The air in the sewer junction froze. The sputtering torch cast long, dancing shadows that made One-Eyed Jack's patch seem like a black, empty socket into another world. His single eye, sharp and weaselly, was fixed on Li Xun with an unnerving intensity.
"I know you," the smuggler repeated, his voice a low, triumphant rasp. "The royal hunt. Five years ago. The whole capital was abuzz. The glorious Crown Prince, thrown from his horse. They said you'd never walk again. I was there, in the lower vantage, selling watered-down wine to the servants. I saw your face as they carried you away. It looked just like it does now. Like you want to burn the world to the ground."
Gao Lian took a sharp step forward, her hand dropping to a pouch on her belt. "You're mistaken, Jack. You've been breathing in too much of your own filth. This is just a client. A wealthy merchant."
Jack laughed, a dry, grating sound. "A merchant? Don't insult my intelligence, Gao. No merchant has eyes like that. And no merchant's face is on a decree offering a thousand taels of gold for his head." He looked from Li Xun to Yingluo, a greedy, knowing smirk spreading across his face. "And her. The Duke of Zhenning's traitor daughter. Oh, my. This is a better haul than a spice caravan from the west."
Shen Miao's sword was half out of its scabbard, her body coiled to strike. "One more word and I'll cut out your tongue so you can't speak any more of them."
"You can try, pretty girl," Jack sneered, his own hand now firmly on the hilt of his wickedly curved knife. "But my men are on the other side of that gate. And I scream much louder than you fight."
The situation had collapsed in an instant. Their carefully planned escape, their bargain with the devil, had just been upended by a smuggler's memory. They were trapped, a thousand taels of gold hanging over their heads, and a knife at their throats.
But it was Li Xun who broke the suffocating tension. He didn't move. He didn't raise his voice. He simply stood there, his cane planted firmly on the grimy ground, and looked at Jack with an expression of utter, chilling disdain.
"A thousand taels of gold is a great deal of money," Li Xun said, his voice quiet, yet it carried through the tunnel like the tolling of a funeral bell. "But it is also a great deal of trouble. To collect it, you must go to the Third Prince's men. You must tell them how you found the Crown Prince. You must explain your connection to Gao Lian, the Phoenix of Shadow Alley. You will have to prove your loyalty, and then you will have to watch your back for the rest of your short, miserable life, because a man who would betray a prince for gold is a man who can be bought by anyone."
He paused, letting the words sink in. "You are a rat, Jack. You thrive in the shadows because you are forgotten. To be the man who captured the Crown Prince… you would not be forgotten. You would be famous. And a famous rat is the first one the nobleman's cat hunts."
Jack's smirk faltered. The logic was cold, irrefutable. He was a survivor, and Li Xun had just painted a vivid picture of his own gruesome end.
"So what?" Jack snarled, trying to regain his bluster. "You expect me to just let you pass? For what? Your gratitude?"
"I expect you to make a smarter investment," Li Xun countered smoothly. "A thousand taels is a one-time payment. A death sentence is a permanent one. I cannot offer you gold right now. But I can offer you something the Third Prince cannot. I can offer you a future."
He leaned forward slightly, his gaze pinning Jack in place. "When I am back on the Dragon Throne, the man who helped me escape the capital will not be a sewer rat. He will be the lord of the southern trade routes. All of it. Smuggling, legitimate caravans, the salt tax, the silk road. You will have a title. You will have land. You will have more gold than you can dream of, and you will have the power to keep it. You can die a rich man in a soft bed, or you can die a traitor in a ditch. The choice is yours."
It was a mad, audacious promise. The promise of a fallen king. But in the oppressive darkness of the tunnel, spoken with the absolute conviction of a man who believed his own destiny, it sounded terrifyingly possible.
Gao Lian, seeing Jack wavering, stepped in. "He's offering you the sky, Jack," she said, her voice sharp and pragmatic. "I am offering you something more tangible. The gold we agreed upon. Now. Plus this." She pulled out a small, carved wooden token from her pouch and tossed it to him. "A blood token. If he betrays you, I will personally hunt you down and feed your entrails to the sewer gators. If he keeps his word, you will be the most powerful man in the south. Take the gold, take the promise, and take the token. Or take your chances with the Third Prince and see which of us finds you first."
Jack caught the token, staring at the intricate carving—a coiled serpent. He looked from Gao Lian's cold, dead eyes to Li Xun's burning ones. He was a creature of greed, but he was not a fool. He could see the writing on the wall. The Third Prince's bounty was a trap. Li Xun's promise was a risk, but it was a risk with a limitless upside.
"Fine," Jack spat, his voice thick with reluctant defeat. "I'll take you. But the deal has changed. I'm not just opening a gate. I'm taking you all the way to the southern pass. And I'm keeping the boy."
"No," Yingluo said, the word torn from her throat before she could stop it.
Jack's single eye swiveled to her, a cruel glint in its depths. "Ah, the little sparrow speaks. Yes. The boy is my insurance. You try to run, you try to double-cross me, and I'll slit his throat and throw him to the currents. He is my guarantee that your 'future' king keeps his word."
It was a brutal, logical demand. The boy was their most vulnerable asset, and therefore, the perfect collateral.
Li Xun's jaw tightened, a flicker of rage in his eyes, but he gave a curt, almost imperceptible nod. There was no other choice. "He stays with you. He is not harmed. When we are safely beyond the pass, he is returned to us. Unharmed."
"Agreed," Jack sneered. He turned and banged a complex rhythm on the iron gate. With a groan of protesting hinges, it swung open, revealing not the outside world, but another dark, foreboding tunnel, this one sloping steeply downward.
"After you, Your Highness," Jack said with a mocking bow, gesturing for them to enter.
As they walked past him, into the suffocating darkness of the new tunnel, Jack leaned in close to Li Xun.
"I hope you're worth the risk, my lord," he whispered. "Because if you're not, I'll make sure your death is very, very slow."
The heavy iron gate slammed shut behind them, the sound echoing like the final note of a dirge. They were out of the capital, but they had just traded a sewer for a snake pit, with a venomous smuggler as their guide and the life of the boy as the price of their passage.