Dan felt his jaw hanging open, so he closed it. ‘How —’
The lord’s master of the interior entered, and Huxin quickly ducked behind Dan to hide herself. ‘What is it?’ The lord was annoyed by the interruption.
‘Your brother, Shi, is here to see you,’ he announced, and Huxin gave a quiet gasp of delight.
‘Give me a moment,’ Dan requested, and the sly grin on his servant’s face made Dan a little embarrassed. ‘This is not how it looks, I assure you.’
‘All of my lord’s secrets are safe with me,’ the servant assured his master as he left the room.
‘Why would Shi want to see me?’ Dan was perplexed by the visit. Shi was the outdoors type and thus their paths and interests seldom crossed.
‘Yes, I wonder?’ Huxin played dumb.
‘Well, he can’t see you here,’ Dan insisted, looking around for a hiding spot in the sparsely furnished hall, but when he looked back, Huxin was gone.
‘Brother Huxin?’ Dan called quietly and, startled to hear a roar, he looked down to see the tiger crawl out from beneath the robe.
‘Good thinking.’ Dan grabbed up the robe, tossing it onto a pile of cushions.
‘Brother Dan!’ Shi exclaimed, sounding pleased to see him.
‘Brother Shi …’ Dan made his surprise clear in his voice. ‘What brings you indoors?’
‘Baihu!’ Shi was even more excited to see the tigress, who responded to his call by romping over to him, He awarded her his full attention. ‘What are you doing in Dan’s rooms?’
‘I am, ah … tiger sitting,’ Dan explained.
‘Fa could have asked me to do it,’ Shi said, surprised. ‘I would be honoured any time!’ Dan realised ‘tiger sitting’ was a rather flimsy excuse, but Shi didn’t comment further.
Huxin licked Shi’s face, who delighted in the show of affection, but Dan felt he was watching his brother be seduced in plain sight. ‘Was there a reason for your visit?’
‘Um … well …’ Shi lost some of his enthusiasm, realising his presence must be unexpected. ‘I was wanting to inquire after the condition of You Ling?’
Dan was frowning now, deeply puzzled. ‘Why should you be interested in You Ling?’
‘We met in the garden one evening, not too long back,’ Shi advised, with a smile that indicated it was a fond memory.
‘Really?’ Dan thought it odd that Hudan had not mentioned the encounter.
‘She is amazing, Dan,’ Shi said, complimenting his brother. ‘You are a very lucky man indeed.’ The lovelorn look on Shi’s face made Dan very uncomfortable, and Huxin released a loud purr of pleasure that sounded rather like a cow mooing. ‘Over all the women the Xibo has forced me to meet …’ Shi acknowledged the tigress with a caress on the head ‘… I would choose her as a wife in a heartbeat.’
The tigress’ loud purring was cut short by Dan’s protest, and she scampered out of the way as he came close to his brother. ‘You cannot hope to marry this woman!’ Dan was angry that Shi even knew about her.
‘I know she belongs to you.’ Shi raised both hands, palm outward, hoping to calm Dan.
‘She does not belong to me, or anyone!’ Dan said firmly. ‘Nor will she ever.’
‘Forgive me, Dan, if I have caused offence.’ Shi was overwhelmed by Dan’s adverse reaction.
Dan look a deep breath and reeled in his emotions. He’d always been very fond of Shi — he may be the feral of the family, but he was a good and gentle soul. ‘Apologies Shi, you have no idea what I am talking about, so I can —’
‘You Ling is Wu,’ Shi guessed. ‘And that is why she is so amazing and free.’
Dan nodded, conceding the truth of it. ‘She is here to serve the will of Tian.’ When Hudan performed the rite she was preparing for, the Xibo’s full intention would be known. If she managed to break the drought, then the numbers joining their army — and their allies — would grow, as defectors flocked to join the side of the righteous.
‘If there is anything I can do to help?’ Shi offered.
‘You can keep silent about what you know,’ Dan replied, directing his brother to the door. ‘Now, you’ll have to excuse me. I have a lot going on at present.’
‘Of course,’ Shi bowed out. ‘Please give You Ling my best regards.’
‘I will do that,’ Dan granted, glad to see his brother depart.
‘Did you hear what he said?’ Huxin whispered in excitement, as she pulled on her robe again and tied it off.
‘I did,’ and Dan sounded not quite so amused. Huxin began giggling, which rubbed Dan the wrong way, as brother Huxin seemed to love teasing him about his admiration for her sister.
‘Dear brother Dan,’ she said, pressing her hands together to imply she thought him sweet, ‘how I would love to tease you further, but it saddens me to see you in such torment.’
‘I am sure I have no idea what you mean.’
‘It was me that Shi met in the garden,’ Huxin said, enlightening him, and watched an expression of relief sweep across his face with some amusement.
‘Oh.’
‘Shi just assumed I was You Ling, because of the robe.’ Huxin’s huge grin made the lord feel rather over-exposed.
‘Well, you should not be seducing my brother at every given opportunity,’ Dan scolded, to cover his own embarrassment. ‘That is not why you are here.’
‘We only talked,’ Huxin explained in a sultry tone. ‘If I had intended to seduce Shi, I would have had him already.’
There was a delicious, awkward pause in the conversation. Dan suddenly found her confidence and her amber eyes mesmerising.
‘The truth is, Ji Fa has leashed me in that regard.’ Huxin released him from her engaging stare and gave a confident grin. ‘But good luck to the Xibo’s attempts to get Shi to pick a bride now.’ She turned on her heel and headed off to attend to her sister.
As Dan watched her sway down the hall, barefoot and silent as a mouse, he was thinking that if Jiang Huxin had not been Wu, she would make the prefect bride for Shi. The tigress’ secret would probably only add to Shi’s admiration as a were-tiger, in theory, would be Shi’s ideal woman — a woman to love and a tiger to run wild with.
7
SEEKING YIN BY MEANS OF YIN
It was a long night for Dan. It had been an age since he had conversed with his ancestors or Tian, but he played his new qin in their honour, hoping that, in return, they would bestow their good graces on Jiang Hudan during her spiritual trials.
The lord awoke the next morning hunched over his instrument, and immediately sat upright and began to play once more, before his mind had the chance to fill with worry and conflict.
At the end of the composition, Dan observed a moment of silence and then raised his hands to play again.
‘Brother Dan.’
Dan turned about and then stood when he saw Hudan waiting to speak with him; to his enormous relief she appeared entirely well.
‘Do you still believe I cannot survive the fire and bring rain?’ she asked in a non-judgemental fashion, raising the sleeves of her robe to show him the radiant, pale complexion of her arms.
It appeared a miracle had occurred, for even a hardy soldier would have died from such exposure. ‘I have infinite faith in you, brother Hudan,’ Dan assured her, ‘it is heaven I have cause to doubt.’
‘You evoke heaven with your art,’ Hudan advised with smile. ‘At least, you did for me last night. So I wanted to thank you … your music made the healing process easier. Would you play for me again tonight?’ she requested.
‘I shall play every night until your vigil is over,’ he vowed solemnly, grateful to be able to aid her.
‘I shall look forward to it.’
The young Wu left to endure another day exposed to the elements, and from a glance out the window Dan thought the heat would be as relentless this day as it had been the day before. It felt as if his chest might burst from the conflict raging within it. Dan had never known anyone to be so selfless or courageou
s; he wanted to take Hudan’s place, or find a justifiable reason to stop her self-inflicted suffering! Had Dan not taken the vow of the Wu, he could have put a stop to the ritual, but as things stood, he had to respect Hudan’s authority in this matter and it was a most harrowing test of his faith.
On top of the highest jinzita, Nuan bound Hudan’s hands and feet to stakes, to anchor her will in moments of weakness. There was not a cloud to be seen in the sky above. Hudan was well practised in the art of projecting her perception beyond her physical body in order to roam the material world, but today she planned to launch her conscious perception into the spirit world and that was something else again.
When Hudan had informed the Xibo of her intention, he had wanted to send a battalion of troops to guard her during the rite, but Hudan felt this would only attract attention to their activities and they did not want the Shang catching wind of their tactics before they were prepared to execute their plans. In the end, Hudan agreed to take two plainly clothed guards to walk the base periphery and keep watch, whilst Nuan guarded the apex.
‘Are you ready?’ Nuan prompted.
Hudan nodded, giving Nuan the go-ahead to feed her the elixir of waking sleep.
The brew had been heated, as Hudan was permitted to consume warm liquids only, and it tasted like a sunny spring garden smelled.
‘Ah,’ Hudan relaxed in the wake of her refreshment. ‘Make sure I am not disturbed.’
Nuan nodded to affirm the order and Hudan closed her eyes and turned her attention inward.
She knew who she was looking for; she’d seen the blond, blue-eyed lad when she had been oracle to Ji Fa.
‘I am the lord of the elemental realms,’ he’d said. ‘Just call my name and I shall answer.’
A channel rarely remembered everything that was foreseen in trance. The conscious recognition of events were fragmented, and seldom in chronological order. Much like memory, the channel remembered more when there was a conscious trigger, such as when Hudan had wandered into the star-field. Certain objects or instances aided recollection, but no matter now hard she tried, Hudan could not remember the name of the son of the sky that she needed to call, or even if he had told her his name? She had spoken with Ji Fa, who had shared her vision of his future and although he remembered seeing the blond master, he could not recall a name either. But Fa did remember the lord saying that ‘their storm would start a war that would end conflict in their land for a hundred years!’
At the time Ji Fa thought the lord had been referring to the amassing of their forces, not the weather, but Hudan had understood the lord’s meaning. She had expected to be performing this rite after Ji Fa had received Tian’s omen to attack, but as time and the drought had dragged on, Hudan had had an increasingly uneasy feeling that there was some vital clue in her memory of Ji Fa’s oracle that she had missed. However, her request for guidance and clarity had been answered that first night on top of the jinzita. She did, of course, know as well as Ji Fa what the omen to attack would be, and upon revisiting the oracle’s vision that night atop the jinzita, she finally realised a vital clue she’d missed about the sequence of the events to unfold — that the omen arrived wet! As the Lord of the Elements had told Ji Fa, their storm would start a war. There was just one vital piece of information missing — the name of the Lord of the Elements.
Yesterday, deep in trance, Hudan had failed to recollect any more of her original prophecy and her attempts to summon the Lord of the Elements by his title had proven futile. But, with the elixir of waking sleep, she hoped to travel deep within and enter that timeless realm of spirit and elemental that was the abode of the sons of the sky and the great immortal ancestors; those who, like her Shifu, had achieved Xian — the heightened state of awareness that promoted material immortality.
It took a considerable amount of time, as it had the previous day, to move beyond the constant burning sensation down the front of her body, and the light beating down on the outside of her eyelids. She had only managed to punch through that pain barrier in short bursts the day before. Today, however, the elixir she’d taken aided her mind to slip straight into the dark passage that led to sleep, with her senses and consciousness still very much alert.
It was cool in the passage; Hudan couldn’t feel the suffering of her physical form and the ease of movement via intentional thought was far more blissful than dragging a heavy body around. She conjured up the image in her mind of the Lord of the Elements and willed herself down the long tunnel to him.
The pinpoint of light at the end of the tunnel welled in size as it rushed up to meet her.
Hudan was inside a crystal cave, and the walls shimmered like jewels in the light that was emanating from her own being.
‘Here you are, finally!’ Her attention was drawn to the blond lord she’d been seeking, who was dressed only in trousers and an open vest. He was slouched in a throne-like rock formation and his being was light-filled, as if composed more of spirit than matter. Beside him on a flat rock sat another young man, who was dressed in a tight-fitting black bodysuit from his neck to his calf muscles, from where the suit disappeared into black metal boots. This lord had dark hair and dark eyes, but his skin and facial features matched those of the Lord of the Elements — they could have been brothers. Yet his form appeared far more dense than the body of the elemental lord, and had the dark-haired lord not emitted a subtle glow from his form also, Hudan would have thought him mortal.
‘Didn’t you get my message?’ the fair lord asked curiously. ‘I cannot come to your aid unless I am summoned by name.’
‘What is your name, lord?’ Hudan politely responded.
The dark son of the sky shook his head, disappointed. ‘She really doesn’t remember anything, does she?’
‘I try, my lord,’ Hudan appealed in her own defence, ‘but prophecy is difficult to recall afterward —’
The fair-haired lord held up a hand to prevent her apology. ‘We are not questioning your dedication, believe me. We were warned this would happen. My brother is just being overly dramatic.’
‘So you are brothers?’ Hudan’s statement caused the dark lord to roll his eyes.
‘Yes, we are,’ the fair lord said, happy to answer her.
‘Is your brother a lord too?’ Hudan felt there wasn’t any harm in taking a little knowledge back with her.
‘Yes,’ snapped the dark lord. ‘I’m the Lord of Time, and all this waiting around is pissing me off! Let me say the word and get, at least her, with the program!’
‘I told you, oh Lord of Time, that what they have to do here first is too important to history at large,’ the fair lord emphasised by waving his arms wide. ‘You should know that well enough from the disaster you created the last time you tried to push your agenda in this scenario. Just wait until their contribution to this age is over, then you can have your team back.’
‘Damn it, Avery, if you weren’t the Lord of the Otherworld, I swear —’
‘That’s your name!’ Hudan interrupted. ‘Ang-wei.’
‘No, it’s A-ver-ree.’ The lord rose from his seat to approach her and pronounce the name for clarity.
‘A — bi — wei,’ she tried again.
The lord waved off the problem as a minor hitch. ‘You know what? Ang-wei is fine. I’ll know who you mean.’
‘And you will bring the rain?’ Hudan appealed.
‘I am the Lord of the Elements. Our storm will start a war that will end the conflict of your people for a hundred years!’
‘You’re worried about one little drought?’ the dark lord protested. ‘I’m talking about the utter obliteration of the most advanced race in the universe!’
‘Once you were just as passionate about the fate of Zhou!’ Avery defended. ‘Go do a little past-life regression, Ji Fa, and then tell me you don’t care?’
‘Ji Fa?’ Hudan queried. ‘That is your name?’
Both lords appeared a little discomfitted in the wake of the disclosure.
‘It migh
t have been better not to bring that up,’ said the dark lord to his fair brother, who nodded his head to agree. But the dark lord looked back to Hudan to clarify. ‘Ji Fa was my name when I lived in the age you are from.’
‘I know you,’ Hudan gasped, perplexed.
‘You have always known me,’ the dark lord smiled, seeming more kindly disposed toward her.
‘But you are a son of the sky now — the Lord of Time!’ Her heart began beating with excitement so intense that it felt more like panic.
‘A Lord of Time,’ said Avery. ‘Technically speaking,’ he added with a shrug, when his brother served him an unappreciative glare.
‘We call ourselves the Time —’
‘Ah!’ Avery cut off his brother. ‘Nice try, but no using the T- word.’
With a roll of his eyes the dark lord looked back to Hudan and, getting up from his rock, he held up one finger and beckoned her closer.
‘Yes, lord?’ she said as she neared him.
He waved a hand over the smooth surface of the rock he’d been sitting on, whereupon it turned silver and reflective. ‘Look,’ he invited her to lean over and peer into the mirrored surface.
She was surprised to see the face of a daughter of Tian staring back at her: blonde hair, fair of skin and wide eyes that were a soft grey-mauve.
‘What you are viewing is what your soul-mind looks like,’ he announced.
Hudan was stunned speechless, as she’d felt sure she was seeing a heavenly vision.
‘You are one of us,’ he concluded.
The panic in her heart exploded as Hudan heard her name being yelled from far away. ‘No!’ she protested at the interruption, and felt herself losing focus.
‘Just call my name and I shall answer.’ Avery reaffirmed his vow, as she was engulfed by a vacuum of darkness leading back toward the heat and discomfort of her physical form.
The intense burning of re-entering her body was not as great as Hudan had expected, and upon opening her eyes she saw a dark cloud unfolding above her.