From the Ashes of Love

Chapter 42

Liu Wei listened in disbelief to the man who had run here to his palace at West Lake, all the way from Manjuelong Village.

"My Lord... your son... he's killed... the Wise Woman... he's killed... some of our men... we think he is holding... one of our girls... as a prisoner..." the Villager managed to say while trying to catch his breath.

"What did you say?!" Liu Wei demanded.

"We need your help... My Lord" the Villager begged.

"WHERE IS HE?" Liu Wei thundered.

"He's... taken over... the Wise Woman's... house" the Villager informed him.

Liu Wei summoned his guards and prepared to ride out immediately.

"How can this be?" he asked himself over and over on the hectic ride to the Village.

He arrived at Zhou Loa-Nu's gate about an hour later. The distraught Villagers that had gathered, parted in front of his horse, letting him and his guards pass through. His jaw dropped as he took in the grisly scene that met his eyes.

Sprawled throughout the front yard were multiple bodies. There were several men from the Village, but also some of Liu Min's personal guard, and underneath one of them, he could make out a pair of a woman's bare feet sticking out. Next to those feet were another pair, these booted in fine leather.

"No!" Liu Wei gasped in horror. "Chen Yan! Nephew!"

"He can't hear you" said a hoarse voice from inside the house.

"Son!" Liu Wei called out brokenly. He tried to speak, but was unable to form any more words, his mouth moved uselessly.

The Village Blacksmith approached his horse, and looked up at him with compassion.

"My Lord, we think he's been in there for a couple of weeks" the Blacksmith informed him in a low voice.

"He said he was going on a hunting trip..." Liu Wei replied, his voice trailing off.

"One of the girls from our village has gone missing" the Blacksmith continued his report. "She had told her father she was going to meet with the Matchmaker yesterday morning. When she didn't come home for dinner, he came here to look for her. That's his body right there" he pointed to a bloody corpse that law sprawled face down outside the door. "Her body doesn't seem to be out here" he added.

"SON" Liu Wei called out towards the house. "Come out of there!" he ordered.

There was no response from inside.

"Guards, go in and drag him out" Liu Wei commanded.

The squad he had brought with him dismounted from their horses, and warily made their way to the door. The leader stepped inside, and then almost immediately came stumbling out backwards, clutching his chest. Blood leaked through his fingers. He tripped over a corpse and fell hard on the ground. He didn't not get up again.

The other guards surged forwards with drawn swords. From outside the house Liu Wei could hear the clangs of clashing steel, interspersed with groans of men. Then there was silence.

"Guards?" Liu Wei called. No response came from inside.

"SON!" Liu Wei yelled out. "If you don't come out of that house, I am going to burn it down!" he threatened.

He waited for a moment, but there was only silence. Liu Wei looked down at the Blacksmith. "Bring some oil" he commanded.

The Blacksmith arranged for some of the Villagers to go fetch buckets of oil. They returned some minutes later lugging their burdens carefully, afraid to spill a drop. As they approached the gate, they paused, looking to the Blacksmith fearfully.

"Throw it on the house" Liu Wei commanded them. Then he looked at the Blacksmith. "Bring me a torch!" he said loudly.

Four men each took a bucket and walked into the yard, carefully stepping over and around the bodies that littered the way. As they neared the house, they looked back at the Lord for confirmation, hesitant to do this. Liu Wei nodded at them.

The men took up positions surrounding the house and splashed the oil onto the outside of the walls. They quickly retreated. Liu Wei dismounted from his horse, and took the torch the Blacksmith offered him.

As he picked his way through the massacred bodies, his heart felt heavy. He had to give his son one last chance, at least to explain himself. He stopped a few feet outside of the door.

"Son" he said pitifully, "please..." his voice failed him.

From inside the house he heard a soft thump, and then a high-pitched sound of something metallic being dragged along the ground. From the shadows emerged a fearsome specter. It's hair hung loose and disheveled, blood spattered the face and clothing, the parched lips white and cracked, and the eyes red. It lifted the gore encrusted sword that it had been dragging along the ground, and pointed the tip menacingly at Liu Wei.

"I will not leave this place" said the harsh gravelly voice of this thing that might have once been his son.

Liu Wei stared at the frightening visage in horror. "You're not my son" he whispered, shaking his head. "You're NOT MY SON!" he roared at the top of his lungs. He threw the burning torch at the base of the wall.

The oil caught fire first, spreading rivulets of flame along the wall wherever it had splashed. The old wood of the house quickly combusted, and the fire grew to engulf the entire abode.

"My Lord!" shouted the Blacksmith, trying to drag Liu Wei back behind the gate.

Black smoke rolled out of the open doorway, obfuscating the form of his son. "The screaming!" Liu Wei yelled. "I could hear him screaming" he started to sob.

"My Lord" said the Blacksmith gently, "he never made a sound. That screaming...was from you."

It was well past sunset before the fire finally died down. None of the Villagers would leave until it was over. Liu Wei camped in the road, sleeping on his horse blanket, head pillowed on his saddle. When came the dawn, they could see that the inferno had consumed every bit of the house, and the bodies in the yard, leaving behind a large patch of black soot, surrounded by an old wood fence.

"I will build a shrine here" Liu Wei decided. "None of these dead shall become hungry ghosts... not even my son."

He saddled his horse and began the ride back home alone. He hoped the ride would be long enough to think of the words he would need to break this news to his wife.