Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain by Jin Yong (6 page)

Hawk had always conducted himself with caution and Third had always been obedient to the Chief Escort. Hearing Prime, they leapt to the side. Wisdom was a boorish monk and would not dream of halting in the midst of a furious battle. Whirling his knife like a windwill, he charged at Peace. Prime immediately cried out, "Wisdom the Great Master, Wisdom the Great Master! But the words fell on deaf ears."

Peace threw his sword to the ground, straightened himself and declared, "I challenge you to take my life."

Wisdom was just raising his blade to smite Peace, but was taken aback by his unusual behaviour. He halted, his knife in mid air. "Bald knave!' roared Peace and planted his fist in the monk's face, smashing the bridge of his nose. Caught off guard, the monk swayed and tumbled on his rump. He felt his nose and found his hand soaked in blood; he was furious beyond control and howled. Struggling to his feet again, he rushed at Peace but was pulled back by Prime.

"Halt!" commanded Prime.

Instantly Peace jumped into the pit and dug a few times with the steel hoe before flinging it away. Up he jumped, holding a rectangular iron box about two feet in length. Hawk and the others smiled and moved closer towards Peace.

"Brother Fortune," whispered Valour, "you and Curio dispatch the darts at our enemies. I will go and grab that box."

"Which of the two parties should we attack?" asked Fortune in a whisper.

Valour stuck out the thumb and the little finger of his left hand and held back the three fingers in the middle; this was the sign for the numeral six, meaning they should take all six.

"Cruel," Fortune mused, but he nodded his consent and gripped the poisoned darts in his hands. When he looked at Curio out of the corners of his eyes, he found him gazing fixedly at Peace. It occurred to him that Curio had never once taken his eyes off that man.

Peace, carrying the box in his hands, cried out aloud, "Father and I have been snared. We will certainly present you with the house treasure of our Martial Brotherhood with due respect. I am still puzzled by one thing and hope somebody will throw light on this matter."

Prime narrowed his eyes and said, "May I be of service to the young Master?"

At this Peace continued, "How did you know that the box was buried here? How did you also know that we would be here at this time to get the box?"

"As the young Master would like to have his question answered," replied Prime, "I see no harm in obliging. A banquet was hosted on the day that Grand Master Pastoral of the Dragon Lodge retired. All kin and comrades were invited to the sword-sealing ceremony. The young Master as his son-in-law-to-be was sure to show up." Peace nodded.

Pointing to Hawk, Prime continued, "This Brother of mine also happened to be one of the honoured guests that day. The young Master had other things on his mind and did not pay much heed to Brother Hawk."

"So," sneered Peace, "my father-in-law invited a traitor to his banquet, whom he had taken to be a friend."

Prime remained calm and went on slowly, "I am afraid that you are somewhat too nasty with your words. Hawk had heard much talk about your good self and could not help wanting to see the young Master. He could also have been attracted by the famed outlawry of Horse Spring. Hawk recorded every single move of the young Master on that particular day."

"Well done," applauded Peace. "This box should therefore be duly presented to His Eminence Hawk." Thereupon, he proffered the box with both hands.

Hawk took the gift. Suddenly, Peace lifted the upper rim of the box, and out whistled three barbs, aimed straight at Hawk's chest. Hawk was less than three feet away and could not move away from the impending danger. But Hawk pulled Wisdom before him in the nick of time and shielded himself from attacks. A cry of agony pierced the air as two barbs transfixed the throat of the monk, killing him instantly. The third barb shot sideways and bit deep into the left shoulder of Prime, sorely wounding him.

This sudden turn of events was still more dramatic than the ambush staged earlier by Prime and his party. Sign could not hold back a gasp. Hearing this behind him, Hawk sprang onto a boulder, sparing both Century and Peace. He made sure that his back was well guarded before turning round to examine the situation further.

"Go!" cried Valour, leaping forward.

Curio lashed out his arm and three poisoned darts whizzed towards Peace in no time. Anticipating this move of his, Sign speedily straightened herself and knocked into Curio's left shoulder just as the darts were dispatched. Curio faltered and snarled, "What the devil!" All the darts missed their mark and fell point downward in the snow.

Fortune had also intended the poisoned darts for Hawk but Sign's cry had alerted him of the danger. He was nimble-witted and there was no way in which Fortune could get him. "Property to the rightful owner!" shouted Valour, as he plunged the five hook-like fingers of his left hand into Peace's eyes, while the five fingers of his right hand took a tight grip on the iron box.

Hawk planted his staves upright and began to battle with Fortune who fenced with a long sword. They had already met at the banquet hosted by Pastoral Tian and had discovered they were each adept in the martial arts. After practising a few tricks, each commanded the other's respect.

Radiant now rushed at Prime, raising his sword. Sign had engaged Third in another battle, thus there was the clashing and clanging of Sign's single blade upon Third's twin knives. Curio whirled his flashing long sword. But instead of attacking Century who remained unengaged nearby, he aimed a terrible stroke at Peace's chest. He was lashing fast and furious, following his sword very closely and practising the Rainbow Piercing the Fireball.

Being unarmed, Peace had to let go of the metal box. He leapt backward and dodged. He crouched to reach for the single sword, then spun around and whipped out his weapon. Valour was holding the box tightly in his left hand; his face darkened as he bellowed with rage, "Sirrah! You murdered your father-in-law simply because you had set eyes on the heirloom of our Dragon Lodge."

"That is a lie!" boomed Peace. "Who says I killed my father- in-law?" He charged on fiercely, slashing ferociously as he wanted to get the box back quickly.

Once the iron box fell into the hands of Valour, the Seven Stars Hand, there was little chance that anybody could grab it from him; Peace did not stand a chance. Valour's brawny palms were enough to scare anybody off, even if Curio were not there fencing with his sword ready to aid him.

"Listen, Valour," cried Century. "The box was handed personally to my son by Pastoral Tian, his father-in-law. It is a fact that you have to accept." He roared and thundered as he whirled his rod and lashed mighty blows on Valour's skull. Valour bounded a few yards at a leap and landed beside Sign. He raised the box and flourished it at Third. She ducked away from it fearing that barbs might again fly from it. But this time Valour was just trying to frighten her. He passed the box to Sign the moment she had thrown off her opponents.

"Guard the box! Let me take care of the enemies," ordered Valour.

Now that the box had left his hands, Valour spun around and engaged Century. Valour was considered champion of the Northern Branch of the Dragon Lodge. Century struck mighty and furious strokes with his rod, but was forced to retreat by his weaponless opponent. Prime, who had already been caught in the shoulder by an arrow, was cornered by Radiant fencing with his long sword; Prime could not free himself to extract the arrow. The weapon stayed in the wound and inflicted excruciating pain over half of his body the minute he exerted himself. As for Hawk and Fortune, the battle raged on between them with neither gaining any advantage.

Carrying the box in her hands, Sign practised levitational arts and made all speed in a northeasterly direction. Peace raised his blade to rain blows on Curio, but the latter shielded himself with an uplifted sword. Suddenly Peace lowered his blade, spun around and rushed after Sign.

Curio was furious and speedily joined in the pursuit. A few paces on, Third sprang from the brambles on the side, flourishing her twin knives and Curio was waylaid by her. He became careless and only managed to escape a series of deadly moves by a hair's breadth. Though Third was no adept in martial arts, she was thoroughly trained in one whole series of moves for fencing with knives—the Iron Bolt. Practising any of the thirty-six moves in this series, she was able to shield herself against any advancing opponent. Even if her assailant were proficient in martial arts, he still would have difficulty striking her. In his attack, Curio resorted to switching quickly to three different styles of attack with the sword, but failed in all attempts.

Sign had covered one third of a mile in her flight. She was pleased to find Peace pursuing her so closely and after skirting a mountainside, she stood still and addressed Peace, neither angrily nor smilingly. "Why do you chase me?"

"Sister, let us join league against those filthy outlaws." pleaded Peace. "What comes between us can be easily settled."

"Who is your sister?" demanded Sign. "Why did you plot against my father?"

Suddenly Peace fell to his knees on the snowy ground, and pointing towards the open sky, he vowed, "I swear to the God high above: if I, Peace Tao, ever plotted against Pastoral Tian, old Grand Master of the Dragon Lodge, may I be transfixed by millions of arrows and my corpse be cut into slivers."

Hearing him, Sign let out a smile, held him by the arm and said softly, "I long to believe it was not you. I knew it could not have been you. But they ... they ..."

Peace sprang up, held her left hand tight, and said,

"Sister ...." He got no further than this when the colour suddenly drained from her face, alerting him that someone was behind him. Quickly, he turned around.

"You two!" bellowed a voice. "What deceitful tricks are you up to?"

"What do you mean deceitful tricks? Take care what you say," retorted Sign.

Curio was approaching.

"Brother Curio," cried Peace, "Please do not misunderstand."

Curio rolled his eyes wide and bawled out, "Misunderstand? To the devil with you!" Thereupon, he whirled his blade and struck fiercely in every direction, forcing Peace to parry the blows with his sword.

The two fought several bouts on the snow when Third was heard approaching in full speed.

"Ill-gotten wench!" roared Curio. "All this badgering and pestering!"

He then dealt a backhand blow which she warded off with her left knife while returning a stroke with her right.

"Third," called out Peace, "Let us join league against the boorish fellow, and kill him."

Practising the move known as Moving the Beam and Swapping the Pole, Peace now pretended to raise his left hand, and with his right, he stole the blade to the side and dealt Curio a backhand stroke. Curio was fighting alone against two but showed no sign of fear; he wanted to show off his swordsmanship in front of the woman he loved. He attacked from the side and succeeded in forcing his opponent to go on the defensive.

"Marvellous swordplay!" applauded Peace.

Immediately he ducked and practising Advancing to Pull the Trigger, he struck at Curio's loin. Third calculated that Curio would definitely ward off the blow holding up his sword, thereby rendering his upper trunk vulnerable. Seizing this good opportunity, she lashed her twin knives on his shoulders. But she had miscalculated Peace's move. Flourishing his blade, Peace halted halfway and switched suddenly to practising Retreating to Smite the Horse. He twisted his wrist and dealt her a blow on the thigh.

Adepts far more proficient in martial arts than Third would have found it difficult to ward off such a blow. The wound on her thigh caused her excruciating pain and she staggered and fell back on the ground. Peace strode one pace and raised his blade to strike, aiming at her neck. Suddenly, Curio's long sword came whizzing, parrying the blow from Peace's single blade.

"Shame on you!" shouted Curio.

"All is fair in war. I meant to help you," replied Peace.

Curio was on the point of responding when Hawk, Fortune, Century, Valour, and the others arrived on the scene. They all wanted the iron box, so when they saw Sign making off with the box, they soon lost interest in dragging on a battle which would prove unrewarding. One by one, they all sneaked away in pursuit the moment their opponents slackened the fight.

"Father," cried out Peace, "the Dragon Lodge are friends of ours. Do not take up arms against Uncle Valour."

Before Century could reply, Curio cried out aloud to Peace, "You plotted against my kind Master. How can we be friends?"

Thereupon, he aimed three whizzing strokes at Peace, two of which were warded off, but he could not manage to parry the third. He dodged quickly to the left, and the keen blade glanced off his right cheek, missing his crown by a mere two inches. All the colour drained from his face.

"Watch out!" cried out Sign suddenly.

A secret weapon darted from the side, whistled past him, humming down wind and wounding Peace in the rump.

What happened was that when Third had fallen to the ground wounded, bitterness and remorse gnawed at her heart. "He of Horse Spring committed the mortal crime of murdering my husband and is known for his cunning tricks. How could I trust his words and not take any precautions?" Therefore when Peace stepped back to parry the blow, she seized the opportunity to launch a surprise attack. Immediately she sprang up and struck a blow on his crown. But Sign reacted quickly, dispatching darts before Third attempted her move, and catching her on the right shoulder. Consequently, Third dealt a low blow, catching him only in his rump.

Caught by the poisoned dart, Third fell back on the ground.

"You fiend!" bellowed Peace.

Lashing his sword, Peace aimed at her chest and lunged hard. The plunge came hard and fast and it was at close range. But just as the blade was about to nail Third to the ground, a whizzing sound came across the open sky. A secret weapon came flying from afar and hit the blade, knocking it and sending it plunging into the snowy ground next to Third.