Avatar: The Heir of Ban

Chapter 1: The Mountain Master's Son

Part 4

Cho returned to main house, asking after Kei Guan to the retainers guarding it. They pointed him to a guest room inside. Kei Guan was hurriedly packing the Avatar relics back into the sack.

"Kei Guan! Ti Xi sent me to escort you back into the city," Cho told him.

Kei Guan finished packing. "The Avatar Relics must be kept safe," he said, shouldering the sack and following Lucky Cho out the back door.

Baby Zhengyi was wailing, understandably disturbed by the sounds of battle outside. Chaoliu members constantly claimed, true or otherwise, that they were prepared to die at any time, and yet the baby's reaction seemed more appropriate to the violence going on around him, despite the fact that he couldn't understand what was happing. As a crimelord's consigliore, Ying Su did not have a strong knowledge of lullabies, but she thought one might be appropriate now. She could still remember one her father used to sing to her. She looked at the child in her arms. She began:

"Yáo yā yáo Rock-a-bye

Yáo yā yáo" Rock-a-bye

Ti Xi threw himself from one Du fighter to the next, taking on every comer with a righteous, protective fury. Ti Xi used his gauntlet of rock to extend the force and reach of his punch, firing it off his arm and drawing it back like a piston. This was a technique particularly associated with the Hei Chaoliu, and not unknown to the Du. One Du bender came at Ti Xi with that tactic. As he fired his punch, Ti Xi bent the stone off of his arm. Ti Xi fused it to the ground. The attacker was pulled off balance. Ti Xi kicked his knee. The bender's leg buckled under him. Ti Xi grabbed his face and smashed the back of his head into the ground.

As Ti Xi stood up, he noticed the flow of Du fighters seemed to have ebbed. No more men with knives were rushing at him. He looked into the night, and a cold wind howled out of the darkness. It chilled him. He did not want to let himself shiver, but he did.

He heard moans and yells all around him, mainly from the direction of the compound. He turned towards them, ready to rush back to his son. Suddenly Wu appeared out of the darkness, placing his hands on Ti Xi's shoulders. "Whoa! You all right?" Wu asked.

"Wu, what's going on? Did the Du go?" Ti Xi barked.

Wu nodded, breathing heavily. "Yeah. I think we beat them back."

"Bǎo bǎo huái zhěng shuì" Sleep, you're safe with me

Zhengyi's crying began to stop. His eyelids fluttered.

Cho and Kei Guan ran briskly away from the Ban compound, weaving through the gaps between crop rows somewhere in the Agrarian Zone.

"Do you think they followed us?" Kei Guan asked, looking around.

"I doubt it," Lucky Cho replied. "I think we're safe. Actually, we can probably rest if you need to."

"Are you sure?" Kei Guan pressed, panting.

"We have enough time to catch our breath. We can take cover in these stalks for a little extra concealment," Cho said, nodding to the wheat row inches to their left.

Kei Guan brushed aside the stalks and entered, placing his pack down. As he turned his back, Lucky Cho lifted his shirt and removed knife from his belt. Its blade glinted in the moonlight. "You'll be safe here," he said.

Zhengyi's crying lessened, and finally gave out.

"Yáo nǐ zhǎng dà" Rock you 'til you're big

"I don't understand. How could they have found out where the compound was?" Ti Xi asked. "Did someone rat us out?"

Wu's expression hardened. He turned his back to Ti Xi and squeezed his knuckles. "Oh yeah," he growled, "and I know exactly who it was."

"Who?" Ti Xi asked, more puzzled than angry.

Zhengyi finally fell asleep, but Su continued to sing.

"Yo liao shiwang" Rock you 'til you're strong

Wu wheeled around. Instantly, there was a blade between Ti Xi's ribs. He looked down, and saw that it was Wu who held it. Wu threw his other arm around Ti Xi, pulling him close. He brought his lips to Ti Xi's ear. "It was me," he whispered. He thrust the knife again. Blood trickled over Ti Xi's bottom lip. Wu withdrew the knife. Ti Xi staggered backwards once, then fell over, dead.

Wu knelt over him and slid his eyes closed. "I'm sorry, dà gē."

"Bao bao kuai jang da" Baby grow up soon

Kao was organizing men into perimeter patrols when Wu ran up. "Kao, hurry, Ti Xi's captured one of them! He told me to come get you!" Kao sent the other men off and ran after Wu. "Over here," Wu said leading him away from the compound. Wu panted loudly, and gradually began to reduce his pace. "Go on," he told Kao, waving his hand. "He's just ahead there." Kao moved forward calling out to Ti Xi. Wu continued to make his breathing sound labored. Steadily, as quietly as possible, Wu bent a small, pointed piece of rock from the ground, only a few inches long. He elevated it to the level of Kao's head.

"Where is he? I don't see him," Kao said, focused on scanning the darkness for shapes or motion. He did not turn around.

Wu grinned. "Oh, you'll see him." He thrust his fist out and the projectile sped toward its target.

Su's voice began to falter as she became increasingly unnerved by the silence. She more spoke than sang the song's last line.

"Bao bao kuai jang da" Baby grow up soon…

"I found him! Here's the one!" Wu announced to the Ban retainers the next morning. They were reeling from the death of their leader, and still grieving and enraged over the Du attack. Unless someone took charge and organized the clan quickly, it would not survive. The retainers were all looking for the culprit. They didn't know who could have killed their powerful leader, but many of them had suspected treachery.

Now, however, it seemed Wu had found the assassin. The men all gathered just outside the main door, from where Wu's voice came. He was dragging a Du member—the man he had spared and hidden in the field the night before—through that same field. "I caught him trying to escape through the crops," Wu told them, dumping the Du to the ground between the assembled Ban retainers and where the stalks began.

"No, listen, he—" the Du stammered at them.

"Shut up!" Wu said, socking him in the mouth. "Don't try to lie to us, you filthy Du! We know you killed our Mountain Master!" Wu drew his knife and seized the man by the chin.

He couldn't have killed Ti Xi. Look at him, Ying Su thought. She looked at the Du through eyes blurred with tears, but it was obvious to her that someone so weak-looking and scrawny could not have killed Ti Xi.

Su wanted to find Ti Xi's killer, perhaps more than anyone else there. But these men were career criminals, trained to take orders. They would choose the most convenient scapegoat. Su, with her tactical mind, would not allow herself to stop unti she ferreted out the truth.

She could not shut down her tactical mind. It seemed to her that, in addition to Ti Xi, all the most intelligent and most loyal retainers—beside herself—had been assassinated too.

Wu now moved in front of the man and lifted a knife to his face, obscuring Su's view of whatever violent action he was now taking. The Du retainer howled horribly though, and the Ban members cheered.

There's no way someone like him had the guts to kill a clan head. Besides, Su reasoned, the Du couldn't have known the location of the compound in the first place. If they had an assassination planned they wouldn't have attacked the place head-on.

Wu continued grandstanding for the men. "Let every clan in the city know the fate of those who harm—who think they can harm—our clan!" Wu kicked the man in the stomach. "Because we will move on from this tragedy. The Ban clan lives on! ...Unlike this pathetic Du!" One-Eyed Wu stepped back from the prone man. He got into a deep stance, beginning to earthbend.

Ying Su turned away. She needed to get herself and Zhengyi away from here as soon as possible. Zhengyi was his son, and she had only joined the clan because he had advocated for her. She didn't know what would happen to the two of them without him.

As she entered the house, she heard the Ban retainers cheer again. It drowned out the dying screams of that Du member. And she heard Wu going on: "As the ranking officer, I humbly take on the mantle of Mountain Master of the Ban clan. But the Spirits have been merciful to our clan, and the Ban family line has not been broken. An heir has been delivered to us just in time, and I will only be acting as a caretaker of this position, until our late boss's son is old enough to lead his clan."

Su froze. She knew who had killed Ti Xi.

The group of Ban lieutenants parted for Er Shi Wu as he left the corpse on the ground and strode into the house, brushing right past Su's shoulder. A few men disposed of the corpse while the others walked past the stock-still Ying Su to go about their business in the house. Wu picked up an apple from a bowl on a table and took a loud bite, staring at Su. The two of them were soon left alone in the foyer.

"I know you killed Ti Xi, Wu," Ying Su said in a hushed voiced, marching over to him. Wu could feel the venom in her voice, but he just calmly took another bite of his apple. "I know you revealed the location of the compound to the Du. You used them as a scapegoat while you killed Ti Xi so you could take over the clan and raise Zhengyi. You killed Ti Xi because his son is the Avatar, and you want to exploit his power for yourself," she said, adding confidently, "I figured it all out, Wu."

Wu applauded softly on the heel of his hand, still holding his apple, mocking her. He smiled wickedly. "Good. I know you figured it all out. I expected it. That's why I didn't kill you last night. See, you're a good strategist. I need you in order to keep winning battles with the other clans. That's why you're going to continue to advise me."

"I'll never help you! I'm going to expose you to the men right now," Su spat.

"Do you think they'll believe you? I worked for this clan for fifteen years, you've worked here for—what?—one-and-a-half? And you've been gone for the past seven months. Who do you think they're more loyal to?"

Ying Su dropped her eyes, realizing that he was right. Wu triumphantly took another bite out of his apple. Juice dribbled from his lips. "I know you were devoted to the boss. You looked at him as a father, like a Hei Chaoliu underling should. Now all that's left of him is his son." He wiped the juice from his chin. "So, if you expose me to the men, or sabotage me with bad advice, I'll lose my position, and then I won't need you or the Avatar anymore." He grabbed Ying Su's chin, forcing her to look at him, but he did not raise his voice. "If that happens, I'll kill you, and I'll throw that kid off the Wall." Wu paused, just staring the woman down. "From this moment on, you will do as I say. Am I understood?"

Su was crying for Ti Xi, but with Wu staring into her eyes she hated looking at all weak. She clenched her jaw, almost wanted to will her tears to draw back into her ducts. After a moment, with no other choice, she nodded. Wu took another crunching bite out of his apple, and it seemed so loud to Ying Su that she had to wince at it. "Go clean up the blood around here," Wu ordered her. Just then, Zhengyi began to cry upstairs. "—But take care of that kid first."

Wu walked off, eating his apple, and Su somberly trudged upstairs and into the nursery. She picked up the little boy and rocked him gently in her arms. She saw one pygmy puma cub napping in the corner, and Kao's baby girl still asleep in the next cradle. Su would have to leave her with her aunt at the abbey as soon as she could. She looked back at Zhengyi.

Wu thought he could control Zhengyi, but Su was Hei Chaoliu strategist. She knew something about controlling people as well, and she knew she could counteract Wu's influence. Wu thought he had already won, and Su knew that was why he was vulnerable. As she looked down at the young Avatar, bouncing him back to sleep in her arms, she began to formulate a plan. She would make Wu regret leaving her alive. She would bide her time, staying close to Zhengyi, making sure Wu never controlled him completely. She had missed her chance to save Ti Xi, but she would make sure she took her chance to avenge him, no matter how far in the future it came. She remembered Ti Xi's last orders, which honor and something more bound her to carry out: "Take care of him while I'm gone."

"Zhengyi…You will be your father's justice."