Alden felt almost like he was watching himself from afar as he stared at the severed digit in his hands. As the situation dawned on him, he rather expected himself to fly into a burning rage. But as he studied his own emotional state with a curious sense of detachment, he realised what he felt was a kind of cold fury. It was as if someone had poured ice into his veins… Still feeling like he was standing a few feet behind his own body and watching himself act, Alden carefully put down the severed digit and brought out a sheaf of paper and a pen. He had plans, of course, but he hadn’t expected things to happen so quickly. He had wanted time to prepare, time to confirm the information he was basing his decisions on, time to take additional precautions in case something went wrong. Acting now would mean leaving far more to chance than he liked… Alden hastily scribbled down a very simple last will and testament. It was hardly a proper legal document, but he felt fairly confident that if any legal dispute arose, Lucille would probably do something to ensure that his wishes were honoured. Not that he was planning on dying anytime soon, but just in case things went wrong, he had to make sure his family would be taken care of. Especially since he didn’t yet have any sort of legal connection to any of his children. Leaving the hastily penned document where he was sure it would be found if people looked through the apartment, Alden went over to the safe and started looking at the various vials hidden within it. For a moment, his hand hovered over one specific vial, but then he shook his head. Instead, he pulled out two of the vials contained within and downed the contents, trying not to grimace too much at the taste. Then he pulled a third vial from the safe, closing and locking it properly before heading over to his desk with the vial still in hand. Working quickly, he penned a series of notes and placed each one of them in an envelope, marking each envelope with a symbol. In one of the envelopes he placed the vial from the safe, and in two of them he placed a ten-pound coin. He had only just gotten done sealing the envelopes when the door to the apartment opened and Ember walked in. “Papa, are you all right? Was there something bad in that message you received?” Alden smiled, feeling just a touch of warmth amid the cold fury that gripped his mind. “You’re pretty perceptive aren’t you, Ember? The truth is, something very important came up, and I’m going to have to leave as soon as possible. But there’s something I need your help with.” “What do you need, papa?” “I need you to take this envelope down to Tiffany. Hand it over to her when she’s in the storeroom or somewhere else way from the windows. Then you need to take these envelopes and hand them to one of the Rascals. It has to be someone you trust to carry out important tasks, and someone you can meet with in an out-of-the-way place where you wouldn’t usually go to meet with Rascals. The envelope with the triangle on it is for that Rascal, and it has instructions inside for what to do with the other two envelopes. Think you can do that for me?” “Of course, papa.” “Thank you, Ember. The faster you can get this done, the better. And when you’re done, go somewhere that wouldn’t be unusual for you to spend your day, but not to The Place, understood?” “All right, papa.” Alden smiled and went to hand the envelopes to Ember, but before he could do so, the child caught him in a sudden hug. “Come back safe, papa.” “Make that very perceptive. I’ll be as careful as I possibly can, Ember.” Ember did not appear particularly mollified, but they did let go of Alden and took the proffered envelopes. After fondly tousling Ember’s hair, Alden left the apartment and then headed out of the tinctury entirely. He needed to give Ember some time to set things into motion, so he decided to make his way to Shimmer Place on foot. If he hurried as much as he could without standing out, it would be about a three hour journey. Part of him worried that taking a full three hours to get there might be pushing it, but if the preparations weren’t complete by the time he arrived… Alden pushed his doubts aside with a shake of his head. If Robert Smith had looked into Alden’s past, he shouldn’t be too surprised about Alden going places on foot. After all, until very recently, Alden had never used cabs or taken the tram if he could avoid it. Besides, if Smith had someone watching him, they’d easily be able to tell that he was hurrying over to Shimmer Place without stopping to talk to anyone. That ought to be enough. No, that had to be enough. He didn’t really have any other options. The front entrance to Shimmer Place was, quite frankly, rather gaudy. Though the back of the house revealed a fairly straightforward brick construction, the facade was clad in marble which, owing to some entirely unnecessary gold leaf decoration, quite lived up to the building’s name. Not that Alden had much time or energy left to critique the architectural failings of the place. Quite frankly, the hurried three-hour walk had done Alden no favours, and his stomach was roiling from the contents of the two vials he had downed before leaving his apartment. Despite the exertion, he felt chilly enough he had to actively keep himself from shivering. His skin was clammy with a cold sweat, and he was completely certain that he looked rather pale. Then again, given the circumstances, looking a bit haggard and ill at ease probably wouldn’t seem out of place. After taking a deep breath and schooling his features, Alden knocked on the door. Almost immediately, it was opened by a Han man in his late thirties. The man looked like a rather rough sort. He had several scars across his face, and even though he was dressed like a domestic servant Alden immediately spotted the bulge in his clothing that indicated a concealed weapon. The man didn’t say anything, but he motioned for Alden to step inside. As soon as the door closed behind Alden, two more rough-looking Han men stepped out of the shadows and proceeded to search Alden rather thoroughly. Not that there was anything much to find. A comb, a very modest coin purse, a small case containing a copy of his license to practice medicinal tinctury… Alden had made absolutely sure not to carry anything remotely suspicious. It took some time before the Han toughs were satisfied that he carried nothing threatening, and Alden honestly felt a little violated by the end of it. Then again, surely anybody would feel violated after being forcibly stripped down to their undergarments. But thankfully Alden was allowed to get dressed once again and generally tidy up his appearance a little before they led him further inside the house. In the end, the guards rather brusquely escorted Alden to a large office, although quite frankly it looked more like a place to show off than a functional workspace. The room was clad in fine stone tiles, and the furnishings were spaced far apart in a way that was clearly intended to highlight the sheer size of the room. There was even a rather ornate tea table over by one corner of the space. In fact, the sight of that tea table was rather heartening to Alden. It stood far apart from the walls and other furnishings, but the marks on the floor and walls suggested that the table usually stood on a rug of some sort and some kind of paintings or other wall decorations would normally be hung up around it, but that those had very recently been removed. But he didn’t spend too much time considering this apparent change in the room’s décor or its implications, because that was when he spotted Mei Jing. The girl sat bound and gagged in a chair in the far corner of the room, and seemed to be either unconscious or asleep. Thankfully he could see that she was still breathing, but the moment he spotted the blood-stained bandage around the stump of her left little finger he felt that cold fury flooding back, pushing aside the fatigue and nausea. Alden started walking towards the chair, but he’d only taken a few steps when a voice sounded from behind him. “Do mind yourself, Mr. Stowe. It would be a shame if I had to kill you too soon.” Turning around, Alden spotted a new face standing in the doorway. He was probably around Alden’s age, although a less observant person could easily have mistaken him for someone younger. The fit of his finely tailored suit suggested an athletic, well-muscled frame beneath, his skin was smooth and well cared for, his moustache was neatly trimmed in the latest fashion and his grey eyes shone with a steely determination. The only thing betraying his true age was the faint strands of grey in his neatly coiffed red hair. “So, you would be Robert Smith, I take it?” “Just so. Do take a seat at the tea table, Mr. Stowe. The seat by the wall.” With a glance at the two Han guards flanking the man, Alden walked over to the indicated seat, making a slight show of reluctance as he did so. Although in truth, the actual source of his reluctance was the fact that he had no choice but to play along with Robert Smith’s performative civility. After Alden sat down, Robert Smith took the seat opposite. Given the size of the table, it would take quite some doing to get from one seat to the other. It was too far to lunge over the top, and even at speed it would take several seconds to get around the table. “My word, Mr. Stowe. Sizing up the length and width of the table? Well, then. Let me make our positions clear.” With a rather annoying smile, Robert Smith pulled a pistol from his jacket pocket. “I am rather well versed in the use of this weapon, and I will be keeping it close to hand. If you should get it into your head to attack me, I can promise you you’ll be dead before you reach me. I would much prefer not to, of course. It would be such an artless way to end things.” “And what do I get if I cooperate?” “Simple enough. If you cooperate, I will not kill the girl after I kill you. Nor will I go after your tinctury assistant, who you seem rather fond of. Should you fail to cooperate, I will simply kill all three of you.” Alden noted that the man hadn’t said anything about Ember, which was rather heartening. After all, it suggested that Robert Smith had only outdated or incomplete information to work with. Not that Alden allowed his relief to show on his face. “And what guarantee do I have that you’ll keep your word?” “Why, absolutely none, of course! But really, Mr. Stowe, do you have any option other than to trust me?” “No. No, I suppose I don’t.” “Very good. With that out of the way, let’s have a civilized talk. It does get so crowded with guards in the room. But rest assured, they will be just outside the door, ready to come if I call for them.” He turned and snapped off a few words in Han language, causing the two rough-looking fellows standing behind him to leave the office and close the door behind them. “There, isn’t that much better? I must say, Mr. Stowe, you do look absolutely terrible. For all that you seem quite furious with me, your pale, clammy complexion makes you look rather frail. It’s honestly something of an eyesore.” Alden shot Robert Smith an entirely unfeigned glare, but he nevertheless chose his words carefully. It wouldn’t do for his adversary to think something was amiss, after all. Fortunately, he had a perfect excuse for why he might be breaking out in a cold sweat. “Why, you’d almost think I was being confronted with my imminent demise.” The dry sarcasm combined with the slight quaver of Alden’s voice seemed to coax a genuine laugh out of Robert Smith. “Hah! Oh, but you are a wit, Mr. Stowe. And defiant to the end, even in the face of your own death. That makes this so much more satisfying.” “What have you done to Mei Jing?” “The girl? Well, besides cutting off her finger, I decided it would be best to put her to sleep. The abuse she was hurling towards my poor staff was really quite shocking. I have a fairly solid grasp of the language of Han, but even I didn’t understand some of the words she used. They clearly disturbed the men I assigned to guard her, however.” “How did you put her to sleep, exactly?” “A tincture of ginseng and chamomile. We administered it just before we took her finger.” “And how much?” “A double tincturer’s measure.” Alden frowned. A double measure of ginseng and chamomile was a lot for a child as small as Mei Jing, but it shouldn’t be directly harmful. He couldn’t even begin to guess how long it would keep her asleep for, however. Especially not when coupled with the pain of an amputated finger. “I suppose that is acceptable. At least you had the brains to gag her and position her head in a way that lets her saliva dribble from her mouth rather than risk her choking on it.” “Now now, Mr. Stowe, is that any way for a man in your position to speak?” “It’s exactly the way for me to speak. I’m dead either way, so all I can do is try to make sure Mei Jing won’t be harmed.” Robert Smith chuckled. “Your determination really is quite impressive, Mr. Stowe. It’s a shame you had to get involved with my business. If you’d just stayed out of my way, you might have had a rather long and successful life. But after giving me so much trouble, there simply was no way I could let you live. Oh, but where are my manners. You must be quite thirsty by now. Let me call for some tea.” With a superior smirk, Robert Smith pulled a hand bell from his pocked and rang it loudly. Shortly thereafter, Chao Xing opened the office door and hurried up to Robert as fast as her feet would allow. To the girl’s credit, she only shot Alden a brief, worried glance before she turned to Robert Smith. “How may I serve you, Master Smith?” “Make us a pot of tea. The best we have. It is a special occasion.” The girl bowed deeply before hurrying from the room. Robert Smith watched her retreating form with a rather unpleasant smile. “I have to say, I originally only involved myself with the Han government as an inroad to securing trade advantages. But as I’ve learned more about them, I’ve come to rather admire their culture.” “I don’t particularly want to hear whatever unpleasant opinion of women you might hold that would spark such admiration.” Robert Smith huffed in mock offence. “You wound me, Mr. Stowe. What I admire about the land of Han has nothing to do with gender and everything to do with strength. Unlike the Queen, the emperor of Han doesn’t waste potential and resources by coddling the weak.” “I shudder to think what you might consider ‘coddling’.” “Oh, so many things, Mr. Stowe. The labour reforms, the child welfare laws, the royal orphanages and publicly funded schools. Enormous amounts of labour and money are wasted on coddling the weak, to say nothing of the opportunity costs to business owners.” “Some would call that basic human decency.” Robert Smith scoffed scornfully. “The strong will always exploit the weak. That is the natural order of things. Trying to stand in the way of that is wasteful at best and sheer folly at worst.” Alden had a great deal of trouble thinking of any way to reply to that assertion that wouldn’t break the veneer of civility this peculiar interaction rested upon. Fortunately, he was spared the trouble as Chao Xing returned with a tray that held a small pot of tea and two cups, both made from beautifully painted Han porcelain. She set down the two cups and poured the tea, but when she made to leave, Robert Smith held up a hand. “No no, you can stay. Your presence lends itself rather well to the overall décor of the room. Besides, it will be an educational experience for you, I’m sure. And my guest does so seem to care for the education of unwanted children.” Alden saw Chao Xing’s fingers tightening around the corners of the tray, but she nevertheless bowed deeply in response. “Of course, Master Smith.” Robert Smith smiled and pulled a large vial from a pocket. Alden immediately recognized the milky purple liquid inside it. “I see. So, that’s how we’re doing this?” “But of course. As much of a shame as it might be to ruin the flavour and fragrance of your last cup of tea, the sheer poetry of it makes this particular method of execution too good to pass up, don’t you think?” Alden said nothing as Robert Smith poured a rather generous measure of the burning drug into Alden’s cup. Enough to make a man Alden’s size combust within a matter of minutes. With a triumphant smile, Robert Smith picked up his cup and motioned for Alden to do the same. “Good game, Mr. Stowe. You were a cleverer adversary than most I encounter. And though it’s a shame to treat a tea as good as this in such a cavalier fashion, bottoms up.” As asked, Alden drained his cup in a single swig, his mouth and nose rebelling at the unpleasant combination of flavours and odours. Fortunately, the tea wasn’t hot enough to burn. He set the cup down with a grimace as he watched Robert Smith drain his cup in a slightly more sedate manner. “Truly vile.” Alden opined. “I would imagine so. While the fact that the end result can be written of as simple spontaneous combustion is very practical, the intensity of scent and flavour does make the burning drug a slightly inconvenient poison at times.” Alden shuddered as waves of nausea gripped his stomach, but he tried his best to act as a man in the thrall of a rising sanguine humour. Which was challenging, since it was all he could do not to shiver with cold. “As a murder weapon, it does seem rather stupid. Did you really think nobody would notice if prominent academics started bursting into flame left and right?” “Given that I was only asked to eliminate six people, I simply figured I’d use the burning drug until people got too suspicious before taking care of the rest in some more traditional manner. It’s not as if the burning drug was created as a murder weapon in the first place.” “Then why was it created?” “As a means of harvesting phlogiston, of course. Wood-burning operations are slow and inefficient, but with the proper use of the burning drug, a single adult man can yield more usable phlogiston than two tons of lumber. And while the Han empire has been suffering a lumber shortage for decades, they certainly have no shortage of disposable human beings. Prisoners of war, criminals, vagrants. One simply has to admire a regime that understands how to turn useless waste into valuable resources.” Alden had to struggle not to retch, and he wasn’t sure how much of his nausea was caused by the various substances working at cross purposes within his body and how much of it was caused by the disgust he felt towards the sorry excuse for a human being that sat across from him. But he couldn’t afford to let his real symptoms show at this stage. Alden needed Robert Smith to believe that he was truly in the throes of the burning drug. He also needed the man to be distracted for a few crucial moments, just until the firearm was no longer a threat. And so, Alden marshalled all the strength he could dredge up to put on the performance of a lifetime. Robert Smith’s lifetime, specifically. “I can honestly say that I have never in my life had the misfortune of encountering a living creature more detestable than yourself, Robert Smith! Your actions and ambitions are almost as vile as your utter disregard for human life! Had I only the chance, I would gladly leap across this table and strangle you to death with my bare hands! Your mere existence is a blight upon this nation and this world, and the moment you draw your final breath, all of creation shall be just a little bit more beautiful for it! But most of all…” Alden paused his wild gesticulations as he noticed a certain rigidity in Robert Smith’s posture. With a grateful sigh he slumped back into his seat, feeling thoroughly spent from the brief exertion. “Most of all I’m so glad that you’re exactly how I imagined you would be. Arrogant, cruel and utterly enamoured with your own cleverness. If you were a better man, this would never have worked.” Robert Smith struggled to reply, but he only managed a strained wheeze. His eyes were darting around wildly, but his posture was rigid and unchanging. “Don’t bother, Smith. My lovely daughter was kind enough to add a carefully measured dose of tincture of blue-green algae into the tea. It’s not fully odourless, but close enough for the scent to be largely drowned out by something as pungent as a fine green tea. And unless the proper antidote is present in your body, it acts as a very potent paralytic.” Robert Smith’s body trembled a little, but that was the only response. “Don’t worry. I made sure the dosage wasn’t a lethal one. Do try to focus on your breathing, though. If you forget yourself, your breaths may become so shallow that you pass out, and even a normally non-lethal dose of the tincture can lead to asphyxiation in unconscious people.” Alden’s body felt weak from the mixture of poisons and antidotes in his system. His skin was pale and slick with sweat, his muscles protested with every movement and he felt deathly cold even in this relatively warm room. But despite all that, he was full of a strange sense of energy, buoyed up by triumph and fury and sheer spite. “The sheer arrogance of you! You could have had me stabbed, shot, strangled, drowned. Your guards could have beaten me to death the moment I stepped into your home. But no, you wanted to see me burn. You wanted to look me in the eye as I suffered the same fate I was trying to protect others from. You even sent your guards out of the room, simply for the sake of achieving a better ambiance.” Robert Smith’s eyes had moved over to focus a glare at the door, and Alden chuckled weakly as he followed the man’s gaze. “Don’t bother. Your guards aren’t coming for you. You never once cared about how those men treated Chao Xing, did you? You had no idea how they may have bullied her when you weren’t looking. And you certainly didn’t know they had harassed her into making a whole urn of tea every time you asked for the best teas, so that they could all sneak a cup of the finer brews without your knowledge. They’re no better off than you, Robert Smith. And before long, my patron’s men will arrive here to take both them and yourself into custody.” With great effort, Alden stood up. Fighting off a dizzy spell that threatened to send him tumbling to the ground, Alden locked eyes with Robert Smith once again. “I could have dosed you with something lethal, you know. In fact, I’d probably be suffering less right now if I had. The antidote for blue-green algae poison is far from gentle, even compared to the antidotes for many lethal poisons. But since I was dosing your entire staff with the stuff, well… I couldn’t be sure that every last one of them deserved to die. Besides, I didn’t simply want to see you dead, Robert Smith.” He leaned in close, locking eyes with the paralyzed man. “I want to see you hang.” Another wave of icy chill shot through his body, and it was all Alden could do to step out of Robert Smith’s field of view before he started shivering. With tired steps, he started moving towards the chair where Mei-Jing was tied up. But after only a few steps, Chao Xing walked up next to him and put an arm across his back, clearly offering to help support him. “You… You don’t have to do that, Chao-Chao. Your feet…” “Let me help you, baba. You look like you could fall over any moment.” Alden wanted to argue, but in all honestly, he wasn’t fully confident he’d make it as far as Mei Jing’s chair on his own. In fact, he was so out of it that he didn’t even realize Mei Jing had woken up and was sitting upright until he started reaching out to untie her gag. When he did realize, his eyes widened. “Mei Jing! How long have you been awake?” “Since you drank the tea. I thought you would die! And when you didn’t, I thought you would kill!” Alden looked over to the chair were Robert Smith still sat, unable to move, unable to speak, simply trapped within his own immobile form until the Prince’s men arrived to take him away. Alden wasn’t sure how long that would take, exactly, but he wasn’t worried. After all, the effects of the poison would last for hours unless the antidote was administered. “I’m not that merciful. Not to scum like him.” Mei Jing nodded solemnly as Alden and Chao Xing worked together to untie her. Although in all honesty, Alden wasn’t that big of a help. His fingers were starting to feel rather numb. In the end, he only just managed to make his way out of the office supported on either side by Mei Jing and Chao Xing. Together, they walked past the paralyzed forms of the guards, finally making it to the front door after what felt like the longest walk in Alden’s life. “Where do we go, baba?” “For now, just to the street corner over there. I’m meeting someone.” And so, they haltingly made their way down the street. The moment they turned the corner, Alden saw Tiffany standing there, looking confused and more than a little worried. When she spotted Alden, she let out a shocked gasp. “Dad, what happened to you? You look terrible!” “And I feel even worse. Do you have the purgative I asked you for?” “I do, but what do you need such a strong purgative for? You’d need active nursing care not to dehydrate after taking something like this.” Alden didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he took the vial from Tiffany’s hands and gulped down the contents, much to her dismay. But Alden didn’t really listen to her complaints. He was much more focused on the sound of numerous carriages approaching at speed. It seemed the prince’s men were finally arriving. “It’s fine, Tiffany. I’m going to be hospitalized either way. I’m sure the people… the people coming here now are going to whisk me away to some hospital or other. When they do, I need you to tell them… to tell them that I’ve taken a triple dose of the burning drug antidote, a standard dose of blue-green algae antidote, a twice… twice lethal dose of the burning drug and a half-measure of tincture of blue-green algae. And the… the purgative just now. Tell them.” “Gods, Alden! What on earth possessed you to do something so…” But Alden couldn’t make out the rest of Tiffany’s complaint. His vision blurred and the sound of Tiffany’s voice turned murky and unintelligible. He just was just about able to make out the indistinct silhouettes of a group of men rushing towards him before the chill and weakness ravaging his body finally overpowered what little remained of his focus and he slipped into unconsciousness.