Chapter 18

A Chapter by Rose of Gondor

“No!” Kyo shouted. I gasped.

Blood streamed from the wound and oozed down to her shoulders, staining her clothes. For a moment it was like the world was in slow motion. Chrysanthemum froze on the spot and Wen-Ling stifled a cry. Aiko’s eyes were wide, bulging, even, before they rolled back into her head. She collapsed to the floor, a crumpled heap, a pool of blood around her.

Kyo made a strangled noise and flew to his mother’s side.

“That’s what happens when you don’t take me seriously,” Papa said as he stepped around Aiko and Kyo, holding up the edges of his robes, disgusted, “Now, run along, children. Step aside. Or you’ll end up like her.”

“You’re heartless!” Chrysanthemum blurted, speaking my thoughts exactly as she grasped at the walls for support. She was trembling; part shaken, part sick, before she slid to the floor, unconscious. Remember how Chrysanthemum didn’t get sick by getting thrown around in goat carts? Well, she felt faint if she even caught sight of a single drop of blood, as I later learned.

Papa shrugged and brushed me aside. I was still stunned as I stared after him. His troops followed, throwing smug glances toward us, as if bragging of their victory. How could he do this? This was monstrous.

Mr. Guan stared at Papa with a certain sort of loathing, and I couldn’t say I blamed him.

“When I get my hands on him,” said Kyo through gritted teeth, a murderous glint in his eye, “I am going to kill him.”

I swallowed and turned towards Aiko, facing the truth I did not want to be. Wen-Ling and Kyo were kneeling besides her, and she was seemingly unconscious, her form deathly still. Wen-Ling looked up when I joined her on the ground. “How is she?” I asked nervously, hoping, hoping, and hoping with all my might that she wasn’t dead.

“Alive,” Wen-Ling answered briskly. Her voice was soft and somewhat cracked, but still steady, and she seemed calmer than anyone else here. “But we have to get her help soon. She’ll die otherwise.” Her slender, long fingers moved quickly as she tore off a strip of blue cloth from the edge of her kimono skirt and pressed it against the gash on Aiko’s throat. The blood soaked the cloth quickly. She glanced up at me, worry evident in her eyes. “She doesn’t have much time left.”

“You have to hurry, then,” I told her, as I stood up. I trembled with shock. This was my father’s fault. My very own father. And now Aiko’s dying. I have to make things right. Every moment we waste underground is another moment that Aiko would get closer to dying or my father get closer to what he wants: the pearl. “Go. Go back up to the surface. Find help. Mr. Guan will tell you the quickest way there, won’t he?” I glanced at Mr. Guan expectantly.

“Of course,” he said, solemn as he stared at Aiko, “Just turn to the right into that corridor and follow it down. You’ll find yourself at the surface soon. We’re only a few miles underground.”

“Are you sure?” Wen-Ling looked at me expectantly, “Are you sure you can manage on your own?”

I forced myself to smile at her. It wasn’t just a game of cat and mouse anymore. Suddenly everything seemed just too real. Lives were at stake. “I won’t be on my own. I’ll find a way to wake up Chrysanthemum. Besides. Mr. Guan will help�"�”

“Thank you,” Kyo interrupted, his voice dripping with emotion, “Thank you.” He seemed to be able to say no more. I managed to return a weak “it’s nothing”, but it really wasn’t that sincere. Secretly, I wanted to stay with my friends. I didn’t want to be left down here, almost alone save for two other people, and I didn’t want to let Wen-Ling and Kyo go. But I had to. This was my father’s fault and I have to make amends. It was perfectly reasonable, and throughout the short hours of our acquaintance, I had begun to like Aiko and look up to her as an aunt. I didn’t want her to die, and right then and there, I couldn’t afford to be selfish.

Wen-Ling lifted Aiko’s shoulders, still keeping her left hand firmly pressed on the cloth over the wound on her neck, and Kyo lifted Aiko’s legs and together, they sauntered off into the corridor that branched out from this one, carrying her carefully. I watched them go a felt a sense of dread fill me. For once I felt alone, even though I wasn’t really.

“Where�"what?” Chrysanthemum moaned as she sat up. She looked around blankly for a moment, dazed and somewhat confused. And then her eyes focused. “Oh the gods above,” she shouted and she leapt up, drawing her dagger. “Where’s Aiko?”

“Don’t worry,” I said, relief washing through me. Now that Chrysanthemum was awake, I was feeling much better and much less frightened. “My father and his troops are gone. Wen-Ling and Kyo are carrying Aiko above even now. They’re going to find her help. She’ll be alright.” I tried to sound confident, when in truth I’m not, but I’d rather not have her freaking out as well. I was certainly ready to freak out.

“Oh,” she said quietly and looked down at her hands. She shivered. Maybe she was thinking what I was thinking. Maybe she, too, was afraid of being alone.

I helped her up.

“Follow me, young ladies,” Mr. Guan turned and followed a different corridor, “We’ll have to beat them to the pearl, if your father’s intention is to find it, and there is no time to waste. We’ll have to take a short-cut, by the looks of things.” We followed behind him, and Chrysanthemum grabbed my hand. We glanced at each other.

“Together,” she whispered.

“Together,” I replied, and I squeezed her cold hand, trying to comfort her.

And so it was we ventured into the unknown dangers ahead, hand in hand. The stakes were just raised.

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After about fifteen minutes worth of walking, the corridor narrowed into a stone passageway that was dark and unlit. I swallowed. This doesn’t look very good, and it certainly didn’t look very welcoming. Mr. Guan turned back to us, looking worried. “This is the part of the mine I never delved into,” he said.

That didn’t sound promising.

“It’s all natural through there, you see,” he said, “I had to create some sort of hardship. I wouldn’t be “guarding” the pearl without any tests of strength or purity or perseverance in the way.” He shrugged. “Oh well.” And he took a torch off the wall. “We’d best go on. We may have gotten through the shorter path, but it’ll be harder to walk.”

So it was, timid and overly cautious, we stepped carefully into the dark passageway. Naturally, we followed as fast as we could, and that was how we bumped into old Mr. Guan when he stopped at a sudden halt.

“Um?” I asked, holding my breath, not capable of more than that single syllable. Not again. Not another impediment. It better not be my father again. I felt Chrysanthemum’s grip tighten for a moment before she let go of my hand and slipped around Mr. Guan. I heard her gasp.

“Mayflower,” her voice trembled, “I think you’d want to see this.”

I stepped over timidly, gasping wildly as my foot almost slipped over the edge, my heart plummeting to my feet.

Before me were two slim, even narrower paths of stone, set over a vast emptiness below. To think of the emptiness, I couldn’t even see the end of it. And so I picked up a rock and tossed it.

Thump, thump, thump. The rock rolled and rolled and rolled and still it rolled, judging by the sound it was making, after it disappeared. I swallowed and looked for Mr. Guan. But suddenly, he wasn’t there anymore. He stood at the far end, already across the bridge.

“There is only one right path,” he said, spreading his hands, “Choose the right one and you will be able to get across. Choose the wrong one, the stone will crumble under your feet and you will plummet into nothingness.”

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© 2011 Rose of Gondor

Author's Note

Yay! Chapter 18 is finally up!!!!! The stakes are raised! At this point, this story can go two ways: I can kill Aiko, or I can make her live. Which one????? :)