"It's a riddle!" exclaimed Liu Zhi. Feng Ju flinched, she had been lost in the words. She turned her face and saw her apprentice bore a look of curious bemusement.
Chen Lin nodded, "It is a paradox, it is an unfortunate combination, most Spirits choose to speak paradoxically and most predictions are paradoxical."
Feng Ju pulled the parchment up again so as to look at the flowing lines, "Is that all the Sprit says?"
"No." replied the warlock, and began to read again,
Human from un-human birth
Life that will bring death,
Those who have always been, shall cease to be so.
You must wait for her, though she is here already.
Endless day shall give way
if time passes.
Chen Lin gestured to Feng Ju that the translation had finished, she looked down and read the rest of the Monkstongue, it was a confusing reply, listing only dates and places. "Is there anymore of this message?" She asked Chen Lin.
"No, this is it,” he shook his head. “But there are other scrolls and other parchments I have recovered, I have read them all and deduced what I can."
"Is this related to the Spirit wars?" Liu Zhi asked, she too had heard the rumours.
"Yes" replied Chen Lin, "In fact, I believe this to be the underlying cause of the wars. I shall tell you now all that I have learned these last years."
Feng Ju and Liu Zhi leant forwards to hear him speak, but Chen Lin sat back in his chair, his face unreadable and his eyes unfocussed, "What would you say if I told you all had not been as it should for a very long time?"
Feng Ju released the breath she had been holding, everyone knew this, the rumours had started decades ago, most of them orientated around the Royal Courts. "I'd say nothing. The problems are all to do with men and their politics, how does that concern us Chen Lin?"
"Ah, you fail to see the connection Feng Ju. The problems that you speak of concerns I believe the Emperor himself. Does it not interest you even in the slightest that he has ruled for an unnatural amount of time for a mere 'man'?"
Feng Ju shifted in her chair, the Emperor had clearly attained the help of witches or warlocks to extend his life, several humans had tried to do the same before him and failed. His success did not bother her, true his reign had been a cruel one at times, he had not sent aid during the droughts to the Central provinces, prominent politicians had disappeared never to resurface, and of course now, the monasteries were being burned. But there had been more turbulent periods of history; she did not understand the grave look Chen Lin now wore.
"He has the help of a gifted one," she replied.
"Yes, that is what I thought at first,” Chen Lin nodded thoughtfully, “but the more research I did, I could find none of our cousins that admitted to helping him."
"Of course they wouldn't, it's a shame to be aiding a mortal so in his quest for power!" Feng Ju exclaimed.
Chen Lin smiled grimly and went on "I quite agree, however all magic leaves traces and I have spent years trying to find his, I can safely say it is not the gift that prolongs his life but something far deeper." Chen Lin paused, "Three years ago I met a Spirit, I have not seen him since, but the story he told me I have not forgotten. He told me of a prophecy involving a man that would rise up to control time itself, that man would be a scourge upon the land and all life would be in his hands."
"Are you saying the Emperor is that man?" Exclaimed Liu Zhi, brought up with mortals and normal law-abiding citizens she had been taught to be in awe of the Emperor's very mention. The Royal provinces were full of mystery and power, but to doubt them - it was high treason.
"That was the Spirit's suspicion. He said that if the Emperor continued to use his power to control time, he would surpass the immortals themselves and the world would bow to his will. "
"Nonsense. A man can't wield that much power," snorted Feng Ju.
"He will no longer be a man, 'a man who is God'," Chen Lin repeated the words from the message. The witches looked at each other uncomfortably.
"How is he meant to have gained control over time?" Liu Zhi asked tentatively.
"I do not know," Chen Lin replied. "Maybe it was given to him, perhaps he stumbled across it. All I know is that some Spirits were aware it was in his possession and so they sought to set the balance right."
"What did they do?" Feng Ju asked aghast, it was more uncommon for Spirits to intervene in the world of men that it would have been for witches.
Chen Lin continued, "The Spirit I met told me of a monastery, far out to the west, one of the Great Ones."
The Great Ones had been the first group of founding monasteries, there had been four of them standing on cliffs and hidden in valleys. Their power had once been vast, but in later years the extent of their control had faded from the east, shrinking back to the western provinces. "There, the monks were on familiar terms with Spirits, conversing with them quite freely."
"This message, is it from one of those monasteries?" Feng Ju looked down again at the parchment in front of her.
Chen Lin replied thoughtfully, "Xu Ah, second abbot of Kitenji, one of the four Great Western monasteries. Yes, the message is from there Feng Ju. This particular, peculiar, exchange is regarding a transaction between the Spirits and the monks. It seems the Spirits wanted something hidden, according to the Spirit I met, they succeeded."
Feng Ju stared blankly at him, this was impossible surely, what did Chen Lin even mean by saying such a thing? It probably hadn't even been a Spirit he had talked to, just some old drunk. The Spirits had left for the western lands long ago and why would one want to help a warlock?
"I know what you are thinking Feng Ju,” Chen Lin paused, “but I can assure you my informant was most definitely a true Spirit, the stench of persimmon filled my nostrils for days. And if you are wondering as to why a Spirit would deign to aid a warlock such as me, I would point your attention to the Emperor's Magi"
The witch knotted her eyebrows, "Magi? The black army you mean? I have heard of them, powerful men the emperor sends to do his dirty work."
"Have you ever seen them Feng Ju?"
"No," Feng Ju admitted.
"Well if you had, you would know at once, that they are not men, but Spirits."
"Spirits?" Liu Zhi exclaimed, her left hand twitched by her sword hilt.
"Yes,” Chen Lin nodded, “Spirits of the lower orders, they have sworn their allegiance to the Emperor, sensing his power they have chosen their side. They are known to be ruthless and most of all, heartless.”
Feng Ju opened her mouth to speak when Liu Zhi cut in, "How did the Spirits intend to stop the Emperor? Why can't they do it now? The Sprits are more powerful surely?"
"I wouldn't be so sure Liu Zhi,” Chen Lin replied, “a man that controls time, controls all things. All I was able to deduce from a combination of what the Spirit told me and of tireless research, is that something happened over a century ago, something changed in favour of the Spirits, so the Emperor could not assume all power."
Chen Lin fumbled for another piece of parchment on the table, he turned it round so Feng Ju could see it. Spirit script again, Feng Ju began to feel annoyed that she had not dedicated years to learning the language as Chen Lin had. She could see the symbol etched halfway down the page. A swirling S with a vertical line and two dots.
"The Spirits, those against the Emperor,” Chen Lin nodded, “invoked the oldest of Spirit lore to steal something from the Emperor, they then enlisted the monks of Kitenji to help them hide it. Considering that the Emperor has not yet conquered the entire land, I believe they were, as my Spirit friend informed me, successful. To some extent, at least."
Feng Ju shook her head again in disbelief, "How did the Spirit know so much?"
"He told me he had heard talk of the prophecies himself. Then, years ago he encountered some monks from the western monasteries, they were running from the Magi, they had something they wanted to keep hidden; I can only imagine it was what was stolen from the Emperor."
"But why would they leave the safety of the monastery?" Liu Zhi questioned eagerly, clearly she was more enamoured with this fantasy than Feng Ju felt.
"That I do not know," replied Chen Lin gravely. "All I know is that one of the monks managed to get away from the Magi and kept his ward out of their hands."
"What was the ward?" Feng Ju asked slowly.
"A baby," Chen Lin answered.
Suddenly there was a strangled scream from somewhere nearby. Chen Lin jumped up and ran over to the window, closely followed by Feng Ju and Liu Zhi. The Warlock lifted a large round piece of polished glass off the floor and inserted it into a ridge in the sill. "A mirror system I had installed," he explained. "At the right angle we can see the front of my home."
He tilted the mirror slightly and an image become visible on its surface. There were men amongst the plum trees of the garden, they were running about frantically. The reason for their distress soon became clear, one of their number, or at least Feng Ju assumed he had been one of them, had become a writhing mass of pink blossom. The petals were smothering him and at his every heaving cough, streams of them vomited from the gaping hole where his mouth should be.
"Beware the blooms," stated Chen Lin wryly, "they sting all those not invited."
"Sting?" Feng Ju asked as she reached up to pluck a blossom from the wall, it was the same vivid pink. Its soft silky curve narrowed into a sharpened point at the end, she dropped it startled. Chen Lin smiled grimly at her look of surprise.
"Are you going to help him?" asked Liu Zhi stepping forward.
"It's too late for him I'm afraid, but I suppose I should do something about the others..." Chen Lin stopped short, he rushed to the mirror again and angled it left to right, panning across the scene, he then let his hands drop. To the right of the men had emerged three large black figures, the petals raced towards them like darts but fell harmlessly away from the massive bodies. One of the figures leant down to pick up a hand-full of the fallen attackers, he then tightened his fist and a messy pulp trickled down his sleeve. Feng Ju stared, dumbstruck at the man's reflection, his presence seemed mesmerising. He wore black armour with a painted white symbol.
"You must leave." commanded Chen Lin, "they are here to ask for my help."
"Your help?" Feng Ju exclaimed.
"'Ask' may be putting a positive spin on it," sighed the warlock. "Take the translations I have prepared for you of the manuscripts and go. You cannot go back to the mountain; you must go immediately to Oshomo."
"Oshomo?" Feng Ju was becoming flustered, a feeling she hated more than anything. "That's a mortals’ tavern town, why are we to go there?"
"It is where the Spirit I encountered last saw the monk," Chen Lin explained hurriedly.
There was another cry of distress from outside. "They must have reached the stairs," stated Chen Lin, he whipped the mirror off the window sill and ran across the room, he placed it in a groove by the doorway, sure enough a reflection of the main staircase appeared. Men were climbing up it with the black figures following behind, but the tree roots had taken on a life of their own and were intermittently looping up and going back down with the odd stray foot trapped within them, screams of pain rang out as bones were knotted and crushed.
"That won't stop the Magi unfortunately," muttered Chen Lin.
Feng Ju felt her head burn, that was the Magi?
Chen Lin turned to her, "You have to go now, take the translations. Liu Zhi, there is a back entrance to my property, the blue jays will show you, just sing to them."
"And what about you?" Feng Ju asked frantically.
Chen Lin turned grimly, "I must stay. I was planning on making another trip to the Royal provinces, now I even have a protective escort."
Feng Ju grabbed at his arm and he took her hand gently, "Do not fear Feng Ju, I will be fine, I still have one or two tricks up my sleeve, Spirits or no Spirits. As for you, you two are my secret weapon, so you must go now. Remember all I have taught you, and try to forget the useless parts."
He smiled affectionately at her - then more quickly than she could register he had dislodged the mirror and was exiting through the front door.
"Wait!" cried Feng Ju hopelessly.
"The translations, Feng Ju, do not forget them. I will see you again." Chen Lin’s voice came drifting back towards them. Feng Ju stepped forward to follow him but the branches stretched out and became interwoven before she had the chance. The front door was blocked.
Feng Ju began to curse vividly when Liu Zhi tugged her arm, "We have to go," she pleaded. Liu Zhi ran to the table and scooped up a pile of parchments; she stuffed them in her travelling bag then knelt before one of the small blue birds perched on the chair. She began to sing, it was not a special magical song, just an old farming ditty her adoptive father had used to sing as he worked the metal. Liu Zhi sang of the wind in the Great Plains rustling the corn ears, of the field mice scampering in the bracken and of the men working with their pitchforks from dawn until dusk.
When she stopped, the bird cocked its head for a moment, then it too began to sing, there were no words, but Liu Zhi knew the song was a sad one. She saw images of a white cliff face, of a child laughing and then clouds of swirling dust, cold against the skin. As suddenly as it had begun, the bird stopped, then it took flight and flitted around her head.
"They will show us the way, Feng Ju! We must go," Liu Zhi shouted urgently. Feng Ju, however, was stood at the root covered doorway, muttering her own enchantments in a bid to undo Chen Lin’s. She turned to see her apprentice's pleading face. It was no use, Chen Lin's magic was stronger than her own, Feng Ju walked quickly towards Liu Zhi who was now following the bird towards a passage leading off the room. Feng Ju paused momentarily by the fireplace, on top of the mantle-piece was the red leather bound book Chen Lin had been carrying when they entered. She picked it up and hurriedly followed after Liu Zhi.
They did not have to go far before they hit a dead end, a slab of rock covered in silver moss blocked the end of the passage way. The blue jay rested on one of the boughs of the wall and looked at Liu Zhi inquisitively. Once more she sang and the bird replied in kind, the silver moss on the rock seemed to grow, until it covered the entire surface, its shimmering tendrils glinting in the light, then slowly it became translucent and there was no rock behind it. "An illusion spell," stated Feng Ju in wonder at its complexity, before they both ran through.
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