by D C Young
Di Xiang said nothing. He sat up, took her into his arms and held her. She allowed herself a brief moment to let go of her grief and then pulled back away from him, drying her eyes.
“Are you going to be okay,” Di Xiang asked.
“Of course,” she replied. “This is not unexpected and it was time.”
“She is the last of the regents who ruled along with you,” Di Xiang pointed out.
“I am aware of that,” she replied. With the passing of Hsi-An, Tzu-Hsi was the sole ruler until her son Kuang Hsu came of age to take on the responsibility. She could only hope that he would do better than Tung Chih had done. If not, however, she had consolidated her power enough that she could, essential do whatever she pleased. One of those things which pleased her very much was the eunuch that shared her bed.
Her relationship with Emperor Hsien Feng had been a rocky one. A great deal of it was due to the fact that they saw things differently. Where Hsien Feng was more laid back and allowed things to happen under his rule, Tzu-Hsi had always taken a more proactive approach, making certain that things happened the way that she wanted them too. She had begun practicing the art of manipulating the palace administration even before Hsien Feng died and had, therefore, firmly established her position as ruler. That, of course, had not pleased Hsien Feng.
Since Hsien Feng died, Tzu-Hsi had found comfort and, surprisingly, a great deal of pleasure with the eunuch. Still able to perform sexually, the eunuch had been a more than adequate replacement for the deceased emperor and was a confidant as well. Having just heard that Hsi-An was dead, Tzu-Hsi needed something to distract her mind.
“I could use a little diversion,” she smiled, baring her breasts and leaning toward him.
Chapter Fourteen
The room had been well prepared for the casting that night. Catalina looked around the lycée with pride. Her girls had followed every instruction to the letter; she could not have asked for more. Some of the new witches were still buzzing around the room, engrossed in the final preparations; pour salt around the circle, positioning the candles just right and lighting them, cleaning the stone bowl that would hold Samantha Moon’s blood during the ceremony.
“Come now girls,” Catalina called out clapping her hands together. “We must begin. The moon is rising and soon all the planets will be visible in the sky.”
She looked up anxiously through the glass ceiling of the lycée’s upper floor. The sky was bright and all their celestial bodies were in the rise. The time had come.
The twelve took their places around the circle of salt, being careful to stand on the white line without scattering the salt and breaking the circle. Catalina took her place inside the circle, near the point of the pentacle star and stood over the altar that Sam Moon’s body lay on. She lifted the dagger of Hecate from the altar and raised it in front of her so all the witches in the circle could see it. That was to be their focal point.
Holding hands and with their eyes fixed on Catalina and the dagger, the witches standing it the outer circle, began their invocations.
“Air, Fire, Water, Earth Elements of astral birth we call you now; attend to us!
In the Circle, rightly cast, safe from curse or blast, we call you now, attend to us!
From cave and desert, sea and hill. By wand, blade, and pentacle we call you now, attend to us!
This is our will, so mote it be!”
“Himiko of Wa! Himiko of Wa! Himiko of Wa!” Catalina called. “We summon your spirit from the world of the lost. We have brought you blood, we have brought you fire and we have brought you flesh. Arise and rejoin the living!”
While the twelve novices repeatedly called out for Himiko, Catalina continued the incantations.
“Oh great spirit, Hecate,
lend us your dagger to cut away the unnecessary so we might find the true power,
Gift us with the sacred key to unlock such mysteries on this hour,
Awaken us from our deep slumber to see with open eyes,
So our path to those dearest to us not be darkened by a moonless sky.”
“Himiko of Wa! Himiko of Wa! Himiko of Wa!” the twelve other witches cried. “We invoke thee!”
“Grateful we would be, to be shown such wisdom and power,
To protect our love and stop this devour,
Bless us, please, with your wisdom so we may never falter from our true path,
Reaching our full potential, our thankfulness will never pass.”
“Himiko of Wa! Himiko of Wa! Himiko of Wa!” the twelve chanted again. “We invoke thee.”
“Demons of her blood, we call you to us.
Please oh please, hear our plea.
We grant you freedom, we grant you a home.
We’ll let you stay, We’ll let you roam.
Demons of blood, We call upon thee.
Now’s the time we set you free, so mote it be!”
Catalina repeated the incantations three times while the other witches continued to chant the witch queen’s name and concentrate on breaking out Samantha Moon’s power.
After an hour of nothing happening, Catalina was growing nervous. Beads of sweat were forming on her temples and her arms ached from grasping the dagger so tightly.
Could I have missed something? she wondered for a brief moment.
But her pride wouldn’t allow her to harbor that thought for too long. Her research had been impeccable, hadn’t it?
Chapter Fifteen
1898.
The Forbidden City, Beijing, China.
“It is for your own safety,” Tzu-Hsi repeated once more. It had been Kuang Hsu’s intent to go to the opening of the new railroad line between Peking and Tientsin. “You will not survive if you go. I must forbid it.”
“You must forbid it? Am I not the emperor?” he responded.
“You are correct.” She corrected herself. I cannot forbid it, but I can strongly recommend against it. For your own safety and for China.”
“But I must be out there, leading the way if true reform is to come to China,” Kuang Hsu protested. After the war with Japan and dismal showing of the Chinese army, Kuang Hsu was looked upon as a disgrace. In the peace treaty between China and Japan following the war, China had been forced to give up Taiwan and to recognize Korea as an independent state. Though the Empress Dowager did not agree, Kuang Hsu quickly realized that if China was to survive, it would need to industrialize; just as Japan had done.
Tzu-Hsi wasn’t particularly fond of Kuang Hsu’s reform movement. She had publicly supported the building of the railroads and schools, but she feared that pressing too many changes too quickly would destabilize the country. Secretly, Tzu-Hsi continued to manipulate the vast network of administrators in preventing what Kuang Hsu did from getting out of control. She had also been the one who had arranged the threat on Kuang Hsu’s life to be carried out. Though no actual harm was to come to him, she had hoped that the threat would, at least, slow him down. It didn’t seem to be having any effect.
“We will not survive as a nation if I go into hiding and our nation doesn’t advance. The pressure from Russia has increased along with that of Japan and we are stuck in the middle,” Kuang Hsu insisted. “I must press forward with these reforms.”
“But these reforms are upsetting the balance of the entire nation,” Tzu-Hsi replied. She hoped that she could reason with him and bring him back under her control. In the beginning, she’d given him some liberties to rule, over minor issues, mostly, but after the war and after he’d been so badly embarrassed, he had decided to attempt to step out on his own. She had to reel him in before he got too far out of control. “Besides, your life is already in danger.”
“I know it’s in danger and that danger is coming from within my own palace,” Kuang Hsu responded. Someone loyal to him had uncovered Tzu-Hsi’s plot against his life, though Tzu-Hsi, herself, was never suspected at all. “Perhaps it is best that I relocate to the British Legation until whoever has threatened my life has been found
out.”
“I can take care of you better than that,” Tzu-Hsi replied. “Come to E-ho Park Palace. From there, I can make certain that you are safe and you can continue to rule the nation from there.”
Tzu-Hsi had already prepared a small island within the E-ho Park Palace where she planned to keep Kuang Hsu. She would keep him heavily sedated in order to keep him out of the way and go on doing what was best for China. As she discussed his security, she was anxiously awaiting the arrival of that first dose, which would be mixed into the emperor’s drink.
“That would be seen as retreating,” he retorted. “Look how they have belittled me since the war with Japan. It is just as great of a dishonor to flee my own palace and seek safety in that of my adoptive mother, don’t you think?”
“It won’t be a permanent move,” Tzu-Hsi replied with a smile as she saw Di Xiang enter with the drinks that she had asked him to bring for them. “Just a week or so, until the threat on your life has passed. We’ll call it a vacation or a visit to your aging mother. What could be more honorable than that?”
“I suppose you’re right,” he mused, accepting a glass from the tray that Di Xiang presented.
“There’s no need to be in a hurry,” she reasoned. “And you certainly don’t want to awaken the world to your internal troubles by going to the British Legation. How bad would that look? That would look more like a dog tucking its tail between its legs than taking a trip to E-ho Park Palace would.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Kuang Hsu agreed, taking a sip from the glass and considering the situation further. “I could regroup with only my closest advisers in tow and then continue pushing forward once things have calmed down a little bit.”
“Of course, you could,” she smiled. Tzu-Hsi could tell that she’d already won the battle. Once she got him to the island where she could keep him sedated, then she could go on ruling China. She would continue to perpetrate the rumor that the emperor’s life was in danger and that he was in hiding for reasons of security. If worse came to worse, she’d strengthen the dose and eliminate him completely. With the rumor in full bloom, it would be easy to pass it off as an attempt on his life by a political enemy.
“I’m exhausted,” Kuang Hsu sighed, rubbing his eyes and then blinking them rapidly. “I can barely keep my eyes open.”
Chapter Sixteen
Sam dug deep into her mind and envisioned the box she kept the demon locked up in. Piece by piece she mentally undid the bindings, and reached out to her possessor mentally.
Sam winced. Elizabeth was being much more docile than she had expected but Sam had sensed that taking the offensive approach with her would have been the best way to achieve the outcome they both needed. Sam had sensed that the woman was feeling the influence of the witches who were keeping her hostage. If she was seduced by their offer of freedom, the powerful dark master might have been quickly convinced to throw her host under the bus in order to get out.
“As much as it pains me,” Sam started, ‘The time has come for us to work together. As much as you believe you can escape my body and survive, you are wrong. At least not without another to possess. I assure you that none among those women out there has been prepared for you to inhabit. The truth is they will destroy us both if we don’t stop them; our mutual survival is at stake.”
“You lie, Samantha Moon! They will set me free and I will take the body of someone less morally inclined and finally be able to do what I please!”
“No. They will cast you out into the darkness and replace your inhabitance of my body with that of their witch queen Himiko of Wa!”
“Liar!” listened intently to Samantha’s words. “Have you forgotten how you and the other dark masters overcame Hermes’ curse in the first place?”
“No. We continued to live and influence through the art of possession.”
“Indeed, and you have possessed me. If you break free of my body when there isn’t another that has been prepared for you, what will happen to you?”
“I will pass into the Void.”
“Exactly!”
“But they are ready for me! They are summoning me forth to inhabit another.”
“No, Elizabeth. They are expelling you, quite unceremoniously, with the promise of a lie.”
“Why are you telling me this, Samantha? I would think you would be happy to be rid of me. Why not let them trick me and then you will finally be free of me?”
“Because as much as it pains me to say it… I’d rather the devil I know than the witch queen I don’t!”
Chapter Seventeen
“You must put this on,” Di Xiang told her, holding out the garb of a peasant woman toward her. He was already dressed in the garb of a peasant man and had made arrangements for them to slip out of a little known point of access in order to escape the palace.
“What has the world come to that I must wear such rags?” Tzu-Hsi protested.
“It has come to your certain destruction if you don’t,” Di Xiang replied.
Almost too late, Tzu-Hsi had realized the price of the enormous error that she’d made in supporting the Boxers. To her way of thinking, it was an honest mistake. As she dressed, she ran through the events that had led up to her being forced into exile, trying to discover where she had gone wrong.
Since Kuang Hsu’s reform movement, which had, in her opinion been caused by too much foreign influence in China, Tzu-Hsi had looked for a way to remove those foreign influences and return China to its former glory. The Boxers had perfectly represented that opportunity. Their distaste for anything foreign had gained a great deal of popular support from the people and after Kuang Hsu’s debacles, she needed all of the popular support that she could get in order to pull China back together.
What she hadn’t counted on was the complete destruction that the Boxers would rain down upon China in their efforts to purge it. She could hear the sounds of that destruction as she finished dressing and looked at herself in her humble garb.
“You are far too lovely to be passed off as a peasant,” Di Xiang said as she presented herself to him. He attempted a smile, though his deep concern tended to dim it considerably.
Tzu-Hsi, though not at all impressed with her appearance in peasant’s clothing started to make a response, but it was quickly cut off by the arrival of one of the eunuchs who Di Xiang had acquired to help them escape the city.
“They are already at the doors of the palace and gaining ground rapidly,” the eunuch panted. “We must go now!”
Not being used to receiving or carrying out orders from anyone, let alone someone of the lowly stature of the eunuch, Tzu-Hsi opened her mouth to give him a severe tongue-lashing, but Di Xiang caught her eye and shook his head.
“He only fears for your safety and is trying to make certain that you are not harmed,” Di Xiang said in a low tone.
Though Tzu-Hsi could feel the panic that lingered in the air of the palace, she had been so expertly sheltered against harm that it was unreal to her. Swallowing her pride and her tongue, which was something that was extremely difficult, she remained silent and allowed Di Xiang to escort her down the long, dark and musty corridor. As they went, she was forced to keep her silk cloth over her nose and mouth in order to block out the smells that turned her delicate stomach.
Her senses had barely been teased by that brisk walk, which ended with a rather hurried scamper into a waiting cart. What unfolded before her in the Forbidden City as they began their journey into exile was material for a year’s worth of nightmares.
As they passed through the streets, she saw fires burning out of control. No doubt, they had been initiated to destroy a foreign business, but without any way of stopping them, they had spread well beyond their intent. The fires as frightening as they were, were the least of the horrors that she witnessed.
Passing along the streets in the cart, they came across the bodies of foreigners who had been hung in the streets. Others only lay limp along the way, cast off as little more than fodder af
ter the harvesters had cut them down. Her stomach was, finally, no longer under her control when she saw a severed head, disturbed by a pack of dogs who were snooping through a pile of bodies, rolled toward the cart and was crushed under one of its heavy wheels.
“Are you okay?” Di Xiang asked, supporting her as she wretched over the side of the cart and into the filthy street.
Tzu-Hsi only closed her eyes and shook her head.
“Please, hurry!” Di Xiang called out to the driver. “I don’t know how much of this she can take.”
Tzu-Hsi was no longer present within her body as they continued their escape from the Forbidden City. Though she had manipulated the administration of her rule through the use of a variety of means, including execution and assassination, she had never seen the reality of it in such stark detail before.
“Horrible mistake,” she muttered. “I’ve made a horrible mistake.”
Empress Dowager Tzu-Hsi died in the Hall of Graceful Bird in Beijing, on 15 November 1908. Her body was interred in the Eastern Qing tombs east of Beijing, along with that of her long time friend, Empress Dowager Hsi-An.
Chapter Eighteen
“Okay,” Veronica said, raising both her hands in the air. She stood up from the couch she had been sharing with Julia as the story of the Empress Dowager was being told. “I get it, she’s old. She’s wise and crafty and probably the biggest bitch I’ve ever known. But what the hell does any of this have to do with Sam’s disappearance, Allison’s little witch trance or the coven of bitches that kidnapped my friend?”
The word tasted strange in Veronica’s mouth. She couldn’t really recall a time she’d ever used the word to describe someone before.
“I was just getting to that part, Veronica,” Julia said. She paused and took a glass of warm blood that was being served by William Wallace. “Come, drink. You are worn down from travel and storytelling.”