Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4-7 2019 | Page 135

Bringing his sword up in defense, he twisted his blade behind the other man’s, the tip reaching vital organs. Blood
blossomed, death incriminating it’s victim. However, he still had one more to go. Leg wobbling, he defiantly pushed
himself off the ground and into his last opponent’s vision. He raised his sword to the left, then feigned a jab as he
pressed his blade against the other man’s, his blade honourably almost reaching its target. White light encompassed him
in the space of eternity, but also a second, as his aggressor punctured his stomach with a smaller dagger. Clutching at his
wound desperately, he could see the smaller details on the dagger’s owner, who scornfully looked down upon him.
Closing his eyes, for only a millisecond he promised himself. Zheng He’s mind when blank.
Rushing sensations blasted straight to his stomach as the force behind the dagger went still. He blinked, vision clearing
to see one of his crew standing over the pirate’s body, grinning. It happened to be that his rescuer was also one of the
previously sick. Holding out his hand, the sailor helped him stand while glaring at the captain’s wound, distraught.
Observing his rescuer’s expression, Zheng He put a scarlet soaked hand on his shoulder.
“别担心这个。上帝明确地打算让我活着，因为他把你带回来拯救我。为此我感激不尽。
/Don't worry about this. God clearly intends for me to live seeing as he brought you back to life to save me. And for
that i am grateful.”
Shaking his head with a sad smile, the sailor disagreed, saying, “我的生命对上帝无关紧要。不，你是那个拯救我和
许多其他人免于死亡的人。我很高兴我有机会偿还债务。但是你拯救了自己，因为正是你的行为让我得以拯
救你/My life is inconsequential to God. No, you are the one who saved me and so many others from certain death. I
am glad i had the opportunity to pay back the debt. But you saved yourself, for it was your actions that allowed the
consequences for me to save you.”
Nodding gratefully, all the captain said was, “也许你是对的/perhaps you are right”.
Tearing off a piece of fabric and giving it to the captain to staunch the rivulets of blood streaming from his abdomen, he
earnestly answered, “我当然是对的。如果你第一天晚上没有照顾我们，我们谁也不会恢复得那么好，我们也不
会赢得这场战斗/Of course i am right. If you had not cared for us that first night, none of us would have recovered so
well, and we would not be winning the battle.”
Looking back at the fight still raging on around them, Zheng He realised the sailor was right. Though blades were still
piercing and bodies still fell like flies, the pirate numbers were drastically thinning. A smile growing on his lips, the
Captain had never been more at peace.
Having dropped of the rest of the pirates, who had suffered a casualty of 5,000, at the nearest port for their executions,
Captain Zheng He and his crew scrubbed the decks of remaining gore, and headed back out to sea.
3. Part three : 君子Chun-tzu - at home with the world
It was a decade later and the esteemed Captain Zheng He and his crew had travelled to many new places, expressing
diplomatic felicitations, including India, Sri Lanka, Arabia, and now Africa. Most times they were met with welcomings
and presents, though occasionally they would encounter hostile soldiers upon docking. Fortunately, for them, Mombasa
was not one of those places.
Birds danced, birthing abstract shapes in the sky, as Zheng He’s crew and him explored the terrain of Mombasa, in what
is now Kenya. 9,146 km is how far they were from his home in Nanjing. Although, far away from their homeland, the
crew explored the foreign continent eagerly. The magnificent architecture was inspired by the swahili culture that
seemed to entwine itself with the port city. Towering alabaster mosques grandly rose from the tops of buildings; its sight
incandescent for ornate gold intricacies detailed the surface.
Meanwhile, colourful streets glowed with the soft luminescence of lanterns, while the tastes of the new country flirted
with their senses. This exotic place was so different to anything they had ever known back home in contemporary
China.