Path of the Berserker

As we broke through the atmosphere and homed in on the prison of Du Gok Shang, a sense of nostalgia and déjà vu filled me. The towering spire in the middle of the sun-scorched desert didn’t look exactly like Du Gok Bhong but it was close.

It had been built to replace the older prison and from the materials alone that appeared to be the case. Where Bhong sported ancient stone walls, Shang looked to me made of a combination of black onyx and steel. Absent too were the lush orchards and fields that surrounded Du Gok Bhong, where most of the prison’s food was derived. Here there was only a thin sliver of grass land that encircled the base of the structure. But it didn’t appear the reason for that was the range of the prison’s aetherite crystal being smaller. It looked to be the same if not more. The difference was the footprint of the prison itself.

The place was massive, easily a hundred times the size of Du Gok Bhong. It was a mini metropolis with multiple towers surrounding the main spire. Jet black skiffs hovered off the edges, acting as floating sentry towers, with prison personnel clad in hooded, black and grey robes standing guard, their uniforms mirroring the motif of the prison itself.

Every once and a while, the blast of a Qi technique would go off, emanating from one of the prison guards to zap a group of stray Takrids that got too close to the barrier. Not that it looked like they needed to cull the creatures, judging by the thick steel armor of the prison’s base.

Maybe they’re just bored, I thought.

I knew sure as hell I would be sitting out there all day.

The thought reminded me of being a Black Robe back at Du Gok Bhong, waiting for that idiot Jai Su Long to do something while we were out in the field. Countless hours wasted doing nothing.

This looked worse.

As we touched down on a landing platform atop the central spire, a group of prison guards filtered out of a set of thick, steel doors to greet us. Up close I could see their dress was similar to that of Enforcers, with their faces completely masked. Leading them was a woman who showed her face openly in contrast, wearing a tight-fitting black uniform that looked similar to military dress. She looked in her fifties, slim, with jet black hair pulled back in a single plait. Her eyes were dark and shifted back and forth as she studied us with a dour-faced frown.

As we came to a stop before her, she wordlessly dropped to her knees and bent her head to the floor with a swift, almost choreographed kowtow.

“This one is known as Ying Zi,” she said. “Head Warden of Du Gok Shang and a Chief Stewart of His Imperial Majesties Prisons. This One is well pleased and honored to make your acquaintance, oh Duke Iron Bull.”

She spoke with a formal diction and tones that sounding like something Master Hei Dong would spout. I nearly felt pressured to respond in the same, but decided it was better to stick to being casual than come off like a fake royal, or worse yet an uneducated one.

Which I kind of was.

“Nice to meet you,” I said and then added, “Please stand,” when it looked like she wasn’t going to move otherwise. When she did so, she rose in that same fluid motion, like a dancer. She then greeted Ling Wei and Zin Tai in the same formal fashion. A few minutes later, Tai Su Long arrived via his own skiff and the formalities repeated.

“Welcome to your new prison,” Tai Su Long said to me with a smile. “I would assume you would like a tour of the facilities you are now responsible for, prior to getting down to business?”

The place looked huge and I wasn’t in the mood for a three-hour tour, but I suppose this came with the title now. “Yeah, let’s do it.”

“Excellent,” he said and then gestured to Ying Zi. “Madam Warden, please lead the way.”

“We shall start with the administration block,” she said matter of fact. “Please follow me Duke Iron Bull.”

* * *

Ying Zi was thorough but efficient, pointing out numerous things as we walked at a swift pace through the prison, but never spending more than a few seconds and even fewer words to describe what she was showing us.

“Meeting rooms.

“Mess hall”

“Officer’s quarters.”

It went on like that as we went lower into the facility. The guards who were with her said nothing and simply held open doors and flanked us like a security detail. When we got lower and into the actual holding cells, I knew that was exactly what they were there for.

The cleanliness of the prison officers block quickly devolved into a cesspool of grime, chaos and filth as we entered one of the main holding wings. A cacophony of wild yelling and screaming greeted us, along with the stench of unwashed bodies and decay. The space we were in was lined wall to wall with prison cells, each one housing a cluster of inmates. They yelled and screamed at the sight of us, throwing shit from their cells.

Literal shit from the smell of it.

It was enough to make me gag and Tai Su Long to raise the sleeve of his robes to his nose.

“Settle them down,” Ying Zi said and one of her guards ran to a pillar in the center of the room and pressed a crystal embedded in the stone. Instantly the yells of defiance became screams of pain. I couldn’t sense what was happening, but I was reminded of the weird, Qi disrupting cell they had put that pedophile ‘Little Finger’ in when I had to babysit his ass on his way to this place.

Buy the looks of it I did him a favor by sending him to Hell instead of here.

The screamed died down as everyone went from throwing shit to pissing themselves on the floor and falling unconscious. I had to use [Indifference] to keep the shock from showing on my face.

Ling Wei didn’t have such a skill and her wide eyes and dropped jaw said it all.

“This is how you handle things here?” I asked.

Ying Zi glanced at me, her dour face unreadable. “The protocols for handling prisoners are well established, Duke Iron Bull. What is abnormal are the conditions. I am hoping your arrival here today will change that.”

I raised a brow confused and Tai Su Long began to laugh.

“You are the new Landlord, Duke Iron Bull. The maintaining and upkeep of the facilities now fall under your remit.”

“What do you mean?”

“His Imperial Majesties Prisons pay for wardens and guards,” Ying Zi said. “Not janitors.”

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What the hell?

“We have, charitably, kept the most basic of functions in place in the interim,” Tai Su Long added. “Using our own staff. I’m sure Master Zin Tai would agree, however, that any cost incurred since the date of the transfer order should be attributed to the new Owner.”

I looked to Zin Tai for confirmation, and he wobbled his head non-committedly, still mulling it over himself.

“But we get ahead of ourselves,” Tai Su Long said. “We are here to see the facilities. Business we can talk later. Please Warden, Continue.”

I began to view the prison with new eyes as Ying Zi took us further through. The conditions were appalling especially when we got to the blocks where the more powerful cultivators were housed. They were kept like wild animals, caged perpetually in cells with triple-clad, Qi-disrupting bars. The guards didn’t even venture inside to feed them, delivering their food via buckets lowered from the tops of the cages and the same was used to clean them, dousing them with water from above.

I must have failed to use [Indifference] this time because Ying Zi said, “Do not be alarmed, Duke Iron Bull. Such treatment is just for the worthless scum that is here. Their duty to the empire now is to suffer for their crimes and serve as living deterrents for any who should think breaking the laws of the empire a trivial matter.”

She said it so coldly I wondered if she had the heart of a demon inside of her.

And to think they were going to send Fia and Bryce to this place for 50 years?

A sudden anger lit up inside of me.

“Has the High Council ever come here to see this?”

“For what purpose?”

I didn’t answer. There was no point.

“Where are the women kept?”

I finally saw a smile come to Ying Zi’s face, or maybe it was more of a smirk. “I saved the best for last.”

I didn’t know what that meant but as we got to the last block I understood completely. The women were separated much the same as the first wing we had entered, tall walls of endless cells. But there was one addition to the screams that filled the air.

The cries of children.

I gazed up and saw them running in between the cells. Kids that ranged in age from toddlers to twelve-year-olds. I then noticed a fair amount of the women were pregnant in their cells, at least a quarter of them. I thought back to Bryce. To Fia. They were really going to send my wife and son to a place like this?

For 50 years?

My Flame flared as well as my nostrils.

“How do you keep children here?” I said.

Ying Zi cocked a brow. “It is a mercy, Duke Iron Bull. These wretches are allowed to be raised by their birth mothers at least. We even provide a school for them. After foundation they are sent to the labor camps for work. Many of them even assist their mothers thereafter.”

My mind struggled to comprehend it all.

The empire had just reached a new low for me.

How could people think like this?

Or was this the influence of Tai Su Long?

“I want this shit shut down,” I said.

Ying Zi blinked. “What was that, Duke Iron Bull?”

“I’m not running a damn prison school. Kids can’t be raised in a place like this. And how the hell are so many of them pregnant, anyway? What the hell are you doing here?”

Ying Zi shied away from me slightly, fear in her soul and it was only then that I realized I was shouting. But I didn’t care. The shit was whack.

“Duke Iron Bull,” Tai Su Long said. “I’m afraid your contract with the empire would not allow such a thing. As I said before, as the new owner, your role is that of a custodian. The prisons run themselves, under the direction of the Warden here and the guidance of the courts.”

I grimaced. I didn’t like it one bit.

“We pay our rent and even compensate for ever wretch born here,” Ying Zi said. “As Governor Tai Su Long correctly stated, the rule of this prison is mine. Your role, Duke Iron Bull, is to keep it clean and workable.”

She turned to continue the tour, but I was seeing nothing but red now.

I felt like I’d just been delt the shittiest hand in poker ever.

The injustice of what I was seeing was triggering my Twin Dao.

And knowing how the empire worked, I wondered just how many innocent people were suck in here amongst these rapists, thieves and murderers.

“For now,” I said.

Ying Zi looked at me questioningly.

“I said I’m merely a custodian…for now.”

She stared back at me blankly, clearly not knowing what to say.

“Let’s wrap up this tour and get down to business. I need to get to Du Gok Bhong.”

* * *

We left the ilk of the prison cells and I found myself mired in a different sort of ilk within one of the meeting rooms inside the administration block. The warden had her guards bring us tea and fresh fruit, which I refused to indulge in, but Tai Su Long took to it, like it was something he himself had arranged.

“Let us see to the books then, shall we?” he said. “Master Zin Tai, I venture you will find the Warden’s records as impeccable as my own. The transfer should be very straight forward.”

I nudged Ling Wei forward to join Zin Tai as he looked over the huge leather-bound ledgers. The warden then produced another set of books and set them on the desk.

“The contract details,” Ying Zi said. “A base rental fee of 175,000 spirit stones per month, plus 100 spirit stones for each new arrival.” She then squinted her eyes at me. “Whether they be from a prison transport or a womb—we pay.”

The Struggler put his hand on my shoulder, sensing my intentions to belt this cold-hearted chick one. I tried to ignore it by focusing on what Ling Wei was doing instead. She was damn good at her job, asking questions, pointing out clauses in the contract.

“And you expect this handover to be immediate?” Ling Wei asked, looking between Tai Su Long and Ying Zi.

Tai Su Long shrugged. “You are the one’s who are here. Let me guess…you have no labor arranged to fulfil the obligations of the contract?”

Ling Wei looked to me and shook her head with a grimace, signaling a ‘hell no.’

“The Duke Iron Bull would of course need time to put such in place,” Zin Tai said. “I would suggest the current arrangement can continue until that can commence.”

“Unacceptable,” Ying Zi said. “You saw the conditions. There has been no proper maintenance for months. If this continues there will undoubtably be escape attempts. You can not force us to take this kind of risk. It would be a breach of the agreement.”

“Madam Warden, the High Council has ruled,” Tai Su Long said. “Since the date of that ruling, we have not accepted a single Wen of imperial rent. I have offered the bare minimum as a charity, which I do expect to be reimbursed, by the way. You cannot expect me to provide full service when this is no longer my responsibility.”

They both then looked to me and I looked to Ling Wei. “How much labor are we talking about here?”

Ling Wei shook her head. “I’m not sure. Hundreds of people?”

Tai Su Long laughed. “Try thousands.”

“Duke Iron Bull, this is a very serious matter,” Ying Zi said. “If we do not have full service restored, the empire may be forced to hire their own labor at your expense. This would be in addition to withholding rent.”

Zin Tai shrugged. “That would not be outside the bounds of contractual law.”

“You agree?” I asked Ling Wei.

She nodded and then furrowed her brow in thought. “And where would you expect to get such a labor force, Madam Warden?”

“Where else?” she said, jutting her chin towards Tai Su Long.

I felt my hand in this card game getting even shittier.

Tai Su Long laughed and raised his hands in a hapless manner. “What can I say? When you’ve done a job for over two hundred years, you become sort of an expert, no? Who else could they turn to. But feel free Duke Iron Bull to secure any labor you wish. Although, the learning curve is quite steep I warn you.”

My mind was racing. This bastard had set me up just as bad as Lunalah.

Well maybe not just as bad, but close.

“There is one other alternative,” Tai Su Long said.

I huffed out a scoff. “What’s that?”

“You can subcontract to me. I would be more than willing to fulfill the required services with my experienced staff. For a fee, of course.”

“Yes, of course,” I said with an eye roll.

“What kind of fee?” Ling Wei asked.

“Certainly less than what you would owe the Empire for hiring me, along with no rent. At least you can be paid.”

Zin Tai shrugged. “I would see no issue with the arrangement. So long as the title is transferred you would be free to hire whoever you wish to fulfill the services, Duke Iron Bull. Even the former owner.”

I pulled Ling Wei to the side. “What do you think?”

She frowned. “I don’t see any other option. I would agree to a year contract and in that time try to find alternatives. I’m sure he will charge us the maximum.”

I nodded. “How much, Governor?”

“200,000 spirit stones per month.”

Ling Wei sighed. “That’s more than we would earn.”

He shrugged. “I have to make a profit somehow.”

“180,000,” I said.

He grinned. “For you, my dear Duke Iron Bull, I would lower my price to 190,000. But no lower.”

I glanced at Ling Wei and she nodded with a shrug.

“Deal,” I said.

He smiled again. “Perfect. Let’s draw up the contracts.”

We spent another agonizing two hours in prison as Ling Wei went over all the details, but I thanked her for every second of it. Tai Su Long was already pulling a fast one on us, right in front of my face. Who knew what he could bury in legal fine print.

When it was finally done, I signed a whole bunch of documents and Zin Tai officiated them with his seal.

“That would conclude the transfer of this facility,” Zin Tai said. “Madam Warden, for any further business you are to contact the Duke Iron Bull directly. Or at least until he has some local representation.”

Ying Zi bowed. “I look forward to working with you, Duke Iron Bull.”

I could hardly say the feeling was mutual.

I didn’t even return the bow.

I instead looked to Zin Tai. “See you at Du Gok Bhong.”