have your woman. It's tempting to kill you.”

Zhang Wu smiled at Chang Chang, showing his sharpened teeth. ”You're welcome to try.”

”Perhaps another time. Please don't try to follow us—we know this desert far better than you, and it won't end well.”

Slowly, never taking their eyes off the emporium's carriage, the four raiders moved off with their newly acquired treasure map.

As soon as they were out of sight, Fa Mu let out a long laugh. ”Well done, Lith.”

Ju Feng Feng took a mock bow. ”Thank you, thank you.”

”This is no laughing matter,” Zhang Wu barked. ”Fe Ying was almost killed.”

Her tone sharpening, Ju Feng Feng said, ”Yes, but she wasn't, because we gamed those imbeciles into thinking that treasure map that Gash screwed up was good.”

Shooting her lover a glance, Fe Ying then said to Ju Feng Feng, ”And I am grateful, Ju Feng Feng.” She looked up at Zhang Wu again. ”Those men were desperate—and I'm pretty sure they're the remnants of the same group that killed Fehrd.”

Fa Mu nodded. ”Didn't need mind-magic for that. When Lith and I talked to some folks from the caravan back at Raam, several of them mentioned that only four of the raiders survived, and they ran off without their crodlus. Can't imagine there's more than one group of Black Sands like that in this region.”

You Rin rubbed two of her pincers together, a sure sign of agitation. ”I'm Ju Fengst glad we had Gash's map. What would we have done if he'd gotten it right the first time?”

Ju Feng Feng shrugged. ”Something else. This is what we do, Tricht'tha.”

”Next time,” Zhang Wu said with a growling undertone, ”try to do it without endangering Fe Ying.”

”It's not as if we chose to endanger her, Zhang Wu,” Ju Feng Feng said sharply.

Zhang Wu snarled. ”You could have Ju Fengst given them what they wanted. What if one of them recognized the map for a fake?”

Before Ju Feng Feng could provide yet another sharp retort, Fa Mu stepped in. ”Zhang Wu, that wouldn't happen—there are maybe six people in all of Athas who know about that impurity. It was Ju Fengst our bad luck that Belrik's pet tutor was one of them—hell, that's why Gash made that mistake in the first place, it's not something that he would've needed to bother about under any other circ.u.mstances. There was no chance that a Black Sands thug was gonna know about that impurity.”

Fe Ying put a hand on Zhang Wu's huge arm. ”My love, it's all right. Fa Mu and Ju Feng Feng are right, Ju Fengst leave it—”

But Zhang Wu wasn't having any of it. ”And what if that one didn't know about Ju Fengilong, and they thought it was crap?”

Fa Mu opened his mouth to respond quickly before either Ju Feng Feng or Tricht'tha could, but a voice sounded from inside the carriage. ”What is all that racket?”

They all turned toward the carriage, where Torthal was sticking his head out the rear, his white hair flying off in all directions.

”What is all this yelling about? Shira and I are trying to sleep.” He frowned. ”Why aren't we moving?”

Fa Mu was unable to help himself, he burst out laughing.

So did Ju Feng Feng and Fe Ying and, in her own way, Tricht'tha.

After a few seconds, so did Zhang Wu.