Year of the Golden Dragon (25 page)

Madam Ching followed Hong Mei’s glance and said, “Did you drag that old thing here with you?” Then she narrowed her eyes and asked, “Why?”

Hong Mei ignored her question.

Ching Long entered and flashed a winning smile at Hong Mei, Ryan and Alex. “Hello,” he said brightly. “Fancy meeting you here.”

Hong Mei noticed Alex trying to edge over to Master Chen’s box.

“Son?” Madam Ching said. “Go fetch that old wooden box for me before that little imp gets his hands on it.”

Ching Long pulled Alex back and pushed him away. He picked up the box and turned it over. The lid fell off. He leaned over and picked it up, saying, “Pity it’s broken. It’d look nice in the library, don’t you think, Mother?” Then he moved over to Ryan and came within centimetres of his face. “Why is it that every time I see you and your little brother, you have this box? Special, is it?”

Two men entered the room. Hong Mei saw that one was Melon Head and the other was as huge as the first. They looked like sumo wrestlers. Together they barred the exit, their beefy arms folded over their massive chests.

Madam Ching pointed with one very long red nail at each of their hands holding the jade. “Take the jade from them, won’t you Ching Long?”

Ching Long stared at his mother. “Me? Why must I touch it? Isn’t it dangerous?”

“Darling,” Madam Ching said, “You’re not afraid, are you?”

“Mother,” Ching Long said. “You’ve always told me that’s what these three,” he said, waving at Hong Mei and the brothers, “were for.”

Madam Ching sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. “Why must I be surrounded by imbeciles?” Madam Ching asked. “Never mind, then.” She pointed to the men by the door and said, “Get one of them to collect the jade and put it into the box.”

Hong Mei watched Ching Long’s nostrils flare as he looked at his mother.
“I’ll
do it!” Ching Long said and moved over to pluck the jade from their hands before dropping them quickly into Master Chen’s box.

“That’s better,” Madam Chen said. “I can’t tolerate weak men.”

“Please, Madam Ching,” Hong Mei said. “You cannot keep the jade. We must return it to Black Dragon at midnight.”

Hong Mei watched the woman’s top lip curl. “From the beginning, Miss Chen, you have thought you were someone special. And I must admit, when you brought the Emperor’s heirs here instead of joining them in Beijing as I ordered you to, I almost believed it. I should have known you might figure out that Black Dragon’s ancestral home was here in the old capital and not the newer one.” Her beautiful face turned sour. “But how did you manage to get here so quickly?”

She shook her head and her face resumed its haughty expression. “No matter.
You
are not the one in charge here.
I
am.” She turned toward her son. “Now then. We’ve got everything we need to celebrate the Year of the Golden Dragon tonight. Black Dragon will be desperate to join us in the festivities.” She waved lightly, but didn’t bother looking back. “Bye, children.”

Hong Mei looked from the boys to the exit and back to the boys.

Ching Long said, “After the men seal this place up, you should try not to move around too much. You don’t want to waste oxygen. And don’t bother wasting your breath calling for help, either. The tomb security guard has been…detained, shall we say, and won’t be coming to work anytime soon.”

Showing off his white teeth, Ching Long said, “Goodbye, then. Thanks very much for being of assistance.”

He left and one of the two large men followed him out. The other giant blocked the doorway and glared at the three of them. His puny black eyes were almost lost in the folds of his fat face.

Grunting and groaning sounds came from the other end of the tunnel.

“They’re not really going to leave us in here, are they?” Alex cried into the quickening darkness.

Hong Mei said, “It will be okay. Let’s remain calm. We’ll find a way out.”

But how? she thought. Without Master Chen’s box or the jade, they would have to try and dig their way out.

After only a minute or so, the man from outside called for his partner to go out. The man winked at the three of them and backed out of the room. Hong Mei heard scuffling and something being slid across the mouth of the tunnel. It was very dark.

Those men might have been able to push a few of the statues in front of the opening, but she could see light through the cracks and gaps. It faded as the men and their flashlights got farther away. Air could definitely come through the spaces – maybe not a lot, but enough. If she and the boys worked slowly at moving the stones from the opening, they could be free in an hour or two. Long before their air ran out. Couldn’t they? They still had plenty of time before midnight to find Madam Ching again. She’d no doubt be at the river waiting for Black Dragon.

Hong Mei made her way with outstretched arms to where the opening had been. She felt the broken pieces of clay and stonework, then pushed on the barricade with her shoulder. It didn’t budge. She pushed harder. Nothing.

She heard Ryan call out, “How long do you think it’ll take to dig our way out?”

“I am not sure,” she called back. “I will try something that my father taught me.”

Hong Mei stood still and focused on her body and its energy. She started with her feet, and moved up the muscles in her legs. “I am strong,” she said to herself. She thought about the strength in her hips and midsection. Drawing deep breaths, she imagined the air as power handed down through the ages from Master Chen to her father and now to her. She filled her lungs and emptied them. There was might in her chest and arms. She could feel it filling up the muscles, tissue, veins and arteries. Yes, she was very strong. She, Chen Hong Mei, could do this. She would move whatever was blocking the door. She could do it.

Thinking only of her purpose, Hong Mei pushed with all the energy and might that she possessed.

The barricade did not budge.

She tried again.

There was not even a slight shift.

Slumping down to the ground, Hong Mei started gnawing at one of her fingernails.

Chapter 22

The Emperor’s Army

“Hong Mei?” Ryan called.
“I’m coming to help you.”

“I am here, Ryan,” Hong Mei said.

He made his way toward her voice.

“I’ve tried pushing and it didn’t do any good,” she said.

Ryan reached up and felt around, his fingers looking for cracks and loose rock. He wished he had something sharp that he could use to chisel with. That’s what they needed. A chisel and hammer like sculptors used.

“Ryan?” he heard Alex approaching. “Can I help?”

“Yes. Let’s all try,” Hong Mei said.

Together, the three of them put their hands flat against the stone.
“Yi, er, san!”
Hong Mei called out and they heaved against the barrier.

They stopped when they saw that they had made no headway. Alex asked in a small voice, “Will we really run out of air?”

“No,” Ryan replied. “We’ll figure something out.”

“Ching Long was only trying to scare us,” Hong Mei said gently. “We have come this far. We will find a way.”

“Right,” Ryan said. “What time is it anyway? I can’t see my watch.”

Hong Mei said, “Mine says: 8:17:21.”

“What’s that in real time?” Alex asked.

Ryan pictured a clock face and counted backward from midnight. Was it nearly quarter to four already? He tried to keep his voice steady, “I think it’s sometime in the afternoon,” he said, thinking that wouldn’t alarm Alex as much as saying it was nearly four o’clock.

“Exactly
what time, Ryan?” Alex asked.

“Three-forty-five,” he said softly.

“Let us not think of the time,” Hong Mei said. “Let us concentrate on a plan.”

The three of them sat quietly. Ryan thought about what he could use to chisel away the stone. Perhaps his belt buckle would help. Or his peppermint tin. He reached into his pockets. Not there. Oh, right. He’d put it down when he was tying his shoe next to the statues of the Emperor and his family. His wife and two sons, just like Alex and him. Royal sons. Heirs to the throne.
Huh?
That meant that, in a way, the Emperor’s army was their army, too.

“I’ve got it!” Ryan practically shouted. “I’ve got an idea.”

“What?” Alex asked. Ryan could hear the hope in his brother’s voice.

“Let’s try asking the army to help us,” he said confidently.

“The army?” Alex and Hong Mei asked in unison.

“Yeah. We’re heirs to the throne, remember? They’ve got to listen to our command.”

“They’re made of clay,” Alex said.

“I know that,” Ryan said. “But stranger things have happened. Remember us being sent here by Master Chen’s box? The train from Hong Kong? Hong Mei ending up at Madam Ching’s? Papa talking to us just a while ago?”

“We had the box and the jade for all those things,” Hong Mei said. “I do not believe the army can help us without them.”

“Can’t we just try?” Ryan asked.

They didn’t answer him.

“Do you have any better ideas?” Ryan asked.

Hong Mei said. “He is right, Alex. Let us try.”

“Okay. So what do we do?” Alex asked.

“I was thinking that since I’m the eldest, I would be the first in line, right?” Ryan asked.

“Yes, that is correct,” Hong Mei said. “So you should be the one to tell the army to help us.”

Was this really going to work? What should he say?

“Doesn’t he have to say it in Chinese?” Alex asked.

Did he? Yeah, Ryan guessed so. He thought about which words to use. He knew how to say
help
and
Emperor.
“How do I say
army
and
heir
in Mandarin?” he asked Hong Mei.

She told him and he cleared his throat. “I, Ryan Wong, heir of your Emperor, command you to help us. Release us from the royal chamber.”

The three of them sat expectantly.

“Try it again, but louder this time,” Alex said.

Ryan said the words over again, but much louder.

There was still no sound of movement from the mouth of the tunnel.

“Perhaps you should both say the words,” Hong Mei said.

“My Chinese isn’t good enough,” Alex said. “I can’t speak it like Ryan can.”

“You just have to say a few words,” Ryan said. “I’ve heard your Mandarin. It sounds better than you think.”

“Well,” he said. “If you think I can.”

“Yes,” Ryan said, “I know you can. Let’s say it a couple of times before we shout it out.”

He and Alex repeated the sentence twice, and then, on the third time, raised their voices and called out, “We, Ryan and Alexander Wong, heirs of your Emperor, command you to help us. Release us!”

The earthen floor trembled and there was a sound of stone scraping on stone. Ryan felt new air waft into the room.

“It worked,” Alex yelped, jumping up. “Let’s go!”

“After you,” Ryan said to Hong Mei.

“You did it,” she said, moving to him.

Ryan heard the surprise in her voice. As she walked past him, he caught her hand in his. She squeezed his fingers and tugged his hand for him to follow her.

When the three of them stood outside the royal chamber, they looked at the huge pile of broken clay and stone.

Alex said the words that they were all probably thinking. “I don’t know if we would’ve got out without the army’s help.”

None of them said anything.

Finally Hong Mei looked up at the few skylights in the hangar. “It’s getting dark. We had better find our way out and go to the river. Madam Ching must be waiting there for Black Dragon.”

•~•

By the time they got outside and stood on the steps at the entrance of the tomb, it was those few short minutes between nearly dark and dark.

The three of them shivered in the twilight. Which way was the river: north, south, east or west?