The Wind God's Shaman

The Human Race was still loosely organized.

The four great tribes were each led by a chieftain.

Each chieftain had his own territory, warriors, shamans, and temples.

The tribes ruled by the chieftains covered vast areas, so there was another tier of local officials beneath them: headmen.

A headman might oversee as many as a dozen villages, or as few as two or three.

Headmen also had their own troops. They guarded the lands under their control and went to war when ordered by their chieftains.

Ever since the Human Race had split apart, its people had been waging war against one another for nearly a century.

Every war left some dead and others taken prisoner.

Back when Shu Zi ruled the Human Race, their enemies had been the Ape-men. The Ape-men were not very intelligent, and with patience and kindness, they would eventually forget their hatred and assimilate into the Human Race.

But now their enemies were other members of the Human Race, just as intelligent as they were.

So prisoners became household slaves.

Any headman or chieftain who had taken part in a war owned a number of household slaves.

The slaves wore shackles and lived miserable lives, laboring all day and surviving on the meager scraps their masters gave them.

Since household slaves had come into the picture, headmen had grown less closely connected to the villagers under their rule.

In the past, headmen used their military strength to protect villagers from war and wild beasts.

In return, the villagers helped the headmen farm their land.

Now that headmen had household slaves, they no longer depended on the villagers as much.

That was why the Youhe Clan headman who ruled Li River Village, seeing that things were turning bad, had not even considered sending help. He had simply gathered his warriors and household slaves, packed up his valuables, and fled.

Before leaving, he had even told the villagers of Li River Village to build a dike against the flood. He had people and tools at his place and would come help them soon. He promised he could keep the whole village safe.

The villagers believed him, so they did not flee. They had no boats, and they had not stored food on high ground. If they ran, they might not make it in time—and some of them had elderly people and children who could not travel easily.

They kept building the dike, waiting for the headman to arrive.

But the headman never came, and the river kept rising.

Only then did Uncle Axe, the most respected man in the village, send Cao Jiu, the fastest runner, to ask when the headman would come.

But the news Cao Jiu brought back left every villager stunned.

"The headman ran away?" The villagers sank to the ground, their last hope gone.

Uncle Axe shouted, "Stop waiting! The dike hasn't broken yet, so let's go! Go home and get your families out of here!"

Only then did everyone come to their senses. They hurried back to their homes.

Cao Jiu headed into the village too. Everyone else had a home, but he was all alone and did not even know where to go.

"Xiao Jiu! Wait! Run for high ground! If you can't get away, find the tallest tree and climb it!" Uncle Axe shouted after him.

Cao Jiu turned around and nodded gratefully to Uncle Axe before heading out of the village.

Uncle Axe watched him leave, tears streaming down his face.

That poor boy had suffered so much. But maybe this time he could survive! He was nimble and had no family to hold him back. Please, let him survive and live a good life someday...

Uncle Axe ran toward his own home, where he had many old and young family members to look after.

After a few steps, Cao Jiu suddenly remembered something.

It had happened several days ago.

A stranger had come to the headman's manor.

He looked like a male shaman, young and handsome, dressed in a brown shaman's robe decorated with woven patterns.

People rarely traveled far in those days, aside from shamans, warriors, and nobles like headmen and chieftains.

So when the shaman arrived, plenty of villagers heard that a stranger had come.

Quite a few went to watch.

Cao Jiu was among them.

The shaman went to the headman's manor and knocked on its gate.

The headman's warriors let him in.

A little while later, the man was thrown back out by the headman's men.

As they beat him, they cursed him:

"Watch what you say! You want our headman dead? There's no such thing as a Wind God. Only the Ancestral Deities are true gods!"

The young shaman dodged their blows and backed away. Then he quietly brushed the dirt from his clothes.

The villagers gathered around, talking among themselves.

The young shaman remained calm and said to them:

"Hello. I'm a shaman of the Wind God."

The Wind God? The villagers had never heard of this god.

They knew only the three Ancestral Deities.

They had heard that plenty of gods had appeared in recent years, but none of that had anything to do with their remote little village by the river.

The shaman continued, "The Water God is dissatisfied with the Heavenly Emperor's rule and has rebelled. He is about to bring disaster upon the land. You are completely unprepared here, and you may well suffer."

Really? The villagers murmured among themselves.

There had been a lot of rain lately, but it had also helped their crops grow. It didn't seem like a bad thing.

The shaman did not seem bothered by the villagers' indifference. He went on:

"But the Wind God has given you a chance. If one of you is willing, wholeheartedly, to become the Wind God's sacrifice and die in everyone's place, the Wind God will save you all."

The villagers erupted into an uproar.

"Ah, no wonder they beat him."

"What kind of god is the Wind God? An evil one? He wants someone to die for him?"

"Go away! It was kind of them not to beat you to death. We worship the Ancestral Deities here, not some Wind God!"

Faced with the villagers' hostility, not a trace of displeasure showed on the handsome shaman's face. He simply said politely:

"If you're not willing, then so be it. I can only go ask somewhere else."

With that, the shaman left on his own.

Afterward, the river rose higher every day, and only then did the villagers begin to panic.

The flood had really come.

Now, as the whole village descended into chaos, Cao Jiu remembered what had happened.

"Bring disaster upon the land"—the flood had come.

"You are completely unprepared"—they really had done nothing to prepare for the flood.

That shaman had told the truth!

Cao Jiu suddenly regretted not asking the shaman how the Wind God would save them. He had been there watching that day, but had never asked.

He glanced back at the dike.

Water was starting to seep through.

The wind howled through the driving rain, and the river surged violently. The dike would soon collapse.

The villagers were hurrying home, but they might not escape in time.

It was too late!

Cao Jiu tried to remember which way the shaman had gone that day. It had to be... the road east of the village!

He forgot all about looking for high ground or a tall tree and ran desperately in that direction, trying to recall the shaman's words as he went.

What had the shaman said...? The Wind God had given them all a chance?

A sacrifice... to die in everyone's place?

A resolute thought flashed through Cao Jiu's mind.

As he ran, he screamed into the rain:

"Shaman! Where are you, shaman? Wind God's shaman!"

"Come back! If there's still a chance, I'll do it! I'm willing to die for everyone! I want them to live!"

One by one, warm memories from Cao Jiu's life flashed through his mind.

Every morsel of food he had eaten and every piece of clothing he had worn had been given to him by kind-hearted villagers.

No one had much. Everyone in the village went hungry and lacked warm clothes. But even when they themselves did not have enough to eat, they still shared a little from their bowls with Cao Jiu.

Even with the flood coming, they had used their strong bodies to dig earth and haul stones, holding back the collapsing riverbank while letting Cao Jiu do the lighter work of running errands.

In the torrential rain, Cao Jiu ran and cried out:

"But, shaman, please! They're all good people. They mustn't die!"

"If you can save everyone in the village, I'm willing to die. Wind God, please!"

A bolt of lightning streaked through the downpour, its blinding light illuminating heaven and earth. Thunder crashed in its wake.

By the lightning's glow, Cao Jiu saw someone standing at the end of the road leading east.

Had the person just appeared, or had he been standing there all along?

Cao Jiu did not know. But he did know that the person—

was the shaman! The Wind God's shaman!