‘Everything you hear is a fabrication of your own sordid mind, Uncle,’ Song stated. ‘That’s what happens when you consult with demons!’
Xian was taken off-guard by the comment and by the king’s fierce attack. Dan felt Song must be employing more power than was humanly possible, for his fury was unrelenting.
‘Would you deny that you were behind the kidnapping of Fen Gong?’ the king ceased his attack long enough to ask, which was enough time for Xian to recover and start fighting back.
‘More likely that you or Zhou Gong staged that one,’ Xian countered. ‘After all, you profited most.’ The tip of Xian’s sword scratched the king’s cheek as he bent backward to avoid a strike and Dan was forced to jump from his horse to prevent Hui Ru rushing in.
‘Finish that arsehole!’ she encouraged the king. She was disinclined to break free of Zhou Gong in case she injured him.
‘Your queen has a mouth like a jun-ji,’ Xian said, insulting the king’s choice of bride.
Song grinned, proud. ‘Aw, you’re just upset that your rebellion was quashed by my incredible woman!’ Song taunted, and the forces gave a cheer as Hui Ru took a bow.
‘I shall be sure to pay her due attention when you are gone!’ Xian vowed and Song’s mood darkened as they lashed out at one another with their swords. The king was now utterly oblivious to anything beyond killing his uncle, who was armoured and powerful, but Song was swift, agile and audacious.
As much as the duke wished to put himself in Song’s place, he observed the chieftains and nobles cheering their new king on and realised, as did young Song, that if he won this battle he would also win the respect of his peers and his rule would be consolidated.
With youth on his side, the king ran his older uncle in circles until he began to tire. Song then resumed his attack with gusto, managing to scar Xian’s cheek in return. ‘Give it up, Uncle, even if you win, you lose! Your armies have fled; your allies have surrendered and will be treated leniently. I offer you one last chance to confess your treason and live beyond this day.’
‘Give me the regency that is rightfully mine,’ Xian said as he lashed out with his sword. Song ducked and swung around behind his uncle, and as Xian spun about, the king took his head clean off.
A cheer of support sounded from the captivated audience, but as Song held his sword high in victory, the field hushed. ‘Tian has spoken … and is in agreement with the Tranquillising king! Zhou Gong is regent and let no man question his right henceforth.’
‘Long live the king!’ Shi yelled, and the chant was echoed by all who remained on the field.
Yin Hu Rui approached and knelt before the king. ‘The Shang are beholden to you, my king, for quashing the unrest in the East, and hope that our majesty sees our valour this day on the battlefield as proof of our devotion.’
‘Arise,’ he invited and she stood before him. ‘Does this mean you accept my proposal of marriage? And I must say, I love what you can do with an army.’
‘I love that you entrusted the duty to me without question,’ Hui Ru replied.
‘Then I shall make you a general, as well as queen, if you so wish it,’ Ji Song told her.
‘He knows the way to that girl’s heart,’ Shi whispered to Dan, who was amused.
‘Then my answer must be yes,’ Hui Ru replied, smiling broadly, as was the king.
Taking hold of her hand, he held it high. ‘East and West unite!’
As there was not a man on the field who did not reside in one direction or the other, the roar of approval was unanimous.
Shao Gong Shi disappeared during the ensuing revelry for some time and returned by dusk to make an announcement to the king. ‘This is it! I have spent the afternoon surveying the area and I believe this is the perfect location to build Zhou Wu Wang’s heavenly city.’ A lot had happened since Shi had been given the assignment, but he had not forgotten his brother’s wish, and also felt that strategically their new capital should be between the East and the West.
Dan was impressed by Shi’s notion, and Ji Song agreed. ‘Let construction on Zhou Wu Wang’s vision begin, so that we all might marvel at the glory of heaven here on earth.’
In the wake of the battle there was much rearranging to be done. Ji Song banished the last of his troublesome uncles, Cai Shu Du, but Ji Zai, due to his young age, was pardoned for the crimes committed through his alliance to his brothers and granted a small province to govern until he proved his worth. The other provinces were split and incorporated into the provinces of his remaining uncles, and he endowed the former Shang Prince Weizi, who had fled to Zhou some time before, with a patrimonial estate in Song, in order that the Shang sacrifices should be continued.
Once the new capital was erected, there would be only two overlords in the land, however. Ji Song intended to rule the East from the new city, and Shao Gong Shi would govern the West from Haojing under the title of Grand Protector. As regent, Zhou Gong would accept no entitlements but intended to dedicate himself to the council of Ji Song and the building of Zhou Wu Wang’s holy city.
The king, his queen and general Hui Ru, the Lord Regent and the Grand Protector pacified the lands of the tribes in the valley of the Huai River, and within two years the lands of the East were settled. At this time, the patrimonial lords all came to the Zhou ancestral capital, Haojing, to offer their submission.
21
BAYAN HAR SHAN
‘So you see, us dumb boys did fine, even without your assistance,’ Rhun said, relating the outcome of the revolution against Zhou Gong’s regency. He was hoping this would end Hudan’s objections to having been pulled away from her life at such a crucial point in history.
‘Well, at least Song and Dan found their solidarity,’ she commented, pleased about that.
‘Not really,’ Rhun enlightened her. ‘They’ll spend the next ten years clashing heads over whether the word of the Zhou represents the word of heaven, or whether the Zhou should rule according to the divinations of heaven.’
Hudan rolled her eyes, thinking that it would be just typical of both of them.
‘But they did manage to stay allies, thanks to the negotiating prowess of Shao Gong Shi, Feng Gong and Xi Wangmu.’
Hudan gasped. ‘The Great Mother returned?’
Rhun shook his head. ‘In the wake of Yi Wu’s absence, your sister was vested with the title.’
‘Just as I predicted,’ Hudan grinned, delighted.
She had been brought to the crystal cavern where she had first met with the Lord of the Elements and been introduced to Rhun, but the time lord’s otherworldly brother was not here at present. It was clearly a place of the physical realm, although the light emanating from the crystal clusters all through the cavern gave it an otherworldly appearance. The glow was not as intense as it had appeared in her dream state, yet there was still more than enough light to see by.
‘But what became of Fen?’ Hudan wanted to know, wondering how the crystalline minerals therein managed to glow of their own accord in complete darkness.
‘He stayed with Zhou Gong, of course, and never married,’ he informed her. ‘Together they brought to fruition the holy city of Chengzhou, which set the standard for urban planning for thousands of years to come.’
Hudan was impressed by their achievement. ‘That certainly is a mighty destiny.’
‘And that is not to mention the numerous laws and important documents Zhou Gong wrote before his death, detailing the offices of the Zhou government and the guidelines for establishing proper governance of the people.’
‘So was there any more civil unrest?’ Hudan was curious to know how long the peace had lasted.
‘Not in Song’s lifetime, nor that of his son,’ Rhun was happy to report. ‘The Grand Protector, as tutor to Song’s heir, Ji Zhao, saw to that.’
Hudan’s eyes opened wide. ‘Shi lives a long time then,’ she reasoned.
‘As does his spouse.’ Rhun clasped his hands together, hoping they could now get on with more impo
rtant matters. ‘So, Jiang Hudan … are you ready to have your cosmic memory reinstated?’
She was a little alarmed by the proposition. ‘Then what?’ She hoped that the answer was not to wait around for however long it took for the rest of their team to die of natural causes.
‘Well … my brother will be assisting us to do a little time-hopping and collect the rest of the team.’ Rhun was clearly ecstatic to be moving forward with his own mission, finally. ‘Once we have everyone together, and your memories are restored, I shall take you to the Dropa.’
‘You mean, I don’t have to wait decades to see any of our team again?’ Hudan was delighted and much more eager to move on now. ‘But what of finding Dragonface?’
‘Well, in order to get Avery to cooperate with my little time-hopping exercise, he made me agree to wait until the entire team was together and brought up to speed before deciding on our next course of action.’
‘That reasoning seems sound to me.’
‘I am sick of arguing the matter, so whatever gets us there fastest.’ Rhun gestured with his palms out, appealing to her to answer his original query. ‘So? Are you ready to get your Taren back?’
With a deep breath, Hudan had second thoughts. ‘I am not going to lose Jiang Hudan, am I?’
‘No,’ he assured her, ‘you’ll just have many more memories.’
Hudan found a smooth rock to sit upon and gave him the nod to go ahead. ‘ Timekeeper awaken,’ Rhun said.
The influx of memory was not a violent experience, as Hudan had imagined, but like the gentle rise in consciousness when one awakes from a long sleep.
‘Taren …’ Rhun queried her stillness and silence. ‘Are you in there?’
Her eyes slowly parted wide with awareness. ‘Oh, my stars, I made it through ancient Zhou!’ She looked at Rhun. ‘Well done, governor.’ Hudan remembered now that Rhun was the ruler of the planet they were trying to save.
‘Welcome back,’ he said, and grinned broadly.
Hudan cocked her head to one side. ‘You know, technically I am not your mother,’ she told him, amused by his deception when she was in Zhou.
‘Well you were, in yet another earth life,’ Rhun granted, ‘so I know she’s in there somewhere.’
Hudan nodded, for indeed she remembered portions of that life too, thanks to the thought recordings made by the incarnation in question, and left as reference material in the Institute of Immortal History on Kila — although none of their team, bar Rhun, was immortal any more. Back in the universe she’d come from, it was not unusual to live a thousand years, for the aging process was much slower. The earthly body she was wearing at present was not gifted with such DNA, so Hudan was as vulnerable to death and aging now as she had been before Rhun had fetched her. The only advantage she now had was her memory of their quest.
‘And besides,’ the time lord added, ‘we couldn’t have Dan thinking we were trying to make off with his girl … never a wise move around any man.’
‘Dear, sweet, Dan,’ she smiled fondly. ‘I can hardly wait to bring him back on board.’
‘Then let’s get to it,’ Rhun suggested, ahead of summoning his brother to join them.
When the elemental lord appeared, he smiled broadly. ‘Hello, mother.’
‘My lord Avery,’ she replied, bowing to him. ‘Please, call me Hudan, or Taren. As neither of those incarnations have ever given birth, mother is just a little strange.’
‘As you wish,’ the fair lord granted, holding out a hand to her. ‘You need to come with me, Hudan.’
‘Where are we going?’ she queried, as she took hold of his hand.
‘Outside of time,’ he replied. ‘Rhun will take the time chariot forward in time, and summon us forth once he is there, so that, in effect, we can quantum jump.’
‘Sounds feasible.’ Hudan granted, now reasoning with Taren’s scientific knowledge — for Dr Taren Lennox had degrees in genetics, quantum theory and astrophysics. ‘Who is first on the pick-up list?’
Avery went to answer, but Rhun jumped in first. ‘Let’s … just keep it as a surprise, shall we? Meet you back here in, well … no time.’ The lord walked over to what appeared to be a crystal cluster, but whipping an invisible cover away, it was obvious that the reflective cloth created this illusion, for the time-hopping chariot of the ancients was underneath.
As Rhun climbed on board the futuristic-looking transport — which had actually been constructed on Atlantis some twelve thousand years before the time they now inhabited — a sweet-smelling mist, filled with tiny lights, arose within the cavern and veiled everything else from view. The atmosphere felt electric and Hudan’s entire being buzzed with the kind of euphoria that was associated with a rapid influx of chi, or cosmic light — rather like the sensation of thought projection, but far more intense!
When the glistening haze cleared, Rhun was gone and the light emitting from the crystals in the cavern was far more brilliant — as they had appeared when she’d seen this place in her dream state. Hudan could no longer feel the lord’s hand in hers as he’d shifted into his spirit form for their short otherworldly sabbatical.
‘So how does it feel to be back?’ Avery asked, making conversation while they awaited Rhun’s cue to return to the physical realm.
Hudan was overwhelmed by the peace and tranquillity of the heavenly waking dream state she was in. ‘It feels like home,’ she was happy to admit.
‘Imagine how it will feel once the entire team has been assembled,’ Avery commented. ‘Speaking of which, I hear Rhun now.’
‘I cannot wait to see who is with him!’ Hudan grinned broadly, feeling she had never been so excited in all her earthly life, but the otherworldly atmosphere no doubt had something to do with that. Every molecule of her being was over-excited and had to be in order to resonate at the same frequency as the otherworldly realm she was inhabiting.
‘Going down,’ Avery warned, as the light-filled mist arose again.
The decrease in her vibratory rate brought Hudan crashing back to the heavy feeling of being physically present on earth and confined by the relentless grip of time.
What was worse was that when the mist cleared, Rhun’s first recruit turned out to be Wu Geng, the ex-prince of Shang.
‘What is going on?’ Hudan had never seen the soul-mind inside this character, and she still could not. ‘Is he the one you warned Dan about before you brought me here?’
‘One and the same,’ Rhun granted, but Hudan had already figured out who it had to be, and her sights narrowed in suspicion.
‘Khalid,’ she deduced, immediately irked by his presence.
‘Doctor,’ he replied and bowed to her, knowing she was really the one in charge of this time-hopping escapade.
For Taren was the original timekeeper who had recruited the other members of the team. The captain may have called the shots on-board their vessel, but off-board Taren was in charge.
‘How on earth did you get to ancient Zhou?’ She placed her hands on her hips, completely baffled.
‘The same way you did. I found an ancient incarnation and jumped right in,’ he answered happily, taking a moment to admire their location.
‘You should not have brought him here,’ Taren said, still perturbed. Now Khalid could find this place with a thought, wherever this place was, and she’d still not been brought up to speed on that, either.
‘The captain approved it,’ Rhun defended.
‘But he remembers nothing!’ Hudan countered.
‘His majesty also approved, and Song remembers enough to know he’d vowed to kill Khalid.’
Hudan inhaled a deep breath and looked to Wu Geng. ‘Why did you come?’
‘I need to get along.’ Rhun headed for the chariot to make his next jump forward. ‘Take your time with the witness. It makes no difference to me.’
‘No, wait,’ Hudan urged him. ‘When you go to get Zhou Gong, I want to be there.’
‘Bugger!’ Rhun slumped in his seat to wait for her. ‘Th
en make it snappy.’
Hudan wanted to kill Rhun for having the chariot and their archenemy in the same room. But then, neither Avery nor Rhun really knew much about Khalid. He was from her universe of origin and he and Taren had quite a long and unpleasant history. Her sights returned to Wu Geng. ‘Well?’
‘I taped the past-life regression session you each did to find these incarnations. When I discovered that I had indeed been alive in the target location, and time, in question, and that my incarnation had spent most of his life being oppressed by your target enemy, I saw it as an opportunity to be of benefit to the righteous for a change.’
‘You saw it as an opportunity to keep pace with us through time, you mean. So that when we return to stop you causing an inter-universal disaster, you will land with your memory intact and be ready for us.’ Her eyebrows rose questioningly.
‘There is that,’ he granted. ‘But, what if I were to land …’ he used her terminology, ‘and I was on your side? Then what? A double victory all round.’
‘When you return, you will be subject to the sway of your father’s demonic creation,’ Hudan pointed out.
‘Whoa, this is interesting,’ Avery muttered and took a seat to listen.
‘I can sever that influence,’ Wu Geng assured her.
‘By destroying the Soul Keep that your father used to create the anomaly. I know,’ Hudan said. She knew that was how to destroy the curse that had driven Khalid’s mindset back then and given him additional power … the trouble was she had never seen the Soul Keep, nor did she know where Khalid had hidden it. Since Khalid had accidentally hitched a ride with them into this universe, he’d been cut off from his evil influences and had been behaving himself, but his dark black eyes, unchanged in the incarnation he was filling, were so very hard to trust or read. ‘Do you really expect me to take you at your word on that?’
‘No,’ said Khalid, frankly. ‘However, if I prove myself during this mission against the creature, then maybe you will?’
‘Good argument,’ Avery conceded, and Wu Geng bowed his head in gracious thanks. ‘Shall we get on?’ the lord suggested. ‘I can take him with me, or leave him here to rot. Your call?’ Avery put it to Hudan.