by S. H. Marpel
Sal was sitting on one of them to my right, and wearing a white cheongsam that accented her long blond hair, a sitting picture of beauty as she held my hand on that side. She’d made herself relax, extinguishing her fireball long ago. Probably before she enjoyed a long, hot bath that her room provided.
My own needs were few. I’d only spent the minimal time needed to wash the dust and grit off, and to dress into what I would call silk pajamas, favoring my work boots and heavy socks, along with my red, pocketed t-shirt underneath.
While my two fellow travelers took as long as required to “freshen up”, I didn’t take long to get clean. And made myself relax by looking around the main salon for any scrolls or writings of any kind. But everything I found was in Chinese pictographs.
I ended up using the remaining time waiting for my two accomplices in gazing out the single tall, narrow window in our common room – one that only showed the endless desert beyond the floating mountain-top castle. An interesting curiosity to me was that the window was sealed in a modern double-paned glass, some obvious retrofitting from the original castle design. (Which no doubt meant they had some sort of central air in this place.)
“SO, GAIA, WHAT’S STILL got you so riled up?”
She turned toward me, that frown creasing her forehead with worry. “Maybe I didn’t tell you how this is affecting all the known universes, all at once. But I feel the power of this place and know that to simply pull this down below its own desert would still require ages of re-balancing before that power could dissipate and balance again.”
“But ages to you...”
“...while meanwhile, almost all the life forms in each of these universes would be extinguished. Billions and trillions, ever-countless souls displaced until these worlds upon worlds would be inhabitable again.”
Her eyes were red-rimmed with sadness at that outcome.
I thought to give her a hug, but her rigid position said I might as well be trying to comfort a statue.
“Gaia, we’ll solve it. We always do.”
Sal also had experienced Gaia’s sadness, and nodded. “Yes, Gaia, you’re going to have to stay positive.”
Gaia looked off across the room. “For me, balancing is bringing in more light to soften the darkness, to moderate evil back toward goodness. But with all this power at my fingertips, I cannot simply use it here without bringing catastrophe to all these universes that exist in parallel.”
I patted her hand with mine. “That’s why you called us, remember? Look this is a hard case – and I won’t say we’ve faced worse – but I know if we give into the evil we just witnessed, the result you just described will happen anyway.”
“So, John, your simple logic wins again.” And Gaia forced a smile on her face, which met ours and finally melted her frown.
I turned to my other side. “Sal, what do you pick up from all you’ve seen?”
“First, I loved taking a hot bath. Gave me time to practice with various manifestations. They only extend a few feet from me. I couldn’t even levitate my old desert robes from the floor. I told you this earlier – the closer we got to this floating mountain castle, the weaker my powers became.”
Gaia spoke to this.”My own abilities haven’t changed, though. Or we wouldn’t be here.”
I frowned at this. “So, we’re talking about some old ‘magic’ that precedes what a few-hundred-year old spirit-guide could master, but not a goddess who predates Earth itself.”
Gaia nodded. “Just a few hundred millenia of difference.”
Sal squeezed my hand. “But you’re safe as long as you stick right next to me.”
“OK ladies, it’s always great to feel so protected personally, but there’s something else I sense – something that’s changed inside me.”
Sal put her hand on my forehead. “Gaia, can you pick that up?”
The goddess simply nodded. “I didn’t want to tell you, John, but your Lazurai virus probably won’t keep you immune here.”
“Like something is affecting it?”
“Or there’s an opposing virus which is counter-acting it.”
“Maybe they are both dueling to a draw.”
Gaia shrugged. “A little out of my expertise. All I can sense is that you’re as human as ever, like before we ever met. If you’d stayed human, I wouldn’t have had to come visit you.”
“That balance thing of yours.”
She nodded. “Exactly. And you’ve been so well-balanced up to now that I haven’t had to ‘disappear’ you.”
I chuckled. That was Gaia’s idea of a joke, even if a bit dark.
Sal interrupted. “So you have a plan?”
“Same as always – help them solve their own mystery.”
“That Empress might be a problem.”
Gaia nodded. “It seems she’s the power behind this throne – and that temper of hers...”
“Hopefully, his interest in getting his story written and told for the ages should help.”
Sal shrugged. “At least to start with. I can’t help thinking that she’s got her own story – one that might be working against our efforts. Who knows what their ‘pillow talk’ consists of.”
I gave her a wry smile. But her raised eyebrow told me I’d better not touch that line. Meaning my discretion outweighed my valor right then.
At that point, my peripheral vision caught the main door to our suite opening with a slow, quiet move. A female servant peeked her head in.
Seeing our pleasant faces, she entered fully and bowed to us. We nodded in return.
Her voice was in pleasant English. “Hello. My name is Lu Shi. We are so glad that you have found the attire we provided. And I hope your baths were suitably warm.”
My two female associates smiled and nodded.
“I am also here to ensure that the customs of the court are explained to you. Let’s start with your dress. Ah – sir, you are missing your ‘magua’. You might call it a top-jacket. Let me get it for you.”
She breezed into my room and returned as quickly with the missing item. Holding it open for me, I slipped my arms into the blue silk arms and turned back to her. She deftly buttoned it from top to bottom.
I remained poker-faced as I watched Sal’s face slowly darken under one raised eyebrow as Lu Shi moved down my front.
Lu Shi looked me over and frowned at my boots. “While the traditional cotton shoes would be appropriate, your brown leather boots should be black.”
Sal gestured, and the color shifted to a shiny black. I suspected they would have to change when I returned to dusty, grassy pastures, but she could probably revert them as quickly when we got back later. At least they were still as comfortable inside.
Lu Shi didn’t react to the boot’s color shift, taking that as if such magic happened all the time around here. “Now let me look over your courtesans to see if we can adjust their wardrobe.”
Gaia frowned at that term and her hands again clenched, so Lu Shi turned toward Sal. “I see that you have worn this type of dress before, perhaps many times. This is very well made. Please turn around. Stop there.” The attendant touched her back at a couple of points. “There – please continue turning.”
Sal continued right around. And the change was remarkable, bringing out her natural shapeliness in ways I didn’t think possible.
“Sal, I don’t know what she did, but now you look – well – quite nice.”
Sal’s eyebrow again raised.
“Oh don’t start. You already made me agree that our ‘pillow talk’ was to stay private.”
Sal smiled and blushed at this. And when Lu Shi turned back she was also smiling with a light flush.
When our attendant turned toward still-frowning Gaia, Sal interrupted. “Lu, let me help Gaia adjust her outfit. I think that would be safer for everyone.”
Sal moved softly to Gaia and whispered something in her ear. Gaia softened her scowl as she blushed slightly herself and turned away, so Sal could do her adjustments.
Gaia turned back and I almost whistled at the change. But just swallowed instead. “Thanks to you three, I an now favored by the two most fashionable and beautiful ‘associates’ in this half of the planet.”
All three women beamed at my compliment.
Lu Shi nodded and turned to leave.
“Lu, please wait.” I had another question. “Is there anything else we should know about court manners?”
Lu Shi looked at me and cocked her head. “Yes, Westerners can seem a bit brash at times. The Emperor speaks first, always. Servants must stand with bowed heads until addressed, but guests need not.
“When the Emperor addresses the Empress, all must be silent in the chamber until she finished replying – however long that might take. And once you are dismissed, there is nothing else to be said.”
I raised an eyebrow at this on my own, but thought better of asking what was on my mind. “Of course, we may bring our own writing materials?”
Lu Shi smiled. “Yes. Of course. While we have plenty of parchment, ink, and brushes, you may bring your own as you wish. Just look over to one of the attendants and nod for any of us to come and supply what you need.
Simple rules. But we’d just have to wait and see how this went.
Somewhere down the hall, a gong sounded.
Lu Shi’s face went white. “We have minutes to get there. Please hurry.”
At that she was gone, and we followed as closely as we could for our first interview with the Emperor.
IV
BURNING TORCHES NOW lit that same cubic throne room. Its walls were lined by retainers, the Emperor and Empress sat on their thrones.
We three visitors and our attendant slowed our near-run to an unhurried walk as we entered. Just as well, these Chinese outfits weren’t built for any speed. At least my boot-treads helped me stop. The girls behind me did skid a bit on that smooth floor – so I took a few extra steps to allow them to stay off my heels. Enough space to allow them all to recover a bit more decorum in their walk.
The three of us in a row, followed by Lu Shi, walked as stately as we could. Right between those walls of retainers toward the royal couple.
“Psst – Gaia.”
“Sal?”
“Do you see their eyes?”
“Eyes?”
“The faces on the tapestries. Their eyes move.”
Gaia started tracking their eyes as we walked. “You’re right. That’s weird.”
“No, they’re spelled.”
“You would know.”
“But scratch your memories. There’s eight of them.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No, I mean these eight have been missing for centuries. I know them all.”
“Trapped inside somehow?”
“Somehow.”
And we arrived. Sal and Gaia were on either side of me, our own Lu Shi stood behind our trio and bowed her head. Waiting.
We three visitors just stood there, quiet.
And time passes slowly when you’re just waiting.
Gaia and Sal, they were used to longer time-spans than myself. Enduring time was nothing to them..
I needed to be patient. Like the many bowed-head retainers. All enduring the waiting quiet.
So I calmed my mind and waited. Counting heartbeats and slowing my breath to slow those beats. Then experiencing the worlds between those beats.
For I had all the time in the world. Until I was bade to speak, I had nothing else to do. Except to explore those between-heartbeat moments one by one...
V
“SCRIBE, WHAT ARE YOU here for today?”
“Scribe?!?”
That was my cue.
“Your – your majesty?”
“I asked you what are you here for today?”
“To hear your story.”
“Aren’t you going to write it down?”
I held up my hand and turned slightly toward Sal. And a yellow pad appeared in my right hand, a ballpoint in my left.
“Certainly. Ready when you are.”
The Emperor looked off into space and sat for awhile, composing what to say.
“Alright, then. Here’s your story: Once upon a time, there was an Emperor who lived forever. And he found the world unjust. So he sent justice out to the lands. The few righteous among his peoples lived and the rest died. The End.”
The Empress cleared her throat.
Glancing at her, he continued: “And by his side was the all-powerful and ever-beautiful Empress who was loving and wise and righteous and immortal as well. The End.”
The Emperor and Empress were smiling at each other. And all their retainers were smiling as well.
“Bullocks.”
The Emperor looked down at me. “You said something?”
“Yes. Great Bull’s Balls. That’s what ‘bullocks’ means.”
He frowned from his throne. “But what did you mean by saying that – here in my own throne room.”
“I meant to say you don’t seem to know what a good story is. I can’t write that down. If I took that back everyone would think that I was a horrible writer and you were a pretentious bore who is full of himself.”
The Emperor had a shocked look, while the Empress started glowering at me like the first time we’d met.
“No, your Majesty, really – that’s what they’d say. Even if it wasn’t out loud. The whispers would go on and on and on. So I just can’t do that. It isn’t fair to you.”
He frowned at me again. “You’re some expert in this area? Some expert scribe?”
“I’ve written and published a few hundred books and stories, yes. And they get bought and people seem to like them.”
“And what the people think really matters?”
“Well, if they don’t buy them, then your story never gets told. And you get forgotten. So yes, my stories get told and people tell other people and the best stories get told over and over. It gets so bad with some of those books that other authors copy my best stories and try to pass them off as their own. But that’s OK – because the point I’m here to do is to get the story told.”
I slipped the pad under my arm and clicked the ballpoint to tuck it inside my outer jacket. “So I think we’re done here.”
And I turned as if to leave, seeing the shocked faces on both Sal and Gaia as I turned partly and stopped.
Now the Emperor was fuming. “YOU DARE.”
I turned back. In a quiet voice, “Yes, I dare. I dare to write only the best stories.”
I turned back and took a step forward. “I dare write stories that will be told through the ages, the truly immortal tales that become legend.”
My legs continued to walk me toward his throne with small, deliberate steps (my usual pasture gait and pace would have me by his side in two or three steps.)
“I dare to request – no, I demand – that you tell me the real story about you and your Empress so that your tale will be retold across the rest of the world forever until the end of time.”
And then I stopped where I stood. “Or...”
The Emperor recovered a bit, as my steady, slow gait and words had pushed him right against his throne back. “Or... or... OR...?”
“Perhaps, your Majesty, I may have misspoke. I may need to share my mental warehouse of accumulated wisdom of what makes a good story great. I mean to say – what you told me so far does have a decent premise, but it’s just lacking details and form.”
He leaned on one arm of his throne and considered.
I turned to one side, looked to Sal, and whispered, “Just nod and point to Gaia.”
She did – and I then turned to Gaia, whispering, “Look around me at Sal and then shrug in a big way, then shake your head and look down.”
That’s exactly what she did. I then turned again to Sal, where she also shrugged and looked down.
I turned back to the Emperor. “Well, I’ve consulted my own retainers and they came to the same conclusion. And so, great Emperor, I’l
l have to apologize. I’ve wasted your and my time. Now I have to arrange for some camels to take us all back.”
I bowed my head and again started to turn away.
“Wait.”
I turned my head back to look aside at the Emperor, seeing the Empress move her hand to cover her smile at these theatrics – her twinkling eyes said she was amused. “Your Majesty?”
The Emperor stood straight on his throne one more. “I said, ‘wait’. While The Emperor must be perfect in all things, I do see that perhaps there are other stories you can write while I recall all the details of my long journeys and adventures I’ve experienced. Most of these have occurred so long ago that they have faded as all the day-to-day details of administration have crowded them from recollection.”
I smiled again. “Of course, your Majesty. That can happen from time to time. And perhaps you are right. There may be other stories I could write while I wait. Like these eight tapestries – there is probably a story behind the person painted on each one.”
The Emperor beamed, “Yes, actually, there are. Those were some of my finest accomplishments. Conquering these eight Immortals and trapping them inside those wall hangings wasn’t easy.” He turned to look at the Empress, who nodded with him.
“But, your Highness, it would be better if I heard from the people themselves. You say they are immortal – what if you release one at a time so that they can amuse your court with their stories?”
The Empress leaned over and whispered to the Emperor. He held up a finger. “One minute, scribe, I must confer with my consort.”
I waited, patient, looking at the tapestries. I could see their painted glowers turn to smiles and amused looks. There was something in these. And yes, they were moving – torchlight or not.
Finally, the two rulers completed their discussion.
“Scribe.”
“John.”
“What?”
“Please, your Majesty, call me John.”
“Well, then – John – we will take this under advisement. The Immortals were and are a tricky bunch. The Empress and I must consult our spells to see how we can keep them still under control while temporarily released. They might try to escape once they are freed.”
