Wild Stewardess Action! - And Madness Followed COMPLETE!
barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
That poets are the downfall of civilization?shilsen said:
barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
CHAPTER THREE
*****
As it was obvious that Li Ling herself had left town, the four women left this ruined village and headed down the descending track that led to the next town, Mien-tsa-wing. Traces of their quarry's passage could be seen, at least by Wei-Yong, in the footprints and campsites left behind, but the four saw no sign of the renegade playwright, nor any further evidence of attempts to open some sort of portal to the Dream Worlds, that wild realm of twisting chaos and maddening inconsistency from which the spirits emerged.
That changed as they made their way into Mien-tsa-wing.
"The Lord Mayor! Please, rescue the Lord Mayor!"
Constable Peng clung to Wei-Yong's sleeve as the four women stood in the street, staring into the maelstrom that had erupted in the midst of this peaceful town.
Past the first houses and inside the city wall, fires burned uncontrollably, houses collapsing within with great crashing tumbles of tiles and timbers. Horrible cries rose from the center of the doomed town, not cries of anguish but strange, triumphant hoots and cackles, as though a wild party were taking place in the midst of the conflagration.
Li Fa's quiet voice was enough to silence the constable's panic.
"What happened?"
He blubbered and pleaded. Fa slapped him.
"Have you seen Li Ling? The playwright? Has she been here?"
Startled by the question, Constable Peng stared. He shook himself and brushed quickly at his uniform.
"Yes, she was here only yesterday, to announce the production of her latest play. The theatre was... in..."
He pointed into the flames.
Li Fa sighed and looked over at her friends. They were all exhausted, weary and travel-worn.
"Stay here."
Shan patted the Constable's shoulder.
"And have some lunch waiting for us when we come back. I haven't eaten since yesterday."
The four women exchanged glances, nodded, and as one, turned and walked into the flaming town center. Wei-Yong's wolf, Mau Li, followed them, pressing close beside her mistress.
Li Fa drew on Shadow's power as they walked, and each of the women felt a curious exhilaration for just a second as her sorcery fell over them. Fa glared at them all.
"Until you touch one of them, they won't be able to see you. Make it count."
The heat from the burning houses was intense, but the broad street was clear down most of its length. There was no sign of life, though the flames seemed limited to the outer circle of buildings. As the women walked further, they left the worst of the fire behind them. Smoke poured out from under heavy roof tiles, but open flames were rare, and after a few blocks, even smoke became rare.
The triumphant cries, however, became louder and more disturbing. No human throat could produce such bestial noises. Shan grimaced.
"I wish they were just people. Fighting people is more fun."
Ming-Wa tsked.
Wei-Yong frowned, though not at her friend's observation.
"I think there is a people. I mean, a person. I hear somebody speaking Imperial, anyway."
Fa grunted.
"If these spirits have taken captives, rescuing them must be our first priority."
The women rounded a large restaurant, three stories high, and found themselves facing a large amphitheatre crowded with the same sort of bizarrely-twisted creatures they'd faced in Hu-shih-tai. Only more of them.
Many, many more of them. Hundreds filled the amphitheatre, leaping and twisting and giggling. For now, none of them seemed to notice the women. Mau Li whimpered and pressed even closer to Wei-Yong's long legs.
"Bless Her Holy Va--"
"Shut up, Shan."
"Hey Ming-Wa, do you think the Goddess shaves down there? I mean, seriously."
"Shan. Not now."
Ignoring Shan's nervous banter, Fa turned to Wei-Yong.
"Is there a human being amongst them?"
The tall woman squinted and tried to not look away from the loathsome things that capered and gibbered around the square in obscene glee. In the midst of them all, down where the amphitheatre seats reached the stage floor, stood a heavy-set man in official robes, waving his arms over his head and screeching.
"I think it's the Mayor. All we got to do now is go get him."
"Without bumping into any of those things? Are you kidding? It's impossible. Time to kill things."
Fa scowled.
"Not yet. So, Ming-Wa, it looks like she failed again. Li Ling."
The slender young woman stepped back as one of the creatures pranced by, sparing a glance for Mau Li but ignoring the women.
"Yes, thank the Goddess. Still not enough souls to create a permanent gate. The Goddess watches over us."
All four women whispered quick prayers to their beloved Goddess.
"Wei-Yong. Send Mau Li. Have her bring the Mayor to us."
The lanky archer took one look at Fa's face and made no protest. She sank to her knees and took the wolf's big shaggy head in her hands. The two stared at each for a moment, then the wolf sneezed and leapt into the crowd, barking furiously as it went.
Fa looked around and pointed out a storefront.
"There. We can bring him inside and make a stand there. Shan, Ming-Wa, you wait outside to seal off his exit. Wei-Yong, you're inside with me."
As usual in crisis, none of the women questioned Fa's sudden leadership. Shan and Ming-Wa took up positions to either side of the door while Fa led Wei-Yong inside. The interior of the store's ground floor was a shambles, goods and shelves strewn about all over, windows smashed out and the back door torn off.
"Maybe not the best place for a stand-off, Fa."
The older woman nodded and gestured to the single stairway that rose up from the center of the space.
"We can hold them off here. Call Mau Li."
Outside, Ming-Wa and Shan watched in increasing concern as Mau Li snapped at the Mayor's rotund, gesticulating figure. He turned to cuff her and she sprang away, and as he pursued her, she led him straight up the rows of seats to where Ming-Wa and Shan waited.
The Mayor's sudden movement was noticed by the capering creatures. They stopped to watch him as he broke into a flabby, disorganized run.
And slowly, with gathering speed, the creatures began to follow him.
Ming-Wa's eyes widened as over a hundred of these terrible creatures began thundering towards them. She was just about to turn and leap into the store when the Mayor flashed past, still in hot pursuit of Mau Li.
But with enough presence of mind to slam the door shut behind him.
"Oh, no."
Inside, the Mayor windmilled to a stop and Fa pointed.
"Wei-Yong. Grab him."
She whirled and rushed up the stairs just as the door behind the Mayor splintered open, revealing Shan's armoured figure. The big woman shook her head and turned around.
Ming-Wa had time for only one quick gasp as a massive gauntlet lunged out from the shattered door behind her, grabbed her securely by the braid at the back of her head, and yanked her backwards just before the flapping, squawking horde reached her. Protesting, she looked up to see Shan glowering down at her.
"Plans are over-rated. Time to kill things."
Fa called down from the top of the stairs.
"Not yet. Get the Mayor and Ming-Wa up here right now."
"I can get myse--"
Ming-Wa yelped as Shan tossed her over a shoulder, grabbed the Mayor and dragged both up the stairs in a few bounds. Wei-Yong chuckled at the sight.
"Wei-Yong. Get up on the roof. We need a way out."
Windows crashed and the sudden cacophony below told them the horrible things Li Ling's ritual had transformed the townsfolk into were rushing into the store beneath them.
Shan sighed and set her burden down.
"NOW it's time to kill things."
"Not yet. You go with Wei-Yong and get the Mayor out of here. Ming-Wa, too."
Fa headed down the stairs.
"I'll hold them."
"Fa."
"I'll hold them. Go."
Fa held her hands up in front of her as dark tendrils of Shadow's power writhed out from around her. She whispered, a reckless half-smile on her face as she descended the steps.
"Time to kill things."
*****
As it was obvious that Li Ling herself had left town, the four women left this ruined village and headed down the descending track that led to the next town, Mien-tsa-wing. Traces of their quarry's passage could be seen, at least by Wei-Yong, in the footprints and campsites left behind, but the four saw no sign of the renegade playwright, nor any further evidence of attempts to open some sort of portal to the Dream Worlds, that wild realm of twisting chaos and maddening inconsistency from which the spirits emerged.
That changed as they made their way into Mien-tsa-wing.
"The Lord Mayor! Please, rescue the Lord Mayor!"
Constable Peng clung to Wei-Yong's sleeve as the four women stood in the street, staring into the maelstrom that had erupted in the midst of this peaceful town.
Past the first houses and inside the city wall, fires burned uncontrollably, houses collapsing within with great crashing tumbles of tiles and timbers. Horrible cries rose from the center of the doomed town, not cries of anguish but strange, triumphant hoots and cackles, as though a wild party were taking place in the midst of the conflagration.
Li Fa's quiet voice was enough to silence the constable's panic.
"What happened?"
He blubbered and pleaded. Fa slapped him.
"Have you seen Li Ling? The playwright? Has she been here?"
Startled by the question, Constable Peng stared. He shook himself and brushed quickly at his uniform.
"Yes, she was here only yesterday, to announce the production of her latest play. The theatre was... in..."
He pointed into the flames.
Li Fa sighed and looked over at her friends. They were all exhausted, weary and travel-worn.
"Stay here."
Shan patted the Constable's shoulder.
"And have some lunch waiting for us when we come back. I haven't eaten since yesterday."
The four women exchanged glances, nodded, and as one, turned and walked into the flaming town center. Wei-Yong's wolf, Mau Li, followed them, pressing close beside her mistress.
Li Fa drew on Shadow's power as they walked, and each of the women felt a curious exhilaration for just a second as her sorcery fell over them. Fa glared at them all.
"Until you touch one of them, they won't be able to see you. Make it count."
The heat from the burning houses was intense, but the broad street was clear down most of its length. There was no sign of life, though the flames seemed limited to the outer circle of buildings. As the women walked further, they left the worst of the fire behind them. Smoke poured out from under heavy roof tiles, but open flames were rare, and after a few blocks, even smoke became rare.
The triumphant cries, however, became louder and more disturbing. No human throat could produce such bestial noises. Shan grimaced.
"I wish they were just people. Fighting people is more fun."
Ming-Wa tsked.
Wei-Yong frowned, though not at her friend's observation.
"I think there is a people. I mean, a person. I hear somebody speaking Imperial, anyway."
Fa grunted.
"If these spirits have taken captives, rescuing them must be our first priority."
The women rounded a large restaurant, three stories high, and found themselves facing a large amphitheatre crowded with the same sort of bizarrely-twisted creatures they'd faced in Hu-shih-tai. Only more of them.
Many, many more of them. Hundreds filled the amphitheatre, leaping and twisting and giggling. For now, none of them seemed to notice the women. Mau Li whimpered and pressed even closer to Wei-Yong's long legs.
"Bless Her Holy Va--"
"Shut up, Shan."
"Hey Ming-Wa, do you think the Goddess shaves down there? I mean, seriously."
"Shan. Not now."
Ignoring Shan's nervous banter, Fa turned to Wei-Yong.
"Is there a human being amongst them?"
The tall woman squinted and tried to not look away from the loathsome things that capered and gibbered around the square in obscene glee. In the midst of them all, down where the amphitheatre seats reached the stage floor, stood a heavy-set man in official robes, waving his arms over his head and screeching.
"I think it's the Mayor. All we got to do now is go get him."
"Without bumping into any of those things? Are you kidding? It's impossible. Time to kill things."
Fa scowled.
"Not yet. So, Ming-Wa, it looks like she failed again. Li Ling."
The slender young woman stepped back as one of the creatures pranced by, sparing a glance for Mau Li but ignoring the women.
"Yes, thank the Goddess. Still not enough souls to create a permanent gate. The Goddess watches over us."
All four women whispered quick prayers to their beloved Goddess.
"Wei-Yong. Send Mau Li. Have her bring the Mayor to us."
The lanky archer took one look at Fa's face and made no protest. She sank to her knees and took the wolf's big shaggy head in her hands. The two stared at each for a moment, then the wolf sneezed and leapt into the crowd, barking furiously as it went.
Fa looked around and pointed out a storefront.
"There. We can bring him inside and make a stand there. Shan, Ming-Wa, you wait outside to seal off his exit. Wei-Yong, you're inside with me."
As usual in crisis, none of the women questioned Fa's sudden leadership. Shan and Ming-Wa took up positions to either side of the door while Fa led Wei-Yong inside. The interior of the store's ground floor was a shambles, goods and shelves strewn about all over, windows smashed out and the back door torn off.
"Maybe not the best place for a stand-off, Fa."
The older woman nodded and gestured to the single stairway that rose up from the center of the space.
"We can hold them off here. Call Mau Li."
Outside, Ming-Wa and Shan watched in increasing concern as Mau Li snapped at the Mayor's rotund, gesticulating figure. He turned to cuff her and she sprang away, and as he pursued her, she led him straight up the rows of seats to where Ming-Wa and Shan waited.
The Mayor's sudden movement was noticed by the capering creatures. They stopped to watch him as he broke into a flabby, disorganized run.
And slowly, with gathering speed, the creatures began to follow him.
Ming-Wa's eyes widened as over a hundred of these terrible creatures began thundering towards them. She was just about to turn and leap into the store when the Mayor flashed past, still in hot pursuit of Mau Li.
But with enough presence of mind to slam the door shut behind him.
"Oh, no."
Inside, the Mayor windmilled to a stop and Fa pointed.
"Wei-Yong. Grab him."
She whirled and rushed up the stairs just as the door behind the Mayor splintered open, revealing Shan's armoured figure. The big woman shook her head and turned around.
Ming-Wa had time for only one quick gasp as a massive gauntlet lunged out from the shattered door behind her, grabbed her securely by the braid at the back of her head, and yanked her backwards just before the flapping, squawking horde reached her. Protesting, she looked up to see Shan glowering down at her.
"Plans are over-rated. Time to kill things."
Fa called down from the top of the stairs.
"Not yet. Get the Mayor and Ming-Wa up here right now."
"I can get myse--"
Ming-Wa yelped as Shan tossed her over a shoulder, grabbed the Mayor and dragged both up the stairs in a few bounds. Wei-Yong chuckled at the sight.
"Wei-Yong. Get up on the roof. We need a way out."
Windows crashed and the sudden cacophony below told them the horrible things Li Ling's ritual had transformed the townsfolk into were rushing into the store beneath them.
Shan sighed and set her burden down.
"NOW it's time to kill things."
"Not yet. You go with Wei-Yong and get the Mayor out of here. Ming-Wa, too."
Fa headed down the stairs.
"I'll hold them."
"Fa."
"I'll hold them. Go."
Fa held her hands up in front of her as dark tendrils of Shadow's power writhed out from around her. She whispered, a reckless half-smile on her face as she descended the steps.
"Time to kill things."
barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
CHAPTER FOUR
*****
"Why does Fa get to have all the fun? I just want to kill something, by Her Perfect Backside. What does it take?"
Shan complained as she and Wei-Yong led Ming-Wa and the muttering, flailing, overweight Mayor up onto the roof of the store they'd taken shelter in. The Mayor's chubby fist connected with Wei-Yong's head yet again and she looked over at Ming-Wa.
"Ming, could you?"
The woman concentrated for a second and the Mayor went limp.
"Thank you."
The three women looked around. Wei-Yong pointed.
"That restaurant. We can break through the windows and go down the inside stairs, out a back door or something."
"What about Fa?"
"Either she's coming with us, or she's not, Shan. Let's go."
Below, the ground floor of the shop seethed with tentacles, pulsating mouths and weird flapping limbs on all sides. Fa stood half-way down the stairs, eyes closed as she concentrated on her calculations. Her brain soared and wound around itself in frantic precision, guiding the horrible power of Shadow as it negated reality in exactly the fashion she required of it.
The creatures below hesitated. Although they could not perceive Fa herself, the unwinding of Shadow's dark touch was unmistakeable and they drew back.
Their caution did them no good.
Fa's eyes snapped open and she threw out her hands. A sudden shooting wall of flame seared up all around her, a hollow pillar of fire with Fa at the center. Her hands flipped over, and the pillar suddenly expanded outwards, the wall of flame rolling over all the fiendish monsters crowded into the shop around her.
They shrieked and gibbered in sudden, short-lived panic, but they left behind only their blackened corpses. Those left beyond the range of the fire scampered back, but once the flames died down they pressed forward, cautiously, once again.
Fa swayed for a moment, swore once, and collapsed.
Up on the roof, Shan had reached one of the latticed windows of the restaurant that overlooked the shop and was industriously tearing it apart when with a loud smack she suddenly flew backwards to crash amidst the tiles.
Her oaths were numerical: the number of hairy, sweaty, grinning sailors she was going to make the Goddess satisfy after she was done here. Ming-Wa put her hands over her ears while Wei-Yong, trying not to laugh, strung her bow and looked to see what just done that to her friend.
It stood taller than a man, with two right hands, each of which held a massive battle-axe. Its left hand clung to the nearest pillar as it waved its weapons at Shan, gibbering the whole while.
"Well, so much for Fa's spell."
"It saw the window being demolished, Shan. It's inhuman, not stupid."
"Whatever. I'm killing it."
Shan charged, with predictable results. Wei-Yong nudged Ming-Wa.
"He got to scream. Last one didn't get to scream."
Ming-Wa nodded.
"She's slipping. Although the last one wasn't completely in half."
"Yeah. She-- "
Wei-Yong's sentence went unfinished as she caught sight of another pair of axes descending to where Shan stood, continuing to demolish the window. Her bow leapt up and two arrows on the string flew away.
One embedded itself in the upper right hand of the second axe-weilding creature.
The other arrow embedded itself in the lower.
His axes hadn't hit the ground before Shan had cut him in half, too.
"Okay, maybe she's not slipping."
A weary hand flopped out of the rooftop trap door and Fa groaned as she pulled herself up.
"Fa!"
"Had to collapse the stairs. Crawled up. Tired."
Wei-Yong and Ming-Wa helped their friend and followed the Mayor and Shan into the restaurant. More axe-weilding freaks attacked. Fa watched.
"You know, I thought she was kind of slipping but she seems pretty on her game today."
Bodies spilled guts and blood all over. Shan laughed.
"Yeah."
*****
"Thank you, thank you, thank you. Goddess be praised. Goddess be praised."
Ming-Wa accepted Constable Peng's thanks with grace.
"Yes. Goddess be praised. Now you understand there are more of these creatures, right? Let none escape alive."
"Yes, yes, of course. Understood. The militia are roused and we'll take care of things, now that you've returned the Mayor to us."
The women eyed the still-muttering, twitching figure of the town's official ruler, and refrained from comment.
"Where did Li Ling go?"
"On to Tieh Tung. It's about a day's ride down that valley. She left this morning."
The four women looked up at the noonday sun. Fa grinned at Shan.
"No lunch for you, dear. We'll need to ride if we're going to catch her."
Wei-Yong chuckled.
"Make sure you get the biggest horse in town."
Shan groaned.
"I can't save the world on an empty stomach, you know."
She brightened up as one of the townsfolk handed her a sack full of dumplings. They rode off in the direction Constable Peng had indicated, Shan chewing happily.
*****
There was no sign of chaos and horror in Tieh Tung, but a poster nailed to a shop wall had all of them moving faster.
"THE EMPEROR OF DREAMS! TONIGHT! THE NEW PLAY FROM SUNG LI LING, AT DUSK AT THE GREEN LOTUS THEATRE!"
Directions were found easily enough and with hearts steadily darkening they rode through narrow, crowded streets towards where the theatre stood.
"These Razors. These Jade Razors. Perhaps they aren't what we think."
"What do we think they are, Fa?"
Fa regarded Wei-Yong with some frustration.
"Opponents of the Goddess."
Ming-Wa gasped.
"But we know they are. Remember Pao Hsien in Hsiao-pei-ho? The obscenity beneath Her temple?"
"I remember, Ming-Wa. But think. What is Li Ling doing? Why try to expose the Living World to the chaos of the Dream Worlds? That doesn't make sense if they're trying to overthrow the Goddess."
Ming-Wa seethed. Shan shrugged.
"They're looking for Her hara."
"Her what?"
"Her hara. Her center. They're pulling on Her, to see what She'll defend. If they can destroy the world, She has to stop them. And then they know."
"Know what?"
Shan shrugged.
"How should I know? You guys are the smart ones."
Fa stared at her giant friend, then shook her head.
"Never mind. They ARE opponents of the Goddess."
"But you just said."
"I was wrong. Thank you, Shan."
"No problem. Hey, there it is. Do you think this place will be serving dinner?"
Inside, the theatre was packed, and only strange, horrible voices came over the crowd to tell the women that the show had begun. Ming-Wa clutched at her chest at the foul, yet somehow compelling voice, rasping and hissing at her. Shan pushed forward and they followed.
Few folks made any complaint at Shan's brusque passage through the crowd; most were content to move aside, staring forward in slack-jawed fascination, and those that retained sufficient awareness to notice took one look at her armoured bulk and decided against protesting.
"I'm thirsty. Can we get a beer? Hey, he's cute."
Shan had come around a thick pillar and at last stood where she could see the stage. She looked up at the performers and swayed for a second, entranced by the lead actor's considerable handsomeness. The stage whirled and flashed with colour and leaping figures, enacting some battle with stylized acrobatics, their brilliant costumes flickering and weaving through the air as they tumbled about.
A table nearby suddenly came free. Wei-Yong rolled her eyes and pushed Shan down into a chair. The others seated themselves.
"Come on, Shan. Come on."
"Village to village, no one to play with..."
Shan's voice trailed off. Wei-Yong frowned.
"Shan? Hey, come on."
She turned to study the actor who had so fascinated her friend.
"Oh. Pretty."
Wei-Yong swallowed, blushing, and sat down at the table with Shan, equally fascinated by the handsome young man.
Ming-Wa and Fa turned to look at the stage and both did exactly as Wei-Yong had. All four women sat, helpless and mute, as the play continued on its deadly course.
Backstage, the playwright, a thin, sallow woman in filthy robes, held a knife in her hands. Pointing towards her stomach. She convulsed and buried the blade in her own body. Spasming, she choked and fell to the floor.
"At last... The Emperor of Dreams comes forth... "
*****
"Why does Fa get to have all the fun? I just want to kill something, by Her Perfect Backside. What does it take?"
Shan complained as she and Wei-Yong led Ming-Wa and the muttering, flailing, overweight Mayor up onto the roof of the store they'd taken shelter in. The Mayor's chubby fist connected with Wei-Yong's head yet again and she looked over at Ming-Wa.
"Ming, could you?"
The woman concentrated for a second and the Mayor went limp.
"Thank you."
The three women looked around. Wei-Yong pointed.
"That restaurant. We can break through the windows and go down the inside stairs, out a back door or something."
"What about Fa?"
"Either she's coming with us, or she's not, Shan. Let's go."
Below, the ground floor of the shop seethed with tentacles, pulsating mouths and weird flapping limbs on all sides. Fa stood half-way down the stairs, eyes closed as she concentrated on her calculations. Her brain soared and wound around itself in frantic precision, guiding the horrible power of Shadow as it negated reality in exactly the fashion she required of it.
The creatures below hesitated. Although they could not perceive Fa herself, the unwinding of Shadow's dark touch was unmistakeable and they drew back.
Their caution did them no good.
Fa's eyes snapped open and she threw out her hands. A sudden shooting wall of flame seared up all around her, a hollow pillar of fire with Fa at the center. Her hands flipped over, and the pillar suddenly expanded outwards, the wall of flame rolling over all the fiendish monsters crowded into the shop around her.
They shrieked and gibbered in sudden, short-lived panic, but they left behind only their blackened corpses. Those left beyond the range of the fire scampered back, but once the flames died down they pressed forward, cautiously, once again.
Fa swayed for a moment, swore once, and collapsed.
Up on the roof, Shan had reached one of the latticed windows of the restaurant that overlooked the shop and was industriously tearing it apart when with a loud smack she suddenly flew backwards to crash amidst the tiles.
Her oaths were numerical: the number of hairy, sweaty, grinning sailors she was going to make the Goddess satisfy after she was done here. Ming-Wa put her hands over her ears while Wei-Yong, trying not to laugh, strung her bow and looked to see what just done that to her friend.
It stood taller than a man, with two right hands, each of which held a massive battle-axe. Its left hand clung to the nearest pillar as it waved its weapons at Shan, gibbering the whole while.
"Well, so much for Fa's spell."
"It saw the window being demolished, Shan. It's inhuman, not stupid."
"Whatever. I'm killing it."
Shan charged, with predictable results. Wei-Yong nudged Ming-Wa.
"He got to scream. Last one didn't get to scream."
Ming-Wa nodded.
"She's slipping. Although the last one wasn't completely in half."
"Yeah. She-- "
Wei-Yong's sentence went unfinished as she caught sight of another pair of axes descending to where Shan stood, continuing to demolish the window. Her bow leapt up and two arrows on the string flew away.
One embedded itself in the upper right hand of the second axe-weilding creature.
The other arrow embedded itself in the lower.
His axes hadn't hit the ground before Shan had cut him in half, too.
"Okay, maybe she's not slipping."
A weary hand flopped out of the rooftop trap door and Fa groaned as she pulled herself up.
"Fa!"
"Had to collapse the stairs. Crawled up. Tired."
Wei-Yong and Ming-Wa helped their friend and followed the Mayor and Shan into the restaurant. More axe-weilding freaks attacked. Fa watched.
"You know, I thought she was kind of slipping but she seems pretty on her game today."
Bodies spilled guts and blood all over. Shan laughed.
"Yeah."
*****
"Thank you, thank you, thank you. Goddess be praised. Goddess be praised."
Ming-Wa accepted Constable Peng's thanks with grace.
"Yes. Goddess be praised. Now you understand there are more of these creatures, right? Let none escape alive."
"Yes, yes, of course. Understood. The militia are roused and we'll take care of things, now that you've returned the Mayor to us."
The women eyed the still-muttering, twitching figure of the town's official ruler, and refrained from comment.
"Where did Li Ling go?"
"On to Tieh Tung. It's about a day's ride down that valley. She left this morning."
The four women looked up at the noonday sun. Fa grinned at Shan.
"No lunch for you, dear. We'll need to ride if we're going to catch her."
Wei-Yong chuckled.
"Make sure you get the biggest horse in town."
Shan groaned.
"I can't save the world on an empty stomach, you know."
She brightened up as one of the townsfolk handed her a sack full of dumplings. They rode off in the direction Constable Peng had indicated, Shan chewing happily.
*****
There was no sign of chaos and horror in Tieh Tung, but a poster nailed to a shop wall had all of them moving faster.
"THE EMPEROR OF DREAMS! TONIGHT! THE NEW PLAY FROM SUNG LI LING, AT DUSK AT THE GREEN LOTUS THEATRE!"
Directions were found easily enough and with hearts steadily darkening they rode through narrow, crowded streets towards where the theatre stood.
"These Razors. These Jade Razors. Perhaps they aren't what we think."
"What do we think they are, Fa?"
Fa regarded Wei-Yong with some frustration.
"Opponents of the Goddess."
Ming-Wa gasped.
"But we know they are. Remember Pao Hsien in Hsiao-pei-ho? The obscenity beneath Her temple?"
"I remember, Ming-Wa. But think. What is Li Ling doing? Why try to expose the Living World to the chaos of the Dream Worlds? That doesn't make sense if they're trying to overthrow the Goddess."
Ming-Wa seethed. Shan shrugged.
"They're looking for Her hara."
"Her what?"
"Her hara. Her center. They're pulling on Her, to see what She'll defend. If they can destroy the world, She has to stop them. And then they know."
"Know what?"
Shan shrugged.
"How should I know? You guys are the smart ones."
Fa stared at her giant friend, then shook her head.
"Never mind. They ARE opponents of the Goddess."
"But you just said."
"I was wrong. Thank you, Shan."
"No problem. Hey, there it is. Do you think this place will be serving dinner?"
Inside, the theatre was packed, and only strange, horrible voices came over the crowd to tell the women that the show had begun. Ming-Wa clutched at her chest at the foul, yet somehow compelling voice, rasping and hissing at her. Shan pushed forward and they followed.
Few folks made any complaint at Shan's brusque passage through the crowd; most were content to move aside, staring forward in slack-jawed fascination, and those that retained sufficient awareness to notice took one look at her armoured bulk and decided against protesting.
"I'm thirsty. Can we get a beer? Hey, he's cute."
Shan had come around a thick pillar and at last stood where she could see the stage. She looked up at the performers and swayed for a second, entranced by the lead actor's considerable handsomeness. The stage whirled and flashed with colour and leaping figures, enacting some battle with stylized acrobatics, their brilliant costumes flickering and weaving through the air as they tumbled about.
A table nearby suddenly came free. Wei-Yong rolled her eyes and pushed Shan down into a chair. The others seated themselves.
"Come on, Shan. Come on."
"Village to village, no one to play with..."
Shan's voice trailed off. Wei-Yong frowned.
"Shan? Hey, come on."
She turned to study the actor who had so fascinated her friend.
"Oh. Pretty."
Wei-Yong swallowed, blushing, and sat down at the table with Shan, equally fascinated by the handsome young man.
Ming-Wa and Fa turned to look at the stage and both did exactly as Wei-Yong had. All four women sat, helpless and mute, as the play continued on its deadly course.
Backstage, the playwright, a thin, sallow woman in filthy robes, held a knife in her hands. Pointing towards her stomach. She convulsed and buried the blade in her own body. Spasming, she choked and fell to the floor.
"At last... The Emperor of Dreams comes forth... "
barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
Yeah, it was kind of unexpected, actually. Four crappy Will saves later, the bad guys had the upper hand.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
Just wait and you'll see....
barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
CHAPTER FIVE
*****
"Now he comes forth! Witness his unveiling! The Emperor of Dreams comes before you all to free you from the chains of your Goddess. He comes!"
Upon the stage, facing the packed theatre, the lead actor pronounced the closing lines of Sung Li-Ling's new play. Above him, two other actors portraying spirit assistants of the Emperor writhed and pranced on the upper balcony, looking down upon the crowded theatre. By this point the theatre was filled with convulsing, jerking figures seated and standing around long tables running the length of the room.
Banners and lanterns hung from the crossbeams, swaying in the rising heat from the crowd. Even the waiters had paused, frozen in their steps by the unnatural waves of psychic energy flowing from the stage.
Slowly, at the center of the stage, directly behind the lead actor, a bizarre sort of hole began to emerge. A hole not in a wall or a panel, but simply floating in the air itself. A hole that tore at the minds and the sanity of all who looked upon it.
Even the minds of Li Fa, Zheng Ming-Wa, Muen Wei-Yong and Tong Shan, who sat, just as frozen as everyone else, staring in unthinking rapture at the obscene violation of reality taking place before them.
"He comes!"
The hole tore itself open further and a seething, scintillating wave of grotesque energy spilled out across the room. The four women at the back jerked as one, but only Ming-Wa shook herself and managed to look away from the horror unravelling reality itself before her.
The slender young woman looked around. She saw Mau Li, Wei-Yong's wolf, tugging on her mistress' hand in a desperate attempt to awaken the woman from the spell that descended upon them all. Human voices began to rise all around them, edging into the same sort of gutteral territory as the things they had fought in Mien-tsa-wing and Hu-shih-tsai. The entire audience was beginning to transform.
She turned to Fa, sitting beside her, and put forth her terrified mind into her friend's, seeking something, anything, she could use to retrieve the older woman from this terrible fate.
Fa shook, sputtered, and suddenly looked around in wild panic.
"What?"
Ming-Wa pointed at the stage. Fa shot out of her chair, black tendrils already licking up around her as she called upon sorcery's dark power.
The hole was no longer tearing itself open; it was being pulled apart by the limbs of some horrific, bloated thing that spilled forth, flailing tentacles and spraying slime in all directions. Screaming erupted on all sides as some folks sought to flee while others leapt upon their neighbors, savaging them with teeth and talons newly grown. The stink of blood and death and terror filled the cramped space.
Fa gestured and a thin needle sprang from her hand to impale the fearsome beast emerging from the hole, pinning it where it lay, half in and half out of the world. Ming-Wa sought a handle or a weakness in the thing's mind, but the patterns she encountered were wildly alien, brutal and incomprehensible, and again and again she found her mental grip slipping as the spirit's mind resisted her efforts.
"Goddess preserve us."
She saw Mau Li still snarling and tugging on Wei-Yong's hand, and with a flash of inspiration, she reached out with her mind to grab hold, not of another mind, but of the hook from which one of the lanterns depended, and flung the blazing box at Tong Shan's head.
The wooden lantern struck the big woman's helmet and shattered, spraying burning oil in all directions, but having no effect on Shan's continuing fasination with the actor on stage.
Ming-Wa nearly swore in frustration.
Fa groaned as the spirit beast tried to free itself from her transfixing needle, to pull itself fully into the Living World. She pressed her will against it, standing like a pillar amidst the chaos in the theatre as she focused her thought and her will on keeping the sorcerous needle exactly where it pinned the creature to reality.
Mau Li tasted her mistress' blood and the wolf, loyal beyond all else to her beloved mistress, gritted her teeth and bit down harder, her limited understanding sufficient to know that overcoming this terror was more important than her mistress' temporary comfort. Wei-Yong shook and cried out, yanking her hand free and staring down at Mau Li, who, overcome with remorse, lay sadly down at the woman's feet.
Wei-Yong looked around and blinked at the obscenity flapping and hissing up at the stage. Her bow was in her hand and arrows were flying down the length of the theatre before she even recognized where she was.
"The needle! Hit the needle!"
Even as Fa tried to tell Wei-Yong what to do, Ming-Wa, reasoning that the first lantern hadn't been enough, used her mind's strange powers to once again reach out and take hold of another lantern, sending it flying into her friend's head.
This time, the impact knocked Shan sideways, and she scrambled to her feet, looking around wildly.
"Her Big Holy Boobies. What's that?"
Fa cried out from where she stood.
"Shan, time to kill things!"
"Right."
Shan noticed the half-empty glass on the table.
"Beer. Good."
She drained the glass and drew her sword.
"Here we go."
Shan charged.
As her friend began building momentum, Wei-Yong saw the shimmering needle Fa was shouting about. It was only a couple of inches long, hanging in space just before the spirit creature, surrounded by flailing tentacles and hissing orifices. Wei-Yong drew, leapt up onto a table for a clearer view, whispered one quick prayer to the Goddess and let fly.
Shan jumped up onto one of the long tables that ran the length of the theatre, seeking a clear highway towards the stage. Wei-Yong's arrow buzzed past her head as she did so, and Shan watched as the blurring shaft flew straight and true, missing every one of the thing's limbs and striking the tiny silvery needle hanging right before it. Despite the sudden blast of white energy released by the impact, Shan made no attempt to alter her course or slow down.
Things needed killing, and the only strategy Shan ever used was to go where the things were and start killing.
At the impact of Wei-Yong's arrow with her needle, Fa grinned. The spirit creature was now completely within the Living World, and subject to all its laws. More darkness swirled up around her and the theatre floor at her feet erupted with a sudden roar. Heedless of the shrieking, frenzied mass of people between her and the stage, Fa gestured and the explosion roared down towards the stage, throwing bodies and furniture in all directions as it shot forwards.
Just before the stage, Shan heard the noise of Fa's earthbolt and saw that another figure had joined the two at the balcony overhead. This one wore a terrible, featureless mask that one clawlike hand rose to strip away.
"No you don't."
Shan had always wondered how much vertical she could get if she timed a jump to exactly coincide with Fa's spell.
Quite a bit, it turned out.
Wei-Yong gaped as her heavily-built friend, caught in the path of Fa's fearsome spell, suddenly seemed to bounce towards the ceiling. There was a tremendous explosion as the earthbolt reached the stage and sent timbers, curtain and flaming lanterns in all directions. The creature there blew apart in a reeking fountain of slime and gore, and riding the whole blasting wave was Shan, laughing savagely as she sailed up in front of the masked (and suddenly astonished) figure, and delivered a crippling blow with one swipe of her sword, only to plunge earthward immediately.
Even amidst the crashing and collapsing in the wake of Fa's spell, the heavy crunch of Shan hitting the floor was distinct.
"Ow. That was fun."
Dark whispering coils erupted around the figure in the mask. Fa tried to focus, to send her will into the other sorcerer's spell, but the frenzy of the theatre made it impossible to concentrate. She cried out a warning to her friend, but it was too late.
Shan looked up just as a mammoth pillar of searing flame rushed down on top of her.
"Shan!"
Wei-Yong, horrified at the sudden immolation of her friend, saw the two actors to either side of the figure in the mask leap out onto the heavy beams that ran the length of the theatre. One jumped down to the floor right where Shan stood, reeling, while the other raced towards where Fa tried to find a clear space in the midst of shrieking chaos. Wei-Yong spun, her bow horizontal, and dropped to one knee to give herself the angle she needed to pick off the running actor. He clutched at the feathered shaft projecting from his side and crashed to the floor. She kept spinning until she faced the stage again, and saw Shan straighten up, in the midst of charred furniture. The big woman swore.
"I think that burned my eyebrows right off."
Wei-Yong chuckled in relief at her friend's annoyed tone.
"Maybe it got rid of that little moustache, too."
Shan swore again and swung at the actor who'd dropped to the floor before her. He leaned back far enough to avoid the blade, but too far to avoid Shan's booted foot, which kicked out at his knees and knocked him to the floor. Shan raised her sword over her head and brought it down.
And missed. Her blade buried itself in the floorboards, and even Shan's tremendous strength could not pull the weapon free. She heaved once, then frowned as the actor leapt to his feet with a fierce yell.
A yell that cut off in a startled fashion when Shan head-butted him so viciously he flew backwards, spraying blood and stumbling right into the hole. THAT hole. He got out one quick shriek before some sort of horrible suction tore him backwards fast enough to rip him to pieces.
Ming-Wa had kept an eye on the upper stage and the second she saw the masked figure re-emerge, she reached out with both one hand and her mind.
The thing was no longer human, but it remembered being human. And it remembered pain. Ming-Wa reminded it.
Shan started as the body crashed into the burned floorboards beside her. The mask popped off and rattled off under the tables.
Although the theatre was still a swirling mass of humanity and ex-humanity struggling in fearsome throes of bloodletting, the four women relaxed, knowing their foe had at last been defeated.
Wei-Yong frowned.
"Should we maybe do something about that hole? It looks like it's getting bigger."
Fa and Ming-Wa both frowned. Ming-Wa narrowed her eyes.
"The Goddess will not permit such an abomination to exist."
She planted her feet and stretched out one hand, the other rising to her temple as her eyes closed and she opened her psychic senses.
The wild freakishness of that hole, that portal to the Dream Worlds, thrashed and battered at her like waves of howling brilliance. Ming-Wa swayed and gasped as the portal's growing power flung her will back and forth in its savage tide. Desperately she tried to gain a hold, to force the terrible all-consuming hunger backwards, but it defeated her. There was nothing to hold on to within its chaotic heart, and just the act of trying tore at Ming-Wa's sanity and identity. She felt herself fraying, coming apart in the hot, sick wind of the Dream Worlds, and threw herself back from it, dropping from her psychic trance and collapsing to the floor.
Fa and Wei-Yong and Shan rushed to their friend. Ming-Wa raised her spinning head and looked down at the stage. The hole had grown, and spread its multi-hued lips wide, tearing apart reality even as they looked upon it.
"Goddess... preserve us..."
Ming-Wa sagged, throwing herself into desperate prayer. She prayed to her beloved Goddess, the ruler of all the world, She who lived in splendour in the great celestial city of Zuyang, who watched over all her daughters with a stern but merciful eye, and she begged.
"Goddess. We need you. You must help us. This thing is beyond us and it will threaten all the world. Goddess. Your daughter of the Bended Knee begs you. Help us. Help all these people, Goddess. Stretch forth your infinite power and stop this obscenity. Please."
The women all fell back from Ming-Wa as a pale, extraordinarily beautiful face shimmered into being above her prostrate form.
"My daughter..."
"Goddess! Help us!"
The face turned from side to side slowly, smiling. Shan burst into tears at its perfection and began begging forgiveness for her many oaths and blasphemies.
"No, my beloved daughters. You must end this yourselves. I dare not. The mask. The mask is its connection to the Living World. Send back the mask. Hurry, my beloved daughters."
Fa leapt up and spotted the mask where it lay between an overturned chair and a ravaged, bloodstained corpse. She hurled it into the hole.
There was no sudden explosion or fireworks or thunderclap. The hole was simply gone, and that strange pressure in all their minds gone with it.
The beautiful face, dark eyes and red lips and white white white skin, faded away, still smiling. All four of the women wept, while around them people continued to die at the hands of horrid, twisted grotesqueries.
"Goddess... preserve us..."
*****
Fa picked at the bandage on her arm. She looked over at Shan, sprawled in a chair on the other side of the heavy table they sat at. The city square around them echoed with voices and excitement as the city watch finished cleaning up after Sung Li-Ling's final premiere. Stars glittered high overhead.
"So they sought Her hara. The Jade Razors. And She didn't show them. She showed us how to stop them, and we did it. They did not provoke Her. They failed."
Shan nodded and drank down her glass of beer before replying.
"Or else we are Her hara. And now they know. So they'll kill us."
She grinned. Wei-Yong grabbed her friend's broad shoulder and tugged.
"Come on, Shan, enough talk about killing. When's the last time we were in a city this big? Let's get drunk and you can beat up some boys."
"City boys."
Shan's eyes lit up and she rose to join her friend.
Fa looked over at Ming-Wa who was watching Shan and Wei-Yong with her usual disapproval. The older woman stood.
"I'll come with you two."
All three of the other women stared, then Shan laughed and slapped Fa's shoulder with enough force to knock the stern woman sideways.
"Time you loosened up, Fa. We'll find you a good time in this city no matter what."
Ming-Wa glared and she and Fa locked eyes briefly. Fa shrugged.
"We are Her hara, Ming-Wa. Her centre. A little party can't change that."
Ming-Wa folded her arms over her chest. With angry eyes she watched her friends walk off into the crowd.
*****
"Now he comes forth! Witness his unveiling! The Emperor of Dreams comes before you all to free you from the chains of your Goddess. He comes!"
Upon the stage, facing the packed theatre, the lead actor pronounced the closing lines of Sung Li-Ling's new play. Above him, two other actors portraying spirit assistants of the Emperor writhed and pranced on the upper balcony, looking down upon the crowded theatre. By this point the theatre was filled with convulsing, jerking figures seated and standing around long tables running the length of the room.
Banners and lanterns hung from the crossbeams, swaying in the rising heat from the crowd. Even the waiters had paused, frozen in their steps by the unnatural waves of psychic energy flowing from the stage.
Slowly, at the center of the stage, directly behind the lead actor, a bizarre sort of hole began to emerge. A hole not in a wall or a panel, but simply floating in the air itself. A hole that tore at the minds and the sanity of all who looked upon it.
Even the minds of Li Fa, Zheng Ming-Wa, Muen Wei-Yong and Tong Shan, who sat, just as frozen as everyone else, staring in unthinking rapture at the obscene violation of reality taking place before them.
"He comes!"
The hole tore itself open further and a seething, scintillating wave of grotesque energy spilled out across the room. The four women at the back jerked as one, but only Ming-Wa shook herself and managed to look away from the horror unravelling reality itself before her.
The slender young woman looked around. She saw Mau Li, Wei-Yong's wolf, tugging on her mistress' hand in a desperate attempt to awaken the woman from the spell that descended upon them all. Human voices began to rise all around them, edging into the same sort of gutteral territory as the things they had fought in Mien-tsa-wing and Hu-shih-tsai. The entire audience was beginning to transform.
She turned to Fa, sitting beside her, and put forth her terrified mind into her friend's, seeking something, anything, she could use to retrieve the older woman from this terrible fate.
Fa shook, sputtered, and suddenly looked around in wild panic.
"What?"
Ming-Wa pointed at the stage. Fa shot out of her chair, black tendrils already licking up around her as she called upon sorcery's dark power.
The hole was no longer tearing itself open; it was being pulled apart by the limbs of some horrific, bloated thing that spilled forth, flailing tentacles and spraying slime in all directions. Screaming erupted on all sides as some folks sought to flee while others leapt upon their neighbors, savaging them with teeth and talons newly grown. The stink of blood and death and terror filled the cramped space.
Fa gestured and a thin needle sprang from her hand to impale the fearsome beast emerging from the hole, pinning it where it lay, half in and half out of the world. Ming-Wa sought a handle or a weakness in the thing's mind, but the patterns she encountered were wildly alien, brutal and incomprehensible, and again and again she found her mental grip slipping as the spirit's mind resisted her efforts.
"Goddess preserve us."
She saw Mau Li still snarling and tugging on Wei-Yong's hand, and with a flash of inspiration, she reached out with her mind to grab hold, not of another mind, but of the hook from which one of the lanterns depended, and flung the blazing box at Tong Shan's head.
The wooden lantern struck the big woman's helmet and shattered, spraying burning oil in all directions, but having no effect on Shan's continuing fasination with the actor on stage.
Ming-Wa nearly swore in frustration.
Fa groaned as the spirit beast tried to free itself from her transfixing needle, to pull itself fully into the Living World. She pressed her will against it, standing like a pillar amidst the chaos in the theatre as she focused her thought and her will on keeping the sorcerous needle exactly where it pinned the creature to reality.
Mau Li tasted her mistress' blood and the wolf, loyal beyond all else to her beloved mistress, gritted her teeth and bit down harder, her limited understanding sufficient to know that overcoming this terror was more important than her mistress' temporary comfort. Wei-Yong shook and cried out, yanking her hand free and staring down at Mau Li, who, overcome with remorse, lay sadly down at the woman's feet.
Wei-Yong looked around and blinked at the obscenity flapping and hissing up at the stage. Her bow was in her hand and arrows were flying down the length of the theatre before she even recognized where she was.
"The needle! Hit the needle!"
Even as Fa tried to tell Wei-Yong what to do, Ming-Wa, reasoning that the first lantern hadn't been enough, used her mind's strange powers to once again reach out and take hold of another lantern, sending it flying into her friend's head.
This time, the impact knocked Shan sideways, and she scrambled to her feet, looking around wildly.
"Her Big Holy Boobies. What's that?"
Fa cried out from where she stood.
"Shan, time to kill things!"
"Right."
Shan noticed the half-empty glass on the table.
"Beer. Good."
She drained the glass and drew her sword.
"Here we go."
Shan charged.
As her friend began building momentum, Wei-Yong saw the shimmering needle Fa was shouting about. It was only a couple of inches long, hanging in space just before the spirit creature, surrounded by flailing tentacles and hissing orifices. Wei-Yong drew, leapt up onto a table for a clearer view, whispered one quick prayer to the Goddess and let fly.
Shan jumped up onto one of the long tables that ran the length of the theatre, seeking a clear highway towards the stage. Wei-Yong's arrow buzzed past her head as she did so, and Shan watched as the blurring shaft flew straight and true, missing every one of the thing's limbs and striking the tiny silvery needle hanging right before it. Despite the sudden blast of white energy released by the impact, Shan made no attempt to alter her course or slow down.
Things needed killing, and the only strategy Shan ever used was to go where the things were and start killing.
At the impact of Wei-Yong's arrow with her needle, Fa grinned. The spirit creature was now completely within the Living World, and subject to all its laws. More darkness swirled up around her and the theatre floor at her feet erupted with a sudden roar. Heedless of the shrieking, frenzied mass of people between her and the stage, Fa gestured and the explosion roared down towards the stage, throwing bodies and furniture in all directions as it shot forwards.
Just before the stage, Shan heard the noise of Fa's earthbolt and saw that another figure had joined the two at the balcony overhead. This one wore a terrible, featureless mask that one clawlike hand rose to strip away.
"No you don't."
Shan had always wondered how much vertical she could get if she timed a jump to exactly coincide with Fa's spell.
Quite a bit, it turned out.
Wei-Yong gaped as her heavily-built friend, caught in the path of Fa's fearsome spell, suddenly seemed to bounce towards the ceiling. There was a tremendous explosion as the earthbolt reached the stage and sent timbers, curtain and flaming lanterns in all directions. The creature there blew apart in a reeking fountain of slime and gore, and riding the whole blasting wave was Shan, laughing savagely as she sailed up in front of the masked (and suddenly astonished) figure, and delivered a crippling blow with one swipe of her sword, only to plunge earthward immediately.
Even amidst the crashing and collapsing in the wake of Fa's spell, the heavy crunch of Shan hitting the floor was distinct.
"Ow. That was fun."
Dark whispering coils erupted around the figure in the mask. Fa tried to focus, to send her will into the other sorcerer's spell, but the frenzy of the theatre made it impossible to concentrate. She cried out a warning to her friend, but it was too late.
Shan looked up just as a mammoth pillar of searing flame rushed down on top of her.
"Shan!"
Wei-Yong, horrified at the sudden immolation of her friend, saw the two actors to either side of the figure in the mask leap out onto the heavy beams that ran the length of the theatre. One jumped down to the floor right where Shan stood, reeling, while the other raced towards where Fa tried to find a clear space in the midst of shrieking chaos. Wei-Yong spun, her bow horizontal, and dropped to one knee to give herself the angle she needed to pick off the running actor. He clutched at the feathered shaft projecting from his side and crashed to the floor. She kept spinning until she faced the stage again, and saw Shan straighten up, in the midst of charred furniture. The big woman swore.
"I think that burned my eyebrows right off."
Wei-Yong chuckled in relief at her friend's annoyed tone.
"Maybe it got rid of that little moustache, too."
Shan swore again and swung at the actor who'd dropped to the floor before her. He leaned back far enough to avoid the blade, but too far to avoid Shan's booted foot, which kicked out at his knees and knocked him to the floor. Shan raised her sword over her head and brought it down.
And missed. Her blade buried itself in the floorboards, and even Shan's tremendous strength could not pull the weapon free. She heaved once, then frowned as the actor leapt to his feet with a fierce yell.
A yell that cut off in a startled fashion when Shan head-butted him so viciously he flew backwards, spraying blood and stumbling right into the hole. THAT hole. He got out one quick shriek before some sort of horrible suction tore him backwards fast enough to rip him to pieces.
Ming-Wa had kept an eye on the upper stage and the second she saw the masked figure re-emerge, she reached out with both one hand and her mind.
The thing was no longer human, but it remembered being human. And it remembered pain. Ming-Wa reminded it.
Shan started as the body crashed into the burned floorboards beside her. The mask popped off and rattled off under the tables.
Although the theatre was still a swirling mass of humanity and ex-humanity struggling in fearsome throes of bloodletting, the four women relaxed, knowing their foe had at last been defeated.
Wei-Yong frowned.
"Should we maybe do something about that hole? It looks like it's getting bigger."
Fa and Ming-Wa both frowned. Ming-Wa narrowed her eyes.
"The Goddess will not permit such an abomination to exist."
She planted her feet and stretched out one hand, the other rising to her temple as her eyes closed and she opened her psychic senses.
The wild freakishness of that hole, that portal to the Dream Worlds, thrashed and battered at her like waves of howling brilliance. Ming-Wa swayed and gasped as the portal's growing power flung her will back and forth in its savage tide. Desperately she tried to gain a hold, to force the terrible all-consuming hunger backwards, but it defeated her. There was nothing to hold on to within its chaotic heart, and just the act of trying tore at Ming-Wa's sanity and identity. She felt herself fraying, coming apart in the hot, sick wind of the Dream Worlds, and threw herself back from it, dropping from her psychic trance and collapsing to the floor.
Fa and Wei-Yong and Shan rushed to their friend. Ming-Wa raised her spinning head and looked down at the stage. The hole had grown, and spread its multi-hued lips wide, tearing apart reality even as they looked upon it.
"Goddess... preserve us..."
Ming-Wa sagged, throwing herself into desperate prayer. She prayed to her beloved Goddess, the ruler of all the world, She who lived in splendour in the great celestial city of Zuyang, who watched over all her daughters with a stern but merciful eye, and she begged.
"Goddess. We need you. You must help us. This thing is beyond us and it will threaten all the world. Goddess. Your daughter of the Bended Knee begs you. Help us. Help all these people, Goddess. Stretch forth your infinite power and stop this obscenity. Please."
The women all fell back from Ming-Wa as a pale, extraordinarily beautiful face shimmered into being above her prostrate form.
"My daughter..."
"Goddess! Help us!"
The face turned from side to side slowly, smiling. Shan burst into tears at its perfection and began begging forgiveness for her many oaths and blasphemies.
"No, my beloved daughters. You must end this yourselves. I dare not. The mask. The mask is its connection to the Living World. Send back the mask. Hurry, my beloved daughters."
Fa leapt up and spotted the mask where it lay between an overturned chair and a ravaged, bloodstained corpse. She hurled it into the hole.
There was no sudden explosion or fireworks or thunderclap. The hole was simply gone, and that strange pressure in all their minds gone with it.
The beautiful face, dark eyes and red lips and white white white skin, faded away, still smiling. All four of the women wept, while around them people continued to die at the hands of horrid, twisted grotesqueries.
"Goddess... preserve us..."
*****
Fa picked at the bandage on her arm. She looked over at Shan, sprawled in a chair on the other side of the heavy table they sat at. The city square around them echoed with voices and excitement as the city watch finished cleaning up after Sung Li-Ling's final premiere. Stars glittered high overhead.
"So they sought Her hara. The Jade Razors. And She didn't show them. She showed us how to stop them, and we did it. They did not provoke Her. They failed."
Shan nodded and drank down her glass of beer before replying.
"Or else we are Her hara. And now they know. So they'll kill us."
She grinned. Wei-Yong grabbed her friend's broad shoulder and tugged.
"Come on, Shan, enough talk about killing. When's the last time we were in a city this big? Let's get drunk and you can beat up some boys."
"City boys."
Shan's eyes lit up and she rose to join her friend.
Fa looked over at Ming-Wa who was watching Shan and Wei-Yong with her usual disapproval. The older woman stood.
"I'll come with you two."
All three of the other women stared, then Shan laughed and slapped Fa's shoulder with enough force to knock the stern woman sideways.
"Time you loosened up, Fa. We'll find you a good time in this city no matter what."
Ming-Wa glared and she and Fa locked eyes briefly. Fa shrugged.
"We are Her hara, Ming-Wa. Her centre. A little party can't change that."
Ming-Wa folded her arms over her chest. With angry eyes she watched her friends walk off into the crowd.
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