The Silk Tree

by Julian Stockwin

  The camels got the scent and increased their pace.

  ‘Thank God!’ croaked Nicander, as he made out a pool thirty feet across, with a few reeds and tamarisks growing at the edge.

  Marius held up a warning hand. ‘I’ll try it first.’

  He touched the water to his lips but quickly spat it out. He gave a grim smile. ‘We can’t have it but the camels will.’

  Meng Hsiang and Ordut were soon showing their appreciation, throwing sprays of water over their bodies and giving hoarse roars of satisfaction as they drank.

  Nicander and Arif sluiced water over themselves while Marius went to the other side of the pool and cast about. But there was no river bed to follow at all now, just dreary plain, ending against the slope of a massive dune.

  He returned to the little group. ‘I won’t hide it from you. We’re in trouble. We can’t be sure this is the main river or if we’ve been following a branch off it to its end. Now we can turn round and go back, looking for signs in the river bed where the main went off in another direction – if ever it did.

  ‘Or we could go back on our tracks to reach the last place with good water. Either way we’ll run out of rations because we’ll be three times covering the same ground. The other side o’ the coin is to go on, see if the water comes back to the surface further on, hoping it’s the main stream. Which direction do we go to find it – the last way it was headed? Or do we give up looking and strike south and hope we pick it up again?’

  ‘It’s your decision, Marius,’ Nicander said almost in a whisper. ‘Which will it be?’

  ‘We stop here and set up for the night.’

  ‘Marius, it’s only the morning!’

  ‘Now why didn’t I notice that?’ the legionary said with a wintry grin. ‘No, you bastards are going to wait here in comfort while me and Meng Hsiang go up that dune and spy out the land.’

  The crest was a thousand feet above them. The trip would take hours.

  They stood watching as the lone camel angled up the dune, a tiny dot on the immensity of sand slowly ascending until it disappeared around the flank.

  In the late afternoon Marius was spotted again and by evening he had returned.

  ‘No news,’ he said tersely. ‘Can’t see a thing that’s for sure a river. Only these fucking dunes like waves on a sea. They go on and on and you can’t see down between ’em to check if there’s a river there. I’m … I’m sorry.’

  They were lost.

  ‘Thank you, Ah Wu. You did try – for all of us,’ Ying Mei said softly.

  Nicander wondered how she could be so calm. Did she not know … But then he realised it was the strength of her character, the same self-discipline that had made her the Ice Queen as she had struggled to keep her appearance before the world in hideous times when others would have given up long before.

  And now she was maintaining a normality that was calming their anxieties and preserving their humanity for the final trial.

  His heart cried for them all.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

  Marius gave his decision. ‘We head south.’

  They moved off quietly and soon came to the first dune. They began climbing at a shallow angle, their feet sinking into the soft sand at every step.

  Marius positioned the women to the left and right of Meng Hsiang, Nicander and Arif either side of Ordut. The camels hardly noticed the soft going and were able to help pull them along bodily. He remained in front, stolidly pacing ahead.

  They eventually reached the top – an infinity of dunes stretched in every direction. No mountain ranges, telltale oases, winding rivers or flat plains.

  The hot wind was brisk on the crest, driving sand in curling spindrifts to the lee of each. But at least they would be spared the agony of constantly toiling uphill – the giant crescents were oriented in their favour, to the north and south.

  ‘Ma sheng,’ Arif said diffidently.

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘The sand harder where the wind blow.’

  Nicander was grateful: a little below the crest on the side from where the wind blew it was firmer going with the more compacted grains.

  Unspoken was the realisation that their desolation was complete. Not a single living thing other than themselves and the camels, nothing but dunes and the cruel unblinking sun.

  With every step he could feel the sloshing about in his precious gourd of water. How curious to realise that there was a simple equation that ruled everything: water in the gourd equalled life, none equalled death.

  The odds were now very much against them pulling through.

  He found himself thinking: what would Dao Pa have said? There was no way of knowing but he vowed to meditate that night and prepare his soul.

  The resolution cheered him a little.

  In a way the dull repetition of their slogging progress insulated him from despair. Each dune was different, all the dunes were the same. Sometimes it blew harder than other times, one time Ying Mei would be to the left of Ordut, then it would be the right.

  She was muffled in flapping clothing but he knew and cherished the image of her valiant trudge.

  At the end of the day the tents could not be put up as there was nothing firm to take the pegs so as darkness closed in they were reduced to curling up in the lee of the camels below the crest with every piece of clothing they could find against the bitter cold.

  Nicander’s dreams were always the same: sparkling, refreshing water. But as he raised it to his lips he would jerk awake, parched.

  Each morning they would take a gulp of water and refill the gourds at the water skins, trying to ignore the sight of their increasingly flaccid appearance.

  Marius would then yet again go to the highest point and meticulously scan every quadrant. He would give a quick shake of the head and growl, ‘Move!’ and they would lurch into motion.

  Finding the general direction of south was easy enough: at night the dazzling display of stars revealed it while in the day the centre of the arc of the sun was always south. But when would their agony end?

  Thirst became a torment. The single-gulp discipline took inhuman control but under the eyes of all it was impossible to cheat. For a brief few minutes the mouth would be moist, the tongue free – then in the pitiless heat it would thicken and loll, the taste of dust always there.

  Another day and night passed.

  And in front, always, Marius striding on.

  He would grimly administer the water ceremony at the stops, his voice hoarse but still hard, his skin wrinkled, his eyes sunken and feverish.

  They were all suffering but none complained or criticised. Ying Mei was a slight, stooped figure with flushed face and hands that trembled as she took her water. A sun-ravaged Tai Yi kept close by all the time. Arif had taken to dropping his head in silent misery as he went about his duties.

  Now the last water skin was empty – what they had in their gourds was all that remained.

  Still there was no sign of deliverance. The nature of the dunes was becoming complex, the edge of the crests splitting and joining and making a straight course impossible even if they seemed to be becoming less massive.

  They plodded on through another day, the hot wind got up again and scoured their exposed skin but they dared not stop.

  That night Nicander suffered from painful cramps and headache, finally slipping into a fitful sleep in the biting cold.

  In the morning and with their gourds barely half-full they got under way.

  When the sun rose high, Nicander’s cramps returned. In pain, he reeled about. On the other side of Ordut, Arif, head bowed in endurance, didn’t see him and the little caravan carried on without him.

  He dropped to his knees, his hands tight on his stomach as the spasms racked him. He closed his eyes in pain.

  There were faint shouts and he opened his eyes to see Marius trudging back towards him.

  Nicander struggled to his feet but without a pause Marius knocked him down.

  ‘I said no on
e falls out of the line o’ march!’ he rasped. ‘Get back in the ranks!’

  Nicander caught up, ashamed that he had let Marius down.

  ‘I can’t trust you lot out o’ my sight!’ the legionary croaked. ‘I’m following behind, and God help any as drops out!’

  They pressed on, ever to the south, this time without the comforting sight of Marius in front.

  With a tongue swollen to twice its size and cruel aches in every joint it took Nicander heroic resolve to keep moving. He knew it was the same for the others.

  Every step was an effort. His head hung and he saw one foot go out then the other in hypnotic succession.

  A strange whimper made him look up. Ying Mei was gesturing behind them.

  A dark huddle lay still on the sand thirty yards away. Marius.

  It couldn’t be! Of all of them …

  Nicander somehow summoned strength to hurry to his friend who lay face down in the baking dunes. The others followed.

  ‘Marius!’ he whispered hoarsely, turning over his body. He was breathing but unconscious.

  ‘Get his gourd and give him water!’ Ying Mei pleaded.

  Nicander lifted it up and found it empty of even a drop. It didn’t make sense … then it hit him like a blow. Marius had made great play at the water skin but had not filled his own gourd, letting others have his share.

  His eyes stung – Marius had not had anything to drink the night before.

  Logic demanded that they leave him and go on, playing out the drama until its end.

  ‘Ah Yung. You are the leader now,’ Ying Mei said unsteadily. ‘What do we do?’

  ‘We stop here for the night,’ he croaked. It would buy time to think.

  ‘Try to get him to take some water,’ he muttered, handing over his own gourd.

  As he had seen Marius do so many times, he went to the highest point and looked out over the endless dunes, now shadowing as the sun fell. Ahead – south – the curving crest they had been following was splitting into two going in alternate directions. It meant that there were three valleys now – one ahead and one on either side.

  Marius did not regain consciousness, lying still, barely breathing. Ying Mei fanned him but there was nothing to be done.

  Nicander sat upright against Meng Hsiang’s hairy bulk staring into the night. This was the end, there would be no more hopeless striving. One by one they would drop in their tracks. Then their bones would be left until they too would be covered by the restless sand.

  He felt a great sadness that it all had to end like this.

  His head drooped as weariness claimed him but something made him look up – and as if in a dream he saw a figure, a robe covering its face.

  Shaking his head to try to clear it he saw the vision remained. The robe was thrown back and Dao Pa stood before him!

  Nicander hadn’t the strength to do more than wonder what he wanted but the image grew stronger and more real.

  ‘Why are you here?’ he managed to say.

  Dao Pa made a solemn sign of blessing.

  ‘We’re in our last travails, Master. What can we do?’

  The sage mouthed something.

  ‘I can’t hear you.’ Nicander said, his voice barely above a whisper, but it hurt to speak louder.

  Dao Pa shook his head sorrowfully and spread his hands.

  In a sudden spasm of hope Nicander pleaded, ‘Where must we go – ahead, to the left or right …? As a last chance!’

  The figure extended a hand – and pointed firmly to the right. Then he made the gesture of drinking.

  The river!

  ‘Thank you, thank you, Master! For the others, I thank you!’

  With a last farewell, Dao Pa turned and vanished into the blackness.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

  Marius still lived but would not last the morning without shade and rest. Nicander knew the cruelty of flogging on the two women was beyond him. Therefore there was only one course. ‘I want everyone to stay here today,’ he croaked. ‘I’m taking Meng Hsiang to look for water. If I’m not back by tomorrow then Arif’s in charge.’

  He felt lightheaded and strangely calm as the camel stepped off. Was the vision of Dao Pa real or was it a dream? One way or another their problems would all be over before the end of the day.

  He followed the crest for about a mile to where it divided. Confidently he kneed the camel to the right. Soon he could look down into the valley and there he would see the flat of the river bed and the unbearable glitter of moving water.

  Meng Hsiang plodded forward patiently and they drew nearer – and then the whole valley opened up before him.

  He searched eagerly – there was no sparkling water. No flat river bed. Only another drab bottomland.

  Disappointment slammed in, followed by a dull and bitter resignation. Even Dao Pa had let him down. Did he turn back now or try another direction? He couldn’t bring himself to think about it.

  Then something caught his eye: deep down and near the bottom. A series of dots.

  They moved.

  With a desperate intensity he stared down and made out a string of camels in a line, travelling slowly along.

  He tried to yell with all his strength but it came out only as a harsh croak.

  ‘Go!’ he urged Meng Hsiang in an agony of hope. The animal reluctantly began to step and slide down the steep slope towards the camel train. They saw him and stopped.

  ‘Faster!’ he gasped but his camel had its own speed. They drew nearer and he could make out several men dressed in outlandish coloured tunics and turban-like headdresses, gaping at his approach.

  Nearer still and his vision blurred with emotion. Then he was up with them nearly crying with relief. ‘Who are you? We need help, desperately, please!’

  They looked at each other and shrugged, babbling something that had no meaning to him. ‘Please! Water – water! Please understand – we’re looking for Khotan and—’

  ‘Ai, ai! Khotan!’ they said, vigorously pointing back to where they’d come from.

  Near delirious, Nicander tried to get off but slipped and tumbled. One of the men slid to the ground and hurried over. Nicander pointed to his mouth. ‘Water! Please – water!’

  The man untied a small skin pouch and placed it to his lips.

  Nicander drank then he fell back, wanting to weep with the emotion of it all but unable to.

  The man looked down at him and with the utmost tenderness tried to ask him something.

  ‘There! Up there!’ Nicander managed, indicating over the crest. ‘More of us!’ He held up four fingers and gestured again.

  ‘Ha!’ The man snapped a rapid-fire command. A water skin was flung over one camel, another mounted. Twitched into motion, the animals angled up the dune.

  Nicander slumped back – and the world dissolved to nothing.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

  ‘Be buggered to you!’ Marius protested. ‘I’m not staying in this bed rotting for ever – we have to get going.’ He threw aside the threadbare cover.

  ‘Not until they say you’re ready,’ Nicander said wearily, pulling it back again.

  ‘Have you checked the silk eggs, Nico? I’ve got to know they’re safe.’

  Reassured, he closed his eyes again.

  The two men had been left at the lamasery as a deserving charity, poor travellers on a caravan that had been set upon by brigands and who’d made a desperate escape into the desert, arriving with little more than the clothes they wore.

  Not daring to reveal the contents of Tai Yi’s chest in a strange place they had humbly accepted the hospitality of the lamasery. It was not a richly endowed one, however, and there had been pointed remarks about their future plans.

  One vital piece of information they had gleaned was that Khotan was a major trading centre on the rim of the Great Desert. From here argosies set out for many destinations, especially Kashgar. Situated where the Kunlun range in the south curved up to meet the Tien Shan from the north, Kashgar was the transfe
r point for goods coming from the desert to the mountain crossings.

  No one seemed to know exactly what lay beyond the mountains – India was somewhere past them, in another direction was the land of horses that sweated blood. Yet another route, it was said, led to the home of the barbarous nomads.

  As it happened, Kashgar fell in well with their story: that the journey to Ying Mei’s sick father’s bedside had been interrupted by their fleeing across the desert to escape marauders and now she wanted to resume it by going to Aksu the other way around – to do so, they’d have to pass through Kashgar. They still had their original documents to back up their tale.

  Nicander did not want to vex Marius until he had regained his strength but he had much on his mind. He recalled Su’s worry that it was late in the season – did this apply to mountain travel too? And there was the fact that as Marius lay recovering, Su and the caravan was on their way here around the same desert edge. If they didn’t get to Kashgar before them, they’d meet somewhere along the route. And were Tai Yi and Ying Mei safe? They had been separated when the ladies were led away to a nunnery to recover. So many concerns … but at least they had been able to reward Arif for his loyalty with the gift of Meng Hsiang’s deposit.

  There was every reason to be gone at the first opportunity. Nicander had heard that in these parts caravans were more frequent and the abbot had been quick to point out that one was on its way north in only a few days. But Marius—

  A firm knock at the door broke into his thoughts. With a disapproving frown a monk informed him that they had visitors, but being female they could not enter the lamasery. Nicander gave a start: it could only be Ying Mei and Tai Yi.

  He was escorted to the gate. Ying Mei stood outside wearing borrowed novice’s robes. Apart from the high colour of a sun-touched face she seemed none the worse for her ordeal. Tai Yi had not been so lucky and her swollen features obviously gave her pain.

  Ying Mei gave a hesitant smile. ‘Tell me, how is Ah Wu?’

  ‘He’s on the mend. Complains all the time of lying still. We’ve been told he’s too weak to leave yet, so I worry we’re going to miss the next caravan.’