The Treasure of Lei Fong Wu

Chapter Forty

They prepared to leave Athens the next day, as the news over the cortex was all about the raid on New Lesbos “by persons unknown but believed to be raiders from the ring system”. Seven women died and ten were wounded in the raid, and twenty buildings, including the village’s majestic temple, had been damaged by fire. Local leaders pledged to rebuild, and the Archonate pledged a hefty sum for additional security.

Inara felt obligated to donate a significant amount to the victims herself. None of this would have happened except for her. Debra told her she was being silly, that those men were to blame for the death and destruction. For a woman who had just lost all of her worldly possessions and been shot for the first time in a long, sedate, and boring life, she seemed to be taking the crisis rather well.

“It’s something about being faced with violent death,” she explained. “You come face to face with your own mortality, it alters your perspective. I’ve lost all of my work, years worth, but I find I don’t care. I can get a new house, new things. And my work doesn’t seem as relevant as it did a few days ago. I’m going to have to give this a few months reflection before I can put it in a context of meaning, but honestly I’m looking forward to it. In a way, I feel like I should thank you, bao bei.”

“Please don’t,” begged Inara into the pickup. “Seven people died – more, if you count the raiders – because . . . because of me. Of who I am. Hell, I killed one of them!” The sole surviving raider was the man that Inara had shot in the eye with the arrow. It had permanently destroyed his eyesight in that eye, but had not penetrated his brain. He was in Acropolis, now, being healed. To stand trial. For capital aiding and abetting murder, and thirty-six other charges. He would likely be executed before his eye fully healed.

“Relax, my dear, relax,” Debra soothed. “I may not have your romantic lifestyle, but listen to a woman who has years more exp