Path of the Berserker

Book 4: Chapter 8:

Fia stood on the balcony veranda outside her bedchamber, nervously looking down into the main courtyard below. There, her father, Hei Dong, was engaged in a lively conversation with Gui Zu and Ju Gong as they played a game of Xiangqi.

This was something that had become a routine of late.

Evey mid-morning, Gui Zu would engage her father with a lively game while they enjoyed tea and discussed business and politics with Ju Gong. This was all by design of course, and thankfully her father had become so engaged with the process that he looked forward to it each day now.

It was the perfect distraction.

But today was the day.

Today it was not just preparation.

Today she would have to count on their distraction for real.

Their sessions would last at least five games.

Which gave her at least three hours and hopefully longer if Gui Zu dragged out the time to make his moves as planned.

Fia left the balcony and exited her room with swiftness. She maneuvered to the back of the estate where she gingerly opened the small servant’s entrance gate in the rear courtyard. As she swung the wooden gate inward, she saw her mother standing there with two other figures in hooded travelling cloaks.

“About time,” Rhi Dong said. “We’ve been waiting in this alley for nearly half an hour. What took you so long?”

“Apologies Mother,” she said with a bow. “Father took longer than usual to join the game.”

“So be it,” she said brushing past her and then ushered the two people with her inside.

They both bowed to Fia politely and she barely caught their features below their hooded cloaks. They were old women and non-cultivators by the looks of them, both of them looking far too old to have even passed the foundation realm.

But looks could be deceiving.

Perhaps they were skilled, nonetheless.

In what style Fia still did not yet know. Her mother kept it a secret even till now.

Seeing who these secret practitioners were only piqued her curiosity more.

And her skepticism, if she were being honest.

Fia followed behind her mother and the two women as they made their way through the estate and to the gymnasium. One of them was noticeably carrying a large bag, but she could only guess what was inside. After a small knock on the gymnasium door, Yu Li ushered them all inside and then closed the door behind them.

“These are the trainers, Mother Dong?” Yu Li asked with a unmasked look of doubt on her face.

“Don’t be so judgmental,” Rhi Dong snapped. “Now take Su Ling and play with her by the courtyard as a lookout. If Master Dong approaches, I need warning.”

Yu Li quickly bowed. “Yes, Mother Dong. Come Su Ling.”

Su Ling gave Rhi Dong a hug around her legs before she departed. “Bye, nainai!”

Rhi Dong smiled and patted the little girl on her head. “Go with mommy now. Keep a look out for Gung gung!”

“Gung gung!” she cried with a cheer and then ran out the door with Yu Li.

One of the old women chuckled. “How adorable.”

“Isn’t she?” Rhi Dong said still smiling. “My first grandchild. But today is all about my second.” She then jabbed a finger towards Fia’s stomach. “Still in there.”

The two women crowded around Fia.

“Oh, I would not have even noticed,” one of them said.

“Are those mummer’s robes?”

“Yes,” Fia said. “Pray now can you tell me who these mystery masters are, mother?”

One of the women laughed. “No mystery here child. I am Mei Mai. This is my sister Sei Mai.”

The other woman bowed as they both lowered the hoods of their travelling cloaks. They were elderly as she first thought, looking perhaps in their seventies, but they moved with the grace of women much younger. Their hair was gray and bound in small topknots and Fia could see more than mere familial resemblance between them.

“Are you twins?” Fia asked.

They both laughed.

“Not identical,” Sei Mai said. “But I suppose at this age it’s hard to tell.”

“Yes indeed,” Mei Mai said. “Now, how may we assist you both Lady Silver Moon and Lady Silver Light?”

Fia looked to her mother confused. “Have you not already explained about the lessons?”

“Oh, that we know,” Sei Mai said. “What we ask is the purpose. It would greatly aid us in determining what we need to teach you.”

“Tell them,” Rhi Dong said. “They can be trusted.”

Fia inhaled a deep breath before speaking. “I am due to face a match with the three bird sisters in barely a month’s time, but as you can see, I am heavy with child. I require a way to battle them without my baby coming to harm. Please, if there is a style you could teach me to do so, I would do my utmost to master it in the time we have.”

The two women turned to one another and began speaking in a language Fia didn’t understand. It sounded like Yee but slightly different. A dialect she didn’t know perhaps. They went back and forth a few times in the strange, clipped dialect and then seemed to come to some kind of consensus.

“We can help you,” Sei Mai said. “But it will not be an easy style to master. It normally takes years, but we can show you but a handful of techniques that may be enough for you and your child to survive this ordeal you now face.”

Fia beamed with hope. “Please. I’m willing to learn anything.”

“Very well then,” Sei Mai said. “We shall begin with a demonstration.”

The sisters then busied themselves, removing implements from the large bag they had brought with them. Fia had assumed there would be weapons inside but was surprised when all they produced was a set of fans and a guzheng, a traditional hand-plucked zither that Mei Mai then set on the ground and began to tune.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Sei Mai took hold of the fans, which were made of black felt and decorated with brilliant white, orange blossoms. When the sisters removed their hooded traveling cloaks, Fia saw that their robes within were also black and decorated with the same white, orange blossom pattern.

Sei Mai said something to her sister in the dialect again and after a head nod, Mei Mai began playing the guzheng with a slow and haunting tune. Immediately Sei Mai began to dance in accordance with it, matching the slow rhythm and every so often pausing in a stance with the fans at a punctuated note or chord.

The dance was mesmerizing to behold and after a few minutes of playing, Fia found herself almost entranced by the combination of eerie music and the slow, subtle movements that were accentuated by the graceful flow of the fans.

The melody came to an end and Sei Mai stood frozen in place for a moment in silence.

Fia felt the need to applaud at the performance and nearly did so before Sei Mai animated normally again with a smile.

“That dance is known as the ‘Widow Weeps amidst the Forest’,” she said. “It is one of the most basic forms of the Hidden Sword Dancer technique.”

“The style is to teach me how to dance?” Fia asked quizzically.

Sei Mai chuckled. “It may not look like much, but trust me, it can be very effective in combat.”

Fia furrowed her brow at that.

She did not see how, but dared not say the words aloud to offend them.

“I sense your skepticism still,” Sei Mai said. “Which is natural and perhaps even the heart of the technique itself. Misdirection and creating an illusion of motion and non-motion are the key to the technique.”

“I see,” Fia said.

“Another demonstration perhaps. Please if you would utilize one of your wooden swords.” Sei Mai pointed to one of the many training blades hung on the walls of the gymnasium. “While I have confidence in my technique, I would rather a bruise than a lost limb incase your skills are beyond even what I can withstand.”

Fia grew even more skeptical as she collected one of the wooden jian blades from the wall. She certainly didn’t want to be sparring with an old woman, much less injuring her. Mei Mai began playing again and Sei Mai started to dance with the same rhythm.

“Attempt to strike me,” Sei Mai said, “Using your techniques alone, mind you.”

Fia grimaced inwardly as she approached the woman.

She was nearly standing still.

“Go on,” Sei Mai said. “I promise you won’t hurt me.”

Fia wasn’t so sure.

With a sharp exhale, Fia lunched forward with a most basic of striking techniques.

The wooden blade hit one of the fans, which Sei Mai instantly folded inward with the direction of the blow, deflecting it away from her. Fia tried again with a series of three slashing arcs. To her surprise, the woman managed to weave between them all, barely moving while the fans switched places from being in front of her and then behind.

Fia felt a slight challenge form as she furrowed her brow.

She was going lightly at first, not wanting to hit the woman, but now she put in a bit more effort, using a slightly more advanced martial form. Sei Mai flashed her fans as she spun with the slow rhythm of the haunting tune and Fia once again found her wooden blade striking nothing but air or one of the fans.

“You may try harder,” Mei Mai said with a smile as she continued to play the tune. “Sei Mai is a master of some degree. While she has never competed, I would say that some even within the Jade Bracket would have a hard time hitting her.”

That caused a bit of pride to bubble up within Fia.

She was still gold.

Did that mean she could not hit this woman at all?

Surely not, she thought.

Fia gritted her teeth as she reapplied her focus, moving in with an advanced technique, utilizing quick footwork and a series of martial forms. The music sped a little as Sei Mai reacted to the new pace, still moving gracefully but at a tempo to now match her own.

Again, she struck nothing but air.

Fia tried again with more determination and speed.

Still nothing.

Damn this! she cursed inwardly.

The competitor within her was now fully engaged as she tried again and again, yet still somehow the old woman eluded her without barely moving at all. Sweat beaded on her brow as Fia doubled her efforts, pulling out all the stops with a bit of Qi to heighten her speed.

The sword finally broke through one of the fans and touched the woman on the shoulder.

Immediately both the music and Sei Mai stopped.

“Well done,” Sei Mai said with a smile. “Although I think you cheated a little on that last one.”

A chuckle came from Rhi Dong. “Fia was never one to lose a challenge given. No matter the cost.”

It was only then that Fia realized how hard she was breathing and the amount of sweat now drenching her robes. The music too, she realized, had grown to a fever pitch the moment before it was cut off.

“How?” Fia said, shaking her head. “This technique cannot be so strong as to rival that of the Silver Leaf Clan.” She then looked to her mother. “Can it?”

Rhi Dong shrugged. “You experienced the results for yourself, did you not?”

“I still don’t understand it,” Fia said looking to Sei Mai. “And you are barely sweating or seem exerted at all.”

“That is why your mother sought us out,” Sei Mai said. “And why this would be the best fighting style for your present condition.”

“But how? I am skilled beyond many. I know I can defeat even gold bracket contenders and still I could not hit you. How is that possible?”

“Hush child,” Sei Mai said with a smile. “What causes us folly is not what we don’t know. It is what we know for certain, but truly…is not so.”

Fia furrowed her brow at that.

Sei Mai lowered the fans and approached her slowly. “You seek explanation, I give it to you now. These fans work much like your mummer’s robes. They create an illusion of where my body is and where it is not. The reason you could not hit me, is because I made you hit what you thought was me.”

“What?”

“People take the Hidden Sword Dancer technique to be a purely defensive style of combat, but it is not so. I am in no way skilled enough to react to your speed in combat. Instead, I am attacking first, by leading you to strike where I want you to. To a place where I am not. In this style the dancer takes the lead, while the attacker believes that they are leading.”

Fia’s eyes widened as the hidden truth was revealed to her.

“Is this truly so?”

“Try hitting me again,” Sei Mai said. “A single strike, but this time, where you see my fan to be.”

Fia thrusted her sword at the fan, and it collapsed easily to touch Sei Mai’s shoulder.

“See?” Sei Mai said. “It is that simple. And indeed, that easy to defeat as well. Those who know the trick cannot be fooled by the Hidden Sword Dancer technique.”

“It is why it was never adopted as a true martial style,” Mei Mai said. “But it is useful on the stage for performers. Luckly for you, it has fallen so far out of vogue that few cultivators even know of it, much less how to counter it.”

Fia felt somewhat relieved after hearing the explanation. “So I’m not losing my mind then. I was hitting you. Only what I thought was you, was not you.”

“Exactly,” Sei Mai said with a smile.

“This is brilliant!” Fia said. “I can cause the sisters to strike everywhere but at me.”

“And especially not there,” Sei Mai said pointing at her stomach.

“There is one further thing that you should know about this technique,” Mei Mai said. “Lady Silver Moon, would you mind assisting with a demonstration?”

“What would you have me do?”

“Attempt to strike Sei Mai as your daughter has, but do not cheat. Strike at where you see her body to be.”

Rhi Dong chuckled as she retrieved a second wooden sword from the wall. “Very well, start the music.”

Mei Mai did so and Sei Mai began her dance again.

Fia watched perplexed as her mother tried to strike Sei Mai with her martial forms and hit nothing but air. Mei Mai increased the tempo and Fia saw for herself that it was indeed Sei Mai that was controlling the flow of combat.

“You now Lady Silver Light,” Mei Mai said. “Assist your mother, but again do not cheat.”

Fia nodded and joined in with attacking Sei Mai from the side, striking where she perceived her to be.

Her wooden blade instantly found Sei Mai’s shoulder and the music stopped.

Fia blinked perplexed. “I didn’t cheat. I swear.”

Sei Mai chuckled. “I know you didn’t. And there lies the second flaw of this technique and why it is considered a mummer’s art and not a true martial style. It works by fooling the eyes of only one attacker at a time. Keeping the attention of two sets of eyes is extremely difficult and situational.”

“But I need to fight three,” Fia said. “Can such be done?”

Sei Mai frowned a little. “I would say near impossible.”

Fia’s heart sank. “Then what good is this technique then?”

Sei Mai shrugged. “It is all we can offer. Perhaps there may be a way to fight one at a time?”

“The rules of the match are set,” Rhi Dong said. “She must face all three at once, but no matter, this is a step forward Fia. It is something to build upon.”

“I agree,” Mei Mai said strumming a chord on the Guzheng. “Necessity is the mother of invention after all and I am not as pessimistic as my sister.”

Sei Mai glared at her and muttered something in their dialect.

Mei Mai laughed. “Do not mind her. We will help you find a way to face three at once, if it is possible.”

Fia felt a sliver of hope return as the old woman Mei Mai smiled at her.

She had no choice but to move forward now.

She had placed herself in this predicament and only she could see herself through it.

“If I must face three, then I will train three times as hard,” she said. “Let us together find a way to make this work.”

Rhi Dong smiled at her. “That is the daughter I know.”

Fia nodded and felt her resolve grow.

Sei Mai let out a sigh but chuckled. “I see there is no convincing you all otherwise. So we shall commence. But before you figure out a way of how to elude three attackers, you must first master the art of eluding just one.” Sei Mai dipped back into the bag and produced another set of fans. “Are you prepared for you first lesson, Lady Silver Light?”

Fia took the fans with a bow.

“I am ready Mistress Sei Mai,” Fia said. “Teach me in the ways of the Hidden Sword Dancer art.”