Arc Du Destin

3

What was he doing here? I asked myself, staring at Yang Guo, astounded out of my senses. Only two thoughts were flashing across my mind. One, that it was wonderful to have another chance to get his phone number. Second, the hand I bit must be hurting something. Poor him. Poor him?? Get your mind straight Alex. I shook myself and gathered my wits.

"What-", I started to say, when he suddenly grabbed at me again, silencing me with his hand again.

"Shh." He whispered in my ear. "Don't make a noise. Follow me."

The night wasn't over it seemed. Yang Guo took my hand and ran across the courtyard, following God knows what, I was thinking, when I too caught sight of the shadow running before us, threading through the cluster of small pagodas scattered around. It avoided being caught, slipping in and out of the shadows, almost getting caught but managing to elude Yang Guo's grasp.

I tried to keep up with the chase but lost them again. "Shit." I uttered again, looking around, finding myself alone.

The thrill of danger kept me moving though, and finally, I came across him on top of the boundary wall, hanging from it, looking out. He glanced down at me as I reached, panting a little, and jumped down.

"The bastard got away." He said.

"Hey... it's a temple. Mind the words will you", I spoke, forgetting my own cursing a few moments ago.

That made him smile. "The one who uses violence lectures me about vocabulary." He chuckled, "Typical scribe."

"Does it hurt much?" I asked sheepishly. The question was irrelevant. I knew it hurt. I had sharp teeth that I didn't hesitate to use in my defense, and I always bit down hard. I had a savage weapon, so why wouldn't I use it?

"My hand might never recover." He said pitifully, but I saw the twinkle in his eyes and couldn't stop my own from rolling.

"So what the hell is happening? I hardly expected to find myself in the midst of an adventure when I came to China and what the hell are you doing here of all places??" I asked him, half groaning.

"Let's get inside first." Yang Guo said, taking my hand and leading me towards the scroll chamber. I had time to wonder at his unexpected appearance when we came across Li ge coming out of the door, supporting the bhikshu, who was on guard that night. Yang Guo darted forward to help. I quickly went ahead to knock on the door of the main temple. The door was opened by a bhikshu brother, who saw his brother being held up and quickly opened the door, gesturing them to set him down on a mat while he fetched water and sent someone to summon the head monk. We tended to the unconscious man silently before the head monk came and made arrangements to take him inside.

"It will soon be dawn. Please go to your rooms. I'll see that the guard is replaced for what's left of the night. Let us talk in the morning. I hope no harm fell?"

"Thankfully no, Reverend Sir," Yang Guo answered. "Allow me to introduce myself." He said, handing over what looked like an ID. The head monk glanced at it and gave a half smile of relief.

"Thank you for coming. As I said, we will talk later, after the morning prayers. Allow me to lead you to the visitors' chambers for now?"

"That's okay, Reverend." I said, "Please go and have some rest. I will show him the rooms." The Reverend bowed his head and thanked us, hurrying after the monk taken inside. We walked back to our rooms to discover Chen Shing snoring.

"At least someone is having a nice sleep." I mumbled, sitting down in the corridor. My room was separate from the boys' so the only way we could talk was in the corridor. I turned to Yang Guo. "Talk."