Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History

by Tananarive Due

  Just then one of the carriers stumbled and almost fell. He cursed.

  Green Siskin stuck her head out. “What happened?”

  Sparrow, crouching a few steps behind, said, “There’s a swallow in the road. I think one of its wings is broken. The carrier almost stepped on it.”

  “Quick, bring it here.”

  Sparrow dropped the overnight case and the pipa, wrapped the swallow in a handkerchief, and carried it gingerly up to the palanquin. The bird’s breast was heaving rapidly and its eyes appeared clouded over. It didn’t struggle in Sparrow’s hands.

  “It probably doesn’t have much time left,” said Sparrow as she handed the bird over.

  Green Siskin chewed her lip. “I wish we had something hearty to feed it with. Rice porridge isn’t going to give it the strength it needs.”

  This was another thing about Green Siskin that puzzled Sparrow. As haughty and mean as she was, she couldn’t bear to see an animal in pain. Not only did she never eat meat – she fended off Magpie, who fretted about her being too thin for the clients, by claiming to be a devout Buddhist, though Sparrow never saw Siskin pray to Guanyin – she also never allowed the other girls to kill a spider or fly while cleaning the house. And she had a habit of tending to injured cats, birds, even an occasional tradesman’s workhorse, and nursing them back to health.

  For someone who claimed to be only interested in making money for herself, this was a strange hobby.

  But the worry in Green Siskin’s eyes made Sparrow forget how haughty the older girl had been all day. She took out a packet she had been hiding under her sash.

  “Maybe this will help.”

  Green Siskin opened the packet to reveal a few salted meat dumplings that Sparrow had secretly taken from the table while the merchants were arguing with Green Siskin about her fee. Sparrow had meant to save them for later, after everyone had gone to bed. Big Sister Magpie would surely whip her if she found out about the theft.

  “I figure they’re close enough to bugs and whatever else swallows eat. I don’t really like these dumplings anyway.” Strangely, sharing the food with Green Siskin made her feel better about having stolen it in the first place.

  “Thank you,” said Green Siskin, and the gentleness in her voice made Sparrow think she would do anything to hear it again.

  * * *

  The next afternoon remained drizzly. Sparrow was in the market trying to buy some outrageously priced food when the shouting began.

  “They opened the gates–”

  “–not reinforcements–”

  Around Sparrow, all was confusion: men and women pushed and shoved in every direction, children cried, and a few riders on horses tried to make their way through the crowd, heedless of who might be trampled. Palanquins were dropped and vending carts broke against the surging crowd. The air suddenly smelled sweet and spicy as panicked feet crushed the spilled fruits and pastries.

  “Isn’t that Grand Secretary Shi Kefa?”

  “He’s trying to leave the city! He’s running–”

  Sparrow pulled on the sleeve of a young man next to her and shouted, “What happened?”

  “The Manchus tricked the city gates open. Yangzhou is done for! Prince Dodo gave the order to slaughter the city.”

  “Slaughter the city! Why?”

  “To make an example of us for the other Chinese cities! It’s like killing a chicken to show a monkey what will happen if it doesn’t obey.”

  He pulled his sleeve loose from Sparrow’s grasp and disappeared into the chaotic crowd. In the distance, columns of smoke began to rise from the city walls.

  Sparrow shoved her way through the crowd until she finally got out of the market. She ran until she was back at the Songbird Garden, where Big Sister Magpie and all the other girls were waiting in the front hall, anxiety on their faces.

  “Is it true?” Big Sister Magpie asked.

  Sparrow nodded. “They say that the city is going to be slaughtered.” She felt dizzy. I’m too young to die.

  Big Sister Magpie was calm. “Perhaps fate has doomed the Great Ming. If we scatter throughout the city, there’s a chance some of us will make it. Those of you with rich clients who favor you, this is the time to make the most of them. Go to their houses and beg them to take you in, tell the men how much you love them and the wives how obedient you’ll be. Leave everything behind and we’ll consider your debt to me paid. If you survive this, you’ll be free women. Go! There’s no time to lose.”

  Some of the women began to make their way towards the front door. Others, especially younger girls like Sparrow who had no clients they could call on, huddled and cried.

  “Stop,” said Green Siskin. Her gaze on Big Sister Magpie was cold. “To survive something like this you need money, and you want to send all of us away so that you can keep the money all for yourself.”

  Big Sister Magpie’s eyes were equally cold. “The money in this house all belongs to me.”

  “That money we earned with our bodies,” said Green Siskin. “I couldn’t care less about the contracts right now. If you want to accuse me of being a thief, you’re free to go to the yamen and file a petition.”

  The women near the door stopped and turned around. Slowly, the fear and uncertainty on their faces were replaced by the same cold, determined expression Green Siskin showed.

  Big Sister Magpie, seeing she was outnumbered, softened her tone. “How about we split it half and half?”

  Green Siskin chuckled mirthlessly. “I heard the cook and the footmen run away. You better hope they left us something in your money chest.”

  * * *

  Green Siskin and Sparrow picked the narrowest streets and darkest alleys to avoid the crowds. From time to time, small groups of escaping Ming soldiers ran past, casting off their bloody helmets and armor in an attempt to blend into the civilian population.

  “Magpie might have been selfish, but she was right about one thing,” said Green Siskin, wiping the sweat from her forehead. “We are safer if we don’t draw attention by flocking together.” She stopped and held onto a wall for support. Green Siskin could only shuffle along slowly on her bound feet, and even half a li’s walk was tiring her.

  It doesn’t help that she’s still carrying that swallow in a basket, Sparrow thought.

  “Go on by yourself,” said Green Siskin. “Get to the temples by the canals. Perhaps the Manchus will respect the Buddha even if they don’t respect anything else.”

  “I’m not leaving you.”

  Green Siskin chuckled. “Good, I see you have learned something after all. Well, I’m not Magpie. Here, I’ll give you these.” She took out her purse and emptied it in her palm: jewelry and some scattered silver – Big Sister Magpie’s stash wasn’t much after it was divided among all the women.

  Green Siskin picked out a jade ring and put it on her finger. “I’m keeping this. My father gave me this before… I came here. When I’m worried, touching it makes me feel better.” She held out half of the silver and the rest of the jewels for Sparrow. “Now, go.”

  Sparrow didn’t take the offering. “You’re clever and my chances are better if I stick with you.”

  “Ha! Foolish girl. Here’s another lesson for you: never refuse money when it’s offered.” She dumped all the valuables back into her purse. The screams and hoofbeats seemed to get closer every minute. “We have to find somewhere to hide, like the cellar of a poor man’s house. The mansions would draw too much attention.”

  They tried every house they passed, but no one would open the doors. Then they came to a house with its door ajar, but through it they could see two women dangling by their necks from the hall beams, and a man dead at their feet, a pool of blood around his neck and head.

  Sparrow gasped, but Green Siskin stepped in without hesitation. After fretting for a moment, Sparrow stamped her foot and followed.

  She saw Green Siskin staring at the wall, where two lines were written in large characters. The ink wasn’t even dry.

>   Sparrow couldn’t read the calligraphic script. “What does it say?”

  “It’s a poem about virtue and faith, and how the writer wishes he and his family could have served the Emperor better.”

  “Poor man.”

  “I pity his wives more. I’m not sure they would have hanged themselves if he didn’t tell them to. Virtue and chastity indeed.” She spat.

  “Let’s get out of here.”

  “No, this is the best place to hide. The Manchus will think everyone’s dead. We should work over the place to make it look like it’s been looted so there’s even less reason to investigate closely.”

  “I should have guessed that you wouldn’t be afraid of ghosts or want to respect the dead,” muttered Sparrow. “You don’t believe in anything.”

  “They did,” said Green Siskin. “Fat lot of good it did them.”

  * * *

  From the kitchen cellar, Sparrow and Green Siskin could only intermittently hear sounds from outside: screams as houses were broken into, shouting, running footsteps, and occasionally a loud crash. A ventilation slit near the ceiling gave them some light and brought the smell of smoke and ashes.

  “They’re setting fires,” said Green Siskin. “A house probably burned down.”

  The rhythmic pounding of a horse’s hoofs shook the cellar and made bits of earth fall.

  “You think Big Sister Magpie is all right?” Sparrow asked.

  “Who cares? She has to rely on her wits, the same as us. I have enough to worry about.”

  Sparrow was a bit disappointed by how cold Green Siskin sounded. Magpie was the closest thing she’d had to a mother.

  “Might as well take a nap,” said Green Siskin. “If they find us, being awake and being asleep won’t make much of a difference.” She cooed to the swallow in the basket, who seemed to be doing better.

  By the time Sparrow woke up it was completely dark and totally silent.

  “They’re probably finished with this neighborhood,” whispered Green Siskin. “The looting and raping here wouldn’t be as good as in the merchants’ quarter.”

  Sparrow licked her dry lips. “I’ll go get us some water. It’s easier with my feet.”

  “Come over here first,” said Green Siskin.

  Sparrow felt along the ground and crawled over. When she was close enough to feel Green Siskin’s breath, she felt Green Siskin’s hand grab her around the shoulder and wrestle her to the ground. As Green Siskin straddled her, Sparrow tried to cry out, but she felt Green Siskin’s cold hand over her mouth.

  “Shut up!” she hissed.

  Sparrow was terrified and confused. Has Green Siskin gone crazy?

  Then Green Siskin’s hand was gone, and something cold, metallic, and sharp was placed against her face. She flinched and began to struggle.

  Green Siskin leaned down until her hot breath was in Sparrow’s face. “Hold still. I have to fix you before you go out.”

  Sparrow felt her scalp tighten as Green Siskin grabbed a fistful of her hair. Then the cold blade against her face went away and she heard a snick. Green Siskin had cut away a bunch of her hair.

  Sparrow was proud of her thick hair and often thought of someday wearing it in the fashionable, elaborate double buns that the older girls at the Songbird Garden wore. She whimpered and bucked harder.

  “You stupid girl,” hissed Green Siskin. “If they see you from a distance and think you’re a scrawny boy, they might not bother chasing you.”

  “But you still have your hair!”

  “My looks are the last thing I have to protect me. I know what they want and I can give it to them in a way that hopefully won’t get me killed. But you? You don’t know anything.”

  Sparrow stopped struggling and cried silently as Green Siskin continued to cut away her hair by ragged handfuls.

  “I can’t run,” Green Siskin whispered, and her touch on Sparrow’s head was gentle. “But you still can. I know you always wanted to be like me, but you don’t have the hard heart it takes to be me. It’s why I kept Magpie from binding your feet. Being able to run is always better than having to stay and smile and offer yourself up.

  “I won’t blame you if you leave and don’t come back.”

  Sparrow cried even harder.

  * * *

  Outside, it was raining harder. Some of the houses of the neighborhood still burned. Sparrow’s heart beat faster and she felt lightheaded as she saw more than a dozen bodies scattered in the narrow, muddy street, the dark pools around them perhaps rainwater, or perhaps blood. The doors to all the houses were broken open.

  She fought to calm herself. She had to be more like Green Siskin. Focus on what cam be seen and touched. Water. There is no time to be afraid of ghosts.

  There was a well at the end of the street. She just had to get there and bring back a bowl.

  Slowly, quietly, she made her way towards the well, imagining herself a mouse. There seemed to be no Manchus around but she couldn’t be sure. The raindrops hissed as they fell into the fires and struck against the shingles on the houses still standing, making loud splashes that matched her racing heart. She opened her mouth to the sky and gratefully felt the wetness against her parched tongue.

  Finally, she was at the well. She prayed that no one had jumped into it to commit suicide. The rain had quenched her thirst but Green Siskin still needed clean water.

  She picked up the bucket on the rim and lowered it by the attached rope. She felt the bucket hit water and there didn’t seem to be any resistance, such as from a floating body. Good.

  She hauled the bucket up as fast as she could and the rippling water glistened in the faint, reddish light of the fires like liquefied gold. Now she just had to find something to carry the water back in…

  “What do we have here?”

  Sparrow felt herself being jerked up by the back of the neck of her robe and lifted off the ground. She kicked and screamed and was thrown down, the wind knocked out of her.

  Two men were standing before her, dressed in the armor and colors of the Manchu Army. But they were both clearly Chinese, and by the accent of the one who had caught her, from up north. She had heard that the Manchus had many surrendered Chinese fighting for them.

  “Thought we had cleared this street already,” the man who had thrown Sparrow down said.

  “Must have been hiding like a rat,” said the other. “Think it’s worth the time trying to get something out of him? Or should we just kill him and get back to camp?”

  “This whole area is slim pickings. Just our luck to be assigned to a neighborhood with all the paupers.”

  One of the men unsheathed his sword.

  Sparrow now wished she had taken the jewels Green Siskin had offered. She would at least have something to bargain with these men. But it was too late now for regret. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut.

  “Masters,” came a clear, warm voice that seemed to make the night less dark. “Do not frighten my servant.”

  The men turned around. Some paces away was a woman in a flowing silk dress. Even with the faint light from the fires, it was clear that she was uncommonly beautiful.

  Sparrow was stunned. What was Green Siskin doing? She would have been safe had she remained in the cellar.

  “A merchant’s wife or daughter?” one of the men whispered to the other. Then he brandished his weapon and raised his voice. “Come over here and show us all the treasure you’ve hidden.”

  Green Siskin walked closer, her movements languid and graceful. “What more treasure do you need when you have this?” She spun in a circle when she was about five paces away. “I would think your commander would reward you handsomely if you brought me to him.”

  The two men looked at each other.

  “She probably would be to Janggin Yelu’s taste.”

  * * *

  In the morning, the two soldiers marched Green Siskin and Sparrow through Yangzhou. By now they knew Sparrow was a girl, but they left her alone since Sparrow helped Green Si
skin walk.

  The streets were strewn with bodies. Blood mixing with puddles of water had created a shimmering sheen like a painter’s palette. The smell of blood and smoke and human waste filled the air, a nauseating mix. Green Siskin and Sparrow’s cloth shoes were soon soaked through with the bloody mixture. In some places the corpses were piled so thick that it was hard to find a path. They crossed a bridge over the canal and saw that the channel was almost filled with corpses, turning it into flat ground.

  Sparrow felt numb. There was so much death around her that the bodies no longer felt real. She kept on expecting them to reveal themselves to be puppets or sit up and tell her they were just sleeping.

  Green Siskin’s bound feet must have hurt terribly from walking this far, but she clenched her teeth and said nothing as she leaned on Sparrow. From time to time, when she really needed to stop to rest, she would engage the two soldiers in conversation to keep their interest.

  “Do the Manchu officers treat surrendered Chinese soldiers like you well?”

  One of the men shrugged. “No worse than my old Ming officers. At least they pay me on time, and now I get to make a little extra from the loot.”

  “A soldier’s life is never easy. Have they caught Grand Secretary Shi Kefa?”

  “Yes. He wouldn’t surrender though. Prince Dodo ordered him beheaded.”

  Sparrow decided to not mention how Shi Kefa had been seen trying to escape from the doomed city. Sometimes heroes were made as much by what was not said as by what was said.

  Small groups of soldiers were conducting house-to-house searches for survivors. When any were found, they were made to retrieve all the valuables from the residence and present them before the soldiers killed them. Howls and screams filled the air.

  They passed two Manchu soldiers herding a column of female captives, strung together by the neck like a strand of pearls. Their bound feet made progress through the muddy streets difficult, and they stumbled, fell, pulled others down, and struggled to get up. Their clothes were so filthy that it was impossible to tell what color they were. The two Manchu soldiers urged them on, slapping them with the flat of a sword or poking at them with the tip of a spear.