Heaven's Golden Finger - Chapter 48: Chapter 48

Shaking off his attackers took everything Shun had. Qiong Lou might be surrounded and besieged, but he'd gathered hundreds of thousands to his side. They might be small but their numbers made up for that. Worse, every time they won a fight, they absorbed life and mass from their victims, increasing their size and power.
"I think they're trying to break through," Liang Ren said, leaping onto Shun's head and crouching there. "If they get past the Forest King's domain we won't be able to contain them."
It was the most sense Liang Ren had uttered in all the time Shun had known him. "Tighten our defenses on that side. Shirong... wait. Where's Shirong?" He could tell his Shidi was alive, but the confusion of battle made it hard to pinpoint his location.
A pause, tense and uncertain. "Not on the field, unless he's under all that ash," Liang Ren reported. "You want me to search?"
Shun wanted Shirong protected. Shun knew he couldn't ask that. "No. Work on those defenses. I have to trust him." Their fates were tied together. They'd fall or rise as one. He had to trust that too and fight to win.
As Liang Ren bounded off, calling orders to Shun's soldiers, Shun slithered through the shallow edge of the ash hill, setting black particles whirling into the air as he considered his next move. He couldn't climb that hill anymore than the others; he'd just sink down.
A winged creature with far more limbs than it ought to have rushed at Shun's face, distracting him. He spat poison, slamming the demon back and leaving it twitching on the ground. More came at him but he was ready for them this time, spinning around on his coils to slap them from the air with his tail.
He had to get to that tower. Had to get to Qiong Lou. Shirong was likely trying to do the same, as certain of Shun's intentions as Shun was of his. There was only one way to end this fight.
Shun focused his attention on the hill again. Could he climb it if he were smaller and lighter? It looked like he could. The smaller bug sized demons didn't seem to be having a problem. He was about to try when he noticed something about the tower.
"Where's its door?" he wondered to himself, slithering around the edge of the ash hill, trying to spot the entrance. Nothing. No windows, no doors, nothing. Even if he did manage to climb up there, he'd never make it inside.
Or, wait. That was it. The tower wasn't built atop the ash hill. The ash hill had piled up around the tower. The entrance was somewhere below. He might, just might, have a way to reach it. After all, he was a snake and snakes could burrow.
He slithered around the tower once more, pretending to be confused and uncertain of what to do. At the same time he scanned the tower's base, trying to find the entrance hidden beneath all that ash. Ah. There. A slight difference in the way the bricks were lain suggested a window or a door. More likely a window, based on its location.
Going back into the woods, as if trying to escape the demons attacking him, Shun focused his attention on his size. He shrank. Shrank some more. Shrank down to about the length of his human body. He was about to head back into the fight, about to dive into the ash hill, when Shirong said, "Is this a private assault or can I join you?"
Somehow, Shun managed not to turn human and rap his Shidi on the forehead for his poor timing. Instead he slithered up Shirong's arm and whispered in his ear. "How long can you hold your breath?" In this shape, Shun could do so for hours. Shirong didn't have that advantage.
"You're going to dig through the ash?" At Shun's agreement, Shirong pointed out, "If you can get into the tower, I can follow you through our space."
Ah, yes. Of course. "Then do." Shen slithered back down to the ground, pausing briefly to wonder just why his Shidi was carrying a silverleaf sapling and a bamboo stalk. Deciding Shirong probably had a plan and hoping he'd be warned before anything started, Shun headed into the ash.
As he'd expected, his snake form could push through the ash easily. Really, he could have stayed full size and just muscled his way through, but that seemed like a bad idea. Not when he'd no clue what the ash hid.
The faint taste of metal drew Shun's attention and he flicked his tongue delicately, feeling ahead of himself. A blade, long and sturdy poked up from the ground. That would have been bad. Could have been fatal. Shun didn't need to examine the thing further to know it was sharp enough to slice even his scales. He wasn't invulnerable, after all.
There were more sharpened spikes the closer he came to the tower. If he'd been at full size his weight would have slammed down into the things, impaling him. Worse, there were more demons down here, prepared to attack whatever landed in the ash. By sheer good fortune, Shun had chosen the safest path through the ash, low enough to avoid the blades, high enough the demons below didn't realize he was there.
Shun moved slowly, cautiously, not wanting to draw attention. Until at last he found the tower and a wide open window. He slithered through, slithered upwards, and finally found the surface of the ash.
Stretching his thoughts, he reached into his and Shirong's shared space, wrapping his tail around his Shidi's wrist and pulling him out. It proved a mistake. As Shirong left their space he landed atop the pile of ash in the tower and immediately, inevitably, sank.
It must have taken some self-control for Shirong to stay quiet under the circumstances. Somehow, buried in ash and finding no footing beneath him, he managed to hold his tongue. A good thing, too, because Shun could hear movement above that said the inside of the tower was guarded.
"For once it really is my fault," Shun whispered. "Apologies, Shidi."
"It... it's all right." Shirong kept his voice low, holding still despite himself. "You... get... out. Pull me."
Shun searched their surroundings and spotted the only thing sturdy enough to cling to, an empty bracket for the torch. He'd have to be fast. It didn't look like it'd take his and Shirong's weight for long. He slithered through, tangling his tail end through the metal and stretching himself out for Shirong to grab hold.
He fully expected to be half-throttled. To his surprise, Shirong didn't flail or tighten his grip in a panic. Instead he used Shun as a support while he slowly and carefully worked himself towards the staircase. All while gripping that sapling and stalk in his other hand.
It took several tense minutes before Shirong was safe on solid ground, at which point Shun slithered onto his shoulder and demanded, "Why didn't you let go of those things? Why'd you bring them, anyway?"
"Remember what the Revered Predecessor said?"
Oh. That was right. "But what are we supposed to do with them? It's not like there's anyplace we can plant them." Shun paused. Reflected, "Or, wait, the floor of the tower might be dirt."
"Can you take them down, then? I'd smother before I got there."
Likely true. But Shun didn't like leaving Shirong alone. Not when anything might come down those stairs. He was about to say so when movement up above proved his concern justified. Damn. "Something's coming."
A one-eyed giant stalked into sight and Shun half-thought his Shidi would use one of those annoying Other Life terms of his. Instead Shirong just shook his head, sighed, and set himself for fight. "Take those things down," he told Shun. "I'll hold it off."
The giant's weapon was a spiked club easily as big as Shirong's torso. The giant swung it like it was light as cotton, but Shun was sure it'd smash Shirong's head in if his Shidi weren't careful. "I can't leave you...."
"I can't burrow through ash. You can. Get those plants down and see if they do anything." It was rare for Shirong to be commanding, but Shun had to admit his Shidi was right this time. He curled around the plants and dove back into the ash, trying to ignore the noise of that damned club hitting the walls.
Pulling the sapling and stalk down through the ash wasn't easy. It was made more difficult by the fact that Qiong Lou had filled the area with more spikes and demons. Shun evaded the former easily but the latter were more difficult. Just like the small demons outside, the challenge was getting past without being bitten to pieces by tiny little mouths.
Something moved in the ash ahead of Shun. A heavy, ponderous, motion that almost seemed to be stalking him. Whatever it was seemed unhindered by the ash, as if it belonged there. It was hot, too, a searing heat that would have burned human flesh quickly.
Shun would have been in trouble if his element weren't fire. The heat was intense, but not painful. He pushed on and felt the plants in his care tremble.
Now that was not good. Not good at all. He could handle the heat but the sapling and the stalk could not. He had to do something about this before they were damaged. He'd a feeling they were the only chance he and Shirong had of fulfilling the Revered Predecessor's instructions. He had to hurry, before his charges were injured.
Stretching his senses, it didn't take long to realize his opponent was another snake, this one born of fire and smoke. Quite likely it was the source of all this ash, burning whatever came within reach and piling its ashes around into a deadly trap. Shun focused himself, searching out the other snake's head.
There. That was it. Like Shun, it could grow huge or shrink small. Like Shun, it was a creature of Chaos. Like Shun, it was in no pleasant mood. Unlike Shun, it could not take cold. It was born of fire alone and Shun's attribute was lake.
He released his icy waters, risking imbalance. Steaming hot water could put out a fire but steaming hot water would injure the sapling and stalk he held close to his body. He had no choice but to hold his element back, no matter how difficult that might be.
His lake waters poured out around him, spilling from the space he shared with Shirong. No surprise he felt Shirong's earth and wood supporting them, keeping them from flooding too fast. He focused them towards his enemy, a rapidly flowing stream that slammed into the fire snake, sending smoke and steam rising up from beneath the ash.
The enemy moved at Shun, spitting fire at him furiously. But that was a mistake, because once it opened its mouth, Shun could direct his water straight down its jaws. A choked cry followed and the entire tower shook as the fire snake twisted and writhed.
It went still a moment later and Shun hurried to carry his charges down to the solid ground below the piled and now sodden ash. There. Stone paving, but so cracked and shattered it took little effort at all to pry up. A bit more nudging and he managed to dig a hole for each plant, setting their roots in place.
The poor things had been through more than they were prepared for. They were brave, leaving the safety of his father's forest, but Shun wondered if he asked far too much of something so small and weak.
Then he felt the earth beneath the plants tremble. Not much, just a tiny tremor as the sapling put down its roots. Another tremor followed when the stalk did the same. Shun released a bit more water around them and could only hope his charges could grow fast enough to get their leaves safely above the ash.
Hearing shouts and yells above him, Shun left the plants to their task, hurrying back to his Shidi. Shirong had been forced to fight alone for too long. It was high time he got himself back into the fight.
All while hoping the sapling and stalk he'd planted could finish what they'd been brought here to do.
Little Character Theater
Shirong: Now it's a Cheek Cry River Bank Model?
Shun: Is there any chance of a dictionary? Preferably with pictures?