by Ryan Kirk
She’d barely finished when there was a knock at her door. She looked up, surprised that someone would knock. No one had shown her that courtesy in ages. Even her mother hadn’t, back when they’d lived together. “Come in.”
The door opened slowly, and the man from last night stepped in. Something about him still seemed to glow, but the effect wasn’t as distinct as the night before. He looked well-rested and relaxed, and unlike Daiyu, seemed to radiate a gentle peacefulness that warmed the room. He looked at the few crumbs that remained of breakfast. “How was it?”
“Incredible.” Bai suddenly remembered her manners. “And thank you, for everything.”
The man nodded and gestured to the balcony of the room. Bai led the way, finally getting her first view of the village in the full light of day.
Galan and Kulat were the only other towns she’d ever been in, and this village was nothing like either. Houses and huts were at all different elevations, and ladders, stairs, and poles connected everything. It was one of the most vertical places she’d ever encountered. As she watched, children scampered up the ladders with delight, and women carried baskets on their backs as they followed.
Even from a glance, she could tell that life in this village was not easy. And yet, she didn’t see discontent on the faces of anyone who passed. Even at home in Galan, most people looked like they were simply trying to make it through the day.
The man let her look for a few moments before he spoke. “You’ve spoken with my wife already.”
It wasn’t a question, but a statement, giving her an opening to respond to. “You’re Daiyu’s husband?”
The man smiled deeply, as though the title brought him great joy. “I am. My name is Lei.”
Bai couldn’t help but study the man. Instinctively, she wondered what drew the two of them together. At first glance, they seemed too different to be husband and wife. At the same time, she already guessed at the strength of their bond. This village was theirs.
Lei caught her glance and read it correctly. “I assume she told you that she wants you to leave?”
Bai nodded.
“I hope you’ll forgive her. She can come off as quite cold at times, but underneath, she cares. Perhaps even more than I do. You’ll never guess this, but when we came here, we were hoping to start an inn. Instead, we founded a village.”
Bai pulled her gaze from Lei and out to the village. Her curiosity was overwhelming. How had all of this come to pass? Why did everyone consider them rebels? What she saw in front of her directly conflicted with the years of stories she’d heard, and she didn’t know which was more real.
“The truth is,” Lei continued, “Daiyu would love to help you. Thanks to Hien, we’ve offered shelter to no small number of women over the years. But you’ve guessed how many people are interested in you, and your presence here endangers the rest of the village. Daiyu is torn between wanting to help you and protecting this village.”
Pieces shifted in Bai’s perception, and suddenly Daiyu made more sense, from the cold exterior to the warm bread. Surprisingly, she felt a measure of respect for the other woman.
“Where’s Hien?” Bai asked.
“Probably at home, resting. She returned to where we crossed paths last night after she dropped you off. She was worried that I might need help. We didn’t get back until early this morning, and her, myself, and Daiyu needed to speak. Hien’s not great at sleeping in, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find her relaxing in her garden. You’re more than welcome to go see her, of course. You’re free to go anywhere.”
Bai appreciated the offer, but something else stuck in her mind. “What about the monks who were following me?”
Lei waved his hand away dismissively. “They returned to Galan, I assume.”
Bai looked at him suspiciously. “Why?”
“I can be very persuasive.”
She didn’t buy the glib answer. “Why?”
Lei gave a small sigh. “They tried to fight their way past me, but I held them off.”
She looked at Lei again. This man had fought off two monks on his own? That, more than anything else, stretched her belief. But he didn’t seem like he was lying.
They stood in silence for a few minutes. Bai had a hundred questions she wanted to ask, but none of them seemed quite right.
Lei broke the stalemate. “Why did you come to us?”
Bai bit her lip. She was getting tired of this question. Why did anyone do anything? “I hoped you might have answers.”
He looked at her then, his gaze boring into her like a miner digging for gold. She felt vulnerable under that gaze, even though she felt no danger. “Why did you really come to us?”
Frustration boiled up in her. What were he and his wife going on about? Were they privy to some secret of hers? “I came up here because I didn’t know what else to do!”
Lei nodded. “Closer.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“The truth. You came up here because it was the easiest choice to make. You knew if you left Hien you’d be captured. Maybe you’re curious about what happened in Galan, but it wasn’t curiosity that drove you.”
Bai clenched her fist. She hated Lei’s words. She had come here for answers! She had!
Lei stood up straight and looked over the village one more time. “Unlike my wife, I have no reservations about allowing you to stay here. But your time of easy decisions is coming to an end. Every choice you make from here on will have tremendous consequences. If you’re going to stay here, I think you’ll find answers, but I’m not sure you’re going to like them. If you stay, I want you to be prepared.” He walked to the door.
She couldn’t let him leave on that note. “What do I need to be prepared for?”
He looked over his shoulder at her. “Truth doesn’t care for our feelings. If you find the truth, you’ll be freed from ignorance, but the burden of knowing might destroy you.”
12
Delun woke up the next morning, and for a single moment he felt a surge of peace. Tall evergreens stood all around him, and the fire crackling to his side had kept him warm all night long. The birds chirped their morning song and not a single human voice could be heard.
Then he glanced over and looked at Kang, and his fury returned. He clenched his fists, fighting the urge to kill the man where he lay.
He knew the desire was irrational. Kang had fought by his side. He hadn’t done anything wrong.
But Delun hated that the man had been the one to urge retreat. Although Delun recognized it as the rational decision, he hated that Kang had been so willing to bend when the time came.
Kang didn’t look like he would wake anytime soon, and Delun needed to work off some of his anger. Anger led to poor decisions. He’d almost sacrificed his life for nothing last night because of it. Delun walked a ways from the fire, basking in the sensation of the cold mountain air against his skin. He warmed up with the routines he had been taught in the monasteries as a child, the simple forms that gradually became more complex.
He ran through the basic forms first, repeating them until his body was loose, limber, and warm. Then he moved on to more advanced movements, working up a pleasant sheen of sweat. He eventually came to the forms that used energy manipulation, but he stopped there. Perhaps it was paranoia, but he didn’t want to let Kang sense exactly how strong he was.
When he returned to the fire, Kang was just beginning to wake. The hour was late for a monk, but the night had been long and exhausting. Picking their way down the trail was almost as dangerous as their ascent. The damage they caused to the trail had become a significant obstacle given how exhausted they were. Delun had barely been able to stand, supported more than once by the larger monk.
Delun saw Kang glance at him, a glance that was every bit as curious as Delun’s. They’d put off having this discussion earlier, but now the questions had become too pressing.
Delun knelt across from Kang, alert for any shifts in the man’s energy. He sus
pected Kang was doing the same. He opened the conversation before Kang could begin. “You knew him.”
Kang hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “His name is Lei. He and I have met before.”
“You didn’t think to mention him?”
Kang scratched at his chin. “I didn’t think it was necessary. I thought we would catch the woman before she reached the village. She moved faster than I expected.”
Perhaps there was some truth to the statement, but Delun still felt as though Kang was holding on to his secrets too tightly. He waited. Silence was often the best way to promote conversation.
Kang gave in. “I hoped we could catch them before they reached the summit. I knew Lei was up there, and I didn’t want to fight with him.”
Delun shook his head. “What do you know about him?”
“Not much. He’s the strongest man I’ve ever met, without equal as far as I know. He rarely comes down from the mountains, though.”
Delun thought Kang was missing a rather obvious observation. “And he knows how to use weapons.”
Kang nodded.
Delun waited for more, but Kang didn’t look like he had much left to add.
“Perhaps you’d care to tell me how a man of that strength, who can wield weapons with our gifts, is living freely in the mountains?”
Kang sighed. “It’s a bit of a story. Shall we walk?”
Delun looked up at the mountain. “I think this is where I need to be. I need to know what that girl knows, now more than ever.”
Kang followed Delun’s look. “If she’s up there, you won’t get to her.”
Anger surged within Delun and Kang held up his hands in a placating gesture. Coming from the large man, the movement looked almost foolish. “I’m only telling you the truth. Maybe you can talk your way past Lei, but given your attitude and the way you attacked him last night, I doubt it. You can’t fight him and win, and if you want more monks, they are several days away, and that’s if you manage to somehow convince the abbot, which I don’t think you’ll be able to do.”
“At the very least,” Delun replied, “I should be here to watch for the girl to return.”
Kang shook his head. “I doubt she’ll be down soon. There aren’t many friendly people down here, as I see it. We can talk to the elder below. If she does descend, we can have a bird within an hour.”
Delun considered Kang’s words. He wasn’t sure he liked the man, but he spoke the truth, at least as far as Delun’s options went. He had run straight into a mountain he couldn’t climb alone. He couldn’t think of a way around it now, but perhaps there were other options open to him. “What do you suggest?”
“You said you were here to investigate the Golden Leaf, correct? Come with me to Kulat and resume your investigation. Perhaps there you will find some of your answers.”
Delun took a deep breath as he looked once again at the mountains looming above them. He hated the idea of retreat, but sometimes, he acknowledged, there was no better option. He wanted an hour alone with the woman to find answers, but that day was not today.
“Very well. Lead the way.”
The two of them put out their fire with water from a nearby stream, then began walking toward the road that would take them down to Galan and eventually Kulat. They walked in silence for a few minutes before Delun prodded Kang.
“Lei’s story?”
Kang sighed but acquiesced. “Some of this is only legend and speculation. Lei’s been here longer than most of us. I’ve only been a monk here for about five years, and am originally from further south.”
Even that was curious, but Delun let it slide for now. The person he really wanted to know about was Lei.
“As far as I know, Lei came into the area about seventeen, maybe eighteen years ago. He might have been living here before then, but I doubt it. We would have known. There are all sorts of rumors about his arrival, and I don’t know how many are true. Some say that he killed an abbot, others say that he destroyed a crime boss. The monastery doesn’t have any records of an abbot being killed in this area, and my own abbot claims the story is a myth. Regardless, the first stories of Lei are pretty old. Personally, I tend to think he cleared out crime in this area. You’ll note the triads are barely a presence here.”
Delun listened intently. He didn’t like the speculation, but at least the time frame of Lei’s arrival seemed fairly certain.
“Eventually, Lei came into conflict with the monastery at Kulat. My abbot was a monk there at the time, and he said that there were a few open battles. He never got into specifics, but made it clear that no matter how many monks attacked, Lei never had a problem fighting them off.”
“Really?” Delun had a hard time believing that. Lei had been strong, but that strong?
Kang shrugged. “That’s what I’ve heard. I’m inclined to believe it. Kulat is a decent-sized monastery, and we have many monks who are talented, but against someone like Lei? They wouldn’t stand a chance.”
Delun supposed his own perspective was skewed. He’d never come across a man who so openly flaunted the power of the monasteries. Closer to Jihan, such a man certainly would have been killed by now.
“Why didn’t your abbot summon more help?”
Kang shrugged again. “I’ve never asked, and the abbot from that time has long since passed away. I suspect that the old abbot and Lei either came to an agreement, or the abbot simply decided the cost was too great. This wasn’t that long after the battle of Jihan, and I suspect attitudes were different then.”
Delun conceded the point. It grated, but he could see where a weak abbot would make such a choice.
“Eventually, I came to Kulat and made a name for myself. I was the strongest warrior they’d seen in some time, and by then, the abbot I now serve was in charge. When they had trained me as much as they thought was necessary, I was sent into the mountains to kill Lei.”
Delun approved of this new abbot. He, at least, seemed to have the right idea.
“That was four years ago now,” Kang continued. “I made my way into the mountains and Lei came down the path to meet me. I never made it as high as I did with you. No doubt, he sensed my presence and came down to greet me.”
Kang paused.
“And?” Delun demanded.
“We didn’t fight,” Kang confessed. “I could tell, even then, that my ability paled in comparison to his. We introduced ourselves, exchanged a few words, and then I hiked down the mountain, defeated without even making a single sign.”
Delun wanted to be angry at the other monk, but he heard the shame in the man’s voice. Kang still carried that burden.
“Since then, I’ve done nothing but train harder to beat him. Last night, with you, I thought I had my first real chance.”
Kang left the rest unspoken.
Delun let Kang’s story soak into his thoughts. Part of him was still angry that Kang hadn’t given more of himself, but he understood Kang had simply been more rational in the heat of battle. Only one question still bothered him. “If your new abbot wants him dead, why haven’t you gone to greater lengths?”
Kang gave a grim smile. “Now that answer I know. For my abbot, the cost is too great for too little benefit. For the most part, Lei stays up in the mountains. Sometimes we can feel incredible surges of energy from that direction, but we never hear any complaints from Galan. Occasionally strangers wander up the mountain, and they never come back down.
“But the village and Lei don’t cause trouble, at least as far as I know. They branded Lei a rebel after his actions when he first arrived, and most townspeople tend to attribute every disaster to him, but there’s never been any evidence we can find. He leaves us alone and we leave him alone. It’s a thorn in the abbot’s side, but removing that thorn would cost the lives of far more monks than he is willing to spare. The way my abbot sees it, there are far more effective things a monk can be doing.”
Delun wasn’t sure he agreed. The law was the law, and Lei was clearly in violatio
n. And yet part of him understood the reasons Kang gave.
“But you don’t think Lei had anything to do with what happened in Galan?”
Kang didn’t answer for a few seconds. “No, I don’t think so. He’s strong enough, certainly. In fact, he’s one of the only people strong enough that I can think of, except the two of us. In others’ eyes, that might be evidence enough, but I don’t accept it. As far as I know, Lei hasn’t come down in years, and although I can’t prove this, my instincts say that he’s fundamentally a man of peace.”
“With that power?” Delun remembered the battering he’d taken, and he hadn’t gotten cut up as badly as Kang.
“With that power, he could have easily killed us both, and if my memory serves, you attacked first.” He pointed at his cut. “Do you know what this means to me?”
Delun shook his head, unsure where Kang was going with the argument.
“I can’t use weapons, but I’ve heard how incredibly difficult that power is to control. Fighting against both of us, he managed to use just enough force to destroy our attacks without killing us. I sensed that he didn’t put all of his power into that move. He held back, and he had enough control to leave us both alive. This cut tells me that even after an additional four years of training, I’m nowhere near strong enough to take him on. It also means that I’ve gone to fight him twice, and both times I’ve walked away with my life. In my eyes, that means I owe him, not once, but twice.”
Delun’s objections were silenced by the conviction in Kang’s tone. He didn’t see the world the same way, and after a few moments, Delun had to say something.
“But he can’t continue to disrespect the monasteries like that. If he doesn’t respect us, who will?”
Kang looked over at Delun, as though asking himself a question. “You believe in the monasteries, don’t you? More than most.”