The Pirate Empress (27 page)

The lagoon was as she remembered, except this time there was no crane standing at the far side of the pool, and the surrounding shrubbery was thick with white berries—but otherwise the scene was the same.

“What a beautiful pool,” Zhu said, and glanced swiftly at Li. No doubt he remembered looking down from the cliff top and seeing her and his captain in the water. “Something was dropped here. There are scuffle marks. I think the boy was put on the ground.”

The prints moved to the edge of the lagoon, then ended. Had they gone into the water? But if they had, where did they go from there?

He Zhu crouched, lifted something from the bank, and pinched a gold and azure feather between his fingertips. “It’s the same kind of feather that Tao found near Esen on board the pirate junk.”

Fenghuang
. The Chinese Phoenix. What did it mean? Wherever the warlord went, a feather was left.

“This is not helping,” she said, frustrated, tears threatening to spill. “We are not getting any closer to finding Wu. He can’t just have disappeared.”

“He did not disappear. Esen has him. And I believe he is safe.”

“How can he be safe as long as he is in the hands of that savage. Esen wants him dead. He wants
me
dead. But if he can’t have me, he will settle for Wu.”

Zhu’s face looked puzzled as he raised his eyes to meet hers. “I no longer think he wants Wu dead.”

“What do you mean? All he has wanted, since the day you and Quan brought him to the Forbidden City to be dined by the Emperor, was to see Wu dead. He never wanted him to be conceived, no less born.”

“No more,” Zhu said, shaking his head. “Esen has learned of the gemstone’s power. I am sure of it.”

Li’s eyes widened until she was certain her lids would split from the force. “But he can’t use it. Only one with the gift can open the Tiger’s Eye. What can the gemstone possibly have to do with Wu?”

Zhu searched the dark water in the center of the pool and the turquoise shallows, and Li strained her eyes to follow. The mist sparkled with the sun’s rays; tiny lights flittered among the mist, then dispersed. Oh, if only Wu knew how to summon the Ghostfire. It would have protected him, shielded him from the barbarian’s eyes. Maybe that was what had happened. Had Wu discovered the magic of
Gwei-huo
? Had he deceived the Mongol warlord and escaped? And even now, could he be hiding somewhere nearby in the jungle?

“Zhu,” she said. “I think maybe Wu is not far from here.”

Zhu fingered the feather in his hand and shook his head in full disagreement. “He is long gone.”

“No. I can summon the power of
Gwei-huo
. If I can do that, maybe my son can, too.”

“That is not his power.”

“How do you know? I am his mother. If I have this power, then why shouldn’t he have it? If he does, maybe when Esen’s attention was drawn elsewhere he found a chance to run and hide.”

“Perhaps. But if he is hiding, why doesn’t he show himself? He isn’t deaf. We haven’t lowered our voices. We have been standing here for many minutes, nattering loud enough for the fish to hear. It is only us looking for him. And you are his mother.”

True. If Wu was anywhere within earshot, he would have shown himself by now. Li wiped her wet cheek with the back of her hand. No time for tears. Weakness would not help her to find her son.

“I think it is as Tao suspects,” Zhu said. “Esen has found a way to tame
Fenghuang
. She is his transport. And he has taken Wu with him.”

“But where have they gone?”

“If I am right about the gemstone, Esen has taken Wu and the ring to the Forbidden City. Now he has something to barter with.”

“The Emperor will not believe that Wu is his grandson. Not without proof. And if Jasmine has re-joined His Majesty, his life won’t be worth a grain of rice.”

“Oh, but you’re wrong, Li. Your boy is now worth much more to Esen alive than he is worth to him dead. You see… the gemstone speaks to Wu—just as it speaks to me.”

“How can that be?” She narrowed her eyes suspiciously but she wasn’t sure of what she suspected.

“There are many questions yet to be answered,” he said. “I don’t know why the gemstone speaks to your son or why it speaks to me. It would not speak for Master Yun. But that is the only reason I can think of why Esen would have taken the boy alive.”

“Then we must locate Master Yun and learn why the gemstone has chosen my son. But first we must
find
my son.”

“My thoughts exactly. We inform Madam Choi of our plan, then we ride.” He spun on his heel and forged through the jungle path back to the beach where the serpent boat waited for them. Li helped Zhu haul the boat onto the water, but just as the waves caught the keel, Zhu sucked in a gasp.

“What is it?” She turned to look in the direction that he was squinting.

Out on the milky horizon, against the bright morning pallor, a ship moved toward the consortium of pirate boats anchored in the outer bay. The ship was behind an island at the cove’s entrance, and would not be visible to the trio of pirate vessels. But it was in full sail, and it was only a matter of time before the pirates would be exposed. Li clenched her fists, knuckles whitening.

Zhu released the bow of the serpent boat, and lifted a small spyglass that was hooked to his sash while Li struggled to hold the boat from escaping.

“Imperial colours. The hunt is on.”

“We must warn them,” she said.

“I can’t go with you. I am a fugitive. My face is known, and only my helmet hides my identity. I will go after the warlord and Wu by land. You return to Madam Choi quickly, and warn her of the impending danger.”

A childish impulse overwhelmed her. “I want to go with you.” She released the serpent boat, but grabbed at it at the last minute before the backwash swept it away.

“Your choice,” he said, and tucked his spyglass into his sash. “I have a horse. She is somewhere in the jungle foraging.” He whistled a high-pitched tune and was answered with a whinny. “She hears me and harkens. Come. We have no time to waste.”

“Wait.” Li turned wet eyes to Zhu. “I cannot leave without warning Madam Choi. But I don’t want you to waste time coming with me. Go and find the barbarian who abducted my son. Kill him. I will follow shortly.”

“You have no horse, Li. You can’t get far by foot.”

“I am hoping I won’t have to. Madam Choi’s pirate junk is swift. She will take me north to the Yellow Sea. We’ll travel up the Grand Canal to Beijing. From there I will find my way to the Forbidden City.”

“Xiang Gong protect you,” he said.

“And may Lei Shen protect
you
.”

Zhu’s mount burst through the trees and stopped in front of her rider. He leaped upon the sleek mare’s back and caught the reins, while Li climbed aboard the serpent boat and aimed it in the direction of the unsuspecting pirates.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

The White Tiger

Admiral Lao Hu Fong had heard about the pirates headed by a woman. In the Waterworld, women were full participants in life at sea. It was so different from the world he came from where women worked at home. This woman was an aberration, a bad influence. Some reports even painted her as a cannibalistic monster, and those lucky enough to escape her raids told tales of cruel and inhuman punishment. She was an exhibitionist, they said, a ruthless and bestial captor. One instance told of a captive being fixed upright against the mainmast, his bowels sliced open, and his heart scooped out. The heart, still pumping, was soaked in rice spirits, then fried and eaten by the pirate chief herself. At last report, she had stolen a ferryboat by subversive means, looted and burned a merchant junk, and taken captives from both. He hated to think what she had done with these.

There were reports, too, of one of her lieutenants, deemed choicest of all the females in the pirate squads. She was taller than her compatriots, gloriously formed, and when confronted by the beauty of her face, the thoughts of men went stupid.

He was keen to meet this lieutenant; she might make him a good wife.

Admiral Fong signalled to his helmsman to bring the vessel to, slacken sails and ride slowly and with ease. The pirates had not sighted him yet while the island stood between them. But the watch had spied a single serpent boat heading for the pirate junks, and through his spyglass, its pilot looked slight but highly skilled. Long, black hair flowed from beneath a loosened topknot that threatened to unravel completely in the wind, and the sea splashed wildly over the gunwales of the slender boat, soaking its rower. The loose shirt on the labouring figure wrestled the wind and it was soon apparent that this was no man, but a girl.

“Heave to and take the serpent boat and her pilot,” he ordered his captain. The captain repeated the order down the line. The girl noticed their change of course and started waving her arms at the pirate flagship.

“Bear down,” Fong ordered, and turned to study the long shadow of the junk that stretched beyond the island. “No. Belay that. Hold her steady. Take a tender and bring the serpent boat and her occupant aboard.”

The girl was now standing, signalling desperately, and orders were dispatched for more boats to surround the three pirate vessels. The serpent boat was hailed, but its occupant merely hoisted a sabre to warn the Emperor’s navy from trying to seize her. One of the seamen hooked the lip of her boat, yanked hard, toppling her into the water, and then dived in as she floundered to the surface, coughing and spitting, encumbered by her clothing. She had dropped her weapon in the fall and, for a moment, Fong lost sight of her in a shimmering fog.

She might have escaped if the sailor wasn’t already gripping her securely, befuddled though he was. Despite her thrashing he was stronger, and because he held tight even as her flailing sent the luminescence flying, he managed to haul her up and away to where his mate leaned forward in their rowboat.

They roughly laced her wrists and ankles with ropes, trussing her like an ewe, and when they re-joined the warship, they passed her hand over foot to the waiting men on deck. Fong hollered down that she should be brought to him in his quarters after she was properly dried and dressed. Fong was not ignorant of the needs of women. On occasion he had brought ladies aboard and laden them with generous gifts, but he never kept them long, and had made none his wife. So far, no one was worthy of the position.

Her hair was ink-black, now combed out and full. Her dark eyes were sharp. Coral pins gleamed in her silky tresses, and the earrings and bracelets he had ordered her adorned in were of the same delicate melon-pink stone. She was superbly displayed in white satin decorated with pink pearl buttons, and on her feet were white silk slippers.

Fong signalled her escort to untie her hands so that she might kneel before him. Her feet were not deformed as Chinese custom prescribed, and the moment her hands were free, she sprang at him. He laughed.

“Do you promise to behave yourself if I don’t have your hands and feet bound?”

Plainly, she was ready to claw out his eyes, but she nodded and dropped her hands to her side.

Smart girl.

She was probably barely twenty. Every motion she made spoke of contempt, but he signed for the guards to leave them alone. “I see you have accepted my gifts and my hospitality,” Fong said, strutting toward her.

“Only because I did not wish to remain in those sodden clothes.”

“I thought you’d be unable to resist. After all, you
are
a pirate. You are indeed a great beauty; the stories told of you are true. What is your name? You might as well tell me. I will get it out of you eventually. After I take the ships of your chief, Madam Choi.”

“Leave them alone,” she said.

Admiral Fong lowered his eyes to the hollow of her throat where a circlet of jade—not one of his pieces—was nestled. He lifted it from her suntanned skin, frowning as he recognized the insignia impressed on the clasp of the solid gold chain. “This belongs to the Imperial house. What are you doing with it?”

She snatched it from his fingers, nearly breaking it. His brow knit until he felt even the furrows on his forehead pucker, and he inspected her more closely, for he had heard stories of the escaped princess. Could this be her? “What is your name?”

This time it was not a question, but a command, and she smiled like she knew his suspicions. “If I tell you my name, if I am who you think I am, will you let my friends go?”

“Why should I do that? You are my prisoner and soon they will be, too.” He touched a strand of her hair. “Tell me what happened out there. What was that mist that enshrouded you in luminescence?”

She yanked her head away. “Have you never seen the Ghostfire?”

“I have heard of it, though I’ve never seen it on the high seas. However, lately, there have been stories of hopping corpses and Will-o’-the-wisp.” He paused. “So, these things are real. Why, then, did you not escape when you could? My men were blinded. You were invisible.”

“Are you stupid, sir? I would have drowned.”

Fong slapped her in the face and she recoiled. She rubbed her reddening cheek, scowled. Again she looked like she would gouge out his eyes, but she refrained. “My boat capsized and is now at the bottom of the sea. If you were watching, then you must have seen that.”

“You are Lotus Lily,” Admiral Fong said, decisively.

“I am and I am not.” The girl spoke in an annoyingly ambiguous tone. “I prefer to be called Li.”

He glowered. “Li is a man’s name.”

She shrugged. “As far as the water people are concerned, gender is unimportant—except when it comes to making children.”

%%%

Admiral Fong was not an ugly man, but neither was he pretty. Compared to Chi Quan, whose magnificence was incomparable, this admiral—for she knew he was an admiral by the tunic and coat that he wore—this admiral’s power came not from his actions but from his birth. He was one of those born into privilege, of a military family. She could tell by the cut of his chin and the straightness of his nose. No doubt his father was also an admiral. And his power came from his arrogance. While Quan was a man of courage and action, this officer seduced others to do his will lest he beat them.

“Now that you know my name, sir, I demand to know who it is that has detained me against my will.” Li tossed her head like a tigress and planted her slim hands on her white-satin-covered hips.

The admiral pursed his lips, eyes glimmering with suppressed laughter. Would he strike her again if she persisted in her insolence? If he did, she would take it like a man.

His face suddenly went hard. “My name is Admiral Lao Hu Fong. And you will drop to your knees before me.”

“You are not the Emperor. I drop to my knees for no one. Not even for him.”

His hand snatched at a whip that was hanging on the bulkhead. “Obey me!”

Her cheek still stung from where he had struck her with his hand, and the whip’s sting would feel like a knife after that. Li spread her skirt and lowered herself demurely to one knee. “What is your will, master?” she asked prissily, her sarcasm meant to slice deep.

His whip hand moved. Li raised her eyes and lashed out. “You dress me in this finery only to split it to rags?”

The whip snapped and landed on her shoulder, the tail scoring her cheek, sending agony from her shoulder to her face and down her arm. Blood seeped through the satin sleeve where the robe was splayed. Her lip trembled, and she bit it.

“Do not talk back to me again. Next time I will not flog you, I will rape you instead.”

Tears streamed down Li’s cheeks, mingling salt with blood. A pink stain bloomed on the front of the white satin robe as teardrops splashed onto her chest. “You think, to me, rape is a punishment?” She rose, no longer pretending to be afraid of him, and now not even conscious of the pain. “You can do nothing to me more torturous than detaining me from the search for my son.” That seemed to stymie him for a second and Li took advantage of his indecision. “You know who I am,” she said, sucking forth her courage. “Then you should know that the boy I seek is His Majesty’s grandson.”

His eyes dropped to the jade circlet, and he lifted it by its gold chain. “This is a royal stamp on the clasp.”

“And you dare flog a princess of the Imperial Court?”

“You will fetch a pretty sum. His Majesty has placed a generous bounty on your head. He means to have you executed. As far as I am aware, there is no stipulation as to the condition of your body when I return it to him.”

Li’s heart fluttered. Fear was the same as excitement and excitement ruled fear.

And anger.

“Do not dare to defy me, girl. As you have tasted the sting of my lash first hand, you know that I have no problem using it.” His eyes jerked to his whip hand, then down to the bloodied laceration on her shoulder. “Even on a damsel, such as you, with your tender flesh,” he finished with mock softness.

“My flesh is no more tender than a goat’s. Five years, eleven months and five days I have spent among the water people. We are a tough breed.” She sucked on her lip when he did not answer, tasting dried tears. Her voice changed from hot to cold, and she wasted no words in accusing him. “You mean to return me to my father.”

His eyes moved up and down, taking in every feature of her face and body, every curve of flesh and fold of satin. To him, she was still extraordinary despite the damage he had caused. “I have been looking for a wife, a woman of legendary beauty. With the mettle of a stormy sea.”

“Let me get this straight,” Li said. “You won’t return me to the Emperor for execution if I agree to marry you?”

Admiral Fong wet his lips. His dark eyes smiled, but his mouth did not.

“Do you know who I am?” he asked.

Yes, you just told me
, she almost said, the scorn returning to her expression. She hiked her nose up into a wrinkle as deep as her memory of the Transcendent Pig’s. Something stopped her from voicing her thoughts, and she lowered her eyes to the insignia tattooed on the back of his hand: a white tiger.

She gasped, and looked up to see his gaze burrowing into hers. If
she
was legendary,
he
was myth come alive.

“So, I am not a total stranger to you. At least, you have seen this before.” He turned his hand, backside to her, and held it in front of her face.

It wasn’t only the memory of Chao that she had brought back as a souvenir from her visit to the Etherworld. The black tattoo on the back of his hand reminded her of the beautiful garden with its origami-like flowers and fresh green grass. It also brought to mind the garden stone, the Taijitu carved on its surface and the strange words of Master Tong:
Come autumn, the White Tiger awaits you in the west
.

Was Admiral Lao Hu Fong this White Tiger? And what about the symbols on the Taijitu: the White Tigress and the Jade Dragon before they had transformed to the backward S of black and white? Was the White Tigress a premonition of things to come? Was he giving her a choice?

The last time she had chosen life. This time she would again choose life—but at what price? The White Tigress meant something. The White Tiger’s mate was the wife of Admiral Fong. To choose otherwise would mean death. The Jade Dragon was the symbol of the Emperor—and the Emperor wanted her dead.

Li raised her eyes to the admiral, fell to her knees, and extended her fingers to his tattooed hand, which he gave. She held it in her palm like it was something precious. The tiger’s head was half turned to her, its shoulders low and slouched. The thin black stripes interspersed with broad patches of white were unmistakably the markings of
Lao Hu
. His name was Lao Hu Fong. How could she have missed the obvious? She could only ascribe it to worry over her darling Wu and his godmother, Madam Choi. Li controlled her breathing. Her mockery of him was shielded from his spying eyes by her lowered lashes, but now she must gather all of her strength and do the best thing for all involved.

“I accept,” she said, lifting her long, straight lashes at him, and returned his smile. He thought that she was in awe of him because he was the White Tiger. Rumours ran riot about the voyages of the White Tiger. He was a foreigner who had ingratiated himself with the Ming Emperor. He had risen from a mere seaman to an officer, up the ranks to Supreme First Admiral of the Imperial Navy. He had sworn allegiance to the Chinese Empire and denounced his Manchurian roots. His commissions took him to the far west, beyond the Indian Ocean, to a land where men’s skins were as black as the earth, and riches abounded in gold and gemstones so clear and sparkling and so hard that they cut sharper than a knife. No one really believed these stories because no one had seen these lands or these riches before—except the White Tiger. And while the White Tiger explored these virgin lands, the pirates ransacked the coastal villages and waylaid unwary merchant junks.