A Momentary Lapse of Reason - 14
A Novella
14. 奋不顾身[i]
(fèn bù gù shēn)
But then across the shadow of their faces, the doors belched forth carts that seemed to be rattled and ghostly horses of black rustling through the wind as it opened up.[ii] All seemed confused as the doors retched up and an army of men, with manifest bows and arrows at their waist.[iii] And all of the Army cried up to the heavens and beyond like the rising of the sun.[iv] There was confusion as each man tried to find his position and all of them were trying to aim for the couple. But the confusion reigned, and Kit found a tunnel covered by an ancient stone ornament like a manhole which seemed to lead deeper into the dark. So, they crawled into the stench even as the warriors tried to aim their bows at them a new chapter began.
Kit in front and Maggie behind them scraped on the walls and on the ceiling to move through the corridors to the out of the range of the arrows which they knew to be coming. Oddly the dank tunnel occasionally smelt like cooking rice. Behind them, they could hear rough boot prints trying to find some other way down and surprise their prey, but they could not find any approach and they did not want to go down into the dark hole with its odor reeking from every orifice. Meanwhile, the care continued to scratch and claw down into the darkened reach. Every crawl forward spat new chunks of dirt and foul-smelling garbage into their faces, ears, and down clothes. There were cockroaches, rotten grubs, and worms that spawned between their garments. Each one of them stopped to peel away one grub which had found a sore to burrow into. Even blackness could not describe the looming sense of hysteria that overtook them like a battle.
And it is within this agitation and delirium that they could not find their bearings except to head downwards towards a kind of base like a hanging scroll. But all at once they sprang forth into the below and while there was no light it was no longer closed in and choking them. They could feel the space that surrounded them and a cooler sense of air rather than the madness of a panic fever that blocked them.
All at once Maggie spoke: “Are we below the buildings above us or is this like a basement for us to swell up and rot in?”
“I do not know because I have never been here before.”
“Do you sense anything?”
“My lessons as to how much call this place is our limited, I only know a few incantations in my account.”
“When were you going to tell me that there is magic in this land?”
“Would you have believed me if I did? This is why I consume heroin because it gives with its claws and shakes me. And only the depressing nature of heroin seems to rebalance my senses.”
Maggie nodded but then realized that Kit could not see the motion. So, she rested her hand on his shoulder and cooed nothing in his ear. They did not hear anything but the slow drip all water from the ceiling but both of them felt rather than heard another presence.
Crying out, Maggi said: “Who is with us?”
It was mirth that crowded their hearing with a high-pitched merry chirping. And then it said in a warble: “I have always been here about you have not been. I should ask you why you have come to me in such dire circumstances as if malaria hunts you down. My name could be Cor Caroli, Charles Lutwidge, Carolus Ludovicus, Ludovicus Carolus.”
Then scratching her voice up Maggie said: “Lewis Carrol.”
The mirth bowed in her direction. Then came up roses. “You are indeed correct.”
From out of the darkness Kit asked: “We came to City of Darkness to try and escape the people who were chasing us. It was like a radio sweeping over the sea and luring us ever downwards.”
The mirth began again: “So you admit that the action that you took did not get the results that you had hoped for? Underneath Dragon City you find dragons.” at this Maggie nodded: Loon means Dragon. And then the mirth turned to the girl and from out of the leaves of his costume he tossed a coin. “A penny for your thoughts. But read it well, Jabberwock.” ’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe. She caught it and quickly she read down one side: “If I had asked you” and on the other “What would you reply?”
“No, it did not. We traveled to where the streets have no name where we hoped that there would be a force of wind and found nothing other than dirt and grime.”[v]
The mirth, bubbly in its calling, then lit a yellow light, and could see that it was not human in the slightest. It had one head but many arms and four feet, and draping down from its body were wiry pantaloons in several different shades. It was light and airy and was composed of a myriad of different colors even more than a rainbow had. For a phase, it had something like a mask in Shanghai Opera, and it looked more than a little bit like the warrior king.
The mirth then queried: “And do you think that I am here to cast pearls before swine? What is it that you desire and what will you give me for it?”
It was at this point that Maggie had reached certain conclusions, and so she uttered: “We want to be free of our impediments, and we do not know what to do to accomplish this.”
The mirth sat down and took out knuckle bones and cast them six times. It then looked up at the pair and said: “I can only answer until the yellow light burns out, so you must accept such information as I can give in only the short time remaining for the flicker of the prestidigitation that I lit. you must come together and be one, each of you needs to find all the terror that haunts you and your most powerful goal. Maggie, your enemy is known to you and your success is to triumph in chess and ask for an object which they can say but not have. Kit, you must be free of your addictions, and you must make a book out of your photographs. But there is a cost for this which will be exacted.” And then the mirth then threw a bottle up in the air which Kit caught before it disappeared into the void. He handed gently it to Magie as if it were the first of its number.
And then the light went out.
And the mirth no longer made ripples that they could feel.
“That was entirely useless, everything that it told us was obvious.” Kit looked almost dejected.
“We have been running every moment every second. What it said to us is that we must stand our ground and solve our problems. I don’t think that was useless at all.”
They were still in the night below the city.
They realized the way back was through the ghosts – the new ghosts are annoyed, the old ghosts are crying, and the sky is dark and rainy, chirping.[vi]
[i] Rush with no regard for safety.
[ii] Reference to Du Fu, “Chariot Shop” L1
[iii] Reference to Du Fu, “Chariot Shop” L1
[iv] Reference to Du Fu, “Chariot Shop” L3
[v] Reference to U2, “Where the Streets Have No Name”
[vi] Reference to Du Fu, “Chariot Shop” L17