The Pirate Empress (32 page)

It had taken only an instant to recognize the mother. And the Mongol warrior? Who else? He was Altan.

The image of Jasmine grew huge. Exotic kohl-lined eyes gleamed seductively. Red lips curled over a flash of white teeth. She knew he was watching her! She rose and placed her hands on her belly.
Zhu
, she mouthed,
I have a surprise for you!

Zhu snapped shut his eyes, and then opened them to see that he had slapped his left hand over the gemstone. The vision was gone, but the memory of it remained. What was she saying? That the child was his? He jerked himself out of his stupor. Had he sired a fox faerie kit?

Then he shook his head until he could feel his brains rattle. Was the half-girl/half-fox innocent or dangerous? What did it mean? He dared not look into the gemstone again. What he really wanted to see was where they had stashed Wu. After that he needed to find Quan.

If His Majesty wanted to torture the boy for information they would have done it by now. But Zhu was certain that torture was not in Wu’s future.

He was almost certain His Majesty would not have Wu killed. He wouldn’t even have the warlord killed. The Emperor needed all the weapons he could muster, and Esen still controlled the mystical
Fenghuang
.

As for Wu, he was the Emperor’s grandson. His Majesty would welcome a male heir. At once a message must be sent declaring Wu’s royal blood. That would keep the boy safe for now.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

The Fall of Yulin

“Stop!”

He Zhu reined his horse in, forcing it to box the air. “Are you crazy?” he shouted at the figure that had stopped him in mid gallop. “You could have been killed by my horse’s hooves.”

The dark shadow standing in his path lowered its arms. It moved toward Zhu’s horse and raised a hand to take the bridle.

“Tao?” Zhu asked. “What are you doing here? How did you get here? I thought you couldn’t leave the crypt for long. How did you make the trip from Xian if you can’t tolerate daylight?”

“That is for me to know,” he said. At the suspicion on Zhu’s face, Tao relented. “All right—if the movements of an undead man are that important to you…” He recounted his journey, how he travelled by night on the empty dirt roads. By day he hid in caves and vacant farm buildings and sacred temples where no questions were asked. “Several times I risked blisters to my already blistered hide when I could not find shelter. But I had to warn you.”

“Warn me of what? It’s too late if you are referring to Esen’s insidious plan to abduct Wu.”

Tao shook his head. “I came to warn you about the vision in the gemstone. Do not seek Jasmine. She wants only to trap you. If you go to her she will take your soul, and bind you to her will. Do not believe her lies.”

“How do I know they are lies?”

“She is Jasmine.
Huli Jing
. Her whole existence is based on lies. Listen to me Zhu, if you go to her, she will recapture your soul and possess you.”

“She won’t. Now, get out of my way. I must go to her and learn the truth.”

“You know the truth, Zhu. Look into your heart. Jasmine seeks only to own you.”

“I am not interested in the fox faerie. There’s another I wish to meet.”

Tao moved another step closer until the gelding’s head rested on his shoulder, and as he stroked its mane, miraculously the fitful animal calmed. “You are lonely, Zhu. You have always been lonely. That is why the fox faerie was able to impose her will on you. You don’t remember, but it’s true. For a while your friendship with Chi Quan soured. Neither of you knew whether you could trust the other. But Master Yun enslaved her and released you, and now she is free and wants you back. And you have no friends to counsel you because you are an outcast for choosing justice over complicity.”

“Yes, and look at where it’s gotten me. I am useless here. I must go and learn whether I am a father. If I have spawned evil, then I must destroy it. As for Wu, he is safe, I’ve made sure of it.”

“Fool,” Tao chastised. “Your nephew will be killed.”

“Killed? No. The Emperor would not—” Zhu bit off his own words. The significance of Tao’s rebuke opened his eyes like a siphoning cloud.

“Yes, my boy. You have a nephew. A family.”

“What are you talking about? And why am I wasting time talking to a dead man? Get out of my way I say!” Zhu dug in his heels and his horse whinnied, pummelled the night with its feet, almost punching Tao in the head, but still it stayed rooted on the spot.

“It senses my will and knows you mean to send it into danger. Listen to me, Zhu. I ask only that you hear me out, then do what you will.”

There was no way he was getting out of here unless the hopping corpse released his horse. Zhu flapped the reins in frustration but the horse only brayed like a donkey. He relaxed his grip on its flanks, letting the muscles of his thighs slacken. “All right then. You win. Speak.”

“Don’t you want to know who this family is?”

“I have no family,” Zhu said. “I was raised by monks—or so they say. I have no memory of my early years. My earliest recollections are at the palace where Master Yun trained me to be a warrior. I have no mother and no father. I am an orphan. I have always been alone. Until Chi Quan befriended me when we were boys.” He snorted in impatience. “But what has this got to do with anything? I have a quest to complete.”

“And yet, you are torn.”

“I am not torn. I have made my decision. I must seek Jasmine. Wu will be safe.” Zhu’s eyes suddenly widened until they hurt. “Wu
really
is my nephew? But how?”

“He is. And now that you know, you must stay and save him from the evil that awaits him in the Forbidden City.”

“Wu is safe. Just now I sent a message by way of a respected merchant I encountered as I left the city gates. I paid him well with silver. He’ll deliver the news to His Majesty in person.”

“That messenger was waylaid. Murdered by Zheng Min. He doesn’t want the Emperor to know that Wu is his grandson. He has designs on the throne himself.”

“How do you know this unless you are party to the plot? You’ve been watching me. You’re a spy!”

“Ah Zhu,” Tao said. “Forever suspicious; forever impulsive. For once in your life, go with your heart. Listen to what it tells you is true.” Zhu caught the gleam of white as Tao’s eyes rolled in exasperation.  “Fine. You think I’m a spy? Good. Because I am. I’ve been hiding in the dungeons of the palace. And yes, I have been watching. I have been watching you ever since you arrived in Beijing, and I have been watching His Majesty’s men. They are fools, most of them. For now the dungeons are empty. They never lock the doors there because no one who enters ever leaves. The white bones of the dead are testimony to that.”

“
You
left,” Zhu said, his voice acerbic. “When Zheng Min tortured you to get the truth of Lotus Lily’s whereabouts, you escaped.”

“They thought I was dead.”

“And so, now you are. But that was not the question I wished answered.” He Zhu sucked in a long breath. “How is Wu my nephew? And please don’t tell me that I am His Majesty’s long lost son, else I shall laugh—or spit—in your face.”

The mockery fell short on the hopping corpse, and though the stars shed small light on his features, humiliation stained his face. For a long moment he was silent, and when he finally spoke, his voice cracked. There was scorn and recrimination, but also regret. “Ling She, the former empress, had a dalliance with a man other than her husband. This happened three years before Lotus Lily was born. So do not worry. The Emperor is not your father. Back then His Highness still led his armies against the northern invaders himself. He was gone a long time. Even when he was home, he sorely neglected her, preferring his concubines to his wife. The Empress was lonely and took another to her bed. You were the result of that union.”

“Then why does no one know of this?”

“Someone does.”

“Yes, well, obviously, that someone is you,” Zhu said caustically. “Who else of the palace’s eunuchs and women knew about me?”

“A concubine. She played midwife. Her name was Dahlia, but she disappeared shortly after your birth. I think, perhaps, the Empress paid her off to disappear and speak nothing of it. You have to understand, Zhu, if the Emperor knew of you, Ling She would have been executed.”

“But she could have pretended that I was the Emperor’s son!”

Tao’s face grew hard, and even in the night blackness, Zhu sensed the eunuch’s disapproval. “Is that how you would have liked it to be?”

No. But the knowledge of an heir would have stabilized the Empire. In all honesty, it would have saved Ling She from the horrible death that had claimed her anyway when she failed to produce a male heir.

“Your mother was a proud and courageous woman—a true empress. She refused to lie to her husband. She just didn’t tell him the truth. And he never asked. Many young boys were brought to the palace household to be raised as warriors.” Tao flicked a hand dismissively. “You were simply one of them.”

%%%

Peng was a perfect child and like all fox faeries, she was growing fast. She knew better than to turn into a nine-tailed fox kit during Altan’s strategic meetings. She slept soundly now on her bed of Chinese silk coverlets and pillows, while one of Altan’s officers waved a stick over a parchment map of the garrisoned walls northwest of Beijing; they were due to take Xuanfu and Datong.

Altan paced the floor. Jasmine watched him and his generals from the corner of the tent where they had fashioned the nursery. His spies had returned from their sortie into the enemy camps. “It’s simple,” one of his generals was translating, “the signal towers have codes for communicating numbers in an enemy approach: one fire and one cannon salvo for up to a hundred raiders, and two of each for five hundred to one thousand. Three for up to ten thousand. And five for well over ten thousand.”

“We can make them think we are less,” Altan said.

The general agreed and pointed to the map of the tower placements. Some were twice the height of the wall, others nine meters high, and others half that high. There were two main types of towers: solid platforms for watching and fighting, and hollow towers where beacons were lit and supplies stored, and where some of the men slept.

“We hit the platform towers,” Altan said. “They offer no shelter. Soldiers can only reach safety by heaving themselves up the walls on ropes, and in that position we can pick them off as easily as nesting ducks. We trick them into thinking there are only a few hundred of us, but we hit them with thousands.” He bent to roll up the map. “Put this somewhere safe. It will come in useful.”

His warriors were dismissed, and Altan stood staring at Peng who still slept soundly. Jasmine lifted the murmuring girl in her arms and rocked her, whispering, “Your daddy is coming, little one.”

%%%

The birth of baby Lao was excruciating, and if it wasn’t for Madam Choi’s expertise and knowledge of medicinal herbs Li would have died. A week had passed since the ordeal and Fong was aboard his warship, celebrating the birth of a son with His Majesty’s finest rice wine.

Baby Lao was swaddled in bamboo cloth diapers. He was nearly three months premature and weak. Li had nursed him through the first precarious week of his life and now she plotted her escape. Too much time had passed. Was Wu still alive?

She was in Madam Choi’s cabin minding the sleeping infant when the door behind her opened quietly and shut. Li turned.

“I hope, after all I have done to save the life of your number two son, you are not still plotting to end his life.” When Li’s only response to her adopted mother’s comment was to cup a hand to her mouth, the pirate chief accused her. “Your labour was induced. The only way I know to induce sudden labour is the use of a certain hardy winter tuber.”

“I could not wait another three months,” Li cried. “And Fong refused to take me north. He got orders from the Emperor to squash the pirate resurgence. He meant to hunt you down and all of your people!”

“We could have taken him.” Madam Choi shook her head. “You risked a lot by making the choice you made. I see that spending so much time with Po has taught you a great deal. I was unaware of your interest in the teachings of Shennong. It is dangerous knowledge if used wrongly.”

“I know. But I do not regret the action I took. The boy’s alive. And I am free of this burden.” Li patted her flaccid stomach. “As soon as possible, I must flee.”

“And what of the boy? He will die without your milk. He is weak, Li. I can feed him a serum to strengthen him, but I cannot give him the protection your milk will provide.”

“I was raised on soy and ewe’s milk. It did me no harm.”

“We have no sheep and no soybeans. Not even a goat or a hog. The Imperial Navy watches us like vultures.”

“The only way we can continue this truce is to use Fong’s son as a weapon,” Li argued. “The admiral will not harm you or the others as long as Lao’s life depends on you.”

Madam Choi crossed her arms over her chest. “I will not use a babe as a shield.”

“His intention was to round up your squadron leaders and send them to the capital for execution. What then would become of your children?” Li implored.

“There are not enough Imperial sailors to round up anyone.”

“Backup is coming. He doesn’t work alone. And the White Tiger, if you haven’t heard the legend, never fails.”

Madam Choi’s chin jutted out as rigid as the hands on her hips. “Our weapons are no match for the Imperial Navy’s, but we still outnumber them.”

The boy started to cry, and Li went to his bed. The first week after the birth, she had done very little except nurse. She had been too weak and hadn’t even looked at the boy very carefully. She studied him now, noted the patch of black hair on his head and the features so like his father’s but softened by infancy. At least he had not been born with white hair. That would have been a disaster.

The baby formed his mouth into a circle and wailed while tears wet his pink flesh. Did he need changing? Li hoisted him from the bedding and laid him on the hard plank floor to check his diaper. Madam Choi followed her and as Li removed the wet cloth, the pirate woman grabbed her hand. “Let me do that. You’re still tired from the birthing. Go and rest.”

Li tried to lift the baby’s leg, and Madam Choi drew her away, but not before Li glimpsed the black birthmark shaped like a tortoise on Lao’s left thigh.

%%%

“Work quickly, boys.” Brigade General Chi Quan’s voice boomed over the scraping and clanking of moving stone and fired clay bricks. “Datong is counting on us.”