Martial Art Fantasy Short Story
Author: Hani Law Copyright © 2006
Author: Hani Law Copyright © 2006
SWAN BEAUTY
CHAPTER 9
Each of the girls is given a new name. Everyone’s
name begins with “Swan”. My new name is Swan
Beauty. We are instructed to stay in the West
Chamber. Before dawn, we are up performing our
assigned tasks: cleaning, washing, cooking and so on.
After our morning meal, we are to follow Master
Swan to the front yard to receive martial-arts
training. Master Swan fights with a dancing ribbon
and she is extremely proficient in wielding it as a
weapon with her single arm. An ordinary person
normally uses a dance ribbon when she is performing
a ribbon dance. But Master Swan can turn the ribbon
into a powerful whip with a force behind it. In the
afternoon, we have to go outside the complex and
practise what we have learnt in the morning. This is
to ensure our direct communion with nature. In the
evening, we have to read and memorize the
techniques of each step of the martial-arts sequence.
It is all very hard work, but Master Swan always
insists that learning the martial arts is a mindset and
everyone should adopt a can-do attitude. She makes it
clear that anyone lacking perseverance and
determination will be expelled from the Swan Clan.
Living as we do a disciplined life with a strict
regimen, we make good progress. We are also taught
the light-step skill. I become quite proficient in the
use of my dance ribbon. There is one strict rule by
which we have to abide: we are not allowed to fall in
love with men. No one dares ask why. Female visitors
to Swan Mountain are few and far between and there
have been no male visitors at all since we arrived.
I have been living on Swan Mountain for over twenty
months now. The date of my reunion with the Prince
is fast approaching. I have to concoct a plausible
excuse for leaving Master Swan and making the
journey to the Magic Lake. After much hesitation, I
manage to drum up the courage to see her. I tell her
that I have promised to attend the wedding ceremony
of her nephew, the Prince, who is to be married to
Precious Pearl, the daughter of the Sea Emperor. I
beg her to grant me a month’s leave so I can attend
the wedding. In fact I realize that the Prince should
be by now have married Precious Pearl six months
ago. She appears most reluctant to let me go, but as it
happens to be her nephew’s wedding, she grants me
permission to be away for a month. She repeats,
however, that the moment the ceremony is over, I
must return to Swan Mountain without delay. I
happily pack my simple garments and, on the
following day, am on my way to the Magic Lake.
Having delayed seeking Master Swan’s permission
until the last moment, I must now travel without a
break in order to reach the Magic Lake on time to
meet the Prince. I long to see him again. However, a
night before I am due to reach the Lake, the moon is
suddenly eclipsed by a large shadow and darkness
descends on the world. Strong gales prevent me from
continuing my journey. I have no alternative but to
sleep in a forest that night and hope I will make up
for lost time the following day.
To do so, I force myself to run as fast as I can for the
next few days. After all that effort, I eventually
manage to reach the Lake, but I am already two days
late.
From afar, I observe Precious Pearl standing by the
shore of the Lake, gazing at the sky like a forlorn
child. I approach her at a run using my light-step
skill, as I am eager to see the Prince who must be
there with her. I am horrified to find, however, that
Precious Pearl has turned to stone. And the Prince is
nowhere in sight. I stand there, stunned and
motionless. I decide to wait awhile. Perhaps, the
Prince is late too? I sit down and wait by the
Princess’ stone statue until sunset. I feel haunted by
the sight of that statue and decide to find out what
might have happened. I leave the Magic Lake and set
out in the direction of a village located several miles
away.
By the time I reach it, my stomach is rumbling with
hunger. So I stop at a little food stall and have a
quick bite. While I’m doing so, I get hold of a waiter
and enquire about the stone statue by the Lake. He
tells me that about six months ago, there was an
announcement from the Sea Palace that the Princess
would be getting married on a particular date.
Everybody living within a hundred miles of the Magic
Lake was thrilled by the news. On the designated
wedding day , the Prince of a distant kingdom failed
to appear. The Princess was so eager to see the
Prince that she had started appearing on the shore of
the Magic Lake to wait for the return of her fiancé.
She waited and waited, three months had past and the
Prince did not turn up. The Princess was heartbroken
and cried all night. As the tears drained out of her
body, she turned to stone a few nights ago.”
The waiter goes on to relate how watching the
Princess weep made the moon feel so ashamed that
she hid herself. In the process, all her beauty was
obscured. In fact, all living things around the Magic
Lake grieved for the Princess. Having heard out the
waiter, I understood why a shadow had passed over
the moon and a fearful storm had taken place a few
evenings back, forcing me to spend the night in the
forest and preventing me from continuing my journey
to the Magic Lake.
At this point, I am in no position to analyze my
feelings. On the one hand, Precious Pearl’s
misfortune has saddened me. On the other, however, I
am secretly delighted by the sudden turn of events
that has set the Prince free from his obligation to
marry the Princess. Then it suddenly occurs to me
that I still do not know why he has failed to turn up in
time for his marriage. I recall how he had talked of
his plans to avenge himself against the Chief of the
Black Head Tribe. Could he have been killed in the
attempt? The moment this terrifying thought flashes
through my mind, I feel the weight of a large rock
bearing down on my chest till I can hardly breathe.
Since darkness has fallen by now, I decide to spend
the night in the village, promising myself that I will
find the Prince, no matter how long it takes me to do
so. I cannot prevent myself, however, from dwelling
gloomily on the possibility of the Prince being either
dead or imprisoned by his enemy.
I set off the very next day. It will be a long, arduous
journey, scaling mountains and crossing valleys. But
with my martial-arts skills, I have much more
confidence in myself now. My light steps will help me
to travel faster as well. I run without a pause until I
come to a little town.
In the market place there, I notice a very pretty
woman in a body-hugging dress that bares a great
deal of breast. She is talking to a young man. From
their expressions and body language, it is clear that
she is flirting with him. I find the sight of women
flirting a real eyesore. I approach them to see what
exactly she is up to and find myself racking my brains
to recall where I have seen her before. Then it strikes
me: she is the snake witch who had tried to befriend
the Prince in the guise of a woman. I remember how
she had been so shocked by his scarred face that she
had turned herself back into a snake again. I rush to
where the snake witch and the young man are
standing. I must try and stop him from falling into her
trap. “Run!” I yell at the young man. “She is a snake
witch. The moment you go to her house, she will suck
out your blood.”
The young man does not seem to believe me. I whip
out my dancing ribbon and flick it towards the snake
witch in an attempt to coil it around her body. She
whirls away to avoid contact with it and changes
instantly back into a snake. She then flies at my neck,
but I am swift enough to lash out at her with my
ribbon, using it like a whip. The blow I deal her is a
fatal one. She falls to the ground, dead. The young
man is still in shock. After I have managed to comfort
him, I leave the town and continue on my way to find
the Black Head Tribe. Is it only the appearance of a
woman that attracts a man ? What about the inner
self, can it charm a man too? I ask myself.
When I reach the place where they live, evening has
already descended. At the inn where I put up for the
night, I quickly change into a black outfit to avoid
detection in the dark and make my way to the Tribe’s
base. Having reached it, I leap up on to the roof of a
house, one of several in the big complex occupied by
the Tribe. Creeping stealthily along the roofs of the
mansions, I fail to find anything remotely resembling
a prison. This makes me rather despondent. Moments
later, however, sweet music wafts out from one of the
houses on my right. So does the smell of fragrance.
Curiosity impels me to follow the direction of the
music and soon, I find myself near one of the wings of
a large mansion. I concentrate all my inner energy,
pour it into my right index finger and poke a hole
through the roof of the building. I peep through it
and am shocked to find the Prince sitting solemnly on
a chair. Before him is a young woman playing a qing.
From the look of her, I gather she must be in her
early twenties. I notice that she is elegantly dressed.
Incense burns in the room. The moonlight outside is
bright and in the distance, I see guards patrolling the
vast compound. I decide not to take any action now
and remain sitting on the roof, waiting for a chance
to speak to the Prince. As far as I can tell from my
perch, no conversation is being exchanged between
him and the young woman.
I must have become so tired waiting up here for hours
that I probably dozed off, because I am woken up by
the sound of heavy footsteps. When I look down
through the hole in the roof, I see three guards enter
the room and take the Prince away. It is a mystery to
me as to why he does not resist them. After all, his
martial-arts skills are advanced enough for him to
engineer his release and escape. Instinct tells me I
should follow the guards and see where they are
taking the Prince. The group walks along for about a
mile before reaching a barrack. They go inside and
lock the Prince into one of the prison cells there. I
decide to survey the area first before attempting
anything; there might well be mechanical traps
around.
A while later, I decide to enter the prison. I notice
three guards standing before a particular prison cell.
I immediately strike them unconscious with my ribbon
and walk quietly towards the cell where they have
locked up the Prince. Water is dripping from the roof
of the cell, but he does not seem to be aware of it. I
stand before the bars and wave at him, but it takes
him a while to respond. We both lapse into silence for
a moment. Then the Prince asks, “How did you find
me here?”
“It is a long story. Let’s quickly get out of here while
the guards are still unconscious,” I suggest.
Inside, I am jumping for joy at having found the
Prince. However, I realize how dangerous our
predicament is and that I need to harness all my
survival instincts and keep my mind alert as if I were
a hunted animal.
“Come, follow me,” I say, offering the Prince my
hand. Although I am still wondering why he is so
weak, I don’t ask him any questions. I know that our
most important mission now is to escape. I quickly
wrench a sword out of the grasp of one of the
unconscious guards and hand it to the Prince. Then
we leave the prison cell. On our way out of the
barracks, we must contend with a large number of
guards rushing at us. We put up a ferocious fight. But
the Prince seems to be strangely out of his depth.
Considering his weakened physical condition and the
number of guards we have to fight off, I yell out to
the Prince that we should use thunder steps to escape.
He understands right away and nods in agreement.
This special technique, practised in his family, is
something I have learnt from his aunt. We stamp our
feet heavily on the ground using all our inner energy
and crawl swiftly underground and through the earth
like a snake to a safe place. And that is how we finally
escape from the prison and end up in a dense forest.
After getting my breath back, I tell the Prince how I
found him and what had happened to Precious Pearl.
At first, he is incredulous. Knowing, however, that I
am an honest person, he accepts what I have said and
tries to convince himself that it is the bitter truth by
questioning me repeatedly about it. He is deeply
saddened by the fate of Precious Pearl and vows to
kill the Chief of the Black Head Tribe who had
prevented him from returning to the Magic Lake in
time for the wedding.
He then recounts what he has been through after he
reached the complex where the Black Head Tribe
lived. “I had stealthily made my way to the Chief’s
bedroom and tried to kill him with sleepy smoke while
he was still in bed,” he begins. “When I approached
his bed, however, he was alert enough to seize his
scimitar in one quick movement, jump out of bed and
attack me. I struck him back smartly with my three-
joint stick. After a few such thrusts had been
exchanged and I had just found an opportunity of
striking him on the neck with my three-joint stick, I
felt something sharp penetrate my abdomen. In
seconds, I had blacked out. When I regained
consciousness, I found myself lying on a bed in a girl’
s room. Titi, the daughter of the Black Head Tribe
Chief, was sitting by me. She told me how she had
saved me from certain death. Apparently, her father
who knew that he could not defeat me in open combat
had resorted to subterfuge and let fly a hidden spear
from his scimitar. The weapon had hit its mark and
nearly killed me.
“Titi continued that it was she who had pleaded for
my life and nursed my wound as well. I was not at all
grateful for the favour she had done me. I suspected
she might have a hidden agenda. Besides, I would
rather have been dead than alive to see my enemy
thriving. I asked Titi frankly what she wanted from
me. She confessed that she had never seen a more
charming man than me and wanted to marry me. I
turned down her proposal and, therefore, ended up in
prison. During my year-long imprisonment, she
persisted in her efforts to persuade me to marry her,
although I told her repeatedly that there could be no
love between us. After all, her father and his
followers had killed all my people and destroyed my
kingdom. She refused to heed my words and insisted
that I belonged to her, because it was she who had
saved my life. She was convinced that I would,
eventually, grow to love her one day.”
The Prince also tells me that during his long
incarceration, he had been forbidden to do any kind
of exercise, not to mention practising his martial-arts
skills. That is why he feels so weak and sluggish and
certain parts of his body have become numb.
CHAPTER 9
Each of the girls is given a new name. Everyone’s
name begins with “Swan”. My new name is Swan
Beauty. We are instructed to stay in the West
Chamber. Before dawn, we are up performing our
assigned tasks: cleaning, washing, cooking and so on.
After our morning meal, we are to follow Master
Swan to the front yard to receive martial-arts
training. Master Swan fights with a dancing ribbon
and she is extremely proficient in wielding it as a
weapon with her single arm. An ordinary person
normally uses a dance ribbon when she is performing
a ribbon dance. But Master Swan can turn the ribbon
into a powerful whip with a force behind it. In the
afternoon, we have to go outside the complex and
practise what we have learnt in the morning. This is
to ensure our direct communion with nature. In the
evening, we have to read and memorize the
techniques of each step of the martial-arts sequence.
It is all very hard work, but Master Swan always
insists that learning the martial arts is a mindset and
everyone should adopt a can-do attitude. She makes it
clear that anyone lacking perseverance and
determination will be expelled from the Swan Clan.
Living as we do a disciplined life with a strict
regimen, we make good progress. We are also taught
the light-step skill. I become quite proficient in the
use of my dance ribbon. There is one strict rule by
which we have to abide: we are not allowed to fall in
love with men. No one dares ask why. Female visitors
to Swan Mountain are few and far between and there
have been no male visitors at all since we arrived.
I have been living on Swan Mountain for over twenty
months now. The date of my reunion with the Prince
is fast approaching. I have to concoct a plausible
excuse for leaving Master Swan and making the
journey to the Magic Lake. After much hesitation, I
manage to drum up the courage to see her. I tell her
that I have promised to attend the wedding ceremony
of her nephew, the Prince, who is to be married to
Precious Pearl, the daughter of the Sea Emperor. I
beg her to grant me a month’s leave so I can attend
the wedding. In fact I realize that the Prince should
be by now have married Precious Pearl six months
ago. She appears most reluctant to let me go, but as it
happens to be her nephew’s wedding, she grants me
permission to be away for a month. She repeats,
however, that the moment the ceremony is over, I
must return to Swan Mountain without delay. I
happily pack my simple garments and, on the
following day, am on my way to the Magic Lake.
Having delayed seeking Master Swan’s permission
until the last moment, I must now travel without a
break in order to reach the Magic Lake on time to
meet the Prince. I long to see him again. However, a
night before I am due to reach the Lake, the moon is
suddenly eclipsed by a large shadow and darkness
descends on the world. Strong gales prevent me from
continuing my journey. I have no alternative but to
sleep in a forest that night and hope I will make up
for lost time the following day.
To do so, I force myself to run as fast as I can for the
next few days. After all that effort, I eventually
manage to reach the Lake, but I am already two days
late.
From afar, I observe Precious Pearl standing by the
shore of the Lake, gazing at the sky like a forlorn
child. I approach her at a run using my light-step
skill, as I am eager to see the Prince who must be
there with her. I am horrified to find, however, that
Precious Pearl has turned to stone. And the Prince is
nowhere in sight. I stand there, stunned and
motionless. I decide to wait awhile. Perhaps, the
Prince is late too? I sit down and wait by the
Princess’ stone statue until sunset. I feel haunted by
the sight of that statue and decide to find out what
might have happened. I leave the Magic Lake and set
out in the direction of a village located several miles
away.
By the time I reach it, my stomach is rumbling with
hunger. So I stop at a little food stall and have a
quick bite. While I’m doing so, I get hold of a waiter
and enquire about the stone statue by the Lake. He
tells me that about six months ago, there was an
announcement from the Sea Palace that the Princess
would be getting married on a particular date.
Everybody living within a hundred miles of the Magic
Lake was thrilled by the news. On the designated
wedding day , the Prince of a distant kingdom failed
to appear. The Princess was so eager to see the
Prince that she had started appearing on the shore of
the Magic Lake to wait for the return of her fiancé.
She waited and waited, three months had past and the
Prince did not turn up. The Princess was heartbroken
and cried all night. As the tears drained out of her
body, she turned to stone a few nights ago.”
The waiter goes on to relate how watching the
Princess weep made the moon feel so ashamed that
she hid herself. In the process, all her beauty was
obscured. In fact, all living things around the Magic
Lake grieved for the Princess. Having heard out the
waiter, I understood why a shadow had passed over
the moon and a fearful storm had taken place a few
evenings back, forcing me to spend the night in the
forest and preventing me from continuing my journey
to the Magic Lake.
At this point, I am in no position to analyze my
feelings. On the one hand, Precious Pearl’s
misfortune has saddened me. On the other, however, I
am secretly delighted by the sudden turn of events
that has set the Prince free from his obligation to
marry the Princess. Then it suddenly occurs to me
that I still do not know why he has failed to turn up in
time for his marriage. I recall how he had talked of
his plans to avenge himself against the Chief of the
Black Head Tribe. Could he have been killed in the
attempt? The moment this terrifying thought flashes
through my mind, I feel the weight of a large rock
bearing down on my chest till I can hardly breathe.
Since darkness has fallen by now, I decide to spend
the night in the village, promising myself that I will
find the Prince, no matter how long it takes me to do
so. I cannot prevent myself, however, from dwelling
gloomily on the possibility of the Prince being either
dead or imprisoned by his enemy.
I set off the very next day. It will be a long, arduous
journey, scaling mountains and crossing valleys. But
with my martial-arts skills, I have much more
confidence in myself now. My light steps will help me
to travel faster as well. I run without a pause until I
come to a little town.
In the market place there, I notice a very pretty
woman in a body-hugging dress that bares a great
deal of breast. She is talking to a young man. From
their expressions and body language, it is clear that
she is flirting with him. I find the sight of women
flirting a real eyesore. I approach them to see what
exactly she is up to and find myself racking my brains
to recall where I have seen her before. Then it strikes
me: she is the snake witch who had tried to befriend
the Prince in the guise of a woman. I remember how
she had been so shocked by his scarred face that she
had turned herself back into a snake again. I rush to
where the snake witch and the young man are
standing. I must try and stop him from falling into her
trap. “Run!” I yell at the young man. “She is a snake
witch. The moment you go to her house, she will suck
out your blood.”
The young man does not seem to believe me. I whip
out my dancing ribbon and flick it towards the snake
witch in an attempt to coil it around her body. She
whirls away to avoid contact with it and changes
instantly back into a snake. She then flies at my neck,
but I am swift enough to lash out at her with my
ribbon, using it like a whip. The blow I deal her is a
fatal one. She falls to the ground, dead. The young
man is still in shock. After I have managed to comfort
him, I leave the town and continue on my way to find
the Black Head Tribe. Is it only the appearance of a
woman that attracts a man ? What about the inner
self, can it charm a man too? I ask myself.
When I reach the place where they live, evening has
already descended. At the inn where I put up for the
night, I quickly change into a black outfit to avoid
detection in the dark and make my way to the Tribe’s
base. Having reached it, I leap up on to the roof of a
house, one of several in the big complex occupied by
the Tribe. Creeping stealthily along the roofs of the
mansions, I fail to find anything remotely resembling
a prison. This makes me rather despondent. Moments
later, however, sweet music wafts out from one of the
houses on my right. So does the smell of fragrance.
Curiosity impels me to follow the direction of the
music and soon, I find myself near one of the wings of
a large mansion. I concentrate all my inner energy,
pour it into my right index finger and poke a hole
through the roof of the building. I peep through it
and am shocked to find the Prince sitting solemnly on
a chair. Before him is a young woman playing a qing.
From the look of her, I gather she must be in her
early twenties. I notice that she is elegantly dressed.
Incense burns in the room. The moonlight outside is
bright and in the distance, I see guards patrolling the
vast compound. I decide not to take any action now
and remain sitting on the roof, waiting for a chance
to speak to the Prince. As far as I can tell from my
perch, no conversation is being exchanged between
him and the young woman.
I must have become so tired waiting up here for hours
that I probably dozed off, because I am woken up by
the sound of heavy footsteps. When I look down
through the hole in the roof, I see three guards enter
the room and take the Prince away. It is a mystery to
me as to why he does not resist them. After all, his
martial-arts skills are advanced enough for him to
engineer his release and escape. Instinct tells me I
should follow the guards and see where they are
taking the Prince. The group walks along for about a
mile before reaching a barrack. They go inside and
lock the Prince into one of the prison cells there. I
decide to survey the area first before attempting
anything; there might well be mechanical traps
around.
A while later, I decide to enter the prison. I notice
three guards standing before a particular prison cell.
I immediately strike them unconscious with my ribbon
and walk quietly towards the cell where they have
locked up the Prince. Water is dripping from the roof
of the cell, but he does not seem to be aware of it. I
stand before the bars and wave at him, but it takes
him a while to respond. We both lapse into silence for
a moment. Then the Prince asks, “How did you find
me here?”
“It is a long story. Let’s quickly get out of here while
the guards are still unconscious,” I suggest.
Inside, I am jumping for joy at having found the
Prince. However, I realize how dangerous our
predicament is and that I need to harness all my
survival instincts and keep my mind alert as if I were
a hunted animal.
“Come, follow me,” I say, offering the Prince my
hand. Although I am still wondering why he is so
weak, I don’t ask him any questions. I know that our
most important mission now is to escape. I quickly
wrench a sword out of the grasp of one of the
unconscious guards and hand it to the Prince. Then
we leave the prison cell. On our way out of the
barracks, we must contend with a large number of
guards rushing at us. We put up a ferocious fight. But
the Prince seems to be strangely out of his depth.
Considering his weakened physical condition and the
number of guards we have to fight off, I yell out to
the Prince that we should use thunder steps to escape.
He understands right away and nods in agreement.
This special technique, practised in his family, is
something I have learnt from his aunt. We stamp our
feet heavily on the ground using all our inner energy
and crawl swiftly underground and through the earth
like a snake to a safe place. And that is how we finally
escape from the prison and end up in a dense forest.
After getting my breath back, I tell the Prince how I
found him and what had happened to Precious Pearl.
At first, he is incredulous. Knowing, however, that I
am an honest person, he accepts what I have said and
tries to convince himself that it is the bitter truth by
questioning me repeatedly about it. He is deeply
saddened by the fate of Precious Pearl and vows to
kill the Chief of the Black Head Tribe who had
prevented him from returning to the Magic Lake in
time for the wedding.
He then recounts what he has been through after he
reached the complex where the Black Head Tribe
lived. “I had stealthily made my way to the Chief’s
bedroom and tried to kill him with sleepy smoke while
he was still in bed,” he begins. “When I approached
his bed, however, he was alert enough to seize his
scimitar in one quick movement, jump out of bed and
attack me. I struck him back smartly with my three-
joint stick. After a few such thrusts had been
exchanged and I had just found an opportunity of
striking him on the neck with my three-joint stick, I
felt something sharp penetrate my abdomen. In
seconds, I had blacked out. When I regained
consciousness, I found myself lying on a bed in a girl’
s room. Titi, the daughter of the Black Head Tribe
Chief, was sitting by me. She told me how she had
saved me from certain death. Apparently, her father
who knew that he could not defeat me in open combat
had resorted to subterfuge and let fly a hidden spear
from his scimitar. The weapon had hit its mark and
nearly killed me.
“Titi continued that it was she who had pleaded for
my life and nursed my wound as well. I was not at all
grateful for the favour she had done me. I suspected
she might have a hidden agenda. Besides, I would
rather have been dead than alive to see my enemy
thriving. I asked Titi frankly what she wanted from
me. She confessed that she had never seen a more
charming man than me and wanted to marry me. I
turned down her proposal and, therefore, ended up in
prison. During my year-long imprisonment, she
persisted in her efforts to persuade me to marry her,
although I told her repeatedly that there could be no
love between us. After all, her father and his
followers had killed all my people and destroyed my
kingdom. She refused to heed my words and insisted
that I belonged to her, because it was she who had
saved my life. She was convinced that I would,
eventually, grow to love her one day.”
The Prince also tells me that during his long
incarceration, he had been forbidden to do any kind
of exercise, not to mention practising his martial-arts
skills. That is why he feels so weak and sluggish and
certain parts of his body have become numb.
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