Clash of Alliances

by Pierre Dimaculangan

  ​Eerily, the sound of singing emanated from across the chamber. It was from another open room, and the gentle singing was like that of a sweet lullaby performed in traditional pentatonic scale.

  “A girl and sword so far from home,

  went abroad to place unknown.

  She’s lost and scared but hides it whole

  with a rage and hate that makes her bold.

  A heart that bleeds a swordsman’s fury

  Is a heart that fights for blind sense of duty.

  Now she’s come to eat her fill

  of one whose beauty is greater still

  Cold nerve and steel she’ll cut you down.

  With sword that makes her name renowned

  She’ll stab and pierce you, cut and mince you

  and when the blood has spilled from under me

  She’ll consume you whole too, you’ll see, you’ll see.”

  ​“I’m flattered,” said Meiling as she faced the entrance to the private room within the house’s main floor. “That is the first time anyone has honored me with a musical composition.”

  ​“It’s a work in progress. I’ve yet to fix the notations. Not to mention that the inclement weather has wreaked havoc on my pipa’s strings so I’ve had to constantly tune them,” said the lady sitting in the room. More courtesans lay strewn all around her but she continued toying with her lute as if they were not there. The courtesans died without having even the chance to scream. She laid her pipa on the bed and stood to face Meiling. Her curvaceous figure shone through her long, flowing gown, and the glow of several candles made a soft silhouette around her long black hair and rounded face. Her eyes met with Meiling’s, and the witch approached her slowly with light footed strides. “I know you have been trying to hunt me down. You’ve tracked me for days and days. I should be the one who’s flattered. You came close. I saw you amongst the beggars.”

  ​Meiling unsheathed her sword and tossed away the scabbard. The witch giggled at seeing the bladeswoman readying to take her head. Meiling took several steps back to keep a distance from the witch’s advance and they circled around the room slowly, eyeing each other, waiting for the other to make a move… or a mistake. “You know exactly why I have come for you,” said Meiling.

  ​“I thought you to be a gentle and loving spirit. That sword does not suit you. What you face tonight, my child, is more than just flesh. Yes, I know why you have come. I attacked your home and set fire to it along with the entire village. I couldn’t help myself, child. It’s my nature,” replied the witch.

  ​“I know it is. Since you cannot help yourself, I’ll help you… by removing your head.”

  ​“You cannot kill that which has been ordained by a supernatural affliction,” she replied.

  ​With a single thought, the witch sealed all doors and windows around the house. They slammed shut tightly through a form of trickery that not even a battering ram could break through them. The maneuver was foul, wicked, and distasteful to Meiling. She frowned, grabbed a large candle and flung it at the witch. She ducked and the candle slammed against the wooden floor and furniture and began to spread fire onto the woodwork, sheets, and curtains.

  ​“We have been playing this game of cat and mouse for long enough, bladeswoman. It seems high time that I end the game with a fitting death. Your death, of course.” She removed her outer robe and her eyes had turned completely black. “As for your father—he deserved the fate I wished upon him, for all the atrocities he committed against my sisters and me all those years ago. It was only until recently that, to my delight, there was one other who was not even of this land, who had done me the grand favor of bringing your baba’s death to come to pass. What a day of rejoicing that was.”

  ​Meiling gripped her jian sword even more tightly and glared at the witch with a burning hatred she had never before experienced. “Your vile presence was enough to destabilize the delicate balance of Yin and Yang. The ‘atrocities’ my father committed against your abominable kind were acts of charity for the world. You had it coming for a very long time. I’ve come to finish what he started so long ago!” Meiling shot back.

  ​“Our business was our business. He should not have meddled. Now the punishment shall extend to his lovely little girl. I will take the pleasure of ending this business between our families once and for all.” The witch’s fair face and sweet smile changed into a vile glare full of malice and rich with ill-intent. She lunged at Meiling with incredible burst speed, her clawed fingers reaching to pierce flesh.

  ​Meiling sidestepped and leaned back to avoid the attack and retaliated with a wide sword swing. The swing cleanly missed when the witch ducked under it; the blade narrowly missed her scalp and trimmed several strands of her fine hair. Meiling immediately followed the sword swing with a low sweeping kick that landed squarely on the witch’s soft inner thigh. What would have normally been an incapacitating blow was ineffective against the witch. She barely flinched from the blow and reacted quickly enough to catch Meiling’s downward thrust and use the momentum to throw her onto the floor. With her hand, she formed the shape of an eagle’s claw and aimed to gouge out Meiling’s eyes, but she raised her sword and parried the blow before rolling backwards onto her feet.

  ​Meiling applied the pressure of an overwhelming attack by advancing toward the witch with arcing sword spins and ‘flower’ strokes. The razor sharp blade grazed and bounced off of the witch’s arms which she had raised in front of her face. In the precise moment between the attack, the witch grabbed her by the neck and flung her across the room. Meiling smacked her back against a wooden support beam which bent and buckled from the impact.

  ​The fires set by the candle had plumed and intensified all around them. They raged and filled the entire main floors and chambers with thick black smoke. Meiling struggled to breathe, especially after having the wind knocked from her lungs from the witch’s attack. Fires spread even more rapidly, threatening to engulf and consume them both long before the battle could be over. Meiling looked ahead through the fire and the smoke only to see the witch walk through them unharmed, as if she were strolling through a manor’s garden. Meiling unleashed a trio of sharp darts spinning toward her, but the witch caught them with her long flared sleeves before sending them spinning back at Meiling. She slashed them away with her sword at the last split moment, and they clattered harmlessly on the floor. With the speed of a rushing wind, the witch closed the remaining distance of ten paces in one motion-blurring lunge. She placed her face tauntingly and directly in front of Meiling’s, staring deep into her eyes with mockery and silent insult.

  ​Meiling swung a downward diagonal elbow at her jaw and thrust it forward into her nose but the witch responded by grabbing her neck yet again. She disarmed her sword from her grasp and repeatedly slammed her against the wooden support beam over and over until the wood splintered and broke down. Even as she was being brutalized in the battle, the words of her father unexpectedly echoed in her mind, and it was as clear as words spoken in person. “Believe only in yourself and you will fail. Call upon Heaven. Faith will be your sword.”

  ​The witch retracted her fist for one final face-crushing blow. As if Meiling were coming to her senses for the first time, her eyes refocused with renewed intensity and she caught the witch’s punch with the palm of her hand. Stunned and completely taken aback, the witch could not force her hand any closer to Meiling and neither could she take it away. It was caught in a vice-like grip she did not expect, and she writhed in pain underneath the crushing blow of Meiling’s newfound ulterior strength.

  ​With blood streaming from her mouth and nose, Meiling looked at the witch squarely into the eyes and made a bold proclamation. “There is one thing you failed to remember about me, you vile abomination. I’m a disciple of the Way. By the will of the Heaven, my battles have already been won. Today, your head has been granted to me and I claim the victory in the name of Heaven. Your pride has brought you to this place and it shall also be your
pride that brings your downfall. Now, die.”

  ​Meiling unsheathed a short blade tucked beneath her robe. From one side of the witch’s slender neck to the other, the blade effortlessly sliced through like it was naught more than wet paper. The witch then stared at her blankly, blinked twice, and attempted to speak as every strand upon her hair turned into wispy white threads. Her body collapsed to the floor and her head rolled away as if to condemn itself to the raging flames. Meiling grabbed the head while the body flinched and shook as the vital essence left its form and withered away until all that was left were leathery skin and bones. Hundreds of years of prolonged life had caught up in a single moment.

  ​The fires intensified all around Meiling and she scrambled to find an exit. She looked at the body one last time, rushed over, and looted what belongings were left in the robes. A journal and other oddities were tucked beneath the garments. She then grabbed her sword from the floor and charged full speed to break out of the doors and windows with a jump kick. She continued her dash across the street and activated a lift by cutting and grabbing onto the rope and letting the counterweight of construction materials fall to the street below. The action quickly pulled her to the rooftop where she watched the blaze consume the rest of the pleasure house. The winds blew and fed the fire even more. It was not long until the rains returned and tamed the fire enough to keep it from spreading throughout the rest of the neighborhood.

  ​Meiling donned her hood, closed her eyes, and breathed long and deeply. It was finally over. Weeks of tracking and hunting had finally ended with a victory she attributed to the will of Heaven. Even after his death, her father’s valuable words and lessons had saved her life. “I miss you, Baba. You would have been so proud. No mountain of joss paper would suffice to match the reward you deserve. Send my love to Mother.” She uncorked a calabash bottle gourd and drank the herbal tincture to remedy the pain of her injuries.

  ​Meiling stuffed the witch’s grotesque head into a cloth sack and tied it to her belt and rummaged through the things she had looted from the witch’s body. Several bamboo vials, alchemical substances, and finally the journal curiously detailing a massive offensive maneuver upon the capital city of Beijing imminently launching within a few short days. In the last few pages was an article describing the invasion to take place from the North far beyond the Menggu Yuan steppe. A map of the massive capital city had been diagramed onto the paper and markers were strategically placed on all fours sides of its impervious walls. The diagram indicated the presence of a large network of secret passages, roads, and mountain tunnels that cut through the natural landscape that ended near Beijing.

  ​ It was then that Meiling realized what it was that she held in her hands—the most vital piece of information the government would need to properly prepare and defend itself from the imminent attack of foreign and domestic enemies. How odd it was, that a witch had the piece in her possession. Meiling was truly convinced that such circumstances were a result of none other than Heaven’s orchestration. But why would this obscure witch have so much information in her possession? It seemed so unlikely. So absurd.

  ​When dawn had arrived, Buff Baby and Zuo Shilong approached the smoldering and blackened structure of the pleasure house. They pushed through the crowd of onlookers to try to get a better view of the damage. It was total, and all they could see were the charred remains of the dead courtesans. The two of them looked around, confused, concerned, and wondering if Meiling was involved in the unfortunate incident.

  ​“This happened just last night,” said Zuo Shilong. “It must have occurred not long after we had parted ways.”

  ​“Ah, no worries, mate. Look there,” said Buff Baby pointing to Meiling who stood at alley entrance not too far down the street.

  ​They pushed through the crowds again and met with Meiling in the alley.

  ​“No offense m’lady, but you look like you’ve taken a stroll through hell,” commented Buff Baby. “I sure hope that blood isn’t yours.”

  ​“It is,” she replied. “But it is merely from surface wounds.” She unwrapped the cloth sack slung behind her back and rolled the witch’s severed head to their feet. Zuo Shilong yelped with a start.

  ​“What monstrosity is this??” asked the Shaolin monk as he held onto his chest sash of large beads.

  ​“That’d be the head of the lute player, my friend. The Pipa Witch,” said Buff Baby.

  ​“You are correct. Victory was granted unto me this past evening. I only regret I hadn’t been present to save the lives of those helpless courtesans,” she said.

  ​“I had no respect for them. I feel naught for their deaths,” commented Zuo Shilong with a frown and crossed arms.

  ​“They were people, monk. Despite the moral deficiencies of their profession, they were still people,” replied Meiling. “In the end, we cannot condemn them, for their sins were no greater than yours or mine. Remember that, little brother.”

  ​Zuo Shilong looked down at the shriveled, white-haired head of the witch sitting at his feet. He gagged slightly but covered his mouth. “So it is done then. The long witch hunt is finally over?”

  ​“Yes, the witch hunt is over. But there is something else you need to see and it is the very thing you and your companions had set out to discover,” said Meiling. She opened the journal and showed it to them.

  ​Buff Baby and Zuo Shilong studied it with astonishment and could not take their eyes away from its face. “Yes, this is it,” said Buff Baby. “All that is written here is exactly what we were trying to discover. Alas, we know not of the whereabouts of our mates or if they yet live.”

  ​“We should take it back to the capital posthaste. Do you have access into the Imperial District and the palace?” Meiling asked eagerly.

  ​“Yes,” said Buff Baby and Zuo Shilong simultaneously. “The Martial Academicians and the Ming troops heading the security of the city know who we are and will grant us complete access to the imperial administration and the Scholars,” said Zuo Shilong. He removed an ornate golden plaque from his pocket as proof that he truly was under an imperial mandate granted by the Emperor and the League of Martial Scholars. “This was given to me shortly before we departed. It will guarantee our passage no matter what, even for you.”

  ​“So you are with the Martial Scholars as well?” asked Meiling.

  ​“‘As well’?” they asked.

  ​“Someone whom I love dearly is in the capital working alongside them. Would you know him? His name is—,”

  ​“Listen, m-lady, there are countless people in the city and many— I say many— people work or associate with the Martial Scholars. When we get there, you can look for him,” said Buff Baby.

  ​“Do not be so brash. Let her finish. Go on, Lady Ling, what is his name?” said Zuo Shilong.

  ​“Never mind. Just be ready to depart at dusk, my brothers. We will meet near the city’s northern entrance and use the secret road and tunnel networks to make it back to the capital in haste. Until then, eat your fill, gather supplies and rest. I have business to attend to. I’ll meet with someone. It is time to call for reinforcements.”

  ​“What reinforcements?” they asked. Before Buff baby and Zuo Shilong could speak another word, she turned and ran off into the city, mud and stone kicking out of her boots.

  ​“You had that plaque the whole time we tried to gain entry into the city??” asked Buff Baby.

  ​“Yes, I just remembered I had it with me,” giggled Zuo Shilong.

  ​“You dunce, if you had just presented that to the army captain we would have avoided being jailed and would’ve entered the city without fret!” Buff Baby slapped his forehead in disbelief.

  ​“Oh. Yes. You are right. My apologies,” said Zuo Shilong. “But did you not hear her? That beauty already has a lover,” he said sadly with his shoulders hunched over.

  ​“Ah, no worries, mate. Plenty of fish in the sea,” answered Buff Baby, patting his shoulder. He then slapped his hand on
to Zuo Shilong’s head.

  ​“Ouch! Why?”

  ​“That’s for forgetting you had the plaque.”

  12 Where the Wind Blows

  It was late into the afternoon when Sun Xin, Wen Xiao, Big Bang, and Jirgal approached the city’s main gates and were met with heavy military presence in and around the premises. Captain Lao Lung met them and signaled them to halt.

  ​“By order of the emperor, this city is on lockdown by the Ming Imperial Army. Due to the rise of attacks and the ever-present threat of anarchic factions, no one may leave or enter the city,” he said.

  ​Sun Xin reached into his robe and removed the Martial Scholars’ badge and presented it to the captain. “We are on official imperial business here, captain. We are en route to the capital and seek food and lodging in this city.”

  ​The captain examined the plaque and the accompanying imperial edict. He then bowed and saluted them with fist in hand. “Anything we can do to help those who do His Majesty’s work,” he said. He signaled for the troops to remove the blockade and part the ramparts to grant Sun Xin and his team passage into the city.

  ​“One more thing before you proceed, swordsman,” said Captain Lao. “A very tall, musclebound man and a Shaolin monk have come through here just recently. I believe they were with you. They may yet still be inside the city somewhere.”

  ​“Much appreciated, Captain,” answered Sun Xin.

  ​“Did you hear that? The big man and the monk are alive!” said Jirgal.

  ​“They have much explaining to do,” said Sun Xin. He hesitated for two moments before finishing his thought. “But yes, it is relieving to hear that they live. Our stay in the city will be brief. We eat, rest, and depart at dawn posthaste toward the city via the merchant roads. If we are fortunate, we may yet still have bought enough time to inform the capital of what I have discovered. Maybe we then we can ascertain what the enemy is truly planning.”