The Blue Mountain (The Forbidden List Book 2) (4 page)

He began to creep forward. Each paw placed with great care and head swinging slowly from side to side, seeking his prey. The scent was powerful. He could see it as a winding, meandering trail hanging in the air. Zhou kept his back low, beneath the level of ferns and underbrush that formed the boundary of the trail.

As he drew closer, the quiet tread of an animal reached his ears. He stopped again, listening. Between the scent trail and the sound of the steps, he pinpointed his prey’s location. He tasted the wind as it drifted through the trees and padded closer.

Zhou moved off the trail, into the ferns and bushes of the undergrowth. Leaving the scent trail behind, he relied only on hearing and instinct. Avoiding the thickest areas of vegetation, the dry branches and twigs on the floor that would have given away his position, he passed by the sounds of his prey and set himself up ahead of it. He waited. Patient.

The prey came along the trail, walking on four thin legs. A long neck connected the small tapered head with a body covered in golden brown hair. Its black eyes had no iris. Above the eyes, two large ears with tufts of white fur coating the inside. Either side of its thin mouth, two tusks jutted down and slightly outwards. It was, at most, half his size and despite the fearsome teeth it looked skittish. Ready to bolt.

Zhou flattened himself to the ground and continued to wait. Face on, the water deer was narrow bodied with more white fur on its underside and near its hooves. Every couple of steps it stopped, raised its head, ears twitching left and right, before moving on. He waited, holding his breath, as it came closer and closer.

He pounced. The deer raised itself on its hind legs preparing to twist, turn, leap and escape. Before it could complete the turn, his powerful jaws clamped down, hard around its neck, and his weight dragged it to the floor. The deer’s legs kicked and jerked, thumping into the muscles on his shoulder and flank. He ignored them and bit down harder. His sharp canine teeth punctured the deer’s flesh. Hot, salty blood flooded his mouth and he swallowed in greedy gulps. He exerted more and more pressure, compressing the deer’s windpipe, suffocating it. The kicks became weaker and the flow of blood slowed. Then the deer was still, but still he kept up the pressure. Making sure it was dead.

He raised his face from the fresh kill and roared his success to the forest.

* * *

*How was your meal, Hēi Bào?* Xióngmāo’s voice entered his mind as he sauntered out of the forest.

*Why do you call me that?* he asked.

*It is your name, your real name that is. All
Wu
eventually take the name of their animal. At least we do amongst ourselves. When we go amongst the normal people, over the years, we wear and discard different names,* she explained.

*Doesn’t that get confusing?* Zhou tilted his head to one side, looking at her.

*Why?* and there was a puzzled tone to the voice in his head.

*Well, what if there were two or three who had the same spirit?*

*Ah, you haven’t noticed, or Boqin has been remiss in his education. There is only one of each spirit, each animal. No one is quite sure why and it has been researched by many - you can read about it in the library scrolls,* Xióngmāo explained. *There is one more thing you need to learn today. Just as the Spirit gives us power in our world so we can give it power in this one.*

Zhou settled to the floor and began to clean the last of the deer’s blood from his fur. His long tongue sliding along his leg, saliva creating a reflective sheen as the fur flattened. *What is it?*

*We can travel in this world much faster than our own,* Xióngmāo began to explain. *The ancients believed that this was because our physical body is not present. Beyond that, they were not sure and no one has ever furthered their research. It is not easy to explain how we travel, much better to show you.* The panda lifted herself off her haunch and ambled over to stand beside him.

He rose in response. *How?*

*Watch and follow,* Xióngmāo said and an image formed in his head. A wide, still pond set in a calm, sunlit clearing. In the middle of the pond, a tall stone stood sentry over the water. *Now, go there, run into it.*

*I don’t know where it is. How can I run to it?* Zhou said.

*I didn’t say run to it, run into it. You passed through the void between the worlds to get here, Hēi Bào, it should be easy for you to go there. Watch.* She vanished.

Or rather, she appeared to. The scene in his mind remained clear. His whiskers sensed the wind of her passage. Her scent trail, weak and already dissipating, hung on the air leading towards the forest. He listened, but heard nothing of her going. In his mind, there was a change. The tranquil glade was no longer empty, a large panda walked out of the trees and rested by the water’s edge.

Zhou focused on the image and ran into it. The forest blurred before his eyes, rushing past faster than he could see and react to. He was aware of his legs moving beneath him and of force of the wind against his face, but where he should have been gasping for breath he was flowing through the forest without effort. Before he could dwell on the sensation, he felt himself slow and, padding out of the trees, he came to halt before the pond.

*That is incredible,* he said to Xióngmāo, who stared at him. He could swear that the panda wore a smile, but it was impossible to tell for sure.

*Rest a bit, then it is your turn to pick the place. I will follow you,* Xióngmāo said.

Zhou dipped his head and lapped at the pond water. It was chill, refreshing and droplets of sparkling water flew off his tongue to land back in the pond. Tiny circular tsunamis racing across the surface, intersecting and interrupting each other. As the ripples cleared he saw the face of his wife and son looking back at him from the depths. Then they too faded away. His own face stared back at him, yellow and black eyes, black fur and white whiskers. What have I become? he wondered.

*Xióngmāo, there is somewhere I want to go.* Zhou stood and turned towards the north-west. *I am not sure how far away it is though.*

*The distance we can travel is dependent upon our store of
Qi
,* Xióngmāo said, *and today that is not a worry. We have been on the mountain for a long time, it is a natural store and supply of energy. Show me where we are going.*

Zhou let his focus relax. No longer gazing at the water and trees, but now looking much further away. The mountains, valleys and forests disappeared and the world became a blur of blue, but there, on the far horizon a different colour pierced his vision. A red pillar of flame reached up through the cerulean landscape. It was larger than he remembered and now, around its base, the fire was spreading outwards. He fixed the vision in his mind and then, holding it steady, pushed it out towards Xióngmāo.

*What is that?* she said in shock and surprise.

*I don’t know. The Emperor showed it to me. He thinks it is the cause of the problems in the north and the refugee crisis. No one he has ever sent to investigate has returned.*

*And you are suggesting that we go there?* Xióngmāo asked.

*Well, we are not in the real world are we? We should be safe.*

*Zhou, you have a lot to learn. There are things in the spirit world that can harm us. Larger animals, strange animals, beasts that have never existed in our world, there is much more here that you can imagine. If we are hurt here we can be hurt in our world too.*

Zhou’s head drooped. *If you think it is not safe then, I guess, we shouldn’t go.*

*However,* Xióngmāo said, *we have a duty to protect the land and, I suppose, it cannot do any harm to approach the edge. At least get a look at the land around it. We leave the moment I suspect a threat. Understand?*

*Of course. I have no wish to get hurt or killed.* His ears, high on his head, twitched and his tail curled around his flank.

*Then, let’s go,* and the panda blurred from view. Zhou took a deep breath and followed, passing over the land faster than any bird had ever flown.

* * *

The blue began to garner a tinge of red, turning from the purity of a bright primary to a purple progeny of its two parents. They descended from the last range of steep hills onto a plain of grass stretching endless into the distance, unbroken by any plant taller than a spindly shrub.

His breath came harder and slow. The distance they had travelled was beyond his reckoning and this was a land new to him. Far away, still over the horizon and still burning, the red flame looked only a little closer.

*Zhou, we must stop,* Xióngmāo said, an edge of fear in her voice.

He saw her slow further and matched her pace. Her paws touched the ground again and, instead of gliding across, they caught on some obstruction. She tripped and tumbled. Rolling over and over. Dust and ripped ribbons of grass flew into the air.

He tried to stop and felt something catch at his paws, seeking to trip him, but he bounded high into the air, twisting and landing on all fours facing in the opposite direction. He placed each paw with great care as he padded over to the fallen panda.

*Are you ok?*

Xióngmāo groaned and pulled herself back to her feet. On her forehead a clump of white fur was turning red as blood matted it together.

*Zhou, something is very wrong here. Can you feel it? Like a force is pushing us away, resisting our movement across the land. I’ve never felt anything like this before.*

*Let me look at your head,* he said and Xióngmāo ducked, giving him a clear view of the wound. A ragged cut, about a finger’s length, but not deep. *Head wounds tend to bleed the most, but it doesn’t look too bad. I am not sure how to help you in this form.*

*I’ll be fine back on the mountain.* Zhou watched her. The great panda’s round, dark brown eyes focused far on the horizon. *Something here is corrupting the spirit energy. It makes me feel ill. We need to get back to the mountain. We need to talk to the others. This isn’t right.*

Zhou examined the grass near his paws. The green blades were rimmed with the expected blue glow of the spirit but at their centre, running up the stem, branching veins of red. They pulsed to a rapid beat. He saw them spread and grow, reaching outward towards the edge of the blades. Where they touched the blue, they corrupted, diseased, and the blue faded. He raised his gaze and stared at Xióngmāo. The spirit blue glowed from her, a beacon against a purple night, at her feet the red veins reached towards her but were beaten back. They shrivelled and died, but still more took their place and continued the assault on her energy.

*I think you’re right, let’s go,* he said. His ears twitched and nose wrinkled as new sounds and smells drifted on the air. *Something’s coming. More than one.*

Zhou turned towards the sound and moved to stand next to Xióngmāo. Across the plains four, five, maybe even six new shapes moved towards them. As they closed, Zhou began to pick out details, four tall legs, sleek and strong bodies, long faces and manes of hair running down their backs.

*Horses, I think,* he said and continued to watch, *and they are not slowing.*

*I can’t sense them,* Xióngmāo said, raising a paw to wipe the blood from her face, licking it clean.

The horses sped across the grassland and circled the pair. Zhou turned round, trying to keep an eye on all of them. It was impossible. Xióngmāo and he moved to stand back to back as the horses began to close the circle. Zhou growled, low in his chest, baring his teeth and the horses slowed to stop. They all faced inward at the panther and panda.

Now they were stationary, Zhou took the chance to examine them. He felt his lips pull back and a snarl welled up in his throat as he took in the claws that replaced their hooves and the sharp stalactites of teeth that stabbed down from their upper lips. More than that, they did not glow with the blue he had come to expect, but with the red of the flame.

*What are they?* he asked.

*I don’t know, but they do not look friendly. Let’s get ready to get out of here. Fix the mountain in your mind,* Xióngmāo responded.

Zhou tried to speak to one of the horse creatures, but something blocked his thought. The horse flicked its head as if swatting away a persistent fly. He sensed rather than saw the signal the creatures exchanged and was already calling out to Xióngmāo when they attacked.

He ducked under the first clawed hoof and retaliated with a swipe of his own. A second horse charged in and he was forced to back away or be trampled. The creature in front of him reared up and attempted to bring both hooves down onto him. If they struck, the force and weight of the horse was sure to break his spine. Zhou slid to the side avoiding the descending hooves and used the brief moment of time to check on Xióngmāo. She was deep in battle with two more of the horse creatures, rearing up to swipe at them her own fearsome paws, keeping them at bay.

Zhou pounced forward, racing along the flank of the horse and scoring a hit on its rear leg. The creature let out a high-pitched scream and turned on him. He carried on running, putting space between him and his three opponents. Pulling them away from Xióngmāo. His claws tore at the grass and dirt as he tried to turn.

He drew in a large breath and let it back out again in a loud roar. The three horses put their heads down and charged him. The horses’ hooves hit the ground in a staccato rhythm and despite asynchronicity of their gait he could admire their grace in motion.