The Veiled Dragon h-12 Page 14
"I could." The thought was not entirely outside the realm of possibility.
The prince glanced down at his pink concoction. "But if you still do not change mind, you drink potion?"
"So I will forget what you tell me?" Ruha asked, pre- tending she did not know the potion's true purpose. Her ankles were still bound together, and she needed more time to break the scorched rope. "Are you trying to keep the cult's secrets?"
From the way Wei Dao's eyes flashed and Tang's com- plexion darkened, the witch knew she had hit on a sub- ject worth probing.
"Why should you protect the cult?" Even as Ruha asked the question, the answer came to her. "Are you in it?"
Again, Wei Dao pulled a dagger, but Tang shook his head to stop her from attacking. He looked away from
Ruha and fixed his gaze on the chamber door, his expres- sion equal parts shame and relief.
"I join when we come here." The prince's voice was hardly a whisper. "In Shou Lung, dragons are magnani- mous and most honorable. How do I know they are differ- ent in Elversult?"
"Then what happened?" Ruha found herself feeling almost sorry for the hapless prince. "Did you try to quit?"
Tang slowly brought his gaze back to Ruha. "If I answer, you must drink potion."
Ruha nearly choked on her anger, but she forced her- self to give him a beguiling smile. "Of course, assuming you do not convince me to stay."
"That is most wonderful possibility." The prince looked away, and again his voice grew low and ashamed.
"Cypress does not allow me to leave cult. He says even prince cannot break promise to dragon. He sinks all my ships until I promise to smuggle poisons for his murder- ers and spell ingredients for his wu-jens. The trade is most lucrative, but I cannot sleep."
Ruha cringed to think of what would trouble Tang's conscience. "But why would he attack one of your ships now? You are still doing as he demands?"
Tang's head spun back to Ruha. "He attacks one of my ships?"
"Yes, the Ginger Lady."
The prince's face paled to the color of ivory, but it was
Wei Dao who demanded, "How do you know this?"
"Because that is when I destroyed him." Ruha's fingers finally managed to undo the rope around her ankles, but the witch made no move to escape. "He did not sink the ship-it did not appear that he was trying-but if you are still smuggling poisons for the cult, I do not under- stand why he attacked it at all."
The prince turned to his wife. "He wissshes to kill
Hsieh. t"
The princess promptly shook her head. "Cypress grows impatient. It isss only warning."
"What good is warning we do not hear about?" Tang countered. "He fearsss Hsieh comes to ssstop smuggling."
"How can Cypress know esssteemed mandarin is on Ginger Lady? Even we do not know until lassst week."
Tang considered Wei Dao's point for a moment; then the color came back to his face. He returned his attention to Ruha.
"I tell you about Cult of the Dragon." He lifted the chalice to her mouth. "Now you drink."
Ruha turned away from the awful smell. "You have not told me why you still fear the cult, when you know I have already destroyed Cypress."
"Perhaps I do not believe you have." Tang swung the cup around to her lips. "Drink."
This time, Ruha did not turn away. It seemed reason- able for Tang to assume she might lie about destroying Cypress, but she still had not discovered what the cult needed to complete the theft of Yanseldara's spirit. She held her breath and, very briefly, touched her lips to the cup rim-then pulled away and looked into the prince's eyes.
"Before drinking, I must be certain there is no hope of resolving our differences. Allow me one more question."
Tang groaned and lowered the awful-smelling potion
"Ask."
"What more-"
Ruha's question was interrupted by the muffled barking of a Shou voice outside the vault; then the steel door swung open. Into the chamber swept four men wearing long, yellow hauberks of silk-jacketed scale armor.
Emblazoned on each of their chests was a scarlet wyvern, the personal crest of the Mandarin Hsieh Han Liu.
Upon seeing the crest, both Tang and Wei Dao gasped.
The prince barely managed to stand by the time the minister's assistant, the obsequious Yu Po, strode into the room. He stopped just inside the door and, still flanked by Hsieh's guards, regarded Ruha's captors with a disdainful sneer.
Yu Po tipped his body forward in a discourteously shal- low bow. "I am Yu Po, Consssummate Scribe to Esssteemed Mandarin Hsieh Han Liu."
The intrusion shocked Ruha as much as it did Tang and Wei Dao. The refinery vault was hidden in a secret basement beneath the palace's great spicehouse. Even had she anticipated Hsieh's arrival so early in the day, she would no more have expected Yu Po to search out and intrude upon the prince and princess here than in their private apartments.
"Welcome to Ginger Palace," said Tang, still holding the ylang potion. Both he and his wife returned the scribe's bow with surprising deference. "We expect Minister
Hsieh's arrival for many daysss now."
"We encounter many delaysss," Yu Po returned coldly.
"Pleassse excuse us," said Wei Dao. "We join esteemed
Mandarin in Hall of Amity, but firssst we must dispose of intruding thief."
Wei Dao waved a hand in Ruha's direction and drew an angry glare from Prince Tang, who would no doubt now find it most awkward to present the witch to anyone in Hsieh's party as either wife or concubine. Not knowing what else to do, Ruha remained on her knees and pre- tended she was still bound. If escape had looked barely feasible before, when she had to contend only with the lightning fast reflexes of Tang and Wei Dao, it now seemed impossible.
Yu Po studied Ruha for a few moments; then, in Com- mon, he said, "It is difficult to say what Lady Ruha is, but it seems most unlikely she is thief."
"You know her?" Wei Dao gasped.
In the same instant, Prince Tang whirled on Ruha.
"Lady Ruha?" he demanded, looking hurt. "You do not tell me you are lady! Is it custom where you come from to be one man's concubine and become another's wife?"
Yu Po arched his thin eyebrows. "First she is thief, then she is wife?" He chuckled, then said, "So sorry, but wedding must wait." The adjutant motioned a pair of guards toward Ruha.
Both Tang and Wei Dao paled and quickly stepped in front of the witch. "She is guest of Ginger Palace," Tang declared. "You may not take her without my permission."
Yu Po's eyes grew as black as obsidian. "Then you come outside and explain this to Minister Hsieh," the adjutant growled. "After treatment Esteemed Mandarin receives from barbarians, he is most happy to hear that you defy him, I am sure."
Tang glanced at his wife, then asked, "What barbar- ians?"
Yu Po's face darkened. "Vaerana Hawklyn and her company of knaves!" He was sounding more angry all the time. "First they dare to surround Emperor's caravan and search wagons for what they call 'contraband' Esteemed Mandarin is most interested to learn why Min- istry of Spices does not know of trade in oleander leaves and puffer fish venom-and now they insult Emperor by holding Minister Hsieh hostage!"
"Hostage?" Tang gasped.
Yu Po nodded. "As we approach Ginger Palace, Lady Ruha's half-man rushes down road and claims to Vaerana Hawklyn that you abduct his mistress. Minister Hsieh promises her release, but savage woman refuses his gracious offer and declares she does not release Emperor's caravan until witch is free."
Ruha cursed Vaerana for a meddling interloper. The
Lady Constable had just destroyed any hope that remained of discovering what the cult needed to complete the theft ofYanseldara's spirit.
Yu Po glanced at Ruha's kneeling form, then leveled a stern gaze at Tang. "Do you still wish to keep 'guest' locked inside Ginger Palace?"
"No." The prince kneeled before Ruha and held the sil- ver chalice to her lips. "She is free to leave as soon as she drinks potion."
The jaws of both Tang and Wei Dao fell when they saw the seared bonds hanging from her ankles and wrists.
The prince managed to recover his wits quickly enough to grab her arm and thrust the potion toward her face.
"You break promise!"
"I said I would drink a potion of forgetfulness," Ruha snapped. "That is a love potion, and I assure you that without fresh ylang blossoms, it could not possibly be strong enough."
With that, the witch brushed past her astonished cap- tors. She snatched herjambiya off a table, then stepped into the protection of Yu Po and his guards. "Will you please take me out of here?"
The adjutant waved her through the door. They climbed a set of stone stairs and exited the spicehouse via a secret door. With two guards leading the way and two following behind, the young Shou escorted Ruha past the enclosure where Tang kept his pet lizards, through a wicket door in the bulwark that separated the rear grounds from those in front, and straight toward the main gates. As they walked, Yu Po said nothing and stared straight ahead, pretending not to see the many puzzled residents of the Ginger Palace who had gathered to watch them leave.
By the time they passed through the gateway, Ruha had untied her veil and fastened it back into place over her face. She found Vaerana and Fowler, now dressed in his customary trousers and tunic, waiting for her on the portico. The Lady Constable glowered at Ruha, then took her by the arm and hustled her down the stairs toward the white-bricked avenue, where a long line of driverless wagons stood drawn up alongside the ginkgo forest. Min- ister Hsieh and the caravan drivers were huddled together on the opposite side of the road, surrounded by a circle of mounted Maces.
As soon as their feet touched the white bricks, Vaerana released Ruha and glared down at Yu Po-she was a full head taller than most of the Shou. "Wait here. I'll send
Minister Hsieh along when I'm sure the witch is unharmed."
"That is not our agreement."
"All right-I'll let the mandarin go when I'm good and ready," Vaerana growled. "If you don't like that, go back and fetch your little prince. I'll trade Hsieh for him any time."
Yu Po's nostrils flared ever so slightly, but he bowed and did his best to conceal his outrage.
The Lady Constable led the way a short distance down the white-bricked avenue, and then, a dozen paces before they reached Tombor and the horses, suddenly stopped.
She grabbed Ruha's arm and, unable to control her anger another moment, dragged the witch off the road. With
Fowler following close behind, the two women slipped between two driverless wagons and walked twenty paces into the forest, where the fan-leafed ginkgo trees were so thick that it would be impossible for anyone on the road-Shou or otherwise-to see or hear what passed between them.
"This is worse than Voonlar!" Vaerana hissed. "Couldn't you spend even one night without getting caught? I almost didn't make it back in time to save you."
"I did not need to be saved!" Arguing with the Lady
Constable would do little to improve her standing with the Harpers, but she was as angry as Vaerana-and with better reason. "Yu Po could not have arrived at a worse time."
"I suppose Prince Tang was going to hand the staff over?" Vaerana tugged derisively at the heavy cloth of
Ruha's aba. "And what's this? Is this what you think a Sembite spice trader looks like?"
"I know less about Sembite spice traders than you do about good manners," Ruha shot back. "It was better to pose as someone I could impersonate."
Vaerana narrowed her eyes and moved forward until she was standing chin-to-chin with the witch. "We found out in Voonlar what happens when you think. You should've done what I said."
Fowler slipped an arm between Vaerana and Ruha. "If she'd done what you wanted, we'd still be sitting in the courtyard with that back-stabbing dwarf Tombor claimed was a guide." The captain pushed the women apart, then interposed himself between them. "It was only the Lady
Witch's disguise and her quick thinking that got us invited to stay the night at all."
Vaerana's eyes widened at the rebuke. Her cheeks turned crimson and she dropped her eyes in embarrass- ment. "I shouldn't be sharpening my blade on you, Witch.
Whatever happened, your life was the one at risk." She backed away and said, "Why don't you tell us what happened?"
Ruha glanced at Fowler. "I do not know how much the captain could tell you-"
"Not much," Fowler interjected. "I waited all night for you to come back and started to worry when you didn't return before dawn. Then the Shou went crazy, running all over swinging their boarding pikes around like they were trying to cut up the air, and I knew they had to be looking for you. I cut a hole through the roof of the guest house, then climbed over the wall and ran for the trees.
Sorry I didn't stay, but I wasn't going to be much help."
"You made the right choice," Ruha replied. "And mat- ters did not go so badly."
Vaerana's eyes lit up. "Then you know where the staff is?"
Ruha shook her head. "I am sorry. But I do know it is not inside the Ginger Palace."
A dark curtain descended over Vaerana's face. "Not inside? But it's Shou magic stealing Yanseldara's spirit my sages are sure of it!"
"Yes, and Prince Tang's mother is casting the spell, as you suspected," Ruha said. "But Lady Feng has been abducted."
"Someone stole her?" Fowler's tone was incredulous.
"From the Ginger Palace?"
Ruha nodded, then described all that she had discov- ered, from Lady Feng's starving familiar to Prince Tang's unwitting enrollment in the Cult of the Dragon.
Vaerana listened rather impatiently until the witch finished, then regarded her with a thoughtful expression.
"It looks like I owe you an apology-if you're sure of this."
"Of everything I have described, yes," Ruha replied.
"But I do not understand why the cult is going to all this trouble to steal Yanseldara's spirit. Wouldn't it have been simpler for them just to kill her?"
Vaerana made a half-nod. "Sure, but then they wouldn't rule Elversult. If they control Yanseldara, they control the city."
Though not entirely satisfied with Vaerana's explana- tion, Ruha lacked a better one and saw no use in jeopar- dizing their developing truce by contradicting the Lady Constable.
"Assuming you are correct, the cult may be further from its goal than we think," Ruha said. 'To complete the theft ofYanseldara's spirit, the Cult of the Dragon needs something more from Prince Tang."
"What?" Vaerana demanded, once again sounding impatient and pushy. "If we deny them, can we stop
Yanseldara from getting any sicker?"
"I could not learn the answer to either of your ques- tions." Ruha looked away from Vaerana's disappointed face, restraining the urge to add that the Lady Con- stable's'rescue' had ruined her chances of discovering more. "The cult could need anything: an instrument from
Lady Feng's apartment, ingredients from the palace's warehouse, perhaps something from Yanseldara's home."
"No, nothing from Moonstorm House," Vaerana objected. "They wouldn't have one chance in ten thou- sand of getting anything from there."
"How do you suppose they got her staff?" asked Fowler.
Vaerana shot the half-ore a murderous glare, then turned back to Ruha without answering his question.
"Your mission wasn't a total loss, Witch," she said, trying to be magnanimous and failing miserably. "At least you gave me some idea of what I'll need to ask."
"Ask?" Fowler grunted. "If you're thinking what I'm thinking you are, I want my gold now."
Vaerana frowned at the half-ore. "I can't pay out of Elversult's treasury. You'll get your gold after we take the palace."
"You intend to storm the Ginger Palace?" Ruha gasped.
"Can you thi
nk of a better way to get my hands on Tang?"
Ruha shook her head. "No, but I doubt interrogating him will do you any good. The prince is too afraid of Cypress. He refuses to believe I destroyed the dragon."
"Well, you did," Vaerana growled. "Hsieh will tell him that!"
"Somehow, I do not think it will matter." Ruha thought for a moment, trying to recall Tang's exact words when she told him she had destroyed the dragon. "He said 'Per- haps you do destroy Cypress, but if you think that means there is no reason to fear him, you know nothing.' I thought he was referring to the Cult of the Dragon, but now that I reconsider…"
"Something strange is happening," Vaerana agreed.
"I've heard reports that the cult's paying good gold to fishermen for tiny pieces of that dragon you killed."
"That'll hardly drain their treasure boxes," Fowler observed. "The sharks got most of the carcass."
Vaerana nodded. "For nearly a tenday now, the cult's been shipping wagonloads of shark out of Pros, but none of it ever shows up in Elversult."
"Where could it be going?" Ruha asked.
Vaerana shrugged. "With all that's going on, I didn't think it was worth the trouble of tracking down. Maybe I was wrong."
"That'd be a good idea," Fowler said. "Cypress might not be as gone as we thought."
Tombor the Jolly came stomping through the trees.
"Vaerana, the Shou want their mandarin. Archers are beginning to gather along the walls."
"Let them!" Vaerana turned to go back to the road.
"We're going to have a battle soon enough."
Ruha grabbed the Lady Constable by the arm. "But the Shou do not have Yanseldara's staffi"
"They're still my best hope of stopping the cult-or Cypress-and saving Yanseldara."
"I may know of a better way," Ruha said, thinking of Lady Feng's abandoned familiar. "Give me another day, and I will find Tang's mother-and Yanseldara's staff."
Vaerana shook her head. "I don't know if Yanseldara has another day-and even if she does, Elversult may not. The Cult of the Dragon is growing more powerful by the hour."
"How long'll it take you to storm the palace?" Fowler asked. "And even if it's less than a day, can you be sure Tang will tell you what you want to know-or that it'll do you much good?"