Fate of a White Flower

Chapter Seven

  After rescuing their target from their enemy's stronghold, the team had escaped down to an obscure village to throw off any potential pursuers. The village was small and largely self sufficient but the locals were kind enough to have accepted them without asking too many questions. The local innkeeper and his wife had been more than happy to accommodate them in their establishment.

   Outside the inn, a grass field spread out behind for several dozen meters. No particularly useful crop had been cultivated there. The field's primary duty was the production of pasture for the livestock of the village, as well as hay and silage to be used when the need called for it. It was because for this reason that no one bothered the lone figure standing in the middle of the field.

   The young man had snow white hair that fell down his back in a neat ponytail, with two locks of hair deliberately left to frame his smooth face. Dressed in a loose red and brown outfit that looked a bit out of place in a backwater village such as this, the young man presented a somewhat unusual sight. He stood perfectly still with his right hand clenched right around a beautifully designed spear. His eyes were not open, but there was no doubt that he was intimately aware of his surroundings.

   Suddenly he inhaled slowly. A particularly strong wind rushed through the field and swept several sun bleached yellow stalks of grass up into the air.

   Then he moved.

   Liling had seen her fair share of fighters courtesy of the way she had grown up. A lot of them possessed skills and techniques that made them terrors in the underground of the society. They were the hounds that kept villages in perpetual fear of crime bosses. But none of them had ever drawn such a reaction from her as the sight before her.

   The man's form was perfect, his techniques unique and his strikes flawless. He wielded the spear in a way she had never seen before. It was as if the weapon was an extension of his body. Spinning the spear in his hands, he blocked and and parried invisible strikes as though he were in combat and countered with slashes and thrusts of his own. Despite not being much of a fighter herself, Liling could tell that each of his attacks would be fatal were they to be directed at a target. As the man swept through the field, multiple grass stalks floated to the ground in far more pieces than before.

  

   Jiang Shui tugged on Liling's arm and they went out to meet the man. He was still fighting phantom enemies with his eyes closed when they reached him. As they got closer, in a swift fluid motion, he turned his upper body slightly to the left and thrust his spear backwards, where the tip of the metal head poked at Jiang's chest, right over his heart.

   "Still as perceptive as ever," Jiang smiled with total disregard to the fact that he had only been a step away from death. The girl by his side stared at him in surprise.

   "What do you want?" The lancer questioned in a bland tone.

   "Our new friend has awoken and she wants to talk to you."

   Finally opening his eyes, the man drew back his weapon and fixed a pointed look at the girl in question. Liling instantly felt a bit self conscious under the scrutinizing gaze of his coal black eyes that contrasted the white of his hair rather nicely.

   "What do you want?" He repeated his question, this time to a different target.

   Liling took a quick breath and steeled her resolve. She could not, or rather, did not want to show any sign of weakness to the warrior before her. Where she came from, showing weakness was an extremely quick way to get yourself snuffed out.

   "I wanted to thank you for rescuing me," she said calmly before her voice took on a slightly questioning tone. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful but why did you do it? I have no idea who you are nor do I owe anyone anything. But you people know who I am and seeing as you went out of your way to get me out of that place, there has to be a reason for that."

   The man simply raised an eyebrow at her words before shifting his gaze to Jiang. "You didn't tell her?"

   Jiang backed up with his palms facing them. "Hey, you're the leader here not me. That's your job, don't you think Liu?"

  

   Liling's eyes flashed to him in clear surprise. "Liu?"

   "Liu Han. That's his name," Jiang said. Then he froze for a moment, his eyes flickering back and forth between the two white haired individuals before him. A mischievous smile appeared in his face as he came to a realization. "How did I not notice this earlier? Same hair, same family name... are you sure you're not siblings?"

   "No," they both answered in unison and turned to look at each other.

   Jiang's smile widened. "Not really helping your case here. Anyway, I should probably head inside now. Gui's making breakfast and I do not plan to skip."

   Silence reigned for a moment as they watched the young man retreat back into the confines of the inn before Liling spoke up again.

   "You haven't answered my question yet." Although the fact that she and the warrior before her bore the same name was mildly concerning, there were more pressing matters at hand.

   Liu Han turned away from her and began trudging down a beaten path that cut through the grass field, leading to the part of the village where the the main crops were grown. At some point he had slung his spear into a holster that held it diagonally across his back. The way it was positioned allowed for quick and easy withdrawal, something that Liling did not fail to notice as she followed behind him.

   "You wanted to know why you were taken?" He began tentatively, as if preparing her for a consequential information drop. "The people that kidnapped you were mercenaries working on the orders of someone very powerful. Have you ever heard of Mei Daiyu?"

   Liu Liling froze in her tracks. She knew that name. Of course she knew that name, everybody knew that name! And everybody feared it as well.