by Ryan Kirk
Kang threw a number of attacks at the path above when it wasn’t his turn to hold the shield. Delun eventually stopped him, realizing that Kang was tearing up the path. At times, Delun thought he saw glimpses of movement up above, but it was too dark to be certain.
They took a short break as they neared the top of the mountain pass. Kang, probably because of the amount of energy he’d used attacking and holding the shield, was concerned about having enough strength to fight when they reached the top. Delun was less patient and less exhausted, but he also didn’t have any desire to fight alone. He remembered the damage in the town below, and if he was going to fight that power, he wanted Kang by his side.
Still, his patience was wearing thin. He was certain they’d begun catching up to the fugitives, and every moment they caught their breath was distance lost. He stood up. “Let’s go.”
Kang, for all his strength, looked winded by the effort he’d sustained. But he stood up all the same.
Just then, Delun felt a power near the top of the mountain like he’d never felt before. It was strong, but there was a quality to the energy he couldn’t quite articulate. The power felt endless, yet also contained. Delun couldn’t describe it, but he knew with utter certainty that it was enough to have leveled Galan.
Kang’s eyes were as wide as Delun imagined his own were. The other monk stepped forward first, though. Delun’s heart raced, but not because of the altitude. He clenched his fist, feeling as powerless as when he’d been a child. Even with Kang by his side, he wasn’t sure they had the strength to win a fight, if it was a fight that waited for them.
Delun leaped over a gap in the path, glancing at the fall below as he did. He was glad he’d managed to stop Kang before the monk had gotten too ambitious. Much more damage and the path would have been lost entirely.
He was near the top when he realized Kang had fallen behind. Even though Delun hadn’t run, he’d moved quickly, and was only a few dozen paces away from the notch the path led to. Kang was two switchbacks below. Unlike Delun, he wasn’t accustomed to high altitudes.
Curiosity overrode caution, and Delun stepped into the notch to face the power that was so unlike anything he’d ever sensed.
A lone man stood there, possibly twenty paces away. In many ways he seemed remarkably average. His height and size weren’t worth mentioning, and while he looked strong, in other circumstances Delun would barely have noted it. The man certainly wasn’t built like Kang. He looked to be somewhere in his forties, with some of his long black hair beginning to turn gray.
While the man’s appearance wasn’t remarkable, his presence was. His face was calm, with a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. Was this what Taio feared so greatly? When Delun looked at the man, he felt as though he’d just bathed in a cool mountain spring. A sense of peace emanated from him.
Delun took another step forward and the stranger shook his head. “I am sorry, monk, but you are not permitted here.”
The statement was calm, but it carried the weight of command. The words stoked the fire always burning in Delun’s heart. “I am permitted wherever I like.”
He took another step forward. The stranger raised an eyebrow. “You’re not from here.”
“No. My name is Delun, and I come from the monastery above Two Bridges.”
A flash of a deeper smile passed over the man’s face, but it was gone in a moment. Delun took another step forward, unsure of what to make of his opponent.
“I wouldn’t recommend coming any further,” the man said.
Delun, tiring of the man’s idle threats, stepped forward again.
Suddenly, he was thrown backward, the man launching into the first two-handed attack with a speed Delun had never encountered before. He’d gone from stillness to action in a moment, catching Delun completely off balance. Delun’s feet clawed helplessly at the ground, and he became suddenly aware that he was approaching the notch with incredible speed. If he didn’t land on the path, it was a long way down.
The attack dissipated, allowing Delun to land on quickly backpedaling feet. Only a few more feet and he would have been doomed.
Delun looked at the man. He was standing as still as a statue, that same sense of peace emanating from him. If not for the very obvious evidence to the contrary, Delun would have said the man hadn’t even moved.
The attack had been brilliant, and beyond anything Delun had encountered. The attack had been a first-level move, one of the first taught to new recruits at the monasteries. Most people were lucky if they could knock over a cup with the attack. It focused a monk’s power, but not to a killing blow. It certainly didn’t pick men up and throw them back.
Everything about that attack sent a message. The other man didn’t want to kill Delun. If he had, Delun had little doubt the man could have sustained the attack for the extra few seconds it would take to throw him over the side. He’d also given the monk a very personal taste of the strength he was up against.
Delun registered all of that, but that wasn’t the information he fixated on. The man had used an attack taught by the monasteries. At one point in time, he had been a monk.
The anger he’d felt before engulfed him, jumping past every bit of self-control he possessed. The man had betrayed his oaths! Delun’s fingers danced an intricate pattern, focusing an attack with both hands.
The stranger remained still, watching Delun’s preparation with interest. He didn’t seem concerned in the slightest.
Delun stopped at the fourth sign. Undefended, it could kill a man, but he was beyond reason. He extended one arm, yelled, and released the attack.
Energy surged out of his hand, but the man seemed unperturbed. As Delun’s hand came up, he formed the first shield.
Delun grinned in feral satisfaction. The first shield had no hope of standing against an attack as focused as this.
His attack connected, and Delun could feel the energies collide. He grunted, putting more of himself into the strike. He wouldn’t allow the stranger to make more than one mistake.
Without warning, Delun’s attack unraveled. He blinked, confused.
In front of him, the man stood tall, still holding his shield. Delun’s effort hadn’t even managed to wipe the serenity from the man’s face.
Delun didn’t bother trying to understand what happened. If the attack didn’t work, he would try a new approach. He sprinted at the man, wishing that he had more space from side to side. As it was, he was something of an easy target. Fortunately for him, the man didn’t attack. Delun focused on his left hand, still holding the fourth sign. With an effort, he made the fifth. Delun rarely practiced the move, too powerful for most uses.
He came in jabbing with his free right hand. In terms of the fight, the jabs, even if they landed, wouldn’t do much. They were a distraction, designed to break the other man’s focus and make him think about meaningless attacks. The man evaded with an ease that spoke of long years of practice. Delun threw in a few quick low kicks with the same purpose. None of them connected.
But he had gotten close, and the man had to be focusing on the physical attacks if he was dodging them so easily. Delun brought his left hand close to the man’s sternum, feeling the rush of triumph.
He looked up, just in time to see the man still smiling. In one of his hands he held the sign for the second shield. Delun realized it too late, his attack already released. The energies met and swirled, visibly bending the air in the space between them. To Delun’s senses, it looked as though a sun had been born in the small space.
The shield didn’t give, and the resulting force blasted Delun back. He felt his body floating in the air for an endless moment, wondering if he’d just killed himself. Then the ground rushed up to meet him. He relaxed his muscles and let himself skid to a stop.
Above him, the stars in the sky were starting to dim, overwhelmed by the first hints of the rising sun. He blinked once and the pain came. He felt the dirt and rock in the cuts in his back, the trembling in his arm
s from exhausted muscles. Like an untrained recruit, he had put too much of his energy into those attacks.
Grunting, he worked himself to a sitting position just as Kang came over the rise, a look of panic on his face. No doubt he’d never felt so strong a fight. Delun also saw a flash of recognition on Kang’s face. He knew this man.
Delun stood up, collecting himself. This fight wasn’t over. The man had won the first round, but he wouldn’t win the next. Not with Kang here.
“Together,” Delun said.
He charged the man again, ignoring the ache in his muscles, forming the signs for an attack and a shield in his hands. Behind him, Kang hesitated for a moment, then followed suit.
They came in fast, but the man stepped back into the first two-handed attack once again. He thrust out his hands and released his attack. This time, Delun got a shield up in time, but the force of it still knocked both him and Kang back. What were the depths of power this man possessed?
Delun dropped his previous strategy. With Kang, perhaps they could simply go toe-to-toe with this man. He looked over. “Give it everything.”
Kang looked uncertain, but he followed Delun’s lead as they both gathered and focused their energies. Delun made it to the strongest two-handed signs he could create. Kang did the same. Delun felt his partner’s full strength for the first time. They were very closely matched.
The mysterious man still stood, motionless. He didn’t even seem concerned by the enormous energies arrayed against him. Together, the two monks easily could have recreated the damage in the town below, with power left over.
“Now!” yelled Delun.
They both attacked, the waves of energy barreling toward the man like an unstoppable river. Nothing could survive such power.
Delun felt another power, even more focused, pressing against his own. His eyes widened and he pushed, giving as much of himself as he dared. He groaned as he searched for more strength. The energies broke upon one another with an audible crack, but no wave of force washed over him. For all his effort, nothing had resulted.
How?
Nothing could have survived that attack. But Delun had been defeated.
He collapsed to a knee, noticing for the first time that the stranger had a sword in his hand.
Delun’s heart raged, but his body and soul had nothing left to give.
The stranger knew forbidden techniques, skills denied to the monks for the safety of all. The stranger needed to face justice.
Delun refused to surrender. There had to be a way. He got to his feet and began making the first sign in his right hand. Even that took more than he cared to admit. One way or another, he wouldn’t be leaving the top of this mountain alive.
“Delun.” It was Kang.
The monk looked over at his partner. The man had suffered a cut, a gash that ran all the way across his torso. It wasn’t deep, but Delun understood the importance immediately. Not only had the man blocked their attacks, his own had been strong enough to reach Kang.
Delun looked over at the stranger. He didn’t even look winded.
Reason warred against rage. He would kill this man, but not today. Without Kang there was no chance.
Despite his anger, his mission was more important. He still had work to do.
The fact stung at his pride. Without another word, he and Kang turned and started working their way back down the mountain. The man watched them go, also silent.
As they dipped below the notch and out of sight, Delun made an oath to himself. If it was the last thing he did, he would kill that man.
Justice demanded no less.
11
Bai woke up in a bed, far nicer than the one she had slept in at home. The covers were thick, protecting her from the cool air, and the mattress was soft. She huddled deeper into the covers, soaking in the warmth with a contented sigh.
How long had it been since she was allowed a full night of sleep? In the cells down in Galan, she had been woken up a few times a night by the night watchman, and the cell had never been terribly comfortable to begin with. Sleep had become something of a treasure.
Careful to keep herself deep under the covers, she stretched, feeling the aches and pains that her body had accumulated during the past few weeks. So far as she could tell, she was fine. She had plenty of bruises and scrapes, but was otherwise unharmed. Considering all she had been through, she was going to count that as a victory.
Her last memories from the night before were vague and distorted by exhaustion. Hien had brought her here, and there had been other people, all of whom had treated her kindly. They had shown her to a bed and that was the last of her recollection. What had happened to the monks chasing her?
Bai didn’t want to let this moment go, so she pushed the question aside for the moment. She relaxed into the bed.
As she rested, sounds began reaching her, giving Bai an idea of the place she’d come to. She heard a few children shouting, and she imagined they were playing some sort of game. Occasionally a deeper voice would interject, and hints of conversation sometimes trickled through her open window.
When she took a deep breath, she was greeted by a variety of pleasant smells. Somewhere nearby beef was cooking over a fire, and Bai thought she detected the faint smell of incense nearby.
She was in a village. That much seemed obvious. But what kind of village? If they had climbed into the mountains, it stood to reason this was the home of the rebels that terrorized the region. And yet, even from her bed, it didn’t feel like a place of rebellion. She had expected something more military, or perhaps more monastic. Instead, it felt like a home.
Bai let her mind wander, half-hoping that she would fall back asleep even though it was clearly sunny outside. She thought of Hien and the strange man they’d passed on the way in. Despite the violence that surrounded her, she felt safe.
She was just about to drift back to sleep when she heard the door to her room open. Her first instinct was to hide under the covers and pretend to sleep, but these people had been kind to her. They deserved better. She pulled the covers down so her head poked out above them.
The air outside was startlingly cold, and her first impression of the woman who entered was that she was just as cold. Cold and beautiful, like a mountain peak at sunset. The woman moved with impossible grace and set down a tray carrying tea, bread, and butter. When she spoke, Bai was surprised her voice wasn’t as icy as expected. “It’s good to see you awake. I understand that you’ve been through a lot, but there is much to decide.”
Bai nodded, not sure what the woman was getting at.
“My name is Daiyu, and I function as the elder in this village.”
Bai’s eyes widened a hint with shock. Daiyu didn’t look much older than Hien. Was she among the oldest in the village?
Daiyu caught Bai’s look. She gave a hint of a smile, an action that seemed to warm the entire room. Bai began to believe that she had mistaken this woman.
“No, I am not technically an elder here. But our circumstances are unique, and most of the decisions regarding the running of the village fall on my shoulders. I do not always make my decisions alone, but my word carries weight. Do you understand?”
Bai nodded, even though she didn’t understand. A woman, in charge of an entire village, acting as an elder? It was as if she had climbed the mountains and found herself in a new world, resembling the one she knew superficially, but completely different underneath.
“Good. Now, let us speak for a moment. Why are you here, and what do you want?”
Bai blinked, confused by the questions. “I’m here because you sent Hien and she rescued me.”
Daiyu gave Bai a look that made her feel as though she had answered the question incorrectly. “My husband sent Hien, but rescue was never part of the plan. That’s a decision we’ve already disagreed on. But I want to understand you. Why did you follow Hien up here? No doubt, you considered different destinations. Hien told me she made it clear you could leave if you wished.”
Bai’s mind raced. She had just followed Hien, hadn’t she? Then she thought back to their conversation at camp. Hien had told her she could leave. She hadn’t just blindly followed. She had chosen.
“I hoped there might be answers here.”
Daiyu’s gaze was sharp. “What kind of answers do you expect to find? You call us rebels down in the valley, but we haven’t had any dealings with the empire for years.”
Bai’s heart sank. She didn’t think Daiyu was lying. What if they didn’t know anything about what happened down in the village?
Then another more frightening thought occurred to her. What if they did? If Daiyu was lying, Bai had put herself in incredible danger by coming to the very village where the attack had come from. Why hadn’t she thought of that before? Bai was the only witness to what had happened, and she’d possibly walked right into the den of the enemy.
But that didn’t make sense. Hien could have killed her at any point in the journey. It would have been far easier than saving her. She had to trust these people.
Even though Bai hadn’t spoken, Daiyu looked as though she had found her answer. She stood up. “Everyone who lives in this village is here for a reason. If you haven’t already figured it out, you are the most sought-after person in the western empire right now, and everyone knows you’re here. I’m not going to throw you out. But unless you want to put everyone here at risk, I would consider leaving. You are a danger to us all so long as the empire knows you hide here.”
With that, she stood up and left, leaving the room even colder than before.
The warmth of the bed still called to Bai, but the lure of food was even stronger, and her bed no longer seemed quite as welcoming. She pulled herself from the covers and dressed in clothes that had been provided for her. She sipped at the tea and bit into the bread eagerly. For all of Daiyu’s cold demeanor, the food she brought told another story. The tea was fragrant, with just a hint of sweetness beneath the grassy green flavors. The bread was fresh and warm, the butter rich. All in all, it was the best breakfast Bai thought she’d ever tasted.