The Silk Tree (37 page)

Nicander stared out over the water in a deep depression. He’d not had a chance to see Ying Mei alone and the talk at the dinner before they sailed had brought something into focus that was a dire threat to their future together.

He was living a lie. This mission was not the noble one of seeking truths for the Emperor of Byzantium, it was the grubby and shameful stealing of the secret of silk from the land of her birth. And when they arrived and it was revealed that they were the perpetrators …

The very thing that had set them on their way in this venture, that had served to bring them together, would in the end be the means of destroying their love.

It was now the third day since they had left Trebizond and she had kept to her cabin. Had Tai Yi’s talk of setting up a residence swayed her? Why had she not even explained her feelings to him? Perhaps she had decided to end their relationship but was reluctant to tell him.

He had taken to seeking the very nose of the ship, the rearing curve at the stem and the solitude to be found there.

Astern, to the east, was the dawn and the blossoming day; ahead to the west, was the dying day, sunset and darkness. Was this a sign, a metaphor for his fated destiny?

Wrapped in his anxieties he didn’t hear her come up. ‘Ni K’ou – not you too! It’s really so unfair.’

He swung around.

‘You’ve been queasy with the sea? I’ve been so unwell these last three days I couldn’t face anybody. Tai Yi is still lying down, poor thing.’

‘So you weren’t …?’

‘And now I’m better – and feeling quite hungry, I have to say. How long is it to Constantinople do you think?’

She was looking so beautiful with her rosy cheeks and the light wind playing with wisps of her hair. It brought a catch to his throat.

And she was standing uncomfortably close.

‘Oh, the captain says after two more sunsets,’ Nicander tried to say matter-of-factly.

‘That’s wonderful!’ she exclaimed, then turned grave. ‘It doesn’t leave us much time to plan, does it?’

‘Plan?’ he gulped.

‘Don’t be a silly, Ni K’ou!’ she teased. ‘We’re to be wed – or had you forgotten?’

The clouds of gloom and anxiety fled. She still wanted him! Nothing else mattered!

His grip on the rail tightened as he fought an overwhelming urge to hug and kiss her – but then, like an accusing ghost of the past, came the one thing that could and did matter, the secret he had kept from her, which he could do nothing to prevent coming out in just a few days’ time.

The only choice left to him was whether she found out from others – or he told her himself.

‘Ying Mei, Callista. I think we should talk.’

She picked up that this was not to be light chit-chat and tensed. ‘If you say so, Ni K’ou.’

‘I have to tell you something. About myself. It’s only fair I reveal it now, before we’re … married.’

She said nothing, her serious expression deepening.

‘I … I’m not who you think I am. I’ve done something that I’m very ashamed of and now …’

It all came out. Their mission had not been a sacred one. They had been sent by the Emperor, true, but for a quite different purpose – the stealing from China of its most valuable secret; the idea had been his in the first place and the expedition funded on his plans.

‘They’re in our box,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Protected and sealed in a secret compartment under the holy scriptures. This is why Marius is so excited, we’re probably going to be very rich indeed. You see, before we were very poor and low people and now …’

He stopped at the confusion and bewilderment on her face. He couldn’t blame her if now …

‘Ni K’ou – I don’t understand.’

‘I’m so very sorry to have deceived you, Ying Mei.’

‘No, no, not that. What is it you are trying to tell me? I-I …’ she trailed off uncertainly, searching his face.

‘Don’t you see?’ he said. ‘We’ve stolen the secret of silk. Nobody in Byzantium knows how to make silk and now they will. It will take all the profit from China and—’

‘This is what you are telling me? That you’re a bad man because you brought silk eggs out of China?’ She looked incredulous. ‘Only this? Tell me Ni K’ou, please!’

‘Why, yes. Isn’t this an evil enough thing to do to China?’

She shook her head in disbelief then broke into a delighted smile. ‘My dear Ni K’ou, no! Never! I cannot thank you enough. You’ve given me such a precious gift – you’ve given me revenge on the beast who did all that to my father!’

Tears sprang while Nicander tried to make sense of it all.

‘You see, at one stroke you’ve cut off the riches he makes from sending silk on the caravans. It’s a terrible blow to him, for it’s the major part of his tax revenue. Now he won’t be able to pay his army to attack and plunder and they’ll turn on him!’

‘What about the people – the common people who make the silk?’

‘Oh, Ni K’ou. If they knew they’d thank you, as I. They labour for nothing to make the silk, it’s a burden put on them by the Emperor, even at the end of a day toiling in the fields. If they don’t produce enough they’re punished.’

‘Then you’re not—’

‘My darling Ni K’ou – I’m proud of you! For centuries many have tried to do this but have failed. The penalty is execution but you’ve seen it through without telling me so I wouldn’t be worried.’ She dabbed her eyes. ‘You’re very brave, my dearest Ni K’ou, and so clever to have thought of this in the first place. I’m very lucky to have won such a man!’

‘Callista … can’t we just—’

‘No, my darling. I want it to be very special. It’s only a few days, then when we’re there we’ll set up all the arrangements – and then tell them!’

His heart overflowing with happiness, he would do anything for her, and he watched with the utmost tenderness as his future bride went below to see to Tai Yi.

They had the rest of their lives together, after all.

‘But it’s my custom, I insist!’ Their genial captain would not be denied. ‘We raise Constantinople in the morning – this is our last night and you are my guests.’

It was an odd gathering in the cramped and dimly lit cabin. Besides their host there was Nicander and Marius, then in came a priest. He was in severe clerical garb and looked about disapprovingly before sitting. There would be no women allowed in this company, of course.

‘Well, now,’ the captain said breezily as he poured some wine. ‘And I’m honoured indeed, aren’t I.’

‘How so, sir?’ the priest said stiffly.

‘Why, it’s the first time ever that we’ve shipped an all-holy set o’ passengers, Reverend sir.’

‘All holy? What do you mean?’ snapped the priest.

‘These gentlemen are holy men, too, aren’t you?’

‘Yes. That is to say—’

‘Holy men? Are you monks or priests?’

‘Brother Paul, Brother Matthew.’

‘What church?’ the priest rapped.

‘We’re from the kingdom of Artaxium Felix, beyond Hawazin. The Church of St Agnes.’

‘I’ve never heard of it.’

‘As was isolated after the reign of the blessed Septimius Severus when our river changed its course.’

‘Isolated – is that the reason why you’re garbed in so disgraceful a dress? You’ve lost sight of the precious values of the One True Church, you’ve—’

Marius growled, ‘What we do in our own church is our business, not yours!’

‘Hah! You’re then a heretic.’ The voice had risen several notches. ‘You’ve strayed from the course of righteousness – you’re apostates. You know what is visited upon those who stand not in the true faith …’

Nicander felt a flush rising. ‘Are you so narrow-witted you can’t see there are other ways to wisdom? I’ll wager you’ve never set foot outside Justinian’s realm, seen for yourself how they order things.’

‘Of course I haven’t. Heathen, unlettered barbarians with as much understanding of higher matters as an animal!’

‘They’re not all barbarians!’ Nicander ground. ‘I’ve travelled … widely, and I can tell you there are savants and philosophers beyond the mountains that could put our own Pythagoras to some serious thinking.’

‘Rubbish! If there were any of these I would have heard of them.’

Nicander saw red. ‘I can prove it to you. As it happens, I can— wait.’

He returned with the first ‘holy scripture’ he had come to in their box. He waved it in the priest’s face, who recoiled with distaste.

‘Listen to this.’ It was the fourth scroll of Lao Tzu and Nicander painfully rendered in Greek the ringing paean to the denial of selfishness in exchange for a mystical union with the ultimate.

‘Give me that!’ The priest snatched it from Nicander.

‘I’ve with me more of those, all of which can stand with the very finest of our scholars.’

‘I can’t read it!’

‘That’s because it’s in Ch—, I mean it’s in a foreign tongue.’

‘Hmmph! It’s too dim in here, I’ll take it outside.’

‘You’re welcome,’ Nicander replied cynically.

He waited until he had gone then said, ‘There’s no medicine I know that can cure blindness of the mind.’

‘We’ll have trouble with him later,’ Marius muttered. ‘Better not get him going, Nico.’

‘With what we’re bringing back,’ he said with a satisfied smile, ‘we’ll have friends that’ll see him posted out to some far desert in an instant if we so desire.’

The captain blinked with incomprehension but said stoutly, ‘More wine, good holy men?’

They proffered their glasses, relaxed in the warmth of the knowledge of what the near future held for them.

‘Taking his time,’ Marius said. ‘Seems not to be getting anywhere, the fat prick.’

Nicander was about to reply when there was a disturbance at the door and it was flung open. A terrified crew member shouted, ‘Sir, sir – fire! Fire on deck!’

The captain thrust past in horror, closely followed by Nicander and Marius.

They were confronted by an appalling sight. Lit like a demon from underneath by red flames the priest danced about a small fire: somehow he’d found their box with the remaining holy scriptures.

‘You’re too late! I’ve consigned your sacrilegious scribblings to the tongues of hell where they belong,’ he crowed.

‘Over the side!’ screeched the captain. ‘Ditch it! Quickly.’

A crew member hurriedly levered the still burning box into the sea where it sizzled for a moment then slowly sank.

It had happened in seconds. The horror of fire in a ship at sea gave way to a rising frenzy at the realisation of what had happened.

That which they had cherished and protected over all those so many miles of mountain and desert for a year of their lives was now gone. For ever.

With an inhuman screech Marius leapt forward and fell on the demented priest.

Horrified crew tried to pull him off – it took five of them before he could be subdued.

In the early morning light the marble domes of Constantinople came into view.

Nicander stood watching, a far-away expression on his face.

‘Ni K’ou!’ Ying Mei begged. ‘Speak to me – please. Why are you like this? Is it something I’ve done? Do please tell me! I don’t care if the silk is lost, I love you and still want to marry you, even if we’ll be poor and …’

She was fighting tears, not understanding.

They were now close enough to see the wharves, which were not far from the palace. In a very short time their travails would be over.

‘Ni K’ou! Talk to me. I’ve a feeling something terrible is happening. Tell me!’

‘Ying Mei. Things have changed. I’m … I’m not a man to be seen with. You’ll have to manage without me.’

Her face paled. ‘Not … not that, Ni K’ou, please don’t say it!’ she blurted.

‘It’s true. Over there is Emperor Justinian, the most powerful man in the world. Since we’ve been away he will have discovered that he’s been tricked, we’re not really from a far land and we’re not really holy men – and our mission was … not altogether as we said. He’s a vengeful man and will show us no mercy.’

‘We’ll run away together! We must flee to—’

‘Callista,’ he said sadly. ‘We’re marked men. Justinian has agents and spies everywhere and it would only be a short time before we’re recognised and brought before him. If we had the eggs we would have fulfilled the mission in full and made him very content – without the eggs we have nothing but a fairy story.

‘Our only chance is to go to him and throw ourselves on his mercy and … and I don’t believe it will be shown in our case.’

Her tears were open now. ‘P-please, Ni K’ou! Don’t send me away, I beg.’

‘My dearest heart! It’s for your own good. I’m finished, but you have a life to live and—’

But she had fled below, sobbing.

The vessel bumped and juddered as it came alongside. Ropes were thrown and secured.

They had arrived – a journey of impossible distance was over. Marius came and stood beside him. ‘We’ll be hunted down whatever we do. We have to face the bastard.’

The lump in his throat made it difficult to speak but Nicander replied dully, ‘Let’s get it over with.’

The gangplank went out and they started towards it but were stopped by a call.

Turning, Nicander saw that it was Tai Yi. She was on her own.

‘I won’t be long,’ he told Marius.

‘What is it, Tai Yi?’ he asked.

She was obviously finding difficulty with words. ‘Ni
lao na
,’ she said eventually, looking into his face. ‘Ying Mei has told me … everything.’

‘Oh. I …’

‘I have a question for you that I beg you’ll tell me truthfully, for on your answer hangs much.’

Her eyes never left his.

‘Very well.’

‘Do you … truly … love … my Lady Kuo Ying Mei?’

He stood back in astonishment but quickly answered, ‘As my life, Tai Yi! It’s why I asked her to leave me, for I would not have her in danger on my account.’

‘Did you truly intend to marry her?’

‘Tai yi! Of course! But it’s impossible for us now, did she not say?’

‘She said to me that after what we’ve all been through together, she can see you would be the only man who could ever make her happy.’

It caught him unawares and he choked back tears.

‘Enough of that,’ she said briskly. ‘I have decided – her happiness is the only thing that matters to me at my age. Now listen to me very carefully. Go to your emperor and …’

As she explained, Nicander could hardly believe what he was hearing and when he turned back to Marius he was suffused with the most pure joy.

‘Come on – I’ll tell you on the way.’

The grey bulk of the imperial palace was ahead, quite unchanged. They stepped it out. ‘Leave all the talking to me, Marius. Agreed?’

Suddenly there was a shout. ‘Stop! Stop those men in the name of the Emperor!’

It was a voice from the past, one that still brought a cold wash of fear. Marcellus.

His men clamped a hold on them and he swaggered up. ‘Well, well, well. Look who we have here,’ he said with a lazy smile.

‘We’ve come to see the Emperor,’ Nicander said unsteadily.

‘How convenient, as I know since he discovered your little … naughtiness, he would very much like to see you! Come along, don’t dawdle! I’ve a feeling there’s going to be much entertainment to be had, once His Resplendency claps eyes on you two!’

They were marched directly to Daphne Palace where they had last seen the Emperor and where they had laid out their crafty scheme before him.

‘Wait here!’ Marcellus barked and entered Justinian’s private room.

‘This had better bloody work, or we’re cooked – and over a slow fire!’ Marius said nervously.

Marcellus came out with a tigerish smile. ‘Go in, both of you.’

Guards escorted them into the Presence.

Justinian looked up from his table. The same austere, brooding look, the hard lines, the terrifying reality of the Emperor of Byzantium.

His eyes widened. ‘We stand amazed, Marcellus, but you’re right. This is the pair! Good work – good work indeed. Don’t go away – we may have something for you after we’ve done with them.’

He leant back, taking them in.

‘You’ve played us false, and you won’t be suffered to get away with it, you know that? What we can’t puzzle out is why you came back? You knew you’d be found out. For the sake of our curiosity, pray tell us why you’ve returned to Constantinople?’

Nicander gave a dignified bow. ‘Your Clemency, there is but one answer to that.’

‘Oh?’

‘Sire, it is that, ashamed as we were of our villainy, we stopped and prayed together. An angel then told us that there was only one course we could take that would repay Your Majesty’s kind favours.’

‘Tell us, this should be interesting.’

‘We were directed to go forth and complete what we had said we would do – perform the mission in full, all the way to the land of the Seres. Sire – this we did, and are now returned.’

There were disbelieving murmurs and muffled laughter but Justinian cut across them. ‘Then this means you’ve come back with seeds of the silk tree.’

‘No, sire, we have not.’

The laughter was now general and Justinian frowned dangerously.

‘We have not returned with seeds of the silk tree, sire, because it does not exist. But we have returned with the secret of silk and you shall have it this day to begin making it whenever you desire.’

There were puzzled gasps and Justinian leant forward. ‘If by this you are seeking to prolong your miserable lives—’

‘We have it here, sire.’

‘Show us!’

Nicander strode to the empty area in front of the table. He looked about him significantly, daring any to challenge him.

Then he raised his knee – and snapped his staff across it.

In a glittering black cascade, packed earth spread over the floor before the Emperor. And in it could be seen scores – hundreds – of tiny worms, pale and squirming.

‘This is the true secret of silk, sire. Not from trees but from these lowly creatures which, when grown, will spin a nest which is made of the finest, most delicate … silk thread.’

He stood back as courtiers and attendants crowded about to see the miracle.

‘Thank God,’ he whispered to Marius, ‘the Chinese monks were right about transporting the eggs. When I broke the staff I nearly wet myself thinking they’d all be dead.’

‘I don’t get it,’ Marius hissed back. ‘How did—’

‘It was Ying Mei’s father. He wanted to give her security in the Western Lands, and what better than this? Remember he gave us each a staff – but he told only Tai Yi what they contained.’

‘Why her?’

‘Because he needed to be sure that it would be revealed only when the situation was right.’

‘And Tai Yi thought that this was the situation?’

‘Well, Ying Mei and I want to marry, and …’

‘You cunning dog! I’ll be—’

‘Brother Matthew, Brother Paul,’ Justinian began. ‘Or whatever you’d like to be called. We find you’ve honoured your obligation beyond all reason. This empire is for ever in your debt.’

They waited politely.

‘We’re vexed to think what reward is in our power to bestow. Could you …?’

‘Sire, the friend of my bosom is a true soldier, a legionary of old Rome. If there’s—’

‘Quite. Well, let me see. Ah! I do believe the Procurator of Syria is due for retirement, don’t you think, General?’

‘A very suitable appointment, Resplendency.’

‘Then as of this moment, legionary, you are herewith installed as Procurator with the immediate rank of Patrician. Do you think you can whip my army into shape there?’

‘S-Sir. Clemency, y-yes!’ spluttered Marius.

He turned to Nicander. ‘And you?’

‘It would be of the very greatest felicity, sire, should you grant me the honour of being wed in the hallowed Hagia Sophia.’

‘Well, it’s very irregular, however if that’s what you desire. But perhaps also something a little more … material?’

‘Then, sire, an estate of quality, not too close to the city, perhaps – and suitable for the bringing up of a family.’

‘That seems very possible. Very well – we thus decree it be so.’

Justinian looked thoughtful, then leant over to address his learned court historian.

‘Good Procopius. We do not wish any odium attached to these fine men’s otherwise misguided actions or motives.

‘Let history simply record that the secret of silk was brought here by two selfless monks who then did vanish.’