The Adventures of
the Jade Dragon
Episode
10
The Jade Dragon’s Defeat
Email:
Lespion@msn.com
Chapter
9 Journey
Sun Lin floated on an ocean of pain, a voyage
made worse by the sound of Huan Yue
sobbing.
She drifted in and out of consciousness, awake only long enough for
the terrible pain of her crucifixion to
register. The weight of her body
was fully supported by the spikes driven into her bloody
wrists. Somehow, with almost
surgical precision, Larson had driven the nails home without breaking her
wrist bones, but that was small consolation for the pain and horror of her
ordeal or the plight of her daughter.
Huan Yue was on her knees in front of the
cross, forced to watch while her mother died, an ordeal so painful that it
was beyond anything she had ever
experienced. Sun Lin could feel
the life escaping her body. It
slipped away by degrees as her internal organs slowly settled and her blood
pooled in the lower extremities of her
body. It was a horrible way to
die; one that would take hours or perhaps days if Larson made any attempt
to prolong her agony.
She had no idea how long she had been on the
cross. It seemed like days, but
was probably only a few hours. Huan
Yue was always there when she regained consciousness, her tear-streaked face
a picture of heartbreaking grief.
She wanted to reassure her daughter, but could think of nothing to
say and it seemed too soon to say
goodbye. When she was conscious
it took all of strength of will not to moan piteously, but it was becoming
harder and harder to exert that sort of
self-control. She hoped that
the peace of insensibility would save her from the demeaning ordeal of whimpering
in agony for Juan Yue’s sake if nothing
else. If she was to die she wanted
to die bravely; not screaming in anguish.
She could feel herself fading
again. Looking down at her daughter
she managed to force a whisper through lips that wanted to
scream. “Be brave, my
daughter. We will find a way
to win.” Then the vision
of Huan Yue faded as she drifted into oblivion.
This time there were no
nightmares. The images of Huan
Yue being brutalized that had haunted her previous sessions of unconsciousness
were absent. Instead she was
flying down a long luminous tunnel toward a distant light that seemed somehow
welcoming. And then the tunnel
was gone and she was in a place that she knew
well. She was standing on a grassy
sward beside a sky blue pool of water.
To her right a small spring- fed stream tumbled into the pool in a
series of small waterfalls. Rushes
and other aquatic vegetation grew near the edge of the
pool. The chirping of birds and
the hum of insects added to the tranquil ambience of the
place.
She looked down at her
body. She was no longer nude,
but was dressed in cream coloured loose-fitting quilted trousers and a
long-sleeved top in the style of ancient
But it seemed a very real
dream. Without thinking she lowered
herself to the grass and assumed a lotus
position. She had come often
to the serene pool during her stay at the
A slight sound behind her caused her to turn
her head and her face lit up in a smile.
“Master,” she said, moving to her feet in one easy motion
and then prostrating herself before him.
“No,” Cai Hui said, motioning for
her to rise. “No longer do you kowtow to
me.” He took her hand and
raised her to her feet.
Sun Lin felt a shiver run down her
fingertips. It was the first
time her master had touched her in so intimate a
manner. Nevertheless, she stood
before him with head bowed in a position of proper
respect.
“Please sit,” he said, lowering
himself to the grass and indicating that she should sit next to
him. It was the first time he
had ever done that in all the time she had known him.
It was a position of equals,
not that of master and student.
Sun Lin kept her head
bowed. “Master, I have
failed. I led my daughter into
a deadly trap and now she pays the price of my
folly.”
“Not so,” Cai Hui replied, laying
his hand upon hers. “You
were betrayed by one you thought you could
trust. It is not possible to
be on guard against everyone.”
Sun Lin could see the wisdom of Cai Hui’s
reply, but it did nothing to ease the guilt she felt about what had been
done to Huan Yue. Her mentor
seemed to sense this. Placing
his hand under her chin he raised her head and forced her to look into his
dark eyes. “There is no
blame. You took it upon yourself
to protect the innocent and Huan Yue followed you
willingly. She knew the dangers
faced by a heroine and she made her choice
willingly.”
Sun Lin understood Cai Hui’s reference
to her daughter. Huan Yue had
been conceived when Sun Lin had been captured by her arch nemesis the Black
Leopard and repeatedly raped by one of her
minions. Her daughter knew of
her origins, but that had not dissuaded her from following Sun Lin on her
crimefighting adventures. The
answer, however, did not satisfy her.
Somehow she thought she should have been able to prevent the capture
and violation of her daughter.
“Clear your mind,” Cai Hui
said. He touched Sun Lin’s
head lightly with his fingertips and her memories of her horrific ordeal
were pushed to the back of her mind.
She could still remember every detail of what had happened, but the
horror was gone. She knew, however,
what Cai Hui had done.
“Master,” she
asked. “Why did you do
that? I must find a way to save
myself and rescue my daughter.”
“You have already found that way,”
Cai Hui answered. “You have
entered the
“But…”
“While you are here no time will pass
in your daughter’s world. Only
when you return will your life resume.”
“Then why am I
here?”
“It was your will that brought you
here,” Cai Hui said quietly.
“Can you think of no reason?”
“I sought to escape the pain,” Sun
Lin replied. She could not tear
her gaze away from his. Cai
Hui’s eyes were mesmerizing wells of darkness, drawing her into their
depths, but it was a darkness she welcomed.
“To see you,” she said
quietly. The answer seemed absurd
in light of the predicament she had been in, but somehow she knew that answer
was the truth. In her moment
of greatest despair she had reached out to the one person she knew might
be able to help her.
Cai Hui’s handsome features
smiled. “That is an answer
I have long wished to hear.”
“But this cannot be,” Sun Lin
protested. “How can a dream
help me?”
Cai Hui’s hand caressed her
cheek. “Does this feel like
a dream?”
“What else can it be but a dream?”
she asked. But she made no effort
to move away.
“You are the Jade Dragon,” Cai Hui
replied. “You have willed
this meeting and so it exists.”
“But why would I will such a
meeting?” She knew the answer
even as she asked. But it was
something she had long denied; a longing she had buried deep within herself
in order to avoid the inevitable
disappointment.
Cai Hui’s smile widened
slightly. He dropped his hand
and took both of hers in his.
“Look at me and tell me that you do not know why you have
come.”
“I…I cannot,” sun Lin stammered,
but she could not tear her eyes away from
his. They framed her entire existence
and forced her to face the lie she had just uttered.
Like many a pupil before her, Sun Lin had
fallen in love with her teacher.
But this was not just any teacher.
He was Cai Hui, guardian of the Goddess of Heaven and keeper of the
gates to her mythic realm. Although
appearing no older than a man in his thirties, she knew that his years numbered
in the hundreds or perhaps even
thousands. To have her love returned
by such a man was an impossibility, and so she had suppressed her emotions,
denying that the notion of her love even
existed. It had worked - until
now.
“I think you can,” Cai Hui replied
softly. He moved his hand to
the back of her head, and drawing her close touched his lips lightly to
hers.
An electric spark seemed to flash between
them and the world narrowed to a place where only she and Cai Hui
existed. The kiss deepened, Sun
Lin’s lips parting to allow her tongue to intertwine with his and her
hands finding their way to his powerfully muscled back, pulling her soft
curves against his male hardness.
Sun Lin’s heart pounded within her
chest. In spite of the dozens
of men who had violated her during her career as a heroine she had never
voluntarily given herself to any man and she felt like a virgin bride on
her wedding night. She was filled
with a strange sense of longing mixed with
fear. Her body trembled as he
moved his lips from her mouth and began to gently kiss each of her eyelids
and then her nose, cheeks, and earlobes, before moving his mouth to hers
once again.
Cai Hui seemed to sense her
uncertainty. He gave her a lingering
kiss before easing her to the grassy
sward. “It is alright,”
my princess,” her murmured.
“I will leave you with one final gift before we
part.”
Sun Lin did not
answer. All of her resistance
flowed out of her and she raised her body slightly to allow him to slide
her quilted blouse over her head.
At the same time her hands found his cloth belt and undid the knot
allowing his garment to open. As
his fingers removed the twin bands holding her breasts she welcomed the sensation
of the warm sun on her skin. What
she and Cai Hui were doing seemed very natural and her fear left her as he
removed her slippers and then slid her trousers over her hips down her long
legs.
“My love,” Cai Hui murmured and
Sun Lin arched her body into his as he ran his tongue over her bare
shoulder. Her breathing quickened
as his hands stroked her back and then moved to her
belly.
Sun Lin’s hands were not
idle. By now Cai Hui body’s
was as nude as hers, and her fingers played over the powerful muscles of
his arms and shoulders, reaching around to caress his back and then sliding
down to move over his muscular backside.
There was no urgency in their
lovemaking. Cai Hui touched her
lovingly, gently; deliberately staying away from those areas of her body
that were most erogenous. It
was almost as if after all the times she had been forcibly taken that he
was trying to show her that love could be gentle and
unhurried.
It was an approach that worked for Sun
Lin. When he finally kissed her
nipples and moved his hand over her pelvis she moaned
softly. Her legs parted of their
own accord and she guided him into her.
He took her slowly, easing himself into the
warmth of her valley of paradise.
It was only then that she fully responded as a woman, crying out at
the pleasure of his touch and wrapping her legs around him as her body bucked
into him with a strength and ardour that surprised even
her.
She lost track of how long they made
love. She only knew that when
they were finished she was filled with a pleasant exhaustion and the sun
was low in the sky. In spite
of the fact that her body was wet with sweat, she was not cold, but she clung
to her lover, molding her body into his and wrapping her arms tightly about
him.
They did not speak, but lay quietly together
until the sun set. And then in
the warm darkness they made love again.
This time their lovemaking was more
passionate. It was as if the
first session had removed Sun Lin’s
inhibitions. As Cai Hui
thrust into her she cried out and drove her body
hard into his, seeking to have him bury himself as deeply within her as he
could. Cai Hui responded to her
ardour driving hard into her and biting her lightly on her breasts and
shoulders. The combination of
pain and pleasure exploded within her.
Her loins convulsed in a powerful orgasm, as her womb sought to capture
her lover’s seed.
Cai Hui climaxed almost immediately and once
again held her close. Secure
in his arms Sun Lin closed her eyes, and fell asleep to the rhythm of her
lover’s heartbeat.
She awoke to the rising
sun. Sometime during the night
Cai Hui had covered her with his robe.
With a yawn she sat up and looked
around. There was a soreness
between her legs, but it was a pleasant soreness quite unlike the brutal
aftermath of a rape. A few feet
away Cai Hui sat watching her. He
had dressed, leaving only his robe to
her. “Good morning, my
princess,” he smiled.
Sun Lin returned his
smile. “For a second I was
afraid that I had dreamt everything that happened, but I see that it was
real.” She
hesitated. “It was real
wasn’t it?”
“More than you know,” Cai Hue,
replied. “But now you must
return. Your daughter and companions
need you.”
“I had not forgotten,” Sun Lin
said. “It is just that what
happened to me seemed so far away, that it was almost as if it happened in
another life.” She got to
her feet, shedding Cai Hui’s robe, her body gleaming gold in the early
morning light. She saw no reason
to dress; she doubted that she would be able to take her clothes with her
and she felt no shame standing before her lover.
She faced the prospect of returning to her
brutal ordeal with a calm that surprised
her. Cai Hui had said nothing,
but she knew somehow that she would find herself exactly as she had
left. The pain would be frightening,
but she faced it without qualms. It
was something she had to do.
“Will I see you again?” she
asked. It was a question she
had to ask. After a lifetime
she had finally found the man she loved.
To live without him seemed harder than anything she had ever
done.
“You know the way here,” Cai Hui
smiled. “I will be waiting
whenever you return.” He
stepped toward her and took both of her hands in
his. Their parting kiss was not
long enough, even though it took Sun Lin’s breath
away. Then as his mouth left
hers Cai Hui’s image wavered.
“Goodbye, my love,” he
whispered. And then he was
gone.
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