The City of Sand

by Tianxia Bachang

  We needed to get this done as quickly as possible, so I bit back my arguments and nodded. Sa Dipeng was still bleeding, and if he lost much more blood, there would definitely be no hope for him. I gestured for the other two to follow me, and we sprinted the rest of the way to the end of the beam.

  This close to the corpse bloom, it was impossible not to notice its demonic beauty. The flowers and leaves were dazzling, drawing the eye and making it difficult to look elsewhere. I thought of what the professor had said, about this plant containing evil spirits. After what we’d just witnessed, I didn’t care how precious or rare this creature was. Screaming “Die, you evil bloom!” I got out my shovel and brought it down again and again, mashing the flowers into paste. Black goo oozed thickly from them. Only when they were completely destroyed did I stop.

  Julie had reached out to grab my arm, but I was too quick for her. Seeing that the deed was done, she sighed. “Okay, whatever. You did what you had to do,” she said. “Now can we save this guy’s life?”

  “Yes, quick, let’s stop the bleeding.” I was already pulling the bandages from my pocket, thinking the best plan would be to stanch the wound as best I could before carrying him back for more first aid.

  Kai touched his neck and gulped. “Actually, don’t bother. There’s no pulse. I guess we didn’t get here in time.”

  I smacked my palm down on the coffin in frustration. “If only he’d hung on a bit longer!”

  Unexpectedly, hitting the coffin seemed to send an electric jolt through Sa Dipeng’s corpse. He jerked upright into a sitting position. His eyes opened—they were flooded with red. Pointing a shaky finger at the tomb, he stammered, “She—she—she’s alive!”

  The three of us jumped back in shock.

  My hand was already reaching instinctively for the black donkey hoof in my pocket, ready to fling it at him. Before I could move, Sa Dipeng’s legs trembled violently, and he fell forward heavily to land on the ground. This time he looked dead for keeps.

  Raising my eyes, I saw that the coffin was open a crack. When had this happened? My heart was stuck somewhere in my throat. Kai and Julie didn’t seem to know what to do either. We looked helplessly at each other.

  If something bad was coming, it was unavoidable now. The Jingjue queen’s coffin was open. This surely meant she was coming for us. Kai aimed his rifle at where her corpse would be while I clutched the donkey hoof in one hand and my shovel in the other. At least we’d get to see what was inside that grave.

  In that moment, wild thoughts swirled through my head. Who were we about to meet? A beautiful queen or some evil zombie? Whether it was a ghost or an undead being, we were in a tight spot. The stone column was too narrow for us to maneuver much, but did we dare to retreat? I frantically considered every possible angle, trying to come up with plans for every contingency.

  The one thing I didn’t expect was that nothing would happen. Although the coffin had opened a crack, there was no further movement. Whatever was inside, it had stopped moving. We couldn’t go on waiting like this forever. There were only two choices before us: the first was to ignore whatever might be going on with the undead queen, beat a quick retreat, and make a plan once we were safely off this stone beam. The second was to pry the coffin open. Whatever we found inside, we’d eradicate it with my shovel, the black donkey hoof, and Kai’s rifle.

  As my brain raced through these scenarios, I knew the first option was safer but also unworkable. There was an evil presence on this stone beam. Sa Dipeng’s and Chu Jian’s mysterious deaths were definite proof of that. Whatever the force might be, it was definitely gearing up to eliminate us as punishment for daring to disturb the eternal rest of the Jingjue queen.

  If we were to turn our backs now, it might well attack us halfway through our retreat, while we were still on the narrow beam. If that happened, there’d be no way to fight back—we’d be doomed. There was no help for it. We’d have to confront the enemy head on and just hope to make it back alive, rather than end up in the bottomless pit that yawned below us.

  Glancing across at the other two, I could tell they’d had the same thought. We nodded at each other. It was clear how things were. Even though nothing had actually emerged from the coffin, we were already doing battle with whatever lay inside. Our only option was to take the fight onto the enemy’s turf and open the coffin lid.

  Kai handed the rifle to Julie and told her to cover him, then spat into his hands and gripped one side of the lid, indicating I should grab the other side.

  The thick chains around the coffin prevented us from simply lifting the lid. The only option was to slide it off to one side—and that little open crack showed us which direction.

  Tamping down my uneasy feelings, I counted out loud to three; then Kai and I pushed the board together. Apart from the opening, there was no sign from the outside that this Kunlun god-tree had been through any sort of craftsmanship. It looked remarkably like an entire, untouched tree, with even the bark looking fresh and alive. If not for that little crack, we wouldn’t have known which bit was the lid.

  The wood wasn’t as heavy as it looked, and without using too much strength, we’d gotten the cover most of the way off. We were both wearing gas masks, so we couldn’t say if any smells were coming from inside. Peering in, we saw a female corpse dressed in jade funereal clothes, lying peacefully in the center of a hollow carved into the trunk. Apart from her body, there was nothing in the coffin, none of the customary grave goods.

  This must surely be the Jingjue queen. She wore a black mask that obscured the whole of her face, and every inch of her body was covered by robes, so we couldn’t tell if she was well-preserved or decayed.

  Finally, we’d come face to face with the queen we’d heard so much about. Though not quite face to face. “What the hell?” I cursed. “You’re dead, and you’re still putting on airs, hiding your face from us?”

  “You tell her!” exclaimed Kai. “Tianyi, do you think her ghost was what killed those two guys? Let’s rip off her mask and see if this is the most beautiful woman in the Western Regions or just some hideous demon.”

  “Fine,” I agreed. “I want to take a look too. You pull off the mask, and I’ll be ready with the donkey hoof. If I shove it right into her mouth, even if she’s a demon, that should hold her in place.” Before I finished speaking, I was already holding the hoof in place just above her face.

  Kai rolled up his sleeves and reached out a hand. With a rustling noise, he managed to lift the mask off quite easily.

  And now we saw her face. The Jingjue queen had a cloud of black hair, finely arched brows, delicate features, and pale, pale skin. Her eyes were tightly shut. Apart from her pallor, she looked exactly like someone we knew.

  Before this moment, I’d wondered what this queen might look like—plump or skinny, fair or dark? Would she have a high nose? Sunken eyes? All kinds of faces had popped into my imagination, but I’d never thought she’d look like this.

  Kai and I both gasped. The Jingjue queen looked exactly like Julie Yang. This wasn’t a question of a chance resemblance—they had exactly the same face, as if both had been created from a single mold.

  My brain suddenly seemed to have turned into porridge. I turned to look at Julie—was she as startled as we were? But there was no one there. She’d been standing behind me just a second ago, but now the stone beam was empty.

  Could it be that this corpse wasn’t the queen, but Julie herself? I felt goose pimples pop up over my whole body. My mind jittered and prepared to shut down—there was no way to cope with this. Emotions washed over me—sorrow, fear, agitation, helplessness, doubt. Assaulted by all these moods at once, my head emptied out and became a perfect blank. We’d underestimated our opponent. There was no way to deal with this. We were specimens pinned to a table, and whatever happened next was out of our control—we could be dissected or left to suffer, fried alive or slowly boiled. Nothing was up to us anymore. We were in the palm of a giant hand so enormous we couldn’t
even see what creature it belonged to.

  As I was staring helplessly at the spot where Julie should have been, I felt an icy wind, and something sinister rushing toward me. Come on, then, I thought, and swung my shovel through the air, feeling it connect hard with something. My vision clouded, and when it cleared, it was Kai standing beside me. I’d whacked off half his head with my shovel, and blood was spurting from the wound, spraying onto the ground. His one remaining eye had no life in it.

  I froze. What had I done? How could I have made such a huge a mistake? Had the Jingjue queen broken my spirit? I’d killed my friend, my comrade in arms. My heart crumbled like ashes. This was the end. We’d started out with nine people on this expedition, and now five of them had died in a single day, my closest companion among them, hacked to death by my own hand after more than a decade of friendship.

  Now I was alone. What was the point of living? I’d escaped death so many times, but maybe I shouldn’t have. If I’d died before this, then Kai would still be alive. Even if I were to kill myself in the next moment, how could I possibly face my friend in the afterlife?

  My head throbbed as if it might split apart, and all my thoughts turned gray. My hands and feet were dipped in ice. Only death could solve this. I pulled out my trusty knife, carefully aimed it at my heart, and clenched my teeth.

  The instant the blade touched my skin, I heard two sudden gunshots. Rifle bullets clattered against my knife, knocking it to the ground.

  A mist rose around me, and I couldn’t see anything. Who had fired? Panic washed over me. Something was wrong. Logic didn’t exist anymore. Someone was shouting, “Come back, Tianyi! We need to go!”

  The voice was a lightning bolt through the darkest night. I didn’t understand what had just happened, but instinct told me I’d fallen into a trap. Had the demon gotten to me too?

  I bit down hard on my tongue. The pain shook my whole body, and just like that I was in the middle of the stone beam, nowhere near the coffin, which was perfectly untouched. The corpse bloom was intact, though the furled flowers were now splayed wide open, revealing long stamens that swiveled like laser beams to face me.

  At the far end of the beam were two people: Kai and Julie, almost jumping up and down in their agitation. Weren’t they dead?

  Kai still had the rifle in his hand. “Tianyi, are you mad? Quick, come back!”

  No time to wonder what happened. I sprinted toward them, pulling off my gas mask to spit out the blood in my mouth. My head was finally clear, and I felt like myself again.

  What had they seen? “My god, you practically gave me a heart attack,” Kai blabbered. “Didn’t you say you were going to rescue Sa Dipeng? Instead, you reach the center of the bridge; then suddenly you turn and I don’t know what’s going on. It’s like you’re sleepwalking. You swing your shovel in midair, stabbing and slashing. We shouted and shouted, but you didn’t seem to hear. Then the dagger comes out, and you’re about to stab yourself. There wasn’t enough time to get to you, so I had to shoot the blade out of your hand. What was that about? Did you suddenly go crazy? Or did the queen take over your body too?”

  I looked along that narrow stone beam, piecing together what had just happened. It was clear now—this was the work of not the queen or any demon, but the corpse bloom. The plant tricked people into killing themselves!

  The corpse bloom. It wasn’t just the scent that intoxicated—we’d all been wearing gas masks—the color must be deadly too. The flower was so bright and translucent, it could dazzle you out of your senses.

  No wonder there didn’t seem to be any protection around the queen’s coffin. This plant was the most lethal guardian. Anyone who got too close would find their minds clouded, tricked by their own memories into committing suicide.

  It seemed like we were safe outside the perimeter of the giant hole, but as soon as we stepped onto the stone beam, we were the prey of this mind-bending plant.

  That explained what must have happened to everyone who came before us, all those archaeologists and tomb robbers. Just like Sa Dipeng, they must have died by their own hands.

  Thank goodness Julie had pulled Kai back, not letting him join me on the beam. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got at the queen. What was her problem? Snatching Kai’s rifle, I took careful aim and shot at the corpse bloom, but the bullets simply sank easily into the leaves, not even leaving holes, vanishing altogether. The plant was indestructible.

  Sa Dipeng was still slumped over the coffin, his blood now puddling on the ground. He was probably beyond rescue at this point, but we couldn’t just abandon his corpse there. Yet how could we ever get to it?

  The three of us talked it over, but there were no good solutions. Professor Chen wasn’t in any danger, but he still hadn’t recovered consciousness. Little Ye was still sobbing her eyes out and obviously wouldn’t be any use to us. That was the situation we were in. Nothing but confusion and helplessness.

  Then Kai said, “Tianyi, I do have an idea. A way to get rid of that plant.”

  “It’s a pretty powerful plant,” I warned him. “What’s your bright idea?”

  “The plant warps all of our senses, not just smell. Even looking at it is enough for it to take over our minds.” I nodded to show I’d already had this thought. He went on, “It can distort reality if we look at it. So what if we don’t look at it? Blindfold ourselves, grope our way over to the plant, then pluck it up by the roots?”

  “Fine, go ahead,” I said. “Cover your eyes and crawl over there. I’ll keep watch and shout if you get too close to the edge.”

  “No way,” Julie said, urgently. “Professor Chen’s the only one who knows anything about the corpse bloom, and he’s out of action. The three of us have no idea what it’s capable of. How can we be sure it operates through our senses? These flowers are pure evil, and we can’t afford any mistakes. Let’s not take the risk.”

  “So you’re saying we should just leave Sa Dipeng there?” grumbled Kai. “Just let him rot while we go merrily home?”

  “Even if we leave,” I said, “we should do something about that plant. Don’t we have lots of explosives on us? So let’s snap the beam off and drop it into the pit.”

  We squabbled away but couldn’t agree what was best to do. Then a movement caught my eye. I looked up—it was Sa Dipeng’s body, convulsing violently. We quickly stopped our argument and turned our attention to what was happening on the beam.

  The floodlight had been turned to its lowest setting, in case it blinded the people on the beam and made them put a foot wrong. Now I turned it up again so we could see better.

  Dipeng’s corpse was jerking about, as if some invisible force was tugging hard at it, dragging it along the rough stone. Before we could see any more, the light flared and then winked out. A blown fuse, or had the battery run out? Whatever the cause, the entire cave was now pitch-dark.

  I banged my fist on the light, but it refused to come back to life. “Spare batteries!” I shouted at where I thought Kai was.

  “No spares,” came the disconcerting reply through the darkness. “The other batteries are back with the camels. Didn’t you tell us to lighten our loads as much as possible before entering the city? I thought that meant I should leave them behind.”

  A click in the darkness, then a soft blaze of light. Julie had activated a flare. Even this little pool of illumination was better than nothing—a source of comfort in the endless dark. It didn’t reach far enough for us to see Sa Dipeng, though.

  Now there was a scratching sound from the depths of the stone pit. Not very loud, like the rustle of a small creature crawling along the ground. Or rather, small creatures. Actually, it sounded like there were quite a lot of them.

  I shivered, remembering the strange black snakes. “Go get Professor Chen,” I called to Kai. Even if we had to carry him on our backs, we had to get out of there. Whatever had crawled out of the hole, I was willing to bet it wouldn’t be friendly. It was definitely time for us to leave.

/>   Knowing the flare wouldn’t burn for long, we got out our little wolf-eye flashlights. Kai gave the unconscious professor a piggyback ride, while Julie supported Little Ye, who was wobbly on her legs. Making sure we were heading in the right direction, we got moving.

  The sounds were coming from all around us now, growing louder and louder. Julie held up her camera and took some shots, the flash sending bright white light bouncing around the space, like tiny bolts of lightning. Sure enough, we were surrounded by snakes, more than I could count, the smallest only a few inches long, the largest almost three feet. They were the same kind as before, with the fleshy black pouches over their heads. The difference was, I realized, all the ones we’d seen up to now hadn’t been fully mature. The longest ones here were adults, and their head growths were clearly defined—they were shaped like giant black eyeballs.

  These pseudo-eyes seemed particularly sensitive to light. They slithered quickly away from each flash. But there were thousands of them, pouring out of the hole at every moment, piling up and tangling together. The path we’d arrived here by was already a solid mass of scaly flesh. There was no way out.

  For now, the camera flashes and our flashlights were able to keep them at bay, but we knew it was only a short-lived respite. Eventually, our batteries would run dry, and after that nothing would be able to save us from their lethal bites.

  If only we still had the solid fuel we’d brought with us; unfortunately, the last of it had been used up in the temple. There was nothing we could do now, just retreat step by step.

  There were walls of black snakes on all sides of us. My skin crawled to think of how they would soon be swarming over our bodies. Then I heard Kai’s voice—“Over there!” He was pointing at one of the walls. “There’s a cave! Let’s get out of here.”

  I looked. It wasn’t a cave at all, just a crack in the mountain rock, no more than the height of a person. It didn’t look particularly deep either, but given the circumstances, we might as well see if we could get inside. At least we’d have breathing space to plan our next move.