“If you love him then you will do this for him.” The shaman gave them directions to Su Mao’s mansion in the forests outside of Duan.
Suddenly they heard the noises of men and horses outside the little house. All three of them raced outside to see Su Mao with several of his men on horseback.
“Lady Jin! I heard you were leaving Duan! Why are you still here?” Su Mao called out from his horse.
“I wanted to ask the shaman some questions.” Lady Jin drew her sword and pointed it at him.
“You shouldn’t ask too many questions, Lady Jin.” Su Mao laughed. “You never will like the truth of life. It is not for mere humans to know these things. It will just confuse you and weaken your brain.”
“What did you do to Snake-tongue and Li Bo?” Lady Jin asked. “Was it magic or poison?”
“Magic!” Su Mao laughed. “If you wish the truth. There it is. So what do you have now? Nothing.”
Su Mao waved at two of his men armed with bows. They aimed at the shaman. Arrows flew. The old shaman was slammed back into his house with half a dozen arrows in his body.
“No!” Lady Jin snapped. “Damn you, Su Mao! Fight me! Fight me, you cowards!”
Su Mao and rode off with his men.
Lady Jin and Nu rushed over to the poor shaman. He was still barely alive. Lady Jin held his hand. Blood covered his floor. The rocks in the old shaman’s has were now gone. Were they a magical illusion? Why? Magical people are weird. Lady Jin shook the thought away to look at his dying eyes.
“O…a…it is okay. A good…life. Had I have. Yes. Peace in death. Fear not for me. Worry about…Snake…” the old shaman’s voice trailed off. He’s dead. Lady Jin shut his eyelids.
“Maybe we should just leave Duan.” Lady Jin said. She untied her horse from the tree. “Just get on our horses and ride out of here. We have money to purchase a few things at the next town. Why not?”
“The shaman said that your friend Snake-tongue is controlled by Su Mao and his evil magic.” Nu replied.
“I can’t. I love him.”
“If you do then you must end his suffering.” Nu touched Lady Jin’s hand. “I think the shaman knew what you should do. That’s why Su Mao wanted him dead.”
Lady Jin sighed and pulled her hand away.
“Yes.” Lady Jin said. “I don’t like it, but all things are pointing to the shaman’s advice. Goddess help me!”
“Let’s go back to the temple.” Nu suggested.
Chapter eight
Lady Jin prayed again at the feet of the statue of Xi Wang Mu mother of the west. She prayed for Snake-tongue. In the late afternoon Lady Jin left the temple with a firm look on her face. They rode out of Duan towards where the shaman had told them to go.
“That must be it.” Nu later pointed at the mansion that was as big as Magistrate Li Bo’s mansion.
Lady Jin nodded. Their horses had found a nearby creek with mud that they smeared on their faces and hands. They left their horses tied to a tree by the creek.
#
Lady Jin crawled up behind a guard outside the main gate. She silently slit his throat and set him on the ground. Nu did the same to the other one. Wolves howled in the distance, as if they smelled the blood. There was a watch tower on the other side of the wall. Lady Jin had brought along her hunting bow and a quiver. She notched an arrow. She held a second arrow between her ring finger and her pinky. She aimed. Two arrows struck the guard holding a torch in the tower. His torch dropped to the ground. Damn. Someone’s going to see that.
The gate was locked. Nu had brought the rope with grappling hook. She tossed it up the wall a couple of times before it caught. Nu went up the wall first. Once the girl was over the wall Lady Jin followed her.
Lady Jin slipped down the other side of the wall. She landed on the balls of her feet. A jolt of pain zipped through her feet and shins. Ouch! Well, nothing broken. I’ve felt worse.
There was four lit torches waiting for them in the courtyard. Two men with red bracelets stood at the center of the torches with their swords drawn. Lady Jin saw Nu on her left side. One man was the one who’d fought Nu with in the market place. He twirled his two short swords in his hands and looked eager to fight Nu again. The other man was Snake-tongue.
“Lady Jin!” Snake-tongue smiled. “You made it! I knew you would.”
Snake-tongue pointed his sword at Lady Jin.
“I’m sorry that Su Mao did this to you.” Lady Jin drew her sword and moved to a fighting stance. “What horrible demon does that fool worship?”
“None.” Snake-tongue laughed. “Did you learn anything from that shaman?”
“Yes.” Lady Jin said. “What I must do to show my love.”
“Love?”
Lady Jin heard the shuffle of feet and the clang of blades. She knew that Nu had started her fight with the two-sword man.
Snake-tongue slipped forward with a stab to Lady Jin’s knee. She dodged.
They circled. Lady Jin parried and stabbed. Missed! But he got first blood on her outer thigh. It didn’t seem to bother me.
Lady Jin slashed and hacked at him. He stabbed at her chest and flicked his sword up to chin. Lady Jin slipped back just in time. Lady Jin sliced just under his eyebrow. Blood dripped. Will it blind him?
Snake-tongue through his knife at her. She dodged. She tossed her knife. Snake-tongue make it aside with his sword. Their sword blades touched like a kiss. They slide against each other like old lovers. They got close and Lady Jin punched him in the eye with the bleeding eyebrow.
Snake-tongue wiped his eye with his free hand. He’s having trouble seeing. It’s getting worse. Good. They continued their fight and she saw him bleeding bad.
Lady Jin swung at him. She then twirled her sword from her right hand into her left hand. I hope he didn’t see this move. Lady Jin sunk her blade into his heart. He dropped to one knee. Her left hand pulled the sword out of him.
Lady Jin gazed into the eyes of the man she loved. “Thank you,” Snake-tongue warned. “Su Mao. Evil. Not human. The pearl! The pea…”
Lady Jin knelt by the dying warrior. She briefly brushed her hands across his head. She looked up. Nu’s enemy was also dead.
“Are you fine?” Nu asked.
“Yes.” Lady Jin lied. She ignored the tears in her eyes. “Let’s finish this.”
They walked into the main building. Lady Jin heard crying to her left. It sounded like a child. She led Nu to the room and opened the door. The noise got louder. They entered.
The room was lit by candles. A greenish purple creature with jaws like a crocodile, but stood erect on two long legs with two short muscular arms. It also had three tails and one large glowing red eye. On the table in front of it was a crying girl with one leg. The other stump was fresh and bleeding out. She looked over at them with pleading eyes. Lady Jin recognized her. Or rather the girl looked enough like her brother Ko for Lady Jin to know the truth.
The other leg was in the creature’s huge jaws. It chewed. Blood and saliva dripped from them. It turned and saw them.
It swallowed. It smiled.
“Ah! You made it at last to my humble little home on your world.” It paused and stared at the screaming girl.
“Who-” Lady Jin mumbled.
The creature bit off the girl’s head and spit it on the floor. It swung its huge head at them and sighed. “Sorry about the noise. But I prefer to eat my prey alive.”
“What are you?” Lady Jin demanded.
“Would you prefer I look like Su Mao?” it said and shook itself like a dog shakes off water. The creature changed into a man. He or it laughed. “No? Maybe you prefer my other look.” The man shook himself and turned into a woman. It was Madam Zheng.
“What kind of demon are you?” Nu shouted.
“What I am or where I come from you wouldn’t understand.”
Lady Jin ignored her legs as they trembled underneath her. She saw the pearl hanging from a necklace around the creature’s neck. She breathed in
and out to force herself to calm down. The Pearl! It must mean something. Does it have power in it like the shaman’s rocks?
“We are doomed!” Lady Jin knelt before it. “We should just give in. There’s nothing we can do, Nu.”
“Yes!” bellowed the creature. It came towards her to stand over her.
“No!” screamed Nu.
Lady Jin jumped. She cut the leather necklace with her sword. The pearl fell to ground and rolled away.
“No! No! No!” It screamed. Its flesh melted and flowed from one human body to another, until it became a rotted human corpse.
“I assume that is the real Su Mao.” Lady Jin explained. “Or at least what he looks like now.”
“That thing?” Nu said.
“It’s here.” Lady Jin saw the pearl and snatched it. “In the pearl. I think. Or it uses the pearl to sneak into our world from where it’s from.”
Chapter nine
“What now?”
“There’s some things I need to get in Duan.” Lady Jin tossed the pearl in the air and caught it.
Lady Jin and Nu returned the remains of the girl to her family, bought a grave marker, and a peach sapling. Lady Jin asked the priestess at the Xi Wang Mu temple to bless the sapling. They returned to the mansion and buried Snake-tongue. Lady Jin carved his name on the grave marker before setting it up.
Then she buried the pearl. Lady Jin planted the blessed peach sapling beside the pearl. Much to Nu’s bewilderment the sapling grew to a full sized tree.
“There. We can go now.” Lady Jin said.
Part two
Chapter ten
The house shone bright in the sun and was made of silver that contrasted with the dark ugly pond half a mile east of it. Lady Jin and and One-eyed Nu sat atop their horses looking at the house. The grass around it was green and perfect. Too perfect. It looked like it never had been stepped upon by anyone. As the wind blew each blade flowed with the wind, but never was one blade out of place. It almost seemed like the grass was alive for sometimes Lady Jin thought it moved without the wind, even against the wind. It gave her a strange feeling of dread, and smelled wrong.
“Are you sure you want to stop here?” said One-eyed Nu.
“Quiet.” Lady Jin jumped off her horse. Her sword was out before her feet touched the ground. “Stay on your horse.” She handed her reins to Nu and looked at the door. Lady Jin picked up a stick the length of her sword and tossed it on the ground in front of her. Nothing happened. She snatched up the stick again and threw it further ahead. The stick exploded into bits and pieces. Lady Jin looked for another stick and dropped it in the same spot. Nothing happened. She tossed it further ahead and nothing happened. Lady Jin heard a noise from the pond. A human sized frog hopped out of it. The strange creature hopped towards them. It landed between her and the door. The frog snarled at them like a tiger. Nothing in nature created that thing. It’s the work of evil magic. Hope this is worth it.
“Mistress!”
“I see it.” Lady Jin adjusted her feet into a fighting stance with her sword aimed at the creature’s eyes. “Call this thing off before I kill it!”
“Croak!” answered the creature.
“I’m here on business!” Lady Jin shouted. You cursed old wizard. “I sent a message.”
The door opened. A tall slim man with a long white beard and bald head stood in the doorway. His face was as wrinkled as an old man’s scrotum. His eyes were watchful and dark like a bird of prey. He waved a long clawed hand at the giant frog. It returned to the pond.
“Come in, Lady Jin. I am pleased you made it.”
“Wait here,” Lady Jin ordered as Nu tried to get off her horse.
“Yes, mistress,” Nu grunted in disappointment.
Lady Jin followed the old man inside. Her boots thumped across the wooden floor. She didn’t sheath her sword.
“Have a seat, Lady Jin.” The old man gestured to a yellow cushion as he sat on a blue one. They faced each other once they were seated.
“Thank you.” Lady Jin rested the flat of her blade on her knees with her hand around the handle. From past experience, and what she’d heard about this savage practitioner of the black arts, she knew not to trust him.
Inside the house was lighted by the many windows that covered the walls, even though Lady Jin had seen not a single window from outside.
“I am the Wizard Ban.”
“Greetings to you, Wizard Ban,” Lady Jin said. “Was that thing a pet of yours? I’ve never seen a frog that big before.
“Yes, Lady Jin.” The wizard nodded with pride. “He is very protective of his creator.”
“And the trap that destroyed the stick?”
“I am also protective.” He gestured to the sword in her lap. “Much like you. I see.”
“Fine. Wizard Ban, I wish to get to the land of the dead. Do you know how I may do this?”
“Yes,” he said. “The payment?”
“Is here.” Lady Jin removed the sack from her belt and dropped it on the floor between them. It didn’t clink for it wasn’t full of coins. She forced herself not to think of what was inside.
“Oh.” The wizard opened the sack and sniffed. He smiled, showing blackened teeth. “Lovely. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. And now...”
“Yes. Yes.” The wizard pulled a rolled up collection of bamboo strips with characters written on them. “You can read?”
“Yes.” Lady Jin unrolled it and read. The location of the gateway to the underworld. Lady Jin nodded and rolled it back up. “Thank you. Our agreement is fulfilled.”
“Yes. You and your friend may leave.”
Lady Jin stood up with her book and sword. She heard the door open and turned. No one was by the door, but it was open. Lady Jin looked back at the old man. He was gone. All that was left was a dirt floor in a dark shack. She left quickly.
Chapter eleven
Just a simple little valley where a river flowed through. The river was a small offshoot of the Yellow River, which was further to the south. Lady Jin and Nu rode along peacefully.
“What are we doing here?”
“The map has led me here.” Lady Jin held up the map. “Didn’t I tell you why we went to that old wizard?”
“Yes, mistress,” Nu said. “You said we were buying a map from him, but why?”
Lady Jin sighed. She stopped her horse. The gelding shook his head and stomped a foot, but stayed where he was. “There it is.”
“What?” Nu turned her horse around, for she had gone on pass where Lady Jin stopped.
“A rock that looks like a turtle.” Lady Jin pointed down at a rock the size of the horse’s belly. Lady Jin nodded to herself. It does look like a turtle’s shell. I almost think if I kicked it a head would pop out to look.
To the right side of the rock was a pool of water. The pool’s circumference was similar as the rock as if the turtle had made it. The river didn’t look to be connected to the pool, unless underground. “This is it.”
“What?”
“The gateway.”
“What?”
“The way to the Yellow Springs.”
“Huh?” Nu replied. “You don’t mean the Yellow Springs, as in the land of the dead?”
“Yes.” Lady Jin handed the horse’s reins to Nu after she dismounted. She felt Nu’s worried eyes on her back as she walked to the edge of the pool.
“Why? There’s easier ways to go there,” Nu said. “I guess.”
“I don’t want to die, Nu. I want to find an old friend.”
“There are mediums who can do that for you.”
“I don’t just want to talk to him,” Lady Jin said. “I want to free him.”
“What?” Nu tied the horse’s reins to her saddle and dismounted. “Whoever you mean is dead. You can’t free the dead from being dead. This is insane, mistress.”
“Probably true, but I’m going to do whatever I can to free Snake-tongue.” Lady Jin stuck her feet in the pool and sat at
the edge. Lady Jin couldn’t see her legs, though she could feel them. The water was clear and shouldn’t have blocked her view. Strange. So the pool is magical; that is part is true. Now is the rest true? Time to find out. “Wait here for me. I promise I will be back.”
“No!” Nu said. “He tried to kill you.”
“He had no choice in the matter.” Lady Jin took a deep breath and held it. She pushed off and slipped into the water.
Lady Jin felt her body sinking faster than she expected. It was almost as if she was falling through the sky, but she was in water. The pool was like a vertical tunnel or well, and she was going down it. She broke a nail trying to slow her descent by grabbing the tunnel wall. It was made of stone. Black stone or something like it. Where am I?
As she descended, her aching lungs felt to be screaming in agony, like a tortured pet. I will not open my mouth. It will kill me. I will do this. I will hold onto my breath. I can do this. I know I can. He needs me.
Lady Jin thought back to a couple of years ago when she and Nu had been hired to stop a wizard that turned out to be a demon. The demon had taken possession of several warriors, including her on and off again lover Snake-tongue. I hate remembering it. Lady Jin cried as she continued to fall. Her tears mixed with the water of the pool, but she still fought to keep her breath in. The painful memory of her fighting Snake-tongue flooded her mind and heart. He thanked me for killing him. He saw it as being released from a prison forced upon by a monster that ate human beings. Body and soul. Lady Jin wasn’t sure what it had been.
Suddenly with a loud pop, the water and tunnel were gone. Lady Jin was falling through the open air. She looked down to see a lake and opened her mouth to breathe. She splashed into the water and came back up. Lady Jin coughed and gasped. She kicked, but found ground under the lake. Lady Jin walked out of the lake onto the land. Where am I? Is this it? It doesn’t look too much different from the valley I had been in. It even has the rock that looks like a turtle. On an odd impulse Lady Jin kicked the rock and head popped out to look at her. Then four legs came out.
The Gory Pearl of Doom: A Lady Jin and One-eyed Nu novel Page 3
