***** Vol.2 Chap.44 The climb up the mountain *****
In order not to arouse any suspicion, May-Ling left very early the following morning, while it was still dark. By the time the sun came out, she was already in the mountains. She avoided meeting a few farmers who were carrying their produce to the city.
She was on a dangerous mission that she must carry out by herself and she has no intention to have anyone coming after her. She passed the temple. She thought of stopping but pushed on so as not to waste any time there.
Soon she found herself in unfamiliar territory. For the better part of the day, she tried to figure out where she was on the maps. Eventually, she concluded that the maps were of no use at all since they were completely out of date. The trails she found existing on the mountain now differed completely from the ones marked on the map. Discarding the maps to lighten the load, she slowly realized that she must rely on her own instincts.
Stopping at a fork in the trail, she noticed that one trail led to the left while the other to the right. She tried to figure out logically which trail to take, but soon gave up. There were so many twists and turns on the trail to outguess where the trails would end up.
An idea sparked in her. Perhaps she could look for markings giving hint which trail to take. After careful examination, no markings were observed on the trails. Clearly, they were intended only for those who knew the system.
Disappointed, she picked the left trail. Soon she found another fork with two trails leading away. Again, there were no markings anywhere. This time she took the right trail, as it seemed that it would lead up the hill. However, before long, the trail headed down to the valley below. As she turned the corner, she came into another junction. She picked one that seemed to take her back up the hill, only to find out that the trail led to another junction.
However, there was something strange about this junction. She recognized some tracks on the ground. She stooped down to study those tracks, then suddenly, she broke out laughing. Those were tracks made by her own shoes. She had been going in circles in a giant maze. It became very clear to her that the trails were deliberately made as a gigantic labyrinth to confuse anyone coming up the mountain.
Quickly, she erased her tracks to avoid leaving clues behind. She really did not want the gangsters to come by and discover her coming by her tracks. If so, they would know that someone was trapped in the maze. Since it was almost evening already, she decided she better look for shelter to spend the night and figure out a good course of attack the next day. After going further a bit, she left the trail to avoid meeting anyone. Spending the night on a tree away from the trails seemed a wise precaution.
She spotted a sizable tree nearby and climbed up. With the remaining light, she tried to visualize the trail system. Darkness came quickly forcing her to abandon her feeble attempt to figure out the puzzle. She concluded that the trail system was too immense to figure out in what little time she had. Besides, if she stayed on the trails, she would be easily discovered and caught by sentries posted along the crucial points of the trail system.
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No, to get to the top of the mountain, she needed another way.
After much considerations, she decided the best way was to forget the trails and just walk up the mountain. Convinced that the trails were just one giant puzzle meant to lead the weary to nowhere, the simplest solution was just to walk up the mountain. Instead of meandering on the trails at the foothills of the mountain, she must conserve her energy, her time, and her supplies. She felt good about the plan. Night fell fast. Eating some of her food and drinking the water sparingly, she wedged herself in the tree and fell asleep quickly.
She slept soundly throughout most of the night; though she was awakened by a pack of wolves yapping noisily nearby. She kept quiet and motionless. Soon the pack moved on and she breathed a sigh of relief. She fell asleep again, yet not as soundly as before.
On first light, she woke up while the sun peeked over the silhouette of the distant mountains. Sliding down the tree carefully, she headed up the mountain. The slope was not steep at this point, and the climb was not that difficult. She had to detour slightly when she encountered a couple of enormous boulders.
By noon, the slope steepened and the climb became more difficult. Using her hands to hang on to the vegetation and pulling herself up, she regretted that she had not thought of bringing a pair of gloves. Though her hands were badly cut and bleeding at several locations, she pressed on.
At midday, she found a little clearing and took a lunch break. With a brief rest, she felt refreshed. Packing up everything and making sure that she did not leave any clues behind showing someone was present, she pushed on until it was too dark to see.
Having found a suitable tree and climbed up, she was ready to give her arms and legs some much needed rest. In fact, she was more tired than she was hungry. No sooner than situated in the tree, she was sound asleep.
She woke while it was still dark. The night air was clear and still; everything was quiet all around. Having lived in cities all her life, she had never recalled a night with no sound. But tonight, just silence. There were no vendors yelling out their wares. There were no quarrelsome neighbors arguing about some insignificant things. Occasionally, an owl hooted from afar.
She was just enjoying the peace when suddenly she became aware of a breathing sound. She froze and concentrated on listening with her ears. The breathing stopped. She remained immobile for quite a while, but heard nothing more. The silence must be playing tricks on her. She relaxed and enjoyed the silence again.
Again, she became aware of someone breathing again.
She froze. But the breathing stopped.
She was afraid to look behind her, but use her hands to comb the surrounding area. Her hands came upon nothing except the branches. She slowly turned around, but it was too dark to see anything. Convinced that there was nothing there, she relaxed. There, she heard the breathing again.
In. Out. In. Out.
Suddenly, it dawned on her that it was her own breathing that she was hearing. She almost laughed out aloud and chided herself for being so skittish and paranoid.
As soon as she could see, she started climbing again. It was another day of arduous climbing. As she looked around, she knew she was going higher. The town could barely be seen now. Everywhere she looked; it was trees and mountain ranges. She was deep inside the mountain ranges, though she was not sure if she could find her way out at all again. She had no choice but to keep climbing until she reached the village if they exist or the gangsters, an option she rather not dwelled on.
Finally, by midday, she came across a trail again. The trail seemed well traveled. This had to be the trail leading to the gangster’s hideout. It would be easier to use the trail at the risk of being discovered. The alternative was to continue to climb away from the trail. She thought she would rest and have something to eat as she tried to decide which route to take.
Since she had not met any guards so far, the safest route was to continue up the mountain without following the trail to minimize the risk of being discovered. The progress was much slower this time as the mountain slope got steeper. Carefully, with all her hands and feet, she crawled her way up the mountain.