The Pirate Empress (73 page)

Then he remembered what had triggered this mad spiral in midair in the first place—the White Tiger’s retreat. Had Fong truly given up? Because if he had, what hope was left? Master Yun signalled for the blue dragon to surface from the cloud. He needed to think and he wanted no distraction. “Are you all right back there?” he asked Li over his shoulder. “How is Wu?” Li was silent and he craned his neck to see mother and son.

“I’m fine, Great grandfather,” Wu said. “But I think there is something wrong with Ma-ma.”

Master Yun sought Li’s eyes but a deep frown distorted her features. “Your mother is fine. Don’t worry about her. I will explain to you later.”

“But what about Peng?” Wu wailed. “What has happened to my cousin?”

Master Yun reached around to cup the boy’s hand. “I’m afraid we have lost her,” he said gently. “But you mustn’t cry. You must be strong. Peng was strong. She was born under the sign of the Vermilion bird, the Empress’s symbol. She was a brave and precious girl, and a foxling to boot. Be proud of your cousin and always love her. Never forget her, my boy. Your memory of her will give you strength. She loved you very much.”

“Master Yun,” Wu said. “Is it true that each of us is marked at birth? That Fox Queen, the one with the pale hair and yellow eyes, she told me that the chosen ones, those you planned to use to hold the Crosshairs of the Four Winds, were marked at birth.”

So, Dahlia knew about his counter device to her circle. Well, he was pretty certain she did, but he had hoped, oh how he had hoped he was wrong. “Yes,” he said. “The four of you were marked at birth. But we read
your
particular marking wrongly.”

“I am not the Black Tortoise,” Wu stated. “I am the Azure Dragon.”

“That, you are.”

“How do you know? What if my grandfather, the Emperor, had lived? What then?”

“You would still be the Azure Dragon. It is good we discovered this before we attempted the device.”

“And Peng?”

Yes, that was the problem. Peng was the Vermilion Bird. There was no replacement for her. But more importantly, there was no replacement for the great granddaughter he had lost.

“Why did you let her die, Master Yun?” Wu asked.

A tear came to Master Yun’s eye, but it was quickly wiped dry by the wind. “I had no choice.”

“You could have chosen to go after her first.”

Master Yun caught himself before he could say,
but she was a girl
. She was
not
just a girl. She was Peng! “Fucanlong,” he shouted. “Take us below. Find Chi Quan’s encampment. We must put our campaign into action.”

As the blue dragon arched his wings to make the descent, a beautiful golden pheasant’s head plunged out of the cloud and on its peacock-blue back was the foxling.

“Peng,” Wu shouted. “You’re not dead! How did you call
Fenghuang
to rescue you?”

Peng giggled upon her gold and azure mount. “I didn’t call her, Wu. She just came. I was falling and falling and screaming and yowling and all of a sudden she was there. And I on her back.”

“Good girl,” Master Yun shouted. “Now, tell your regal steed to follow us to the brigade general’s camp.

CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX

The Black Tortoise

When the lad was brought in, Brigade General Chi Quan studied him with great pride. Each knew without having to be formally introduced that they were father and son. Wu bowed. “I am afraid, Ba-ba.” He spoke the endearment so naturally that Quan felt emotion tug at his heart. “Ma-ma is not herself.”

What was done was done. Master Yun had explained to Quan Li’s bargain with the water god. But Quan had every hope that it could be undone. Surely it was possible for Li to learn to love her son again, even though she did not remember who he was. For the moment there were more pressing matters to attend to. He did not have the luxury of coddling his son or extending their reunion. The war was at hand and he had sent Li to retrieve the White Tiger and the Black Tortoise. Failing their return, there was only one chance to destroy the Fox Queen. Even now Master Yun was pacing the ground where they stood upon the plateau of First Emperor’s tomb watching the final maneuvers to Dahlia’s Circle.

The Fox Queen was buried in the center of it. And when the troops moved out to fight, the Inner Circle would protect her. Each contingent faced in the direction of a major Chinese garrison or city, and Quan would have to flank each regiment with one of his own.

His troops assembled into battle formation, each legion forming a solid block from North to South and East to West. The troops were small, but he had his secret army of Yeren, which he intended to keep invisible until the last moment. Hopefully, before then, Li would return with Fong and Lao, and lead her pirates and those of Mo Kuan-fu up the Yellow River to their aid. Quan looked up from studying his maps and joined Master Yun at the lip of the hilltop.

A troop of ghostly warriors streamed up the back of the mound outfitted for war. Could it be First Emperor Qin’s Night Guards Army? Had they defected from the foxes? Master Yun strode forward to greet the ghost who approached first. Pale grey, tinged with red and yellow, nebulous and filmy, the ten-foot-tall warrior held his head high, expression grim, clad for battle. Master Yun said with relief, “Yongfang, thank the gods, it is you.”

Yongfang gestured down the hill at the legion of ghost warriors. “I know we are small in number compared to the host led by First Emperor, but we are a contingent five thousand strong, and we are sworn to fight for your freedom and our own.”

“Thank you,” Quan said. “Take up your post on the northern flank. Zi Shicheng’s rebels cover the eastern flank. Now I must swallow my pride and seek out the leaders of the Mongol hordes and that of the Manchus.”

“Too late,” Master Yun said. “The Circle marches.”

Quan watched in horror as a horn blew, and the carefully configured outer circle of Dahlia’s troops began to radiate outward to meet the sloppily aligned Ming contingents.

“Form a line,” he shouted. “To arms!”

Each of his troops squared into a solid block, the first line of bowmen already hit by the force of the Mongol C-bows. Quan hoisted his crossbow, mounted his horse and raced into the fray, rallying his men into an onslaught of bitter arrows. His arrow bolts were soon depleted, and now he fought only with blade. His eye sought the leader of the Mongol horsemen, Altan.

With a force greater than he knew he had, he struck manflesh and horseflesh, and did not wince at the screams. Injured horses whinnied their terror to heaven. Even in the heat of battle as bodies fell and the battle moved back, hawks and crows fed, pecking the entrails out of still living bodies, heedless of the affairs of men, their guts smeared over the trampled grasses and the twisted trees. The generals urged them on. The battlefield was dark and confused, with horses and men swarming. The cold sun shone, while the flattened weeds ran purple with blood. The armies’ banners mingled until only the silver-tipped nine-tail symbol of the Fox Queen was visible. The drums banged and the massacre continued, before Quan was unhorsed and stood face to face with Altan.

The warlord whipped out a blade and kissed his own with a silvery clang. Quan shouted, “Can’t you see what the foxes are doing? They are using your forces first. They are laughing behind that circle of demons while we wipe each other out!”

Altan whipped away his sword from beneath Quan’s and parried his next blow.

“Look, man!” Quan shouted. “The Tao Tie, the Kui, and
Yaoquai
do not fight. They stand in formation and they watch!” The Xiongnu, Qin’s ancient legion, the hopping corpses, all of the various demon armies held back as the Manchus, the Mongols and the Ming army slaughtered each other in blind fury. “Where is Liao Dong? We must join forces. We must turn the wave of attack upon the demon foxes. Call your men to pull back; retreat behind First Emperor’s mound. We must regroup, and then attack.”

A fierce horseman came charging toward them, bow taught. His gleaming forehead and single pigtail told Quan this was the man he sought. Quan held his shield up to block the arrow, and was very nearly knocked off his feet. At this close range, the power of the projectile sent Quan’s shield into the grass. The Manchu leader was undeterred; he nocked another arrow and aimed for Quan’s eyes. Quan raised his sword, but a sword could not easily deflect an arrow. The bowstring twanged, Quan leaped aside, and the arrow struck true, but not where he thought it had gone. It missed him, blocked by a Mongol shield.

“Liao Dong,” Altan said. “Look behind you. See the armies that are engaged in battle and those that are not. Only men fight. The demons sit and laugh.” He turned back to Quan as an arrow flew past his head. “You are right, Brigade General. The Fox Queen has duped us. She waits while we kill each other off.”

“Do you agree, Liao Dong of the Manchus?” Quan demanded. “Even your ally, the great Khan of the Mongols cannot deny what is true. You fight on the wrong side. You must battle for the freedom of men, not the emancipation of demonkind. What do you say, horselord? For whom do you fight?”

Liao Dong turned his shaven head to the battle fray. Bodies laid strewn everywhere. They were decimating their own armies. Only the ghost warriors of Yongfang remained without loss.

“Fall back!” Liao Dong ordered to his troops.

“Behind the burial mound!” Altan thundered.

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“Mo Kuan-fu,” Li called from her quarterdeck to his. “You must take your fleet up the Yellow River to the plains of Xian. The Emperor needs your help.”

“The Emperor is dead,” the pirate chief said. “The news is rife that we have no ruler.”

“All is lost if you do not act—your freedom and the freedom of the open sea. You never cared for His Majesty before. Why do you care whether or not he lives now?”

“Why do
you
, Lotus Lily? While the Emperor was alive, he caused you nothing but grief.”

“Because a new ruler is ready to take the throne.”

“You mean your son? A child? A mere boy?”

Li frowned. Lao was no sovereign. He was the Black Tortoise and she must retrieve him to take part in Master Yun’s plan. True, she had helped the warlock rescue the young emperor. It was her duty to do so, but the man was making no sense. “You’re talking gibberish. Now do as I say before it’s too late. I must find the White Tiger and my son and return them to His Young Majesty’s side.”

She ordered her crew to make sail. Fong had a huge head start on her, but she would catch him up because her junk was lighter and swifter than his warship.

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Dahlia’s demon troops reformed the Circle. New creatures came to take the place of the barbarian fighters. Quan counted eight legions of
Yaoquai
, seven legions of Tao Tie, the hideous gargoyles mounted upon the equally frightening Nian, the lion beasts. Six legions of Kui, the macabre man-beasts of Scorched Mountain, whose arms grew front-to-back, rode upon the shoulders of the evil, seven-headed one-eyed birds called Jian. Five legions comprised of Emperor Qin’s ghostly Night Guards Army; four legions of hopping corpses, green and white with mould; three legions of beasts he could not name, but which Master Yun called, White Bone Spirits and Ba She, some sort of snake creatures that could swallow elephants whole. If that weren’t scary enough, there were two legions of Xiongnu, the bane of First Emperor, who fought in league with their ancient enemy, now a ghost army, both allied to the unearthly Fox Queen because she promised immortality. And finally, one giant, who represented a legion all his own, who was so massive in girth and towering in height, they could only thank the heavens he was alone of his kind. The last army was Dahlia herself, and the magic of her nine tails.

With this Power of Nine, Quan should have felt complete and utter despair, but upon the return of his son Wu, his spirits soared and he believed that anything was possible.

“Have you seen any sign of Jasmine?” Master Yun asked Quan.

Quan shook his head. “Perhaps that fall you told me of was finally her end.”

Black shields with the Fox Queen’s silver-tipped, nine-tailed insignia formed a pattern of rings like a multitude of hands raised in victory. “Why do they march out in eight directions like that?” Quan asked. “Never have I witnessed an offensive maneuver so peculiar and so deliberate.”

“Her plan is to block us from all resources,” Master Yun said. “Her first target of course, is the Forbidden City, the seat of Imperial power. We could have holed up behind the walls of the capital, but that would only have brought us under siege. Secondly, she must destroy First Emperor’s tomb, the very hilltop upon which we sit, for it is this burial mound that holds the power to the Crosshairs of the Four Winds. It is only here that we can place the device, only here where it has a chance of success. Her third target is the Dragon Wall itself. With its destruction, the borders will cease to exist. Target number four is the Grand Canal, the waterway to the Yellow River, escape from the capital and access by sea. Number five is the Ordos desert, the homeland of the Mongols, whom the Fox Queen had always planned to destroy. Number six is the jungle along the shoreline where the White Tiger will reveal itself. Number seven is the mountain pass to the southwest, nesting ground of the Chinese Phoenix. Number eight target is the earth itself where the Black Tortoise will emerge. Number nine target is the sky where the Emperor’s Dragon flies. So, you see, Brigade General, she has all her threats covered.”

The herald of the Fox Queen’s horn trumpeted amidst the beating of brass drums.

“That is her warning, Quan. You must get your troops into position. She will not hesitate to attack the mound first if need be.”

“The armies of Captain Huang, Zi Shicheng, Altan of the Mongols and Liao Dong of the Manchus are already in battle formation, and the Yeren hide in fifth position. I think even the fox faeries with their uncanny sense of smell will fail to detect the hiding place of Ren Xiong’s Man-bears. And there, that flood of armed and ghostly racers is Yongfang and his rebels taking up position number six. If the pirates come to our aid, we will be a formidable force. We are almost their match. We can yet win the day.”

“The day, perhaps—but not the war. Not without the help of the White Tiger and the Black Tortoise. Without a magic construct, we cannot defeat Dahlia. Let us pray Li is successful.”

“I disagree, Master Yun. If Li is not successful we cannot give up. Admiral Fong told me that there is one way to defeat her without magic, and that is to slice off her nine tails in a single blow.”

A solid mass of troops comprised the Fox Queen’s Circle. “Do you see a way in, Quan?” he asked.

“But surely you know her weakness, Master Yun?”

“Naturally, I know it. But most of the time what I did not know was the Fox Queen’s whereabouts. And when I did find myself in the unfortunate position of confronting her, her tails were out of reach. You forget, Quan, Dahlia is a creature of enchantment. If she doesn’t want you near her tails, you cannot get anywhere near them. And there is one other thing Admiral Fong probably failed to mention. It is not just any blade that will hew down her tails. It must be a magic blade. So even if you had the opportunity to act, your sabre would ring hollow as though the root of her tails was made of steel.”

“A magic blade, you say?” Quan gazed askance at the bronze scimitar peeking out from beneath the warlock’s robes. “Is that not a magical blade you possess?”

“It is. And it is one thing to use it on an army of men, but can you wield it against
her
? So again, I must repeat, can you see any way in to reach the Fox Queen?”

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Li looked to the water, the bamboo sails over her head rattling in the wind as they left the Grand Canal and hit the swift-running current of the Yellow River. A chill struck her, and she lowered her eyes to the brown water immediately below the hull of her junk. The most peculiar visions attacked her sight, and her mind swooned while even stranger sensations assailed her. She had seen this before: two bright orbs in the murky water. They blinked like a pair of whale’s eyes, but they were so large and bright and red, that they could be nothing short of demon’s eyes. A dark body, the size of an elephant rippled beneath the surface, sending columns of glowing bubbles in an upward gurgling stream. This was no elephant. A head like a hornless rhinoceros attached to a dark mass, scaled and ridge-backed, cut the surface, gold-clawed feet propelling it forward. Li’s cold hands began to freeze and when she opened her mouth to scream, she saw the creature breach, saw that its back was not slick like a whale nor angular like that of a sea dragon, but broad and capped with a serrated carapace like that of a gigantic turtle.