House of Chen

I watched her as we pushed off. She'd removed her bindings from her hair and it flowed around her masking her face and shoulders. It made me realise hair styles indicated position within society. With some hairpins it often indicates the person themselves.  I reached up and took out the top bun I had always worn for as long as I remember and allowed my hair free reign too. It felt alien but I knew this was something no-one would expect of me.  I was learning. She slid under the top skins and vanished from sight; these skills were instinctive to her; new and fascinating to me. I could see how successful camouflage could be in combat. This was one of the skills of the assassin. Yes, she was showing me the skills warfare and I was eager to learn.  Her quiet voice jolted me back from my reverence, " we go back, we leave no-one alive, there must be no reporting back." This was a command not a request. I turned the boat towards the shore and prayed there would be enough space t...

My dreams suddenly changed, sounds around were different, I was aware of a sampan approaching.  I woke instantly, grabbed my sword and was out from underneath the skins within seconds.  I stood between them, whoever they were, and her, and I wasn't going to let anything happen.  I turned my head towards her. Her eyes were open and watching.  I jestured for her to stay still out of sight. She nodded.  Silently, I moved towards the water's edge and crouched down. I was hidden by the overhang of the branches. It was a good position; I could see as the sampan as it turned the corner.  It drifted into sight. There were two men and they looked heavily armed. I guessed they were after me.  Silently, they let the boat drift into shore and as they stepped onto dry land I looked closely at their weaponry. It was Mu House. I continued watching as they slowly approached the skins. Stepping out behind them, I held the sword point firmly to the back of one of t...

The next couple of weeks went really well. She would show me how to do things and tell me why it worked the way that it did. It made sense and she taught with such gentleness and kindness I felt reassured as I learned. My fear of being caught naked was lessening. It still hadn't gone and I still was embarrassed whenever things were aroused, but I was getting used to it and had learned different strategies to deal with it. The cold water helped and to be able to throw myself into that when I got really hot and bothered was very, very useful indeed.  I started to really appreciate just how clever this young lady was.  Not only was she beautiful to look at but so was her mind. It was filled with so many skills, abilities and insights, and her philosophy of life was simple. It was as if I was listening to a Doaist master explaining the universe. I inwardly applauded her and silently fell even further into that abyss. Hao Yang was a quick learner as long as I showed him and explain...

"If you're going to get anything out of this experience," I said, "we're gonna have to lay down some ground rules. Firstly, don't do anything unless I tell you to do it, and if I tell you to get behind me, that's exactly what you must do." "but... but...." his voice trailed off, "No, there's no maybe's in this world.  I know this world. You are new to it. You could get us killed. Think about it." I paused for a moment to think. "What would you do if a boar approached you?" I looked at him, hoping he had some hunting skills. "Well?"  "I'd kill it." In his mind he was practicing the sword thrust. "Do you know how they strike?" He looked at me with complete blankness? "Do you know even what animals live in this area?"  "No," he looked at me quite surprised, "why should I exactly?" There was a defiance in his voice, protecting his ignorance.  "You d...

  Waking early, just as the dawn was about to break, I looked across at Hao Yang and smiled. He had had a rough night. Most of his bedding had shifted as he had tossed and turned so now his bearskin was probably on the  hard ground. He carried on sleeping, so I went down to the water to bathe, rinse my hair and whilst they still slept, catch a fish for breakfast. Little did he know, the food from now on would have to have input from him too. If he wants breakfast, he'll have to catch it himself. I caught the fish with ease. At this time of day they are still dozy and easy to catch. I wrapped it in muslin, smacked it behind the head, and threw it onto the bank. Returning to the water I enjoyed a luxurious bathe contemplating the day and, drying off, dressed, set the fire and descaled the fish. He still hadn't woken. I set the pot on for hot water and added some fresh lotus shoots and skewered the fish so it could roast by the fire. It wouldn't take long. I watched him. His n...

  This was the first time I had looked at him. He was very young with a boyish shape and manner. His complexion was pleasing and showed not one scar nor blemish. Now he wore less fancy clothes, I could see there was little muscle in him anywhere. 'He's going to struggle,' I thought to myself. I had the meat from the doe and had already collected more lotus root, so was able to provide him with a hot meal. I suspect he was surprised by how good it was but how simple it was too. I suspect he was used to more dishes, more variety. Xin had told me how the posh people ate when they went to restaurants, it seemed crazy to me. I know she was really envious, but then she grew up in a town so was surrounded by it. I explained to him how to create a comfortable bed and sent him off to collect some small branches and leaf litter to create it. What he made wasn't that good, but I asked if he thought it would be OK and he said it would so I let him find out for himself. He would hav...

 I poled the boat back to base. My elder brother was still there and past me as I arrived back. "Sent the peacock packing did she?" he said, laughing and slapping me hard on the back, "word to the wise, stay away, you'll never survive in her world not even a day!" and with that he turned to father. "I'll lay a wager. A'Hao will be back within days with his tail between his legs. She'll make minced meat out of him, if she doesn't kill him first!" His  threw his head back, laughing. My father looked at me with intense worry in his eyes. "What she like, this girl?" he asked my brother. "Oh, she's amazing. Don't get me wrong, if she trained our fighters they would be ten times better in combat and survival. She has lived alone since she was twelve. She's still alive and that's saying something." He shook his head. "If he survives, it'll be the making of him, but he'll need at least a month an...

  I swam toward the sampan and lifting myself up on the side of the boat, I peered in. "You are not going to keep all this are you? How will you carry it for a start." I reached down into the boat and turned some of the stuff over, "No, this has to go back, you can't keep all this." He brushed my hands away from the clothes, "Don't touch them, you're wet, you'll get them all wet! You! You! You're naked!" I blinked, "and?" "You can't come near me, you're, you're," waving his hands in my direction, "after all I have standards I have to live by, I don't touch ladies let alone look at them as undressed as you are!" He covered his eyes and I just looked at him both in shock and amusement. " Look at me!" I growled, "If you want to learn about my world then you enter my world. You bring with you minimal belongings, a willingness to learn, and an acceptance of my ways." With this...

The doe had not only provided me with excellent meat but a skin which would turn into something I could wear. Looking at it once it was fully scrapped, it would be large enough to make some arm guards and a jerkin of sorts. I needed more and aimed to kill another doe if I could. "A stag would be better," I mumbled to myself, thinking of the size difference, " but what would I do with all that meat?" I thought about the waste and shook my head, I really couldn't justify that size of a kill just for me. I looked in my bundle and found some tanned pieces, sinew thread and some bone needles. My mind could visualize what I could do. I wasn't convinced it would be icy cold here but I wanted to be ready for whatever the Heavens had in store for me this side of the mountain. I sat down at the fire and cooked the brain. This I then daubed over the skin soaking it with the fluid, I stretched it out over some bamboo poles I had brought with me and moved it down wind. I...

I hurried back to the manor. I needed to speak with father and get his approval to go off campus for a while. I wanted to learn her ways, but more importantly, I wanted to spend time getting to know her and her philosophy.  Whatever it was, she lived life far more freely than I did, physically, yes, that's obvious, but mentally too. What was it that gave her that inner strength and how could I not only develop it in myself but also my men. They had to be loyal, well trained but level headed in battle. She gave the impression of being all of these qualities and more. She had a level of clear thinking which over-rode emotion; a natural response to danger and a strategic knowledge of attack and defense. This I talked to my father about, leaving out the part I wished to spend time with her.  My brother had come up from the forge to bring the latest weaponry and on hearing our conversation, laughed. "I wondered what had happened to her." My father looked at him quizzically, ...

  I looked up and there he was, sitting in the sampan some distance from the shore. He looked worried, hopeful and seemed to be trying to tell me he meant no harm. "May I come on shore?" he asked quietly. "I would like to sit and talk with you if I can and I promise, I have no other motive than that."  He looked at me with a softness in his expression. I nodded and he smiled as he slowly brought the craft to the edge.  Beaching it, he walked up the bank towards me and, stopping at a respectful distance, asked if he may sit with me. I threw over a skin and gestured. He thanked me and spreading it out where it landed, he sat down and faced me.    I came into view with my heart in my mouth. Would she run or stay, would she berate me and send me away or allow me to stop? I waited. Looking up she saw me. The smile which had played on her face dissolved and was replaced by a mask which gave nothing away. I watched her eyes. Would she accept me? "May I come onshore?...

 I'd spent the rest of the day gutting, jointing and skinning. Anything I couldn't use or wouldn't eat I had taken some distance away and left it for other forest livers. We all deserved to eat and I wanted to return as much as I had been given. The first light broke over the lake and the worst of the bloody activity had been completed. I deserved to be clean again. I had washed most of it the night before but in the moonlight it is hard to distinguish exactly which is dirt and which is not. Stripping off I walked into the waters once more and let the garlic juice, which had stiffened in my hair, drift into the surrounding waters.  Combing once more, the last of the lice came out with their eggs and I was free of infestation for now. Washing the rest of me I luxuriated in the pleasures of floating amongst the lotus pads. I swam out and righted the pads and flowers which had been disturbed by the young men  and started gathering some shoots, young leaves and a couple of fl...

 Xian and I made our way back to camp. After our encounter with that young woman our plans melted away. We both wanted to get as far away from there as possible, and once she had stood and defiantly put both of us in our place, we bade her farewell and pushed off back to ... safety?  My, she was fierce and her image remained clearly in my mind as though it had been etched with fire.  I remained pre-occupied all day, thinking of her and our exchange. It was that ferocity in her eyes, that sting in her words, that inner strength which oozed from every pore of her. I had to see her again. I cleared it with father and took the following day off. I would return to that clearing and see if she was still there. I didn't know what I would do when I got there, but at least I would see her again. I slept fitfully that night and rising before dawn I headed to the dock and took out a sampan to scull down the lake.   I had not enjoyed the exchange, but it was just detritus on the...

 I sat watching the young men for what seemed like hours. I had tidied the camp and put away everything I didn't need into my bundle. Now, all that was visible was the fire pit and a roll of skin. "Let's get out on shore for a while!" I heard one shout to another. "You go, I'm heading back , got drill practice this afternoon and he'll skin me alive if I'm late."  "Oh, heavens, is it this afternoon? My drill master will make me run the training grounds again if I'm late. I'm off. Who's going back, I'll catch a lift with you." With that one very overladen sampan returned to wherever it had come, leaving two young men behind.  "You not on drill duty today?" the taller one of the two asked. "No, not today, I'm on at four bells so have plenty of time. Fancy going to shore, drying off and seeing if we can find something worth catching, not practiced my hunting skills for a while. What about it?" and wit...

I woke early. I loved those few hours when the sun rose. It was a twilight moment in the animal world; those who were night dwellers had made their way back to their beds whilst the day dwellers were just stirring. I liked to take this time to bathe in the waters and watch as the sun rose. Today was an especially beautiful sight, with the lotus blooms opening their petals to another day. There was a chill in the air and the mists hung low over the water.  My head itched, the lice were moving about. I had picked handfuls of wild garlic as I had travelled by the stream (now river) and was armed with a wonderful deterrent. Reaching for my crushing stones, I set about making a very pungent paste which I loosened with water. Putting it into one of the food bowls, I stripped and went into the water letting my hair float like living seaweed around me.  Using my comb I began the long job of removing the lice. The teeth were close together and this worked well in dislodging many of the...

Making my way down the side of the hillside, I hugged the edge of the stream as it cascaded along its course. We passed a few waterfalls and rapids and with every step, the water's speed slowed. New streams joined and slowly the whole water course widened. It wasn't easy walking. Sometimes where the waters dropped over a water fall, I had to scale down the slippery rocks. Carrying my bundles made it hard work. Sometimes they would catch on a rock or be hooked by an overhead branch pulling me back. I could have become discouraged and given up, but the prospect of that still water and the possibility of lotus plants too, kept my mind focused on the task at hand. I swallowed the frustrations I was feeling and kept moving down with the water. We turned a bend and another river joined the stream. It opened up in front of me and became something of size; navigable even. It was flatter here and the waters were less turbulent.  I started hoping I was reaching a destination and continue...

I'd not had as bad a night as that in a very long time. I had put down branches from the surrounding fir trees anad scooped up armfuls of leaves to add to the bed, but without the bottom fur, it was uncomfortable. Everything moved as I did and it never gave that spring underneath me, I had become used to these past few years. I ached and feeling like death warmed up. I sat up and looked around. I really missed alpha. I missed sharing my bed with her and feeling her warmth. I missed the way she turned over in the night and snuggled right in to me, and I'd feel her breath on the back of my neck. I missed feeling safe because she became the early warning system and dealt with many issues herself letting me sleep peacefully. She was such a lovely, kind and generous animal. I know I will never forget her and did my best not to think of the sight which had greeted me that night. I shuddered. It was chilly this morning and having spent the night uncovered and open to the elements, I f...

Travelling as I have, I'd come across many types of landscapes; wetlands where I was bitten to death, arid areas where I longed for water, dense forests where the wolf packs roamed, bamboo glades filled with ants, the numerous poisonous snakes, frogs, and of course, the blackbear, it was one long succession of change, fear and new adversaries. I needed change, but of a positive kind, I was tired of having new animals seeing me as their food for the night. I needed somewhere I could stash my belongings now I was so close to people, where I could sleep without getting soaked, attacked or invaded. I started to look about and aimed to find an outcrop of rock where there maybe an overhang or something, but this area was known for bears and I wasn't willing to poke about in any caves around here. Then again, overhangs often squirreled away snakes and spiders. I shuddered having met a cobra a few years ago and was lucky to get away with my life. "Mind you," I mused, "wi...

I woke with a start and was out of the cot before I realised. I felt things crawling all over me and I instinctively ran to the water. I took a breath and jumped in, submerging myself. The irritations stopped and looking up at the surface of the water, I saw hundreds of ants coming together to form an ant raft. This is what had jerked me awake and shuddering at the thought of them in my hair, ears and mouth, I sculled backwards to get up water of them, and resurfaced. Looking at the ever growing raft I realised there would be little to salvage at camp. "Why didn't Alpha react? She usually does before me?" Then I stopped and a deep pain eminated from my heart. I knew then, she had died in the night and the ants were reclaiming her body. Lifting myself out of the water I carefully retraced my steps avoiding the ever increasing line of ants. Standing the oppositie side of the fire pit, I stared at our skins we had shared for all that time. She, like the skins, were black wit...

My soul cried out for solitude. I just wanted to go back into the woods and find some peace. To go back to my own world and stop listening to all this chatter of people.  The way they speak about one another, the tittle tattling, the commenting on people's looks and behaviors and attitudes. And the, " did you hear what Mrs. So-and-so said?" and, 'have you seen what so-and-so did? I've had enough. I just wanted to go and be alone. My soul hurt, my heart hurt. I hurt. I just wanted peace.  Alpha padded along beside me and we made our back to the camp. I made food for the pair of us and as it cooked, I settled myself down.  I needed to meditate. I needed to stand still, long enough to find myself again. Settling down by fire, I crossed my legs, placed my back against alpha's and stared into the wood flames. I just needed to hear the sounds of the fire as it crackled and the pot as it cooked, the rustling of the trees, the movements of those living in the leaf lit...