Ren Yu felt his head spin; he turned to the door and sped out from the tavern. He ran down the street as fast as he could, the cobbles were wet and slippery where buckets of water had been sloshed about. He looked up and saw the blaze, the flames had reached the top tower of the western half of the monastery and black clouds rolled down the slopes, they seemed to push him away from the mountain. All of Gowla had woken up and there were cries from every direction, children stood in doorways anxiously as parents ran to join the effort. Ren Yu heard his name being called a few times but he kept running. He had a fear in his heart that no amount of buckets would put out those flames; they looked as if they would be impervious to water, towering and invincible.
He just had to get to the monks before they did. The monks, many of them old men, some bed-bound, they would never get out in time on their own with only the young able-bodied Su Jun to help them...Su Jun. Ren Yu tore his eyes away from the fire and focused on the path carrying him closer to his friend. The mountain track was more perilous than usual at night, the normally unstable clods of earth, now burned, detached completely from the slopes and went plummeting down. The blackened grass crunched underfoot and the wind that was helping the flames spread whipped hot ash against his face. Ren Yu reached the wooden gates, coughing from the smoke when he saw a figure come through the side door. The figure wore black robes, at first Ren Yu thought it was the burned red of a monk but they turned to reveal an unknown man's face, strangely handsome with shining blue eyes. He wore a black breastplate with a white symbol painted on it. The symbol was unlike any seen in Gowla before, its twisted forms were of an old Spirit-lore lost to most men.
Ren Yu was about to call out to the stranger when the man drew his sword and slashed it through the air, a wild blue fire sprung from the blade and hit the chapel wall which promptly burst into flames. Ren Yu gasped and stumbled backwards, by the time he had regained his footing the figure had gone. The flames blazed quickly, letting off a pungent smell Ren Yu could only compare to rotting fruit. He made up his mind and charged at the doorway to the chapel before it collapsed behind him into burning rubble. Upon entering the smoke filled hall he ran to the shrine, half expecting Su Jun to be in his usual place praying, but the room was empty save for scattered books and overturned pews.
"Hello?" Ren Yu cried desperately. There was no answer, so he continued out and down the narrow corridor. The stone of the building there was not yet on fire but it moaned and creaked around him as if feeling the pain of its other limbs.
"Is there anybody here?" Ren Yu shouted, scanning around for a glimpse of red robes. He didn't know whether the man in black was still nearby but he couldn’t risk not being heard. Ren Yu reached the reading rooms, long wide spaces with stone benches down the middle.
"Hello?" He called out once more, then turned to go back to the hallways.
"Ren Yu..." a feeble voice echoed from somewhere in the room. Ren Yu snapped round and surveyed the hall, he could see no one but then his eyes caught on a trail of blood on the floor leading away from him to the corner of the room where a monk sat slumped against the wall, his head down. Ren Yu ran over and knelt in front of him, it was Jiang Ru.
"Ren Yu..." rasped Jiang Ru hoarsely, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
"Where are you hurt Brother?" gulped Ren Yu, pulling back the monk's robes to reveal a patch that was a deeper red that the rest, the wound looked deep, more serious than a surface burn.
"What hit you?" asked Ren Yu trying to press his hand to stop the bleeding.
"A blade," replied Jiang Ru. Ren Yu flicked his eyes up in shock, then he remembered the dark figure with the sword of fire.
"That man! That man with the armour!"
"Stay away from them Ren Yu," Jiang Ru clutched Ren Yu's arm urgently.
‘Them’, so there was more than one!
"What can I do Brother? Who are they? What do they want? They started the fire didn't they?" Ren Yu moved to force his other hand against the bleeding, hoping to stop so much from spilling out across the floor.
"They are people to run from," Jiang Ru coughed up more blood. Ren Yu winced and put his arm around the monk. He had never noticed before quite how thin and frail the old man was. The Machijoko white stripes were now soaked in red.
"Don't, Ren Yu," Jiang Ru warned, slumping himself back down.
"I have to try!" exclaimed Ren Yu looking around with desperation to discover something that might help.
"Little Ren..." Jiang Ru's use of the informal address made Ren Yu look down, the monk was proffering something towards him, pages of parchment.
"Please help me," Jiang Ru croaked.
"I'm trying Brother! But you must get up, the fire will reach here soon," Ren Yu whipped his head around wildly.
"No, help me, take these; they must not fall into the hands of the Magi," Jiang Ru rasped.
Ren Yu grabbed the pages and bent down again towards the monk, attempting to staunch the blood flow once more.
"Ren Yu, you must keep them safe, there are Brother Abbots in Kitenji- only they know what to do, Ren Yu, please, you must go." Jiang Ru's frail hands slipped on his robes and his face became knotted with pain. Ren Yu saw the old monk was not going to make it but still he stayed with him and kept pressure on the wound as best as he could.
"Where is Su Jun, Brother?" Ren Yu asked desperately.
Jiang Ru looked up, his eyes seemed in more pain than before.
"I am sorry Ren Yu, I was a coward and a slave to my burden, forgive me."
Ren Yu caught his breath, "What happened to him Brother Jiang Ru?"
"I did not see, truly I did not. They must have recognized his robes Ren Yu, my robes," Jiang Ru let out a strangled sob.
"I don't understand," Ren Yu caught his breath, Jiang Ru had not seen his friend die.
"Ren Yu,” Jiang Ru began, “I think they must have taken him in place of me -"
There was the sound of movement in the hallway and both the monk and the boy looked round in joint fear.
"You must go!" hissed Jiang Ru. "You must take those parchments to Kitenji! May the Almighty watch over you. May good Spirits guard you, good men aid you and goodness be with you, for her wings are clipped and she cannot fly..."
Jiang Ru took one more rattling breath then fell quiet and still. Ren Yu knelt for a moment then wiped a tear from his own ashen face. He heard shouting outside, the men of Gowla had finally arrived with their buckets.
"Too damned late," whispered Ren Yu.
Comments (0)
See all