Undercover - In China - Book 7

Part 50 - Hoisted on the waterwheel

The approaching rider was a skinny man with a round face, a bushy beard and dragon scale armour. Wang Bang had found us!

We ran back into the shed, to warn Denny. Lu Bu grabbed the brake lever and Licia, Miguel and I went back outside just as Wang Bang slid off his horse and fell on to his knees with a clatter of weaponry. He gasped painfully as he levered himself back onto his feet and snarled something at Licia. 

 'He called us ugly barbarian brats,' Licia translated. 'He's demanding we tell him where old Ko-za-keh is. He claims Ko-za-keh is his slave and he wants money.'

'What on Earth is he talking about.' Miguel asked.

'Does he mean Kozak?' I asked. 'What could he be doing here and how does Wang Bag know Kozak knows us?' 

'I just told him Tiger General Zhang Fei will arrive at any moment,' Licia said.

Wang Bang didn't seem impressed and said something Licia did not understand but Chen Ling explained in Mandarin. 

Licia said, 'Kozak told Wang Bang he was looking for us'.

'Wang Bang strode ponderously toward us shouting and we backed around the shed but he grabbed Licia's arm and pulled her toward the waterwheel, holding out one of his knives to her throat. He didn't notice that the wheel was rotating as the cable unreeled. 

 Licia said, 'He won't believe Kozak is not here. He's threatening to cut my neck.'

'Good grief!' Miguel gasped with admiration. 'Is that a genuine Master Gong ghost blade?' 

 Licia relayed the question. 'He says, yes, it is. They are a family heirloom.'

'Cool!' Miguel exclaimed 'Could he show me how he juggles them so cleverly?' Licia translated and Wang Bang rummaged in his backpack and, without thinking, released her. Miguel and I charged into him and he staggered backwards until the grapnel, sticking out of his backpack, hooked onto a bamboo strut on the slowly rotating waterwheel. 

 He was hoisted into the air by the heavy, descending drill bit. His arms flailed as he tried to grab onto something but, as he neared the top of the wheel, his grapnel knocked the pivoting spout which directed the waterfall onto the waterwheel. He screeched with shock as a jet of freezing cold water hit him in the neck. The waterwheel stopped and he hung there cursing. The waterfall kept pouring over him until the waterwheel buckets filled and the weight of water counter-balanced the weight of the drill bit. Wang Bang slowly descended and we watched in gleeful anticipation as his dagger axe, sticking out of his backpack, turned the water spout away from the buckets. He stopped again with his feet still a metre off the ground and, as the water drained out of his clothing, he was again hoisted back up to the waterfall and his dagger axe turned the spout to the on position again.