Chasing the Phoenix (31 page)

“How can you doubt me? I engineered that disgrace solely to benefit you. Powerful Locomotive is now in no position to place you upon the Dragon Throne in the tragic case that our beloved emperor dies shortly after attaining it. That is half of what you wanted, and, to be honest, the more difficult half.”

“I fail to see how that helps me. My personal happiness must necessarily come second to my duty to keep Southern Gate a free and independent state. If Powerful Locomotive never becomes emperor…”

“That is the beauty of our scheme. Ceo Shrewd Fox is an ambitious woman who, when the Hidden Emperor is murdered, will reflexively claim the throne for herself. Acting swiftly, however, Powerful Locomotive will denounce her as a regicide and execute her on the spot. An independent inquiry—which I shall lead—will find definitive proof that she was guilty. In the light of his heroic act, the general will then be the obvious choice to be made emperor by acclamation. This leaves only the two of us knowing the truth of what actually happened. Murdering us would draw suspicion back to the new emperor, so he will have no choice but to buy us off—me with great wealth and you with your nation's freedom. A plot so simple cannot possibly fail.”

“Perhaps,” Prince First-Born Splendor said dubiously. “But White Squall—”

“She is mad with jealousy. All that is needed now is to make her pliant and obedient.”

“How?”

“I have plans.” Darger lied. “Allow them some time to ripen and you shall see. In the meantime, have you spoken to the Hidden Emperor, as I requested?”

“Yes. He says that he will not meet with you because you are untrustworthy.”

“I! Untrustworthy? Did he say why?”

“When I asked, he said that you would know.”

“Yet I do not. I have examined my conscience and it is spotless. The entire situation is most peculiar,” Darger said. He put down his empty glass, and a servant cleared it away.

*   *   *

THAT NIGHT,
White Squall rode Darger sweaty. Then, rolling over so she could stare up at the fireworks, she berated him for his lack of success in making Prince First-Born Splendor the ambitious courtier she desired him to be.

“Madam, you do me a disservice. I have been working tirelessly on your behalf,” Darger protested. “You were jealous of Ceo Shrewd Fox and demanded I get rid of her as a rival. So I did.”

“She is still alive.”

“It was not necessary for her to die, and to demand it now would be mere vindictiveness on your part.” Darger felt about for the blanket that had been cast aside in the throes of their passion. They were in the sheltered rooftop garden of an inn that Darger had claimed for his own. But there was no getting around the fact that it was just a little late in the year to be outside at night without any clothing.

“She has put me in command of the Division of Chimeras and Resurrected Beasts, overseeing the saber-toothed cavalry,
Megatherium,
feathered theropods, and whatever those loathsome things with the poisoned quills are. Meanwhile, the Division of Sappers and Archaeologists has been folded into the infantry. Surely
that
merits death.”

“The fact that your new position as chief animal officer is no lower than your old rank strongly suggests that Shrewd Fox's respect for you remains undiminished.”

“I am overseeing filthy, disgusting animals.”

“Simply pretend that your charges are smellier, less tractable, and more bloodthirsty versions of the machines you love. It is only a temporary position, after all. Once China has been reunited, I have no doubt that the Hidden Emperor will put you to work digging up more of your abominable machines of destruction.”

“I don't like the way my prince moons about after her.”

“That is neither here nor there. Shrewd Fox is now obsessed with Powerful Locomotive—everyone sees that but him—and in consequence, Prince First-Born Splendor's flirtations stand revealed as weak attempts to make you jealous.”

“Jealous! Of that toadstool? I feel almost as sorry for Powerful Locomotive for having such a creature pursuing him as I do for myself for having such a lackluster thing as you for a champion.”

“Examine my history, madam. I have been your truest and most vigorous friend through all of this.”

“So it would seem. Yet I cannot help thinking that there was more to all this than philanthropy.”

“You blackmailed me, remember? How much more motivation than that do I need?”

*   *   *

“I WAS
a fool to have ever listened to you in the first place.” General Powerful Locomotive lifted a bowl of clear liquid to his lips and drank. He was sitting on a bluff overlooking the river and the fleet at rest upon it. Since he had brought only one chair, Darger was forced to stand. “Now I am disgraced and demoted, and my chances of winning White Squall's love have vanished into the past, never to return. I gaze upon her today as I might a star and see only an unearthly beauty that is completely beyond my reach.”

“I remind you that your disgrace was your own doing. Had you followed my plan, as both the Hidden Emperor and I relied upon your doing…”

“Yes, yes, yes. I have told myself as much a thousand times and more.” Powerful Locomotive raised the bowl and sipped again. “But how was I to know that a plan so transparently ludicrous would actually work? Only an idiot could have come up with it. Only a fool would have followed it. Yet it worked. Incredible.”

“What is that you are drinking? Not alcohol, I hope! I warn you, sir, that if you are becoming a drunkard I must wash my hands of your fate.”

“What? Oh, no, it is just a pedagogical broth.” Powerful Locomotive offered the bowl for examination. “In times of dejection and despair, it is my custom to drown my sorrows in learning. It makes me a little distracted, of course, but better educated afterward.”

“That is, I suppose, admirable. But I must ask you to put the bowl aside and give me your full attention. We are finally making progress. Just yesterday, White Squall told me that she felt sorry for you because you were being courted by Shrewd Fox, a woman she feels is unworthy of you.”

“White Squall felt sorry for me?” Powerful Locomotive said, astonished. “Shrewd Fox is courting me?”

“Yes and yes.”

“How could this be? I hadn't noticed the ceo displaying any particular warmth toward me.”

“That is because—and I say this with all due respect, General, but it is the only way to get your attention—in matters of the human heart, you are a self-involved lunkhead. If you doubt my word that Shrewd Fox is interested in you, simply give her a rose—just one! offhandedly!—and watch her eyes closely. You will see bloom within them the expression which in a woman means, ‘I have you now!'”

“This is a great wonder to me.” Powerful Locomotive looked down at his bowl and then, holding it out to the side, emptied its contents onto the ground.

“You are wasting your broth!” Darger cried in alarm.

“It's only calculus. I can always pick it up later, should I have need of it.” As always when he was deepest in thought, Powerful Locomotive twisted his mouth into an expression of distaste. “If Ceo Shrewd Fox is interested in me, then I shall play along. That should give you many an opening to engineer her downfall and my restoration to her rank.”

“Really, General, there is no reason to make an already-confusing situation more complicated.”

“I will give her a rose, as you advised. What color do you suggest it be?”

“Blood red is traditional,” Darger said sourly. “But in this case, I would go with black.”

*   *   *

AT THE
end of the week, the Immortals marched and sailed from Opera downriver to Weedy Lake, a place of no particular interest other than its strategic importance as the last fortified town in Twin Cities before the border with Commerce, southernmost of the four states in the Yellow Sea Alliance. There they stopped, for they were not officially at war with either Commerce or the alliance. Though everybody knew it was only a matter of time.

As he had sailed in, so Darger sailed out, save that this time he did not have Shrewd Fox for company and that he spent a very long time by himself, thinking. He noticed, though barely, that Surplus stayed at a moderate distance, keeping an eye on him and shooing away anyone who would disturb his concentration.

For hour after hour, the coastline flowed by, here a mountain and there a town, like so many images on a scroll. Only the other boats on the river were stationary, or so it seemed. Once, Little Spider slipped past Surplus's guard and, crouching next to Darger's chair, said, “What's wrong?”

Darger looked down at the imp. “I am experiencing a dark night of the soul. Also seeking to find a way to keep not only myself but you and your entire family alive. So I will thank you to go away now and leave me to my labor.”

“Oh. I thought maybe you needed cheering up.”

“No.”

“I brought you something anyway. It comes from the Land of Heroes—that's where you were born, right? It's old.” Little Spider produced a silver hip flask.

Darger took the thing and examined it closely. “This is Victorian work, and particularly fine of its kind. It's a museum piece. How did you come into possession of such a thing?”

Smiling impishly, Little Spider mimed applying rouge to her cheeks. “I just went into the city collections in Crossroads and carried it out.”

Darger stared at the flask so long and so hard that he didn't even notice when he ceased to see it at all. Nor did he notice when Surplus appeared to send Little Spider below as punishment for disturbing him. He was still thinking when the houseboat arrived at last at the thronged and clamorous docks of Weedy Lake.

It took hours of waiting before the houseboat was given its brief slot at the docks and Darger was able to disembark.

“You look almost cheerful,” Surplus said to him.

“Indeed, I am feeling better than I have felt for some time.”

“You have a plan—that much is obvious. What will you do?”

“What else is there to do in as dire a situation as the one we find ourselves embroiled in? I will call a meeting.”

*   *   *

DARGER HAD
taken to the custom of gathering for conversation in teahouses with all the enthusiasm and snobbery of a convert. He sought out the best teahouses in town, compared them, and then, when he had chosen one, examined its facilities with care. Finally, he booked a private room with a view down into a courtyard garden where autumn trees had just begun their annual molt and sent out invitations. At the appointed time, he stood by the door and greeted each of his invited guests as they entered: Prince First-Born Splendor, Cao White Squall, General Powerful Locomotive, and the Dog Warrior, who came accompanied by his second-in-command and occasional wife, Fire Orchid. Shrewd Fox had also been invited but declined to come.

A young woman wearing a plain but respectable robe and a cheap-looking necklace of colored glass beads brought them tea. As she was filling the glasses, Darger said, “I have made all of you various promises over the past several months. Lately, as I am sure you know, my fortunes have fallen. I am no longer summoned to the Hidden Emperor's side, and since Shrewd Fox's elevation in rank, I no longer have the trust and ear of the chief executive officer.”

There was a slight shifting of position and an exchange of near glances among his auditors.

“We didn't need to be told this,” Powerful Locomotive said.

“Oh? I thought it only polite to let you know.” Darger took a sip of tea. “In any case, necessary or not, I called you all together to assure you that all my promises will be kept—every one and without exception. So you need not worry on my account.”

For a long, still moment nobody spoke. At last, General Powerful Locomotive said, “Well, go on. What else?”

“Else?” Darger said politely.

“I mean, is that …
all
you had to say?”

“It is. Thank you, everyone, for coming. Thank you for listening. I release you now to your many pressing affairs.”

As the others left, some grumbling, it seemed likely, under their breaths about the time they had just wasted, Darger casually said to the girl who had brought them tea and was now beginning to clear away their glasses, “Young lady. Please stay a moment. There is something I must say to you.”

The young woman lingered as requested. When they were alone, she said, “Sir? What would you do with me?”

Darger slid from his chair and knelt before her. “There is nothing I can do, Your Majesty,” he said, “save obey.”

The servitor stood up straighter, the loose gown flattening somewhat against its wearer's chest, making the illusion of breasts disappear. The delicate oval face shifted, broadened, became that of a young man. “Only eight people have ever known I was a face dancer,” the Hidden Emperor said, “and seven of them are dead.”

Darger chose to let the implicit threat pass unacknowledged. “I was once told that Powerful Locomotive's parents had the prenatal gene work done on him in the hope that he might become a spy. I see now that I should have reflected on how much more useful such an ability might prove to be for a ruler.”

“Stand. Then sit,” the Hidden Emperor said, throwing himself into a chair. “Nobody wants to bring the emperor bad news. As a result, I have to go and dig it out myself.” He favored Darger with a sly grin. “I believe you are about to tell me that Shrewd Fox is a threat to my rule.”

“No more so than any powerful subordinate and less so than most, for her faction is small and her hold over Powerful Locomotive's faction is weak. Also, it must be taken into account that she is a brilliant strategist who serves you well.”

“She doesn't speak so highly of you.”

“I am her one blind spot.”