The Silk Tree

by Julian Stockwin

  Taw drew himself up. ‘You insult us with all these lies!’ he snarled. ‘You’re no holy man. I don’t know who you are but I’m going to find out!’

  ‘How dare you!’ Nicander came back. ‘Our beliefs are our own concern. We’ve been sent by our king—’

  ‘To seek out truths? What truths have you found so far, Ni? Any at all?’ he sneered.

  ‘These!’ roared Marius, bringing out the chest. He thumped it on the ground in front of the lama, opening it so he could see the scrolls and stitched sheets.

  The man raised an eyebrow and took one out. ‘Lao Tzu? Confucius?’ he said mockingly. ‘Your common Chinese word grinders? Where is your dharma, your Sutta Pitaka?’

  He took up another and thrust it at Marius. ‘Read what it says there,’ he said, stabbing an accusing finger at an embellished line of characters.

  The legionary’s face set.

  ‘You!’ he demanded of Nicander. It was not one he’d been working on.

  A cynical smile spread. ‘You can’t read – you’re both illiterates! You’re expecting us to believe you’re taking these to your king and you can’t read a word of them.’

  Taw glanced back at his acolytes in triumph then snapped, ‘You’re a pair of criminals on the run from China disguised as holy men and—’

  ‘Falsehoods and lies!’ Nicander replied hotly.

  ‘Then you’re spies from a foreign kingdom with secret orders to steal from a land superior to your own. You’ll find we have a short way with such vermin in these parts, those who bring dishonour on the calling of the Buddha!’

  With a venomous look he swept away.

  Su hesitated. ‘Doesn’t do to get on the wrong side of ’em. Can’t you do some miracle or something? A bit of magic, some healing, a bit of chanting? You’ve been no trouble to me on this trip and I’d like to help you, but …’

  ‘Be buggered to it – those yellow rats can’t prove anything!’ Marius exploded.

  ‘And we can’t prove we’re not as they say.’

  The caravan moved out and Nicander hurried to be with Ying Mei. ‘Those monks – they’re determined on trouble. It looks like Taw can’t make us out and wants to be rid of us.’

  She didn’t reply.

  ‘Are you not well, Ying Mei?’ he asked with a sudden stab of alarm.

  She moved to one side until she was out of hearing from Tai Yi.

  Biting her lip she said in a low voice, ‘Last night I had a dream. I won’t vex you with details but I know what it means. In a few days we arrive in Aksu. Su says it’s the last oasis of size before the end of the desert and the mountains begin and it’s there we must leave this caravan if we are true to our purpose.’

  ‘Yes, this is right. This caravan moves on around the desert to the other kingdoms.’

  ‘Ni K’an Ta, I’m frightened.’

  ‘Why so?’ he said. It was the first time she had used his name and it brought a guilty thrill.

  ‘When we started out, we planned on going to this Aksu, the furthest kingdom on the caravan route. Now, all of a sudden it comes out that we’ll soon reach it – and we’ve no idea what to do once we’re there. No plan or anything.’

  ‘We’ll think of something, never fear.’

  She glanced at him with a wistful sadness. ‘Ah Yung, I’ve spoken to everyone I can find and there’s no one can say how to get over the mountains. Or even if that is the right direction to go. They all say it’s a terrible place and have never heard of any who have done it.’

  ‘Surely not.’

  ‘So in a very short while we have to say goodbye to our friends – and the safety of this great caravan, and it … I have a dread …’

  There was not much he could say: he’d assumed they would just look around and decide on the spot what to do. It had seemed so far in the future when they had made their plans in Chang An, but now it was all too much a reality. What would it be to go on without the comfort and security of a full-scale caravan? And if it turned out camel trains could not go up into the mountains, was there any way of crossing such a fearsome barrier?

  They continued on in silence and in the afternoon he walked with Marius, but in the evening there was no invitation to calligraphy.

  Ill at ease Nicander wandered in the darkness, the noise of the evening entertainment carrying far on the still night air. He found himself near the camels and the long mound of unloaded cargo under guard.

  A single thought came: in those dark masses were tons’ weight of silk – he’d seen with his own eyes the watery yellow skeins of the raw thread and the breathtaking brilliance of the finished bolts of fabric. These were going somewhere to the west. And in Justinian’s empire there were merchants getting them from somewhere in the east. He had something he could reach out and touch that was on its way to some noble household in Constantinople. How that happened was their answer!

  The Sogdians would never give up their secret of the silk route but he was a canny merchant and he would not rest until he had found a way. His fears eased.

  He was about to return when something made him pause. Away from camp lights the moonless dark was held at bay by a tremulous sheen from the star field that blazed overhead. He gazed at it in awe as stealing into his mind came acknowledgement that the Lady Ying Mei was meaning more to him than ever she should.

  They had worked closely together on things of beauty and humanity, had revealed to each other things touching deeply on each other – was it any wonder that he had grown close to her, found happiness and fulfilment when with her?

  Or was it something deeper? He shied away from the implications and stared out into the desert.

  A single pinprick of light showed – too tiny to see from within the encampment. Nicander didn’t need to be told what it was and hurried towards it over the broken ground.

  ‘How goes your journey?’ Dao Pa said, looking up from his cross-legged position by a neat little fire.

  ‘I strive for enlightenment, Master. Each day brings a fresh revealing but also a new mystery.’

  ‘That is well. That is very well,’ the sage said with a slow smile. ‘I expected nothing less from you. Have you your letters yet?’

  ‘I learn, but I’m far from construing the works of the ancient ones.’

  ‘There is one helping you.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Tell me, what is your conceiving of Meng Tzu, when he declares that all men everywhere are born good at heart?’

  ‘Master, I’m torn. He brings forward an unanswerable koan – that on seeing a child about to fall in a well there is no man who will shrink from saving it. Yet Hsün Tzu shows that we enter this life evil and that it is only our conscious will that can rule desires, to enable us to rise above our base passions.’

  ‘Excellent! You are manifestly on your path to the Tao.’

  ‘Master …’

  ‘You have doubts.’

  ‘I … I have a problem of life that troubles me.’

  ‘Tell me.’

  ‘It’s a woman. Who has touched my heart that I cannot … who has entered my thoughts and …’

  ‘And you fear the purity of your quest is at hazard?’

  ‘She …’

  ‘Heaven sends lives on courses which are destined to converge. The wise do not confuse this with the chance meeting. One leads to the unity of souls, the other to lust and pollution. Do not ask me to say which it is in your case – you must look in your heart and decide.’

  ‘You are not … disappointed?’

  ‘How can this be? I am your teacher and you are a worthy disciple. You will know how to act in this, for you are well advanced in the Tao. If she is destined for you then your life is hers. If not, then it may be you will raise your enlightenment to the level where your life belongs to your disciples. That is the Way.’

  ‘Master—’

  ‘Your life lies ahead of you. I have set you on your path and I know you will fulfil your destiny with understanding and wisdom. I am content.�
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  ‘But …’

  ‘I now take my leave of you on this earthly plane. Hold fast to what you have learnt, and you can clutch to your bosom even to the grave that you are pure of heart and intent. Farewell, Ni K’an Ta – lao na.’

  Marius was in no doubt about it when he returned to their tent. ‘The woman’s getting to you,’ he snapped. ‘I told you!’

  ‘Leave me be,’ Nicander muttered. There was far too much to think on.

  ‘You’ve got to do something about it, Nico. We’ve only to get her across the mountains to the west and then we’re rid o’ the woman. If you let her foul up your wits now we stand to lose everything.’

  ‘It’s not like that …’

  ‘Don’t you forget that half o’ what we’ve got in the box is mine and—’

  ‘I haven’t forgotten! Now just piss off!’

  He had to face that his heart was taken by Ying Mei. He should have seen it coming, the way that she had crowded into his thoughts, the rising tenderness of his feeling toward her – and the melting helplessness that her gaze on him brought.

  And Marius was right: he had to do something about it. Every piece of him cried out – to let it free, throw himself down before her and declare his passion.

  But this could be the worst move: it supposed that she felt the way he did, but if she didn’t, he would lose everything.

  Was there a halfway point – in some way or other enabling him, without revealing his true feelings, to let it be known to her that he was interested and see if she responded.

  She would no doubt be scandalised at his behaviour as a holy man. He could let her know privately that he was not one, in fact, but then all the trust and confidence that was allowing her to get close to him would vanish.

  He was in the worst of all worlds and when they reached Aksu he would need all his wits about him. Damn it! Why was life so complicated!

  CHAPTER FIFTY

  After they made their last stopping place, Taw came striding across with his acolytes.

  ‘Greetings, Ni lao na.’ His manners were faultless but there was an air of menace. ‘Shall we talk?’

  He motioned his group to one side. ‘On the morrow we reach Aksu.’

  ‘As I’ve heard.’

  ‘The sutras teach us that it is more worthy to show mercy to a weevil than fawn upon a dragon.’

  ‘Yes,’ Nicander replied carefully.

  ‘Then this is why I’m here. Should you readily confess who you are, that you are not holy men, and if you then place yourselves in my hands in the matter of punishment, then I am mindful to be merciful, and will intercede for you tomorrow.’

  ‘What do you mean, Taw?’

  ‘The kingdom of Aksu is staunch for the teachings of the Enlightened One, having monasteries and temples beyond counting, and is well known to me. There, the penalties for false representing are severe. Should any lay a complaint of you when we arrive it will be regarded very seriously. As lama of this region I shall be consulted and, with the evidence I have seen with my own eyes on this journey, there will be little doubt of the verdict.

  ‘The customary penalty for those falsely representing, together with those aiding and abetting the offence, is to be sold into slavery for not less than seven years’ servitude.’

  With a slow smile he added, ‘You have until we sight the walls of Aksu, Ni.’

  ‘The bastard means Ying Mei as well,’ Nicander blurted.

  Marius stood dark and brooding. ‘I should slit the bugger’s throat!’

  ‘And be a murderer? No – looks like he’s got us where he wants us. He’s in thick with the kingdom authorities and they’ll have a short way with us. Our only chance is to do as he says and give up and confess our sins.’

  ‘That’s stupid – they’ll throw us into slavery. We’ve got to get out of this ourselves.’

  ‘How?’

  An hour later they were no nearer a solution.

  ‘We’re going to have to tell Ying Mei,’ Nicander said finally.

  The two arriving at her tent was enough to alert her that something was wrong. They quickly let her know what had happened.

  ‘This is very serious – the Buddhists are jealous of their position with the people and persecute those they think are undermining this. There’s only one way to avoid being taken – we must leave the caravan. Now.’

  Marius laughed dismissively. ‘Mountains to the right, a deadly desert to the left. We can’t go forward with ’em, so we have to go back. And that delivers us straight into the arms of the Uighur gangs following us, waiting for stragglers. Without the protection of the caravan we’re—’

  After everything they’d gone through. ‘No! We just can’t let ourselves be hauled away in chains again!’ Nicander burst out.

  ‘So think of something, Nico!’

  ‘Put it all in the hands of Caravan Master Su.’ Unexpectedly it was Tai Yi making the suggestion. ‘He’s going to know about it, anyway.’

  ‘No. There’s a difficulty,’ Ying Mei came in. ‘My father is supposed to be on his deathbed. How can I say we now don’t want to go to Aksu?’

  She smiled suddenly. ‘I think I have a way …’

  Su was not best pleased to be interrupted in his work preparing the caravan accounts and formalities for the next day and listened reluctantly.

  ‘So you see, Su hsien sheng, I have got myself in a lot of trouble. All this about my father dying in Aksu was just a story – to cover up that I’m really on my way to Khotan to join my lover. Now Taw and his nasty monks are spoiling it all.’

  Su frowned grimly. ‘Make no mistake, this is bloody serious. I don’t give a damn about your lover but if you’re convicted in Aksu I stand to be charged with smuggling undesirables, and that’s me finished.’

  He glared at them. ‘Why I listened to Kuo and his story I’ve no idea. Now you’ve come at the last minute to ask me how to get you out of this.’

  He stood up. ‘You get to Aksu, it’s all up for you. So – there’s nothing else but you don’t get there – you leave the caravan.’

  ‘To go where?’ Nicander said wearily.

  ‘Well, you can’t go forward, you can’t go back—’

  ‘We know all that!’

  ‘Or into the mountains. So there’s only one way left – into the desert.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You want to go to Khotan, there is a way. Across the desert instead of all around.’

  ‘How far?’

  ‘Oh, just a few hundred miles or so.’

  ‘That’s murder, going into the Taklamakan! We’d never do it!’

  ‘Yes you could – the old-time travellers did it. See, there’s a river, the Ho T’ien, and it crosses over to this side from Khotan. All you do is follow it. Simple!’

  ‘If it’s so easy, why aren’t you taking the caravan that way?’

  ‘Ah, well, there are a few disadvantages, shall we say. First is that this river is fed by snowmelt off the Kunluns. We’re a mite late in the season and by now they’ll be running dry into the sand at awkward places, not reliable, like.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘Away from these mountains here, the weather gets … strange. Bloody cold and burning hot, you need to watch it.’

  ‘Anything else?’

  ‘The rivers are very shallow, very wide. When they’re dry you can’t see where they are too easy, where to go. Could get yourselves lost.’

  ‘I know what that means!’ Nicander said bitterly.

  ‘Hold on, I didn’t say you couldn’t find ’em again. We know what direction Khotan is, just keep going that way, you’ll find the river again.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘You know the stars, don’t you?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Well, that could be a bit more difficult.’

  ‘This doesn’t sound much of a solution, Su sheng.’ In fact it looked a lot like a move to get rid of them with no complications.

  ‘It’s got lots of advantages.’
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  ‘Oh?’

  ‘You set off quickly, by morning there’ll be no tracks to follow, the wind fills ’em in.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘You’ll be in Khotan way before we will.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘You’ll have no problems with Uighurs and bandits, there’s none out there.’

  ‘They’ve got more sense than to go where no one else does!’

  ‘Look, you asked me for a way out! I’ve told you one – do you want to take it or be done up in Aksu?’

  There was no choice. ‘We have to do it.’

  ‘Good. Lets get the details straight first. It’ll be you four? Then you’ll want at least two camels – no horses, they drink too much. I can probably find you extra kit, seeing as how you’ll be on your own. Agreed?’

  ‘I suppose so.’

  ‘Right. Then let’s tot that lot up … I’ll be generous and only charge you rental for the camels, so long as you check ’em in at Khotan – a little deposit on each against that, of course.’

  All in all it was no trivial sum being asked.

  ‘You forgot to deduct our passage from Aksu to Khotan the long way around,’ Tai Yi said implacably.

  ‘Well, yes. You always do that afterwards, don’t you?’

  Su leant back. ‘As this is a bit irregular, like, I have to ask you for coin in advance – so I can square m’ books with ’em in Aksu, that is.’

  The implications began to sink in. It was madness but they had only hours left.

  Wasting no time, Su summoned their cameleer, Arif. ‘Change of schedule. These lot will be leaving the caravan. Tonight. Off to Khotan along the Ho T’ien. Get their camels up and harnessed, then load ’em against this list. Oh – and keep it to yourself, got it?’

  The man looked incredulous. ‘They going the old desert way? That near dry up, no one go that way now! You can’t—’

  ‘Get on with it. Smartly, now!’

  ‘They travellers only, they not know the desert. How you—’

  ‘I told you to get those camels in harness. Do it.’

  ‘Su sheng.’ Arif said quietly.

  ‘Yes?’ Su snapped.