Chapter 2
Into the Past Again
The next morning after sleeping as best she could, she examined her body. It was looking better but there were several horrible dark marks under the skin. She shook her head sadly. She hated what she would have to do next.
She went upstairs and had a huge breakfast to build up some reserves. She checked all the locks again to make sure she would not be disturbed and went back to the basement. She took her sword with her. Placing the sword in a bracket that would hold it upright she called her healing magic. Focusing on the healing symbol on the sword, she forced all the foreign material and shrapnel out of her body. She would have to be more careful because she hated this pain of the material cutting or pushing its way out of her skin.
Once everything was clear, she settled into a healing trance again. Her thoughts again wandering back to her past.
Her trip from the monastery to the village was very cold and even though she had been taught how to ignore such things she choose to use some of her mana to keep herself warm. She was able to get to the first village easily She wandered for several months doing small chores at each place in order to pay for her food.
Suddenly riders came from the north and swarmed the village she was in. She took a blow to the head that made her unconscious. When she woke, she found that she had been stripped and her body abused her petite form was one large bruise from having been beaten and her nether regions felt like they had been ripped apart. The village had been torched and the men killed. The women were missing or dead as were the children. Right then she swore she would get even to all such bruits that abused women and children.
Her magic was unable to heal this much damage, but it had kept her alive. Her mana reserve was drained. She needed to find help. She found her pack under a bush outside the village where she had left it but her precious amulet was gone and she couldn't open it.
Finding some clothes that were only partially burned she managed to cover herself. In a pot that had been partially overturned, she found some rice that was horribly overcooked and cold. Eating this it gave her a little strength. She headed off down the trail to the next village. Part way there she saw a thin column of smoke. As she approached, she found the smoke coming from a forge building next to a very substantial house.
Something made the man working the forge turn. He saw her fall. Drawing his sword from where he kept it by the door, he approached her cautiously. Seeing it was a woman with such fair skin, he assumed she was a kami. He gently turned her over and winced at the extent of her injuries. The fall against some sharp rocks had caused two of her wounds to break open again and she was bleeding.
He gently took her over to his house. Kami or not she was injured and needed help. Wu took her to a pallet he prepared. Next, he got water from the well and warmed the cold water so he could use it to bath her wounds. He got a blanket ready to wrap her in when finished. As he took off her bloody rags, he wept at what he saw. How could anyone do this to another person?
He took a chicken and prepared it. Putting it in a pot to boil he placed it on a hook near the forge fire. He went back to working on a brace for his neighbors plow.
That evening he fed her broth and rice with a little chicken.
Wu showed her the ways of the forge. How to work the metal, how to prepare the coke and charcoal for the fire, how to make a sword that would sing in your hand. The four years Helen was with Wu had seemed to fly by the only drag on her spirit was no ability to work magic. One day Wu took her to a city some distance away and she felt it. One of the roadside shrines had some mana in it. She felt she had to stop and meditate maybe she would have part of her life back.
She fasted and meditated and on the second day, she felt a small flow seep into her body. Her world was alive again! She slowly felt the presence of her amulet in the world. Using half of the mana she had gathered, she formed a small portal and pulled the amulet through. Her life again felt complete.
Wu looked at her with sad eyes. "My beautiful little Kami you must go back to the life you were destined to live. In town we will part."
Helen was crushed. She realized Wu was right but did not know what life would bring.
That night her Avatar came to her and comforted her for the first time in four years.
In the city, Wu took her to a friend of his that was an alchemist, Chen.
Chen needed a helper and Mei looked young and strong. He had needed a housekeeper for a while since he chose not to marry.
Helen stayed with Chen a while learning his art as well as keeping his house. She was amazed he was a real Sorcerer. Even though he could not work raw mana, the things he made were indeed real. After six months working with Chen, she started to show aptitude for working alchemy. He started teaching her many of the rituals they used to accomplish magic without mana. At night, she was again reading and studying anything she could. At the end of three years, she knew it was time to move on.
She headed to the capital of the province on some of the back roads. One morning she saw a man standing by the side of the road.
"Mei, it has been decided that you be contacted."
"What do you mean? How do you know my name? Contacted by whom?"
"Let me tell you a little story, but first a question. Do you deny that the world is filled with many things that most men have no clue exist?"
"I can safely say, yes the world is filled with many things most cannot even guess at."
"Good, now for my story. There was once a little girl that somehow managed to get trained at an all male monastery. This little girl now a young woman, graduated and exited. When she exited the magic field, pulsed and all even slightly in tune felt it. One of my brethren was near enough to get close to the path leading away from there and watched this young woman on the path to the village nearest the monastery."
"Excuse me, but no one was near that path at the time. There were no footprints indicating anyone had been that way for weeks."
"Is this your story? Be patient and listen." She nodded her head and he continued. "My brother watched and saw this young woman had the forces of the weave wrapped around her, warming her. When she fell asleep that night, he managed to get a small twig carved in a special way with just a touch of the weave on it inside her pack. This twig would let anyone familiar with the pattern find the woman again. He left to tell his elder what he had done."
"When he got there, the elders were already in conference. Hearing his news a grand council was summoned. An elder from each of the brotherhoods in the area met. One of the elders had a scroll that was ancient. One section mentioned a prophecy.
'One shall come from afar who shall fight evil near and far. She shall be trained where no woman may be trained. She shall be hurt and lose the weave, but will recover the strand and weave stronger. She shall befriend any who would help her and destroy those that hurt. With her the weave, nature and chaos may work together to overcome the greater evil. Betray her only at your own peril.'
The elders decided to watch you to see if you are the one foretold. Our feathered friends were dispatched to watch you. They saw the attack at the village. They followed you to the smith. One of my brothers was summoned to check to see if you had lost contact with the weave. When it was found that you had a pack of our wolf friends were sent to deal with those bandits. They were slain to the man and several of the wolves were injured. The elders decided it was worth it in case you were the "she" of whom the prophecy spoke. All of my brothers near you felt when you touched the weave. They also felt when you recovered you talisman. Your mind was stronger than before. As you learned to use the weave without using your internal connection your mind and will became stronger again. I was chosen to talk to you because my brethren are not as threatening as others of our kind." He stopped speaking watching her carefully to see if he needed to run.
She pondered the story a moment fingering her amulet and spoke, "You have no need to run from me. You have my word that you are completely safe until our conversation is over. I have several questions I must ask to be clear of the points your story has made."
Looking like he felt only slightly safer he responded, "Ask and if it is allowed I will answer."
"You mentioned the weave many times along with nature and chaos. What do you mean by each of these?"
"Nature and chaos are easiest to start with. Nature is anything our Mother Gaia had created the land, the forest, the animals, and our kind. Anything that reveres nature or the natural order of things is part of nature. Chaos is anything working against nature. Demon, wraiths, the dead that walk and even man's works of cities and mining all these things work against the forces of nature and therefore and part of chaos."
"The weave is harder to explain. It is the tapestry of life. Each of us is a thread in that tapestry. You have the ability to make both large and small changes in that tapestry affecting many others and through strength of will the entire tapestry itself. You carry the essence of change within you; I believe you call it mana."
"You kept saying your brothers do you have that big a family clan or is it something else and how can you command birds and wolves and understand them?"
"Mei, those are great questions. I will answer them in a moment, but to accept the answers your spirit must be calm. Would you care for tea and to sit a moment in quiet?"
She thought a moment and nodded. Two men dressed as servants brought a tea service forward and the host poured tea. She meditated a moment then went into full trance. While she was in deep trance, she levitated a couple of inches above the ground. Her eyes clouded over a moment then cleared turning momentarily into slits. "Why should I risk my life and sanity to help you and your kind? You have not even shown me your true selves?" She spat.
He simply stood and waved his hand. The two servants stood to either side of him and two ladies came and stood behind the three men. The first man changed from a human through several stages into a fox. The servants changed into a wolf and a crow. The ladies changed into a tiger and a dragon. After a few moments Mei nodded her head she had detected something about these folk now she knew what it was. In her trance, she had seen a glimpse of the bane that would kill them unless she helped.
"Before I agree to help you overcome your bane you must tell me what you think of good and evil."
The tiger lady moved forward. "You will be able to tell through your bond to my ancestor spirit that what I say is what I believe to be true. Actions that bring good things to occur to the most people both normal and supernatural would be good. Those actions that cause bad things to happen to many others would be evil. Just because someone is a child of Gaia, does not mean they are good even though we would tend to trust them. Those belonging to Chaos are not all evil even though we tend to despise them. Good and Evil are determined by the actions of the individual not his membership in a group."
Looking deep within her eyes Mei asked, "Do all your people believe this way?"
She looked down and replied, "No, only the wise and mature. The young and foolish will believe what they wish no matter what they are taught."
Mei stated, "You are worth helping. I need to be near Beijing as soon as possible. It needs to be a place where I can meditate and cast spells where no normal people will see. I need someone to help care for me when I become exhausted and have food available when I am hungry. In turn, I will try to prevent the coming purge from destroying your people. Once the spell is cast, I will have no strength for a while. I will need help escaping this country to America. The purge of whites will give me an excuse to leave. I may need protection. Once the purge starts, your elders need to encourage all not to change if they can help it. The leaders will be predisposed to not believe those stories but it is hard not to believe their own eyes."
Helen created her spell. They had found a major node in an abandoned village on a mountainside near Beijing. With work, several folk of the brotherhoods made the village habitable and brought in food. When everything was ready, Helen cast her spell. The full effect took days to produce. The folk were grateful. They nursed her back to health. Two weeks after the spell was cast she was starting to feel better.
She found a mission run by Americans not far from the mountain. She claimed that her parents had been killed and she wished to go home but she had no papers. The missionaries took pity on her and asked her to stay until travel could be arranged. A few weeks later the red Chinese came and closed the mission and sent all the whites home. She found herself dumped on a boat headed toward San Francisco.