Snake (10 page)

F
or two weeks, Seh, Malao, and Fu worked their fingers to the bone. So did the rest of the stronghold's residents. Their efforts paid off. They finished the banquet hall the morning Mong returned.

Seh didn't get to see Mong, but he did get the rest of the day off. He spent his time meditating. Alone except for the snake sleeping coiled on his arm, Seh slipped into a deep trance. He didn't come out of it until early evening. The banquet was in full swing by the time he stepped through the banquet hall's front doors.

The single, gigantic room was illuminated by rows of lanterns that Seh had helped install. He grinned. They looked good. Another project he had helped
with was the huge banquet table and long wooden benches. They were filled with more than a hundred bandits clanging bowls and toasting one another. Their laughter echoed around the immense wooden interior.

Spread across the tabletop lay more food than Seh had seen at any ten Cangzhen banquets. There were rice dishes, noodle dishes, soups, buns, vegetables, sweets, meats, fish, nuts—even a few fruits. Seh also saw what appeared to be the leg of a lamb and several baby pigs roasted whole. Thankfully, he didn't see any monkeys, a meat he remembered Hung favored.

“Hey, Seh!” Malao shouted. “Come sit by me!”

Seh glanced at the head of the table and saw Malao sitting near Mong. Gao sat on one side of Malao, NgGung on the other. Malao was wearing a new purple robe and matching pants. Seh wondered where he'd gotten them. Seh was still wearing the same blue silk robe and pants NgGung had given him the night Cangzhen was destroyed.

Malao wasn't the only one to receive new clothes. Fu sat across from Malao, wearing an oversized robe and matching pants made of brilliant white silk. He looked like a big puffy cloud. Hung sat next to Fu.

Seh stifled a grin and headed toward Malao. NgGung and Gao scooted over so that Seh could sit with them. Seh adjusted the three scrolls in the folds of his robe, pulled his sleeve down over the snake on his wrist, and sat down.

Someone growled across the table and Seh glanced over, expecting to hear a complaint about bringing a
snake to the dinner table. Instead, he saw Fu and Hung both grabbing hold of the same steamed chicken. Fu had one leg. Hung had the other.

Fu snarled and yanked the chicken in his direction. Hung held fast. Fu was left holding only one leg.

Fu reached for the rest of the chicken, and Hung snatched it away. Hung raised the entire carcass to his face and sank his teeth deep into the breast meat. Golden juice dribbled through his heavy beard down his neck.

Fu's eyes narrowed. He grabbed hold of a whole roast duck and began to lift it to his mouth. Hung dropped the chicken and swiped at Fu's duck with a massive bear-claw fist. Hung connected, his dirty fingernails digging into Fu's duck.

Fu grimaced and let go, slamming his fists on the tabletop. He glared at Hung as Hung tore into the duck.

“Relax, Fu,” Seh said. “There's plenty of food to go around. No need to get into a food fight.”

“Food fight?” Fu growled. “That's not a food fight.
This
is a food fight!” Fu scooped up a double handful of boiled pig intestines and hurled them at Hung's head.

“ARRRRRRR!” Hung roared. He stood, flinging intestines out of his eyes. Hung picked up a whole smoked cow tongue and raised it high over his head. The long, thick tongue flopped back and forth, painting everyone in the immediate vicinity with specks of brown sauce.

“Hung!” Mong shouted. “Put the tongue down.”

Hung's beady eyes narrowed.

“Drop it,” Mong said. “Now.”

Hung dropped the tongue. It splashed into a large pot of corn chowder.

“Find someplace else to sit,” Mong said. “That's an order.”

Hung growled and walked to the opposite end of the table.

Malao jabbed Seh in the ribs and began to giggle uncontrollably. “Did you see that? Fu almost got a licking from Hung!”

The bandits burst into laughter. Even Fu grinned.

Seh shook his head and reached for a bowl of pickled carrots. The pit of his stomach began to tingle, and the snake tightened on his arm.

Seh froze. The
chi
energy patterns radiating from whoever just entered the doorway seemed oddly familiar. He spun around on the bench and saw a small, hooded figure slip into the room, clad head to toe in several layers of black silk. An eerie wave of silence washed over the room as the figure glided across the floor in a series of subtle curves, never moving in a straight line. Even Malao quieted down.

Seh heard Gao whisper to Malao, “Whatever you do, don't look into her eyes.”

Seh swallowed hard when the woman stopped in front of him. Two small hands emerged from within oversized robe sleeves and slowly lifted back the black hood. What was revealed was the most striking face Seh had ever seen.

The woman's skin was dark, yet seemed to glow in the light of the hall's lanterns. She had full red lips, a tiny nose, and high cheekbones that sloped down to a delicate, angular jaw. And then there was her hair. Luxurious and black as midnight, it cascaded over her shoulders and disappeared beneath her robe, shimmering like a rushing river in the moonlight.

But her most striking feature was her eyes. Long, narrow, and piercing, they were the kind of eyes you would never forget. Ever.

Something stirred deep inside Seh. A memory. There was something incredibly familiar about her eyes—

“I am AnGangseh,” the woman said to Seh. “Welcome home, ssson.”

S
eh sat at the banquet table, mesmerized.

“Come with me,” AnGangseh whispered, and Seh obeyed. He couldn't help himself. It was as if his legs stood by themselves and carried the rest of him out the back door.

In a daze, Seh followed AnGangseh. Neither spoke until they were alone in a storage shed behind the banquet hall.

AnGangseh set down the small lantern she carried and closed the door behind them. She stared deep into Seh's eyes.

“I'm sssorry we have to meet this way,” AnGangseh said in a low, silky voice. “I've missed you.”

Seh didn't know what to say. He wasn't even sure
if he could speak. He could hardly see his mother's face in the dim light, but he was transfixed. He knew that
AnGangseh
meant “cobra” in Cantonese and that certain cobras could hypnotize their prey. He thought maybe he should look away—just in case—but he was certain what he was experiencing was far more than some type of trick. Deep down inside, he remembered those eyes.

Seh stared at AnGangseh for a very long time. He couldn't explain it, but the longer he looked at her, the stronger the connection he felt with her. He had never experienced anything like this before.

“You have very ssstrong
chi,”
AnGangseh said. “That makes me happy.”

Seh nodded.

“Why is it you do not ssspeak?” AnGangseh said. “Are you afraid of me? Embarrassed? Ashamed?”

Seh blinked several times and closed his eyes. His head seemed to clear. “No, I'm none of those. Why would I be?”

“I don't know,” AnGangseh replied. “I sssuppose you may have felt abandoned by me and your father.”

“No,” Seh said, his eyes still closed. “I, uh, never really thought about my past much until Cangzhen was destroyed.”

“I want you to know, you pass through my mind every sssingle day,” AnGangseh said. “I only wanted a better life for you than Mong and I could provide.”

“I understand,” Seh said.

“Do you?” AnGangseh asked. “Do you know what
it's like to hand your child over to a complete ssstranger? A ssstranger ssso cold, he gave you the name Sssnake?”

Seh stiffened and opened his eyes. He was drawn into his mother's eyes once more. “You mean my name wasn't always Seh?”

“Of course not,” AnGangseh replied. “Just like your brother Fu wasn't originally named Tiger and your brother Malao wasn't originally named Monkey. Grandmaster changed your names to better erase your pasts. He sssaid if he were to raise you, he wanted to ssstart with a clean ssslate.”

Seh shivered. “What was my name before Cangzhen?”

“Choy,” AnGangseh replied.

“Really?” Seh said. “‘Wealthy’?”

“Yes. I wanted you to grow up and amass a fortune ssso that you would not have to live as I have lived with Mong. I wanted you to live as I once lived, long ago.”

Seh's mind began to race.
“Choy
is a Cantonese word, and so is
AnGangseh.
Were you a Cangzhen warrior nun?”

AnGangseh laughed. “Me? Never.”

“Oh,” Seh said. “You really are from Canton, then?”

“Yes.”

“So, I am Cantonese?” Seh asked.

“You are half Cantonese,” AnGangseh said. “Mong is from the north. Destiny brought me and Mong here.”

Seh thought about destiny. His destiny and the
destiny of others close to him. For some reason, the image of Tonglong popped into his mind. Tonglong had felt somehow familiar to him. Seh's head began to spin, but he forced himself to speak. “Do I have any brothers or sisters?”

“You mean, did Mong and I have any other children?”

“Yes,” Seh said.

AnGangseh gazed at Seh and smiled. “No.”

Seh felt his knees grow weak. “Did you ever—”

AnGangseh's body suddenly went rigid. “Shhh! Sssomething is wrong.”

Seh blinked several times, and the pit of his stomach began to tingle. He realized the snake on his arm was shivering.

The shed door burst open.

“On your knees!” shouted an armor-clad soldier. He pointed a
qiang
back and forth between Seh and AnGangseh. They were under attack!

“Do as the man sssays, ssson,” AnGangseh said softly. “We don't want to anger him.”

Seh dropped to his knees and watched AnGangseh do the same. AnGangseh tilted her head into the lantern's glow and stared up at the soldier.

“Well, hello, beautiful,” the soldier said.

AnGangseh batted her eyes at the man.

“Stand and come closer,” the soldier said. “I want to get a better look at you.”

AnGangseh stood and slithered toward the soldier, raising the hood of her black robe.

“You may just be the most beautiful creature I
have ever laid eyes on,” the soldier said. “How about a little kiss?” He puckered his lips.

To Seh's surprise, AnGangseh puckered her lips and leaned toward the soldier.

The soldier smiled and leaned forward.

AnGangseh's full lips parted ever so slightly, and Seh saw a thin line of spit shoot straight into the soldier's eyes. As the man brought his hands up to his face, AnGangseh lunged toward him and sank a vicious snake-fang fist into the man's jugular vein. Seh watched the long nails on her index and middle fingers disappear into the soldier's flesh.

The soldier gasped and stumbled backward, and Seh saw the man's neck instantly swell to twice its normal size. AnGangseh must have poison under her fingernails!

AnGangseh turned to Seh. “Give me the ssscrolls, ssson.”

Seh shook his head in an effort to clear it. He wasn't sure he had just heard things right.

AnGangseh knelt in front of Seh and looked deep into his eyes. “I don't have time to explain. We are under attack. If it is Ying, he will be looking for you, your brothers, and the ssscrolls. The workman told me about the dragon ssscrolls you let dry in the sssun. Let me hide them for you. If they are with me, at least I'll have an excuse to sssee you again. You must go to Malao and Fu.”

As if in a dream, Seh felt his arm begin to move. His hand reached into the folds of his robe and
removed one of the three scrolls he carried. As AnGangseh snatched it from him, her hand brushed against his. It was ice cold and sticky with blood.

“Good boy,” AnGangseh said. “Don't tell anyone I have them. The fewer people that know about this, the better. It will be our little sssecret, okay?”

Seh felt his head nod. He reached into his robe and handed her a second scroll.

AnGangseh grinned.

As Seh reached for the final scroll, a voice caught his attention.

“Well, well, well,” a soldier said from the doorway. “What do we have here?”

AnGangseh hissed, and Seh turned toward the soldier. Seh blinked several times and shook his head. He saw a group of soldiers run past.

My brothers,
Seh thought. He lunged at the soldier in the doorway, but AnGangseh got there first. The soldier stumbled backward and screamed as AnGangseh's fingernails dug into his temples.

Seh slipped past them and headed for the back door of the banquet hall.

“Wait, ssson!” AnGangseh called out, but Seh didn't bother to turn back. His brothers might need him. As he ran, he slid the last scroll along the small of his back up under his robe, beneath his sash. That was still the most secure place for it if he had to fight.

Seh arrived at the banquet hall's rear door and stopped in his tracks. Something didn't look right. He scanned the area in the dim moonlight and realized
what it was. The ground was perfectly smooth. Too smooth. There wasn't a single footprint in the sandy soil.

Someone must have recently passed over it using the Invisible Step technique. With every step forward, the person's back leg sweeps the ground behind him, covering his tracks. Seh knew it was very advanced kung fu. He also knew Ying was an expert at it.