Chapter 80 — The Sun-Keeper
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
He looked Shen Mu over again and again, and answered in the same obscure, incomprehensible tongue. "The divine tongue!
"
Shen Mu was astonished. Old and young, the two were speaking the language of the gods.
He had heard the gods' speech before, yet he did not understand its meaning, and so what they said was beyond his knowing. After a few exchanges, the girl returned the pendant to Shen Mu and said, "Grandfather Clan-Chief says this pendant of yours is neither of gods nor demons nor buddhas. He has seen such a thing before; it must come from the Land of No Sorrow, in the Wasteland. "
"The Land of No Sorrow?
"
Shen Mu's spirit jolted. "Where is the Land of No Sorrow? "
The girl questioned the old giant again.
He hesitated a moment, then spoke a few obscure words. The girl shook her head.
"The Land of No Sorrow is exceedingly mysterious.
It appears only when darkness shrouds the Wasteland. He does not know where it lies. "
Shen Mu was somewhat disappointed, but he fixed the name firmly in his heart.
The Land of No Sorrow might be his birthplace, the place where his parents were. Whatever it took, he must find it. "Was I magnificent just now?
" the girl asked with a giggle.
Shen Mu blinked, his expression odd.
"Just now — it was you steering the Dawn Ark? You were the one who frightened off the armies of the Kingdom of Jingping? "
The girl was hugely pleased with herself. "You never guessed, did you?
"
Shen Mu truly had not guessed. Not only had the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping been startled by this little girl — even the headman and Mojiang had been startled. They had taken her for an ancient and mighty deity aboard the Dawn Ark, and the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping, judging his own strength unequal to the foe, had withdrawn.
They would never in their wildest dreams have imagined that this little girl piloted the Dawn Ark.
Of course, the Dawn Ark was so overwhelming, so powerful, that such a misjudgment was only natural. "My name is Yan Jingjing.
What is yours?
" the little girl asked curiously. "Shen Mu. "
Shen Mu hesitated, then said, "I do not know whether Shen is my surname or my given name. There is a Shen character on my jade pendant, so the headman took Shen for my surname.
Mu means a cowherd boy. What does Yan Jingjing mean? "
"It means many suns and much fire.
"
Yan Jingjing struggled to her feet, but she must have gone a very long time without walking, for she tottered as she went.
Shen Mu saw that the muscles of her legs had wasted away, grown terribly thin, skin stretched over bone with scarcely any flesh left at all.
Gaunt and skeletal as she was, the sight of her made one's heart quail. "When I was born I was like a sun. My mother was burned to death by the flames upon my body, so Grandfather Clan-Chief gave me the name Yan Jingjing.
"
Her face darkened.
"Later, when I had grown a little, Grandfather Clan-Chief said I carried the blood of the Sun-Keepers. The power of a Sun-Keeper is very great; it can win me the Dawn Ark's approval and let me sail this great ship across the Wasteland. In all the clan, only I can pilot this ship — and so I became the Sun-Keeper of this generation.
"
She cheered up again and laughed.
"You are the boy who herds cows, and I am the girl who pastures the sun. When I am merged with the Dawn Ark my power is immense, just like a god's — that is why I frightened the bad men away.
Did I frighten you just now? "
Shen Mu smiled. "You did. "
Yan Jingjing lowered her head. "I am sorry.
I was so tired I could not bear it, so I stopped here to rest a while, and I frightened you. . . "
Shen Mu was taken aback, then smiled.
"It is nothing.
Why are your legs so thin? "
"Grandfather says the sun of our Sun-Herding Clan has gone out, so when I pilot the Dawn Ark, it draws on my strength, and I grow thinner and thinner.
"
Yan Jingjing said, "When my strength is gone, I will be like the Sun-Keepers before me and merge with this ship.
That is how my father died. .