The Emperor's Seal

by Amanda Roberts

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Zhihao said. “I don’t have anything on me. It’s all back at my camp.”

  “Guess we will just take the girl then,” one of the men said.

  “Like hell you will,” Zhihao said, putting up his fists. He wasn’t sure how he was going to stop them. He didn’t have a weapon, and while he was a fairly good boxer, these men were bigger than him and had knives they undoubtedly knew how to use.

  “Hey, what’s wrong with her?” one of the men asked, motioning to Jiayi, who was still deep in her trance against the tree. “She drugged or something?”

  Zhihao had no idea if he could wake her up or how long she would be out. She had taken a deep breath, most likely planning on being gone for as long as possible, so she could be asleep for five or six minutes or more.

  “Mind your own business and move along,” Zhihao said, holding up his fists.

  The two men laughed, then one of them lunged toward him. Zhihao jumped aside, but then the other man grabbed one of his arms. He tried to wrench free, but then the first man came back and punched him in the gut. Zhihao gasped as the wind flew out of him. The man then brandished his knife.

  “I’m gonna enjoy this,” the bandit said. “Then, I’m gonna enjoy your little woman.”

  Zhihao gritted his teeth and was about to attempt to break free when the man grunted and turned around. Eunuch Lo was standing behind him, his face hard as granite. He had punched the man in his kidney. As the man turned, Eunuch Lo punched him twice in the stomach and then once in the face, causing the man to fall unconscious.

  The other man let go of one of Zhihao’s arms just long enough to grab his knife and hold it to Zhihao’s throat.

  “I don’t know where you keep your balls, but you got some big ones,” the man said. “But try anything else and your friend here gets it.”

  Eunuch Lo stood still. Zhihao’s eyes were darting around as he was trying to formulate a plan when he heard a thunk. His captor went rigid, then he dropped his knife and fell over. Zhihao turned around and saw Jiayi holding a large rock.

  “It’s a good thing I am used to waking up in weird situations,” she said.

  Zhihao smiled. She certainly was quick on her feet. Zhihao and Eunuch Lo worked together to tie the bandits up.

  “What are we going to do with them?” Jiayi asked. “We can’t guard them all the time or take them with us.”

  “We should question them at least,” Zhihao said. “What if someone sent them to kill us?”

  “Who would do that?” Jiayi asked. “Who even knows we are out here?”

  “Marcus,” Zhihao said.

  “You don’t really think that, do you?” Jiayi asked.

  Zhihao snorted. Did she really think Marcus was innocent? Blameless? She was smitten with the man!

  “Who else could it be?” Zhihao asked, more harshly than he planned.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Jiayi said. “It is nearly dark. We need to do something.”

  Jiayi and Zhihao were still arguing with each other when they heard a sound like a muffled punch followed by a grunt. They turned and saw Eunuch Lo removing a large knife from the gut of one of the men. The other man was looking around wildly and crying for help through his stifling mouth gag.

  “Eunuch Lo!” Zhihao cried out. “What are you doing?”

  “What you lack the courage to do,” he said calmly as he moved behind the other man and seamlessly slit his throat.

  Jiayi and Zhihao watched in horror as blood spilled from the two men and pooled around them. Zhihao protectively put his arm around Jiayi.

  “How…how could you?” Jiayi finally managed to ask.

  “I am here to protect you,” Eunuch Lo said as he wiped the blood from the blade and then slipped it into his waistband. “I will do that by any means necessary.” He then walked over and grabbed one of the shovels they had brought with them. “You should go back to the camp and rest,” he said. “It is dark. We can continue looking for the seal tomorrow.”

  Zhihao and Jiayi turned and quickly walked back toward the camp. When they thought they were finally out of earshot, Zhihao spoke first.

  “We cannot stay here,” he said.

  “What else can we do?” Jiayi asked. “We have to keep looking for the seal. We can’t just leave.”

  “We cannot stay here with him. He’s a murderer!”

  “I don’t think we have a choice,” Jiayi said.

  “What?” Zhihao asked. “How can you not be terrified of that man?”

  “Who says I’m not?” she asked. “But what choice do we have? The empress has ordered us to find the seal, and I fear her more than Eunuch Lo.”

  “But what if we are on the completely wrong track?” Zhihao asked. “What if we don’t find it and Eunuch Lo has orders to take care of us next?”

  “And you think running is the answer?” Jiayi asked. “If we return to the empress without the seal, what do you think she will do to us then?”

  Zhihao paced in circles. “We are so dead!”

  “Not if we find the seal,” Jiayi said.

  Zhihao shook his head. “Fine, fine. We will stay here. Are you all right?”

  “No,” she said honestly. “I’m terrified. I had no idea he was capable of such a thing. He’ll be right outside my tent…” She shook her head as her voice trailed off.

  Zhihao nodded. “I know,” he said. “I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do.”

  “We just need to find the seal and bring this journey to an end,” she said.

  “Oh, by the way,” Zhihao said. “What did you see earlier?”

  “Not much. Lady Cai did take the seal, wrapped in the cloth. By then, the battle had ended. She then went to a smaller tent and wrote a letter. That was all I saw before I woke up and saw the men attacking you.”

  “That was quick thinking, with the rock,” Zhihao said, rubbing the back of his head.

  “Thanks,” she replied with a smile.

  “What did the letter say?” he asked.

  “I…I don’t know,” she stammered as if embarrassed, though Zhihao couldn’t tell of what. “In the dreams, words are always…muddled, backward. Like looking at them through water. Though I can usually hear the thoughts of the person reading or writing, they never think exactly what they are writing. I’m sorry. I can’t remember what the letter was about, but…it…umm…oh! It was to her brother, her younger brother.”

  “Maybe she was writing to her brother for help or advice,” Zhihao said. “But surely he is long dead by now.”

  “Let’s just hope she didn’t send the seal to him,” Jiayi said. “It could be anywhere in China!”

  “Indeed,” Zhihao said. Just then, he spied Eunuch Lo heading toward them. “We better retire for the night. If you need anything, just scream. I’ll hear you.”

  “That is far more comforting than it should be,” Jiayi said.

  Twelve

  Jiayi could hardly sleep a wink. She had never cared for Eunuch Lo. She resenting being monitored like a naughty child and worried about the power he held over her after he saw her steal the empress’s comb. But she had never feared him as she did now. He was always watching her, staring at her, always nearby, which made her uncomfortable, but he was under orders from the empress to keep an eye on her, and she was valuable to the empress. She never thought he would harm her. But now, she wasn’t so sure.

  Seeing those two men murdered in cold blood in front of her had upset her more than she realized at the time. As the night wore on, the shock wore off and the gravity of the situation sank in. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the terrified face of the second man and felt his fear. She felt as though she should have done…something, but she had no idea what. Logically, she knew there was nothing she could have done in the moment. It had never entered into her mind that the men’s lives could be in danger. But she felt guilty nonetheless. And afraid. She wanted to be comforted. She longed for the arms of a man around her. Prince Junjie’s a
rms. But she could not go to him now. Not because she was worried about draining her powers, but because she had already tried and found she could not. Her vision with the silk had drained her, and even now, hours later, as she palmed Lady Meirong’s necklace in her hand, nothing happened.

  She had gotten nothing from the silk that would help them. She couldn’t believe the majority of her vision had been wasted on Lady Cai writing a letter. At least Zhihao seemed to believe her about why she had been unable to read it.

  She also couldn’t sleep because she couldn’t get her idea of running away with Marcus out of her head. She didn’t find him particularly handsome, and she didn’t trust him, but the prospect of asking him to help her escape to a foreign country thrilled her to the core. She had dreamed of running away from the Forbidden City and the empress for years, but this was the first time she had met someone who could, theoretically, help her get away.

  She had no idea if she would see him again, or if he would be willing to help her, but she had to work up her courage to ask him for help if she saw him. She wasn’t sure why Zhihao disliked him so. Probably some professional rivalry. He couldn’t be as bad of a man as he let on. He spoke Chinese! That wasn’t easy. He had to have some affection for her country. Perhaps he would have sympathy for her plight.

  Unable to sleep, she sketched. She opened her notebook and used her coal pencil to continue working on an image she had started several days before. It was of the Conghua Pass. She wasn’t sure why she felt compelled to draw a landscape. She wasn’t very good at it and much preferred to draw the faces of the people she had met in her visions. She had more than a few sketches of Prince Junjie. Yet when she felt the urge to create something, she could not rest until she finished it. She loved the feeling of the charcoal as it ran slightly rough over the thick paper. Her fingers turned black as she smoothed out lines and filled in shadows. By the light of her lantern, the hours ticked by. It was probably near dawn by the time she laid her pencil down and her mind had calmed enough for her to get a little rest.

  She rose with the sun and dressed quickly, trying to keep the many thoughts that still whirled in her head at bay. She avoided looking at Eunuch Lo as she exited the tent. He seemed to sense her unease and went to the edge of the camp, keeping an eye out on every desert rodent that scurried past or leaf that drifted by. She then prepared the morning congee. The air was cool and crisp up here in this place even though it was summer, and the sun rising over the hills was a rainbow of colors. During the dry, hot parts of the day, it was hard to imagine that such a place could also be so beautiful and peaceful. She dreamed of one day learning to paint with watercolors or oils so she could bring such colorful scenes to life, but even asking the empress for paper and charcoal sometimes felt like asking the empress for bars of gold. The empress was a stingy woman. Every coin she could save from her household expenses she spent on her summer palace. And that meant every thread of silk, every pot of face paint, and every stick of charcoal had to be used sparingly.

  Jiayi sighed as she looked out over rocks as far as the eye could see, some rising, some dipping. She had no idea where in this endless sea of stones the seal could be, if it was here at all.

  Zhihao finally emerged from his tent looking as though he had had a rough night as well. He stumbled over to the fire and boiled some water. Surprisingly, he didn’t use it to fix tea, but some strong-smelling brown stuff.

  “Coffee,” Zhihao explained, letting her take a sip. She couldn’t help making a face. He laughed. “Something I started drinking when I was in England. It’s an acquired taste, but it will help you wake up when you are tired.”

  “I’m sorry you didn’t sleep well,” Jiayi said.

  “Every noise made me jump,” Zhihao said. He eyed Eunuch Lo across the camp and kept his voice low. “I was worried someone was in the camp or something might happen and I wouldn’t hear it. But I was also trying to figure out where to search today. From looking at the maps, I think there are several caves in the area, mostly to the west. We should probably head that way.”

  Jiayi had no reason to agree or disagree with his plan, so as soon as they had eaten, the group headed out with shovels, ropes, pickaxes, and other items. They had only walked a short distance when they saw a man with a herd of goats. The man was probably not as old as he looked, but years of sun and wind had weathered his face. His clothing was worn but brightly colored, indicating that he belonged to a specific ethnic minority that lived in the area.

  “Maybe we should ask him if he knows anything that could help us,” Jiayi suggested.

  Zhihao nodded in agreement. “Hello, sir!” he called out with a smile as they approached. “We are looking for a good place to dig for lost historical items. Can you tell us anything about the area?” he asked in his Peking dialect.

  The man replied, but it was clear Zhihao could not understand him. The man spoke a northern dialect that was nothing like Peking Chinese.

  “I guess we won’t get anything out of this fellow,” Zhihao said. “I can’t communicate with him.”

  “He says he can’t understand you,” Jiayi said with a chuckle.

  “You…you understand him?” Zhihao asked.

  “A little bit,” Jiayi said.

  “Can you speak to him?” Zhihao asked.

  “Possibly,” she said. “I have heard his dialect before, but I’ve never spoken it…when I was awake.”

  “You can remember the languages you have heard and spoken in your visions?” he asked, astonished. “Is that how you knew what Marcus was saying to you in English? I thought you were just guessing by his body language. Can you speak English?”

  “It’s…complicated,” she said. “I’ll explain later. We don’t want to keep this kind fellow waiting.”

  “Yes, yes, of course,” Zhihao said. “Ask him what he knows about the area or if he has seen anyone else poking around.”

  Jiayi spoke to the man as best she could. She was far from fluent, but coupling her feeble attempt at communication with hand gestures helped.

  “He says that there is a cave to the west, one with an opening shaped like a mouth with teeth, that locals say is cursed, so they stay away from it. He also says there have been other people here, strangers. One a large foreigner with hair like fire.”

  “Marcus!” Zhihao said.

  “He didn’t tell him about the cave.”

  “Lucky for us,” Zhihao said.

  “He says that every few years, people come to this area looking for something. They never say what and he never tells them about the cave,” she explained.

  “Why did he tell us?” Zhihao asked.

  “He says it’s because I’m the only person who ever stopped to talk to him,” Jiayi said. “Everyone else just starts digging without permission or pretends they don’t see him. His family has herded goats here for centuries, yet the people from the cities act like they don’t exist. He says his ancestors provided goat meat and goat milk for the imperial family when they used to go on procession through here.”

  “That is fascinating,” Zhihao said. “Well, after this is over, I would love to come back and talk to him, write some of his stories down.”

  “He said he would like that very much,” Jiayi translated.

  They said goodbye to the old man and headed in the direction of the cave.

  “That was incredible,” Zhihao said. “How did you communicate with him?”

  “When I am in someone else’s body, I speak in their language, and when they speak to me, I understand it completely. When I wake up, sometimes I remember it. But it is easier if the language is similar to Chinese. I can remember quite a bit from different Chinese dialects. But if a language is too different, like English or French, it is tough for me to remember. I can understand it better than I can speak it.”

  “You have been in the body of a French woman?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she said. “The empress has items from all over the world. Sometimes she has me touch them jus
t to verify their origin.”

  “I can see how that would be a useful gift,” Zhihao said. “More and more people are forging antiques because they are worth so much money. Museums and art dealers could use someone with a gift like yours.”

  Jiayi stopped. “Really?” she asked. “You mean…people would pay me for what I do? Like…like a job?”

  “Yes,” he said, looking at her. “You would have to be discreet. If the wrong people found out about your gift, they could exploit you or use you in other ways, but for a legitimate art dealer, you would be an invaluable asset.”

  “Do you know these…art dealers?” she asked.

  “I know a few,” he said. “I was quite a regular at the British Museum in London.”

  Jiayi didn’t say anything, but she could feel her mouth hanging open. There was so much more she wanted to ask about this. Could he help her get this sort of job? Could she live in London and not have to be a maid? Could he help her escape the empress? She didn’t know where to begin.

  He reached over and touched her elbow. She looked at him, and his eyes quickly darted to Eunuch Lo. They could not talk about such things in front of him.

  “I am sure that the empress greatly values your gift,” he said softly.

  She nodded. “Indeed. I am very happy to serve the empress.”

  He nodded, apparently understanding that they would talk about this more at another time. But for now, they needed to find this cave with teeth.

  Thirteen

  They came across a cave that was deep and dark. Even though the sun was shining brightly, they could not see very far in. They would need torches.

  “Are you sure this is the right cave?” Jiayi asked.

  “No,” Zhihao said. “He said a cave to the west, but there are many caves in this area. We will have to start checking them one by one.”

  Zhihao collected their ropes and tied them together. He then tied one end around a tree and held it as he started into the cave.