On the Road to the Hell of Hungry Ghosts

by Richard Parks

  She gave the blade one final twist, and Counsellor Wei collapsed into a pile of moldering bones. In that instant we could all move again.

  “I wondered,” Father said. “When he said he smelled his old life energy on us, I rather thought perhaps he was sensing you instead.”

  The princess bowed again. “Once I had somewhat recovered, I followed you in. If Counsellor Wei hadn’t been so intent on gloating, he might have taken a moment or two to realize this,” the princess said. “I placed you in greater danger than I knew, and for that I must apologize. I did not expect him to be here, and the tomb offerings I did expect are not evident.”

  “You saved our lives,” I said. “That is payment of a sort.”

  She looked unhappy. “But not what I promised.”

  “I will not lie—that fact is disappointing, Highness,” Father said grudgingly, “but hardly your fault.”

  The princess yawned, covering her mouth with her sleeve. “Forgive me, but I am weary. I want to rest now.”

  “Of course,” Father said. “With your permission, we will remove what is left of Counsellor Wei from your tomb. He can lie with the bones outside.”

  “Thank you… oh! I have an idea. The seal on my coffin is unbroken. Please look inside.”

  “It isn’t necessary,” Father said.

  “To me it is,” she said. “If there is anything at all of value there, please take it. With the guardian gone, robbers will follow. If there is anything there, I would prefer it leave here with you. Despite what I said to Counsellor Wei, I do not plan to linger for very long.”

  “As you wish,” Father said.

  Mei Li and I helped him lift the coffin lid and break the seal. Inside, covered in discolored silk wrappings, lay the mortal remains of Princess Chunhua of Kai, the lost princess of a lost kingdom. On top of the wrappings there was a single small pendant of jade.

  “Please take it,” she said. “It was a gift from my father when I was four years old. A small thing, but I cherished it. Even so, it is a connection to this world I no longer require.”

  Father took the pendant and presented it to Mei Li. “A token. For recognizing evil.”

  Mei Li accepted the trinket as if it were the most precious gift on earth. We then carefully replaced the coffin lid as the princess delicately yawned once more.

  “Goodbye,” she said, and she was gone.

  We gathered up the dry bones of Counsellor Wei in silence and tossed them outside to mingle with the rest of the thieves.

  “Princess Chunhua will not become a hungry ghost,” Father said, “but I think it is safe to presume that Counsellor Wei is now on the road to that particular hell. So I do not think they will meet after all.”

  I remembered the look on the princess’s face when she twisted the sword. “Fortunately for Counsellor Wei,” I said.

  By then the sun was dropping in the western sky, and there was no point in attempting to get back on the road that day. We returned to our previous campsite and settled in for the evening.

  Later I awoke to find Mei Li sitting by the dying embers of our campfire, holding Princess Chunhua’s jade pendant, turning it this way and that. She looked puzzled.

  “Is something troubling you?”

  “I don’t think I do recognize evil,” she said. “There are many who would have called me evil, when I was just another snake-devil. Perhaps they were right.”

  “You saw evil in Counsellor Wei,” I pointed out.

  “Yes, but you felt it,” she said. “Before we entered the tomb. I felt only power, remember?”

  “You weren’t wrong about that, but what I sensed was maliciousness and anger. I called it evil, but anger isn’t evil. Everyone gets angry and sometimes for good reason. Even maliciousness can be justified, at times. The truth is that we all have to decide for ourselves what evil is. You knew what he had done and what he would do, solely for his own benefit, and with no thought for anyone he harmed or the lives he ruined. You called it evil. I think you have at least as good an understanding of the subject as I do.”

  “Now I think you’re being kind,” she said.

  I shrugged. “Perhaps. That’s also part of being human.”

  “Just as is getting some sleep,” Father growled from his blankets.

  “Sorry, Father.”

  “You might be,” he said. “Because, with or without sleep, you both will be joining me on the road to Chengdu Village by dawn. We have paying customers waiting!”

  So we did. Yet before I returned to my blankets I wasted just a little more time and said a silent prayer, no charge, for the Lost Princess of Kai.

  © Copyright 2017 Richard Parks