under estimating kongming

Part 26 - Jài Jen (Goodbye)

I lost my temper. 'MURGA!' I shouted as I started to climb the steps. I was so mad, I would have kicked his shins but the bandit held me back.

Murga said something in Mandarin as he tossed a handful of small silver bars, like candy, at the man holding me. My captor release me as he picked up the silver. I ran back toward the gate with him sprinting after me. I stopped suddenly and crouched into a ball. As he fell over me, I stood up, pushing his legs in the air, and he landed on his face. I ran over him, taking great pleasure in using the back of his head as a springboard.

Running with arms tied behind me was not easy but I made it through the gate before two of the bandits caught up with me. Their shout of triumph was short-lived as a small horse crashed passed me with Chen Ling sitting behind the rider. The rider was a huge man with a bristling beard and a double headed snake spear. Zhang Fei.

One of my attackers was sitting on the ground, winding a yellow scarf around his thigh, desperately trying to staunch the flow of blood. The other was flat on his back. Zhang Fei spun his steaming horse around like a ponderous ballet dancer. I ducked as his spear flickered passed my neck slicing delicately through my bindings.

I grabbed a knife from the bandit, who was either dead or unconscious, and sprinted after Zhang Fei as his horse galloped through the gate and across the courtyard toward the temple. Murga threw a ball at him. I dropped to a crouch, covered my eyes with one arm and turned away as the ball exploded with a silent flash brighter than the sun. When I looked again Zhang Fei had disappeared in a cloud of orange smoke and a fat Canada goose was moon walking backwards through the smoke at the entrance. Uncle Dunc! The air around him was shimmering in the anti gravity wave created by the time nexus.

One of the bandits swung a sword at Miguel who dodged back just far enough to avoid decapitation and ran into the smoke, the bandit in pursuit.

I sprinted after them, crashed through the field boundary and swooped into the temple on the anti-gravity wave. Murga was dragging Denny and Dr Zhang toward the time nexus. They seemed to be tied together and drugged.

Dunc was doing a great job of distracting Murga with karate jabs from his great wings but I was more concerned about Miguel who was now trapped in a corner by the bandit. He didn't see me until I grabbed Miguel's arm and lifted him off the ground.

But the bandit grabbed Miguel's leg. I felt the jerk as he trailed after us like a balloon on a string. Although we had no gravity, he still had inertia. Fortunately, he had dropped his sword.

I tried a tight experimental loop to shake him off but he refused to let go.

'Guluk oiyk!' Uncle Dunc's battle cry echoed through the temple as he wheeled in pursuit. We whizzed around inside the temple. 'Goyk gloyk gloyk.' Dunc was flying behind us pecking at the bandits legs. There was just enough space so I did two more loops and a roll before the bandit decided being slammed against the roof beams while being jabbed by a sharp beak was painful. He released his hold but he was smart enough to do it near the floor. Re-subjected to gravity, he didn't bounce too far.

I shot out of the temple and straight up in the air for a few hundred metres. Miguel was dangling below me like a rag doll. He was trying to say something. 'Hey, Ziff, I think I am going to vomit. Could you get me down . . . soon.'

'Shut your eyes,' I advised, 'and your pedal your feet? The wind is pushing us away from the temple.'

'Guluk oiyk. Gloyk,' Dunc slid passed. 'Use yehr hands to side-slip into the wind,' he counselled.