Dreaming of Zhou Gong

  ‘Hudan!’ Nuan called, and Hudan looked over to see Nuan at a standoff with several men, whom she was keeping at bay with her staff.

  What happened to the guards? she wondered. Why is Nuan not calling for them?

  ‘Ah, our gift from the sons of the sky is awake,’ commented one of the men, as another attempted to circle around Nuan.

  ‘She is Wu of Li Shan! And those are the Xibo’s men you just attacked.’ Nuan attacked the man trying to move around her and sent him toppling down the side of the jinzita, then quickly swung back to prevent the other three getting by her. ‘So I would start running if you know what is good for you.’

  ‘And I’m the emperor!’ bantered one of the men, and they laughed.

  Even when emerging from a deep trance naturally, Hudan would be exhausted, as it took a while for the spirit to realign with the physical body. The danger of being brought out of trance too quickly, as in this instance, was that the bodies were completely out of alignment and she could not get her physical body to respond to her mental commands. Hudan was filled with chi, but without her spirit and body being as one, she could not utilise any of it — she was powerless! If any of these men were to steal her virtue, she would be ruined and unable to perform the yin rite.

  The three men remaining ran in different directions, laughing loudly as they toyed with Nuan. She pursued the pair that ran to her right, who split in two directions to make her defence even more difficult, but the fellow she chose to pursue was quite nimble and hard to strike.

  ‘She’s ready for me!’ The first man to reach Hudan dropped to his knees to straddle her and unhitch his trousers.

  Hudan had never felt this kind of intense panic before. Her body was burning with frustration and anger, but she could not even speak to curse him.

  Like a warrior sent from heaven, a white tiger leapt out of nowhere and clamped its jaws around the man’s head to drag him off Hudan, taking his head clean off in the process. The tiger turned to confront the other man who had escaped Nuan, blood dripping from its fangs as it roared loudly. Hudan was shocked to the core, for she knew better than anyone the sound of her sister’s roar and this tiger was not Huxin.

  Nuan finally overpowered her nimble opponent and sent him flying down the steep earthen structure as she had the first man, but she did not dare go after the one man remaining, as he was in the tiger’s sights.

  ‘Come on!’ The man drew a large blade from his belt. ‘You’ll make a handsome rug.’

  The tiger leapt and overpowered the man, who managed to cut the tiger’s front leg to make it back off as he escaped, casting himself down the side of the jinzita.

  The animal turned its sights toward Nuan, who lowered her weapon and dropped to one knee to bow her head in thanks for the tiger’s aid. By the time she raised her head the animal had fled.

  ‘Hudan!’ Nuan ran to her side, and gently took Hudan’s head in both of hers to look her over. ‘Look!’ She motioned to the cloud above. ‘You did it … a storm is forming.’

  Hudan blinked her eyes. It was all she could do; that last burst of excitement had completely drained her. She had to sleep.

  ‘Hudan!’ Nuan slapped her cheeks in an attempt to keep her conscious, but as Hudan’s physical body was not connecting with her senses, she slipped back down the corridor toward sleep and into unconsciousness.

  Once Hudan had been delivered to a recovery bed, He Nuan reported to Ji Fa and his tigress on what had transpired and why they had returned the city before sunset.

  ‘A cloud has formed?’ Ji Fa moved to the window to see a cloud expanding out from the star-field in all directions. ‘We must have the pyre built immediately.’ He was excited that something from his oracle reading was finally coming to pass.

  As the tigress gave a roar, Nuan untied her outer robe and held it out for Huxin, who transformed into her human form to question Nuan.

  ‘A white tiger, you said?’ Huxin draped the cloak about herself.

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘Male or female?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Nuan said apologetically. ‘It happened so fast.’ ‘Your gut feeling,’ Huxin said, pressing for details. ‘Was the animal large or small?’

  ‘Larger than you,’ He Nuan stated hesitantly, but Huxin seemed gratified by the answer.

  ‘Probably male then,’ she mused, with a smile.

  ‘I really could not say.’ Nuan obviously wanted to avoid any disappointment the tigress might experience down the track. ‘Perhaps it was Baihu herself? For it seems to me that the animal was heaven-sent. The tiger’s arrival could not have been better timed, nor more precise. It left not so much as a scratch on Jiang Hudan when it took the man from on top of her … there was no doubt as to whose side the tiger was on.’

  ‘Heaven is truly with us,’ Fa conceded, happily. ‘I will have the men responsible for the attack on my men, brother Hudan and you hunted down,’ Fa assured Nuan. ‘There cannot be too many men running around with tiger scratches on them.’

  ‘There ought to be a law against harming tigers,’ Huxin said, as according to what they had just heard, the tiger was the only victim in the attack.

  ‘There is such a law,’ Fa quickly assured her. ‘Shi hounded my father to pass a bill protecting tigers to force some of our brothers to abstain from the pastime.’

  Huxin smiled, gratified.

  A gong sounded from outside the Xibo’s council chamber. Huxin transformed back into her animal form and Fa dismissed He Nuan, who took up her cloak and left the Xibo to attend to his other affairs of state.

  For the remainder of that day and night, Dan played his fingers raw, hoping Hudan would heal herself and awaken, but Fen could only report that she continued to rest peacefully. The lord would have continued his musical vigil but for a summons to a meeting with the Xibo and prime minister, Jiang Taigong.

  The aging prime minister had a huge smile on his face as Dan entered the war room. ‘Here is the man of the moment,’ he announced.

  ‘My Xibo,’ Dan acknowledged, inclining his head before his brother. Although he was no longer required to venerate Fa as a superior, it was against his nature not to do so. ‘Prime Minister,’ he said to their chief advisor. ‘What have I done to make you both so happy?’

  ‘The alliance with the Wu that you encouraged us to form,’ Jiang Taigong replied. ‘It must be wonderful to see your efforts about to bear fruit.’

  The statement surprised Dan. ‘Are we going to war?’

  ‘I am rallying our armies as we speak,’ Fa confirmed with a smile.

  ‘Tian’s sign has arrived?’ Dan assumed, secretly hoping that this meant Jiang Hudan would not be casting herself onto a pyre.

  ‘It will, and very soon,’ the Xibo told him.

  ‘How can you be so certain?’ he questioned, baffled by his brother’s pre-emptive strategy. ‘If we rally our armies and allies and fail to go to war again, we’ll be the ones needing to defend ourselves.’

  Fa gave a hearty laugh, and Jiang Taigong did not look worried either. ‘The Great Mother told me that you would have difficulty in accepting the validity and importance of the actions Jiang Hudan and myself will undertake in the next few days, but I can assure you it is integral to our success.’

  ‘You still intend to burn her,’ Dan concluded sadly.

  ‘She will not burn,’ the Xibo stated categorically, and Dan, as much as he admired the Wu, could not refrain from stating the obvious.

  ‘She is human, Fa, she will burn,’ Dan insisted, panic gripping his chest. ‘Then where will we be, trying to confront Su Daji without her?’

  ‘You know as well as I do, Jiang Hudan is more than human,’ Fa corrected calmly, which only emphasised how contrary Dan was being. ‘You knew the nature of the Wu when you met her, and you were warned not to become attached to any one of these women.’

  ‘I —’

  ‘They are not here to satisfy our lust for knowledge or power,’ Fa lectured. ‘They are here to serve
Tian and the heavenly agenda, and despite what we might think of their methods, it is not for us to question the will of heaven.’

  ‘I am not questioning the will of heaven,’ Dan said in defence. ‘I am questioning whether casting Jiang Hudan into a pyre is indeed truly the will of heaven. How can you be sure … the Great Mother?’

  ‘It is the will of Tian as revealed to both Jiang Hudan and myself, during my oracle rite,’ Fa explained patiently. ‘Bringing down the rain was part of the deal we struck with Tian for his mandate.’

  Dan’s mouth was gaping as he considered the unlikely event of two people having the same vision at once. ‘You both foresaw this?’

  ‘In part,’ Fa said, honestly. ‘We both remember fragments, but the rite itself we definitely both saw. I am sorry, Dan, but there is no avoiding it. You have no choice but to place your faith in Tian. Is that not what being Wu is all about?’

  Dan inhaled to steady his emotions; for the first time he was starting to doubt whether he could truly commit to the way of the Wu. Clearly, the Great Mother had foreseen he would have difficulty with the faith side of their vocation, and that is what this trial period of training was designed to establish. From a scholarly perspective, Dan had never failed in any endeavour he’d put his mind to. His logical mind told him this rite was utter insanity and that he was about to lose a dear friend, and the notion caused a panicky feeling in his gut. Yet, when he thought about the wonders that the Wu had shown him to date, the butterflies in his gut calmed. The Wu had control of forces he couldn’t even begin to understand, and Dan felt that if he would just let go and accept the will of Tian freely, as the Wu did, he might discover numerous amazing aspects of existence that were beyond logic. ‘It was my suggestion to pursue heaven’s mandate …’ Dan wondered what other deals Fa had struck with heaven. Surely none worse than this? ‘And I will not obstruct any event you have foreseen,’ Dan agreed resolutely, with a look of challenge in his eye.

  Fa picked up on the warning. ‘I can assure you, Dan, that two weeks after we perform the yin rite, the reason why it is so important will be perfectly clear.’

  Dan thought he understood the strategy. ‘When Zi Shou and Daji learn we have conscripted the Wu to bring down the rain, the emperor will declare war on us.’

  ‘They cannot afford a war, in fact that is why they have kept a safe distance since the death of our father,’ replied Fa, confusing the issue. ‘But as a precautionary measure, Xian, Du, Chu and Zai are quietly amassing our armies at Mengjin,’ Fa explained, ‘on the Zhou side of the Huang He.’

  ‘So we are going to attack without provocation,’ Dan exclaimed with a frown, as this was the very situation they’d wanted to avoid.

  ‘Did I say that?’ the Xibo questioned, and Dan felt exhausted and perplexed.

  ‘I want my pre-Wu brother back,’ Dan complained, ‘he was so much easier to understand.’

  ‘Easier to win an argument against, you mean,’ and Fa served him a cocky grin.

  ‘I have no desire to argue with you, Jiang Hudan, or the Great Mother,’ Dan relented, ‘and if all of you agree this event must happen, then … so it must.’

  ‘Good man!’ Fa slapped a hand down on Dan’s shoulder. ‘For your faith in Tian, a reward will await you in heaven.’

  The lord was not very interested in rewards at present. ‘For Jiang Hudan to live through this will be reward enough.’ Dan fished for more information from Fa, but a gong sounded from outside the war room and Dan cursed the timing of the interruption.

  ‘Ji Fen Gong,’ the crier announced, and the lad entered purposefully to inform them: ‘Brother Hudan is awake.’

  ‘Splendid,’ Fa said. ‘Then we shall spread the word that the mighty Shanyu Jiang Hudan of Yi Wu Li Shan is seeking yin by means of yin this night to the glory of the Ji family and the peoples of Zhou.’

  ‘I shall see that the word is spread,’ Jiang Taigong confirmed.

  ‘I want a barrier of soldiers surrounding the stepped jinzita, at a distance of one hundred paces from the base,’ Fa instructed. ‘And I shall need our finest chariot polished. It will carry Jiang Hudan to the ritual site.’

  ‘Would you like to be the charioteer, Dan? That would be fitting considering it was you who brought this alliance about,’ Fa suggested, and Jiang Taigong nodded in agreement.

  It all sounded like utter madness to Dan, and he really didn’t wish to discuss any of the arrangements. ‘Whatever you think is best,’ Dan replied. ‘May I be excused. I wish to inquire after brother Hudan’s wellbeing, personally.’

  ‘Of course,’ the Xibo granted. As Dan turned to head for the door, Fa added, ‘She will validate everything I’ve told you.’

  The lord did not turn back to argue the assumption. Dan was feeling somewhat nauseated by his brother’s cockiness and good cheer regarding the rite — he needed some air.

  Recollections from the events she’d experienced on top of the jinzita, in both spiritual and physical realms, reoccurred as consciousness dawned. Beyond her memory of blacking out after the ordeal, there was music. She recollected floating around in the Hall of Records watching Ji Dan play his qin, and the experience had filled her with peace and contentment until she saw his tears.

  ‘Hudan?’

  It was her sister’s voice beckoning her back to consciousness, and Hudan responded with a groan.

  ‘Storm clouds are covering Zhou,’ she advised, ‘you need to wake and finish what you have begun.’

  Hudan opened her eyes to find Huxin and Fen leaning over her.

  ‘I shall run and tell the Xibo that she is awake,’ Fen advised Huxin and left quickly to do so.

  ‘So,’ Huxin looked at her sister, her eyes wide with wonder, ‘how did you do it? Tell me everything! Did you find the Lord of the Elements?’

  ‘I am feeling fine, thank you, brother Huxin,’ although Hudan was not surprised by her sibling’s lack of concern.

  ‘Do not tease me, Hudan,’ Huxin warned. ‘Did you find him or not?’

  ‘I did.’ Hudan motioned to the storm clouds beyond the window. ‘I also met his brother, the Lord of Time … he was really amazing!’ Hudan shivered when she recalled herself in his mirror of souls, and then a second shiver ran through her as she remembered that the Lord of Time was Ji Fa at some distance point in the future … or the past?

  ‘And you learned the name you require to bring down the rain?’ Huxin asked to speed the tale along.

  Hudan nodded, still preoccupied with her own thoughts.

  ‘And then after you awoke on the jinzita?’ her sister prompted.

  Hudan gasped, as she suddenly recalled those terrible moments. ‘The white tiger!’ Hudan exclaimed. ‘It wasn’t you!’

  ‘Yes, I know that,’ Huxin said, annoyed. ‘Male or female?’

  ‘Male,’ Hudan said surely, and Huxin wanted to explode with happiness.

  ‘You would not tease me about something like this, would you?’ Huxin felt it was too good to be true and needed certainty.

  Hudan shook her head. ‘He was amazing, Huxin.’ Hudan fuelled her sister’s excitement with the tale of the tiger’s defence of her.

  ‘Brother Dan has requested to speak with you,’ Fen interrupted, having quietly entered and waited for Hudan to finish telling her tale. ‘May I show him in?’

  Hudan nodded and Huxin rose to leave. ‘I shall investigate this mysterious appearance,’ Huxin decided. ‘I’ll let you know what I discover. Brother Dan,’ Huxin acknowledged him as he passed. She raised her hood to cloak her identity and left them alone.

  ‘You kept your promise, brother Dan,’ Hudan said, and Dan frowned as he wondered at her meaning. ‘Your fingertips must be sore from playing.’

  ‘Ah,’ Dan replied, enlightened. ‘You have been awake a while then,’ he assumed, as he’d stopped playing several hours ago.

  ‘No,’ Hudan advised, ‘I spirit walk in my sleep often.’

  ‘Really?’ Dan seemed both fascinated and discomfitted by her claim. He toy
ed with the little beard on his chin, as he did whenever he was discomfitted or uncertain.

  ‘Perhaps you should be the one resting?’

  The suggestion made Dan smile and also choke with emotion. ‘There is too much anticipation in the air to sleep this afternoon, I fear.’

  It was clear to Hudan that Dan was distressed. During her spirit walk she’d seen him crying, and she hoped her mission was not the cause. ‘Why are you so gloomy, my brother? Tell me what it is you really fear.’

  Dan seemed a little affronted and frustrated. ‘What I fear …’ he came and sat on the floor by Hudan’s bed ‘… is … whether this rite you are to perform is really necessary, when I know, no matter what we do, Fa will rule.’

  Hudan found this curious. ‘Have you had a vision, brother?’

  Dan shook his head, very uncomfortable suddenly. ‘I have never told anyone, beside Jiang Taigong, what I am about to tell you now, and I have killed good men to keep this secret.’

  ‘I swear by the creed of the Wu I will not repeat anything you tell me in confidence,’ Hudan asserted, sitting upright.

  ‘Have you heard of the Jade Book?’ he asked, and Hudan’s heart skipped a beat.

  ‘The book that awarded the mandate of heaven to Shun of Yu, when he found it in a cave at Li Shan?’ Hudan knew her history as well as any educated person.

  ‘The book could grant heaven’s mandate, as it is an ancient calendar that lists the critical dynastic eras and changes of the past and future, in chronological order.’

  ‘The legend never mentioned what the Jade Book contained,’ Hudan said, her head cocked to the side, intrigued by his knowledge.

  ‘I have seen it,’ Dan whispered, ‘and I can assure you that Fa will rule regardless of whether it rains or not.’

  ‘How did you come by such a treasure?’ Hudan was more interested in the tale than Dan’s reason for telling it. ‘Where is it now?’

  ‘It is a very long story.’ Dan really didn’t want to dig up that history. The Jade Book had caused him nothing but pain and anguish since the day he’d found it, locked up and hidden amongst the important family documents in the royal storehouse. ‘The point I am trying to make is —’