Heaven's Golden Finger

Chapter 43: Tossing Away Falsehood

Shun's mother turned an interested gaze on Shirong. "Your grammar is atrocious, and what does entering a rice field to weed it have anything to do with this thing?"

"I... er... I...." Shirong turned a hopeful look at Shun but saw no help there. Shun's lips were tight in an unfamiliar expression, his chest heaving slightly as if he were in the grip of some powerful emotion. When Shirong gazed at him pleadingly, he lost all control and started giggling helplessly.

Realizing Shun was no longer able to explain, Shirong sighed. "I went through a tribulation, Your Majesty. My spirit spent almost nineteen years in another world and time. I learned a different language there and...."

"And that still doesn't answer the question, little piglet."

At a loss to understand why Xing Baishe was calling him a piglet, Shirong continued, "There are things in that other world that don't exist here. So when I used our language's words for them, Shun Shixiong would be confused. I've been sounding out the words ever since."

She considered the explanation. "So what other world word would this mi-nou-ta-ru be called?"

Once again Shirong was at a loss. "I don't know," he admitted. "I'm not sure there is one. I suppose Bull-head Man?"

"Then why didn't you call it that in the first place?"

As Shun sat down and laughed harder, Shirong said helplessly, "I didn't think about it?"

Shirong's father interrupted quietly. "Isn't the point being missed here?" When they all looked at him, he explained, "That creature doesn't look like any spirit beast or demon that roams any of the five lands. Well, except for Ox-head and there's only one of him. Besides, Ox-head is a black bull and this fellow's white. Not to mention awfully scraggly."

Not bothering to ask how his father knew what the ox-headed guardian of the underworld looked like, Shirong offered, "This one's horns don't look big enough, either. And he's too skinny."

Enraged by the discussion of his appearance, the minotaur, Disciple Li Shang, bellowed furiously. "SHUT UP YOU LITTLE BRAT!"

"I don't think I shall," Shirong told him, returning his gaze to the demon. "You're not native to the Five Lands, are you?"

Another bellow of rage, this time accompanied by a sharp slam against the wall of the array. Shirong's father had done an excellent job, however; the array flung him back with almost the same amount of force as he'd struck it.

As the minotaur bounced back and forth, striking the array walls and bouncing back to the other for several rounds, Shirong asked, "Dad, is he going to be badly injured?"

"Don't worry, son. We need him alive to question. It'll stop in a few minutes." His father set a hand on his shoulder, adding, "The question is, what is this mi-nou-ta-ru creature anyway?"

Shirong tried to remember his Greek mythology. "The son of a Queen in an ancient land. His mother mated with a bull and they put him in a maze and it's all a strange story that probably has nothing to do with anything here."

"YOU LEAVE MY MAMA OUT OF THIS! OW OW OW OW"

Shirong blinked. "Wait. You're saying you're that minotaur?" By this time Li Shang, or whatever his name was, had stopped bouncing off the walls of the array. He looked ready to ram them again, however, and Shirong hurriedly added, "Don't keep doing that. You'll hurt yourself."

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO... OW OW OW OW.... owwwww." The last ow came as more of a moan as the minotaur crumpled to the ground, holding his head and crying piteously.