Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History

by Tananarive Due

  “Looks like we aren’t the only ones who want to give our commanders a nice gift,” joked one of Green Siskin’s captors.

  “None of them are as high quality as ours though,” said his companion, eyeing Green Siskin with pride. Green Siskin smiled back at him.

  A woman holding a baby fell and could not get up. She kept on slipping in the mud. The Manchu soldier at the head of the column cursed, came back, and took the howling baby out of the woman’s arms and tossed it into the street. The mother cried and tried to crawl over to retrieve it, but the rope around her neck prevented her from getting too far.

  A small detachment of Manchu soldiers on horses came thundering down the street. Green Siskin and Sparrow barely got out of the way in time. The iron-shod hoofs trampled over the bodies, temporarily animating the dead limbs. Abruptly, the baby’s cries were silenced.

  The mother screamed and lurched forward, pulling the other captives along. The Manchu soldier shouted and struck her with his spear a few times, but the mother seemed to not feel the blows and continued to make her way towards the dead baby. The other Manchu soldier came over and stabbed her through the heart. They loosened the rope from around her neck, left her body a few paces from her baby’s tiny, lifeless corpse, and urged the other captives to keep on moving.

  Sparrow’s eyes grew searing hot. She wanted to run up to the Manchu soldier and scratch his eyes out and sink her teeth into the man’s ear. She was no longer afraid. She understood how Grand Secretary Shi Kefa could suddenly find the courage to not surrender. When you’ve been afraid for so long, fear stops mattering. She wanted to do something, anything, to assuage the pure rage that filled her veins.

  Green Siskin grabbed her hand and squeezed so hard that it hurt. She pulled Sparrow back and hissed in her ear, “There’s nothing you can do for her and her baby now. You must watch out for yourself.”

  Sparrow hated Green Siskin then. Hated her with a passion that made it almost impossible to breathe. Green Siskin was a coward, a cold-blooded monster who only wanted to survive. What was the point of living if you had to endure images like that haunting you in your dreams through the rest of your life?

  She bit down on Green Siskin’s hand until she let go, and rushed at the Manchu soldiers.

  Green Siskin turned to her two captors. “Get my maid back to me. Tie her up if you have to.”

  “Why?” one of the man asked. “If she wants to die, let her.”

  “I need her help with my dressing and preparations,” said Green Siskin. “Your commander will surely prefer a good-looking gift to a poorly wrapped one, yes?”

  The two men looked at each other and shrugged. One of them lumbered after Sparrow and easily brought her down. He gagged her, trussed her up, and carried her on his shoulder as they continued through the streets of Yangzhou. All around them was smoke, howling, and the stench of blood and death.

  * * *

  Finally, Green Siskin and Sparrow arrived at a mansion that had been turned into Janggin Yelu’s temporary headquarters. They were locked into one of the side halls with a dozen other young women, most of them merchants’ wives and daughters, who had been brought there as gifts for the commander.

  Some of the women sat alone and stared sullenly at the ground; a few others hugged each other and wept; still others huddled and conversed. Green Siskin and Sparrow were in a corner by themselves. Snippets of the other women’s conversations reached them.

  “He stripped me right there in front of all those men… I wished there was a well to jump into…”

  “–he cut him open right in front of my eyes. Look at my clothes. That’s blood! Blood!”

  “Why am I still alive? Three brothers, all their wives, mother, father, grandparents, six nephews and nieces – all gone…”

  “Did you see a little boy about six with a jade tiger around his neck? Are you sure? I lost him around the canal crossing…”

  Green Siskin untied Sparrow.

  “Don’t expect me to thank you for saving my life.” Sparrow’s voice was cold as ice. She moved away, sat down, put her head between her knees, and began to sob. The image of that dead baby and its brains splattering in the mud would not leave her.

  Green Siskin sighed and did not come after her.

  * * *

  In the afternoon a Manchu commander came to the side hall. Most of the women shrank against the wall and avoided looking at him. A few began to cry. The commander frowned.

  But Green Siskin strode up to him and gave a low curtsy. “Honored Prince Yelu, I presume?”

  “You’re a bold one,” said the officer, who couldn’t hide his smile.

  Some tricks appear to work on all men, thought Sparrow. Just how low will she stoop to save her own skin?

  “Tales of your valor and mercy have filled my ears like thunder.”

  “Ha! Not even a hint of a blush when you lie. I have a guess as to what kind of woman you are. But I’m tired of weeping girls, and even if your arms have cradled the heads of hundreds of men, you might still be more fun. All right, come with me.” He turned to the soldiers behind him. “Distribute the rest of them to the soldiers, then get rid them after two days.”

  The comment sounded so casual that it took a few moments before the other women registered what it really meant. The wailing in the room redoubled.

  “Honorable Prince,” said Green Siskin. “Some of these girls are quite pretty. It would be such a waste to not taste them. Why not save them for a while and see if I can persuade them to be a bit more pliable?”

  “Never!” one of the women shouted angrily. “You unchaste, shameful thing.”

  Sparrow saw that, although Green Siskin’s voice was as sultry as before, the hem of her dress trembled. She held her hands together before her in a gesture of supplication, and she was twisting and playing with the jade ring on her right hand. Green Siskin was terrified.

  “My orders are to cleanse the city,” said Yelu. He hesitated. “I might get away with keeping you, but all these…”

  Green Siskin’s face registered shock. “Ah, forgive me. I did not realize that you had not the authority to delay the execution of these foolish girls. It’s just that you seemed to me such a powerful prince.”

  “Never mind,” said Yelu as he puffed out his chest. “Of course I can do whatever I want on the battlefield. I’ve decreed that these women are not to be killed, for now.”

  “Perhaps you and I can be better acquainted,” said Green Siskin. “But first, let my maid help me wash up?”

  Green Siskin beckoned at Sparrow. They locked gazes.

  She could have hidden in that cellar and never made a peep. She could have held her tongue just now and let the women die.

  After all this time, Green Siskin still carried the swallow in a basket on her arm.

  Sparrow walked up to Green Siskin and curtsied.

  * * *

  Sparrow observed the guards outside the bedroom. They stood ramrod straight and kept their faces impassive, focusing their eyes on the ends of their noses. They seemed to not hear the sounds coming from within the bedroom at all.

  A soldier rushed into the hallway from outside, and, before the guards at the door could warn him, he shouted at the closed door, “Janggin! We’ve caught a few rich ones!”

  The bedroom fell silent. Then, a few giggles could be heard through the door. The new soldier, realizing his mistake, blushed.

  A few moments later, Yelu and Green Siskin emerged from the bedroom. Green Siskin’s robe had been hastily tied back together and the sash was not straight. She hung onto Yelu’s arm, a lazy smile on her face, flushed and sweaty, as Yelu straightened his robe and cleared his throat a few times.

  “Let’s go see what you’ve found.” He shook off Green Siskin’s hands and walked out, and the guards followed.

  As Sparrow came up to Green Siskin, the smile on her face fell off like a mask. Green Siskin looked weary and scared, and Sparrow suddenly realized how young she really was.

&nb
sp; “You’ll have to help me figure out which among those chaste women are at least somewhat pliable,” Green Siskin said. “We’ve got to give Yelu something if the rest of them want to live. And the swallow?”

  “I got the guards to give me some jerky to feed it. It’s resting in our bedroom.”

  Green Siskin’s face relaxed a little. “Let’s go see who our brave commander caught this time.”

  The front hall was filled with tables laden with jewels, coins, silver, gold, silk dresses, and furs. A row of captives, by their looks scholars and merchants, knelt on the ground, watched over by pacing guards. They looked exhausted and dejected, some possibly injured.

  “Janggin, these are among the wealthiest men of the city,” said the Manchu soldier who had come for Yelu.

  Green Siskin squealed in delight and pawed through the piles of silk dresses and the jewelry, trying out various bracelets and pearl necklaces. “Can I have this one? Oh, no, this one is even prettier!”

  Yelu observed her indulgently.

  “Do you think there’s any more treasure to be found?” he asked the soldier.

  “I think we’ve squeezed everything we can out of them.”

  One of the merchants looked contemptuously at Green Siskin and spat at her. “It is because of traitorous whores like you, devoid of virtue, that the Great Ming ended up like this. Look at you, clinging to the enemy like a vine. I would kill you myself if I had the chance.”

  Sparrow felt her face grow hot. She recognized the merchant. It was Wen, one of the five men who had hired Green Siskin to entertain Captain Li so that the soldiers wouldn’t trash his house. That seemed like a lifetime ago.

  But Green Siskin seemed to not hear him. She was utterly absorbed with comparing two dresses and trying to decide on one.

  “Then kill them,” Yelu said.

  The merchants trembled like leaves in the wind, including Wen. But his face remained defiant.

  “Prince Yelu,” said Green Siskin, pouting. “Are you hiding the best jewels from me?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “That man over there is famous for his wealth. I remember seeing his wife wearing a beautiful strand of pearls at the Spring Festival last year, each of which was the size of a longan fruit.”

  “Oh?” Yelu looked skeptical.

  “I’m sure he’s hiding it somewhere. If you kill him now, you won’t get it.” Green Siskin strode up to Wen. “I bet you’re hiding it in your servants’ quarters. You asked them to bury it in case you survive.”

  Sparrow saw that Wen looked bewildered. If Yelu could tell that Wen had no idea what was going on, Green Siskin’s plan would be ruined.

  She stepped up, and despite her racing heart, she added, “Yes, I bet that’s it. I knew his servants, and I saw them acting all secretive the other day, before the city fell.”

  Yelu turned to Wen. “Is this true? There’s more treasure hidden?”

  Wen was about to deny it when Green Siskin locked gazes with him. “But you don’t know exactly where your servants live, do you? You just know it’s in that neighborhood packed with huts?”

  Wen finally seemed to understand. “Yes. It’s true. We all sent our most valuable treasures to be hidden with trusted servants. It might take time to find the hiding places since the servants have died.”

  “Then you’ll have to lead my men to the right neighborhood and go through every house,” Yelu said.

  The merchants, escorted by the soldiers, left.

  “Make sure you look thoroughly,” Green Siskin shouted after them, “especially those houses that had been burned down. Dig deep!”

  * * *

  Green Siskin kept on insisting that there was more treasure to be found, and the expeditions with the merchants kept on turning up just enough additional valuables that Yelu was reluctant to kill the captives.

  Sparrow tried to help Green Siskin with her lies as much as she could. But she fretted.

  “If Yelu finds out that you’re just making up stuff–”

  “Then I die. That was always the most likely outcome.” She fed the swallow another mouthful of chewed-up jerky. The bird was getting stronger, and now could hop around a bit.

  “Do you want their gratitude? They don’t even like you!”

  Green Siskin laughed. “What good is their gratitude at a time like this? I don’t much like them either – if I could, I’d try to save the poor instead. But I do enjoy their accusation that China fell because of women like me. I never knew I was so powerful!

  “I’m sure he never thought that the disdain he and his friends showed for the army had anything to do with it. They cheated on their taxes and starved the funding for the army for decades, but now everything is going wrong because I’m unchaste. This kind of subtle reasoning is clearly beyond you and me, mere females.”

  Sparrow had no patience for Green Siskin’s jokes. “Then why are you trying to save them? Is this about karma?”

  “I told you, I don’t believe in any of that.”

  “Then what–”

  “I don’t know anything about morals or virtues.” Green Siskin spat the word virtues out like a curse. She checked herself and went on, calmly. “I don’t care about the cosmic balance or the next life. I’m not brave or strong and I’m not trying to earn myself any respect. Someday they might tell stories about how brave Grand Secretary Shi Kefa was to have given his life for the city, but they’ll never care about what women like us have done.

  “But much as I want a heart of stone so that I can survive, my heart keeps on telling me what it thinks is right. Ah, sometimes it’s so much trouble. Just look at how much work it is to keep you alive!

  “Though I can ignore the precepts of dead Confucian sages and living hypocrites, I don’t want to stop living the way I want.

  “There’s been too much killing, Sparrow. I want to foil Heaven’s unfair plans in whatever way I can. It makes me happy to defy Fate, even if just a little bit.”

  * * *

  On the seventh day after the fall of Yangzhou, Prince Dodo finally gave the order to stop the killings. Corpses in the streets and the canals, soaked in rainwater, had begun to rot, and there was some concern that soldiers might start to fall sick with the miasma and stench. The survivors and the monks were told to start cremating the bodies.

  Smoke from the burning pyres filled the sky of Yangzhou. It was impossible to breathe.

  Janggin Yelu gave his mistress permission to go outside the city for some fresh air. Escorted by a few Manchu soldiers, Green Siskin and Sparrow rode about ten li from the city, where a green valley between two hills offered some shelter from the suffocating smoke. The soldiers left to patrol the area, and Green Siskin and Sparrow took a walk in the sun. In consideration of Green Siskin’s feet, the soldiers left them a horse.

  Green Siskin and Sparrow released the swallow, now fully recovered, and watched the bird fly away.

  “I never thanked you properly,” said Sparrow. She paused, feeling that the words were inadequate. She had never studied the Classics. The prettiest words she knew were from Green Siskin’s tanci. “If I could turn into a mongoose someday to knot the grass to help you, I would.”

  Green Siskin laughed. “I’m sure I can find a use for a grass-knotting mongoose.”

  “But I doubt those merchants will remember how they owe their lives to you,” Sparrow said.

  “I’m just grateful none of them have yet asked me to commit suicide to redeem my shame.”

  Sparrow and Green Siskin both chuckled bitterly.

  Two men emerged from behind a clump of trees. They held rusty swords and wore bright blue scarves around their necks.

  “Kneel, traitorous whore,” one of them said.

  Green Siskin looked at them. “You’re the remnants of Grand Secretary Shi’s militia?”

  The men nodded. “The only way you could have survived the massacre was by collaborating with the enemy.”

  “You’ve gotten it all wrong,” Sparro
w started to say. But Green Siskin shushed her.

  “Don’t,” whispered Green Siskin, keeping her eyes on the men. “The Manchus will be back any minute. If Yelu thinks I’ve been playing him, everyone will die. Now get on the horse.”

  “I’m not leaving you.”

  Green Siskin’s tone grew impatient. “Haven’t you learned anything? In this world, virtue is worthless. I’m not trying to be a hero. I need you on the horse because you have unbound feet and can use the stirrups. I need to ride behind you and hold onto your waist so the horse can run rather than just walk. Get on there before they’re too close!”

  Sparrow obeyed, and the two men began to run towards them.

  Green Siskin smiled at the two men. “I’m so glad two great heroes have arrived to rescue me.”

  “Your wiles won’t work on us. We’re here to carry out justice.”

  “Come on, get up here with me!” shouted Sparrow.

  Green Siskin smiled up sadly at Sparrow.

  “How am I supposed to get up there with these feet? Now go.” She slapped the horse’s rump and it leapt away. Sparrow screamed and it was all she could do to hold onto the reins.

  Looking back, Sparrow saw the two men descend on Green Siskin, who remained standing very straight.

  * * *

  Sparrow and the Manchu patrol looked and looked, but Green Siskin’s body was nowhere to be found.

  Instead, in the clearing was a large flock of birds: swallows, sparrows, magpies, hwamei, orioles, black drongos, martins. They were all chirping, twittering, singing, and instead of a cacophony, what emerged was a song that Sparrow instantly recognized: Green Siskin’s tanci melody.

  A siskin flew out of the flock and landed on Sparrow’s outstretched hand. Its back, instead of being a bright yellow, was a faint, jade-like green. In its beak it held a jade ring which it deposited in Sparrow’s hand.