Rebirth
They sit on the airplane listening to the light chatter of the other passengers around them. Wing pokes the padded blue armrest of her chair with her finger. She is uncomfortable with all the people around her. She finally looks to Sai.
"So how do you know where he will be?"
"I just do. We are enemies on the highest level. We are attuned to each other in a way. He seeks me for revenge as I seek to stop him. One of us will die."
"How did you come to fight him?" Wing tries to get to the majority of the information.
"It is my duty, hereditary, actually. Our families have long hunted each others blood."
"Families?!"
"I suppose I should have told you more. He comes from a group of demons, a type of family. They feed, and we hunt."
"God... does my last name look like Van Helsing?"
"You can't deny this Wing-mei. You will follow me. If not, they will find you."
"Wouldn't that be a first. I refuse to be you, Mother. I didn't want to be forced to join Pyre Society because of you, but I was. I certainly don't want to hunt spirit-sucking demons because of you!" Wing finished in a emphatic whisper.
Sai glares back at her, "I should have known you would be so stubborn about this. You must do this... there are not enough of us now. You have my powers, you are the one."
"The one..." Wing mutters. "Hell's freezing over first. I have a job, a purpose. What were you doing at this point in your life?"
"Training for my duty."
"So where did you find time to have three kids?"
"I..." Sai looks toward the center aisle.
"That's what I thought. I at least deserve a chance to find my own destiny, to be me for once, not what fate, the past, or some person tells me to be. Give me a reason why I don't deserve that?"
"You don't have the time... I'm dying."
"Dying?" Wing sighs, "Well now I know why you bothered finding me again. Why not Alexis?"
"Your sister is a low-level healer. She will probably never even be close to your Grandfather's level. She doesn't have the
sight to see demons."
Wing shakes her head, "Neither did I. I won't do it."
"There is a way... I can buy you time. Ten to fifteen years at the most. They would be yours completely," Sai finally offers.
"Then I'd have to take my place in the great circle of life," Wing muses.
"What?"
"It's a joke. Nevermind. I'll decide later after I think about it some."
*********
They get out of the cab and Wing observes the scenery.
She shakes her head, "The guy is twisted. A vineyard in Bordeaux?!"
"It's my home actually. We are here for supplies," Sai smiles and steps through the front gate. Wing follows her across the
stone path up to the large house. Sai stands at the front door and knocks. It is only a moment before it is answered by a tall, thin man whose face breaks with a smile when he sees Sai.
"Madame! You are returned! This must be your daughter."
"Yes, Baude, this is Wing." She motions toward her daughter as Baude steps back to allow them entry onto the house. The front room is a mixture of luxury and charm as if Sai had been trying to decide between parts of herself.
Sai smiles, "Let me show you your room. We can make preparations later." She leads Wing up the stairs and down the
hall to the left. She picks out the third door on the right side of the hall. She pushes it open to reveal a clean, light-filled room It is decorated in burgundy with touches of blues and greens. Wing enters the room to feel her boots slightly sinking in the thick pile of the carpet. At the far end of the room there is a cushioned window seat with a window that gives a wide view of the fields.
"I had this room designed for you. I hope you like it. I'm going downstairs to begin my work. I'll need your help later."
She turns and Wing listens to her fading steps down the hall. Wing shuts the door and moves to the window. There are birds calling back and forth across the twisted brown sticks that later in the year will bear grapes. She rests her head against the cool glass and stares out at the world.
She must have fallen asleep because one moment she was awake and the next someone is knocking on her door. She walks over and turns the door knob. Baude waits motionless and then waves slightly in the direction of the stairs, "Madame requires you below."
"Okay," Wing sighs and walks with him downstairs and to a room with a ornately carved door. Baude leaves her outside of it.
"Come in," Sai calls to her through the thick wood. Wing reaches out her hand to the door and feels a slight shock travel
through her body. She goes through the door and the sensation fades. She addresses her question to Sai as she closes it behind her.
"The door...?"
"Is protected. If you had not been permitted, it would have fried you."
"Great." The room looks strange to Wing's eyes. One wall has a book case with several leather-bound volumes that look
ancient. On the wall adjacent to it is shelf after shelf of what could only be the supplies Sai mentioned earlier. One of the books sits flat on a heavy wooden stand. The stone floor extends into a fire place on the third wall over which a cauldron is bubbling. Wing backs up to the door.
Sai glances over at her, "Problem?"
"Holy.. this is creepy. What are you?"
"I told you, a mystic."
"Um... sure. I'm just going to leave."
Sai pats down her blue robe and shakes her head, "I wouldn't."
"I thought you said the hunting was related to our mutant genes? This is way beyond that..."
"This helps focus. I need you to do this with me, if not for you, at least for your crazy mother." A sharp grin crosses her face.
"What do you want me to do?"
"I need you to learn this chant." She points at section of the open book. Wing reads the words. The language isn't familiar,
but the alphabet is.
She speaks the first sentence out loud, "Ava anatar, selfecious castius maliator." Without thinking the translation comes to her, "I call, those who would act in evil."
She looks up at Sai, "How?"
"That is in your genes."
"The ability to read some weird-ass language?"
"If you want to put it that way. I need you to learn the call and another incantation. It will be important later."
Wing repeated the words to herself, "Ava anatar, selfecious castius maliator, Inalltae ahamato Sansheri. 'The demon clan Sansheri.' We're calling them?"
"Yes."
Wing gives up trying to speak to Sai and learns the call. She starts on the second incantation. It puzzles her because it seems to be the same language, but she only understands pieces of it.
"This I don't understand."
"No. The first set was in Middle Hantura; the second is much older. It takes skill and practice to read the ancient chants.
You will not understand an Old Hantura spell until you cast it, unless you have been trained to read it."
"Oh... great. So what does it do, O Trained Mother?"
"Later, Wing-mei."
"Fine." Wing focuses on the page letting the half-familiar words imprint in her memory.
*********
Wing stirs awake in the morning light and sits up in bed. She places her palm to the burgundy coverlet. She has slept through the night for the third time in a row. It is still amazing to her. She shakes away the thoughts and eases out of the bed; they are to leave today. Her mother has finished preparing her "spells." Wing can't decide what to think of the magical half of her heritage. She knows that by now she has seen plenty that should convince her, but her mind fights against such odd ideas.
She tries not to think about it as she gets dressed and checks her bag a final time before packing it. She carries it downstairs and sits it in the front area before walking to where they ate last night. Sai sits there eating breakfast.
She smiles around a cup at Wing, "Sit down have breakfast.. it's a long trip to South America and you really don't want to be stuck eating airplane food."
Wing nods her agreement and starts in on the fresh breakfast waiting at the table. She is pouring a second glass of orange juice when Sai decides to relate a little more about their trip.
"We are going to Chile. There is a plateau in the Andes that is perfect for our task."
Wing sets the glass down on the table cloth and gives Sai an annoyed glance, "What do you have guide to magical spots around the globe? I want to make sure to pick up one at the Barnes and Noble in Cape Fear when I get back to the base."
Sai smiles curves wickedly, "Don't be ignorant and a fool. Just because you don't understand something doesn't give you the right to mock it."
Wing looks away and sighs, "Fine, I won't mock it."
"Someday, you will have to understand and use these powers. I wish I had more time."
"Yeah, there's never enough," Wing pushes her food across her plate. "I need to go pack." She stands up and leaves the room.
*********
Wing looks around the hotel room. She's beginning to believe if she sees one more she's going to be sick. She's been away from the base a mere week, but she has spent most of the time traveling and is getting tired of it. It reminds of her the
old days where she would move from city to city, sometimes going for a couple of months before returning to headquarters. She hated those long journeys. She finds herself oddly longing to be back in familiar surroundings, and then mental nudges herself for becoming complacent. "Soft agents are dead agents" she reminds herself under her breath.
Her mother has gone to the little cafe across the street from their hotel. Wing chose to stay in their room for a little while to think. She lies on the bed for a moment before giving up and heading down the three flights of stairs to the main lobby.
She breezes through trying to avoid a grating conversation with the bored desk clerk. She can see her mother sitting at an outside table relaxing with a drink. Wing crosses the street and slides into an empty chair across from Sai. There is a flattened newspaper in front of her with the picture of a crater on the front of it. Dumping it into another chair, she rests her
elbows on the table.
"When are we going?"
"I want to spend another day here. We need to be rested for what is to come."
Wing shrugs and looks around for a waitress. Her mouth feels dry. Quickly giving up, she steps into the cafe itself and orders bottled water to avoid getting the local tap. She takes it outside and relaxes back into her chair trying to enjoy the hot afternoon sun. Instead she realizes her muscles are getting tenser. The wait is getting to her. Sai seems oblivious to her daughter's discomfort as she absently swats a fly away from herself. Almost as if it never stopped, she picks up the
conversation.
"We have to go fully ready into this... the timing has to be perfect. A mistake could kill both of us."
Wing tries to dismiss her nervousness and leans back, "I know."
They spend the rest of the day trying to pretend everything is normal, that they are just a mother and daughter wasting their
time shopping and seeing a few of the local sites. It doesn't convince either of them.
Her mother has already hired their transportation to the edge of the plateau for the next day. Sai remains mysteriously quiet
about the specifics of her plan, and Wing doesn't push her for answers. The time stretches out before them, the hours ticking away. Wing almost feels grateful when night falls and it is time for her to release her worries into sleep.
Wing falls to sleep almost as soon as her head touches the pillow. Sai watches her. She has no intention of sleeping. She
can't when she knows what is before her. She looks out the window at the moon which is now close to waning into
nothing. It is the time for negative magic, for destruction, and for endings. She deeply senses these cycles of nature within
herself. It is all circular she has learned, death and rebirth. She tells herself these things, but she wonders if she really believes them, why does she feel so scared.
*********
Wing stares across the plateau. The horses are tied below; they have reached this far by flying upwards as birds. She stands and looks over the flat area before her. She swipes at the skirt of the white dress her mother has again insisted she wear. Sai is a little way behind her setting up her tools. Finally she is ready.
She steps next to Wing and using a black knife with a wicked edge, Sai slices open the tip of her finger. She marks Wing's forehead with the blood.
"Hen-shei alamtor singeia."
Wing's translation came to her with no pause. With this blood I protect. She looks at Sai, who motions for silence.
Begin the chant now.
Wing takes a deep breath, "Ava anatar, selfecious castius maliator, Inalltae ahamato Sansheri. Ava anatar alamtor singeia."
Sai does not join in the incantation. Instead she takes the knife and cuts open a second finger. She slightly winces in pain. Using the she starts writing on a white sheet of paper in front of her. Wing attempts to focus; she repeats the words over and over again.
They wait for only a few moments until the first appears. Wing halts herself in an involuntary step back. She wonders if the
ability to see the demons is truly a gift. The misshapen body is too hideous to be real. The face stretches into a smirk as it
nears them across the plateau. Sai mutters something softly and a glimmer surrounds her and her daughter.
They go on for hours. More demons collect. Wing's mouth is parched and her legs ache from standing still for so long, but
she continues to chant. Her mother has long since joined her. Wing begins to think that she will collapse when a final
demon's shadow falls across them. It is near nine feet tall and huge like a grotesquely made human. It's color is almost pure
black, and it looks extremely powerful. Covering its chest is a spray of what seems to be broken glass and spines, as if to
even touch this one would bring pain.
When he takes his place at the center of the demons, Sai stops her spell. They watch each other waiting for one to make a
move. From the height Wing knows this must have been the one from the airport. He begins to taunt Sai in Middle Hantura.
"You have called us, witch. We are in our full number. What will you do with us now? Feed your daughter to us,
perhaps? Some of us have come a long way. We hunger."
"Yes, I have called you Harkheth of the clan Sansheri, and all your brothers. I thought it was time for you to meet your new
keeper."
Harkheth extends a long, taloned finger at Wing and laughs, "Her? You kid me. She has not the power. When I am done with you, we will tear her into a thousand shreds. Still it was lovely of you to make it a group affair."
"Not this time, demon. We finish this today."
"Oh I agree... you are finished." He hovers forward and stops at the shield, "Hmm.. you're playing with me.. how cute."
With a slight nod of her head, Sai tells Wing that now it was time for the second chant. Fighting the sick feeling that is creeping into her stomach, Wing begins the second incantation in a firm voice.
The smug look drops from Harkheth's face, "The Sleep of Iffthor? But that requires a blood sacrifice...." He trails off as he sees the determined look on Sai's face. With a quick motion Wing doesn't follow the demons start to move to the edge of the platform. They are trapped and Wing suddenly understands Sai's earlier spell. There is a boundary around the entire area; it does not look like it will hold them long, however.
It is long enough. As Wing continues the chant, Sai takes the knife in her right hand and smiles for a fraction of a second before slicing open the skin from her left wrist to her shoulder. A thin line of blood appears and then more begins to pour out mixing in a pool with the dust on the ground. Sai does not cry out but she is biting her lip so hard that a trickle of blood is running down her chin.
Wing stares unsure that her mother has taken this step. Her instinct is to slam the knife from her mother's hand with a sharp kick. They could still reach medical help...something. Her mind is overwhelmed with panic. She starts to make her move when she hears her mother's voice.
Continue the spell Wing-mei. I can't do my other arm.. I need you to do it for me...
Barely moving she hands the knife to Wing who almost drops it because the hilt is slippery with the fresh blood. Partially on instinct, she lets the memorized words continue in an even flow as she puts the tip of the blade to her mother's right wrist. She presses it against the skin, but falters.
I.. I can't.
You must... the stage is set. To give up now will mean both of our deaths. You asked for time and I'm giving it to you...please help me complete this.
Wing draws several quick breaths. Hating herself and also feeling her duty, shepushes the knife in and draws it up the arm. A second flow of blood joins the first. Sai staggers to the ground as even her body's increased healing can't keep up with her heavy loss of blood.
Wing whispers the words a final time and silence spreads over the area. Nothing moves and the demons are trapped in space almost as if they had been pulled out of time. The air smells bitterly of death. Sai lies on the ground her blood soaking into the thirsty dirt and her life beyond any healer's reach.
Wing-mei? she calls softly. Wing falls on her knees by her mother, Why?
I could see that you were serious... I wanted to give you a chance. I was dying anyway... you just had to witness it this way... I didn't want to tell you what I planned.. just in case you... There's no time. Wing, what do you know of Chinese culture? Did your grandfather teach you how spirits are passed?
Yes, from the mother to the child.
Good, then you will understand what I do now, Wing-mei. Take my hand. Wing takes her mother's lifeless hand in hers.
Your spirit, Wing-mei, is intermediary. The crow... The crow is the beginning, the blackness of creation, the unformed potential. it is out of this that other spirit is born.
Wing nods wondering how long her mother can go continue. Her breath is no longer coming and Wing suddenly understands that her mother is clinging to this place with all her will. The edges of her body are already beginning to glimmer as her spirit tries to come loose.
I give you MY spirit Wing. The spirit of the dragon! Her spirit's voice rings with incredible strength. Wing feels a surge of power burst through her body. She is facing her mother on a grassy field under a sweeping blue sky.
"This is where we belong, Wing-Mei. A wave of green energy sweeps over Wing flowing from her mother. "I give you my spirit, daughter."
Wing feels the wind rushing in her face. She beats her wings and feels the force of the disturbance to the air. She catches a view of her tail to see that her scales are flaming red, like the spiral of fire that she has just shot into the air. She flies down toward Sai and when she faces her mother she is human again.
"They will wake, Wing-mei... I can not prevent that now, but for a time they will sleep. When they return, you must be ready. Take the dragon necklace with you. It will tell you when the time has come... and when you may call upon the dragon form. My study has all you will need to know."
Sai looks behind her as if she hears something, "I must go now... Tell Pao and Alexis I love them..." She begins to walk away, but looks over her shoulder back at her daughter.
"Live well, Wing-mei."
Wing comes to in the physical world. She has fallen over her mother's body. All around her the demons sleep in the glowing approach of dusk. She sits up; her mother's hand is still clutched in her own. She gently unwraps her fingers and settles Sai's arms at her sides. She unhooks the fen jade dragon from around her mother's neck, and gently wipes the blood from it before putting around her own neck.
She wants to weep for the Sai she never will know, but she has no tears left. The pressure in her chest is hollow. This is just another thing of which she will not speak. She brushes her mother's hair down and arranges her dress around her. Wing lights a small fire. The flame curls on the cloth of her mother's dress and then stertchs into a streak of hot red flame. She turns away as it begins to grow. Wing attaches the few tools left to her body and then shifts into a crow and flies down to the horses. She becomes human again. Leaning for a moment against the horse, she straightens up and ties the second horse to hers.
She glances behind her at the fire which lights the dark sky like a beacon. It burns with the brightness of a soul passing. Witches, it seems, were always meant to burn. Not in the agony of living, but after dying that their souls would come free of their bodies. Wing does not know which part of her remembers this, yet she feels that she did what must be done. Tears prickle her eyes with hot rage and sadness. She turns her head slowly to look at her destination. Then mounting the horse, she rides forward into the rising darkness.