Paper Mage

by Cutter, Leah

  Xiao Yen also needed information about the city, about Vakhtang, about everything. Bei Xi said they would find him here. But where?

  As they finished their fourth pot of tea, Xiao Yen realized Young Lu was content to sit, share stories, and not move for the rest of the afternoon. Young Lu hadn't invited Xiao Yen to see the rest of the compound, even though she was family.

  Desperate, Xiao Yen decided to risk a question. Bei Xi had said that her little sister had had her own temples in the north, so she asked, “Have you ever heard of Jhr Bei?”

  Young Lu looked startled. A servant entered, bringing fresh tea. Young Lu waved the servant away. “You want to go there, pray?” She slurred her words together, so that “there, pray” sounded like Jhr Bei.

  “Yes,” Xiao Yen answered, not sure what her aunt was up to. “There. Pray.” She, too, ran the words together so they sounded like Jhr Bei.

  Young Lu gazed across the table, not seeing anything for a moment. When she turned to Xiao Yen, her voice was normal, but she pressed her lips together tightly, as if holding back what she really wanted to say.

  “My old bones won't make it to the dragon temple this afternoon, though I pray for release every day. But we have a small altar here. Come, niece. Let's pray together here, first.”

  Xiao Yen didn't know if there was any hidden meaning in her aunt's words, so she waited without saying anything while her aunt rose. Something was wrong with Young Lu's ankle. She depended on a plain wooden cane to walk. She'd been lame a long time—the head of her cane was polished smooth from handling—although Xiao Yen would bet that her aunt hadn't been born that way. Young Lu held her head high, as if she were still a coltish girl. Xiao Yen wondered what had happened to her aunt, if her deformity had something to do with the scandal surrounding her life, why she lived up north, so far away from the rest of the family. Fu Be Be wouldn't talk about it. Neither would Wang Tie-Tie.

  Udo lay with his head touching the top stair and his feet almost stretched out to the bottom stair. He opened his eyes as Xiao Yen and Young Lu passed.

  “Soon,” Xiao Yen said, not wanting to pause.

  Udo grunted and closed his eyes again.

  Young Lu took Xiao Yen through the gate separating the formal front courtyard from the back. The family courtyard was much like the one Xiao Yen had grown up in, with low wooden houses built on stilts, leaning against the walls. Young Lu led her niece straight to her own bedroom. An altar holding a single ancestor tablet stood in the corner opposite the door. Xiao Yen guessed it was for Young Lu's husband, who had died only a year ago or so. Fresh flowers lay on the altar, still holding morning dewdrops—or were they tears?

  A bed stood against the far wall of the room, heaped high with colorful quilts and furs. At the foot of the bed stood an elegant black-and-gold lacquered wardrobe with several village scenes painted on it. Young Lu made Xiao Yen wait by the dressing table next to the door. Xiao Yen couldn't see beyond her aunt's skinny shoulders as she fiddled with something in the opposite corner. She heard a quiet click. Her aunt backed away carrying something. It took a moment for Xiao Yen to realize that her aunt didn't hold a part of the wall, but a painting that looked like the wall. Xiao Yen stepped closer, to see what her aunt had revealed.

  A tiny shrine stood recessed into the wall. It was as well kept as the ancestor altar, with fresh flowers and a thimble of wine. An ancient wooden plaque stood at the back of the shrine. The paint on it had been worn away. Xiao Yen had to lean closer to see the faint outline that remained. It looked like a half-snake, half-human picture of Nü-gua, except the face had more definition in it, and the hair, instead of being bound up, was long and flowing.

  Xiao Yen said aloud, “Jhr Bei.”

  Young Lu's eyes filled with tears. “You know.” After another moment she continued in a conversational tone. “It's forbidden to worship Our Lady. Or even to grieve for her, after that monster Vakhtang ate her soul. If anyone found out about this shrine, the soldiers would throw me into the pits beneath the governor's house. I'd never see daylight again.”

  Young Lu spoke without emotion, as if she were describing the market in city. She genuflected in front of the altar again then straightened up.

  “I keep the shrine anyway. I offer respect, and beg for vengeance.” Young Lu was a small bird of a woman, with thin bones and fine skin. Yet Xiao Yen still saw the strength that held her aunt together.

  “Aunt,” Xiao Yen said. “I'm here to—”

  Young Lu interrupted. “I don't want to know your plans. If Vakhtang's soldiers capture me, I don't want to be able to give you away.”

  Xiao Yen doubted that a barbed whip could tear a whisper from Young Lu if she decided not to talk. However, she saw the wisdom in her aunt's decision.

  “Udo and I need supplies. We're going to the rat dragon's cave first, then Vakhtang's.”

  “The foreigner? He's going with you?” Young Lu asked. She looked surprised.

  Xiao Yen said, “He is. Jhr Bei's sister said he should.”

  Young Lu's eyes grew large, but her voice remained calm. “What I have is yours. I can tell you of the rat dragon's cave, of Vakhtang, his soldiers, anything.”

  “Thank you,” Xiao Yen said. She bowed to her aunt.

  “I should be the one thanking you,” Young Lu replied, bowing even deeper.

  * * *

  That evening, Xiao Yen and Udo ate dinner privately in his room, separate from the rest of the household. Though Young Lu had told her servants that they'd be whipped and thrown out if they gossiped about their guests, she didn't know for certain if they'd hold their tongues. It was best to keep both Xiao Yen and Udo out of sight. Young Lu trusted her in-laws and the other members of the household a bit more, but there were many children, and who knew what they'd say without thinking, and to whom?

  Just as Xiao Yen and Udo finished their dinner of rabbit and celery stew, Young Lu joined them. She brought a small bowl of dried apple pieces with her, to help her guests clear their palates.

  “Apples!” Udo cried out when he saw them. He took the bowl from Young Lu without asking, then picked out one of the pieces and examined it.

  Xiao Yen blushed at his rudeness. Though she'd wanted to eat dinner with the rest of the household, to be with family, she'd agreed to Young Lu's plan to stay out of sight. Now, she was glad she'd agreed. She'd traveled with Udo and the others for long enough that she'd forgotten how little the foreigners knew about manners. At least the room was dark, and the candlelight hid her blush a little.

  Young Lu knelt down next to Xiao Yen at the low table holding the remnants of their dinner, then reached over and patted her niece's hand. “I see that even with foreigners, men are still boys.”

  Xiao Yen nearly giggled. At least Young Lu hadn't taken offense. And she was right. Udo did look younger, his eyes even rounder with delight as he tasted an apple piece.

  “My family owns an orchard. We grow apples, and other fruits,” Udo said. “I haven't seen many apples since I left. This one seems different from the ones we grow. The flesh is more firm, even when it's dried. The fruit is smaller too. Can you tell me anything about how apples are grown here?”

  “What's he saying?” Young Lu asked.

  “If I understand him right, his family grew apples on their land. I think he's comparing the apples, and wants to know more about these.”

  Young Lu was happy to explain. “These apples grow wild in the hills, just south and west of city. We get the best of the crop. My youngest son-in-law has a friend whose cousin oversees the crop as it comes in. He always directs our cooks to the best sellers in the market.”

  Xiao Yen translated as best she could, though family connections were always difficult to describe.

  “You don't grow them? You gather them?” Udo asked, incredulous. “Why would you do that?” The criticism was obvious in his voice.

  Young Lu sat up primly when she heard Udo's reaction, the flicking candlelight casting stern shadows across her face. “Wild
apples have more natural essences in them. They're better for you than those grown in an orchard. Though you shouldn't ever eat apples if you're sick. You might keep the sickness with you, because the word for ‘sick' is so similar to the word for ‘apple.'“

  Xiao Yen struggled with the translation, trying to explain “essence” and “natural” with her limited vocabulary.

  Udo shook his head when he understood, as if he didn't quite believe it. “Apples are healthy for you. If you don't eat dried apples during the winter your teeth grow loose.”

  Young Lu made a quiet comment to Xiao Yen about “uncivilized foreigner.”

  Udo replied with a quiet comment about “superstitious barbarians.”

  Xiao Yen didn't translate either.

  After a moment's strained silence, Xiao Yen said, “Tell us about your home, Udo.”

  Udo glared at her for a moment, as if he resented her trying to end the argument. Xiao Yen suspected he was still upset with Young Lu for making him wait outside the Hall of Politeness that afternoon.

  He picked up another apple piece. His expression softened. “The orchard was a magical place. I always thought so, at least. My gran told me stories of the special creatures that lived in the orchard, the Elfe and Heinzelmaennchen and such.” At Xiao Yen's puzzled look, he said, “Creatures that aren't real, that exist only in stories. Like, well, like Bei Xi. Stories you hear about but know aren't true.”

  “Bei Xi is true,” Xiao Yen said. How could he not believe in the goddess, especially after he'd seen her? Xiao Yen herself was a mage. Did he not believe in her magic either?

  “Until I started traveling, I didn't believe those stories. But now, who knows?” Udo paused, his eyes growing bright and childlike again. “The first magician we traveled with never let us watch him enchant that cloth. Sometimes I wondered if he actually did it, or if he'd just bought a bunch of magic rugs. But now I've traveled with a mage who lives and breathes magic.” Udo paused and smiled softly at Xiao Yen.

  The admiration and wonder in Udo's voice made Xiao Yen blush again. She thought of herself as a girl who sometimes performed magic, not as someone magical.

  “I'll never think of magic in the same way,” Udo continued. “I've even met someone you call a goddess. We're going to go fight a dragon. Maybe the stories my gran told were true too.”

  Xiao Yen shrugged. She didn't know. Yet, how could magic not exist in the foreign world? That would be very strange indeed. It must exist, just not in the way it existed in the Middle Kingdom.

  “Tell me about the dragon. How are we going to fight it? I'm going to need a sword and shield,” he said, addressing Young Lu.

  Xiao Yen had already grilled her aunt that afternoon for information about the dragon, so she summarized her knowledge for Udo.

  “The dragon isn't really a proper dragon. It's a mindless beast, created by a foreign magician out of a rat.”

  Young Lu, not understanding Xiao Yen's words, started piling dishes up onto a carrying tray. Xiao Yen helped herd dishes across the table toward her aunt.

  “Vakhtang suffers the beast's existence because it's a good guard of the western mountain passes for him. It knows enough to not hunt the people from Khan Hua, but instead, harries the caravans and other people from the east. It also feeds on prisoners Vakhtang sends it sometimes. There's a huge pile of garbage outside the main entrance, so it's easy to find the place where it lives.”

  “If it's so easy to find, why hasn't someone killed it?” Udo asked, chewing another apple piece with relish.

  “The mountain is easy to find. The dragon itself is harder. As a rat chews through wood, the rat dragon gnaws through rock. Men get lost in its tunnels and die of starvation before they reach the creature. Here Aunt, let me help you.”

  Xiao Yen sprang to her feet as Young Lu started to rise. Xiao Yen took the tray with the dishes and put it on the front stair outside the door. Then she came back in and sat down again. She continued, saying, “The men who do find the beast say they can't harm it. Mages, too, have failed to kill it. No one in the city knows what will harm it. Bei Xi started to tell me what would, but she was distracted before she could finish. I'm sure she didn't mean to keep it a secret. She said, though, that the dragon could only be killed by words not written or spoken.”

  Udo snorted. “I can kill the dragon. That thing has never seen a man from my country before. You just need to get me a sword and shield. I'll do the rest.”

  Xiao Yen was speechless in the face of his arrogance. Did he really think that little of Bei Xi's warning? Of Young Lu's information? Of the people in Khan Hua who had died trying to kill the beast?

  Young Lu sniffed with disdain. She didn't understand Udo's words, but his tone of voice conveyed his meaning clearly enough. She leaned over and said to Xiao Yen, “Are you sure you want to take him with you?”

  “Even a foreigner's help is better than none,” Xiao Yen replied, hoping that it would be true.

  Young Lu pressed her lips together and said, “If you don't want him to go with you, we can lie about where you've gone when you go.”

  “Thank you Aunt,” Xiao Yen said, meaning it.

  “Do we go after the dragon tomorrow morning?” Udo asked.

  Xiao Yen translated then replied. “I need to meditate on the puzzle Bei Xi gave me about the dragon before we go attack it. I don't want to go in without some kind of plan.”

  “I'm all the plan you need,” Udo said, leaning away from the table.

  Xiao Yen ignored him. She turned to her aunt and asked, “What more can you tell me about Vakhtang?” Xiao Yen hadn't asked many questions about Vakhtang. Though it was more important to stop him than to get to the rat dragon's cave, she felt that she didn't have to worry about him yet. She would be able to ask Young Lu more questions and make plans after she and Udo had the hairpin. Besides, Xiao Yen felt uneasy about what Bei Xi expected her to do to Vakhtang. Just one little scratch with the hairpin would dissolve the bubble around his heart. But would it kill him? Killing went against all Xiao Yen's Buddhist teachings. She wasn't sure she could kill a man, even with a small wound.

  “He lives in the governor's compound. No one has seen the governor for months. It is said—”

  “What's she saying?” Udo interrupted.

  Xiao Yen kept ignoring him.

  Young Lu continued. “He keeps a harem in the inner courtyard, some of Our Lady's temple attendants—”

  “You're plotting against me. You're planning on attacking the dragon without me,” Udo said. “All of you are alike. You think you're so superior. You don't think a foreigner can do anything. You think we're not human, not as good as you are. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of you!”

  How dare Udo say such things aloud, accuse them of not thinking he was human? A civilized person showed their manners to others, not their emotions. Xiao Yen's shame about Udo was matched by her shame about herself, because she had been thinking about leaving him behind.

  Young Lu stood stiffly, not waiting for Xiao Yen to translate Udo's words. “Come niece. Let's leave the important lord to his plans.” She walked out the door, head held high.

  Xiao Yen rose as well. She walked to the door then turned back.

  “My aunt and I talk about Vakhtang. Not the dragon.”

  Udo sneered at her. “But you had talked about leaving me behind.”

  Xiao Yen didn't deny it. “The dragon is not only problem. Vakhtang—”

  “Is your problem. Not mine. I'm going to kill the dragon, and get its gold. Nothing more. Killing a lord in your country, well, as you've told me, I am a foreigner. I'd never make it back to my own land alive.”

  Xiao Yen opened her mouth, then closed it again. How could Udo be so selfish? The dragon wasn't the important part of their duty. Vakhtang was. Without another word she walked out the door.

  A cool night breeze ruffled through her hair. Above the walls of the compound she could see the stars. Master Wei had told her that identical points of light shone on the o
ther side of the world, above the foreigners. In spite of similarities like that, Xiao Yen was certain Udo had come from someplace quite unknowable.

  * * *

  The next morning, Xiao Yen rose early and went to the local dragon temple. It squatted on the southern edge of a lake, just to the west of Khan Hua. Thick red and blue clay tiles covered the curved roof, making it look twice as big as the rest of the building.

  The altar inside the temple was a simple thin table against one wall, with a clawed silver cup filled with pure water that the dragon could use, should it decide to manifest itself.

  Xiao Yen made her offering of incense and candles, then went outside to sit next to the lake. On the side nearest the city a group of screaming children played a game of ball. The object seemed to be to get as close to the water as possible without going in, and to make as much noise as possible while doing it. Xiao Yen went to the far side of the lake, away from the city and the children.

  She thought about the different ways one could say words—singing, shouting, whispering—but she knew Bei Xi had meant something else. Another idea, something linked to Bei Xi, tugged at Xiao Yen, but she couldn't grasp it. If only Udo hadn't interrupted. Bei Xi would have told her. She hadn't meant it to be a mystery, Xiao Yen was certain. She rubbed the scar on her left hand and sighed.

  Finally she pushed all her thoughts away, closed her eyes and transported herself to her quiet place, a place that existed in her mind alone, beside a fast-running river, the moss on the banks softer than any pillows. Gentle winds caressed her cheeks, and the silence covered her with silky feathers.

  When Xiao Yen came back to the present, she opened her eyes and looked at the lake. While she'd had her eyes closed, an old man and a young boy had started fishing. The top of the old man's head was bald—only a few wisps of white hair clung valiantly to the edges. His head was the color of old wood, lovingly polished. He wore a simple black jacket with loose-fitting gray pants.

  The young boy played by himself near the shore. He moved with a surety that told Xiao Yen he'd been walking for a couple of years, so maybe he was four or five. He built himself a pile of rocks next to the water's edge and talked to it in an authoritative tone. Every once in a while he'd pick up a stone and carry it over for the old man to see. The old man would pat the boy's head, but he never said anything.