However, she went to see Lihua to warn her of Fang’s concern. Lihua in turn went to see the old lady.
“I am told that Fang is worried, my Lady,” she told Lanfen.
“What can possibly be worrying Fang, I wonder? My son tells me that he is always on the edge of going mad. Meanwhile, my daughter-in-law is conferring with her brother. Ai ya! but I can hear his whining even from here.”
Lady Lanfen had gradually come to like Lihua, having found her not only very polite but a very capable house manager. Her former reservations had been dispelled by recent events. The fact that she shared her son’s bed was a matter of indifference to her.
“Who told you of this... this problem?” Lanfen asked Lihua.
“It was Rav’an, my Lady,” she responded.
“Hmm, those people seem to have a nose for trouble,” Lady Lanfen said. “Perhaps it is because they face danger all the time in their world. I am glad we do not have such problems here.”
That afternoon, while they were all seated on the balcony of the guest house playing dominoes, Rav’an stretched and sighed.
“I wish Talon were here. It is so peaceful and pleasant; I could almost stay in China forever. What is it that has made me fall in love with China?” she asked the world at large. “The colors are so intense. The life is so intense. They say that whatever it is that you seek, you shall find it here in Guangzhou!” She laughed happily.
Jannat smiled and placed a domino block on the table with a snap. Reza groaned. “You have taken my place!” he grumped. “I was going to do that.”
“Lihua taught me well. I shall take the set in a minute!” she chortled happily.
Reza, who was eating some small pieces of squid with his chop sticks, suddenly jabbed at something in the air. A morsel of squid flew off and landed in Jannat’s lap.
“Reza, what are you doing?” she demanded. “Look, you have spoiled my dress!” she complained.
“Uncle Reza is trying to catch flies, Auntie Jannat,” Rostam told her. Reza glowered at him, looking sheepish, which made the boy giggle.
“What is this about?” Rav’an asked from where she was seated with some embroidery work in her lap.
“Uncle Reza and Papa are trying to be like the warriors of the Nippon and catch flies with their chopsticks. It means that they are very, very fast if they can do it. Papa is faster than Uncle Reza, he nearly got one,” Rostam volunteered.
Reza leveled a threatening chopstick at Rostam, who sent him a cheeky grin.
“Fang told us a story about a Samurai from the Nippon who was so fast with his chop sticks that he could catch flies in midair. No one dared to fight him because he was so fast,” he explained, sounding embarrassed.
“You men! You think of the silliest things to do,” Jannat scolded him, wiping her dress. “No more of that at this table,” she ordered. “Concentrate your speed on this game, where I am beating you.”
*****
It was almost dusk when they the heard a shout at the gates. In a flash Reza was up and had seized his bow. Yosef and Dar’an jumped to their feet and joined him to move swiftly towards the main gates. Reza looked back at the women, but Rav’an was already moving towards the stairs that would take her and Jannat out of the way, and to where her own bow was waiting.
“Rostam!” she called as they went.
“Rostam, where are you?” she called again, more urgently this time, becoming alarmed. Rostam had wandered off with Lun.
“Reza, Rostam is not here!” she called out to the departing men. “Please find him!”
“We will look for him immediately,” Reza called back, as he ran towards the gates and the agitated guards, who had just opened the gates.
Fuling stagger inside, supporting Fang, who appeared to be wounded. There was blood all down one side, and his left arm hung loose.
“What happened?” Reza demanded, as they eased Fang off the exhausted Fuling.
“They waited until we were on this side of the river where there are fewer people, and then attacked us. We fought them off. But one got behind us and struck Fang in the arm. Then they ran off because he killed two of them.”
“How many were there?” Reza asked him, as they half-carried Fang towards the guest rooms where Reza knew Rav’an would be able to dress the wound. It didn’t look mortal, but Fang appeared to have lost much blood. The guards hastily shut the gates behind them. Reza wondered how useful they would be in an emergency; they looked frightened.
“There were six of them. I have never seen any of them before. They were certainly after me, perhaps for a ransom?”
Reza nodded. Under the present circumstances he thought that it might well be the case. Fuling told Reza that he was going to the main house to warn the servants of trouble, and ran off. It was now dusk, and darker shadows were beginning to form. The last of the red streaks in the clouds above had faded, leaving everything in tones of gray.
Reza turned to look for Rostam. It was not unusual for him to be playing with Lun, too preoccupied to notice the passing of time. Reza made for the stables.
It was very quiet, except for the horses themselves. The placid sound of them munching hay and the occasional stamp of a hoof to ward off flies was the only sound he could hear. He walked closer and heard the low sound of the boy’s voices, which stopped abruptly.
“Uncle Reza! Look out!” Rostam screamed.
Reza instinctively ducked and spun on his heel at the same time. The man who had run towards him had made almost no noise at all and was about to strike downward with a sword. Reza drew and struck without thinking. His blade sliced into the side of the unarmored man and stopped him in his tracks. In a split second Reza was up and his sword lashed out like a striking snake. He barely felt the shock of the blow as the man’s head tumbled to the ground, closely followed by the trunk. There had been scarcely a sound throughout the engagement. He felt a cold sweat come over him with the reaction. He should have heard the man! Were they that good?
The two boys stood rooted to the ground with shock at what they had just witnessed. Reza realized there was no time to waste. With a hasty look around for more intruders, Reza seized Rostam by the hand. “Come on, Lun!” he whispered urgently, giving the frozen boy a nudge with his elbow. The three of them raced across the compound to the guest house, where Yosef stood at the entrance.
“Keep them close, Yosef, we are having visitors. You and Dar’an defend this place. I must go to the main house.” He turned away, but then saw two dark figures coming towards him. Both held swords in the ready to strike position.
Reza went on guard immediately. “Stay back, Yosef. Guard those inside!” he called back in Farsi.
The two shadowy figures advanced on Reza, silent and purposeful.
Reza heard rather than saw what happened next. He heard the twang of a bow string behind him; an arrow hissed past and landed with a thump in the chest of one of the shapes, who collapsed to his knees with a gasp before tumbling forward to lie on the pathway. Reza didn’t look back, but he knew who had shot it. Rav’an was standing on the balcony overlooking the entrance, holding a bow; she had a perfect view.
The other figure glanced down at his companion and was just about to flee when Reza leapt forward and skewered him with his sword. The man screamed with agony and fell forward to lie twitching alongside his companion. Only then did Reza look back and raise his sword. “My Lady,” he saluted her. She lifted her hand in acknowledgement as he raced off towards the main house. “Go with God, my Reza,” she murmured, and turned back to help Jannat with Fang, who was struggling to sit up.
“You must rest, Master Fang,” she told him sharply as they pushed him back down onto the mattress.
He began to babble in fast Chinese which the girls didn’t understand, so Rav’an said to him, “Speak slowly, Fang. We cannot understand you.”
He looked at her feverishly. “They are coming. Just as Lord Meng said they would. I, I have called the dojo for help....” He finished with a
sigh and closed his eyes. Beads of sweat had appeared on his forehead with the exertion, but then his eyes snapped open. “You must bind up this arm!” He waved his bleeding arm at them, scattering drops of blood all over the bed. “I go now to fight!”
Rav’an knew when she was dealing with a man who could not be deterred, so she and Jannat bound up his upper left arm and helped him to his feet. “Where is my sword!” he almost shouted. She handed it to him and he seemed to calm down when he hefted it and nodded.
“You stay here, and I shall go and kill them all!” he growled. He stamped off down the stairs with new energy, his still bloody sword held high in his right hand.
“He is quite mad!” Rav’an told Jannat as they watched him stride across the short distance to the main house where Reza had already disappeared.
“I’m glad he is on our side. I do hope Reza is going to be safe,” she fretted.
“Come, those two boys are looking shocked for some reason,” Rav’an said, and led the way to find Rostam and Lun.
*****
Fang met Reza at the entrance to the main house. It took a moment for Fang to register that it was Reza, but then he grated a word of welcome.
“I have come to fulfill my obligations. Where is the young Lord Meng?”
“I am here, Fang,” Fuling said. He held up a Nippon style sword for Fang to see.
“Good, then there are three of us to fight whoever comes,” Fang muttered.
“Who is it that is coming?” Reza asked.
“The enemies of Lord Meng. They are coming,” Lihua called from the doorway to the main house.
Reza whirled. “Are they still after that box of gems?” he asked, staring at her. “You should be inside with the doors shut, Lihua.”
“I will do what I can, Reza, thank you. Yes, they are still after them, I am sure of it.”
“Are they here?” he asked in Arabic, referring to the jewels.
“They are safe... somewhere else,” she told him in the same language. “I don’t think anyone told them, which is why they are back,” she finished dryly.
Reza snorted with amusement. Lihua was a plucky girl.
The three men edged back into the shadows by the entrance to wait for anything that might happen. Reza hoped that the enemy, whomsoever they were, would have had enough. They had lost three men already.
He tensed. There was the sound of many running feet in the growing darkness.
“Reza! We are here, let us in!” Rav’an called in a low tone as she rushed towards them.
He realized what she had done, the rest of the family and the servants from the guest house were with her. Better to have them all in the same place than vulnerable in separate houses. He wished that he could have been able to send a message to his boat crew to come and help. The prospect of a full scale assault on the compound was not appetizing. He wondered what the guards were doing at the front gate. He had not heard a thing from the ones who were supposed to be patrolling the wall at the back. They were probably dead by now, he reasoned.
“Come inside, quickly!” he called out to Rav’an. They all rushed past him into the courtyard.
“I didn’t think it wise to stay separated, Reza,” Rav’an explained with a nervous edge to her voice.
“You did the right thing, Rav’an. I should have thought of it myself. Go to Lihua upstairs; she will look after the boys.”
“I brought my bow, and so did Yosef and Dar’an,” she told him.
“Good! Go upstairs to the balcony where you will have a better view and prepare yourselves. We might need you, again.”
*****
Lady Meng Meilin was aware that something was going on but could not get out of bed. Lihua sent one of the maids up to keep her company. The servants who would normally help her were downstairs in the living rooms, where Lihua had told them to stay for the night for their own safety. After comforting Meilin, who had temporarily forgotten that Lihua was her competitor in the matrimonial bed and taken from her a small dose of a powder that would help her sleep, Lihua went to see the old lady.
She found her calm and unruffled and aware of the danger; her maid had told her in hysterical bursts. “Are you all right?” the old lady inquired from her chair in the room.
Lihua smiled, she had been about to ask the same question. Lady Lanfen refused to go to bed in the present circumstances. Lihua admired her for her courage.
“It is about time Hsü came home,” Lanfen remarked to Lihua, who nodded. “Yes, my lady, it has now been almost six weeks.”
They both heard a noise outside on the balcony of something heavy landing on it, a sound of scraping, and a light clink of metal.
They exchanged looks with wide eyes, then Lady Lanfen signaled Lihua to get the attention of the others.
Lihua rushed silently to the balcony on the other side of the building and tapped Rav’an on the shoulder. Rav’an whirled in alarm.
‘Oh, it’s you, Lihua. You gave me such a fright!” she whispered.
“There is someone coming up from the other side of the house!” Lihua whispered urgently, then she whirled around and disappeared. Lihua was not going to leave Lady Lanfen to face danger alone. She left the door to the corridor open so others could follow, then went to back to the old lady. With all her strength, she lifted her out of her chair and carried her to a small stool in a dark corner near to a wardrobe, where she put her down and whispered, “Forgive my impertinence, my Lady, but I must protect you!” She pulled out a long knife she carried. She snuffed out the candle, plunging them into darkness. They held their breath and waited.
There was a small scraping sound at the doorway that led to the balcony, and they could see the door open very slowly. A dark figure crept into the room. It was so dark they could not see the color of the clothing nor the face, just the pitch black shape that moved.
Lihua heard a small sound outside the door to the corridor at the same time as the intruder, who froze. A figure stepped into the opening, and before the intruder could react a bow twanged and an arrow struck flesh with a loud thump.
The figure jerked, then hissed with pain, indicating that the arrow had at least struck; but he then leapt towards the doorway where Rav’an still stood. Evidently he could see her silhouette and wanted to grapple with her before another arrow found its mark. Lihua moved quickly, throwing herself at the dark figure and dragging him down to the floor. Another hiss, this time of surprise and anger. Lihua tried to hold onto the kicking and slashing intruder. One kick landed on her shoulder, nearly breaking her collarbone. It knocked her backwards to land on her rump with a yelp of pain. Rav’an had meanwhile stepped into the room where she could only just perceive the two on the floor. She proceeded to poke hard with the end of the bow at where she thought his face might be. It struck something soft and she was rewarded with a roar of pain. Her chest tight with fear she decided that the best thing to do was to keep attacking so she lifted the bow and beat down at the black figure nearest to her with the bow.
“Take that!” she shouted with pent up fear. Whack! went the bow on the figure’s back. “Ouy!” shouted the figure.
Whack! Whack! Whack! “Ouch! Ouch!” snarled the intruder giving up all pretense of stealth. “Take that! And that!” yelled Rav’an, desperately hammering at him on the head with the bow, wishing that she had a spear instead.
The blows raining down on the intruder and the recent wound he had received convinced him to abandon his mission and to try for an avenue of escape. He whirled around, trying to find the open balcony.
By this time Jannat had arrived at the doorway, holding a lantern on high. She gasped at the sight of the thrashing figures on the floor and of Rav’an belaboring the back of a man on hands and knees in front of her. Jannat instinctively drew her own knife with a cry of warning to Lihua, who was right in the path of the intruder as he scrambled to his feet and headed her way. An arrow was still embedded in his shoulder but he was still very much alive, and now he was enraged. He roared
with pain and frustration as he ducked and dodged the blows from Rav’an, who followed him, yelling abuse at him all the while. Lihua stuck her foot out as the man stumbled past, bringing him back down on all fours.
He lashed out with his blade and caught her forearm in a painful slashing stroke, forcing a cry of pain from her. Then Rav’an threw herself onto his back, which caused him to fall on his side. He stabbed backwards at Rav’an but she wriggled out of the way just in time and the blade thumped into the wooden floor.
“Pedar Sag!” she yelled, by now thoroughly angry and clawed at his face from behind, going for his eyes and trying to bite his ear at the same time.
“Arrgg!” He roared and dropped his knife to protect himself. Lihua was on hands and knees, crawling towards him. She reached for the abandoned knife which she now clutched with a murderous look in her eyes. He struggled even harder as he realized what she was about to do.
“Do it Lihua!” Rav’an screamed from behind the struggling man. With another cry, this time of rage and fear, Lihua reached forward and stabbed down at his chest. He shouted something at her and knocked her arm aside, but then Rav’an, still yelling and struggling half under him, caught and held onto his arm just long enough for Lihua to raise her knife high and with a yell of her own stab downwards with all her strength. This time the knife went home between his ribs and into his heart.
There was a huge jerk from their adversary as he gave a strangled shout; then he relaxed and was still, his body now draped backwards over the supine Rav’an. There was a heavy silence in the room, other than the labored breathing of the women as they realized what had happened. Rav’an was the first to recover. She pushed hard at the deadweight of the body lying across her. “Jannat help me! He’s bleeding all over me, houuf!” she gasped, as she struggled to get the body off.
Jannat rushed forward to help her, and between them they managed to shove the body out of the way. Then the three women, still kneeling, disheveled and frightened, stared at one another.
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