“Now we’re ready to go,” Lady Jin said.
Mountain Lady’s eyes popped open and she gracefully stood with her spear in her right hand. They followed her around the pool to the dark opening.
“Take a torch if you want to see,” Mountain Lady said.
Lady Jin grabbed one of the torches stuck into the wall and wondered how to remove it, but it simply came out as she touched it. Nu was able to do the same thing.
“Is this magic you're doing, Mountain Lady?” Lady Jin said.
“The magic has been here longer than I have,” Mountain Lady said. “If we don’t stop Hao, this magic will be his magic. Now do you wish to help me stop him, or do you wish to go?”
Lady Jin and Nu agreed to help her.
“I don’t have to let a goddess take over my body, do I?” Lady Jin said.
Mountain Lady laughed. “No, you won’t have to do that again, Lady Jin.”
Did I tell her about that? Lady Jin thought. I’m not sure, but—
“Now be ready.” Mountain Lady was serious now. “His army of dead are waiting for us. You deal with them and I will handle Hao.”
Could she be working with Hao? Lady Jin thought. Could she be Hao? He doesn’t have that kind of power. Right?
Lady Jin’s instincts told her to not trust the strange bird woman who was supposed to be her friend. Now she raised the torch in her left hand with her sword held low in her right. She marched forward into the darkness with Mountain Lady behind her and One-eyed Nu bringing up the rear. They walked through a tunnel that was almost six feet high and about three feet wide. It went on for about hundred paces and grew wider. It was still a tunnel, but was now as wide as it was high.
It wasn’t long after the change in width that Lady Jin smelled death. A familiar smell to an experienced warrior woman like herself. At first the smell could have been taken for that of a dead rat, but it quickly grew stronger. She wondered if a pit of stink was ahead of them as sickening as the pool behind was warm and sweet. A complete opposite. A place of death that gave existence and strength to things that were dead.
Blop! Clank! Tink! Something moved. It was coming closer. The strange sounds continued.
“They come!” Mountain Lady shouted.
Lady Jin felt the urge to circle to the left and step back just as a large war hammer slammed into the ground where her feet hand been. She stabbed at her attacker without thinking and retreated. A living being would have died, but this thing swung again. She ducked and, out of the corner of her eye, saw a second creature with three knives in its too-many hands coming at her. The top of the hairless creature’s head was as high as her hip. It dance with a strange grace of death. Lady Jin attacked with a feint. Lady Jin tried find a way to get one attacker between her and the other. This way she could fight one attacker instead of two at once. She also realized that she had dropped her torch, but could still see from its light coming from the floor.
Lady Jin got the smaller attacker between her and the warrior armed with a war hammer. Her sword kept the creature back. It tried to catch her blade between two of its knives. She had seen the move a hundred times. Lady Jin knew just how to deal with it. As the creature focused on catching the sword it didn’t notice her left hand’s quick snatch of her sheathed knife. She raised her sword handle and twisted it as if to break free. Actually, she was giving herself room to thrust in with her knife. A few inches of blade into its belly shocked the creature. It let go of her blade. Lady Jin cut its head off. The creature fell to the side. The warrior accidentally brought his hammer down on top of it.
Lady Jin jumped back just in time to miss the weapon, but wasn’t quick enough to counterattack. She could hear the others fighting as well and hoped they would survive their fight. Right now she needed to destroy someone who was already dead. The dead man, like the others, had no breathing she could follow. The importance of breath was that a living being would breath out as it struck out and breathed in when it didn’t, thus it was more unbalanced when it breathed in. Experienced warriors learned to time their offense and defense based on that. Now she could only watch, but she had dropped the torch. Luckily her opponent was large and noisy with his attacks.
She dodged to the right to miss a swing of the hammer. The hammer swung around for another blow, she dashed it cut across the arm. She had tried to cut it off, but hadn’t got the angle right. She dropped and rolled behind the dead warrior. He yelled out a curse as he missed her again. A spearhead burst through his skull, but he still cursed and seemed ready to fight more, but a light soared out of the spearhead. There was a strange humming sound and his head exploded.
Mountain Lady stood with her magical spear in her hand and Nu waited behind her with a blood sword.
“Thank you, Mountain Lady,” Lady Jin said. “But I think I was about to—”
“Sorry, I didn’t know it would upset you so,” Mountain Lady said. “We need to continue. Are you ready?”
“Yes,” Lady Jin said.
Chapter eleven
The three of them continued through the tunnel. Soon they approached another room containing three tables made of ivory. One had a pile of silver coins, the second had a pile of pearls, and the third table bore three large clay jars on it. Nu found the jar full of herbs of some kind. Nu then reached for some of the jewels.
“Don’t touch it!” Mountain Lady ordered. Nu stopped and looked back at them.
“Why?” Lady Jin asked.
“It’s a trap.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Lady Jin nodded and gestured to Nu to back away.
“It’s an illusion created by the mountain to fool thieves who come looking for riches,” Mountain Lady said. “Once they leave the mountain, these things vanish. They’re nothing.”
“But you said it was a trap?” Lady Jin said.
“Oh it is,” Mountain Lady said. “The second time you return to try again.”
“What happens?” Lady Jin said.
“Just don’t do it,” Mountain Lady said. “Let’s keep going, and remember that very soon I will have to leave to stop Hao.”
As they started towards the next tunnel opening several dead warriors stepped out of it. They carried small hand shields and spears. All five were women.
“I guess we stop now.” Nu pulled out her sword and dropped her backpack.
Lady Jin did the same. Mountain Lady, on the other hand, lowered and charged between two of the dead women. A bright spark of green knocked the two of them against the wall and they crumbled to dust. The other three stopped in front of Lady Jin and Nu, while Mountain Lady left them all behind.
“Which of you be Lady Jin?” one of the dead women said in a crumbled, dusty voice.
“I am Lady Jin.”
“I am Fu Hao,” the dead woman said. “You have come for my sword.”
“The man you protect also wants your sword,” Lady Jin said.
“True,” Fu Hao said. “I should have killed him, but his magic was too strong.”
“Let us pass,” Lady Jin said. “And I will stop him.”
“No,” Fu Hao said. “I swore to him that I will kill you. It will be done.”
“Just me and you?” Lady Jin said.
“Yes.”
Lady Jin handed her torch to Nu and a saluted with her sword in her hand. Fu Hao gave a salute of her own and the fight was on. Both women held still for minutes that seemed like hours, Finally Fu Hao made an obvious feint. Lady Jin sent back a similar feint as the two women moved in ways to not give away their abilities too soon to their opponent. Lady Jin covered her left side with her sword blade to block a spear thrust, and smacked aside a shield thrust with her left palm. She came out of the move gracefully with a thrust to Fu Hao’s knee.
The two women broke apart and stood still once more. Next came a full-on attack with dodges, metallic clangs, and near misses. Lady Jin cut deeply through Fu Hao’s thigh, but the dead woman barely reacted. Lady Jin also got clipped on her left chin as Fu Hao spu
n her spear around one handed. Lady Jin kicked out at the leg she had just cut through, hoping to break the bone, but nearly got her own leg impaled. Lady Jin’s mind could barely make out what she was doing and mostly moved on instinct.
Fu Hao stabbed with her spear and Lady Jin tried to grab the spear’s pole before she could pull it back. Lady Jin dropped and felt the edge of the bronze spearhead slice across her ribs. One of them could feel and weaken eventually from loss of blood, while the other could fight for years.
I need to do something! Lady Jin hammered inside her mind.
Lady Jin hacked, slashed, and thrust repeatedly at her inexhaustible opponent. The drops of her blood weren’t what worried her, but the sweat was dropping into her eyes. She had no time to wipe it out of the way, nor did shaking her head help. It was growing worse yet she fought on. The fight didn’t seem to bother Fu Hao. She did not sweat, bleed, or breathe.
Just as Lady Jin blocked and slashed at her enemy and moved for a stab, she dropped to her knees. She hacked at the legs that she had cut through, but from the opposite direction. A loud snap was heard as the large leg bone shattered. She thrust the sword upwards at the dead woman’s eye for a second before spinning away to the right and into a standing position.
Fu Hao struggled to rise in a sitting position, using her good leg to turn herself. She lifted her spear with shield ready for defense. Lady Jin watched her carefully, fully knowing the danger of a wounded animal. Lady Jin drew her knife and blocked the spear thrust with it. She kicked at Fu Hao’s shield and hacked through the spear arm. Fu Hao swung the shield at Lady Jin, who blocked it with the knife blade and cut from right to left across the lower jaw, but missed the neck. Lady Jin moved in again with a good cut that took off the head of Fu Hao, the old dead general/queen. Fu Hao’s corpse exploded into dust.
One-eyed Nu moved forward, now between her beloved teacher and the two surviving dead warrior women of Fu Hao. One of them moved toward Nu with a snarl on her rotten face. A maggot crawled out of her mouth. Nu swung at the dead woman and stepped back as her attacker charged. Nu sidestepped and slashed at an arm. They battled for several minutes.
Lady Jin glanced at Nu and then at the last dead warrior woman in front of her. She walked backwards to fake fear. Lady Jin tossed her knife at the woman's right eye. The knife hit the surprised dead warrior woman and Lady Jin’s sword blade slid through the neck. The old body turned to dust.
Nu finally took down her opponent. Nu beheaded the dead warrior woman and sank to her knees in exhaustion.
“How do you feel now, Nu?” Lady Jin said. “Maybe we shouldn’t have come here. You and your crazy ideas.”
“What?” Nu said. “It wasn’t idea. I—” Nu stuck out her tongue.
Lady Jin laughed. “Well, even still, we need to get going.”
“We have to finish this,” Nu said. “Honor?”
“Right,” Lady Jin said, with a mischievous smile. “It’s a matter of honor.”
“We’re warriors,” Nu said. “Or some such shit.”
“Right.”
#
The two got up after resting a little. They picked up their torches and journeyed onward into the next tunnel where Mountain Lady had run. Soon they heard shouting from up ahead. Lady Jin and her student ran and came upon a huge open area with a giant snake statue in the center.
Mountain Lady stood with her spear pointed at Hao and he seemed surrounded by water.
“Let me go!” Hao shouted. “Damn you, old witch!”
“This is my mountain!” Mountain Lady replied. “It will stay on my mountain!”
“Mountain Lady?” Lady Jin walked carefully toward the two of them keeping an eye on the snake statue.
“I have him,” Mountain Lady said. “You have nothing more to worry about.”
“Do I?” Lady Jin said.
“You actually think she’s helping you find the sword of Fu Hao?” Hao said.
“Shut up!” Mountain Lady said.
A green beam of light flashed out of the spear and sank through the water shield to hit Hao in the chest. The water faded for a few seconds, but returned. Hao didn’t fall.
“What is this all about, Mountain Lady?” Lady Jin said. “I thought we had deal of some kind. I thought we were friends.”
“We are friends, Lady Jin,” Mountain Lady said without turning away from Hao. “I just need to end this.”
“What?”
“Fu Hao never had a sword,” Mountain Lady said.
“What?”
“I just needed your help to get here,” Mountain Lady said. “I’m sorry for lying to you, but I did.”
“You’re as bad as he is,” Lady Jin said.
“Bad?” Mountain Lady said. “What do you know of the horrors of the world? You have not sailed east to lands beyond the great ocean. You have not ventured into the Yellow Springs where the dead sleep and return to this Earth. What do you know of the evils that this Hao could do with the powers of my mountain?”
Lady Jin stabbed Mountain Lady deeply in the thigh. She yanked out the sword and stepped back. Mountain Lady screamed and fell. The snake statue changed its form. Now it was that of a gigantic tree. The mountain opened up showing the heavens above.
Lady Jin looked up and could not see the tip of the tree. It seemed to rise as high as the heavens themselves. Maybe it did.
“It’s mine!” Hao laughed. “The tree is mine. I will ascend and gain the power of the mountain.”
The water that surrounded Hao disappeared. He walked towards the tree. A knife slammed into his back. Lady Jin looked behind her and guessed it came from Nu.
“The girl?” Hao said. “Damn you! I should have killed you before.”
A green beam of light burst from Mountain Lady’s spear and Hao vanished.
“You should not have interfered, Lady Jin, but I will not be angry with you for it has turned out well anyway.” Mountain Lady looked over at One-eyed Nu. “And thank you, One-eyed Nu, for you have done me a great service today.”
“I’m sorry,” Lady Jin said.
“You should be.” Mountain Lady used her spear to help herself stand. “You might have helped him gain the power he wanted. Luckily, you wound up tricking him into lowering his water shield.”
“You shouldn’t stand,” Lady Jin said. “You’re injured.”
“The mountain’s tree is all I need to heal my wounds, my friend,” Mountain Lady moved toward the huge tree, using the spear like a crutch. She broke a branch off the old tree that stood alone within the mountain. She held the branch over her head.
“Wood becomes fire!”
The branch burned into a flame. Lady Jin felt the heat of the flame from where she stood, motionless.
“Fire becomes earth!”
The flame disappeared and the Mountain Lady held a mountain of ash or earth in her hand.
“Earth becomes metal!”
The mountain of ashes reshaped itself into a shining sword.
“Metal becomes water!”
The sword melted into water that flowed across her arm.
“Water becomes wood!”
The water transformed back into wood.
“Do you understand?” Mountain Lady looked into Lady Jin’s eyes. “I asked this of you once before.”
“Yes, you did,” Lady Jin said. “I didn’t understand you, back then, but I do now.”
“Yes,” Mountain lady said. “I feel that you do.”
“Hao is not dead,” Mountain Lady continued. “I have sent him far away, but one day you will cross his path again. Beware for he will want revenge.”
The feather-covered woman pointed her spear at Lady Jin. A flash of green light blurred Lady Jin’s sight and thought.
Lady Jin awoke on the ground beside a river where her horse drank water. One-eyed Nu was asleep beside the horses. Both horses had ropes tied around their front legs to hobble them, so they wouldn’t wander too far off.
Lady Jin poked Nu’s arm and the girl wok
e up.
Nu looked around startled. “Where’s the mountain? How did we get back here?”
“All a part of her mountain and its mysterious power,” Lady Jin said.
“So it really happened?” One-eyed Nu said. “It wasn’t just a dream. Right?”
“Yes, Nu,” Lady Jin said. “It did happen.”
Chapter twelve
One-eyed Nu swallowed the last of her noodles and looked at Lady Jin with her right eye. The only one the girl had. The reached for her cup of wine that was on a gray wooden table between the two women.
“You really think this sorcerer you’ve heard of is Hao, mistress?” Nu asked her teacher and swallowed some wine.
Lady Jin looked around the crowded room where several of the men and women staying at the inn were eating and drinking at short tables. There were no chairs in ancient China. Everyone sat on grass-stuffed cushions or mats made of grass or leather. A girl about Nu’s age danced on a table with only her underclothes on for the enjoyment of three merchant men. A waitress and a bouncer come by to make the girl get off the table. Lady Jin heard the bouncer threaten to throw the four of them out on the street. The girl puts her clothes back on.
“The rumors might be true.” Lady Jin adjusted her long black hair, which tied into a bun. Two hair silver hair pens held it together. Nu’s long black hair was also tied up in a similar bun with wooden hair pens holding it together. “I’ve heard of a place we should go to. We might find information there.”
Nu raised her cup and down the rest of her wine.
#
Lady Jin and One-eyed Nu walked into another building a mile away from the inn they were staying in. This place was full of gamblers, dancers, singers, and prostitutes. Several girls danced on tables and one had new clothes on. A drunk man grabbed Nu between the legs and made a rude comment. Nu spit in his face and slammed her foot across his jaw. Teeth flew and the man stumbled away. Lady Jin had her sword halfway out, but sheathed seeing Nu had handled the problem.
“Not as charming a place as the last one.” Lady Jin commented. Nu nodded.
Evil Wizard Hao: A Lady Jin and One-eyed Nu novel Page 7
