‘Shi!’
Hudan heard Dan call and he did not sound amused.
‘May we speak again?’ Shi asked, in a panic to leave.
‘We must,’ Hudan insisted, whereby the terrified lord ducked away through the commotion and was gone.
‘Ji Fa was not looking for me.’ Dan cast an annoyed gaze after his brother, but did not pursue him. ‘I fear young Shi is up to mischief.’
‘No doubt about it,’ Hudan chuckled, but noting Dan’s apprehensive expression she added, ‘I think he is curious about my sister.’
Dan was mollified. ‘It would not be the first time he’d shown an interest.’
This was news to Hudan ‘How is that possible, when no one should even know she is here?’
‘He does not know, not exactly,’ Dan corrected her. ‘Shi thought Huxin was you, or rather, You Ling. It was a comedy of errors that I can tell you en route to Mengjin, but I really should —’ He motioned back to his horse.
‘Yes, of course.’ Hudan was thankful to be reminded she was trying to avoid his company, engaging as it was.
‘I hope you manage to get some rest.’ He waved as he moved off to join his brothers from Haojing and the other royal officials accompanying them to Mengjin.
Hardly. Hudan thought rest was going to be impossible, her mind had far too much information to process. Clearly Huxin had no idea that her lover walked amongst them, and it was not Hudan’s place to enlighten her. Yet, what a miracle that two creatures so rare had managed to find each other. Hudan was sure the pair could not be immediately related, as Hudan and Huxin’s mother had died giving birth to them, and Shi was younger than they were by several years. So what was his story? How had a shapeshifter been born into the royal family? Did anyone in the Ji family know Shi’s secret? If the look of horror on his face just now was anything to go by, Hudan suspected not.
‘Damn,’ she murmured, annoyed to admit that she was already wishing to query Ji Dan about his family. Stop finding excuses to associate with him, she silently scolded herself, deciding to wait until Ji Shi found the opportunity to explain himself.
When Hudan caught herself admiring Dan on his horse, attired in battle fashion and armed, she began to close the door on her carriage. It was then that she noted the underlying war between her heart and her head, over whether she need deny herself the perfectly innocent pleasure of merely viewing him? No more menial distractions. Her head won the moment and she locked the door closed.
Hudan laid herself flat on her back to focus on more important matters, like working the atrophy from her body. The carriage was not quite tall enough to stand in, but Hudan didn’t need to be erect to practise Dao Yin, and practise she would, every moment of every day until her confrontation with Su Daji — and the menace that lay beyond.
Hudan instructed her driver that she would take her meals in her carriage, and to advise anyone who might inquire, that she would be in retreat for several days and was not to be disturbed by anyone but her immediate family.
That night, once the camp had grown quiet, Hudan locked her carriage and focused the chi energy she’d managed to generate during the day on her intent to teleport herself to her Shifu. She hoped to discover how much Yi Wu knew about the Jade Book and its curse … having been around longer than she would disclose to anyone, surely the Great Mother must know something of the legend.
Despite her efforts, Hudan’s will was not met, and she was forced to concede that her Wu powers were far more diminished than anticipated. This event begged the question — should she be attempting any psychic feats before the battle with the Shang, lest she further drain her energy reserves before the battle?
What if I cannot regain my powers in time? She felt the pressure of knowing that the defeat of the Shang depended entirely on her ability to combat Su Daji. I should have listened to the Lord of the Elements. He’d warned Hudan that she might never fully recover from such lengthy infirmity when her spirit form guided Weizi.
A few extra days would be more telling: she needed to give herself a better chance to recoup her strength. Yet, in the next thought, she considered trying to dream-walk to her Shifu, even though the chances were that the Great Mother would not see or hear her spirit form — for no one else had to date, except Ji Dan.
It was on the recommendation of the Lord of the Elements that Hudan had tested Dan’s unrealised psychic talent. The lord had told her that Ji Dan, during his stint as a son of the sky, had been a seer of spirits and a glimpser of time eternal. Unlike Hudan who, in the main, perceived prophetic visions of events unfolding in her present lifetime, Ji Dan was said to have the underdeveloped ability to tap into the memories of his lives past and future. Where Hudan could free herself from her physical body and roam in her sleep, Ji Dan had the ability to perceive any such disembodied spirit, either living or deceased.
The Great Mother had always been very secretive about her abilities. Hudan could only hope that Yi Wu was as all-seeing and all-knowing as Hudan had always believed her to be.
It was a battle to keep her consciousness alert as it entered the corridor to sleep. Shifu Yi, I need your wise counsel, she repeated over and over in her mind, willing herself to find the Great Mother’s private chambers at Yi Wu Li Shan waiting within the light at the end of the long dark passage.
Heart pounding with gentle excitement, she stared into the face of the son of the sky who graced her dreams from time to time. His large, wide eyes were as dark and deep as Ji Dan’s, and his hair was just as dark and straight. The rest of his physical appearance was altogether different, as hers was — for her long hair was the colour of sunshine and fell about a more fair-skinned form.
This vision was always the same. He is standing in the doorway of the round windowless room of her sleeping quarters, requesting entry.
‘What if this was our last night together? Tomorrow we may be leading completely different lives.’ His words and expression are most compelling. ‘If I can’t make the time jump with the rest of you, I’ll be left be —’
She silences him with a kiss that sends her senses reeling. ‘If you can make the jump or you can’t, your soul-mind is there, Rhun said so.’ she reassures him, although she also holds concerns for their future. ‘But what if we are enemies?’ The notion fills her with panic.
‘That’s never been the way of it before,’ he reasons, ‘and right now, we have no such impediment, so …’
His smile is disarming, and she allows him to back her up into the chamber, and with a mere touch to the plate by the door, it closes to shut them inside, alone.
‘The last time you left me, I knew you would not forget about us,’ he says, as his lips caress her neck and his hands strip the clothes from her body. ‘This time there are no guarantees.’
‘We have an eternal attraction,’ she replies, feverishly, as his hands find her bare skin and she delights in his touch. ‘Despite race, time, place … I shall always know you.’
Since Hudan had chosen to go into isolation yesterday, Dan bunked down close to her carriage, in the hope that she might change her mind and wish to talk about their recent discoveries and a battle strategy.
In addition, he’d been wanting to thank Hudan for his new perspective on the past; her counsel had lifted a great burden from his shoulders and he was no longer carrying the guilt of his father’s death. Dan felt a lightness in his heart that he’d not experienced in a very long time. He dreamed of his time among the sons of the sky and awoke in a fevered sweat. He could still hear her blissful groans as she repeated his name over and over: ‘Lu Chen … Lu Chen … ahh … mmm … yes …’
Dan was startled to realise that he could still hear her pleasure, and it was coming from inside Jiang Hudan’s carriage! The sound of her ecstasy was deeply stirring to his blood and had given rise to an intense erection, which was thankfully concealed beneath layers of clothes and armour. Still, to hear his private guilty pleasure unfolding in the carriage without him was very disconcerting, and to further his dismay,
Hudan’s transport suddenly began to move out of the camp.
The lord was on his feet and scampering through the camp after the wagon before he was fully awake. He was thankful to note that he seemed to be the only person in camp to have been aroused by the disturbance, until he spotted Fen leading the horses of the carriage away from the camp, and a cloaked Jiang Huxin, in human form, beside him.
‘What is going on?’ Dan beseeched his brothers, suppressing his dismay.
‘Nothing to worry about.’ Huxin was alarmed by his presence, and immediately came to confront him and direct him back to bed. ‘It is nothing but a prophetic dream. My sister has them now and then.’
Were they having the same prophetic dream? Dan didn’t know whether to be horrified or delighted. ‘There is no one in there with her?’
‘No, I assure you,’ Huxin insisted, while the sound of her sister’s groans of rapture nearly drowned her out. ‘And before you ask, I have no idea who Lu Chen is.’
I do, Dan thought to himself, and he wondered if the name Tar-rin would mean anything to Hudan?
‘My sister claims he is a son of the sky.’ Huxin forced the lord to stay put as the carriage moved away. ‘However, I do not pretend to understand Hudan’s spirit world affairs.’
‘They certainly sound very pleasurable.’ Dan suppressed a grin. Although the night was dark, the fires burned low and visibility was minimal. Huxin had better than average eyesight in the dark.
‘We’ll take her carriage away from the camp so as to cause no further disturbance.’ Jiang Huxin turned to leave and Dan waylaid her. ‘Someone will have to stand g—’
‘I shall stand guard,’ she insisted.
‘You must protect the Xibo.’
‘Fen will —’
‘Fen has no authority,’ he interjected again, ‘and is not known among the men.’
Huxin was frustrated. ‘You are the last person my brother will want bearing witness to this episode —’
‘Why the last?’ Dan found her opinion most curious.
Huxin was offended. ‘Because Hudan respects you, and would not wish to be so indisposed in your presence. It will be embarrassing to her.’
‘No more embarrassing that it is for me,’ he confessed quietly. ‘I have had the same dream, and I believe I know who Lu Chen is.’
Huxin was very agitated to hear this, but considered the circumstances carefully. ‘If that is true, such an event must be of Tian’s design.’
‘I agree.’ Dan could not imagine why their shared vision should be so sensual in nature though. Until tonight, he’d assumed it was just his own repressed sexual desire that had been at the root of this reoccurring dream, but if Hudan was having the same dream, patently there was more meaning to the vision than was evident. Unless, of course, Hudan had somehow tapped into his most private thoughts? Whatever the truth of the matter was, he needed to know it. ‘At present, I fail to see the purpose in heaven tormenting us in this manner.’
‘It does seem rather cruel,’ Huxin warranted, appearing sympathetic. ‘Come relieve my watch in an hour, the commotion should have died down by then.’
‘Thank you,’ Dan said, grateful for the assignment, certain that he would not sleep again tonight. ‘I promise I shall be as diplomatic with our brother as I can be.’
‘I do not doubt it.’ She backed away, regarding him fondly, before she turned and swiftly left the campsite.
The next morning, Hudan felt completely revitalised as she stretched the kinks from her body and there followed the momentary disappointment of having failed to keep conscious control of her spirit form during sleep. A talk with her Shifu would have been most reassuring at this point in time. Her thoughts returned to where her subconscious had taken her during the night and Hudan smiled with delight — until her rational mind reminded her that Lu Chen and Ji Dan were one in spirit.
‘Merciful heaven!’ she gasped, and sat up. ‘Why test me so?’ she complained, then noted the silence beyond her carriage.
Unbolting the door, she slid it aside. Hudan was surprised to find her transport was not where she had left it before retiring the previous evening. Morning was well under way, under cloud and drizzle, and there was not a soul to be seen in the vicinity. ‘Have I been left behind?’
The sound of movement in the driver’s seat of the carriage assured her that she had not been entirely abandoned, yet it was a huge shock when Ji Dan jumped down to the ground and into her view.
‘Good morning.’ He greeted her with a strange tinge of irony in his voice, but then he was sopping wet.
‘Where is the rest of our party?’ She was mortified by the thought of being left alone in Dan’s company — avoiding him was seemingly impossible! ‘Why did you allow me to oversleep?’
The lord was not upset by her anger, but seemed rather amused as he raised a brow to advise: ‘You were having a prophetic dream that brother Huxin advised was not to be interrupted … a dream about Lu Chen,’ he concluded, in a questioning fashion.
The news was quietly horrifying. Hudan had been informed previously, by her brothers, of how physically impassioned she would become during such dreams and how she would repeat her dream lover’s name over and over. Still, that was not the only reason she felt ashamed on this occasion; she had told Dan an outright lie, of which he was clearly aware. Hudan could not bring herself to look at him.
‘You claimed to know nothing of Lu Chen?’ There was more hurt than accusation in his voice.
‘All I know is that he is a son of the sky, who comes to me in my dreams sometimes. I have told our Shifu about the reoccurring episode, but she tells me I must put it from my mind for now as it pertains to a quest that I shall not embark on for some time yet.’
‘I have had the same dream.’
Dan’s claim drew Hudan’s full attention and, although his expression was deadly serious, she could not believe it.
‘Tar-rin,’ he said.
His proof shocked Hudan into backing away from him, and now that she had made way, Dan stole the opportunity to sit inside the carriage out of the rain. ‘I take it you know this name?’
There seemed no point in denying it. ‘I believe it was once my name,’ she admitted. ‘Lu Chen was her lover.’
‘And I was Lu Chen,’ he concluded.
‘Hence why I denied knowing the lord,’ Hudan defended, ‘for the conundrum is a trivial matter compared with the concerns of Ji Fa’s revolution.’
‘But there are no accidents; you said so yourself.’ The look on his face was ardent. ‘Why would heaven throw such a torment in our path, if we were not meant to, in some way, profit by it?’
Hudan was unsure if he was being reasonable or flirtatious. ‘I have wondered the same thing myself, and am at a loss to explain it. I set out last night to spirit walk to the Great Mother, but I am weak and simply fell asleep. I fear my powers are so diminished that I may not recover them in time to face Su Daji.’
Dan was very alarmed to hear this. ‘You must practise Dao Yin.’
‘That is why I shut myself away,’ Hudan clarified. ‘I was hoping to build enough chi to relocate my physical form to a meeting with Yi Wu, but I failed to even convey my spirit form to her.’ Hudan shrugged, trying to maintain her composure and not panic. ‘Right now, I do not possess enough chi energy to exert my will over anything!’
She focused on a hair comb lying on her bed and willed it to her. It was a rude shock when the item flew into her grasp.
‘I could not do that yesterday! One night’s rest is not normally so beneficial,’ Hudan murmured, perplexed. She looked at Dan, who was grinning.
‘Did you not explain to me once how a person’s chi energy can be greatly enhanced by proper sexual congress?’
‘Of course!’ Hudan was elated to comprehend. ‘I was not being tested, but actually being aided.’ Waves of relief swept over her, and she looked at Dan, most grateful for his understanding. ‘That is a relief, thank you.’
‘You lifted a great
burden from my soul yesterday, so let’s call it even.’ He sounded deflated by this outcome, and looked to the rainy day beyond the open door of the carriage. ‘Perhaps I am being aided by the torment also?’
The sound of the rain on the roof seemed amplified by their silence, and the good will that had been welling in her heart suddenly sank into the pit of Hudan’s stomach as she realised she had hurt him. ‘I am sorry that I told you about our kiss, Dan.’
He looked at her, his eyes wide and expectant. ‘I am not.’
Hudan knew the lord had been waiting for her to raise the subject. Outside the Ji family storehouse in Haojing, when they’d found themselves entranced with each other, she’d seen the question ‘is this it?’ in his eyes. ‘I fear I might have given you the wrong impression —’
‘No —’ he insisted.
‘Or false hope that I might ever be able to offer you anything more than that one prophesied kiss.’ Hudan wanted to get this out in the open and over with; they were both losing sight of their goal. ‘I only told you because I didn’t want you to think I was going to perish in the fire. But it was never my intention to torment you.’
Treating Dan like an inanimate object had worked fine in the beginning, but he was an intelligent man, who Hudan had come to respect above all others on this quest. He had never been anything but courteous and forthright with her, and she felt that he deserved the same from her.
‘It was not my intention to imply that you have caused me torment,’ he told her. ‘Any torment I have experienced, I chose. You have never acted in a manner that would lead me to believe that there is anything more than a professional relationship between us … and therein lies my torment.’ He swallowed hard on the confession and bowed his head. ‘Not your fault.’
The subject matter was awkward and Hudan diverted her gaze also, not wishing to see his reaction. ‘My vow to Tian forbids me to tell you what you want to hear … or to even admit it to myself.’ The truth of her words brought tears to her eyes, and she caught her breath. ‘My plan was to avoid you as much as possible …’ Hudan looked up to find Dan appearing just as she’d imagined: stunned, vindicated, apologetic. ‘But as my co-conspirator in all this, that would not be very beneficial to our cause.’