Chapter 15
Chapter 15: Tiger Chase
Grandpa Ling moved fast, knocking out the fangs from the five wolves first. Those were worth the most.
He only skinned one pelt and rolled it up. The rest of the wolf meat he cut into big chunks and threaded onto vine cords.
He stared at the remaining four wolves with pure regret.
There was no time.
They had to abandon them.
“Hurry. To the creek. We’ll roast wolf meat,” Grandpa Ling said, hauling Jin An along.
Jin Sui kept pace, but when she glanced back, she saw hyenas already circling in, yellow eyes gleaming.
She hesitated for only a heartbeat, then made her choice and called to Grandpa Ling, “I dropped something, Grandpa. You go on first. I’ll catch up.”
She spun and sprinted back to the carcasses, then swept all four wolves into the pocket space in one go.
Damn it.
She’d nearly broken her back killing those wolves. Why should she feed them to hyenas?
When she caught up, they were already at the stream.
Jin Sui took over the cooking.
Grandpa Ling hurried to rinse the wolf pelt clean while she set a pot to boil and started stewing the meat. She found wild scallions and a few sharp-tasting greens that could pass for seasoning, but without cooking wine or spices, there was nothing to cut the stink.
The stew turned out rough. The gamey smell was strong, and the meat was tough and dry.
Even so, to three people who hadn’t had meat in a long time, it tasted better than roasted grasshoppers and silkworm pupae.
Jin An ate until his lips shone with grease.
Grandpa Ling chuckled, eyes creasing.
“Slow down. This will last us days.”
While they ate, Jin Sui quietly rubbed salt into the leftover meat. She didn’t want Grandpa Ling noticing just how much salt she had, so she cut the meat into smaller pieces, wrapped them in broad leaves, and slung only a few on her back.
Most of it went into her pocket space.
She would carry a handful for the road, then slip more out later when it was time to cook.
Less weight, fewer questions.
After that wolf-killing battle, Jin An’s fear faded fast. He even joked that if wolves came again, they could just kill them and eat.
From then on, he carried the bamboo pole and long blade at the front, clearing the way. Grandpa Ling taught him where to strike: where the bone was thin, where a bite of steel could end the fight.
Then, in broad daylight, the wolves came again.
No one expected the wolves in these deep mountains to be that bold. At high noon, they still dared to close in.
Worse, there wasn’t enough dry kindling nearby to light quickly.
Grandpa Ling sparked his fire starter and tossed it toward the pack, but it barely mattered.
The wolves kept circling, never retreating.
It was obvious the wolf king had decided the three of them were dinner.
So they used the oldest method of survival.
Run.
They ran so hard their lungs burned.
Jin Sui held her blade and cut a path, dodging wolves and scanning the ground for pits. The forest was full of traps—some made by people, some made by nature.
A fork appeared ahead.
The wolves were gaining fast.
Grandpa Ling yanked a branch from a tree and cast a quick reading, pointing into the valley on the right.
“That way!”
Jin Sui didn’t question him.
Grandpa’s readings were sometimes hit, sometimes miss—but when lives were on the line, his luck usually turned sharp.
The moment they entered the valley, a heavy stench slammed into them.
Not the fishy smell of water, but the hot, foul breath of a predator.
Jin An was still panting in disbelief.
“Grandpa’s reading really worked. They don’t dare come in!”
Jin Sui’s heart climbed into her throat.
“Why do you think they don’t dare come in?”
Before Jin An could answer, a tiger’s roar tore through the trees.
The wolf pack scattered in terror.
The three of them didn’t dare look into the brush to see the tiger.
They just ran, half out of their minds.
Jin An panicked and blurted, “Let’s climb a tree! Tigers can’t climb trees!”
Grandpa Ling snapped back while running, “They climb just fine! You’ll die faster up there!”
“I hear water!” Jin An cried. “Let’s jump into the pool!”
Jin Sui shot him a look even as she ran.
“Tigers swim better than you.”
The kid’s voice cracked. He was seconds from tears.
“Then what do we do? I don’t want to be eaten!”
Luck, for once, tilted their way.
The tiger went after the fleeing wolves.
That gave them a breath of safety—until another tiger, smaller but still terrifying, burst from the brush, roaring as it charged them.
Jin Sui kept glancing back, trying to judge its distance while her mind raced through her pocket space.
Did she have anything—anything—that could stand against a tiger?
She also had to keep Grandpa Ling and Jin An from falling behind.
For one careless moment, she didn’t probe the ground with her blade.
Her foot hit empty air.
Loose stones slid out from under her. They clattered down, then splashed—one, two, three—into a deep pool below.
Her stomach dropped.
She caught a vine at the cliff edge just in time.
Grandpa Ling grabbed her hand, and Jin An lunged in, clutching her sleeve so hard his knuckles turned white.
And then the tiger leapt.
A massive head filled Jin Sui’s vision, so close she could see the orange-gold of its eyes.
Its paws came down—aimed straight at Jin An, as if it could tell who would taste better.
Jin Sui reacted on instinct.
She yanked her brother toward her.
The vine couldn’t hold two people.
It snapped.
With Grandpa Ling still gripping them, all three screamed as they went over the edge.
Thank heaven the cliffside was tangled with more vines.
Hands grabbed. Feet hooked.
They swung and jolted, catching themselves in a mess of green.
Above, the tiger paced the rim, roaring and snarling.
It didn’t jump down.
Grandpa Ling, grim as stone, snatched up the long blade that had fallen with them. He hacked at the vines around their feet, then cut the vines beneath them, lowering them little by little.
It was slow, brutal work.
But bit by bit, they slid down until their feet finally touched the bottom.
Other than thorn scratches—and Grandpa Ling twisting his ankle—none of them were badly hurt.
Grandpa Ling pressed Jin An’s head down and made him kneel and bow.
“Thank Madam Jiang,” he said, voice rough with emotion.
He swore it was Madam Jiang’s protection that let them escape wolves, escape tigers, and even survive a fall off a cliff.
Jin Sui almost believed it.
Who would ever believe this story, if she told it?
She knelt by the pool too and prayed under her breath.
Whether it was Madam Jiang or any passing spirit, please—please let us leave the Xiao Han Mountain Range safely.
In the soaked grass, they found patches of tough ground fungus. In rotten logs, they pulled out wood ear mushrooms.
Add that to wolf meat, and their meals turned rich almost overnight.
Grandpa Ling’s ankle needed rest.
After Jin Sui was sure the tiger wouldn’t leap down after them, she decided they would stay two or three days.
Grandpa Ling cast another reading with solemn, post-disaster seriousness.
He declared it great fortune.
“The road ahead will go smoothly,” he said.
The siblings exhaled at once.
Jin An even muttered, “We don’t need smooth. Just no more wolves or tigers.”
Jin Sui thought, bitterly amused, that her mountain trek here was more intense than everything she’d lived through before.
Jin An was scared afterward, but once he believed they were safe, his childish side flared up. He even found it thrilling.
He said, again and again, that compared to being escorted into exile by constables, he would rather stay in the deep mountains, killing wolves and dodging tigers.
Then his excitement drained away.
His face tightened with grief and hatred.
“But I want to get back to Chang An. I want to clear Father’s name.”
Jin An and Grandpa Ling traded a look.
Neither spoke.
Jin Sui changed the subject, sending Jin An to fetch water, then knelt to treat Grandpa Ling’s ankle.
The medicine came from her pocket space, but she mixed it with local herbs to hide it.
Grandpa Ling couldn’t tell.
He just stared in wonder.
“Who knew this valley had such good herbs for injuries,” he murmured.