The Veiled Dragon

by Denning, Troy

  Prince Tang stirred his concoction with a long glass rod, then poured it into a pewter chalice. He motioned to Wei Dao and started toward Ruha.

  “Do not frighten wu-jen,” he said. “For bessst effect, she mussst drink potion of her own accord.”

  The witch tested her bonds, found they still held, and lowered the knot into the lamp flame. Even she could not smell the hemp being scorched, so thickly did the cloying reek of ylang oil hang in the chamber. She continued to strain at the rope until her captors were almost upon her. Then, fearing they would notice a wisp of smoke or a flickering reflection behind her, she beckoned the fire into her hands and smothered it between her palms.

  Tang and Wei Dao arrived with the love potion. The prince kneeled on the floor before Ruha and pulled her gag over her chin. His wife stood behind him, with one hand close to the wasp knives hanging from her black waist sash.

  “If you still have no wish to become my concubine, drink this,” Tang said in Common. He held his chalice to Ruha’s mouth. “It makes you forget what you see in Ginger Palace, so we can release you without fear.”

  Gently working her wrists back and forth against her seared bindings, Ruha stared down her nose at the oily pink concoction. It looked about as appetizing as camel’s blood, and its syrupy sweetness was twice as nauseating. The witch could hardly bear to sniff the stuff, much less drink it.

  “I have no wish to forget what I have seen in the Ginger Palace.”

  “Then you do not leave.”

  “Be that as it may, I still will not become your concubine.” Ruha raised her chin. “Such a thing would not be fitting. I am a sheikh’s daughter.”

  Tang’s eyes shined with a hopeful gleam and, mercifully, he lowered the chalice. “What do you mean?”

  “In Anauroch, a man may take as many wives as his camels can feed.” A muffled grinding sounded between Wei Dao’s clenched teeth, but Ruha ignored the noise and looked deeply into Tang’s eyes. “I suppose a Shou prince can feed as many wives as he wishes.”

  “Her insolence is beyond forbearance!” Wei Dao pulled a knife from her sash. “I slay this savage!”

  With a movement so swift that Ruha saw only a blur, Tang’s hand lashed out and caught his wife’s wrist. In Shou, he said, “It isss for me to decide what is insssolence.”

  “You cannot take barbarian for wife.” Wei Dao protested. “Emperor never invite usss to return.”

  The prince shrugged, then pushed Wei Dao’s hand toward her sash. “We need wu-jen if we are ever to be sssafe from Cypress.” He turned back to Ruha. “Please to pardon princess. She is only wife for many years and cannot help being spoiled.”

  Ruha continued to work at her bonds and graced the princess with a benevolent smile. “After she grows accustomed to the new arrangement, I am certain we will become great friends.”

  Wei Dao’s only response was to thrust her dagger into its sheath, but Tang accepted Ruha’s reply with an equally gracious nod. “Of course that is possible, but what of obligations you speak of earlier? If they interfere with being concubine, how do they not interfere with becoming wife?”

  “If you are willing to marry me, then you must also be willing to make one accommodation,” Ruha replied.

  “I tell you thisss no good!” Wei Dao scoffed. “If you value mother’s life and honor of Ginger Palace, you let me kill her now”

  Ruha cast an impatient glance at Wei Dao. “I suspect our discussion would proceed more smoothly if we were alone, Prince Tang.” She felt something slip in the knot behind her, but her hands did not come free. “Perhaps you could ask the princess to excuse us?”

  “Do not be fool. Witch cassst spell on you.”

  Prince Tang looked at his wife out of the corner of his eye. “It is better to have princess here—as long as she behaves courteously. Otherwise, perhaps I do as you suggest, wu-jen.” He returned his gaze to Ruha. “Now, tell me of this accommodation you desire.”

  “I have every desire to see Lady Feng released, but not at Yanseldara’s expense,” Ruha replied. “If you will stand with Vaerana Hawklyn against the Cult of the Dragon, becoming your wife would not interfere with my obligations.”

  “What do I tell you, wise husband? Witch never be good wife.” Then, in Shou, the princess added, “Ssshe baits you like witless bear.”

  Tang scowled, but again raised the silver chalice to Ruha’s lips. “Perhaps you should drink, wu-jen. What you ask is impossible.”

  Ruha gagged and pulled away from the potion’s mawkish smell. “Why? If it is Cypress you fear, there is no need. He is dead. I destroyed him myself.”

  Wei Dao snorted, and the prince raised his brow—but he did not lower the goblet. “Perhaps you do destroy Cypress, but if you think that means there is no reason to fear him, you know nothing.”

  “Then tell me.” At last, the rope came apart. Ruha stifled a gasp of surprise and barely kept her wrists from drifting apart to betray her escape. “If I understand, maybe I can help.”

  “You are not that powerful, Witch,” said Wei Dao.

  Tang was not so quick to denounce Ruha’s abilities. He regarded the witch thoughtfully, then said, “You cannot help, but perhaps you think differently about defying the Cult of the Dragon.”

  “I could.” The thought was not entirely outside the realm of possibility.

  The prince glanced down at his pink concoction. “But if you still do not change mind, you drink potion?”

  “So I will forget what you tell me?” Ruha asked, pretending she did not know the potion’s true purpose. Her ankles were still bound together, and she needed more time to break the scorched rope. “Are you trying to keep the cult’s secrets?”

  From the way Wei Dao’s eyes flashed and Tang’s complexion darkened, the witch knew she had hit on a subject worth probing.

  “Why should you protect the cult?” Even as Ruha asked the question, the answer came to her. “Are you in it?”

  Again, Wei Dao pulled a dagger, but Tang shook his head to stop her from attacking. He looked away from Ruha and fixed his gaze on the chamber door, his expression equal parts shame and relief.

  “I join when we come here.” The prince’s voice was hardly a whisper. “In Shou Lung, dragons are magnanimous and most honorable. How do I know they are different in Elversult?”

  “Then what happened?” Ruha found herself feeling almost sorry for the hapless prince. “Did you try to quit?”

  Tang slowly brought his gaze back to Ruha. “If I answer, you must drink potion.”

  Ruha nearly choked on her anger, but she forced herself to give him a beguiling smile. “Of course, assuming you do not convince me to stay.”

  “That is most wonderful possibility.” The prince looked away, and again his voice grew low and ashamed. “Cypress does not allow me to leave cult. He says even prince cannot break promise to dragon. He sinks all my ships until I promise to smuggle poisons for his murderers and spell ingredients for his wu-jens. The trade is most lucrative, but I cannot sleep.”

  Ruha cringed to think of what would trouble Tang’s conscience. “But why would he attack one of your ships now? You are still doing as he demands?”

  Tang’s head spun back to Ruha. “He attacks one of my ships?”

  “Yes, the Ginger Lady.”

  The prince’s face paled to the color of ivory, but it was Wei Dao who demanded, “How do you know this?”

  “Because that is when I destroyed him.” Ruha’s fingers finally managed to undo the rope around her ankles, but the witch made no move to escape. “He did not sink the ship—it did not appear that he was trying—but if you are still smuggling poisons for the cult, I do not understand why he attacked it at all.”

  The prince turned to his wife. “He wissshes to kill Hsieh!”

  The princess promptly shook her head. “Cypress grows impatient. It isss only warning.”

  “What good is warning we do not hear about?” Tang countered. “He fearsss Hsieh comes to ssstop smuggling.”
>
  “How can Cypress know esssteemed mandarin is on Ginger Lady? Even we do not know until lassst week.”

  Tang considered Wei Dao’s point for a moment; then the color came back to his face. He returned his attention to Ruha.

  “I tell you about Cult of the Dragon.” He lifted the chalice to her mouth. “Now you drink.”

  Ruha turned away from the awful smell. “You have not told me why you still fear the cult, when you know I have already destroyed Cypress.”

  “Perhaps I do not believe you have.” Tang swung the cup around to her lips. “Drink.”

  This time, Ruha did not turn away. It seemed reasonable for Tang to assume she might lie about destroying Cypress, but she still had not discovered what the cult needed to complete the theft of Yanseldara’s spirit. She held her breath and, very briefly, touched her lips to the cup rim—then pulled away and looked into the prince’s eyes.

  “Before drinking, I must be certain there is no hope of resolving our differences. Allow me one more question.”

  Tang groaned and lowered the awful-smelling potion. “Ask.”

  “What more—”

  Ruha’s question was interrupted by the muffled barking of a Shou voice outside the vault; then the steel door swung open. Into the chamber swept four men wearing long, yellow hauberks of silk-jacketed scale armor. Emblazoned on each of their chests was a scarlet wyvern, the personal crest of the Mandarin Hsieh Han Liu.

  Upon seeing the crest, both Tang and Wei Dao gasped. The prince barely managed to stand by the time the minister’s assistant, the obsequious Yu Po, strode into the room. He stopped just inside the door and, still flanked by Hsieh’s guards, regarded Ruha’s captors with a disdainful sneer.

  Yu Po tipped his body forward in a discourteously shallow bow. “I am Yu Po, Consssummate Scribe to Esssteemed Mandarin Hsieh Han Liu.”

  The intrusion shocked Ruha as much as it did Tang and Wei Dao. The refinery vault was hidden in a secret basement beneath the palace’s great spicehouse. Even had she anticipated Hsieh’s arrival so early in the day, she would no more have expected Yu Po to search out and intrude upon the prince and princess here than in their private apartments.

  “Welcome to Ginger Palace,” said Tang, still holding the ylang potion. Both he and his wife returned the scribe’s bow with surprising deference. “We expect Minister Hsieh’s arrival for many daysss now.”

  “We encounter many delaysss,” Yu Po returned coldly.

  “Pleassse excuse us,” said Wei Dao. “We join esteemed Mandarin in Hall of Amity, but firssst we must dispose of intruding thief”

  Wei Dao waved a hand in Ruha’s direction and drew an angry glare from Prince Tang, who would no doubt now find it most awkward to present the witch to anyone in Hsieh’s party as either wife or concubine. Not knowing what else to do, Ruha remained on her knees and pretended she was still bound. If escape had looked barely feasible before, when she had to contend only with the lightning fast reflexes of Tang and Wei Dao, it now seemed impossible.

  Yu Po studied Ruha for a few moments; then, in Common, he said, “It is difficult to say what Lady Ruha is, but it seems most unlikely she is thief.”

  “You know her?” Wei Dao gasped.

  In the same instant, Prince Tang whirled on Ruha. “Lady Ruha?” he demanded, looking hurt. “You do not tell me you are lady! Is it custom where you come from to be one man’s concubine and become another’s wife?”

  Yu Po arched his thin eyebrows. “First she is thief, then she is wife?” He chuckled, then said, “So sorry, but wedding must wait.” The adjutant motioned a pair of guards toward Ruha.

  Both Tang and Wei Dao paled and quickly stepped in front of the witch. “She is guest of Ginger Palace,” Tang declared. “You may not take her without my permission.”

  Yu Po’s eyes grew as black as obsidian. “Then you come outside and explain this to Minister Hsieh,” the adjutant growled. “After treatment Esteemed Mandarin receives from barbarians, he is most happy to hear that you defy him, I am sure.”

  Tang glanced at his wife, then asked, “What barbarians?”

  Yu Po’s face darkened. “Vaerana Hawklyn and her company of knaves!” He was sounding more angry all the time. “First they dare to surround Emperor’s caravan and search wagons for what they call ‘contraband’— Esteemed Mandarin is most interested to learn why Ministry of Spices does not know of trade in oleander leaves and puffer fish venom—and now they insult Emperor by holding Minister Hsieh hostage!”

  “Hostage?” Tang gasped.

  Yu Po nodded. “As we approach Ginger Palace, Lady Ruha’s half-man rushes down road and claims to Vaerana Hawklyn that you abduct his mistress. Minister Hsieh promises her release, but savage woman refuses his gracious offer and declares she does not release Emperor’s caravan until witch is free.”

  Ruha cursed Vaerana for a meddling interloper. The Lady Constable had just destroyed any hope that remained of discovering what the cult needed to complete the theft of Yanseldara’s spirit.

  Yu Po glanced at Ruha’s kneeling form, then leveled a stern gaze at Tang. “Do you still wish to keep ‘guest’ locked inside Ginger Palace?”

  “No.” The prince kneeled before Ruha and held the silver chalice to her lips. “She is free to leave as soon as she drinks potion.”

  Ruha grimaced at the reek of the syrupy elixir. She took her hands from behind her back and roughly pushed the cup away, then rose to her feet. “I have no wish to drink that rancid stuff.”

  The jaws of both Tang and Wei Dao fell when they saw the seared bonds hanging from her ankles and wrists. The prince managed to recover his wits quickly enough to grab her arm and thrust the potion toward her face. “You break promise!”

  “I said I would drink a potion of forgetfulness,” Ruha snapped. “That is a love potion, and I assure you that without fresh ylang blossoms, it could not possibly be strong enough.”

  With that, the witch brushed past her astonished captors. She snatched her jambiya off a table, then stepped into the protection of Yu Po and his guards. “Will you please take me out of here?”

  The adjutant waved her through the door. They climbed a set of stone stairs and exited the spicehouse via a secret door. With two guards leading the way and two following behind, the young Shou escorted Ruha past the enclosure where Tang kept his pet lizards, through a wicket door in the bulwark that separated the rear grounds from those in front, and straight toward the main gates. As they walked, Yu Po said nothing and stared straight ahead, pretending not to see the many puzzled residents of the Ginger Palace who had gathered to watch them leave.

  By the time they passed through the gateway, Ruha had untied her veil and fastened it back into place over her face. She found Vaerana and Fowler, now dressed in his customary trousers and tunic, waiting for her on the portico. The Lady Constable glowered at Ruha, then took her by the arm and hustled her down the stairs toward the white-bricked avenue, where a long line of driverless wagons stood drawn up alongside the ginkgo forest. Minister Hsieh and the caravan drivers were huddled together on the opposite side of the road, surrounded by a circle of mounted Maces.

  As soon as their feet touched the white bricks, Vaerana released Ruha and glared down at Yu Po—she was a full head taller than most of the Shou. “Wait here. I’ll send Minister Hsieh along when I’m sure the witch is unharmed.”

  “That is not our agreement.”

  “All right—I’ll let the mandarin go when I’m good and ready,” Vaerana growled. “If you don’t like that, go back and fetch your little prince. I’ll trade Hsieh for him anytime.”

  Yu Po’s nostrils flared ever so slightly, but he bowed and did his best to conceal his outrage.

  The Lady Constable led the way a short distance down the white-bricked avenue, and then, a dozen paces before they reached Tombor and the horses, suddenly stopped. She grabbed Ruha’s arm and, unable to control her anger another moment, dragged the witch off the road. With Fowler following close behind, the two wo
men slipped between two driverless wagons and walked twenty paces into the forest, where the fan-leafed ginkgo trees were so thick that it would be impossible for anyone on the road—Shou or otherwise—to see or hear what passed between them.

  “This is worse than Voonlar!” Vaerana hissed. “Couldn’t you spend even one night without getting caught? I almost didn’t make it back in time to save you.”

  “I did not need to be saved!” Arguing with the Lady Constable would do little to improve her standing with the Harpers, but she was as angry as Vaerana—and with better reason. “Yu Po could not have arrived at a worse time.”

  “I suppose Prince Tang was going to hand the staff over?” Vaerana tugged derisively at the heavy cloth of Ruha’s aba. “And what’s this? Is this what you think a Sembite spice trader looks like?”

  “I know less about Sembite spice traders than you do about good manners,” Ruha shot back. “It was better to pose as someone I could impersonate.”

  Vaerana narrowed her eyes and moved forward until she was standing chin-to-chin with the witch. “We found out in Voonlar what happens when you think. You should’ve done what I said.”

  Fowler slipped an arm between Vaerana and Ruha. “If she’d done what you wanted, we’d still be sitting in the courtyard with that back-stabbing dwarf Tombor claimed was a guide.” The captain pushed the women apart, then interposed himself between them. “It was only the Lady Witch’s disguise and her quick thinking that got us invited to stay the night at all.”