The Ordeal

Chapter Nine

I stand outside the door to the Guyong, clenching and unclenching my fists.

It's beginning to get light outside but I don't know when would be the right time to continue my audition. Is he even here? Does he have a home he goes to? But something tells me this is his place. He's put his stamp on everything here. He must be here.

I'm breathing faster. It takes a huge effort to avoid hyperventilating. I have no idea how this is going to go. I might end up seriously hurt and out on the street again. But I know I have to try something. Go big or go home, except I don't really have a home anymore.

I take a step toward the door and almost trip on the sidewalk. Come on, Leander, get it together!

I walk up to the door. I have to get his attention. This won't work if he sends one of his students. He has to come himself. I ball my right fist and pound on the door as hard as I can, ten times. The thuds echo deeply, as I hoped they would. I know if I heard that kind of knock at our place I'd be bracing for a home invasion.

I hear footsteps. They sound heavy. I brace myself, getting almost into a sprinter's launch pose.

The lock clicks. The door begins to creek open. I ball my fists again, squinting to see inside.

"Who is it?" That's Wu Zhen. Before my rational mind has a chance to reconsider a potentially very stupid course of action, my body lunges forward. I push the door open all the way, and without saying a word I launch a flurry of fists at the schoolmaster.

He's taken aback at first but I know he's going to regroup dangerously soon. If I stay close enough for fists for too long he'll manage to trap me and bring me down. I finish my flurry and skip back to kicking range. I landed a couple but they were glancing blows. After my first kick he's in a perfect defensive stance. I won't have much longer.

I feint forward with a front kick and then whip around with a back kick. It misses his face by a few inches. Lightning fast he moves forward, trying to close again to fist range. I barely manage to scamper back out of range. He launches a roundhouse kick of his own that I barely saw coming. It hits my ear like a thunder clap, and I'm almost blinded by the pain. I counter with a real front kick that makes him back off again.

Then I make the really stupid mistake of lunging forward for a take-down. His feet might as well have been tree-roots. I almost bounce off him, and then he grabs my neck and left arm in a vice grip as he whips me around and plants me flat on my back, knocking the wind out of me.

I go limp, terrified of the grip which I know could leave me with a broken neck and arm with just a little pressure on his part. I look up at his face.

His eyes are wide-he clearly wasn't expecting my assault-but he's also completely composed. How does he do that? Does nothing rattle him? His breathing is only slightly faster than normal. I wasn't much of a challenge.

He looks at me with that piercing glance again. I still have no idea what he's thinking.

He relaxes his grip and pulls me off the ground. He looks me up and down.

And miracle of miracles, he cracks just a hint of a smile. He holds out his hand. I take it with my still trembling right hand. Then he says the sweetest four words I've heard in a long time:

"Welcome to the Guyong."

My ear is still ringing from the roundhouse kick and my mind is still in shock that I got in, and I barely listen as Wu Zhen begins to rattle off rules and regulations as we walk deeper into the school. If I wasn't riding such a high I'd be feeling very nervous. Apparently, and as I should have expected, getting in was the easy part.