by Rob J. Hayes
When Chen charged again, the Master of Sun Valley met him head on and they clashed. Chen wrapped his thick arms around the smaller man, gripping him by his tunic and trousers, and then let his full weight fall down upon him, trying to bear him down to the ground. The Master of Sun Valley wobbled and then held, supporting Chen's bulk. He heard the smaller man grunt and felt him tense, and then Chen was lifted from the ground, turned and slammed down onto his back. Before he could react, Bingwei Ma scrambled up his body, wrapped his legs around Chen's right arm, pinning it outward, and then wrapped strong arms about Chen's head.
Panic set in. Chen had heard the boy's words: each of them could only be brought back once. If he died again he was dead through and through. He struggled, flailing about with his one free arm and flinging his weight back against the Master of Sun Valley, slamming him into the ground again and again, but the man held on tight, his grip slipping beneath Chen's chins and finding an unbreakable purchase. Chen heard rushing in his ears, a pounding in his head slowing with each beat. He felt his struggles becoming weaker, the light in the forest growing dimmer, his mind working slower. And then everything went black.
Chapter 20
Whispering Blade and The Emerald Wind vs The Master of Sun Valley
Iron Gut Chen's left arm fell to the forest floor and his eye closed for the final time. He lay still. The Master of Sun Valley held on, pinning the big man's right arm down with strong legs, his arms almost invisible among the folds of flesh at Chen Lu's neck. Cho just watched.
"Should we, um, help?" Zhihao asked.
Cho shook her head. "Iron Gut wished to fight the man alone. As a matter of honour, I will respect that."
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Zhihao look to Ein, but the boy said nothing. He and the leper sat near the wine keg, both watching the fight through eyes as pale as fresh snow. Ein knelt, but the leper sat with legs crossed.
Iron Gut Chen did not move. Eventually the Master of Sun Valley loosened his grip, and wriggled out from underneath the fat man's fleshy bulk. He dusted himself off, walked around Chen Lu, and approaching Cho and Zhihao. Despite the contest, Bingwei Ma still looked surprisingly calm. His topknot of hair was still perfectly in place, and he was not even breathing hard. At that moment, Cho could well believe the man had not lost a fight in the past thirty years.
"He isn't dead," the Master of Sun Valley said. "Though he will have an aching head when finally he wakes. It will likely be a few hours. I cut off the flow of blood to his brain, not long enough to kill, but to render unconscious."
Zhihao laughed, picked up Chen Lu's folded parasol and walked over to the unconscious fat man. He opened out the parasol and planted it in the ground to shade Iron Gut's face from the sun streaming in from the canopy above. "Just nobody tell him it was me," Zhihao said as he rejoined the others.
The Master of Sun Valley bowed. "Are we finished?"
"No," Ein said, his voice harsh and insistent. The boy did not stand, but his eyes were fixed on Bingwei Ma. He fiddled with the ragged end of his red scarf, rubbing it in his fingers. "Whispering Blade and The Emerald Wind will fight you next. With weapons."
"As you wish. I will remain unarmed." The Master of Sun Valley straightened from his bow. "Whenever you are ready." He backed off a few steps and waited.
Zhihao joined Cho and they turned away from Bingwei Ma. When they had fought Chen Lu it had been without a plan, and it had nearly ended in Zhihao's death. They needed a strategy if they were to beat an opponent as dangerous as the Master of Sun Valley.
"You can't use your sword," Ein said before they could even start to strategise. Cho just nodded to the order.
"What?" Zhihao said sharply. "We have to beat a man who can't be beaten, and she's not even allowed to use a sword."
Ein shook his head, his eyes wide. "She can't use her sword. At least not to kill him."
"Why not?"
"Because if she does, I can't bring him back."
Zhihao groaned. "What? Why not?"
Ein did not volunteer the answer and Cho certainly wasn't going to. She wasn't sure how the boy knew about Peace, but he obviously knew. Perhaps that was one more detail written in the stories about her. Or perhaps the shinigami had told Ein more than the boy let on. Cho wondered if he also knew about her other sword, but the boy's face showed only nervous concern.
Zhihao glanced at Cho and then Ein, visibly working himself up. At last he said, "Fine. Keep your damned secrets." He looked at Roi Astara sitting next to the keg. "I suppose you're not helping either?"
The leper might have smiled beneath his bandages, they certainly twitched. "I am not well suited to this type of combat. I don't know how to fight, only to shoot."
"Well, just in case I die today," Zhihao said. "I want you to know something. You are as creepy as the boy." With that, Zhihao turned to face the Master of Sun Valley. Cho waited a while longer, but neither Ein nor Roi Astara offered any advice.
Chen Lu was an unmoving lump in the distance, shaded by his parasol amidst the fallen leaves and bamboo. He would be no further help, but it was possible he had tired the Master of Sun Valley a little. They were in a small clearing, surrounded by thick bamboo trees.
"I'll follow your lead," Zhihao whispered as they closed on the Master of Sun Valley. Cho drew Peace into both hands and glided to her right. Zhihao drew his hooked swords and moved to his left. Bingwei Ma crouched down, resting on the balls of his feet, his eyes flicking between the two of them as they flanked him. As they closed in, he moved backwards, step by step, his stance changing with each movement.
When they attacked, Cho and Zhihao moved as one, closing in on Bingwei Ma from either side. He had moved far enough back to be in amongst the bamboo and kicked at a nearby tree as Zhihao approached, forcing him to manoeuvre around the shaking tree. Cho struck, a combo - a cross slash followed by a stab - making certain to keep Peace between herself and her opponent. The Master of Sun Valley swayed away from her first strike, and brushed his hand against her blade on the second, pushing it just out of the way. Peace was sharp as a razor, but Bingwei Ma was careful to only touch the flat of the blade.
Cho saw Zhihao fade from view, his image blowing away on a wind she didn't feel. He reappeared behind the Master of Sun Valley and hooked a blade over the man's left arm, and swung for his neck with the second sword. But Bingwei Ma twisted away, freeing himself from the hooked swords and punched at Zhihao. The Emerald Wind fell backwards and hooked a sword around a nearby tree to pull himself to the side just in time. But Bingwei Ma was not done; he chased Zhihao, sparing only a moment to punch at a tree between himself and Cho. The bamboo splintered and the tree fell towards her.
Cho set Peace humming and sliced through the tree. The main trunk of it crashed to the ground behind her, then she chased after Bingwei Ma as he chased after Zhihao. They were moving quickly through the trees, grunting with effort. Zhihao disappeared again, but the Master of Sun Valley ignored the distraction, focusing on the real Emerald Wind.
Cho caught up to them just as Bingwei Ma threw Zhihao into a thick bamboo tree. Cho leapt into the fray between them to protect Zhihao from the follow-up strike, slicing upwards, but the Master of Sun Valley pulled back and brushed the strike away, then kicked out at her feet. Cho barely stumbled away, then Bingwei Ma was on her. With a flurry of blows he backed her against a bamboo tree and snuck inside her guard. He delivered an elbow to her gut that blew the air right out of her.
Bingwei Ma raised a fist to strike again, but Zhihao leapt in and hooked a sword around the fist and pulled it aside. Then The Emerald Wind slashed at the Master of Sun Valley's chest, grazing him before he caught the sword in one hand. Bingwei Ma pulled Zhihao closer, and punched at his face, but the fist merely scattered The Emerald Wind's fading image and splintered a bamboo tree behind.
Cho rolled to the side of Bingwei Ma and thrust Peace at his chest just as Zhihao reappeared clinging to a tree above the Master of Sun Valley and slashed down at the man's head.
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The Master of Sun Valley thrust his hands out to either side, and an invisible rush of energy blew everything away. Cho rolled along the floor, flashes of the forest skipping around her. She hit a bamboo tree with a thud and let out a shout that ripped the air in front of her, splitting all the trees between her and Bingwei Ma in two, but the Master of Sun Valley sidestepped the blast. Zhihao was beyond him, lying in a heap similar to Cho and not moving.
Cho struggled back to her feet, pushing against Peace to help, and then brushed her hair back behind her ears. She took a deep breath and coughed, almost collapsing back to one knee. All the while, the Master of Sun Valley just watched her, calm and ready despite the blood trickling down his chest from the wound Zhihao had delivered. It wasn't much, but it was a weakness. It showed that the man could be hurt, that he couldn't escape every strike. It showed Cho that she had a chance.
"Would you like to concede, Whispering Blade?" Bingwei Ma said, his voice raised to carry.
A thin line of blood trickled down Cho's right arm, and it wasn't her only injury. She set Peace humming with a whisper and charged the Master of Sun Valley, circling around him and slicing at the bamboo trunks, then she darted towards him amidst a torrent of falling trees. He should have moved, she thought, but even with a dozen trees falling towards him, Bingwei Ma stepped into the attack. Cho revered her grip and struck him with the flat of her blade against his chest. Trees came crashing to the ground around them, and when the noise had settled, Whispering Blade and the Master of Sun Valley stood side by side.
There was a grimace on the man's face. Bingwei Ma gagged and coughed blood onto his chin. But he didn't fall. Cho looked down just in time to see the fist coming.
Chapter 21
Zhihao woke to see the forest floor and a man's muscular arse. Something hard pressed into his stomach and he seemed to be bouncing on it. Then he saw the backs of feet, one after another after another. He realised he was being carried on someone's shoulder just as he was thrown to the ground in a sprawling heap. A moment later and Itami was laid out next to him. Zhihao blinked away the cobwebs in his head and found the Master of Sun Valley staring down at them both. He was ruffled at least, some of his hair had pulled free from his topknot and his tunic was ripped in places, his trousers muddied. His chest was still bleeding a little, thin beads running down the chiselled lines of his torso and blood smeared his chin. Zhihao was fairly certain they had put up a tremendous fight. And lost.
With a tired groan, Zhihao shut his eyes and leaned back, hoping for the darkness to claim him.
"So they lost?" Zhihao had no idea how a man's voice could sound bloody, but the leper managed it.
"They put up quite a fight," the Master of Sun Valley said, "but yes. They both live. Are you next, Death's Echo? Or are we finished here?"
Zhihao heard a wet, raspy chuckle. "I don't fight like that, Bingwei Ma. I don't have the body for it." His croaking voice set Zhihao's nerves on edge.
"I understand."
Zhihao opened his eyes again to see the trees swaying above him. The light seemed dimmer now, and through the breaks in the canopy he could see grey clouds marring the blue sky. He knew with a surety it would soon rain.
"Would you share a drink with us before you go?" the leper said. "I'm under strict orders not to touch Chen Lu's wine, but… Well you rendered him unconscious and I doubt he will know."
Zhihao felt his spirits pick up at the promise of a drink. He knew it would taste of week-old egg, but the pleasure of a full gut of booze would be worth it. He might only be mostly alive, but that was more than enough life to get totally drunk.
The leper attempted to lift the keg, but found it too heavy. After a few tries Roi Astara gave up and fetched a wooden ladle from his pack. He popped the cork in the keg and managed to tip it just enough to fill the ladle. When he approached the Master of Sun Valley the man smiled at him and reached for it. Roi Astara almost leapt backwards away from the man.
"You don't want to touch me."
The Master of Sun Valley took a step forwards and reached out again for the ladle. This time Roi Astara didn't move, but Zhihao thought he saw fear in the man's milky eye. "If the stars wish me to share your disease, they will find a way." He cupped the ladle in his hands and drank deep, finishing with a smile. "My people gave him a good vintage."
"They are kind. Far kinder than they should be to strangers." There was a sadness to the leper's voice. The Master of Sun Valley seemed to hear it also. He bowed his head and returned the ladle to Roi Astara.
"You are all welcome in Sun Valley any time. And I would be happy to fight with you all again. Please tell Iron Gut Chen, when he wakes, that he is the stronger. If he works on his technique, he is sure to beat me in any true test of strength." He turned then and bowed to Zhihao. "And you two very nearly had me. I am sure to be bruised for days after that strike, Whispering Blade."
Itami surprised Zhihao by struggling to her knees and bowing her head low. "It was an honour to fight you, Bingwei Ma."
The Master of Sun Valley straightened up, took two steps, staggered against a nearby tree, and collapsed.
"Did we win?" Zhihao asked, turning towards Itami. "How hard did you hit him?"
Itami shook her head. "I don't think that was me. He survived my strike."
Roi Astara approached the fallen master and stood over him. It took him quite some effort to turn the man onto his back using only the butt of his rifle. "I'm sorry, Bingwei Ma," the leper said solemnly.
Itami found her feet and extended a hand to Zhihao, he took it and let her help pull him upright. Together, they approached Bingwei Ma. The Master of Sun Valley was still alive, but barely. Pink spittle bubbled on his lips and his eyelids fluttered. He convulsed once, twice, and then let out a final rattling breath. Then he was still. Zhihao was more than a little confused.
"You poisoned him," Itami said to Roi Astara. It was clearly not a question.
"I poisoned the wine. He drank the wine."
"That's a weak justification."
Roi Astara nodded and retreated a few steps, then sank down against a bamboo tree. "You're right. Very weak. I could not fight a man like the Master of Sun Valley, and if I missed the shot I would not have survived the rebuttal. Poison was the only way for me to win against him."
"Poison is the way of the assassin." There was venom in Itami's voice. Personally Zhihao didn't see a problem with Roi Astara's methods, but then he'd recently been a bandit and had done far worse things in his time than poison a man he couldn't beat in a fair fight.
"And what else would you call me?" Roi Astara asked. "The honourable methods are not open to a man like me, Whispering Blade. I am an assassin. I kill from a distance, with shot or poison or guile. But I kill bad men. Fathers who would beat their children, bandits who prey on those too weak to defend themselves." With every word, Roi Astara's voice became rougher and more blood spattered his fresh bandages around his mouth. "And, yes, Emperors driven mad by their own power."
"But the Master of Sun Valley was not a bad man," Itami said, interrupting the leper. "From what I can tell he was good and honourable. Do you disagree?"
The leper slowly lowered his one-eyed gaze to the forest floor. "You are right. He was not an evil man. But his death was necessary. In this case a good man had to die in order to kill a much worse man. The Emperor of Ten Kings.
"All you know about the Emperor of Ten Kings is that Ein is tasked with killing him, because a shinigami wants him dead. I cannot fathom the reasons of a god, but I know my own. Perhaps you didn't notice the poverty in Ban Ping? The number of homeless vagrants has grown so large not even the monks can feed them all. Perhaps you failed to see that the farmers we pass on the road have carts less laden than ever before? Perhaps if you open your eyes on the way to Wu, you will see more than you expect.
"The Emperor of Ten Kings must die," Roi Astara said. Then he pointed a bandaged hand towards Bingwei Ma. "And if we are to kill him, we will need the help of the Mas
ter of Sun Valley."
"What poison did you use?" Ein asked as he approached on silent feet. He knelt down by the head of Bingwei Ma and reached into his little pack to retrieve needle and thread. The boy wasted no time in sewing up the wound on the man's chest.
"Sen root extract," the leper said after a moment. "It has a sharp taste that was hidden by the wine. It acts quickly and taxes the heart until it simply stops."
"How long does the poison take to break down?"
Roi Astara shrugged. "I'm not sure."
The boy turned to stare at Roi Astara and their pale gazes met. Zhihao found he was more than a little pleased he was not between the two of them. Given his harassment the night before at the hands of the yokai, he'd had more than enough of unnerving eyes to last for a full lifetime or two. Eventually Ein turned his gaze to the sky, and stared up through the forest canopy. "I can wait until morning to bring him back, but no longer. We will have to stay here tonight. The yokai will find me."
Zhihao edged around the fallen Master of Sun Valley and found Chen Lu snoring under his parasol. He knelt down and gave the man two hard slaps to the face. It was like slapping steel. The fat man's eyes fluttered open and he stared up at Zhihao. "Did I win?"
