"What are they doing in the border areas?" Yuanzhi
asked.
"I have no idea," Lu replied. "I've never heard of
them operating out here before."
As he spoke, they heard more horses coming towards
them. This time, the riders were a Taoist priest and a
hunchback dressed in brightly-coloured clothes. The
priest had a longsword slung across his back. His face
was pale and sickly and he had only one arm: his left
sleeve was tucked under his belt.
Seeing the hunchback's ugly face and his garish
attire, Yuanzhi laughed. "Teacher," she shouted before
Lu could stop her, "Look at the hunchback!"
The hunchback glared at her angrily and as he passed,
stretched out his hand to grab hold of her. The priest
seemed to have guessed what he would do, and stopped
the hunchback's hand with a flick of his horse whip.
"Tenth Brother," he growled, "Don't make trouble."
Lu and Yuanzhi looked back and saw the two horses
breaking into a gallop. Suddenly, the hunchback did a
reverse somersault off the back of his horse, and with
three steps covered the distance to Yuanzhi. Yuanzhi's
sword was in her hand, but the hunchback did not
attack her. He grabbed the tail of her horse, and the
animal, which was galloping along, reared back on its
hind legs with a loud scream. The hunchback's strength
was frightening: the horse had not pulled him forward
an inch. He chopped at the horse's tautly-stretched
tail with his right hand, and snapped off the end as
if with a knife. The horse lunged forward, and Yuanzhi
was almost thrown. The hunchback turned and ran off
swiftly. In a second, he caught up with his horse,
still galloping westwards, leapt onto its back and
soon disappeared from view.
"Teacher!" Yuanzhi called out in a plaintive voice. Lu
frowned and was about to berate her. But seeing her
eyes glistening with tears, he stopped himself.
Later, they heard a shout from behind:
"Weiyang...Weiyang."
Yuanzhi was mystified. "What's that?" she asked.
"It's the call of a bodyguard agency shouter," he
said. "The agencies hire out bodyguards or escort
goods and people, especially on long journeys. Every
bodyguard agency has a different call, and they use it
to let both outlaws and friends know who they are. The
bodyguard agency business is based seven parts on
goodwill and three parts on fighting ability. If the
head of an agency is generous and creates a lot of
goodwill, he will gain many friends, and his business
will prosper. Outlaws will hear the call and let them
pass without attacking. 'Being friends is better than
being enemies,' as the saying goes. Now, if you were
to try the bodyguard agency business...ha! With allthe
people you have annoyed in less than half a day, you
would have trouble travelling an inch, even if you
were ten times the fighter you are now."
"Which bodyguard agency's call is that?" she asked,
ignoring his teasing.
"The Zhen Yuan Agency from Beijing, probably the
biggest in north China. The head of the agency is
'North China Earth Shaker' Wang Weiyang. He must be
seventy by now, but they're still calling 'Weiyang',
so he hasn't retired yet. Ah, perhaps he ought to. The
Zhen Yuan Agency has been making big profits for 40
years now. That should be enough for anyone."
"Have you ever met him?" Yuanzhi asked.
"I've met him. He uses an Eight Diagram sword and the
Eight Diagram boxing technique. In the old days, there
was no one in north China who could beat him."
Yuanzhi was elated. "They're travelling very fast.
When they catch up to us, you can point the old hero
out to me."
"Now why would he come out himself?" Lu said. "You
really are a silly girl!"
Yuanzhi sulked. She was always being told off by her
teacher. It wasn't fair. She spurred her horse forward
and caught up with the carriage, planning to talk to
her mother for a while to relieve the frustration.
Glancing round, she saw the stub of her horse's tail
and shuddered. There was nothing unusual about
breaking a spear with one blow, but a horse's tail was
pliable. How had the hunchback managed to snap it? She
reined in her horse, meaning to wait for Lu to catch
up so she could ask him, but changed her mind and
galloped up the line to Officer Deng instead.
"Officer Deng," she said, pouting. "My horse's tail
looks very ugly."
"I don't know what to do with this horse of mine,"
Deng replied, guessing her meaning. "He's in a bad
mood today and won't do anything I say. You are a good
horsewoman, mistress. Perhaps you could help me break
him in."
"I probably won't be able to handle him either," she
said modestly. The two exchanged horses. Deng's horse
was of course very docile.
"Very good, mistress," he complimented her. "Even
horses do your bidding."
The bodyguard agency's call came closer and closer,
and before long, a muletrain consisting of a score or
more heavily laden animals began to pass.
Lu was afraid one of the agency men would recognise
him, so he covered the top part of his face with a
large fur cap. As the lead escorts trotted past, he
heard one of them remark: "According to Brother Han,
Brother Jiao Wenqi's body has been found."
Lu's heart missed a beat as he heard the name. Jiao
was one of the Six Devils of Guandong and a formidable
fighter. Five years before while on an errand to the
Muslim regions, Jiao had discovered Lu was hiding in
Commander Li's household and had come at the dead of
night with two other fighters with the aim of
capturing Lu and taking him back to Beijing to claim
the reward on his head. After a hard fight, Lu had
killed all three and hidden their corpses on a
deserted hillside.
Lu looked round at the escort who had spoken, but had
time to see only that he had a full beard and a face
as black as thunder. Once he had passed, Lu saw he was
carrying on his back a red knapsack and a pair of Five
Element Wheels, steel rings covered in knives.
"Could it be that the Guandong Devils have become
bodyguard agency escorts?" he wondered. Of the six
Devils, Lu had only ever seen Jiao, but he knew that
the rest were excellent fighters, and that two of
them, the Yan brothers, used Five Element Wheels.
Lu thought about the number of top fighters they had
met in the past two days and wondered if it had
anything to do with himself. From the look of things,
the Zhen Yuan Agency men were actually on an escort
assignment, so they posed no threat. As to the
fighters travelling westwards in pairs, they did not
seem to be looking for him. But where were they going
and why?
Having exchanged mounts with Officer Deng, Yuanzhi
reined in her horse to wait for Lu to pass.
"Teacher," she smiled. "How come no more riders have
passed us? I want to see a few more of these heroes."
Her words jogged Lu's mind and he slapped his thigh.
"Ah, you old fool," he rebuked himself. "Why didn't
you think of the 'Greeting The Dragon's Head
Ceremony'?"
"What's that?" she asked.
"It is the most solemn of the ceremonies held by the
secret societies to honour an important personage.
Usually, the six most senior men in the society are
chosen to go to greet the guest, but for really
important meetings, 12 are chosen and they go in
pairs. Five pairs have passed us now, so there must be
still be one pair in front of us."
"Which secret society do they belong to?" Yuanzhi
asked.
"That I don't know. But if the Twin Knights of Sichuan
and that hunchback are members, the society's power
and influence must be tremendous. Whatever you do,
don't provoke anyone else, do you hear?"
Yuanzhi nodded, and waited expectantly to see who else
would pass them by. |
