The Warriors Path Read online

  Si Li began his descent well outside the palace, making his approach at ground level through one of the main gates and then by the narrow streets of the city, rather than announce his arrival to shaman able to observe his spirit’s glow against the dark sky. Eventually leaving the teeming city streets behind Si Li began his silent hovering ascent up the main thoroughfare to the emperor’s palace. Though invisible to anyone not in the astral plane he kept a wary eye for those who would be guarding against the incursion he was making. He effortlessly passed through great barred gates to enter the palace grounds, making his way beyond the emperor’s extensive private gardens to the main palace buildings. Gliding down corridors lit by wall mounted torches he regularly passed between guards wearing the emperor’s livery, stationed at every junction now that he was within the inner confines of the palace. These guards were the emperor’s personal life guard, sworn to give up their own lives in defence of their master. He kept to the shadows along one wall and, though knowing he could not be seen by any of the guards, prickled with tension as he silently drifted past them.

  Si Li reached the palace’s inner chambers, tentatively approaching the emperor’s private rooms where he was most likely to meet mystics able to detect his unwelcome presence. He continued cautiously, hoping to detect the tell-tale glow of another’s spirit form before being observed himself. Passing between guards in resplendent full armour Si Li glided through elaborately carved doors to enter the emperor’s inner sanctum. Every sense was alert to the danger, which was becoming palpable in his anticipation of the threat that must now be at close quarters. Momentarily ignoring those in the room and oblivious to the ostentatious magnificence of the emperor’s audience chamber Si Li quickly glanced around the room as he entered, searching for other spirit forms.

  There being no immediate threat he scanned those present more closely. The emperor, resplendent even in his private rooms, was seated on a dais with his chief advisors and warlords, six in all, kneeling before him in a semicircle. Amongst the advisors Si Li recognised T’ze, the emperor’s guardian, a priest assigned by the Temple for the emperor’s guidance and protection. T’ze, in his simple Temple robes, was a stark contrast to the elaborate apparel worn by the other advisers and the gleaming armour of the warlords. Si Li could expect no aid from T’ze if he were detected, despite their Temple connection. T’ze would be duty bound to defend the emperor and raise the alarm at any hint of threat to the emperor or his interests, even if the threat were from his own Temple brethren.

  To the side of the doors through which Si Li had just entered was a barbarian, sitting with crossed legs and apparently in a deep trance, with a bright tan cat curled in his lap. The man was dark skinned with an oiled beard which almost reached his waist. He wore garishly coloured and exotic clothes, topped off by a large turban dazzling in its intense orange colouring. Si Li assumed the man must be a fakir capable of reaching the higher plains, which would explain his presence in this room. Si Li made another careful search around the room but could see no spirit presence. Examining the fakir more closely he could see nothing which indicated anything other than he was in deep meditation. Perhaps the fakir had another purpose and it was Si Li’s own fears which were making him overly cautious.

  It was then Si Li noticed the cat in the fakir’s lap looking directly at him, its fur raised and teeth flashing. Though Si Li knew cats to be highly sensitive to their surroundings he had never known one actually detect his spirit form so acutely before. It looked ready to stand and make a fuss, which was bound to raise the suspicions of the others in the room. Moving swiftly to the barbarian’s side Si Li cooed gently to the cat, gently stroking its head and scratching its chin. Initially looking surprised, the cat calmed and succumbed to the petting. Silently dropping from the fakir’s lap to the floor the cat began rubbing itself against Si Li’s ankles, purring as it slowly wound its way between his feet. With a last glance at the cat’s turbaned master Si Li was sufficiently assured to turn his attention to the conversation between the emperor and his advisors.

  The emperor had been listening to his advisors’ reports and, after considering with a frown for a short time, addressed them. “The Temple’s meddling grows tiresome. Perhaps it is time to show them it is the Sun Palace, I, Emperor Wang, who controls events in the empire. That it is I who holds the destiny of our people in our palm, along with theirs. If they do not submit to our will, they will be crushed.” The emperor turned to T’ze. “What say you T’ze? Is it time to crush the Temple forever, quieten their constant buzzing and be done with them?” The emperor looked amused at the dilemma he had presented T’ze, on advising how best to control his own brethren at the Temple without compromising his oath as guardian. The emperor’s previous irritation with the Temple was now overlaid by his curiosity at how T’ze would respond.

  T’ze bowed to the emperor, the light catching the grey just beginning to show in his topknot before he knelt upright again. “It is true the Temple has its own agenda your Excellency, but no less than each of the Great Houses which would, no doubt, prefer they were the ruling dynasty in preference to your own. Measured against this is the wisdom and strength of the Temple, made available to you through the appointment of the guardians. The guardians provide you with an advantage not available to the other Great Houses and have been instrumental in your dynasty continuing to reign supreme since it came to power in the great struggle. Your Excellency is best placed to assess the value the guardians bring to your cause, against the minor irritations of the Temple’s own schemes.”

  The emperor gave a small oily smile, in contrast with his hard black eyes which glittered dangerously as he replied. “Ah. But how do I value your good advice, when I do not know who the advice is good for, Guardian; myself or the Temple?”

  T’ze bowed again. This long standing topic was becoming a more frequent concern for the emperor of late. “Your Excellency knows that while I serve as your guardian my loyalty is to you alone, my life before yours. Without your trust in their vows of loyalty to you your guardians have no value to you. If you perceive no value in the guardians then there is no reason for you to tolerate the autonomy of the Temple and its indiscretions.” T’ze exuded absolute confidence, as he recited what had been long accepted by all. “For this reason, the Temple will not condone the violation of the guardians’ oath of fealty to their masters for its own advantage. It is in your mutual interest the covenant continues. The Temple would not jeopardise its own autonomy by dishonouring the covenant. Nor would the priests acting as guardians be tempted to compromise their vows of loyalty to you in this regard, as it would not be in the Temple’s best interest for them to do so if it were to result in the dissolution of the covenant between the Temple and your Excellency.”

  The emperor regarded T’ze thoughtfully. “A gentle slap across the wrist then, to remind the Temple who holds the whip and when they go too far?” he suggested.

  T’ze bowed again in confirmation. “A show of strength to a weaker adversary, as a reminder of where the power lies and, if required, that the power can be brought to bear against them with all of its awesome force. More would diminish a unique and valuable resource, possibly at great cost and to no benefit.”

  The emperor frowned in thought as he contemplated T’ze. “As emperor, I am assigned the Temple’s most accomplished priest in all fields, including martial arts?”

  T’ze again bowed his head in confirmation. “It is considered a great honour to serve the emperor, an assignment where the wisdom of the Temple through its guardian will have the widest benefit to the empire and its people. The position is hotly contested and only those who excel across all fields are selected your Excellency.”

  The emperor regarded T’ze speculatively. “So, if you are their best, who is the next most accomplished martial champion the Temple could field and could you prevail in a contest to the death?”

  “I do not know if the strongest when I left many years ago remain so, your Excellency, but there
were none who could defeat me except by chance when I was last at the Temple.”

  The emperor sat back in decision. “Then you will go to the Temple and challenge the most able champion they are able to field. The challenge is to be immediate upon your arrival. I want this to hurt them and they must have no time to field a sacrificial lamb. None but their best, and you will know if they field their best when you make the challenge, T’ze. Crush their strongest champion in their own home. This will provide a clear and suitable punishment for the Temple’s indiscretions against us. Before you begin, inform the Temple that should you fail in the contest they are to appoint your replacement immediately and his first instruction is to challenge the Temple’s remaining most able champion on the same conditions. The Temple will continue to appoint me their most capable remaining priest as my guardian until my guardian has secured a victory over the Temple’s own champion. I wish the world to see I may enter their precious enclave at will and would not hesitate to crush them, if that is what I wish. I want the Temple to understand whatever their meddling achieves, I will ultimately prevail.”

  “And if the Temple refuses to field a champion, Excellency?” T’ze queried.

  The emperor looked pointedly at T’ze. “I will have a dead Temple priest one way or the other, even if I have to instruct you to take your own life T’ze. It would be a shame to lose you before you complete your indenture with us.” The emperor’s expression was cold and mildly distracted as he gave T’ze his instructions, though his attention focused as he concluded. “Be certain they understand that if you return without a victory you will have failed me in this task, with terminal consequences for you T’ze. I will require an immediate replacement for you, who will be assigned the same task and with the same consequences until they accept their defeat.” The emperor gave T’ze a small smile. “Let us hope the Temple accepts the inevitable and you are indeed the best they have to offer. Otherwise I will be faced with getting used to your replacement, when I have grown comfortable with you over the years. Go now T’ze, persuade them it is for the best and give the Temple their slap across the wrist.”

  T’ze rose, bowed and turned to leave, passing Si Li’s spirit on his way out, oblivious to its presence. Guards opened the ornately carved doors, closing them again with a solid thud once T’ze had passed.

  A warlord in gleaming battle dress bowed before addressing the emperor. “Excellency, can you still trust the Temple and their own appointed guardian’s counsel to you when they constantly interfere as they do? Their meddling causes us to lose face and could be read as a signal that their defiance is tolerated because we are too weak without the Temple’s support.”

  The emperor nodded slowly. “The guardians can be trusted during their indenture and the Temple is a known quantity. They do not seek the throne or personal wealth. A fact accepted by all and they do have their uses. We just need to choose carefully in what discussions we include our guardian and where we seek his advice. It has always been the way since the covenant was first made but perhaps it is now time to change the rules. A change to a lifetime appointment for our guardians would ensure there is no future divulgence of our plans to the Temple and end their tiresome replacement following each indenture.” The emperor gave a tolerant smile as he considered. “Let them contemplate the lesson which T’ze delivers for a while, before we inform them of their new obligations. They will come to see, as does everyone eventually, that there is no choice but to comply with our wishes.” The emperor’s supercilious sneer gave way to a frown. “It has been an interesting diversion to counter their schemes but I grow bored with their interference. Let us raise the stakes and see what they do when reminded their autonomy is entirely at my discretion.”

  The emperor’s black eyes were hard with malice. “It is time to remind them, they are only free to do as I command and their only autonomy is in the implementation of my wishes.” The kneeling advisors all bowed as one, they knew how dangerous the emperor was when in this mood and no one was immune from his anger. “And now to more pressing business. I have seen the increased wealth of the northern Great Houses as a result of their trade in silks and other goods with the barbarians. Let us discuss the best means of transferring the benefits of this trade to our own treasury.”

  Si Li had heard enough, it was time to leave and act upon what he had learned. Turning towards the doors he was surprised to feel his legs tangled in something. Looking down he could see the cat still wending its way around his ankles. Trailing behind it was a tan gossamer cord, the same colour as the cat’s fur. When he had turned to leave the cord had snapped tight around his ankles, binding him in his current position.

  Si Li’s surprise turned to acute anxiety as he realised the cord was in the astral plain and the cat could be no ordinary cat to have done what it had. Now that its victim was aware of the trap the cat padded away from Si Li, jumping lightly to curl up into the fakir’s lap. As it did so Si Li realised the cat must be the spirit form of the fakir, overlooked when he first entered the room while he searched for spirits mirroring their human host. The cat watched Si Li with baleful eyes and a smug expression, its tail flicking as it confidently waited for his reaction. Si Li wondered that he could ever have missed the malevolence and intelligence in those eyes, mistaking this dangerous foe for a harmless affectation of its owner. He tested the resistance of the gossamer cord with his feet but as he pressed against it the cord pulled itself tighter against his legs. The cord burnt his spirit skin wherever it made direct contact, leeching his strength and like the web of a spider trapping its victim more securely as he struggled to escape.

  Reaching down Si Li tried to pry the cord loose but immediately realised his mistake, his hand also sticking fast to the cord and burning fiercely where it made contact. The cat flashed its claws and hissed with fangs on full display, enjoying the struggles of its prey while anticipating the moment when it could strike its lethal blow in safety.

  Si Li suspected the cord would only exist as long as the fakir was in his spirit form and able to support it in the astral plain. If Si Li were to escape it must be soon and to keep his presence at the meeting secret he must ensure the fakir did not return to his own body. He desperately needed to reach the cat, which remained tantalisingly out of reach while the sticky burning cord fixed him helpless and assiduously in place. The cat hissed at him again, coiled anticipation waiting its chance to pounce, in stark contrast to the fakir’s static body still in a deep trance. Only one of them would be returning and the fakir need do nothing but wait. The cat twitched its tail from side to side, eyes fixed on Si Li, its whiskers quivering in barely supressed excitement.

  Held immobile and distracted by the burning cord Si Li tried to control his angry frustration at being trapped so effortlessly and his fear for the Temple at having being discovered. All such thoughts were instantly quelled when he felt a gentle whisper at the back of his mind. Once aware of it Si Li focused on the sensation, not sure whether it was more of the fakir’s power posing a new threat or something else. The sensation was a familiar one and suddenly he realised he was not here alone, he was with Melong and it was Melong who was trying to speak to him. With an intuitive understanding, Si Li relaxed his hold on Melong’s life force and felt a sickening and debilitating leaching of strength as Melong’s spirit began to separate from his own, taking Melong’s borrowed strength with him.

  “Release me!” The whispered plea from Melong was intense in its urgency.

  In his weakened state Si Li recognised he could do nothing to save himself and was rapidly losing what remaining strength he had to his searing constraints; he had less time than he’d thought. With resignation Si Li accepted there was no purpose in both of them being destroyed by the fakir and the Temple must be warned the emperor had discovered their incursion. No sooner did Si Li form the thoughts than he opened himself, reversing the process where he had absorbed Melong and, to help Melong make the journey back to the Temple, passed what reserves he had remaining
of his own on to Melong. Si Li’s spirit dimmed almost to nothing as it slowly crumpled to the floor. The spirit cat was now standing as it stared down at him with its back arched, claws drawn and fur bristling, ready to pounce, greedy for the kill. Si Li’s spirit had only moments left before it reached the point of no return and would be completely consumed by the draining power of the trap.

  Melong grasped at the surge of power from Si Li, his own spirit quickly rising out of Si Li’s translucent form. Carefully avoiding direct contact with the spirit cord, Melong could feel his own strength gaining in intensity as quickly as Si Li’s own spirit was fading. The cat had been watching Si Li’s eyes closely as his spirit faded at the fakir’s feet, savouring the moment as its captive’s life force drained away, only noticing Melong when his spirit was almost free of Si Li’s. Initially surprised, the cat crouched back, before desperately leaping away. Anticipating its attempt to escape, Melong dived at the cat with outstretched hands, catching it by a hind leg while it was still in the air. The cat yowled and frantically scratched at Melong’s firm grip but Melong quickly had the cat by the neck with his other hand. Transferring both hands to the cat’s neck he ignored the biting fangs and ripping claws to twist sharply. There was no sound but quite suddenly the cat was gone, the cords restraining Si Li dispersing in a thinning cloud of orange smoke on the cat’s disappearance. The fakir’s body had not moved but Melong knew he no longer posed a threat, without his spirit the man’s body was an empty shell and would soon die. The fakir’s eyelids had parted slightly, showing the whites of his eyes and a small trail of saliva began dribbling from his now parted lips.

  Looking down to Si Li Melong could see his spirit had almost dimmed to nothing. Not being in direct contact with the fakir’s spirit cord the conflict had not cost Melong as much as it had Si Li but he had been close enough to feel its searing and deadly nature. He quickly dropped back into what was left of Si Li’s barely discernable form, flooding it with his own strength as he subsumed control of his spirit once again to Si Li. Freed from the draining influence of the cord and suffused with Melong’s power, Si Li quickly recovered.