Heart and Soul (29 page)

At the word
grandfather,
Yu’s lips trembled, but he said only, “However, my plum trees are in bloom. Let us sit in the shade of them so I can tell you what you need to know to get through your journey in the underworld and return to your world in safety.”

As Yu and Nu turned and walked away, Wen and Third Lady followed. Behind them, they heard the rustle of paper, as the paper soldiers prepared to follow.

Yu the Great turned around. The face that had been genial now looked almost scary in its gravity and authority. “Stop,” he said. “You, the soldiers, stop. Can a man not have a conversation with his grandson without an escort? I have private business to discuss.”

The paper men looked at one another, with every appearance of distress. “But, revered Lord Yu, tamer of the flood, we must guard these dangers to the world of the dead and keep them confined.”

“Are you doubting my word?” Yu said.

The paper creatures looked so confused that Third Lady half expected them to crumple into little balls and roll away. Instead, one of them bobbed several bows, and another one knelt down and kowtowed. “We don’t know what you mean, revered lord,” a third one spoke.

“If I say that I wish to talk to my grandson, you may assume that I will keep him from being a danger to anyone. He’s still my family, owing me obedience and respect. How can you think I’d let a descendent of mine terrorize Feng Du?”

The paper creatures now all fell down and prostrated, while Wen and Third Lady followed Yu and his wife through the deep, soft grass that seemed to be at the height of spring.

Under a plum tree there were some porcelain benches, beautifully painted in delicate colors. On one of these, Yu sat, his lady beside him.

Wen and Third Lady sat on another bench, facing them.

“You have summoned me, Grandfather,” Wen said, after waiting a while, to give Yu a chance to speak without being questioned.

“I have summoned you, Grandson,” Yu said. “You are my living representative now, the last one of my line. I know that treachery and deceit have caused you to fall prey to a vice that weakens your mind and your body.” He frowned slightly. “I confess that I would have been tempted to discard you, to consider you yet another disappointment as so many I’ve suffered over the millennia. But the truth is that my wife looked at you, and at your third lady, and in your third lady she says she sees the same courage and worthy love she herself had—the love that allowed her to do what was better, not only for myself or her, but for the whole of China. And she said that with your lady’s love, you’d be strong enough to do what must be done.”

He paused, and when he gave no sign of continuing, Wen said, “And what must be done, Grandfather?”

“Why, you must use the jewels that hold the magic of the whole world.”

“The jewels that Lady Jade was sent to get?” Third Lady asked, breathless, unable to hold herself back.

Yu smiled. “The very same. She now has a jewel, and with that one jewel—which is magic enough—she can wake all the dragons in all the rivers in the land. This is important, because when she secures the second jewel, she can then use the two jewels united to summon my armies and the armies of every emperor of China who had a connection with the land.”

“The…armies?” This was Wen, a crease on his forehead. “But how, Grandfather, if the mere breath of the living will destroy the dead?”

Yu’s gesture encompassed the clay creatures around his garden, hoeing and weeding, clipping and tending the various plants. “These armies, Grandson. I have them, as do many of the other kings and emperors, even some of the interlopers. By being made of the clay of China, and sleeping in the bosom of the Chinese soil for many years, these creatures have come to resonate with the very will and life of China. They will rise when the True Emperor commands them to rise. They will rise and do battle on his behalf, if he can command magic enough. And there is no magic more powerful than the magic in those two jewels.”

“They also have the power to heal,” Nu said, softly. “And there is much in China that needs to be healed. For too many millennia, foreigners have followed one another on the throne. People with no connection to the true China, whose flesh and blood did not resonate with the land and its people.”

“I foresaw this,” Yu said. “In many ways you might say we brought this about, Nu and I, though we did not mean it. We established our kingdom from the were-clans, and made them rulers over every echelon of power. We thought being stronger than the nonchanging humans, and also more connected to the land through our animal natures, we’d be the ideal servants for China.” He reached over and took his wife’s hand in his. “Nu and I were both dragons, of course, children of the nine sons of the dragon. This is why I could control the flood waters.” He gestured with his hand to encompass every little rivulet flowing in his garden. “And save the people and their possessions from the flood. And we viewed our power as the way to keep people and the land safe.

“But then others followed us, and the others did not have the same devotion to duty and to the land. Your people, Third Lady, much maligned as some of them are, have also caused a great deal of this. They have an almost childish delight in confounding mere mortals, charming them and twisting them as they please.”

Third Lady bowed her head. “I think sometimes,” she said, “that being despised by all mortals, and chased out of every legitimate place, has made my people delight in vexing those who cannot outsmart them.”

Yu nodded. “And sometimes,” he said, “it is the pure spirit of mischief that comes from being a fox-fairy.”

She had to smile at that. “Wen calls me that,” she said. “But I confess it has been a long time since I did anything out of mischievous pleasure. It is not, it seems, in my destiny, to amuse myself at anyone’s expense.”

“No,” Yu said. “You, Third Lady, have been serious too long. Now that you are in Feng Du, it would serve you well to remember that the underworld runs on rules and laws, on earnest desire and serious behavior, and that in some situations the best of defenses might come from behaving like a fox-fairy.” He smiled at her, leaving her bewildered.

“I sent servants,” she said. “Like the paper creatures, ahead of me, but none have come. And not the cart I sent ahead. Not even the monkey.”

“You sent a monkey ahead of yourself?” Nu said, and looked delighted for no reason that Third Lady could understand. “Very good. You do have the spirit of the fox-fairy in you, after all. Remember, all the creatures you sent ahead of you, every paper you burned, are yours, but they will not come to you, and no one will bring them to you, unless you demand they appear and mean it. Here in Feng Du, guards and servants and functionaries are very simple constructs of wood and paper. Being inferior to humans, they delight in oppressing humans.”

Wen, who had been in deep thought throughout all this, looked up and said, “Grandfather, if we can bring the jewels together, and bring the palace out of the Earth, what do you wish me to do? For you cannot mean for me to simply become emperor and then rule as if nothing had changed?”

“No,” Yu said, looking grave. “The fact is down here, we can feel the currents of time, like we can feel the currents of water, swirling around us. Bad times are ahead, Grandson, bad times that will require that weres have some power. For centuries now, they have tried to exterminate us a little at a time. The laws of the foreign devils make us illegal. In every corner of the Earth, it seems someone has something against our people. But the darkest times are ahead. By restoring the jewels to the avatar at the beginning of time, a great freeing of magic will result. From this, several weres will be born or manifested who have never been weres before.

“There will be more of us than ever, and considering what our people have done in the past, this will not reassure anyone. They will try to destroy us.”

“But you said,” Third Lady protested, “that we’ve been persecuted, and it is true. Now you say we’ve done something?”

“In the days of the beginning, when all humanity lived by tooth and claw, our people were more powerful, and being more powerful, they became lords. And, as lords, they ruled over all of the Earth. And they treated the normal humans as if they were of no account. However, as powerful as we might be, there are more of them. Everyone throughout Earth rose against us. And we deserved it. We had stepped on their necks long enough. Now…” He opened his hands. “I hope we have learned our lessons. And what I expect of you, Grandson, is that you will create the one empire on Earth where weres and normal humans live in harmony. So that when we are threatened with extinction, and everyone raises a hand against us, we will be able to say that we are not dangerous, nor do we deserve to be exterminated. Only look at China, right under heaven, where weres and normal humans live as brothers and sisters.”

With that, he rose, and bowed to Wen and to Third Lady, then Nu bowed to them both. “We wish you a speedy travel through the underworld,” Nu said.

“And that you accomplish your mission well,” Yu said, “since the Jade Emperor is getting tired of taking no for an answer, and sooner or later he will force me to cross the bridge of gold.”

“Do not fear,” Nu said. “You have the Jade Emperor’s decree on your side, and that Wen should ascend to his throne is, in fact, the will of heaven.

“And don’t forget,” Nu said, looking at Third Lady, “that you are a fox-fairy and entitled to making your mischief on mortals and dead alike, now and then, provided you never play it on your allies.”

“And remember, that though I am not normally allowed to amble the courts of Feng Du at will,” Yu said, “which would disrupt the proceedings, I will be able to appear if you summon me as a witness to the Office of Speedy Retribution.”

The ancestors stood and watched them depart, and Third Lady, holding Wen’s hand for support, walked back to where the creatures of paper waited.

“Now,” she said, “take us to see Judge Bao, at the Office of Speedy Retribution.”

They looked at her. “No,” one of them said. “We have no orders to take you that far.”

“You can’t make us look in the mirror of remembering,” Wen said. “We are not dead.”

“No,” the paper creatures said. “Please walk with us. We will put you in a cell until we find the appropriate procedure for what to do with you next.”

FOX-FAIRIES AND TRICKERY

Jade walked along the narrow roads of the Chinese
quarters of Hong Kong. As she had expected, no one gave her more than a casual glance. She was not the only Chinese woman dressed in English attire; though, after looking very closely at some of the others, standing in the doorways of their darkened homes, she wondered if they were perhaps prostitutes.

But other than the women, there was more activity here than she’d ever seen in the few cities in China that she’d visited with her father. Here, there were factories and retail stores. Though it was early in the morning, and the sun just starting to rise, silversmiths resounded with the din of hammers and metal, and restaurants were fragrant with the smell of fresh cooking. Down the street, a vendor was shouting that he had candied ginger.

Jade realized that she felt hungry. Very hungry. Hungrier than she’d been in a long time. And it shouldn’t have come as a surprise, except that she hadn’t thought of food in so long that now it felt like a new idea. She’d had tea at the Perigord’s home, and that was about it since she’d left the Dragon Boats.

The smell of roasting pork over spirit lamps made the water surge in her mouth. She was a fool. She’d come on this errand, spurred by the knowledge that Zhang was there ahead of her, that Zhang was meddling. And she’d come without the magical purse that she normally attached to a bracelet at her wrist. She had, in fact, no cash at all. And she hadn’t thought of asking Nigel Oldhall for any.