156 The Reckoning

 Old man Chen's body was wrapped in a shroud. There would be no funeral procession, no pyre,  no rights of passage one would normally grant the dead. Second Master had specifically asked he be buried in wasteland where no one would mourn him - not that they would.

"The grave diggers are here, Sir." an orderly bowed out of respect to the House Keeper. 

"Send them in, the body is ready."

Two men entered the room, looking around at its finery, cap in hand with a partial stoop in submission to the grandeur which surrounded them.

"He is ready for you. You understand the instructions?" 

They nodded, almost salivating at the riches this body might hold.

"Here is your fee, now please, carry out the instructions as agreed." 

They nodded greedily, and scooped up the old man quickly.

"We will get this to our cart. Thank you for doing business with us." And with that, Old Man Chen began his final journey to some wasteland on the outskirts of Shipao.

 

A runner entered the villa as Old Man Chen was leaving. He looked, and then entered the room as instructed. "Sir, you have a job for me?"

"Take this jade insignia to the new Commander Chen Yongle, he will be expecting it and will know its significance." 

Handing over the insignia, the runner bowed his head. He was fully aware of its significance as well. Power had transferred with the death of the old man. 'No-one will grieve that parting,' the runner thought ot himself.

"Yes," the Housekeeper said, "the new head of the Chen dynasty is Commander Chen. Tell him the seals of the Province are here, and await his collection."

The runner bowed as he left the room. He had heard the Commander had headed up north, his whereabouts as yet uncertain.

 

"We've got a rich un 'ere." one of the grave diggers said as they pulled the cart down the road and out of the town.

"Yeh, wonder what's in that shroud? Could be worth some silver or even gold maybe."

"Let's find a place where we can dump it, then."

With that, they pushed the cart harder, the thought of easy pickings filling their minds.

Ripping the shroud open, they met the eyes of a skeletal old man, still fixed in a gaze of sheer terror. He was stiff but the diggers were used to this. The sound of cracking bones echoed loudly in the clearing, as they lifted him unceremoniously, and felt all round for those supposed riches He was devoid of anything, save a locket. Turning it in their hands, they realised the picture was useless but the case was silver. They pried the picture out and dumped it, and pocketted the case. 

"There's nothing 'ere! Just this! Waste!"

With disgust, they looked at the body, and the ditch beside them.

"Chuck it. The dogs will find it and take what they want, its no use to us!" With that, they threw the body deep into the gully. It cracked and groaned, the last of the breath left inside his body exhaling into the stagnant water it lay in.

It wasn't long before the carnivores found him. They sniffed, wrinkling their noses in disgust. Turning, they left.

 

Old Man Chen stood dumbfounded as he watched his body. He couldn't leave. He was tied there by some invisible chord which held his spirit tight. He'd watched the men. He'd watched the picture of his wife being pried from its holder. He'd watched as they threw it down and she was discarded in to the mud. He wanted to call out and stop them. He couldn't. They didn't hear him. He sank to the ground trying to pick up the image of his wife, but his hands no longer touched firm objects. He looked around, searching. He didn't know what, but he searched. He wanted someone to help him. He wanted to be whole again. He wanted to say sorry.

Then it started. It was just a faint glow at first, but the glow around him got brighter, larger. There was a smell of decay in it, the sounds of screams, the ripping, slicing, stabbing, raping. The sounds of a woman as her children were ripped from her filled his head. Then more women, as they screamed for their families. The sounds of the men as they killed in his name, or was it because of his name? 

He held his hands over his ears, but they did no good. The sounds got louder, invading his very soul. More and more beings came in various state of decompostion, until he collapsed to his knees. Each soul seemed to attach itself to him until the weight of them was so oppressive he could hardly move.

He screamed, he cried, but no-one came, no-one heard, he was dead but in a nightmare he so wanted to wake up from.

Then she came. 

The Mu woman who he had raped. 

She stood in front of him, not saying a word, not moving. 

She smiled at him. 

"You've come to join us?" her spirit said, but her mouth failed to move. Looking into his eyes, her venom was clear and deadly, "enjoy your stay because you will be here a very long time."

With that, she turned and vanished into the mist.

He screamed then. He knew he would be screaming for a very long time. 

 

Back at the villa, cleaning had begun. All rooms were emptied one by one, and everything was cleaned, polished and returned as it had been before his arrival. It was now a home, an ancestral home for the sons of Madam Chen.