We Will Not Lose Heart

The grass was starting to carpet the mountain again, a scrubby green fuzz like the first down on a boy's chin.

Xuxian squeezed Suzhen's hand. "I haven't felt so happy in a long while."

She glanced at him, then teasingly poked him in the shoulder. "Who asked you to bring so many things? We're just going for a picnic. How many pancakes did you make, that you have to carry so many things?"

When he said nothing, she glanced again at him, this time with real curiosity. "Xuxian," she said after a while, inquiringly. "Is there something I don't know?"

Xuxian stopped short and turned to her. He straightened his shoulders and looked her in the eye.

"Fahai is coming to the village."

Suzhen said nothing, but her jaw stiffened slightly, and he felt her draw her fingers out of his, unconsciously.

He took her hand back. "It's all right. I won't let him find you. We will stay on the mountain until he leaves. I've packed everything that we need, and we can stay in your grotto. Now that it's spring, it's so much warmer, and we can easily catch whatever food we need--"

Startled, he left his sentence unfinished as he saw her eyes suddenly glimmer with moisture. "Susu, don't be afraid. Since we've decided to see this through together, I won't leave you. We won't let him find us," he said urgently.

She smiled starrily up at him. "I'm just happy. I'm not afraid of him anymore, Xuxian. And it will be lovely living here again for a while. I'll show you my favourite places to fish, and where we can find mushrooms. We can go swimming everyday!"

He laughed, relieved. "It's good that you're not afraid. We'll live happily, Susu. These few days, let's not worry about anything. Let's just enjoy being together, and living simply."

Suzhen leaned against his chest and closed her eyes. "I thought I had lost you," she murmured. "But the gods gave you back to me. They will be merciful to us, since they decided to let us be together again. We will not give up, Xuxian, won't we?"

"We won't," he said firmly, wrapping his arms around her. "You are right. This too will pass. With all that behind us, how can we lose heart?"

For a while they stood there in the rugged path, content to rest in each other's arms and listen to the sounds of sleepy birds and the first crickets and cicadas starting to sing again.

"Your grotto would be a nasty place to stay in winter," he mused absently. "We're fortunate that it's spring. I brought our quilt and your cloak, but it might still get chilly at night. If we build a small fire--"

All of a sudden he realized she was not listening to him. Suzhen withdrew from his embrace and laid a hand warningly on his arm. "Shh." she said softly, laying a finger on her lips and glancing around. Her eyes had become sharp and wary.

Xuxian fell silent immediately. He waited, holding his breath, eyes darting anxiously from their surroundings to Suzhen's face, still and watchful. Even though he strained his ears he could not hear anything. But from the serious look on her face there was something approaching, and after all her sense of hearing had always been incredibly sensitive.

"We're being watched," she whispered in his ear, so softly her breath barely ruffled his hair. "He knows we're listening, and he's not moving. But I heard him just now. I just can't tell where he is."

Slowly, Xuxian reached for the hunting knife at his belt, without really knowing what he was going to do with it. All he knew was that danger was around them; his skin tingled ominously.

Suzhen's hand rested on his. "I'm going to lure him to show himself," she breathed. "We need to know where he is."

Stepping forward, she smiled and called out brightly, "Ah, is that you, Mr Terrapin Spirit? What a surprise, that you'd come and join us on our picnic. Wait--Qingqing told me you have a name. Ah Gui, I think it was? No, something more obvious than that, even--Gui Yuan, I believe? You clearly haven't achieved your human form for very long. You really shouldn't have picked such a name, it gives you away too easily."

Still no response. Suzhen watched the bushes keenly. "That's probably why the monk is coming back to the village. He's heard about you. The people you killed, whose hearts you ate. The villagers were afraid, and they sent for him. He is likely on his way now. If I were you, I would lie low for the time being and not venture out. That monk is no ordinary person. He has an advanced cultivation."

Xuxian stayed close behind her as she went forward carefully, listening for any sound that might betray where he was. "He could easily defeat you. You shouldn't get beyond yourself, you know. Imagine losing everything you've worked for all these years, in one blow."

There was a sudden snapping sound as branches broke, and a form burst out of the bushes behind them. They whirled round. Suzhen flung out one arm to keep Xuxian back, and the fingers of her other hand sprang out into the open from inside her sleeve, the fingertips glowing with energy. She raised that hand before her, ready to strike, face bright and hard like an unsheathed sword striking the light.

Gui Yuan landed on the ground on all fours, so heavily that there were imprints on the earth from his heavy feet and fists. His hunched shoulders seemed much broader and tougher than before. Suzhen's eye ran rapidly over him, assessing him, while Qingqing's warning echoed in her ears. He had indeed grown stronger, enough to put him almost on Qingqing's level. How many hearts had he eaten, to get to this?

"Enough trash talk, snake," Gui Yuan snarled. "I know you're luring me out, but I don't care. Why, not so long ago you were frightened enough of this monk. Has getting your man on your side made you so brave suddenly? Or are you putting up a good act?"

His eyes glinted unpleasantly. "You should know he's coming for you. I'm not the one who ought to be scared."