Saturday, December 20, 2014

Chapter Nine of "The Shasta Caper" is now posted.



Chapter Nine

He adjusted his orange robes so they wouldn't tangle in his legs as he dropped into the martial arts pose he had been taught by the Master.

The Master looked at him along his squat orange nose and smiled. "You must move as gracefully as a drop of water from a bee's leg and as fast as the dart of a hummingbird."

Gung Suay nodded, causing his long pig tail to toss behind his back.

The other students of the Master stood in an array about the two of them.

The Master had promised this would be the last test before Gung Suay was given the Orange Belt, a symbol of mastery of perfect balance between spiritual and physical forces. He was proud to be facing his Master this day, for he had been born to be a great fighter. He had known that from the first day he had seen the Master easily take down a tiger with one blow, without harming it, just putting it to sleep.

For the philosophy of the Master was Ahimsa, do no harm. It was a term he had picked up from his travels in India with his wife Shanti, whom he had met during his travels across China, teaching and practicing his minimalist art, which involved using the hair of a fly to do three strokes on the head of a grain of sand. His artwork was so precise and authentically beautiful that even the Emperor of China had purchased all his work rather than see it lost to the masses.

"Now, feel the force of your will coming into balance with the force of the Light within, Gung Suay." The Master told him.

The Master's eyes narrowed. "You will  only have one attempt to do this right. Mastery can not come through repeats. You lose. You die."

"I understand, Master." He told him, again loosening further his robes, for he knew his life depended on him being so precise that even a blink could throw him off the mark.

The Master nodded, then reached into a satchel he carried and brought out a deadly adder. If it struck you with its fangs, you would be dead in five heartbeats. 

The Master stroked its head gently. The creature was mesmerized by the Master's touch and his energies, swaying gently as if drunk by the exposure to the kindness of the Master.

The other pupils held their breathes, for the adder would be a deadly dart once let go of, for the influence of the Master would be gone.

"Whatever happens, Gung Suay. I want you to know that I am proud of you."

Gung Suay inclined his head in a semi-bow. "And I you, Master."

When he looked up at the sound of gasps the adder was already almost in the center of his chest. As quick as that glance was his reflexes were faster, he curved slightly to the right and gently stroked the adder's head, then tail as it passed him, then caught it in a furl of his robe and gently unfurled it into his palm, where he blew his warm breath upon it.

The adder shot up as if to strike him, then it went limp and lay in his palm and went to sleep.

The pupils all burst into applause. 

The applause startled the adder and it struck Gung Suay by accident.

He saw a beautiful halo of white light grow before him and his Master's smiling face, then he stepped into the light and was gone.

WHAM!

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