IV: WILL OF THE IRON DRAGON
Madame Jin Long walked languidly down the dark hallway leading to her room, a red lantern dangling in the corner at the end of the passage, an emblem of a dragon hanging above the single, lonely door. Passing by the two sharply dressed guards she had stationed near the entrance of her room, Jin Long went to open it.
"Jin Long!"
She looked over her shoulder with half-lidded eyes. There was only one person she allowed to call her on a first name basis, and the darkly clad Caucasian male that was running in her direction was not it.
The guards moved in front of the man, blocking him off and taking out their pistols. Rotton stopped in his tracks and stood up straight.
"Please put away your arms. I mean no harm to the lady. I only wish to speak with her."
"Like we never hear that before," said one of the guards.
"What I speak is the truth, I wish only to talk. I have very important business to attend to," Rotton said urgently. The other guard spoke up.
"'Important business,' is that what you call it? If you want woman, go down stairs for picking. The madame not interested in you."
"Indeed," Jin Long muttered in English, turning back around to open the door. "If you looking to sleep with someone, see one of girls. Otherwise, get out."
Rotton silently noted that Jin Long, like her daughter, spoke in a broken pattern, but the madame's voice seemed lower and more menacing.
"It's not about bordello work," Rotton said, "I came all the way from Roanapur as a favor for Shenhua!"
Jin Long's hand froze as it reached for the knob.
"Haha, nice try, white boy. The madame doesn't know anyone by that name!" The guards laughed in unison until Jin Long put her hands on their arms and gently pushed them out of her way, staring into the shades of Rotton's sunglasses.
"A favor for Shenhua?" Jin Long said evenly. "And from Roanapur? That quite long way to come for a woman."
She pulled away from his face and glanced at him sideways, pursing her lips.
"Your weapons, give to me," she demanded suddenly, holding out her hand and curling her fingers inward.
Rotton blinked. The woman didn't even pat him down. How did she...?
"I've spent enough time in underworld to know a gunman when I see one. Hand over," she commanded.
"How do I know you will not shoot me with my own weapon?" Rotton asked.
"I have two guard with me. Why I wait for you to take out guns and then shoot you when I could tell them to kill you now?"
"... I suppose I can agree with that logic," Rotton conceded. Sighing, he took out both of his Mausers out of his trench coat, but not before unloading them in front of her eyes and handing them over.
Holding up one of the guns, the woman laughed cruelly as she looked at it.
"Zhè shì shénme làn dōngxī?"
Rotton didn't show it, but he had just taken a small hit to his pride. She had more or less called his gun a piece of crap in Chinese.
"Okay, that settled," the madame said as she handed his Mausers to her guards. "You get those back later. Now, come in. You eager to talk with me, yes?" She opened the door to her room and curled her finger in a "come hither" motion.
"Wait, aren't you concerned about my bag?" Rotton asked, holding it up.
"That too obvious, and you look too flashy to succeed at being sneaky type."
Ignoring the comment, Rotton followed her and shut the door behind him, leaving the guards outside.
The "room" was more of an apartment, nearly the size of Shenhua's residence back in Roanapur. They were currently standing in what was the living room, but Jin Long quickly led him down a hall and into her bedroom. He looked around at the interior. The décor was a balanced blend of red, white and gold. There was an impressive cherry wood vanity in the corner of room and a large bed in the center with blood red blankets and golden edges. It had to be king sized.
"Now, what is it that gunman like you has to say about this Shenhua?" Jin Long asked, slipping the black fur stole off her shoulders and tossing it carelessly onto the vanity. She turned on the lamp on desk.
"This Shenhua?" Rotton asked aloud. He immediately shook it off. Perhaps it was a language error on her part. "Actually, it is more complex than that. You see, the primary reason I have come to you is because I need to know the location of the knife fighter, Liuyedao."
"Oh, yes, Liuyedao, I familiar with him," Jin Long nodded, facing him and tapping her cheek in thought. Rotton noted the sudden change in the tone of her voice. It was more light-hearted and jovial, a sharp contrast to the coldness she regarded him with earlier in the hall. "He big name when I in my prime. Everyone knew who he was. But what make you think I know where he is?"
"I met with his fighting compatriots in Mindanao. They told me you would know where he would be."
"The fighter in Mindanao?" she asked with a light tilt of her head. "My, my, one must prove themselves in fight or have invitation to meet. How ever did gunman get into good graces?"
"It comes back to Shenhua," Rotton admitted. "I proved to them that I was a companion of hers and they granted me permission to enter their village. I went there because I'm doing a great favor for her."
"A companion? That... quite a title," Jin Long drawled. Rotton found something unsettling in the way the sharp gleam in her eyes flashed. "Well, as her companion, why you have to perform favor?"
"She had a pair of knives, but one of them broke in battle. She values her weapons a great deal and I am trying to find a man who can forge a new blade for her," Rotton said, digging through his bag and pulling out the box with her knives. He opened it and showed them to Jin Long. "Her original bladesmith, Huo Niu, is dead, but Liuyedao took an apprenticeship under him. If I can locate Liuyedao, Shenhua will have a new blade that is of the same quality as its unbroken partner." He closed the box and put it back in his bag.
"My, that impressive story," Jin Long said appreciatively. "You taking that task... but, I ask, why not this Shenhua take it upon herself to find man who can fix sword? Why is it that you are one standing here and not her? From what you implying, she great warrior, is she not?"
Rotton tried to analyze her words. Was she asking how Shenhua was doing, perhaps?
"Shenhua is a great warrior, one of the best freelance hunters in all of Roanapur," Rotton said.
"That nice," Jin Long said simply. There was something off about the ditsy delight in her tone. That wasn't the reaction Rotton was expecting. He wanted something other than a blankly happy comment.
"I do not intend to alarm you, but she was injured recently," Rotton said carefully, not wanting to completely shock the woman. "She was shot in the legs, but she's healing. I have faith she'll back to bounty hunting in no time. She's a very strong woman. You should be proud of her."
"So you telling me she shot?" Jin Long said flatly, turning around until her back faced him, sitting at the edge of her vanity and slowly taking the pins out of her hair. She took special care not to move her face in front of the mirror where he could see her reflection. "That quite tragic, but I suppose that come with the territory of being a killer among killers."
Rotton knitted his eyebrows. Something about Jin Long's attitude was fishy. The woman was acting much too calm and carefree for someone who heard their own child was shot.
"Now, young man, you say you from Roanapur, correct?" Jin Long asked suddenly. Her back was still turned to him.
"Yes," he said.
"And it's a city of killers?"
"Yes."
"And you a gunman?"
"Yes."
"Which means you a hunter yourself?"
"... Yes," Rotton said, becoming unsure of the purpose of these questions.
"And you looking for Liuyedao, who was also hunter," Jin Long asked.
"Yes, madame," Rotton said.
"Hm, interesting."
There was a ten second pause between them, and Rotton got impatient.
"Well?" he asked.
"Well, what?" Jin Long asked guilelessly, still taking her time putting her hair down.
"Aren't you going to tell me where he is?"
"Oh, that?" Jin Long asked. "I so sorry, young man, but I must tell you that your journey end here."
"... Excuse me, madame?"
"I mean I have no idea where Liuyedao is," she said with a shrug. "Really, I don't. I regret to inform you that everything you do up to this point has been waste."
"You lie," Rotton accused. "I can sense it. You know and you're refusing to tell me."
"Why so angry?" Jin Long asked. Her hands were still toying with her hair. "I don't know what I don't know. You may leave now." She took a hand away from her head and waved lazily.
"Qù nǐde, lèsè."
Rotton curled his right hand in anger, ignoring the pain.
"I will not 'fuck off' and I am not garbage!"
Jin Long stopped playing with her hair a moment and turned around, raising an eyebrow in inquiry.
"Shenhua thinks I don't understand her when she cusses either."
Jin Long dropped the clueless act and grinned in a cocky way, getting up from her vanity and swaying over to the Wizard.
"My, my, so the white devil can understand Chinese," she said, taunting him with slow applause. "A few more courses at Wenzao College and you could teach at buxiban."
"Where is Liuyedao?" Rotton asked firmly.
"I tell you already, I don't know," she said with a smirk.
"Stop lying to me," Rotton demanded. "If you think I want to locate him for selfish reasons, you are wrong. What about your daughter? She's in pain right now and one of things that will make her feel better is getting her blade fixed. Don't you care about that at all?"
"My daughter? You mean that Shenhua you been talking about?" Jin Long asked carelessly. She turned around again and walked back over to her vanity, busying herself with putting her hair down once more. "I feel sorry for poor thing. Your story touch my heart, but that all it is: story. You mistake me for someone else, young man. This Shenhua you speak of... I no ties to her in the present, and you can't use her against me. It nothing."
Rotton breathed out slowly and shook his head.
"I'm aware you are the one who sent her to train on the island, you know. Do you know what she went through when you sent her there?"
Jin Long said nothing.
"The masters told me what happened. She endured so much suffering on that island for years on end," Rotton continued. "Liuyedao was very cruel to her. I was appalled when I heard about his methods. Yet knowing that Shenhua rose above that hell and became a great hunter, I thought for a moment that perhaps that the freelancer she could be was what you had envisioned and Liuyedao failed to inform you about the training Shenhua would be subjected to."
Still, Jin Long said nothing.
"When I called Shenhua on the phone and told her I was coming to visit you, she refused to speak with me. I wondered why she was so angry when I talked about you, but now I understand why. You are nothing but a callous, selfish woman who cares for no one except herself."
"Is that all you have to say to me?" Jin Long asked.
Rotton curled his lip in disgust as she kept pulling pins out of her hair until she got to the two ornamental sticks, the last of the pieces that held the black and grey strands up.
"Vanity," he scoffed. "Serving only yourself and ignoring the suffering of others. But I suppose that comes with the territory of running a brothel."
Jin Long continued to ignore his comments and took the sticks out. Her hair cascaded down her back.
"A madame of a great house, you sell other women like a commodity. It's repulsive, the lowest profession in the underworld. You're a horrible woman. I passed by that crowd downstairs and I saw girls who were as young as Shenhua when you sent her to train on the island. She was 12 back then. You heartless snake, I wouldn't be surprised if you sold the body of your own daughter to your clients!"
That comment, Jin Long did not ignore.
There were two simultaneous "shing" sounds as Jin Long unsheathed the tiny, sharp blades that were hidden inside her hair sticks. The sound of glass breaking resonated throughout the room as the woman smashed the back of Rotton's head against the mirror of her vanity, the force of the blow whipping off his sunglasses and tossing his duffel bag to the other side of the room. It all happened so swiftly, the precise moment Rotton registered the stinging pain of the shards embedded in his scalp, Jin Long had pinned his body against the table portion of the vanity in a death grip, the edge of one small blade against his neck, the other blade placed menacingly close at his crotch.
And he hadn't bothered to wear a cup.
Upon staring into the cold, metallic eyes of Jin Long, a bead of sweat dripped down the side of his face as he now understood why that girl in yellow had called the madame the "iron dragon".
"You sure like to hear yourself talk, don't you, pretty boy?" she hissed in suddenly perfect English, revealing the broken speech pattern as an act. "Some dapper little white devil with such a pretty face, I'm willing to bet you haven't done a day of work in your life. Oh, but I'm sure you know so much more than I do. You know everything about how the world works, right? You must know everything if you can lecture a whore."
Her silver and black hair draped itself around them like a veil, and the bright red color of the room enhanced her vicious glare. It could have been his imagination, but for a moment, Rotton swore he saw the pupils of her eyes morph into vertical slits.
"You motherfucker," she growled. "How dare you accuse me of selling my own daughter. You've no idea what I have endured to ensure her well being. You can call me all the nasty names you want, but I shall not allow you, not allow anyone to say I treated Shenhua poorly. You think I don't love my child because I sent her away to an island of killers? You listen, you arrogant shit, I sent her away because I loved her."
"What?" he said, his voice strained. She was still holding a knife at his throat and, more worryingly, his lower extremities.
"You don't get it. I know," she whispered. "It will become clear, should my urge to watch you bleed to death when I castrate you be overridden by my desire to get my story through that thick head of yours."
"You have my attention," he croaked. The iron dragon released an inhuman sound between a laugh and a hiss.
"Funny, funny boy. Keep me happy and I just may just let you live," she drawled. "You're not very bright, but I suppose I can give you credit for some things. You are correct about me being a horrible woman. I do not argue with that. Selling women like merchandise, it isn't very nice, but nice doesn't put money in my pocket. It never does in the underbelly of the world. I learned this when I was sold myself."
Rotton gulped.
"What, pretty boy? You think I started out as a madame? You're too naive," she chuckled cruelly. "You don't need to hear every little detail. All you need to know was that I was very young when it happened; I did not have the luxury of a childhood. I grew up to be a depraved woman, and I did very, very bad things. I have no pride when I tell you that my misdeeds make Da Ji and Sada Abe look like saints."
Rotton knitted his eyebrows.
"Hm, perhaps those are unfamiliar figures with you Westerners. No matter," she shrugged. "I was a very sick person. As the years went on, I learned how to manipulate men to get what I wanted. All it takes is time and patience and you can destroy a person from the inside out. The body is just a vessel. Sex is all mind games."
"What about love?"
"Foolish boy, there was no room for that in my world. There never was. That was until..." the iron dragon trailed off. She contemplated taking away the blade at his neck. Smirking, she pulled the sharp edge away and grasped his neck with her hand. She moved her lips to his left ear and whispered. "You know what 'Shenhua' means, pretty boy? It means 'myth'. I did many bad things, and I was a very bad person, but when Shenhua was born... I could not believe that she was my flesh and blood. I remember holding her and thinking she was divine, a gift from the heavens, so I named her Shenhua. That is how precious she is to me."
Allowing the words to sink in, Rotton began to apologize.
"... I am sorry I made a hasty assumption about—"
"Shut up, pretty boy, you're not getting off that easy." She tore her lips away from his ear and looked into his eyes again. The steel-like gaze was still there. "Now, I shall tell you why I sent her to the island. I tried to give her the childhood I did not have, but as she grew, reality set in. As much as I wanted her to have a normal life as possible, I was still a prostitute, and we lived in the slums. I looked around and I saw women like myself selling themselves in the streets and the violence that took place with the local syndicates, and I know Shenhua saw it as well. I realized after she had seen all this filth, she would never have a normal life. She was tainted; she would always remain in the underworld. So I wanted her to become a killer."
"..."
"I lost you, hmm?"
"Perhaps, yes," Rotton admitted, his mind still wandering to the remaining blade at his crotch. "The life of a killer is not—"
"Not what, pretty boy? Righteous? Good?" she snarled. "Those are not options when you are doomed to spend your life in the underworld. Becoming a hunter was the best choice for my daughter. You think traveling on a path paved in blood is repulsive? Then answer this question, pretty boy. Why is it that you decided to become a hunter instead of a male host?"
"..."
"Speechless again?" she teased. "I know why, even if you don't, pretty boy. Imagine what it feels like to be held down on a piss-stained mattress getting gang-banged while having cigarettes put out on your asshole for kicks. Now imagine having to do that for a living. Putting a bullet in someone's head is far more glamorous by comparison, isn't it?"
"... I see your point," Rotton said solemnly.
"There are different tiers in the underworld. My profession is the lowest rank, and by the time I had Shenhua, I was too far gone. But Shenhua still had a chance to be something great. She had the potential to secure her place in the criminal hierarchy, and I made sure that opportunity would not be wasted."
"But, I don't understand."
"Understand what, pretty boy?" she snapped.
"The masters told me you weren't one hundred percent certain of what was happening to Shenhua during her training. Did you try to contact her to know what was going on?"
There was a lull in the conversation and the iron dragon lowered her head, breathing out slowly as she placed her lips next to his ear once again, thus moving her eyes out of view.
"I told you many times, I am a very bad person who has done very bad things," she whispered forlornly. "When I made the deal with Liuyedao to take Shenhua with him, I made him promise that he would not let Shenhua contact me. I avoided contact as well; I wanted my daughter to distance herself from my life so she could thrive and have her own. My existence, my life, is squalid, and I didn't want Shenhua to associate herself with the filth I have to wallow through."
"But aren't you upset that your daughter holds that distance against you? She never spoke of you to me and seems to..."
"She hates me," the iron dragon finished. It was odd, Rotton thought. She didn't seem contemptuous or even the least bit angry when she said the words. "I know, I know, it has been over 15 years since I've seen my daughter, 6 of those years after she was done training, if Liuyedao's words are anything to go by. She refuses to contact me. I do not blame her."
"Have you tried to contact her in return after her training finished?"
"What would be the use? From what you said earlier, she does not even wish to hear my name. Why would she lend her ear to anything I would have to say? Besides, if she despises me, then she will not have to associate with my sickening life. That was my intention when I sent her away. She is better off."
She looked back into his eyes, reading him and contemplating what to do next. She let out a jagged breath and gripped the lower blade tightly.
In an instant, the iron dragon ripped herself away from his body and turned her back to him, finding the sheaths to her minuscule blades.
"Liuyedao is currently hidden in subsection of the Kunlun Mountains in China. I shall give you a map."
Slowly, Rotton assessed her reaction. He kept an eye on her as he got off of the vanity, preparing himself if she were to attack him again.
He groaned as he got up, trying to shake the mirror shards loose from his hair. He leaned over to pick up his sunglasses off the floor and touched the back of his head , looking at his hand as he pulled it away. He didn't seem to be bleeding profusely; Rotton noticed as he put his shades back on. A few cuts and scratches, but nothing major.
"It's not surprising you weren't harmed by that. You seem to have endured many head injuries in your time," she said as she looked over her shoulder.
Rotton shrugged off the jab at his intelligence. At least he wasn't a eunuch.
"You know, within a minute of hearing your story, I was originally going to kill you," Jin Long confessed, fully turning toward him. "Not by castration, at first. I was not lying when I told you Liuyedao was a big name killer in my prime. It's been many years since his last job, but there are times I am still concerned about contract hits being taken out on his head. I suspected you to be a hit man at first and you made up the story about my daughter to catch me off guard. I was going to tell the guards shoot you the moment you stepped out of here."
"When did you plan to castrate me during that line of thought?" he asked as coolly as he could; he didn't sound cool at all.
"Castration was not the original plan. It became an option when you started making foolish accusations."
"Fair enough," Rotton said. "But I am in one piece. I assume you accepted my apology?"
"That's part of it," she said. "The reason you are free to go is because I now believe your story about the broken blade. Also, I was concerned you were going to kill Liuyedao, but after pinning you down, I am confident that you would die if you tried to best him in combat."
"Oh? What makes you so sure I'd lose?" Rotton asked in slight interest.
"I know an inexperienced man when I feel one," she quipped.
Rotton coughed lightly into his hand before pinching the lenses of his sunglasses. He didn't want to think about the connotations of that statement.
"And," Jin Long started. "Why else would I think Liuyedao would win? He was the man chose to train Shenhua."
At that last sentence, Jin Long's voice wavered and she turned around so he couldn't see her face. She began to run her fingers through her hair, preparing to put it back up again.
"Not seeing Shenhua all these years, it hurts, doesn't it?" Rotton asked sadly.
"Don't sound like that. It's so damn pitiful," Jin Long scolded, still refusing to look him. "You're quite invasive, you know that, pretty boy? 'It hurts, doesn't it?' What sort of question is that?"
Something in her steady tone didn't seem convincing to Rotton. Suddenly, he caught Jin Long's reflection on the glass of a picture hanging on the wall. For one moment, he saw the steel gleam in her eye fade as she wiped away a single tear, before hardening her gaze again.
He sighed in understanding.
- 0 - 0 - 0 -
They stood in the living room. Jin Long had told the guards outside to give his weapons back while she prepared the items he would need for his journey.
"Here is a map and a set of directions. You should find him in the village I listed. Even a pretty boy like yourself should be able to follow that easily," Jin Long said. Upon noting her nickname for him, she came to a realization. "I never did ask you for your name, did I?"
"Rotton, 'the Wizard'," he intoned softly, taking the map and directions and placing them inside of his duffel bag. Jin Long lifted an eyebrow with a smirk. That was an unusual moniker.
"I appreciate the assistance," Rotton said. "Thank you."
The older woman waved off the comment with a scoff.
"Don't start getting sentimental, Rotton 'the Wizard'," she said. "I've done my part. Now leave me."
"Of course," he nodded. When she saw him turn around, Jin Long thought he was going to leave, but instead he rummaged around in his duffel bag.
"What are you doing?" Jin Long asked suspiciously, reaching for the small blades hidden in the ornamental sticks in her hair.
"I am grateful for your assistance, and I would not feel right to leave you without a proper gift." Rotton turned back towards her and pulled out an iron dragon statue. "I think you need this more than I do." He held it out and offered it to her.
Jin Long looked at him strangely, before her steely eyes widened in shock. Not caring if it made her appear eager or wanting, she grasped the dragon tightly.
"I know it cannot compare to the real thing, but I promise you I shall find a way to remedy that in due time. For now, I bid you farewell, Miss Jin Long." The iron dragon barely heard his words before he turned on his heel and walked out the door.
Jin Long's eyes began to water as she gazed at the photograph the dragon was guarding protectively in its claws.
Her daughter was beautiful.
- 0 - 0 - 0 -
Rotton looked down at the remaining picture in his wallet, thankful he had brought along the photograph of Shenhua and Sawyer with him. He could use this one if Liuyedao asked for proof of Shenhua knowing him. Plus, Rotton thought deeply, he would need both of his companion's guidance if he was going to make it to the end of this trip intact.
He brushed past the brothel's patrons and headed to the corridor. In a far off end of the bar, a girl in a yellow dress was talking with some other prostitutes.
"There he is! There he is!" she whispered excitedly, pointing before he fell out of their view and exited the room. "Unbelievable! He lives! Oh, but he wasn't in her room for very long. I guess his stamina isn't very good. He does look like the clumsy type. Hehehehe..."
The other girls giggled along with her, but they soon stopped and froze in fear when a shadow loomed over their section of the bar. The girl in yellow stopped laughing when she realized she was the only one doing so, and she curled her lip.
"Hey, what's with you all? Why are you—?"
"Ahem."
The air turned cold and the girl in yellow squeaked, clenching her teeth in worry when she recognized the agitated voice. She turned her head to look over her shoulder and immediately regretted it.
Jin Long did not look happy.
"H-Hello, Madame Boss. I was just—"
"I know what you were doing. Gossip doesn't make me money. Now all of you whores get off your lazy asses and go to work!" she roared.
The girls scattered and Jin Long scowled.
That pretty boy, Rotton, may have lightened her spirits, but she was still the madame of a brothel. It was a cruel and despicable existence, but this territory was where she thrived. This was her domain, and she went through great measures to secure her place.
As such, she would not tolerate any teasing remarks against her daughter's noble, albeit touched-in-the-head, companion.
She smirked at the thought. That was a right that solely belonged to her.
A/N: Wait, she doesn't like it when other people insult Rotton, but she reserves the right to do it herself? Weirdo.
This chapter was originally meant to be part of Chapter Three, but when I saw it extended further than my usual word quota, I decided to slice it in half and put it in two separate parts, so to speak.
Da Ji and Sada Abe – I'll just let you google them and the nightmare fuel will take care of itself. Sweet dreams!
Cheers.