by K. T. Tomb
After some time, Min had become so quiet that Max began to believe that she had fallen asleep, so he sat on a nearby boulder and waited. It had been an exhausting journey filled with extremes of emotion for both of them. The heartache of having to make a choice, followed by the pure elation of being together once more and beginning to talk again without anything lingering between them allowed them to renew what they had enjoyed for a week within the village.
Max didn’t reveal to her that he still did not believe in the legend, but instead supported her belief; though it wasn’t completely honest, it allowed him to support her journey to whatever end it might lead. As he waited, he felt his own eyelids grow heavy and his head nodded toward his chest. He began to dream.
The rockslide was in front of him and Min was at his side. He took hold of her hand and he began to hop from one rock to another, following a glow ahead of him. Whenever the grip on her hand would break, he would lose sight of the glow and become disoriented, but whenever he held fast to her hand, the way was clearly defined before him. After traveling for some distance, he saw a particular rock that was shaped a little bit different and went to it. He stood on top of it and turned in a full circle, scanning the sea of rocks that surrounded them.
There was a sudden flash of light that hit his eyes and then disappeared. He followed the source of the light until he saw a tiny, black crack next to the face of a large boulder. With Min’s hand firmly in his, he started toward the crack. When they arrived at the crack, he noticed that until they were directly in front of it, it created an optical illusion, but up close, and around the edge of a vertical slab was an opening into a cave and a path which led away into the heart of the mountain. He started along the path with Min’s hand in his own. He could see a soft glow and a tiny pinpoint of light far ahead of them and he continued toward that point until it grew larger and became a doorway into a courtyard of verdant green with a palace blending into the rock beyond. His dream was suddenly interrupted by a voice calling to him.
“Max? Max? Wake up, Max.” Min touched his shoulder and he looked up into her sad eyes.
“Let’s go back down the path and find a place to camp for the night,” Min said. “I thought that I could get a vision of where to go, but I could not. Perhaps it will come to me in a dream or at another time.”
As soon as she said ‘dream,’ Max realized that rather than Min having the vision, he might have had the vision. Stranger things had happened. Maybe that was the reason that he was along, maybe it took a vision from him to lead the way.
“Min, wait.” She had already turned away to start back down the path when he touched her hand. Instantly, he had a flash of the tunnel and the courtyard as clearly as though he had taken a photo of it in his dream.
“What, Max? What is it?”
“I think I had the vision. It’s worth a try, right? We have nothing to lose and there is still plenty of daylight to give it a try.”
He could tell by the look on Min’s face that she wasn’t entirely sure that he wasn’t toying with her.
“Come on, I don’t think it’s far.” He started on his way, keeping hold of Min’s hand. It all seemed very familiar to him, though he couldn’t explain exactly why. The French called it déjà vu, but what he was experiencing was of greater intensity. His feet followed a path as though he was watching a video of the dream that he had just experienced.
As they continued forward, it seemed that the sea of tumbled rocks became more vast and he was beginning to doubt his own vision and think himself a fool until he saw the strangely shaped rock in front of him. He couldn’t possibly have dreamt of a rock like that and then seen it in reality, but there it was in front of them. He led Min to it and stood atop it turning in a full circle until he saw the face of the slab. Was it really true? Had he truly visualized that slab and the small crack in front of it?
“This way,” he said, stepping forward toward the slab and crack. When they drew near to the crack, he noticed how it slowly began to transform into the entrance that he had dreamt about before. As soon as Min saw it, she froze.
“Is this it?” she asked.
Max turned back toward her. “I think it is. It is exactly like what I saw in my dream.”
Min looked up at him in total amazement. “I thought that I would have the vision, since I am Wang Mu and this is my palace.”
“Well, I’m certainly not Wang Mu,” he said as he chuckled. “I don’t have the legs for it.”
Min smiled at his attempt at humor.
“Besides, we don’t know for sure what’s in there. It might just be a cave with a hungry yeti waiting for a delicious Midwestern boy to feast upon and followed by a sweet Tibetan for dessert.”
“There’s only one way to find out.”
Max heard the ring of the sword as Min drew it from its sheath. “But then again, maybe we’ll be dining on yeti tonight.”
They eased into the tunnel and Max saw the pinpoint of light ahead just as he had in his dream. As the light grew and the doorway became more pronounced, Max began to wonder if he had judged Min too harshly for her faith in the palace and the legend. If the palace existed, then perhaps the legend was true.
As they stepped into the verdant courtyard and saw the palace rising up out of the rock beyond, Max was completely willing to admit that he was wrong. He turned toward Min intent on an apology when several dark figures surrounded them ready to strike.
“How did you find this place?” one of them hissed.
Min was crouched and ready to strike while Max was uncertain how to respond. He wasn’t exactly equipped with weapons or the lightening quick moves of Min.
“Make a move and you will taste the steel of Wang Mu,” Min hissed in response.
“How do we know that you speak the truth?”
“Because if you don’t believe it, then you will all die.”
Max counted a dozen men surrounding them. He wasn’t necessarily a coward, but those weren’t very good odds.
“Who is the man with you?”
“He is Max Harper; a foreigner, wrongly accused and sentenced to death.”
“Perhaps the legend is being fulfilled,” another of the group ventured.
“You can believe me or you can test my skill.” Min suddenly sprang into action. In a flash, the leader of the group was on his back with a sword at his throat.
By the response, he was pretty sure that none of them had actually seen what she had done; just the result.
“He would already be dead along with several more of you if I wished it so.”
Max had seen Min in action before, but he had never seen the intensity of her eyes as they were in that moment.
“Forgive us, Wang Mu,” one of them said, sheathing his sword and bowing toward her.
The moment that she realized they had submitted, she drew her sword away from the man on the ground and slipped it into her sheath. She extended a hand to him to help him up, but he refused it.
“I am not worthy to touch your hand.” He was quickly on his knees with his face pressed to the ground. “Forgive me, please.”
“You have done your duty. Stand. I will have need of that prowess later.” She turned to Max, her eyes softened, and she motioned toward the palace. “Let’s take a look inside.”
Chapter Twenty-two
“General Yung,” a soldier reported, short of breath after sprinting back with his report. “We saw the woman and the foreigner in a rockslide up ahead. Their yaks and belongings are where the trail ends.”
“Did they see you?” Yung replied.
“No, we were well hidden. The others are still watching them.”
“Move up quickly,” he commanded. “We don’t want them to disappear again. They’ve done it before.”
The entire command moved up quickly and stopped at the edge of the rockslide where the yaks of Max and Min were standing with their provisions still tied to the rigging on their backs. One of the soldiers who had remained there came to re
port.
“We kept watch on them. They stood on a large rock and appeared to be looking for something and then they suddenly jumped down, moved along the rocks for a while and then disappeared. The others have their eyes fixed on the place where they were last seen.”
“Good, we will spread everyone out near where they disappeared. Look for a trap door, a hole, a cave, a crevasse or any other opening that they might have slipped through. Comb every inch. They are not magic. Alert me the moment you find an opening.”
When they had joined those who had been keeping watch, the men fanned out in the direction that Min and Max had gone. Yung looked on, satisfied, from the top of the oddly shaped rock. It would only be a matter of time.
He could almost taste the victory already. Visions of the sweet satisfaction that had filled his mind since the day he had resigned from his position at the prison and began to follow his destiny filled his head. The even sweeter visions that had been a part of his dark heart since birth began to take shape as well. Soon, all of Tibet would pay. They would be made into fools and he would press his heel into their supple necks.
His satisfaction was delayed, however, when the soldiers had ventured well beyond the place where they claimed that the two had disappeared and still had found nothing. He called them back and regrouped them around him.
“They are not magic. You must look harder. Look under every rock if you must. Look from every angle. They cannot disappear.” He sent them out again and they moved much slower the second time. Some of them followed his directions literally and gave boulders a shove to see if an opening might be hidden beneath them.
As he watched them searching, an idea came to him. Look for an illusion. Something that was a little bit different. Something that looked normal at first and then slowly changed into something else. He scanned the rocks around him and his eyes came to rest on the face of the stone slab with the vertical crack near it.
“Stop!” he commanded. “All of you freeze in position and do not move.”
He stepped from the oddly shaped rock onto a boulder below and began to make his way from one boulder to the next until he was in front of the slab he had seen from his earlier vantage point. Sliding along the slab and feeling his way, his hands reached beyond the illusion that had been created and he discovered the long, vertical crack which led into the tunnel.
“It’s here,” he announced. “Join up!”
Chapter Twenty-three
Min was surprised that it was Max’s vision and not her own that had led them to the tunnel which led into the palace. Secretly, she had believed that he was still skeptical. She hadn’t split hairs about it because he had at least decided to accompany her and she knew that if he was with her everything was still possible. But why had the vision been given to a doubter rather than a believer? Was it because his profession as a photographer helped provide a better memory for following the vision? It was a possibility.
She reached out for Max’s hand as she had done so many times in the past and felt an even more intense tingle surge through her as they entered the palace.
“Be diligent,” the leader of the monks commanded. “Watch the entrance. The dark lord is certain to be stalking her.”
Min could feel something different in the air. She felt as if she was in a familiar place, yet it was also new. The craftsmanship in the beams and stonework was exquisite. There were sculptures made of jade, ivory and gold, each depicting a portion of the cycles of life and of the reincarnation of the spirit.
The elegantly carved ivory and jade sconces and chandeliers held thousands of candles which lit the palace corridors and great rooms. They wandered quietly through the halls and rooms exploring the extent of the palace; the only sounds were gasps by one or the other when they made a new discovery in the beauty and elegance of the craftsmanship.
At last they wandered into the garden. The garden had a covering above it like a greenhouse, but the covering seemed to extend beyond the walls of the garden as though it was covering the entire palace grounds beyond. Centered in the space was the lush peach tree with large, plump, ripe fruit causing the branches to sag. The temptation to pluck a fruit and eat it was strong, but the aura which surrounded it was heavy to both of them.
“The immortal peach tree,” Max whispered in awe.
Min smiled, wondering if he finally believed the legend and also the shock it would be to suddenly have one’s world and beliefs overturned. “Yes,” she replied softly.
“This may sound sort of silly,” Max began, “but do you remember any of this from before?”
“You mean, do I feel like Wang Mu returning home?” She laughed softly. He was beginning to believe her. “I have some strange feelings that I am at home, but I don’t remember things plainly.”
They continued to the gate of the garden and pushed it open. Beyond the gate were fields, orchards and cottages where the monks lived and produced the food and necessary items to maintain the temple. They had done their work for thousands of years, the ultimate tribute to their faithfulness and dedication.
As they were moving back across the garden to return to the palace, Min thought she heard the sputter of AK-47s. Had the dark lord arrived so soon? Drawing her sword, she dropped Max’s hand and dashed along the hallways to the courtyard. Monks were streaming out of openings all along the way and seemed to be dropping out of the sky as they rushed forward toward the sound of battle.
When Min entered the courtyard, she saw that there were soldiers with AK-47s spreading out from the opening of the tunnel. The monks were moving as swiftly as they were able and occasionally were able to take out a few soldiers, but all too many were lying dead, not swift enough for the bullets which were spit from the weapons.
She scanned the situation quickly, drew her sword and rushed into the battle. It was her moment of destiny, though the thought of it was nowhere near her mind. If she were to save the lives of the monks, of Max and of the people of Tibet, she had to stop the invasion.
Chapter Twenty-four
Max rushed behind Min toward the sound of battle.
He had no idea what he would do once he arrived, but he knew that he must fight at her side. He could not bear for anything to happen to her and have done nothing to help her. All thought of destiny, fate and the legend had slipped from his mind and he acted on a deeper instinct.
When he arrived at the scene of the courtyard, he swallowed a lump in his throat. How could swords, no matter how skillfully wielded, defeat automatic weapons? There was really only one chance. The sheer number of monks had been able to keep the majority of the soldiers still pinned inside the tunnel and therefore, their mass of firepower was limited. If they were able to break free from the tunnel and spread out, the end would come quickly. Unless…
Max rushed along the edge of the corridor, keeping as low to the ground as he was able. He saw Min flashing from one soldier to the other as they attempted to exit the tunnel. She moved so swiftly that there was little time for a bullet to find her, but the mass of soldiers continued to surge ahead. Max made it near the opening and quickly pulled two AK-47s from the hands of dead soldiers and then slipped back to a position where he could cover the opening of the tunnel. The monks and Min could fight in their way, but he was going to even the odds as best he could with modern weapons.
Careful not to hit the monks or Min, he fired back into the tunnel. He hoped that would slow them down a bit. They would have to crouch and stay clear of the ricocheting bullets. With the lot of them slowed down, the monks and Min would be able to make short work of them.
When one of the weapons was empty, he snatched up the other and fired only a few short bursts. He would need to save what ammo was left for a surge. He had made a difference and the stream of soldiers that was emerging was growing thinner and much easier to handle. As suddenly as it had all begun, it was over. In the silence that followed Max looked at the pile of human flesh that had been spent in the courtyard and around the entrance of the tun
nel. A mere dozen, perhaps a few more, of the monks were still standing along with Min.
In the silence that followed the battle, Max dropped the weapon and moved toward her. “Min, are you okay?”
“I am fine.” Her eyes were scanning the carnage around them. She seemed to be searching for someone or something.
“What is it?”
“The dark lord. None of these had the skill and power of the dark lord. He is not here.”
“That’s actually a good thing, right? Maybe we won’t have to go through the battling the dark lord and the dying thing?” He could see that his attempt to lighten the situation with humor had failed.
“He will come,” she replied.
She had no sooner finished speaking than a large, dark figure appeared in the entrance of the tunnel clapping his hands together.
“Very good. You’ve done an excellent job.” His wicked smile mocked them.
Max recognized the man; it was General Yung from the prison in Beijing. He had known the man to be evil, believed that he had been the one who destroyed the evidence which would have exonerated him and that he had hated the man, but he never suspected that he would be “the dark lord.”
“Well, hello, Max, it seems you did not make it to freedom after all. That’s okay; I can still carry out your sentence for you.”
“You will not touch him as surely as I breathe.” Min had stepped forward and was crouched, ready to attack.
“I suppose you are the phantom woman, Wang Mu, is it? Lovely place you’ve got here. Perhaps you should tidy up a bit before having company over.” He indicated the dead bodies scattered about the courtyard.
