“Just a dream little one,” Uncle said, “don’t you know? The reason I began to teach you was your ability to see things that others cannot. I watched you for a long time before I took you in. You don’t remember, but I must tell you now the road ahead is long and dangerous and you will need all your skill to survive and I may not be there to help you.” He hesitated for a moment gathering his thought.
“Tell me what?” Zhoulin said, trying to sound uninterested but she knew nothing of her past and secretly wanted nothing more than to know who she was and why she was with this strange man. He had never talked about it after much urging had become extremely angry with her so she never asked again.
“You are the daughter of my master’s sister. Oh, she was a beautiful one. All the men wanted her. Even a glance from her beautiful eyes was enough to make men wish for much, much more. But she was as talented as she was beautiful.” He looked at Zhoulin for a long moment. “She was a witch of great power,” he said matter-of-factly. “But not just any witch! She was the first in the temple of Sanxingdui.”
Zhoulin looked at him, puzzled “Sanxingdui? San Xing Dui she repeated “this is not possible I have heard of this place it is but a myth. A land of gods and spirits. The place of the king of the long eyes the Shu people.”
Billy said. “What? Long eyes? What the heck does that mean?”
“It is a kingdom of fables, ruled by a strange emperor who is said to be able to see the future and there are many magicians and evil things going on. It is a place to frighten children.
Nothing more. It is the story of an empire that in the end turned to stone. They say that there was a battle between the kingdoms of Sanxingdui and the kingdom in what is now Shanxi. The kingdoms were vast, now only a legend. But as the story is told the king of Sanxingdui chased the king of Shanxi across the mountains of Sichuan through the rivers of Shanxi all the way to Xi’an and there was an epic battle. When it appeared that perhaps the king would lose the battle an evil wizard cast a spell and turned all to stone. But as the story goes the spell was so powerful it caught the wizard even he is encased in stone somewhere although his body was never found.
“You are correct little one,” Uncle said. "But as to it being a place of fables, is I am afraid, not correct. The stories of the lost Sanxingdui are almost all true. As I have been there and you are from there.”
“What?” she said in shock. “This cannot be true. I am from the Han people just like you. We are the same!”
“Your mother was the head priestess in the temple of Sanxingdui. And there is no doubt of this I was there at your birth. I was there at your parent’s death and I watched over you until I was sure of you.”
“My parent’s death?” she said quietly. The old man looked down at the ground for a moment.
“Yes,” he said. “I am sorry to tell you in this way, but we will soon be going to that place. It seems our future lies there. There is a great magic there and I need and hope to find answers and the way to continue our journey.”
“But I thought, we were going to Shangri-La or someplace,” Billy said a bit Surprised. “Isn’t that some kind of magic place?”
“How do you know about the lost city of Shangri-La,” Uncle said in surprise.
“Well, there was a movie about a lost city. Man! You people sure do lose a lot of stuff. How do you lose a city?”
“Can you tell me more about my parents?” Zhoulin asked quietly. Ignoring Billy’s comment. “Yes of course,” the old man said.
“But we must begin our journey we can talk along the way.”
“But seriously!” Billy said. “How do you lose a city? That makes no sense. Like I had the City of Toronto in my pocket and I didn’t notice it, but it kind of rolled out through that little hole in the bottom, while I was doing jumping jacks or something.”
They all stared at him blankly.
“How do you lose a city?” he said, throwing up his hands in frustration.
Brother Dog, who had switched to human form, gave Billy a little smack in the ear. “The Road is lost, you fool. No one knows how to get there. I wonder about you sometimes, my young liege.”
“Oh,” Billy said. “Well, that makes more sense. I always wondered about that.”
Brother Dog shook his head resignedly and turned back to what Uncle was saying.
“Brother Dog, I am afraid to say you must return to your beast form from henceforth as we will be running into more and more people along the way. If they even glimpse your muzzle sticking out of that cloak there will be dire repercussions. And in these times, sometimes there are things far worse than death. Billy, I must insist you take brothers cloak and keep it pulled well down over your face at all times and you must not speak to anyone.”
“What?” Billy protested. “Man, it’s hotter than... well… hell, around here!” He said, unable to think of a better comparison. “You got to be joking. And have you smelled that thing? Man no offense Brother Dog but it really needs a good wash. Why do I have to wear it? I’m no freakin’ alien. No offense again Mr. Dog.”
“None Taken. I have to agree with him, Uncle. It is hot, he is human. I fail to see why he should be so burdened.”
“He’s not human here,” Uncle laughed. “It may not be obvious to you, but he is almost as foreign here as you. Billy,” he continued “please, you know people will know you are not Han.”
“I think I am in agreement with Billy,” Brother Dog said. Uncle thought for a moment.
“Very well,” he said. “We will travel at night when possible and when it is cooler, but I insist on you both using the disguise whenever possible. I cannot warn you strongly enough, it is too dangerous, and I for one do not want to die at the hands of the emperor's inquisitors. I should mention I suppose that; I am sure they are looking for us.
The road did indeed get rougher as the days passed by. And much more crowded, even at night there were people lurking about. Every way-house showed signs of treachery among the citizens. The idea of traveling at night at first seemed wise, but there was many a cutthroat lurking in the long shadows. Bar-room brawls were plentiful. Several times they had to run from a violent scene of drunken men attacking each other, for one reason or another and more than one time did they have to skirt around an entire area.
The countryside seemed to be in a state of war. Brother Dog relinquished his cloak to Billy in the end, but was loath to give up his sword and belt. He said, he felt naked without it, which was odd as he had a full healthy pelt of brown fur. Billy, however, was secretly overjoyed to receive them.
The blade was the finest thing Billy had ever seen, with strange serpentine etchings on the blade itself and a superbly crafted, handle with a ram's head in gold, finishing it. He begged Brother Dog to instruct him on how to fight with a sword. The Dog warrior refused, saying he would take the weapons back soon enough. Billy even harassed Uncle to no end about it, until he finally capitulated and asked Brother Dog to give him some minor instruction. After all what harm could it do and it would help to while away the hours when they couldn’t travel. As they had to travel slowly and mostly at night and hide from patrols part of the day, it seemed it would be a very long trip over a rather short distance. Maybe a day by car, but they had no car. All around there were people pulling carts about, riding horses and whatever they could find to ride. He had even seen people riding what passed for a cow around here.
So it was that Billy began his sword fighting instruction. Even Zhoulin joined in the lessons and as it turned out Brother Dog was a master of many different fighting styles. Billy was fascinated by this walking dog man who could fight in so many different ways. Many times he would get a good smack on the head and he had no idea where the blow had come from.
Zhoulin was quicker than he, but Billy was tough. Just because he was smacked on the head didn’t necessarily mean he would stop fighting and once he was hit in a certain way he was seldom caught by surprise in that way again.
“It is interesting to me
how well you remember not to get hit twice,” Uncle mused one Day, as he was passing by.
“In some ways, it shows adaptability.” For just a moment Billy felt a flush of pride, but almost instantly he found himself lying on the ground with a knife against his throat. Brother Dog and Zhoulin were stunned at the swiftness of the old man, as was Billy, lying on the ground.
“But, you are adaptable too late,” Uncle continued, in a calm and reasonable voice holding the knife gently against Billy’s throat. “You must learn, my young friend, to adapt and anticipate, before the arrow hits your heart, for it is too late after.”
The old man slowly got to his feet with the help of Zhoulin, showing no sign of the speed and power, he had just displayed. He stepped back and Billy slowly got to his feet, confused and a little embarrassed as the old man hobbled away muttering.
“I have an odd feeling about this journey. I fear it will not be so simple as we hope. I think we must prepare for…. I know not what.”
As he walked away Brother Dog stepped up beside him. “Now that was an interesting display for a man of advanced years.” He said with some enthusiasm
“You didn’t think in my advanced years, as you call them, I didn’t learn something? Brother Dog you wound me deeply! I have seen many things and learned some... mmm... shall we say survival skills?”
“Well,” Dog said. “No intention to offend you Uncle, but since we began this trek I am becoming more nervous as well. There is evil about and our little band is...I hate to say, weak? It gives me some hope as, even if I trained these children for a year, they would not be ready for real combat. I think Billy sees it as some kind of a game and Zhoulin? She is certainly lithe enough to be quick, but she has little strength. It makes it more amazing that she survived the incident with the Guards. But here is the thing that worries me most is, we cannot reveal our true nature. Even if we come into a battle I cannot stand and fight, nor can you and Zhoulin show your magic abilities. Billy cannot show that he is foreign, perhaps he can use a mask or something, but truly Uncle, all of our strengths are our weaknesses here. If we reveal even one thing we will be set upon by all who see it and there is no hope. And surely they would turn us over to the emperor.”
“Yes,” Uncle said thoughtfully. “Fortune has been with us so far, let us hope it continues.”
There was an uneasy moment of silence, Uncle looked at Brother Dog. “Something troubles you that you are not telling me I think,” he said wisely.
Brother Dog hesitated for a moment before he spoke. “Fortune may not be with us at this moment,” He said hesitantly. He gestured for Uncle to be silent as a look of surprise came over his face.
“Don’t look. But I believe we are being followed,” he said quietly. They continued on for a moment, “I am interested to hear what you have observed.” Uncle Xu said quietly
“That's the trouble. I have observed nothing,” Brother Dog responded. “Whoever or whatever it is is very skillful, but I have extraordinary senses in this world. I can detect odors and see farther than any of you. Still, I just know we are now being followed. The intent of the follower, I cannot discern, nor whether they are good or evil, the answer evades me.”
It was true Brother Dog had an extremely good sense of smell and hearing, seldom were they taken by surprise. This news was disturbing.
“I am not sure what, if anything we can do. I could use a protective spell maybe, but even those won’t stop an arrow most of the time. What do you suggest?” It was still amazing to the humans how much he was like just any other Brother Dog yet he was so intelligent. Billy always found it difficult not to pat him on the head or ruffle his fur when he sat like this. He had almost got his fingers nipped off the few times he tried it, but it was just a knee-jerk reaction from both he and Brother Dog and it was even more amazing when Brother Dog talked from the sitting position it just threw Billy’s sense of reality off.
“It’s just too darn confusing!” he had confessed to Zhoulin one time.
“We continue on as we have, I suppose,” Brother Dog said quietly. “Whatever we could have revealed to this follower, I think we already have. There is nothing we can do and it would be foolish if I were to go hunting for it. I just pray it has no ill intent. If it has… well, we are lost already.”
Billy and Zhoulin were oblivious to the deep discussion going on among the two elders.
“I am really curious about how you learned to speak my language?” Billy said somewhat shyly. He had been wondering about that for some time
“I mean everyone around here seems to know English, like Brother Dog said, we are back in time right? And this country is still a bunch of broken up Kingdoms. Which is all weird enough, but what is really strange to me is. Well. Shouldn’t you all be speaking, um, some form of Chinese?” He blurted out. He didn’t want to offend her, but his curiosity was killing him.
Zhoulin’s face lit up with laughter, surprising Billy, who had been quite serious.
“We don’t speak your language!” she blurted out. “You speak ours and understand it. I thought you knew by now. Didn’t Uncle tell you?” she immediately put her hand over her mouth.
“Oh, I am so sorry!” she said, “I thought someone would have told you. It’s that thing that got stuck on your side. Somehow it healed you and changed you so you could understand all of us. We can’t speak your language at all, but they couldn’t get it off of you, so it just grew to be a part of you!”
She could see the shock and dismay on Billy’s face, as she continued revealing this information, but she couldn’t stop talking. Everything she said seemed to be making it worse.
“I’m so sorry!” she blurted out again.
“What thing!?” Billy said, looking a little shocked by this revelation and more than a little terrified. “What THING got attached to my side? What do you mean THING? What are you talking about?”
Uncle and Brother Dog turned and looked at them in dismay
Billy had a look of shock and surprise on his face. Hearing this news, he was obviously frightened, half to death.
“Now be calm,” Uncle said, as Billy ripped open his shirt and looked where the scar had been. The skin was an odd shade of brown, but there was no sign of a wound. Uncle had concluded that because of the poison in Billy’s system at the time of his injury and the fact that he had passed out almost immediately, he was mostly unaware of the struggle that had occurred.
Billy, however, did remember the bloody gash that had been there when he first arrived. And the odd tender feeling he had, had when he had awakened. He remembered in a flash being chased through the night and the terrible thing that had chased him into the little cave, the green light, it was all coming back to him now. It had been in the back of his mind most of the time, but he had shrugged it off as a bad dream.
“What happened really?” he asked quietly. “Please, tell me the truth.”
“Ah, it’s a bit of a long story,” Brother Dog said, “but you do know most of it already.” As he sat down in the grass. They all found places to sit. Billy kept checking his wound.
“The thing that chased you through the portal, we call a Wolver. They are like an infestation of evil and death, they seem to kill just to kill, but they also somehow turn people into other Wolvers.”
“What?” Billy said “You mean like werewolves or vampires. I will turn into a wolver?”
“We don’t know.” Brother Dog said matter-of-factly “I have never heard of this creature that attached to you, nor seen an occurrence such as yours before. And I have been hunting the Wolver far longer than you have been alive. I know all the fables and stories from a hundred planets, but never have I heard of this.” He shook his head “The cut that you received from the Wolver mutated somehow.” He stopped speaking not knowing what to say.
“Perhaps this is good that we talk about this,” Uncle said.
“When I came into the cabin you had put some healing liquid on the wound and it started to scream and writhe like
a live thing tearing at Billy’s flesh.”
“Really!?” Billy said, looking down at the scar.
“Yes. But when I poured the whole pot of liquid on it, it fell off. As if it was dead.” Uncle Continued. “What was in that concoction you were boiling anyway? Perhaps it has something to do with this.”
“It was bark, root, a simple herb from one of the outer planets, it cures infections caused by the Wolver. I have used it many times.”
“An outer planet? Oh my! Have you any more?” Uncle asked almost excitedly “Perhaps we can use it in some way that no one has thought of.”
“I have a little set-aside, but it is mostly powder and dregs. I have the cloth that I used to wipe
Billy. Bark Root can retain its healing properties for an extremely long time. But the twig that was in the water is gone.” He hesitated for a moment. “I am loath to give up what little I have for some experiment, after all, the greatest minds in the five galaxies have been unable to use it in any way other than healing.
“But I am not of these five galaxies you mention. Also, my methods are not theirs, perhaps this is why you need me.”
“Ok! Hello?” Billy said, somewhat sarcastically. “I’m infested with aliens here! And you guys are talking shop. I could die! I could turn into an alien even!”
“Come, come, Billy, you are making too much of this,” said Uncle gruffly.
“Yes.” Brother Dog said in agreement.
“I cannot believe you two!” Zhoulin burst out. “How can you be so unfeeling? You don’t know what will happen to Billy! You don’t know if he will even live! You can't just push aside his concerns he has a…. Well, a something attached to his side. Remember Brother Dog, I was there when you tried to cut it off!!!”
“What?” Billy burst out. “Tried to cut it off?”
“And every time you swung your sword to slash it, Billy was cut too.” She continued. “It healed him and made him able to understand languages of other people, it’s got to be affecting him somehow!” They all sat there in silence for a moment.
The Jewel of Nirune (The Sword of Time Book 1) Page 14