by Mark Swaine
“Urgent news,” replies the soldier.
“Well, what does it read?” asks a another soldier.
“五 - 四 (5 - 4) to West Wushu,” replies the soldier in head-lowering dismay.
Wenyi smirks as the soldier reads out the Cuju score results, then looks at the soldiers expectantly.
“Son of a whore!” shouts a soldier gruffly whilst kicking over a nearby weapons rack.
“I sincerely hope you have been paid today,” says Wenyi smugly.
“May the great lord Raijin strike you down with all his wrath,” says a soldier placing thirty cowrie shells into his cupped hands.
“May a Dagger Mouth Eagle scratch your eyes out,” says another, adding ten cowrie shells to the great pile in his cupped hands.
“How did you know North Dragon would lose?” asks Major Lài before handing him a single cowrie shell.
“Number six,” replies Wenyi simply.
“Long Jiao? He is an exceptional player, one of the best,” says a soldier in Liu Chan's defence.
“One of the best,” concurs Wenyi, “yet he buckles under pressure when facing others equally as skilled, did you not watch last season’s match?” asks Wenyi.
“Yes, we won,” replies another soldier.
“Not due to Long Jiao's efforts, his team mates would not use him in the second half. He is a liability when in possession of the ball,” replies Wenyi.
“You hustled us; you knew North Dragon would lose?” says an out of pocket soldier.
“No, I believed they would lose, there is a difference. You made the mistake of believing North Dragon would win, and you were willing to wager fifty cowrie shells on that belief, fortunately for me...” smirks Wenyi.
“Shut up Wenyi,” moans the soldier.
“Your loss was my gain,” concludes Wenyi with a short chuckle. “Follow the games closer my friend, and you may be able to win your shells back,” adds Wenyi half-heartedly.
“Enjoy your winnings Wenyi. You have earned them,” says Major Lai, ending a possible revolt before it can even begin.
“It's not for me,” says Wenyi dismissively.
“Of what do you speak?” replies Major Lai curiously.
“Nothing,” replies Wenyi shrugging.
“Major, look to the mountains,” says a soldier looking at a shadow looming over the Kunlun Mountains.
“To the armoury,” says Major Lài glowering at the oncoming mass far above, “to the armoury,” shouts Major Lai more urgently, “make for the armoury, soldiers, exchange your standard arms and prepare for dragon battle!” adds Major Lai fiercely.
“Major, should I go?” asks Wenyi.
“You are not a Jade soldier, find cover,” replies the Major.
“No, I will not run in the face of danger. I am no coward,” says Wenyi.
“Then follow our lead, stay close,” replies the Major.
Wenyi quickly follows the Jade soldiers to the outpost and the Captain of the guard beckons entire battalions to an underground bunker in the hill. The soldiers enter the beam supported underground chamber containing an arsenal of special weapons. The soldiers swap their standard issue swords and shields for larger, lightweight ranged swords and scale layered shields and armour and spears. Mad yells and organised commands bellow through the bunker containing the endless forgotten cache of weapons they thought they would never have needed. Soldiers run through tunnels in the bunker and kick wooden pedals whilst tugging on an assortment of old wooden levers and pulleys. Armed and ready, the Jade soldiers charge back out into the open as circular divided wooden doors rumble open. Sturdy spring mounted turrets rise fifty feet above the sloped hillside and the soldiers mount the ladders before the turrets have even completed their ascent. Wasting no time in mounting the pivoted ballistas upon their final clunking assembly, they immediately lock and load the harpoons. Battalions of soldiers sprint to a clearing, enclosing them within the steeped field with the tower guards providing cover fire. A none-the-wiser Wenyi follows the squadron, clueless to their attack strategy. As the soldiers suddenly halt and lower to their knees to form an outward facing circle of shields and spears, Wenyi takes a spot beside Major Fu on the perimeter.
“Major what is the plan?” shouts Wenyi.
“Bait,” growls the Major, chewing on a tobacco leaf.
“Where is the bait?” asks Wenyi.
Major Lai looks at Wenyi and smiles heartily and ready to die for his land and Emperor.
“Bait? we are the bait!” exclaims Wenyi in a crazed high pitched voice.
“You are not a Jade soldier Wenyi, you need not give your life this day. Stay and die, or flee and survive to see the next rising sun,” says the Major, casually embracing his fate.
Wenyi considers the last time he'd put himself before others, and how his fear of death and peril had made him look a coward. Wenyi knows he must confront this fear of needing to survive in the moment, in favour of dying like a man.
“Stay and fight I will,” replies Wenyi, gripping his spear and shield handle with shaking hands.
The Jade soldiers each remove a stick mounted firework and light the fuses. As the fireworks whizz and scream into the sky, the loud explosions catch the attention of the remorseless beasts above. Wenyi finally sees the mammoth sized beats for what they are as they drop in swooping dives from the sky, flapping their wings and guiding their long bodies to the source of the noise.
“Many hail you as a coward brave Wenyi, many will be proven wrong before the...” says the Major realising he is talking to thin air.
The Major looks forward and sees Wenyi running in the direction of the hills and catches sight of four dragons banking low in Wenyi's direction.
“Wenyi get back here! You will never make it you fool,” shouts Major Lài.
The four dragons swoop toward their easy meal with laces of frothing drool draping back from the sides of their snarling lip raised mouths. Wenyi races for the cover of the camouflaged hills amidst a backdrop of massive spears firing from the high raised ballistas. The Jade soldiers twist the axle mounted turrets, firing spears in rapid succession at the passing dragon. Some of the spears bounce off their hard scales, whilst others drive straight through their bare, festering flesh wounds. One of the soldiers frowns in confusion as he delivers what should have been a death a dealing blow, for his spear all but entered a dragon's heart. The soldier on the opposite ballista fires a spear into the eyeball of a dragon, sending it crashing into the ground with an uplifting explosion of dirt and grass.
“Aim for their heads!” shouts the Jade soldier, turning to inform his fellow soldiers.
The other soldiers manning the turrets heed their comrade’s command and aim the metal pikes at the heads of the three dragons rushing past. An approaching dragon opens its jaw, spilling a pungent glossy liquid over the ridge of its lip. The dragon grinds its teeth together creating a shower of sparks and a sudden boom ignites the secreting fuel as it rushes toward them.
“DUNPAI! (SHIELDS)!” bellow the soldiers.
The soldiers crouch whilst aiming their large domed shields at the approaching jet of fire. Their shields vibrate against the battering of flames and the wooden platforms beneath their feet chars and smokes before catching alight. As the dragon passes by, the soldiers rise as the burning turret begins to sway back and forth. Leaping from the creaking flaming tower and landing in roll, the soldiers disperse for various other towers to aid with bow and arrow. A dragon drives down into a headfirst drop above a tower with its mouth wide open and fires one fireball after the next at the insects firing fatal stingers.
The tower explodes, sending a squadron of Jade soldiers hurtling through the air like flaming rag dolls and the undead dragon circles the surrounding towers incinerating them with every turn of its head. Noticing the ground based army of Jade soldiers, the dragon turns its attention to the armed banquet. The dragon swoops low to the ground, dragging its claws across the grass whilst breathing another bout of flame. The circle of sol
diers cover their bodies with their shields then quickly throw their spears at the underbelly of the dragon as it flies overhead. The dragon shrieks as a spear enters its head through its chin. Staggering in flight with its wings flapping out of sync, the dragon veers in all directions until finally dropping to the ground to unleash its final death rattle. With only two undead beasts remaining, one circles the ground based unit while the other intercepts its primary target, Wenyi. The dragon swoops low past the evading youngster and drags up the soil beside him. The rift of uplifted soil knocks Wenyi of his feet and onto his back. As Wenyi climbs back onto his feet he looks up in stalled fright as the dragon opens its massive hole-filled wings and flaps to a looming drop on its two hind claws. Wenyi recoils on his hands and feet in a hurried and panicked backward crawl. The dragon draws back its long neck preparing to fire a blast of flame and Wenyi clambers for his out of reach shield. Grabbing the shield with the edges of his fingers he quickly curls his body behind it as his entire world is filled with relentless heat and more fear than he had ever experienced. Wenyi screams under the shield as the grass around him burns in a smouldering blurry heat, and in that horrifying moment he suddenly envisages Wang's expression of terror as he fell from his grip all those seasons ago. Wenyi's expression of fear suddenly appears determined and angry as he waits patiently for the flames to cease. The flames stop and Wenyi rolls across the smoking and smouldering soil towards the dragons feet. Unsheathing his ancient restored blades from his back he strikes the sides of the dragon’s ankles. Foul smelling yellow blood and jets of puss spurt from the dragon’s wounds and it screams ferally to face its defiant feed. Hobbling around to face Wenyi, it reaches down with an open mouth of broken teeth to snatch the dangerous little mortal. Wenyi leaps straight up and strikes both his swords into the dragon's flaring nostrils.
Face to face with the dragon, it snarls deep before taking to flight and taking Wenyi with it. Lifting off whilst trying to shake the parasite from its nose, the dragon rolls through the air whilst thrashing its neck. Passing by the other turrets, spears reduce the dragon’s wings to nothing as its long spiny fingers barely connect the membranes together.Wenyi scales the dragon's snout using his swords as picks whilst trying to avoid getting his feet caught between the dragon’s rows of snapping teeth. Wenyi, speeding against the upper winds, straddles the hard black muzzle of the dragon and drives both of his blades into its eyes and far into its head. The dragon releases a short cry as it slowly dies in mid flight and Wenyi holds on tight to the hilts of his buried blades. Wenyi feels his stomach pull with the force of the dragon's falling weight as it plummets to the ground. Falling at an angle with its head still raised, Wenyi waits until the dead beast drops a little lower, then leaps free of its nose into a leg breaking tumble into the middle of the field. The dragon lands head first, crushing its entire body, leaving a broken mass of bones sticking out of a pile of squirting rotting flesh and dragon scales. Major Lai and a small group of Jade soldiers race to the downed man clutching his broken leg while the main unit brings down the last dragon. Bringing Wenyi to his feet, they look to the sky as more dragons approach the devastated battlefield.
“Take three units and ride with haste to the Healers at Huīsè de Cǎo’ (Grey Grass) village,” commands the Major.
“Major, you need our spears and shield here and now,” replies a soldier.
“The wounded will need medical attention, attention they will not receive should we fail to protect the good Healers,” replies Major Lai. “Take Wenyi with you, get him to Xiaojian,” adds the Major.
Corrupted, starving, impassive and undead, the pale lifeless eyeballs of the hundreds of soaring undead dragons seek out the living. Their savagely bitten bodies crawl with rabid maggots and leave a trail of stench in their flight. Large chunks of their scaled bodies appear to have been bitten out partially revealing their bone structure shifting under loose rotting meat. The dragons are many, some carrying raiders and mercenaries upon their back, but most of the dragons are infected, carrying undead humans in their claws and teeth. They swoop down in endless tiered waves over the vast city, and panic sets in as the day turns to night. Gasps of terror and confusion are heard all throughout the city as the enormous mass carries the sound of undead moaning and bestial screeching. Rice field workers wade through the shallow in giant strides as the lunging beasts graze the surface whilst collecting as many live humans into their mouths as possible. Their sideward positioned mouths break the water with wide dragging splashes as the fleeing, screaming workers are violently collected inside their elongated dagger-lined jaws. Some lose their limbs in the dragon’s mouth as arms and legs catch between the rows of long tight incisors, but all are swallowed and undergo a drastic change in the bellies of the beasts. The dragons regurgitated their feed as undead slaves, trapped in the dragons' mouths and moaning in confusion. Yu-Huang curses himself, furious at being caught so unaware, livid that he had not sensed this attack. Hisako-Hisa warned him she would mount an attack, but his usually atoned senses would have alerted him to any approaching evil, only Kamui Li noticed his weakness and tried to warn him. The flock of dragons swoop lower over the city, like a giant furious raincloud groaning with pain in the high winds. As the dragons rush by overhead, a dense downpour of limbs appears to escape the grasp of the clouds of claws. Objects layered in flapping rags grow further into sight and takes on the form of something; something... unspeakable, and cruel to behold.
Bodies plummet with weightlessness in a peaceful decent and were it not for the horde of malevolent beings bringing about their downfall, one might assume they longed to be released, and the long free-fall was finally sending them to their final place of rest. There appears to be no primary target, but everywhere within and around the Huanghua city walls, the sheer quantity of bodies falling from above appears to be endless. The bodies take on shape as they descend closer to the ground, with their arms and legs flailing for support. The moaning grows louder and louder with the ever relentless pull of earth's gravity until… thump! thump, thump, thump, th,th,th,th,thump! Bodies everywhere impact all around the city at speed and create a chorus of breaking bones and a splattering and squishing of internal organs. Each disgusting beat of exploding body creates a sound more disturbing than the last for those landing on solid ground. Arms, legs and torsos break and smash apart on impact across cobbled lanes and stone hut roofs and castle wings. Guiding the confused and traumatised Emperor to the shelter of the spectator stands, General Arachie and Liu Chan sprint, dodge and swerve to avoid the onslaught of bodies crashing to the grassy ground. Elsewhere, on the outskirts, Xiaojian, Quon and the entire team of Healers exit the shack as bodies smash through the slanted wicker roof. But outside is no better as the muddy lane running through the village ground is pounded by squelching bodies. Everybody in the Huīsè de Cǎo village stands in silence, leaving only the distant roars of the dragons above to fill the eerie quietness. The villagers stand outside their doorways, frozen. They'd all heard the stories and they know, and fear, in their gut what these discarded bodies are, they only dare not say it aloud. They hold their children close and huddle together in close groups whilst staring at the motionless bodies. A slow heavy wheezing originates from one of the bodies and the villagers scream in protest whilst backing away with their children. Quon rushes over to the injured teen, amazed she has survived the fall.
“Quon, stay away from her!” shouts Xiaojian.
Quon, more concerned for the fallen girl’s welfare, dismisses Xiaojian's commands. The dark haired girl flops and trips on her hand and knees whilst moaning gently. Her arm is twisted and broken at the elbow and one of her legs appears broken at the hip as she struggles onto her knees. The girl rises to her feet and drags her leg as she approaches the Healer rushing to her aid. Quon once again dismisses Xiaojian's urgently repeated order to stay away from her and moves the girl’s long hair from her face. Quon looks at her pale, bloody, motionless face, blue lips and white still eyes, and assures her that she is
going to survive and will be well cared for. The girl doesn't respond, she simply places a firm hand on his shoulder as she comes around and smells fresh blood all around her. Quon checks the girl's wrist for a pulse then frowns before placing the side of his head against her chest whilst listening intently for the even the faintest sound of a heartbeat. Everybody is suddenly aware of the other bodies beginning to groan whilst lurching and swaying to their skinless and broken feet. As Quon observes the bizarre phenomena he feels the girl's grip around his shoulder tighten. Quon urges the girl to calm herself then she grips his neck tightly whilst lurching forward with a mouth full of dirty teeth.
Xiaojian unsheathes her sword and races to aid Quon until a large hairy undead man charges at her from the side and knocks her to the ground. Grappling with the undead farmer's neck, with a free hand she drives the sword into his forehead. With the weight of the farmer pinning her down, she can only imagine the chaos ensuing around her as various tones of screams merge together. Xiaojian rolls the dead farmer off her and climbs back to her feet, and sees blood, and bodies. The bodies that were standing only minutes before had changed places with the bodies that had dropped from the sky, and are being fed upon. Some were still alive whilst attempting to flee, only to fall victim to another undead being in their path. Xiaojian strikes to her flanks, lobbing of the heads of various undead attackers whilst racing to where she had last seen Quon. The undead girl he tried to help sits beside his lifeless open body with blood dripping from her mouth as she chews on his large intestine. Xiaojian sobs for her good friend and apprentice then slices off half the girl’s head in a bout of anger. Xiaojian walks away, and then stops in her tracks as she hears a murmur. Looking back at Quon, she sees his arms twitch and blood pour from his mouth as he attempts to talk. Quon looks pale, but almost human as his eyes had yet to lose their pigment, making it hard for Xiaojian to do what she must. Quon walks to Xiaojian and trips on his own intestine. Quon, in a state of confusion gathers up his innards in his arms and continues forward.