Chapter 13
"Oy, What's going on?" Maxi rubbed his eyes to no avail, he was still seeing nothing but vague shapes.
"Xianghua's just passed out. Can you retain this man while I take her to our room?"
"Not a good idea, I wouldn't be able to see if he was going to try to pull a fast one on me."
"Sirs, please!" the owner pleaded, "Take you fight outside, I shall see to the miss and have her put to bed, so step outside, yes?"
"Of course, our apologies," Kilik said to the owner while taking hold of their attacker and escorting him outside.
"Hey! What about me?" said Maxi, groping for the door. He felt Kilik's rod instead and grabbed hold of it. As he let Kali-Yuga guide him, he caught the toe of his boot on the door frame on the way out, and nearly did a face plant in the dust.
Kilik forced the man to take a seat on the outside bench, digging one end of Kali-Yuga into the stranger's chest.
"You've been very rude to me and my comrades. The least you should do is introduce yourself and explain your actions," Kilik said forcefully.
"All right, all right, ease up on your stick, will ya? My name is Chen Lao. I served in the Emperor's Royal Guard along with your little witch--" Kali-Yuga dug deeper, making Chen Lao flinch. "--I mean, along with Xianghua."
"Yeah, watch your mouth when speaking of my friends!" Maxi said threateningly to a tethered horse.
"We're over here, Maxi." Kilik said absently, setting his full attention on Chen Lao. Kilik nodded to him to continue.
"The Ming empire was constantly being raided. Pretty soon the Hero's Sword was all the Emperor thought about day and night. He truly believed it was the only thing that would save his empire. He sent out groups of guards twice to find it, but they both never even returned. So, then he hand selected from the his personal guards to find it. I would have commanded the unit if the brat-- urgh-- if Xianghua hadn't been the Emperor's favorite."
"Yeah, yeah," Maxi interrupted, "Xianghua was better than you and you're sore about it, get to the important stuff, chief."
"The important stuff? We never found it, if you call that important. Xianghua tells the Emperor we couldn't find it, gets stripped of her rank. All of us did. First she took my promotion, then she gets us all demoted!"
"But you said Xianghua broke the Hero's Sword when you attacked us. How do you know that if you never found the sword?"
"I didn't know, till one day the Emperor sets an assault on a neighboring castle. The royal decry says it's a preventive move against a plotted revolt. But Xianghua doesn't think so. Starts going out late, starts hanging around questionable pubs, the kind spies hang around too. She starts passing over cash I didn't think she had, and as I happen to overhear her conversation, turns out the Hero's Sword was found by the second unit, but instead of passing it over to our obsessive Emperor, he holes himself up in this castle. Finally the Emperor was tired of trying to negotiate with the guy and sends his army to bust the place up. That's when she said it."
"Said what?" Maxi asked skeptically.
"From her own lips, she said that couldn't be the Hero's Sword because she broke that sword four years ago. And then we find out later those Evil Seeds were fragments of the sword; the sword she broke!"
"That's crazy! Knock him on the head or something, Kilik! This loser's spinning tales!" Chen Lao started laughing none to nicely.
"Sounds like you're in denial, sailor. Go ahead, ask her yourself! Ask her why she paid off all those spies for information on the sword! Ask why she fled China after she found out about the fragments! Ask her! Go on! ASK HER!!"
It was only a fraction of a second later Maxi's fist connected with Chen Lao's face, sending his spinning to the dusty road. Maxi stood up lowering his fist. "Why don't you just shut up and get the heck outta here before I lose my temper."
Chen Lao spit a tooth out and wiped the blood from his mouth. "You wanted an explanation from me, you got it. And don't think I'm done with the witch." Chen Lao stood up slowly and crossed the road, disappearing into an alley."
"I see you have your sight back, but you really shouldn't get so worked up," he said quietly. "Words are words no matter how ugly they are sometimes."
"You mean you believe his hot air?!"
"I believe it could be true. Xianghua never gave us a straight answer when we asked her why she was traveling so far from her home and..." Kilik hesitated before finishing, "none of us is without sin."
Kilik started to walk back into the hotel. Maxi followed quietly. They softly walked up the stairs, to the room they were told Xianghua was. Kilik held his hand up to knock, Maxi caught his wrist. "She just passed out from stress and lack of a good meal and a soft bed. She's probably asleep. Do you really need to talk to her about this now?" Maxi said with his eyebrows furrowed in concern.
"She needs to know Chen Lao is still out to kill her. We shouldn't let her be alone," Kilik argued.
"C'mon, let the kid have her sleep. Even as stupid as Chen looks, do you think he'd really try to come and get her tonight? He's probably at the dentist."
Kilik lowered his hand and entered the room he and Maxi would share. Kilik settled to meditate in the corner as Maxi flopped on the bed.
"What a day..." Maxi moaned and fell asleep.
Xianghua slept solidly for nearly three and a half days, waking only long enough to take some water or relieve herself. The owner's wife tended to Xianghua's needs, shooing Maxi and Kilik away whenever they asked to speak with her. "Can't you leave the poor dear alone until she gets some color back in her cheeks?" she would scold and send the boys off to chop wood, or run errands to help pay their tab. Chen Lao hadn't shown his face near the hotel since he had spoke with them, but Kilik didn't seem to be comforted by the man's absence.
One evening, when the old woman taking some dinner up to Xianghua, she entered the room, and suddenly screamed.
Maxi and Kilik came as fast as their legs could carry them, "What's the matter? What happened?" Maxi shouted, coming in on the scene. Blankets were pushed to the foot of the bed. The small wardrobe was open and empty of clothes and shoes. The window was open as well, the curtains lifting and falling with the incoming breezes. Xianghua was no where to be seen.
"S-she's gone!" the old woman stammered. I kept her room locked, like you told me to, I swear I did."
Kilik put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It's all right, I don't think Xianghua was kidnapped or taken against her will. The window is open from the inside, not broken, or forced. I think she wanted to leave without anyone knowing."
"Why on earth would she want to do a thing like that?" the woman said softly.
Maxi felt the bed, "Still a little warm, she couldn't have left that long ago." Kilik turned the woman, it seems we'll be leaving now, how much do we still owe you?
"Oh... about 15 silver."
"Pay her, Maxi."
"What? Me? I don't have any money!"
"I know you won some money at cards last night, you were bragging in your sleep."
"For crying out loud, are not even a man's dreams private?" Maxi griped and put the silver in the woman's hand. With their bill squared up, the two followed Xianghua's trail out the window.
"If she's heading out of town, she'll probably take the shortest road out. West." Maxi suggested.
"Go west then, ask around. I'm going take a quick look around here," Kilik said, and jumped to the nearest rooftop, and the next. A small groove in the one to the right, just the kind Xianghua's sword might make if she stuck it in for a little balance. Kilik followed the trail as best he could, returning to the ground once he saw some roof dust disturbed by someone hanging off the rim. He looked down into the dusty road below. No footprints. Not even a trace. Little trickster, Kilik thought and stuck to the rooftops, getting a running start and barely making it to the next. It was the town capital, a three level structure, Kilik made his way to the top.
Xianghua was sitting in the corner of the railing for the bell tower, crying softly into her hands. She jerked her head up as she felt a hand on her shoulder. Kilik gave her a small sympathetic smile.
"What are you doing way up here, Xianghua? Why are you crying all alone?" She swallowed hard and shook her head. Unexpectedly she pushed Kilik down as she sprang up to her feet and ran towards the railing, about to escape.
"Wait! Xianghua! Is this about the Hero's Sword!?" Kilik yelled desperately.
Xianghua stopped and relaxed in a sort of dread. "You know then..."
"That man who attacked us, Chen Lao, he told Maxi and me everything."
"And even so, you really don't know why I ran away?" she said thickly through tears, still unable to face him.
"No. Honestly I don't."
"Don't you understand? It's because of me your temple clan is dead. It's because of me you battle with that seed every moment of every day. If I hadn't broken that sword, you never could have killed Maxi's crew. You both have so much reason to hate me. Hate me more than anything else on this earth. But I couldn't face you. I care about... what you think of me. I couldn't stand to see you look at me with hate in your eyes. Even though I deserve it I just couldn't face you," she sniffed and wiped some tears away. She started forward again, but was held back.
Held back by Kilik's embrace.
"Are you sure you haven't seen her?" Maxi asked the gate guard one last time. "Chinese girl, around this high, turquoise-blue clothes, carries a sword."
"I told you, no one's gone out today, only in."
"All right, thanks anyway." Maxi began to walk off, but felt a tug on his vest. A little boy holding a caged bird was looking up at him. "I saw her."
"Where? Where did you see her?"
"I'll tell you if you buy my last songbird."
"I don't need a songbird, I just want to know where she went."
"But father said I can't play until I've sold all my songbirds!"
"Look, kid, I don't-- oh fine, gimme the bird." Maxi handed over some cash and took the cage by the hanger. The little boy pointed up.
"You gonna tell me she was flying? I want my money back."
"No!" the boy pulled away, "She was up there! The bell tower on the capitol building." Maxi looked up and thought he caught a glimpse of Kilik's red coat. "You gotta be kidding me... They climbed up there!?"
Kilik hugged Xianghua from behind and laid his chin gently on her shoulder, to speak clear and soft in her ear. "I still grieve for the tragedies that I have taken place in my life. I still grieve for Xianglian and the Evil Seed I must bear."
She started to take sharp breaths, crying again. The last thing she wanted to hear was Kilik's list of bad things that were done because of her. He felt her grow more upset and hugged her a bit more tightly.
"However... I don't hate you." She immediately relaxed a little. "I know you made the best decision you could with the knowledge you had, Xianghua. If I were in your place, I may have broken the sword myself. I don't blame you for anything."
Kilik loosened his hold, letting Xianghua turn around in his arms. She opened her mouth to say so much, so much about how sorry she was, how relieved she was, but all she could stammer was: "Thank you." She hugged him and buried her face into him, now crying happy burdenless tears into his shoulder.
A loud sniff suddenly drew their attention to Maxi. He finished climbing over the rail. "I don't blame you either, China girl" he sobbed, trying to rub the tears away. "Come on, group hug," he said and put his arms around both of them, getting a laugh out of the two.
A bit of twittering came from behind Maxi's back. "Oh yeah, almost forgot." He pulled the birdcage off his sash and presented it to Xianghua, "Here, I got this just for you, to help you feel better."
She smiled, taking the cage in her hands. "The little guy reminds me of how I felt just now. So trapped, no reason to sing."
She opened the door of the cage and took the bird carefully in her hands. Raising her fingertips to the sky, she opened her hands. The little songbird took off to the sky, singing a song already.
Author's Notes & Comments
Well, finally another chapter, even though it's kind of a slow mushy one. ;P
I'm predicting only a few more chapters from this point, but since I don't update very often, anybody who wants me to send them an email when I update, just let me know.
My email is kinoyui[at]yahoo[dot]com
((My email wasn't showing up before, so you have to put in the symbols yourself. ))
So um, yeah that's about it. ;-)