Ping didn’t like to point out that neither of them had wings so it might be difficult for them to find such a place. She tried to imagine the dragon haven herself. She pictured a lush green valley hidden high in the peaks of a mountain. It would be cold up so high, but the valley walls would protect it from the worst winds. After her experience at Beibai Palace, she knew that living in a cold place didn’t have to be uncomfortable. She would build a sturdy cottage and collect a lot of wood for winter fires. She and Kai would be warm and cosy. She would carve a chessboard and Seven Cunning Pieces so that they would have games to play.
They walked on in silence for another half an hour. The wall sloped down steeply and the path turned into steps. Kai started jumping down two steps at a time, then three, then four. He suddenly sprang on the top of the rampart along the edge of the wall.
“What are you doing! You’ll fall.”
“Kai won’t fall. Kai’s going to jump!”
The muscles in his back legs flexed as if he was ready to launch himself into the air.
“No!” Ping shouted, grabbing hold of his tail.
“Kai can leap like a deer, soar through the air like a squirrel and land on his feet like a wild cat.”
“You’ll fall like a stone and break your neck.”
Ping looked at Kai. He had lost almost all of his purple baby scales, and his whiskers were just starting to sprout on either side of his mouth. She had been able to amuse a dragonling, but a bored juvenile dragon was a different thing.
“Kai is sick of the Great Wall.”
“How can you say that?” Ping replied, sweeping her arm to take in the mountains that surrounded them. “Look at that magnificent view.”
“Boring.”
“We can’t argue now, Kai. I can see the next beacon tower. You have to shape-change.”
“Not going to shape-change.”
The next tower was in a valley only a couple of li away.
“Come on, Kai, please.”
“Kai is not a dragonling any more and is going to find the dragon haven alone.”
“Don’t be silly.”
The dragon fell behind. Ping glanced round. All she could see was a slight shifting in the stones. Then she couldn’t even see that. “Come back here!” she called.
She was now close enough to see that it wasn’t a simple beacon tower ahead, but a larger building. There were more than the usual two guards. A huddle of at least 12 men, all with weapons, were glaring in her direction. Their crossbows were trained on her. Other guards were climbing up from the barracks below. She raised her hands to show that she had no weapons.
“Kai, this is no time to sulk. It’s a garrison. We have to be extra careful. At least five-times-ten men will be housed there.”
There was no answer.
“Where are you, Kai?” Ping shouted, she peered over the side of the wall looking for a distortion among the trees or a cloud of mist.
A shiver of fear passed through her. Had Kai really run away? She couldn’t stop and look for him, there were too many crossbows trained on her. If she did anything that was suspicious, the guards would shoot her. She had to keep walking.
The wall around the garrison was just as unkempt as it had been near the beacon towers. Stones were missing from the ramparts, weeds grew in cracks. There was a bank of sand below the outer face of the wall which was supposed to be raked daily. If barbarians had been creeping around during the night, their footsteps would be seen in the morning. The sand bank looked as if it hadn’t been raked for months. It was covered with animal prints and littered with discarded bones. Ping had expected guards stationed at a garrison to be more disciplined than those posted at the remote beacon towers. But they seemed to be even worse.
Ping had no choice. She walked towards the garrison, waving her hand and shouting a cheery greeting. The voice in her mind was silent. Something jabbed her in the back. She turned, thinking it was Kai. It wasn’t. It was two imperial guards poking her with their spears. She had no idea how they had got behind her. She reached for her mirror which was still in her pouch. A spear tip cut through her jacket and dug into her skin.
“Raise your hands!” one of the guards said.
She held up her arms with her hands spread wide, so they could see that she had no weapons.
“I’m a citizen of the Empire,” she said.
“Be quiet!” said the other guard. “Save your explanation for the commander.”
It was getting late. The sun was low on the horizon. Unless she could get close to a fire, her mirror would be useless until the sun rose again in the morning. She had no idea where Kai was. She searched for any sense of foreboding. There was none.
When they reached the garrison, Ping tried to explain that she was just a pedlar and that she’d been welcomed by other guards. About 30 guards gathered around her. They were just as dishevelled as the other guards she’d met along the wall. Some wore their hair hanging untidily on their shoulders. Many had the shaved heads of convicts. The commander strode toward her. He was a large man with a thick moustache. He had a black eye from a recent fight and wore a bearskin vest instead of his regulation red leather one.
“Welcome to Ji Liao Garrison,” the commander said sarcastically.
Someone pulled off Ping’s hat.
“It’s just a young lad,” one of the guards exclaimed.
“What will we do with him?” said another guard, with a malicious grin.
The rest of the guards gathered around, eager for any diversion from their boring life.
“Can he dance?”
Ping shook her head.
Several spears jabbed Ping in the ribs.
“Go on, dance for us!”
Ping didn’t move.
“What about acrobatics?” one suggested. “Do some handstands!”
The guards laughed, and pushed her, but Ping stood her ground.
“Make him walk along the rampart!”
They pushed Ping to the edge of the wall and made her climb up on the narrow rampart. She looked down. There was a drop of three chang. Another spear jabbed her in the back, she focused on the wall and walked along it easily.
“He’s no fun,” one of the guards complained.
“Put him to work,” said the commander. “Make him clean out the stables.”
Ping was dragged from the wall and down steps that led to the stables below. She didn’t object. Eventually most of the guards would sleep and then she would make her escape.
The stables were as neglected as the rest of the garrison. She shovelled horse dung out of the stinking stables until it was too dark to see. Then she was taken into the quadrangle outside the guards’ living quarters and her hands and feet were tied to a post meant for tethering horses.
The guards ate their evening meal in the barracks. Ping could hear them complaining about the shortage of food and water.
“At least that means our wine ration has been increased,” someone said.
They all laughed. No one offered Ping any food. She was glad. It smelt worse than the slops she’d fed the pigs at Huangling Palace. Then the men started to pass around jars of millet wine. Good, Ping thought, they’ll soon fall asleep.
Ping had to think of a plan. She’d thought of plans before. Good plans, successful plans. She’d used whatever was at hand to come up with ingenious strategies. But her hands and feet were tied. She had no resources. Kai had taken the bag with everything in it.
Ping focused her qi. She had once overturned a huge boulder with her qi power. Surely she could break a few leather thongs. She took some deep breaths and concentrated. It was late and she was tired, but she collected up all that was left of her qi power and focused it around her wrists and ankles. The leather thongs snapped like grass stalks. She had to learn not to underestimate her powers.
The guards were all drunk now but showing no sign of getting tired. Just as Ping was about to slip away, a few of the guards came out to taunt her. She kept her hands behind
her back, her feet together as if they were still bound.
“Let’s use him for target practice,” one said.
He went to get his crossbow. He was very drunk. Loading a crossbow bolt took strength and coordination. The drunken guard staggered around trying to load his weapon. It would take him a while, but Ping knew that eventually he would succeed. And if he managed to hit her, she would die. She was furious with the guards for ruining her plans, for halting her progress, for shattering her peace. And where was Kai? She felt panic rise in her throat. He was wandering around in the dark alone. He was young and over-confident. He might try and rescue her. The guards would kill him.
“You should keep better discipline among your men,” Ping shouted to the commander who had gone to get more wine. “When I get free, I’m going to send a message to the Emperor. He’s a friend of mine. When he hears what you’ve done, he’ll have you beheaded.”
The commander had come out to watch. He laughed. “Of course you will.”
“You’re as stupid as your men!” she shouted.
The commander walked over to her and grabbed her by the hair. “What did you say?”
The other guards came out to see what was happening. The guard with the crossbow had finally managed to load a bolt and was waving the crossbow in Ping’s direction. She had to calm down, control her anger. She couldn’t take on 50 men.
The man with the crossbow came closer and aimed. His hands were shaking, but he was so close, there was every chance he would hit her. The others stood back, egging him on. It was dark now and another guard held up a lamp so that the marksman could see what he was doing. The guard with the lamp moved closer and shone it in Ping’s face.
“I know who this is, Sir,” the guard said. “It’s not a boy, it’s a girl. She’s a sorceress. It’s because of her I was sent from an easy post at Ming Yang Lodge to this miserable place.”
Ping didn’t recognise the guard, but all the men were glaring at her as if she were responsible for them being stationed at the edge of the Empire.
“Good,” the commander replied with a malicious smile. He put up his hand to stop the guard with the crossbow. “I’ve always wanted a slave.”
Anger swelled inside Ping’s chest. She was prepared to put up with many discomforts. She would sleep in a barn, she would wear worn-out clothes, and eat nuts and berries, but she would never be anyone’s slave again. Her qi power focused without her having to think about it. She flung out her arm and sent out a strong bolt of qi that flattened ten men as well as the commander. Ping knocked the crossbow out of the hands of the man from Ming Yang Lodge with another well-aimed qi bolt. She looked around for a way of escape. The men recovered from their surprise, picked up their spears and confronted her again. Her third qi bolt was much weaker, it hit just one guard and only made him stumble. She’d used up all her resources on the first two bolts. Before she could summon more qi, six guards grabbed her arms.
“She’s a sorceress all right.”
The guards muttered in agreement.
“I’m not a sorceress!”
She knew that her display of qi power had helped reinforce the idea, but what else was she supposed to do to protect herself?
“She was friendly with the Emperor,” the Ming Yang Lodge guard told the commander. “She might have some influence with him.”
“Then kill her,” the commander said, as casually as if he was ordering the death of a goat or a barbarian.
The flame of Ping’s anger was smothered by fear. She’d let her temper get the better of her. Now her life was in real danger. And Kai’s. She wished she knew where he was.
The man from Ming Yang Lodge drew his knife. His hand was steady, he wasn’t as drunk as the other men. The blade glinted in the lamplight. He’d had plenty of idle time to keep it sharp.
“Kai!” she called in her mind. “Where are you! Help me.”
The man leaned closer. He had an ugly pimple on his chin. He took a firm grip on his knife. Terror spread through Ping. Belatedly she realised that her second sight only warned her of danger to Kai. Not herself. Kai wasn’t with her. He wasn’t in danger—but she was.
The man with the knife drew his hand back, ready to plunge the blade into her heart. There was a piece of goat’s meat stuck between his teeth. Ping closed her eyes.
Voices suddenly rang out, piercing the night. The hands holding her loosened. Ping opened her eyes. The guards were ignoring her completely.
To the east, two yellow fires blossomed like chrysanthemums.
“Two beacons!” someone shouted. “An attack! Three thousand barbarians!”
The commander yelled out orders, but no one listened to him. Each man ran to get his weapons, concerned only with his own survival. The ragtag imperial guards clambered up onto the wall facing north, their crossbows aimed into the darkness. Several men were still trying to get the long-neglected beacons alight to alert the next tower. The commander was attempting to organise a squad of men to go out and attack the barbarians. He wasn’t having much luck. No one wanted to face the invisible enemy. Scuffles broke out among the men.
Ping took advantage of this disorder and crept towards the inner gate. She slipped out the bolt that held it shut and wrenched the gate open. The guards had finally managed to light the beacon. The light from the flames illuminated her escape.
“Get the girl!” someone shouted. “Send her out. If there are barbarians outside, they’ll go after her!”
The guards had found something they could all agree on. Ping was captive again. Only this time instead of tying her up, they thrust a sword in her hands and pushed her through the outer gate and out of the Empire.
She ran headlong into the night. It was her only hope of freedom. With the sword pointed straight ahead, she screamed as if she had the force of a thousand courageous imperial guards behind her. She ran down the bank of sand, tripped and fell, got up and ran again. She lashed out at the barbarians who stood in her way, slashing the sword in all directions and not flinching when it met with resistance.
It was several minutes before she realised that the things in her way weren’t barbarians, but trees. She was lopping off branches, not arms and legs. She stopped, both hands grasping the sword hilt, breathing hard. No one attacked her. She turned a full circle. She was surrounded by nothing more than the dark shapes of trees and rocks. She listened for the sounds of barbarian attack that she had heard at Beibai Palace—the thunder of horses’ hooves, strange gurgling cries, shouts in a foreign language. There were none.
Behind her, she could hear the muffled uproar of fighting and voices raised in anger as the imperial guards still argued about who should face the barbarians. She held the sword ready for barbarians to pounce on her. Nothing happened.
She turned another full circle. Suddenly the rocks around her came to life. They reared up and turned into cloaked men. For the second time that day, Ping’s hands were grabbed and tied behind her. She couldn’t believe the garrison men had been so quick and stealthy. She twisted round. The men holding her weren’t imperial guards. They were barbarians.
• chapter nine •
INTO THE TIGER’S MOUTH
“If you want to cross over the wall without the
guards seeing you,” Hou-yi said,
“I can tell you of a place where the watchtowers
are far apart and there is a hidden hole that
leads beneath the wall.”
Ping struggled to free herself, but the hands that gripped her were strong and determined. They pulled her through the undergrowth. Branches slapped her in the face. She lost her footing and fell. Someone dragged her back to her feet by the armpits, lifted her effortlessly, and threw her over the back of a horse. Rough hands tied her behind the horse’s saddle as another cloaked figure mounted the horse. Before she could raise her head to look at her captors, the horse began moving, building up to a gallop. Each time the horse’s hooves hit the ground Ping felt the breath knocked out of her. She wonde
red if they’d captured Kai as well. She knew what barbarians were capable of. She’d heard about what they did to their captives—cutting off their fingers, blinding them with burning sticks, putting them in holes filled with venomous snakes. There were three more horses galloping behind, but she couldn’t see if one of them carried Kai. She listened for his voice, but it wasn’t there. She had no choice but to allow herself to be bounced around on the back of the horse like a side of beef.
There was a saying that Lao Ma, the old woman at Huangling Palace, was very fond of repeating. Out of the wolf’s den, into the tiger’s mouth. Just a few weeks earlier, Ping’s only concern had been that the entire population of the Empire had seemed to want to be her friend. She’d had no enemies. Now people on both sides of the Great Wall wanted to harm her.
She tried to make sense of what had happened. Only a handful of barbarians had attacked the garrison. They had captured her, but ignored the imperial guards, leaving them cowering inside their barracks. She wondered if the barbarians had been tracking her. Perhaps that’s why she’d had the feeling someone was following them. She had heard stories of how the Xiong Nu sacrificed white horses and drank their blood. She couldn’t bear to think what they might do if they got their hands on a dragon. On the other hand, there were also tales of the barbarians making human sacrifices to their gods. Perhaps it wasn’t Kai they wanted at all—but her. She called to Kai in her mind but there was still no reply. Perhaps they had left him behind.
The horses galloped through the darkness for a long time. The ropes tying her arms and legs rubbed her skin until it felt like they were burning her. Ping couldn’t tell whether she was awake and bouncing on the back of a horse or just dreaming that she was.
The horses stopped as the sky was turning grey. Ping was untied and pulled from the horse. Her legs were numb and she couldn’t stand. One of the barbarians carried her, putting her down outside a low hut. The sky grew lighter. It was above her and all around her. It stretched to the horizon on all sides. They had left the mountains and the Great Wall far behind. There wasn’t a tree or a rock in sight, just an endless plain, bare except for tufts of yellow grass. She could see now that it wasn’t a hut she’d been brought to, it was a tent—a large, black tent made from thick felt. A group of about 20 smaller tents was huddled around the central tent, like sleeping animals. There was also a corral made of branches that secured a herd of several hundred horses. Steam rose from the horses’ backs as the sunlight warmed them. They were handsome beasts—tall and slender, with flowing manes, nothing like the short, stocky imperial horses. Several of the nearest horses studied her with interest. They looked powerful and intelligent.