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What the hell had Fia done?

It was no wonder she had asked me to read it only once I was underway. Now there was nothing I could do about it. Shit! Irritation and impotence combined to form a twisting knot inside my stomach. I truly didn’t know what to make of it.

I read the letter again just to make sure I had gotten it right.

And then twice more until my anger started to quell.

I sensed the desperation in her words, but dammit did she have to go this far?

I sighed and stared at the quill again.

Maybe I’d been so caught up in my own head that I didn’t really give thought to how Fia might have been processing all of this. For me it was just another slog along my path, an obstacle that would either crush me or make me stronger.

She was in love with me and she didn’t know how this story would end.

Granted neither did I, but I just didn’t give a shit about death anymore.

But although my death no longer mattered to me, it mattered the world to her.

I guess I couldn’t blame her for wanting to take out some kind of insurance for our future family in case I failed. Hanging around with Yu Li and Su Ling for the last five months probably didn’t help with matters either. Still, it was a betrayal in some sense. We had agreed we would start a family together after we were married, but now she’d gone and advanced that all on her own.

It pissed me off the more I thought about it.

But she wasn’t wrong either.

If she would have asked me, I would have said no. There was no way I wanted our family to start like this. If I failed it meant I didn’t deserve her or my family in the first place. But now I was being forced into the situation regardless.

And that’s what really pissed me off.

The lack of control.

“Damn it, Fia…” I muttered. “Why’d you have to go and complicate things like this?”

But I knew the reason why.

She’d explained it clearly.

Yet, still it didn’t make sense.

At least not to me.

“Female logic, son,” I recalled my Dad telling me once, after he’d gotten into a fight with my mom. “Don’t try to understand it. Just put up with it or it’ll drive you crazy.”

I was only eight at the time, so I didn’t pay much attention to what my Dad had said, but now those words were ringing true like the edicts from a divine script. And in her defense, perhaps it was her own feelings of losing control that forced Fia to take such drastic action to protect her own future. I probably shouldn’t be surprised. That was the kind of woman I had signed up to marry, after all. A strong woman who could think and survive on her own if she had to, not a docile sheep who would simply let things happen to her.

But still, the thought that she feared I might fail hurt.

I shook my head to rid myself of the idea.

Perhaps I was reacting prematurely anyway.

Maybe she wouldn’t even get pregnant at all.

I suppose that’d be one way of testing the fates.

My soul wavered, still caught somewhere between denial and anger.

I knew why she did it, could understand even.

But I still didn’t like it.

Too much crap for one day, I thought finally.

Releasing another irritated sigh, I dimmed the light and forced myself to go to sleep.

* * *

I was still slightly pissed off the next day, and the day after that. I took my frustration out on the pervert Shen Liu, taunting him within his jail cell while I fed him his slop. He was anything if not predictable, falling prey to my taunts and riling up with anger, offering me ample sources to cultivate from.

But even that I couldn’t do all day.

Boredom set in.

Jakra assigned me more duties to keep my mind busy when I had asked. Cleaning the ward and even doing laundry.

“Make sure this doesn’t go missing,” he said to me, after giving me a spare uniform when I went to wash my own. “The inmates in here would kill to be mistaken for a Free Tribute.”

At first, I didn’t make much of what he’d said, but by my sixth day I truly did feel the envious stares I received from both the inmates and the small contingent of prisoner tributes on the lower floor as I walked by. I was the closest thing to being a freeman on this prison-bound vessel, it seemed.

I kept busy with daily exercise, performing my martial forms as best I could sans my weapons all while within the tiny confines of my prison cell. Shen Liu would scoff at me from afar, mocking my routine.

“How about a quick spar?” he said. “I’m sure I could get Jakra to arrange it.”

“You wouldn’t survive.”

He harrumphed. “I’ve crushed hundreds of egotistical fighter types like you. All muscle and no brains. You won’t last long where you’re headed anyway. You’re a dead man. You just don’t know it yet.”

His words suddenly made me think of Fia raising our unborn child alone and a surge of rage sparked my Flame. “You have no idea who I am. Or what I’m fighting for. You got that?” I grimaced at him with [Fear the Flame] and enjoyed the way his eyes widened with surprise even from thirty feet away. “You can go rot in hell ‘little finger’. You piece of shit.”

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I looked away, pushing the situation with Fia to the back of my mind, but it was no use. I was finding myself growing more and more resentful the more of thought of it. I finally retreated to the seclusion of my own mind to find solace, uniting with the Struggler and the Demon within.

I dare not ask them their opinions on the matter.

As I sat there in the darkness with me, myself and I, it dawned on me then that I truly had no one to discuss this with. I would have given anything to have a venting session with Gui Zu on the matter or better yet Kelsey. I chuckled at that. She would probably give me good advice. She always did. The pure Berserker response anyway.

What would Kelsey say about this? I wondered.

I then laughed out loud when I imagined her voice in my head. “Grow some damn balls and just deal with it, Max! Sheesh!”

Yeah, that would probably be Kelsey’s solution all right.

“The hell you laughing at?”

I stirred from my meditation to see Jakra standing in the doorway of my cell.

“Nothing,” I said.

He grunted. “Anyway, you’ve done good this week so I’ve got a surprise for you.”

I raised a brow at him.

“We have a last stop at a frontier outpost to offload supplies and pick up some prisoners. It’ll be your last chance for a good meal and some entertainment before hitting Du Gok Bhong. It’ll be a two hour stop over.”

That was the best news I’d heard in days.

“Sounds great.”

“We dock in thirty minutes,” he said. “Meet me downstairs and I’ll arrange an escort.”

“You heard that Shen Liu?” I called out to the pervert once Jakra had left. “I’m getting off this rock to get some real food.”

The anger that steamed off of him was immense.

“I hope you choke to death on it.”

* * *

The frontier outpost of T’vi V’jal was nothing like what I imagined it would be. Not that I had any reference for what a frontier space outpost should look like other than old Star Wars movies or something, but nothing could have prepared me for the winter wonderland that greeted me once I stepped through the cargo doors of the Xin Zha.

The freezing cold struck me as soon as I passed through the barrier, fresh snowfall drifting from a night sky full of stars. It was enough to make me pause amidst the bustle of commotion all around me as dockworkers and prison guards offloaded crates of unknown goods and supplies.

Where I had expected to see a sci-fi looking military complex made of pressurized tubes and vessels, there was instead a small town filled with wooden buildings and snow-capped roofs. Braziers filled with burning embers staved off the cold while chimneys wafted the smell of wood smoke through the air.

At the epicenter of the small city was a lake, its dark waters forming a perfect mirror for the deep starfield floating above. It was surreal. I couldn’t tell if we were on a small asteroid or a moon or something, but gravity seemed to feel normal. Clearly there had to be a large chunk of aetherite somewhere to provide the barrier that kept out the vacuum of space and heated the place enough to have liquid water and working gravity. I wasn’t even sure how any of that worked, but like everything else, the magic that was cultivation achieved far more than what science could.

“Come on,” Jakra said as he pushed me along. “Don’t waste your time gawking. You seen one outpost, you’ve seen ‘em all.”

But I did just that as I made my way through the mini-metropolis of what had to be twenty thousand people or more. The people themselves varied drastically in race and age. While most were Yee there were some sullied as well as a large number of the cat-eared Naja people who I’d mainly seen in the artisan district back home. The architecture was also surprising, appearing far more ornate and decorative than I would have expected for some place stuck out in the middle of nowhere.

Golden dragons adorned the edges of rooftops that were tiled with ornate jade shingles and in their mouth were lanterns that cast a warm grow on the streets below. Over the lake spanned a bridge that covered its entire width, which had to be close to half a mile. The glow of lanterns attached to its railing reflecting off the water, adding to the glow of warmth in the dark and cold.

“Who runs all this?” I asked.

“A Najian warlord known as Tsu V’jid,” Jakra said. “She runs this place as a safehaven for her people in exchange for the empire’s free use as a dumping ground.”

“A dumping ground for what?”

Jakra grinned. “You don’t want to know.”

We entered what seemed to be a redlight district of sorts with bars and brothels abound. The clientele looked like the scum of universe though, nasty types who looked as if they’d been stuck in the hold of a starship for far too long. This included a large number of the prison ship’s personnel it seemed. There had to be half the crew here already. By the way they filled the streets it was clear this kind of work was a major source of income for the barren piece of rock in the middle of space.

“If you care to wet your whistle, you’ll have to wait in line. Officers and imperial personnel first.”

“Not interested,” I said, balking especially at the low-tier quality of women available. But the guards didn’t seem to mind. “I’ll take a decent meal though, maybe some wine.”

Jakra chuckled. “Probably a smart choice. This way.”

Past the whorehouses we came to some bars and restaurants. Jakra picked one that didn’t seem too busy and then sat me down at a table. He called over a more junior looking guard and had him stand over me.

“Go on and order up,” Jakra said. “I’ll give you about an hour. The corporal here will escort you back. If you try anything funny or decide to go missing, we will find you. This place ain’t too big. And when we do get you, you’ll be returned to the vessel, but wearing a much different uniform, understood?”

I chuckled. “You don’t have to worry about me jumping ship. But I will bring back some leftovers, if you don’t mind?”

Jakra cracked a smile. “Sure. You can taunt Shen Liu with them on the last few days to Du Gok Bhong.”

He left then and I got to ordering.

After eating nothing but rice and tasteless tofu for the last six days, the thought of real food had my stomach rumbling. I ordered everything they had on the menu and the some, throwing in some extra silver for a bottle of rice wine. I encouraged the corporate to eat with me and after initially resisting, the smell of the food must have gotten to him and in no time were both smacking away with chopsticks on hot steam buns and noodles slathered in spicy sauce.

We didn’t speak, each of us famished for something with flavor.

It was perhaps about a half hour later when a guard came stumbling into the place shouting and screaming. “Hey! Is that the Free Tribute? Where is he?”

The guard eating with me dropped his chopsticks and stood to attention. “What! What is it?”

His colleague ignored him and looked directly at me. “Officer Jakra has called for you. You’re needed at the port immediately. There’s been an incident!”

“An incident?” But my Flame was already hinting as to what kind. I crossed my fingers. “An escape?”

“Yes! It’s your ward mate… Shen Liu.”

* * *

I could feel my Path extending itself before me as I raced behind the two guards. We pushed our way through the redlight district, that seemed to have thinned considerably now. When I reached the docks, I saw as to why. Half the ship’s crew had to be outside, scrambling about in chaos, perhaps recalled from R and R like I was. It took me a few more seconds to see the half a dozen bodies on the ground, limbs and necks twisted at odd angles.

Shit…

“He’s here!” the guard with me called out. “Officer Jakra!”

I came to a stop before Jakra who was conversing with several high-ranking members of the prison guard along with a woman who looked in her fifties, with graying hair and cat-like ears. The warlord Jakra had spoken of, I presumed. Tsu V’jid or something.

She looked pissed off and was yelling something at one of the prison ship’s commanders.

“You’re overreacting,” the commander, a bald man with a white goatee said. “We’ll have this small matter sorted out quickly.”

“You’re not leaving until you do,” Tsu V’jid said. “You’re supposed to be collecting prisoners! Not dumping them off!”

“He’s here,” Jakra said motioning to me. “The Free Tribute. He’ll deal with this.”

The woman Tsu V’jid narrowed her eyes at me and scoffed. “He’d better be capable. That man supposedly had his Qi disrupted and still he managed to kill all of these men. With body refinement alone!”

I read the play.

Shen Liu must have risked losing his Qi to slam himself against the cell door and break the locks. The bastard had to be strong indeed to accomplish something like that. The thought caused my Flame to stir.

“Where is he?” I asked.

“He ran towards the bridge,” Tsu V’jid said glancing over her shoulder. “He’ll be lost in the bowels of the city if he reaches the other side. You need to hurry!”

“Tribute,” Jakra said. “I commission you to apprehend Shen Liu. Remember he is a ward of His Imperial Majesty’s Prisons. It’s our job to delivery him to the safety of Du Gok Shang Prison… alive!”

I grinned. “Yeah, no problem, chief.”

“Corporal,” Jakra snapped. “Fetch him his weapons.”

I raised a brow. “I thought you said alive?”

“I didn’t say unharmed.”

I glanced out at the bridge and saw a blur of motion, someone running and pushing a bystander over the rail.

“No time,” I said, cycling my Frenzy. “Let me borrow that club.”

I snatched it from him before he could even respond.

As I tore through the snow-drench town a new thought occurred.

I still didn’t know what I was going to do about Fia, but I now had a physical therapy session to work out my frustrations in real time.

I couldn’t wait.