Somewhere Beyond the Boundary
Tsz Ching Kwok, Group 3: Fiction, SKH Lam Woo Memorial Secondary School
he hour stood between night and dawn. Darkness was a seamless thick blanket shrouding the
mountains and ravines in silence and stillness as the world held its breath. Very soon the wind would
wave its paintbrush and turn the sky from utter black to pale grey, and then the first sight of liquid gold
would be seen, rising above the horizon and plunged the entire region in its welcoming warmth and
gracious light. But the sun would have to rise above the hissing serpent of solid bricks and rocks,
circling the area, slithering its way across the fields.
The Great Wall, thought Gwen, it was what they used to call it. True, the Wall had once been a majestic
architectural triumph extending over twenty thousand kilometers and had played an important role of protection
on her ancestors’ history. Built by Gwen’s predecessors, it had prevented countless foreign armies from
invading the fertile river valleys, but that was before the Wall itself was attacked by powerful tribes coming
from the unknown West and the Middle-Eastern regions. The Wall was therefore left tattered and torn and
bruised, no longer impressing but definitely not in ruins. It was rooted on its track and refused to fall down. It
was in Gwen’s era, however, when her original kinsmen started to turn against each other. The people had
tolerated enough: devastating consecutive battles brought by the mysterious troops dwelling in deserts, the
following years of drought and deadly starvation. The country was shrouded in misery and horror, and every
single person wondered whether they could witness the next dawn. The government kept changing because the
constant wars were still raging on. Some of Gwen’s clan people were captured by the Western tribes as hostages.
And unfortunately, Gwen’s only brother Narki, was one among the thousand innocent souls. According to his
latest pigeon mail, he was locked in a cell in a prison. But the most important news was that, Narki stated that he
had something called ‘Key’ to save Gwen’s tribe. Gwen immediately set off to find Narki without hesitating.
‘
Hostages,’ Gwen’s kinsmen would say, ‘hostages to lure cat into the snare. They want us to surrender so as to
get back our children, but we are not cowards who acknowledge defeat without trying. We will think of a way;
we are not surrendering.’ But as the situation kept on worsening, Gwen started to think whether her people
really had a choice or not.
She shuddered in the freezing winter wind, and urged her loyal Brown Barley to speed up a bit more.
Gwen was a proud member of the East Nomads, and riding on horseback was her second nature. Brown Barley
was an intelligent horse even by nomadic standards, and the two had long been a pair of good partners. They
swept past gorges and forests and summits, and—Gwen’s heart skipped a beat because of both anxiety and
joy—the snake-like shadow of the Wall loomed over her. She headed straight for the only entrance to the
enemy’s encampment, and knew for sure that if this wasn’t a success, it would be a total disaster and she would
be accused of treason. Hopefully she would meet the appointed one at the gate.
She took care of five night guards with her bow and arrows. Before the patrolling soldiers realized what
was happening, Gwen was already exploring the camp, searching for the prison and careful not to wake anybody.
At last she discovered what she had hoped for.
‘
Narki!’ Gwen had to fight the will to shout loudly. She trudged into what could only be a temporary jail,
and came face to face with the young boy she missed the most over the past few months. He was dressed in rags,
his right eye swollen, yet his familiar figure was the same as before. Tiredness and misery etched on his face,
the cruel torture had left marks on his thin body. But a genuine smile bloomed on his face when he spotted
Gwen.
‘
I know you would find me,’ croaked Narki, his voice raspy. He moved closer to the thick iron bars which
separated the cell and the narrow corridor of the prison. Gwen’s heart sank to the bottom of her stomach: iron
wasn’t something a bow could deal with. She needed keys, but she had no idea where to find them. She looked
at Narki gently, tears prickling her pupils.
‘
I’m so sorry, Narki. You mention something about the Key in your last pigeon mail...’
‘
Yes, keys. I have no key to free myself, but the Key I’m saying will open a new door for you. It is the
only treasure I have to deliver to you.’ Gwen was slightly taken aback when she saw tears began to stream down
from Narki’s cheeks. She studied him carefully.
Narki seemed lost in his thoughts, his palms clenched into fists and his muscles were vibrating. The
nomad gritted his teeth, and tried several times to speak, but failed. At long last he was able to find his voice
again, though it was raspy and sullen.
‘
I miss my home, sis,’ he turned his head to gaze in the direction of the distant ravines. ‘I am only able to
continue my life by thinking about the mountains and horses and the glorious days we have together. I can smell
T