“You amaze me,” Ying whispered with a wide grin, but then he frowned.
“What?” ShaoShu asked.
“I just realized that Tonglong will have read this scroll. He will be familiar with the techniques shown in it. No matter. Knowing what the enemy knows is half the battle. Get out of here, my little friend. You have given me more than I deserve.”
ShaoShu beamed. He gave Ying a quick wave and scurried back down the drainpipe to rejoin Tonglong’s men.
Seh felt the newcomer’s stare from across the bandit camp. His flesh began to tingle, and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. While his vision continued to improve, he did not need his eyes to know who had just arrived. Only a dragon could project that much energy.
Seh bowed to the thirty spear-wielding students around him, and he dismissed them with a wave of his hand. The students returned the bow and hurried off.
Seh focused his gaze in the direction of the camp’s only trailhead. It was his brother Long, accompanied by NgGung, Hung, and PawPaw. They had two horse-drawn carts with them. Long handed the reins of one of the horses to NgGung, and he waved to Seh. Seh waved back, a smile on his face.
“You can see us?” PawPaw called out to Seh in an astonished tone.
“Yes,” Seh replied. “Your dragon bone treatment is working miracles. Thank you.”
“Excellent!” PawPaw said. “How much do you have left?”
“Between what you have given me and the large amount Hok brought, I believe I have enough to last three hundred and fifty years!”
PawPaw laughed. “That is good news. I suppose I will not have to worry about finding more for you, then. It is scarce enough as it is. Is your father here?”
“Yes. He is in his tent.”
“Very good. NgGung, Hung, and I need to speak with him immediately. I suppose you would like to visit with your older brother?”
“Nothing would please me more.”
Hung, NgGung, and PawPaw headed for a large tent in the center of camp, and Long came over to Seh. Long was grinning, but he had a strange expression on his face. He stared at Seh.
“It is good to see you again, Brother Seh,” Long said finally.
“Likewise,” Seh replied.
Long stared again.
“Is there something bothering you?” Seh asked. “My appearance, perhaps?”
“It confuses me,” Long said. “Your presence feels the same, but you look very different with hair. You resemble Tonglong from a distance, but now that I see you up close, you look a surprising amount like your mother. Not to worry, I will grow used to it.”
Seh frowned. “I do not wish to look like either one. You are not the first person to say these things. I am considering shaving my head like we used to at Cangzhen Temple.”
“Maybe you should, only then you may look like your father.”
“He is bald, but I will never look like him. No one does. Sometimes I wish I were more like Fu, who looks a lot like his father. And you should see Hok with her mother, Bing, as well as Hok’s little sister, GongJee. They all look alike, and they are all very nice individuals.”
“Are they here?” Long asked.
“Only GongJee is. Fu, Malao, Hok, Bing, and a few others have gone out on a reconnaissance mission to the bandits’ former stronghold. There has been a lot of activity reported in that area recently.”
“Tonglong’s troops?”
“We think so. Or at least a small portion of his troops. What it means for us is that we may have to move our camp—again. I have only been here a few months, and we have already moved three times. This camp may not look like much, but it is an unbelievable amount of work packing up and moving.”
Long nodded, and Seh watched him gaze from tent to tattered tent.
“There are a few hundred of us here,” Seh said. “But large groups of men join us every week. We spend nearly all of our time preparing for war—carving spear shafts, sharpening weapons, and forging pistol balls, even though we have few firearms.”
“It sounds hectic,” Long said.
“It is. It’s a tense, nervous environment, with everyone constantly on edge, waiting for the inevitable battle to begin. Sometimes I grow exhausted just watching everyone storm about, negative energy surging from their bodies like summer heat lightning.”
Long frowned. “Grandmaster once told me that it was like this around the time we were born.”
“My father told me the same thing. I now understand why he chose to give me up to Grandmaster, and why Hok’s parents eventually did the same thing. This is no place for children.”
Seh heard NgGung call out for them to come to Mong’s tent, and Long said, “That was fast.”