Blood of the Fox

Chapter 1

'A crack of thunder split the darkened sky as the three maids hurried across the stone steps through the garden of the Heavenly Imperial Palace.

As she looked up into the sky, the one called Ruyi spied the undulating belly of a rain dragon, dark and ominous, flitting through the bloated clouds.

"Which immortal is responsible for the weather tonight?" She groused. "Tell them to turn off the waterworks!"

"If it is raining in the Imperial Heavens then the Jade Emperor must have requested it." Another maid called Ting'er responded in a reasonable tone.

"Well why is he requesting rain five days out of seven?" Ruyi put her her basket over her head. The basket, full of elaborate silk clothes, was stacked until it was almost as tall as she was.

"You know why."

The third girl, much taller and larger than the other two, called Jiajia, said suddenly, "Who- or what- is that?"

In the middle of the garden, kneeling on the cold wet ground, was a sobbing maidservant. It was obvious she was a maid by the plain way she wore her hair but her hanfu, which was a deep purple unlike the light blue the other three wore, denoted her superior rank.

She was soaked to the bone and from her face was grossly distorted by horns protruding from her temples and facial hair sprouting from her cheeks. Her hands which she held to her heaving chest was hideously transformed to sharpened claws.

"Don't look at her, don't talk to her." Ting'er cautioned the others.

"What happened to her?" Jiajia wanted to kow.

"She's been cursed obviously, and judging by her grotesque features, by Princess Yuting from the Fire Realm. That's her favorite way to torture imperial maid servants." Ruyi replied.

"What did she do?"

"Most likely she looked at the Third Prince too long or heavens forbid, maybe she accidentally touched his sleeve." Ruyi spoke with a heavily sarcastic tone.

"Shh!" Ting'er, obviously the cautious one among the three, admonished Ruyi. "You shouldn't speak of her like, you never know who could be listening. Don't forget Princess Yuting is the niece of the Empress."

The three passed through the dark garden and came to the foot of an towering hundred-tiered pagoda, jutting into the dark, thundering heavens. The pagoda was brilliantly lit with lanterns in every nook and cranny, and filled with activity. Behind the doorways and windows hundred of eunuchs could be seen rushing to and fro, hands full of linen and sloshing water.

The outside of the pagoda glowed with a strange blue aura and the rain falling upon it seemed to be repelled, the droplets bouncing off and falling harmlessly on the ground. A golden sign on the top read Laundry House.

A eunuch was standing at the entrance as they came in. The three girls placed their baskets on the ground and bowed, folding one arm over the other horizontally and bending their heads onto it. "We are here to deliver the Heavenly Empress' clothing for launder."

The head eunuch motioned two eunuchs beside him who came forward. The girls passed over the baskets. Two of the baskets were dry. A third, belonging to Ruyi, was soaked with rainwater.

"Looks like you've already started washing it." The eunuch said to Ruyi, curling his lip with derision. "Don't you know the simple spell for dispelling water? How can you hope to survive in the Heavenly Palace without such basic knowledge?"

The other two girls had blue auras around their bodies, similar to that of the Pagoda. They were as dry as their baskets. But not Ruyi. She shrugged. "The rain doesn't bother me."

The eunuch's expression of contempt deepened. He had heard about this particular maidservant. She, like the other two, were of the lowliest rank in the Heavenly Palace. They were new recruits and had been serving only a hundred years. They did the most menial work in the Palaces.

A fox immortal, some of the eunuchs had whispered the first time she had come. Madame Liu, who oversees the training of the new maids, told me.

A fox? Someone else had asked. I thought the Panlin Forest had been destroyed and all the foxes wiped out by the demon clan in the Great War.

Some of the ones living the human realm survived I suppose. Just look at her, what part of her looks the least bit like an immortal? She's practically human.

Looking at her now, drenched to the bone, clearly the last hundred years working in the Palace hadn't improved her much. She was pretty, he supposed, as foxes usually were, although hardly in the classical manner. She had a peculiar little pointed face with overly large eyes. The eyes were truly enormous and very dark. It almost felt as though one could fall into them...

He shook himself and considered the other two girls. The smaller one, now here was a classical beauty with delicate, small features and gentle looking eyes. The girl's manner too was elegant and refined. He looked at her more closely. Some kind of jewel or precious stone, perhaps a pearl spirit from the domain of the West Sea Dragon.

As for the last girl, he couldn't fathom at all. "What are you," He asked, unable to stifle his laughter. "Some kind of ox?"

Jiajia went red as a pomegranate. "I'm an antelope spirit," She said."My name is is Liu Jiajia." Her booming voice matched her large and muscular frame. All the eunuchs began to giggle, furthering the large maidservant's embarrassment.

Ruyi interjected in a small, vicious tone; "At least she will be able to meet King of the Underworld with her head held high and all her organs still intact."

"Ruyi!" Ting'er said furiously, snatching her by the arm. She began to bow furiously. "Please forgive her, she doesn't mean to offend."

"I think she does!" The eunuch said, long nose held high. "And just who does she think she is? Except the lowliest of scum, not even worthy to scrape mud off my boots! Xiaoli, grab her! Let's find out today once and for all if the legend is true and let's eat ourselves some boiled fox soup, and increase our xiuwei, spiritual power, by ten thousand years!"

"Wait!" Ting'er intervened quickly as two other eunuchs rushed forward to grab Ruyi. She raised a placard and flashed it at them. It read "Hou", the character for Empress. "Have you forgotten we are from the Empress' Palace? Even if there was boiled fox soup to be drunk, it would be drunk by the Empress and not you."

The eunuch gnashed his teeth together, his round face a mask of anger. He looked at Ruyi. "Don't think you can hide behind the Empress' skirt, girl! Why she must detest you more than any other, you treacherous fox demon. I will be sure to tell Enzhou, the Minister for the Bureau of Punishment, about your impertinence and let's see then if their judgement is any worse than mine! Get out, get out of my sight!"

The girls retreated, Ting'er pulling Ruyi away. When they were out of earshot, she said despairingly, "What's the matter with you? It's like you want to be punished!"

Ruyi wrenched her arm out of the other girl's grasp, "Well since if I don't I'll get punished regardless, I don't think there's any difference. Even if there's nothing written in the records for me this week she'll still find some excuse. You know it's true."

Ting'er, the most sensible of the three girls and indeed a pearl spirit, bit her lip. "With the amount of time you spend in the Realm of Punishment it's a wonder you haven't learnt the basic spells yet."

Ruyi clicked her fingers and the blue aura appeared around her, dispelling the rain. The other two gaped at her.

"If you can do it why don't you?" Jiajia asked at last.

"But I told you already," Ruyi said in a matter-of-fact tone. "The rain doesn't bother me."