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To Dream of Darkness

A story by DoggyStyle57

Chapter 28, Written January 2012

===

Chapter 28 - Hell storm

The neighbors of the magician Jiang Wu could not help but know that he was a mage. Those who could afford his services often went to him for divinations or horoscopes. Fewer sought him for more difficult types of magic, such as a general of the army seeking to have him summon a fire elemental to attack an enemy position, or another mage seeking his aid in crafting an enchanted mirror. Those who could not afford his magic watched the comings and goings of those strange visitors that could.

The one thing all his neighbors agreed on was that it was a mixed blessing, having the seventh most powerful mage in Canton for their neighbor. Even if you couldn't afford his services, few troublemakers would be so foolish as to cause trouble very close to a mage's home, and therefore attacks in the street and invasions of homes for burglary were uncommon. The risk was too great that the powerful mage might see the misdeed, and use his magic against the criminal. Yet at the same time, mages attracted powerful sorts of trouble that would never come to an ordinary neighborhood. And when a mage sought to reach too high, and took on a task that was beyond them, the results could be disaster.

When a golden pillar of fire ascended without warning from the mage's courtyard, his neighbors fled in terror. They watched from what they hoped was a safe distance, as the gathering clouds erupted with unnatural swiftness into a dark and forbidding thunderstorm. The sky grew dark as night, and then one thunderbolt after another smashed earthward from the lowering clouds, every one striking the mage's courtyard! Yet there was no rain, and nowhere else did this hellish and unnatural storm deign to unleash its fury, although fierce winds made everyone stay out of the open streets, and seek shelter by the walls of buildings, or indoors. This assault continued for a full hour.

Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the hell storm ceased, the clouds evaporated, and the sun came back out. Those who watched the mage's home saw it remained shrouded in a sickly-looking black smoke or fog, which did not rise naturally, as one would expect if the lightning had set the mage's home ablaze. Indeed, the home did not appear to be burning, although some parts of the roof had collapsed. Instead, the black smoke or mist or fog boiled and writhed like a living thing, and hid most of the home within its night-black mass. For another hour, no one dared enter the home, though the city guard, three high ranking mages, and several military officers and their soldiers came to see the source of this disturbance.

===

Within the mage's home, wreathed in nightmare-inducing black fog, Sarina, back in her single-tailed vixen form, rummaged through the mage's belongings, taking what she wished, while the mage Jiang Wu, on his hands and knees in the courtyard, tore at his clothes and screamed in terror at apparitions only he could see. On occasion, as Jiang Wu tried to crawl into his home, another bolt of lightning would blaze into the courtyard, nearly missing the mage and causing him to scurry back to the center of the open area.

Sarina had forcibly ripped all the memories from the mage's mind, leaving him quite insane and unlikely to live for very long. She had taken from the mage his small magic mirror, and the three amulets that he had been wearing. She took his undamaged astronomical instruments, and added pieces of the broken one to piles of metal trash that she gathered from the home, and which she fused into unrecognizable lumps with further lightning blasts, as if the lightning had struck the stolen instruments and melted them. For a while she considered taking the night mirror, but she could re-create it easily now, and so she caused another lightning bolt to melt it into slag as well.

Inside the mage's home, she took his best books and scrolls on divination, astrology and summoning - the ones he had most treasured, and put them in a chest, with the other items she had gathered so far. This she shrunk and placed on her necklace, along with the mage's still-locked strongbox, and his keys. The strong box, she knew, had several traps and wards protecting it. But Sarina also had the mage's knowledge of how to remove or deactivate those protections. And within that chest, said the mage's memories, lay a large sum in gold, jewelry and silver. She would open that at her leisure.

When she was certain she had taken all she desired of the magical lore and tools and the wealth that the mage had owned, she re-arranged things to make it seem that nothing was missing, and made an apparent duplicate of the strong box, filled only with scrap metal and heavy stones, and locked in such a way that it might take years to force open. This she left concealed where the real strong box had been, so it would not appear that robbery had been a motive in the mage's demise.

When she was ready to depart, she went back to the courtyard. Sarina looked over the summoning circle, and carefully altered three characters in its inscription. Jiang Wu was still there, and still alive, but clearly would not last long. He was screaming now about being swarmed by biting insects and spiders and ants, which he thought were eating him alive. In a moment of pity upon the foolish mage, she went back into the house, and came back with one of the tiger mage's own daggers, which she tossed on the ground within Jiang Wu's reach. Then she opened a portal back to Victoria Peak, in Hong Kong, taking her leave of Canton.

===

When the storm ceased and the unnatural clouds cleared, Jiang Wu's servant boy, Li Pang, fearfully went back to his master's home. There he found a crowd gathered, and the home still shrouded in an unnatural black mist. The screaming and wailing voice of Jiang Wu could be heard from within the mist.

One soldier tried to enter, at the orders of his superior officer. The moment his body touched the black fog, he screamed in terror and retreated, and nothing anyone could say would encourage him to try again. Two mages tried to dispel the terror fog, but it resisted their spells, and they did not know what exactly it was.

The remaining mage in the crowd, a grey cat, noted the servant boy, and called out, "Li Pang? Come here, boy. What was your Master, Jiang Wu, doing today? Did he have any unusual visitors, or special plans?"

The cat boy swallowed fearfully, and said, "There... was only a scholar, who gave his name as Feng Wu. He had an appointment, and came at the hour of the Dragon. He... just looked like a young mink. Nothing special. But Master Jiang Wu, and the old scholar who lives by the well, both believed Feng Wu to be a huli jing in disguise! The scholar has an enchanted mirror, and swears he saw a seven tailed fox woman in it, instead of Feng Wu's reflection, and that the creature appeared to him in that form when he asked it to. My master..." the boy swallowed hard, and continued, "... said late last night that he hoped to trap the huli jing, and make it do his bidding. He sent the rest of the household staff away early this morning, before the appointed meeting. He sent me away just after the guest arrived. I have been hiding at the wine merchant's shop. I was to wait there until sunset, but when that strange storm happened... I had to come and see if my master was in danger!"

"I see. A huli jing with seven tails is nothing to trifle with," the other mage said. Just then, a gasp went up from the crowd, as the black mist suddenly dissipated on its own, as if it had never existed. The screaming from inside the home continued.

The city guard and the three mages cautiously entered the home, following the screaming and wailing voice of Jiang Wu. They found him in the courtyard, scratching and clawing at his chest, while slumped over forward on his knees.

"They are devouring me! Get them off, get them off! The ants! They are eating my eyes!" he wailed.

"Jiang Wu! Can you hear us?" the feline mage called out.

The tiger crawled and turned to face the voice. His eyes had been clawed from his face, probably by his own hands, and his blood-soaked face and chest were shredded with the marks of his own claws. "I am blind! They eat my eyes!" he wailed pitifully.

Just then, his hand landed on the dagger that Sarina had left him. He snatched it up, screaming, "AHH! A weapon at last! A spider is devouring my heart! I must kill it!" He plunged the dagger into his own chest, and fell forward, dead before his head hit the floor.

The guard and the mages examined the home. It was the conclusion of the mages that Jiang Wu had indeed attempted to enslave a huli jing, but had been sloppy in making his protective diagram in the courtyard. As it was constructed, there were errors, and it would not contain a demon. The death of the mage was ruled to be suicide, since the demon creature he had failed to enslave had caused no harm to the old wolf scholar, who when interviewed insisted that Feng Wu had been honest when treated with honestly, and had paid him well for his own services. He showed them the gold and silver coins that he had been paid with. The money was genuine, but was from the forbidden island of Japan.

A search was made of Canton, but in truth no one expected to find the elusive magical creature. The city guard had no way to fight such a monster, and the mages did not wish to enrage it further. They prayed that it would leave the city in peace.

===

Sarina appeared on the summit of Victoria Peak. She was unclothed, but didn't particularly care. The clothes she had worn had been burned away by the firestorm that she invoked. She stood for a moment in the wind, letting it blow through her fur. She looked at the Kitsune netsuke charm that had helped to protect her against the Chinese mage. Its eyes no longer glowed. "I wonder. Were you made by a Kitsune? Or were you made to protect one?" she said to herself, as she gazed at it thoughtfully.

Her eyes glowed and she teleported the short distance to her bedroom, in the bungalow she lived in with her father. She got dressed quickly, and then searched the building, to see if she could find him.

Lord Randall was at home, in the parlor. He smiled warmly as he saw her, and rose to embrace her. "Sarina! You have returned at last. Where have you been? I have been worried sick."

"You need not worry about me, beloved," she said, kissing him warmly. "It is enough to say that I have been to Canton, and the trip was profitable. I learned much about the Chinese people. It will be very useful to you, in your negotiations, I think."

"Nothing is more valuable to me than having you back in my arms, my beloved child," Lord Randall said to the young woman who he believed to be his daughter, and his wife. "My bed has seemed so cold and lonely since you left me."

"Well, I suppose we have time to remedy your abstinence before dinner, my husband," Sarina said, taking his arm and leading him back to their bed. In truth, she would prefer to read the books she had stolen, or simply take a nap. But she knew that fulfilling Lord Randall's incestuous fantasies was in her best interests, so she played along, and gave the old fox what he most desired from her. They mated.

===

Soon after that day, the monsoon rains of summer came to Hong Kong. For three months, they hardly had a single day without rain, and on most days, the rain was a torrential downpour, turning the streets to a quagmire of mud and upset cobblestones, and making it difficult to do anything other than remain indoors.

Sarina sat quietly in the parlor, reading a treatise on the summoning and control of Chinese demons. It explained the making and use of the unusual coin sword that Jiang Wu had expected would protect him against demons, and enable him to force them to obey his will. She briefly considered summoning Asha, and asking a creature of Hell if there was any truth to the belief that such a sword was effective against demons. Surely the fire elemental knew several demons that she could ask. But for now, it was not important enough to pay the cost that the elemental might demand.

Sarina also read the traveler's journals and examined the maps that she had taken from the scholar, learning as much as she could about Japan, and Kitsune, and how one might go to the island without being slain for being a foreigner. She began to formulate a plan, but it could wait for now, until the weather was better for travel.

She mated quite frequently with Lord Randall, who began to wonder when she would tell him that she was bearing his child. He even admitted to Sarina that he now hoped to impregnate her, even though she was his daughter. He loved her so much that he wanted her to bear his child. But no matter how often they mated, she never got pregnant.

===

After three months of rain, Hong Kong in August became a steaming, humid place. Sarina often left the bungalow to stand in the cooling breezes on the summit of Victoria Peak, and even considered building a small tower there to study in. But she did not want to draw attention to the fact that she was a mage. The local officials and the friends and neighbors of Lord Randall all took her for merely being his loyal and loving wife. She was known to be a woman of remarkable intelligence, and one who refused to be obstructed when she set her mind to a task, but that was all.

Then, in September, a sickness the locals referred to only as "Hong Kong Fever" swept through the island. The crews of the ships in port all stayed on their ships, in the harbor, as it seemed the fresher air at sea was less unhealthy. Most of the trading ships stayed away, and would not enter the harbor, even to bring supplies to the barren island. The victims seldom lived more than three to five days, complaining of terrible headaches, pain in the eyes from light, weakness, being unable to stand erect, and a burning fever. Those who survived, mostly through constant nursing and mopping their bodies with cool wet cloths, were often weakened and debilitated, their health ruined.

Sarina had seen knowledge of this disease in the minds of several Chinese natives, and even in most British citizens in Hong Kong, who had lived there for more than a year. The scholar she had met in Canton had known of it, as had the mage, Jiang Wu. But no one knew of a cure. It was one of the main reasons the native Chinese thought the island was unhealthy. But there was no sense arguing over such matters with the British who chose to live in Hong Kong. Most of them knew of the risk, and still they stayed, seeking the immense profits to be gained here.

On September 17th, Lord Randall became ill with Hong Kong Fever...