White Horse Neighing in the West Wind - Chapter 9

By now the white horse had grown older, and its stride was not what it had been in its youth. Even so, it far outpaced any ordinary mount, and by dawn the five bandits had fallen so far behind that not a trace of the five bandits could be seen, and the hoofbeats of the pursuit could no longer be heard. But Li Wenxiu knew that on the desert sand the horse’s tracks would remain, and though the five bandits could not catch her now, they would follow the trail in the end. So she dared not rest for even a moment.

They rode on for another ten-odd li. Daylight was fully upon them when they passed several sand dunes and, suddenly, a range of hills appeared to the northwest. Trees grew thick and green upon those hills, a sight so unexpected in the desert that it was like glimpsing a fairy mountain beyond the mortal world. The dunes of the great desert rose and fell, and a line of large ones had hidden these hills from view, and from a distance nothing could be seen at all.

Li Wenxiu’s heart jolted. “Could this be the Ghost Mountain? Why are there so many mountains in the desert, yet no one has ever spoken of them?” Then a second thought: “If it is Ghost Mountain, all the better, I can lure those five villains inside.”

The white horse’s stride was swift. Before long they reached the foothills and galloped into a valley. Between two ridges a small stream flowed. The white horse gave a joyful whinny and bolted straight for the water. Li Wenxiu dismounted, cupped clear water in her hands and washed the sand and dust from her face, then drank several mouthfuls. The water carried a faint sweetness, cool and pleasant.

All at once something hard pressed against the back of her skull. A hoarse voice asked, “Who are you? What are you doing here?” The words were in Kazakh.

Li Wenxiu was shocked. She started to turn, but the voice said, “The tip of my staff is aimed at the back of your head. The slightest pressure, and you die of a grievous wound on the spot.” She felt the hard object nudge forward, and sure enough a wave of dizziness washed through her. She dared not move. She thought: “This person can speak, so he’s no ghost or demon. And he asked what I’m doing here, so he must live in these parts. He isn’t one of the bandits.”

The voice went on, “I asked you a question. Why don’t you answer?”

Li Wenxiu said, “Bad men are chasing me. I fled here.”

“What bad men?”

“Many Han bandits.”

“What Han bandits? What are their names?”

“I don’t know. They used to be armed escorts. When they came to the Western Regions, they became bandits.”

“Are you Han Chinese? What is your name? Who is your father? Who is your shifu?”

“I am Han Chinese. My name is Li Wenxiu. My father was White Horse Li San, and my mother was Gold and Silver Little Swords Third Lady. I have no shifu.”

The man said “Oh?” Then, “Hmm. So Gold and Silver Little Swords Third Lady married White Horse Li San. Where are your father and mother now?”

“Those bandits killed them all. And they still want to kill me.”

The man grunted. “Stand up!”

Li Wenxiu stood.

“Turn around.”

She turned slowly. The iron tip of his wooden staff left the back of her head, drew back, then thrust forward to rest against her throat. But he put no force behind it, merely held it there, lightly touching. She looked at him and was greatly surprised. Listening to that hoarse, cold voice, she had expected someone fearsome and terrible. Instead, before her stood an ordinary old man, thin and gaunt, his face drawn with care, dressed in Han Chinese style, his clothes and hat alike nearly in rags. But his hair was curly, which did not look entirely Han.

Li Wenxiu said, “Uncle, may I ask your honourable name? What place is this?” These were courtesies Grandpa Ji had taught her when telling her stories, and she repeated them as she had learned.

The old man, seeing that Li Wenxiu was beautiful, quite beyond his expectations, paused, then said coldly, “I have no name, and I do not know what place this is.” In Chinese. That he could speak Chinese at all astonished her greatly.

Just then, faint hoofbeats sounded in the distance. Li Wenxiu cried, “The bandits are here! Uncle, quick, hide.”

“Why should I hide?”

“Those bandits are vicious. They’ll kill you.”

The man said coldly, “You and I are strangers. Why should you care whether I live or die?”

The hoofbeats were closer now. Li Wenxiu ignored the staff at her throat, reached out and seized his arm. “Uncle, let’s ride and flee together. If we delay a moment longer, it will be too late.”

The old man tried to shake her off, but his feeble jerk had no strength in it, and he could not pull free. Li Wenxiu said in surprise, “Are you ill? I’ll help you onto the horse.” She put both hands beneath his waist and hoisted him into the saddle. Though he was a man, he was so thin and frail that he weighed less than Li Wenxiu herself. He swayed in the saddle as though he might topple at any moment. Li Wenxiu climbed up behind him, steadying him with her arms, and urged the horse into a gallop toward the mountains.

Their delay meant that by the time the five riders swept into the valley, the bandits’ shouts were already audible. The old man suddenly turned his head and snarled, “You’re working with them, aren’t you? You’ve set a trap to lure me in.”

His face, which moments ago had been merely haggard and sickly, had twisted into something ghastly. His eyes shot fury. Li Wenxiu was terrified. “No, no! I’ve never seen you before. What trap could I possibly be setting?”

The man said fiercely, “You were going to trick me into leading you to the Gaochang Labyrinth…” He did not finish. He stopped himself short.

The name Gaochang Labyrinth was one Li Wenxiu had heard her parents mention, in snatches, when she was small and they were fleeing to the Western Regions. She had not understood them then and had paid no particular mind. Now, ten years later, the old man spoke of it suddenly, and she could not at once recall where she had heard it. She said, bewildered, “The Gaochang Labyrinth? What is that?”

The old man saw that her expression was genuine, without artifice. His voice softened a fraction. “You truly don’t know the Gaochang Labyrinth?”

Li Wenxiu shook her head. “I don’t know it. Ah, yes…”

The old man demanded sharply, “Yes what?”

“When I was small, fleeing to the Western Regions with Papa and Mama, I overheard them say ‘Gaochang Labyrinth.’ Is it somewhere fun?”

The old man’s tone turned sharp. “What else did your parents say? Don’t you dare hide anything from me.”

Li Wenxiu said sorrowfully, “I wish I could remember more of the things Papa and Mama said, even a single word more would be precious. But I’ll never hear their voices again. Uncle, I often have this foolish thought: if only Mama and Papa could come back to life, just once, so I could see them one more time. Ah! Even if they were alive and beat me and scolded me every day, I’d still be happy. Of course, they would never have beaten me.” And suddenly, in her ears, she seemed to hear the crack of Su Luke’s whip as he struck Supu, the sound of angry rebuke.

The old man’s face softened slightly. He grunted, then abruptly asked in a loud voice, “Are you married?”

Li Wenxiu blushed and shook her head.

“Who have you been living with these past years?”

“Grandpa Ji.”

“Grandpa Ji? How old is he? What does he look like?”

Li Wenxiu said to the white horse, “Good horse, the bandits are coming, run, run!” She thought: Why are you asking me irrelevant things at a time like this? But seeing his face clouded with suspicion, she answered, “Grandpa Ji must be over eighty. His hair is completely white, his face is covered in wrinkles, older than you even. He’s been very good to me.”

“What other Han Chinese do you know in the Western Regions? Who else is in Grandpa Ji’s household?”

“There’s no one else in Grandpa Ji’s home. I don’t even know any Kazakhs, let alone Han Chinese.” The last words were bitter, for she thought of Supu and Aman, and felt that knowing them was the same as not knowing them at all.

With two riders on its back, the white horse could not gallop as before, and the five bandits drew closer and closer. Three feathered arrows whistled past in quick succession. The bandits wanted a live captive and had no wish to kill her with arrows, and those shots were warnings, meant to make her stop.

Li Wenxiu thought: “I’ve already resolved to die together with these five villains. I may as well let this uncle escape alone.” She leapt from the horse, slapped its rump, and cried, “White horse, white horse! Take the uncle and run!”

The old man was taken aback. He had not expected a girl so young to be so kind-hearted, to give up her own life so that he might flee. After a brief hesitation he said quietly, “Take the needle from my hand. Be careful not to touch the tip.”

Li Wenxiu looked down and saw a fine needle held between two fingers of his right hand. She reached out and took it, not understanding his meaning.

The old man said, “There is an extraordinary poison on the tip of this needle. If those bandits catch you, prick just one of them lightly and the bandit dies.”

Li Wenxiu was startled. She had seen him holding the needle earlier and had taken no notice. It seemed that if their conversation had displeased him, the poisoned needle would have been hers.

The old man urged the horse away at a quick pace. The white horse wanted to stop and wait for Li Wenxiu, but he pulled the reins and laid on the whip, refusing to let the horse linger.

Five riders swept close and encircled Li Wenxiu. The five bandits beheld a young woman so beautiful that the thought of chasing the old man did not cross a single one of their minds.

They leapt from their horses in a body, grinning hideously. Li Wenxiu’s heart hammered. The old man had said this needle could kill, but such a tiny needle, how could it stand against these five fierce, terrifying men? Even if she killed one, four would remain. Better to prick herself dead with the needle and be spared the bandits’ violation.

One of them cried, “What a pretty little thing!” Two of them lunged toward her.

The man on the left threw a punch that sent the other sprawling, and snarled, “You’re competing with me?” Then he seized Li Wenxiu by the waist. In her panic, she drove the needle into his right arm and screamed, “Vile bandit, let me go.”

The great man stared at her, dazed. Then he went still. The one who had fallen reached up with both hands, grabbed Li Wenxiu’s calf, and dragged her to the ground with a hard yank. Li Wenxiu braced with her left hand and thrust forward with her right, and the needle sank into his chest. The man had been laughing uproariously. Now the laughter stopped in his throat. His mouth fell open. His body stiffened. He did not move.

Li Wenxiu scrambled to her feet, leapt onto one of the riderless horses, and galloped into the mountains. The three remaining bandits saw their two comrades frozen in place as if possessed and assumed the girl had struck their acupoints with some extraordinary martial art. They did not dare pursue her. None of the three knew how to seal or release acupoints. They planned to take the two men before their leader. But when they touched their comrades, the bodies were growing cold. They checked for breath, and both were dead.

The three men were struck dumb with shock. One named Song, who had more wits than the others, tore open their clothes and examined them. On one man’s arm he found a black mark the size of a coin, and at its centre a tiny needle hole. On the other, a black mark upon the chest. He understood at once: “The girl uses needles. The needles are coated with deadly poison.”

One named Quan said, “Then we’ve nothing to fear! We strike from a distance with hidden weapons and don’t let that little wretch get near us.”

The third, named Yun, said, “Now we know her tricks. She won’t fool us again.”

For all their talk, the three did not dare press the pursuit. They conferred as they went, advancing into the valley with their hearts in their mouths.