Chapter 34: A Voice
The goat’s blood was still running slowly through the shallow groove toward the dark soil. He did not turn immediately, the voice had been quiet for a while.
Yan wiped the knife clean against the goat’s hide before returning it to his waist.Only then did he turn.. but the courtyard was empty.
Moonlight stretched across the stone, the well stood silent.The training platform cast a long shadow, the storehouse wall cut the courtyard in half with darkness, but there is no one except Yan.
The night remained still. For a moment he wondered if he had imagined it.
Then his gaze lowered, Near the drainage channel, the thin layer of dust covering the stone had been disturbed.A single footprint was present, it looked fresh and sharp at the edges.
Too close.
Yan studied the mark for a moment then he looked up again. The courtyard was still empty.
"That was quite the show", The voice lingered in his mind.
The tone felt familiar.
Yan crouched beside the goat.The body was already growing heavy.He lifted it and carried it back toward the storehouse.
"Maa"
The livestock shifted uneasily as he entered. Hooves scraped softly against wood.Yan placed the body in the back pen and tied the rope loosely where the goat had stood before.
In the dim light, nothing looked disturbed, he closed the storehouse door.
Morning came quietly.
Dust drifted through the narrow beams of sunlight inside the storehouse.
Yan was already working when Ren arrived,
Taken from NovelFire, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Ren leaned against a wooden post and watched him tie rope for a moment.“Yan, your dark spots got bigger, you look like you are not sleeping well”
Yan finished the knot. “I am sleeping well ”
And stared back Ren whose dark spots were darker than his.
Ren shrugged..
“The sect feels strange today.”
Yan waited. Ren lowered his voice “Muchen was walking around the courtyard before dawn.”
Yan did not look up.
“I’ve never seen him patrol like that before,” Ren added.
Ren scratched his chin “He looked angry.”
Yan placed the rope aside.
“Help me with something,.. there’s a goat in the back pen,” he said.
Ren frowned.
“So?”
“Take it outside the sect,” Yan said.
“And bury it.”
Ren blinked.
“…Bury it?”
“Yes.”
Ren sighed.
“You’re making me do farm work now.”
Yan said nothing.
Ren walked toward the back pen.
"Maa"
"Maa"
He moved through the goats, arrived at the dead goat and crouched beside the body.
His hand brushed the animal’s neck.The fur was stiff with dried blood. He turned the head slightly.
There it was.
A thin cut across the throat.
Ren ignored and tied the rope around the goat’s hind legs.
As he lifted the body, his hand settled along the goat’s neck.His fingers pressed lightly against the cut.
Covering it.
“What am I even doing? Did not I join the sect for cultivation” he muttered.
He moved toward the courtyard gate.
He had almost reached the gate when a voice stopped him.
“What are you carrying?”
Ren turned.
The old ledger keeper stood a few steps away.
Ink stains darkened his fingers. His grey robe hung loosely from his thin shoulders.
His sharp eyes moved from Ren…to the goat.
Ren shifted his grip slightly, keeping his fingers pressed over the animal’s throat.
“Dead goat,” he said.
The old man frowned “Dead how?”
Ren tilted his head toward the storehouse.
“Found it this morning.”
The ledger keeper stepped closer.His gaze lingered on the body.For a moment Ren thought the old man might inspect the neck.
Instead, the ledger keeper snorted “Useless creatures,” he muttered.
“They die before we get any value from them, and they costs fortune" He waved his hand dismissively. “Take it...Take it away before it starts smelling.”
Ren nodded “Don't worry Ledgerer, Already planning to, I will bury the useless creature well”
He carried the body through the gate and out toward the outer path.
Inside the storehouse, Yan continued tying rope.
The memory of the voice returned once more "That was quite the show."Yan tried again to place it.
The tone felt familiar.
But the answer remained just beyond reach.
Yan tied another knot, kept his head down and decided not to dwell on the thoughts.
"Indeed, you are worthy, you are so undisturbed despite last night"
A voice just in front of him.
Yan looked up "You are.."