Lady Earthquake

Lady Earthquake Chapter 5

The Master's class was abuzz with gossip and excitement as they waited to begin. "My sister's furious with us," the younger Han brother whispered to Shu Ban-Li. "She is sure that if the Prince had seen her even once, she would be moving into the palace."

"Is she so pretty?"

"I do not like the way her nose turns up but Mother says she is. Hey, show me that lunge, huh? I cannot get it right."

"Sure. Just do it once first, with only your feet." Shu Ban-Li pushed from his mind the memory of working on that move with Sun-Sin. He was gone, but the work had to continue. "You are not reaching far enough with your right foot. Kick it first, then stamp, then drop."

A couple of the other boys looked up from whispering behind their hands to watch and mimic. "Yeah, like that," Shu Ban-Li said. "But faster and more all-together. It is the feet; not the arms."

"The Master is here!" Fuzhu shouted. The boys assembled into a single row.

The Flame of Zhao studied his class, his head thrown back, his eyes narrowed. "We have lost one of our own, making this a class now of eight. But it is evident that some of you have learned all of the art that is within your capacity. I honor you for your efforts. Please do not return."

Mister Fuzhu moved down the line of boys, handing most of them scrolls of graduation. When he was done, the older Han boy, Duma the innkeeper's son, and Shu Ban-Li alone stood empty-handed. They looked at each other, puzzled by this turn of events.

Their Master told them to sit on the floor. His eyes, hard as agates, did not soften as he looked at them, young, strong, on the brink of manhood. He asked them coldly, "How do you feel about yourselves now that you have moved on to a higher class?"

"Very proud," Han said with a confident nod.

"My father will be proud," Duma added.

"And what about you?" the Master said, pointing his finger at Shu Ban-Li.

"Ignorant, Master."

The Flame of Zhao chuckled angrily. "You think I have not taught you well?"

Ban-Li dropped his eyes before that piercing glance. "I did not say so, Master. But you asked me what I felt, not what I thought. In an art that requires a lifetime of study, how could I feel other than ignorant after so short a training as only four years?"

The other two boys exchanged baffled glances.

"Ha! Losing your friend has made you speak up for yourself, I see."

"This is also true, Master."

The hard mouth curled in a snarl as he chuckled again, the way a wolf might laugh.

"Get up, Han. You will fight Mister Fuzhu."

The older man, bent, his knees twisted, waited with a grin folding back the wrinkles around his mouth. "Come, come!"

Han hesitated, gripping the hilt of his quite genuinely sharpened sword. "I cannot, Master. He has only a walking stick."

"Do not worry; he will not hurt you much."

The boy advanced slowly, sure there was some trick. In three movements, almost too swift for the eye to record, the old man had Han flat on his back. Duma approached more cautiously when his turn came. Working in his father's inn ever since he could toddle, he had learned to be observant and quick-witted. Old Fuzhu still broke his guard and whacked him on the back of the knee to bring him down in less than five seconds.

Shu Ban-Li had watched his peers lose in hardly more than a couple of heartbeats. He was determined to survive on his feet for at least half-a-minute. He bowed his head at his Master's command to 'get up' and stood, his sword-arm extended past his hip, pointing toward the floor.