‘Why can I not see a son of the sky behind Ji Fa, if he is Hreen?’ Dan queried, and Avery looked at Hudan and scowled.
‘I had to tell him. I couldn’t explain it!’ Hudan threw her hands up in defence, at which time the ethereal lord obliged them with the reason.
‘Rhun took an alternative route back to the past to the rest of you, because he knew Ji Fa would —’
‘My lord!’ Hudan interrupted, preventing Avery from revealing too much.
‘That Ji Fa would what?’ Dan demanded to know.
‘Be otherwise detained.’ Avery wriggled out of the tricky moment and was now looking eager to leave.
‘What is that supposed to mean?’ Dan looked from Avery to Hudan. ‘If my brother is in some sort of trouble I want to know about it.’
Hudan raised an eyebrow to disagree. ‘If you wanted to know brother Fa’s future, why did you not keep reading on in the Jade Book?’
The query stumped Dan. ‘Should I have?’
‘That is, and always was, up to you.’ Hudan looked back to the celestial lord. ‘Is there nothing more we can do here? Must we wait for Dragonface to rear his ugly head again?’
‘The creature won’t be hard to find in a peaceful land,’ the lord warranted. ‘When trouble erupts, Dragonface will be behind it.’
‘And what of Wu Geng?’ Dan asked, wanting to know if the former prince was a threat or not. Since Dan and Hudan could not explain their reservations about the son of Zi Shou to the king, or anyone else, their hands were tied.
‘We really have no reason to suspect that he is malign at this point. In fact, evidence would suggest quite the opposite is true. All we can we do is keep an eye on him, and as the king is leaving four of your brothers to do just that …’ Hudan shrugged, looking at Avery and Dan..
‘We can perform a cleansing rite,’ Avery suggested. ‘With the aid of my minions, it would be a swift affair.’
‘It would indeed,’ Hudan agreed, inspired. ‘Such a rite would evict any ghosts or thought forms that might be hanging around the royal palace, including Dragonface and Zi Shou,’ Hudan advised Dan. ‘It would ensure the creature could not take root here again.’
‘At least, not easily,’ Avery added. ‘Dragonface has built himself a fortress of ill will beneath this palace over the ages. If we disperse it, this place will lose its attraction, and hopefully he’ll stay away.’
‘That would be wise then,’ Dan agreed.
‘It will be a good learning experience for you,’ Hudan said, nudging him with her shoulder.
‘I should very much like to know how to accomplish such a feat, especially now I have been endowed with spirit sight.’ He flashed a perturbed look in Avery’s direction.
‘Rather go back to blind ignorance then, would you?’ he challenged Dan, who stepped back, not inclined towards the suggestion. ‘You’ve got talents you haven’t even discovered yet, so you’ve got plenty to develop in your own sweet time if that is your gripe?’
‘I am grateful to you,’ Dan admitted graciously, ‘but a little warning about what to expect might have been nice. Will cleansing of the palace be difficult?’
‘Not at all. Burn a few bunches of the right herbs, and utter some kind words, and that’s about it,’ Hudan told him, smiling, but then frowned. ‘Although this palace is very large, and we need to cover every single room, the dungeons and the pit included.’
Yesterday, after the ceremony, the Zhou army had began the excavation of the dragon pit and had been hauling treasure out of the hole in the ground ever since. The king felt the job would be too harrowing for any citizen of Shang. The body of Bi Gan had been exhumed, and returned to his brother Jizi for proper burial. The rest of the bones would be buried where they lay as, after a decade of murder, separating and identifying the victims would be virtually impossible.
‘Feel free to call on the aid of my minions during your rite and in the future. They shall be at your command henceforth, and thus you should have precious little need to summon me,’ he advised Hudan. He looked to Dan and grinned, knowing that that news would make him happy.
‘And we were just warming to one another,’ Dan said with fake disappointment.
‘Good luck in your quest,’ Avery said to Hudan in parting, and she was sincerely sorry that their association seemed to be coming to an end.
‘Is this goodbye, then?’ Hudan panicked, knowing the second the lord vanished she’d think of hundred questions she should have asked him.
‘I’ve told you way more than I should have already. Forget the sons of the sky exist, and just live your life, Jiang Hudan,’ he advised. She nodded for this had been her Shifu’s advice as well.
‘I thank you for your aid, and your gift,’ she granted. ‘You are free to go.’
‘I’ll see you when your time here is done …’ the lord kissed her cheek in parting and grinned as he said ‘ … mother.’
Hudan took a sharp breath as he vanished, and looked at Dan, who was equally stunned. ‘Did he say, mother?’ The word was just as foreign to her as the notion itself.
‘Does that mean …?’ Dan choked on his sentence, and Hudan held a hand up to prevent him saying anything.
‘I should inform the king that a cleansing is in order.’ She headed for the door, and Dan could only nod, dazed as he was.
Hudan’s mind was suddenly reeling with memories of her conversations with the Lord of the Elements and his brother — was Hreen another son of hers? Another deep shock of recognition passed through her.
‘What is your name, lord?’ she recalled asking the Lord of the Elements. His dark-haired brother had shaken his head at her, appearing as bemused as Dan just now.
‘She really doesn’t remember anything, does she?’ he’d said. Now Hudan understood his disappointment.
But why tell her to live her life as Jiang Hudan and then drop that past-life revelation on her? Yet that one little word explained so much. And for Dan too most likely — perhaps it was meant to soothe the duke’s jealous streak that the Lord of the Elements had played upon so often in the past few days. Whatever the lord’s reason for exposing their past association, Hudan decided to follow his original advice and forget the sons of the sky existed.
The king was happy to grant permission for the cleansing rite, and Hudan had Fen round up the herbs they would require for the ceremony. On the king’s command Dan had every censer in the palace collected, so they could be filled with the herbs for burning. The interior staff were to carry these vessels through every room in the palace, fanning the perfumed smoke into each nook and cranny, bidding spirits to return to their divine source. Soldiers were instructed to do the same through the dungeons, which had been almost vacated since the Zhou takeover.
Many of the censers were collected in the courtyard at Yin and set alight, and to the wonder of all present Hudan levitated the largest of the smoking vessels and had it proceed slowly to the enclosure containing the pit, just ahead of herself and Ji Dan.
A guard had been posted around the enclosure to prevent anyone viewing the pit of bones, or trying to steal the treasure that was still being hauled up from the depths of the cavern. As night had fallen, there was no work happening, but guards jumped to unbolt the gate when they saw the floating incense burner of the Wu approaching.
‘As you were, gentlemen,’ Dan commented light-heartedly and nodded to thank the astounded guards, as he followed Jiang Hudan inside. ‘And you might wish to close the gate after us.’
The guards did not hesitate to follow that suggestion.
The bonfire which had incinerated the remains of the alien warriors was now just a large black mark in the middle of the enclosure. Hudan brought the censer down to rest at the edge of the pit.
‘We are not going down there?’ Dan queried, hopefully.
‘Oh, no. Believe me, we don’t want to be there while the beast is being evicted,’ she advised and Dan decided to back up and watch the proceedings at a greater distance.
 
; Hudan turned to face the smouldering censer. After a few deep, centring breaths, she sang a beautiful, high note, which Dan recognised from their confrontation with the reptilians. She thumped the base of her staff on the ground and the sphere in Taiji lit up rosy pink. Then she said …
‘Come wind, come fire, bring heaven unto Earth.’
As Hudan invoked these elements, the smoke exuding from the censer increased tenfold; the elements were obviously disposed toward her, just as their lord had promised. She continued her chant:
‘Lift the worthy up to Tian,
to await the next rebirth.’
The rising smoke did not disperse, but formed a roiling mass under the grate at the top of the enclosure.
‘Send light into the darkness,
banish shadow from this place.
Bring peace where there was terror,
evince the glory of heaven’s grace.’
Whirling her staff’s head, Hudan directed the smoke cloud down into the cavern, while the smoke continued to billow in a steady stream from the censer.
As before, there was a deathly silence in the wake of the psychic attack, but as the ground beneath them began to rumble, Hudan backed away to where Dan was standing and urged him back further still.
A massive force of agitated wind came forth out of the hole, blasting away rocks and dirt from the mouth of the cavern and thrusting the grate off the top of the enclosure. What Dan saw was a seething, dark mass of tortured souls all screaming for release. Dan moved to shield Hudan, having no idea if it could see them or what it might do.
‘What —’ Hudan queried, as the thought form exploded, knocking them both backward, their hair flying in the wind of its dispersal.
Dan got up quickly for a bright light was emanating from within the pit. ‘Whoa.’
‘You see something in the smoke?’ Hudan was eyeing the pit curiously.
He nodded, his eyes now glued to the sight of thousands of tiny spheres of light dancing around each other as they ascended toward the sky.
‘The souls of the dead,’ Hudan supposed, and Dan nodded, moved to tears by the serenity of it.
‘They are leaving.’ He raised his eyes to the night sky where there was a huge light-filled corridor through the clouds above. ‘Great wonders of Tian!’ He was so startled he fell back on his behind to land alongside Hudan once again. ‘There is a corridor to heaven …’ He pointed up and then looked toward the royal residence and centre of government. ‘There are souls approaching it from the palace also.’
‘I wish I could see it,’ she sighed.
When Dan glanced over to find Hudan staring at him intently, he was even more enchanted. He wanted to kiss her, but that was not permitted. Their kiss on the battlefield was to the glory of Tian and thus in compliance with Wu creed, but if he stole a kiss at this moment, Hudan would consider it shameful and an insult to her trust. As bitter as it tasted to refrain from following the impulse — with the king’s goddess rite looming — Dan knew an impetuous act could end his friendship with Hudan and the Wu for life.
‘Our task is complete,’ Hudan said, standing up and snapping out of her fascination. ‘We may now return to Zhou, knowing we have done everything that we could do here in Yin.’
Dan looked back to the celestial event in the sky as the last of the soul lights vanished into it and the corridor to heaven was swallowed up by the stormy night sky. ‘So it is back to Li Shan for you, to prepare for our candidate’s goddess rite,’ he said, letting Hudan know that he’d learned more about the ritual in question.
They both stood as Hudan nodded and forced a smile. ‘I shall instruct you on the theory and use of your new talent on the return journey, if that pleases you?’
Any reason to keep company with her was pleasing. ‘I would be most grateful,’ Dan replied, and dropped the topic of the rite.
‘An untrained psychic is as dangerous as an untrained warrior,’ she stressed jokingly, as he accompanied her from the enclosure. ‘You need to be able to defend yourself against supernatural attack.’
When Dan considered the events of the past few days, he was sure that more knowledge would not go astray. ‘That is becoming painfully obvious,’ he granted, before calling to the guards to request their release.
PART 4
THE SON OF THE SKY
14
THE RITE OF GAO MEI
The journey back to Hoajing was faster on horseback, although the king’s party were forced to slow down through every village en route, as the people of the land lined the road to give tribute and praise to their new ruler, who made himself far more accessible to the masses than any of the Shang had ever done.
As the days were spent riding as fast as possible in the saddle or passing slowly through crowds, Dan’s otherworldly tuition took place in the evenings — both Hudan and Dan diplomatically avoided raising the topic of the goddess rite for the entire journey home.
Huxin and Hudan bid farewell to the king’s party near the Li Shan jetty. Their parting of the ways was not too solemn, as the king and his close acquaintances would soon be visiting Li Shan for the rite of Gao Mei. After the Wu returned their horses to the king’s guard and, as this was officially the end of her commission to Ji Fa, Huxin could not resist bestowing a farewell embrace on her charge. The king made a point of keeping his hands off the Wu during the pleasant episode, as Hudan had spoken to Ji Fa of Shi’s frustration, and he decided he’d punished his brother enough.
Hudan looked to Shi, who, quietly fuming, released a growl of protest, which distracted Huxin from her amusement.
‘What was that?’ She looked about warily, perhaps recognising the sound of her lover’s snarl.
Hudan had to suppress a laugh as Shi covered his mouth, but Huxin did not notice.
‘I’m close to home and surrounded by soldiers. I shall be fine from here.’ Fa squeezed Huxin’s hand and mounted his horse. ‘I shall see you both on the full moon.’ The king dug his heels into his steed and guided the animal into the stream of his moving soldiers.
The look on Dan’s face was rather cheerless and he remained on his horse, as Shi did, whilst Hudan and Huxin hugged Fen goodbye.
‘I wish I were coming with you,’ Fen whispered into their huddle.
‘The king will surely bring you when he visits,’ Hudan said, pulling away. She knew a long drawn-out goodbye would see her in tears.
‘Be gorgeous.’ Huxin pinched his cheek to tease him, as she might not get the chance again, and served him a wink as he backed up grinning with embarrassment while his sisters blew him kisses.
‘I’m going.’ Fen turned and ran for his horse.
‘Farewell, Zhou Gong Dan.’ Hudan approached the duke, as he seemed reluctant to move. Still, he politely dismounted to converse with her. ‘It has been an honour to serve Zhou with you.’ She bowed to him, and he returned the gesture.
‘The pleasure was entirely mine, I assure you,’ he replied with some difficulty, and the fact that he was choking on emotion caused a painful lump to form in Hudan’s throat also.
Although they would see each other again, the reason for their particular association had now run its course. There was nothing left to say that could be said, nothing more to be done.
‘It was a brilliant collaboration while it lasted,’ Dan said to relieve the awkward moment. ‘It seems a shame it could not have lasted longer.’
‘Perhaps the next war?’ Hudan grinned.
Dan was amused. ‘I’ll see what I can arrange.’
Hudan backed up, shaking her head at his wicked retort, but could not wipe the smile from her face as Dan returned to his mount.
As they watched the lords depart and join their moving force, Huxin uttered aside to Hudan, ‘I have never seen a man so sick with love.’
‘You obviously don’t look very closely,’ Hudan told her and turned to walk the path toward the Li Shan jetty.
Huxin merely thought Hudan was avoiding the issue and made haste to join her. ‘You
would have to be blind not to see —’
‘Not blind, just committed,’ Hudan interjected.
‘You need to be committed.’ Huxin looked back at the departing army as she trailed her sister. ‘Zhou Gong Dan is yummy.’
‘You are unbelievable!’ Hudan finally cracked. ‘Why not simply seduce the entire family and be done with it?’
‘Don’t think that thought didn’t cross my mind in the bathhouse at Yin,’ Huxin said and grinned broadly. ‘Do you want to know who is really well equipped?’
‘No!’
‘Shi,’ Huxin replied just to vex her. ‘That young man is going to make some woman very happy.’
Hudan’s anger suddenly fled and she started to laugh, hysterically.
‘Don’t tell me that you have finally found your sense of humour!’ Huxin was not going to give her the satisfaction of asking what had tickled her funny bone.
‘Oh yes, I found it!’ Hudan gasped for breath.
‘Do you want the low-down on Dan?’ Huxin resumed her teasing.
‘If I say no, you will tell me anyway,’ Hudan shrugged, tired of playing. She stepped onto the jetty and, with a low note from her throat and a flick of her staff, ignited the torches at the end to summon the ferry home.
‘Whoa! When did you learn to do that?’ Huxin was impressed.
Hudan raised both brows in unassuming triumph. ‘You’re not the only one who can be surprising! You were saying, about brother Dan?’ she prompted, to Huxin’s momentary frustration.
‘Wouldn’t you like to know?’ Huxin changed her tactics, and Hudan was spared a lusty description of every member of the Ji clan. On returning to Haojing, the king silenced the movements of war and cultivated the arts of peace. He sent his horses south of Mount Hua and let loose his oxen in the peach orchards of the open country, to show all under heaven that he did not intend to use them again. He sacrificed in the ancestral temple of Zhou and worshipped toward the hills, on one side of the city, and to the rivers, on the other, to solemnly announce the successful completion of the war.