Ch.4

 

                                  Shadows Are Falling,

Upon the sea as it sleeps,

Their whispers call me.

 

 

 

 

           “ The people here are mad. They’re useless.” Hideo grunted as they gathered back into the SUV. Lycoris was silent; she had been traumatized by the man’s insanity. Her eyes widened. “ What happened to them that would take away their sanity?” She said, half talking to herself.

“ Well, if you had seen your family killed how would you react?” Hideo answered. He sat slumped in the driver’s seat.

 “ It will be cold tonight.” Lee was trying to change the subject.

“ Not much we can do about that. Lycoris, take out some blankets from the back.” Hideo said with little emphasis. She didn’t move, and no one insisted she did. They all sat lamely; their bodies and minds exhausted.

            Night came fast and so did the icy Atlantic air. Lycoris covered her shivering body in the far back of the SUV. The men talked up front. They spoke in Korean, for some reason they didn’t want her to hear. This angered her. I’m always left out, because I’m a woman. Stupid men. A sudden shiver ran through her spine. It was so powerful it made her shake so much the car shook too. The men looked back.

“ Are you still cold?” Hideo asked.

“ No, I’m fine.” They turned to each other and spoke softly. Lee then left the car and Hideo joined her in the back. He sighed.

“ I’ll lay with you, so you wont be cold.” He said as he laid his body next to hers’. She couldn’t help feeling grateful for the warmth, but she still felt bitterly cold. My heart is frozen, she thought, not my body.

“ What were you two talking about? I think I deserve to know.”

“ About the war, Whispers, N.K… and you.” She was silent a moment.

“ Me?” she asked.

“ Yes. In all honesty, it’s hard for men to travel with a woman like this.”

“ So what, you were discussing who will rape me first?” she laughed a little.

“ No, well, I wont be any way.”

“ Are you serious?” She sat up and looked at him. He said nothing.“ Lee is my master, I find it difficult to believe he would have feelings for me like that.”

“ Don’t be too surprised.” 

            Outside was quiet and Lee stood staring at the stars, so many brilliant stars. A loud slap rang through the silence and Lee jumped. “ What was that for?” he heard Hideo yell. “ Get the hell away from me you pervert!” Lycoris yelled back and the back door opened with Hideo falling out onto the cold cement. Lee cocked his head to one side as he looked at Hideo scrambling to his feet. “ Control.” He said.

“ Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” Lee couldn’t help smiling as he watched Hideo limp away.

“ I’m gonna’ look around down by the water.” He said.

            Lycoris held the blanket close to her. Her body was now in a fetal position and her knees were close to her chest. Stupid men. She said over in her mind. The back door opened and she jumped.

“ Shh…” Lee said as he came in, “ he is down by the water now. I’ll lay back with you. Don’t worry, he wont hurt you.” She relaxed a little and closed her eyes. She was so tired even despite the many hours of sleep she had on the way here. She felt his warm body lay close to hers. She longed to be held in his strong arms. Her eyes opened suddenly. What am I thinking? She asked herself and to her surprise, she began to cry.

             Her tears were silent, but Lee still knew. He wrapped an arm around her. “ It will be alright. We’ll be okay.” He stroked her soft hair.

“ That’s not why I am crying.”

“ Then why?” bewilderment filled his eyes and voice.

“ I don’t know.” She buried her face in his chest.

“ I’m so weak. I don’t think I can do this…” She whispered. He held her tighter and then turned her face to him. He looked into her eyes and whipped her tears. “ Don’t cry.” he said. “ You have more strength than you know.”

“ Master,” she said, but then her voice trailed off.

“ What is it?” he turned her face back to his. She said nothing. In her dark eyes there was something Lee had never seen before. It was a look of sorrow, beauty, and power. It intrigued him. It had a power over him, and he felt that he could not look away.

Hideo returned half frozen and looked into the back. There he saw Lycoris and Lee huddled together in the cold. He opened the back door.

“ Are you sleeping?” he asked.

“ No, how can anyone sleep in this cold?” Lee answered.

 “ If you promise to behave you can sleep back here.” Lycoris said, “ But you have to sleep by Lee.”

 

            The next day Lee was up at sunrise. He watched its amber rays splash upon the sea and he thought of Lycoris. “ She is my student.” He said aloud. Hearing his voice say it gave it more validity. “ I have to help her realize how strong she is… it’s time I start teaching her.” He was getting up there in years, his long onyx hair was streaked with fine lines of silver. His faced had no signs of aging, however. He thought long and hard about the next techniques he would show her. They will be difficult and push her body to it’s limit and beyond. The air was still cold as night clung to the earth. The sun had not reached them yet. He sighed and took up a stone to throw. He walked slowly to the edge of the water and tossed it in. It skipped four times and then sank away into the blue abyss. High above, Venus gleamed as the sun rose higher still. “ The Morning star.” Lycoris’ voice came from behind. It startled him. “ It’s the brightest star, well planet, in the sky. Once it begins to be fall, it is always seen high in the east at dawn. It stays there through winter.” She sat down. The salty sea air blew her hair gently and the sun lit her eyes. He sat down beside her. “ Master, where do you think they take the people? Or do they just kill them?” She asked. Lee looked down at the sand.

“ I don’t know. Some may still be alive.” She sighed and then spoke rapidly.

“ What is happening to the world? Will we all die? Are we fighting in vain?” Her questions were coming fast; she was venting her troubled mind. Lee sat in silence.

“ Hideo has the answers you seek.” He said, “ I have none.”

 She turned and faced him. His dark eyes glinted with wisdom; she began to realize that he was much more to her than master. He was a father, a mentor, and friend.

“ What will happen to us?” she asked.

“ I don’t know.” He brushed his fingers through her hair, “ I just don’t know.”

“ Hey!” Hideo’s voice rang through the dead quiet of the land. “ We have to get going if we want to get to London before April.” He was hanging out of the car window. They stood up and ran over.

“ You’ve found a Boat?” Lycoris asked.

“ Yeah, not much of one though. Now get in.”

            Not much of a boat was right. When they reached it, it was decrepit and rotted.

“ This is going to take us to London?” Lycoris questioned.

“ This couldn’t even get us to the break wall.” Lee said as he kicked the side of it. The break wall stood in a mist only thirty feet from shore.

“ Well, there are no other options.” Hideo said.

“ What’s that?” Lycoris pointed to the sky. Dark and massive clouds were forming in the north. They were somewhat different than most storm clouds. They were much more menacing and left a terrible, ominous feeling in the pit of their stomachs.

“ Just rain.” Lee said, trying to disguise his unease. Hideo jumped up on the bow to get a better look.

“ No. They’re more than that. This boat wont get us to London…I think nothing will.”

 

            He fell with a great thundering sound that shook the earth beneath him. The guards slammed the cumbersome iron door behind them. Darkness and silence filled the void within his soul. “ Lycoris,” he said aloud, and then he closed his eyes and began to recall the meeting with the “Lord”. Apparently Lycoris had some power Park had not noticed. But then, he rarely saw her. Only on testing days and at tournaments. He winced at the coldness of the cement. Everything was splashed with a bone-chilling, damp coldness that penetrated his heart and mind. It even seeped into his dreams. He tried desperately to shake the thoughts about Lycoris from his mind, but it was useless. Desperate to hold his arms and rub some of the cold out of them, he began to tear the bindings at his rust-stained wrists. The scabs began to bleed again from the jagged iron shackles.

“ Damn!” He yelled as he felt a sliver of the old metal slice through his skin and stick there. It felt like a large piece, and warm blood oozed forth, thick and creamy. He hung his head in momentary defeat. “ How can I do this? How can I escape?” he closed his eyes tight and let his mind wander into the blissful nothingness that deep meditation created.

           

            “Um… ok so now what? What are they if they’re not just storm clouds?” Lycoris asked as she joined Hideo on the bow.

“ Oh, they’re storm clouds, just a different kind of storm…that’s all.”

They stood silently, staring into the dark fate awaiting them.

“ Hey, Lee…come on up here.” Hideo said; his voice was emotionless and he never took his eyes away from the mass of shadows. “ I’ve got something to tell you two.”

Lycoris let her eyes fall to the gray sea and let her mind lose focus. Her life seemed to be so far behind her now. Hideo’s words touched her ears, but didn’t register. Their muffled voices mixed with the rumbling winds and roaring waves. Then silence. Deep, silent solitude; she found her safe haven. She found her sweet sanctuary at long last.

“ Lycoris!” Lee’s voice bombed through her mind and the meditation died. “ What?” her half-hearted voice was barely audible.

“ We’re going to Japan instead. Weren’t you listening?”

“ Uh…no I wasn’t. Sorry, the sea has that affect on me.” Japan. Once a place of majestic beauty and honor, Lycoris wondered how it would be now. It was so close to the terror that plagued the world. She stood with her back to the men and tried to find peace in her mind once again, but it was useless. Her mind raced with uncertainty. “ How is this boat going to take us to the other side of the world?”