Starry River of the Sky (14 page)

“I’m not supposed to talk about it to guests…” Peiyi started, her voice quavering.

“Tell me, girl!” Fang growled impatiently.

“One of the five poisons is here all the time!” Peiyi said in a scared whisper. “The Noxious Toad… it haunts this place!”

“The Noxious Toad?” Fang said. “The toad with blood eyes? With the poison vapor?”

“Yes,” Peiyi said, her voice almost impossible to hear. “If you breathe its poison, you die.”

Underneath the coats, Rendi wrinkled his brow. What was Peiyi talking about? The Noxious Toad of the Day of Five Poisons? The only toad that plagued them was the one Mr. Shan played with. Was she trying to give him a message? But how could she? Peiyi didn’t even know these traders were thieves and kidnappers, much less that Rendi was tied up behind the door. Should he try to warn her? Maybe she could get help? The night made a sad whimper, and Rendi was silent. Small Peiyi was no match for these men. Anything he did would put her in danger too.

“The wine!” Liu said. “You’re not giving us that wine for hospitality, are you? You mixed realgar in the wine, didn’t you? To make sure we won’t be poisoned?”

“It’s… it’s… it’s complimentary,” Peiyi stuttered. Rendi
could feel their glares, and he could see that even Peiyi’s feet were shaking.

“Tell your father we want that wine quick,” Fang said finally in a voice so cutting Rendi could imagine it drawing blood. “A fresh jar, remember. Now!”

The shabby goldfish slippers scurried away, and the door shut with an angry thud.

“Noxious Toad!” Fang spat. “I knew this place was cursed!”

For the next few minutes, Rendi heard only a torrent of curses and swears. The coats on top of him smelled of stale wine, and he felt like a sweltering chicken in a pot. Rendi was almost glad when Liu kicked the coats off him and propped him up.

“Did you know about this poison toad, boy?” he demanded. Rendi’s arms were sticky with sweat, and Liu, repulsed, quickly dropped him to the ground. The gag, loosened from the perspiration that coated his face, drooped off, and Rendi was unsure whether he should answer.

“Is it true about the toad?” Fang growled.

“No…” Rendi started.

“Don’t lie to us,” Liu said with a glower.

“I mean, no one knows,” Rendi said, his mind racing for a lie. What had Peiyi gotten him into? The lantern light wavered, and Rendi looked at Fang’s and Liu’s faces above him. The sky screeched, and a wave of reckless anger swept over him. Scum, both of them! Why not scare them? “No one knows where or when the toad will come with its poison. It’s like a ghost toad.”

“Ghost toad,” Liu repeated.

“Yes,” Rendi said, starting to enjoy himself. Telling stories for Madame Chang had given him good practice. “It’s worse than the Noxious Toad of the Day of Five Poisons. Maybe it’s the ghost of the first Noxious Toad, because it appears out of nowhere at any time with red eyes dripping blood.”

The night sighed, and the light of the lanterns flickered violently. Fang and Liu looked at each other. Rendi continued.

“This toad’s noxious vapor is worse too,” Rendi said, lowering his voice to a hushed whisper. “When it opens its
mouth, the room fills with a disgusting, foul smell, and it poisons you until you die a horrible death. You choke, and your skin tightens and turns wrinkled and covered with warts, and your eyes bulge until you’re blind, and then you die!”

Suddenly, the flames of the lanterns disappeared, one immediately after the other, leaving the room in blackness. Liu and Fang gasped in horror while Rendi, invisible in the dark, smiled with satisfaction. He had been watching the wavering, dying light and had timed his words just right.

Fang lit a match. Even in the dim light, Rendi could see his face was white as he reached for the lantern and cursed.

“It’s out of oil,” he spat in angry annoyance.

“Maybe it’s the Noxious Toad ghost,” Rendi said, trying to keep the amusement out of his voice.

“Gag that boy up again!” Fang said, glaring. He rummaged in his small bag and then lit a candle. “I don’t like this,” he grumbled to himself.

Liu replaced Rendi’s gag, but his eyes watched Fang.

“You think we should forget the duke?” Liu asked.
“The horses are already waiting. Maybe we just take the kid and get out of here now. We’ll still make money. I swear we’ll get it off the boy.”

Fang looked at Rendi, the candle flame casting long and distorted shadows over him. The wind whimpered in the darkness.

“He isn’t a sure thing,” Fang said, slowly shaking his head. “In an hour, the duke and his men will be sleeping like stones, if they aren’t already. We’ll get the gold and leave.”

“You sure?” Liu said.

Fang nodded, his hand rubbing the coffin-nail ring again. “In the meantime, we’ll get that wine. The innkeeper thinks it’s enough protection.”

“He better be right,” Liu said.

Rendi’s feelings of gratification were quickly draining away. No matter what happened, Fang and Liu were going to take him. He needed to think of a way out. Would Fang and Liu leave him in the room while they went after the duke’s money? Maybe Rendi could get Peiyi and Master Chao to hear him… Master Chao! He was coming with the wine! Rendi could alert him! Though
it wasn’t really fair. Rendi thought about short, soft Master Chao, whose belly was like a stuffed dumpling. Master Chao was only a better match for Fang and Liu when compared with Peiyi. But Rendi was starting to feel desperate.

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door.

“It must be the innkeeper with the wine,” Liu said. Both men stood up and went to the door, Rendi forgotten. As Fang opened the door, the dim light from the hallway cascaded in like a gliding ghost. Rendi heard Master Chao’s voice, polite and proper. “Good evening. Your complimentary night wine?”

“It’s not complimentary,” Fang growled as he took a step forward, the door blocking him from Rendi’s view. “We know what it’s for!”

This is my only chance!
Rendi thought. The black sky screamed in agreement, and Rendi began to kick at the wall with his bound feet, as hard as he could. “Master Chao!” he tried to yell through the gag. “Help!”

Liu strode over to Rendi and, with a swift sweep of his arms, grabbed him—easily forcing him to be still.

“Is something wrong?” Master Chao asked.

“Master Chao!” Rendi tried to yell again, the gag making his words just a mumble of noises. Liu took a coat and threw it over Rendi’s head.

“Nothing’s wrong, except for your cursed inn!” Fang said loudly. He pretended to look behind him. “Our lanterns don’t even have oil, and we have to trip around in the dark. What kind of inn is this?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Master Chao said humbly. “I thought you had enough lantern oil. I will go get some immediately.”

“Forget it,” Fang said. “The less we see your face, the better we’ll feel. Just give me the wine, and leave us alone.”

Rendi could hear the clinking of glasses on a tray as Fang took it, and a sick, nauseated feeling overcame him. Master Chao was leaving! The night howled in his ears, and Rendi gave one last struggle, pushing the coat off his head, but Liu’s strong arms fixed him firmly. Rendi could do nothing but watch the faint light draw away as the door closed with a solid bang, like the lid of a coffin.

As soon as the door closed, Liu grabbed Rendi off the ground and shook him violently. “That was really stupid, rich boy,” Liu sneered. “Really stupid!” He threw Rendi on the ground and was about to strike him when Fang grabbed his arm.

“Later,” Fang said. “The last thing we need is some blubbering kid making more noise. That peacock of an innkeeper was curious enough.”

Fang had put the tray on the small table near the door, but it could barely be seen in the blackness of the room.
The sounds of the night had lessened to a miserable whine, and the wavering candlelight did little more than cast shadows, leaving the room as dark as the inside of a tomb.

“Fine.” Liu nodded, giving Rendi a menacing glare, which looked even more malevolent in the flickering light. He gave Rendi’s legs a silent, but not gentle, kick and followed Fang back across the room.

Fang brought the candle closer to the table, and Rendi could see that the tray was full. Master Chao had been unusually generous, for not only was there a jug of wine and two cups, but an assortment of covered dishes, the largest big enough to hold a roasted chicken. Rendi frowned in puzzlement. Had Master Chao ever given a complimentary meal like this before?

“That pudgy innkeeper will have enough to think about after we leave,” Liu said with a sneering laugh. “Did I tell you about that last one, the prince we robbed the same way? They arrested all the inn workers—from the cook to the owner. Ha!”

“Since we’re taking the boy, this time they’ll think he did it,” Fang said, but he obviously wasn’t that interested.
He looked out the window again. “You can’t see a thing out there. The horses are ready, right?”

“Everything’s right outside the door,” Liu said. “Horses, packs… just waiting for us to grab the gold and go.”

Was what Fang said true? In the morning, when the duke saw that the gold was missing, they would see that Rendi had disappeared too. Maybe the duke would realize he had been drugged, and Peiyi and Master Chao and Madame Chang would remember that Rendi had poured the wine! They would think he was the thief, and they would all hate him, he thought. And he wouldn’t be able to explain or tell them the truth. He would be gone! All this time, Rendi had been trying to leave the Village of Clear Sky, and now all he wished was to stay. Suddenly, the emptiness in his stomach seemed to become a hole swallowing him, and the sky’s sadness, his own. A single tear, like a sliver of stone, leaked from his eye.

“We better drink that wine,” Fang said, turning back from the window. Rendi watched as Liu sat down, looking at the full tray with greedy eyes.

“And eat,” Liu said, lifting the cover off the largest platter. “Let’s see what the…”

Liu’s voice died away as a disgusting, vile odor filled the air. His arm froze, holding the platter cover, and all eyes bulged as they saw what lay underneath.

It was a large, glowing toad. Eerie greenish lights quivered inside its grotesque belly, like trapped spirits. It sat in a pool of evil reddish-black liquid, with bubbling warts and dark-stained lines dripping from its eyes. Those swollen eyes stared, and the foul, revolting odor made Rendi’s eyes water.

“The Noxious Toad!” Fang whispered.

The toad opened its mouth. A tiny light shot out of it only to be snatched back by the toad’s gruesome tongue. “
EERRR-rripp!
” the toad bellowed.

Fang and Liu screamed. The table and the tray were kicked over, and all Rendi could hear was the mad panic of clattering dishes and curses as the men climbed over each other to reach the door. They shouted and swore and sobbed in terror. Finally, the door jerked open, and fresh air and faint light beckoned. There was no hesitation. With the night shrieking, Fang and Liu raced out of the room, out of the inn, and into the black night, riding their hidden horses as fast as they could so that they could leave the Inn of Clear Sky far, far behind them.