Heaven's Golden Finger - Chapter 30: Chapter 30

There were a great many things coming together in Shun's thoughts. Not least of which an understanding of why he was the Adversary and Shirong Shidi was the Chosen. It wasn't that he was drawn to chaos, nor that his junior brother was drawn to order. It was the exact opposite.
If Shun had been a creature of chaos he likely would have lost control of himself and destroyed everything in sight. If Shirong Shidi had been a creature of order, he would never have been able to step outside the strictures his adopted father had lain down for him. Instead they were each an opposing force to the thing they represented.
As he watched Shirong Shidi's impressive display of childish temper, Shun found himself remembering other, painfully similar, scenes. The suspicion planted by Shirong Shidi's own nervous meanderings grew. Flourished. Until Shun was absolutely certain it was true.
If it was, he wasn't given a chance to consider the point. The tent flap swung open and one of the guards glared in, roaring, "STOP THAT NOISE!"
"A-Li is sorry," Shun offered unapologetically. "A-Rong hasn't eaten for a long time." When he thought about it, neither had he. He practiced inedia of course, but they'd been on the move for a long time now and his last meal had been a cold and greasy rib leftover from dinner the night before.
Glaring, the guard left the opening, grumbling something in the Pamir tongue that probably mentioned both Shirong Shidi and Shun's ancestors in most unbecoming terms. Shun moved to the back wall of the tent, listening carefully for movement. Nothing. It was dangerous, damned dangerous, but he couldn't think of another way to get them out of this trap.
Summoning his blade he found it still startled him to see the weapon's changes. He'd been so busy learning his demonic heritage from Helang that he'd neglected his human cultivation. He needed to spend some time with it. Needed to know what his new skills were and how to use them. And, damnit, he didn't have time.
Forcing himself to focus, Shun cut the fabric of the tent while Shirong Shidi continued making noises about his hunger. That guard had probably gone to fetch food and would be back soon. He needed to check their surroundings quickly, before it grew too dark to see outside. It was already late in the afternoon, too late to be poking around aimlessly.
The tent's fabric split easily at the touch of Shun's blade. He cut just enough to let him stick two fingers through. Listened past Shirong Shidi's noise. Then, satisfied it was safe, peeked out into the camp.
This tent stood towards the middle of camp, surrounded by other tents. They all faced the bonfire at the center, so Shun found himself looking straight at another tent right behind the one they were in. Thank the Gods, no one was there to see the small hole he'd made for himself. All he needed was to be caught spying.
Peering around further, Shun saw another circle of tents surrounding the circle behind their tent. Three rows, then. That fit with what he'd seen coming into this place. No obvious place to hide in the grasslands surrounding the camp. Even if they escaped, they'd surely be caught before they got very far.
Shirong Shidi tapped Shun's foot, warning him just in time to get away from the tent wall. He'd chosen a discreet spot to spy from, so the hole shouldn't be noticed, but just in case, he hurried back to comfort his whiney little Shidi.
The same guard as before appeared at the tent flap, carrying a platter covered in grilled meats. Sheep and goat, by the smell, with wild partridge thrown in to make the bones interesting. "Eat quick," he ordered. "General Ishalan would talk to you."
General Ishalan? That wasn't good. Not good at all. Ishalan was the commander of the Pamir army. That said this camp wasn't just caught up in a minor skirmish somewhere in Pamir lands. No, they were almost certainly caught up in one of the Pamir's frequent wars with Houttan.
Noticing Shirong Shidi looking at him worriedly, Shun gestured at the platter. "Well? You make that big a fuss and don't eat? Really, A-Rong, what am I going to do with you?"
For that matter, what the hell were they going to do to get out of this mess?
"So you're the two strangers who just appeared on the battlefield." General Ishalan leaned his head against his fist, watching his captives with a disinterested air. A tall man, his bright red hair, tan skin and narrow eyes marked him as pure Pamir native. His armor was high quality, but as plain and unmarked as the armor his men wore. The cloth beneath was hemp and cotton, striped to resemble the tiger that was Pamir's totem animal.
Shun sat up from his deep bow and spoke as softly and sweetly as he could, "This A-Li was preparing to perform for Lord Kon of Kahn. She does not know how she and her brother came to be where she was."
"Kon of Kahn? That sounds like a Khai name. But you look Bazi."
Shun smiled, ducking his head in imitation of He Xiaojing. "This one came from that land originally. She was brought to Khai as a gift."
General Ishalan smiled. "Which still doesn't explain how you found your way so far from Khai."
It didn't and Shun admitted it freely. "But this singer cannot answer for this singer does not know." He bowed deeply. "Regretting my ignorance."
Cloth rustled and bronze armor clanked as General Ishalan stood and came closer. "You, boy. A-Rong, your name is? You a fighter? A cultivationist?"
"Me?" Shirong Shidi's voice actually cracked like a child's. "I'm a buffoon!" He looked up at the much taller man with wide and terribly innocent eyes. The very expression he'd use to get his way with the Sect Master.
That made General Ishalan chuckle. "I've no doubt you're right. Then you perform as well? Show me what you can do."
For a moment Shun was sure Shirong Shidi's eyes were going to fall right out of his head. "Now? Here?"
"Where and when better?"
"I... All right." Shirong Shidi jumped to his feet. Paused. "Oh, I need music."
At General Ishalan's gesture, someone handed Shun a turtle shell harp and bow. When he looked up, startled, the Pamir Commander told him, "You're a performer, right? Play for him."
It was lucky Shun actually knew how to play the instrument, even though he wasn't a disciple of the musical cultivation branch. Perhaps it was his snake demon ancestry, but he found certain sounds terribly soothing and had learned to play simply for the pleasure of it.
"Will A-Li play Dragon Chases Pearl?" Shirong Shidi looked at Shun hopefully and it was their good fortune he'd chosen one of the first songs Shun had learned.
Without a word, Shun set the bow to string and played, watching Shirong Shidi calmly. The boy had better had some idea of what he was doing. One sign that the two of them weren't what they claimed to be and they might find themselves dragged behind a Pamir horse to the nearest cliff.
Shirong Shidi set to dancing and Shun had to admit buffoon was an excellent choice of disguises for the boy. Who in the world danced that way? Some of the movements resembled that odd form of Tai Chi the boy practiced. Others were purely nonsense. Dropping to the floor, twisting around into knots, lifting oneself up by the head? No sane person would dance that way.
Thinking about it, the dance must have come from that other life of his. Shun made a note to ask about it later as he increased the speed of his playing, unable to resist teasing his Shidi by forcing him to dance faster. Instead of being upset as he might have once, Shirong Shidi laughed and met the challenge. Then met the next as Shun varied the rhythm.
At last Shirong Shidi tripped over himself and landed, giggling, on the carpeted tent floor. "Oh. Oh that was fun. Can we do it again, A-Li?"
"A-Li thinks A-Rong has done enough for the night." Shun turned his attention back on General Ishalan. "Has the General been satisfied?"
"Not quite. You haven't performed for me. You said you were a singer, but you didn't sing just now."
Dragon Chases Pearl didn't have lyrics. For that matter, Shun wasn't at all sure what sort of song a girl like A-Li ought to sing. It was certain he wouldn't know it. He could sing the chants of Leifeng Sect but General Ishalan might recognize their source. No, not might. General Ishalan was obviously a high-level cultivationist and martial artist. There was no way he wouldn't know where they came from.
It was Shirong Shidi saved them. "A-Li can't sing now!" At General Ishalan's curious gaze, the boy added, "It's late and she needs to warm up properly. A-Li had only just started preparing for Lord Kon of Kahn."
They both looked up at General Ishalan with near identical expressions of pure innocence and he sighed. "Very well. Go back to your tent. Unless old Sohn Wuakan decides he's going to attack again - which he shouldn't - you'll have all day tomorrow to 'warm-up'. But tomorrow at breakfast I hope to hear you sing, Miss A-Li. One way or another."
Shun had no doubt in his mind what 'another' would involve.
Alone again in their tent, Shun peeked through the hole he'd made earlier. Not good. Not good at all. He returned to Shirong Shidi's side so he could whisper in the younger boy's ear. "That suspicious old bastard put more guards on us."
"And here I thought my brilliant performance just now would convince him."
"Oh, he's convinced you're a buffoon all right. It's me being a singer that's the problem."
Shirong chuckled. "The only one not convinced I'm a buffoon is Master Qiong." He paused. Frowned. "But, A-Li, I've heard you sing back home. I could see you had a problem but I couldn't understand why."
Reflecting that Shirong Shidi's experiences in his other life at least meant he was a great deal brighter than old Shirong, Shun murmured, "All I know are Leifeng Sect chants. I need to sing something he won't recognize."
That made Shirong Shidi fall silent. Then, "I know some songs from that other life...."
"With all those strange words? Do you really think that's a good idea?"
Another silence, this one thoughtful. "One isn't too bad. The singer was classically trained. I think you could do it. You have the right sort of voice."
The right voice? Wondering what that meant, Shun pointed out, "They're going to hear us. It'll be too damned obvious I'm learning the song."
"Not if we go into our Spiritual Space." When Shun started, because he'd half-forgotten that place, Shirong Shidi added, "Master Feng told me some things about that space when we were together. Time barely moves in there, so we can practice for a long time if we need to."
"Can we use it to escape this place?" All things considered, surely that'd be better than playing along with General Ishalan's game?
For once the expert over Shun, Shirong Shidi explained, "When we're better at controlling it, we could. But we've only just formed it and we have to get better at working together before that can happen. We could hide in it and seem to disappear, but as slow as time moves inside...."
"We'd have to stay there for would seem like months." Shun was surprised to find he wouldn't mind that as much as he would have just a short while ago. But no, until they'd learned what they were doing with that space, they were better off not experimenting. "All right, then. Let's try."
The first thing was getting their Spiritual Space to open up intentionally. The last time had been pure accident and now they had to figure out what they'd done. It took some careful thought, some passing qi back and forth, and at long last a right twist of their spirits to draw them back into their shared space.
It was as beautiful as before. No, it was more beautiful, perhaps because both their cultivations had improved. The lake still steamed, but now it was dotted with lotus flowers and Shun was certain some sort of koi were swimming in its waters, their gold scales reflecting the soft light. Meanwhile the tree swayed peacefully above them, its branches covered in flowers now. Petals fluttered down in the soft breeze, scattering a sweet familiar scent. Silverleaf.
"We have plenty of time to gawk, but I'd like to learn that song. Depending on how complicated it is, I might need some extra time to practice." He eyed Shirong Shidi critically, seeing the edges of exhaustion on the boy. They really were going to have to work on his cultivation soon. "And you need to rest, so once you've taught me, you should lie down."
Shirong Shidi agreed ruefully. "I'm sorry to drag you back, Shixiong."
"It's not your fault your cultivation's low. Not just your fault." Shun sighed. The one to blame was Master Qiong. He was the one who'd spoiled old Shirong and failed to teach the boy self-discipline. "Never mind. What's the name of the song you think I could sing?"
"Light in a Northern Tent. It's by a singer named Jing Lei." A slight, rueful, grin curved Shirong Shidi's lips. "I... had a bit of a crush on him when I was younger. I think he reminded me of you."
Shun ignored the admission, even though it confirmed his earlier suspicions. "So you know it by heart?"
"Oh, absolutely." Shirong Shidi took a deep breath and began to sing.