Author's Notes: Hey there! Been busy, but I had a moment to post. Getting busier, so I might slow down excessively now. You'll know I'm hurrying along if I get back to this sooner than anyone expects. I'm on demand of about an average of 60 hours per week. I'm sure you understand how that is, so please don't make me think any less of this update and future ones. I want to get more feedback like I used to. Please review!
Heads up! Chapter 12 is almost completed because I don't really want to leave you hanging at the end of this chapter. I haven't realized yet how to close up chapter 12, so you don't have to feel like waiting a gazillion years. I'll do my best to serve.
"Chapter 11"
Our driver was shouting right through that little slot of our carriage. "We will be arriving soon."
Down with Touya's orders to stay inside the carriage! I had heeded his commands long enough and anyway, we were almost at our destination. Amid Tomoyo's protests, I hopped out of the moving carriage, wanting to walk the rest of the way. The moment my feet landed on the soft earth I made headway for Heaven Pagoda I had not seen, yet. I wanted to get ahead of everyone, so I ran. Imagine how fast I had to halt when I realized there was a deep crater in the middle of the road. I wheeled my arms around and around to keep from pitching myself forward into what looked like a bottomless abyss.
"Clow Mistress! Are you quite alright?" The driver called, pulling the horses close beside me. I felt the heat of the animals' flanks.
"Just fine," I answered, maintaining my balance on the edge. I assessed the crater with narrowed eyes. A meteor the size of the moon must have left a mark dead center on the road; that was the only natural explanation.
I paced back and forth around the edge and stopped next to the driver. I saw Touya's carriage closing in, so before he got any closer, I pulled out The Wood and made a bridge for us to cross. I cleared the way, so the carriages could pass first over the bridge. Tomoyo stuck her head out the curtains and gave me a quizzical look. In return I gave her a reassuring smile.
"What are you doing?" Touya asked, as he passed me next.
He was already ahead of me, so I indicated the floor. Touya looked down and gulped the lump that had probably formed in his throat. "You better keep your head tucked inside if you don't want to risk falling again," I told him.
"You, stay close behind!" He shouted before tucking his head back inside as I had suggested.
For the next few minutes, I followed the train from behind, enjoying the natural setting and loving the outdoors. My content and nonchalant attitude was not to be everlasting. After a short distance I sensed the carriages slowing down up ahead, so I looked up at the Heaven Pagoda. The ramification of seeing this building sent chills through my body. I froze where I was because we were about to walk up to the entrance of a pagoda that was the same as the pagoda in my dreams. Hidden in the dense forestry of the outskirts of De Ding was the place that I would die.
I remained standing apart from the group as I gazed up the curving roofs of the tall building. The footmen and attendants were unloading, while the rest of them, including Tomoyo, Touya, Kero, and Official Zen hovered next to the open entry. The doors had been outwardly thrown back in that deceiving way of allowing acceptance. I took another step back, further distancing myself from the group, but no one seemed to care or notice.
At this point, I was ready to run or defend myself. One hand was tight around the strap of the reticule while my other hand was gripping desperately at the Clow Key and Clow Cards in my pocket. I held my breath as I watched a bald monk in a long green robe step out of the pagoda to greet us all. He held out his palm at chest level and bowed at the waist to each member of the party. I was far, far back and too motionless to catch his attention. I suppose Official Zen's figure had completely eclipsed me who was standing a few yards behind the group.
"Sakura, what's the matter with you?" Touya annunciated critically. He stepped to the side to reveal me to the monk.
I met the monk's curious look. He smiled and said, "Sakura, why, isn't that the new Clow Master's name?" He closed the distance between us and greeted me the same way he did with the others. There was to be no special treatment here was the idea I got from the steady look in his coal-black eyes. Stiff as a board I gave him a quick nod, my answer sufficing in that robotic way.
He smiled again, trying to include everyone by turning around. "Come, everyone. Master Wei Fong has eagerly waited for all of you."
I was rooted there, unable to lift my feet. Touya threatened to smack me if I delayed any longer. The bruise on his cheek turned blacker.
Finally, Kero flew to my side to see what was wrong with me. I told him in the way that was only coherent to him. This made his eyes go wide. "Sakura, this place is a sanctuary of Master Clow Reed's disciple. In fact, sometimes Clow Reed dwelled here when he paid his visits to China. He and Wei Fong together had cast ward spells inside and around the premises of Heaven Pagoda. You have made a grave error mistaking this pagoda to the one in your dream."
I looked in alarm at Kero. "But, it was here."
"Come meet Wei Fong and be the judge of his character. This is his home." He pulled me by the hand to follow the monk indoors. We must have climbed a million steps that spiraled around the walls of the structure. Though the stairs were made of solid wood, the floors were made of glass. Monks of every size and age lined the staircase, walls, and floors, making me feel like a specimen under a probe. Kero kept a hold of me until we reached the top floor, where the roof was not a glass floor, but a solid cone over head. The lights were slowly becoming brighter and I could see that this was because the roof was turning clearer and purer. It was almost to the point of being as transparent as the glass floors.
Our party stopped in the middle of the room. The monk who had led us up here dissolved into the monks crowding the room. I couldn't tell which was which and who was who with those big curious eyes blinking at us.
"Welcome, we meet again and we meet finally," crooned the thin-voiced man we faced. He was sitting in a chair, his hands lay one-on-top-of-the other over the head of his pointy oak walking stick. I felt the magic pulsing between the stick and his somewhat glowing palms. It made his hands look slightly orange.
"I hope the lighting is good enough. If I exposed too much light into the room, it might take a moment to adjust, which would be very hard on some of you. I want everyone to feel as comfortable as if they were home," he said, chuckling between breaths. I saw him now for who he was, a man well into age. The sagging skin that wrapped toothpick arms and legs showed his impossible age. Like the rest of the monks he was bald and wearing a green robe that was shorter than the rest. I tried not to look horrified, but I probably failed at that.
"Sakura, step forward," he said.
I did not move. I stayed exactly in the group that surrounded me, but that didn't mean the others couldn't move. They all shifted, so that they were standing closer to the rest of the monks and separating me from their party. I turned to follow them, but stopped at the old man's command.
Here's something else I learned at Heaven Pagoda. Words have potency un-measurable if spoken by a more-than-mediocre magician. Wei Fong was always humbly saying he was not that great a magician as Clow Reed himself, even though he was my master and so-on… But, I'm getting ahead of myself again.
I faced Master Wei Fong while I was still trembling like a leaf. I could hear the gang egging me on; "everything will be ok," "he means to protect you," "don't be afraid," and "go closer."
I did eventually take a step closer to the old man, but I still couldn't talk through the nervousness. I kept looking at the heads that seemed to bob this way and that with their eyes trained on me. I did manage to look around the entire time Wei Fong spoke to me.
When he noticed that my attention was divided, he brought up a hand and waved it in the air. The glass floors became solid wood and all the monks on the lower floors disappeared from view. That only left a few on the top floor with us.
"She has a tendency to become mute in crowds. I'm not sure why," Kero said on my behalf.
"Yes, I see" Wei Fong said, "I want the rest of the monks in this room to leave."
Eventually, the last of them did leave, but I could tell they weren't too thrilled about leaving. Didn't they ever hear that saying, "curiosity killed the cat"? Apparently not, since some of them know how to grumble at being left out of the introduction!
"That's better," he said, "Now," He turned his focus on me and I turned mine to him. I flinched at my own stupidity, not at what I saw in him. He looked at me, but his gray eyes did not see. He was blind and yet he faced me to ask, "What do you think of China?"
Taken aback by the revelation that the old man was blind I paused and took a deep breath. Then, I shrugged.
He kept going. "What about the Red Emperor?"
Tomoyo gasped, Official Zen yelped, and Touya groaned.
After turning to eyeball each one of them I answered politely, "I don't know since I've never met the guy in my life."
"That will not do. You have to know the state of the present affairs before you can fulfill your duties to the fullest. The Governor has not brought you up to date. Shame on him," Wei Fong sighed.
Yeah, I wanted to agree, but… I should've known that anything the guys kept from me was for the better. Ignorance was bliss after all. See, I was better off not knowing a tyrant like the Red Emperor. There was a period in his reign that everyone meant to keep silent about.
The Red Emperor was a powerful sorcerer, who ruled over the whole of China. There were other provinces in China, such as De Ding, but they all had to report to him every once in a while. The specific politics were well understood by the governors and the governors' officials. At that point in time, I did wonder what sort of issues Touya had to launder during the entire rule of The Red Emperor.
Over twenty-five years ago, there was a period in time The Red Emperor dubbed, "The Cleansing Period." I had never heard of the 'time' until Master Wei Fong told me. In the condensed way of explanation, what happened was the emperor purged the country of sorcery. Maybe I didn't understand what that meant when I first heard it, but later I would better understand. With age came wisdom. After he told me the story, I wanted to ask why the emperor didn't 'purge' himself for being magical, but I held my tongue. I held my tongue because there was an unbreakable moment of silence that naturally descended on everyone in the room the moment Master Wei Fong stopped speaking. In conclusion, The Red Emperor was a tyrant who made the Chinese live in fear.
"Street magic is the last bit of magic you might see in this age. Call it the remnants of old… The greatest magicians are all gone now. Did you know he tried to purge Clow Magic, Sakura?" When I shook my head he continued, "He tried getting to the cards by force, purging every living descendant of Master Clow Reed who might have stood in his way."
"What a waste of his energy. The cards are in my possession, now," I said.
"And you must promise to honor and protect them as if they are truly yours."
I wanted to tell him that I considered the Clow Cards mine in heart and spirit, but I felt a little tongue-tied again. I was getting the feeling, he controlled when he wanted me to speak, so that I wouldn't speak over him. He spoke, gravely, "Heaven Pagoda is not under De Ding jurisdiction. My home is open territory for anyone, even The Red Emperor. You must beware where you step. There're spells cast about these parts, but they can only do so much as to head a warning to us."
"Why did we take the risk of coming out here?" I asked, my voice quivering slightly.
Wei Fong dragged his walking stick towards his body, so that it scraped the floor. He took his awfully long time in answering my question. "The Governor has a fractured rib and needs my medical attention." I was so disappointed in that answer. I was not the least satisfied.
Touya began to protest, but Wei Fong stopped him in mid-phrase. "You came here just for that, Touya. Leaders sometimes forget that they are only human, too. You must learn that pushing and shoving will only get you so far."
The governor clenched his jaw as he glared at the very old man. "Sakura, I want to teach you something about pulse taking," Wei Fong muttered as he gestured Touya to come forward.
Touya stumbled to the chair placed in front of Wei Fong's. I watched with bated breath as the old man pressed his thin fingers along the radial length of Touya's wrist.
"If you follow the pulse, you can discover the diseases of your ancestors."
I looked at him in a way a skeptic looks at anything.
"Tibetan shamans can even read the ancestors' history and lives. They could also see some of the future by way of pulse reading."
"You can do that?" I asked incredibly.
He laughed quietly. "I can, but I much rather use my powers to fix people. Or, in other words, bring them back to their balanced state of being. Now, aren't you going to ask me about how I saw Touya's fractured rib?"
I looked keenly at him. "I don't need to ask. I know you can see more than what normal eyes can see."
"I can only see deeper into people," he said, smiling smoothly and toothlessly. "However, like you, I have a strong sense for magic. Take out that pouch in that reticule of yours."
I did just as he said.
Kero struck out first, angrily, "Sakura, didn't I tell you to get rid of that?"
"Nonsense! That item is special, Kerberos. It is no ordinary charm bracelet!" This was the first time I heard Wei Fong raise his voice. He did it only sometimes in the course of time that I would get to know him.
I pulled out the bracelet and held it out to Wei Fong.
"I can't touch that. It might disrupt the spell on it." Wei Fong turned Touya's palm down, so that he saw the posterior side of Touya's hand. "Only you and Touya can touch it."
"What?" I squawked.
Wei Fong explained it rather quickly. "That's a medium. It will anchor your souls to your bodies when you go off into a different time constructed by the magic of the spell. There's only one use for it, thus you have only one chance." He gripped Touya's hand hard. I knew by the way Touya winced.
"There's a place I have to take you to heal, Touya. It is also the place your parents were wedded," after saying this he looked over at me.
Then, with some support from Touya, he hobbled out of Heaven Pagoda. Tomoyo, Official Zen, Kero, and I followed.
"You both come from a noble family," Wei Fong gasped as he exerted himself to the task of walking, which in his case, was lurching about. I reached out to his other side, so that now there were two people he could lean on. "Why, thank you, Sakura." I was a little disconcerted with what he said about a 'noble family'. I was certain he was addressing both Touya and me even though we weren't related here.
We stopped in a part of the woods that looked like any other part of the woods. The only thing that marked a difference was the large boulder by one of the trees. I didn't know it was a memorial even as I walked up to it to help Master Wei Fong settle against the smooth surface of the face. I only really took notice of the memorial by the faraway look on Touya's face. My gaze followed his to the characters that were etched above Master Wei Fong's crown.
"Before we begin, I believe, you should know why I never told you about this place," he said, facing us both. For a moment he just stared forward. After that, he patted the floor area by the tree. "Come join me. Tomoyo and Zen will stand close by and watch. Kero come closer here. Touya, sit closest to me. There." He had us all oriented in the way that he had wished. One of his slim hands snaked up to Touya's side and this caused Touya to wince.
"Why do you always have to pretend to be macho about everything when it's so obvious you're hurt?" I nagged, furiously. He only cringed at my tone of voice. He must have been in too much pain to retort.
"Enough," Master Fei Wong, motioned for silence and again he received it. "Touya has not been honest about his past. I know because his mind tells me he's guilty. Touya, I brought you here to help you heal faster under the protection of your parents' love; you never needed it until now. Sakura, you must hold the medium out in front of you."
I stared blankly at him.
"The bracelet," he prompted.
I brought my hand out, so that the jewelry dangled. "Like this?"
Wei Fong, stretched out his long arm to hold my wrist closer to him. He also took his hand from Touya's side and pulled at Touya's wrist, too. He brought the governor's hand out, so that it hovered an inch from mine.
"You two were meant to see this together. This is the truth, so do not be afraid on this journey," with those parting words, he brought our hands to touch with the bracelet between the palms.
Everything went black at contact. I didn't feel like I had any substance in my being anymore. I felt very wobbly and insubstantial like I had traded my body with Wei Fong's more ancient one. I didn't remember blinking, but I still had to open my eyes to let the light back in. When I opened my eyes I was hovering above Touya's head and my head. We were both slumped against each other next to the tree. Tomoyo was shouting hysterical and jumbled words, while Kero was calling my name repeatedly.
"Do not disturb their journey. Stay where you are," Wei Fong commanded.
I tried flying back into my body, but there was an invisible force field holding me off. I tried again and again.
"Stop that!" Another voice beside me spoke. It was Touya. "You might injure yourself. Apparition or not…"
I pointed at him, "You're a-a-a-a…"
"No I'm not," he answered indignantly. He pointed at us on the ground. I noticed both our hands were locked against the silver bracelet and our chests were rising and falling normally.
"Oh," I sighed, "We're sleeping."
I don't know why I did what I did next, but I wanted to see for sure. I swiveled my head to look at Master Wei Fong. I was astonished to see that he stared right back at me wearing a tender smile. He tapped his bony finger against the characters above his head.
I did a turnabout in the air to face Touya's transparent form. "My family name is Mu Zhi Ben. My parents," he said slowly, "Their names were..." As true as The Governor of De Ding's name meant Peach Blossom and the Clow Mistress's name meant Cherry Blossom, it was true that his parents' name meant Tall Wisteria and Pink Carnation. I swear he said my parents' name when he mentioned his.
