The Shadow Doctor Ch. 01

Fortunately, he'd been able to save the man's life through a combination of medicine and spells, and Su Wen had been pleased. She had used his services again for lesser injuries to her men, paying a fair price each time, and while Tam wasn't foolish enough to trust her, he came to believe that she would deal fairly with him if he dealt fairly with her.

Tam was sure the Tong would have no ethical issues with procuring a human test subject and disposing of it if necessary, but he had no wish for them to know what his spell was capable of. He decided to present the technique as a mere interrogation tool. Once the subject was bound to his will, commanding them to tell the truth was a trivial extension of the technique.

Su Wen had been interested enough to have her men secure a beggar for the first trial. The technique translated flawlessly from lesser animals to the wretched man. After completing it, Tam simply mentally ordered the man to give the true answer to any question posed to him. Su Wen had given the man a series of questions, and then surprised Tam by demonstrating her own brand of scholarly inquiry. She had the beggar tortured, telling him that the torture would end when he was able to tell her that her red dress was blue. The man died horribly, unable to lie despite the horrific damage the Tong's interrogators inflicted on him.

Tam considered himself to be fairly ruthless, but he still had the occasional nightmare about that night.

Days later, Su Wen had hired Tam for an interrogation of a member of the rival Tong sect they'd captured. A few weeks later, she had hired him again to interrogate a suspected traitor. Both times, Su Wen had killed the subject as soon as she was done asking questions. The information from the first interrogation had been the crucial break that allowed the Silver Tong to wipe out the rival sect, and they now controlled the criminal underworld of three quarters of Nihai. After a month spent securing their power and weeding out the rest of the traitors the second interrogation had exposed they were hiring him again. Based on the woman before him, Tam guessed they had set their sights on the foreign quarter, where the northerners had their enclave and traded their exotic foreign goods for silk.

This was the situation that led to Tam standing next to a paralyzed and hairless foreign woman six weeks after he had first proved to himself that he could control another person.

Dipping one of his calligraphy brushes into the heated mixture, Tam began to paint lines of spells on the woman's skin. The alchemically treated ink dried almost instantly as it was applied.

Tam painted small circles on the palms of her hands, the soles of her feet, over her heart, on top of her head, and in between her shoulder blades. The last, largest circle went on her stomach, around the spell that let him see her chi network. Once the circles were finished, he began to connect them with long lines of characters, each character the width of a finger.

Whenever Tam finished a section, he checked it for errors then infused the ink with his chi; this caused the ink to sink into the woman's skin like a tattoo, with a burning sensation that caused her to whimper and moan in pain. Tam honestly wasn't sure if his method hurt more or less than traditional tattooing.

As the hours passed, the ink spread across her body, long lines of characters following the path of her chi network, snaking and intersecting along the lines and contours of her body. Tam never stopped working throughout the process; brief pauses to clean sweat from the next piece of his canvas were the only time his brush stopped moving. Once all of the lines were finished, he cleaned the brush and bowl and then retrieved his needles again.

He had begun in the middle of the night with seven needles that immobilized her. Another eight needles went into the circles; each perfectly set at the center and infused with his chi. After that, twenty-five needles went into her body at all of the points where two lines of characters intersected, for a total of forty spikes of his own chi embedded in key points of her body. He finished by erasing the first spell he had painted on her, the one in normal ink that let him see her chi through her skin, leaving the large circle on her stomach over her chi reservoir empty. Now there was only one more step.

By this point, Tam was wracked with fatigue. The constant use of chi to enhance his vision and infuse the ink, the exacting care he had needed to use painting the characters had taxed his reserves. Permitting himself a long sigh, he nudged awake his Tong assistants, who had drifted off to sleep at some point while he worked.

"Sirs, I will need you to hold her down now. The final step of the spell will cause her to thrash violently with the pain. If she is not restrained, she might damage herself before the Honored Lady can question her. One of you must cradle her head while the other holds her arms down. Oh, and put something in her mouth so she doesn't bite through her tongue."

Rubbing the sleep out of their eyes, the Tong straightened and moved to hold the woman as instructed. Tam himself climbed on the table and knelt over her thighs, pinning her legs with the weight of his body. The woman had slipped into a trance sometime in the past few hours, her mind numbed by the constant pain of the characters burning into her skin.

Picking up one of the razors, Tam rolled up the sleeve of his robe and cut himself shallowly across the meaty part of his forearm. He tensed his arm a few times to encourage the blood to flow, and then wet a new brush in the blood. With his blood he painted his chop, his personal seal, in the center of the large circle on her stomach over her chi reservoir.

Blinking sweat out of his eyes, he took a deep breath and slammed his palm onto the bloody seal, pouring as much of his chi as he could into the seal. The wet blood under his hand crisped into ash and his chi roared into the intricate framework he had built, coursing through the woman's body like tongues of lightning.

She came out of her trance screaming. Her spine bent, arching off the table. All of her muscles seized and spasmed, thrashing with panicked strength that tested the three full grown men pinning her down. Her jaw locked against the stick shoved into her mouth, the tendons in her neck standing out like cords, a high pitched keening wail penetrating through the cloth.

The power danced up and down the lines of characters, which slowly sank deeper into her skin until they disappeared. The circles were the last to go, slowing shrinking to smaller sizes as they were tugged inside her. After she finally passed out from the pain, the only external signs of Tam's labor were the amber heads of the forty needles still embedded in her flesh. Tam collapsed forward, barely holding onto consciousness himself as he slumped limply over the woman.

After a few moments, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Doctor Hsien, was the spell successful? Should we summon the Honored Lady?"

Tam struggled off the table and leaned against it catching his breath. Huu Shen was waiting patiently by the woman's head for his response; Chiang Lu had retreated to the wall and was quietly making the sign against evil. Tam guessed the man had never seen magic quite like this.

Taking a deep breath, he straightened up and felt within himself for his chi. His reservoir was almost completely empty, but he had just barely enough to enhance his vision again. Her chi illuminated for him, no need for the spell now. Hidden under her skin, he could see eight copies of his chop tangled into her network, softly glowing where the circles had been. A light mental touch caused them to brighten, and he quickly confirmed success.

He opened his eyes and bowed slightly. "You may send your friend to inform the Honored Lady that the spell was a success. If you would be so kind, please remove the needles and replace them in my case. There are forty of them this time, as the subject was a woman. I will bandage my arm and take a few moments to recover."

Turning away from the Tong men, he stumbled to one of the cushioned chairs and collapsed into it. A few moments later, Huu Shen quietly handed him a clean cloth, which he gratefully accepted and knotted around the shallow cut in his arm.

By the time Chiang Lu returned with Su Wen, Tam had recovered enough to rise to his feet and assist with the clean-up, neatly packing his tools away and latching the teak case closed. The woman was still sprawled senseless on the table.

Tam straightened up and bowed to Su Wen. "Honored Lady, the spell is successful. The foreign devil will answer every question you put to her truthfully. As before, I recommend letting her drink some water before you question her."

As he said the words, he made them true. It was simple enough to reach out to implant commands in her mind, the same ones he had used on the first three subjects. First, he made it impossible for her to lie. Then he compelled her to answer any question put to her fully and completely. As a last minute inspiration, he also commanded that she answer the questions in the same language in which they were asked. Su Wen would not want to bring in a translator if the woman answered in her own devil language.

As Tam poured himself a cup of cold tea, Su Wen had her men drag the woman's limp body off the table and bind her to one of the chairs. Tam could have made the restraints unnecessary with a thought, but that would have revealed the true power of his spell.

In time he would determine a way to use his spell to give him control of influential people, but for now it was enough to see his success once more, even if his subject would have her throat slit within a few hours. Taking control of another mind was reward enough, even if he would not exercise that control beyond these commands. Not that he would complain about the five gold bars Su Wen would pay him after she questioned the woman. Perhaps he could have a small pool built in his garden? Nothing ostentatious, but it would be pleasant to gaze upon in the evenings. Of course rare herbs for his business and a trip to the scroll merchants would be necessary.

Tam was distracted from his daydream of idle spending when Chiang Lu dumped a bucket of water over the devil woman's bald head. She came awake gasping and spluttering. Huu Shen gave her a brisk slap in the face to get her attention and offered her a cup of water. She was so desperately thirsty that she didn't realize until she had finished the cup that she could move again. Tam watched as she experimented with her limbs, tugging against the ropes, wiggling her fingers and toes, glad to be able to control them again.

Su Wen began asking some basic questions. Tam ignored her; he was much more focused on reading the reaction of his captive. It was delightful to watch her prepare to be defiant, then see the shock in her eyes as her mouth opened and she poured forth information. From her wild stares and the way she tensed her limbs, it looked like she was fighting to hold back with everything she had, but it was useless, her voice kept disobeying her. Eventually she noticed him sitting in the corner, and he saw the flash of horror in her eyes as she realized that his spell was to blame. Tam could not repress a smile then. He was the only one in the room, no, the only one in the entire world, who knew what he had truly done.

Satisfied, Su Wen sent Tam and the two Tong thugs to wait elsewhere. Tam was quite interested in learning why Su Wen had chosen this particular foreigner to question. Unfortunately, ever since he had watched her torture the beggar to death, he had one primary rule for all of his dealings with the Tong: "Do not displease Su Wen." He quickly followed the two men out of the interrogation room.

Looking out a window once he reached the main floor, Tam saw that the sky was beginning to brighten with dawn. A quick question led Tam to a spare cot, and he settled down for a nap. Su Wen would pay him once she had extracted all of the information she wished for; until then, one of the terms of their agreement was that he remain nearby and available in case there were any complications with the spell. As he made himself comfortable, he reached out with his mind to touch the presence of the woman in the basement; her presence was a faint glow, the seals embedded in her chi a comforting presence. He sighed as he drifted off to sleep.

It was a shame she was going to die so soon; he needed to think of a way to get subjects that didn't involve the Tong murdering them before he could do anything with them.

Tam woke a few hours later to a summons from Su Wen. His sleep had restored enough of his chi that he could heal the cut on his arm and remove the bandage. As he did so, he reflexively reached out with his mind as was surprised to still sense the woman's presence in the basement. Based on the light outside, it was probably mid-afternoon. Su Wen's interrogations didn't usually last so long.

He followed the messenger to a private room where Su Wen waited. He greeted her politely and took a seat at the table with her. A meal had been provided, and they exchanged polite but meaningless conversation while they ate. Tam hadn't eaten since the evening before, so he was grateful for the chance to ease his hunger.

When they had finished eating and the table was cleared, a servant prepared tea. After they had each had their first sip and Tam had complimented her on the selection, Su Wen reached into her sleeve and brought out a small bundle of silk. She unfolded it and placed it on the table. As agreed, there were five gleaming bars of gold, stamped with the chop of governor of Nihai.

"As I have come to expect, your services were extremely effective, Doctor Hsien. As agreed, here is your payment."

"It is a pleasure that my art is useful to you, Honored Lady. Please accept my humble thanks for the compensation."

Tam would usually be dismissed at this point, but instead Su Wen simply sat there, studying him. Of course, the subject would usually be dead by this point too, so clearly something was different today. He remained calm under her examination. They had a good relationship; there should be no need to worry that anything would change. It still took a mild effort of will to maintain his calm exterior as she watched him.

"It has never been necessary to ask before, but is it possible to reverse your process?"

A dozen possibilities flashed through Tam's mind. The most worrisome was that Su Wen suspected the true nature of the technique. In the end he decided to temporize.

"I am not entirely sure. Theoretically it is possible, but it may result in damage to the subject's mind. Since you are asking, am I correct in guessing you have not killed the woman and have some other plan for her?"

"Yes, she is still alive and I have plans for her. If it will help you give advice, I will tell you what I am considering. The other ones you cast your spell on had a sentence of death already before you began your work, for plotting against the Silver Tong. The little devil girl has never raised weapons against us, so I may consider whether another path will be more profitable than her death."

Su Wen folded her hands on the table before she continued.

"I plan to have her broken and then trained as a whore. If she can be given the ability to lie again, once she is trained and her hair regrows, I believe she is attractive enough to be able to serve in a Gold House. If she cannot lie, she will not be able to persuade a rich man that she loves him, and her customers will be limited to men who only wish to wet their dicks, or the ones who enjoy hurting their girls. That would mean a long career in a Bronze House, or a short career in a Red House. Regardless, the opportunity to fuck an exotic devil will bring in at least some coin from the men who desire such things."

Tam quickly processed the possibilities of this statement. It appeared that the woman he controlled would live; that had possibilities that deserved serious and rapid consideration.

"This is very interesting, Honored Lady. Allow me a few moments to consider the theoretical possibilities."

While it was impossible to remove his spell without killing the woman, it would be trivial to reverse his commands and give the woman the ability to lie again. He could also use his control over the woman to implant commands making her an ideal courtesan, ensuring she would be placed in a Gold House and would have wealthy and influential customers. He would have to be subtle about it to disguise the truth, but it would be doable. After that, he could possibly arrange to visit the woman occasionally; he could afford a few visits if he budgeted carefully, and he could command the woman to inform him of any useful secrets she might pick up in pillow talk.

There was a martial serial he read, one of his small guilty pleasures, which featured the bandit maiden disguising herself as a courtesan in order to learn the secrets of corrupt officials. Pure fiction, but he was confident he could turn the woman into a similar tool in truth. There was little risk of disturbing his relationship with Su Wen, and he was sure that given enough time this plan would eventually return information he could use in some way or another.

Tam categorized that option as the safe plan. The possibility that truly intrigued him had fewer obvious material gains and more risks, but it was the one that tantalized him. If he could take the woman home with him, he could continue to enjoy the sensation of controlling her. He could also use her as the subject for further study and experiments, as no one would be looking for her and of course she would be unable to provide trouble. The difficulty was determining how to persuade Su Wen to go along with this plan. He saw a possible path and decided in an instant to pursue it.

"Honored Lady, I must first say that nothing is certain if I were to attempt to reverse the spell. The theory you aided me in testing six weeks ago was based on years of research. I can make some guesses of the results of a reversal attempt, but I have never tested it."

"I understand. Give me your best guess, as the leading expert on your own work."

"It is certain that there will be detrimental effects on the subject, though the severity is in question. The subject was necessarily traumatized by the casting of the spell. Reversing the process would add more trauma. The subject will be fragile emotionally, that is without question. I suppose you might consider that a positive, as you intend to break her will before training her."

Here Tam glanced at Su Wen before lowering his eyes again. She nodded slightly.

"There is also the risk that there would be side effects that you would not consider positive. There is a chance the devil would lose the capacity for higher consciousness and be like one who is touched in the head, only able to perform simple tasks and relatively unaware of her surroundings. The worst possibility is that a blood vessel in her brain would burst, and she would die. Both of those options would make it difficult for you to earn much from her."

"What are the chances of these two possibilities? Your best guess is fine."

Tam swallowed and licked his lips. "I would say there is about a one in three chance that she loses her mind, and one in five that she dies."

He gave her a moment to absorb the lie. Then as she opened her mouth he interrupted her.

"Ah, Honored Lady, there is another possibility. It would not involve reversing the spell. I, ah, assume there is an accepted price for an exotic Bronze or Red House woman with hair like gold who could not lie, if you happened to have such a specimen available for sale to a private citizen?"