The news of Duke Du's escape spread through Yizhou like a fever. By the time Li Xun reached the prefectural compound the following morning, the streets were already buzzing with rumor and speculation. Some said the Duke had fled west toward the desert, riding a swift horse toward the lands beyond the empire's reach. Others claimed he had taken sanctuary in a temple, protected by monks who owed him decades of patronage. A few whispered that he had never left at all, that he was hiding somewhere in the town, waiting for his allies to spirit him away to safety.
Li Xun believed none of these stories. He stood in Deputy Prefect Chang's office, his head still bandaged from the attack two nights before, and listened as the constables gave their halting, embarrassed account of the escape. The guards assigned to the Duke's suite had been found drugged, their tea laced with a sleeping powder that the prefectural physician identified as a compound of valerian and opium. The Duke's bed was empty, his court robes folded neatly on the pillow. A single jade bead from his necklace lay on the windowsill, as if left deliberately, a mocking farewell.
"The bribed guards," Li Xun said. "Who were they?"
Chang's face was gray with exhaustion and shame. "Two men from the night watch. They disappeared with the Duke. Their families are being questioned, but they claim to know nothing."
"They claim." Li Xun's voice was flat. "The Duke has had twenty years to build a network of loyalists. Of course their families claim to know nothing."
He walked to the window and looked out at the town below. Yizhou was waking to a day that should have been ordinary: merchants opening their stalls, camel drivers leading their trains toward the caravanserai, children running through the dusty streets. But everything felt different now, the ordinary rhythms of life disrupted by the knowledge that a murderer was loose somewhere in the world.
"There is more," Chang said. "Zheng the Needle is dead."
Li Xun turned sharply. "How?"
"Poison. Sometime during the night, someone slipped a vial of hemlock extract through the bars of his cell. He was found this morning, cold and rigid. The jailers saw nothing."
"The Duke is cleaning house. He knows that Zheng gave us a full account of his crimes. This was revenge, and a warning." Li Xun's mind was racing. "Are Qian and Zhao still under guard?"
"They are. I have assigned four constables to each of them. But I do not know if it will be enough. The Duke still has allies inside the prefectural office. I have not been able to identify them all."
Li Xun turned back to the window. The Duke had escaped, and Zheng was dead, and the two remaining witnesses were in danger. The case that had seemed so solid only days before was crumbling around him, piece by piece. He thought of the documents spread across his desk: the Duke's journal, the prefect's letters, the widow's unsent plea. Evidence was worthless if the accused was beyond the reach of the court.
"We need to find him," Li Xun said. "Before he flees the empire entirely. Before he kills again."
"Where would we even begin to look? The Duke has resources we do not. He could be anywhere."
Li Xun closed his eyes and forced himself to think. He had spent weeks studying the Duke, reading his letters, tracing his movements, mapping his network of allies and dependents. The man was a strategist, a planner, someone who thought several moves ahead. He would not have fled without a destination in mind.
"His brother-in-law," Li Xun said suddenly. "There is a mention in the journal. The Duke's sister was married to a minor landowner in the western foothills. The marriage was unhappy, and the husband eventually withdrew from society. The Duke wrote that he had become a hermit, living in a cave somewhere beyond the border outposts."
"You think the Duke would go there?"
"I think the Duke is wounded and desperate and running out of allies. His network in Yizhou is compromised. His contacts in Chang'an are too far away. His brother-in-law is family, even if estranged. And a hermit's cave in the wilderness is a good place to hide."
Chang considered this. "The western foothills are vast. It could take weeks to search them."
"Then we start with the last known location. The Duke's journal mentions a place called the Red Ravine, where the brother-in-law had a hunting lodge before he retreated to the wilderness. If we can find the lodge, we may find a trail."
"I will assign a search party. Twenty constables and—"
"No." Li Xun's voice was sharp. "No constables. No soldiers. The Duke's allies are everywhere. If we send a large force, he will hear of it and flee before we arrive. This must be a small group, men we trust absolutely."
"And who do you trust absolutely?"
Li Xun thought of Qian and Zhao, the two witnesses who had risked their lives to testify. He thought of the widow Yuan, who had waited twenty years for her husband's name to be cleared. He thought of the dead, the silent witnesses whose voices he had tried to give back.
"I trust Captain Zhao. I trust Inspector Qian, though he is no fighter. And I trust you, Deputy Prefect, because you have burned your bridges with the Duke and have no choice but to see this through."
Chang's expression flickered with something that might have been gratitude or might have been fear. "That is a very small group to hunt a very dangerous man."
"The Duke is no warrior. He is an old man who has spent his life behind walls, paying others to do his killing. Without his network, he is vulnerable. We can catch him."
"Then I will prepare horses and supplies. We will leave at first light." Chang paused at the door. "There is something else you should know. The Imperial Inspectorate has responded to your report. An investigator is being dispatched from Chang'an. He will arrive within the week."
"Who?"
"A man named Wei, no relation to the forger. He is said to be thorough and incorruptible. If we can deliver the Duke to him, justice will be done."
Chang left, and Li Xun was alone in the office. He stood at the window for a long time, watching the town that the Duke had ruled from the shadows for two decades. Then he gathered his documents and went to find Qian and Zhao.
Qian was in his quarters, a small room in the prefectural compound that had been converted into a guarded cell. He looked up when Li Xun entered, his face pale and drawn.
"You have heard about the Duke," Qian said. It was not a question.
"Yes. And about Zheng."
"I heard that too. The Duke is tying up loose ends. We are loose ends, Li Xun. Zhao and I."
"Then we will stop being loose ends and start being hunters." Li Xun sat across from the grain inspector. "I need your help. You know the granary records better than anyone alive. The Duke's brother-in-law, the hermit. His name appears in the journal, but only briefly. I need you to search the old tax registries, the land grants, the marriage contracts. Anything that might tell us where he lived, where he might have gone, who his associates were."
Qian nodded slowly. "I can do that. But it will take time. The records are not well organized."
"Then start now. Zhao and I will prepare for the journey. When you have a location, we will ride."
He found Zhao in the armory, sharpening his sword with the careful, methodical strokes of a man who had spent decades maintaining weapons. The captain looked up as Li Xun approached, and his eyes held a grim satisfaction.
"I heard about Zheng," Zhao said. "I cannot say I mourn him. He was a killer and a torturer."
"He was also the only witness who could have corroborated our testimony against the Duke. Without him, the case depends entirely on the documents and on our word."
"Then we will make our word count." Zhao tested the edge of his blade with his thumb and nodded, satisfied. "You have a plan?"
"I have a destination. The Red Ravine, in the western foothills. The Duke's brother-in-law had a hunting lodge there."
"I know the place. It is two days' ride, through rough country. The lodge was abandoned years ago, but there are caves in the area, old mines and hermitages. It would be a good place to hide."
"Then we leave at first light. You, me, and Deputy Prefect Chang."
Zhao raised an eyebrow. "Chang? The man who spent years protecting the Duke?"
"The man who has finally realized that his only hope of survival is to help us. I do not trust him completely, but I trust his self-interest. And we need every sword we can get."
Zhao sheathed his blade. "I will prepare the horses. But Li Xun, you should know something. The Duke may be old, but he is not helpless. He spent decades on the frontier. He knows the desert and the mountains. And he will not surrender without a fight."
"I am not expecting him to surrender," Li Xun said quietly. "I am expecting him to face judgment. Whether that judgment comes from a court or from something else, I do not particularly care anymore."
He returned to his office and spent the rest of the day organizing his documents. The Duke's journal, the prefect's letters, the forged confessions, the payment vouchers. He packed them carefully into a leather satchel, along with a copy of his final report. If he did not return from the western foothills, someone would find the documents and know the truth.
As the sun set, he made one final visit. He walked to the eastern district and found the widow Yuan in her small house near the market. She received him with surprise and concern, her eyes going to the bandage on his head.
"You are hurt," she said.
"I am recovering. Madam Yuan, I came to tell you that the Duke has escaped. I am leaving tomorrow to find him."
Her face went very still. "You are going after him yourself?"
"I have no choice. If he is not brought to justice, everything we have done will be for nothing. Your husband's name will be cleared, but the man who ordered his death will walk free."
The widow was silent for a long moment. Then she reached into her sleeve and drew out a small object wrapped in silk. "Take this."
Li Xun unwrapped the silk. Inside was a jade amulet, carved in the shape of a pi disc, the traditional symbol of heaven. It was old and finely made, the stone a deep, translucent green.
"My husband gave this to me on our wedding day," she said. "It was his mother's, and her mother's before that. He said it would protect me. It did not protect him, but perhaps it will protect you."
"I cannot take this. It is too precious."
"You can and you will. My husband is dead, but his name has been restored. You did that. If this amulet can help bring you back safely, then it will have served a purpose greater than gathering dust in my cupboard."
Li Xun closed his fingers around the jade. It was warm from her hand, and smooth as water. "I will return it to you when this is over."
"Return yourself," she said. "That will be enough."
He walked home through the dark streets, the amulet heavy in his pocket. The stars were emerging overhead, cold and distant, and the wind carried the dry scent of the desert. Somewhere out there, the Duke was running. But Li Xun had been chasing the Duke for weeks, ever since he had found a dead jailer in an abandoned courtyard with a crude seal fragment on his chest. He would not stop now.
In his room, he packed a small bag with the essentials: dried meat, a water flask, a spare tunic, a coil of rope. He checked his knife and found it sharp. He laid out his documents and wrote a final letter to the Imperial Inspectorate, explaining where he had gone and what he intended to do.
Then he sat in the darkness and waited for dawn. The dead were patient, and he had learned to be patient too. But patience was not the same as inaction. The time for waiting was over. The time for hunting had begun.
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