by Cutter, Leah
“You shouldn't. You have more imagination than those two combined. You need to compete when you're in a contest. There has to be a winner, and it isn't wrong for you to win.”
“But they're boys.”
“So?”
Xiao Yen didn't know how to reply. Wasn't it obvious? As a girl, how could Xiao Yen hope to be better than her male classmates?
With a loud sigh, Master Wei leaned back, picked up a piece of paper from his desk and handed it to Xiao Yen. The paper had been folded into a square, the center sealed with a bright red stamp. “Please give this to your aunt,” he said.
Xiao Yen stood for a moment, unsure if he was finished. He no longer watched her, but stared at the ceiling. She bowed low and turned toward the door.
Master Wei called out after her. “Yes, they're boys. But you—” he paused “ —are Xiao Yen.”
Xiao Yen looked back over her shoulder. What did that mean?
Master Wei stood up and bowed to her, bending his gaunt frame almost in two, until he bowed to her like an equal. Xiao Yen bowed back, her spirits shooting toward the ceiling. When she straightened up, Master Wei gestured toward the door. Xiao Yen was dismissed.
She picked up her sack from outside the door and walked across the outer courtyard. What had her master meant? Of course she was herself. She was also part of Wang Tie-Tie's family, a daughter and a sister. Even if she had a room like Master Wei's, she'd still have family.
Xiao Yen sighed and shook her head. It was too much to think about. Wang Tie-Tie would take care of her, see to her future and get her a good commission. She had no reason to worry.
Chapter Eleven
On the Trail
The quality of the silence coming from the cave behind Xiao Yen made her shoulders tense. Every sound was muffled, indistinct, oppressed. The rat dragon slept somewhere in the tunnels of the hill she rested against. Udo had to be there too, lost, maybe dead. Xiao Yen had to find him. But she couldn't get up. Not yet.
Xiao Yen took another deep breath, trying to breathe past the rising bubble of terror threatening to choke her. Her quiet place was impossible to reach, as if it had never existed. She even pushed down with her hands as she exhaled, seeking to push away her fear. Though her hands stayed steady, her fear remained. She had to go into the cave now, or she never would.
She made herself stand up. The shadow of the hill had grown since she'd sat down, stretching across the flat plain. Xiao Yen could see everything for many li in front of her. Nothing moved. Khan Hua lay on the horizon like an empty black bag a giant had dropped. Smells of rotting fruit, moldy cloth, wet fur and urine rose from the garbage heap to her right. It looked as though a lazy maid had swept all the refuse from the tunnels out one of the holes, letting it collect at the foot of the hill. Young Lu had been right. It had been very easy to find this place. Xiao Yen was sure Udo had found it too.
Xiao Yen opened her pack. It bulged with a lightweight knotted fishing net. She pushed the net to one side and pulled out a paper lantern and a candle. The lantern had thin strips of bamboo along the sides and top to give it structure. The top pieces snapped in and out of place, allowing Xiao Yen to fold the lantern flat. She uncreased the paper where it had been folded, then she lit her candle and impaled it on a thorn placed at the bottom of the lantern. She had four candles in her pack; enough, she hoped, to get her through the cave.
Many sharp rocks covered the floor of the entrance to the cave. They bit into Xiao Yen's boots. She walked carefully and told herself it was like the time Master Wei had made his students walk on river rocks to release the energy in their feet. Her high-pitched giggle held so much hysteria she stopped again and checked her hands, holding them out in front of her. She couldn't see any trembling. She didn't want to look too long. She forced herself to move forward.
The wide cave entrance narrowed into a downward-sloping tunnel. Xiao Yen had to bend over, as if bowing to an equal, to avoid brushing her head against the roof. The light from Xiao Yen's lantern didn't extend beyond her feet. She placed her free hand against the tunnel's sloping sides. There were too many protruding rocks for her fingers to glide across the wall as she walked. Instead, with every step, she deliberately put her hand out, like an old man placing his cane as he walked.
She walked as quietly as she could. Young Lu had told her there was a rumor that the rat dragon slept in the afternoon, but she didn't know for certain. Xiao Yen's heart jumped every time she dislodged a rock or made any sort of noise. She strained, listening for Udo, scared she'd hear scampering clawed feet. Only oppressive silence greeted her ears.
Soon the tunnel forked. Her aunt had said that though there were many tunnels, finding the rat dragon would be easy—Xiao Yen just had to follow her nose. Getting out was another manner. She wouldn't be able to smell fresh air until she was close to the end of a tunnel, and even then, it might lead to a sheer cliff. Xiao Yen knew she'd never keep right and left straight in her head. Xiao Yen did know how to memorize a series of paper-folding instructions. When she turned and went down a tunnel to her right, she made a mountain-fold in the imaginary creature she built in her head. When she turned left, she made a valley-fold. If she had more choices than that, she did an inside-reverse fold, crimping the fold to adjust for the tunnel order.
Finally the down-sloping tunnels opened up into a larger tunnel. Xiao Yen stood up straight and eased her back. She held her paper lantern above her head. To her left she sensed a wide open space, maybe a cavern. She gratefully gulped down the fresh wind blowing from that direction. To her right, the humid animal smell was stronger than ever.
Xiao Yen took one slow step after another, her heart thudding in her chest. She held her eyes open wide, trying to see in the darkness. Her mouth dried up. Though the arm holding the lantern was steady, she trembled inside. The tunnel dead-ended in a round room, with a large boulder to the left of the entrance.
The boulder moved.
Xiao Yen froze.
The boulder stayed in one place, but the top of it moved up and down slightly.
It was breathing.
Xiao Yen forced herself to back up and stop. The light continued to move. Xiao Yen didn't understand what was happening until she looked at her lantern.
Her hand was shaking.
Xiao Yen placed the lantern on the ground and drew the net out of her bag. It wouldn't hold a heavy fish, but Xiao Yen hoped that, with the knot magic, it would hold the rat dragon.
Xiao Yen needed to surround the rat dragon on all sides with the net. Luckily, the tunnel entrance the rat dragon slept behind wasn't that tall. She stood on her toes and threw one end of the net up, snagging it near the ceiling. She carefully hooked one edge of the net, then the other, on protruding rocks about waist height on either side of the opening. The bottom of the net dragged on the ground.
Xiao Yen closed her eyes and concentrated on shrinking the knots, turning the net gossamer and thin. Wind blew on her back from the large cavern, sending chicken flesh across her shoulders.
When she opened her eyes, two red orbs glared at her.
Xiao Yen heard herself say, “Oh!” She put her hand to her mouth and took a step back and to the side, away from her net. She made herself move slowly, controlling her urge to run.
The red orbs followed her. As the rat dragon pushed forward with its long snout, the net fell and draped itself across the rat dragon's back, reaching all the way to the floor behind the beast. The dragon took two more steps, bringing the front of the net underneath it. Xiao Yen released the illusion of thinness and worked its opposite. In her mind's eye she saw the strings as ropes, thicker than her forearm, each knot as big as a melon, pressing down on the armor plates protecting the rat dragon's back. Irregular black, white and brown bristles covered the armor, as lichen grew on rocks. Leatherlike wings pushed up against net, trying to lift it. The rat dragon twisted its long snout from one side to the other, biting at the ropes that appeared out of nowhere. The snapping jaws were within an arm's reach
of Xiao Yen.
Xiao Yen raised her shaking lantern to find the edges of the net, where it flowed off the dragon's back and touched itself. She blended the adjacent ropes into one, forming a solid bag out of the long net. Then she pulled the knots tighter, shrank the spaces between them. The rat dragon twisted its head from side to side, but it couldn't get free. Its long golden whiskers pressed up against the sides of its snout. It lifted one horribly naked pink scaly foot, pushing at the net with yellowed claws. The net strained, but held. The rat dragon hissed at Xiao Yen. She found herself panting as if she'd just run many li.
Udo's voice suddenly called out from behind her. Xiao Yen felt a momentary relief. At least he was nearby, and not completely lost in the tunnels. The rat dragon's ears perked up, dried flaps of skin poking between the holes in the net. Its tail stuck out beyond the net, scaled and pink, like its feet.
Xiao Yen took a step back. She couldn't turn around and walk normally, exposing her back to this monster.
The rat dragon started gnawing the ropes.
The sound sent shivers up Xiao Yen's spine. It grated on her nerves, sawing across her calm. Long fangs ground together, biting at the illusion. Xiao Yen shuddered. The ropes wouldn't hold forever—sooner or later those teeth would sink into her skin. She had to find that hairpin. Fast.
Udo called again, calling for the rat dragon to come to him, challenging it. Xiao Yen couldn't let herself worry about his arrogance now. She backed up some more. She didn't turn around until the bulk of the rat dragon had disappeared into shadow and she could only see the two pinpoints of red light glaring at her. She had little time to find the hairpin, then to find Udo, and get away.
She walked toward the main cavern, stopping at each passage and peering into its dark entrance, even venturing a few steps down, trying to find the treasure room. Young Lu had heard stories about gold at the end of one of the tunnels. Xiao Yen assumed the hairpin would be there.
The sound of gnawing harassed her. Udo's calls irritated her. He was always shouting. Now he was going to get himself killed and it would be her fault for not protecting him, though he was the one being stupid, who'd left before they could make a solid plan.
Xiao Yen walked into the large cavern at the end of the tunnel. At the far end two streaming pillars of sunlight came through holes in the ceiling. She looked away from them and waited for her night vision to return. The gnawing continued. It seemed closer now.
To her right was another passage. It held its own source of light. She almost didn't go down it, but she had to check every nook.
At the end of the passage, sitting in its own spot of sunlight, lay a treasure heap. Xiao Yen, blinded by the light, started walking straight to it.
The toes of her right foot touched air.
Xiao Yen threw herself backward, landing hard on her bottom and elbows, the breath temporarily knocked out of her. She crawled forward. A large chasm gaped between the edge of the tunnel and the treasure. Xiao Yen couldn't see the bottom of it. She dropped a pebble down the side, and heard it land before she'd counted to two. It wasn't that deep. She could possibly climb down. But how was she supposed to climb back up the other side? Even if she had ropes, she didn't know how to climb. Neither Wang Tie-Tie or Master Wei had made her learn that.
Xiao Yen stood again, held her lantern high, and examined the treasure pile. It was difficult to look at. The bright sunlight reflecting off the gold, silver and jewels made her eyes water. On the left side of the pile she saw a protruding stick. If she squinted her eyes, she thought she saw a blue shadow.
Xiao Yen sat and thought for a moment. The gnawing tore at her concentration. The teeth were getting closer. She imagined the sound of the rat dragon's naked claws scrabbling against the hard rocks, coming to get her. That large rat, with its foul breath, desecrating her body, tearing it to pieces, so she would never have rest, but be tied to this plane forever.
That rat—Xiao Yen stopped. She took a deep breath and pulled out a piece of paper from her bag. Then she started folding. The familiar actions helped her relax, letting her shoulders loosen and her breathing deepen and slow. She finished the piece reluctantly, pulling the long tail out from the body of the piece.
She kept the piece in her hands and looked deep into creases that represented its eyes. She pushed as much intelligence and cunning into her creature as she could, stolen from those few moments of staring into the red orbs of the rat dragon. She imagined its long golden whiskers shortened, stiffened, whitened; the long nose twitching, sniffing out the magic hairpin; the claws scraping on the rock, first going into the crevice, then up the other side; and finally, bringing the hairpin back to Xiao Yen.
When she opened her eyes, a brown rat stood there, resting on its rear paws, like a little man ready to do her bidding. She placed it on the ground gently. Without hesitation it ran for the chasm and scrambled down the cliff. Though Xiao Yen listened hard, she couldn't hear it above the monotonous gnawing. Udo's cries were fainter as well. Xiao Yen hoped he was giving up and turning around, though she was afraid that if he got lost, she'd never be able to find him.
After what seemed like forever, her little rat climbed out of the chasm and ran to the treasure pile. It scrambled up the side where the hairpin stuck out of the pile like a column on the side of a mountain. The little animal pushed against the hairpin until it broke free from the surrounding jewels and skittered down the pile. The rat ran after it and picked up the hairpin in its mouth. The long pins attached to the gold leaf top dragged on the ground even though the rat lifted its head high. It couldn't see as it walked, so it would take a few steps, put the hairpin down then take a few more steps.
Xiao Yen silently urged it go faster.
Finally, it reached the edge of the crevice. It put down the hairpin and walked to the lip of the ravine. It looked down then looked at the hairpin. It paused for a moment, then turned back to the hairpin and shoved it with its nose.
Xiao Yen called out, “Don't!” It was too late. The rat shoved the hairpin over the edge, letting it tumble to the bottom of the ravine. Then it scrambled over the edge.
How was she going to get the hairpin from the bottom of the crevice? Her little rat couldn't carry it. Gnawing teeth continued at her back.
Her rat scrambled up her side of the crevice, without the hairpin, as she knew it would. It shook its head at her, ran to the edge, then back to her. She knew the hairpin was at the bottom.
“I don't know how to get the pin,” she said. The sound of her voice echoed in the tunnel, startling her. The rat sat still. Its whiskers bounced with its rapid breathing, and its tail swished against the rock.
Its broad, ropelike tail.
Xiao Yen indicated with her hand that the rat should go back down the cliff. She took out her practice string and looked at it. She concentrated, trying to see her rat's tail between her fingers. Gradually the image formed. It had short hairs on it, and dark rings at the thick end, stiff, barely bendable. Xiao Yen carefully placed a single knot in it, toward the end.
Xiao Yen listened as her creation came back up the cliff. The rat popped over the edge, dragging the hairpin after it, attached to its tail with a knot. Xiao Yen felt a glad smile tugging at her mouth, probably the first smile she'd had all day. When Xiao Yen touched the rat's tail, the knot undid itself. Without another sound, her rat scrambled down the cliff again.
The head of the hairpin was a gold phoenix, with a graceful neck and trailing wings. Its legs started thin and curved, but straightened out to form the two prongs that went into a woman's hair. Xiao Yen put the hairpin into her bag then got out another candle. Her first had burned down to a stub. She replaced it then used the stub to burn the remains of the paper rat. She closed her eyes, breathing in the silence, speeding the rat on its way to much more treasure.
Her eyes popped open.
Silence.
When had the gnawing sound stopped?
Xiao Yen stood up. She didn't want to be trapped in this tunnel, wit
h no way out but down the crevice. She hurried back toward the big cavern, surrounded by darkness.
Two red points detached themselves from the darkness and came toward her.
Xiao Yen backed up, but she had nowhere to go. Remnants of the net clung to the beast's back. She had no cranes or tigers pre-folded to defend herself. She didn't even know if paper magic would work. Xiao Yen backed up until she was pushed against the rock. She closed her eyes and held herself still, dreading that first cold touch of its claws.
A whistling sound filled the air, followed by a sharp crack. Startled, Xiao Yen opened her eyes.
Udo had attacked the rat dragon.
The beast turned its back to her and faced the new threat.
Udo roared at the dragon. He held a curved saber in his right hand, and had a round shield buckled onto his left arm. They looked foreign. Maybe he'd taken them off one of the defeated men down here. Xiao Yen moved to one side, trying to get away from the fight. Udo roared again and pushed the rat dragon back. The armored plates around the neck and head of the rat dragon protected it from Udo's blows. Udo changed styles and, instead of swinging the saber stabbed with it, trying to dig at the rat dragon's eyes, but he wasn't fast enough. The rat dragon moved its snout so quickly that Xiao Yen could barely follow it, snapping at Udo's sword with its long teeth.
Now the rat dragon pushed forward, trying to get under Udo's guard, to nip at his feet. Udo backed up, one slow step at a time. Then he pushed forward again. It was like a dance. Back and forth Udo and the rat dragon went, Udo yelling and hacking, the rat dragon growling deep in its throat.
A new sound came. Udo's panting. Xiao Yen watched carefully. Udo no longer swung the saber as high as he had. When he connected with the rat dragon, the sound was duller, the blows not as strong.
Udo yelled at the beast. Xiao Yen didn't understand the words, but she heard the frustration in his voice. He attacked again, pushing the rat dragon against some boulders. The rat dragon curled its tail around a column when Udo pushed it back.