A peculiar odor—a mixture of mold, acid, musk, and camphor—assaulted my nose. My head swam.
A pair of red eyes gazed at me. The priest. Or rather, what was left of him.
I stared for a moment. Then I screamed.
That was what the comet had brought us. An unthinkable, unspeakable crime. Right in the sacred Altar House. And the Emperor. What had happened to him?
A loud thump rose somewhere. I froze.
“Who’s there?” I asked and searched. But a thick gloominess draped before me, and I could not see anything.
A groan came from deep within the House.
My throat tightening, I rose to my feet. “The One Above All?”
There was no answer.
I blinked. I wanted to back out, but I could not do it. I had to find out what was going on. My hands shaking, I walked toward the center of the House. The long panels, draping from the ceiling, brushed my shoulder like the cold tail of a snake. But my eyes had adjusted to the dark, and I could see banners, bamboo sticks for divination, incense, and paper money scattered on the ground. Ahead of me, rows of mortuary tablets stood like miniature tombstones, while burning candles appeared like weeping statues.
The cloth covering the altar table fluttered. A man leaned against the table, his bejeweled mortarboard at his feet.
“Oh heavens, oh heavens!” I rushed to the Emperor. Blood gushed from his mouth, and his face looked gray like ashes. “What happened, the One Above All?”
A tremor passed over his lips, and he pressed his hand on his blood-soaked shoulder.
“Leave him,” a voice said, and a figure emerged from the dark.
The killer! Still inside the building! I released the Emperor and scrambled backward. “Who…who are you?”
The killer inched closer, dressed in a vest, a skirt, and leggings. He limped a little. I wanted to run but could not find strength to lift my feet. Where were the Emperor’s personal guards? Two had followed him when he’d entered the building, but most of them, I understood, had been dismissed by the Emperor prior to the divination, and they were dining in the feasting hall. They would not hear my screams over the rowdy drinking and loud fife music.
The killer raised his sword.
“Guards, guards!” I pulled up my skirt and ran. Panels brushed my face, and I pushed them aside. Behind me, the killer’s heavy footsteps followed. I kicked away a crumpled banner on the ground, ducked behind a small table, and passed an incense pot. I skidded on something slippery. Under my feet, a pool of blood spread like a thick, luxurious Persian rug. At its edge, a body…no, two bodies sprawled—the guards!—one with a dagger in his chest and the other with his throat slit.
Metal clinked behind me. The killer was catching up! Gripping my skirt, I raced toward the half-open door, where bright daylight poured through.
A cold breeze grazed my cheek, and my ear stung. I did not slow down. The door was closer. Five paces. Warm liquid trickled down the side of my face. Three paces. I stretched out my arm. I could smell the fragrance of wine and cooked meat in the courtyard. I surged forward, my fingertips touching the solid wood of the door, and gratefully, it squeaked, opening wider.
A large figure appeared in the center of the courtyard—the Captain. He shouted at me, but I could not understand him. The killer! The killer! I wanted to scream, but before I opened my mouth, a hand clamped around my throat and everything went dark.
• • •
The moment, dark and dreamless, swallowed me. I could not breathe, see, or hear. I was going to die, I knew it. But I did not want to. I must not die. Mother was waiting for me. I had not done anything to make my father proud yet… Suddenly, sweet air poured in my throat. I gasped again and again. I could breathe!
But I could not see well. Everything appeared blurred. I rose, wobbling. Somehow I was in the corridor, where bolts of bright daylight blinded me, and shadows of people, screaming, flitted around me.
Some guards carried the Emperor on a stretcher and laid him down. A dozen imperial physicians knelt beside him, while a ring of guards surrounded the physicians.
The body of the assassin was carried out too, and the Captain waved at the people, asking them to step aside.
My ear throbbed. Some blood had stained the shoulder and the front of my robe. But it was only a skin wound. In a day or two, it would heal. Someone bumped into me, and I almost tripped. I kept walking.
I had to stop to lean against a kylin statue. The stone felt warm, but I shivered. Behind the roof of the Altar House, clouds flooded the sky, and the oak tree, its lush leaves drooping, curved over the roof like a giant sickle about to tip over. The storm would arrive soon. I wanted to get out of there. Now.
“Where are you going?” A man in a splendid, embroidered purple robe stepped in front of me.
The Duke.
“I—”
“Who are you? What were you doing in the Altar House?”
“What?” My throat hurt. It was hard to swallow.
“You’re a woman, and a Select!” He scanned my green robe. “What were you doing in the sacred Altar House?” His voice was louder.
In a moment, the crowd swarmed around me like a human siege wall—the Emperor’s uncle, the Chancellor, other ministers in red, green, purple robes and high hats, Taoist priests, the guards bearing swords and clubs, and Taizi, who cracked his knuckles, as if readying to throw me over the roof.
I dropped to my knees. “Mercy, esteemed Grand Duke. I trespassed.”
He paced around me without a word, then his ominous voice rose again. “Who is the killer?”
I shook my head.
He circled me again and then tossed something to the ground. “Do you know what this is?”
“A fish emblem.” I heard the hollowness in my voice. Everyone knew what the carved emblem meant—admission to the palace. Anyone who requested to enter the palace, including the ministers, had to present it to the sentries at the watch tower, who verified its authenticity by matching it with a counterpart before granting entrance.
“The Captain found this on the assassin’s body,” the Duke said.
I wanted to ask how the assassin could have gotten access to the carp, but I could not speak. An ominous feeling clouded my heart.
“Did you steal this and give it to him?” he asked. “Or did someone ask you to give it to him?”
His words sent a jolt down my spine. “What? No!”
“Then why were you in the House?”
“I…I don’t know.” I should have ignored the shadow on the roof. I should not have gone inside the House. I should not have hidden in the garden at all. If I had just left the yard, nothing would have happened to me.
The Emperor’s uncle threw his hand in the air, looking outraged, and the crowd murmured in anger. I curled my hands into fists, refusing to let tears roll. An ant crawled out of a crack in the stone floor. Probing with its tiny antennae, it veered toward my hand but slid and fell on a tuft of grass.
The Duke stomped on the grass. “Why didn’t he kill you?”
I felt like the wretched ant under his foot. But I refused to let the Duke stamp me with his hand-stitched leather boots. I faced the Emperor’s stretcher. “The One Above All, it was wrong that I entered the House, but I am telling the truth. Believe me. I swear on my father’s honor.”
The Emperor did not answer. The physicians glared at me as though they believed it was better for the Emperor to save his energy rather than my life.
“Your father?” the Uncle asked. “Who is your father?”
“He was Wu Shihuo, the governor of Shanxi Prefecture,” I said.
“So you are the maiden who composed a riddle.” He nodded, looking less angry. “I’ve heard of him too, the wealthy Wu Shihuo from Shanxi Prefecture. He was a man of meritorious service in founding our dynasty.”
“That was twenty-five years ago, venerable Uncle.” The Duke frowned.
“What are you going to do, Grand Duke?” a minister in a red robe asked.
“Secretary Fang, it is my recommendation that we torture this maiden so she will reveal her conspirators. I am certain there are some,” the Duke replied.
“Is that all you can do, Duke?” The Uncle knocked his cane against the ground, each pounding my heart like a hammer. “What would you recommend, Chancellor?”
Chancellor Wei Zheng stood beside me. “Venerable Uncle, it is my understanding that since each carp is issued and recorded in palace journals daily, the Grand Duke might find it helpful to check with the court recorder.”
“That’s a fine idea.” The Uncle nodded.
“We’ll interrogate the recorder in no time.” The Duke waved. “Meanwhile, this suspect must undergo investigation.” He turned to the stretcher. “I’m certain the One Above All would approve of my suggestion.”
And the Emperor, to my dismay, still did not answer.
“So it is.” The Duke clapped his hands in the air. “As you wish, the One Above All. Guards, take her! Guards!”
The Captain clamped his iron-like hands on my arms, his purple birthmark twitching on his face.
“Do not touch me.” I struggled. But he lifted me up and walked across the courtyard as if he were holding a dead hare.
I did not care about anything anymore. I kicked. My feet were in the air. My life hung in the air too. “Don’t touch me! I saved the Emperor. Can’t you see? I saved the Emperor!”
“Halt,” a quiet voice said. The Emperor’s.
“Bring her to me,” he said.
I floated, like the heavy clouds above the roof, as the Captain carried me to the stretcher. I could not imagine what fate the Emperor would order for me. When the Captain dropped me, I knelt, moisture stinging my eyes.
For a long moment, he only breathed heavily. “So listen, Select, this is what will become of you.” He took another labored breath. “I hereby bestow the title of Talent upon you.”
His voice was thin, like a thread drifting in a gust of wind, but it struck me like thunder. He had just conferred a title on me. Talent, sixth degree.
“The One Above All?” The Duke stepped closer to the stretcher. “Are you feeling well? All your servants are waiting to serve you.”
The Emperor raised a forefinger to stop him. “I recall a woman in the Altar House. She cried for help, Duke. Guards, guards, as you just called.”
“Indeed?”
The Emperor nodded.
“So it is, the One Above All.” The Duke bowed.
I could hardly move. I was now a Talent, a sixth-degree lady, a titled woman. It changed everything. It meant I would leave the Yeting Court, move to the Inner Court where the Four Ladies and other high-ranking ladies resided. I would also receive an additional silk gown in the spring, a coat in the winter, and relish one serving of meat in my victuals on a monthly basis. But most importantly, I would be closer to the Emperor. I would have opportunities to beg him to help my family.
“I am honored—” I bowed deeply.
My forehead touched the ground three times, and I did not rise when the physicians, guards, and ministers poured forth to surround the Emperor. The feet of the guards shifted, and then they left the courtyard. The ministers and servants trickled out as well. When the courtyard quieted again, I rose.
As I stepped out of the gate, the first drop of rain pelted my face. The storm had arrived. I spread out my arms and welcomed it.
AD 641
the Fifteenth Year of Emperor Taizong’s Reign of Peaceful Prospect
SUMMER
10
Later, I learned that the imperial Gold Bird Guards, led by the Captain, went to interrogate the court recorder that afternoon. They found nothing, because when they arrived at the Outer Palace, the recorder was already dead. Poisoned. No one knew if he had killed himself in fear or if he had been poisoned by someone else.
An extensive search was conducted to find any possible conspirators in the Outer Palace, and a strict curfew was imposed in the Inner Court. Every night, the guards’ footsteps echoed in the corridors, and many rats died, pierced by arrows, mistaken as human invaders scurrying on the ground. All the trees, those century-old elms, oaks, and maples, were chopped down so they would not provide any convenience to evildoers in the future.
The Gold Bird Guards expanded their search to the city. Sketches of the assassin were posted on the gates of the Western Market and the Eastern Market. The Emperor put out a reward for anyone who identified the man. A few days later, a hostel owner near the Northern District, where courtesans and unscrupulous, drunken men gathered for entertainment, reported that a man of similar description had lodged there three months before and that he was accompanied by two foreign-dressed men.
With the help of the hostel owner’s clue, the Guards expanded their search and found the two men, who were connected to the son of a chieftain of the Western Turks, the enemy of our kingdom.
The imperial cavalry, followed by many conscripted peasant soldiers, was soon dispatched to the border near the Western Turks’ territory. A punitive war started, turning the border towns into rubble, and many garrisons were established and enforced. Forts were built; more paid soldiers were enlisted. The news of the dust of the war and the cries of the dead were told in the palace for months.
• • •
I heard it all from within the safety of the Inner Court’s walls. Sometimes I thought it ironic that an evil plot had provided me with an entrance to a life I had dreamed about, but such was the design of life, that one could never foretell.
Inside the Inner Court, the maids looked much more splendid than the Selects did. They wore bright pink robes and long, transparent shawls. Their makeup was colorful, and they wore jade hairpins in their Cloudy Chignons. They glanced at me curiously, whispering among themselves. Obviously they knew I had saved the Emperor’s life, but when I nodded at them, they looked away.
When I passed the courtyards, flocks of golden orioles leaped and dove before me; roses, chrysanthemums, asters, and azaleas bloomed by the paths winding through gardens of peonies. In the large, silvery lakes, blue water lilies floated placidly, while frogs croaked and goldfish swam near the red-roofed pavilions. The land rose slightly in the distance and blended into the cloudy horizon; from afar, it seemed as if a garden had grown in the sky.
The beautiful scenery reminded me of the garden at home. The creation of a garden was meant to duplicate the paradise of the afterlife, Father had said, and its most important feature was the rocks, which must be placed carefully to resemble the islands of Penglai, the haunts of the Eight Immortals. I had seen many shapes of rocks in Father’s one-acre garden, but in the Inner Court, the scale of the garden and the number of unique rocks surprised me. There were rocks with perfectly smooth edges resembling giant eggs, rocks with perforated holes like beehives, rocks with deep hollows as wide as windows, and rocks bearing grotesque angles and shapes that suggested the peaks and valleys of the Tai mountain.
Father would have been happy to see that lovely garden.
I wished to tell him that I still remembered the promise I had made at our family’s grave site. I wished to tell him too that I still remembered how he had raised me and what he had wanted for me when he was alive. Born a humble man, Father had started out with selling lumber, built his fortune with his mere hands, and rose to be a powerful man who helped destroy a dynasty and found another. He wanted me, his daughter, his heir, to accomplish more than what he had achieved, to perpetuate his fame, and to reach a height no ordinary men, or women, could possibly dream of.
I would not disappoint him.
• • •
I was assigned to a bedchamber in a walled compound at the west side of the court. The eight other Talents were my
roommates, and the Graces and Beauties shared the other houses in the compound. The area was far from the Quarters of the Pure Lotus, where the Four Ladies resided. The Quarters, I heard, encompassed many pavilions, courtyards with painted roofs, man-made lakes, and scented arboretums with perennial flowers.
I wished to meet the Four Ladies and see what they looked like. The Noble Lady was the daughter of the late Sui Emperor, I remembered. I did not know anything about the Pure Lady, Lady Virtue, or Lady Obedience.
Jewel, to my dismay, had become the Emperor’s Most Adored, and she had moved to the Quarters. I would perhaps run into her someday, but I wished with all my heart I would not have to see her again.
I was ordered to start etiquette training, which court protocol dictated that every titled woman must learn. The classroom, located in a wooded area near a hill, was decorated with five plaques written with Confucius’s virtues: courtesy, tolerance, faith, wisdom, and filial piety. Training with me were twenty-six other girls: Beauties, Graces, and Talents. Later, I learned they were ordered to go there every six months to refresh their training, and I was the only one who was new.
Similar to what we had done in the Yeting Court, we began with a recital. “Obey your parents, for it is from their veins your body is formed; revere your elders, for it is from their blood your name is given; submit to your superiors, for it is from their mouths that your food is provided; vow to your emperor, for it is by his grace that you walk on the ground…”
The words popped out of my mouth like tasteless, uncooked rice, yet I was told to recite them again and again. Finally, we finished, and I was ordered to put on a pair of boat-shaped shoes with heels that measured a hand’s length. Every titled lady must learn the “perfect walk,” the etiquette teacher said. “You must take a step half of your foot length each time. No more, no less. Your upper body must remain at a slight angle, so you will be ready to bow at any moment. When you walk, your skirt shall ruffle to a pleasing rhythm, and your eyes, no matter where your feet lead, must always focus on the ground five paces ahead.”
The Moon in the Palace (The Empress of Bright Moon Duology) Page 8