Serpentine

by Cindy Pon

  Skybright stooped to pick up a man’s leather boot, kicked off during his struggles. She avoided Zhen Ni’s glance. “Kai Sen. I’ve talked about this with him. He’s been fighting the undead and demons since the Ghost Festival began.” Skybright straightened. “Come. No matter what, we still need to find something to eat.”

  They pushed past the swinging bamboo door into the cramped kitchen. A small fire still burned beneath a giant metal pot with a round lid. Skybright threw a cloth rag over the handle and lifted it, jumping back from the rising steam. The delicious scent of steamed buns filled the kitchen. At least a dozen were nestled within the pot, the sweet ones dotted with red on top.

  “They’re still fresh,” Zhen Ni exclaimed.

  Skybright found a beige linen and began picking up the buns with long eating sticks, placing them on the cloth. “We can eat some and save the rest.” She put one onto a chipped plate in front of Zhen Ni, and her mistress drew a stool to the square chopping table in the middle of the kitchen. Zhen Ni poked at the steaming bun with one finger. “I think I’ve lost my appetite.”

  So had Skybright. But, always practical, she took a bite from a cabbage bun and chewed slowly, forcing herself to swallow. It would have been delicious under any other circumstance. She nodded at Zhen Ni. “Eat. We need our strength.” Her mistress obeyed, chewing like it was a chore, just as Skybright had.

  Skybright found a pot of cold tea and poured a cup for each of them. She then wrapped up the remaining buns in the rough linen and tied a twine around it.

  “The abbot warned us about the strange sightings, but I found it so hard to believe. Even when you had told me you’d seen it yourself, Sky. I thought you were still in shock from your face wound and delirious. What’s become of everyone?” asked Zhen Ni. “Do you think we’re in danger?” She plucked at the edge of her sleeve, the gesture betraying her nerves.

  “I think they’ve moved on. Taking all the people they’ve turned with them. We can check the rest of the town, but we must still be careful.” Skybright walked over to the wall, where knives hung from hooks over the sink. She took a knife the length of her forearm with a long triangular blade for slicing meat. Its tip ended in a dangerous point, and she stabbed the blade mid-air, testing its heft.

  “The goddess have mercy,” Zhen Ni murmured from behind her.

  “I’ll need a weapon too. The undead can only be killed by fire or decapitation.” She returned the knife and lifted a giant cleaver. She made chopping motions with her arm, liking the feel of this one. “I can’t tell you how dangerous the world is right now. We have to protect ourselves as best we can.” She turned back toward Zhen Ni, who was staring at her, her expression solemn. Zhen Ni’s face was dirt-smudged, and her hair escaped from the tight braids Skybright had wound against her head.

  “Let’s find an inn, mistress. I think we could use the cleaning up and rest.” Skybright picked up the bundle of steamed buns and put it into her knapsack. She slipped the bag over her shoulder, still clutching the cleaver in one hand, and Zhen Ni followed her back onto the main street.

  The girls saw no other person as they wandered down the main street, knives poised in their hands. They stepped over bundles of carrots and cabbage, eggplants and mushrooms, a tied stack of cut bamboo—all discarded in the middle of the road. An orange tabby followed them for part of the way, yowling inconsolably. Zhen Ni fed it small bites of a pork bun, quieting the frightened cat. But when Skybright tried to reach down to pet it, the cat thrashed its tail, hissing. She jumped back, and Zhen Ni laughed, giving it another piece of pork bun. “I don’t think it likes you.”

  Skybright wondered what the cat had witnessed a few hours before. And if it somehow sensed her demonic side. The cat’s anxiety seemed to be infectious, and Skybright felt her hands tingle as she wondered where the undead had gone. Down the main road to attack the next town and grow in strength and size? Skybright grasped the cleaver tighter, stilling the shudder that threatened to overtake her. Her main concern was keeping Zhen Ni safe, and guiding her to Lan without harm befalling them. She would have suggested they turn back toward Yuan manor, but knew that Zhen Ni would refuse.

  The sound was imperceptible at first, a soft stirring of wind over dusted cobblestones. But then it became a scrape, a rhythmic thumping. Skybright whipped around in time to catch an undead creature emerging from a side street, its feet thudding spasmodically. The orange tabby shot away, disappearing beneath an overturned barrow. “Where are you going, cat?” Zhen Ni asked, making kissing noises.

  “Mistress—”

  Zhen Ni turned and almost dropped her knife. She took a step back, shaking her head, lips moving soundlessly in horror.

  “They’re stupid and slow.” Skybright passed her knapsack to Zhen Ni, trying to keep her tone level. “Just stay a safe distance away, and I’ll take care of it.”

  The undead thing continued to lurch toward them, arms held out stiff and straight. It was a woman, its face and torso bloated beyond recognition. Its skin had turned a greenish black while buried beneath ground, and some of it seemed to slough off as it staggered along. A jade comb still clung to its disheveled tresses, and the peonies embroidered on its blue funeral dress were like new, the fabric pulled taut against its swollen stomach. Its distended eyes were rolled to the back of its head, and it rasped a low noise as it closed the distance between them. The thing was horrifying in the brightness of day; she felt frightened of the undead for the first time as it veered straight for Zhen Ni.

  Skybright didn’t wait for it to get any closer to her mistress. She ran up and buried the cleaver in its forehead, right between the eyes. It felt just like she was splitting a hard melon. The thing stopped midstride, head lolling so her wrists rolled with the motion, as she tried to yank the cleaver from its skull. Its protruding tongue seemed to mock her. Skybright finally wrenched it free. Disgusted and terrified, she stood back and kicked it square in the stomach as it teetered, staring sightlessly at her.

  Her aim was poor, and the kick was weak. The undead creature stumbled back a step. This would be so much easier if she were in serpent form. Frustrated, and afraid she’d lose momentum from fear, Skybright ran behind it and shoved her shoulder against its back with all her might. It toppled, arms snapping beneath its own body. Zhen Ni let out a short cry, then covered her mouth. Skybright kneeled down beside the thing and sank the cleaver into the base of its neck. It took five forceful whacks before the head rolled from the twitching body, and Skybright was assaulted with the sickening stench of death and rot.

  Skybright turned from it and retched. Then Zhen Ni was beside her, pulling her away from the corpse. “Goddess, Sky! Are you all right?” Her mistress still clutched her knife in one hand, and there was a sheen of sweat on her mottled face. “Is it … dead?”

  “Yes.” Skybright wiped her mouth with a trembling hand. “The monks usually set the corpses on fire, but I think cutting its head off is enough.”

  “You said there are hundreds of those things.” Her mistress gripped Skybright’s shoulder so hard it hurt. “We have to get out of here!”

  Skybright rose unsteadily to her feet with her mistress’s help. Zhen Ni gave her a flask so she could rinse out her mouth and wash her hands. “No. We’re safer in the town. Out in the open, we’d be easy targets with nowhere to hide.”

  Zhen Ni stared at the crumpled corpse, and Skybright reached over to grasp her fingers. “I’ll keep us safe, mistress.”

  They walked further down the main road, but didn’t go far before the orange tabby dashed out from beneath the barrow to sidle along Zhen Ni. Skybright felt her mistress’s shoulders loosen just a touch as the cat wound its body around her legs. “Smart cat,” Zhen Ni murmured, scratching between its ears. The tabby still pointedly ignored Skybright.

  “Let’s try this inn,” Skybright said, leading them down a side street to a three-story inn tucked between a tailor and book shop. Bolts of beautiful jade and ivory brocades had bee
n knocked over, the gleaming fabrics unfurled on the dirt in front of the tailor’s. Skybright pushed the door of the inn aside and peered into the empty main hall. As with the tea house, stools and tables lay overturned, like someone had come and picked up all the furniture and hurled it against the floor in a rage.

  “Come,” Skybright said over her shoulder in a soft voice, and Zhen Ni followed so closely she kicked Skybright’s heel twice as they walked through a door in the back of the main hall. They stepped into a clean kitchen with a few plates of cold cuts set out on the counter. Zhen Ni picked a slice of beef tongue from the plate and gave it to the tabby. It meowed in appreciation, eating it with delicate bites. Skybright scanned the room. “There. The bath house is connected to the kitchen, as I thought. I’ll heat some water so you can wash.”

  Zhen Ni shivered in anticipation, and helped Skybright fetch water from a giant cistern.

  The large pots took a while to boil, and the girls spent some time wiping their faces down with wet cloths and brushing each other’s hair, their cleaver and dagger within easy reach. The tabby had curled up beneath the kitchen table, and it watched them through half-lidded eyes. After Skybright helped Zhen Ni bathe, she stepped into the wooden tub herself, scrubbing the grime and the cloying stench of the undead from her skin. She felt revived after, and even Zhen Ni appeared less pale.

  “What do you think we should do now, Sky?”

  Skybright tilted her head. The small town was still utterly silent, much quieter than the forest, which was always alive with noise and movement. The musty scent of the undead lingered, but had faded. “I think we should rest for a few hours, mistress. I don’t believe the undead will be returning here, and it’s better if we stayed awhile and put some distance between them and us. What I killed was a stray.”

  “Where are they going? What do they want?” Zhen Ni’s voice began to rise with panic. “What if they attack Lan’s town?”

  “I don’t know what they want, mistress, other than to wreak havoc. If they’re stopping in each town and village on the way down Tian Kuan mountain, we’ll pass them and reach Lan first. Don’t worry.” In truth, Skybright had no inkling what the undead or demons’ intents were, and how they would be moving. She only hoped that Kai Sen was all right, battling enemies that seemed incapable of being beaten.

  They climbed the narrow wooden stairs to the topmost floor and selected the largest room in the inn. It contained two narrow beds, a wide window overlooking the faded roof tiles of the small town, and a lopsided vanity and chair. The tabby leaped onto the worn cushion of the seat. It kneaded it before curling up, yawning ostentatiously so its fangs showed. Zhen Ni sat down on one of the beds, gripping her hands in her lap. “I’m frightened, Sky.”

  Skybright kneeled before her mistress and touched her arm. “It’ll be all right. We’ve got weapons and a demon-sensing cat on our side,” Skybright jested.

  Zhen Ni gave a short laugh. “It’s an adorable cat, but I doubt her abilities.”

  Skybright stood and tugged her narrow bed toward the door. Then went to the head and pushed it the rest of the way, until it blocked the entrance completely. “There. Nothing can come in now. Not past me. We’re on the third floor, and safe.”

  “What would I do without you, Sky?” Her mistress flashed her a smile, a wishful, melancholic smile that caused Skybright’s throat to tighten. “You should have seen how you attacked that dead thing, like some warrior. Madame Lo said you were strong, and she was right.”

  “You’re strong, too, mistress.”

  Zhen Ni lay on her side on the bed, tucking her knees against her chest. “I would suffer heartache. And—what was it that she said—cause trouble and grief for my family?” She laughed bitterly. “Mama wasn’t fooling when she said Madame Lo was the best seer of our time.”

  Skybright lay down on her bed too, facing her mistress. “Do you regret it? Loving Lan?”

  Zhen Ni was quiet for some time, watching the tabby licking its paw with intense concentration. “No. No matter what happens, I’ll never regret it. How can one ever regret falling in love?” She smiled again, a small smile, but a genuine one.

  “I think you’ve softened since falling in love,” Skybright said.

  Her mistress clutched the thin blanket in her hand. “You’re probably right. I’ve not been denied anything I wanted in life until now. And I would trade every frivolous thing I ever thought was important to be with Lan instead. I wish I had something of hers, a keepsake.” Zhen Ni eased her grip on the fabric, as if she had to force her fingers to relax. “What about this boy called Kai Sen? Do you love him?”

  Did she love Kai Sen? Skybright knew he was never far from her mind, that he lingered in the dark and warm recesses of all her dreams each night. “It doesn’t matter. It’s over,” she murmured. “We only met a few times, and … and we never truly knew each other.”

  “What is there to know, Sky? You’re loyal and kind and trustworthy. You’re forthright and sing beautifully. I’d wager Kai Sen knows all these things—and it’s no wonder he’s so taken with you.”

  Skybright said nothing.

  “You believe he’s been untruthful to you?”

  “No. Never.”

  “He’s probably feeling guilty for that scar he gave you, then. I know you said it was an accident, but it’s still a terrible thing to have inflicted on someone you care for.”

  Skybright ran her fingertips over the ridge of the scar, from beneath her left eye until it was flush with the corner of her mouth. She hadn’t thought of it since Stone had healed the wound, and each random glimpse at her reflection was a small shock. “He didn’t mean to hurt me,” Skybright said. “He … he saved me.” If it hadn’t been for Kai Sen opening the cage for her, she’d surely be dead by now, after an awful interrogation with Abbot Wu.

  “Then maybe it’ll work out,” Zhen Ni said. “You won’t tell me what happened that night—when Kai Sen cut you by accident?”

  Skybright shook her head. “I’d rather not speak of it.”

  “Madame Lo was unable to see your fortune clearly. What could you possibly have to hide? Perhaps the seedlings of love have been planted for this boy called Kai Sen and you’re too shy to admit it to me? To admit it to yourself? I would not begrudge you a lover, Sky.” Zhen Ni closed her eyes, her features relaxing. “We have a lifetime together, and you can tell me one day.”

  Skybright watched her mistress until her breathing became slow and steady, before she closed her own eyes, wishing her secret could be as easily told as Zhen Ni believed.

  The tabby’s terrified shrieking startled Skybright awake. Its orange fur stood on end and its tail was thrashing wildly. The carved panels of the bedchamber window had been flung wide open, and a giant demon with a black bull’s head towered in the middle of their room, red eyes blazing beneath its pointed horns. The demon had thrown one coarse-haired hand over Zhen Ni’s mouth so she could not scream. Zhen Ni struggled on the bed, wide-eyed with horror, but she was no match for the huge beast. With one swift motion, the demon slung Zhen Ni over his shoulder and leaped out the window.

  It all happened so quickly that Skybright had no time to think. She shifted and launched herself after the demon. She eased her landing by gripping the ledge of the third-story window with her muscular coil, then she gathered all its power to give chase. The bull demon was pounding its way down the narrow alley, its hoof beats echoing against the empty buildings.

  Zhen Ni dangled head down over its massive shoulder. She beat its back with her fists, but didn’t scream. Skybright could hear Zhen Ni’s ragged breaths and fury ignited within her. Skidding, the demon rounded the corner onto the main street, and Skybright followed, flying across the cobblestones. It was fast, but she would catch up soon enough.

  The demon suddenly roared. Zhen Ni had unsheathed the dagger at her waist and plunged the blade into the monster’s back. But it hadn’t gone deep, even as her mistress used all her strength to t
ry and thrust it in further. The demon paused midstride to grab the knife and flung it forward; it skittered against the ground. Skybright closed the distance between them and Zhen Ni finally made her first noise since being taken—a low terrified moan as black blood began to ooze from the demon’s wound.

  Hearing her mistress’s desperation, Skybright surged forward, almost at the demon’s heels. And in that moment, she could feel Zhen Ni begin to lift her gaze, and Skybright instinctively changed back to a girl. Losing the momentum she had had with her serpentine length, Skybright stumbled forward, falling hard on her knees.

  “Sky,” her mistress cried out. The blood had rushed into Zhen Ni’s cheeks, but her face still blanched.

  Skybright scrabbled on her hands and knees, trying to launch herself toward the bull demon, but lacked the speed she had as a serpent. She was completely bare, and could feel slick blood on her knees, but was too frightened to register pain. Deep down, she knew she had to shift back to her serpent form if she were to have a chance on saving Zhen Ni, but in those precious few seconds, she was incapable of doing it—of revealing her grotesque demonic side.

  Zhen Ni’s eyes were dark shadows now as dusk deepened into night around them. She threw a hand toward Skybright, fingers splayed. “Skybright! No!”

  Skybright leaped to her feet and ran, agonizingly slow, her own arms outstretched.

  “No!” Zhen Ni cried again. “Stay back!”

  The salt of tears filled Skybright’s throat as she realized Zhen Ni hadn’t thrown her hand out to plead for rescue, but to stop Skybright from chasing her. So she could keep Skybright safe. Her mistress flailed against the demon’s shoulder like some rabid animal, sobbing as she slammed her fists against his wound, her palms sticky with black blood. “Let me go!” Zhen Ni screamed.

  The demon growled, slowing, and Skybright dove for the discarded dagger on the ground, clutching it with a death grip. She vaulted toward the demon, an inhuman scream ripping from her throat. Then the air tore like paper in front of them, revealing a gaping hole that glowed an intense red. Skybright skidded to a stop, stunned. And in that moment of hesitation, the demon hurtled through with Zhen Ni, and the rip closed, as if it had never existed.