The Light-Field (58 page)

In her mind's eye Taren envisaged herself on the misty stone bridge, placing one foot in front of the other. Upon coming to the far side, she could still see nothing of her destination and so took a leap of faith into the fog.

 

Through the clouds rising off the steamy water, the torches of summons burned brightly on the jetty ahead — igniting the torches was the means to request an audience with the Wu of Li Shan. A team of hooded ferrywomen at her back were drawing the ferryboat across the
surface of the large hot thermal lake; this vessel was the only way to gain access to the temple of the Great Mother. A large hood shrouded Taren's face as she stood on the bow of the ferry. The sky above was dark and flashed electric with the promise of a storm. As their vessel neared the jetty, the noise in the rumbling sky was matched by the din before them. The rattle of battle armour, warrior chatter and horses served to warn her that a small army lay in wait. She motioned for the ferry to halt a good distance across the water from the end of the pier.

‘Speak,' she requested and the commotion hushed to silence. ‘The Wu of Mount Li are listening.'

‘I am Ji Dan, come to seek the guidance of the great mother, on behalf of my brother, Ji Fa, Viscount of the West.'

Both names were legendary in these parts; the Ji family princes were increasingly idolised by the common people. The mightiest warlords in the land had come to them, just as the great mother had predicted they would.

‘We were deeply saddened to hear of the death of your great father, Ji Chang. He has brought a lasting peace and calm to the west.' She gave her condolences.

‘His sons hope to continue his legacy, and are here to seek Heaven's mandate to depose the emperor, who no longer serves Heaven, our great ancestors or the people! We understand a prophecy of the downfall of Zi Shou hailed from Mount Li,' he continued, ‘and I am here to discover if my great and noble brother, Ji Fa, is the one whom the Great Mother foresees will put an end to the madness of Shang oppression.'

‘You want the permission of the Great Mother to go to war?' she clarified.

‘We are already at war,' the lord replied. ‘But yes, if that is the will of Heaven.'

‘The will of Heaven is that we live in peace.'

The duke was amused by the response. ‘That is our greatest wish also. But my brother respectfully asks the Great Mother to consider
that as it is one of the Wu who inspired much of Zi Shou's madness, will you not aid us to defeat her?'

‘Su Daji is not of the House of Yi Wu Li Shan.' The duke's use of guilt tactics did not impress her at all. ‘We cannot be held responsible for her corrupt ideology and destructive practices. She has permanently damaged the reputation of all the Wu in the eyes of the people.'

‘That is because the Wu have done nothing to depose her,' Ji Dan replied. ‘If our armies are to have any chance of overthrowing Zi Shou, we must first deal with Daji. The Wu have Powers beyond that of mortal man, and the Wu of the House of Yi Wu Li Shan are the most famed and respected in the West, so where else could the Ji family expect to find her equal?'

The notion of combating Daji, who had shamed all the Wu so greatly, appealed to her very much. ‘The Great Mother will only speak with the candidate for her heavenly mandate about such matters.'

‘I can only bring forth the candidate once I know his safety in your house is assured,' the lord cautioned. ‘At the very least, I would have to accompany Ji Fa as far as your cloister.'

‘You have my word that you and your brother will have a safe return passage to Yi Wu Li Shan and back,' she vowed.

‘And who are you, lady?' the lord asked. ‘May I have a name to report to my brother as our contact among the Wu?'

‘I am Jiang Hudan,' she announced, and her name incited gasps and muttering among the soldiers.

I can return to the bridge.
Taren noted that her mission objective had been achieved.

‘I have heard of you, Tiger Courage,' the lord asserted on behalf of his men — Tiger Courage was what her name meant, and Taren's consciousness was waylaid by the information — her exotic past was indeed enchanting. ‘They say you have a sister who is a white tiger, but how can that be?'

‘Mortal men are not expected to understand all the wonders of Heaven,' she replied.

‘
Timekeeper return
.'

Taren's consciousness spun around, and before her was the bridge.
I know my name!
and the excitement that accompanied that knowledge indicated to her just how much she wanted to return to this strange and mysterious place.

 

‘So what is to become of me?' Khalid asked, as he took a seat in the amphitheatre, in the sun — Rhun and Noah sat down close by. ‘Obviously team fabulous downstairs are prepping for a mission of some sort … and as I am considered the enemy, and am now powerless, I gather I won't be going?'

‘How did you lose your power anyway?' Rhun changed the subject. ‘Did the Orions shoot it out of you, too?'

‘I never had any real power of my own.' He shrugged, deflated. ‘It seems what power I had was borrowed from the angry spirits of my father's self-sacrificed crew.'

‘The dark arts.' En Noah was familiar with this kind of unnatural magic. ‘Still, usually the spirits of the dead only enhance a person's own untapped talents?'

‘What are you implying?' Khalid was very interested.

‘Back to the subject of what is to become of you.' Rhun found Khalid's probing unsettling, but he did not show it.

‘They're time-travelling, aren't they?' Khalid voiced his understanding. ‘And if I stay here, and they keep shifting timelines, I will become lost in time in this parallel universe.'

‘No,' Rhun assured him. ‘When we succeed, you'll just wake up one morning in your rightful place and will remember none of this.'

‘But team fabulous will remember,' Khalid summarised, smiling to acknowledge how clever their plan was. ‘Which gives them the advantage over me next time around.'

‘Well, that's what you get for being one of the bad guys,' Rhun concluded coolly.

‘I didn't ask to be a demon spawn!' Khalid countered. ‘You think I wouldn't choose to be the fucking hero if I had any say in the matter?'

Rhun grinned — he actually kind of liked this guy's black sense of humour. ‘Well, you know, the thing about team fabulous is that they are a fairly forgiving lot. If you really want to earn their favour, you shouldn't find it too difficult. Just be part of the solution instead of the problem.'

‘How can I?' Khalid appealed. ‘They won't let me do anything to prove myself.'

Rhun, who strived to see the positive in everyone and considered himself fairly good at judging character, wasn't completely convinced that Khalid was sincere. ‘The best way to prove your worth at this point is just to cooperate.'

‘I have been cooperating!' Khalid said, and grimaced. ‘I don't want to be left behind! I don't want to go back to my rightful place, because my rightful place is fucking possessed!'

‘Okay, I got you.' Rhun urged him to simmer down.

‘Once the others are safely away, I can probably help you regain your lost talents and teach you how to combat your demons,' Noah offered.

‘Bullshit?' The prisoner was wary.

‘No, I can,' Noah reaffirmed. ‘But in order to do it, you would truly have to become one of the good guys, otherwise my means will not work for you.'

Khalid had a think about this. ‘Well, I am probably about due a lifestyle change.'

‘We can begin as soon as the Timekeepers leave.' Noah smiled, obviously pleased to have a project to focus on whilst he awaited the outcome of the mission.

‘I think I can squeeze that into my schedule.' Khalid grinned, content.

 

When Taren awoke from her trance state, she fumbled her way to standing way too quickly, eager to see who else was back with a name.

Only Telmo stood in the corridor beyond her quiet sanctuary and he looked to Taren, eyebrows raised in question.

‘Jiang Hudan,' she announced with glee. ‘Whoa.' Taren marvelled at how at home she had felt in the body of her Wu incarnation — it had felt as real and natural as occupying the one she was in right now. ‘That was completely fantastic! Am I the first one back?'

Telmo gave a nod as Zeven emerged from his chamber, and they both looked his way to hear his news.

‘Ji Song,' he told them, appearing very pleased with himself. ‘And I am definitely going back there!'

‘Why?' Taren was curious. ‘Where did your memory take you?'

‘To a bathhouse,' he grinned, ‘where a bunch of lovely ladies were —'

‘Got it.' Taren held her hand up to prevent him elaborating any further. ‘The universe certainly knows how to get you motivated.'

Zeven knew she was having a go at him. ‘Why? Where did you go?'

‘Oh my heavenly bodies, that was amazing!'

All eyes turned to Ringbalin, who leant in his doorway, appearing dazed but excited.

‘She was there,' he said, ‘
Ayliscia
… and she was in the most amazing garden I've ever seen!'

‘I'm not the only one the universe knows how to motivate,' Zeven commented to Taren, who smiled to agree.

‘It was she who was calling me by name,' Ringbalin continued his account, lost in the happiness it inspired in him.

‘And that name was?' Taren prompted.

‘Fen Gong,' he stated.

‘Xi Wangmu,' said Jazmay, and added a big cat growl on the end for effect.

‘You're the White Tiger?' Taren piped up with a guess, and Jazmay winked at Taren in response. ‘We're sisters …'

‘That is the impression I got,' Jazmay concurred, as Jahan emerged from his chamber.

‘Ji Shi,' he introduced himself.

‘Excellent,' Telmo said, as Jazmay gave Jahan a thump on the shoulder for doing so well. ‘So, there is only Lucian remaining.'

They all looked to the captain's door, and after several minutes when he did not emerge, Telmo entered to see what had become of him, to find Lucian collapsed on the floor.

Taren teleported herself to his side to check for a pulse. ‘Nothing?' She was panicked, and began positioning him for resuscitation.

‘That won't do any good,' Telmo told her, annoyed at himself. ‘His spirit has fled. Damn it!'

‘How could a meditation have killed him?' Taren appealed, tears welling in her eyes.

‘It didn't kill him, per se,' Telmo explained. ‘He's just made the jump already, and left this physical body behind.'

‘But what about the trigger word?' Taren wondered if they could still call him back.

‘I used the trigger word on him, just as I did on all of you,' Telmo said. ‘It is to make him remember his mission, but I cannot make him come back. Perhaps he didn't want to risk being unable to get back to the past? Or maybe he just wanted to make the jump so badly that he accidentally launched his soul and not just his consciousness back to Zhou?'

‘Shit!' Taren was a little annoyed at him for jumping the gun, but at the same time she was pleased to know he would be waiting in the past. ‘Now how shall I know who he is?'

‘I know who he was.' Rhun had returned, but Khalid and En Noah were not with him.

‘Where is Khalid?' Zeven didn't want him overhearing what they were up to. ‘Did he give you any trouble?'

‘Not at all,' Rhun advised. ‘He's back in his cell.'

‘What are we going to do with him?' Zeven asked Taren.

‘Khalid must stay here with En Noah. When we change the past, his soul-mind will be returned to the future we left behind, and for him, none of this will have taken place.' She was more interested in Lucian's past-life identity. ‘You were saying, about Lucian?' Taren reminded Rhun, struggling to ignore the fact that her husband was an empty shell in her arms.

‘He was one of my younger brothers, Ji Dan,' Rhun enlightened Taren and she gasped, having just spoken with this man during her past-life visit.

‘Now there seems to be no question of whether or not I should do this.'

‘Count me in.' Zeven seconded her course of action.

‘And me,' Jazmay spoke up.

‘Yo.' Jahan raised a finger to volunteer.

Taren looked to Ringbalin, who was still wearing a delirious grin on his face. ‘I have to go back there,' he admitted — he'd been seduced by the exotic foreign world too.

‘Then let's do this.' Taren rose to usher everyone out of the captain's meditation chamber, as she intended to make the jump from Lucian's side.

Zeven moved in for a hug before leaving. ‘See you on the other side of the light field.' He referred to the blast of light that accompanied every teleportation experience. ‘You can't miss me, I'm a prince.'

‘Well, la-de-da,' Taren joked — Zeven's ability to land on his feet was just ironic. ‘No,' she relented. ‘You always were a prince.' She kissed his cheek and let him go. ‘And I'm going to miss you.'

‘Not if you can't remember me.' Zeven's eyebrows shot up a couple of times. ‘And as I'm probably not related to you back there, you'd better watch out.' He disappeared into the corridor before Taren could object to his intent.

‘Later, boss.' Jazmay, as lacking in sentiment as ever, left with Jahan in tow, whereupon Taren turned to Ringbalin. ‘Sure you want to do this?'

He smiled and gave a decisive nod. ‘At least I'll still be hanging with the old crew.' Ringbalin smiled and departed for his own cell.

‘See you there.' Telmo backed out.

‘Aren't you going to tell me your name in the past?' she asked and Telmo shook his head.

‘I'll find you.'

‘Oh, come on?' Taren thought him being overly secretive. ‘What's the big deal, if I'm probably going to forget all this anyway?'