CHAPTER ELEVEN
十一
The Temple of Fire
The stairway to the Temple of Fire had forty-four steps. By the time the twins reached the top, they could see over most of the rooftops in the city. It was brighter up there, the stars above unobstructed by buildings. Mei and Yun looked past the city walls where the mountains’ majestic silhouettes were illuminated by the infinite stars.
Their breathtaking view was somewhat dampened by the presence of four hooded figures standing right behind them.
“It’s okay, they can’t see us,” Mei whispered to Yun. “Remember what the Jade Rabbit said.”
That didn’t stop the siblings from walking stiffly—and holding their breaths—when they slipped past the guards.
“Lotus’s followers,” the Jade Rabbit had explained, when Yun asked the creature about the hooded figures. “She had a good number of enemies after she set the curse over the city, but she also had a number of people who stood by her. This is true for everyone who finds themselves in a position of power, no matter how kind or cruel they are, in every dynasty.”
According to the Jade Rabbit, the temple used to be a sacred home for a group of monks. Lotus took it over shortly after she cast the curse. She had a lot of magic inside her at that point, the rabbit said, and a temple was the ideal place to house such power. The people in the city renamed the building the Temple of Fire. The remaining residents who were brave enough tried to appeal to Lotus to end the curse.
“None have succeeded,” the rabbit had concluded.
“Then how can you expect us to?” Yun had protested in reply.
“I never said I expect you to.” The Jade Rabbit wiggled its cotton tail. “In fact, I doubt you’ll see her at all, since you’ve come seven decades too late. But I wish you luck nonetheless. I’m interested to hear how it goes. Lotus may still be angry with me after all these years....”
Mei led the way into the temple. The floor beneath their boots was smooth and cold. Yun lit the gas lantern again. The flickering light showed they were in a round room, with another set of stairs ahead leading into the darkness.
“Up?” Mei said reluctantly.
Yun nodded. “Unfortunately, that’s what the Jade Rabbit said.”
Their footsteps echoed in the large chamber as they climbed the stairs. There was something terribly strange and foreboding about the temple—the enormous walls that seemingly stretched into nothing, the dark windows, the emptiness of it all. And with each step the twins took, it felt like they were getting closer to something they ought to stay far, far away from.
The end of the stairway led to a closed set of red doors. A large emblem of a flame was etched in the center, half on each door.
The Jade Rabbit had given them instructions to go through the doors. Mei and Yun glanced at each other, then pushed open one side. The door creaked forward heavily, weighing at least fifty pounds.
The door opened to a circular chamber. Mei and Yun gasped.
The room must have once been beautiful: enormous painted scrolls decorated the walls, and gilded molding bordered the ornate floor and ceiling. But many of the paintings had been ripped and punctured with ugly gashes, and the gold was tarnished brown. The dim chamber was lit by a dancing flame in the far corner, next to the only window in the room. The fire appeared to float in midair, as if suspended by an invisible torch. All the while, a musky odor hung over the chamber, like it hadn’t been aired out in a long time. Two embroidered pillows lay against the wall.
Mei and Yun moved uneasily toward the fire. “Hello?” Mei whisper-called, afraid to disturb the still air. Yun didn’t say anything at all, but started biting his nails again.
Then they noticed the thin wisps of smoke that drifted across the chamber. Thin colored threads weaved between them; every so often, the colors pulsated like a fainter version of the nightmare clouds in Grandpa’s jar.
The twins glanced at each other. They waited for a few moments, then called out again. Nothing.
“The Jade Rabbit told us we may need to wait a while,” Mei said, shifting her bag.
“A while could be days, or weeks,” said Yun. He took out the leftover buns, and the twins ate as they waited. Yun’s gaze once more fell on the pillows against the wall. “We might as well rest for the night. It’s been a long day.”
“Aiyah,” groaned Mei. The last place she wanted to fall asleep was there, inside a building called the Temple of Fire, with a vengeful spirit prowling the premises.
“Well, I don’t mind,” said Yun. “Sleeping comes naturally to me, I can do it with my eyes closed.”
He headed over to the pillows. Each one was made of fine red silk and had intricate silver patterns under a fine layer of dust. He carefully laid down his bag and lantern, then laid his head upon one of the pillows.
It was the most comfortable pillow he’d ever used. “I’ll just rest my eyes for a few minutes,” he called. Even mid-sentence, he could feel his voice getting slower, and his eyes felt heavier. The long day’s journey had sunk into his body, and there didn’t seem to be anything better in the whole world than falling asleep. “This is nicer than our beds back home,” he yawned.
Mei stared horrified at her brother across the room. But after a few moments, fatigue overwhelmed her, and she finally gave in and did the same.
“I swear, Yun, if we get killed in here, it’s your fault....” She pressed her head against the soft pillow, willing her eyes to stay open. “We ought to stay awake,” she murmured. “We don’t know what’s lurking around the...”
Within minutes, both siblings were fast asleep.
They didn’t know how long they’d been sleeping, only that a rumble shook the floor, and they found themselves jolting awake in the chamber. Only the chamber no longer looked the way it did when they’d entered. It was bright inside, as if sunlight had flooded in and filled every corner—yet that was impossible because the sky outside the small circular window was dark. The light bounced off the gilded floor and ceiling, which had been miraculously polished new. The paintings had also been restored. Not only that, but the scenes on the scrolls were alive; the trees had leaves that swayed and the streams had liquid that flowed. Flocks of geese flew on the paper from east to west. The twins stared mesmerized at the moving pictures.
“Your inquiry?” said a voice to their left.
They turned to see a tall, stately woman on the other side of the chamber, beneath a painting of blossom trees. She wore a slim white-and-pink stitched tunic and a matching skirt that draped behind her. Her long hair gleamed black, and her attractive face lent her a kind demeanor, even though she did not smile. She looked no older than twenty.
“Inquiry?” she repeated.
Mei was the first to come to her senses. “We’re here to see Lotus,” she spoke up.
“I am she.”
“Oh! So then...you were the one who set the...the terrible curse upon the city....” Mei trailed off as Lotus stared evenly at her. She elbowed her brother for help.
Yun had been gaping at Lotus. He turned beet red, then mumbled, “We’re, um, here to speak to you. But first, what is this place?”
“This is my dream chamber. Isn’t it lovely?”
The twins nodded, mostly because they didn’t dare upset the person who had set a curse on an entire city.
“What’s a dream chamber?” Mei asked. “Are you a—a dreamweaver?”
“I don’t know what that is,” Lotus answered calmly as she began approaching the twins. “My dream chamber is simply a place where I dwell to pass the time. Visitors come now and then to ask me things. So let’s get this over with. Who are you and what do you want?”
After the twins politely stammered quick introductions, Yun explained how the Jade Rabbit had told them about Lotus, and how their mother and father had come to the city six years ago and hadn’t returned to their village.
“We’re hoping you can, er, lift the curse,” he finished weakly.
L
otus raised her chin slightly. She pressed her red lips together into a thin line. “How interesting,” she said airily.
The twins waited as Lotus turned to examine the scroll painting behind her. The woman touched the ink, the fluttering pink blossom trees.
“My son lost his mother and father, too,” she said, still facing away from the twins. “His father was executed for a crime he didn’t commit. And his mother was swallowed by a horrible magic. Magic given to her by the wretched Jade Rabbit.”
Mei and Yun shared a sidelong glance. “Um, you’re talking about yourself, right?” clarified Yun.
Lotus turned around, her eyes focused on something in the distance, past the twins. “Tell me, then,” she continued as if Yun had not interrupted. “Why should I grant you your wish, when multiple other people have suffered similar tragedies?”
Mei piped up. “Because it’s awful?”
Yun cringed—he could hear the bold defiance creeping into his sister’s tone—and quickly added, “It is awful what happened to your son, but that was seventy years ago, right? He’s lived a full life by now. Whereas Mei and I, you see, we’re both twelve. We have our whole lives ahead of us.”
Lotus’s eyes flashed dangerously, and Yun abruptly fell silent.
“My son was very young at the time,” Lotus replied. “He had his whole life ahead of him, too. But the Jade Rabbit stole him from me.”
The woman moved closer to the twins, who backed up against the wall. Lotus leaned in; her long fingers closed around Yun’s wrist, and her face hovered just above Yun’s ear. Her lips curved into a smile. If a stranger had chanced upon the scene, they might’ve thought the woman was a doting mother or aunt telling the boy a secret.
“Do not lecture me about time,” Lotus said in a soft voice. “For me, time stopped long ago.” She leaned back and released the vice grip around Yun’s wrist. They left white imprints in his skin. “Deluded is the person who thinks their own story is more important than everyone else’s. Deluded and selfish. Many people have come to me, pleading for me to stop the curse. ‘I miss my family,’ they say. Or ‘I want the city to be safe again.’ Yet when I pleaded the dastardly Noble General to spare my husband, did I get my wish?”
With her back straight and her chin high, Lotus stepped back. Even when angry, she was quite beautiful. But looks were deceiving, as Mei and Yun had already realized. Lotus did not look like someone who’d doom an entire city to seventy years’ of misfortune and waste, yet there she was.
“Why didn’t you go after the Noble General?” asked Yun, remembering what the Jade Rabbit had said about the high-ranking official who caused Lotus so much grief. “He’s the one who recommended that the emperor build the wall around the city, wasn’t he?”
“Yes, he was.” Lotus’s voice tightened. “I tried to go after him, but my magic prevents me from leaving this city. It locks me in, more than silly walls ever could.”
“How?” asked Yun, who couldn’t help being inquisitive, even in the presence of one so powerful.
“I don’t understand the details. You mustn’t ask me. You’d have to ask the one who granted me these powers. But never mind that. At least the Noble General and his descendants know enough to never set foot here. My spell would not serve them well if they tried.”
“Can’t you let us see our parents, at least?” Yun begged.
“Certainly not. I grant no special favors to anyone.”
“Well, if you won’t do that, and you won’t lift the curse, can you at least help us get to the Imperial City?” said Mei, who was getting angry, too. “Our grandpa’s been wrongly arrested—you know how that’s like, don’t you? We need to get to the emperor’s palace. Your curse basically made the entire city deserted, so no one else can help us.”
“Our village has been buried in snow,” added Yun. “All the crops and animals died. We’ll all be in for a long, miserable winter.”
“Also caused by your curse,” Mei pointed out.
Lotus studied the twins with an odd expression on her face. “That is not possible,” she finally said. “My power is confined to this city alone.”
“Well, obviously it isn’t.”
Lotus’s mouth pursed from side to side, as if words were fighting to get out. Then she spoke:
“A river flows downstream
And joins the glittering sea.
A human flows downstream
And remains dust forever.”
The poet strode toward the other side of the chamber, where she studied the blossom trees again.
“When my husband was alive, I’d recite my poetry to him,” she said quietly. “He wasn’t the strongest reader—spelling and grammar rules often confused him—so he memorized the poems and recited them. We’d spend hours under the blossom trees together, speaking poetry.”
She laid a finger on the scroll and slowly traced the trees once more.
“The curse controls me as much as it controls the others,” she continued. “It is surprisingly easy to destroy something with mere words.” After several long moments, she looked over her shoulder at the twins. “It is time to awaken you two. I cannot help you.”
Yun racked his brains. “What if we told you we can clear your husband’s name?” he said. “Then would you help us?”
Lotus’s back stiffened. She turned to face Yun slowly, the trace of an amused smile on her face. “How would you do this?” she asked.
“We’ll tell the emperor,” Yun lied. “Our grandpa was wrongly arrested, too.”
Beside him, Mei held her breath.
“You say you’re going to the Imperial City to prove your grandfather’s innocence?” said Lotus after a pause.
“Yes.”
“And therefore, you think you know the anguish I feel.”
“Oh, definitely,” Mei and Yun echoed quickly.
“Unfortunately, there is no sense anymore in trying to prove my husband’s innocence. The wicked Noble General has ties to the imperial bloodline. He has the emperor under his influence, and he isn’t going to let a couple of”—here Lotus swept her eyes over the twins and frowned slightly—“kids prove him wrong. You’d have no luck.”
“The Noble General is surely already dead,” pointed out Yun, who had been thinking about the timeline and calculating how long ago this all had happened.
Lotus considered this. “Yes, I suppose time passes differently in the outside world. You mentioned the curse has lasted for seventy years? The Noble General, old as he was when I knew him, is at least one hundred nowadays, if he still breathes.” Her eyes darkened. “A quiet death is too good for him.”
The paintings around the room began to shake, as if rattled by an earthquake. The room’s light began to glow hazy. Then, as quickly as it started, everything became still.
Lotus brushed a loose strand of hair from her face. “Perhaps I should settle for the next best thing, now that he’s no longer controlling things from up in the Imperial Palace.”
The twins waited with bated breath.
“Very well. Prove my husband was also innocent while you’re at the palace. If you somehow demonstrate that he was framed by the ignoble general...if you clear his name, for all of China to hear...then, and only then, will I lift the curse.”
“Right then,” said Yun hesitantly, “but like we said, we need help getting to the Imperial City. It’s over a month’s journey by foot, and—”
“My dear boy,” said Lotus without any trace of warmth, “I already said I cannot help you with that. I am bound here. Besides, you’ve already met someone who can assist you.” She waited for the children to answer. When they only stared at her in confusion, she said impatiently, “The Jade Rabbit.”
“The Jade Rabbit wouldn’t help us—” Mei began.
“That was before it knew of our deal,” Lotus interrupted. “I promise to lift the curse if your end of the deal is fulfilled. Under these new conditions, that harebrained creature will be happy to aid you.”
Mei an
d Yun looked at each other. They didn’t seem to have another choice.
“All right,” said Yun. “It’s a deal. If we clear your husband’s name...”
“...then you will release the city—and our parents—from the curse,” finished Mei.
“Fine, fine. Farewell, then, until we meet again.” Lotus smiled and clapped once. The light in the chamber faded to black.
The next moment, Mei and Yun found themselves lying on their pillows, the empty chamber restored to its original desolate state.
CHAPTER TWELVE
十二
Voyage Through the Sky
The Jade Rabbit was waiting for the twins outside the temple. The rabbit read the troubled expressions on their faces, and began kindly, “Do not fret. It has been ages, and the temple has remained empty for—”
“No, it wasn’t empty, we saw her!” the twins shouted.
“Ah...well, many have tried before you, and none could convince her—”
“No, no, she agreed!”
The twins explained feverishly how Lotus would lift the curse, restoring the city and allowing them to see their parents, only if they proved her husband’s innocence. The Jade Rabbit listened quietly, its ears straight. When Mei and Yun finished, the rabbit murmured, “Hmm, this is a development.”
“She said you’d help us get to the Imperial City,” Yun said nervously. “But—but I know you said you wouldn’t use your magic to help humans anymore.”
The Jade Rabbit twitched its whiskers. There was a long pause.
“I did not ask you children earlier,” it said quietly. “Tell me, where did you obtain your jar of dreams?”
“It was our grandpa’s jar,” answered Mei. “We found it in the kitchen.”
“Ah.” The answer seemed to make up the Jade Rabbit’s mind. Something glinted in its eyes. “Yes, I will help you get to the Imperial City. If the emperor’s son left your village little more than two days ago, then he won’t arrive at the palace for seven more days, at least. You will use this extra time to do what you can to prove Lotus’s husband’s innocence.”
The twins exchanged a glance. They were suddenly feeling very unsure about the deal they’d made with Lotus. Going to the city to ask to see the emperor was one thing. Trying to prove someone’s innocence to undo a seventy-year-old curse was a whole other issue. They didn’t even know where to start.
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