Catastrophe in the Firesnake

by Rayner Ye

A sharp pain stabbed his arm. It radiated from his armpit and burned his neck. Unable to move his limbs, he glanced to the left. Apek had thrust four long needles into YuFang’s tricep.

  “YeLi!” Apek cut her an angry look. “You are to keep quiet!”

  “But, but—” YeLi said.

  “There’s more to this than we know.” Apek looked into YuFang’s face as he held the needles in place. “If I let you move, you mustn’t hurt us.”

  Yasmin’s frown deepened as she looked up from the newspaper which YeLi had slapped onto the table. “Before you release him, I’ll get a gun.”

  “We don’t have weapons in the temple,” Apek said. “Only my needles.”

  “Can you keep him paralysed while he speaks?”

  “No. But I have ropes.”

  “This is stupid,” YeLi said. “He’s killed lots of people. He deserves punishment.” She turned on her heel and walked towards the door.

  Sweat beaded on YuFang’s forehead as he watched his future slide away.

  Apek did two forward rolls towards YeLi and stuck a bunch of needles in various spots on her shins.

  “Ow—” She crumpled to the floor, unmoving, except for her wrinkled forehead and shifting gaze.

  YuFang swallowed. The old man was quick and agile under his stiff exterior.

  Yasmin stood as Apek hobbled back to the table, pointing at her. “Can you tie good knots?”

  Between them, Apek and Yasmin dragged YuFang into the courtyard and tied him to a red column in the passageway bordering the garden.

  They did the same with YeLi, securing her to the other side of YuFang’s pillar. Huffing and puffing, they gazed at their handiwork.

  Yasmin put her hands on her hips. “I like YuFang. But if he killed all those people, we should turn him in.”

  “I’ve already said. There’s more to YuFang than we know.”

  “But his picture’s on the news. It’s him. If it was just a bank robbery, I might forgive, but murder? Apek, he killed innocent children. Can you forgive someone for mass murder? I can’t, not even the mentally ill.”

  Apek inhaled loudly and stumbled, then held himself steady on the pillar. “I’m taking out the needles so he can speak.”

  As he took them out, sensation washed through YuFang.

  “I’m sorry about YeLi’s interference,” Apek said. “Tell us about your dream.”

  YuFang’s mouth was dry from excessive swallowing. “Can I have some water or tea?”

  The old man’s face softened. He fetched a full pint of tea, rather than his usual eggcup-sized bowls. YuFang gulped it down.

  A bird tweeted in a nearby tree, unaware of the problems these humans were facing.

  Apek sat cross-legged and exchanged a few Maozong words with a spiteful YeLi. He must have taken the needles out of her legs because YuFang could hear her kicking and squirming.

  The old man shuffled to YuFang’s side of the pillar. “We’re ready to listen.”

  Yasmin dragged a chair over and sat, waiting.

  YuFang told them the dreams about the Jerjen family dinner and the Svad woman on the cliff facing the ocean and gas giant.

  Apek nodded. “How do you feel about these people?”

  Heat radiated through his chest, and he stretched out his legs. “Warmth. Love. Longing.”

  “Have you dreamed about these strangers before?”

  “Not the Svad, but the Jerjens.”

  “Will you let me try to heal you?”

  “How do you mean?”

  “I’ve noticed you have blockages in your meridians. Most people’s ether doesn’t flow perfectly, but yours is blocked. It’s not flowing to your brain.”

  “But what about my crimes?” How could Apek forgive him because of confusing dreams?

  “Forget them for now. First, let’s stimulate your mind by helping your ether to flow there.”

  YeLi muttered angry words from the other side of the column.

  “What about YeLi?” Yasmin asked.

  Apek scratched his head and chuckled. “I don’t know.”

  “It’s not funny,” Yasmin said.

  Apek scuttled around the pillar and spoke in Maozong. Yeli answered in the same language, then Apek loosened the ropes. She walked out of the garden and off the premises through a gate.

  “What are you doing?” YuFang asked. “She’ll run her mouth.”

  “No. For YeLi's silence, I offered her something she’s always wanted.”

  “What?” Yasmin asked.

  “A position as a nun at a well-known Feili temple in Markaz.”

  Yasmin frowned. “She couldn’t join before?”

  “Only after intensive training with me. Would’ve taken five years. Now she’s free to go.”

  “She won’t go to the police?” YuFang asked.

  “If she does, I’ll tell the elders at the temple we cheated.” Apek put a hand on YuFang’s shoulder. “You want me to heal you? It will hurt.”

  “Do I have to?”

  “If you don’t want me to tell the police.”

  “Okay.”

  ***

  Before the healing, Apek tended to Yasmin and YuFang’s wounds with strong-smelling traditional Jerjen medicine and gave them bitter black tea. “You go and rest, Yasmin. Help yourself to food and tea, if you need it. First healing for you, YuFang—massage.”

  “But you’re old.”

  “Yes. Old monks know more. It’s better. You are lucky.”

  “But your body’s old.”

  “Old but well trained. Same as my mind. Old and strong.”

  YuFang cracked his knuckles, weighing his choices.

  “Don’t worry.” Apek laughed, revealing gaps between his lower teeth. “Follow me. It won’t be an ordinary massage. It’s an ancient Feili healing technique for your energy channels.” He went and returned with YuFang’s crutch, then motioned for him to stand.

  After YuFang pulled himself up, Apek led him to one of the sheltered rooms. “Don’t be scared. I’ll use heat, cold, smoke, and steam.”

  “Do I need to take my clothes off?”

  “No, no!” Apek said, waving his hands. “No need for that. The treatment will penetrate your clothes.”

  YuFang winced.

  Apek gestured towards a padded section of the floor. “Lay on your stomach.”

  YuFang followed his instructions and turned his head from side to side, trying to get comfortable. Most massage tables had a hole for the face. But when a low hum filled the air, and his body levitated two metres above the floor, he understood why there was no need for a hole.

  He held his breath as the old man walked under him with an array of metal rods dangling from his belt. He’d said it would hurt. Torture for the wrongs he’d done? Revenge before turning him in?

  “Try not to move.” Apek selected a needle and aimed it at YuFang’s penis.

  The sound of YuFang’s heartbeat thrashed in his ears. He whimpered and squeezed his eyes shut.

  Apek twisted the top of the rod and shone a red laser beam onto YuFang’s groin. “Don’t worry. Relax. This is for grounding.”

  The warm light relaxed his muscles, and he breathed deeply again. Pulse decelerating, his body felt heavy.

  “That’s better. Breathe with it.” Apek pulled a tripod base out of the lower end of the rod and placed it on the padded floor, so the laser beamed on YuFang’s groin. Apek did the same with several coloured lasers, each from a different rod, and positioned them in various locations under YuFang.

  Some lasers sent warm currents tingling through his skin, muscles, and bones—almost to the point of pain. Others made him shiver and wince as if stinging icicles were shooting through his nerves. Some lasers beamed into the space around his body, creating sensations which made him want to groan and vomit in shame or giggle like a child.

  YuFang fell into a deep yet fitful sleep, and when he awoke, he found himself on the padded floor, covered with a crisp white sheet. His tears had soaked the padding beneat
h his face. He sat up and wiped his cheeks with a forearm. Six children’s faces flashed in his mind: cute, chubby cheeks, large chocolate eyes, and various shades of brown hair. The looks matured and aged until they became teenagers. Who were they? Kids he’d killed? No.

  Apek’s elderly voice cracked the silence. He was sitting in a dark corner out of sight. “We’re not finished yet.” He opened a steaming container and pulled out different sized glass cups. “Please, take off your clothes, except for your underpants, then turn fully onto your back.”

  YuFang did as asked, and Apek placed the cups in different locations on the front of his body—his hands, feet, outer thighs, outer shins, chest, throat, collar bones, and forehead. The old man grabbed more cups from the box and switched a button on his control panel. A hum broke the silence, and YuFang’s body floated up again. This time his gaze rested on the ceiling.

  He felt Apek’s presence under his body. “I’m going to place some cups in the same positions, but on the underside of your body. It may hurt a little. Try to relax through it.”

  YuFang jerked as the cups on each side of his body stuck. There was so much pressure between the two in the centre of his chest, that breathing became an effort. The cups on his hands hurt too, but the ones on his feet sent tingling currents of softness throughout his legs, spine, and head.

  “Close your eyes. Don’t focus on the pain. Think hot and cold.” He switched to Maozong, “Dop yen. Sha hai ak. Sha har oc ib.”

  YuFang’s heartbeat raced, and his eyes flashed open. He understood what Apek had said in Maozong, but his translation device was still on his bedside table. Apek had said, “close your eyes, think pain no, think sun and moon.”

  The cups were released as suddenly as they had attached. YuFang cried again—first silently, but soon his shudders turned into sobs.

  Apek adjusted YuFang’s position, so he floated down and stood upright, suspended half a metre above the floor. Lasers shone from the walls onto and around him.

  Apek took two steps forward and looked him in the eyes. “Body pain or mind pain?”

  YuFang opened his mouth to speak, but Apek put his finger to his lips. “I’ll be back. Then you can talk.” He left YuFang alone in the room.

  A flood of dreams, like memories, passed in front of his eyes.

  Apek came back with a translation device. “You can speak your mother tongue, Mayleedian.”

  “I’ll speak in Maozong,” YuFang said in the ancient Jerjen language.

  “I thought you couldn’t speak Maozong.”

  “So did I.”

  “But you’re speaking it now.”

  “I know.”

  Apek disconnected the lasers and allowed YuFang’s body to sink onto the floor. “Get dressed and come. I’ve brought fresh clothes.” He handed YuFang a maroon robe and cord to tie at the waist.

  YuFang changed and followed Apek into the garden. They sat on a bench.

  “Why can you now speak Maozong?”

  YuFang shuddered. “Someone else is trapped inside me.”

  “Let’s drink some green tea, and we can talk more about this person trapped inside of you.”

  ***

  YuFang awoke the next morning, ready for the work Apek had set out for him. He reached over to his bedside table and wrote about the dreams he could remember.

  Next, he went to the dark altar room and meditated in front of the Feili Mother Goddess statue. Her eyes half shut in an overly white Jerjen face, gave her the appearance of contentment. She held in her arms a heap of overflowing planets and suns—her children and husbands.

  Afterwards, YuFang did the feigong exercises on a thick bamboo fibre mat. It helped to stretch out his aching leg. As he breathed deeply, memories of his recent violence came to the forefront of his mind—beating up the vendor at the coconut stall, punching the shop assistant in the throat, poisoning the crowd of people outside the Karaoke at the Yiksaan complex, and poisoning the staff and customers at the bank.

  His stomach went hard, and he broke into sobs. He didn’t deserve freedom. He didn’t deserve a second chance.

  The sweet smell of steamed buns wafted from the nearby kitchen, met with the soft voice of Yasmin chatting away brightly. YuFang joined them and lowered himself into the spare chair at the rectangular table, covered in plates of sliced fruit, steamed buns, and three bowls of noodles. As usual, a thermos of freshly brewed coffee sat on the kitchen side, and Apek’s small tea tray lay next to it.

  “Zao Sa,” Apek greeted him in Maozong.

  YuFang repeated the good-morning greeting. Since yesterday, he’d become efficient in the foreign language, and Apek had shared his thoughts that YuFang must’ve been a Mayleedian spy who’d had his memory chip wiped and replaced with that of a criminal.

  YuFang thought this unlikely, though it might explain his internal biochemical weapons. With a fork, he helped himself to a slice of mango.

  Yasmin sipped her coffee and smiled. “Where’s YeLi?”

  “She’s packed up and gone to the temple in Markaz.”

  “Without saying goodbye?”

  “She said goodbye on my holophone. Don’t worry. She’s young and naive. Still not happy about YuFang being let off.”

  A lump rose in YuFang’s throat. His voice cracked. “She’s right to feel like that. I should hand myself in.”

  “I think that’s the new you speaking,” Apek said. “Eat.”

  “Have you had any more dreams?” Yasmin asked.

  “Yes. I dreamed I had a space vessel and travelled to the edge of Tushing to fish for diamonds.”

  Yasmin giggled. “That sounds like a scene from a science fiction novel.”

  Apek slurped up noodles from his chopsticks, then dabbed the corners of his lips. “Let’s not make any assumptions, Yasmin. If Aedre can truly shape-shift and travel at the speed of thought, perhaps she can go to these places and people and find out if they’re real.”

  YuFang scuffled his chair closer to the table. Aedre could find out who these people were. Then he could give himself up for lethal injection.

  Chapter 10*Aedre

  Gus edged into Aedre’s hospital room, hands deep in his pockets.

  The nurse propped up the back of Aedre’s bed and pulled her from behind so she could sit without slipping.

  “Thank you, Sara. That will be enough.”

  Sara arched an eyebrow at Gus. “No tea for your guest?”

  “No, thanks.” His gaze shifted from Aedre to Sara and back to Aedre again. “I’m good.”

  Sara left, shutting the door behind her.

  Aedre used to feel aroused when she saw Gus, even in her most depressed state after Nabi and Mosh’s murder. Now she felt nothing. After labouring in the Shard of Swords, she’d given up on finding love. But now as a person with quadriplegia, would she ever orgasm again?

  Gus approached Aedre’s bed and gripped its handrail. “Is it safe to speak?”

  “I think so. Bamdar’s drones have disappeared since he was caught.”

  “My ba noticed the missing drones too. The Mayleedian’s shipped Bamdar to one of Tushing’s lunar prisons.”

  “I know.”

  “I think his mafia’s fallen apart.”

  “Hope so.”

  “D’you think it’s safe to speak about you know what? No bugs from the police in here?”

  “Who knows. That’s the least of my worries.” Her lip quivered as she looked at her legs, then turned her head away to gaze out the window. She wanted to say she couldn’t move, but speaking the words would choke her up more.

  “I’m so sorry about what’s happened to you.”

  When she glanced at him, he was holding her hand. No sensation arose from his touch, as if he clung to another person.

  “It’s my stupid fault,” she said.

  “Can I ask what happened?”

  She sighed. “It’s embarrassing. I shape-shifted to a mosquito and flew into one of those UV box zappers. I got electrocuted.”

&nb
sp; His nostrils twitched, but his expression remained sinister.

  “I guess your ba’s too ashamed to visit me?” Aedre asked.

  “A police detective’s taken him to the station for questioning.”

  “But he did nothing wrong.”

  “Just questioning. Don’t worry.”

  “I still want to save the villagers.” She sobbed, and the tears washed down her face. She couldn’t move her arm to wipe them away, which caused the sobs to deepen.

  After Mum died, she’d thought it couldn’t get worse. She’d tried to find love in any man who’d have her, believing a man’s affection would mend her broken heart. But all they wanted was sex. Then her selfish need for freedom had caused Dad’s mental breakdown, and her self-hatred and guilt made her fearless about going to a labour camp.

  Slavery had taught her that only helping others through teaching union would heal her. But discovering Nabi and Mosh’s murder sent her in a downward spiral. If it weren’t for that trauma, she’d never have had the confidence to save the slaves. But she’d fucked up and got one hundred and eighty innocents killed, as well as one hundred mobsters.

  She deserved to be paralysed from the neck down. She deserved to be fucked up forever.

  That wouldn’t stop the self-pity, though. What she’d give to feel again. How she’d feed her soul if she could practice union slowly in nature with the five elements. Five elements with five senses.

  River and rain travel might be her only solution for physical movement for the rest of her life unless she found a key and travelled back in time. But then there’d be two Aedre’s, and like Roobish had told Somare when he was a boy, she’d lose her memory. Anyone who travelled to their unfrozen lifetime would. Roobish had.

  Gus pulled a pack of tissues from his pocket and dabbed her face. A tear from his eye dripped onto her sheet. “I don’t think you can go to the river. Who knows how long you’ll be in care.”

  Her heart rate picked up. “But I wanna go home. I need a ticket.” She needed to see whether YeLi had thrown her friends out too. YuFang could die in that state, and bad people could take advantage of Yasmin’s vulnerability. The poor girl deserved a safe home.

  Gus looked at his shoes. “My ba’s broke anyway. He never had the money to buy you a ticket.”