The Pirate Empress (66 page)

“You were very right to hide. We will take you to safety.”

“Wait,” she said. She went to stand by Zhu’s burial mound and examined it. She sniffed the air and the sand. “Why did you bury him like that?”

“So that the animals would not defile his body.”

“What is ‘defile’?” she asked.

Quan paused. “So they would not eat him.”

She nodded. “My mother says that bodies are meant to be eaten. I could not eat Zhu’s or Alai’s. Why is this? I ate my nurse. I ate several of my nurses. My mother said it was good meat.”

Quan stemmed his revulsion—meat was meat to a fox—and shook his head. “From now on, I will get you your meat.” He took her hand and noticed that she clenched something in her small fist. “What is this?”

Peng drew it back but not before Quan recognized it as the Tiger’s Eye—Zhu’s gemstone of seeing. “I wished to give it to Wu, but my mother took Wu away before I could return it to him. May I wear it? Wu used to wear it around his neck on a cord before Zhu took it back.”

“You did good to keep it safe. How does it work?”

“It does not work. It is broken.”

So they had no means of seeing what was happening in the Forbidden City or on Fong’s warship at this very moment. It mattered little that the gemstone was broken, for they had no one among them who could draw on its powers.

After they breakfasted, Quan decided to start back to the forest of rust-coloured columns. He sat Peng before him on Zhu’s gelding and watched the desertscape sweep by as they retraced their path. He had the Vermilion bird—something to barter with—for surely Jasmine had not intended to abandon her child, and so Master Yun would be pleased. If he could convince the Yeren to join them, they could return to the capital in triumph.

The Emperor waited. The Azure Dragon was in place.

The Vermilion Bird was captured.

That left only the aid of the White Tiger to win.

And the rescue of the Black Tortoise. Wu.

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

The Pirate King’s Duplicity

All is an illusion,
Li thought, as she hoisted sail and changed tack to meet the White Tiger on a southeasterly course. What was real anymore? And how could one tell? Were Master Yun and Quan really here and now gone? Was her quest real? Must she face the wrath of her Manchurian husband once more? She gazed at the wheel in her hand. Was it even she who stood at this junk’s helm? Were Madam Choi and Po truly dead? Had there ever been a Madam Choi and Po? She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts.

The sea was a vast plain of rippling green jelly. Where the sun splashed off the waves, it left bright spots in her eyes that added to her sense of unreality. She should be filled with power, with purpose, but a mood of doom assailed her. Her tough talk with Quan and Master Yun: was that all part of a nebulous dream? What was this cloud that was muddying her thoughts? This was not like her! Never had she questioned her purpose! She was having thoughts of surrendering. No. No, no, no. Wu’s life was at stake. All of the Middle Kingdom was at stake! She gripped the wheel, clenched her jaw and stood tall, proud, and defiant. The sea was dead, the air immobile. The bamboo sails overhead flapped, sagged. A strange weakness descended over her will. Her knees felt loose, her arms unresponsive, thoughts drifting back to where they should not be. Was Lin genuinely in love with Admiral Fong?

Wake up, Immortal One!
She raised her head to the blue and yellow figurehead of Xiang Gong.
Tell me I am not steeped in nightmare!
The voice she heard when she heard it was not that of the sea god but of the man in the rigging. “We have company!” he hollered.

Company?
She was expecting no company. But then it dawned on her that her expectations had nothing to do with what was, and if she failed to shake off these thoughts, she would sail her pirate junk off the very edge of the world. She raised her spyglass to the horizon and caught a glimpse of the vessel’s colours. Black. So, it wasn’t Fong’s warship. It was the
Lady White Snake
. It was rapidly approaching.

Li waited, her men flabbergasted at her lack of response. If the Pirate King assumed business with her, she would hear what he had to say. The sails were already slack; she gave no orders to stretch them. If Mo Kuan-fu could see into her mind, he would have smiled, would have seen that his libations to
Bai Gu Jing
had paid off.

The pirate junk hove to, and hailed her. She stumbled to the rail, and saw beside the Pirate King her stepsister. What was Lin doing here? How had she escaped Fong? Had she left him willingly? And what about Lao? Who was looking after Lao? Suddenly Li realized why she had been feeling so strange. There was sorcery at work here and she was its target.

She drew her sabre as the pirate captain and Lin boarded her craft. They were alone. Li signalled for her men to stand alert. “What is this, a hostage trade? I have nothing to trade, Mo Kuan-fu.” She turned to Lin. “Are you among his crew of your own volition?”

The Pirate King stopped the girl from speaking with a swift hand gesture. “Word on the high seas is that you’ve been seeking me.”

“And what if I have? You still have not answered my questions. What is it that you want?”

“Why, I’m merely returning your sister to you. Are you not happy to see her?”

Li was about to order Lin to approach her, but something felt wrong. “Last I saw you, Lin, you expressed no desire to join me.”

“She was under duress,” Mo Kuan-fu said. “She was afraid for her life. She didn’t dare leave the White Tiger for fear he would track you down and her other sisters as well, and kill you all.”

“He was going to do that anyway.” Li’s frown deepened. “How did you even know Lin was with Fong? And why would you risk your life to rescue her? I don’t believe a word of your story. Now tell me the truth!”

“Do you think I’m so stupid as to be ignorant of the comings and goings in my own domain? All the pirates knew of Lin’s abduction when the White Tiger attacked Madam Choi and delivered the fatal wound. And now, all hell has broken loose in the Middle Kingdom. Every coastal village is abuzz with the news of the Forbidden City’s capture. All talk leads me to believe that we’ll soon have a new emperor, one who won’t be as lazy as the last. Our easy ways will be the target of his first attack because we’ve looted silver that was meant to fill the royal coffers. I’m here to barter with you and to present your sister as a peace offering. Do you still want your Wu on the throne?”

“Stand back and keep your she-devil with you,” she ordered. The situation was worse than that.
You lie. You are not here for any sort of fair trade
. Nor did she believe this was her stepsister.

Instantly, Lin’s innocent features morphed into those of a not so innocent, but still lovely woman. The sight of her exquisite form gave Li the chills. Like the fox faerie Jasmine, she was perfect from the top of her black-haired skull to the full white breasts, incurved waist, and slender feet, pale as a lamb’s belly.

“If there is one ounce of humanity left to your soul, you will hear me out, Pirate King,” Li said. “It is
she
you must fight. She only obeys you because you feed her. But in the end it will be your bones she gnaws on. The Middle Kingdom is indeed in peril, but the enemy is neither human nor mortal. Her kind was released by the fox faeries and they seek the demise of all men. Pirates are not exempted.”

“You think I don’t know that, Lotus Lily? I have made this spirit my consort. She’s not the only one either. There are creatures out there whose powers I wish to harness—”

“Ching! Are you crazy? We have no power over them! They are not of this time!”

“I don’t care. And don’t call me that. This one obeys me. With her by my side, no one can defeat me. Not even you.”

“The fox faeries won’t allow this. They’ll call
Bai Gu Jing
back to them. They are only using her to weaken you, to obtain your trust. They’ll destroy the pirate fleets so that we can’t help the Emperor.”

Mo Kuan-fu snorted. “Word is out that the Emperor is dead. He hasn’t been seen or heard from in many moons. So if he hasn’t taken his own miserable life, then the invaders have murdered him. Rumours say another has taken the throne—”

“All right. It’s true,” Li said. “A Mongol has taken the throne, a barbarian fool by the name of Esen. Do you want a barbarian for an emperor? Well, I
don’t
, and yes, you were right in surmising that His Majesty is dead, or at least he
was
dead. But he’s back. The warlock, Master Yun, has convinced the Hell Master to release him. We still have a chance to save the Middle Kingdom if you will join us, and help me to convince Fong to do so as well.” Something stayed her tongue from further explanation, and she did not mention the Crosshairs of the Four Winds. “We have the sea power; we can give them a beating they won’t soon forget.”

“What do I care who is on the throne? A Mongol or Chinese, it’s all the same to me. They take, and expect us to give. Well, no thanks. It’s my turn. I have a chance to take more than I ever imagined.” Mo Kuan-fu lowered his voice. “I know all about you, Lotus Lily. Some higher force protects you. You should have died that day when
Bai Gu Jing
turned into a two-headed shark to feast upon your drowning flesh, but did you drown? No! Nor did you become shark bait. So, that got me to wondering, and then I saw the most amazing sight. A nine-headed beast with a serpent’s body appeared out of nowhere to rescue you. I saw it with my own eyes! And now you want to tell me to relinquish my power over that other world that once slept? Why would I do that when she has chosen to serve
me!
”

“She does not serve you. She serves herself.”

“Then why has she not already made congee from your bones? It’s because I have not given her the okay to do so. I’m sorry, Li. I wished for you to come with me of your own free will, but clearly that’s not to be.”

%%%

Light streamed in through a slit large enough to permit her hand to pass. Li tried to stretch but her curled legs struck a wall; she tried to stand and her head hit a wooden ceiling. Only the slit allowed air for her to breathe.

What had that traitorous brute done? Where was she? A gentle rocking motion suggested she was aboard some kind of seaborne vessel. But whose? What manner of ship was this? Her memories were vague. They had talked, she had tried to win him over and the Pirate King had duped her. She should have killed him. She
would
have killed him, on sight, had the White Bone Spirit not manipulated her thoughts to allow them aboard. And what had happened to her crew and the girls, her young stepsisters?

Outside her prison, she heard something like the sound of bamboo sails suddenly let loose, rapping in the wind. But the sound was too near and too loud. She peered through the slit. Fresh air bathed her nose and mouth and she gulped to ingest the sea aromas. Directly in her line of view were the lower bars of an iron cage, and all she could discern of its captive were the enormous scaly feet of a crane.

This was not Mo Kuan-fu’s pirate junk. The deck of this vessel was too clean and the wooden planks too smooth.

The rapping sound came again and the shriek of a bird in distress followed. Then a single feather drifted through the bars of the cage and onto the plank outside her peephole. Li shoved an arm outside as far as it would go until her fingers latched onto the quill. No foot came to stomp on her hand and she withdrew it to study her catch—a gold and azure feather, the hallmark of
Fenghuang
. What was the phoenix doing aboard this craft? And what
was
this craft? She stiffened as she heard the sound of voices.

“You promised me,” Mo Kuan-fu’s shout came loud and clear. “I want it deposited on the deck of my junk now. I delivered the fugitive to you. Give me my reward.”

“It is yours. And you are free to take it.”

“But how? That cage is enormous and fifty men—even one hundred men—can’t lift it with the bird inside.”

“Don’t try opening the cage, or you will lose your prize. That bird is aching for escape. It hisses when you go near it. It has already killed five of my men with its enormous wings. As to how you will deposit it onto your vessel, well that is your problem. I promised you the prized bird, but not to deliver it.”

“How did you get it aboard your warship?” the pirate asked. “We can do the same.”

“I’m afraid not. It came to me on its own. I don’t know where or how, although rumours from court tell of a Chinese Phoenix in the possession of the Emperor. Is this one and the same? I don’t know. A few days ago, it landed upon my deck and refused to leave. I recognized its kind from the tapestries His Majesty hangs in the palace. I knew it was a valuable find, and it was lucky that we had the metal to build it a cage.”

“I’ll be back with a giant makeshift winch of some kind,” the pirate warned. “Don’t leave before I get my prize.”

Sounds of departure rumbled in Li’s ears as Mo Kuan-fu returned to his junk.

Fenghuang
, she thought. Her lessons had introduced her to tales of the Chinese Phoenix, a legendary bird of high virtue and grace, a symbol of power sent from the heavens to the Empress.
Fenghuang
would remain only if the ruler was without darkness and corruption. If it was true that a Mongol had captured the throne, if it was true that he had named himself emperor, then the ruler was, indeed, filthy with darkness and corruption.

%%%

For some reason, Wu thought of the phoenix as he awoke from a terrible headache. He was no longer in the desert on horseback with Zhu, Alai and Peng. The thought of
Fenghuang
brought back memories of his mother and at first he thought he was home again, aboard Madam Choi’s pirate junk. But a dark vessel, black as the night sea, with nine sails that caught the moonlight fluttered in his waking vision. The image died, and he thought he saw a wolf or a dog, but then he stared at the eyes that peered back at him and knew they belonged to a woman. He blinked. The eyes were not the warm, brown, almond-shapes of his precious mother. They were yellow.

A face of terrible beauty unlike anything he had ever seen hung over him. This face was not that of the fox faerie who had captured him, nor that of the iron-faced ox monster that had slung him over his shoulders. This creature had pale hair the colour of newly steamed, white buns, and the effect she had on him was just like the tender confection—filled with his favourite sweet red beans. The black dress she wore trembled with each breath she took.

“So, you are the cause of all our troubles,” she said.

“How can I trouble you? I don’t know you,” Wu said.

The horribly beautiful lady smiled. “But I know
you
.”

Her mouth curved in a half-smile, while she laced her hands together. Wu looked down at the huge gemstone that circled her left-hand middle finger. The stone was mesmerizing, a deep melon-green with veins of red like human blood. It made him feel strangely uneasy, more so than even her presence. She noted the direction of his gaze. “Do you know what this is?” she asked, tapping the gemstone with a fingernail.