The Yellow Silk - Don Bassingthwaite [89]
He let go of Li's shirt, went to the unconscious man, and pushed his head back against the wall. The pale face that turned up-eyes lolling half-open, mouth slack-was a ruin. And not from Li's fists. Scars marked his face. Some' seemed deliberate. Two short horizontal lines stood out under each eye and a double row of round dots marched across his forehead. The massive scars that tore across his cheeks and drew his lips into a twisted sneer could hardly have been intentional, though. Tycho touched one then the other. "Something went straight through," he said. He peered into the man's mouth. "He's missing a lot of teeth. His tongue… "He shuddered.
Li looked to the Hooded's interpreter. Seeing her master so savagely beaten had taken the fight out of her. He moved over and dragged her closer, tugging the makeshift gag out of her mouth. "What did that?" he asked. "An arrow."
Tycho grunted. "He's lucky, then. Higher, lower, farther back, different angle-he'd be long dead. No wonder he wore a hood and needed someone to speak for him." He frowned and ran his fingers across the dotted lines on the man's forehead. "Li," he said slowly, "I think I've heard of him. They called him the Stitched Man. He was a pirate." He twisted around. "He sailed with Sowl"
Li blinked and stared. "But in Telflamm, they said Brin was the last survivor."
"Shows what you know," spouted the Hooded's interpreter. Li growled at her.
"She's right," said Tycho. "If you think Yu Mao might still be alive, why not someone else from the ship?"
Li pressed his lips together and looked down at the scarred man then at Tycho. "Can you heal him like you healed me?"
"Not old scars like these."
"I mean can you wake him up?" Tycho nodded. Li picked up a sword. "Do it."
The bard turned back to the Hooded. Taking a deep breath, he placed his hands over the man's forehead and sang. The song was complex and soft. It was, Li realized, the longest he had heard Tycho sing since they had met-all of the other spells he had cast were short and either jarring or slippery and subtle. For a moment, he lost himself in awe. Tycho's voice wasn't quite as stunning as Veseene's, but it was still astonishing. And he chose to sing in taverns?
The song ended and Tycho stepped back. The bloody cut on the Hooded's head had vanished. His breathing was deep and regular. His eyes had slipped all the way shut.
Tycho reached down and flicked the end of his nose. The Hooded started. His eyes snapped open.
Li made sure that the first thing he saw was the end of his sword. The Hooded's eyes rose to meet his. They narrowed sharply and flicked to the side and found his interpreter. He said… something. The words came out mangled, a harsh string of sounds twisted by a scarred tongue. Li could guess at their meaning though. He hissed and flicked the sword. "She's fine," he said in Common. "You just answer my questions."
The man's eyes narrowed again as if he had not expected Li to speak the language. Li could have cursed himself-all of the silences that he had thought were Yu Mao's stunned surprise were just moments of confusion. The Hooded simply didn't speak Shou. "What's your name?" he said harshly. "No 'Hooded' or 'Stitched Man.' I've had enough of that."
The man grumbled something and, across the room, his interpreter said, "Staso."
Li shut her out, focusing on the scarred man. "You served on a pirate ship called the Sow." Staso nodded slowly. "What do you know of a Shou named Kuang Yu Mao?"
Staso growled and spat. Li caught the spittle on the blade of the sword and flicked it back at him. "I said what do you know-" Staso cut him off with a snarling response.
"I see him in your face. Take your revenge and kill me now because I'm not going to tell you anything about that serpent!"
Serpent? "I came west to kill my brother, not you," Li snarled back. "Tell me what I want to know and you'll live."
Tycho winced. "Li, that might not be such a good idea… " Li ignored him and met Staso's hard gaze.
"When I sent his name up to you," he guessed, "you told your man to