18. Foundations
Three days passed while I was making my journey to and from the goliath tree which the Tunrida called its home. Most of that was on the return journey, for I had gathered delicate cargo in the form of a dozen eggs which showed a sliver of spirituality and femininity. I truly did not know whether I’d be able to keep my promise to the Tunrida in any capacity except to do my best.
I returned to find Hien Ro arguing with Adan. Ro was arguing that they should be doing more than waiting around for me to return, while Adan was insisting that ‘the little sage’ knew what he was doing and that disobeying my orders would only cause me trouble in the long run.
I plopped down next to the fire and listened to them argue for a few minutes as Yara served me a bowl of stew. They continued their argument until Yara’s giggling made them look at the fire, and they realized that I had returned without their awareness.
“You both make excellent points,” I said, blowing on my stew to cool it. “But I’ve already negotiated payment for the mountain that I want. It will take us two weeks to reach our destination, and we have picked up another guardian as well. Xol the jaguar stalks our perimeter and will keep the lesser spirit beasts away.”
“I’m sorry, did you say there’s a jaguar out there?” Hien Ro asked, his voice raising an octave for some reason.
“Yes. He’s a formidable warrior and has promised to guard us from the other spiritual beasts of this region,” I explained, my mouth full of the rice and beans, spiced so hot that they had made my eyes water the first time I had tried them. It was delicious now that I’d grown accustomed to the heat.
“A jaguar? A spiritual jaguar?” Hien Ro asked, his voice still that high-pitched timbre.
“Yes. Maybe you’ll meet him later.”
“Or maybe he’ll meat us,” Ro muttered, and he stared out into the edge of the clearing where we had made camp.
I shrugged, but the others seemed nervous as well. I wondered why they seemed more on edge now than they had before they’d realized I’d returned, but decided to let them figure it out for themselves. After I finished eating, I crawled into the tent that they’d left set up for my use and went to sleep.
In the morning, we began making our way towards the mountain I’d purchased. I evicted one of the mortals from their donkey and sat atop it, carefully nurturing the small cache of eggs that I carried with me, giving it my whole mind as I trusted the others to convey me to the destination.
I swiftly identified two duds in the two dozen or so that I’d gathered on my way down the goliath tree. They would birth live birds which would grow into fine specimens, but they lacked any potential to reach the heights that they’d have to reach if they were to become the mate of the Tunrida. Still, I left them in with the others as I nurtured them with my Qi rather than throwing them out.
And, in the center of the basket where I kept the egg, a single plum pit.
~~~~~~
“W hat do you think he’s doing?” Yara asked the elder cultivator, watching as the little sage meditated on a small package that he’d brought with him back from his negotiations.
“How should I know?” Hien Ro asked.
“You’ve known him much longer than any of us,” she stated simply.
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean that I really know him,” Ro said. He winced as he realized that he was probably in earshot of the topic of conversation. “I mean, he’s a friend, but he’s so far ahead of me and everyone else I know that he had might as well be an ancient master. His motives are opaque to me, Yara. Knowing him, he’s probably negotiated for some ancient treasure from the Tunrida in addition to the mountain.”
“Huh,” she said, and she went back to trying to cultivate using the Peach Blossom Dream.
~~~~~~
“Ko Ren’s followers are growing every day, Lord Patriarch,” the supplicant stated. “If you do not crush this insubordination before long, then you will find yourself alone and without allies.”
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“And how shall I crush it, Ti Lan?” Di Phon asked, his nose in a very old book. “Ko Ren is following the precepts. He’s done nothing by which I can denounce him except for ascending to the next stage of cultivation, which is an act to commend and not condemn. I do wonder where his sister has vanished to.”
Ti Lan swallowed. “You say he is following the precepts? So then, you intend to meet him in combat? That is what is demanded if you wish to retain your position as patriarch.”
“I could also ascend,” Di Phon said. “Is that what you are hinting at, Ti Lan? That I ascend to the halls of the lord of this realm and leave the sect in the hands of Ko Ren?”
“I was simply pointing out that those are the only two options available to you,” Ti Lan said, kowtowing. “I am your humble servant, and I would follow you in—”
“I know, Ti Lan. Where has your brother vanished off to these past three days?” Di Phon asked. “Was it worth it? Does your ascendance to the silver path not taste bitter, flavored as it is by betrayal?”
Ti Lan cursed and skittered back, prepared for an attack from the elder cultivator, but Di Phon simply took a sip from his tea. “There shall be a reckoning, Ti Lan. You can be assured of that. But I have no proof, and it is not the elder’s place to investigate the affairs of his juniors. Had you resisted temptation before this meeting, I would have given you the task of rooting out this evil. But I sensed the corruption within you the moment you entered my hall.”
“You don’t—I only did what anyone would do,” Ti Lan protested.
“I have made a right mess for myself. You all live so fast, it is hard to keep up with you juniors, and so I isolated myself. But now, when I face a challenge that I cannot overcome by myself, I find myself isolated. The few that I trusted cowardly flee into the night rather than stand and face the looming threat, and those whom upon I built the foundation of my response prove two-faced. Is this arsenic I taste in my tea, Ti Lan? You didn’t think that would work, did you?”
Ti Lan swallowed nervously. “I don’t know—”
“Tell your master that as he follows the precepts, so shall I. I accept his formal challenge for the leadership of the Six Mountain Sect. We shall meet upon the summit of the northern peak. He shall prove his martial prowess and whether he has the right to supplant me upon those snows, and may heaven smile upon the victor of our duel.”
Ti Lan swallowed once more. “I shall relay your words.”
“And Ti Lan?”
“Yes?”
“If I see you between now and then, your life is forfeit.”
The flare of murderous intent sent the formerly loyal retainer crashing through the thin walls of the patriarch’s compound in a desperate quest to be away. Di Phon sighed as he looked at the devastation left in the man’s wake.
“He could have at least opened the door before he used it,” he muttered, then went to fix the damage.
Despite the heights he had climbed to, he had once been a carpenter’s son, and he smiled as he pulled out a set of ancient tools from a cabinet. He ran his hand carefully over the simple iron and wooden hammer, a hammer which his father had once held so very, very long ago. Repaired by Qi, the tools were now retained a spiritual essence to them, but they were not weapons.
“Would you be proud of me, papa?” he asked the hammer. “You gave me this when they took me away, telling me that if I could, I should use the skills that I’d learned following you around to earn an extra coin or two. I never did, not until I built this palace for myself. I started the project in the winter and sent a messenger to bring you to me in the spring, so that we could finish it together.”
He smiled sadly. “Instead I was told that you were thirty years dead. I had forgotten how young mortals die. Why did you and mama never send word that you had grown old and infirm? I wish I could have come to see you one last time before the end.”
He sighed, and began to fix the palace. Then, once he had repaired the doors and the walls, he began to tweak the hidden formations that governed the Qi flow within the compound.
He might not be able to retain possession of the palace that he’d built for himself all those years ago. The precepts were clear on the matter. He would have to win a duel with the challenger, and he had felt the corrupt power of Ko Ren. He was not confident in the outcome.
But he would make certain that no corrupt vampire would ever rest comfortably upon the throne of the Di Clan.
~~~~~~~
“Little Sage, we’re here. You can get off the donkey,” Yara said to me, pulling me out of my meditations.
I looked up to see that she was correct, we were at the base of the ice-capped mountain that I had selected to be my home for the next year or so. I nodded.
“Thank you Yara. Have the others set up camp, and then when I am finished with my meditations I will start to lay the foundations for dwellings better than the tents we have used for traveling.”