Lady Jin called out the name of the little village she defended from Black-hand. Xixi, the bandits, and the camp all disappeared in front of Lady Jin’s eyes. They were replaced by the village and several shocked villagers. Some screamed when they saw her, but cheered once they released who she was.
“Lady Jin!”
The villagers gave Lady Jin soup, bread, and beer. She thanked them deeply and began to plan her next move. She wondered if the bandits would come her after her.
“What happened to your young friend?” Granny Tien the oldest woman in the village asked.
“I don’t know, Granny Tien.” Lady Jin said. “This sorcerer kidnapped her and I am very worried about where she is. Is she…alive?” She sighed and trembled. The elder woman patted her shoulder with a withered old hand.
“Don’t give up, Lady Jin.” She ran her hand through Lady Jin’s hair. “You may feel that the gods have abandoned you, but it isn’t true. Stand strong and face your inner demons. You are stronger than you think, my dear.”
Chapter fourteen
Lady Jin borrowed a horse from the villagers and rode back to Guanxibo to speak with Blue Dove.
“No.” Blue Dove shook his head and poured a bowl of soup for Lady Jin. “I have given you all you needed. Your friend is near, but I am not permitted to say where. You must find that out yourself. Drink this soup. It will make you feel better. Good stuff.”
“Thank you.” Lady Jin sighed. She drank the soup out of the bowl.
“One-eyed Nu.” Blue Dove suddenly said as she tried to enjoy the soup.
“What?”
“There is power in a name.” Blue Dove told her. “Maybe that will help you. Remember her name and it might save her life. I’m not sure why I said that just that I did. Some time other beings speak through me. It might be important.”
“Thank you, Blue Dove.” Lady Jin tilted her hear like a dead. She wasn’t sure what he was talking about for it didn’t make an sense. “I will remember.”
Blue Dove smiled and nodded his thanks. After she finished the soup he told her it was time to leave. Lady Jin left the city on the borrowed horse. Lady Jin did feel a little better after the soup. She smiled and wondered what the old man had put in it.
#
Instead of heading back to the village Lady Jin went to the ruined city. The bandit’s hideout. Xixi the bandit princess’ hideout. Lady Jin led her horse into the city with her sword in her right hand. She searched through the whole city. No one could be found. Lady Jin tied up her horse and walked into the building that she had found Xixi fighting a bandit. The corpse of the bandit was still there on the floor.
A puff of smoke appeared in front of her. The smoke dissipates and Hao is facing her. Lady Jin prepared herself for the attack from him. Hao tossed a spear on the floor by the dead bandit. The dead corpse stood up and picked up the spear.
“Kill Lady Jin!” Hao ordered.
The corpse turned its dead eyes towards Lady Jin. The corpse charge at Lady Jin with its spear. She spun and slashed its side open with her scimitar. Of course the corpse was bothered by the wound. Lady Jin blocked another stab. The corpse bandit swung the spear at her trying to slice her with the tip. Lady Jin under the spear and cut from groin to hip. The corpse fell to its back and dropped its spear. The corpse picked up its spear and tried to push itself toward Lady Jin with its only leg. Lady Jin beheaded it. It stopped moving.
Hao raised his hand and lightning bolts fly out of his fingers. Lady Jin rolls to her left to avoid them. She held up her sword in a guard position. Hao was gone. Where did the bastard go now?
Lady Jin walked out of the city with her horse. She searched the ground and found tracks to follow. Lady Jin suspected that she knew where the bandits had gone. She took a drink of water from a water bag.
#
Lady Jin rode on towards the village. She had considered returning to Guanxibo, but she realized she would find no answers there. Lady Jin pulled on the reins of her horse to stop it. Before her appeared a quiet village with no chaos, death, or sorcery going on. Where are you, Nu? How can you be nearby and I not be able to see you? All Blue Dove has for me is insane riddles. I just want my friend back.
Lady Jin was cheered when she rode into the village. Elders of the village greeted her and so did many children. Granny Tien was there. Lady Jin handed the horse back to its rightful owner. Granny Tien invited her inside her hut she shared with her family. Lady Jin was given a bow of noodles to eat and a cup of wine. After eating her fill she was asked about her journey. She told them about what had happened since leaving their village. Everyone listened intently to her tale.
“I thought the bandits might have come here, but I lost their tracks on the way.” Lady Jin sipped some wine and thought about it.
“These bandits heard you mention the name of this village?” Granny Tien asked.
“I believe so.” Lady Jin nodded. “I don’t see how they couldn’t have heard me say it to coming her by Blue Dove’s magic.”
“Good ole’ Blue Dove.” Granny Tien cackled. “I know that dear old man well. He has been here a few times to help with illnesses and crop failures. A good man.”
Many of her relatives in the hut nodded in agreement.
A boy raced into the hut.
“Help!” he screamed. “Horse riders are coming!”
Everyone went outside to see. Lady Jin saw the dust coming towards them it was several horsemen. She suspected it was Xixi and her bandits coming to attack the village. Had they followed her just as she had followed them?
“They be here soon!” Lady Jin drew her scimitar and raced to the front of the village.
The village had a wall made of tapped earth. It encircled the whole village, but was not very tall. Lady Jin could look over the wall by stretching up on her toes. Here comes the bastards! They’ve tied branches to the tails of the horses to cause more dust to fly. They did this to make the villagers think that there were more bandits than there actually was.
Villagers came forward with spears and shut the front gate of the village. The bandits shouted out the evils they would do if the gate wasn’t opened. The bandits sent arrows over the wall. The village man beside Lady Jin fell dead with an arrow in his skull. Shit!
Lady Jin pulled herself on top of the wall. She held herself low to not be seen and jumped on a bandit as he rode by. Lady Jin twirled her scimitar over her head and screamed.
“Fear me! Fear me! I am death!” Lady Jin called out her battle cry like a demon to frighten the bandits.
Lady Jin hacked through a bandit’s neck from behind. She swung at a bandit on her right and then at a bandit on her left. Slash! Cut! Chop! Aaah! She rode swiftly through their ranks with her weapon cutting here and slicing there. Getting at the end Lady Jin pulled on the reins and turned her stolen horse around for another rush through the bandit gang. Here we go again! Goddess help me! The bandits were now in confusion and had stopped attacking the village with their arrows. Lady Jin raced again into the bandit gang.
“Villagers come on!” Lady Jin shouted out to the villagers. “Come out and fight! Your enemy is afraid and weak! Do not be fooled by bluster! Attack!”
The gate opened and the village’s defenders rushed out with their spears. They charged the surprised bandits and their horses. The spears in mass frightened the horses and the bandits confused by Lady Jin’s brave attack were completely lost at what to do. One bandit turned and fled and other bandits quickly followed.
The villagers screamed and shouted at the running bandits. Lady Jin rode into the village with the horse she had taken from a bandit. Everyone cheered and cheered. Until someone started screaming at everyone to come over. Lady Jin jumped off her horse. Granny Tien was found lying on the ground. Her head cradled in the lap of one of her daughters. An arrow sticking out of her unmoving chest. Poor old Granny Tien. Lady Jin wiped away a tear as the other villagers cried out their lost.
#
Lady Jin sat by a tree and s
wallowed some wine. What am I going to do now? Xixi wasn’t among the bandits that attacked the village nor was that Big Dog Liu. Where are them two and what are they planning? I need to make plans of my own.
While Lady Jin contemplates her next moves she heard the screams of several women in the village. She raced towards the noise to find people looking up on a top of the old mill building.
“What’s going on, Blue Zu?” Lady Jin asked a village man she knew by name.
“Three children have climbed up on the old mill.” Blue Zu pointed. “They won’t come down. There’s something wrong with them!”
Lady Jin saw the children. All three looked about two or three years old. So young! Oh Goddess!
“Death! Death! Death! We love death!” the children screamed out in unison. Then they jumped to their death.
Hao appeared on top of the mill. He was laughed and pointed at Lady Jin.
“Did you enjoy that as much as I did, Lady Jin?” Hao laughed. “Do you remember where Black-hand had his camp? That will be where you find Xixi and her bandits. They are wait for you. If your not afraid!”
Hao laughed and vanished in a dark puff of smoke.
Chapter fifteen
Lady Jin borrowed a horse again from one of the villagers to ride out to Black-hand’s old camp. The camp had been full of tents and men the last time she had ridden into it. If all was well then she would find it empty of men and maybe a tent or two left behind. The only other thing at the camp would be the remains of campfires and corpses. I wonder if Black-hand’s comrades had buried their friend or left them to rot in harsh sun. The sun had dropped low. In the desert with the lose of the sun came the freezing cold almost as bad as the arctic tundra.
Lady Jin rode through a rock outcrop that would lead to where the old camp was. Back then she had been able to hide here to spy on the camp and now she did it again. Lady Jin climbed up the side of a big rock. It was now nearly dark and she couldn’t see the sun. Only the last hints of the sun be seen. Some legends said that the sun was dying and would be reborn on the other side of the world at dawn. Right now such legends weren’t important to Lady Jin. What was important was the campfires she saw in the newly reborn camp that she spied upon.
Lady Jin pushed her long hair back over her shoulder. She counted a couple tents in the camp, but there might be three. This camp was smaller than Black-hand’s camp had been. Maybe we killed more of those bandits than I had thought. Or maybe some of them had run off after I and the villagers fought them off. What should I do now? Hao wants me to go there and if I don’t he might kill more children. I guess I don’t really have much choice in the matter.
Lady Jin crawled down and checked on her horse. She removed a blanket from the saddle and tossed it on the ground. I just as well get a little sleep before dawn. It wasn’t long for Lady Jin to fall asleep and dream of better times.
#
At dawn Lady Jin got onto the horse she had borrowed. She tied up her long hair into a ponytail.
Lady Jin rode into camp as the sun continued on its early journey across the sky. A guard with a bow and arrow watched her as she entered. He didn’t cry out or point his weapon at her he just watched. Looks like I’ve been expected to show up all along. Lady Jin jumped off her horse and led it to a corral where bandit’s horses were. She placed inside the corral with them. The guard still had his eyes on her. Lady Jin walked up to the guard and gazed back at him.
“I was told you might be expecting me. I’m Lady Jin in case you didn’t know.”
The guard scratched his head. “Yes.” He didn’t say anything for a while.
“So are you suppose to tell someone?”
“Yep.” The guard nodded. “Come.”
The guard led her to a tent. He opened the door flap. “Inside.”
Lady Jin ducked inside to see Xixi and Big Dog Liu waiting for her. Xixi tossed her a water bag. Before she tasted it she could smell it was full of wine. Lady Jin drank some of it down and tossed it back to Xixi.
“Thanks.” Lady Jin sat on a pillow.
“Do you know what’s going on?” Big Dog Liu asked.
“Hao has something to do with this.” Lady Jin said. “But I’m sure what?”
Xixi giggled and handed the wine bag to Big Dog Liu. He took a swig of the wine and wiped his lips with his sleeve.
“Xixi is a new born babe.” Liu laughed. “Pretty, isn’t she?”
“What are you talking about?” Lady Jin considered drawing her scimitar and cutting him down.
“Hao hired me and my men to protect him.” Liu explained. “He learned of a new way to control human beings and needed our extra protection while he practiced with the new magic. He eventually tried it on a friend of yours and it worked.”
“Where’s One-eyed Nu?”
“Right here!” Liu pointed at Xixi and laughed out loud. Even Xixi giggled.
“No!”
“But it’s true, Lady Jin.” Xixi said. “I am One-eyed Nu, except I have two eyes.”
Xixi turned around on her pillow. She picked up something behind her. It was a straight sword. Xixi faced her. Xixi pulled the sword out of its sheath. Lady Jin recognized her sword.
“This is your sword.” Xixi said. “Don’t you want it back?”
Xixi sheathed the sword and held it out to Lady Jin. Lady Jin took her sword back. My sword! A belt was strapped on the sheath. Lady Jin quickly untied the scimitar and belt on her waist. It dropped to the floor of the tent. She wrapped the belt of her old sword on her waist. A bandit came into the tent with a bowl of stew of some kind. He placed it on the ground and left.
“Drink wine and eat. For now this tent is yours, Lady Jin.” Big Dog Liu said and left the tent.
Lady Jin ate and drank from the wine bag. Xixi watched her on the other side of the tent.
“Prepare yourself, Lady Jin.” Xixi said. “You and I are going to fight to the death”
“What?” Lady Jin said. “You’re my friend and student. I want to free you from Hao’s magic.”
“You can do that by killing me.” Xixi laughed.
“Is that what you want?” Lady Jin asked. “To die.”
Xixi tilted her head at Lady Jin like a dog. She seemed to think it over. “No. I don’t want to die. I want to kill you. Who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky.”
Xixi giggled and left Lady Jin alone in the tent. What am I going to do? Kill her? Damn you Hao! Where are you? Why won’t you face me? Coward!
#
Within the tent Lady Jin unsheathed her sword. She gazed at the blade. She searched carefully for scratches, dents, cuts, rust, and dirt. Lady Jin found a clean cloth in the tent and used it to wipe one side of the blade and then the other side. She checked edge with her fingers and cut the cloth with both edges. Still in excellent condition. Did Xixi…Nu take care of it? What am I to do? Do I kill the girl I have trained for years in sword fighting and life? Do I allow her to kill me? Either way Hao wins. She sheathed her sword.
Lady Jin breathed in and thought of everything she feared. She breathed out the fear. The swordswoman stood and walked out of the tent.
Chapter sixteen
Outside there were several bandits gathered to watch. Lady Jin counted only eight, including Big Dog Liu. The bandits were gathered in a wide circle with Big Dog Liu and Xixi in the center. The sun’s journey had reached the noon hour. The hour of the Horse.
“So you’ve finally come to join us.” Big Dog Liu said. Lady Jin ignored him. Her sword still sheathed. Xixi now held One-eyed Nu’s straight sword in her hand, instead of the scimitar that the bandit preferred.
“Do you remember everything that I taught you…One-eyed Nu?” Lady Jin asked the teenage girl facing her.
“That is not my name!” Xixi shouted. She shook the sword at Lady Jin. “I will kill you! Are you afraid to kill your friend? Is that why you stayed in the tent for so many hours?”
Xixi laughed. The bandits laughed. Lady Jin said nothing. She stretched and twisted her bo
dy as if preparing for a friendly practice session. Xixi attacked with a thrust. Lady Jin slipped out of her path. Xixi spun with a slashing move. Lady Jin spun her body out of the way like a dancer.
“Draw your sword!” Xixi screamed. “This isn’t a game!”
“Why do you care?” Lady Jin taunted.
“I-I don’t…” Xixi gave a thrust at Lady Jin, who slapped the blade aside with her palm.
Does she care? Lady Jin dodged another thrust. Eventually she drew her sword to stop an attack. There must be something I can do to save her. I know I can kill her. I might be able to disarm her, but then what? I wish Blue Dove could have been more help.
Lady Jin squatted to block a low slice to her feet. She stabbed up at Xixi’s face. Xixi blocked and danced backwards. Xixi charged into Lady Jin with figure eight slices. Lady Jin calmly walked backwards and twirled her sword to block the wild attack.
Her attack to Xixi’s face caused Lady Jin to think of something Blue Dove said. What was it? Lady Jin cartwheeled away from Xixi’s attacks.
“That was a silly move!” Xixi shouted. “You taught me such moves wasted energy.”
“Maybe.” Lady Jin taunted. “Did it annoy you?”
“Shut up!” Xixi growled. She spit on the ground.
“Why do you care?” Lady Jin continued to taunt.
Xixi swung left and right at Lady Jin, who dodged both moves. Lady Jin slashed a cut on Xixi’s left forearm. She slapped Xixi’s cheek with the flat of her sword. Lady Jin blocked Xixi’s thrust, while in a cat stance. She pressed Xixi’s sword downwards and kicked the girl in the face. Xixi stumbled backwards. The girl stopped her near fall and screamed. The girl’s nose was bleeding. Xixi swung at Lady Jin’s forward knee. Lady Jin sidestepped the attack and smacked Xixi on the butt with the flat of her blade. The girl screamed again. The bandit laughed at her.
Evil Wizard Hao: A Lady Jin and One-eyed Nu novel Page 9
