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To Dream of Darkness

A story by DoggyStyle57

Chapter 30, Written January 2012

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Chapter 30 - Trouble in Shanghai

After two days on a British clipper ship, packed rather uncomfortably into a below-decks area with other ethnic Chinese passengers, Feng Wu arrived in the Eastern port city of Shanghai.

When the British defeated China in the Opium Wars three years earlier, one of the terms the Chinese had been forced to agree to had been the opening of five Chinese ports to direct foreign trade. Shanghai was the port farthest to the east of these five treaty ports, and was situated at the mouth of a deep river that reached far inland into China. Soon after that, the French and Americans and several other nations also forced themselves upon the Chinese, and several areas of 'concession' land on the edges of the city were set aside for British, French and Americans to settle and build in. Unlike Hong Kong, this land remained Chinese soil, but the foreigners living there had certain extraterritorial rights.

Few people paid any attention to the young mink scholar, as he walked off the clipper ship carrying only a simple bag that had contained little more than some food and personal supplies for the voyage. If anyone thought it odd that he apparently had no other luggage, it was of little enough consequence and they forgot about him swiftly. He had to watch his step. It had rained the night before, and the road along the dock area was muddy.

Feng Wu walked to the end of the docks, and down onto a sandy beach beside the wide river that the town of Shanghai nestled against. Feng Wu had studied maps of the area, and the scholar and the mage had known the geography of this area fairly well. He knew that the river went far into the mountains in the heart of China. Standing on the beach, looking out at a seemingly endless sea, Feng Wu was amused that the Chinese mage, Jiang Wu, had so little faith in his own prophecies. If he had believed in the casting of the I Ching that he had done for Feng Wu, surely he must have realized that he could not keep the suspected huli jing captive? If he had been successful in enslaving the 'demon', how then would Feng Wu now be standing on the farthest shore of China, looking to travel elsewhere?

He left the beach and went back to the docks, and asked the same question among the seamen and dock workers. "Can you tell me, if among the many merchants from foreign lands, any ships ever come to Shanghai from the island of Japan?"

Always the answer was the same. One Chinese ship's captain told him, "No ship from Japan has come to our shores in at least the last 25 years. No ship from any other nation is permitted to land on that forbidden island, even in an emergency. Shipwreck victims and ships in dire need of supplies receive the same treatment - the crews are crucified or beheaded, if they dare to set foot on the island, and any foreign ship approaching their ports is fired on by fortified cannon defending the ports, and driven back into the sea. Any native of Japan who leaves the island can never go back, on pain of death. The island has sealed itself against all outside contact, and shows no sign of relenting. No, if you seek to go there, or if you hope to meet people from those lands, you hope in vain, young scholar."

Feng Wu asked, "Ah? But if it is true that they kill all foreigners who land there, and no one from Japan is permitted to leave, then how do we know the fate of those who go there?"

"The ships that have been driven off have told of seeing the crucified bodies of foreigners on the beaches, left there as a warning," he replied. "And the ruler of that land issued a solemn warning, when he closed the port of Nagasaki, which for hundreds of years had been the only port they allowed foreigners in at all, that anyone who returned to Japan would be killed at once. Then he forced the Dutch and the priests and anyone else who was not Japanese, and any Japanese who followed the Western Church, to leave, or be slain."

"I see. Thank you for that information. Is it possible then that among the elder scholars, some may recall days gone by when there was contact with those people?" Feng Wu asked.

"You seem very interested in seeking what is forbidden to you," the captain said, looking carefully at the young man. "Why is that?"

"I am a scholar, sir, and I seek more knowledge. I have been collecting old legends about the magical creatures of our land, and of those on other lands that are similar to what we tell of. I had heard some stories, or bits and pieces of tales, which were said to be from that island, but which were very similar to our own. That is all. Just a scholar's curiosity," Feng Wu replied.

===

Feng Wu went to the British Concession area, where he changed his form to resemble a British merchant that Sarina had known in Hong Kong. Now in the form a mixed breed canine male in his early 40's, he gave his name as Peter Jameson. He checked into the Richards' Hotel and Restaurant, a new establishment being run by an enterprising Scotsman. Once he had a place to stay in comfort, he left the hotel, resumed his appearance as Feng Wu, and went in search of older scholars.

Using the hotel as his base of operations, and appearing as needed as either Peter Jameson or Feng Wu, depending on which ethnicity got him the best reception, Sarina lived as a male for the next two months, and gathered what information she could. Yet even though she had taken these two male forms, she found that she still thought of herself as a girl, and mentally still called herself Sarina.

She discovered very little that was of use to her. A few scholars knew that huli jing and Kitsune were similar, but they knew little else of the Japanese Kitsune, or of Japan. It was getting to be frustrating.

===

As the time approached for when she expected that Lu Chen, with Lord Edward Randall's remains, should soon be arriving in England, Sarina pondered on how to proceed. Should she just close that chapter of her life, and forget about Sarina and those who knew her? Or should she keep her options open? Did it matter to her, really, if she went back there at all? She came to the conclusion that there was some advantage to maintaining the ruse that Miss Sarina Randall still lived. Lord Edward Randall had nothing of value left in England for Sarina to acquire. But he did still have relatives there, and so did the real Sarina. If she was to show up again as the bereaved daughter of Lord Pennington's brother in law, faithfully seeing to her last duties to her father as his daughter and sole surviving heiress, that would make a good impression on the Penningtons. Besides, Lord Pennington would be happy for another opportunity to give his niece, or possibly his daughter, a tumble in bed, the old letch. And if Sarina were to appear again in the lives of Lord and Lady Pennington, and they knew she was still alive and in contact with them, it might encourage the now childless old couple to keep her in their will.

So just before sunset one evening, 'Peter Jameson' gathered his things, concealed everything on his necklace other than the clothes and walking stick that 'Peter Jameson' was known to wear and carry, and checked out of the hotel. He headed for the docks, thinking perhaps to find a secluded section of beach where he could quickly create a portal, resume Sarina's form, and depart.

As she walked, she considered at first the possibility of attempting to open a portal directly from Shanghai to England. In theory, she could do it. She had a good idea of her own surroundings, and she still had a very clear mental image of Sarina's former bedroom at Lord Pennington's home, as well as several other locations in the city that should be safe to travel to magically. The safest location, in fact, would be to create a portal to the open, grassy field beside the inn where Darla/Heather used to live and work as a whore. But the distance was so vast that she doubted she could do it, without making some serious error. England was, quite literally on the other side of the world from Shanghai. She simply did not have enough experience yet in making portals to connect two places that were that far apart.

Standing beside a warehouse on the docks, she decided that the sensible alternative would be to make several jumps, each to a place he knew sufficiently well. She had remained long enough in Hong Kong that she could quite easily go from her current location to Victoria Peak's summit, and be able to return from there back to Shanghai, now that she knew this area. From there, she had a fairly good recollection of the house they had stayed in while in India, before coming to Hong Kong. But going from India to Egypt might be a problem. Sarina had not stayed in Egypt for very long, nor had she concentrated very hard on the appearance of any one area there. The best location she could come up with was the market square where the snake charmer had performed, and where she had left that one would-be kidnapper dangling in mid air over the basket of cobras. That sight had remained well in her memories. If she could make it there, then a single jump from there to England for the last portal? But that would also be risky, as it was a busy place, packed with people day and night, and the merchant stalls and peddler's rugs were constantly being re-arranged. She might well step out of the portal and right into that snake charmer's basket full of cobras!

Was there a better way, perhaps? A portal did not have to connect two places in the same world, or even at the same point in the river of time. She had travelled before from one world to another, and in the process she leaped 500 years or more into the future, at least in terms of how developed this world was, compared to the one she had been born in. She had made no attempt to control the time aspect, when she had come here. She had simply sought a world where she might be accepted for what she was. If she made a portal to another world, and then tried to make one from that world back to this one, could she be certain she would arrive at the desired time, and not hundreds of years off? Could she even be sure she would arrive in this particular world, and not one that was similar, but with subtle differences? The texts she had studied had hinted at such things, and the memories of Jiang Wu certainly contained thoughts of multiple planes of reality, each one similar, yet different. For example, a world might exist that might be just like this one, but with the exception that the real Sarina and her mother had never become ill. It was all so confusing!

She needed advice, and she really didn't have anyone she could ask about this topic. Or did she? There was one individual who had aided her in the past, whose advice she could seek here. She could summon the fire elemental, Asha. The creature had been very useful in finding information and selecting possible solutions to Sarina's problems. True, her price for seven years service had been rather high. But would she require all that much in return for some simple advice? There was only one way to know.

She looked around herself, and decided there were too many people on the docks and on nearby boats that could see her. It was one thing to open a portal and quickly leave the area. But standing in the open and summoning an unusual type of elemental might draw some very unfriendly attention. She retreated into an alley, hoping to find a more private place.

But others also saw Peter Jameson turn and walk into that alley. The docks of Shanghai were not a very safe place at night, and particularly so for what appeared to be a well-dressed foreigner. Several dark-clad individuals stealthily followed Sarina into the alley.

The squelching sound of a footstep in mud was the first indication Sarina had that she was being pursued. She had been paying attention to navigating the muddy alley in the pale moonlight, and wasn't being that alert for trouble. She turned, seeing six Chinese individuals, armed with wicked looking throwing hatchets, in the alley between her and the docks.

The six attackers saw Peter Jameson turn to face them, armed apparently with nothing more than a walking stick. One of the dark-clad attackers threw a hatchet, which struck with a meaty 'thunk' in the foreigner's left shoulder, causing him to drop his stick into the mud at his feet, and reach for the wound as he shouted in pain and anger. The thugs laughed and closed in for the kill.

The next thing they knew, the closest of their own number to their victim screamed in agony, as a throwing hatchet materialized in his left shoulder. No one saw it thrown, but it could only be the hatchet that had struck the foreigner, somehow hurled back at them with supernatural speed and accuracy.

Peter Jameson stood up, apparently uninjured. No blood soiled his clothing, and even the shoulder of his coat seemed undamaged. His eyes glowed a brilliant acid green - glowing with a light impossibly bright for a reflection - a light that tinted everything in the alley with its eerie green color. "You dare!" the foreigner said, in fluent Chinese. "You dare to attack me? Flee now, and save your wretched lives, or attack, and pay the price!"

A wolf and a bear who were as yet uninjured raced forward, with hatchets in each hand, intending to close on this strange foreigner and slay him before he could do any other unnatural things. A weasel closest to the docks turned and ran. The three others stood their ground, hesitating.

Peter Jameson raised one hand, and the two charging thugs turned into living torches, as their bodies caught fire. They fell to the ground, dead before they could take three steps in their victim's direction.

The remaining three attackers next saw nothing at all. Before their eyes could readjust from the brilliant burst of flame that had incinerated their companions, a boiling black cloud erupted from nowhere and everywhere at once, blocking out all light. And from within that cloud came unspeakable horrors - creatures of nightmare that could not be touched by their weapons, but which tore their bodies to shreds.

When the nightmare fog cleared, the only living thing in the alley was Peter Jameson. Five thugs lay dead, two of them burned to death, and the other three had been torn limb from limb. Out on the docks, the last of their number, the ferret who had run when warned, fled into the night as if a demon from the depths of hell was chasing him. Sarina allowed him to escape.