by Cyci Cade
“Kate!” Liu appeared at the ropes. He stretched his arms as if he wanted to hold her. “No!” He cried; his voice became a whisper and vanished, carried by the wind.
“Goodbye, my love, my beloved prince,” she beckoned at him.
In a crazy split second Liu jumped. Like a fired cannon ball he dove in her direction.
What did he think he was doing?
With his arms glued straight by his side he gained speed. Liu seemed to have control of the situation while Kate kicked in the air in an uncontrolled freefall. Of course, he had centuries of practice; he knew all procedures to fly; it was unfair to compare.
The fall seemed endless. She wasn´t able to see the bridge anymore. What happened to Wei? Was he still alive? One of them should survive and tell Mr. Fu Chow their fate. He was a brave warrior; he could resist for a long time but not defeat those beasts by himself; maybe those creatures let him go.
Liu´s arms enfolded her. Kate grasped his coat thanking God for her rescuer. She felt safe even in a quick freefall straight to the precipice´s ground, yes, she could see the brown and green approaching, getting closer.
Liu grunted, shivered, screamed, and his face blushed; fog surrounded them, but nothing happened. His confident expression became worried, disturbed; his body tensed.
“What´s wrong?” Desperation flowed, overtook her.
“I cannot change.” He glanced at her as if he said goodbye; a tear rolled down.
Kate´s hope fell. Whatever happened she had Liu with her, she might not fear the outcome. She swallowed and tried to comfort him. “Don´t worry, we will do this together.”
Liu closed his eyes; he grimaced and spun leaving Kate below him; he released her. Kate’s arms and legs tightened around him. He spread his arms; little by little what seemed like wings appeared; the green scales appeared first on his fingertips and then in the rest of the arm. Liu fluttered them; he was only half metamorphosed, and he couldn´t control the flight or fly away from there, just soften the inevitable crash. He spun again, his extended wings worked as parachutes. Kate lay over him; she hid her face in his chest and in a few seconds she heard a rumble. Liu had cushioned her against the impact.
Kate opened her eyes. The half dragon returned to his human form. She rolled to the side, panted, and as soon as she was able to move, she knelt beside him. His breath weakened; his heart rate became imperceptible.
She tapped his face. “Liu, wake up.”
He didn´t answer. Kate pressed his chest, touched her lips against his and breathed out; she repeated that process several times. He didn´t react.
“Liu. Don´t leave me alone!” She punched his chest and shook his lifeless body.
She punched him hard and yelled hoping it would waken him and he would protest and yell back at her. She didn´t know how much time she wasted before realizing that it wouldn´t happen. Liu remained inert, his feeble body didn´t respond to her attempts to bring him back.
“I love you. I need you, please. Don´t die.” She lay over his body and cried like the dream she had in the bathtub. She had already done that, but it had been in a bad dream; when she woke up he was alive. Her insides still screamed for one more kiss, for his pardon. It was unfair.
Chapter 33
Wei
Wei threw the spear against Kaiming; the beast lowered and dodged, the weapon missing the target. A mix of voices came from the beast, as if all mouths talked at the same time. It was awkward, confusing because all the while he tried to understand the words, put them together, the beast approached him.
It was a trap and he was captive. He couldn´t change his attention to other things until he defeated the creature and got free of that place. But a scream full of suffering caught his attention. Liu´s voice. Wei quivered, clenched his teeth, made an enormous effort to disentangle from the hypnosis of the creature´s voice, and turned around. His brother jumped.
“Don´t!” Wei held up a hand. It was too late, his brother already traveled through the air toward the bottom of the abyss. When Liu disappeared, Wei looked for Kate on the bridge; she wasn´t there. “Kate?” he called in vain. Wei looked at the other edge; he hoped she had reached the other side safely. Unfortunately, no.
The beast´s voices hit his ears again. Kaiming walked slowly now. Alone, Wei´s chances against it was zero, he knew that, the beast also, so there was no reason to be in haste. He held the only weapon he had in front of his body with both hands and stepped back. He kept visual contact with Kaiming and waited for the best moment to attack.
Wei seized the sword with his right hand, spun it in the air and cut the ropes that supported the right side; the bridge shook and tilted. Wei grasped the left rope; the beast´s paws slid, trying to keep balance; the voices gave commands to the body to avoid the fall, though, they failed and the beast fell from the bridge.
He took advantage of the situation and jogged to the broken wood in the bridge´s floor. He considered briefly jumping too, following Liu´s actions; however, it was the wrong decision. He needed to find another way. He leaned against the rope and looked for any sign of Liu and Kate. They had disappeared in the dark hole and there wasn´t anything he could do to help them. By then they had already arrived at the bottom.
An avalanche of thoughts crossed his mind, many ideas about what do to, but all of them seemed impossible. A great part of the expedition was lost; he ran in order not to die. He´d hardly escape alive, not facing those beasts, not unarmed. If he reached the bags, he could grasp other weapons, perhaps find a way to the bottom of the abyss and look for Liu and Kate. Among his insane options it was the best, at least, the acceptable one.
A noise startled him, the others Kaiming had recovered their balance and approached him furiously. Wei darted to the beginning of the bridge; if he reached the land, his chances ought to increase. The beast wouldn´t step off the bridge; that was his thought, hope, and only chance to survive.
The chain link bridge cracked and started to fall apart when another Kaiming jumped over his head and landed in front of him, blocking his path. Wei held his sword in front of his body and turned around to check his options. Another two beasts came toward him.
“You called your friends, coward. Face me man-to-man or beast-to-man. It is an unfair game.” To his surprise the voices remained silent.
Wei kept a defensive fighting position and glanced at the beasts for a short period of time. He whirled the sword and bent his knees, pointing the blade to one beast and the hand to the others. If he was able to morph, he´d fly away and finish it, better, he´d spit fire and burn those hairy creatures. As he didn´t have this option, he was just a common man handling a mortal weapon; he had to do his best to die with dignity.
“Lower the weapon.” All voices spoke at the same time. “You can fight and die now, or you can surrender and die later.” They laughed; those aberrations were making fun of him. It was unacceptable.
“Or we can fight and you die.” He kept his stance and added a different alternative, even knowing it didn´t exist.
“It is improbable, your army and arsenal ran out.” They laughed again. It annoyed him. “In the worst-case scenario you will die, but who knows; after all, this decision does not belong to us.” The beast drew near. “The Green Dragon General is waiting.”
Wei lowered the sword in disbelief. “Who is Green…?” He waved his hand.
The beast tilted its head and sighed as if it was tired of repeating the same story. “Qing Long Pa Jiang Jun, he guards the entrance to hall of the Jade Emperor and commands the immortal army.”
He considered a little and remembered Fu Chow´s instructions. He wondered how many uninvited visitors were there before him. “What are my options?” He wanted to know his chances to get out of that freak place or just gain time to make a plan in order to escape.
The voices whispered at each other and replied, “There are no other options.”
He shrugged and accepted their terms; ‘accept’ wasn´t the right word because
it wasn´t a negotiation. “Fine, then.”
“Put your weapon down.” The beast ordered and scratched its ear with its rear paw.
“Fleas?” He laughed, dropped the sword and followed them.
The beasts spoke as if in disagreement about something he wasn´t able to figure out at that moment. He just wanted to shut those mouths up to think clearly. He had to focus on the next step, draw the situation before it happened and the possible ways to get free from them. He needed to be clever to bargain his freedom and maybe with the eye. Liu and Kate lost their lives, he guessed; the mission couldn´t be a failure.
They left the chain link bridge, the mist that covered that side was concentrated around the Palace. That land was different from anything he had ever seen in his life. Wei couldn´t find words to describe it. That land belonged to the gods; he stepped in a sacred place.
They walked to what he assumed was the main entrance. As they approached the Palace, he saw the green and golden building; the highest tower disappeared into the clouds, probably led to the heaven as the legends said. Three Kaiming guarded three gates on that side as they passed by the gates the beasts returned to their position. They went to the main gate, of course, he was a prince and royalty always used the main entrance.
The beast took its position. Two guards waited for him, they signaled impatiently and escorted him into the hall. The sealed walls of the Palace gave him a bad sensation; it smelled like prison. The hall, built in gold and jade had many sculptures and seemed a dead end. A huge Jade´s Emperor sculpture wore a colorful and florid garment with a pearl crown on his head; he had a jade tablet in his hand and sat royally in the Emperor´s chair.
The guards opened the gates; they entered into the room. On the other side, a man sat on the majestic throne, Qing Long Pa Jiang Jun, waited for Wei. The General wore golden, black and red armor and had a sword hung on his waist. The immortal guards positioned him in front of the throne while the General scrutinized him.
“I wonder what a lost dragon wants here.” The General rubbed his trimmed beard. Wei kept silent, so the General went on, “Why did you risk your life coming here?”
Wei brushed a strand of hair back while he chose the best way to summarize his mission. He wasn´t in the mood for conversation. “We… I have a task to accomplish. I believe you know what if you recognize that I am a dragon.” He spoke only the necessary. Revealing his mission wasn´t in his plan, and the immortal seemed to know already why he was there; he seemed like the Great Dragon´s accomplice.
The General leaned forward. “What makes you think you´ll be successful?” That man had a smug smile on his face.
Wei didn´t like it; he approached the General. “My family, they need and trust me. I won´t disappoint them.” He smiled at the General who grinned back.
The General´s fingers drummed on the throne´s arm. He studied Wei for a fleeting instant and restarted the conversation. “You have good intentions, but it isn´t enough. You disappointed them once, who knows if you won´t do this twice?”
What? How a man he never saw before and didn´t know anything about him and his life dared to judge him?
Wei shook his head in disbelief. “What are you talking about? Liar!” Wei boldly challenged the General. “Put a sword in my hand, and I will show you. I am the Dragon Empire´s heir,” he screamed.
The General studied him a little more. “You cannot remember why the Great Dragon took the eyes and hid them, can you?” It sounded as a question, but was an affirmation. “You have to prove that you deserve it; that you are an honorable man, a noble dragon.”
What did everybody know that he didn´t? Was he the only person on the planet that didn´t identify the real reason of the journey? Whatever.
“Tell me what I must do.” He rolled up his sleeves, showing that he´d face any combat to accomplish his mission. Liu and Kate were gone; he was the best and only chance to restore the Empire.
The General smiled and got up. “I appreciate your courage and enthusiasm, but let´s wait for the late dragons.” He turned his back to Wei and left the room.
Immediately, the guards grasped his arms, restricting his movements and hauling him away.
“Are they alive? Where are they? What did you do to them?” Wei shouted while he yanked his arms trying to escape from the firm guards´ grip.
The soldiers dragged him to the columns. Wei kicked his legs and wrestled his body to the sides, but no matter how much he tried, he didn´t get free. They lifted his arms, put heavy chains around his wrists and ankles, fixed them in the wall´s rings, and left the room closing the gates.
The silence became absolute. Wei forced the chains, twisted his body to both sides, pulling the rings, kicking, and nothing. Definitely, it was dragon proof; he gasped. The General´s words hung in his mind; they didn´t sound good and gave no hope to him. Liu and Kate had survived, he was positive about that. But Wei became the bait to attract them to a trap. He had to warn them. First he had to discover how to warn them, no, wait a moment, first he needed to escape and then warn them. Or was it a test and they were dead? Was the General evaluating his force? For what purpose? He wasn´t sure how much trust he had in that General.
Chapter 34
Hannah
Hannah arrived home, took off her coat and hung it near the door. Robert came in carrying a deer´s leg he had hunted and cleaned with his friends.
“I finished the New Year´s dinner tent decoration. To be honest, I could skip this dinner. I´m not in a good mood for celebrations. Actually, I don´t have anything to celebrate.” She sat down and brushed her hair away from her face.
Robert put the deer´s leg on the kitchen table. “I know. This is the worst holiday since Sam left.” His voice trailed off. It always happened when he pronounced Sam´s name. Because of this he avoided saying her name, and as years passed they stopped talking about her.
“She was taken, you want to say.” She sounded like Kate and corrected her husband.
Almost eleven years ago, to give Samantha to the dragon seemed the right thing to do; it had been that way for centuries, there was a legend; as time passed, she wondered what kind of mother gave a child to a beast and celebrated.
“Yes. The decision rested only on us, an old disheartened couple.” He walked, hung his coat near the door, and carried logs to the fireplace. “We won´t have grandchildren. I dreamed of teaching them how to fish, hunt, and do my job.” He shook his head.
They never had that conversation before. It was too painful and unnecessary; after all, they couldn´t do anything regarding Samantha, so they decided to concentrate their efforts on Kate´s life. They failed again because Kate disappeared into thin air.
“Kate was right; we should have left.” Hannah confessed nervously. She swallowed the tears and added, “She never accepted Sam´s destiny.”
Robert pointed at her. “It is true. She fought until the last moment to keep Sam with us.” He took two mugs of coffee and sat down showing all the tiredness on his face. “I wonder what kind of parents we are. Phillip told me that Kate had asked him to teach her how to fight to rescue Sam. Did you know that?” He sipped the hot coffee.
“I am surprised. I saw them grow up, play, hunt… and I was glad because they missed Sam and had found a way to move on.” She sipped the coffee too.
Robert tapped her hand. “How could we guess Kate´s intentions? Everybody here learns how to fight.” He shrugged.
“There are many girls who don´t know how to hold a knife, much less bow and arrow and other weapons. She gave us signs; we didn´t notice.” Hannah stared at Robert. “I´ll wait one year, if Kate doesn´t come back, I want to move out. I cannot live here anymore, not after everything that has happened. These people are mean; you don´t have any idea of the nonsense I hear them saying about Kate. It is disgusting, they don´t respect our suffering.”
He sighed. “I won´t argue with your feeling that Kate will return one day.” Robert tried to agree with her; however, she knew
that he had a different idea about this subject. Deep inside, Robert didn´t have any hope that Kate would return home.
It didn´t work because Hannah realized her husband wasn´t good with premonitions. She couldn´t accept that her daughters were gone. She should have been brave and taken the girls far away from that cursed village instead of being aloof and thinking the outrage that happened there was normal. Who else had a daughter taken away by a dragon? Nobody; it happened only in Dragon´s Valley, a lost, cursed, and damned village.
A white envelope dropped on the floor near the door caught Hannah´s attention. She studied it a little, mentally retracing her steps since she arrived home. It wasn´t there when she came in, she was positive about that.
Hannah elbowed Robert and pointed. “Look at the envelope. How did it appear here?”
Robert stretched his neck to check Hannah´s words. “Probably someone left a message.” He shrugged not showing interest and continued to sip his coffee.
Hannah got up, walked to the envelope and picked it up. “No one sends messages to us.” Her eyes lay down on the envelope. “Look, it is addressed to Robert and Hannah Stern.”
Robert stood up and approached her. Now, he had a curious expression. “Who is the sender?”
“I don´t know.” She opened the envelope and took out the letter. “It is from Kate.” She read out loud.
Hi Mom and Dad.
Forgive my absence these months. I don´t know how to explain it, but, I left to rescue Sam; in the middle of the journey I met good people who will help me to save her and all the girls. I traveled with them to a distant land across the ocean; they are like family for me.
That legend about the dragon is a lie. A very bad man imprisoned the dragon, forcing it to lie and take the girls to be his servants. Those people have parents captive and they are fighting to release them. Don´t say it to anyone for now.
