Elder Shi set down the meat he had softened over the heat and held out a hand to Chen Xiuyuan.
Chen Xiuyuan handed him the short blade.
But the old man pushed it back and took only the wooden staff beside his feet.
"Keep the blade. Sit behind the fire, away from the door."
The scraping outside the shelter stopped.
Firelight spilled through the gap in the door, illuminating a small patch of yellow earth. Beyond that, everything was black. Chen Xiuyuan shifted over, hiding his injured leg behind a rock, but kept one ear turned toward the shelter door.
After a moment, two long, grayish-white hairs appeared in the gap beneath the door.
The thing was sniffing.
Elder Shi picked up a burning stick and suddenly thrust it through the gap.
A short, low growl sounded outside.
The door slammed inward at an angle, and the wooden bar braced behind it creaked. Chen Xiuyuan immediately stood, pressed his shoulder against the other end of the door, and strained to hold back the force.
The rank smell of the beast filled his nose.
"Step back."
Elder Shi's voice was very low.
Once Chen Xiuyuan stepped away, the old man gripped his staff and thrust its tip between the door panels. The beast outside took another blow, its claws treading over loose stones as it backed off a little.
The old man did not pursue it.
He handed half a burning stick to Chen Xiuyuan and braced the bar behind the door himself.
"Light up the back wall first. That loose rock in the gap-push it out if you can."
Chen Xiuyuan carried the burning stick over and only then discovered that the rear wall was not a solid wall at all. The mountain rock curved inward, with broken stones stacked outside it, leaving a narrow, crooked gap for air.
He lifted down the topmost rock, revealing an opening a person could squeeze through sideways.
Outside were bushes, with a downward slope beyond them.
"We can get out."
"Put your bag outside first."
Chen Xiuyuan stuffed his bag through the gap, then went to move a second stone. A dull thud suddenly sounded behind him. The door sprang inward a little, and Elder Shi's right leg sank as he braced himself against the doorframe.
Firelight bleached that aged face pale.
Chen Xiuyuan set down the stone and hurried back.
"You go first. I'll hold it."
"It's right outside the door. If I let go, it'll leap inside before I reach the back wall."
Wind poured through the rear wall, making the flames sway wildly. Chen Xiuyuan glanced at the bag he had already put outside, then drew his short blade beside the old man.
The old man looked up above the door.
Chen Xiuyuan followed his gaze and finally made out a thick stone slab hanging outside the lintel. Its sides fitted into grooves in the posts. The load-bearing vine rope ran over the crossbeam, hung down inside to the right of the door, and was tied to a wooden peg.
"An old beast defense," Elder Shi said. "I felt it when I came in. The rope can still hold. But it won't come untied. It got wet, then dried, and shrank tight into the knot."
Chen Xiuyuan remembered what he had done upon entering.
"If we drop it, will it stop the beast?"
"We have to wait until its front legs come in and pin them down. Drop it now, and it'll circle around the back. We won't get out."
Chen Xiuyuan looked toward the narrow gap in the back wall. Even he had trouble squeezing through, and Elder Shi's leg would make him slower still.
The slab's lower edge sat directly above the threshold, and the old man's right arm, braced against the door, was right beside its path. The peg holding the rope was hidden between the door panel and the corner of the wall, in a gap just wide enough for one hand.
He tightened his grip on the blade.
The white vine that afternoon had been a little thinner than this one.
"I'll cut it."
"Look carefully first."
Elder Shi tapped the wooden peg with the tip of his staff. A length of rope hung taut and straight from the beam; the tail left beyond the knot lay slack beside the door.
"The taut one. Just above the knot. Don't put your hand under the slab."
Chen Xiuyuan crouched and slid the short blade into the gap.
The space was too cramped, and the hilt struck the door first. He withdrew it, tucked his forearm against his ribs, and turned the edge another way. That let him slide half the blade out from inside, its edge facing upward, resting squarely against the taut vine rope.
Once the edge was steady, he fixed the position of his forearm against his ribs in his mind. When he had cut the white vine that afternoon, the blade had jammed whenever its spine tilted. This time, there would be no chance for the old man to correct him.
Claws scraped at the ground outside.
He was just about to test the rope's toughness when Elder Shi's staff suddenly pressed down on his hand.
"Not yet. It's still outside."
Chen Xiuyuan nodded and moved the blade away.
"When I tell you to let go, fall to the left. There's a rock on the right. You'll hit your leg."
Elder Shi glanced at the open space to his left and kicked an obstructing stick out of the fire.
"Remember, don't match strength with it."
With that, the old man slowly shifted one end of the wooden bar aside.
A wider gap opened between the door panels.
The gray wolf's nose poked in first.
Its long fangs pressed against the door as it tried to shove its way in. Chen Xiuyuan saw the bloody scab beneath its left eye, and saw its injured forepaw rise hesitantly, stopping outside the threshold.
It was waiting.
Elder Shi used his staff to push the dried meat beside the fire toward the doorway.
The meat landed on the yellow earth and rolled half a turn.
The forepaw immediately crossed the threshold and pinned down the meat. The other, uninjured paw followed it inside.
Elder Shi pulled back his staff and swept the wooden bar aside.
The right-hand door panel slammed inward, while the old man held the other half fast with his shoulder.
A heavy blow struck Chen Xiuyuan's shoulder, nearly knocking the short blade off course. He braced his left shoulder against the wall, but did not let his right arm flail with his body. He checked his wrist at the angle he had corrected that afternoon and set the blade back against the vine rope.
The Fang Wolf's head was already inside.
He pulled upward.
The edge bit into the vine rope. Following the resistance, he drew in his wrist and straightened the spine before it could veer aside.
The spine finally held steady, but his arm felt heavy and ached.
The rope did not break. White fibers stretched into a bundle across the edge.
He was not strong enough.
Chen Xiuyuan pressed his left palm against the wall, bracing his body against the door's impact. The slab still pulled the vine rope taut. He slid the edge back into the cut he had made, leaving only a thin bundle of fibers across its path.
When the beast's jaws opened, he could even see blood on its gums.
"Let go!"
Elder Shi fell to the left.
Chen Xiuyuan pulled the blade all the way through beside the knot, kicked hard against the stone wall beside the door, and slid backward.
Crash!
The slab plunged down the grooves in the posts, smashing through the old doorstop across the threshold.
A piercing howl nearly burst his eardrums.
The slab pinned both of the Fang Wolf's front legs. Its head was trapped inside the doorway, its shoulders and back still outside. It struggled desperately backward. The slab rocked in its grooves and sank farther.
Chen Xiuyuan fell beside the fire, scorching half his trouser leg. He pushed himself up, slid the short blade back into its sheath, and slapped the sparks off his trouser cuff before reaching to support Elder Shi's arm.
"Go!"
The old man still clutched his staff in his left hand and used Chen Xiuyuan's support to push himself upright.
When they backed up to the rear wall, Chen Xiuyuan hooked the herb basket's strap and pushed the basket through the gap first, then squeezed out after it.
Chen Xiuyuan went down the slope first, slung his reporting bag over his shoulder, then reached up to help Elder Shi. The old man could put no strength into his right leg and nearly brought them both down when he landed. Chen Xiuyuan braced his back hard against a tree trunk and gradually helped him steady himself.
Crashes still came from inside the shelter.
He shouldered the herb basket and helped the old man down the slope into a gully. They pushed through a patch of low bushes, and only when the fire in the shelter was no longer visible did they stop behind a rock sheltered from the wind.
Chen Xiuyuan sat down and discovered that his right hand had gone stiff.
He had gritted his teeth and held on while supporting the old man. Only now, as he loosened his fingers, did a piercing pain stab through his palm.
He caught his breath, then looked down and saw another patch rubbed raw between his thumb and forefinger. Had he hesitated even a little just now, the Fang Wolf could have pounced on Elder Shi.
Chen Xiuyuan touched the sheath at his waist. That afternoon, this blade had saved him. Just now, he had used it to bring Elder Shi out too.
Elder Shi took a roll of cloth from the herb basket and examined his injured leg in the remaining moonlight. The torn trouser cuff hastily wrapped around it earlier had long since slipped out of place, and he had left spots of blood along their path.
"Press here."
The old man took out the wound medicine he carried and told him how to secure the cloth so it would not slip off easily.
Chen Xiuyuan had no strength in his hands. His first knot was too loose, and the cloth sagged as soon as he stood. The old man undid half of it and had him try again himself.
The second time, he remembered where to leave some slack.
Once the cloth was wrapped, Elder Shi had him move his ankle. He tried moving it. The cloth neither cut off his circulation nor slipped down anymore.
Chen Xiuyuan tucked the cloth end in place, remembered Elder Shi's instructions about tightness, and put the remaining roll back in the herb basket.
The old man had already sat down against a tree, his face heavy with exhaustion, yet he still reached out to feel the cloth on Chen Xiuyuan's leg and confirm that no more blood was seeping through.
"That second cut just now was steady."
Chen Xiuyuan wanted to say that he had been terribly afraid at first. But as the words reached his lips, he saw the tear scraped into the old man's sleeve and instead asked first, "Were you hurt?"
"Just scraped a little skin."
Elder Shi lowered his sleeve and patted the side of his leg.
"This thing gives me more trouble than the Fang Wolf."
Chen Xiuyuan smiled, took the herb basket, and set it beside his feet.
They took turns resting through the latter half of the night. As soon as the sky began to pale, Elder Shi led him out of the woods. Several times, Chen Xiuyuan looked down to see what exactly was different about his hands, but in the end, all he saw were wounds and mud.
Remembering those jaws when the door burst open, he tightened the sheath at his waist a little. He still had to keep learning. Merely knowing how to cut a rope was nowhere near enough.
As they approached the mountain pass, he offered the blade back.
Elder Shi did not take it.
"Keep it for now. Anyone going into the mountains needs something in hand."
Leaning on his staff, the old man stepped onto the stone path.
From the other side of the mountain, a low, lingering horn call suddenly sounded.
"We're here," he said. "The Bloodstone Tribe."