Then he could see the lines on his palms again. The darkness had gone. He turned his hands over as if expecting to see another image on the backs of his hands, but all he could see was the dirt from the garden under his fingernails.
Fo Tu Deng had been standing quietly, but he couldn’t restrain himself any longer.
“Did you have a vision?”
Tao made the slightest inclination of his head.
“What? What did you see? Tell me!”
Tao let his shoulders sag, as if the vision had exhausted him. He held up his hand to stop the monk talking.
“You must be patient. Deciphering a vision is like understanding a sutra. Sometimes, contemplation is needed.”
Tao needed time to think about what this vision meant. There were no other elements to interpret as there had been in his previous visions. No puzzle pieces. There had to be a meaning to the vision, but Tao had no idea what it was.
“First you must tell me the truth. My vision has shown me that you are withholding information.” That was a lie. “If you don’t tell me the truth, I might give the wrong interpretation.”
Fo Tu Deng was shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other.
“Is Jilong pleased with your service to him? Is your position secure?”
This was a guess, but it made the monk flinch.
“I do not have to tell you anything!” he said.
“It’s your question that I have asked, not mine. What I see is never straightforward. If you want me to interpret the vision correctly, you must tell me the circumstances that brought about your request.”
Tao turned his most serene and holy gaze on Fo Tu Deng. “Did you choose to be in the service of Jilong?”
The monk’s arrogant confidence had disappeared. “His men tracked me down. They came to the monastery and took me against my will to Jilong’s headquarters. He said he needed a seer, because the Black Camel Bandits had taken back Jiyuan, a town he’d won no more than a month ago. I pretended to know the next town that Jilong would lose, and then tortured the citizens until someone confessed they were helping the bandits. Jilong believed that I had averted another defeat. Now he expects me to know everything – where his enemies are, what strategies to use, which jacket he should wear.”
Tao nodded sagely as if this information was very useful – which it was.
“Then he wanted to know when the next bandit attack would be. I picked a vague time in the future, but the very next night they killed three of his men. I managed to explain it away, but he will not tolerate another mistake.”
“I appreciate your frankness, Fo Tu Deng,” Tao said. “It has helped me unravel the clues in my vision.”
“Tell me. I must know.” Fo Tu Deng had had enough of being polite. “If you don’t, I will put your dragon back in chains. I will wound him with a rusty blade.”
“I’ll tell you,” Tao said, but he didn’t know the meaning of the vision until the words came out of his mouth. “The bandits only emerge from their hiding place at night. That is why you never see them.” He remembered what the blinking eyes in the vision had reminded him of. It was the swallows in the cave. “They have a hide-out where they spend the daylight hours. It is underground or in some other dark place. When they come out at night, they are dressed in black from head to foot, just their eyes are visible.”
Fo Tu Deng’s eyes lit up. “Where is this place?”
“I don’t know.”
“Quick. Seek another vision.”
Tao refused. “You must respect my gift and use it only when absolutely necessary, otherwise it will not serve you. Give your men this information. Send them out to find the hide-out!”
Fo Tu Deng hurried off to rouse his men, some of whom had barely laid down their heads. As soon as he was out of sight, Kai jumped over the fence surrounding the goat pen.
“Was that true?” he asked. “Or did you make it up?”
“I saw nothing but darkness, but I think I’ve interpreted it correctly. And there is something else that I learned from the vision. Something I didn’t tell Fo Tu Deng. I’ve seen someone wearing black clothing like that before.”
Kai nodded slowly. “Pema.”
“I knew there was something she wasn’t telling us. Pema is in the service of the Black Camel Bandits.”
Chapter Eighteen
HAUNTED
The Zhao soldiers crowded into the courtyard. They were bleary eyed and unhappy that Fo Tu Deng had woken them after less than an hour’s sleep. Tao was watching from the kitchen doorway.
The monk climbed onto Wei’s couch so that they could all see him.
“We are the advance guard of the Zhao army,” he said. “It is up to us to ensure that Jilong has all the information he needs to defeat the Black Camel Bandits.”
The nomads were grumbling. Tao could tell Fo Tu Deng was losing what little authority he had over them.
“I have achieved our first goal by securing this compound for our headquarters. But we still do not know where the bandits are hiding. Finding them is our next task.”
The soldiers’ muttered complaints were getting louder. He wasn’t telling them anything they didn’t already know.
“And since you have failed to find our enemies, I have sought the help of Buddha.” He glared at them all. “The Blessed One has seen fit to give me a vision.”
There was more muttering. None of the Zhao believed in Buddha. Some of them laughed – perhaps those who had witnessed the monk’s previous failed attempts at being a seer.
“My holy vision has told me why we haven’t been able to find our enemies.” That got the attention of some of the men. “They have outsmarted us. They have evaded us because they only come out at night and they dress in black.” He paused. “They have been right under your noses. You have been wandering around in full daylight, unable to find them because they are tucked up asleep in their hiding place. We have not been secretive. They easily found our encampments and murdered your comrades as they slept.”
The nomads were all listening now.
“Our enemies have been cunning,” Fo Tu Deng said. “Now we have to outwit them. Instead of searching during the day, we must seek them out in the hours of darkness. We must start tonight.”
“Where is their hiding place?” one man asked.
“That is what you have to find out!” Fo Tu Deng exclaimed. “I’m not going to do all your work for you.”
“Couldn’t you have another vision?”
“No! The Buddha has more important things to be thinking about. This is a chance for you to show your worth. I will recommend that the man who kills the most bandits is promoted to Jilong’s personal guard.”
He glared at the men.
“The Black Camel Bandits have humiliated you. It is time to beat them at this game of night hunting and regain the honour of the Zhao.”
Fo Tu Deng produced a skin of kumiss and the men’s mood changed as they passed it around. The drink warmed their bellies and they were more willing to listen to the monk’s plan.
“You must travel in twos and threes on foot. We need stealth.”
The men talked enthusiastically among themselves. They had spent weeks searching for the bandits without any success. Now that they had a clue to help them find their elusive enemies, they forgot about their lack of sleep and were impatient to get after the bandits. The Zhao didn’t have black clothes and hoods, but they smeared their faces with charcoal. Their captain divided them into two groups – one to search to the west, the other to the east – and they marched off.
Fo Tu Deng’s authority over the Zhao was held by a thread. He needed an early success or Jilong would hear about his failure to locate the enemy, let alone come up with strategies to defeat them.
“We will find their hiding place and then we will crush them.” He was talking to Tao, but it seemed as if he was trying to convince himself. “When we have reduced their numbers, I will send word to Jilong, so that he can come and finish them of
f. Then we’ll have a celebration to honour his victory, some sort of ceremony. We’ll need to round up an audience from Luoyang to witness his triumph. He likes a spectacle, as I’m sure you remember.” The monk’s eyes lit up. “I have an idea! After we capture the leader of the Black Camel Bandits, we will stage a public execution!” His smile faded. “All we have to do is find out who he is.”
Six nomads remained in the compound. Fo Tu Deng ordered them to keep watch, in case the bandits attacked – or Tao and Kai tried to escape.
But the remaining men refused to go up on the walls.
“Take your positions!” Fo Tu Deng demanded, but they still didn’t move. “What’s wrong with you?”
“It’s the naga,” one of them said, glancing up at Sunila who was in his nest. “We don’t want to go up on the wall while it’s there. We’re scared it will turn into a monster during the night and bite us.”
“Scared?” the monk shouted. “You are scared of a small dragon?”
“It’s quite big,” one of the men said.
“It creeps up on us, invisible, and then reappears.”
“And snarls.”
“We can’t concentrate.”
“He only shape-changes when he’s afraid,” Tao explained. “If you’re nice to him, he won’t harm you.”
Fo Tu Deng’s face was turning a shade of purple. “You’re supposed to be warriors! Fearless.”
“We aren’t going up on the wall while the monster is there,” the soldier said. The others nodded in agreement.
“I’ll take care of the naga,” Tao said.
He called to Sunila. The naga obediently flapped down and stuck his snout up Tao’s sleeve, hoping to find honeycomb.
“I have something that will make him sleep soundly through the night. He won’t trouble you again.” He patted Sunila on the head.
The naga looked no more dangerous than a puppy. The guards climbed up to take their places on the wall.
“I want the dragons secured,” Fo Tu Deng said. “Lock them in the stables.”
Tao led the two dragons over to the stables. Fo Tu Deng watched as Kai made himself a nest with the straw. Tao made one for the naga and spread the remains of Meiling’s gown over it. He still had some of the green water from the underground lake in his water skin. He emptied it into a bowl and stirred in a little honey. Sunila lapped it up, rearranged his nest to his liking, turned in a circle three times and settled down. He was asleep immediately. Kai curled up in his own nest. Fo Tu Deng watched Tao bar the door before he went to bed himself.
As soon as the monk was gone, Tao unbarred the stable door and let Kai out, glad that he finally had the opportunity to talk to the dragon in private.
“I’m glad the cinnabar has done its job,” Tao said, leading Kai to Wei’s room.
“Now is the time to escape,” Kai said. “The guards have had no sleep. They will soon become drowsy staring into the darkness.”
“Not yet. I have put Pema at great risk by revealing the bandits’ secret. We can’t leave her at the mercy of the Zhao. We must warn her.”
“How can we warn her if we do not know where she is?”
“I don’t know.”
“If the Zhao capture Pema, they will not kill her. Not immediately,” Kai said. “They will bring her back here to torture her and learn all they can about the bandits. Then we can free her.” Tao winced at the thought of Pema being hurt.
“So we do nothing but wait?”
“Till the morning at least.”
“I should have realised Pema was involved in something when I saw her dressed in black.”
“Why did she not tell us she was working for the bandits?”
“She knew I wouldn’t approve. I expect she is spying for them.”
They watched the last embers die.
“Kai, there is something I haven’t told you.”
“What?”
“I’ve been visited by a ghost.”
“There are no ghosts. Remember? It was the invisible naga.”
“But this one isn’t invisible like the ghosts in the cave. I can see her – the ghost of a young girl. She haunts me every night.”
“I sensed there was something wrong with you. I thought you were ill, but it seemed odd since we were eating well and resting.”
“I’ve hardly slept since we arrived here.”
“It must be lack of sleep that is making you imagine you are seeing a ghost.”
“I’m not imagining her. She is real. Or as real as ghosts can be. She appears when the moon is in the night sky. She is made of moon shadow.”
“Let us leave Huaxia,” Kai said suddenly.
“Now?”
“Now. Forget about Pema and Sunila and Fo Tu Deng. Leave them and your fears behind! It was wrong of me to delay. It will be hard work reaching the dragon haven, but we will never be safe while we are in Huaxia.”
“You’re ready to go to the dragon haven? Tonight?”
“I am. Immediately.”
“If we’d done that when we left Yinmi, we would be halfway there by now,” Tao said. “We wouldn’t have met Sunila. I would’ve thought Pema was safe at Chengdu. But that wasn’t what happened. You lingered. And now I can’t leave until I have warned Pema.”
The huntsman spider was walking across the wall. Kai saw it and was about to swipe it away with his tail.
“No, don’t!”
“Another one of your wuji friends?”
“She is about to begin her night’s work.”
“But the spider must kill to survive,” Kai said. “You must be prepared to do that too.”
“I will never kill.” He watched the spider. “I envy her. She doesn’t question her purpose. She knows exactly what she must do – hunt for food, and protect her young until they are ready to make their own way in the world.” There were fewer spiderlings on the ceiling. Some had already left. “I wish my purpose was as clear to me.”
Tao took the lump of cinnabar from his bag and broke it into three pieces. “You must carry cinnabar with you at all times.” He wrapped one of the pieces in a strip of silk from Meiling’s gown. “That’s so it doesn’t scratch.”
Kai carefully placed the parcel behind his reverse scales.
“I’ll give some to Sunila and keep the rest,” Tao said.
It was late. Tao was dreading sleeping alone. He couldn’t keep his fear from Kai.
“You need sleep. We will both sleep in the peony pavilion tonight. I will be close enough to hear you if you cry out for help. There will be some explanation for the appearance of this ghost girl, as there was for the ghosts we thought were in the cave.”
Tao took two quilts outside. Kai spent some time scrunching one of them into a heap before he lay down.
“We will have a full night’s sleep,” the dragon said. “And then we must plan our escape.”
Tao lay on the couch. Moths hovered over him protectively, but they couldn’t keep his fears at bay. Kai was snoring before Tao had even got comfortable. He would have given anything for the dragon’s ability to fall asleep so easily.
He waited. The sky was dark grey and starless, but thin shafts of moonlight pierced the clouds here and there. The night air carried a faint smell of rotting leaves. The moon showed its face in a gap in the clouds and the ghost appeared. She drifted around the garden as if she was searching for something. She lingered by the pool, gazing at her reflection. Among the flowers, with her ghost gown billowing, she looked like a lonely little girl. But when she saw Tao she lost all trace of innocent sadness. Her dark eye sockets were like deep wells of misery, except for the small pricks of moonlight. She bared her teeth, which were small, sharp and tipped with silver moonlight – more like a wolfcub’s than a little girl’s.
Tao pulled the quilt up to his chin like a frightened child, though he knew it would give him no protection. He was too far away from Kai to nudge him.
“She’s here.” His voice was no more than a whisper. The dragon didn’t
wake.
Tao felt the ghost girl’s hand enter his body, reaching deep inside him. He could hear faint crackling as if his blood was turning to ice crystals. Her icy fingers found their way to his heart and closed around it. He couldn’t breathe.
Tao tried to call out to Kai again, but his mouth was freezing too. His lips wouldn’t move. The ghost girl was stopping him from speaking.
It was Tao’s fear that woke Kai, but the moment the dragon opened his eyes, the ghost dissolved into a grey mist that wafted through the pavilion like smoke. Tao collapsed back on the bed, gasping air.
Kai sat up on his haunches and looked around. “What is wrong?”
“It was the ghost girl.”
“I cannot see anything.”
“She’s gone.”
“It was the wind,” Kai said.
The air was as still as a grave.
“What wind?”
Chapter Nineteen
THE GOLDEN-HAIRED DOLL
The ghost girl wanted something. What it was, Tao didn’t know, but if he didn’t find out, he knew she would kill him. If he could work out who she was, or rather who she’d been, it might help him discover what she wanted from him. He thought that she must be recently dead. Perhaps before his family moved south a child died at the compound, and in the rush to leave, no one had performed the proper ceremony for her burial. He could rectify that, as he had with the ghosts of Shenchi. First he had to find her remains.
Tao got up and stepped over the sleeping dragon before the sun rose. The guards on the wall were sleepy and, in the grey pre-dawn, Tao easily avoided being seen as he crawled out through his tunnel and ran into the fields beyond the walls.