The Wandering God

55 The True Face of Lushan 1/2

廬山真面目
Lúshān zhēnmiànmù
The true face of Lushan.
The truth about a person or a matter.

*~*~*~*~*~*

The moment we walked through the gate of the courtyard I broke into a run.

"Hurry prince," I huffed, pulling Sanli after me.

Sanli tried to match my pace, his gait limping. Luckily, his long legs helped him keep up.

We sprinted across the well manicured laws and over ornate bridges, till we reached large round wooden gates of the main entrance.

There the two green cloaked guards looked askance at our sweating faces, then at the bloody tiger's tail hanging from my hand. They started to step before the entrance to bar our way.

"MOVE!" I snarled, as ferociously as possible.

One of the guards took my words as command, and stepped back to his post.

The other however, looked more determined to stop us, and his brow lowered beneath his helmet as his arms reached out-

"I said MOVE!" I yelled, throwing my arm into his chest.

My arm hit his metal chest guard with a thrum like a temple bell, sending the man staggering backward into the wall.

I saw surprise on the guard's face at the force of my blow. Then we were past him and through the huge red gates studded with gold.

We skidded onto a halt on one of the docks in the small harbor before the royal residence. My eyes caught on one that was just pulling away from the dock, poled by a single boatman.

"Hurry!" I dragged Sanli along the dock, our feet pounding along the wood.

The boatman looked less surprised than I had thought he would when two bloody and bedraggled passengers leapt aboard his boat.

"Take us across the canal!" I ordered.

The boatman merely nodded. We flew aboard.

About half way across to the other side, I let Sita's tail fall to the canal. I had not lied. I had always wanted a tiger tail belt. But I did not have time to find a tanner to make one for me now, and it was ridiculous to carry such a thing with me.

I could swear I saw the cut appendage twitch as it hit the water, and then it sunk from sight. A waste.

The boatman quickly poled his boat across the wide canal that separated the royal residence from the rest of the city around it. Just as the boat was pulling up on the opposite side of the canal, soldiers came streaming out the large red and gold doors Sanli and I had just forced our way through.

I heard a cry and hands raised to point in our direction.

"Let's go!" I yelled at Sanli, leaping ashore. Sanli followed, legs shaky.

I grabbed his hand once more and sprinted down an alley, until it opened up onto a street.

This close to the Royal Residence the streets were wide, and this late at night should have been dark and empty, according to city curfew. But instead the streets were alive and lit. Everywhere people dressed in their best silks and linens roamed the streets, alone or hand in hand with loved ones and family. Laughter and voices filled the air, just as bodies crowded the streets. Not a few of the passers by stopped to look at Sanli and I, standing bloody and askance in the middle of the road.

Why are so many out? I wondered.

My eyes caught on a young child and a parent. The child held in his hands a large paper lantern, on which the father was writing a message in ink with a brush.