The Mandarin

The quiet is unnerving. The prickling sensation along my neck tells me I’m not alone, but I could have sworn I outran the last Mandarin soldier hours ago. I can’t afford to stay stationary for much longer. I quickly scan my surroundings for company. The midsummer sun ensures the trees are full of leaves, offering me good cover but they’ll hide my seeker just as well. The bright orange uniform should stand out in this weather, but this scares me more. If they’re confident enough to be so conspicuous, they must not be afraid.

Before I leave, I take one more scan. I smile triumphantly when I spot my out. There, on a tree a few yards away and a few branches up, is a sky-blue apple. These are hard to spot this time of year, but that’s exactly what I need to be. I creep over and silently climb the tree to retrieve my bounty. It doesn’t taste like much, but it will do the trick. The sound-proof barrier and invisibility the fruit provides me will make escape possible, but I have to move fast. My one-hour countdown starts after my first bite, so I quickly leap off the tree and break into a run as I finish off the fruit and throw the seeds back into the forest so their strong sweetness won’t provide a trail for my seeker.

I make it out of the forest quickly and onto a hiking path that takes me up into the mountains. Despite my precautions, the sweetness follows me anyway. Figuring they would expect me to run downhill, I take every uphill path. The steep elevation makes the temperature drop quickly and soon I can see my breath in front of me. The effects of the apple must be fading, so I duck into the next alcove I find, a natural indentation in a rock formation to my left, just a little ways off the path.

I feel the damp earth beneath me and have an idea. The Mandarin gem weighs heavy in my hand as I retrieve it from my pocket and the glare off the bright-orange jewel nearly blinds me as the rays of sun that have slipped into the alcove sent shards of orange light reflecting across the rock walls of the cave. I scoop away the earth beneath me and drop the jewel into the makeshift hole. I quickly cover the jem, but it shines through. I attempt a deeper hole, but no amount of earth on the jem can dull its shine. Frustrated, I stuff the jem back into my pocket.

A flash of purple on the edge of the alcove catches my attention. Upon closer inspection I can easily identify the small purple bundle. The lavender strawberries must be handled carefully, so I take a few and gingerly place them in my other pocket. In case things go really bad, it’s never a bad idea to have those on hand.

I retreat back into the cave but a sweetness in the air, sharper than before, makes me cover my nose. Lavender strawberries aren’t supposed to emit that! I feel familiar prickles across the back of my neck and quickly slip deeper into the cave. The prickles grow stronger, so I quicken my retreat. Realizing I can’t outrun them, I quickly whip out the gem to blind my seeker. The orange light bounces off the walls but there’s no one to be found. The scent is near unbearable now, but familiar all the same. The cave reeks of sky-blue apple seeds, a scent so strong it must have been baking in the sun for hours.

A horrible thought creeps up on me. I check myself for stray seeds, and when I find none I know I’ve made a costly mistake. I stuff a lavender strawberry in my mouth and blow out as I spin in a circle to create a radial stream of lavender flame. A hear a yelp and turn towards the sound. The flame has revealed a Mandarin toward the mouth of the cave. Ugh, I’m so stupid! They must have stocked up on the apples right after I left. Thankfully they forgot to throw away the seeds or I’d have been completely blind. I stuff a few more berries in my mouth and blow out a rapid series of flames at my target, but there’s nothing there any more. I eat another and blow out another radial flame. I follow the yelp but my seeker keeps moving. The sweetness starts to fade and I know I have to finish this now, with my seeker on the run and no longer confident he can defeat me.

I break out the gem and use its glow to guide me through the cave. When the cave splits in three. I smell sweetness coming from the right passage, but the gem is screaming at me to go left. Trusting my senses, I slip into the narrow passageway on the right and follow the scent to a dead end. I pop a lavender berry into my mouth and blow out, spin around in a frantic circle to locate my target. Nothing. I search the dead-end with the light of the gem and nearly strep on a small sky-blue bundle by the wall. Apple seeds.

Knowing my seeker is surely too far gone to catch now, I sink onto the cave floor in despair. They will send more soldiers for me. I’m sure of it. The Mandarin gem is just too important for it to be left missing. I take the gem out of my pocket and stare at it curiously. I can’t look for long, as the light is far too strong. I look away and run my fingers along the peel, trying to formulate a new plan. I dig my fingers into the gem in frustration, and the material caves where my nails dig in. I cautiously drag my kneel across the surface of the gem and the outside gives way.

Although I’ve been warned many times to never cross this line, I carefully peel the mandarin gem and gingerly take a bite. When the first bead of juice hits my tongue, it’s sweet and tangy and… powerful. With a sudden, intense craving taking over, I quickly finish the mandarin. I’m dizzy from the sudden onslaught of power and soon feel the damp earth slap against my face before the world goes dark.

A rumbling wakes me and I gingerly sit up. The care is unnecessary, though, as I’ve never felt stronger. I follow the source of the rumble outside of the cave and find that all down the mountain are Mandarin troops, marching up the hill, ready for battle. I smile. As I finish emerging from the cave, an orange glow falls on the face of each soldier, and as the glow reaches each soldier's face, they seem to pale before they hit their knees. Bowing low before the Mandarin gem, each soldier makes a silent vow to protect it. that reaches my ears only. I take note of the soldiers whose vows reach me. Some don’t believe the vows will reach me, so they don’t bother with these silent promises. This lack of faith will be their demise. I wait for the vows to cease and then give my order:

Those who did not take a vow to me, the Mandarin, are the following…

As I call out each name, they disappear from the world one by one, until only my faithful soldiers remain. I nod to my Mandarins and we march back to my palace as one.