“Umm, Meja—” I began.
“I saw him, Dante. The one behind us is called Rory, leader of the Monitors Wolf Pack.”
“Wolf Pack?”
“It’s the group of monitors that is not openly acknowledged: think of them as black ops. They don’t exist and they are here to make sure we don’t either.”
Zen grunted and turned back to look at Rory.
“Can we take him?” Zen asked.
“Meja kept speaking as we stopped before the Maine monument at the Merchants gate.
“If it was just him, yes but the wolves always travel in threes and his team is the best.”
“The best at what?” Zen just had to ask.
“They are the best at extermination. The reason I know this is because I was the one who trained them.”
“So what do we do now?” I asked.
Meja turned to me. “You keep that tainted weapon of yours sheathed. You let me do the talking and fighting. Whatever happens, do not separate from each other, guardian and warrior, split up, you die. Got it?”
Zen and I both nodded.
“Let’s go.” And we headed into the park. Being summer in the city meant that there was still activity in the park, even at night. As we progressed further into the park, the amount of people thinned until finally we were alone. Or so I thought.
“When the fighting starts, you take him where we discussed. Give Owl this.” She handed a silver coin to Zen. “He will know what to do.”
“Hello, Meja, I see you have been keeping yourself well.” The female voice came from behind a nearby tree.
Meja turned to face the woman, surprise, shock and anger, all fighting for expression on her face.
“Diana, it has been a while.” Meja’s voice could have cut stone.
“Yes it has. I normally wouldn’t accept these types of assignments, but seeing as how it was you, well how could I resist?” Diana smiled. She stood under a street lamp with her hands on her hips. Her long black hair was done in a long braid that hung down to her waist. Dressed in a body length dark blue body suit, she looked alluring and deadly.
“Who is she?” I whispered to Meja.
“Remember when I said that the Wolf Pack was after us because I saw Rory?”
“Yeah. Is she part of his pack?”
“Not quite. Sometimes, very rarely, they take the leaders of the three shadow groups to form one more group. Rory from the Wolves, Andres who I’m sure is close by, from the Ravens and Diana, here, from the Widows.”
Diana bowed and semi curtsied. Her bodysuit, which was open backed, revealed a tattoo of an Asian dragon crushing a tiger across her entire back, in vivid detail.
Zen whistled. “We must have really pissed them off.”
“That and more,” said Meja. “They are sending a message. Not even Sylk would think of going up against these three: the Black Lotus.”
“I don’t get it. Meja you trained Rory. Isn’t Diana just another student of yours?”
Meja looked at me and I saw fear in her eyes for the first time.
“No, child,” said Diana, “I’m afraid you have it backwards, she is my pupil. She was good but still a pupil.”
Meja stepped back to stand next to Zen. “You two need to run, now.” Zen grabbed my arm.
“We won’t be having any of that,” another voice with a slight Latin accent said from behind us.
“Andres, I’m flattered,” Meja said calmly.
“Senorita,” he said as he nodded his head slightly.
“Andres, make sure those two don’t run off while I deal with my pupil,” said Diana.
“Of course madam.” Andres stood behind us and placed a hand on each of our shoulders, holding us in place.
“Meja, I give you my word to end their lives swiftly, right after I have taken yours,” said Diana
“That is what it will take for you to touch them.”
“It doesn’t have to come to this, Meja. You can walk away.” It was Rory.
“No, I can’t. I gave my word no harm would come to him.”
“That was always your weakness, child,” said Diana. “Very well, then, let us begin.”
Rory stepped back, a grim look on his face as if he disapproved of the turn of events. Diana walked slowly over to Meja.
“I must say that I’m disappointed. All those years of training and you can’t evade a simple triad.”
Meja, her jaw set in anger, turned to angle slightly away from Diana.
“This is no simple hunting triad, Diana. The Master set the Lotus on us.” Diana waved dismissively in the air while shaking her head.
“How many times have I told you, shown you, that it is all the same? Where it really matters, there is no difference.”
I looked over to Zen and whispered, “What is with all the talking?”
“You have much to learn and precious little life to learn it in,” Andres answered.
His melodious voice reminded me of an old ad that described Corinthian leather.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Look closely and you will see two masters waging a battle.”
I couldn’t see anything except Meja slowly stepping in a circle, mimicking Diana as they spoke.
“Do not look with your eyes.” Andres said.
It was not the first time I had heard that. It brought back memories of Devin and I wondered how he was. I took a deep breath and focused my inner sight on Meja. Her aura was blazing, extending at least three feet from her in every direction. Streaked with red and gold, she looked like a phoenix reborn. Diana’s aura was equally active, the colors a more subdued blue and violet. I turned and looked at Zen and realized he saw it too, from the look on his face.
“Meja, our mission is to bring him back,” Rory said, pointing at me, “alive or dead. Let us do what we need to do.” He was almost pleading with her.
“Don’t waste your breath, Rory. Her mind is set. You cannot reason with her and tonight she will forfeit her life to protect his,” Diana answered.
Meja stopped circling and I could see her draw her energy inward. Her aura grew tight, almost like a second skin. I looked around with my inner sight and I saw the flow of energies around me. The trees, leaves, even the grass gave off energy signatures. The air itself held a kind of energy that ebbed and flowed. When I turned back to Meja, a gleaming sword was in her hand. I recognized it as the sword that stopped Maelstrom from killing Mara. It was about three feet long and straight. The double edges glowed in the night and the energy flowed from Meja to its point. Meja moved the sword through the air with amazing speed and dexterity. Diana’s aura had drawn close to her as well. In her hands she held two sai or short swords that were a little longer than usual. They emanated a violet energy that flowed from Diana. She stood with a sai in each hand, points down.
“Come, pupil, let us end this.”
Meja moved so fast I could barely follow. She lunged for Diana’s midsection. Diana sidestepped and parried easily. As Diana parried, Meja turned, bringing her sword in an arc, slicing down at Diana’s knees. Diana back flipped to avoid the slice, landing gracefully four feet away. Again, Meja attacked —thrusting, lunging, whirling around us. It felt like being in the center of a hurricane. Each time, Diana either blocked or stepped away just in time to have Meja’s blade miss her by a fraction of an inch. At this rate, it seemed Meja would tire herself out before Diana would attack.
“Enough, child. I tire of this game. I see you have not improved much since my tutelage,” Diana said as she ducked under Meja’s blade, in a slice meant to decapitate.
“Your moves are slow, predictable and lacking intention. I can assure you I will not show such mercy Meja.”
“I am aware of this, Diana, no quarter given, none taken. I know I can’t beat you in a fair fight which is why I did this!” At that moment, Meja slammed her sword into the ground almost to the hilt.
Diana’s eyes opened in recognition. “It can’t be. I never taught you the –“Diana froze alon
g with Rory and Andres.
“No Diana, you never taught me the Widow Skein, but I wasn’t just good, I was your best student. Did you think I would be unprepared for you?”
As I looked with my Inner Sight, all around us more lines of red and gold energy formed what seemed to be a giant web. Everywhere Meja and Diana had stepped created a part of the web. What Meja did with her sword was complete the web, making it a whole and trapping the Black Lotus.
Diana, with great effort of will, turned to Meja.
“Well played, child,” she said and smiled. “I won’t underestimate you the next time we meet.”
“I look forward to it, Diana,” Meja said and bowed slightly.
“We need to go now. This won’t hold them long. Anyone else would not have been able to speak much less move,” Meja said. My head was still spinning. We were facing certain death and now we were free.
“Why aren’t we stuck as well?” I asked as we ran out of the park and back to Columbus Circle.
“The widow skein is the most complex of all the black widows’ kata. I had to disguise it or she would know what I was doing. The skein allows you to trap enemies while leaving allies free, once you master it.”
“How does it know the difference?”
“It doesn’t, I do.” One miscalculation and we all would have been trapped or worse, dismembered,” she said calmly. I sighed realizing that while I had learned so much, it was the proverbial tip of the iceberg. The wave of heat that greeted me as we descended into the subway brought me back to my present situation. We paid our fares and made it to the platform.
“We need to go into the tunnel. Walk to the front of the platform.” The platform itself was sparsely populated. As we walked down, a train came into the station, sending a blast of warm air into us, as it screeched to a stop. We waited for it to pull out of the station and the station to clear out before we jumped down to the tracks and headed into the darkness.
SAFEHOUSE
WE WALKED FOR a good twenty minutes before Meja signaled us to stop.
“Whatever you do, no sudden moves.”
I looked around. Who were we going to threaten? The only people around us were homeless men and women who had made the subway tunnels their home. As we moved off the main tracks, we began to venture into an unused part of the subway. The rats, which were the size of Chihuahuas, and much more dangerous, looked at us with their impassive eyes. The air was stale and warm. It felt like a summer afternoon, without the sun.
A stumbling figure walked towards us. Something about him set me on edge. He stopped about ten feet from Meja.
“Hold, monitor,” the figure in rags and old clothing said. As if on cue, several other figures emerged from the shadows. I looked around to see that we were surrounded by a good ten to fifteen ‘homeless’.
“We need an audience with Owl.” The first sentry paused as if to consider Meja’s words.
“You are pursued by the monitors of your school, the servants of Karashihan and the Black Lotus. Our master has taught us that a warrior’s power is measured by the strength of his enemies.”
“Truly your master speaks wisdom,” said Meja. “It is also said that the warrior’s true power lies in the hands of allies.”
“Well spoken, monitor. Proceed along the tracks, please do not stray from them left or right. They will take you to our master’s meeting chamber.”
We walked on as the sentries faded back into the shadows. I could sense they were still there, watching, ready to act. I drew a little closer to Meja, as we walked, careful to stay in the center of the track.
“That’s it? It seemed pretty simple to get past them.”
“If I had answered out of protocol, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
“After what I saw you do, I think you can take ten homeless guards.”
“Ten?” Meja stopped and turned to face me and Zen.
“Listen carefully. At any given moment there are anywhere from forty to fifty of these homeless guards around us.” I opened my mouth to speak and then decided against it.
“Finally, you are learning that silence is often more valuable than a witless retort. This is Owl’s territory and he is a leader among the Samadhi. Anyone of these ‘homeless’ would give me a hard time after the skein I just executed. They would easily defeat you and him.” The last she said pointing her chin at Zen. From my studies I knew that the Samadhi were the strongest and fiercest of the Warriors of the Way. I also knew that each discipline had three Samadhi so that the information would never be lost to next generations. It also meant that Owl was powerful, but whether he would help us remained to be seen.
“Do you think he will help us? Or at least hide us until we can figure this all out?”
Meja looked pensive as she walked.
“I don’t know, honestly. His discipline is chi manifestation, which is why we are going to him, to see if he can help with that thing you call a weapon.”
“You mean Maelstrom?” I asked, not liking how she said ‘thing’ in reference to it.
“Yes I mean Maelstrom, your tainted weapon. You would do well not to share its name so easily. Names have power.”
It seemed like every time I opened my mouth, it was so I could shove my foot in it.
“I’ll remember that, thank you.”
“Make sure you do.” She turned to Zen.
“Have you manifested your weapon yet?”
“No not yet,” he answered quietly.
“If Owl decides to help us, then he can help with that as well. In the meantime, think about what it might be.”
We reached two large doors. that appeared to be rusted shut. They reminded me of huge furnace doors or blast doors with tracks leading directly to them. As we drew closer, they swung in silently. The track kept on for a few more yards and then came to an abrupt stop. We stood in a room that reminded me vaguely of Grand Central Terminal. It felt cavernous and because of the lack of lighting the ceiling was obscured, which only made the room feel more spacious. Spaced at even intervals along the walls were doorways. In the center of the room was a large circular area that was sunken in and was covered with what appeared to be expensive rugs. Pillows were arranged all throughout the area and I took these to be the seating arrangements. As I continued to look around, I did get the impression we were being watched. Meja stepped forward into the circle and Zen and I followed. In the center of the circle was a statue of a man in simple robes. The statue seemed carved of a very dark wood.
“I will do the speaking,” Meja whispered.
“Fine. Who will you be speaking to?”
Meja shot me and icy glare and that was when the statue began to laugh. Meja, her hands in prayer position, bowed.
“Greetings, Samadhi.”
The statue/man stood up and walked towards us.
“Greetings, Meja, of the House of Aumera.” He bowed, his hands mirroring Meja’s. His dark skin glistened and I could sense the power beneath the poise and grace. “I see he is as impertinent as I have been told.”
He turned to face Zen. “You are the Guardian. We will have to coax your weapon out if your charge is to survive this ordeal.” Zen bowed.
He turned to face me with the hint of a smile in his eyes.
“Are you Owl?” I wasn’t taking anything for granted anymore.
Meja gave me a withering look and was about to speak but he raised his hand. He outstretched his hand and I took it. It felt like old solid wood laced with steel and he gripped my hand tight in a handshake that felt more like a vise. Meja was in shock. “Hello warrior, I am Owl. Welcome to my house.”
OWL
MEJA WAS STILL in a state of surprise, so I asked Owl the only question on my mind. “Can you help us?” Meja recovered quickly, then gave me a look that suggested I keep all questions to myself. Owl chuckled at Meja’s discomfort.
“Come now, surely I am not that stuffy that every question must be trapped in protocol? We can speak freely here,” he said
as his arm swept the circle. It seemed that Meja relaxed a bit.
“Samadhi, as you know we are being pursued.”
He nodded his head. “Pursued would be stating the matter lightly, no? Let’s call it what it is. You are being hunted. While you focus on the small triad, monitor, you are losing sight of the larger triad.”
Meja looked pensive as Owl waited for her to answer.
“Monitors, the Black Lotus and Sylk’s followers.”
Owl’s smile was grim as he nodded at Meja.
“I can’t believe I missed that,” said Meja.
“Well, when staying alive becomes a priority, occasionally our vision narrows,” said Owl.
“So what does this mean that we have three groups after us? Why is that so important?” asked Zen.
Meja remained silent, fuming.
Owl turned to Zen, “For the Warriors of the Way, the triad is the number of power. The fact that you have three groups hunting you means that this is being orchestrated by someone who can influence all three groups.”
“Sylk,” spat Meja.
“You let anger cloud your perception. You must see without seeing,” he said as he tapped the center of her chest.
“Who else could it be, Samadhi? We are in this because of him. It was he who took Dante, who forced a taint on him. Because of him, Dante now has a dark weapon and a tainted aura!” Her voice echoed in the room. Meja stood outraged.
“Please, sit,” he asked but somehow it didn’t come across as a request. Meja sat down slowly, the pillow making a fluffing sound as she sat.
“It is true, that the Karashihan took the warrior, but how did he know to take this particular warrior? It is also true that the warrior has a taint but aren’t we all tainted in some way? And while he may possess a dark weapon, even darkness serves a purpose, does it not?”
Meja remained silent, still angry.
Feeling awkward at the silence, I coughed to clear my throat.
“Sir, so what you are saying is that it may not be Sylk behind this?” I looked from Owl to Meja.
“What I am saying is that the Karashihan is being guided into certain actions, by someone who knows him well.”
Warriors of the Way-Pentalogy Page 8
