From The Ashes

by Alexander, Ian; Graham, Joshua

  An arrow whistled right past the left of Ying’s head. Had he not reacted swiftly enough, it would have pierced the dead center of his skull. Out of sheer instinct, Ying flew up and out of the dust.

  What he saw below caused his heart to sink.

  As valiantly as Chi and the Sojourners fought, they could not keep up with the unending waves of Chungans. The number of animal forms that transformed into dying or lifeless Sojourner bodies on the ground seemed to increase with every wave.

  At this rate, the Sojourners would be finished in a matter of minutes. And the people of Bai Kuo might last half-an-hour at the most, defending the citadel.

  Then, in the distance, through a small opening in the cloud of dust that encircled the battle area, Ying noticed Chi, singlehandedly fighting off three Chungan swordsmen. Though he was surrounded, he parried every one of their blows, even repelled them with the ferocity and speed of his own swordsmanship.

  Disregarding the overall concerns of the battle, Ying flew towards his friend. They might very well lose this battle, but he would not allow Chi to be killed without at least attempting to help.

  Even as Ying approached, his spirit quickened at the sight of Chi who dispatched one Chungan, then the second. But before he arrived, the third fighter came from behind and thrust his sword at Chi’s back.

  Ying let out a shrill eagle’s cry.

  It did nothing but cause Chi to turn around.

  But in that split second, it caused Chi to evade the point of his opponent’s weapon. Chi swung his sword to deflect the next blow. But having lost his balance from the surprise of the attack, Chi stumbled.

  Mere seconds away, Ying continued to screech in vain. He had no stone, and nothing he could do to stop Chi’s attacker who now stabbed at his chest. Chi parried the blow and his opponent’s sword pierced his thigh.

  Chi fell to the ground.

  Instantly, his attacker stood over him, raised his sword over his shoulder and swung down at Chi’s neck with the full force and weight of his body.

  Just then, with talon extended and rigid, Ying flew low and slashed the Chungan’s chest so deeply that he could not even let out a scream. He dropped his weapon. Ying threw him high into the air and didn’t bother to look where the body landed.

  Ying alighted directly next to the fallen Chi, spread his wings around him to protect from any oncoming arrows. The next wave of Chungans could be heard thundering in their approach—some mounted, some on foot.

  // CLIMB UP AND GRASP THE FEATHER OF MY NAPE, CHI. QUICKLY! //

  Straining, Chi got up, limped over to one of the dead fighters and took his bow and quiver. He then pulled himself upon the broad spine of Ying’s eagle form.

  // HOLD FAST //

  Sending up clouds of sand, Ying flew into the sky with Chi holding on with his knees as one does with a horse.

  “Take me back!”

  // YOU’RE WOUNDED! //

  “I will not flee while my brothers die in the fight.”

  Nor would Ying. So he turned around and flew towards the skirmish below where the last ten or so Sojourners in their human form fought, too weary to maintain their animal form.

  “Keep as steady as you can,” Chi said, “I’m going to get as many as I—”

  A sharp twang, and three or four arrows shot past Ying’s face and spread out as they hit their targets. Before the Sojourners, three Chungans fell to their knees with arrows in their backs. The Sojourners either kicked them, or struck them such that they fell on their backs causing the arrow to thrust out of their chest.

  “Take me down,” Chi said, “I will die with a sword in my hand.”

  Weary himself, Ying agreed and flew down to join the last of his comrades. Even before he landed, he could no longer maintain his eagle form and involuntarily transformed back into his human shape. This caused both him and Chi to fall to the ground from a few feet in the air.

  Winded, they got up and looked on in dismay.

  A golden curtain of dust began to lift.

  The outline of thousands more Chungan troops approached.

  “We’ll make our last stand at the Citadel,” Chi said to the Sojourners. “Those who can still take your animal form, run or fly with all speed to the walls of Bai Kuo. The rest, follow me.”

  No more than two or three had taken such forms and ran ahead.

  Chi, limped along and faltered, but Ying offered his shoulder. “Go on without me!”

  “I won’t leave you to die by yourself,” Ying said. Then to the remaining half dozen Sojourners who stopped and turned back to look upon Chi and Ying: “Go now!”

  Ying lifted Chi up and tried to walk with him, but the wound in his leg weakened him.

  Chi gripped Ying’s shoulder with such force it hurt. “Forget about me, Ying! Flee to the woods, don’t go home—Xingjia is no longer safe.”

  “You’re talking like a fool.”

  Chi slipped and fell onto one knee. He looked up, sorrow and pain in his eyes. “I’m talking like a man who knows he’s as good as dead, now just—”

  “Be quiet, you idiot!” Ying yanked him back up to his feet. Chi faltered again. Was it Chi’s pride or his genuine resignation to his demise that drove him so? He tried once again to lift his friend up. “I’ll… I’ll carry you…like…a baby…if I must.”

  But Chi did not reply. His eyes rolled back until through the lowered eyelids all Ying could see were the whites of his eyes. He was much too heavy to hold up any longer. With a heavy thud, they both hit the ground.

  Sitting, Ying propped Chi up against his arm. His pant leg was soaked with dark blood from the wound. It must have been much deeper than either of them had realized.

  Almost whispering, Chi said, “Do you…still believe?”

  “Save your strength. Don’t talk.” Something that sounded like thousands of bees swarming flew overhead. Ying looked up. The sky darkened with thousands of arrows flying in the direction of the Citadel. He prayed his Sojourner friends, the ones with whom he’d dined, shared jokes, and imbibed, would be spared. That they’d at least make it back behind the citadel walls.

  “Do you still believe it was meant to be, Ying?”

  “Don’t babble. If they find you this way, they’ll torture us for sport rather than finish us quickly.” But even as the Chungan troops rose up over the horizon not half a mile off, Ying wondered if it had all been imagined. If Valhandra had ordained this, why were they now sitting in the dirt, about to die? Had He abandoned them all? What about Mei Liang, the Millennial Phoenix?

  The sound of thousands of horses grew louder. The wind brought with it the smell of dust, sweat, horse, and destruction. In just a short while, the enemy would be upon Ying and Chi.

  And though Chi had lost consciousness, his question continued to resound in Ying’s mind.

  Do you still believe?

  Chungan battle cries grew closer.

  Do you still believe?

  Ying shut his eyes, because it seemed now the question would not relent until he answered it. It almost hurt not to.

  // DO YOU STILL BELIEVE? //

  Just then, with the Chungans about a hundred yards away and rapidly closing, Ying remembered that night when he had encountered Valhandra. What He had said:

  But they that wait upon Me shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

  Call upon Me, and I shall scatter thine enemies.

  But what if it had just been his imagination? What if he had only heard things that simply resembled the things he’d read in the Sojourner texts? Would he prove himself a fool and die anyway?

  The whinnying of an enemy horse pulled him from his deliberation. He must decide once and for all if he truly believed or not.

  It was decided

  He believed.

  Setting Chi down, Ying arose, lifted his hands before the Chungan army and declared, “I believe, Valhandra! Help my unbelief!

&nb
sp; Call upon Me

  “VALHANDRA!”

  In that very moment, the sky turned darker than night.

  No light from stars or the moon lent even the slightest bit of illumination into the sudden and utter gloom. The horses screamed and stopped. A cold silence fell upon the entire world, it seemed.

  A tingling sensation coursed through Ying’s entire body. Every ache, every hint of pain and fatigue had been expelled from his body, his mind and spirit. He bent down and touched Chi’s shoulder.

  With a gasp, he bolted to his feet and stood right next to him. “What…What has happened?”

  “I still believe.”

  “What?”

  “Before you lost consciousness, you kept asking if I still believed.”

  “It’s so dark. Where are the Chungans?”

  Ying smiled. Before answering, he sensed what was about to happen. “They are about to be dealt with.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Rather than explain, Ying leapt into the air. As he did, his fingertips stretched out and feathers unfurled across his arms which grew into wings. From over the eastern hills, a piercing call both terrible and musical rang out. The sky grew brighter with the amber hues of fire.

  As the Millennial Phoenix returned, her fire lit the entire valley below.

  She flew higher into the sky and her flames, rather than grow dim, only glowed brighter.

  It was not until years later that Ying understood from where the next words that he spoke came. Calling down to the troops, he said, “Warriors of Chungzhou, hear me! You have not simply risen up against the country of Bai Kuo, but against the dominion of the King of all Kings.”

  “It’s all a show of illusions and trickery! That’s not a talking eagle, or a great firebird, it’s some kind of device, and someone shouting from behind a tree up in the hills,” one Chungan commander shouted. “Pay them no mind and charge forward with the attack.”

  Down where Chi had been now stood a black warhorse, strong and fierce. It looked up to Ying in his eagle form and The Millennial Phoenix.

  “I charge you all to return to your homes,” Ying continued. “It shall not go well with you otherwise.”

  “Forget this nonsense,” the commander called out. “On with the attack!”

  “Then bear witness that I have warned you against taking up arms against the people of Valhandra!”

  The name echoed through the valley.

  VALHANDRA!

  VALHANDRA…

  VALHANDRA….

  At that moment, the Phoenix burst into flames so brilliant if the sun shone ten times its normal brightness, it could not have outshone her. The Chungans cowered and covered their eyes at the brilliance.

  Then in one burst, which sounded like a soft and distant explosion, the phoenix was gone. But Ying could yet sense her presence. He heard Mei Liang’s voice in his mind.

  //LEAD THE CHARGE //

  As the Chungans staggered about, apparently blinded by the flash, Chi—as a stallion—reared up and charged into the center of the Chungan troops.

  Rather than defend themselves or attack him, they spread out as a drop of water in oil. Then from over the hills, Ying understood what Mei Liang, the phoenix, had meant by “lead the charge.”

  Like colonies of ants, hundreds of peasants—some he recognized from Xingjia, others he didn’t—rushed into the valley with axes, hammers, pitchforks and other common tools.

  To those who only expect the ordinary, they would have looked ridiculous and sorely outnumbered. But to Ying, they were more powerful than the mightiest armies in the world because of Whom they served.

  Ying swooped down at the head of the line and sent a piercing screech into the valley. Then the entire Chungan army did something astonishing. They fled back over the wasteland, crying out in terror as though some hideous dragon were pursuing them. From his vantage point, Ying could see that they had scattered in seven different directions.

  Ying landed and stood next to Chi .

  They both returned to their human form.

  “You seem refreshed,” Ying said, pointing to Chi’s leg, which now was healed.

  “The moment you called out the name of Valhandra, it happened. Thank you.”

  “The thanks go to Him.”

  Then the good people of Xingjia and the neighboring villages gave a cheer, marveling at the enemy troops fleeing from them. Chi grabbed Ying by the arm and pointed out at the scattered Chungans. “What are they doing?”

  “They’ve witnessed the power of His name.”

  “No, I mean what are they doing at this moment? It cannot be.”

  Ying focused on one of the groups. Employing the sharpness of an eagle’s eyesight, he discerned what was happening. “Amazing!”

  “Are they doing what I think they are?”

  “Unless it had been by Valhandra, I would not have believed it. But I see now that they have been cast into utter confusion. They’re fighting themselves, killing each other!” And after a few minutes, the Chungans were finished. Every last one of them lay in the sand, dead by the hands of their comrades.

  When Ying and Chi arrived at the gates of Bai Kuo, the entire populace had gathered and gave a resounding cheer to welcome them. The people of Xingjia and the other villages followed them into the Citadel, where they were led to a tall platform. There stood the various lords and elders of the province who had been heretofore subject to the Lord Protector.

  The eldest, a man with a long white beard stepped forward to both Chi and Ying. He looked them over with sagacious eyes and smiled. “I am Kuhlau, Lord Elder of the Third District.”

  Chi and Ying answered, “My Lord.”

  “As the prophecies have foretold, the Kingdom of the Sojourners have this day been established. And you, O fearless commander of Xingjia are principally responsible for the deliverance of Bai Kuo.”

  Chi bowed deeply. “My Lord, I have done no such thing. It was Ying—”

  “We are but men, my Lord,” Ying said. “All glory and honor must be ascribed to Valhandra, the King about all Kings. For He alone has been our deliverer.”

  Stroking his beard, Lord Kuhlau considered the matter. “But we find ourselves in something of a quandary, do we not? For with the loss of Princess Mei Liang, we are without an heir to the throne.”

  Ying shoved Chi forward. “On the contrary, My Lord. According to the ancient tomes, He that beareth the mark shall rule over My people for three generations.” He pointed to Chi’s collar. “Show him.”

  Kuhlau stepped forward, gestured to Chi who complied by pulling down his collar. “You bear the mark, indeed. Moreover, you have taken the form of the black warhorse which further confirms that you, Chi Ma, are the one to reign over the new Sojourner kingdom.” He waved over the other Lords, with whom he conferred briefly.

  Then, with every one of them nodding in concurrence, he turned to face the throngs. “Can there be any doubt that this man is the chosen King? For it has been predestined in the scriptures that one such as he would arise during the Millennial Phoenix’s return, and hasten the return of Valhandra’s prophets and mighty men—The Sojourners.

  The people shouted words of praise and honor.

  Looking less and less confused, Chi stood tall. He spoke quietly to Kuhlau. “But what of Ying? It was he who—“

  “Valhandra’s will is a mystery to even the wisest of men. We know only what He has told us in His spoken and written word.”

  Ying cared nothing for the glory, the crown, nor the kingdom. The only thing that came to mind was the thought of Mei Liang, and it wounded his heart like the cut of a knife. He put his hand upon Chi’s shoulder. “My friend. It would not do for anyone but the chosen one to ascend the throne. And that is you. Take your place.”

  Chi seemed to understand the finality hidden between the words of Ying’s speech. He nodded, pulled him into an embrace, and went before the masses.

  All the ceremonial words, vows, and antiphonal cheers of a classic S
ojourner coronation faded as Ying quietly slipped away and off the stage. No one noticed that he had gone to a dark corner of the citadel, transformed into a natural sized eagle and flown over the walls and into the woods.

  He returned to that same fallen tree trunk where he had first encountered Valhandra the night before. Sitting in his human form, sorrow filled his heart as he thought of Mei Liang. Why, after all this time, had destiny brought them together but only for so short a time? It was unfair!

  For the hand of a princess, a man will risk all.

  And he had.

  But lost.

  For he had gained nothing; Mei Liang was gone.

  Ying put his face into his hands, and heaved a dolorous sigh. There were no words. He only sat there until the sky turned dark and cold, for night had fallen.

  “If only I could be with her once again, if only for a moment.”

  A strong gust blew through the trees and sent a pile of fallen leaves into the air. It hissed like steam from a rice pot, but to Ying’s surprise, the wind felt warm. Ying looked up but, the wind started to blow so hard he had to shield his eyes from the debris.

  While he did, the skin on his hands grew warm.

  Golden light entered through the space between his fingers.

  Before he heard any sound, he felt an overwhelming presence.

  // MY SON, WHY ARE YOU SO DOWNCAST? //

  Ying arose, removed his hands from his eyes and beheld a column of fire, stretching up from and burning in the middle of the ground, but there was no wood, no fuel of any sort. The column swirled and pulsed with each word.

  “You know all things, O great Valhandra. Surely it is no mystery to you.”

  // TELL ME YOUR TROUBLES //

  “Did you not mean for Mei Liang and me to be together? After all, against all odds you brought us into each other’s lives after so many years. It could not have been by chance. And yet, she has died. And I, good as dead without her.”

  // MY SON, YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU SPEAK OF. MEI LIANG HAS FULFILLED HER CALLING AND HAS CROSSED THROUGH THE GREAT VEIL. SHE IS ONLY NOW BEGINNING TO LIVE THE LIFE FOR WHICH SHE WAS CREATED //