Dreaming of Zhou Gong
Page 19
Dan shook his head, appalled. ‘Does she not care that she may have just lost her sister?’
‘Huxin trusts in Hudan’s mastery in matters of the spirit,’ Fen replied, ‘and believes our sister is in an enchanted place this night. Huxin probably figures they both may as well have a good time.’
For some reason Fen’s little anecdote made Dan feel better. ‘Is that what you believe?’
Fen shrugged. ‘I was too young to really remember the time the Great Mother performed this rite … but I do know Yi Wu is still with us, and that gives me hope that my brothers are right.’
‘That gives me hope too.’ Dan raised his face to the heavens and allowed Hudan’s gift to the earth to flow over him. Against all odds Hudan had broken the drought, and if that much of her prophecy could be true, then perhaps her prediction of survival could be true as well. With a glance at the smoking woodpile behind him, tears of doubt filled his eyes, and Dan turned back around to try and find a little faith again.
‘We must expect the best outcome,’ Fen advised. ‘Envision seeing Hudan and speaking with her beyond today, then you’ll find it easy to think constructively and clearly.’
‘I fail to see how what I believe will make any difference to the outcome,’ Dan replied, thinking that the exercise sounded rather childish.
Fen was totally shocked. ‘You call yourself a learned man, and you do not even grasp how thoughts mould future events?’ Fen thought this was ironic to the point of almost being funny. ‘How do you think you brought all this about?’
‘Thank you for the reminder … this was my doing.’ Dan felt like throwing himself on his own sword.
‘You do not deserve to call Jiang Hudan “brother”.’ Fen was appalled at Dan’s self-absorption. ‘Your lack of faith in her ability is an insult.’
Dan hadn’t had such a dressing-down in twenty years, and it wasn’t the first time this lad had rattled his sensibilities. ‘I mean no offence, Fen, but my logic —’
‘Logic!’ Fen barked. ‘How dare you assume to know more than a Wu master about the nature of life and death!’
‘She cannot be dead!’ As they’d been busy arguing, neither man had noted Ji Song had scaled the jinzita to join them.
‘She is not,’ Fen assured Ji Fa’s heir, and looked to Dan for support.
‘We hope,’ Dan temporised. ‘You should not be here, Song. Your family will be looking for you.’
‘She cannot be dead,’ Song repeated, caught up in his own concerns. ‘She was to be my goddess!’
‘Song!’ Dan grew tired of Ji Song’s wet dreams about the Wu master, dating from when he had first met her at the Wu temple with his father.
‘You just keep thinking that,’ Fen encouraged Song. ‘At least your wish does not run contrary to our desired outcome.’ He looked back to Dan with a challenging glare.
‘What would favour our outcome would be to dig Hudan out of there and heal her,’ Dan reasoned, and he stood to take action. ‘You can do that, Fen, I know you can.’
‘Really?’ Song was amazed to hear this. ‘Then do it, Fen. I command you.’
‘Ji Fa will have our heads if we disturb anything!’ Fen was not going to be bullied. ‘What you both fail to understand is that Hudan is not injured, so she does not need healing! She is under the protection of the lord of the elemental realms this night, and that enchantment will last until dawn, when the fire will have cooled and her body can be removed in safety. Touch that pyre now and the enchantment will break and the coals still simmering underneath will burn her alive!’
‘I’ll wait,’ Ji Song decided and took a seat on the stairs, but Dan was still staring at the pyre, not knowing what to believe.
‘If logic is your game, then it will tell you Hudan died the moment she entered the fire.’ Fen softened his speech as he came to stand between Dan and the pyre to break his gaze and gain his full attention. ‘But, if I am right, you will have done the right thing in waiting. The only reason you would take action now would be to serve your own desire to be relieved of worry.’
The truth hurt Dan, but it was the truth. ‘You make a good argument,’ he awarded Fen, backing down.
‘You are my lord, and Hudan is dearer to me than anyone. You must know, then, that I have advised you to the best of my knowledge and whether you choose to heed my warning or not I cannot let you pass this point before dawn.’
Dan nodded in resignation. He had to concede he had no choice but to have faith that events had unfolded, and would continue to unfold, as Fen claimed.
‘Who is this elemental lord Jiang Hudan is with?’ Song wanted to know.
‘Ji Song!’ The captain of the guard called as he scaled the jinzita, and Dan breathed a sign of relief that he was not to endure his nephew’s lovesick drivel any longer. ‘Your presence is required at the house.’
‘If my uncle can stay, then I can stay!’ Song objected.
‘The Xibo grants that you may return here with him at dawn to conclude the rite,’ the guard advised as he reached them.
‘Stay alert, Fen Gong,’ Song instructed, accepting this condition of retreat. ‘Keep my goddess safe until morning.’
‘She is safe in our hands,’ Fen replied, diplomatically including Dan in the equation as Ji Song bid them farewell.
‘He assumes too much,’ Dan said crossly as he watched the Xibo’s son depart.
‘The Great Mother would say that what we despise in others is a reflection of what we dislike about ourselves.’ Fen abandoned his defensive stance and came to stand by Dan.
‘I would never assume to have intimate rights to your sister,’ Dan insisted, finding the comment offensive.
Fen grinned, amused. ‘Really? You’ve never once thought of it?’
Dan felt ridiculous, a grown man having his morals questioned by a youngster? And he was unsure whether it was because Fen was Hudan’s brother and close confidant, or because Fen was his Shifu, that he did feel compelled to answer honestly.
‘Enough said.’ Fen ended the awkward moment for the lord, and took a seat on the step.
‘I am not permitted to love her. No man is.’
‘Sure you are,’ Fen said.
Dan conceded his point, but was frustrated by it. ‘Yes, but that love can never be fulfilled. I would never be content.’
‘That is what I thought,’ Fen argued, ‘and look what happened to me!’
‘Yes, but the Great Mother warned me against Hudan in particular,’ Dan emphasised.
Fen nodded to acknowledge the problem, and then shrugged. ‘I spent years defying the Great Mother’s will, and I believe she only ever admired me for it. I think sometimes her warnings are just challenges in disguise … and challenges are our chance to collaborate with fate.’
‘I don’t think I would earn Yi Wu’s admiration for deflowering her treasured vestal.’ Dan laughed at that, and Fen joined in with him.
‘Unless it was the will of Tian?’ Fen posited. ‘Nothing is impossible. You are always permitted to dream about your heart’s desire, and wait for circumstance to supply the means to achieve it fairly.’
The supposition sent pangs of shock and realisation shooting through Dan’s being as he recollected Hudan’s promise of a kiss for him. ‘Tian is saving that honour for you, brother Dan.’
He couldn’t say he’d never had intimate thoughts about Jiang Hudan, because the truth was he constantly imagined kissing her and loving her. The one thing he had always despised as a distraction from his study had lately become a guilty pleasure he had no desire to forego.
‘What happens when beauty is forbidden you? Will it be so easy to resist then?’
Dan could now see the wisdom in those words of the Great Mother, but it was exceedingly hard to heed. ‘You are supposed to be instructing me in the way of the Wu, Fen Gong, not leading me into temptation with your sister.’
‘I am teaching you,’ Fen grinned triumphantly. ‘You speak of Hudan in the present tense. You do believe that she is sti
ll alive.’
The fact made Dan smile. It was true, his previous certainty had shifted. Given no choice, he would believe her alive until he learned otherwise.
‘Amazing what a little motivation will do for one’s focus,’ Fen said.
‘It is,’ Dan agreed, finally taking a seat, emotionally exhausted and soaked to the skin. ‘So … who is this lord that Jiang is under the protection of?’ It was very difficult to ask the question without sounding like a jealous hypocrite.
‘As the lord in question is of the spirit world, I feel we have no need to be concerned about our brother’s welfare,’ Fen replied, trying not to sound amused. ‘Hudan lives for nights such as this.’
‘I am sure she does.’ Dan felt rather deflated; no wonder she wasn’t interested in mortal men. Still, he had to wonder, if Hudan survived the rite, was she unconscious now, or was she dream-walking with this lord? It seemed insane that that suggestion made him infuriatingly jealous. ‘I just hope he delivers her back to us safely, as pledged.’
‘He will,’ Fen stated. ‘I am sure of it.’
‘Your little brother always did have faith in me,’ Avery advised Hudan as he returned from his observation of the unfolding scene near the enchanted pyre; her consciousness was hovering high over the scene of the rite, at a distance. ‘I believe he will see the rite is respected. Your body is safe until dawn.’
‘Fen?’ Hudan picked up on his first statement. ‘You know Fen?
‘Know, have known, will know. Yeah,’ Avery concluded.
‘He is a son of the sky?’ she inquired.
‘Of course,’ he shrugged, ‘he is elite.’
‘So, Ji Dan …?’ She was almost too afraid to ask the question.
‘Elite,’ he confirmed, and the knowledge left Hudan almost breathless.
‘You called him “Lu Chen”?’ The subject was on the table so she might as well pursue it.
The lord looked pleased. ‘You are starting to remember.’
Hudan nodded. ‘I remember a lord by this name. And Ji Dan claims he was once known by this name amongst you.’
‘He certainly was,’ Avery confirmed, sounding like a proud parent. ‘Rhun said he’d linked into the Akashic memory before he left us to join the rest of you in this time. That would explain why he remembers more than you do.’
‘He remembers more … about what?’ Hudan was perplexed on so many levels. ‘Who is Hree-un? And what do you mean by “the rest of us”?’
After a moment considering her questions, the lord clapped his hands decisively. ‘We are getting way off track here. I have more important revelations to share with you.’ He held his hand out to her and she took it without question. ‘What I show you now will not be easy to witness, so I hope you do not horrify easily, Jiang Hudan.’
‘I have lived an idyllic cloistered life, but I suppose we shall find out.’
The lord conjured a white cloak to wrap around her glowing naked form.
‘Nakedness does not bother me,’ Hudan said, but allowed him to wrap her in the cloak; her inner light shone straight through the ethereal garment.
‘I know,’ he smiled, ‘but keep it on anyway.’
‘If it makes you more comfortable,’ she conceded, wanting to please him.
‘It does.’ The gaze of the lord’s beautiful mauve eyes held her spellbound. ‘You are safe with me; no one can see or hear us,’ he said, as the space around them appeared to blur and shift.
8
DRAGONFACE AND THE JADE BOOK
Glancing away from her guide, Hudan found herself in a palace, but the debauchery and torture taking place in the grand courtyard was completely horrific. A festive orgy was in full swing around her, whilst other people were being roasted alive for entertainment.
‘Which level of diyu is this …?’ Hudan could not understand why the lord would bring her to such a vile place.
‘This is not the underworld, Jiang Hudan. This is the Shang capital at Yin,’ he explained.
Hudan’s disgust turned to anger, realising that the depravity, gluttony and cruelty of the emperor and his witch had gone far beyond anything she could have imagined. This was truly hell on earth; the pleasured sighs and laughter of the guests only thinly disguised the underlying terror and disgust in the hearts of everyone around her.
There was a huge pool of wine in the middle of the courtyard, deep enough for naked guests to float in gondolas and dip their goblets into the pool to refill them. There was a large centrepiece in the pool, resembling a tree, from which hung meat to be plucked and eaten at leisure. A coal fire had been constructed to one side of the pool, and on top of the coals were several bronze cylinders covered with oil. On top of these cylinders men convicted of crimes against the emperor were screaming in agony as they danced upon the slowly heating metal, shifting their feet to avoid the pain, the oily surface making it even more difficult to keep their balance. Inevitably, the men would slip, one by one falling into the charcoal bed below, where they were burnt alive.
‘Stop this!’ Hudan yelled at the guests, who were laughing at the gruesome entertainment, and when she recalled no one could see or hear her, she turned back to Avery.
‘It is up to you and Ji Fa to stop this. It is way out of my jurisdiction,’ the lord told her, and Hudan now wished she had acted sooner.
Into the madness of the festivities came two old, well-dressed gentlemen. Hudan watched them move through the chaos and make their way toward the pool of wine.
‘Your imperial majesties,’ the more regal of the two gentlemen called out.
‘What is the matter now, Bi Gan?’ A woman in one of the gondolas arose to a seated position to address the minister. She was the only woman present who was fully dressed, and wore a shimmering, sheer silk gown of gold and jewels. ‘Can you not see that your emperor is busy?’
This had to be Su Daji, for only she would dare speak on the emperor’s behalf, and Hudan felt compelled to approach and observe her more closely.
The men addressing her must have been Bi Gan and Jizi, brothers of the previous emperor, Diyi. These men were known to be two of the most honourable men remaining in the Shang emperor’s court.
‘We have had grave news from Zhou,’ Bi Gan said. ‘Ji Fa has engaged the services of the Wu of Li Shan to break the drought.’
‘Insolence!’ Daji was furious, but the emperor was obviously too drunk to be concerned about anything. He could barely sit upright.
‘Let them do what they will.’ Zi Shou waved off everyone’s worry. ‘In fact, command them to send me a large consignment of water. The Jade Book states I shall rule for seventy years and nothing on earth is going to change the will of heaven.’
Clever. Dan’s fake Jade Book had made the emperor complacent and Hudan was very proud of her brother for his brilliant strategy and fast thinking.
‘And shall it be Yi Wu who performs this ceremony?’ Daji asked, her voice full of contempt as she floated up and out of the gondola to stand before the ministers. ‘I want to know who dares to challenge our imperial ban.’
I do, Hudan fronted right up to her to eyeball her closely, and I am coming for you.
The empress appeared a little unnerved as the hairs on her body suddenly stood on end. ‘I want a name!’ she shouted.
‘Shanyu Jiang Hudan,’ Bi Gan said, plainly delighted to grant her request.
A smug smile crept across Su Daji’s face. ‘Finally, the legend surfaces. I suppose Jiang Huxin is with her?’
‘I have heard that a white tiger escorts Ji Fa everywhere,’ he answered. ‘He calls the animal Baihu.’
‘Guardian of the West!’ Daji scoffed. ‘Send out a command to kill any white tiger on sight.’
Hudan wanted to grab the enchantress and squeeze every ounce of life from her body.
‘If we do that, then we may as well declare war on Ji Fa and those two-thirds of the land who are allied to him,’ Bi Gan said, questioning her order … which was a mistake, given Daji’s current mood.
‘Due to many grand affairs such as this,’ the minister motioned around them, ‘we do not have the budget to go to war.’
‘Then raise taxes!’ she demanded angrily.
‘The drought, which your greatness has chosen to ignore, has caused widespread crop failure, and the people have been taxed to the brink —’ Bi Gan gasped, whereupon Daji’s temper frayed and she directed her chi energy toward Bi Gan’s chest.
From Hudan’s perspective in the spirit world, it looked like a large dark hand reached out from the shadow that shrouded Daji’s spirit body and gripped hold of the minister’s heart.
No! Hudan wished she had her body present so that she could combat the attack. ‘Do something,’ she said, turning to appeal to Avery. ‘Protect him.’
‘He has not sought my protection,’ Avery answered, with an apologetic look on his face, ‘so I cannot give it.’
This was cosmic law and Hudan could not argue with it. She turned back to the confrontation, helpless to intervene.
‘Such a good man, always pleading the cause of the people. Yet you fail to fathom that the people are here to serve the emperor,’ the empress lectured, mocking him, as Bi Gan stood breathless and unable to speak. ‘I’ve read that a good man’s heart has seven apertures,’ she proposed, glancing around to find the emperor looking alarmed, though he quickly smiled to appease her. ‘Shall we verify that?’
Zi Shou hesitated for a second over the life of his greatest and longest serving minister and uncle, before he gave his lover the nod.
‘No, empress, I beg you —’ Jizi folded to his knees to implore her to spare his brother, only to have his face splattered with blood as Bi Gan’s heart was torn through his chest.
When Daji caught the organ, it was still beating. The minister’s body fell twitching to the ground beside his brother, who bowed down to the ground to wail out his grief.
The brutal and heartless act shocked Hudan to her core, yet she deliberately kept looking at this offence against Tian so that heaven might see all through her eyes and appreciate her ambition to depose Zi Shou and his evil enchantress.