Taming Poison Dragons (28 page)

They stand aside to let me pass, knowing I am their captain’s father, but that will be small protection when the Ensign Tzi-Lu is found, as surely he must. I walk down to the Bottom House, where kitchens and storerooms surround our courtyard. A squad of guardsmen by the gate.

Truly, we are trapped. Suddenly Youngest Son emerges from the privies, which are built above the pig-sty. He fumbles as he straightens his clothes and armour. Perhaps the excitement of the hunt has loosened more than his temper.

‘Well?’ I ask, trying to feign unconcern.

He stares at me.

‘You seem nervous, father.’

I laugh hollowly.

‘My home is full of soldiers,’ I say. ‘People will think I am a rebel against the General.’

He looks from side to side. Even as a boy, this gesture signalled he was thinking.

‘You are right,’ he says. ‘My soldiers will remain here as guards until the rebels are found. Go back to your room now, Father.’ He wishes to concede something. ‘Though I am glad you try to help.’

I do as I am told. I sit in my room and anticipate the discovery of Ensign Li-Tzu. Where can he be hiding? Why has he not already been captured? Perhaps he is in the rafters, or beneath a bed. I cannot imagine where else he might be. After a while, a knock on the door. Wudi enters without ceremony and sits heavily on my favourite divan.

He looks decidedly grey.

‘Well?’ I whisper.

He blinks at me.

‘He’s in the pigsty,’ he murmurs. ‘Do you remember the tiny chamber beneath the privies, with the low doorway for the pigs to enter?’

‘Ah, where we hunted the cricket with a piercing cry, like gongs! When we were boys!’

‘I don’t know about that, Lord, but he’s in there. Rather him than me on a hot day like this.’

I settle back. What can we do but wait? Minutes pass.

It must be an hour since they began searching.

‘Join the servants in the kitchen,’ I say, finally. ‘I don’t want my son to find you with me. It might make him suspect something. Tell the steward I have ordered you to collect a sack of rice from our stores in anticipation of my journey to Chunming. He’ll understand that. If we can, we’ll give it to the Ensign for his men.’

Wudi raises his thick eyebrows.

‘But if they find your. . . guest?’

‘Then pray he does not reveal your part in this.’

Wudi grunts.

‘I’m off to the kitchen then.’

So I am left alone, and close my eyes. I can hear the soldiers continuing to search and a sergeant’s raised voice.

At last it is evening. Stars gather in eternal shapes above the earth; but down below, in Wei, the campfires are brighter. Red, merciless eyes looking us over, assessing what we have left to take. Little enough. After four days we have been stripped bare, yet still they want more. Who can blame the common soldiers? They do not belong here, feel no loyalty towards us. All civilians despise them. We are just one more larder, and when the food runs out other meat will present itself.

Wudi comes to my room after the lighting of the lamps.

Neither of us is inclined to talk. I gesture towards the wine flask, fan myself. He pours himself a cup and drinks it in one. Then he anxiously kneads his Buddha’s pot-belly as though he were alone.

‘I have heard bad news from the village,’ he says.

‘Regarding our guest?’ I ask.

‘No, Lord. Our
guests
.’

‘You mean General An-Shu’s rabble?’

He looks around nervously.

‘Someone may be listening by the window,’ he pleads.

‘What of that?’

‘You have been drinking, my Lord.’

‘That is true,’ I say.

‘This is not the time, perhaps?’

I laugh bitterly.

‘What of our
other
guest?’ I ask.

‘Still in the same place, as far as I know.’

So we are safe for now.

‘And your bad news? You mentioned bad news.’

Wudi scratches his bald head, a sure sign of distress with him.

‘The soldiers are getting out of control,’ he said. ‘I have heard they dragged the landlord Li Sha’s daughter from her home and held her down. All because he refused to tell them where he had hidden his seed corn.’

I digest this development. So the food is finally running out in the village.

‘Is she the only one?’ I ask.

‘No, there have been others.’

‘And your own relatives?’

‘Safe so far, Lord, but I am frightened. It is not good.’

It takes little imagination to recognise that rape may lead to massacre. But if they devour the peasants’ stock of seed for planting, another kind of massacre must follow, slower perhaps, but as deadly. Our whole province is threatened with famine and that worsens our danger. We can expect no assistance from neighbouring districts as badly pinched as ourselves.

‘Youngest Son has lost mastery of his own men,’ I say.

‘That is the worst news of all, for everyone knows that only the stupid, criminal or poverty-stricken enlist as soldiers. Such men require a firm hand.’

Wudi shrugs. ‘What are we to do?’ he asks.

I sense weary fear behind his question. He is a peace-loving man, a peasant at heart, ill-suited to the risks he has taken on my behalf.

‘First, we must say farewell to our unwelcome guest.’

‘Eh?’

‘You know what I mean.’

He sighs heavily.

‘Very well, my Lord, I will do it. But there are still a dozen soldiers around the house.’

I wag my finger. Perhaps I’m drunker than I imagine.

‘Leave it to me,’ I say.

‘Forgive me, Lord, but I think it would be best for all of us, if I went with you.’

We are disturbed by voices in the corridor. I place a finger over my lips. There is a tap on the closed door.

‘Forgive the late hour, Lord Yun Cai.’

We relax. My steward’s voice.

‘I have a gentleman with me who insists he must see you.’

Again we grow tense. My life has begun to resemble the farces I remember being performed in the Imperial Pleasure Grounds! They, too, were full of unexpected entrances.

‘Then show him in,’ I call.

The door opens. Instead of Youngest Son returning to admonish me further as I expected, a more genial face, though by no means welcome. Lieutenant Lo, in full uniform. I peer behind him for a squad of soldiers but he is alone. So we are not to be dragged off, just yet.

‘Welcome, Lieutenant,’ I say. ‘Please be seated while I finish with my servant.’

He sits down awkwardly.

‘Ensure that not a
cash
coin of my rents goes uncollected!’ I chide Wudi. ‘As for that other business I mentioned, wait until I have entertained my honoured guest before proceeding further.’

Wudi bows, sidles out.

‘Forgive me,’ I say. ‘I have much to arrange before I am conducted to Chunming.’

Lieutenant Lo looks embarrassed. I have no doubt he guesses how I feel about General An-Shu’s summons.

‘Your son, I mean, the Captain, sent me here with an urgent message.’

I raise my eyebrows.

‘He requests that you gather all the possessions you require for the Temporary Capital without delay, and that you should be ready to leave before cock-crow.’

‘That is. . . soon.’

Lieutenant Lo scratches his chin.

‘A messenger arrived an hour ago from the General himself. We have received orders that all companies must assemble immediately. It seems the Emperor, I mean, the Usurper. . .’

‘I know who you mean,’ I say quickly.

Lieutenant Lo meets my eye and an understanding passes between us. After all, the man is not a hot-headed youth or complete fool.

‘It seems,’ he continues, with his mournful smile. ‘A second army is preparing to march on Chunming.’

‘Ah,’ I say. ‘Tell me, did you defeat the first army with ease?’

He spreads his hands.

‘We defeated them, Lord Yun Cai.’

‘And did you lose many men in the process?’

‘Quite a few.’

We both nod, conversing, as they say, without words.

‘And is the Emperor’s, I mean the Usurper’s, second army larger than the first? No doubt he has had time to summon reinforcements from the frontier.’

‘You’d expect such a thing,’ says Lieutenant Lo. ‘On the other hand our own forces have been swelled by many conscripts.’

‘But has there been time to train them?’ I ask.

‘The time has been short,’ he concedes.

Lieutenant Lo rises to his feet, and bows.

‘I must get back to the village,’ he says. ‘There is much to organise.’

‘Perhaps your presence will restrain some of the more, how can I put it, ill-disciplined, of your men? You understand that, as Lord of Wei, it is my duty to shield the villagers from harm.’

I am assuming too much with him. But what have I to lose? It appears I do not misjudge him.

‘You are their father,’ he says, simply. ‘Rest assured I will try my best, even if it means no sleep for me tonight.’

‘Then you will gain my eternal gratitude, Lieutenant Lo.’

He rises to go.

‘One moment!’ I call. ‘You may recollect that I promised you a copy of the poem we discussed on the first night you came. I have it here. Honour me by presenting it to your wife.’

He looks puzzled, then smiles sadly.

‘
Waiting by West Lake
,’ he says.

‘That’s the one.’

I pass over a rolled parchment. The edge of the paper flutters in the night breeze entering through the window.

‘I’m obliged,’ he says.

I wait a respectable time for him to leave, then search out Wudi. I find him by the entrance to the Middle House.

‘Do you have the rice?’ I whisper.

He taps two bags at his waist.

‘Then accompany me.’

It is securely dark. Few of the servants are around and I order those we meet to their rest. No rain-clouds obscure the stars filling the valley with soft, sweet light. Even the village below seems at peace; men laughing and singing, though the wisest among them must realise what awaits them back in Chunming. Looting, or worse, could still break out in a moment. Night insects chirrup. Fireflies flit around Three-Step-House. This is my last evening here, possibly forever, and I would enjoy my old home if I could.

We reach the privy.

‘Wait outside,’ I murmur. ‘If anyone comes, cough.’

I enter and close the door. It is black within, yet no eyes are needed to sniff out the wooden seat with a round hole cut into it.

‘Psst!’ I whisper. ‘Ensign Tzi-Lu! It is I, Lord Yun Cai.’

Silence. Then the sound of a slight movement.

‘Can you hear me?’ I whisper.

The stench is nauseating. I fight back an urge to vomit.

To have spent a whole day among such smells and textures might haunt a man for the rest of his life. Perhaps he has been overcome.

‘Yes,’ comes a muffled reply from below.

I sigh.

‘Wait for a short time,’ I say. ‘Then make your way to the entrance of the sty. Be careful to make no noise, there are guards patrolling the house. Do you understand?’

‘Yes,’ once more.

I rejoin Wudi.

‘We must meet him below,’ I say, pointing at the floor of the privy.

As silently as two old men can, we shuffle to a side-gate and listen. The sound of voices. Two of the soldiers pass, talking quietly, and we wait in a pool of shadow until they have gone.

‘Quickly!’ I breathe into his ear. ‘Before they come back.’

The gate creaks alarmingly, then we are outside, beside the lower enclosure. No sign of guards. Away from my familiar room, I feel strangely exposed. We shuffle to the entrance of the pig-sty.

I smell our guest before I see him. His long day beneath the privy has streaked his clothes and hair with a whole day’s traffic. His only companion has been a truculent sow. From the rents in his trousers and tooth-marks on his legs, she has not welcomed his company. He staggers out.

‘Can you walk?’ I whisper.

‘Yes,’ he grunts.

We hurry up the side of the house toward a stand of bamboo. At least we reach it! Then the bamboo rustles and a soldier steps out, tightening his belt. We are saved by his surprise. Before he can raise the alarm, a heavy figure knocks me to one side. In a moment Ensign Tzi-Lu is upon him, panting as he stabs repeatedly, his hand held over the man’s mouth. The struggling figures disappear into the bamboo. For a moment the stems rustle wildly, then settle. Wudi and I waste no time in following.

The Ensign is on his knees, easing the man to the earth.

His eyes flash white in the darkness. I am shaking. Wudi passes wind loudly beside me.

‘What are we to do?’ he whispers. ‘We can’t leave him here.’

‘Hush.’

We freeze. The two guards are returning. One of them calls out:

‘Hey, Shao-Ao, you lazy Turk! Where are you?’

They stand half-a-dozen yards from us.

‘I bet he’s in the village. Some of the lads are talking about a bit of fun tonight.’

‘More likely he’s having a sly nap. He’s past it for that kind of fun.’

‘He’ll catch it if the captain finds out.’

‘Ah, but he won’t, will he?’

‘Let’s go round the house and look for old Shao. If we find him asleep, we can get a week’s pay off him to keep our mouths shut. If we ever get paid, that is.’

They set off again, debating this fine point.

‘Now,’ I say. ‘Pick up the body and follow me. We must hide him. They’ll think he’s deserted if they don’t find him by tomorrow. Besides, they won’t have time to search for him properly.’

Wudi looks at me dubiously.

‘As my Lord says.’

First there is the matter of a hiding place. A man’s corpse is no small thing. Once deprived of motion, it grows heavy as a large sack of millet or a dead pig. Then there is the matter of his weapons, which we find in the bamboo. Slowly we labour up the hill, looking round constantly for watching eyes, until we reach the small wood where Father built our Ancestral Shrine. A strange idea grips me, one so sacrilegious my instincts recoil. Yet it is the only certain place.

‘Hide him in the shrine,’ I whisper.

They look at me in amazement. Wudi shakes his head.

‘Do as I say.’

I am sure Father would approve. He was no stranger to expediency.