"The whip cracked—someone screamed, then arrows cut the driver in half."
"Stop the carriage!" a masked voice barked.
"Quick," the other assassin said. "The trunk. The trunk!"
A lantern swung, oil splattered onto wet planks. The carriage shuddered, wood splintered, and a woman in silk hissed a single sharp command from inside. The road smelled of river mud and hot iron.
"Make it clean," the first assassin muttered. He kicked the driver's body aside and reached for the latch.
"Watch the bank," the second one said. "No witnesses."
A purse hit the stones and skittered toward reeds. Someone on the road cursed and tried to crawl after it. He never reached it.
"Leave it!" the second snarled. He tightened his grip on a bound bundle, the weight small and brittle. "Run."
The bundle slid from his hands. The current took it.
"Gods," a bystander whispered under his breath. "They tossed it into the river."
"Go." The first assassin turned and sprinted into the dark.
A lantern bobbed toward the water where the basket floated, half-submerged, the willow branches brushing the sides.
"Don't go," someone shouted.
"I go!" Su Hu ran barefoot across mud and splinters. He leapt without thinking and hit cold water like a stone. Current shoved his legs; the river gripped him with hunger.
"Su Hu!" Li Xiu screamed from the bank. "Don't drown!"
"Hold the rope!" someone yelled.
Su Hu forced his arms forward. He could feel the basket bobbing away. He
