Heart and Soul (50 page)

THE BOATS FLY

Third Lady could barely bring the boat down, her
hands were shaking so hard. She knew that Wen was safe, but even if the others had noticed they were missing, why would they assume Wen was dead?

Slowly, she brought the boat down alongside the Dragon Boats, and they stepped out side by side. At first no one noticed them, but as they approached the Imperial barge, people turned to look. And stepped back.

“He is a ghost,” First Lady screamed, and Third Lady thought that though she was obliged by the rules of society and family and tradition to be respectful of First Lady and call her Elder Sister, she’d always thought the woman was a blithering idiot. Also, now that Third Lady knew that Wen had not consummated his marriage with either of the other two, she was less willing to bow to tradition. Defiantly, she put her arm in Wen’s as they walked toward the barge. He shook her hand off his arm, and instead enveloped it in his.

A look over his shoulder, and an impish smile at her, and he turned a forbidding countenance to the rest of the Dragon Boat denizens. “I am not a ghost. What is the meaning of this impertinence?”

First Lady and Second Lady were crying inconsolably in each other’s arms. Everyone else was running around like madmen. And through the madness came Grasshopper Zhang, his eyes very wide. “You know what they say,” he said. “No ghost can stand being bound.” And then in almost whispering voice, “Milord, may I hold your wrists?”

For a moment, Wen hesitated. And for a moment, Third Lady considered that this could be a plot to ambush or kill Wen. But though Grasshopper was a Zhang, she’d seen him grow up during her years on the Dragon Boats, and she didn’t think he had it in him to commit treason. Apparently Wen didn’t either, because he extended his hands to the boy, who held Wen’s wrists in a tight grip for a moment and then let them go. “He’s not a ghost,” he reported. “I held his wrists tight and he did not try to change shapes, nor did he became a gas or other noxious substance.”

“Of course I’m not a ghost,” Wen said, his voice sounding equal parts amused and bewildered—a combination the rest of the Dragon Boats had never heard from him, and which was, in fact, enough to stop those closer to them from carrying on in hysterics and pay attention. Calmness spread outward from that center—except for First and Second Ladies, of course.

“First Lady,” Wen said, sternly. “Second Lady. Please cease your weeping. It is I, and I am not a ghost.” Into the sudden calm that their obedience to his order brought, he said, “Grasshopper, why would anyone think me a ghost?”

“Because the boats stopped flying, milord. We couldn’t find you, and then we tried to order the lifeboats to fly, just to see…and…”

“Oh,” Wen said, and Third Lady understood. All the lifeboats were grounded when the emperor died, until the new one took power and made the barges lift, which allowed the small rowboats to fly again.

“But our rowboat flew,” Wen said.

“Which is part of the reason everyone thought you were ghosts, milord,” Grasshopper said.

“Oh. No. I think I used my magic without meaning to. You see, my Third Lady, at great peril and through means I shall describe later, restored my health. As my power returned to me, it must have taken it from the ring my sister, Jade, is wearing. So her power is no longer valid to make the boats fly.” He shrugged, casually. “It just means I must make the barges fly anew.”

He turned to Precious Lotus. “Come with me, Third Lady,” he said, giving her his hand again.

She was the only one standing by him as he said the ancient prayer to make the boats fly. And the only one who knew he had held his breath between the concluding words of the prayer and the moment when the barges rose, swiftly and smoothly, into the dark night sky.

From the boats there erupted a cheer, and Wen turned to Third Lady. “My dear,” he said, very casually, “if you’d do me the honor of letting me visit your apartments tonight?”

She smiled back. “Gladly. I always sleep much better with you next to me.”

Hand in hand they turned, as the barges set gently down again upon the water. Amid the kowtowing courtiers they walked. Before crossing over to the women’s barge, Wen stopped and fixed his gaze on Grasshopper’s younger brother, who had served as his opium preparer. “Throw the pipe and all that goes with it,” he said, “over the side of the barge. It won’t be needed again.”

THE YELLOW RIVER

The dragon who rose out of the Huang He was the
largest of them all. He was also golden, as though he’d been carved of pure metal, and he spoke smoothly and gently, like someone who is so old that he has left all human passions behind.

“I am awake, Daughter,” he told Jade. “And I will speak for you in the council of dragons.”

Trembling, in front of a creature more magnificent than any she even knew existed, Jade bowed and said, “Where is the council of dragons to be, oh Grandfather?”

He seemed puzzled. “You do not know?” he asked.

“No, Grandfather.”

“You must go to the Yangcheng Lake, where the palace of your ancestor Yu once stood. There you must stand and call to us. Then we will appear and bless your brother. And with the unanimous vote of all the dragons, the palace of your ancestor will rise out of the Earth again, and your brother will sit on the throne of his ancestors. You do not need to worry about all the smaller rivers, the tributaries and the lakes. I will wake those dragons with my call. In our dreams, we already agreed that it is time China has a were dynasty again. There will be difficult times ahead—very difficult—and the Mandate of Heaven is that China be made secure.”

They thanked him profusely, then turned away from the river, and Jade looked at Nigel, thinking how foolish she was that, even though he looked perfectly handsome as a Chinese man, she longed to see him with his ice-pale hair again, and his blue eyes. What a fool she was. He was not hers. His appearance would revert when he got the antidote pill from a Fox Clan member. But she would never get to see him in that aspect again. And she could not be his.

“I hope…” Nigel said, softly. “That is, you told me that your brother would allow me to visit China again. I hope I will be allowed to see you again as well. And to…present my regards.”

“Of course,” Jade said, her smile as brave as it was brittle. But in her secret mind, all she could think was that she would see him again—perhaps—but he would be just a foreigner visiting. And she would probably be married off to some man of her brother’s choosing.

HOME IS THE MAIDEN

There had been tears, which of course Peter had expected
. Hettie and her parents had fallen upon one another with glad cries and some weeping.

And then Peter had introduced Corridon and explained both the delusion the young man labored over and the fact that he begged the right to court their daughter, properly this time.

It had been touch and go, but Marshlake—who, during the period of Peter’s absence, had decided he would return to England and reclaim his family’s dignity—had ended by laughing and telling the boy that they’d all made mistakes.

He had been, he later told Peter, swayed by the fact that not only had Corridon kept strictly separate rooms from his daughter, but also was even willing to condone flying on a dragon for the sake of his concern for Hettie.

As for calling on Hettie, Marshlake thought both the children were much too young. Hettie was too head-strong and had not even had a London season, and Corridon was far from established in his career and not even five-and-twenty yet. But as Corridon was a neighbor, if he could get himself placed in England and perhaps not in the Secret Service, they would surely see each other now and again. And in two or three years, who knew? They might very well end up together, after all.

After that, it had fallen to Peter to try to convince Lady St. Maur that she wasn’t needed on an expedition to the interior of Africa, to the village where the avatar awaited its ruby eyes.

“But I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she said, with a grin. “And I’m sure you can transport me and Corridon. Why, it will be no trouble at all. And you wouldn’t deny me seeing the avatar, would you? Not if I earnestly desired to see it? I don’t believe you could.”

Unfortunately, Peter realized he, too, didn’t believe he could.