Naamah's Kiss (71 page)

We sailed and sailed. We sailed through an endless, narrow strait with green, fertile land on either side of it, land so close it made me yearn for earth beneath my feet and the scent of growing things. I nearly wept when it fell away behind us. We entered a new sea, turned north and set our course for the still-distant coast of Ch'in.

The more I learned about Ch'in, the more I learned I had to learn. I'd only begun to grasp the tenets of the Way and recognize the names and titles of myriad gods tangled up in Ch'in lore when I discovered that many folk followed a different path altogether.

Suyin gasped with shock when she discovered my ignorance. "You not know Sakyamuni? The Enlightened One?"

"No," I admitted.

She turned to Bao and conversed with him in her native dialect too quickly for me to follow. He protested; acrimony ensued.

"Come." Suyin grabbed my hand, leading me deeper into the women's quarters. "You meet him now."

She led me to a tiny chamber in which a beautiful bronze figurine sat cross-legged on a shrine, eyes closed, a peaceful smile on his face. The chamber was hazy with incense. Suyin lit another stick and placed it in the brazier, kneeling on a cushion before the shrine and pressing her brow to the ground.

"He was a prince in Bhodistan," Bao informed me. "He sat under a tree and meditated until one day" He made an expansive gesture.

"He understood everything all at once. That's why he is the Enlightened One."

"Everything at once?" After my brush with revelation, it sounded overwhelming.

"Uh-huh." He nodded. "His teaching is called Dharma."

I gazed at the Enlightened One's face. Although it was youthful, the serenity in it reminded me of Master Lo. "How is it different from the Way?"

"Celibate monks." Bao grinned when I shot him a skeptical look. "It's true!" He thought a moment. "There are other differences. Masters of Dharma do not practice medicine like Master Loor alchemy," he added.

"Like Black Sleeve," I said, remembering.

He nodded. "In Dharma there are many more teachings, many more schools. They practice breathing meditation, but not like the Five Styles." Bao pursed his lips. "To follow the Way is to seek to live in harmony and balance with the world. To follow Dharma is to seek to be free of the world."

Suyin rose and spoke to Bao, pointing at a smaller figurine, a bronze woman standing gracefully beside the Enlightened One.

"That is Guanyin," he said to me. "She Who Hears Our Prayers. She is one who found enlightenment, but came back to help the suffering."

Suyin held out a stick of incense. "Now you make prayer."

I hesitated, then shook my head. "I'm sorry. I can't pray to a god I've only just met." Bao chuckled. Suyin thrust the incense at me and said somewhat insistent and aggrieved in her dialect. I put my hands behind my back, refusing her offer. "I'm sorry, but I can't! Bao, tell her I'm sorry."

He spoke soothingly to her. In time she relented and accepted my refusal, though it was clear it troubled her.

Later, I talked to Bao about it.

"Was that wrong?" I asked. "Did I offend her?"

"No," he said slowly. "Scared her a little, maybe. She can't understand why you wouldn't offer a prayer. I explained that you are a very strange barbarian girl who worships a bear, and that she must give you time."

"It's just" I shrugged. "I don't know. I've been trying so hard to learn and understand, when I don't even know why I'm here in the first place. It was a shock to discover there are still so many big things I don't know. Big things right here on this bedamned ship, right under my nose."

"I know." Bao gave me a sympathetic look. "I'm a peasant-boy a long way from home, remember?"

"Aye, but you're going home," I reminded him.

He ran a few strands of my hair through his fingers. "You'll like it there. Look how well you speak the Shuntian tongue already. Better than I ever learned yours."

"Aye, because I've had naught else to do but practice for weeks on end!"

Bao laughed. "You'll see."

"When?"

"Soon," he promised. "We will sail into Guangzhou harbor, and then Imperial barges will take us up the Grand Canal to Shuntian. We will help Master Lo to drive out the demon inside the beautiful Princess Snow Tiger. Lord Jiang will relent, all will be forgiven, and the Emperor will shower us with rewards." He smiled smugly. "And then at last you will realize you're in love with me, and we will marry and have many fat, happy babies like in your D'Angeline hero's story."

I eyed Bao doubtfully. He didn't have an ounce of fat to spare, and I couldn't imagine our children would either. "Fat babies, eh?"

"Round as dumplings," he said cheerfully. "You'll see."

I sighed. "Well, I hope you're right about the first part."

He was right about one thing, at any rate. After being at sea for so long that my previous life had begun to seem like a half-remembered dream, the end of our journey was in sight. We reached the coast of Ch'in and began inching our way farther north.

Days passed.

Weeks.

The day I heard a sailor cry out from the observation platform in the tall center mast, I scarce dared credit it. But the cry was taken up and echoed by a hundred other tongues, the ship's crew and myriad passengers bursting into a babble of excitement.

"Guangzhou! Guangzhou!"

"Truly?" I whispered to Master Lo Feng. "We'll make landfall today?"

He nodded. "Truly."

Guangzhou was situated at the mouth of a great river delta. With ponderous grace, the enormous ship entered the delta and made for the harbor. I saw clusters of buildings and the green haze of willow trees. Soon, we would leave the sea behind us. I clutched the railing of our deck and forced myself to breathe the Breath of Earth's Pulse, slow and deep, containing my excitement.

"Uh-oh," Bao muttered.

Master Lo stroked his beard. "Hmm."

Half a dozen ships were heading for us at an alarming pace, oars churning the waves. Flags fluttering from their masts bore the emblem of a white dragon coiled on a blue background. I glanced up at the Imperial flag we flew. It was similar, but the flag was yellow, the dragon a vivid scarlet.

My heart sank. "Those aren't Imperial ships, are they?"

"No," Master Lo said soberly. "They are flying Lord Jiang's banner. I fear the war has begun."

The largest of the ships came alongside us, the others ranging behind it in a semicircle. All were filled with Ch'in soldiers. The big ship carried a strange cargo on its deck, immense bronze tubes pointed upward at us, hollow mouths gaping ominously. I didn't know what it meant, but my blood ran cold.

"I think we shall wish to hear this," Master Lo said.

We descended to the main deck. General Tsieh beckoned us over to the railing. "Jiang's men," he said grimly to Master Lo. "I think they mean to demand our surrender. Would you have me stand and fight?"

There were six ships to our one, but Lord Jiang's warships were only a fraction of our size. Counting in my head, I thought the numbers of soldiers must be nearly even; and surely with our height advantage, our archers could rain arrows down upon them. But Master Lo didn't answer, gazing at the deck of the warship below us, his gaze fixed on one man in particular. Not a soldiera tall, elegant man in crimson robes.

"Black Sleeve," Bao murmured to me.

"Can we flee?" Master Lo asked quietly.

The general shook his head. "We're too big and the delta is too small. They would be on us in the time it took to turn. But"

On the other ship, a portly man in ornate armor raised cupped hands to his mouth. "Esteemed General Tsieh!" he called. "I am Admiral Wen Chao. In the name of Lord Jiang, I humbly request that you surrender this Imperial greatship and its cargo!"

There was an acrid smell in the air. It stung my nostrils, evoking a distant memory that seemed out of place. Bao in the Circle of Shalomon's chamber, his staff spitting sparks.

"In the name of his Imperial Majesty, Son of Heaven and ruler of the Celestial Empire, I must humbly refuse!" the general retorted.

The admiral bowed politely. "Then I regret to inform you that your ship will be destroyed by the Divine Thunder!" he shouted in reply. "And all survivors will be put to the sword!"

Black Sleeve leaned over and spoke to him. Despite my rising fear, I couldn't help but wonder why he was called Black Sleeve when his robes were as crimson as a Priest of Naamah's.

"Except for the Venerable Master Lo Feng!" the admiral amended his threat.

Master Lo gazed without blinking at Lord Jiang's physician. A sorcerer and alchemist, a fellow adept of the Way. Mayhap his pupil, once.

Black Sleeve bowed to him with grace and regret.

"General Tsieh." Master Lo spoke under his breath, never shifting his gaze. "If we cannot turn, we must make for the canal itself. It is time to open a bag of wind."

"We won't get far," the general warned him. "The canal wasn't built to handle greatships. The first bridge will put a halt to us."

The acrid smell grew stronger. Smoke drifted across the water.

"I believe we're about to experience the alternative," Master Lo said. "General, if you value my counsel, give the order."

General Tsieh hesitated.

On the warship, Admiral Wen Chao raised his voice once more. "This is merely a warning!"

Soldiers clustered around one of the bronze tubes, raising its angle of elevation. Sparks flared, and then

Ah, gods! The tube belched fire and there was a sound like a thunderclap, the loudest thunderclap I'd ever heard. An object moving too fast to be seen was spat out of the tube, crashing into the top of the tall center mast and bursting into flame. The mighty ship shuddered at the impact, soldiers and sailors alike crying out in fear. Sparks and bits of slivered wood rained down on us. Bao, cursing, wielded his staff like a demon, warding off the falling debris, protecting Master Lo and me from the worst of it.

Everywhere, shouting. High-pitched shrieks from the women's quarters. And in the midst of it, General Tsieh's voice raised to a roar.

"Fetch the Thousand-Cloud Bag!"

Men raced everywhere; sailors with buckets putting out fires, soldiers obeying the general's order. Another bronze tube belched fire, another clap of Divine Thunder rattled my bones. Another object hurtled through the air, taking out the top of another mast before splashing into the sea beyond us, steam hissing at the impact.

More scorched debris fell from the skies.

Two of our sails now slumped in tattered despair beneath their shattered topmasts. But on the rear deck, General Tsieh's men were working feverishly to unfold a vast expanse of embroidered silk.

"Lord Jiang wishes to be merciful!" his admiral bawled over the din. "Cease your efforts and surrender! "

Fold upon fold of the bag was opened. Each one was comprised of squares of silk embroidered with clouds, exquisite clouds. Fluffy clouds, wispy clouds, menacing clouds, wrought in shades of white, silver, grey, and sun-shot gold on a sky-blue field. Wholly unfolded, the Thousand-Cloud Bag covered the entire aft of the main deck, laying slack and empty over its expanse. A knotted silk cord pulled its mouth firmly closed.

Across the water that divided them, Master Lo and Black Sleeve gazed silently at one another.

" Now !" General Tsieh shouted. "Loose the wind!"

Feverish fingers worked at the tightly knotted silk cords. Slowly, slowly, the mouth of the Thousand-Cloud Bag opened.

Without thinking, I breathed the Breath of Wind's Sigh, drew it high up into me and breathed it into the space between my eyes. Remembering the cold winter winds blowing through the bell tower where Master Lo had taught it to me. It could only help.

And it seemed the world breathed with me, taking a deep, indrawn breath like an endless sigh. The bag rose and billowed, taking in air, towering over the main deck.

I breathed in.

I breathed out.

When it happened, it happened all at once. Another bronze tube barked fire and coughed thunder. The Thousand-Cloud Bag exhaled, filling the massive sails of the Imperial greatshipor at least the three of five yet intact.

It was enough.

The Imperial greatship leapt forward, surging past Lord Jiang's warships. Past the projected missile, which fell harmlessly into the sea, another gout of steam arising. Across the harbor, into the narrow confines of the Great Canal.

Away.

I spared a glance behind us and saw the dwindling figure of Black Sleeve unlock his gaze from Master Lo and settle on me. Belatedly, his brows formed a furrow, perplexed at my existence.

"Too late," I whispered.

We rode before the wind, leaving him behind.