Chapter 3: The letter
A gentle whisper into an alert eye was the first thing to occur in this cramped room.
"Do you think they are still up there?" whispered Li Zhang as he ripped a piece cloth from his white coat off and folded across his arm to cover the bleeding. He had noticed the cut had open some time during the night and there was a patch of blood next to where he had slept.
"I haven't heard a noise for half the day already, but I would expect we should be on high alert just in case. They wouldn't give up this easily" replied Uncle Ma. He peered through the dark room with only help from ambient light, at the man sitting down with the cut. "You okay with that wound? We should get first aid" insisted Ma.
"It should be alright for now, though I wouldn't be surprised if they applied poisons onto their weapons." Came the dry response from Li
Jue stirred a little, flipped on his back.
"I'll have a look around, they wouldn't suspect me of anything" said Ma as he silently opened the hatch of the basement and climbed up into the daylight.
Li thought to himself
If it hadn't been for this boy and his uncle I would have been dead yesterday night.
He took a clear glimpse of the boy; he was barely seventeen years of age, long black silky hair flowed down from round shaped face. This youth didn't look like the other people in this village. This family was from a wealthy background, despite the few cuts and bruises on his arm.
Jue made a small flicker of his eyes, moaned slightly and jumped up as if remembering something important was going to happen or he was late for some appointment. Then he stopped, glanced around only to see Li sitting on the middle of the room cross legged.
"Morning, how was the night?" asked Li friendly
"It was fine, though had horrible dreams" answered Jue as he climbed up and investigated the scene.
"Thanks for what happened yesterday. I wouldn't be here if…"
"Don't say that, you know that I should have done that. They were very viscous in outnumbering an enemy several times" Jue cut in.
Li said nothing, except stare with a smile at Jue.
"You know…yesterday I saw you do a few moves that were too quick for my eyes. You showed me how good a person can become…" stammered Jue and his sentence seem to fade away. He looked down at his straw shoes.
"You saw me didn't you?"
Jue nodded and said "You were great!"
"Your name is Jue right? Look there's something that troubling me, I have this letter I have to deliver to Zi Yun Mountain in the western cliffs. To the Head of Zi Yun Squad. I can feel my body weakened from the poison from their weapons, I would like you to deliver the letter." Stated Li almost apologetically.
"You are poisoned? Then we must get the antidote. Then we will both go deliver the letter" demanded Jue
Unable to persuade Jue to help, he said "Jue, at the very least could you hold onto the letter? When I fight, the letter is not secure and it might be lost, this is a very important letter which I can't afford losing" as Li tried to make up any excuse to make Jue accept.
"Okay, but promise you come along with me alright?" pleaded Jue
"Promise" though Li wasn't going to say that he was going to make a promise he might not be able to keep.
"Oh and don't tell anyone you have this letter and that includes your Uncle. Otherwise the game of chinese whispers… this letter is very dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands Jue, you must understand that."
A few minutes later, Jue comes to sudden realisation that Uncle Ma is missing.
"Where is Uncle?" asked Jue, not believing that he had forgotten about his dear Uncle.
"He went upstairs to check out the situation" replied Li "He should be back by now"
As they said this, they slowly opened the hatch to peer through the gap. The coast seemed to be clear, no one was moving about. As Jue climbed up, he glanced around the corners of the courtyard, it was empty. Yet Uncle Ma was no where to be seen. Further investigation proved to be unsuccessful, Uncle couldn't be found.
Li signalled to move into the rooms for a more thorough inspection. As they slowly approached the door of the rooms, they heard whispering inside. Instantly they stopped, crept even slower to the wooden window. Li licked his thumb, pierced a hole into the paper window. What he saw was a group of men whom had Uncle Ma tied up. Without having a second thought he kicked open the wooden door. The door broke into many pieces from the impact. He rushed in and a horizontal slash was made, in a mix of blurred colours the man's clothes ripped apart along with his body. Not quite reacted to the situation, the men confusedly glazed up but only to meet another slice of the sword. The rose red liquid gushed eight feet upwards and stained itself onto the white wall. The remaining man, who hadn't reacted until now, was surprised at this sudden invasion but quickly drew out his sword and held it up in a defensive manner. What was unexpected was the fact that Li's sword cut through that man's sword and scarred him brutally.
Jue, who had taken this time to untie Uncle Ma, said "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, thank you for your help Li" he lifted his arms and legs, twisting it free of the ropes and then moved his neck around.
Li breathed heavily, with each breath he coughed a little.
"What's happening? Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" the concerned Jue asked.
"It's okay, it happens a lot" replied Li quickly.
But he knelt down slightly and blood spat from his mouth.
"You don't seem fine, we should get to a doctor" stated Ma urgently, reaching out to Li Zhang and helping him up.
"It's … too….late. Poison... spread…" coughed Zhang.
Jue and Uncle Ma both lifted Li up onto the bed a few steps away. Worried and anxious of Li's fate, Jue announced "I'll run to get the town doctor" and he took a large step outside.
"This poison… beyond… curable" whispered Li, his voice seemingly getting softer and weaker.
Jue turned back and faced Li. He could see his face drawn and pale. Jue gripped Li's hand as if trying to give him warmth.
"Jue …don't cry…remember what … you agreed to..."
"No! You promised!" exclaimed Jue, but Li's hand had already loosened its grip.
How was that? R &R . Plenty more to come. Stay tuned!