The Middle Kingdom (77 page)

There was a
touch of warmth against his back and a soft, muted giggle, then he
felt her pressed against him—undoubtedly
her
—and
heard her voice in his ear.

"Hush,
little one. Hush. It's only me, Pearl Heart. I'll not bite you, Li
Yuan."

He turned and,
in the moon's light, saw her naked there beside him in his bed.

"What are
you doing here, Pearl Heart?" he asked, but his eyes were drawn
to the firmness of her breasts, the soft, elegant slope of her
shoulders. Her dark eyes seemed to glisten in the moonlight and she
lay there, unashamed, enjoying the way he looked at her.

She reached out
and took his hand and pressed it gently to her breast, letting him
feel the hardness of the nipple, then moved it down, across the
silken smoothness of her stomach until it rested between her legs.

He shivered,
then looked to her eyes again. "I shouldn't. . ."

She smiled and
shook her head, her eyes filled with amusement. "No, perhaps you
shouldn't, after all. Shall I go away?"

She made to move
but his hand held her where she was, pressing down against the soft
down of her sex. "No ... I..."

Again she
laughed, a soft, delicious laughter that increased his desire, then
she sat up and pushed him down, pulling back the sheet from him.

"What have
we here? Ah, now here's the root of all your problems."

She lifted his
stiff penis gently between her fingers, making him catch his breath,
then bent her head and kissed it. A small, wet kiss.

"There,"
she said gently, looking up the length of his body into his eyes. "I
can see what you need, my little one. Why didn't you tell Pearl Heart
before now?" She smiled and her eyes returned to his penis.

For a moment he
closed his eyes,
a
ripple of pure pleasure passing through him
as she stroked and kissed him. Then, when he could bear it no longer,
he pulled her up against him, then turned her over, onto her back,
letting her hand help him as he struggled to find the mouth of her
sex with the blind eye of his penis.

Then, with a
sudden sense of her flesh parting before his urgent pressure, he was
inside her and she was pushing back up against him, her face suddenly
different, her movements no longer quite so gentle, her legs wrapped
about his back. He thrust and thrust and then cried out, his body
stiffening, a great hot wave of blackness robbing him momentarily of
thought.

He slept for a
while and when he woke she was there still, not a dream as he had
begun to imagine, but real and warm, her body beautiful, naked in the
moonlight beside him, her dark eyes watching him. The thought—the
reality of her—made his penis stir again and she laughed and
stroked his cheek, his neck, his shoulder, her fingers moving down
his body until they were curled about the root of him again.

"Pearl
Heart?" he said, looking up from where her fingers played with
him, into her face.

"Hush,"
she said, her smile like balm. "Lie still and close your eyes,
my little one. Pearl Heart will ease the darkness in you."

He smiled and
closed his eyes, letting the whole of him be drawn like a thread of
fine silk into the contact of her fingers with his flesh. He gave a
little shudder as her body brushed against his own, moving down him,
then groaned as he felt her tiny rosebud lips close wetly about the
end of his penis.

"Pearl
Heart," he said softly, almost inaudibly. And then the darkness
claimed him once again.

CHEN leaned on
his hoe, then looked up into the sky and wiped his brow with the
cloth Pavel had given him.

"This is
harder than I thought it would be," he said, laughing.

The young man
smiled back at him. "Would you like some water, Tong Chou?"

He hesitated,
then gave a small bow. "That would be good. I've a thirst on me
such as I've never had before."

"It's hot,"
Pavel said kindly. "You're not used to it yet, that's all.
You'll get the hang of it soon enough."

Chen rubbed at
his back then laughed again. "Let's hope so. I've a feeling I'm
not so much breaking the earth as the earth's breaking me."

He watched Pavel
go, then got down to it again, turning the dark, hard earth, one of a
long line of workers stretching out across the huge, two-li-wide
field. Then, only moments later, he looked up, hearing raised voices
from the direction Pavel had gone. He turned and saw the youth had
been stopped by two of the guards—the same two men who had met
them on the path the day before.

"What is
it?" he asked the woman next to him, then realized she didn't
speak English, only Mandarin. But the woman seemed to understand. She
made a drinking gesture with one cupped hand, then shook her head.

"But I
thought..."

Then he
remembered something Pavel had said earlier. They were only allowed
three cups of water a day—at the allotted breaks. Curse him,
the stupid boy! Chen thought, dropping his hoe and starting across
the field toward the noise, but two of the field workers ran after
him and held his arms until he returned to the line.

"Fa!"
one of them kept saying.
"Fa!"
Then, in
atrocious English, he translated the word. "Pah-nis-men."
Chen went cold. "I've got to stop it."

One of the older
men—a peasant in his late forties or fifties, his face deeply
tanned and creased—stepped forward. "You cannot stop it,"
he said in a clipped but clear English. "Watch. They will summon
some of us. They will make us form a circle. Then the punishment will
begin." He sighed resignedly. "It is their way."

On the far side
of the field the shouting had stopped now and he could see Pavel, his
arm held tightly by one of the men, his head bowed under the coolie
hat.

"Shit!"
he said under his breath. But the old man was right. He could not
afford to get involved; nor, probably, would his involvement change
anything. He was a field-worker here, not
kwai,
and his job
was to get at DeVore. He could not risk that, even to prevent this
injustice.

The bigger of
the two guards—the one Pavel had identified as Teng—strode
out toward them. He stopped and, hands on his hips, ordered a number
of them over to the water wagon.

Chen felt sick.
This was his fault. But he could do nothing.

Pavel did not
look at him. It was clear he had chosen not to say why he had gone to
the wagon. Without being told, the ku—the field-workers—formed
a circle about the youth and the two guards. There was an awful
silence. Chen looked around the circle and saw how most of them
looked down or away, anything but look at what was happening at the
circle's heart.

Teng's voice
barked out again. "This man was disobedient. He knew the rules
and yet he broke them." He laughed; a curt, brutal laughter. "He
was stupid. Now he will be punished for his stupidity."

Teng drew the
long club from his belt and turned to face Pavel. Chang smiled and
thrust the young man forward at his fellow.

Without warning
Teng lashed out, the club hitting Pavel on the back of the legs,
making him fall down. The sound the boy made was awful; a frightened
whimper.

Chen shuddered
and gritted his teeth.

Teng stood over
the youth now, smiling down at him. "Get up, Pavel. It's not
over yet."

Slowly, his eyes
never leaving Teng's face, Pavel got to his feet again. Teng's smile
never wavered, but seemed to burn fiercely. It was clear he was
enjoying himself hugely. He looked down at the club, then let fly
again, this time catching Pavel across the side of the head.

The boy went
down with a groan of pain. Chen could feel the indignation ripple
about the circle. But still they were all silent. No one moved. No
one did a thing.

Teng put the tip
of the club against the young man's head and pushed gently, making
him fall backward. Then he looked across at his fellow guard.

"Chang!
Pass me the rod!"

This time there
was a low murmur from the circle. Teng turned, looking from face to
face, then laughed. "If there's anyone else who'd like a taste
of this, just say. I'd be delighted to oblige them."

Chang went
across to him and took the club from him, handing him a long, thin
pole that was attached by a wire to a small box. Teng clipped the box
to pne of his jacket pockets, then pressed a button on the side of
the rod. It hissed wickedly.

Teng looked
across at Pavel. "Drop your trousers, boy!"

Chen saw Pavel
swallow awkwardly. The youth was petrified. His fingers fumbled at
the strings that held up his trousers, then managed to untie the
knot. Then he stood, his head drooping, letting his trousers fall
around his ankles.

Under the
trousers he was quite naked. He trembled uncontrollably. His penis
had shriveled up with fear.

Teng looked at
him and laughed. "We're a fine big boy, aren't we, Pavel? No
wonder weVe no girlfriend yet!" Again his brutal laugh rang out.
Then, cruelly, he touched the rod against the tip of the boy's penis.

Pavel jerked
back, but Teng had not activated the rod.

Teng looked
across at Chang and both men laughed loudly at the joke. Then Teng
pressed the button and thrust the rod into the young man's groin.
Pavel doubled up convulsively, then lay there as if dead. Teng must
have had the rod set high, for the smell of burnt flesh was suddenly
sharp in the warm, still air.

"You dirty
bastard!"

The words came
from Chen's left. He turned and saw it was the old man who had spoken
to him earlier.

Teng had also
turned and was looking at the man. "What is it, Fang Hui? You
want to join the fun?"

Chang's voice
sounded urgently from behind Teng. "Use the club, Teng Fu. The
rod will kill the old fool."

But Teng wasn't
listening. He walked slowly across to the old man and stood there,
facing him, head and shoulders bigger than he.

"What did
you say, old man? What did you call me?"

Fang Hui smiled
bleakly. "You heard me, Teng."

Teng laughed.
"Yes, I heard you, Fang." He reached forward and grabbed
the man's face in one hand, forcing his mouth open, then thrust the
rod inside, closing Fang Hui's teeth upon it. Then he moved
his hand away. One finger hovered above the button of the box.

"You'd like
a taste of this, Fang Hui?"

Fang's eyes were
wide with terror. Slowly Teng withdrew the rod from the old man's
mouth, a sadistic smile of enjoyment lighting his big ugly features.

"A good
peasant is a quiet peasant, eh, Fang?"

The old man
nodded exaggeratedly.

"Good,"
Teng said quietly, then kicked out, sending Fang sprawling.

The old man lay
there, gasping. Chen looked across at him, relieved he had come to no
greater harm, then turned and looked back at Teng.

It had been
hard. Hard not to add his voice to Fang Hui's. Harder still just to
stand there in the circle and do nothing. Pavel was stirring now. He
lifted his head from the ground and looked up, his eyes unfocused,
then let it fall back again.

Chang stepped up
behind him, a cup of water in one hand, and poured it over the
youth's head. "Is this what you came for, Pavel?" His
action brought guffaws of laughter from the watching Teng.

Yes, thought
Chen. I may have done nothing here today, but watch me, Teng. Be
careful how you treat me. For I've every reason to kill you now for
what youVe done.

He thought of
what Pavel had told him of the murders and knew now it was more than
rumor. It was what had happened. He was sure of it.

Yes. Every
reason.

THE SOUND of
laughter carried from the garden into the house through the wide,
open doorway. Outside the morning was bright and warm; inside, where
Li Yuan sat with his eight-year-old nephew Tsu Tao Chu, it was cooler
and in shadow.

They were
playing
wei chi,
practicing openings and corner plays, but Li
Yuan seemed distracted. He kept looking out into the garden where the
maids were playing ball.

The younger
boy's high, singsong voice broke the silence that had lain between
them for some time. "Your heart's not in this, is it, Yuan? It's
a lovely morning. Why don't we go riding instead?"

Li Yuan turned
and looked at him. "I'm sorry, Tao Chu. What did you say?"

"I said . .
." He laughed sweetly, then leaned forward conspir-atorially.
"Tell me, Yuan. Which one is it?"

Li Yuan blushed
and set a white stone down. "I don't know what you mean, Tao
Chu."

Tao Chu raised
his eyebrows, then placed a black stone on the board, removing the
six white captives he had surrounded.

"I thought
Fei Yen was your sweetheart, Yuan. It's clear, though, that some
other maiden has won your heart. Or if not your heart—"

"Tao Chu!"
Li Yuan looked down at the board and saw the position was lost, his
forces disrupted. He laughed. "Is it so obvious?"

Tao Chu busied
himself removing the stones and returning them to the bowls, then set
the situation up anew. He looked up. "Again?"

Li Yuan shook
his head. Then he stood up and went over to the open doorway. The
maids were out beyond the ornamental pool, playing catch with a ball
of stitched silk. He watched them for a while, his eyes going time
and again to Pearl Heart. At first he didn't think she'd seen him,
but then he saw her pick up the ball and turn, looking directly at
him; her smile holding a special meaning, for him alone.

He lifted his
head slightly, smiling back at her, and saw her pause, then throw the
ball to one of the other maids, saying something which he couldn't
catch. Then he saw her go, between the magnolia and out down the
pathway, heading toward his room.