Night settled on the far side of the Bamboo River with the scent of fireworks still acrid in the air. Even on a night such as the Paper Boat Festival, the prudent people of Pai Sun were drawn to their beds at this hour. Those who roamed the untamed bank now, they were wicked as beasts. Evil things resided in Jeju Forest since its villages had disappeared, and its charcoal kilns had shrouded its twisted trees in sooty fog. Which of the low boats adrift in the waters of the Bamboo River belonged to pirates and smugglers and which were honest fishermen was on the Wardens to discern, but either were far from picky about their passengers. Any young woman could bribe passage across, and tonight, a young woman had.<br/><br/>Within Jeju Forest, a jiangshi moaned. Pulled to stiff obedience like a tangled marionette, she hopped to her mistress' bidding, bringing a bowl of heated milk from the campfire for their guest to sip. As wooden as the creature moved, there was little left of it once it arrived in Nam Seon's waiting hands.<br/><br/>"I have so many questions, I don't think I could sleep at all!" The princess sipped. The stars were in her eyes as she regarded the women sharing this unassuming camp with her.<br/>"Then you came to the right place, girl," spoke Ringing Bell's Shadow. She was as severe and proud as a first concubine, but near as Nam Seon could tell, her only paramour was the black arts. She had festooned herself with gold and silk ribbon and little else, unafraid of the dangers of the forest. "The Black Crane fights for knowledge. Freedom of knowledge, for all the peoples of the Empire."<br/><br/>Recalling her father's account of the Black Crane as demon-lovers, Nam Seon's eyes snapped to the sorceress' other unwholesome companion, the predatory T'uifen. Everything about her rose the hackles on Nam Seon's Neck, from the lean tiger muscle of her slinking body to the pornographic timbre of her voice to the hunger on her lips. At the sorceress' insistence, she had covered her savage nudity in a tattered, moth-eaten silk dress coat probably pulled from the jiangshi's coffin.<br/>"May I?" the demon purred. "May I taste this one? Just a little."<br/>The warmth of the milk brought pink to Nam Seon's cheeks.<br/><br/>"Save your appetite, T'uifen. First the curious will come to us from across the river. They will bring the black pages of the Egui Sutra home, and we will let them pass. Then the holy will come to try to steal away our flock. Of them, you can have your pick."<br/>T'uifen's fingers crept up her long throat, each capped with a steely dragon's claw of a nail. "Mmm, it's been too long since I've tasted a holy woman."<br/><br/>And then there was the jiangshi, a hopping vampire of the sorceress' creation. Without fear, without pain, as strong as a strong yak, and most importantly, fully clothed and not writhing. Nam Seon rest her eyes there.<br/>"I see you take an interest in my creation," Ringing Bell's Shadow beamed.<br/>"You are a powerful sorcerer indeed. Will you teach me your methods?"<br/>"My dear, I will show you e v e r y t h i n g. But what shall be your Black Crane name?"<br/>"Call me... Celestial Wind."<br/>T'uifen licked her lips with a pointed pink tongue. The thirst was greater than ever.<br/><br/><div align="center">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/7/7e/Namseon.jpg)(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/1/1d/Ringing_bells_shadow.jpg)(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/2/21/Tuifen.jpg)(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/e/e8/Jiangshi.jpg)</div>