Chapter nineteen
Lady Jin saw the scene in the silver house transform to that of the magistrate’s room in the underworld. Yellow Springs was where she was now. Am I dead? On her right was a guard holding a spear. Lady Jin looked around and saw Snake-tongue in his natural form with a similar guard beside him.
“Snake-tongue, are you okay!”
“Silence!” The guard beside her struck her arm with his chainmail covered elbow.
“Approach, Lady Jin.” The magistrate gestured. Lady Jin obeyed and her guard followed. “It appears you have succeeded in capturing the wizard. Well done.”
“Thank you, sir.” Lady Jin bowed her head.
“I will grant your wish. All you have to do is ask it.”
Lady Jin turned to look back at Snake-tongue and saw One-eyed Nu approach. “Nu, how did you get here?”
“She died,” the magistrate announced. “Now what is your wish?”
“I...” Lady Jin looked up at the magistrate. “Nu wouldn’t have died if I hadn’t come here.”
“True,” the magistrate said. “There are always consequences to our actions.”
Lady Jin smiled at Snake-tongue. “I want One-eyed Nu to be alive again,” she said.
“Your wish is granted. The two of you will be escorted out of Yellow Springs.”
“Thank you.” Lady Jin bowed. She stood and walked to Snake-tongue and Nu. “I’m sorry.”
“I understand,” Snake-tongue said. “I’m already dead. There’s no point worrying about me. I’m fine.”
Lady Jin kissed him slowly with her arms around his body. He kissed back with a hand on her hip. They broke apart and Lady Jin walked to Nu.
“Thank you, mistress,” Nu said as the guards escorted them out of the underworld known as Yellow Springs.
Lady Jin and One-eyed Nu found their horses waiting on the other side of the moat. Golden Eagle’s horse was nowhere to be seen. Lady Jin got on her horse and saw Nu watching her carefully.
“Do you have something to say, Nu?”
“Why did you pick me rather than him?”
“It was my fault that you were dead,” Lady Jin said. “You were my responsibility too.”
“Why?”
“I was taught not to pick just any fool to be my student.” Lady Jin said. “She must be special.”
“Special?”
“Oh, don’t let it go to your head, you’re not that special,” Lady Jin teased. “Until I started training you, of course.”
Part three
Chapter twenty
City Guanxibo was a land between the desert and the grasslands. Hundreds of caravans traveled to and from its large iron gates. A number of travelers were camped outside its walls waiting for a chance to enter, or to get a bite of meal before they continued on their journey away from Guanxibo. Guards walked along the walls keeping a nervous eye on these unknown visitors of many lands.
Among the travelers were Lady Jin and her student One-eyed Nu. Their horses were hobbled in the manner of nomads, though the women were obviously from some of the civilized states of the eastern Zhou, though the states had fallen into constant wars among themselves thanks to a string of weak Zhou rulers.
Lady Jin blocked Nu’s sword and slid her sword across Nu’s blade towards its tip, then back towards Nu’s fingers. Nu pulled her sword back to defend her fingers. Lady Jin pushed against Nu’s sword and let go of her sword. Lady Jin spun around around like a dancer, and caught her sword with her left hand in an icepick grip. Lady Jin squatted and kicked up at Nu’s groin. Nu slid a foot back and blocke with both hands. Nu reached for Lady Jin’s foot—it was gone. Lady Jin rose, with the tip of her sword aimed at Nu’s throat.
“That’s a strange drill, mistress.” Nu stepped back and bowed to Lady Jin.
“It was taught to me by a green man from the forest in the west,” Lady Jin said. “I met him back when I rode with a Xiung Nu tribe.”
“I don’t know if I can perfect it,” Nu said.
“I don’t think I will ever perfect that drill either, Nu.” Lady Jin laughed. “Look I think we can get inside now. Go unbind the horse’s legs and let’s get going.”
Nu nodded. Both women cleaned their swords first. Lady Jin kicked the dying campfire as Nu untied her ponytail. Nu checked her eye patch to be sure it hadn’t got out of place during practice.
After leaving their horses at the stables of the Dirt Scholar’s Inn, the two warrior women walked along the market street to see what was there. At the inn, the two women had changed into dresses rather than the dusty riding pants and shirt that they had rode in on. Lady Jin wore a light brown dress with sandals, while Nu had a red dress with sandals. Both women still carried their swords on their hips.
Lady Jin rubbed her hand along the furs from a male lion, but was actually thinking about the ivory from India at the previous table.
Nu purchased a few pears and tossed one to Lady Jin. A boy ran up to them. He handed Lady Jin a message. She read the letter and tossed him a pear.
“What does it say, mistress?”
“The uh...pupils of Snake-tongue are gathering outside of the city. Northwest. Near an old mill by the river."
“Oh?” Nu rubbed a pear on her red sleeve. “What is it? A celebration of his life, or fighting style he taught?”
“No, they’re making plans to seek revenge.” Lady Jin rubbed her forehead. “Upon me for my killing of him.”
“But, mistress, he was possessed by that demon.”
“I know that, but they don’t.” Lady Jin walked away from the market having lost all interest. Nu followed.
Lady Jin walked out of the market street with Nu. She headed east towards the rougher parts of the city, full of shacks offering various kinds of pleasure and pain. A door flew open and a pair of muscled men tossed out an old man. He flopped face first into the mud. He didn’t get up as Lady Jin and Nu walked past him with a nod to the bouncers.
Inside, some of the men gave the women a glance before returning to their gambling and drink.
Lady Jin tossed a coin on an ugly man’s lap. He looked up from his game of dice and snorted at her. “Lady Jin? What do you want?”
“Answers to questions, Mace.” She held out another coin.
“There’s a lot of mean evil men here.”
Nu’s hand went to her sword.
“Well, after I cut their balls off, they just be mean and evil.” Lady Jin crossed her arms in front of her breasts.
The man snarled at the woman in the light brown dress and then laughed. Every man in the room laughed too. “Heaven’s balls, woman. What do you wish to know?”
“Someone’s gathering together Snake-tongue’s old students. Do you know who?”
“That would be Black-hand,” Mace said. “An arrogant piss-ant. He learned from Snake-tongue for a while. He has something of a gang following him, and he probably wants to increase its size. A couple of bastards he’s got with him are Bald-dog and Big-armed Ling.” Mace spit on the floor. “They’ve never met Snake-tongue, from what I’ve heard, but that hasn’t stopped them from claiming him as their teacher.”
Lady Jin nodded and rewarded Mace with some coins. “Thanks, Mace.”
“You want to stay?” Mace said. “You could enjoy my fine sleeping furs. I’ll make you forget about Snake-tongue.” Mace laughed.
Lady Jin noticed his teeth were even more rotted than last she saw him, and he smelled even worse. “No. I’m fine.” She led Nu out of the shack. They returned to the inn.
Chapter twenty-one
Back at the inn, Lady Jin gazed up at the full moon as it shone in the night. She and Nu had just practiced with their swords outside the inn. Her student had gone inside the inn to get something to eat. Lady Jin preferred to enjoy the coolness of the night. She shut her eyes and listened to the crickets and other animals sing. As usual, her trained reflexes saved her life as the assassin’s sword flew towards her back. Lady Jin blocked the second attack with her sword still
in its sheath.
“Who are you?” Lady Jin demanded of the young man in front of her, who was dressed all in black robes.
“I am Big Ear Gao!” He waved his sword at her. “You killed my teacher Snake-tongue! I will place your head on his grave after I cut it from your shoulders!”
Gao swung at her ribs. She easily deflected it. Gao swung his sword several more times at her. Lady Jin dodged each attack before she finally drew her sword out of its sheath. She stabbed at him and he blocked it. Lady Jin thrust at his knees then his face. Gao blocked both attacks and cursed her afterwards. He lunged at her throat and she smacked it aside with the empty sheath in her left hand.
“Don’t lean forward that much, boy,” Lady Jin commented. “Or you’ll lose your balance.”
“This ain’t a joke!” Gao swung wildly at her with his sword. “I’m here to kill you!”
Lady Jin deflected the attacks and sidestepped as he lunged. She struck him on the back with her sword’s pommel. Gao flopped facedown in the grass.
“I warned you.”
Gao swung wildly at her again. This time Lady Jin used an old swordmaster’s trick to catch Gao’s sword and disarm him.
“Now do you want to die?” Lady Jin held the tip of her blade at his throat. “Do you?”
“N-no.”
“Get!” Lady Jin ordered. “Get out of here before I change my mind!”
Gao ran away. Lady Jin looked behind her to see Nu standing with her sword ready. Lady Jin had sensed the girl had come out of the house once the fighting started.
“You should have killed him,” Nu said.
“Why?” Lady Jin said. “For what honor?”
“He might try again.”
“He might.”
“You can’t go!” Nu yelled. “They’ll kill you. Let me go too.”
“I just need to reason with them,” Lady Jin said. “They’ll listen if I get a chance.”
“You won’t get a chance.”
Unlike Nu Lady Jin was once again dressed in blue pants and shirt with black boots. Nu still wore her red dress. She left the city gates and walked toward the northwest. There she found several young men gathered around an old mill by the river.
“Snake-tongue was my friend,” Lady Jin said. “He wouldn’t want you to do this. Anger is not going to help you learn what he tried to teach you.”
“Lying whore!” one of the young men shouted. “You murdered our teacher! You cheated! You stabbed him in the back when he wasn’t looking.”
“That is not true,” Lady Jin said. “Who told you that?”
“I saw it!” the boy shouted. “I am Black-hand. I saw it in a vision given to me by the gods. Listen to me and I will tell you the truth of how Snake-tongue was murdered.”
Lady Jin saw Black-hand was a very handsome man, with the swagger to drive a number of woman wild. The only oddities she saw were his cold eyes. It was said the eyes showed you a person’s soul, but in Black-hand’s eyes she didn’t see much of anything there. Just unfeeling cold blackness. Death.
“Let him speak!” shouted a bald man.
Could that be Black-hand’s friend Bald-dog?
“Yes!”
“We wish to hear him tell us the truth!”
Lady Jin’s objections were silenced by the young men gathered there. She chose to listen.
“Last year Snake-tongue was the leader of a security band for a man named Su Mao in a town called Duan within the borders of Wei. Li Bo an evil man who murdered children and blamed their deaths on this man to protect his own crimes. Li Bo hired Lady Jin and her student to kill Su Mao. Snake-tongue and his men protected them as best they could, but were murdered in their sleep by that whore and her whore-in-training!”
“Noooo!” shouted the mob.
“I am Bald-dog. I’ve heard of other tales of Lady Jin and how she worked for this dark sorcerer named Hao. Hao calls up the dead and associates with demons. Is this a woman of honor? I don’t think so.”
“She murdered Snake-tongue in his sleep.” Black-hand pointed. “She didn’t even give him the honest respect of fair combat!”
“Noooo!” shouted the mob. “Unfair whore!”
“What should be done to someone like that?” Black-hand shouted. “Should we let her go in peace?”
“Nooo!” the mob screamed.
“Kill her!” “Kill her!” the mob shouted.
Lady Jin drew her sword and wished she had brought her horse. A couple of the closest men attacked her. Lady Jin blocked the attacks. There’s too many. I can’t play with them. I have to kill a few of the boldest to keep the rest cowed. If I don’t, they’ll overwhelm me any minute now. Lady Jin slashed open the belly of one man spilling his guts on the ground. She sliced the jugular vein of a second man.
This stopped the other young men in the angry mob. They glanced at each other to see who would make the next move.
How soon will their courage return? Gods help me! If I try to run they attack, but if I don’t run, they’ll attack anyway.
“Hah! Hah!” Lady Jin heard a cry as Nu rode into the mob on horseback.
Nu was dressed in riding pants and shirt now. The mob scattered from the cavalry attack. Nu not only rode on her horse, but also led Lady Jin’s horse into the fray. Nu turned and rode towards Lady Jin. Lady Jin hopped up on her horse. “I told you to let me come along to guard your backside!”
“Yes! You were right, Nu,” Lady Jin shouted. “Let’s get out of here!”
The two horsewomen rode off leaving the frustrated mob behind.
Chapter twenty-two
Lady Jin sat against the wall on a brown pillow eating a bowl of stew. She barely noticed the food she shoved down her throat for her thoughts were only of her dead lover Snake-tongue.
“Damn it!” Nu said between bites. “They got what they deserved. They attacked you thirty-to-one or fifty-to-one. However many there were, I’m not sure.”
“I know.”
“Do you?” Nu set down her bowl. “Just recently you tried real hard to get yourself killed pulling a man out of the land of the dead. Now you’re trying to get yourself killed by the dead man’s students. They blame you for his death and believe the mad talk of a lunatic. If you had a right to kill any of them, it would be that bastard.”
“Maybe,” Lady Jin replied. “But I can’t deal with it right now. After seeing Snake-tongue again...”
“Oh. I guess it...spooked you or whatever,” Nu said.
“You’ll never understand, girl,” Lady Jin replied. “Until you’ve been in love. You can’t just shake it off like dirt. It clings to your heart and squeezes.”
“Fine, mistress.”
Lady Jin and One-eyed Nu were inside the inn’s stables.
“We’re going to leave for the west.” Lady Jin saddled her horse.
“Are you sure?” Nu placed a blanket on her horse’s back and then grabbed the saddle. “That isn’t going to solve the problem. They will follow you.”
“I know.” Lady Jin checked her saddlebags. “I thought I was over mourning Snake-tongue’s death, but I’m not. I need to deal with that before I can deal with his students.”
Nu nodded, for she had been there when Lady Jin fought and killed her former lover. Last year Snake-tongue had been possessed by some kind of demon. More recently, Lady Jin attempted and failed to get Snake-tongue out of the land of the dead. Lady Jin had spent time with Snake-tongue and he had forgiven her for killing him.
“I will go with you,” Nu said. “I’m always ready to do that, mistress.”
Chapter twenty-three
A week later, Lady Jin and One-eyed Nu rode into a village where a few houses were on fire. Several men and women were carrying buckets to put out the fires. Most of the fires had been stopped; many of the houses were ruined for good. A few of the women screamed at the sight of the horsewomen.
“Peace. Peace. We’re not here to hurt anyone,” Lady Jin announced.
Some of the villagers came forwa
rd with farm tools in their hands. They were ready for a fight, though they looked like they had already been in a fight and lost.
Lady Jin and Nu got off their horses and calmed the villagers down to find out what happened. They learned that several bandits had just attacked them and stolen their children. They were led by a man named Black-hand.
“They’re back!” an old man yelled from the south side of the village. “They’ve returned! The bandits have returned!”
Lady Jin picked up her sword. She and Nu had been helping the villagers put out the fires and care for the wounded. Now six horsemen rode into the village. She quickly recognized Black-hand.
“Lady Jin,” Black-hand said. “I am pleased to see you have arrived here. How was your journey?”
“Why did you attack these people?” Lady Jin demanded. “Snake-tongue would not approve of such actions.”
“All just a part of my plan to get you here,” Black-hand said. “I knew you couldn’t resist helping children. You being a woman.”
“What is it that you want, Black-hand?” Lady Jin glanced at Nu, who had just arrived to back her up in the fight that might start any minute.
“I want you to come to our camp and accept our challenges.” Black-handed pointed back where he and his followers had come. “Our camp is a mile southwest of here. If you want the children to be freed then you will come. If not, we will sell the children to slave traders.”
Black-hand and his five men turned and left the village by the way they had come.
“What are you going to do?” Nu asked as she followed Lady Jin out of the village. “Shall we accept their challenge?”
“Not if we don’t have to.” Lady Jin stopped her horse and patted the gelding on the neck. “I don’t think it will be too hard for us to follow them. I suppose they want us to.”
Chapter twenty-four
The two riders followed the tracks of the six riders easily to their camp.
Lady Jin and One-eyed Nu left their horses tied up behind them as they approached Black-hand’s camp. It wasn’t dark yet. So they watched what was going on in the camp for a few hours before it was dark. The moon was barely seen in the dark night sky. The horses were corralled in the east side of the camp and Lady Jin counted seven tents. Any one of the tents was big enough to hold all thirty-two children. The two women in dark clothing lay on their bellies watching a guard walk along a regular path just out side the camp.
The Gory Pearl of Doom: A Lady Jin and One-eyed Nu novel Page 6