The Blue Mountain (The Forbidden List Book 2) Read online

  “Master Shen, how did the Emperor fight these creatures? If it was far to the west, I can understand the use of the gates to travel, but from all that you, and he, have said it sounds as if he alone beat them back.”

  “Haung, sometimes for all your training you see little of what is in front of you. A true Wu, one who can reach the ninth realm when we, for all our learning and power, cannot pass beyond the first, would be a being of great power. Amongst the Wu, power is often determined by the spirit they align themselves to. The Emperor is a Wu and aligned with the most powerful of spirits that anyone has heard of. Have you not seen his crest, the pictures upon the walls and the statues upon the roofs of houses? Haung, have you never looked?”

  The Jiin-Wei, and Taiji-in-training, sat back in his chair thinking of the times when he had heard the Emperor described as, and called, the Dragon Emperor.

  “And now you can see,” Shen said. “Now you can understand. We will speak again when I have news.”

  “Yes, Master.” Haung stood, bowed and left the sorcerer’s house pondering the revelation.

  Chapter 25

  It was the screaming that brought him back. His hands relaxed and he stumbled away from the dead man. Ragged breaths and a racing pulse, anger battled reason, fear fought rage. His body trembled and the urge to add his own scream of fury to the high pitched wail coming from the girl was great. Zhou took a long, slow breath, held the scream in his throat and swallowed the anger. He pushed the spirit away, letting it go and regaining control.

  “Please stop screaming,” Zhou said.

  The young girl scrabbled backwards, her heels digging into the dirt floor and scattering the sparse straw. The body on the floor wheezed as the last of the air left its lungs and passed out through the rents its neck. Zhou looked down at the bloody mess and tipped the face of the man he had killed towards him. The sightless eyes were already drying out. Zhou had no idea who the man was, or rather, had been. His hand left bloody fingerprints on the dead man’s jaw. Zhou looked towards the main house. The door was still closed.

  “Who is he?” he asked and then corrected himself, “Was he?”

  The girl’s eyes were wide and she was gulping in air, readying another scream.

  “I am not going to hurt you,” Zhou said. He held his hands up, fingers pointing towards the barn roof. “My name is Zhou. I came to the house earlier, with a lady. We were looking for food and water, perhaps some shelter.”

  “W...water?”

  “Yes, water. The volcano,” and there was a moment of blank confusion on her face, “the fire mountain, the reason that ash is falling from the sky, has made all the open water dirty and undrinkable. We hoped your village could help us.”

  “We have water,” she said.

  “Good, that’s good.” Zhou did not move from his position by the door. “We wondered why the old lady did not help us. My companion thought that you might be in trouble. She is very wise and knows a lot about villages. She thinks that the old lady would have given us water but something, someone stopped her.”

  The girl nodded.

  “Can you tell me what is happening?”

  “Y... yes,” but she stopped there.

  “My companion and I would like to help you, if we can.”

  “They came when the clouds did, when the ash began to fall. We’d all been out in the fields when it started to fall. No one knew what to do. The chief told us all go inside. They came a bit later. They asked him for help. They wanted to shelter with us and he let them in. Told them to leave their weapons outside and they did,” she said and rubbed at her eyes.

  “What happened then?”

  “O...once the door was closed they started to demand food and drink. When the chief asked them be respectful, one of them pulled a knife and stuck him in the stomach. He took a day to die.” She began to sob. “They put him in here. We could hear him scream all day.”

  Zhou glanced towards the corner where had found the pile of flesh. “I’m sorry he died. Was that yesterday?”

  “Yes,” she said. “Last night they took some of the women out and raped them. The men couldn’t do anything. They were too scared. I think that is what he,” she pointed a shaky finger toward the body, “wanted to do to me. My brother tried to stop them. My brother?”

  She scrambled to her feet and bolted for the door. Zhou reached out and caught her round the middle, lifting her off the floor. She screamed. He pulled her back out of the light and covered her mouth with his hand, knowing it was doing little to earn her trust.

  “I’ll look for your brother, I promise. Just stop screaming or you’ll bring them all out. Please, stop. I’ll look for your brother,” he said.

  After a moment, she stopped fighting and he removed his hand, placing her back on her feet. “I’m sorry.”

  She gave him a little smile, turned and ran out of the door before he could stop her. For a second he stood still, rooted to the spot by surprise. Instinct told his feet to move and he raced out of the barn after her. She flew across the ash dusted ground towards the body that lay before the door to the main house.

  He was only a few steps behind when she fell to her knees, next to the unmoving body and rolled it over. Zhou saw the boy’s eyes were closed and blood covered his forehead and cheeks. She cradled her brother’s head and cried. Zhou halted a pace back, letting her have a moment, and keeping a close eye on the door of the main building.

  Zhou took a step forward and rested a hand on her shoulder, patting her awkwardly. “Let me look at him. Head wounds bleed a lot more than you’d think. It might be only a little cut.”

  Under his fingertips, there was a weak pulse and the boy’s neck felt warm. As he opened his mouth to tell the young girl, he heard the door at the top of the step creak open.

  “Well now, what do we have here?” said a deep voice.

  * * *

  Zhou stood and faced the large man who came down the steps towards him. He carried a large single edged sword in his hand, a Bagua Dao. A weapon frowned on by most soldiers. It was too easy, he recalled a corporal telling him during the siege, to hit your friends as you tried to swing it in battle. A mercenary’s or a loner’s weapon, he had been told.

  “I don’t think you should be here, should you?” The large man stepped off the last step, onto the grey earth and lifted the blade of the sword onto his shoulder. “Why don’t you run along? There is nothing for you here but death.”

  Zhou grabbed the girl’s shoulder and pulled her back, behind him. Shielding her with his own body, he retreated away from that large, heavy sword.

  “I’ll go,” Zhou said.

  “Leave the girl,” the man said and took a step forward. “She stays.”

  There was a whimper behind him. Zhou took a deep breath, halted his retreat and stood firm. “I don’t think so.”

  The large man cocked his head and grinned, exposing, dirty broken teeth. “Strangely, I was hoping you’d say that.”

  “Girl, get back to the barn,” Zhou said.

  Something occurred to the man at that point, it was easy to read it on his face. “Where is Qǔdì?”

  “Who?”

  “The man who was with her.” The large man took another step closer.

  “Girl, run,” Zhou said. “The rapist is dead. If you want him, you can either drag his body out of the barn or cross the Nàihé Qiáo and meet him in the ten courts of dìyù. Let us go and you can have his body, take another step and you’re choosing an eternity in hell.”

  Zhou called the spirit back and felt it race through his blood, feeling strength flood his muscles and his senses sharpen once more.

  “I didn’t much like Qǔdì and his death means more loot for us, but I can’t just let you kill one of us and get away with it. And definitely not with the girl too. She’ll fetch a high price on the block.” He took a step back and called into the house. Two more men emerged and moved to stand next to the sword wielder. One carried an axe and the other a spear.

/>   Zhou pushed the girl away and hoped she would follow his instruction to get away, but he could not spare her a glance as the three men spread out, giving each other the room to swing. Behind, he heard the sounds of the girl turn tail and run. He breathed a sigh of relief.

  “I think you should gather up your stuff and leave,” Zhou said.

  “I don’t agree,” the large bandit said. “This village can look after us for a while. A life in the forests and on the road can be difficult. It won’t hurt them to care for us and when we go we’ll take a few things with us.” He laughed and his two friends joined in.

  “Are you going to stand with him?” Zhou looked at the two newcomers. “You can still walk away. You don’t have to do this.”

  In answer, they both took renewed grips on their weapons and shifted their feet, readying themselves. The leader smiled and said, “You could run. Make it interesting.”

  “I don’t agree,” Zhou echoed the bandit’s words and leaped. He sailed over the head of the axe wielding bandit, seeing the man look up in surprise. Landing behind the bandit, Zhou punched. His fist, with all the power of the spirit behind it, caught the bandit at the juncture of neck and skull. The man dropped to the earth, axes spilling from limp hands. Before the other two could react, Zhou danced away out of range of the spear and long sword.

  “You can still walk away,” he said.

  They rushed him. The spear jabbing forward whilst the long sword came whistling in from the side. Zhou stepped around the spear, the weapon seemed slow to the spirit guiding him. Grabbing the haft of the spear, he lifted it into the path of the sword, parrying it away. He continued to move, twisting away from the spear wielder and pulling him forward, off balance. As the bandit stumbled, Zhou tugged the spear from his grasp and threw it away.

  Zhou moved away again as the two bandits scrambled around to regain their feet and focus. The dispossessed bandit drew a knife from his waist band, but hesitated over his next move. The leader shouted in incoherent fury and ran at Zhou, the great sword sweeping in a flat arc designed to cut him in two. Zhou jumped backward, out of the way. The large bandit grinned, jumping forward again and trying the same cut. Zhou had no other option but to back up again. The smaller bandit had no way of closing the distance without risking injury from his friend’s sword. The same cut was tried again and again, to the same result.

  “You want to try and jump over me, little man? I’ll cut you in two before you land.” The bandit spun the sword in his hand, grinned and as it came back to horizontal, lunged and tried the cut once more.

  This time Zhou did not retreat. As the long sword began its swing, Zhou stepped forward. The spirit enhanced strength in his muscles pushed his body inside the sword’s arc. He turned, presenting his back to the bandit and raising his arm. The swinging sword arm hit him in the ribs and he clamped his raised arm down over it. Zhou continued his turn, dragging the bandit with him. The sword swung around, guided now by Zhou’s twisting body, and sliced into the knife-wielder.

  The smaller man screamed as the sword cut across his stomach, parting the leather he wore and the skin beneath. The knife dropped from his fingers as he clamped both hands to his stomach, holding it together. Zhou did not stop stepping and twisting, the swordsman moving at Zhou’s whim and direction. He guided the sword into the ground, the blade digging deep into the soil before coming to halt. Zhou released his hold on the bandit’s arms and let the residual momentum throw the man to the ground. The disarmed bandit hit the earth hard and rolled a few times before coming to a stop.

  Three men were down. One unconscious. One struggling to stop the waterfall of blood and guts from the deep gash in his stomach, and the leader, the large bandit, lying on the floor groaning in pain. Zhou saw their bodies and shook his head. It did not have to be this way.

  Zhou wrapped his hand around the hilt of the sword embedded in the earth and pulled it free. Without the spirit, the sword would have been too large and heavy for Zhou to wield with any speed or skill. But now, with his strength increased, he could lift it with just one hand. He took the few steps needed to reach the sword’s owner, who was struggling to his feet.

  “You should have left when I gave you the chance,” Zhou said.

  The bandit looked down the length of the sword that the much smaller man had pointed at him. Zhou could read the rage in the man’s eyes, the desire for revenge and the fear. The bandit backed away a step and spared a glance for his wounded friend who had now slumped from his sitting position to lie on his side in the ash. He was still breathing, but each exhale was a weak breeze between clenched teeth.

  The bandit took another step backwards as Zhou raised the sword above his shoulder, taking a two handed grip upon it.

  “You came into a peaceful village and made their lives a misery. You have stolen, abused and raped the people here who would have shared all they have with you in friendship, if you had offered it. Instead, you invaded their land to steal everything they owned.” The grey night flattened, the village faded away and all Zhou could see was the Yaart solider on the wall coming towards him, sword raised, murder in his eyes. “You shouldn’t have come here to take everything. To kill my people. We had a chance at peace. You should have taken it.”

  He stepped forward, on the battlements, towards the enemy soldier. He could hear his name being shouted, but amongst the cries of the wounded and dying, the flames and collapsing stonework, it was nothing. It would not distract him from the defence of his city.

  He took another step and saw the Yaart soldier back up in fear. “You should not have come here. You should have left it alone. They would still be alive.”

  His name sounded again, but he ignored it. “This is my home. You shouldn’t have come.”

  Red snakes erupted from the ground, wound around the soldier’s legs and climbed his body. A swarm of wriggling, squirming, worming, twisting, turning, blood red snakes covering the torso and rising higher.

  “Zhou.” He ignored it. All that mattered was protecting his city, his family, his wife, his child.

  “You shouldn’t have killed them,” he screamed and leaped, the sword descending, cutting the sky in two and shearing through the armour of the Yaart soldier. Bright red exploded from the body as it tumbled to the ground. “You shouldn’t have killed my boy.”

  Zhou let the sword fall from his hands. The battlements of Wubei faded away, the soldiers vanished into the falling ash, and the silence of night drowned the noise of battle. At his feet, the large bandit’s sword, now dark with blood and the body, split from shoulder to hip, lay not far away. Motes of ash fell onto unblinking, sightless eyes. A soft hand rested on his shoulder.

  “Zhou,” Xióngmāo said, “are you all right?”

  “No,” he covered her hand with his own, “not really.”

  Chapter 26

  “Have you found out anything useful?” Haung asked. He threw the latest scouting report down on the table.

  “No,” Gang said as he flopped down into the wooden chair and scratched at his groin.

  “Do you have to?” Liu moved round the table.

  “I have an itch, what do you want me to do?” The large man smiled and scratched again.

  Haung sighed, after two months of waiting for the visitor the Emperor had said was coming, of reading scouting reports which said little, and of the Fang-Shi coming up with no new information, he was beginning to wonder if there was anything to find. More than that, he was missing Jiao and his son. Autumn was in full swing and winter was coming. This far north, the seasons changed quickly.

  “Liu,” Haung turned from Gang’s grinning face to look at the tall man, “have the Mongols told us anything useful yet?”

  “Sadly, no. I have worked through most of the groups and they know little. They talk of a great army that swoops down upon towns and villages. However, none of them have seen the army. They’ve seen the soldiers that attacked their villages, but taking into the account the nature of peasants to exaggerate ever
ything, I’d reckon that they have seen no more than fifty to hundred at a time. Not enough to threaten the wall, let alone the Empire.” Liu shifted the axes on his belt. “I think we are wasting our time.”

  “Some of the soldiers are showing a little promise. A few more years and one or two of them could be really good,” Gang said.

  “Maybe,” Liu agreed.

  “Well,” Haung began, “I am fed up of waiting behind the wall and relying on other people’s eyes and information. So, I have arranged for us to join one of the patrols tomorrow.”

  “Really?” Gang said.

  “Yes, really. I want to see what the land is like. There has to be something to see.” Haung stood and retrieved the report, flattening it back out again. “The flow of refugees has slowed to almost nothing and there hasn’t been a trader or nomadic herder past a patrol in weeks. Something is going on out there. I want to find out what.”

  “I suppose it will be something to do,” Liu said in his soft voice.

  “Do I have to ride a horse?” Gang asked.

  “Yes, you do. Pack for two days. We will be spending a night on the plains,” Haung said.

  “Trail food is not nice. I best get to the officers’ club and get some decent food in my belly, as a barrier to the bland fare I’ll have to suffer out there.” Gang heaved himself out of the chair and stomped off.

  Liu watched Gang leave before asking, “How far are you intending to push out into the plains?”

  Haung studied the tall man for a moment. “The patrols are out and back within a day. Only a few of the scouts we have sent out have come back. Those who do, report seeing nothing.”

  “What do the ones who do see something actually see?” Liu asked the question Haung had implied.