In Search of Spice, page 39
For a moment Sara’s heart stilled. Could she tempt him back? Then it hardened. No way would she have him back after Hinatea and somehow she didn’t think he would accept Maciu. She sighed. She kissed him again, softly on the cheek, and murmured in his ear.
“You were my first love. No matter what I do, know you always hold my heart.” And she was gone. Pat looked bleakly at the sea, and felt Mot lick his hand in sympathy. In the distance he heard Stiphleek’s voice raised in song, in Harrheinian this time, till quelled by mutinous shouts.
The sun smote the sanded deck like a sledge hammer, even barely a quarter of the way up the sky. There was not a breath of air. Sara could feel the perspiration dripping down her back already, as she stood in her fighting leathers, barefoot to grip the deck. Chen Li He looked cool, dressed in what looked like a silk robe, belted at the middle. He gripped his sword, holding it negligently to one side. It had an extra reach of a good four inches.
The crews of both ships surrounded the fighting deck, the Sung in the rigging while the crew of the Queen Rose stood by the rails. Pat found a place to one side, with his scout crew by the corner where Lieutenant Mactravis and Little fussed over Sara’s leathers. He could hear Little’s whispers.
“Feel the bastard slowly, Princess. He’ll be like a striking snake, and he’ll leave openings for you all over the fucking place. Don’t take them, that’s what he wants. Look for patterns, but he’s a killing swine for sure, and I don’t reckon you’ll see any. Don’t let your own patterns last long, and don’t repeat them. See what he knows, bet he don’t know all the shit we do on the frontier.” He talked with half his attention, lovingly greasing the leathers with a rag, oblivious of her skin.
A bell rang, and the two fighters stepped forward. It rang again, and the swords lifted. Chen Li He crashed hard at Lady Strike, applying brute force. Sara expected this; many people tried it against the poor little girl playing with men. She gasped and staggered then whipped forward with a stinging riposte as she sidestepped the lunge. Chen managed to avoid it by a hair as he aborted his lunge and parried. For a moment, Sara gained the upper hand and she pressed him hard, pushing him back along the deck while he tried to circle. The speed of the swords was so fast, that only a handful of men were able to follow the moves.
Pat was not one of them and he glanced over the crowd, looking at the reactions of people. He noted one man, different from the rest. He dressed in a different manner, and he was stockier, giving an impression of power. This was a fighting man, he thought, looking at the strange garb, for he seemed to be dressed in skirts with a shirt that swelled at the shoulders. The man sensed his eyes and looked up, directly at him across the fighting deck. Hard eyes assessed Pat in the same way, and he nodded thoughtfully at Pat, and returned his gaze to the fight.
‘That,’ thought Pat, ‘is a dangerous man. One who would really give Sara a fight.’
He jumped as a hand slipped under his shirt, caressing his back and a little throaty chuckle came from behind him. A fan fluttered, and he wondered why he hadn’t sensed her. Perhaps she was more than she appeared. No, she was definitely more than she appeared.
“Your Princess, good fighter, no?” Slanting eyes smiled at him.
Pat blushed, “Yes, she is good.” He ignored Rat who was grinning and looked back at Sara. Hinatea scowled, and he was thankful she was unable to see the girl’s hand.
Sara measured her man, felt his strength through his blade and followed his moves. She knew he was holding back, but watched all the flowing moves that came from him, saw the stamping foot. He was good, very good, but so far limited in what he knew. Strong, but she had beaten stronger swordsmen. Very, very fast, but she was faster, though she held her speed down and slowly drew more and more techniques from him.
Chen Li He was stunned. He knew he was a good fighter, but this girl was unbelievable. Every move he tried, she countered easily and he could tell she knew the move and even felt she knew before he did what he would try next. Her strength was so great he couldn’t measure it, and he stopped thinking of her as a girl. He deliberately cleared his mind, repeating the mantra and felt for the void.
Sara sensed the change in him, and raised her game. She flowed into her moves, her mind blank, and she felt the dance begin. Time stood still for her. She had only moved into this mental state a few times and welcomed it.
Lieutenant Mactravis recognised the change, as did Little. “Fucking hell,” whispered the latter.
Pat’s dangerous man also saw it and his eyes narrowed with interest.
Pat knew something had happened because the hand on the small of his back tensed, seeming to grip his spine. He whipped his glance back to Sara and saw her in fighting state.
The blades blurred and danced, Sara dancing round the deck and driving Chen where she willed. It seemed to go on and on, a deadly beauty in the intricate steps. The crews murmured, even their untrained eyes knew they were seeing something special. Chen Li He’s sword arced up into the air, flicked away by an untraceable movement from Lady Strike. He dropped to his knees, arms forward and bent his head backwards, exposing his throat. Lady Strike whistled as she sliced the air at her highest speed so far.
With a huge effort she stopped, inches from the vulnerable throat.
She gasped, and sagged, her eyes rolling back and a victory smile blossoming.
Silence.
The dangerous man moved first, and he was beside Sara and supporting her as she sagged.
“Steady, girl,” he whispered. “Come, gently, back to this world. Here, your soul belongs here, in your body.” He continued speaking softly and insistently, cursing his poor Belada and relapsing into his native tongue.
Both crews stayed silent, none understanding what they had witnessed, but all knowing it was something special. The kai Viti broke the silence, breaking into song, a melancholy song of victory none had heard before. It broke the spell, and Lieutenant Mactravis moved forward to help with Sara, while Sung people surrounded Chen.
Sara found herself. She opened her eyes and smiled beatifically. “Oh, my. That was so good.”
“You were magnificent, Highness.” Mactravis whispered with a note of awe in his voice.
“Fucking brilliant.”
Sara smiled. “First time I have heard a note of genuine respect in your voice, Little!”
“You are a child of the void.” This was a new voice, a lisping one. Sara looked at a strange man, with an aura of power, who looked back with a flat gaze. “I look forward to touching it with you, and perhaps in my own small way I can guide your advance. You have incredible potential.” The man bowed slightly, turned and left.
Chen came to her. “Princess, I thank you for my life,” he said formally. “I was outclassed, and you drove me into the void for the first time. I thank you, and pray you will grace me with your teachings in future.”
Then to the astonishment of the Harrheinians he dropped to his knees and banged his forehead against the deck at her feet. He rose and walked away with an unsteady gait.
Taufik pushed through the crowd and whispered in her ear. “That is the Sung mark of respect, they are supposed to reserve it for their revered superiors. I have never seen it done before, never heard of it done to somebody who is not Sung.”
Pat was quiet, thinking about what he had just seen. He knew what had happened to Sara, for he went into grace, as he called it from the Elvish, the zone, a peak emotional state, whenever he shot arrows. And often when he hunted. This was the first time he had seen her go into it, and he wondered at the reaction. He had used grace for so long he could not remember the first time. The others had gone, mobbing around Sara, even Hinatea forgetting all about the Sung girl.
“Come,” said a voice in his ear and he realised the girl still gripped his spine, under his shirt. The slight pressure urged him aft and he went unresisting. Sara entering fighting grace had brought him to its edge, and the consequent extra vision and completeness of his awareness let him recognise the aura of this girl, the hard edges showing her ability, golden colours shot with red and black.
“I thought you one of the courtesans,” he said looking down at her.
She smiled sunnily. “So kind! You mean I beautiful?”
He laughed. “So why you interested in me?”
“My job is protect. You most dangerous on board ship. Must know more about you!”
“Me? I’m not dangerous. I’m just a kid.”
She dug him hard in the ribs. It hurt. “Don’t lie to me. I am your other half. I know you. I know you better than you know self.” She tossed her head. “Besides, I good listener, I hear your men talk. You very special archer. And you speak to animals.”
Pat felt bewildered. Her conversation flowed in strange directions.
“What do you mean, other half?” He decided on the safer route of ignoring her other comments. They came to a door which she opened and they went down a passageway. “You are also dangerous, I think. Not many can sneak up on me.”
“No. Only me. Because we are pair, you and I. But I trained, at monastery. You learn yourself, I think. No matter. I teach you, soon you too flow through walls.”
She opened another door and pushed him through. He found himself in a large room, with a pile of cushions for a bed. An odd room, on the one hand feminine, on the other dripping with weapons. He picked up a little metal star and studied the blades, feeling the sharpness. He noted darkness on a couple of points and avoided them.
“What is the poison?”
“Can be all sorts. Depend what I can get. Sometimes plant, sometimes animal, sometime rock. You not know poison, I think.”
“No, not needed. I hit what I aim at. How did you hear our men talk?”
“I swim over last night. Hide. Listen to you all talk. Learn. Heard your talk with Princess. Poor Pat. Girls not nice to you.”
“That was private!”
“I know now. But I needed to know.”
“How come Mot did not sense you?”
“What is mod?”
“My dog.”
“The animal? Like you, I know animal. Now, come, enough talk. Take off clothes!”
Pat turned from examining the weapons to find her naked, her clothes stacked neatly on a cushion, and now she pulled at his clothes.
“What are doing!” he gasped, feeling a surge of emotions rush through his body and unable to tear his eyes from her delicate breasts.
“I tell you. We pair. Destiny. Joined. Forever. You just not understand yet. We make love, then you know and understand.”
Feebly, he tried to push away her hands, but she ripped down his trousers and exposed his need.
Some hours later, Pat lay on the cushions, his head on her small breasts, feeling the muscles ripple in her body as she stroked his hair and crooned a low song. He didn’t know he could get this exhausted. Their lovemaking had gone into grace, both of them, a pair of minds linked, and she had shown him how to use it in different ways. He felt they had been making love for days, weeks.
“It is special, is it not? See how many ways you can use the void. Once you can touch it, we can learn other ways. This way we call tantric. You use it for shooting and stalking, I teach you how to use it for everything.” She stretched languorously as he rolled over and nibbled her breast.
“You must tell your Captain and your Princess you leave them. I take you back to Sung, we climb the mountain and visit the monastery. You meet the Sifu. He will teach you and me together. We make great things happen, you see.”
“Sung?” Pat murmured without thinking, then with some surprise, “You have still not told me your name.”
“I take new name now? Pat’s Shadow? Is good name?”
“No. What is your real name.”
“I am Bai Ju. They don’t give me family name, or maybe they call me Sung Bai Ju. Bai Ju mean white chrysanthemum. Is flower. Is flower of death!” She giggled. “But has many meanings. I like Pat’s Shadow better!”
“Bai Ju. I like it, nice name. What you mean, go to Sung? I cannot.”
“Why not?”
“I am protector of the princess. It is a duty.”
“You slept with her.” Pat yelped as Bai Ju pinched him. “Then she drop you. For other man, I bet. Yet you still want to stay with her?” She ground her thumb into his thigh and he screamed as she hit the nerve. “Or because she whisper “Ai lurve yu” in your ear! And now you see she can touch void too so you want her again!”
Pat laughed at her and caught her wrist as she moved to jab him again. He cleared his mind and slipped into the void, looking deep into her eyes and feeling her come with him. They suspended there for what seemed an eternity then slipped out again.
“You see?” he said. “We are called. Our future for now is with the Queen Rose. But I think we will go to Sung one day
Yes,” she said thoughtfully. “I wondered why Sung called me to ship. We will move world, you and me, my Pat. You will be first foreigner to come to Sung uncut. For I not let them cut you. You have nice cabin like this?”
“No, very small.”
“Hmmph. They not understand you important. Does dog sleep in cabin?”
“Sometimes. When she feels like it.”
“From now on when I feel like it. Dog is dirty?”
“No! She is very clean.”
“You sleep with dog and I get very angry, I warn you!” She giggled so he knew she was joking. “Come! Put on clothes, we go tell Captains and Princesses.”
“Why do you bloody women always think you can tell me what to do?” He complained half-heartedly, but did as she said.
To Pat’s astonishment the sun still rose through the sky, approaching midday. He thought it had been weeks. They found the Captains seated on cushions around a dining table, with Sara, discussing trade and treaties.
Bai Ju swept in imperiously, speaking in her broken Belada. “Lim, you send men to pack my things. I leave you now, go with this ship. Is my destiny, why I come. This man my other half. My future with him.”
Captain Lim bowed low, his head almost touching the floor. “Your wish, Flower Lady.”
“One day come back. I write letter for monastery. You take.”
She swept out again, sucking Pat with her in her wake.
Sara felt fury boiling up within her, and saw Captain Larroche sitting with his mouth open. She looked questioningly at Captain Lim. He spoke slowly.
“The Lady Sung Bai Ju is strange. She is not part of my command but I am very happy she chose to come on my ship.”
“What did she mean, other half?” Sara’s eyes narrowed.
“I do not know, Princess. She is special, nobody knows much about them. They come from the mountains, from a secret monastery where nobody can go. They are great fighters, and with her on my ship I fear nobody. Her very name indicates her rank, for it means the Lady of Death, a title which is given to few of them. It is a hundred years since one with that title came out of the mountains. She is the most dangerous person on my ship. Is the boy also dangerous? His eyes betray skill and death.”
“Yes,” said Captain Larroche with finality. “Best archer by far I have ever seen and a scout who disappears into the landscape.”
Captain Lim nodded. “They sound like a fine pair. Your worries will centre on trade with them on board to protect you. You seem to be taking half my ship, Captain Larroche! My best wizard insists on going with you, and the Tokkaidan also.”
“It is disturbing,” said Captain Larroche.
“Indeed. There is something in the future, rushing down on us. You heard the Flower Lady talk of destiny. As did the wizard.” He glanced at the Princess. “You are another one, Princess. A world changer. Pity us poor trading captains when ones such as you stride the world.”
Sara’s lips were tight, and she cried inside, ‘Not another bloody woman for him! How many more? I am over him!’ She nodded stiffly, curbing her emotions. “Hinatea’s reaction will be interesting. Shall we continue?”
Trade
Bai Ju issued orders to the men sent by Captain Lim, in the singing language of Sung. She oversaw them packing her things, barking out more instructions. The brawny men were terrified of her and would not touch the weapons till she packed them tenderly away.
“All done here,” she said to Pat. “ Let’s go to your ship, I want to meet Mot properly, know she important to you. Things come later.”
“Fine, I’ll call a boat.”
“No, we swim. More fun.”
“What about sharks?”
“Even more fun!” She smiled brilliantly. “Come!” She led the way on to the deck and they went to the side away from the Queen Rose. She selected a point out of sight of anyone, and took Pat’s hand. She went into grace, and Pat found himself going with her. Time stood still and they swung over the side, Pat finding from grace that the wooden planks of the sides had protruding edges he could grasp and climb down. Before they reached the sea, Bai Ju sucked in her breath and dived. Pat followed suit, opening his eyes under water. He swam after her, down and under the ship.
Deep in grace it was no distance, they came up for air periodically, breathing out before reaching the surface, taking a breath and going down again like dolphins. The clear water revealed several sharks which sheared away from them, staying at the edge of their vision. One circled round behind them and Bai Ju twisted in the water to face it, while he followed suit, and the shark sheared off from their readiness. They came to the Queen Rose in no time, dived under the boat and came up on the far side. They scaled the side just as fast, using the anchor cable, and grinned at each other as they shook the water off. They relaxed in the sun to dry, out of sight of all in a corner above the poop deck. Neither wanted wet footsteps to give them away.
Pat noted with interest the white face had gone, realising it was make up. Without it, Bai Ju looked younger, still stunningly beautiful, but her skin was a smooth, delicate colour, not far off his own, perhaps a little darker and a little burst of freckles trickled across her nose. She stuck her tongue out at him.
Going back into grace, he slipped along the deck, his feet gliding silently. He glanced round the corner and came out as nobody was there. Not running, but moving fast they went forwards and found Mot curled up asleep in the sun by the pig pen.
