by Matt Elam
“What happened?”
“The mistress arrived with a small band of Manchu soldiers,” he gasped. I poured a half liter of water into his mouth. “We had more fighters than them, but…but - ”
“What is it, Chu?”
“They had fire sticks, Master,” he said.
I repeated the words, fire sticks.
“Yes,” he said, spitting blood from his mouth. “They were long and dark as the night,” he said, his eyes full of terror. “They would sparkle at the ends, and then, then, they would rip holes into our rebels’ chests.”
I began to understand what had happened to the rebels of Plum Orchard. Donald confirmed my suspicion. The men parted ways as Jinx walked toward me, an object in his hand.
“Look familiar?” he asked.
It did.
“This is the same Star Wars-type gun that Christopher Morgan and his crew used in the Eisenhower shooting.”
Slipping away proved to be much more challenging this time around. She took ground passionflower and mixed it in with dinner in order to induce deep slumber. It worked and gave her the opportunity to borrow a horse and leave Widow’s Tears undetected.
She had felt distracted since the news of Tina Wattson.
As she approached the entrance to the estate, she was met with the same sentries as before, and they performed the exact same task of moving out of her way, and opening the gates.
She walked quickly down the hallway until she reached the doors to the councils’ chambers. She took a deep breath, and then pushed one of the doors ajar.
“Lieutenant Chai, this is unexpected,” said Council One.
“I apologize for the intrusion, m’lord, but I have received word that Bai Ray’s best friend was murdered by Eddie Tang,” said Lieutenant Chai.
“Yes, that is correct,” said Council One.
Chai knew that Eddie Tang was a loyalist to the Immaculate Chancellor, so she chose her next words wisely.
“My cover has been assigned to monitoring Eddie Tang through his son, Benny,” she said. “Will not bringing Bai Ray’s best friend into the picture, and murdering her, no less, cause suspicion in the other world?”
“Lieutenant, we don’t know why some decisions are made and others not,” interjected Council Five, “ but we trust in the wisdom of our exalted Dark Supreme Chancellor.”
So, it was the chancellor who gave the order to kill Tina. That’s all she needed to know.
Thirty-Nine
THE MANCHU HAD TAKEN Plum Orchard, thanks to Mistress Mei Li and her fire weapons. A scout had returned that morning and told us that they had set up a base camp roughly eighteen hundred red boats or six hundred miles to our northwest. Assuming they were travelling by horseback, I estimated that it gave us less than twenty-four hours to either retreat or fight.
But retreat where? Further south? No. Many of these villagers migrated from the south because they were scared to death of the sea and its terminal edge point. I told Donald that we had to stay and protect Widow’s Tears and her neighboring towns.
“With what?” said Jinx, looking around the village. “Sticks and glass swords?”
I swiftly pulled a sword with a translucent blade from the sheath of a nearby rebel. I twirled it twice vertically. “This isn’t glass, Donnie.” I threw a backhand cut toward the brim of his straw hat, cleaving two protruding pieces, which popped upward and then hit the dirt.
Donald instinctively lunged backward. “Jesus Christ, Johnny!” he said.
“It’s not glass. It’s trisiliconate, the Second Sun’s version of metal.”
“You couldn’t have just told me that?”
“I guess I could have,” I said, shrugging, “but you wouldn’t have appreciated it as much if I had.”
“Oh, I would have appreciated it, all right. I guarantee you. I would appreciate you not cutting my face off to prove a point,” scolded Donald.
“Relax, I wasn’t even close to hitting your face.” I winked at him. “But I could’ve easily done so if I wanted to.”
“Nah, you saw how fast I jerked back, right? I would have ducked and weaved out of the way,” bragged Donald.
“Then I would have followed it up with an upward slash and split your penis in half.” I demonstrated the exact cut that would have completely destroyed his pleasure organ.
“You would have tried, but I would have done a back handspring and moved out of the line of the blade and - ”
“When have you ever done a back handspring in your life, man?” I snorted.
With arms crossed, Bai stood there and watched us exchange insults. She felt it had all the makings of a second grade recess tussle. “Boys? Can we focus, please?”
Time was of the essence. We took inventory of every single weapon available by having them laid out in the middle of the street near Biao’s home. Most of the weapons were wooden poles of various lengths. The staff was a trademark staple of Shaolin kung fu. In fact, it was the first weapon I initially learned as a young boy. As powerful as it was, as Donnie had mentioned earlier about my knife, it wouldn’t stand a chance in a gun fight.
“Hey, those are metal swords,” said Donald, pointing to a pile of them.
“I brought those from our world.” I counted them along with the local bladed weapons. “Okay, that gives us thirty-one swords, fifty staffs, and a few other miscellaneous weapons.”
“Do not forget the bow and arrows, Master,” said Biao, pointing to the shed behind the modest-sized opera house.
I snapped my fingers. “Ah, yes! Very good. Biao, you’re the man. We’ve got twenty or so of those.”
It turned out we had twenty-four working bows.
Donald could tell I was troubled.
“What’s wrong?” he said.
“Well, if it was ancient weapons versus ancient weapons, I like our chances.” I shook my head. “But two dozen E-11 looking blasters? This is going to be a slaughter.”
“Maybe not,” said Donald, rubbing his chin. “If a ground troop could engage them, initially, and draw them in deep, we could attack from both flanks. If they get sucked in too deeply, because they feel they have superior firepower, we might be able to surround them in a full circle.”
I was very grateful to have Donald’s soldiering skills assisting with the battle plan.
Donald took a look around the village. “Unfortunately, this place is too flat and spread out for that to happen.”
“High ground,” I blurted out.
“Exactly,” said Jinx, a bit surprised by my military insight.
The lights turned on upstairs in a big way. “The marketplace!” I said.
Forty
THE CONTINGENCY PLAN WAS set. Dut would go through the bi-layer and contact Sifu on my mobile phone. Since Bai and Donald refused to return to the First Sun without me, Dut was the only villager who could operate the device reasonably well.
We stood there in the middle of the market square, horse carriages flipped over and large rock piles serving as a barrier between us and the enemy, looming on the horizon.
I knelt down to speak face-to-face with Dut. “You know what to do, right?”
“Yes, Master,” he said.
“Explain it to me once more.” One of the best football coaches I ever had told me once that: ‘A player is only as good as his preparation.’ Even though the boy and I had gone through it countless times before, I wished to hear it from his lips one more time.
“I find the opening, which you have marked for me. I push through and bend my knees because it will become very, very heavy in the tunnel,” he said.
I nodded.
“Once I am out of the tunnel and in your world, I will use the small tablet with words, and find the photo of Master Cheung. I will then stay where I am and not move until Master has come to get me.”
“What if you hear someone coming when you’re in the other world and waiting for Cheung Sifu?”
“I will hide behind the rocks in the tall brush,” said Dut.<
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“Good, Dut,” I said, putting my hand on his shoulder.
Biao came running toward us. “They’re coming, Master.”
The boy hugged me tight, and I hugged him back. “Go now.”
He gave Biao a hug and ran in the opposite direction of the oncoming Manchu army.
There were only four structures in the marketplace that had more than one story. Donald and seven other archers were positioned up in the west facing apartment complex. I gave a thumbs up and he returned it. This was our agreement. If he stayed, it would be up above the fight, and not on the ground level.
My head swung to the three-story structure to my right. Bai was with another small squad of archers there. I struck a similar deal with her.
The Manchu’s war horn could now be heard. I knew once the green Qing flag could be seen, there was no going back.
For me, the hardest part of a battle was the time right before it started. There was quite a bit of odd and twisted shit that runs through a man’s head before he lays his life on the line. You could go through the entire preparation process as confident as could be, but moments before the event begins, you feel like the least capable human being on the planet.
At that instant, I wondered why that was. The Qing Dynasty flag popped into view, and that instant of self-doubt was gone.
It was go time.
From his elevated station, Jinx counted at least two-dozen blasters in total. He noted the Manchurians had the ugliest ‘tonsured head and queue’ hairstyles he’d ever seen. There was an attractive woman with long black hair and a long black cape following behind the army on a white horse. As they rode through the town, making their way to the marketplace, she studied the entrance, from left to right.
“Stop!” she commanded.
The Manchu came to halt.
She gracefully dismounted from her horse, and rooted her feet into the ground, bending at the knees slightly. She brought her arms in and then out, index fingers pointing toward the sky.
Biao looked at me in panic. She was using the First Dark Elixir internal breathing to enhance her hearing, listening for disturbances in object continuity. If allowed to reach full power, she would have certainly have discovered our ruse.
I planted my feet and matched her internal breathing. My left arm to her right arm and vice versa.
At first, the cross energy startled her, and she nearly lost the connection to the elements, but regained composure, and dropped her breathing deep into her perineal floor. She was now attempting to access enhanced vision.
I sunk my horse stance and pushed the breath lower as well. As long as I was connected to this specific position, she could not obtain a heightened sensory function. My bet was that she couldn’t hold the horse stance as long as I could. I was betting not only my life on that assumption, but also the lives of Bai, Donald, and the Ming rebels of southern China.
Forty-One
AFTER FIVE MINUTES IN low Sei Ping Ma, Mei Li’s legs began to shake uncontrollably. She let out a groan and placed her hands on her upper thighs, rubbing them to flush out lactic acid accumulation. She was pissed, no doubt about it. She flung herself back on her horse. This time, however, it was not quite as smooth as the dismount.
“Let’s move. We will use the horses for our assault.”
I ascended from the low stance and shook out my lower body. I nodded to Biao that we were still a go. He alerted the other stations.
Mistress Mei Li and the Manchu entered the marketplace at a steady walk. The tension in the air hung over the main streets like a thick wool blanket. Mei Li wanted this town particularly bad because it was for all intents and purposes, my town. I had to give it to her though, she was exhibiting great restraint for a person who harbored all that hate inside.
“Where are you, John?” she bellowed, smiling her wicked smile.
The horses walked forward.
“I know you’re here. Why don’t you and the Ming rats you protect just give us this town, John? You don’t want what happened in Ho Jing to happen here, do you?”
I swallowed hard, knowing she was trying to get under my skin. The problem was she knew me, and how I could wear my emotions on my sleeve at times.
“What was that little girl’s name, John?” she said. “Just think. You caused her death. You have to live with that, John.”
Jinx watched the scene from above. He knew his best friend was still haunted by that event, but now was no time to lose his shit.
Bai was on the other side of the street with her bow drawn taut, ready to send an arrow through the mistress.
Their forces were only halfway into the square at that moment. I clenched my jaw. I knew Donald was awaiting my signal.
“I know you’re here, John. You used your First Immortal training to block my powers.”
Nothing but silence.
She gave the order to move faster now, and the horses transitioned to a canter.
Come on, twenty more yards to get that tail end inside the marketplace. From my position behind a rock pile, I raised my hand. I caught a glimpse of Donald’s head peeking over the window frame.
Ten yards.
The horses gained momentum.
Five yards.
It was go time. I dropped my fist, and it set off a chain of events. At the market’s entrance, four rebels exploded from their underground positions each holding a covered straw basket. The tops were lifted and four aroused cobras sprung forth toward the horses.
As expected, the horses began to buck, and two Manchu hit the ground hard. This caused the stern of the assault team to run into the rear of its bow counterparts. Even Mei Li looked behind her.
As she did, Donald gave the signal, and his team rained down arrow after arrow into the middle of the moving forces.
A few Manchu raised their rifles and sprayed rounds into the second floor, where Jinx and his men were camped out. “Down!” he ordered, grabbing a rebel and tackling him to the ground.
While this was happening, Bai and her squad began firing their bolts into the enemy’s perimeter. A Manchu was struck in the chest and fell from his horse.
A rifle was aimed in the direction of Bai’s nesting position. Round-after-round tore the wood paneling and window frames to shreds, forcing Bai and her team to fall back.
With the lust for blood in her eyes, Mei Li kicked her horse and trotted toward the barrier where myself and twenty other men crouched waiting. Some of the Qing began circling around, so they could square up with the multiple story buildings where our archers were located. Two of our men were hit, and fell out of the window frames to their death.
“Here she comes,” I warned. The men readied their swords and staffs.
The mistress caught me off guard. I was expecting her to race around one of the corners of our makeshift wall, but instead, she elevated herself and horse over a turned over carriage as if in slow motion.
“I’ll deal with her!” I said. “You keep the others from passing the barrier!”
There were only a few Manchu attempting to pass the barrier on each side. The rest were caught up with our snipers, which was what we had hoped for.
Mei Li was in full gallop, preparing her sword for a forehand cut.
I kept my long sword in middle guard position.
As she came in striking distance, she swung downward and scooped her blade upward, attempting to connect vertically with my neck or face. I turned my wrist so that the flat side of my sword was facing her blade. As I did so, I dropped my level into a full lunge position, and cut the hind leg of her horse, dropping them both to the earth.
We were executing our plan to perfection, and holding our own until their reinforcements came storming through the northern entrance, all bearing blaster rifles.
Forty-Two
OUR FOUR MEN WHO carried the snakes were the first to get torn to ribbons by the second wave of Manchurians.
I was going to drive my blade through Mei Li’s heart, but had to support our guys against the
added threat. How I was going to do that exactly, was not clear to me at that time. I was on autopilot.
The arrow supply was dwindling fast. So Jinx ordered his team to take precise shots in favor of quality over quantity. Since he’d lost three of his men, they’d have a slight surplus. Slight, being the operative word.
Bai’s team - what was left of them - relocated to the roof, but Bai was nowhere to be found.
Only half of our ground troop remained.
We were literally overwhelmed by our opponent, and I couldn’t help but feel it was futile to resist. And I never thought that way. Ever. As I was about to throw myself into the line of fire to protect a few of the rebels, I heard a sound behind us, coming from the south.
We spun around to see ten men in black polo shirts with red sashes running our way. In the middle of the pack was Cheung Shum Wah. His Red Lotus warriors were each holding a stack of giant spherical plates, stacked on top of one another. A RL warrior reached me, and dropped the stack at my feet.
“It’s a shield,” I said, holding it up. It was the most brilliant golden-yellow I had ever laid my eyes on with specs of silver scattered throughout. It was also extremely light in my hand.
I saw Cheung Sifu crouch down and repel several rounds off his shield. He twisted his hips ever so slightly, and the bullets ricocheted in three different directions, striking three separate Manchu, killing them almost immediately. I squatted down next to him as his men were passing the bucklers out to the rebels.
“These shields have been infused with the Four Immortals Qi Gung energy. Hold your weapon in one hand and use the shield in the other, and push forward,” he said.
The front of the buckler had the Red Lotus emblem.
“If you bend at the knees you are virtually hidden behind it.”
I grabbed my long sword and charged into the fray. The bullets sounded like hail hitting the rooftop of a car. I placed my blade over the top of the shield and rammed it into the thigh of a passing Manchu. Another man on horseback came right at me, so I pivoted to my left, letting its front leg pass me while simultaneously swinging my shield and sword at its neck. It ended up catching the knee of the rider as well, taking them both off their feet.