Chasing the Phoenix (25 page)

“Tell me,” Powerful Locomotive said, “what was promised in my name. I give you my word that no harm will come to you for it, however dangerous or libelous or false the Perfect Strategist's words were or however deeply entangled in them you may be.”

He listened solemnly while Prince First-Born Splendor detailed all of Darger's imaginary plot: that Powerful Locomotive believed that the man then known as the Hidden King was mad and must inevitably die before the war was completed; that the agent of that death would be the ceo himself; that he wished to succeed to the throne but knew that doing so immediately following the emperor's demise would bring dark suspicions upon himself; that he would therefore make First-Born Splendor the puppet ruler; that in a year or so, with the reign legitimized, First-Born Splendor would be allowed to resign in favor of Powerful Locomotive and retire to the independent nation of Southern Gate; and that this would then give both of them what they wanted: the throne for the ceo and a free homeland for the prince.

When all had been said and done, Ceo Powerful Locomotive nodded. “That is correct in every detail.”

“What?”

“I assure you, Prince First-Born Splendor, that I love you like a son. That being so, I judge you by how far short you fall of perfection, and thus my criticism and fault finding are constant, which I fear has made you think my regard for you is less than absolute. But knowing you as I do, I have no fear that you will reveal my ambitious and treasonous plot to the emperor, for you are a steadfast man. Nor do I fear that when you have become ruler of all of China, you will try to hold on to power, for you are a modest man as well. But I beg you to keep to our original compact—for should something happen to me before I become emperor, I can think of no one who would make as wise a ruler as you.”

“I … I … have no words, ceo.”

“None are needed, my son. We are family.” Powerful Locomotive stood and embraced the young man. “But now you must leave, for I have matters to discuss with my two colleagues, and I am sure you are busy as well.”

When the prince was gone, Ceo Powerful Locomotive held his open hand out before him, and contemplated it in silence. When he looked up, he was smiling. “I have you in the palm of my hand,” he said.

“Yet you have not closed that hand upon us,” Surplus observed. “So you want something that only we can provide.”

“Yes. You must have been wondering why I was spying on you.”

“As my superior officer, that was of course your prerogative. I am sure you had some good reason for it.”

“I was hoping to learn something that would give me a hold over the two of you. Your beating a superior officer was sufficient to achieve that. The extraordinary tale of your scheming perfidy that the idiot prince told only makes my absolute control over your destinies all that much more obvious.”

“There is no denying that we must do whatever it is you wish us to do,” Surplus said. “Only—what is it?”

Ceo Powerful Locomotive looked uncharacteristically abashed. “I had a single instant when I passed out to realize that I might be about to die. When I awoke this morning, that thought was fresh in my mind. Imagine my amazement when I learned how much time had passed. I was filled with an awareness of how fleeting a thing is life. I swore in that instant that I would do whatever it takes to win the love of White Squall.”

“Excuse me?” Surplus said.

Darger shook his head. “That might be more difficult than you think. You see—”

“White Squall is in love with the princeling, and he with her. I know, I know. People gossip, and the first thing I did after sending for you was to have my servants bring me up to date. Nevertheless, you will find a way to win White Squall for me as a wife or I will kill you both and then decide whether I should follow you into death as well. Do you understand me?”

“Vividly,” Darger said. “Let me think.” He closed his eyes for several long minutes and then said, “You have risen from your bed too soon, and in your zeal to serve the Hidden Emperor put such a strain on yourself that you have had a terrible relapse. You are weak and possibly near death. Do you understand?”

“I feel fine.”

“This is a part you must play. Tomorrow, I will arrange for White Squall to visit you, as she will every day thereafter. Do not feel too encouraged by this. She too will be playing a part at my direction. But it will give you the opportunity to change how she feels about you.”

“Should I tell her I love her?”

“It is too early for that. You must speak quietly to her and never blusteringly, never jokingly. Be sincere in all your words. Let White Squall feed you broth and other liquid foods. Ask her to read to you from the classic poets. Li Shangyin would be ideal, for his love poems are all tragic. Tell her he is your favorite poet. ‘One inch of love is an inch of ashes.' Tell her that is your favorite line from your favorite poem. If she notices how scandalous his verses are, tell her they were actually fictionalized expressions of passion for his wife. Let White Squall read you a variety of other types of poems and prose histories as well. But when the words turn to love, look away, as if the mere sight of her were too much for your overburdened heart. In this manner, without your having to say a word, she will gradually come to realize that you love her.”

“Are you sure? White Squall is not a very subtle woman.”

“If she doesn't notice on her own accord, I will arrange for someone to whisper that fact in her ear. I must caution you, however, that this will not be an easy campaign, nor a brief one. You have let your enemy steal a march on you and he has a strong hold on the territory you desire. Still, with discipline and hard work—and my tutelage—you may be able to overcome Prince First-Born Splendor's many strategic and tactical advantages.”

Powerful Locomotive looked sick. But he said, “I will do as you say.”

“Then there is hope.”

A spark of Powerful Locomotive's old spirit flared up in him then, and he said, “I cannot help but notice, however, that your plot leaves you in control of the Hidden Emperor's army while I feign being an invalid.”

“That is unfortunate, I agree,” Darger said. “But it a burden I will simply have to endure.”

*   *   *

“THIS IS
a terrible state of affairs,” Surplus said after he and Darger had left the ceo's house. “I—oh, hello.”

To his surprise, Prince First-Born Splendor fell into stride alongside the two. “I have been waiting for you,” he said. “It seems I owe you both an apology.”

With a dismissive wave of his paw, Surplus said, “Your apology is hardly necessary, and your offense? Negligible! Forgotten!”

“White Squall did not tell me you were false—that was my interpretation. I do not wish to besmirch her character in any way, for she is a perfectly virtuous woman. She simply told me that the two of you could accomplish things through deceit that no other men could, and indeed wherever you go, trickery and victory follow effortlessly. It begins to look like this war will soon be over and I shall be able to return home.”

“That is what you have been yearning for since it began, is it not?” Darger said. “You should be happy.”

“Alas, when I asked White Squall to return with me to Southern Gate as my mistress, she grew very cold. She must have work to do, she said, work of value, not work that could be performed by a common courtesan. It is a noble ambition, of course, to be the emperor's armorer and help him rule over a reunited China. And if Powerful Locomotive's scheme were to come into being, I believe I could explain to her why it was necessary to resign from”—he glanced around and, evidently deciding that it was not worth the risk of being too explicit in a public place, concluded—“from such a high position. But she would want me to stay on in North as a member of the emperor's court. She has never seen Southern Gate in the springtime, so she does not know what she asks. Already I am heartsick for home. A lifelong exile would be as good as a death sentence for me.”

“You could marry her,” Darger suggested. “There is always an abundance of meaningful work for the wife of a ruler. To say nothing of making life a living hell for the servants charged with raising your children.”

“My father would not approve.”

“A terrible situation, sir. But many a young man has married without his father's blessing; the arrival of a grandson traditionally brings about reconciliation. How could your father possibly stop you?”

“He is, after all, the king.”

“No, sir, unless you accept the role that Powerful Locomotive has reserved for you—in which case, even after you resign, you will outrank him—he is the governor. And not even that, if the emperor decides you should replace him.”

They were approaching Free Trade Square now, and the streets were thronged with people carrying bundles of clothing and pulling small carts laden with household goods. These were the citizens who were being temporarily removed from the first several blocks of the city beyond Harmonious Intercourse Gate. They looked unhappy but resigned, their lot being rather better than that suffered by most peoples in times of war.

Prince First-Born Splendor scratched the side of his head thoughtfully and came to a decision. “None of your suggested solutions are sufficient. You must come up with one of your low and dishonest stratagems to prevent Powerful Locomotive from entangling me in affairs of court for several years, and a second one to convince White Squall to return with me, when the war ends, quietly and submissively, to Southern Gate, as my mistress.”

The prince fell silent then. When it became obvious that nothing more was forthcoming, Darger cleared his throat and said, “It is traditional at this point in such negotiations to offer a bribe.”

“A large one,” Surplus threw in. “In keeping with the hopelessness of your cause and the difficulty of achieving what you desire.”

“Ah. Yes. I am so used to being obeyed out of loyalty and patriotism that I had forgotten that more is sometimes required. How about this? If you do as I command, I will refrain from having you both killed. As a hereditary monarch with a military force fanatically devoted to me, I could easily arrange that—and even if my part in it were discovered, the worst I would face is exile from the emperor's court. Which is a thing I desire anyway.”

The prince smiled brightly. “You see? I am learning to think as you do.”

*   *   *

THAT EVENING,
after all the work that could be done had been completed and all that could not had been given up on, Surplus climbed to the rooftop of Yellow Crane Tower. There, as expected, he found Darger, staring down the river at an armada of boats. They were putting in before the city, and men were raising up a shadow city of canvas where, hours before, had been nothing but fields. The low-lying sun turned all the tents golden and their shadows violet. “How beautiful they look!” Darger exclaimed. “‘… argosies of magic sails, / Pilots of the purple twilight dropping down with costly bales…' Tennyson. I wonder what he and Li Bai would have made of each other. I fancy he would have gotten along better with Du Fu.”

“The affairs of poets are neither here nor there. We have made a great many promises today.”

“I should have known from the first that Powerful Locomotive was in love with the chief archaeological officer. The clumsy, bullying manner he adopted in her presence, the crude jokes made at her expense—he acted like a schoolboy-athlete with a crush.”

“Are we fairy-tale genies, dispensing magical wishes in threes? Aubrey, we have already promised White Squall that we will make Prince First-Born Splendor marry her and dwell permanently in North. On top of which, we have just now, under duress admittedly, promised the prince that, though it is a role no sane man can imagine her assuming, White Squall will go to Southern Gate with him as his submissive mistress. I fail to see how we can arrange both of these mutually exclusive goals while simultaneously making White Squall fall in love with Powerful Locomotive as well.”

“Don't forget that we also have a military victory to secure against impossible odds.” Darger gestured across the water, where overgrown hills of rubble created a grid that stretched as far as the eye could see. “In Utopian times, Crossroads was many times larger than it is today. Half of it lay north of the Long River. Legend says its buildings touched the sky. ‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' I wonder how Shelley would have gotten along with Li Bai.”

Darger looked so mournful then that Surplus could not help laughing out loud. “Well, come what may, you should get some sleep,” he said. “Tomorrow will be a busy day.”

They went down the stairs together, and on arriving at Darger's rooms on the third floor found Capable Servant crouched on the landing, head down and arms wrapped about his legs.

“You look sad, Capable Servant,” Darger observed.

The young man looked up, and there were tears in his eyes. “Oh, sir. I am merely thinking of my wife. It has been so very long since I have seen her, and I miss her so.”

“You have a wife? I am astonished that you never mentioned her before.”

“Yes, sir, in the city of North. I did not want to bother you with my romantic woes.”

“I don't see why not. Everybody else does.”

*   *   *

BUT CAPABLE
Servant was possessed, apparently, of that paradoxical pride sometimes manifested by the lowly that forbade him to ask for help from those in a better position than he to provide it. So, at last, with appropriate expressions of farewell to Darger and sympathy to Capable Servant, Surplus departed Yellow Crane Tower and made his way to the small hotel that Fire Orchid's clan had seized and made their encampment.

There were many arrangements to be made with various members of the family, whom Surplus had not seen since the onset of the plague. But neither had he seen Fire Orchid in all that time, so inevitably their reunion was passionate. When they two were alone at last and postcoital, Fire Orchid said, “All the sick members of the family are recovered, thanks to your friend the Expensive Doctor.”