October 10, 1967

In his dream, the northern sky was on fire.

It glowed and danced and flickered, it was alive with shades of green and blue and red. It burned both cold and hot, casting both light and darkness upon the jagged mountains below. There was something important and ominous about those mountains.

Suddenly, a voice. "They are the mountains of end and the mountains of beginning. They are the last place and the first."

The voice was a man's, but more. There was authority and kindness in it, wisdom and age. He recognized it immediately.

"Grandfather." Iwao declared. He knew that he was dreaming, but still he could not wake.

"Grandson…look to the North,"

Iwao looked. The fires had ceased, the sky was calm. The stars were shining in the dark, gold and red and blue. They seemed closer than usual, and had voices of their own.

"Find the key…" one said.

"Seek the compass," said another.

"Prepare the guardians,"

"Join with the princess,"

"North."

"North."

"North!"

Awake. The birds outside were singing their morning song, and the sunlight fell dimly through his window. Iwao sat up, swinging his legs over his bed and holding his head in his hands. The dream was like a brand upon his soul.

He reached for his leather travel bag and removed a marble-patterned notebook. Using the pencil that was sandwiched in the pages, Iwao wrote his dream. He wasn't sure why he was compelled to record the dream, but he knew it was the right thing to do. By the time he had finished, he had had plenty of time to consider its meaning.

North was China. North was Huangdi. North was where his fate was laid, that same fate that called to him in his dream.

A knock on the door. He knew right away that something was wrong. The knock was too urgent, the morning too young. The weight of the camper shifted as Iwao stood and dressed himself. He opened the door to find a distressed Xuan. She had obviously been crying.

"What's wrong?" Iwao asked, fearing the worst.

"My brother," Xuan said. "He is hurt."

------

Sunming's face was so puffed and swollen that Iwao could scarcely recognize him. It was crisscrossed with bloody cuts, and bruised a deep and angry purple.

"He returned late last night, after I had gone to sleep," Xuan said. She was kneeling beside her brother's bed, holding his motionless hand. Longsun stood in the corner of the room, looking very worried. "He always comes home late from training, so I didn't become worried until this morning when I went to wake him for work."

"Has he said anything?" Iwao asked.

"He muttered something about our parents. He has been asleep since then. I fear that he may have a brain injury."

"What can I do?" Iwao asked.

"He needs medicine, some disinfectant and something for the pain," Xuan stood. "Longsun is too young to wander the streets alone, and I must remain here should he wake," She said. She handed him a bag that jingled with coins. "Please…take this money. There is an apothecary in the Thousand White Building, which is the first building you see as you enter from Dragon Street. You can't miss it. I would not normally ask, but--"

"Please," Iwao said, pushing the coins back to her. He held her trembling hands longer than was necessary. She seemed to have no objection. "I will take care of it. I won't be long."

Xuan bowed. "Thank you so much."

Iwao stalled only long enough to retrieve his sword.

------

The streets were crowded with the milling multitudes of the destitute, each with downcast eyes, all unsmiling. Iwao decided that 'unsmiling' described Kowloon perfectly. He moved quickly through the crowd, jogging when the streets granted him space, making his way to the building that Xuan had described.

When he opened the door of the apothecary on the second floor of the Thousand White Building he was assaulted immediately by the pungent, varied scent of natural medicines. The words he exchanged with the shopkeep were pointedly short, and soon enough he was back on the streets with two small bags of medicine and a slightly lighter wallet. Money was one thing that he had no lack of; his Grandfather's inheritance had been generous.

As he emerged again into the dismal streets he had to pause for a moment to remember the way back. Turning around the corner of a building and making his way down a set of stairs, Iwao was amazed to see how quiet and empty the streets had become in this particular quarter. A quiet warning sounded in the back of his mind, but he continued along at a steady trot.

It was as he turned the corner of an empty alley between two decrepit buildings that he was confronted by them. They had obviously been waiting for him. Wong and Sunglasses were in front, Sunglasses with his switch blade and Wong with a bat that had been previously bloodied and never cleaned. Behind them were five other men with makeshift weapons of their own. There was a crowbar, chain, and more bats. Iwao backed a step, his hilt in hand. He heard footsteps falling wetly around the opposite corner, and three others appeared. His escape was cut off.

"Decided to pop your head out again, huh?" Wong said. "Last mistake you'll ever make."

Iwao was surprised to find that he felt no fear. It is not my destiny to die here, he thought. And suddenly, another thought, one that came unbidden. I cannot die before Xuan knows that I love her.

"Nothing to say?" Wong taunted.

"I do not wish it, but unless you depart you will die this day," Iwao said, releasing his blade with a flick of his thumb.

Laughter. It echoed from the walls of the buildings, finding no escape from the city's heavy shadow. A single pillar of sunshine fell from the narrow crack high above, causing the watery alley to glisten with a high sheen. Up there, the wind blew clean and free. Perhaps it still smelled of lilies.

The men advanced from both sides, but Iwao's gaze never left Wong. He was the author of this, and he would be the first to fall. There was an abrupt bang to Iwao's left. His sword flashed out and he shifted to the side to face the new threat. A man had appeared from one of the alley's doorways. He was a slight man with long hair who was carrying a bow staff. He did not have the look of a Triad.

"I am with you," he said, facing the men that had appeared from behind.

Iwao smiled. He burst forward with the swiftness of a diving hawk. Wong did not even have time to lift his bat. His throat opened clean and wide. The blood was like a crimson fountain. Sunglasses was next. Iwao aimed the sword thrust directly at his heart. His enemy fell backwards just in time and the point pierced his shoulder instead. One man lost an arm as he lifted his chain, another looked down to find Iwao's blade in his bowels. The others ran, their weapons left behind. Sunglasses pulled himself up and joined them in their flight.

Iwao swiveled to see how the man with the bow staff was doing. One of the Triads was lying unconscious in the middle of the alley, another was clutching an obviously broken hand. His new friend was poised above him, the point of the bow staff resting on the thug's throat. "If you move I will crush your windpipe!" he promised.

The man who had lost his arm was still writhing on the ground and crying with pain. Iwao finished him with a merciful thrust to the heart. There would be no doctors here able to mend him, no sterile room in which to operate. A clean death was all that Iwao could offer.

He sheathed his sword--he would need to clean it later.

"Let him go," Iwao said, turning.

"Don't you want some answers from him?" the stranger asked.

"Now that I think of it, just one." Iwao knelt beside the man. "Do they know where I am hiding?"

The Triad was well fed, healthy looking. Although he did not share the shrunken bodies of the rest of Kowloon's inhabitants, he seemed to carry the same burden of hopelessness, even if he was in the best position anyone in Kowloon could be. He had fear in his eyes, and calculation also. Iwao could almost hear the scales clicking and balancing in the man's brain.

"I'll tell you if you let me go," the man said, reaching a response that satisfied him.

"Look into my eyes," Iwao said, fixing his gaze. "I swear to you, tell me the truth and you will live this day. Confront me again, and you will die."

The Triad paused to think for a moment. "They don't know where you are hiding, but it won't be long. This is our city. Don't underestimate us, foreigner. Especially now that Eng has felt your blade. He is more important than the rest of us."

Iwao assumed that the man he knew as Sunglasses must be this Eng. "Tell your bosses that if they come after me again more bodies will be piled in the streets. Nothing will stop me."

The Triad smiled. "Do you think that losing soldiers like me concerns them? As long as the people are hungry, the Triads will have no lack of help. If you want to live, leave the Walled City," he cautioned. "Now, keep your end of the bargain."

Iwao looked up at his friend with the bow staff, nodding. The stranger stepped away and allowed the Triad to rise. He quickly evacuated the alley, still clutching his broken hand.

"I must know the name of the man who saved my life this day," Iwao stated, bowing.

The man bowed in turn. "My name is Kai."

"I am Iwao Hazuki," Iwao said. "I apologize, Kai. It seems that I have involved you in a war that is not yours."

"You are wrong," Kai said, turning toward the door from which he had appeared. "This war is the war of every person in Kowloon. The Triads have persecuted us too long." Kai turned back to Iwao. "I am a member of a group who stands against the Triads, and will be well protected for my involvement here today. I fear the same may not be true for you, Iwao. We can see you safely away from Kowloon, though that is a decision you must make yourself."

Kai reached into one of his pockets and removed a slip of paper. Iwao accepted the paper and saw that it was a drawing with four circles in an indecipherable pattern. "If you wish to accept this favor, find the Northstar Teahouse in the Dimsum Quarter. Find a table with four cups and arrange them in this pattern. One of us will contact you."

Iwao hid the paper away and bowed once more to Kai. "Thank you, friend."

"Decide quickly, Iwao," Kai returned. "The wheels are turning."

With that, Kai was gone.

------

Nothing had changed by the time Iwao returned to the scrap yard. He was extra careful as he traveled the streets, wary of being followed or watched.

As Iwao appeared in the trailer with medicines in hand, Xuan's eyes met his. It was a look of complete devotion, of absolute appreciation. And then, as she saw the blood drops splattered across his gi, a look of concern and fear.

"What happened?" she asked, obviously dreading his response.

"The Triads," Iwao responded. "I think I have brought danger to your family, Xuan."

"We will discuss it later." She took the offered medicines and bent down to care for the unconscious Sunming. The first of the medicines was a herb-scented balm that Xuan spread on her brother's chest. It filled the room with a strong, almost suffocating aroma. The last of the medicine was a liquid that Xuan dabbed with a soft cloth and worked into the cuts on Sunming's face.

"It is a blessing that he is not awake," Xuan observed. "Or he would be very pained by the sting."

Longsun approached from his corner and looked in his father's face. "Will he recover, Aunt?" the boy asked.

They were the first words that Iwao had ever heard the quiet boy speak.

Xuan touched Longsun's head and smoothed back his dark hair. "If Iwao hadn't helped us, I fear we would have lost him."

The boy looked up at Iwao, tears filling his eyes. He bowed. "Thank you, Iwao," Longsun said.

---------

"Come with me to China," Iwao pleaded, holding Xuan's hands in his own. The moon shone bright and cold upon what Iwao had come to think of as their garden

"That is not within our means," Xuan said, casting her eyes downward.

"Do not allow that to concern you," Iwao said, lifting her chin. "The man I told you about--Kai--said that his group would provide a way out of this awful place. I am sure that I can convince them to provide an escape for your family as well."

"Our life is here, Iwao," Xuan replied, her eyes gleaming. "Sunming will never leave his training. He is too dedicated to his Master."

"The Master who placed him on the brink of death?" Iwao asked.

Xuan looked away. "He insists that his Master is wise and powerful, that the training must be strict so that he may also become wise and powerful."

"Wisdom is born of peace and tranquility, not violence and hate," Iwao said. "Talk to him Xuan, tell him of my quest. That is all I ask."

Xuan pressed herself against him, resting her head on his chest. "I am so scared, Iwao."

Iwao held her head against him, felt her warm breath against his chest. This was the closest they had ever been, and any other distance was too far away. "Will you speak to him?"

He felt her nod. "I will talk to him in the morning," she promised.

"I will join you," Iwao replied.

-----

October 11, 1967

His Master's expression was unreadable.

"What do you know about this Iwao from Japan?" the Master finally asked. He sat cross legged on a raised platform above planked floor of the dojo, his face concealed in darkness. Behind him the Four Heavenly Beasts hung upon the wall. The eyes of the Beasts seemed to be watching the exchange, eyes that glistened with jewel encrusted extravagance

"He was sent here by his Grandfather, who told him that it was his destiny to find Huangdi of China," Sunming responded. He sat upon the floor below his Master, still quite sore from his recent beating. "That is all he claims to know."

When Iwao had told Sunming his story he had not known how to react. Could they be seeking the same Huangdi? If so, did Iwao know that their parents had been killed by him? Had the swordsman sought them out deliberately? What were his intentions, really?

The Master paused for a moment, lost in thought. "Do you trust this man?"

"I don't know." Sunming said, simply. And he really didn't. Iwao had saved his sister's life, had perhaps saved his own by retrieving the medicines. The man seemed genuinely honest and good. Could it all be an act?

"Go with him," the Master commanded. "See how he reacts when you meet Huangdi, study his actions to determine his intent. You must tread carefully. You must school your feelings, bury them deep until the perfect moment. Prudence is paramount."

"Yes, Master," Sunming agreed.

"Huangdi is not a foolish man," the Master continued. "He will be able to read the intentions of a weak mind. He is cunning, but he has one weakness: He loves new pupils. That is how you must approach him: as a pupil who is hungry for knowledge. You must be modest, and under no circumstances can you use Tiger Swallow until the time comes to challenge him. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Master."

"Before you take you vengeance, you must do one thing for me."

"Anything."

"He has within his possession two objects that are my rightful property. You must retrieve them and return them to me in Meng Cun."

"What are they?" Sunming asked, curious.

"Stone mirrors of great antiquity. One has the design of a dragon. The other, a phoenix. They will be well hidden, but you must find them before you destroy Huangdi. Will you do this for me?"

"Of course," Sunming replied. If he must fulfill this one request to receive vengeance for the murder of his parents he would do so without hesitation.

"Good. Pack your things and leave as soon as possible. Reveal none of this to the foreigner. The only thing that he can know is your destination. "

"And what is my destination?" Sunming asked.

"Guilin."