by James Burke
Lost in conversation, they failed to notice three figures, dressed in drab garbs, nimbly making their way across the gabled rooftops of the governor’s residence. The three figures climbed off the roof like cats onto the courtyard’s wall. One of them carried a composite bow and a quiver full of bamboo arrows.
As clouds moved across the half-moon, two of them slipped into the courtyard unseen. It was the archer who stayed on the wall. He crouched, drew an arrow from his quiver and covered his companions as they stealthily made their way towards Quintus.
The two reached the Roman. One took his weight while the other cut through the ropes until he was free. The larger man carried Quintus in what you would today call a fireman’s lift, but the heavier movement of their return attracted the notice of the sentries. Having intuited that the sentries had spotted them, the two rescuers froze midway across the yard.
Their supporting archer drew back his bowstring and prepared to let the arrow fly. He aimed at one of the sentries, the one who was retrieving his spear. A beat later and the arrow would have flown but the other sentry — the elder of the two — did the unexpected. He placed his hand on the younger soldier’s shoulder and held him back.
‘Put that away,’ the elder said referring to the spear the young man held and subsequently lowered. The older soldier then gestured peacefully to the intruders below. ‘Be quick, get him out of here,’ he said loud enough to be heard.
The two rescuers nodded in gratitude.
The archer dropped his aim as his companions hurried away with their prize. After scaling the wall, it wasn’t long before they were out of sight, making their way out of the town.
The sentries on the parapet knew that Meng would torture, then execute them for what they allowed to happen, so it wasn’t long before they abandoned their post. Within a few hours, they gathered supplies and their families and fled into the desert. A week later they could return. Meng had by then been overthrown by an uprising orchestrated by General Lu.
CHAPTER II
The Cave
Quintus woke to find himself laying on a blanket spread on a solid-rock floor. Yes, he was tender and sore, but he was more clear-headed and rested than he ought to have been. He was somewhat confused by his new circumstances, but he was glad to be both alive and not being tortured.
A series of vague recollections began flickering through his mind. Did he travel for days or was it more like weeks? Either way, I can tell you that Quintus was unconscious for much of his journey. Nevertheless, he could recall bits and pieces of a bumpy ox-drawn cart and a smoother passage by riverboat. His most vivid recollection was a group of silent men carrying him in a sling suspended from bamboo poles up a steep mountain, presumably he thought to here, this cave.
As he gradually regained his senses, the Roman moved to more immediate matters. He found himself wearing unfamiliar clothes; a loose gray-green silk tunic and black pants.
Quintus propped himself up on a shaky elbow and then sat himself up. He began massaging his aching wrists while looking around. To his right, he saw daylight coming through a doorway-sized opening. Its light allowed him to see the murals across the cave’s uneven walls. Among them was a painted figure of a deity wearing a bright yellow robe. The deity sat in the lotus position. Its calm eyes seemed to be looking right at him.
After it was apparent there was no threat inside the chamber, his attention was taken by a whimsical tune that floated in on a breeze through the opening. Someone outside the cave was playing a string-instrument.
Under a Plum Tree
After exiting the cave, Quintus quickly ignored the music; the view that greeted him took his full attention. In fact, what he saw nearly took his breath away. It consisted of a broad lush valley and a series of majestic mountain ranges as far as the eye could see. It was even more beautiful than the Apennines of his youth.
Taking in the sight he continued walking out onto an open terrace that was cut into the bare rock of a mountainside. The terrace’s surface was flat cobblestone and, to put it in modern terms, it was the size of a tennis court. It was there that he also saw the source of the music.
In the middle of the terrace, an elderly Taoist ascetic played a two-string fiddle called an erhu. The Taoist was sitting on a rock under the shade of a 12-foot high non-flowering plum tree that grew defiantly out of the cobblestones.
His name is Tai.
The old man was dressed in a ragged Hanfu robe narrowly cuffed and knee-high in length. A long fine grey beard framed his mouth while his hair was tightened into a bun at the peak of his head.
After a moment of Quintus watching him, Tai ceased playing the erhu and put it aside. He looked to his visitor and then stood and offered a welcoming toothy smile. Quintus couldn’t help but be impressed that such a timeworn fellow could have such a full mouth of well-ordered white teeth.
‘Welcome to White Dragon Mountain,’ Tai said in accented Latin.
A mountain hermit in China talking Latin was the last thing Quintus was expecting.
‘I hope you’re feeling better,’ Tai added.
‘I am, thank you, but how can you speak Latin?’ Quintus said, obviously baffled by the unexpected.
‘Oh, Latin it’s an easy language to master,’ the old man said with a smile.
‘Who taught you?’ asked Quintus, frowning in disbelief.
‘Too many questions already. You must be thirsty.’
Tai turned and walked to a small spring fountain that was fashioned from the cliff side. Once he reached it he took a bronze cup out from a small hole in the cliff and began filling it with water.
‘The water from this spring has healing properties, just as the music from my erhu does,’ Tai said. ‘I’ve played music for three days and three nights for you. If I didn’t you probably would have long left this world.’
‘Death doesn’t scare me,’ Quintus said.
‘I never said it did,’ Tai still said smiling. ‘I know you’ve endured a lot. When all seemed lost you did not concede. Very admirable. I understand that manliness, stoicism, and courage are true Roman values. That and sacrificing one’s self for the greater good.’
‘We’d like to think so,’ Quintus said.
‘Yet you Romans can also be very ruthless,’ the old man said.
‘When necessary,’ Quintus said.
‘And arrogant,’ Tai added with a grin.
Quintus frowned.
‘How do you know these things?’ he asked.
Tai just offered a shrug. He finished filling the cup with water and gave it to Quintus.
‘Just go ahead and drink, you’ve recovered from an ordeal that would’ve crushed most men, but you still need to regain your strength and my music can only do so much,’ Tai said. ‘The more spring water you drink, the faster your strength will return; besides my arms are tired of playing so much erhu!’ he quipped with a smile before he sat on a nearby bolder that was shiny and smooth, like it had been sat on a million times before.
Tai gestured for Quintus to also take a seat on the other rock that was under the plum tree some 12 feet away.
‘Please sit and drink, drink, drink, drink!’
Quintus looked at the water in the cup.
‘Don’t worry Quintus, the water is fine,’ Tai said.
Quintus nodded, sat on the rock but he didn’t drink, instead he looked over the view.
‘Where’s the desert?’ he asked.
‘Ha, ha, ha you have well and truly left that behind. You are very far south and east of where you were. It took you some ten or so days to get here.’
‘And how did I get here?’
‘A band of men loyal to General Lu rescued you. The general is a virtuous man who follows the will of Heaven, but it took him sometime to wake up to that,’ Tai said.
Quintus nodded acknowledging Tai’s explanation and then he finally took a sip of water.
‘It’s sweet,’ he said.
‘That it is.’
Tai smiled upo
n seeing Quintus sip again.
‘You can drink it and not need a jot of food,’ the old man added.
Quintus then took a gulp of the water.
‘Feel free to have more from the spring whenever you want.’
‘Thank you I will.’
For the next several minutes they sat in silence until Tai again spoke.
‘I understand you were a slave soldier captured by Governor Meng.’
‘Yes, and that Meng is a madman.’
‘Yes, he certainly is. He has the habit of casting great darkness wherever he goes but he is the emperor’s cousin,’ Tai said. ‘Long ago he turned his back on the wisdom of Confucius and only sought to cultivate cruelty.’
Tai paused briefly before delivering his next words carefully.
‘In fact, he rose from the seventh level of Hell to subvert the ruling dynasty. But he has been, thankfully, unsuccessful.’
‘He rose from Hell?’
‘Yes, and all of his malicious endeavors have come to naught,’ Tai answered. ‘General Lu has now restored the emperor’s power fully to the western region. Meng and a handful of his followers managed to flee, and they are now nothing more than common bandits with a price on their heads.’
Tai paused talking and Quintus took a bigger gulp of water. Moments later, a sensation of warmth filled the Roman’s abdomen. It spread through his torso. Soon his whole body tingled with vitality. The energy carried with it a sense of benevolence and clarity. He took another gulp and the warmth spread further.
‘Drink as much as you can. It’ll help you recover quicker,’ Tai said with a knowing smile. ‘The men who rescued you brought some supplies for you to eat, some dried fish and more. I’ll get it for you and you can have some of that as well, but you don’t need it really, the water is enough.’
Tai stood to go find the supplies leaving Quintus alone to reflect on the water’s already astonishing effects.
For the Sake of Humanity
Quintus ate what Tai offered him and drank more of the water. As the day progressed he was feeling comfortable and clear headed, in fact more than he had been in a long time.
Despite Quintus having many more questions to ask the old man, there had been a couple of hours of silence between them both. They just sat there on their respective rocks looking over the valley. Eventually it was Quintus who broke the silence.
‘How long have you been on this mountain?’ he asked.
‘A very long time but I have never grown tired of the view,’ Tai replied with a smile. ‘My teacher brought me here to learn the Way during the previous dynasty. He succeeded in his practice and ascended.’
‘What do you mean by ascended?’
‘He reached spiritual perfection but that’s not important at the moment, that was 300 years ago. So, which means for 300 years I’ve been waiting for a man from the West,’ Tai said. ‘A man who prophesy said would walk the earth for 20 lifetimes for the sake of mankind. A man able to stop humanity from falling onto the abyss.’
Understandably, Quintus wasn’t sure how to respond. He wore a blank look on his face and the Taoist hoped he hadn’t divulged too much too soon. Not many mortals are prepared for such revelations, no matter how they are told.
‘Nonetheless prophecies can be mistaken. It certainly wouldn’t be the first or last time,’ Tai said, changing tact somewhat. ‘So, Quintus the first step is for you to decide. You’re free to leave whenever you like. Or you can stay, and I will teach you what you need to know.’
Quintus was now feeling like a child mystified by his own ignorance at what Tai was suggesting. He wanted to wind the conversation back.
‘How is it you know my name? I never told you,’ he said.
‘I’ve known you for some time Quintus. Ever since you were this high,’ a smiling Tai said while indicating with his right hand the height of a 5-year-old child.
‘You see Quintus I’m not restricted to this physical body. I’m able to cross the boundaries of this material world. The worldly challenges that distance provides don’t occur in other planes of existence,’ Tai explained while noting a look of disbelief in Quintus’ eyes.
‘You may find this hard to imagine but there was more than one occasion that I saw you and your family on your farm. In fact, when you attended Latin lessons so did I. You weren’t, by the way, a very attentive student.’
And that was just the beginning. For over an hour, Tai spoke more about Quintus’ youth. The good and the bad.
He described Quintus’ mother, a traditional woman who — despite her sufferings — managed to remain enthusiastic about life and its possibilities. ‘Vivere memento,’ she would often tell her son. ‘Remember to live.’
Tai likewise accurately described Quintus’ father, a tall, lanky man who was one of the most respected men in their valley. He also spoke of siblings who died young — twin brothers killed by typhoid and a sister who passed away during another epidemic.
‘I only witnessed the period from your birth through till the age of 12,’ Tai explained. He had zero interest in watching anyone go through adolescence.
Tai stood from his rock and dusted off his pants.
‘Nonetheless that’s enough chatter. I haven’t talked so much for centuries. I’m going for a short walk around the mountain. But one last thing though, if you do stay to learn the Way, there is much for you to learn but for the sake of practicality you first must master the abilities to do without food, water and sleep.’
‘I didn’t know such things were possible,’ Quintus remarked.
‘It’s possible, but you might die in the process,’ Tai said, jesting. ‘I’ll be back before sundown and I’ll play some more erhu. Drink some more water while I’m gone.’
Quintus watched Tai walk off. He was now convinced the old man was no charlatan. It may sound fantastical, but the only rational explanation was that this Taoist of the mountain was telling the truth. He believed such things were possible, but like most his comprehension was lacking, at least initially.
On the Mend
From his core to his surface Quintus still required healing. After that first day of waking in the cave, he slept intermittently for a full week while Tai played the erhu. When he wasn’t sleeping, he drank plenty of spring water. After seven days of this, he was fully restored, at least physically. He even regained weight and was as heavy as he was prior to being captured by the Parthians eight years earlier. But it was his spirit that would take more time to heal. Fortunately, if there was a place to do that, it was White Dragon Mountain.
Due to his open nature, it wasn’t long before Quintus was relaxed with Tai, who he came to appreciate as a humble man of extraordinary talents that were quite simply otherworldly. The old man spent much of his time in meditation and exercising. When he wasn’t doing that he was playing music, writing poetry, painting pictures of a six-legged dragon or of the surrounding landscape. Quintus observed that Tai neither slept nor ate. He didn’t even need to drink from the mountain spring.
When they spoke, both men appreciated what each other had to say which was mostly about things related to philosophy and the values of their separate worlds. Quintus discussed Stoicism and other aspects of Greco-Roman culture. Meanwhile Tai introduced Quintus to Taoism, Confucianism, and facets of a newer dharma called Buddhism.
Tai explained how villagers in the valley had for generations kept his presence on the mountain a well-guarded secret. Before Quintus was brought up the mountain by his rescuers, the last person the villagers allowed to visit was an evangelizing Buddhist monk who stayed for five years during which he taught Tai many things. From that, Tai embraced the concept of reincarnation, which he now accepted as a truth, resolving a gap his earlier master acknowledged he was unable to fill. His master, and indeed Tai, understood there are many, many mysteries that were beyond them and that they only had a slight insight into Heaven’s secrets.
The challenge was now that Tai had to tailor what he knew and pass it onto Quintu
s, who by his tenth day on the mountain agreed to become a disciple of the Way.
On day one of his training the old Taoist simply explained to Quintus some of the things to be taught with the first being several meditation techniques. Next, would be Tao Yin exercises which are soft gracious moves not dissimilar to what modern people would call Tai Chi. Together the meditation and Tao Yin exercises would allow Quintus to develop longevity and maintain a youthful appearance. The desired outcome was that he’d be able to live for however long his foretold undertaking might take.
Tai would also pass on techniques to Quintus on how to control pain levels and to repair his body quickly. Just as his master already knew, he’d also learn how to survive just on fresh air with no need food, water or even sleep
Added to the list of things to learn were levitation abilities and some techniques that may or may not open his celestial eye (AKA third eye, the mind’s eye or the inner eye).
For self-defense, Tai would teach Quintus shouboa weaponless martial arts while during periods of downtime, he’d pass on his painting and music knowledge.
Quite a list.
This should take a hundred years or so to learn.
The Second Day
A cool breeze blew upon the side of White Dragon Mountain where the Taoist’s sanctuary was. The sun had not long been up when Quintus walked across the terrace with his master towards where the plum tree stood. To their left a kaleidoscope of white butterflies hovered just over the cliff’s ledge; their fragile wings highlighted by sunlight.
Everything appeared fresh and hopeful to Quintus. Every cell in his rejuvenated body was awake and ready to learn, so he listened carefully as his teacher spoke.
‘The tree flowers during the winter, the harshest time of the year. That’s why the plum blossom embodies determination and hope. It also reminds us how temporary life can be, even for the likes of us,’ Tai told Quintus.