BAF 64 - Kai Lung Unrolls His Mat, page 16
part #64 of Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series
“We have a saying, ‘A word whispered in the ear can carry a thousand li,’ and it would doubtless surprise you to know what details of the private doings of you upper ones reach us. Howbeit, that is neither caught on a hook nor shot by an arrow, as the motto goes, but herein lies the gist of it: As this one kept his station by the Gridiron Pass at daybreak, there came a wayfarer who pushed on his failing horse, and every time it stumbled he raised a curse of vengeance against one whom he did not name outright. Hearing this and seeing him, although no name was spoken, your menial hid among the rocks, and when that other one had gone he came past him by a secret way and has conveyed the warning.”
“Wisdom has guided your feet so far,” acquiesced Lin Ho, well knowing by the indications that the one anathematized was that Lam-kwong whose form he himself wore. “Did the horseman bear no sign by which he might be known?”
“He showed such marks as disclosed that he was escaping out of bondage,” replied the other. “But to the robbers of our tribe his upraised whip-armed hand was a not forgotten symbol.”
“Fang-tso returned!” uttered Lin Ho beneath his breath, and Tse bent his head in token, well content that he had done what he had and that no incriminating name had passed his lips.
’This embodies something of a paradox, for it both complicates and simplifies the matter,” remarked Lin Ho, after he had stood awhile in thought. “You spoke of encountering him at dawn and avoiding his passage by a hidden track. Thus and thus at what hour may we expect to greet him with our loyal devotion?”
“According to the various influences, his ever-welcome feet should reach this gate at a gong-stroke before noon,” replied the brigand.
“You have done well throughout and have all but repaid your oath. One thing alone remains. Achieve that, and not only what you set out to effect will have been accomplished, but five ingots of the purest will reward your zeal.”
“Though one eye is useless, both ears are copiously alert,” responded Tse. “Say on, most opportune.”
“In the first place, it is necessary that your accomplished and bewitching mother should be here, for my business lies with her.”
“That is easily done,” was Tse’s reply, and from a hidden fold of his ample garment he produced a lean gray rat and sat it upon his hand. “Since the incident referred to, she has generally accompanied me in one shape or another, to be out of harm’s way.”
“Filial piety carried to such a length deserves to be set to music,” declared Lin Ho. “Nothing could be more propitious. Perhaps, in the circumstances, as we are unobserved, she would graciously revert to a condition in which mutual conversation will be on a more normal level.
“That also presents no obstacle.” Tse shook off the docile creature down on to the ground, sprinkled a little salt upon it as he pronounced a magic word, and instead of a rat an aged and unsightly hag appeared before them.
“I have heard all that has been said, high excellence,” remarked the ancient. “So that it only remains for you to disclose your need.”
“To one of your venerable charm it should not be a weighty matter,” suggested Lin Ho. “For a certain reason it is necessary that I should leave my ordinary body for a trifling moment and float in the Middle Air at will. Can you ensure me this?”
“If that is all you require,” declared the witch, “it will involve no eclipse to contrive it. You have seen that this one is in the habit of changing herself into the similitude of various creatures of the lower part as the necessity arises, and for this one way is as well as another. Drink but a single drop of the liquid of this phial and presently a languor will assail you. Under this influence your unfettered spirit will float away at its own volition, free to enter any untenanted shape that it encounters or to return to its own body as it may desire.”
“You have earned a full requital,” admitted Lin Ho, counting the silver to the one who stood by expectant. “Yet what period spans the pause between the drinking of the potion and the lethargy descending?”
“It can be rated as the time in which an agile man might walk a li,” was the reply. “May a coronal of shining lights illuminate your hazardous path, esteemed.”
“May the immortal principles of equipoise be maintained within your venerable body,” rejoined Lin Ho, no less agreeably, and they parted.
Had his position been a less ambiguous one, Lin Ho would certainly have called upon the shadows of his immediate ancestors to rally to his aid in their strength at this crisis of his fate. In view of the two-sided nature of his being, however, he deemed this to be inexpedient, so that, instead, he devoted the time that he could spare to perfecting his arrangements. It then wanting about two gong-strokes to the hour of noon, he unlocked the strong door of the caves and found Lam-kwong below.
“A few jars of one kind and another, an assortment of rusty iron, and a sundry profusion of rags wherewith to pack the whole,” remarked the one in question, indicating the bale that he had bound with leather. “A scanty cash or two in the market-place at most, but the limit for these degenerate shoulders.”
’The rewards of industry were ever ill-allotted,” sympathized Lin Ho. “When you have refreshed yourself at my poverty-stricken board, perchance you will be able to sustain more.”
“Alas,” replied Lam-kwong evasively, “the honour of sitting at the same table with your distinguished self would be so excessive that I should certainly sink under its weight alone. A crust as I go on my uphill way—”
“Should it become known that I allowed so illustrious a guest to depart fasting, the stones of Tsing-te would leap into indignant hands when next I passed,” Lin Ho insisted firmly; and because he was unable to withstand, Lam-kwong yielded.
When they were come to a suitable room, set at a distance from the rest, Lin Ho called for a repast of a generous sort, and he also indicated wine. At this Lam-kwong raised a protesting hand.
“For,” he said, “we have no certainty of what shall thence arise. Should you in consequence become too self-centered to accompany me, the acrimonious Wong may resist my going with this bale of stuff and delay me at the gate.”
“That is a point to be considered,” admitted Lin Ho; “but because leprosy exists there is no reason why one should not enjoy the shelter of a tree. Let Wong attend.”
“I hear and obey, magnificence,” said the voice of the one indicated, as he appeared from around the open door. “Understanding that a feast was being prepared—”
“In due course a portion shall be assigned,” interposed Lin Ho. “Meanwhile, feast your ears upon my words. This inoffensive youth will shortly be proceeding on his journey hence. See to it that nothing untoward occurs about our gate. Let neither hand nor foot be stretched in his direction, or I who speak will prune their overgrowth. Furthermore, all that he takes is his by special grace and free of any mulct or usage.”
“A line of bowmen shall be drawn up to do him honour,” replied the outrageous Wong, unsettled by the thought of the approaching meat; “and muted trumpets sound an appropriate march.”
’Take heed lest their office is to play one who shall be nameless toward a hole made in the ground,” remarked Lin Ho with sombre freedom. “An added duty, keeper of the latch: when our guest shall have departed, your charge is that none approaches or disturbs me here on any pretext, for I have deep matters to consider. Now let all withdraw so that we may eat negligently.”
Lam-kwong being eager to get away, and Lin Ho no less anxious not to delay the parting, their etiquette was neither ceremonious nor involved. The former person, indeed, did not scruple to convey the choicer morsels of each dish to his inner sleeve, and Lin Ho, though he must have observed the movement, forebore to challenge him. Presently, turning aside, he filled two cups with a special wine.
“Let us, as the custom is, pledge our mutual enterprises,” and he pressed one of the cups upon Lam-kwong.
“There is no reason why we should not do so,” replied the other. “Nor would I stand churlishly aloof were it not that I observed your surreptitious hand to linger somewhat about the cup that you have passed to me.”
“That is a very one-sided view to take,” exclaimed Lin
Ho in some annoyance. “If I wished to effect your end, there hangs’ a trusty sword upon the wall and none to question how or why I use it; though where your unsophisticated death would profit me, the Great Serpent alone knows.”
“Be that as it may,” argued Lam-kwong, “‘It is too late to learn to swim as the vessel sinks.’”
“However,” continued Lin Ho resourcefully, “in order to convince you of your error, I will drink the wine myself,” and recovering the cup he did so.
“In that case, there can be no harm in accepting yours,” declared Lam-kwong, who was feeling thirsty, and taking Lin Ho’s cup he drained it.
“This only goes to show how our natures have become blended, neither maintaining a full share of any quality,” remarked Lin Ho. “Thus, although I possess your strength I wholly lack your deftness. The skill with which you bound Fang-tso—”
’That is a very simple matter,” contended Lam-kwong, who plainly had not entirely lost his former self-assurance among the milder nature of Lin Ho; “nor, despite your theory, has this hand grown less proficient.”
“Such a boast is easily maintained across a peaceful table, and the method even traced in spilled wine on the board, but here are ropes and one who will submit his body to the trial. Bind this person so that his strength cannot surmount the bondage and he will forfeit a resolute-minded mule to bear your load, so that you yourself may walk in comfort.”
“There is nothing to be lost in this encounter,” reflected Lam-kwong, “since—like the fig tree at Ka-pi’s boundary—the fruit is wholly on one side. It would be gratifying to humiliate the egregrious Lin Ho, and the mule that he holds out is certainly worth having.” He therefore took up the challenge with alacrity, and, Lin Ho submitting, he bound him hand and foot.
“Now, braggart,” he announced, “the test is in the balance. Do what Fang-tso failed to achieve and you will deserve a peacock feather in your hat.”
Lin Ho strained at the knots but failed to move them. He rolled his great form from side to side and threw his body into sudden jerks, but nothing would avail. Lam-kwong could not withhold derision.
“Already I seem to hear the hoof-beats of the mule upon the outward earth-road,” was his taunt. “But give one heave more, princely warrior, and the toils may fly asunder.”
“I must not be pressed for time,” panted Lin Ho, “for that was not provided. Admittedly the bonds are capably arranged, but, more than that, a strange and sudden lethargy assails me.”
“There is certainly a deficient look about your eyes, and your face has gone a very inferior colour,” declared Lam-kwong. “Perhaps some inward cord at least has yielded. Would it not be prudent to summon an attendant?”
“Should you do so and I am found thus bound and helpless, your priceless body would be piecemeal-sliced before a word is spoken.”
“It is well to bear that in mind,” Lam-kwong confessed. “However, I can release you,” and he made a movement of advance.
“In that case,” came from Lin Ho very faintly, “the mule necessarily fades from the engagement.”
“The path of compassion,” remarked Lam-kwong, “seems beset with sharp-edged borders.” Even as he spoke the magic began to involve him also, and he abruptly lay down on the floor. “This is highly distressing,” he contrived to say. ’The languor of which you spoke is now sapping my forces. What is this spell that has descended suddenly upon us both?”
Lin Ho made no reply. He was already in the Middle Air, watching his opportunity, and before the limit predicted by the witch had passed, the spirit of Lam-kwong had likewise left his body.
When Lin Ho contrived, through the other person’s incapable suspicion, that he should drink the potion first, he recognized that this would give him a sufficient pause of time in which to outwit Lam-kwong. But in this he judged that ill-developed outlaw by a larger helmet than he could ever fill. No sooner did the spirit of Lam-kwong see its own discarded body lying there than it uttered a shriek of triumph and, projecting itself through space, occupied the empty tenement without a thought beyond the present. At the same moment the spirit of Lin Ho came down and resumed its rightful cover.
“Hai!” exclaimed Lam-kwong, displaying his teeth with all his former arrogance. “At last the day of vengeance dawns, and your downfall is achieved, O most treacherous Lin Ho!”
“Doubtless,” replied Lin Ho deferentially, as he tore a shred from the bundle by his side and then approached Lam-kwong. “How is it your enlightened purpose to set about it, omnipotence?”
“When I have enjoyed your terrors to repletion, I shall raise my voice, and the guard, finding me thus bound and helpless, your offensive body will be piecemeal-sliced before a word is spoken.”
“Perchance,” agreed Lin Ho, and with every indication of humility he pressed the pad of cloth into Lam-kwong’s slow-witted mouth. “Do not distress your already overtaxed throat unnecessarily, chieftain. Presently one will enter and release you. Though,” he added thoughtfully, “who that one will be and the manner of the release which he effects, it would be hazardous to forecast.”
There being nothing now of a helpful nature to detain him, Lin Ho took up the bundle on his shoulder and turned to go, but in response to the message of Lam-kwong’s outspoken eye he paused to add farewell.
“Prosperity, mightiest,” was his unpretentious message. “Here at last our ways diverge. You remain stretched out in luxury, with a stalwart band of trusty followers responsive to your call. This one sets forth on an unknown path, with nothing between him and penury but the traffic of these simple wares which your forethought has provided. May you live a hundred years and beget a thousand sons!” Lam-kwong would certainly have said something equally appropriate in reply, but he was unable to release the words that filled his throat, and the occasion faded.
At the gate the covetous Wong eyed Lin Ho’s load aslant, but the warning laid on him had been too explicit to be disregarded, and with a cheerful saying the well-intentioned guest passed out and on his way.
At a crossing of the road he paused to listen. In the direction of the house of Righteousness Long Established silence hung like the untroubled surface of a tranquil dream, but from the opposite direction there was a sound that caused Lin Ho to press back into a secluded angle of the wall. Presently one came in sight riding upon a careworn horse which he beat with a naked sword. He was of the height and width of two ordinary persons, his teeth jutting forward, and his’ face like the rising sun when the day portends a storm. As he passed Lin Ho, he cleared his throat of a curse against one whom he would very soon encounter. It was Fang-tso returning.
Chapter Six
THE AMBIGUOUS FACE UPON THE ONE FOUND IN A WOOD AND THE EFFETE MING-SHU’S DILEMMA
As Kai Lung told the story of the treasure of Fang-tso, the overpowering heat and stupor slowly faded from the day, and when he had made an end of Lin Ho’s trials, Hai Shin looked up with a much more alertly sustained air than he had before disclosed.
“Certainly the ingenuity of the diffident Lin Ho enabled him to triumph where less crafty means would have left him in subjection,” he remarked. “Yet, this being a relation of the strategy by which you hope to outwit Ming-shu, explain to my deficient mind how the devices that were appropriate here can be shaped to that contumacious rebel’s downfall.”
“Omniscience,” replied Kai Lung frankly, “it would be bootless to interpose a verbal screen between my very threadbare wit and the piercing rays of your all-revealing vision. The strategy involved in the story of Lin Ho was not that by which Ming-shu may be circumvented but the more pressing detail of how to retain you alive to effect our common purpose.”
“Have you then,” demanded Hai Shin, in a not wholly sympathetic voice, “no plan whereby to reduce Ming-shu, and is the plea on which you held this one from his pious errand merely an empty boast?”
“Exalted,” was Kai Lung’s just reply, “let your agile mind become an upright balance and weigh this person’s claim. The story of Lin Ho was told to a specific end. Up to the moment when he began it, the notoriously incompetent Kai
Lung had not so much as heard of that obscure one’s being, and each of his successive involvements with its appropriate extrication was contrived from word to word. If, therefore, the one before you can so easily direct the fortunes of a person in whom he has no real concern, is it to be thought that he will fail to involve in destruction the opprobrious Ming-shu against whom he has a very deep-set grievance?”
“There is certainly something to be said for that,” admitted the over-captain, in a more conciliatory manner. “How then will you set about beginning?”
“That will doubtless be revealed to me at the proper moment by the powerful spirits that are interesting themselves on my behalf,” replied Kai Lung, assured that he had gained his point. “Even a weed requires congenial soil if it is to fructify, and the one discoursing with you is noticeably short of moisture.”
“In any case it is now too late in the day for me to think about self-ending, my lucky hour being past,” assented Hai Shin; “so we may as well return to Chi-U together.”
“Your favour will protect me as a mantle, and on the strength of our being seen together I shall doubtless be able to arrange for shelter through the night and an occasional bowl of rice without an actual payment in advance,” was the story-teller’s hopeful forecast. “To-morrow, at an early gong-stroke of the day, I will present myself before your charitable door with a scheme devised to meet the situation.”
“When he specified ’together,’ this custom-regarding person did not presume to imply the honour of going hand in hand,” remarked the other, with an unworthy note of coldness in his tone. “Here, however, is a piece of money that will support you no less capably,” and at the same time he indicated that Kai Lung should follow at a more respectful distance. “Let your leisurely footsteps keep time with a well-digesting mind, Kai Lung.”
