Clouded Sky was just as astonished by Iron Maiden’s qi cultivation and internal force. He had owned his sword since the age of ten, practicing with it faithfully each day for hours. By now it held its own qi energy. It should have been impossible to block, yet Iron Maiden had blocked it.
Now she stood on the opposite side of the clearing, smiling at him like a shifu applauding his disciple for a lucky stroke. Frowning, Clouded Sky adopted another stance. This time, he attacked.
Iron Maiden saw him coming and flitted toward him, the force of her palm strikes kicking up clouds of dust as she approached. Under the ferocity of her attack, Clouded Sky was compelled to take a defensive stance once again. Blow after blow rained upon him as she targeted his acupoints, moving almost too fast to see. Clouded Sky defended until his sword seemed to form a flickering black shield around him, but still she pressed forward.
The intensity and speed of Iron Maiden’s attack would have destroyed anyone else’s defences within moments, but as Clouded Sky retreated he began to understand and even predict her movements. Good—he only had to keep up his defence until her energy failed enough to let him strike. Step by step, he retreated across the grass, his confidence gradually mounting. Now she used Iron Monkey Climbs the Stair. Now she attacked with Broken String of Pearls. Next, he realised with part of his mind that was moving too fast for words, she would use Fortunate Palms of Dragon Gate. And then he would have her in the brief moment when she left an acupoint on her flank unguarded.
He lunged—but his sword missed her. It was the stance he had expected, but instead of using it defensively, she employed it to launch an attack. And with his own sword at full extension, Clouded Sky was completely defenceless.
The force of her palm caught his left shoulder and hurled him spinning through the air toward the edge of the clearing.
With a hastily-thrown kick, Clouded Sky saved himself from slamming into a tree, then landed on his feet. Ready to collapse, he leaned against the tree, gasping for air.
“Who—who is your shifu?” he panted.
Iron Maiden dropped her stance and stepped back, wiping the hair out of her eyes. “My shifu? Why do you want to know my shifu?”
“Because I recognise that skill! That is a variation of Wudang Sect’s Heaven-Shaking Iron Palm Technique! How did you learn it?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t know that was its name.”
“You must have been taught by some heretic.” That would explain that last, terrible, unpredictable palm strike. Clouded Sky shivered. As a young girl, Iron Maiden was physically weaker than a man, so all her palm strikes had to be augmented with her internal force to a much greater degree. It must be taking a terrible toll on her, yet she appeared not to feel it. She must have vast reserves of qi to draw on. Combined with an unorthodox palm technique, that made her far more dangerous than he had imagined.
For the first time, Clouded Sky feared he might actually lose this duel. The whole Wudang Sect would lose face—and it would be his fault.
“A heretic?” For a moment Iron Maiden looked aghast, but she quickly shook her head. “I don’t believe that! Just because you don’t understand my martial arts doesn’t make them unorthodox.”
“You, Miss Iron, would have been well advised to learn the real Heaven-Shaking Iron Palm Technique. Your palm was off-target.”
“Of course it was off-target, otherwise I would have seriously hurt you! But who was your shifu? He has some explaining to do.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your sword style is faulty, hero! When it should attack, instead it defends. How can you win any fights using such a style?”
Clouded Sky frowned, his hand tightening on the hilt of his weapon. “Faulty? This is Wudang Sect’s Mystical Sword Style!”
She shook her head. “It is ineffective. Your shifu must be afraid you will one day surpass him. Or turn against him.”
Clouded Sky tried to rein in his outrage at the offence. Only an ignorant peasant would speak of another martial artist’s shifu so disrespectfully.
“It is customary for masters to conceal part of what they know.”
She laughed. “That’s why All-Under-Heaven is in the state it is today!”
“How dare you!” Clouded Sky levelled his sword at Iron Maiden. “Fine, I’ll show you whether I can attack!”
He launched himself toward her, attacking from above using Taishan Pressing Down the Apex. At once, Iron Maiden flitted aside. Clouded Sky expected her to counter with a diagonal attack to his lower body. For a moment, it seemed that this was what she was doing, but instead she performed a flip in the air. One of her feet flashed out and hit an acupoint on the side of his neck. Clouded Sky’s body immediately locked in place, sword arm extended stiffly before him. With the acupoint sealed, his qi could no longer flow freely. His head buzzed with pain. Back on her feet, Iron Maiden put a hand to her mouth.
“Oh no! I didn’t know I could do that. I was going to let you show me, I promise.”
Was she mocking him now? But Clouded Sky didn’t have time for anger. From where he stood immobile he noticed the tall conifers growing on the hillside beginning to wave as if stirred by a strong wind.
But there was no wind.
“Don’t worry about losing face, hero,” Iron Maiden said. “I won’t tell anyone I defeated you in one stance.”
Incredibly, she seemed sincere. But at this moment he wasn’t worried about face. More and more of the trees began to wave. A flash of light came from one deep within the forest. Blades! Clouded Sky summoned all his energy, but only a strangled sound escaped his throat. Iron Maiden took no notice.
“What are you carrying, hero?” She reached behind Clouded Sky’s back and pulled the wooden box from his shoulders. “You’ve been taking good care of this, I can tell.”
The trees shuddered, and Clouded Sky saw a glimpse of colour. Black and red—Imperial guards! Someone from the tavern must have talked. He attempted to calm his mind enough to summon the internal force required to unlock the sealed acupoint, but it was useless. He was too agitated.
Still oblivious to the approaching danger, Iron Maiden slid open the carved box. She reached inside and lifted up a short truncheon with a blade mounted on the end and a tassel of white silk.
“A broken spear?” She lifted a quizzical eyebrow at him.
Behind her, the trees shook wildly.
As Iron Maiden looked into the mirror-bright spear blade her eyes widened. She struck Clouded Sky’s acupoint and turned in the same motion, whirling the broken spear before her. Not a moment too soon. Two flying daggers hummed from the trees.
“The beastly Emperor!” Iron Maiden swatted the deadly blades aside and launched herself into the air.
The imperial guards shouted as they leaped from the treetops, cleaving the air with spears and sabres. Clouded Sky stomped on the weapon-box Iron Maiden had dropped, flipping it into his left hand. He had just enough time to sling it over his shoulders. Then the guards were on him.
For a moment, Clouded Sky wondered if he was as poor a martial artist as Iron Maiden seemed to think. How would he stand up to the Emperor’s highly-trained guards? But to his relief, he found that none of them had a skill like his. Clouded Sky’s sword was faster than sight, and his Wudang Sect Mystical Sword Style made an impenetrable defense around him. Quickly, he burst through their encirclement.
Closer to the trees, Iron Maiden fought a ring of guards, attacking with her right palm and defending with the broken spear in her left hand. With most of the Emperor’s men busy fighting her, Clouded Sky could take this opportunity to slip down the mountain, mount his horse, and ride away.
But that would mean losing the spear.
He pelted toward Iron Maiden as two more daggers flew from the treetops. Not breaking stride, Clouded Sky deflected them into the fight before him.
They sank into the acupoints of two combatants, who collapsed with howls of pain. Clouded Sky leaped over their bodies and landed
beside Iron Maiden. Quickly, the rest of the guards encircled them. Back to back, Clouded Sky and Iron Maiden waited for them to charge. Instead, a black-clad swordsman leaped from the treetops, soaring through the air to land effortlessly before them. He wore a hood and mask, but the sword in his hand bore a yellow tassel.
The Imperial Sword’s voice was a hoarse whisper. “A righteous hero doesn’t shed blood unnecessarily. Surrender now and we’ll let you live!”
Clouded Sky spat. “Don’t pretend to be righteous, Snow Wind! I know the Emperor commissioned you to kill me!”
The Imperial Sword looked at him calmly. “I no longer have the name I once had. But you know less than you think, Clouded Sky! We did not travel all this way to find you.” He made a gesture in the direction of the downward path, and the guards stood aside, opening up a way to freedom. “None of my men will stop you leaving. It’s the girl we want.”
“Come and get me!” Iron Maiden shouted, stamping her foot. “I’m not afraid!”
So they would let him leave? Clouded Sky didn’t believe it for an instant. The Emperor would never subdue Hubei without crushing every single one of the Roaring Tiger rebels!
He should never have risked the greater good by coming here to fight Iron Maiden. But maybe he could still find a way to leave the fight. Without relaxing his stance, he said,
“Miss Iron, give me my spear!”
Iron Maiden did not move.
“Fine, I’ll give it back. But first you should ask the Imperial Sword why he came all the way from Nanjing to arrest humble self. You, hero, are Clouded Sky, last leader of the Roaring Tiger rebels! Why does he tell you to leave? Why does he prefer to harass an ignorant girl?”
“Excellent question!” Clouded Sky turned to the Imperial Sword. “Answer her.”
The Imperial Sword bowed slightly.
“Miss Iron is not so ignorant as she says, hero! She comes from Ten Thousand Thorns Temple.”
“Ten Thousand Thorns Temple?” Clouded Sky laughed. “That’s a story for children!”
“That doesn’t mean it’s not real,” Iron Maiden said. She threw the broken spear into the air. “Catch!”
Many things happened at once. Iron Maiden charged the guards, the force of her palms sweeping up a raging wind. Clouded Sky leaped into the air to catch the spear—but so did the Imperial Sword. In the same instant, both of them caught hold of it, the Imperial Sword by the broken haft, Clouded Sky by the steel below the blade. When Clouded Sky tried to yank it away from the Imperial Sword with a well-placed kick, his opponent blocked him.
They landed on the ground. The Imperial Sword stabbed towards Clouded Sky’s Heaven’s Five Meetings acupoint, but he blocked the blow with his sword. Their internal forces met, slamming the combatants back, and the Imperial Sword lost his grip on the spear.
At once, Clouded Sky reversed his grip. Now he had two weapons. He turned, looking for the path down the mountain, but found that Iron Maiden at his back fighting off what seemed like all the guards at once.
“Stay with me, hero!” she called to him. “Watch my back!”
Then she attacked, palms and fists and feet flying. She feinted left and attacked right; her feet struck north and south at once. With each stroke, she felled a man. Sabres and spears hummed around her head, but she paid no attention to her back. The Imperial Sword dashed in and aimed a piercing flurry of strokes at her acupoints, but Clouded Sky met him with his sword.
In the chaos of the fight, he thought she spared him a smile.
Then they burst through the encirclement and could unleash their lightness skill. Their flight brought them down the jagged cliffs and tumbled stone of the mountain in a swift, plummeting series of leaps and bounds.
Clouded Sky’s horse was tethered among the bamboo at the foot of the mountain. Clouded Sky reached him first, and rather than untie the halter he sliced it with his sword as he vaulted into the saddle. A moment later Iron Maiden settled as lightly as a bird behind him. Two more flying daggers hissed down from the heights of the mountain and buried themselves in the bamboo stems beside them. Clouded Sky snatched one of them as the horse sprang into motion.
Just in time. Spears rained down behind them with a racket of splitting and singing bamboo.
As the white horse sped into a gallop, Iron Maiden laughed. “They won’t catch us now. What a beautiful horse! What’s his name?”
“Flying Crane.”
“Flying Crane,” she repeated in delight. She said the name in a way that made the horse, in some indefinable way, hers.
Once they had left the mountain a safe distance behind them, Clouded Sky slowed the horse to a trot.
“We shouldn’t be together, Miss Iron. When we’re safe, you should leave.”
She laughed again. “Hero has decided not to kill me, then?”
He ignored the comment. “The Imperial Sword is dangerous. Do you see these?” He held up the flying dagger so she could see it over his shoulder. “Venomous Knives. They are used by a renegade martial artist named Snow Wind.”
“Snow Wind,” Iron Maiden repeated thoughtfully. “I don’t think I’ve exchanged stances with anyone going by that name.”
“He uses the name Imperial Sword now. He’s dangerous. Even if I could handle him, I can’t fight forty imperial guards on my own. If we split up, the Imperial Sword will be forced to divide his men and hunt both of us.”
“If we split up, he’ll look for me. He said he was willing to let you go.”
“The word of an evil one means nothing at all!” Clouded Sky gritted his teeth. “I’m a rebel, and now the self-styled Emperor has to kill me to prove the righteousness of his authority. He must execute me just as he executed my foster-father Roaring Tiger and my blood-brother Broken Spear. Not only that, but I’m the only one left who might be able to unite the Mount Jing troops and force the Emperor’s Red Turbans to leave Hubei. Believe me, they will come for me.”
Iron Maiden was silent for a moment. “Clouded Sky dage, I’m sorry.”
Dage. Elder brother. Now he belonged to her.
She tapped the wooden box across his shoulders. “So, the spear belonged to your blood-brother?”
He nodded. “I’m taking it back to our master at Wudang Mountain. It was his last wish.”
“How did the Emperor capture them?”
He’d fled all the way from Nanjing hiding his face, not daring to speak to anyone, grieving the loss of his dearest friends in the world. What did it say for the injustice in this world that this renegade girl was the only person he could trust? Clouded Sky sighed.
“We were in correspondence with a number of officials at the Emperor’s court. Upon certain concessions from Duke Roaring Tiger, they would convince the Emperor to withdraw his troops from our territory. Roaring Tiger believed they were sincere, but they insisted on a personal meeting. So we went to Nanjing in disguise.” He struggled to suppress his emotion as he remembered what happened next. “When Roaring Tiger and Broken Spear went to see the officials, they were met by imperial guards.
“As luck would have it, I didn’t go to the meeting. I fell ill and had to remain at our lodgings. By the time I found out what was happening, Roaring Tiger and Broken Spear had both been executed for treason.
“I should have listened to Broken Spear. Before he left he told me he was afraid something was going to happen. He made me promise that if anything happened to him, I would return his spear to Wudang Mountain.”
“The Vastly Martial Emperor must be stopped,” Iron Maiden said softly.
“How?” Clouded Sky sighed. “Some would say he has the Mandate of Heaven. Maybe it’s true. It would explain why none can resist him.”
Iron Maiden snorted. “With that attitude, Elder will certainly fail! To stop a man like the Emperor one must have a vanquish-dragons-and-subdue-tigers ability, a contain-the-river-and-embrace-the-ocean vision! How can a robber and murderer like the Vastly Martial Emperor have the Mandate of Heaven?”
“Miss
Iron, how can humble self judge the Emperor’s actions to be right or wrong? I prefer to accept what is and work for the greater good.” Clouded Sky spoke politely but through gritted teeth. Iron Maiden was nothing but a peasant bandit, making ignorant and foolish judgements. Here was All-Under-Heaven in war and chaos, and all she cared about was terrorising people and trying to prove herself supreme in martial arts!
“The night before he died,” Clouded Sky continued, “Broken Spear told me of the vision in his heart. A world without chaos, without massacres and wars. A world where all life is precious and loved, even little birds in their nests. A world where we might live at peace in our homes, tilling the earth, instead of fighting for our survival…” He cleared his throat. “Miss Iron, maybe it is small, but I would prefer to spend my life fighting to make Broken Spear’s vision come true. Not trying to prove myself supreme in the martial arts world.”
“Humility is not the same thing as smallness, dage. The real question is, do you believe it can come true? And are you willing to do whatever necessary to bring it about?”
Clouded Sky bowed his head. “I must. It’s not just my own vision. It’s Broken Spear’s, too.”
Flying Crane jogged on steadily for a few paces before Iron Maiden spoke again.
“There is a way to achieve this vision, dage. And I know how it can be done. In seeking to exchange stances with martial artists, I am not trying to prove my supremacy. I am looking for a worthy ally. Ever since I left Ten Thousand Thorns Temple, I have been searching the whole martial arts world for someone with the kind of vision and ability that we need. Please, let me tell you the whole story.”
Hero knows that one hundred years ago, the last Song Emperors struggled to rule a divided world. Those were the days of the great Yuan invasion from beyond the Wall. With their horse-mounted armies, they pierced through the Wall and began to conquer All-Under-Heaven. The first to fall were the kingdoms of Jin and Xia. Finally, the last Song army was defeated at the Battle of Yamen. Seeing the defeat, General Lu Xiufu took the boy Emperor in his arms and hurled himself into the sea. The leader of the conquering Yuans proclaimed himself Emperor, the Lord of a Thousand Years, the first man in five hundred years to rule all Under-Heaven.
Ten Thousand Thorns_A Fairy Tale Retold Page 2