Dreaming of Zhou Gong

  ‘I know your point, brother Dan, but without rain, our troops will suffer and there will be but a desert for Ji Fa to rule over.’ Hudan appreciated his concern, although she knew it was unnecessary. ‘I need to prepare for tonight, but will you tell me your long story tomorrow, when the rite is done?’

  Dan was deflated by her insistence, but managed to conjure a smile. ‘I shall even let you see it.’

  Hudan froze in place and only dared whisper her query. ‘You still have possession of it? I heard rumours that Su Daji claimed to have it?’

  ‘The book Daji has is a forgery,’ Dan assured Hudan. ‘I know because I gave it to her. If she read the authentic item, she would have pre-empted our attack.’

  ‘Of course,’ Hudan said in amazement, as He Nuan entered to advise that the hour of the monkey had arrived and it was time for Hudan to bathe and ready herself for her audience with heaven.

  ‘You will come?’ Hudan queried Dan as he rose. She knew he was still sceptical about her surviving the yin rite. ‘I cannot wait to defy your logical analysis.’

  Dan was amused and cheered by her attitude. ‘Apparently I am to be your charioteer.’

  ‘I shall not disappoint,’ she assured the lord.

  ‘From all accounts, you never do.’ Dan seemed to have resigned himself to the event, as he left her with He Nuan to prepare.

  ‘He is really is quite extraordinary for a man,’ Hudan commented to her sister-to-be in the wake of Dan’s visit.

  ‘Like attracts like,’ He Nuan shrugged, as if it went without saying that any man Hudan attracted would be exceptional.

  ‘How right you are,’ Hudan said thoughtfully, finding the comment comforting. For weeks now she had felt almost ashamed because she enjoyed Dan’s company, but this simple law explained their connection as perfectly natural and not to be feared. Hudan told herself that she was not just rationalising a deeply buried fear; for she suspected she’d solved the puzzle that had prevented her forming an honest opinion of Dan.

  Years ago, in trance, Hudan had seen herself kiss a man of this earth, but she told no one, not even her Shifu, and wiped the vision from her mind. Apart from the fact that such an action was against the Wu creed, Hudan also often dreamed of another lover who was not of this earth. He was a son of the sky, who looked rather similar to the Lord of Time, with dark hair and wide dark eyes. As a Wu in the service of Tian, Hudan had always fancied that she was meant for this heavenly suitor, and thus no man of the earth would ever interest her.

  But the vision of her earthly kiss had reoccurred the night after she had first met Ji Dan, and it was why she had gone to such great lengths to avoid him. Now that Hudan knew Dan better, she’d come to realise that he was not the kind of man who would try and force himself upon her, nor would she ever break her vows, so how then could this prophecy ever come to pass? Hudan believed she knew the answer — this earthly kiss must have a divine purpose and she now believed she knew what that purpose was.

  From the top of the highest jinzita in the star-field, Huxin watched the Xibo’s soldiers carefully constructing the pyre on the stepped jinzita one over from her. Other officials were marking out the boundary where the Xibo’s guard would form a barrier around the site to prevent anyone interfering with the ceremony.

  Tonight the nobility and common people would crowd onto the jinzita that Huxin stood upon to get the best view of the sacred rite, as no one would be permitted near the site itself, other than the Xibo, his guards and the Wu.

  ‘You Ling.’

  Huxin turned around to see Ji Shi and was, at first, delighted to see him.

  ‘But you are not You Ling, are you?’ Shi said surely, which caught Huxin off-guard.

  ‘How …’

  ‘I saw the face of You Ling when she was carried into the house unconscious earlier today,’ he explained. ‘So, who are you?’

  ‘Ah, well.’ Huxin shrugged off his discovery. He would never guess the truth. ‘I am whoever Ji Fa needs me to be.’

  ‘Just how many Wu is my brother hiding in our house?’ Shi was curious.

  Huxin raised her eyebrows in an anticipatory manner. ‘Everything will be revealed in its time,’ she said, and looked to the pyre being constructed in the distance.

  Shi looked from the pyre to the cloud cover above and took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. ‘It doesn’t smell like rain,’ he commented casually.

  ‘The rite has not yet begun,’ Huxin defended, as she had to agree with him. There was not a hint of moisture on the hot air. ‘How did you find me?’

  ‘A happy coincidence,’ he said. ‘I came up here to investigate a white tiger sighting that, according to reports, was not my brother’s beauteous pet, but another tiger altogether.’

  ‘I am here to investigate that also.’ Huxin was glad of the excuse to get on with her task. She moved to the bloodstained ground next to where her sister had been lying, and crouching down, she sniffed and looked around.

  ‘Do you have a name?’ Shi came to squat beside her, and he smelled delicious as always.

  ‘You Ling is fine.’ Huxin leaned in closer to the blood and took another deep whiff, before she sat back on her haunches to be frank with Shi. ‘All I can smell is you,’ she explained in a direct manner.

  ‘Oh.’ Shi was apologetic. ‘I just bathed. Shall I move away?’

  ‘Sadly,’ she said, flirting just a little, ‘that would be helpful.’ She continued her investigation with little success. The ground was too hard and dusty for prints and, besides the scent of the man who had died in the attack, Huxin couldn’t detect the scent of a tiger, although her sense of smell was not as acute as her vision or her hearing.

  ‘Nothing?’ Shi assumed when Huxin stood and shrugged.

  ‘Perhaps he was heaven-sent?’ She gazed up at the heavens a moment and back to Shi, who was smiling.

  ‘Why are you so interested in tigers?’ Shi sounded suspicious.

  ‘I have an affinity with them,’ she said, skirting around the question. ‘Like you, Ji Shi.’

  An unconscious micro-shake of his head indicated that he did not believe her. ‘A Wu from Li Shan who has an interest in tigers?’ Shi advanced that notion that was on his mind. ‘It seems to point to one legend in particular, Jiang Hudan.’

  Huxin burst out laughing that Shi was about to confuse her with her sister once again, and the thought of Ji Dan getting the wrong impression of Shi’s infatuation a second time was just too funny.

  ‘Heavens, no, I am not Jiang Hudan!’ Huxin waved off his guess. ‘Jiang Hudan is spiritual, intellectual, and pure as the freshly fallen snow.’ Huxin laughed again at his mistake.

  ‘But you seem so,’ Shi retorted, unable to see what was so funny. ‘Please don’t toy with me.’

  ‘I’m not toying with you,’ Huxin defended. ‘I am being honest.’

  ‘Then tell me if you are Wu, at least?’ Shi appealed. ‘And if it is you who will burn this night?’

  ‘No one will burn this night,’ she assured him. ‘As to whether I am Wu, why do you need to know?’ Huxin knew why, but she wanted the guilty pleasure of hearing the reason from his lips.

  ‘Because if you are not Wu and are not spoken for by any man, I should like to ask whomever I must for your hand in marriage.’

  ‘You have only met me twice,’ Huxin pointed out with an apologetic look upon her face. Shi was sweet and handsome, but unfortunately not the species she was looking for in a mate.

  ‘Enough to know that I have more in common with you than any other woman I have met to date,’ he assured her.

  Huxin didn’t want to see the disappointment in his face when she told him the truth and that she could belong to no man. She should have listened to Ji Fa and left Shi to his wife-hunting. ‘Close your eyes, and then I’ll tell you what you wish to know,’ she requested.

  He smiled as he complied. ‘All right.’

  ‘The truth is, Ji Shi …’ Huxin planted a kiss upon his lips and then summoned her chi to render
herself invisible.

  When Shi opened his eyes to find himself alone on the top of the jinzita, the answer was plain enough: ‘She is Wu.’ He closed his eyes to endure the disappointment, and Huxin fled down the earthen prism, unable to watch the pain she’d caused him. The Xibo was right: she could never make Shi or any earthly man happy, so from this day forth she vowed to never again flirt with a human. She had her eyes on another prize … she only had to hunt him down. Tonight, when her sister’s rite was complete, Huxin would scour the outskirts of the star-field — if this tiger was of the earth, she would find him.

  Nuan wound strings of seashells through Hudan’s hair to prevent it being singed by the flames, while the rest of the initiate’s body had been shaved smooth with a sharpened shell. Lightheaded from her two days of fasting, Hudan felt light in spirit as well — another cup of the elixir of waking sleep had heightened her emotions, including her empathy. ‘The timing of our mobilisation will delay your wedding plans, He Nuan. I am sorry for that.’

  Nuan was taken aback. ‘I am surprised that you would even consider such a trivial matter amidst current events.‘

  ‘My brother’s happiness is always foremost in my mind … and yours,’ Hudan added, so that Nuan might know she no longer disapproved of her engagement to Fen Gong. ‘The fact that you found each other again, despite the odds, would seem to indicate that your association is divinely meant. There are no accidents,’ Hudan said and knew it was true. ‘Fen would not renounce his love for you, even in the face of death.’ She had to admire Fen’s persistence in that regard, for his unfailing will had secured him that which he wanted most.

  ‘Nor I for him, mistress.’ Nuan had tears in her eyes, and Hudan could see how sincere her feelings were.

  ‘See,’ Hudan touched her cheek and wiped the tear from it, ‘divine. It is people like you and Fen who give me the faith to keep aspiring for a more prosperous future on earth.’

  ‘You give me faith that we shall have one.’ Nuan’s tears flowed freely.

  It was unusual for Hudan to be touched by sentiment, but Nuan’s words moved her. Nuan had never really shown Hudan admiration in the past, and had gone out of her way to avoid her. ‘I thought you despised me?’

  ‘I envied you, Jiang Hudan,’ the older woman confessed, ‘so admired, feared and accomplished. Whereas I —’

  ‘Did not have the same fortunate beginning in life that I had,’ Hudan finished for her. She took hold of Nuan’s hands to reassure her. ‘I misjudged you, sister. You have proven invaluable to me throughout this trial and are truly worthy of the title Wu.’

  Nuan smiled through her tears. ‘I no longer care about that title. That you call me sister means one thousand times more.’

  The goodwill that was forming drove them to embrace for the first time in their long association.

  A sound drew their attention to Fen, who could clearly not believe what he was seeing. ‘Am I dreaming?’ the lad asked, astonished and overjoyed.

  ‘All our conscious hours upon this earth are but a dream,’ Hudan replied with a smile, as Nuan brushed away her tears and hurried to finish Hudan’s hair.

  Fen assumed a more official tone. ‘Ji Fa and the royal procession await your presence in the courtyard.’

  ‘One moment,’ Nuan appealed. She wound the last few strands of shells through Hudan’s hair and sat back to admire her work. ‘There! Fit for a king.’

  Or even a son of the sky, thought Hudan, suppressing a smile of delight. She stood up, dressed only in her white silk robe, and Nuan raised the hood over her head and handed Hudan her staff, Taiji. The crystal in the staff was in its dormant state at present — a dull, clear sphere.

  Perhaps it was the elixir working its magic, but Hudan felt she hadn’t a care left in the world as she rose to follow Fen. She was to meet with the Lord of the Elements this night, and the excitement this inspired in her was almost debilitating. Hudan wished that everyone suffering on this earth could know, as she did, that beyond the pain and death of this life there awaited a realm where humanity’s dreams were being formulated into plans by the sons of the sky, to once again bring their earth more closely into alignment with the splendour and harmony of Tian. The sons of the sky clearly had their own agenda, and although Hudan knew very little about their scheme, she was proud to do whatever she must to be of service.

  In the courtyard, the Wu arrived to catch the end of a confrontation the Xibo was having with one of his brothers. ‘You are not Wu and you do not have heaven’s mandate, so you can view the rite from the tallest jinzita with the rest of the household,’ Fa was saying. ‘Not even Jiang Taigong is allowed at the site of the ritual.’

  ‘Dan is permitted,’ the younger man, who looked like Fa, said pointedly.

  ‘And Dan is Wu,’ the Xibo announced to the shock of the one he was speaking with.

  ‘But … he is male?’ The lad argued, although he also sounded inspired by the news.

  ‘So he is,’ Fa replied light-heartedly.

  ‘But —’

  ‘We’ll explain later,’ Fa insisted as he spied Hudan descending the stairs into the courtyard with the other Wu. ‘Right now, Shi, you need to leave.’

  ‘But I —’

  ‘Must I have soldiers escort you?’ the Xibo demanded, his patience at an end.

  Shi finally backed away, glancing curiously toward the Wu before he turned and departed. The tigress made a move to pursue Shi.

  ‘Baihu!’ The Xibo’s call halted her in her tracks, and with a growl of reluctance she returned to Fa’s side.

  Two four-wheeled chariots, pulled by four horses each, were standing ready. One of the chariots would carry the Xibo and his tigress, and the other was for Dan to use to convey Hudan to the star-field. Fen and Nuan would follow on horseback, with a large guard at the front and rear of the convoy.

  Hudan hardly recognised Dan without his lordly finery. Dressed simply in black, Dan had shaved his face clean of hair and, as predicted, looked ten years younger. His long dark hair was unbound and left to fall free — as the Wu wore theirs — and Hudan had to suppress a gasp of recognition. This was just how Dan had appeared in her vision of their kiss, though if her reckoning of future events was correct, it would not happen for some time yet. Still, seeing Dan appearing thus had set her heart to pounding in her chest. Why now? Why pick this moment to test her commitment to her creed? She had fought to deny the truth that was now blindingly obvious to her; that Dan was as desirable as any son of the sky, including the elusive lord who seduced her in her dreams.

  But to be enticed by earthly desires was not an option for Hudan at this time. She shut off her heart and looked away.

  ‘Brother Hudan, are you well?’ Dan queried, as she’d hesitated so long before greeting him, and he could see nothing of her face beneath the hood. Hudan collapsing from hunger and exhaustion would be an answer to his prayers — then they could cancel the event.

  ‘Wu becomes you, Dan,’ Hudan commented as she stepped up into the wooden four-wheeled chariot that was to take her to her audience with heaven.

  The comment took him aback momentarily. He had forgotten he’d shaved and was stunned that Hudan noticed, let alone commented. She regarded him as an object rather than a person most of the time.

  ‘My thinking was that if I appear Wu, perhaps my mentality will follow,’ he lied. The truth was, he remembered Hudan saying, long ago at the thermal pool, that he’d be more attractive without his facial hair. Why he sought her personal favour was beyond reasoning, when he knew she could not give it. Perhaps he had a vain hope that she might secretly love him. If he could only bypass the pomp and ceremony and make Hudan realise that her life was precious to someone, then perhaps she would not be so eager to throw herself to the flames! It was no longer about what she could teach him, because he could learn Wu doctrine from another Wu. It was Jiang Hudan herself who he craved — every time she left his presence he longed to see her, until next he did — but after tonight, there might be
no next time.

  ‘And has your faith been strengthened?’ Hudan asked as he climbed into the chariot with her and took up the reins.

  ‘Sadly, no,’ he replied, feeling like he’d swallowed a stone that was now stuck in his gullet.

  ‘That will change presently, I expect,’ Hudan assured him as she sat down on the seat, somewhat lower than the driver’s, at the rear of the carriage. ‘I have the protection of the sons of the sky. You have nothing to worry about.’

  As the procession began moving forward, Dan had to focus on getting his team of horses to move at a steady pace before he raised a subject that he’d been wanting to discuss with Hudan for a very long time. ‘Do you remember that first morning at Li Shan, when I told you I saw things that were not of this time and world.’

  ‘Yes, I remember.’ Intrigued by the subject, she came to stand near him, so she could hear him more clearly over the sounds of the procession and the crowds lining the way to the star-field. She used her sacred staff to anchor herself.

  ‘I have had dreams about a race of people who fit the description of the sons of the sky,’ he admitted to her, but what he had to say next felt even more outrageous. However, he felt compelled to tell someone who might be an authority on such matters, and with Hudan he was now pushed for time. ‘I even think I may have been one of them.’

  Dan heard a distinct huff of breath from Hudan, and wished he could remove the hood from her head. ‘Do you recall hearing any of the names of Tian’s children?’

  Dan certainly did, although the knowledge made him blush. He remembered intimate moments spent with a beautiful fair-skinned woman with mauve-grey eyes and hair the colour of undyed silk. As they’d made love she had uttered his name over and over, as if she were afraid she might forget it. ‘Lu Chen.’

  Hudan gripped her stomach. ‘You met this lord?’

  She sounded so stunned, and Dan had to wonder why — did she know something of this son of the sky? ‘Lu Chen was the name they called me.’