I tried what was left of the door, but it wouldn't move. Something had fallen behind it.
I pushed harder with my right hand. It shifted a little, then caught.
I stepped back and kicked it.
The impact jarred my shoulder.
"Fuck."
I waited for the pain to settle, then kicked it again.
This time, the damaged wood gave way.
I squeezed through the gap.
There wasn't much room to stand. Broken furniture lay beneath pieces of the roof, and ash covered everything I could see.
No body.
Not where I was looking.
I crouched and began moving the smaller pieces of debris. Whenever I cleared a space, I leaned close enough to look beneath what I couldn't lift.
My shoulder started throbbing again. I stopped using my left side to brace myself and worked more slowly.
Nothing beneath the broken furniture. Nothing in the gaps between the fallen timbers.
I checked the places I could reach, then went back over them, looking from the other side wherever there was room.
Still nothing.
I sat back on my heels and let out a breath.
He might have got out.
I looked at the heavier wreckage. I couldn't shift all of it with one arm, and I didn't know what would come down if I tried.
Not finding him wasn't the same as knowing he wasn't here.
But there was still a chance.
I got to my feet and made my way outside. At the entrance, I stopped to listen once more.
Then I left.
There were a few houses still standing well enough to search. I went through those, taking food that hadn't been ruined and whatever money I could find.
The first time I opened someone else's cupboard, I hesitated with my hand on it.
Then I looked at the broken roof above me and kept going.
By the time I finished, I had sixty copper in total and some food in an old sack. If I slept wherever I could and spent almost nothing besides food, the money might last a month and a half.
It would have to.
There were other towns nearby, though the closest one I knew was two or three days away on foot. There was nothing left for me to earn here.
I slung the sack over my right shoulder and started walking.
* * *
Every few hours, I had to stop.
Sometimes it was the shoulder. Sometimes I simply couldn't make my legs keep moving. I ate more of the food than I'd intended, but trying to walk hungry didn't get me any farther.
At night, I found what shelter I could from the wind and rain. As soon as there was enough light to see the road, I left it again.
Most of the food was gone by the second day.
By the time the town came into view, I was down to the last of it.
Finally.
High stone walls surrounded the town. I followed them toward the main gate, where two guards stood watching the road.
I was almost past them when one spoke.
"Stop. Five copper, or show your entrance permit."
"Five copper?"
He waited.
I didn't remember this town charging an entrance fee. I also couldn't judge either guard's cultivation, and I wasn't going to find out over five copper.
I paid.
Almost a tenth of my money gone, and I hadn't even found somewhere to sleep.
"How do I get a permit?"
"Thirty copper. Identity registration. Doesn't expire."
The other guard unfolded a small map and pointed to a building near the gate.
"There."
I leaned close enough to check the surrounding streets too. A market. A mission hall.
At least I wouldn't have to wander around looking for them.
"Thanks."
Inside the gate, I stopped to adjust the sack.
Thirty copper would take more than half of what I had left. Six entries would cost the same, but that only made the permit worthwhile if I stayed and found work that took me outside often enough.
I needed to know what work there was before paying for the privilege of doing it.
First, though, I needed food.
The streets grew busier as I approached the market. By the entrance, people were pressing past one another between the stalls.
I stopped short of the crowd.
For a moment, all I could see was the square in Yuansu Town.
A space opened beside one of the stalls. I took it, keeping my left shoulder turned away from the people passing me.
The bread cost one copper for three loaves.
I checked their size. I could eat all three in a day without much trouble, but it was still better than the two loaves a copper had bought back home.
I spent three copper on nine and put them in the sack. Three days of food, provided I didn't start eating tomorrow's before tonight.
I ate some as I made my way out of the market.
No ash. No rainwater.
For once, I had no complaints.
The mission hall was a short walk away. Not every town had one. I was glad this one did.
I went straight to the posted requests.
No escorts. Even if someone was willing to hire me like this, I'd had enough of those for now.
Gathering, local deliveries. Something I could do with my right hand and two feet.
Collect twenty Silvergrass. Two copper.
Collect fifteen Bitterleaf. Two copper.
Clear rats from a storage cellar. Three copper.
Deliver a package to the east gate. One copper.
I read the amounts again.
Two copper, before food or somewhere to sleep.
Farther along the board, I found a package delivery to Yuansu Town.
I stopped with my eyes on the destination.
Whoever had posted it hadn't heard yet.
Then I saw the notice beside it.
Find the demonic cultivator responsible for the destruction of Yuansu Town.
Reward: one copper.
I read it twice.
A demonic cultivator.
I'd heard the Yao family's announcement. The Martial Temple's decree. The screams that followed.
None of that was here.
And one copper. Less than the rats in the cellar.
My hand went toward the paper before I stopped it.
"Scheming rats."
I didn't know who'd put the request up. For all I knew, the hall had just posted whatever someone gave them.
Still, someone had made up that story. If anyone asked, they could point to this and say they were looking.
I wanted to tear it down.
Instead, I lowered my hand and looked at the next request until I could trust myself to turn away.
Making a scene would only give someone a reason to ask why I cared so much.
Across the room, a clerk sat behind a counter.
I walked over.
"How do I take a request? I'm new here."
"Tell me which one you want."
I glanced back at the board. The gathering requests were still the best chance of earning anything without a fight.
"Fifteen Bitterleaf."
Fewer plants than the Silvergrass job. Didn't mean it would be easier, but I had to pick something.
She found a copy beneath the counter, stamped it with a wax seal, and handed it over.
I looked at the paper. It told me exactly what the notice on the board had.
Nothing about where to go.
"Where do I find it?"
"The Mauren Plains. It grows there, though you'll have to walk around a fair bit to gather all fifteen."
More walking. Of course.
"And where are the Mauren Plains?"
She looked up from the counter.
"You'll want a map if you're going to take requests around here. They're one copper."
I opened my mouth.
"I can sell you one," she added.
"Any chance it comes with the request?"
"For one copper."
She was smiling now.
Worth asking.
I paid her and unfolded the map on the counter. It covered the streets I'd seen on the guard's copy, then continued beyond the walls.
I found the Mauren Plains and traced the route back to the gate.
Then I looked at the request beside it.
Two copper.
Leaving was free. Coming back cost five.
I'd put off buying the permit until I knew what the jobs paid. Now I'd picked a two-copper job that would cost five just to get back inside.
"…Fuck."
"Something wrong?"
"Entrance fee."
I folded the map before she could ask anything else.
At least I'd use the map again. Probably the permit too, if I could keep finding work.
Didn't make losing thirty copper hurt any less.
"Have a good day," I said.
"You too."
She was still smiling when I left.
The registration building was only a few minutes away. A small bell rang as I opened the door.
"Hello. What can we do for you?"
A man sat behind the counter.
"I need an entrance permit."
"You've got the thirty copper?"
I counted the coins onto the counter. He counted them again, more quickly than I had.
"Name?"
I hesitated.
Lian probably wouldn't mean anything to him.
Probably.
I thought of the notice in the mission hall. If he asked where I was from next, I didn't want my real name already written beside the answer.
"Ren."
He wrote it down, stamped a small card, signed it, and pushed it across the counter.
"Here you go."
I picked it up.
"That's it?"
He looked at me.
"What else were you expecting?"
A few more questions, at least.
"Nothing. Thanks."
I left before he decided to think of any.
Outside, I checked the name on the card.
Ren.
I'd have to remember to answer to that.
I put the permit away and counted what remained of my money.
Twenty-one copper.
I'd arrived with sixty. Now I had twenty-one, a bag of bread, a map, a permit, and a request that paid two copper.
I stood there for a moment with the coins in my palm.
"Fuck."
That Bitterleaf job had better be worth it.