Bridge Of Birds (33 page)

“That's the point,” I sniffled. “Ever after is such a very long time.”

“I am afraid,” Lotus Cloud said desperately. “I don't want to be changed into something
strange.”

“Oh yes, you do,” I said sadly. “Lotus Cloud, you yawned in the presence of diamonds.
Emeralds bored you to tears. I gave you a casket of gold, which you handed to the first
person who asked for it. You have never asked for a new dress, and you wouldn't know what
to do with a servant, but everything changed when I brought you pearls and jade. You could
never quite remember, but you could never quite forget, and your eyes grew wide with hope
and wonder, and your face was transfigured by longing, and a soul-shaking desire wracked
your whole body, and with trembling hands you reached not toward pearls and jade, but
toward yourself.”

My heart was breaking as I maneuvered her into a corner. “Pearls and jade, and the name of
the Princess of Birds,” I said gently, “was Jade Pearl.”

Then I reached out and placed the little golden crown upon the head of the woman I loved.

I suppose that there is only a slight chance that a person will be called upon to rescue a
goddess, but the odds will increase dramatically if the person is as illustrious as are my
readers, so I will offer two pieces of advice.

Beware of her divine light, and take cover.

No sooner had the crown touched Lotus Cloud's head than I was nearly blinded, and I sank
to my knees and gazed at dancing black spots and bright orange pinwheels. Even then I
could see in my heart that she had moved away from me, and when my eyes adjusted to the
unearthly glow I saw that my beloved Lotus Cloud had picked up the Great Root of Power
from the table and had walked outside to the garden. She was surrounded by a shimmering
nimbus, and the crown upon her head flickered like fire. The Princess of Birds paid no
attention to me, and I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“Dear boy, she has a great many things to think about,” Master Li said kindly. “Sit down
with me at the table and have a drink. Have six or seven.”

In the garden the dogs were crouched over the tiny pile of dust that had been the heart of
their master. They were as still as statues. Lotus Cloud lifted her face to the night sky
and uttered a low cry that was neither a song nor a whistle, but something in between, and
the dogs jerked their heads up and appeared to be listening to a distant echo. Then Lotus
Cloud dropped to her knees and bowed her head and clasped her hands together. She prayed
for many minutes, and then she humbly banged her head against the ground. Lotus Cloud got
to her feet and bowed her head over the Great Root, and for another minute she silently
communed with her godmother. Then the Princess of Birds turned and lifted the Queen of
Ginseng toward the huge looming shape of the Castle of the Labyrinth.

Master Li grabbed the wine jar. He told me to follow his example, and then he crawled
beneath the sturdy table and arranged some heavy pillows for further protection. “Ever
since I was a wee lad, I have been addicted to spectacular endings,” he said
nostalgically. “Pass your cup.”

“Master Li, I don't think that I can handle any more wine,” I said shakily, as I stared
with terrified eyes at the vast fortress upon the cliff.

“Nonsense! Try saying 'forty-four dead stone lions.'”

“Forty-four dead stone lions.”

“Sober as a Confucian,” Master Li declared.

I could not dispute it. We were speaking the Peking dialect called Mandarin, in which
“forty-four dead stone lions” comes out as
ssu shih ssu ssu shih shih
, if it comes out at all, so I passed my cup.

I was not the only one who gazed in terror at the Castle of the Labyrinth. It was slowly
twisting upon its foundations, as though it were being squeezed by a giant hand, and
screams and shrieks rang through the streets of the greatest pleasure city in the world,
and merchants and merrymakers and priests and prostitutes fell upon their knees and began
babbling prayers and promises to repent.

That monstrous monument to temporal power was dissolving. Invincible walls were bending
like soft wax, and great stone slabs were spraying down like scattered grains of sand, and
enormous steel gates were ripping apart like flimsy parchment. The iron towers melted into
mud, and the drawbridges toppled into the moats, and the face of the solid cliff cracked
and splintered, and the water from the moats shot over the edge of the cliff and glittered
in the moonlight like silver as it plunged in a foaming cascade to the sea. Tunnels and
torture chambers collapsed and buried forever the terrible secrets of the Duke of Ch'in,
and in the depths of the labyrinth the tiger screamed for the last time.

A great cloud of dust and debris billowed up and blotted out the moon, and stones and
steel rained down upon the duke's city. Small pieces of wreckage crashed through the roof
and pounded like drumsticks upon the table that covered us. Then a great gust of wind blew
down from Heaven and the dust cloud vanished as though it had never been, and I stared in
wonder at the Castle of the Labyrinth as you will see it today: a great twisted mass of
wreckage scattered across the face of a cliff overlooking the Yellow Sea.

Li Kao's eyes were shining, and he happily punched my shoulder. “One should not be miserly
when it comes to a spectacular ending, and unless I am greatly mistaken, we are in for a
whopper,” he said. “Listen.”

The sound was faint at first. Then it grew stronger and stronger, deepening in pitch as
the chorus swelled, and resolved itself into a great song of joy as a million birds, a
billion, a trillion, every bird in China, including those that had to break out of cages,
came flashing across the face of the moon toward their princess. The mobs in the streets
jumped to their feet and took to their heels, howling in terror while the trees and shrubs
bowed beneath a great wind of wings, and billions of blossoms whirled through the air and
turned bawling bonzes into bouquets, and fleeing felons into flower arrangements.

The great Phoenix, mightiest of all, led the way, and his flaming crown of feathers
streaked across the sky like a meteor. Behind him flew the Eagle and the Albatross, the
kings of the birds of land and sea. Then came the Owl, prince of the birds of night, and
the Lark, prince of the birds of day, and the Swan, prince of the birds of rivers, and the
Crane, prince of the birds of marshes, and the Parrot, prince of the birds of jungles, and
the Petrel, prince of the birds of storms, and the Raven, prince of the birds of prophecy
- I shall not give the entire list. Henpecked Ho might have drawn it up, since it covers
twenty pages. Behind the officers flew the legions, and the world was fragrant with the
sharp clean scent of the green twigs and branches that they carried in their claws.

The crown upon the head of Lotus Cloud was shining even brighter than the crown of the
Phoenix. She uttered another low cry, and the mighty Falcon, prince of the birds of war,
slid silently down from the sky and landed in the garden. It was as big as a horse, and
its talons glittered like swords, and its wise old yellow eyes glowed like smoky torches.
Lotus Cloud ran up and wrapped her arms around the Falcon's neck and rested her cheek
against its head. She stood like that for some time, and then she turned, unconsciously
imperial, and looked straight at two gentlemen who were still crouched beneath a table. We
found ourselves crawling out, and walking obediently into the garden. The Princess of
Birds reached out and placed the Great Root of Power in my hands.

“My godmother wishes to go with you,” she said softly. “She has suffered much, and she
prays that in the village of Ku-fu she may be able to perform the task for which she was
born. I have spoken to the Falcon, who alone of all living creatures may be able to get
you there in time.”

She turned to Li Kao.

“I have a message that I do not understand,” she said simply. “The August Personage of
Jade says that he will reserve a place for you in the constellation Scorpio, where you
will rule as the red star Antares, whose sign is that of the fox, on the condition that
you do not try to sell him any shares in a mustard mine.”

“Conditions, conditions,” Master Li grumbled, but I could see that he was immensely
pleased.

Lotus Cloud gestured, and the Falcon bent down and Li Kao and I obediently climbed upon
its back. Lotus Cloud leaned forward; her lips softly brushed my cheek.

“I will never forget you,” she whispered. “Not through all eternity.”

The princess stepped back. For the last time I saw her incredible grin, and she waved, and
the great wings pumped once, twice, and then the prince of the birds of war shot up into
the air. The Falcon wheeled around, and the wings flashed so swiftly that they were nearly
transparent in the moonlight, and Master Li and Number Ten Ox set sail across the night
sky of China.

I turned and looked back, blinking through tears. A billion birds were beginning to build
a bridge with their twigs and branches, and their princess was placing her foot upon the
first step. Never again would I see her. Never again would I hold her in my arms. The
Falcon turned its head, and its voice was surprisingly soft and gentle.

“Number Ten Ox, why do you weep?” the Falcon asked. “The Princess of Birds has vowed to
remember you throughout eternity, and by now you should know that men cannot come any
closer to immortality without going insane.”

The beautiful Bridge of Birds was climbing slowly toward the stars, and a great song was
spreading across China. Faster and faster we sped through the sky, and on the ground below
the peasants were running from the cottages and lifting little children in their arms to
gaze at glory.

“You see?” said the peasants. “That is why you must never give up, no matter how bad
things may seen. Anything is possible in China!”

We shot over a ridge to a small valley where men stood frozen in awe and wonder, and I
began to feel a certain respect for Pawnbroker Fang and Ma the Grub, who were taking the
opportunity to pick the pockets of their own lynch mob. The Falcon's burning eyes were
lighting up the night like lighthouse beacons as we flashed past, and then we swooped over
another ridge and down into another valley toward an old well and a bricked-up hole in a
wall.

The Falcon was right. Why should I weep? Bright Star had shed enough bitter tears for both
of us, but now her tears came from joy as she gazed at the Bridge of Birds, sparkling in
the distance. The dancing girl and her captain were giving a great scholar the respectful
attention he deserved, and Henpecked Ho gestured grandly at the glorious sky.

“So the peasant girl knelt before the Emperor of Heaven, and he placed the little gold
crown upon her head. 'Arise, Princess of Birds!' he commanded, and when Jade Pearl stood
up she was astonished to see that she shone with a divine light....”

The Falcon flashed past, and mountains and valleys disappeared as though China were being
folded up like a map beneath us, and we shot down the side of a low mountain where three
more ghosts were seated upon a rock, gazing up at the Bridge of Birds.

“You know, I feel in my heart that I had something to do with this, although it scarcely
seems possible,” Miser Shen said wonderingly. “I cannot imagine how anything so beautiful
could be associated with someone so ugly as myself.”

His wife kissed his cheek, and the lovely little girl in his arms looked up in surprise.
“But, Daddy, you are very beautiful,” said Ah Chen.

They vanished behind us. Another mountain and another valley vanished in a blur, and then
the Falcon slowed and feathered its wings above a cemetery, where a tired and lonely old
man was trudging between gravestones with a cadaver on his back. He tilted the head of the
corpse toward the Bridge of Birds.

“Now look here, if the birds can pull off a trick like that, surely you can manage
something so simple as resurrection,” Doctor Death said reasonably. “Perhaps it would help
if you understood how important it is. My wife was not pretty, but she was the most
wonderful wife in the world. Her name was Chiang-chao, and we were very poor, but she
could make the most delicious meals from a handful of rice and the herbs that she picked
in the woods. She sang beautiful songs to cheer me when I was depressed, and she sewed
dresses for wealthy ladies to help pay for my studies. We were very happy together, and I
know that we will be happy together again.”

The Falcon dropped like a rock, and the great talons shot out, and there was a dull thud.
We lifted back up into the air while the old man toppled to the ground, and his ghost
lifted from his body, and another ghost came running with open arms, and Doctor Death and
the most wonderful wife in the world embraced beneath the Bridge of Birds.

The stars above us were blending into a continuous blur and the landscape below was
unrolling like a painted panorama: the hills and valleys that we had trudged across on our
quest, and the Desert of Salt, and Stone Bell Mountain. We shot up the side of another
mountain toward a stone pillar and a hammer and a gong and the black mouth of a cave. The
wisest man in the world was standing there, gazing at the Bridge of Birds, and for a
moment I thought that it might not be such a bad thing to lose one's heart. There was real
pleasure in his eyes. Then I saw that his hands were caressing a small pile of jewels, and
I remembered that a man with no heart likes things cold, and there is nothing colder than
treasure.

“Cold,” crooned the Old Man of the Mountain. “Cold... cold... cold...”

Then the wisest man in the world turned his back upon the beautiful Bridge of Birds, and
shuffled down into the darkness of his cave.

Another valley disappeared beneath us, and another river, and more hills, and we swooped
up the side of another peak, and Master Li and I cried out as one: “But surely they have
paid for their folly!”