DEMI GODS AND SEMI DEVILS Book 1 of 5 (Adventures of The Youth) by Jin Yong

Fast Horse And Faint Fragrance Part 1

Duan Yu turned around and saw a man dressed in servant clothing walking quickly towards him, turned to be the LaiFe-Er that he saw a bit ago on the other side of the wall. He walked up closer and bowed before speaking: "LaiFu-Er humbly came following orders from the Madame to go with sir to borrow the horse." Duan Yu nodded: "Alright, sorry to trouble you."

So LaiFu-Er walked in front leading the way as they made their way through the pine tree woods, turned north onto another small path, and after walking for another 3 or 4 kilometers, they arrived in front of a big house. LaiFu-Er went up, took the ring on the door in hand, gently knocked twice, paused, then knocked 4 times, and finally he knocked 3 more times. That door cracked open just a little. LaiFu-Er stood outside the door and whispered with the doorman for a while. By now it was dark, Duan Yu looked up at the scattered stars in the sky; suddenly his mind wandered to that cave and the Dear Goddess that lived in it.

Suddenly there came from inside the door a long and loud horse neigh, Duan Yu could not help but comment: "Excellent horse! Excellent indeed!" The door opened and a horse head poked out, the pair of horse eyes glowed in the dark as they looked around, obviously this was not an usual horse; with a couple more hoof beats, the black horse had walked out of the door. The hoof beats were landing very lightly on the ground, the horse was thin and slight but its legs were long as it had an air of proud arrogance. A little maid with her hair down was leading the horse out, in the darkness Duan Yu could not see her face, but she seemed to be around 14 or 15.

LaiFu-Er spoke up: "Mr. Duan, Madame was worried that you might not get to DaLi in time, so we came here to borrow a horse from the Young Miss here. This horse's leg power is truly amazing, this Young Miss here is a good friend with our Young Miss as well, only upon hearing that sir was going to save Young Miss did she let us borrow this horse, this really is giving us a tremendous amount of face." Duan Yu had seen quite a lot of great horses, he only needed to hear its neigh to know that this horse was truly one in a million, so he replied: "Many thanks!" He reached over to grabbed the reins. The little maid tenderly stroked the fur and mane of the horse while gently saying: "Now Black Rose, Young Miss is letting this young sir borrow you to ride for a bit, so you better be good and come back soon." The black horse turned its head and gently rubbed against her arm, showing a great amount of affection. The maid handed the reins over to Duan Yu and admonished: "Don't use whips on this horse, the better you treat it, the faster it'll run."

Duan Yu replied: "Alright!" He thought: "The horse's name is Black Rose, so it's got to be a mare." So he said: "Miss Black Rose, please forgive me for any rudeness of mine." He bowed towards the horse as he said this. The maid let out a little laugh and said: "Quite an interesting guy you are that's for sure. Hey, careful, don't fall down." Duan Yu nimbly hopped onto the horse's back and turned to the maid: "Many thanks to the Young Miss of the house!" The maid replied with a laugh: "What? No thanks for me?" Duan Yu cupped his fist and said: "Many thanks to my sweet sister. When I return I'll bring some delicious preserved fruits for you." The maid replied: "No need for the fruits. Just be careful and don't hurt the horse."

LaiFu-Er instructed: "Ride north from here and you will find the highway leading to DaLi. Sir, please take care." Duan Yu waved his hand, the horse started moving her legs, after a few gallops he was already some 50 meters away.

Black Rose did not need any urging as she was flying in the night, Duan Yu felt as if the trees at his sides were backing up as they sped past him; what's more amazing was that the back of the horse was unusually steady without even the slightest of dips. He thought: "At this rate, I am sure to reach DaLi by tomorrow afternoon."

In the amount of time to boil some tea, they had already traveled more than 5 kilometers; the cool breeze blew through the night, bringing smells of grass and trees to Duan Yu's face. Duan Yu mused: "Galloping in the night, one of the joys of life indeed." But suddenly there came a shout from ahead: "Bitch, stop!" A flash of blade being swung shot through the darkness as a sabre came flying down. But the black horse was so fast that the sabre missed by several meters. Duan Yu turned his head and saw 2 huge men, one with a sabre in hand while another had a spear, chasing after him. The 2 of them were cursing profusely at him: "Bitch! Dressing up like a man! Think you can fool your old man?" In a blink of an eye, the horse had left them way behind. Although the 2 men were fast, soon even their cursing could not be heard anymore.