Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

by Justin Hill

  Thunder Fist came at him a third time. His anger was up and he fought hard. Wei-fang moved smoothly and surely. There was a blur as the two fighters came together, batting and parrying. Once, twice, three times the two fighters clashed, halberd and quarterstaff ringing off one another, then the halberd was knocked out of Thunder Fist’s hands.

  The big man let out a cry of anger, which stopped short as Wei-fang’s quarterstaff drove toward his face, stopping an inch from the end of his nose.

  “You got lucky,” Thunder Fist said and batted the pole away. He grunted as he turned his back.

  Shulien spent the morning perfecting Snow Vase’s moves.

  “Good,” Shulien said at last.

  “Good?” Snow Vase grinned. That word was like a blessing.

  Shulien didn’t seem to understand. “Yes, fairly good.”

  The word “fairly” tarnished Snow Vase’s smile.

  “Well, ‘fairly’ good from Shulien is worth gold from another,” Snow Vase told herself.

  There was a knock at the door. Old Horse came in. He bowed stiffly. “Madam,” he said as he tiptoed into the yard. “Sir Te is ready to see you now.”

  Shulien sheathed her sword and nodded.

  “Keep practicing,” she said to Snow Vase. “Maybe you should go to the warriors’ yard to work on that new move. See if Silent Wolf can spot it.”

  Shulien seemed strangely cheerful this morning. Snow Vase bowed. It seemed a great honor to say that she could now go and practice with another master. She tried to walk slowly as she paced across to the fighters’ courtyard. When she got there the yard was empty, except for Thunder Fist and Wei-fang.

  Thunder Fist looked quickly up. He was restrapping the grip of his halberd with a fresh leather thong. “My, my,” he said. “Hello, pretty.”

  “I’m looking for Silent Wolf,” she said.

  “He’s not here.”

  “Do you know where he’s gone?”

  “No,” Thunder Fist said without looking up.

  Snow Vase paused. She didn’t like being ignored like this. “I’m not just a maid,” she said. “I, too, am a warrior.”

  “Really?” Thunder Fist said, sniffing. “Go fight the dog then.”

  “What dog?”

  Thunder Fist nodded across the yard to where Wei-fang sat in the shade. “There,” he said.

  Wei-fang was watching her. She thought of what the creature had said, and walked over to him. The chain rattled as Wei-fang stood up. He had been chained to the plum tree. He reached up and broke off a stick. He brandished it like a sword.

  “Shall we?”

  “No,” she said.

  “Stick against steel,” he said.

  Snow Vase looked at him. There was a hint of amusement in her eyes. She turned toward him. “I might hurt you.”

  “Ow,” he said.

  Snow Vase thought she would try the new moves she had learned that morning. Her sword flashed as she drew it. They saluted each other and then came together, stick and sword rubbing along each other, and having sampled each other’s skills they came apart again.

  “You’re good,” she said.

  “You sound surprised.”

  “Beauty,” he said, as they fought again, “skill. A heady combination.”

  She didn’t like being patronized, and he had to shut up as she attacked again. The only sound was the scrape of wood on steel and the rattle of Wei-fang’s chain.

  He attacked around the plum tree, but the chain caught on the trunk and she jumped into the branches, landing behind him.

  “Damn!” he said, as he dragged the chain free, then swung it at her and almost caught her foot.

  Their fighting became wilder, more extravagant as they showed off their abilities. He ran lightly up the wall, she ran after him; he lunged, whirled, flipped over, and she was no longer there, but was on top of the wall, jumping to knock him down.

  Wei-fang parried. Their blades came together again, but this time he stepped in close and pinned her up against the wall, in the shade of the plum tree.

  “I think I have just won,” he said. Dappled sunlight fell on her upturned face. Her lips parted as she breathed with the exertion.

  “Oh dear!” she said, mimicking the voice of a helpless beauty. “What should I do?”

  “Grant me a prize?” he said, and bent forward to kiss her.

  She did not reciprocate. “Look down,” she said.

  He did and saw her sword between his legs.

  “I think I won,” she said.

  He smiled. Their bodies were still pressed close. He could feel the softness of her breasts and thighs. He looked at her lips as they parted.

  Snow Vase let him bend and kiss her, but as he smiled and closed his eyes, she was reminded strongly of her mother. The words of the nightmare monster came back to her. Jiaolong’s daughter. But less her daughter than this is her son. She pulled away, bowed and turned, and hurried from the yard.

  That night Snow Vase could not sleep. She lay with her eyes closed and waited until Shulien’s breathing had slowed and become regular.

  “Teacher?” she whispered.

  Shulien’s breathing did not change. Snow Vase waited, slowly slid from the bed, careful not to disturb Shulien with an elbow or a knee, or a tilt in the mattress. She slipped on an embroidered silk shawl and went through the doorway.

  The air outside was chill tonight. She shivered for a moment, put her head down and kept going. She did not take the gates and walkways but ran lightly up the wall and leaped from rooftop to rooftop, dropping down into the courtyard beside Wei-fang. He was asleep. As she landed, a hand caught her arm: high up, above the elbow.

  “You should be careful,” Silent Wolf said.

  “Yes, master,” she said.

  Silent Wolf’s eyes were dark. “What brings you here?”

  “I wanted to talk to him,” she said. Wei-fang remained asleep. The more she looked at him the more obvious the resemblance became. It was eerie, she thought.

  “How is your teacher?” Silent Wolf said.

  “She is well.”

  Silent Wolf nodded slowly. “Good,” he said. “Serve her well.”

  She bowed. “I shall, master.”

  Snow Vase couldn’t help herself. She crossed the yard where Wei-fang was sitting with his back against the plum tree.

  “Which is better,” she said, “cage or chain?”

  “Neither,” he said.

  She sat down next to him and looked at him. “I keep thinking of that fox spirit.”

  Wei-fang looked at her with a strange intensity. “Don’t ask me about it.”

  “Why?”

  “I feel it’s going to find me. I can barely sleep for fear of its coming. What happens if I sleep? Or they sleep? Or if you are not there? If I had the sword at least I could fight it.”

  “Is that what you would do?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Do you know where it is?”

  She shook her head and sat back on her heels. “I have an odd feeling about you.”

  “Love?”

  “No.”

  “Ah.”

  She looked at him, and he wasn’t sure what she was going to say. “I feel I know you.”

  “Really?”

  She nodded. He frowned. “You know, when you look at me I feel the same way too,” he said. “It’s not a good feeling.”

  “Why?”

  “You remind me of my mother. It’s a long story.”

  “What day were you born?” she said.

  “Why? You have a matchmaker who wants to find me a bride?”

  Snow Vase gave him a look. “Well,” he said slowly. “My mother was always a little odd about the date of my birth.”

  Snow Vase looked at him. “Really?”

&nb
sp; “Yes,” he said. “That’s how my mother speaks. ‘Really?’”

  “I’m flattered.”

  He smiled. “Did I tell you why I left home?”

  “No.”

  “My mother was trying to get me married. She had a matchmaker come and take my horoscopes. She became odd when the matchmaker asked the date of my birth.”

  Snow Vase nodded slowly. “So when were you born?”

  He sat up. “On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth month in the tenth year of the Guangxu Emperor.”

  “The Year of the Snake?” she said.

  He nodded, and looked up from the pebbles, and saw Snow Vase was biting her lip, her eyebrows coming together in a frown.

  “What is it?”

  “What was your mother’s name?”

  “Yu,” he said, and drew the character in his hand. It was the same character for “fish.”

  “Was she a wife?” Snow Vase asked.

  “No,” Wei-fang said. “Why?”

  Snow Vase took in a deep breath and puffed out her cheeks. “Where are your family from?”

  “Luoyang,” he said, and Snow Vase felt the tightness wash away from her.

  “Oh, that’s good,” she said. “I had a horrible feeling about you.”

  Wei-fang looked at her. “Horrible?”

  “Well. You remind me of my mother. And that nightmare thing said some things about us. About my mother. I feel it knew about me. Private matters.” She laughed and sighed and felt the tension falling from her. “I was adopted, you see.” Suddenly there were tears in her eyes. She did not know where they had come from, or why they had welled up at a time like this.

  Wei-fang looked sympathetically at her. “There is no shame in that,” he said softly.

  She nodded, blinking the tears away. “I know. But there is more. I think my mother loved me. She was never unkind, but she was hard sometimes. Too hard. She was a wushu warrior. Well, I say I was adopted. But really—” She stopped. “The problem was that she had a child at the same time. A boy. And that boy was taken by the concubine of a local magistrate. Her name was Fang. Though I do not know the character. He was born the same day as you. I saw you and thought, perhaps you might be him.

  “I feared it,” she said, and took a deep breath. “But you can’t be. She was in Gansu when her child was stolen. So I think it cannot be you.”

  Snow Vase smiled. Wei-fang paused. He looked down at the stones in his palm. He let them drop, then picked them up again. He took in all that she had told him. “Gansu?” he said. His voice croaked as he spoke. He coughed and forced a smile. “My father was a magistrate in Gansu,” he said. “His name was Han. We moved to Luoyang when I was two years old.”

  “Where was he a magistrate?” Snow Vase said.

  They were both speaking in whispers.

  “Liangzhou.”

  Snow Vase reached out and took his hands in hers. “Fate has brought us together,” she said. “I wonder why?”

  Wei-fang looked at her and thought she was very beautiful. “I wonder,” he replied.

  23

  Sir Te’s voice was rising rapidly in volume as he paced back and forth. “I have just buried my father,” he said. “I have buried my father and the night of his funeral feast my halls are attacked. A man is killed at my gateway. I thought I was dead. I was almost dead. Is this what my family needs? No. This is all a disaster. I cannot imagine anything worse. The magistrates have all been here asking questions. The palace will hear soon. Next time it will be no ruse. And then, what will I say? How can I explain myself? I did not do any of this. My mother has taken to her opium. She hasn’t eaten for two days now. The Te clan elders have asked for a conference. And my wife. Oh! My wife. She refuses to sleep with me unless I get rid of ‘that damned sword.’”

  “You told your wife?” Shulien said.

  Sir Te stopped. “Yes,” he said. “Of course. How could I not? A man cannot keep secrets from his wife. You know that.”

  Shulien and Snow Vase exchanged looks. “I don’t, actually,” Shulien said.

  Sir Te sat down and stood up again. He was too caught up with his own problems. “It cannot stay here,” he said.

  “You are right,” Shulien said.

  Sir Te seemed not to know what to say.

  “You agree?”

  Shulien nodded. “It cannot stay here, but it cannot be taken away safely.”

  “I don’t understand,” Sir Te said.

  “I will think,” Shulien said.

  Sir Te sat down again. It was an abrupt movement that seemed more like his legs had collapsed under him, or like a puppet when the puppet master drops the strings. He looked from one woman to the other and wiped the sweat from his face. “Oh, that is good news. Yes, Shulien. I am sorry. I have spoken hastily. It has all been too much. But your words hearten me. Please do think,” he said. “My wife cannot sleep with that sword here. I am sure there is a solution.”

  “Do not worry, Sir Te,” Shulien said. “We will find one.”

  Snow Vase walked slowly behind Shulien. Shulien was thinking hard.

  “Teacher, do you have a plan?” Snow Vase said.

  Shulien shook her head. “No, not yet. Well, I have an idea. I must go and speak to Silent Wolf.” They paused at the courtyard where Silent Wolf and his fighters were housed.

  Shulien went into the courtyard, and Snow Vase followed her through the gateway, then stopped. As she did so Wei-fang looked up. Their eyes met. His face was grim. She saw the anger in his eyes, and he turned away.

  I knew she was not my mother, his glare said. I got a damned concubine, and you got my real mother!

  “How are you?” Snow Vase said as she stood over him.

  “Fine,” he said.

  She squatted down and reached out to him. They were ­connected through Jiaolong. She felt it. It was a new and strange feeling. She spoke gently. “Do not be angry at me,” she said.

  He looked at her. He was angry at his mother. His adopted mother: the child thief. More angry than he had been before.

  “I’m not.”

  He said nothing more.

  “It’s not my fault,” she said.

  He nodded. “I know. I’m sorry. I am not angry at you. I am angry at my mother for never telling me the truth.”

  “How could she?”

  “She could have tried. She wanted to control everything. She knew. She knew my mother was a wushu warrior. She banned me from practicing. If it hadn’t been for her I would be a great warrior now.”

  Snow Vase didn’t know what to say. Truth hurt at first, before its edges were blunted. Since she had learned of her adoption she had imagined her mother many times—the opposite of Jiaolong, soft, caring, gentle, loving.

  She felt sorry for this woman she did not know but who had borne her in her womb.

  She sighed. “She wanted a son,” she said simply.

  “She stole me,” Wei-fang said. “It was better for her. But you had my childhood! You had a wushu warrior as a mother. I had a stupid concubine! Do you know how I yearned for a master? My mother banned me from even reading stories about fighters. Now I know why!”

  Snow Vase let him talk. He was angry and jealous. She had known his mother, while he had not.

  Finally Wei-fang stopped and looked up. “I am sorry,” he said. “I did not think.” He paused.

  They could hear Shulien and Silent Wolf’s voices from inside.

  “Do you know who my father is?” Wei-fang said.

  Snow Vase nodded. “I know a little,” she said.

  “Tell me.”

  Snow Vase paused. She didn’t want to say anything that might upset him more, but the truth was good sometimes, even when it hurt.

  “Mother only talked about him a couple of times,” she said. She watched his reaction c
arefully. “He was a great warrior. He was an outlaw. His name was Dark Cloud.”

  “Dark Cloud?” Wei-fang said.

  She nodded.

  “Never heard of him.” Wei-fang puffed out his cheeks. “Why didn’t they stay together?”

  “Mother was not an easy woman. I do not think she could have stayed with one man. I don’t think she liked the feeling of being tamed. She was an angry woman. There were times I didn’t like her much.”

  “What was her name?”

  “Whose?”

  “My mother’s.”

  Snow Vase shook her head and laughed. “Her name was Jiaolong.”

  Wei-fang looked away. “I met her,” he said.

  “Impossible.”

  “No. I met her. She came to West Lotus. She was sick. Hades Dai demanded she fight him. I had been there only a month or two when she was brought in. She had blood on her lip. She knew who he was. She spat at him when he touched her. ‘Jiaolong,’ he said. ‘I knew your teacher, Jade Fox. Think you can fight better than her?’”

  Snow Vase bit her lip. She shook her head. She didn’t want to hear the rest, but Wei-fang kept telling her, detail by detail.

  “She fought well. But she was weak. She was surrounded, and she had already fought the West Lotus warriors.”

  “She was sick,” Snow Vase said. “But she was determined to find you.”

  Wei-fang shook his head. “She did,” he said. “Although she did not know it. And I saw her die. I was there when she was killed.” Snow Vase shut her eyes. “It was Hades Dai,” Wei-fang said. “He cut her down. I cheered him on. We all cheered.”

  Snow Vase opened her eyes. Wei-fang was looking at her as if he were cursed.

  “You know,” he said, “I wonder if she did know. Just as she died I heard her voice in my head, ‘Do not fear. Take your destiny.’” He stopped, and remembered what she had said at the end, “Take the Green Destiny!” But he did not repeat that.

  “We have to take revenge,” Snow Vase said, but she jumped back as Shulien paced toward her.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I . . .” Snow Vase said. “I . . . I . . .”

  “Come with me,” Shulien said.