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They
had been walking for hours, the sun now sat just above the trees and the air
became a little cooler. Beth and Yu were almost totally exhausted when Li
finally pointed and turned in the direction of the giant rock that hadn’t
changed in appearance since they first came upon it. Li became very excited as
he ran out in front toward a dense patch of trees that grew close to the rock
wall. Exhaustion had overcome Beth’s excitement as she threw down her bags
once more and fell to the ground. She looked around for some sign of whatever Li
was looking for as he marched from side to side ducking into the trees obviously
searching for something. Yu offered Beth a drink from her water canteen and the
two sat silently on the ground not knowing what to expect next. Suddenly they
heard a loud “HA HAHH…!” from somewhere beyond the trees followed by a
loud rustling. Then Li suddenly appeared with a wide smile on his face.
“Come-come” he shouted, as he excitedly pulled them
to their feet and lifted their bags for them. “Come quick… this way.”
They climbed through thick thorn covered vines that
tore at their skin as it twisted around the low branches and clung to the trees
creating a seemingly impenetrable curtain. Li was careful not to damage any of
the undergrowth as he skilfully parted the stems and held them back for the
girls to pass through. Large bamboo shoots rattled on either side as they forced
their way by them tripping as they struggled to lift their weary feet.
All Beth could see beyond the trees was the sheer cliff
face that towered before them. She began to panic a little with the uncertainty
of not knowing where they were going and she began to ask herself what the hell
she was doing out in the middle of nowhere. She looked up into the trees and
frowned, night was almost upon them and they were about to reach a complete dead
end. She began to wonder about Li. What did she really know about him? And why
had she been so willing to trust him, letting him bring her all this way. He’d
led her to believe that they were just going to the edge of the reserve on a day
trip. She realized she didn’t know anything about him at all, and here she was
hundreds of miles from civilization with somebody who for all she knew could be
a murderer or a weirdo. She decided to remain quiet but be on guard for whatever
may happen next.
“Yahhh…hooooo!” Li suddenly screamed, as he
jumped in the air and then disappeared from sight.
The quickly fading light made it impossible for Beth
and Yu to see clearly as they stood speechless and frightened at the base of the
rock. Behind them the curtain of thorns had closed and it was too dark to try
and head back. Before them stood miles of solid un-scaleable rock, it seemed
worse than any nightmare.
With the tiredness and the adrenaline rush Beth nearly
passed out…suddenly they almost jumped out of their skins as the darkness
exploded with flickering light. Li mysteriously reappeared jumping up and down
with a flaming torch in his hand, the shadows began to dance on the rock face as
he darted from side to side.
“Come quick,” he shouted with excitement.
Beth didn’t need to wait for a translation she knew
exactly what he was saying and forgetting about her fear, she clumsily scrambled
towards him with Yu in hot pursuit.
“Follow me!” he yelled and disappeared feet first
into a small opening that was half in the rock and half in the ground.
With the widest grin on his face he looked up at them
from a chamber that was now fully illuminated from the torch, and beckoned them
to follow him. “Quickly” he cried as Beth stood negotiating the opening
before deciding there was only one way to enter, and jumped feet first.
Yu followed and Li handed her the torch. He then
grabbed hold of a thick rope handle that was connected to a large rock at the
side of the entrance and pulled at it with all his might. After much effort the
rock gradually slid across and completely closed the entrance off.
Yu didn’t wait for Beth to speak this time instead
she launched into an attack in Chinese aimed directly at Li. With a mischievous
grin on his face he stood listening shaking his head and waiting for her to
finish. After settling her down he told them that they would sleep in the cave
overnight as they were now safe and he promised that all would be revealed in
the morning.
Beth looked around the cave and noticed that there was
fresh straw placed around the edges. The air was dry and warm; the sound of the
wind above and the flickering light from the torch made her feel very sleepy.
Although she was angry with Li, she decided she was too tired to even think
straight never mind argue especially through a translator. So she dropped her
bag and herself to the floor, crawled over to the nearest pile of straw and was
sound a sleep within minutes.
She
couldn’t believe how stupid she had been. After worrying about scaling the
giant rock monolith all day, she had failed to notice the moving stairway that
rose from the trees and traveled up to the summit. She leaned on the rail after
stepping aboard and rested her weary body as she was slowly lifted to the top.
The multi-colored paddy fields far below reminded her
of the patchwork quilt that she had worked on with her mother as a child.
She noticed an old lady who looked vaguely familiar working in one of the
fields below gathering rice. As she stepped off at the top she shouted and waved
her arms in an attempt to attract the attention of her parents and her brother.
Suddenly she noticed the man who had sold her the tiger
bone at Hanoi airport. He wore a tiger skin on his back and a golden Rhinoceros
horn on his head. He smiled and slowly bowed his head as she hurriedly passed,
but as he raised his head his face had changed. Instead of the slimy salesman
the face of Li now grinned at her and said,
“Don’t worry… I’ll
look after you.”
She quickly looked away and began to run down an empty
road towards a forest of yellow trees. She could hear the sound of the star
spangled banner as she ran. As she
tried to focus her eyes she noticed the figure of a tall man standing in front
of the trees on top of an old station wagon.
He was dressed as a soldier and
stood erect with a large gun in his hands. Suddenly he began to fire an endless
barrage of bullets into the foliage. She lifted her hands to her ears and knelt
on the ground as the deafening sound began to penetrate her head.
“Stop!” she cried, “Stop!”
The ground shook as trees began to topple and a great
cloud of dust rose high into the air…suddenly the firing stopped and she heard
the gun fall to the ground.
As she raised her head the soldier had turned to face her; his face seemed so
familiar. Her attention was quickly averted to where the dust was settling when
a deafening roar nearly knocked them both off their feet, and the shape of a
giant tiger standing among the devastation began to form. Pinned beneath its two
front paws were two strange looking men who struggled and cursed in vain to
break free. On its back sat a strange old Chinese man holding a golden tiger cub
that glowed in his hands. Somewhere a bell rang she looked at the soldier but he
was gone.
The old man's movement was that of a time lapsed image,
every time she blinked he was closer. She didn’t see him climb down from the
tiger all she knew was that one moment he was there, the next he was right in
front of her. He now stood motionless staring into her eyes and whispered,
“Xiao
Gong Zhu.”
He held out the tiger cub for her to take.
As she reached out and took it a giant roar
bellowed out and startled her into looking up again. The old man was seated on
the great beast’s back once more and it began to move off. One of the strange
men immediately jumped to his feet as the tiger released its grip. He beckoned
for it to return and do battle, while the other man slowly crawled off to the
side whimpering with his head low.
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