NOVEL SIMPLE 46 – This fish has escaped the net
“Grandmaster.” A young woman limped forward and bowed. “Leung Keut reporting. I was on guard duty at the main gate. She... She walked straight up to the gate. I didn't recognise her at first. She approached so confidently...” Her voice began to shake.
Wong Tang placed a hand on Leung Keut's shoulder. Yuen Muk sensed the shift of energy between them, and the young woman visibly relaxed.
“Continue, Leung Keut.”
“Thank you, Grandmaster. When we realised who -”
“'We'? Who were you on guard with?”
Leung Keut looked uneasily over her shoulder at the rows of bodies on the ground.
“I see.” Wong Tang tapped her shoulder. “Let's put that to one side for now.”
“When we realised who she was, we refused to let her enter. I was going to raise the alarm when she blew up the front gate.”
“Did the protection arrays not activate?”
“They did. The Sinking Ox Pit immediately opened to swallow her, but she was too fast for it. She seems to cast explosions to change direction rapidly.”
“The Encompassing Turtle's Jaws array?”
“We thought that would hold her, but she simply held her breath and blasted at the water until it finally evaporated.”
Wong Tang frowned deeply. “Evaporated? That amount of water?”
“When she emerged, her whole body was red and blistering from the heat of the water. Grandmaster... It's not that the arrays didn't work. If she were a normal person, we would have been safe. But... she's... insane...” Leung Keut began to shudder again, and although Wong Tang's energy once again eased her tremors a little, she was still pale and unsettled. The rest of the disciples were in similar condition. They spoke in fits and starts – how Teem Djeung Baak had asked repeatedly where the doctor was, how she had set fire to the doors and roofs of the Gales of Battle dormitories with an air of curiosity, how she moved without stopping and only retreated when she sensed Ling Gwong approaching. It was over in a matter of minutes. She was gone by the time the Vermilion Bird of the South had arrived.
Wong Tang dismissed the disciples to rest and be treated. For a long time, she and Gaam Yuk Ying, and Yuen Muk, stood silently in the choking air.
“Master-”
“No, Little G- Yuen Muk.” Wong Tang began to extract her pipe, but she thought better of it and replaced it. “Mount Faa has lost its doctor. Retrieve all of the reference texts you can from the infirmary. Study with the other healing disciples. You will stay here and guard Mount Faa with Ling Gwong and Gaam Bing until I return.”
Yuen Muk chewed his tongue in silence.
“Yuen Muk.”
“Master... How has the situation turned out this way?”
His master's response was to pull out her pipe after all and place it to her lips. She jerked suddenly and stared at the object in her hands as if she had never seen it before. “What do you mean?”
“Are you serious right now?” Gaam Yuk Ying asked.
“Master, not long ago you changed the geography of the Ngo Mei surrounds. You're the Great Dragon at the Centre of All Things, the creator of humanity.” His eyes swept the room. “We have three of the Ng Dzeung here. Please, Masters, how have things come to this?”
Gaam Bing raised a thick, rough eyebrow, his silver eyes sliding towards Wong Tang.
“Leoi Wo...” Ling Gwong's voice was pleading.
The Grandmaster shook her head. “It's not for you to know, Little Gou.”
“That's not my name anymore, Master.”
“You haven't answered me from before, Yuen Muk.”
The young man didn't respond.
“Yuen Muk.”
“... Yes, Master.”
“Gaam Yuk Ying.”
“Yes, Divine Majesty.”
Wong Tang didn't answer immediately. She curled and uncurled her fingers, soil and ash mixing together around her feet. At last, she said, “Take Chan Bik, Lau Yan and Maan Dzi King and find Teem Djeung Baak. Do not try to keep her alive. Kill her on sight. We can't afford to try and find ut who she is or why she's acting this way anymore.”
“Yes, Divine Majesty.”
“We should have done that from the start,” Yuen Muk said bitterly.
“There's no point in worrying about the past,” Wong Tang said, putting away her pipe. “Can you go back in time? Will regrets change anything? Focus on the future, Yuen Muk.”
The future, huh? What did that mean, really? His life had taken so may twists and turns, so what was next?
“Dinner, maybe?” Gaam Yuk Ying suggested, when Yuen Muk said this question out loud.
“It was rhetorical, Yuk Ying.”
“Ah.”
“Dinner sounds good though.”
Gaam Yuk Ying was gone half an hour after finishing his meal. There was still a little light in the sky at this time of the year, pale blue light chasing the sun that had slipped below the horizon. Occasionally he passed villages where the people, settling in for the night, stared apprehensively as he flashed by.
The night was moonless, quickly darkening as he rushed east, the pine forest of Dzue rising to meet him. Before he entered the forest, he paused a moment, and looked up at the glittering clusters of stars above.
The future. What an odd thing for the Divine Empress to say, Gaam Yuk Ying thought.
“He's fine.”
Cheng Baak-hap collapsed back in her chair, and dropped her head into her hands.
“Sing Sing, you need to go and see him.” Chan Bik sat beside Cheng Baak-hap at the desk where the latter seemed to have taken root. She was folding ingots out of scrap pieces of paper.
“I can't do that, Ah Bik.” Cheng Baak-hap grimaced. Her face had lost a lot of its foxiness over the time she had been in the Demon Realm.
“Why not? He's your only family!”
“How can I see him, Ah Bik?” Cheng Baak-hap groaned, pushing about papers asthough she were swimming through them. “I've barely acknowledged his existence for these past eleven years! How dare I show my face to him now?”
“Does he hate you?” Gaam Yuk Ying asked.
“Gaam Si-hing! You can't just-”
“Probably.”
“But you don't know.”
Cheng Baak-hap gave him a wan smile. “Gaam Si-hing, if a family member treated you like you didn't exist, wouldn't you think you were hated?”
“Not really.”
“Hatred isn't expressed simply through physical violence.”
“Do you hate him?”
A silence greeted this question. Chan Bik slipped a hand into one of Cheng Baak-hap's.
“When our parents... disappeared? Died? I don't even really know what happened anymore... I had to become Baat Gat's mother. He was so small. And I... I...”
Her free hand scrunched her papers, tearing them.
“Did you really hate him, Sing Sing?”
“No! No, but... I resented him.” As the words tumbled out of her mouth, they dragged tears forth with them like falling rocks. “I was a child! To look after another child... When we arrived at Mount Faa, I was just so relieved that there were adults there. They could look after him, and I didn't have to worry about whether he had eaten enough, or if he would freeze to death.” She slumped and trembled. “I remember lying awake at night, listening to him breath and just... begging with all the Immortals that he would... just... keep breathing.”
Chan Bik pulled her into an embrace, letting Cheng Baak-hap hide her face in the crook of her neck. “Why don't you at least write him a letter? I'll help you. Let him know you're thinking of him.”
Cheng Baak-hap didn't answer, but her breathing shuddered and then calmed.
“I'll make some fresh tea for us,” Chan Bik said, patting Cheng Baak-hap's shoulder. “Gaam Si-hing, you should sit next to Baak-hap while I prepare it.”
“You've grown up so well,” said Gaam Yuk Ying flatly, wiping away a non-existent tear.
“And you become more of a sarcastic jerk every time I see you. Do you know how weird it is hearing you say that with that expressionless face of ours?
“No.”
“You're lucky I'm looking after Baak-hap. I'd come over there and smack some common decency into you.”
“Later, then.”
“You said that the Grandmaster seems to be acting strangely, Gaam Si-hing?” Cheng Baak-hap asked, trying to bring her tears under control. Chan Bik paused midway through standing.
Gaam Yuk Ying made an affirmative noise.
“Right? I don't want to question the Divine Guardians, but...” Chan Bik clenched her jaw. Her fingertips began to glow. “That... I don't even know what to call her anymore... how could this...?” The white fire at her hands died and now a few tears of frustration were squeezed from her eyes. “The Ng Dzeung are supposed to be all-powerful! Why haven't they caught her yet? Why is she still out there, hurting people?” She slammed a fist on the table and it leaned drunkenly with an ominous creak.”
Gaam Yuk Ying's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.
Cheng Baak-hap wiped her eyes with her sleeves. “I have some theories... but we should talk to Lady Gong first.”
“Gong Dze? Why?”
“She's friendly, she likes us, and she's more likely than anyone to know why the Divine Guardians are behaving like this. Her Majesty Gong Ming Dzue probably knows too, but I think she's unlikely to tell us.”
“Let's go and talk to her now then.” Chan Bik jumped fully upright.
“It's the middle of the night, Bik Bik. It can wait until tomorrow.”
“Do you think so?” Gaam Yuk Ying asked, before Chan Bik could object.
“What can we do, Gaam Si-hing? If the Ng Dzeung thought that we needed to know, they would have told us?”
“What if...” His fingers twitched on the hilt of Lo Fu Ngaa. “... it's not a good reason. That they're hiding it?”
A shiver passed through the tent.
“I don't want to start distrusting the Divine Guardians,” Cheng Baak-hap said quietly. “But I also don't intend to blindly follow them. Let's go and see Lady Gong.”
A few blinks was all it took for Gaam Yuk Ying and Chan Bik (carrying Cheng Baak-hap demurely in her arms), to arrive at the dragon's lodgings. As the operation had dragged on, the tents had been replaced with temporary but sturdier huts.
Gong Lau Yan sat outside one of the huts, whistling tunelessly and carving a scrap of wood into the rough shape of a lotus.
“Gong Dze! You're still up.”
“Could say the same to you lot. I was waiting for Little Gaam to come and say hi.” She winked at him. “How goes the Mortal Realm?”
Chan Bik hurriedly recounted everything she had heard from Gaam Yuk Ying. Gong Lau Yan listened with an increasingly grave expression, occasionally throwing questions at Gaam Yuk Ying as Chan Bik jumbled up events.
“I see.”
“Gong Dze, why are the Grandmaster and the other Divine Guardians acting like this?” Chan Bik asked urgently. “Grandmaster could split the Five Kingdoms into their own separate islands, and Mas- Lady Gwong could set fire to the whole world if she wanted, and yet-”
“Ha, I don't think Auntie Gwong could do that. Maybe Sek'suen... As for why they're being like this... I can't tell you that.”
“Can't or won't?” Gaam Yuk Ying countered.
“Grandmother ordered me not to say anything,” Gong Lau Yan said, shame-faced. “She gets really stubborn sometimes.”
“Gong Dze, we don't wish to foolishly follow orders,” Cheng Baak-hap said quietly. “It's not that I doubt the wisdom of the Divine Guardians-”
“Oh, you should,” Gong Lau Yan said cheerfully.
“I am,” said Gaam Yuk Ying.
“- but maybe they need some other opinions or viewpoints. From humans, say.”
Gong Lau Yan picked up her wooden lotus and carving knife again. “Well, I think you're right, but that doesn't mean I can tell you anything.”
Chan Bik groaned aloud.
“But... I might be able to give you a clue.” The loong put down her tools, and stretched, before offering them a sharp grin. “Follow me.”