"You think you have defeated the Notorious Wen Xia?" he shouted, finishing with a laugh. "You have merely fallen into my trap, Governor Li! Or should I call you 'Li the Usurper'?" he added. Addressing the crowd he shouted, "Know, people of Fusang, that this evil man has falsely claimed the mandate of heaven and would see himself on the emerald throne, ruling over you! It does not have to be this way! I have shown, with the way I live my life, that all people are endowed with the right to choose. Now is your chance to choose not to let this evil fraud complete his foul plot! Join me and gain your freedom! Uh-oh," he added more quietly as a squad of soldiers, armed with crossbows, appeared at the edge of the pit. For the moment they were placed such that Li and his party were between them and Wen, but as he watched their officer began pushing the crowd back and drawing his men around to where they'd have a clear shot.
"I can guess how much this armor will do against crossbow bolts," Wen muttered. What's goin' on? I want my mommy! cried the dockworker. Wen threw himself down from the pyre and into the pit, rolling as he went.
The first round of bolts passed well overhead as he dropped. Unfortunately for both the soldiers and the crowd, Governor Li had built the execution pit in a circle. When the soldiers failed to hit Wen, they executed several members of the crowd on the opposite side of the circle. Most members of the crowd ran screaming as far from the execution site as they could.
Some, however, ran toward the soldiers.
By this time Wen had scrambled up the far side of the pit. "Wen Xia!" someone shouted as his head emerged over the lip of the pit. Then hands were on him, helping him up. "Here!" someone shouted, and a sword was passed, from hand to hand, until it was given to him. It wasn't much of a sword—there was rust about the hilt—but it was a weapon, and he could hold it up over his head.
"Citizens!" he shouted. "To your houses! Collect your weapons! Swords if you've got them, knives if you haven't. Even hoes and pitch-forks! Anything with a blade. This is your chance to be free!" A voice in the back of his mind—one that he recognized as his own—told him that if any group of people in Fusang would heed a spontaneous call to rebellion issued by a gold-clad pirate, it would be the miners, fraudsters and cheats of Jīn-sè Mèn. Turning, he looked out to sea—and laughed with the pleasure of release.
There, rounding the tip of the island-fortress in the middle of the bay, was the Jade Maiden. Behind here were other ships, all of them flying the banners of various pirate bands. Every few breaths he saw sunlight reflecting from waving blades.
Back at the opposite end of the execution pit, Governor Li was beginning, Wen guessed, to realize the disadvantage involved in his choice of speaking platform. The milling crowd of angry people was about to overwhelm those soldiers who remained, trying to reload their crossbows. If the soldiers fled, Li Ling, Liang Sheng and Chin Gwai would be trapped. Which is only appropriate, Wen thought.
Easy for you to say, said the Dà Găng dockworker, his voice fading into a gentle hiss, like the sound of the waves. As the voice faded, Wen saw Governor Li kicking Liang Sheng off the platform and down into the pit. Nice to have my body back, Wen thought.
More soldiers were appearing now, having come down from the garrison fort. It was a proper attack force, with spear-men to protect the archers, and when it reached the square it might snuff out the people's rebellion before it was properly started. Wen began to make his way around the circle on the edge of the pit. Whatever else happened, he was determined that Li Ling would not succeed in his plan to install himself as emperor of Fusang.
He was a little surprised to find the crowd moving with him. Some were shouting his name, but it pleased him immensely that more were shouting "Freedom!" Li and Chin were staring at him as he moved; that made a certain amount of sense, though, since the cheap gold-covered armor would draw the eye no matter who was wearing it.
Now Li was moving, pushing Chin ahead of him as he fought to get off the viewing platform before Wen could cut off his escape. The first group of crossbowmen had disintegrated, some retreating up the square to meet the new force coming down, others dropping their weapons and fleeing into the crowd. Rapid calculation, instinctive rather than conscious, told Wen that Li and Chin would escape their self-made trap before he could reach them. What a pity I never learned to fly the way Fengzi can, he thought. Still, he was going to reach Li before the soldiers could. If I have to go join my ancestors, he thought, this won't be a bad way to go.
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