Chapter 11
"Silenced Siren"
It took a moment for Xianghua to absorb the sight of the empty hot spring. Kilik and Maxi couldn't have been kidnapped, they were both fine warriors and wouldn't be taken quietly against their will. It had been completely silent the entire time she was soaking away the cold, hadn't it? She would have heard something of a scuffle.
Would they have left without her? Maxi might, Xianghua thought while imagining the pirate having a good laugh over her confusion. Kilik was not known to take part in such foolishness. If he had returned to Jezzel's cottage, he would have at least announced to her that he was going on ahead. Maybe he thought she'd get jealous again and didn't want to hear any more about women's intuition.
I guess I better check the cottage before I jump to any more conclusions, Xianghua decided and began walking back up the path. She was discouraged to see no lights coming from the cottage. It looked very much as if no one was there. She approached carefully, drawing her sword just in case. Opening the door wide, Xianghua cautiously entered. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she could make out barely a glitter of warm coals in the fireplace. Luthira's blankets were an empty pile on the floor. It seemed the cottage was deserted.
"Hello?" Xianghua called out, stepping further into the room. "Kilik? Maxi? Are you here?" There were no answers to her questions. Xianghua thought she saw a figure move in one of the smaller rooms behind the ragged curtain that provided some privacy for anyone within that room. Xianghua extended her sword and swept the length of cloth aside with its blade.
The person charged with a glint of metal in one hand, running haphazardly towards Xianghua as if drunk. Xianghua easily caught the hand that held the knife and twisted the wrist, until the blade fell, sticking its point into the floorboards. Unhindered by the loss of the weapon, the figure clawed wildly at Xianghua, forcing her to back up into the moonlight streaming in through a small window. Suddenly the attacker stopped.
"You aren't her..."
Xianghua did not let down her guard one inch. The figure collapsed. Cautiously Xianghua stepped closer to the fallen figure. She did not recognize her attacker immediately until she saw the remains of bandages loosely wrapped around her neck and arms. "Luthira?" asked Xianghua in disbelief.
Luthira nodded, "I'm sorry, I thought you were Jezzel," she said with venom. Her eyes rolled slightly, Xianghua could see now Luthira was in a cold sweat, and laboring to breathe.
"I don't understand," Xianghua's brow furrowed, "You want to kill your sister?" Luthira laughed somewhat psychotically.
"She is no more my sister than you are! She is not even a true woman!"
"What do you mean?" Xianghua's brow furrowed.
"She's nothing more than a siren," Luthira whispered through a twisted grin. "She lures men with her enchanted face and voice. They can't resist her even if they want to."
"How do you know this?"
"Because I saw it with my own eyes! Tartin, my future husband and me. We were traveling this forest and found Jezzel's hot springs. She caught us there and only pointed her finger at Tartin. She told him to restrain me and take me back to her cottage where she wrapped me in bandages as you saw me when you first arrived. Since that day she has told me much, gloating and threatening Tartin's life if I don't stop trying to escape."
"Do you mean to say she will harm Maxi and Kilik?"
"First she will make slaves of them. They will tend to her forsaken garden. It is that plant that keeps her alive, so it must be tended at all times. Once the men have grown weak and tired they become little more than fertilizer."
"But why does she keep you here and not in the garden?"
"She needs fire to stew her herbs and roots potion. If my mind is distressed, her potions work all the better to drive my sanity away."
"But why does she keep you a live at all?"
"Don't you understand? In truth she isn't a woman! Her wretchedness hides behind another woman's skin. Even if she cannot fool women with her enchantments, she still needs to capture an occasional pretty face to conceal herself behind. Once her herbs have done their work she will take my skin next. She may even keep you around for just such a reason!" Luthira burst into another fit of laughter that left Xianghua feeling on edge.
It was obvious Luthira was not in the most rational states of mind. Was any of Luthira's story true? Or was it really Jezzel who told the truth when she said Luthira was sick in the head? Xianghua was silent as she mulled the situation around in her head.
Luthira plucked the knife from the floorboard. "She will have a surprise when she comes for me. She will see Luthira has a pretty bite to match the pretty face." Xianghua wasn't sure if she was meant to comment on that, so she quickly changed the subject.
"You think Jezzel will come for you tonight?"
"Of course, she'll come for me! To take me down to her garden as well. She's often told me how painful it will be for her to drive me out of my skin."
Xianghua put her sword away and placed a hand on Luthira's shoulder as if doing so physically it would also hold her attention.
"Luthira, I want you to listen carefully. You aren't in any shape to attack Jezzel. I need you to trust me to handle her."
"What do you expect me to do? Just let her take me to her weed pile?"
"Yes."
* * *
A crescent moon had risen to its full height in the night sky. Not a sound was heard inside the cottage save for the gentle breathing of Luthria, her chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm under the blankets.
Jezzel stepped into the cottage followed by a man thick with muscle. The man's head lolled as if he were half-asleep. Jezzel pointed to the sleeping Luthira. The man stepped forward and picked up the young woman and slung her body over one massive shoulder.
"Take her back to the garden," Jezzel ordered. As they walked back down the path that lead to the hot springs, Xianghua crawled out of her hiding and followed carefully at a distance. Ducking into shadows, struggling to Jezzel in sight without being seen, the walk to the hot springs seemed twice as long.
Once at the hot springs, Jezzel stopped, as did the man carrying Luthira. Jezzel spoke some words that Xianghua did not understand. Slowly the rocks began to shift and move until a door was formed. A door with stairs that lead underground. Jezzel stepped down, followed by her zombie servant. The rocks began to shift back to the camouflaged solid wall. Xianghua made a mad sprint towards them and slipped between the final closing rocks. Her lungs struggled for some breath, but she could not risk a deep breath. In the dark she could not tell how near she was to Jezzel, they would hear her if she wasn't careful.
Farther down a torch was lit. Xianghua followed the soft bouncing light with extreme caution. Finally the stairway ended and beyond was a large cavern. Xianghua pulled out her sword and positioned the shiny blade discreetly near the floor. A small tilt this way and that. She trusted its reflection that no guards were around the corner. With her own eyes she dared to look in the garden Luthira had spoke of.
Torches lined the walls casting shifting shadows over everything within. There were rows upon rows of thick vines, covered in thorns. Leaves the size of dinner plates sprouted every two feet or so along them, accompanying a bunch of small blue flowers not yet in bloom. At the roots, Xianghua saw bits of whitish sticks poking out of the dirt. Sticks that looked an awful lot like bones
Men tended to the vines, washing dark moss off the vines, trimming away dead leaves, and taking scions of the plant to start a new row. They all seemed to be in a daze, hands working without thinking. There were thirty at least, maybe close to forty. Among them were Maxi and Kilik. Their eyes were strange. Glazed over, foggy almost.
Jezzel had instructed that Luthira be put on a large stone table near the other side of the cavern.
"Bring me the buds! This skin is starting to itch me, I want hers before dawn!" Maxi and Kilik carried a large pot to the table. Smaller vines spilled over its rim, but the flowers were large and in full bloom. In the center of each blossom was a long thorn, hollow, like a straw. The flowers moved on their own, slithering like snakes towards Luthira.
Xianghua couldn't hide any longer. With a battle cry she left the shadows and ran towards Luthira. A few quick swipes and she was free from the bandages. Luthira smashed a flower with her foot.
"Took you long enough!" she shouted at Xianghua.
"How dare you!" shrieked Jezzel. "Get them! Don't let them escape!"
The caretakers of Jezzel's garden left their posts still carrying their trimming shears, hoes, and rakes as they closed in on Luthira and Xianghua.
Luthira reached for her knife hidden in her tunic. She twirled it around and readied to defend herself.
"No!" Xianghua forced Luthira's knife down. "These men are all victims! Are you really going to cut them up for falling into this trap?" Luthira didn't answer but pressed her lips together grimly and finally nodded.
A rake was swung at Xianghua's head. Her sword chopped off the metal end, as she struck again, hitting the man on the head with the end of her sword handle. She glanced at Luthira who seemed fine on her own, slugging men in the face without much sympathy.
Breaking garden equipment and knocking out their enemies worked for a while, but Xianghua could already feel her energy going down. And even worse she saw some of the unconscious ones get back up. "We can't fight like this forever!" Luthira voiced Xianghua's thought as she tripped a blonde boy with an ankle sweep.
"That's right, you can't!" Jezzel smirked from her throne as she looked on the battle with mild entertainment. "They belong to me till death! The only way you are ever going to stop free them is to kill them one by one including your friends, and future husband."
Kilik with a hoe in one hand and Maxi, a small hand sickle in each of his, solemnly walked towards Xianghua. A young man with long black hair tied back at the neck came towards Luthira.
"Tartin..." breathed Luthira. The young man did not acknowledge her back and came at her with length of thorned vine. Cracking it like a whip, a piece of cloth was torn off Luthira's shoulder and she started to bleed. She grabbed a broken hoe handle from the ground and caught his second attack. The vine barely missed her face as it wrapped around the wood.
Xianghua fought to maintain her focus. She had seen both Kilik and Maxi in action and knew one slip up could mean her death. Maxi attacked first the sickle slicing the air where Xianghua's neck had been. She had dodged and come around hoping to catch him off balance, but Maxi wasn't caught off balance so easily and retreated a moment to let Kilik come through with a heavy vertical pummel. His makeshift weapon left a crack in the ground as Xianghua barely deflected Maxi's sickles with her sword. She heard a swish of a rod and ducked as Kilik's hoe passed over her head. Maxi Kicked at her ankles. Xianghua jumped over his foot and side stepped behind Kilik. She reached to grab him, but he already had his hoe between him and her and whacked her soundly on the forearm. She was getting tired, sweat was stinging her eyes. Maxi threw one of his sickles at her back, Xianghua forced her sword around fast enough to catch the sickle and send it flying past Maxi into the garden.
The sickle stuck deep into one of the vines. It oozed with thick yellow juices. Jezzel cried out as if in pain.
Suddenly Luthira's words back at the cottage came to Xianghua's mind: It is that plant that keeps her alive...
"You little wretch! Leave my beautiful garden alone!" Jezzel screamed.
Xianghua made a dash to the rows of vines.
"Kill them! Kill them this instant!" Jezzel shrieked. The men redoubled their efforts closing in on the women. "You'll never get another chance to hurt my vines!"
Xianghua and Luthira were back to back, warily watching their chances grow slimmer as the men advanced.
"We're surrounded. We'll never survive this. You were so stupid to come here! Now we'll both be skinned!" Luthira started laughing uncontrollably, echoing in the cavern walls. She was on the verge of losing it. Xianghua took Luthira firmly by the shoulder.
Slap! Luthira's cheek started to turn red and she began breathing quick and shallow.
"Snap out of it, Luthira!" Xianghua said firmly. "If any of us are going to live through this, you have to pull yourself together! Now listen!"
Luthira seemed to calm down and she looked at Xianghua with honest attention.
"I can take them for a few seconds. As soon as you see an opening, run and destroy that garden," Xianghua didn't wait for Luthira's answer, but took a large step forward bring her sword in a wide sweeping movement up above her head as she started glowing with a blue light. Luthira looked in amazement.
"Hiyaaaa!" Xianghua screamed out as her sword was charged with her soul power. She stared straight at Maxi and Kilik.
"Sorry, boys. It can't be helped." With her body and sword in united with her full power, Xianghua attacked her friends. Careful to use the flat side of her sword, she landed a few blows on her comrades, and many more hits on the other men that fell victim to Jezzel's enchantments.
Luthira gasped as Xianghua had to knock Tartin aside none too gently. Luthira bit into her lower lip as she had to ignore him as he lay on the floor, recovering. She took the small opening Xianghua had created. Pushing past the enslaved men, she wasn't quite quick enough and felt her long hair grabbed and yanked. Luthira cried out and Xianghua did not hesitate to act.
Torch light reflected off Xianghua's blade as it cut through Luthira's hair cleanly, scattering light brown curls on the floor. Luthira grabbed a torch from the far wall.
"No! You can't do that! Get away from there you miserable human wench! I'll kill you! I'll rip out your heart myself and feed it to your man, I swear!" Jezzel was screaming as loud as she could. Luthira stared back ignoring the threats and used all her strength to hurdle the torch into the center of the garden.
The vines caught flame, Jezzel fell to her knees, crying out in pain. As the vines withered and turned black, some of the captured men stopped moving, but not before Xianghua had taken a beating herself. She also collapsed to her hands and knees in exhaustion. She felt a hand on her back and forced her head to look up. Kilik looked back at her with worry in his eyes. His eyes. Clear and natural. That was the important thing Xianghua thought happily as she smiled and nearly fainted from fatigue. Kilik caught her shoulders before she fell and sat down next to her, helping her stay steady.
"I haven't a clue what's going on," he said, "but I have a feeling I owe your women's intuition an apology." Xianghua was too busy catching her breath to answer. She glanced over towards Luthira.
Against the warm colors of the flames, Tartin touched Luthira's slapped cheek and the back of her freshly cropped hair. He embraced her tightly. For the first time since Xianghua had met the girl, Luthira looked happy.
Maxi blinked away the fogginess in his mind. "Whoa..." he groaned. "What a hangover... I don't even remember drinking..." He caught sight of the remains of Jezzel and then the large bonfire of burning vines. Taking a look at the room full of confused men holding broken gardening equipment, the scythes in his own hands and the cuts on Xianghua's skin, he had to ask:
"Did I miss something here?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ah, alls well that ends well. But we aren't done yet! Please look forward to chapter 12! And feel free to suggest ideas for future chapters!
Thanks for reading!!