Bastion 2 - Chapter 19

I put my hands up in the Wing Chun form, ready to deflect and redirect his powerful blows. He put his fists up in a brawler pose and took two steps closer. I backed away, circling left as he swung in recklessly. I slapped back one fist, dodged, then countered his low kick with my foot, pushing the assault away.

The force of his hands hitting my guard sent lances of pain through my bones. I couldn’t let him lay a hand on me, but needed to get in close enough to put him down. I watched his posture as he moved in again, fists flying, but I wasn’t fast enough. The air whooshed from my lungs and I sucked in a pained gasp as my guts rearranged.

I grabbed the offending fist and held tight as I forced the en munje down my arm in a brilliant blue arc of lightning. Tae-do shook violently, his teeth bared in a grimace as his eyes rolled back. He hit the ground with a grunt, and I sighed, dropping to my knees beside him.

He still had a pulse, and was breathing, but his skin was molten hot. If I couldn’t get his temperature down, his brain would cook. There was no guarantee that hadn’t already happened with the way he was acting.

‘How far are the docks?’

“About twenty meters left,” came Mae’s cool reply.

I squeezed down a narrow alley until I found the edge of the water. I pulled some from the bay with blue glowing en, and walked back to Tae-do. It wasn’t the cleanest water, but it was cool, and would help control his temperature when he couldn’t.

I splashed the water down across his chest, and was surprised when it didn’t rouse him. ‘Did I do serious damage?’

“I don’t think so. His hand is burned, there’s nerve damage along his arm but it will heal with some assistance from the infirmary. He is still burning up, though. If we don’t get him back to the school soon, there could be lasting damage from his own stupidity,” Mae said with annoyance.

I looked down at the massive boy and then at the arrow in my vision with the distance listed below it. It was incredibly handy, and I was amazed at how Mae learned to overcome our communication restrictions on the fly. But that amazement wasn’t making the task ahead any easier.

My muscles were already weak from utilizing all the infused zo, but I couldn’t leave him here. Nor could we stay and wait for help. If the agents responsible for the drugs and my mother’s illness were nearby, both of us could be at risk.

I took a moment to cycle a few breaths of energy to create zo, and then pulled Tae-do up over my shoulder. I groaned as I came up to standing with his weight. He must’ve been at least twenty kilos heavier than I was. This was what I got for going with this plan… but now I didn’t have to fight with Hana about who would be taking the potion to track it.

With great effort and several stops, I made my way back to the bustling entertainment district near Bastion. From there, I found a rickshaw driver willing to take us up to the school. Tae-do remained unconscious for the entire trip.

We came around the corner near campus to see Bastion instructors with hands alight combing the streets. Pung-sah gasped when he saw me and ran towards the rickshaw.

“What happened?” he demanded as I paid the driver.

I reached back to pull Tae-do out. “Help me with him, he’s heavy.”

We situated him between us and pulled his arms over our shoulders. His feet dragged behind us as we made our way toward the school. A man in the green trimmed robes of the infirmary came out with a gurney and we set him down at the gates, then strapped him on. He was still heavy, but the gurney made it much easier.

There were no students roaming the grounds as we came through, and every light on the perimeter had been activated. There were instructors at the far wall repairing the damage Tae-do and I had caused, and more instructors huddled in a circle talking in hushed voices.

Min-hwan approached from one of the discussion groups. Concern turned his lips in a frown as he asked, “Are you two alright?”

I allowed one of the other instructors to take my gurney handle as I stopped to speak with Min-hwan. My hands shook as I released Tae-do to the others. My heart hammered in my chest, and my guts ached from the blow Tae-do had delivered. Blackness swam at the edges of my vision and I panted.

“Easy now,” Min-hwan said as he helped me gently to the ground.

“Grandmaster, I believe we need to discuss something in your office,” I said with heavy breaths. My throat was ashen dry, and hot. I needed a shower. My sweat—mixed with Tae-do’s stinking bay water smell—was all over me, and I wanted nothing more than to escape the prying eyes and wrinkled noses of the instructors.

Min-hwan nodded. “Yes, I think we do.”

“Are you going to tell him everything?” Mae asked ever so quietly in my mind.

It was a gentle reminder for something I was far too relaxed on: Trust. Grandmaster had always been fair—at least as fair as he could—but he was still a man of the kingdom. I wasn’t sure if I could trust him with all our knowledge, at least, not yet.

With Min-hwan’s help, I rose on trembling legs. I would need to do a massive cleansing cycle soon, or risk serious pain and illness tomorrow. I limped slowly toward Min-hwan’s office, and he was kind enough to walk beside me at the same pace. I tried cleansing while I walked, but the pain of ripping the munje out of my leg tissue threatened to floor me, so I decided to wait.

He opened his grand door with the flick of his wrist and a blink of golden ma munje. His office was just as amazing as it had been the first time I’d seen it. Long, shimmering posters of light adorned the upper walls, weapons that glowed with ghostly power sat in glass cases around the room, and shelves upon shelves of ancient tombs crowded in everywhere else.

Min-hwan pulled out a chair for me to sit and I bowed to him, grateful for the assistance. My arms and legs felt like overcooked noodles, ready to rip apart at any second. I sank down into the seat I swore hadn’t been this comfortable the last time I’d been in it. My muscles melted into the cushions and I set my head back.

Exhaustion, unlike anything I’d ever felt, weighed me down, and my eyes fluttered as Min-hwan moved to a small desk near the tall, narrow window at the back of the room. I let my eyes close as I listened to him clinking glass, stirring, and crushing dry leaves.

A second later, I was startled awake by the whistle of a teakettle. I closed my mouth and swallowed, feeling the dry ache in my throat that came from snoring. Min-hwan returned to his desk with two steaming cups of tea.

“It’s a special brew. It’ll help with your cleanse,” he said as he set the cup in front of me.

I bowed, feeling the tightness in the muscles of my back. “Thank you, Grandmaster.”

I took a sip at Min-hwan’s urging. It tasted of fresh melon, and tangy citron, with just a bite of something bitter at the finish. The heat traveled down to my stomach and then out through my body. The feeling spread similar to how Woong-ji’s ma elixir had filled me with warmth, but this was much more pleasant. It was healing me, and reducing the swelling in my aching muscles.

“Now, what happened?” he asked with a heavy sigh as he settled into his chair.

I recounted the events of the evening—remembering that my mother’s bento was still on the floor of the dining hall where I’d dropped it—but left out the parts where Mae was leading me through the city to the signal source. I didn’t know how deep the plot went, and if Min-hwan had anything to do with it, I didn’t want him knowing I knew anything about it.

The sagely grandmaster nodded as my story concluded. He sipped his tea and gestured for me to do the same. We drank in peace for a few minutes. I wasn’t bothered by his thoughtful stare into space as he processed the information I’d given him. In fact, I enjoyed the bit of quiet as I drank the healing tea.

Finally, when our cups were empty, he spoke. “I’m sorry this happened. What would you like me to do?”

I scowled. “I don’t understand.”

“I’m sure you’ve heard of the Wong family by now. I’m sure you know how powerful they are; every son a Bastion graduate, strongest Dojang in the kingdom, legacy of elite fighters all the way back six generations who survived every war they fought in, most called upon mercenaries…”

He trailed off as my eyes grew wider and wider. This was new information to me, but I now understood Shin-soo’s warning. The Wongs were powerful, not just in strength, but influence, and their reach was unknowable.

“I’ve heard things,” I said with a nod. “But why would you ask me what to do?”

Min-hwan leaned forward, folding his hands as if preparing to speak plainly. “When wansil Wong discovers you were involved in his youngest sons’ expulsion from Bastion, it could be very bad for you. Bastion can offer protection while you are here, but for your family, or when you’re home for the summer.”

My blood boiled at the thought of anyone laying a single harmful finger on my family, and I scoffed. “I get it.”

“Anything that could be proven would be held accountable in a high court, but I doubt wansil Wong would do it himself, or leave any evidence.”

I thought about how I wanted Tae-do handled, and settled on the best punishment I could muster within the rules. “No dueling until the final week of school, confined to the grounds on rest day.”

Min-hwan nodded. “Appropriate. Now, for the matter of you.”

I straightened. “Me?”

He chuckled. “Yes, you. Your performance tonight, though it was outside the bounds of the duel, was impressive. People are going to wonder,” he said with gravitas as he looked down toward the device burned into my chest.

I swallowed hard as I listened to the undertones. Forming perfect rectangles from stone, moving them with precision, holding them in the air as I stepped from stone to stone, and whatever else I’d asked Mae to do while I ran in a panic, needed to be things I could do on my own. It was my goal to become powerful at Bastion, but if I was going to show off, I needed to show my work. The other students, and instructors, needed to see that performance in my classes.

I’d specifically abstained from using Mae’s help in school because it would be cheating, but now that I’d used it on school grounds to run for my life, people would wonder what was going on. Drugs would be the likely conclusion before thinking I’d merged with an artificial intelligence from the time of the ancient ones, but one of those would get me expelled, and the other would get me dissected.

Min-hwan nodded. “I see you understand my meaning. Is there anything else you want to tell me about?” he asked, not in a prying way, but it electrified my nerves. If my leg had any energy, it would’ve bounced.

I shook my head, unable to say the words.

“Alright. Off you go. Cleanse well and sleep in. I will personally excuse you from your exercise classes tomorrow.”

I stood, as did he. “No, sir. That won’t be necessary.”

He laughed from his belly as he led me to the door. “We’ll see about that. Oh, one last thing.”

I turned back to him from the hall. “Yes, sir?”

Min-hwan’s face became stern. “The potions will be handled. Anyone caught using them, or inflicting them on another, will drop fifty places. I didn’t want you to think I was unaware.”

My sore gut tightened with guilt. Was he letting me know he was aware of the severity of the situation, despite me withholding information? Or perhaps this was his subtle way of saying butt out of it? Whichever it was, I couldn’t back down now. It seemed Bastion business and my own was fully entangled. I had to resolve my mother’s illness, and that meant I couldn’t stop pursuing the drugs to their source.

I nodded. “Thank you, Grandmaster.”