Shuli Go Stories Vol. 1: Beyond the Mists

Part 2

She woke up to the sensation of jostling. Jostling and pain. Jostling and pain and cold.

She was shivering as the world around her moved up and down in erratic bounces, all the while her shoulders, wrists, ankles and knees screamed at her. Her first instinct was to curl up, which was when she realized she was bound: her feet and wrists tied together behind her, her shoulders wrenched into an awkward angle and her arms straight back. On her side, she was completely helpless to warm herself or protect herself from the motions that were tossing her back and forth.

She moaned as the first fragments of what had happened in the middle of the night came back to her alongside her current pains. "Zhao? You awake?" A voice asked through the fog of discomfort. As Lian opened her eyes, she connected the voice to its owner.

"Jiang."

"Yeah."

"Where...?" Lian asked before the cold took her voice away. She rolled her head up to look around and saw she was on the floor of a covered wagon, alongside wrapped bundles and closed barrels. A sliver of early morning light through the front of the wagon illuminated Jiang, sitting on one of the barrels, his head in his hands. It also revealed Lian's situation in its entirety.

"Jiang," she started, focusing on keeping her teeth from chattering.

"Yeah?"

"Why am I in here?"

Jiang peered through his fingers, making eye contact with Lian and slowly taking in her question. His eyes were loaded with regret, but not, Lian saw, for anyone but himself. When he replied, he did so quietly, almost at a whisper. "The Wamaians wanted you," he said, burying his face into his palms again, "I told them you were a Shuli Go. They had a bunch of questions."

"Uh-huh, ok," she began quietly before turning up the volume. "And why exactly am I naked?" She shouted.

Jiang winced and recoiled, squeezing his eyes shut and covering his ears. Lian knew instantly that the regret plastered on his face was the average, everyday regret of a bad hangover. "Please, don't yell. I am not doing well this morning."

"You're not doing well?" She yelled even louder. "I'm naked and tied up in the back of a cart going Gods know where. Now tell me what this is about!"

"Ok, ok," Jiang smoothed his temples, his voice still barely above a whisper, "just keep it down, ok? You really don't want me to get sick in here, on top of everything else."

"Jiang."

"Yeah?"

"Naked. Why?"

"Well after I told them you were a Shuli Go they had all sorts of questions. And I answered them. And then we had a couple more drinks, and they had more questions. And I started telling them some of the things I'd learned over my years of dealing with you and the others like you. And one of the things I mentioned was that Shuli Go can generate heat all on their own... that is true, isn't it?"

"Yes, for about five minutes. And we have to be awake to do it."

"Oh. Yeah, there was a bit of a language breakdown by the end – I couldn't understand their Imperial after enough drinks. And I was probably slurring a little bit by the end. You know how I get after a few. So some details may have been missed."

"Cut me out of this position right now!" Lian shouted again, getting only the slightest satisfaction from the suffering it caused Jiang.

"I can't!" He protested feebly. "First of all, I think if I got up from here my head would explode and then you'd have brain and skull all over you." He took a deep breath as if that would stop his head from collapsing. "Second the Wamaians told me not to touch you. They don't have sanctioned magic users there. They're convinced if I touch you you'll be able to take over my body and kill all of them."