“I want you to know, you pass through my mind every sssingle day,” AnGangseh said. “I only wanted a better life for you than Mong and I could provide.”
“I understand,” Seh said.
“Do you?” AnGangseh asked. “Do you know what it's like to hand your child over to a complete ssstranger? A ssstranger ssso cold, he gave you the name Sssnake?”
Seh stiffened and opened his eyes. He was drawn into his mother's eyes once more. “You mean my name wasn't always Seh?”
“Of course not,” AnGangseh replied. “Just like your brother Fu wasn't originally named Tiger and your brother Malao wasn't originally named Monkey. Grandmaster changed your names to better erase your pasts. He sssaid if he were to raise you, he wanted to ssstart with a clean ssslate.”
Seh shivered. “What was my name before Cangzhen?”
“Choy,” AnGangseh replied.
“Really?” Seh said. “‘Wealthy’?”
“Yes. I wanted you to grow up and amass a fortune ssso that you would not have to live as I have lived with Mong. I wanted you to live as I once lived, long ago.”
Seh's mind began to race. “Choy is a Cantonese word, and so is AnGangseh. Were you a Cangzhen warrior nun?”
AnGangseh laughed. “Me? Never.”
“Oh,” Seh said. “You really are from Canton, then?”
“Yes.”
“So, I am Cantonese?” Seh asked.
“You are half Cantonese,” AnGangseh said. “Mong is from the north. Destiny brought me and Mong here.”
Seh thought about destiny. His destiny and the destiny of others close to him. For some reason, the image of Tonglong popped into his mind. Tonglong had felt somehow familiar to him. Seh's head began to spin, but he forced himself to speak. “Do I have any brothers or sisters?”
“You mean, did Mong and I have any other children?”
“Yes,” Seh said.
AnGangseh gazed at Seh and smiled. “No.”
Seh felt his knees grow weak. “Did you ever—”
AnGangseh's body suddenly went rigid. “Shhh! Sssomething is wrong.”
Seh blinked several times, and the pit of his stomach began to tingle. He realized the snake on his arm was shivering.
The shed door burst open.
“On your knees!” shouted an armor-clad soldier. He pointed a qiang back and forth between Seh and AnGangseh. They were under attack!
“Do as the man sssays, ssson,” AnGangseh said softly. “We don't want to anger him.”
Seh dropped to his knees and watched AnGangseh do the same. AnGangseh tilted her head into the lantern's glow and stared up at the soldier.
“Well, hello, beautiful,” the soldier said.
AnGangseh batted her eyes at the man.
“Stand and come closer,” the soldier said. “I want to get a better look at you.”
AnGangseh stood and slithered toward the soldier, raising the hood of her black robe.
“You may just be the most beautiful creature I have ever laid eyes on,” the soldier said. “How about a little kiss?” He puckered his lips.
To Seh's surprise, AnGangseh puckered her lips and leaned toward the soldier.
The soldier smiled and leaned forward.
AnGangseh's full lips parted ever so slightly, and Seh saw a thin line of spit shoot straight into the soldier's eyes. As the man brought his hands up to his face, AnGangseh lunged toward him and sank a vicious snake-fang fist into the man's jugular vein. Seh watched the long nails on her index and middle fingers disappear into the soldier's flesh.
The soldier gasped and stumbled backward, and Seh saw the man's neck instantly swell to twice its normal size. AnGangseh must have poison under her fingernails!
AnGangseh turned to Seh. “Give me the ssscrolls, ssson.”
Seh shook his head in an effort to clear it. He wasn't sure he had just heard things right.
AnGangseh knelt in front of Seh and looked deep into his eyes. “I don't have time to explain. We are under attack. If it is Ying, he will be looking for you, your brothers, and the ssscrolls. The workman told me about the dragon ssscrolls you let dry in the sssun. Let me hide them for you. If they are with me, at least I'll have an excuse to sssee you again. You must go to Malao and Fu.”
As if in a dream, Seh felt his arm begin to move. His hand reached into the folds of his robe and removed one of the three scrolls he carried. As AnGangseh snatched it from him, her hand brushed against his. It was ice cold and sticky with blood.
“Good boy,” AnGangseh said. “Don't tell anyone I have them. The fewer people that know about this, the better. It will be our little sssecret, okay?”
Seh felt his head nod. He reached into his robe and handed her a second scroll.