by Justin Hill
Wei-fang was asleep. Snow Vase woke him with her foot. He squinted up at her and she squatted down next to him. “I brought you some dumplings. Mutton. I put garlic on them. I like garlic, so I thought you might too. You don’t have to thank me.”
He frowned, and thanked her nonetheless as he yawned and reached for the bowl. She was so eager she was almost giddy. “Are you getting plenty of rest?”
“Not much else to do,” he said. He pushed himself up and ran his hands over his face.
She watched him eat. He began to feel unnerved by her attention. She was staring intently at him.
“What is it?” he said. “Did you make these?”
She shook her head. She looked briefly behind her and saw that the guards were not close. “I know where it is,” she whispered.
Wei-fang put another dumpling in his mouth; he tried to speak but his mouth was full of food. He looked confused. She rolled her eyes. “I know where it is hidden.”
“What?” he hissed back, even though he was not sure why they were hissing.
“The sword,” she said, as if he were stupid. Wei-fang looked around, as if he thought it would be lying in the yard somewhere. “I know where it is,” she repeated.
“And?”
“If you help me I can kill Hades Dai. Shulien says I am very good. I almost beat her this morning in our sparring. We take the sword. You lead me to Hades Dai. I will kill him.”
Wei-fang put the bowl down. “No.”
“What do you mean no?”
“I’ll kill him,” he said. “He would break you and your teacher.”
“You have not seen me.”
“I have seen him,” he said. “He beat Jiaolong, remember.”
“She was sick.”
“I should have the sword.”
“Why?”
Wei-fang sighed. “I have watched him. I know his weakness.”
“What is it?”
“If you want me to take you to him, you have to agree that I fight him.”
“No.”
He smiled at her and Snow Vase shook her head, but he seemed so confident that at last she looked up and said, “Can you really beat him?”
Wei-fang rubbed his palms together. “This might sound crazy,” he said, “but I have been thinking a lot about what Jiaolong said to me. I have been reliving that moment again and again. Hades Dai was towering over her, and she had no fear. She looked and caught my eye. ‘I am happy,’ she said to me. ‘Do not fear. Take your destiny. Take the Green Destiny!’”
“She said that?”
He nodded. “I think she foresaw this moment. She was touched with prophecy. Surely the gods could not want anyone to deal the death blow other than I.”
Snow Vase had fought Wei-fang, and she had a lingering doubt. “I’m worried.”
“‘Do not fear. Take your destiny. Take the Green Destiny.’ That is what she said.”
“Are you sure you can beat him?”
“Yes,” he said. “If you come with the sword, you will not be allowed within fifty feet. Not even Silent Wolf could break through the West Lotus warriors. If I take it, he will not be surprised. I am one of his men, remember. I will have surprise on my side. I can run him through before he realizes.”
Snow Vase was slowly persuaded by his talk.
He smiled and belched as he finished the last dumpling.
“When will you take the sword?”
“Tonight.”
“So we leave tonight.”
“I do,” she said. “If you think you can kill Hades Dai, first you must free yourself.”
Wei-fang looked at the heavy brass lock, and held the chain in his hand in a gesture that spoke of resignation. “You’re not going to help me?”
She shook her head and rose from a cross-legged position to standing in a swift movement.
“What? You’re going to leave me?” he said.
She smiled at him and nodded. She had taken the bowl of dumplings but she had left the silver hairpin that had bound the cloth closed. He looked down and saw it lying in his lap, and he quickly hid it up his sleeve.
Right, he thought, and sat silently, waiting for sunset.
25
That night Shulien dreamt of a day when she had been young and begging her mother not to bind her feet. She had knelt before her. I do not want to get married, she had said to her mother. I want to be a warrior.
You will be alone, her mother warned her. I will not, she started but at that moment she woke suddenly. She was immediately alert. The door was ajar. Snow Vase was not in the room. The carpet had been thrown back. In a moment Shulien was standing at the door. She saw a flutter of black robes, a black-clad figure leaping from rooftop to rooftop, a sword in her hand. “Stop!” she shouted.
In a moment Shulien understood that she had been betrayed. Her anger was explosive. She leaped across the yard, took a shortcut across the bamboo garden, skimming from bamboo to bamboo as effortlessly as if she were using stepping stones to cross a stream. “Stop!” she shouted again, her anger growing.
Snow Vase leaped harder and faster. Shulien saw that she was going to reach the stables. She felt angry and desperate, “Stop!” she shouted and for a moment Snow Vase paused. “Stop!” she shouted once more.
Damn her, Shulien swore: Snow Vase was no longer her student, she was an enemy—a faithless, treacherous, lying thief.
Shulien dropped lightly into the stable yard.
Snow Vase turned to face her teacher. Green Destiny was in her hand. A look of deep calm was on her face.
Shulien strode to her. “What are you doing with the sword?”
“Teacher,” she said, “I need it.”
The word “teacher” soothed Shulien’s anger a little. “You cannot have it,” she said.
“I will keep it safe,” Snow Vase said.
“You cannot have it. Give it back to me.”
“I cannot,” Snow Vase said, and a fierce spark of possession flared in her eyes.
“What do you mean, you cannot?”
“I cannot,” Snow Vase said simply.
“That is Mubai’s sword.”
“No. It was Guanyu’s sword first. But he is dead.”
“Mubai left me in charge of that sword.”
“It was not his right to give this sword to anyone.” Snow Vase spoke matter-of-factly, but Shulien was stung by the words and moved to attack.
Snow Vase drew the sword. It cast an eerie green light across her face. “Mubai is dead. I need the sword. I will look after it. I have been a good student to you. You should trust me.”
The sword tip pressed against Shulien’s throat. She moved half a step back. She had not seen Snow Vase as wild and furious before, and she believed her student would strike. “How can I trust you,” she said, “when you have stolen the sword from me?”
Snow Vase’s eyes were hard. “A student cannot be cheerful under the sky of her teacher’s killer. A child cannot live under their parent’s killer.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Hades Dai. He owes me a blood debt.”
“Hades Dai killed your father?”
“He killed my mother.”
“Why would he kill your mother?”
“My mother was Jiaolong.” Snow Vase wanted to tell her that her mother regretted the sorrow she had caused Shulien, but Jiaolong’s name had a visible effect on her. Shulien shuddered. She drew her broadsword.
“You are Jiaolong’s daughter!” Shulien spat the words out.
“Wait!” Snow Vase said, but Shulien attacked.
Sparks flew. Snow Vase parried once, twice, three times. She felt qi building within her. It directed her arms, gave them the strength and speed to hold Shulien’s fury back.
“Good,” Shulien said.
“Thank you.”
There was no warmth in the words. Shulien wanted to take her alive. Good, she thought behind the cold smile, but not good enough!
Her teacher was a blur of steel. How she managed to balance the heavy broadsword with such effortless grace was amazing. Snow Vase took a step back. And another. Shulien slowly drove her back against the brick wall of the stables. Snow Vase was trapped and she knew it. It took all she had to catch Shulien’s broadsword. Green Destiny held Shulien’s sword stationary for a moment. The two women channeled their force through the swords. Snow Vase pushed with all her might, but Green Destiny was being held back, and it seemed that Shulien was barely using any of her strength.
Snow Vase struggled to stay on her feet. Shulien was pressing her student back and down. She was beaten. She was helpless. She had failed.
As Snow Vase fought, an image came to her mind of her mother: sick, old, desperate to find her son, being cut down by Hades Dai. Jiaolong. Her mother’s name gave her a moment’s strength. Anger flared within her and she held it back and focused on justice.
She breathed deep and she felt qi pressing in on her orifices like a flood of water. She feared it for a moment, and stopped her breath, but as her knee touched the ground she opened every gateway to the world.
Green Destiny called out to her to open herself up. Snow Vase gave in and qi poured through the crown of her skull, through the palms of her hands, through her mouth and nose. And as it swelled through her feet and through her groin she almost collapsed with the power within her. She tasted metallic blood in her mouth and knew that she was losing control. She felt she would explode with the power and let out an incoherent shout of rage, and drove at Shulien, and the world went dark for a moment.
Snow Vase staggered as the world came back into focus.
Green Destiny was heavy in her hand. Blood streamed from her nose. She blinked and saw Shulien across the yard, a crumpled figure, and she felt a stab of fear and grief, until she saw her teacher stirring.
Shulien pushed herself up. She knew she had been beaten. Her eyes were wide with shock. She saw Snow Vase, who looked unsteady on her feet. She put her hand out to the wall.
She had never seen such power before. Not even Mubai could summon such power. She held out a hand in peace as she stepped toward Snow Vase. She felt fear. It was her student, but such power needed skill to use. More skill than Snow Vase had.
She spoke more gently now. “Snow Vase. Do not take the sword to Hades Dai. He is terrible.”
Snow Vase drew herself up. She was wild and defiant. She wiped the blood from her upper lip, spat red saliva on the ground.
Shulien feared her student. It was a new feeling, and she swallowed back her panic. She could not let them take the sword to Hades Dai. Even with such power, she did not know if Snow Vase could beat Hades Dai.
She came forward slowly. “Snow Vase. There is a better way.”
Snow Vase shook her head.
“I trusted you,” Shulien said.
“And you can trust me,” Snow Vase said. “Your foe is my foe.”
“You are going to kill Hades Dai?”
Snow Vase nodded. “We are.”
“We?”
“Wei-fang and I. Wei-fang will wield the sword.”
Shulien shook her head. “Don’t. Hades Dai has powers you cannot imagine.”
“He is old,” Snow Vase said. The sight of Shulien’s crumpled body across the yard had filled her with confidence. She had such powers, no one could stand against her. She laughed at Hades Dai. “His time is done. In the morning we will bring the sword back. I swear this to you.”
Wei-fang appeared. Snow Vase waved him back. “You have the horses?”
He nodded.
“Are you all right?” he said.
“I am,” she told him. Snow Vase kept her eyes on her teacher as she moved toward the horse.
“Do not do this,” Shulien said as Snow Vase swung herself up. Her nose had stopped dripping, but she was still a little unsteady. Shulien’s voice was no longer commanding, but imploring.
“I am sorry, teacher,” she said as they heeled their horses toward the open gates.
In the corner of her eye she saw Shulien sprinting after them. She urged her horse forward, almost effortlessly propelled it with her qi, as the stride lengthened into a gallop.
For a moment she felt a hand clutching for her stirrup, but then it fell away, and the horses ate up the ground with powerful strides. She wiped her nose, sniffed the last of the blood away, and turned to Wei-fang and saw wonder and fear there. Her hand was shaking. Her whole body was shaking.
Wei-fang was staring at her. “What did you do to her?” he said.
Snow Vase shook herself. “I beat her,” she said, and found that she was laughing. “I beat Shulien!”
26
The moon was setting behind the cedars on the hills above the valley. At the top of the Twelve-Sided Pagoda, Hades Dai waited as the Blind Enchantress bent over the fire that had been lit on its open roof. The band was wrapped tight around her head, but she stared into the flames as if she had sight. “The sword is coming,” she said. “I said he would bring it. Look! The moon is not yet full. You doubted me.”
“Yes,” he said. “I doubted you.”
She shuffled her feet in an odd dance, like an old lady going through the steps of a young girl. There was something macabre about the creature.
Hades Dai’s eyes were wide with excitement.
He turned to his men who waited as far from the enchantress as they could manage.
“You!” he said.
Iron Crow stepped forward and bowed.
“You are his teacher?”
Iron Crow nodded sharply. “Yes, lord!”
“Go out and greet him, and bring him and the sword to me.”
Iron Crow nodded and disappeared into the doorway of the stairs that led to the bottom of the pagoda.
Snow Vase and Wei-fang rode hard until their horses were steaming with sweat, then they slowed to a canter before pausing at the edge of a lake, letting them hang their heads and drink.
“Where is the sword?” he asked.
“Why?”
“I want to see it.”
She pulled it out and showed it to him.
“Can I hold it?” he said.
“No,” she said.
“Why? You can trust me.”
She looked at him. She was being silly, she thought. “Here,” she said. “Just feel it!”
He flicked it through the air; it was as light as a willow switch. “Beautiful!” he said.
She bit her lip as he held the sword. At last she couldn’t wait any longer.
“Come,” she said. “We should keep going.”
“I’ll carry the sword.”
She didn’t like the way he spoke. “No,” she said. “I should carry it.”
But he had not heard her. “What could a great warrior not do with this sword? How he would make a name for himself!”
“Wei-fang,” she said. “Remember why we are here. What we are doing. We are going to kill Hades Dai.” A dark light flared in his eyes; she put her hand out and he flinched, then shook himself, as if waking from a dream.
“Here,” he said. “Take it.”
Snow Vase took the sword and slung it on her back.
“We are together in this, remember.”
He swallowed and nodded. She held out her hand and he clutched it.
“Together,” he said.
Snow Vase and Wei-fang rode hard through the night, heading north, until they could see the towers of the Great Wall that lined the mountain ridges ahead, black against the northern stars. They passed sleeping villages, heard dogs bark, a few men shouting a warning, and once they passed a roadside inn where a drunken man wa
s singing a village song.
To either side the fields fell away, and when there was dusty grassland, Snow Vase and Wei-fang let their horses open up and gallop forward. She felt exhausted.
Wei-fang had been talking excitedly for more than an hour.
She was reluctant at first, but he had piled reason upon reason, and at last she had said, “You are sure that you can do it?”
“Yes,” he said.
Snow Vase remembered the power that had flowed through her in the stable yard, and she did not trust herself. She did not want to draw on such power again tonight.
“Agreed then,” she said. “You shall take the sword.”
She presented the Green Destiny to him, two-handed.
He took it with both hands, and thrust it into his sash belt, then turned and heeled his horse forward.
“The Green Destiny!” he half laughed. “In my hands.”
They slowed as they approached the mountains. Wei-fang had to look carefully to see the opening. It was marked by a white-painted stupa, where prayer flags fluttered stiffly against the wind.
“This way,” he said.
Snow Vase nodded. She was alert and tense, like a drawn bow.
“This is it,” Wei-fang said. “I am sure.”
The valley was narrow and wooded. The long cedar needles combed a pleasant note from the wind. It was like ocean surf, a gentle white sound that filled the night.
As they came closer to the head of the valley they could see a dull red light.
“I shall go ahead,” Wei-fang said.
They paused briefly. “Are you sure?” Snow Vase said.
Wei-fang nodded. “He owes me a blood debt,” he said.
She let him go, and wished all the things she could not say.
Come back, she thought, as his horse dwindled into the night shadows.
Wei-fang rode through the white walls of the temple and let his horse slow to a canter. Warriors slipped from the shadows but he ignored them, and turned only toward the leader—Iron Crow.
“You have the sword?” his old teacher said.
“I have.”