The Dragon's Breath

by James Boschert

  Under normal circumstances this established her authority as the lady of the house. Oh, the pain she had endured for this privilege! ‘The ten thousand tears of agony’ she had been subjected to as a young girl because society demanded it, having her feet bound so that she could not do any work that might be considered beneath the dignity of the lady of the house. Now here she was, crippled and unable to control events, while this wisp of a girl told the servants what to do, probably lied to her and left her here, vulnerable and most likely in danger for her life! A wave of self pity swept over her and she swiped at the tears that began to fall, hating the loss of face.

  “I want to know what has been happening!” she shouted, “What has all that appalling noise outside been about?” she demanded, unable to stop the tears of frustration and rage from spilling.

  “We were attacked, my Lady,” Lihua said calmly enough, in an attempt to ease her fright.

  “I am sure it is the foreigners who are responsible for all this!” Meilin shouted. Lihua’s very calm only seemed to upset Meilin even more.

  “They protected us, my Lady,” Lihua said very respectfully. “Intruders came to steal from us.”

  Meilin continued to glare at her. “What did these intruders want?”

  “I think they came to steal the Lord’s treasure, my Lady.”

  Meilin gasped and involuntarily put her hand to her mouth. “Is it... is it safe?” She shivered and plucked at the covers.

  “We are safe now, my Lady. One of the foreigners is badly injured; a doctor must be found soon.”

  Meilin waved her hand at her. “Go! Send in my servants and make sure we are secure. In the morning I want to know what happened in detail.”

  Lihua bowed and left.

  *****

  Down in the courtyard, Talon and Reza crouched over Yosef.

  “Give me a hand there, Reza,” Talon said. They hefted the unconscious boy up and carried him as fast as they could away from the noise and hysteria of the inner courtyard to their own quiet oasis. There they were met by Rav’an and Jannat, with a nervous Dar’an in attendance. “I tried to stop them coming down, Talon but...” he stammered.

  “We could hear all the noise from here, Talon,” Rav’an said briskly. Then she gasped, as did Jannat.

  “What has happened to Yosef!” They both put their hands to their mouths as Talon and Reza placed the boy carefully on the low table in the main room.

  Rav’an recovered quickly. “Hot water, Jannat, and many clean rags, as fast as you can. Dar’an, help her!” Jannat and Dar’an dashed off to obey.

  “Is there a chance he can survive?” Rav’an asked Talon as she stared down at Yosef.

  “Perhaps, as long as there is a good physician available. There is a lot of blood and we have to turn him on his side or he will choke to death. I don’t know if they have real physicians in this land. Lihua has sent for one, but I don’t think we will see him before dawn. We must try to stop the bleeding and keep him alive until then.”

  At that moment Rostam came down the stairs. “Mama, what is going on?” he called to Rav’an. With a look of alarm, Rav’an almost ran to him and coaxed him back up the stairs.

  “Just a bit of noise, my Love,” she said. “Salem, where are you? Please take Rostam back to bed.”

  *****

  The next morning at the villa, residents woke up to a dawn where everything had changed. The guards were wide awake and patrolling everywhere, examining every corner of the compound in the manner of men who don’t know what they are doing but feel they have to do something.

  Talon rubbed his eyes and face, while in a corner Reza nodded off. The women had gone off to bed once all that could be done for Yosef had been done. They had stripped him and cleaned him of the caked blood, placed him on a mattress under a clean cotton quilt, and watched him as he gurgled and choked the night away. They had to keep him on his side so that he could breathe at all because of the gash in his neck.

  There was a disturbance outside that jolted Talon further awake, and Lihua appeared, looking hollow-eyed, accompanied by a tall, thin stranger and followed by a guard carrying a large lacquer painted box that he was told to put down; then he left.

  “Good morning, Talon,” Lihua said with a wan smile. “I have brought the physician. He is very capable and should be able to help.”

  The physician wore an elaborately patterned silk robe with wide sleeves from which long bony fingers protruded like claws. He gave Talon a perfunctory nod and then went straight to Yosef. He had sharp features, with a straggly, drooping, gray mustache and beard, above which was a tight mouth and observant, intelligent eyes. His long gray hair was pulled into a bun at the back of his head, upon which was perched a small rimless hat of patterned silk. The man immediately sat down alongside Yosef and took up his wrist to feel his pulse. He shook his head. Then he took out from the box what seemed to be a hollow ivory horn, placed it on Yosef’s chest, and began to listen. Only then did he lift the coverings off the wound.

  He clucked at what he saw and began to speak to Lihua in a fast, sing-song voice.

  “Your friend has lost a lot of blood and his pulse is very low, yet the doctor thinks his life can be saved, as long as the wound stays clean. The doctor says he must stitch up the gash and one ligament because that cannot be left as it is.”

  Talon blew out a breath of relief, and then sat down to watch the physician at work.

  *****

  Hua Rong walked into his office to find Lin already there waiting for him, standing patiently at the entrance. After stretching the moment out with a bowl of tea, Rong waved Lin to a seat and asked him, “Well, did you go there last night?”

  “Yes, Lord.” It struck Rong that Lin was in a somber mood.

  “Spit it out. How did it go?”

  “Er, well, we, er, obtained the box, my Lord, but...”

  Ron felt a surge of pleasure and beamed. The box was his. He barely heard the rest of the comment, but Lin persisted.

  “... but we lost one man, dead, and the other is wounded.”

  Rong stared, aghast. “What did you just say?”

  “The plan went well at first, but then somehow one of the foreigners got in the way and they had to kill him. Then another one of the foreigners killed one of our men and caught the other as he was leaving the house,” Lin said. “There was a fight and alarms. It woke up the whole household.”

  Rong stared at him with an appalled expression on his usually tranquil face. His mind was racing.

  “You say he was wounded. Did he escape? Is there any way they can trace this to us?” he demanded, his voice sounding like gravel.

  “He escaped, my Lord, and he brought the box back with him,” Lin said, and produced a lacquered box with images of fruit trees and birds on the lid. It rattled as he handed it over.

  “Have you opened it?” Rong demanded suspiciously.

  Lin looked hurt. “It is sealed with the chop of Lord Meng, my Lord,” he huffed.

  Rong examined the box. It was indeed sealed with red wax and carried the singular chop of Hsü imprinted in the wax.

  He took out a small knife to open the box and then paused. “Is the man who escaped in a bad way?” he demanded. “Did they have anything on them that could identify them?”

  Lin again looked hurt at this disparagement of the professionalism of his men. “Nothing, my Lord, nothing at all.”

  Rong thought about this for a long moment. “The other one, he knows too much. He needs to go.”

  Lin bowed. “I shall take care of it, my Lord.”

  “That man Kee needs to be silenced, too. He will be easy to get to if they decide this was an inside job,” Rong told him.

  Lin bowed again.

  “You may go,” Rong told him. Lin vanished.

  Rong turned his attention back to the box. He savored the moment. He was rich beyond his wildest dreams, and all thanks to Hsü. Now he could bribe his way into any level of society, and that could include the govern
orship.

  It was one of those beautiful boxes made by a real craftsman, about two hand breadths long by two wide and one deep. For a moment he admired the intricate brush work on the lid. He prided himself on his appreciation of good art. The only thing he had in common with Hsü, he reflected with a sardonic smile to himself. He shrugged and broke the seal of the box with the tip of the knife, then forced the lid open because he had no key.

  He finished the work and placed the knife carefully on the table before lifting the lid, then gaped.

  Inside the scented wooden box were dozens of small, round stones, the kind that can be found in any stream bed or river. They didn’t even glitter in the morning light.

  For a very long moment Rong stared at the box as though its contents were a scorpion. He began to tremble,then went into a towering rage. He swept the box off the table to the floor. It fell open and the stones flew everywhere, rolling about on the floor.

  “Send Lin in to me!” he screamed.

  Her handkerchief all soaked in tears, she cannot dream,

  In deepest night before the palace voices sing.

  Her rosy cheeks aren't old, but first love has been cut,

  Leaning, wreathed in smoke, she sits until the dawn.

  —Bai Juyi

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Audience with an Emperor

  After an uneventful journey to Hangzhou, Hsü sent a message to an old friend named Ts’ao, informing him that he had arrived. It would be at the very least a week or more before Hsü would be presented at the palace. He knew from prior experience that the wheels of administration move glacially in this city within a city. He set about finding accommodation for himself and his small retinue and awaited a reply.

  Hangzhou was larger than Guangzhou, with a teeming population. There were enormous projects taking place, the largest of all was the finalization of the huge canal that now reached all the way north to the distant Yangtze River, thus allowing small ships and barges access to the hinterland from the port. Trade was everything in the empire, and the main artery for this trade was this marvel of construction: the canal.

  The next day Ts’ao replied via messenger that he would see Hsü later within the week, inside the palace walls, at such and such a pavilion, and gave directions how to get there once he was permitted entry; also a pass was provided for Hsü to use at the gates.

  On the appointed day, Hsü arrived at one of the several huge entrances of the palace with his papers, and after what seemed an interminable wait was finally allowed entry. He asked for and received a guide to take him to the right pavilion and was very glad that he had. He knew from a prior visit that this was an enormous space within the palace walls; it would be very easy to get lost and stumble into a forbidden area. He didn’t want to lose face to that extent.

  His guide walked him across wide and mostly empty courtyards along seemingly endless pathways and past royal gardens, which were a riot of color and indeed awe inspiring. He admired the grand pavilions and pagodas as he was guided past one after the other on his way to a very discreet pavilion, where he met with his old acquaintance, Ts’ao, whose title was Auxiliary Academician. They had studied together and taken their exams at the same time in the prestigious Yuelu Academy near to the Yuelu Mountain in Hunan province. Students of this academy were usually destined for high positions in government. Ts’ao was no exception.

  Ts’ao greeted him with a smile of pleasure, and after dismissing the guide they went through the usual deep bows and polite enquiries as to each other’s health and that of their families. Then Ts’ao led Hsü aside to one of the smaller anterooms, where they were served tea by a servant who then disappeared.

  “There is time before you are required to speak to the Chamberlains, Lord Meng. The Emperor is very busy today, so it might be another day before he will see you, perhaps even longer.”

  Hsü was not surprised. He counted himself lucky that the Emperor would see him at all, but he knew that there was interest in his mission at the highest levels. What he had not expected was the direction the conversation took after they covered the formalities.

  “You are aware that Hua Rong, the Chief of Police in Guangzhou, appears to be spending a lot of money, or rather promissory notes, among the officials here?” Ts’ao asked him carefully.

  Despite his efforts Hsü’s face must have mirrored his surprise. “I have been made aware that there was someone who was buying influence. I was not aware that it was Rong.”

  “It took me a little time to find out for myself, but I knew as soon as I was approached by the man who is doing his bidding here in the palace. Rong himself has not yet paid us a visit. In fact I suspect that it is two people buying favor: Hua Rong and another man, who I am sure you know, a much less savory individual, but very wealthy nonetheless,” Ts’ao’s nose twitched with distaste.

  Hsü suppressed a smile. He guessed it might be Buwei. “What do you think they are buying?” he asked bluntly.

  “Why, the governorship, of course,” Ts’ao said, raising his scanty eyebrows.

  “Ah, yes. Well, Buwei is disqualified, no degree; but Rong... perhaps.”

  “Actually, I don’t think it is for either of those two men,” Ts’ao mused. “You know a man named Wo po-ku?”

  “Yes, he is a Prefect. In fact he is the Senior Prefect at the Governor’s palace. Are they backing him?”

  “Such appears to be the case. He has risen to a position of influence in the Governor’s palace and is well qualified. Some would say very well qualified for the position. He has years of experience in administering the region. Rong is influence-peddling here in the palace with paper, on the promise of payment when there are results.”

  Hsü nodded. That was prudent, but it opened a tiny door of opportunity for him. He looked across at Ts’ao. Ts’ao was probably going to push for him, but like all the officials in the palace the machinery needed some oiling. It was the way of things.”

  He fumbled in his voluminous robes for a moment and produced two very small boxes. They were each about the size of a large Chop, but the design on the boxes was beautifully painted on silk. He gave a surreptitious glance about him to make sure that no one was watching. It did no harm to be careful in the palace—walls had both eyes and ears—then he placed both boxes on the tiny table between the two men.

  He bowed from the seated position as he did so, to make the point. “Perhaps we can change this state of affairs; but in any case, I brought back a present for you and your illustrious wife.” He spoke Cantonese, which few people could follow in this rarefied atmosphere of the palace, Mandarin being the language of royalty in Hangzhou.

  Ts’ao touched the boxes with a long fingernail and then slowly opened one. Inside the red-silk-lined box was a large ruby and two sapphires. Ts’ao’s eyes widened, but he said nothing, and the boxes vanished into the folds of his robes as though they had never been.

  Ts’ao looked up at Hsü. “I know several distinguished people who would prefer to see something, shall we say, more substantial like this, rather than paper promises.”

  Hsü gave him the thinnest of smiles. He had made his preparations carefully. “Oh, I can assure you of that; no paper, only the real thing; and today, not tomorrow.”

  Ts’ao nodded. “It might tip the balance our way.” Ts’ao was no fool. He knew well that should Hsü gain the position, he would look after his friends when the time came. “I shall introduce you to some interested parties.”

  *****

  Ts’ao was as good as his word and arranged several meetings with high up Academicians and Prefects who were suddenly interested in Hsü’s welfare. Hsü’s smile was sardonic when he thought about that. Under any other circumstances they would not have given him much thought.

  Later Ts’ao informed him that there were to be several firm supporters of his bid for governorship.

  His conversations with Ts’ao had revealed some interesting facts which bore careful consideration. It was clear that Rong h
ad exerted a great deal of influence. Administrators who would otherwise have been neutral were now interested.

  A week later Hsü received a letter from Ts’ao informing him of the time and place for his interview with the Emperor.

  His audience was brief and to the point. He had submitted his written report on arrival, and he knew it would have been read before the audience was granted. Finally he was brought to the Great Chamber, where he shuffled forward on his knees to stop at the base of the platform and Ke Tou’d before his great Highness, the Emperor. Placing his hands on the carpet, he put his forehead to the floor and waited until he was told to sit up.

  When he did, he was not allowed to look directly at the Emperor; in fact, it would have been difficult, as the Emperor was seated on a dais no less than seven steps above him on a golden throne. Almost everything in the huge chamber was either lacquered black, painted red, or covered with elaborately detailed gold leaf. The idea was to instill awe and humility in the presence of one so august. On either side of the stairs on low plinths were two gilded cranes carved of ebony and ivory that represented good fortune. Above the throne writhed images of fierce dragons, their fangs bared and their huge eyes glaring down at him.

  Out of the corner of his eye he glimpse the silk robes of the Emperor, every inch of which was decorated with bright red and deep blue motifs of elaborate designs, including a dragon on the center of the breast. He had a moment to contemplate the sumptuous surroundings of gilded pillars and silk paintings, perhaps hundreds of years old. He knew that priceless treasures had been lost when the Northern Sung regions had succumbed to the Jin barbarians, but much appeared to have been saved.

  On both sides of the throne were courtiers in glittering, bejeweled costumes and officials wearing thick silk coats made almost rigid by the amount of gold and silver thread stitched onto them. He felt positively shabby by comparison. He did not fail to notice the kind of people surrounding the throne. They were almost all from the Administrative class; he saw only two uniforms, denoting a general and an admiral, neither of whom he knew.