Chapter one

POV Bubby Chang

“OM” I repeat aloud to myself. Following the teachings of Buddha has been a mandatory hobby of mine as I have come to age. My home village Dunhuang has dedicated architects who made beautiful statues of the Buddha in our caves. The great sculptures made of clay stucco represent what my people and I are supposed to aspire to be. Of course being Buddhist also implies that I have let my thoughts float by and not contemplate my village and its values, “OM” I repeat again out of term. Elders look at me scornfully and I am beginning to feel like I shouldn’t be here and instead follow the Buddhist teachings at my home.

“OM” I say in sync with everyone else and the elders stop looking. I release a quiet sigh of relief, maybe I really can do this. Then someone taps me on my back.

I don’t turn around afraid to attract more attention than I already have. Maybe it was just an accidental brush, I think to myself. But then they tap me again.

Who could possibly have such a lack of respect for the time of worship, I think. One last tap sends me peeking behind my back. Of course, it’s my brother, Bubby Chi, I groan inside my head. He doesn’t yet understand the maturity of everything so I guess he thinks he can just walk into a public reflection and tap me on the shoulder. I sigh and get up from my worship not to cause any more commotion. The elders will definitely have something to say about this.

+ + +

“Yes?!” I ask my brother.

“Will you come and play with me?” he pleads

“Chi, don’t you know you do not interrupt reflection. That was very important to me, you may have embarrassed me in front of the elders.”

“I’m sorry Chang, I was just really bored” I sigh, my brother is too adorable and caring to stay mad at.

“C’mon, let’s go home,” I indicate to my brother, “Wait a sun fall, why aren’t you learning how to domesticate the horses? You know our defense system really relies on that.”

“I dunno,” he shrugs, “I didn’t feel like they needed me.”

“Well of course not now but soon they will. When you’re my age and you’re looking for your duty to contribute to the town an animal domesticator is going to come in handy. As our Buddha once said ‘A man who moves mountains started by carrying away small stones’” I

recite

Chi scoffs. He doesn’t believe the Buddhist philosophy is the right way to enlightenment and a peaceful life. There are daoists in the village that probably influence my brother’s way of thinking, but one day he’ll come around.

As we approach our house I notice a oracle bone attached to our door by some kind of snap.

“What in Buddha’s name is this?” I ask aloud.

“Well it looks like someone left us a note,” my naive brother exclaims, “Maybe it’s a love letter!” He says as he runs to pick it off our door.

“Chi! Wait!” I say but it’s too late he’s already picked up the bone, “What if it’s traced with poison!”

“Why would you say that Chang? It’s a perfectly normal letter.”

“Well it’s not paper, it’s an oracle. Why would someone go through all that trouble to make such an expensive purchase?”

“Exactly! Love letter!” He says excitedly.

“No, no. What love letter would be plastered on our door rather than handed to our parents? Or set inside our house? Chi this is very suspicious.” But Chi isn’t listening to me, he’s sucked into the inscriptions on the bone.

“Chang, this is very bad!”

“What does it say brother?”

“It says we need to skip town or else we will be killed!”

“Impossible!” I exclaim. I nervously take thebone from his trembling hands and unfortunately he’s correct. An anonymous source wants us gone or else we’re dead. I wish his character practice hadn’t paid off, I wished to myself.

“What are we to do big brother?”