He stopped struggling. “Promise.”
Kai stayed in his goat shape. After no more than twice-ten paces, Ping had to stop to get her breath back. She wondered how long she could walk without food or water.
Then she heard voices shouting. The alarm had been raised already. She glanced back. Imperial guards were dividing into search parties.
Pulling the goat with her, Ping ducked into the cover of the bamboo grove, but it was no safer there. Guards were moving through the bamboo grove as well, fanning out in all directions. Ping crouched behind a thick clump of bamboo.
“It doesn’t matter if the girl is killed!” a voice shouted. “But the dragon mustn’t be harmed. And remember that it can take on disguises. It could be a bucket, a jar or a soup ladle.”
A guard strode past. He thrust his spear into the canes where Ping and Kai were hiding. The point came to rest less than a hand-width from Kai’s nose. The little dragon didn’t make a sound.
“Good boy, Kai,” she said.
She could hear imperial guards on all sides, slashing down canes with their swords, thrusting their spears into the densest growth. Ping was beginning to think that the road might be safer after all. She was just about to turn towards it, when a hand clamped over her mouth. Ping tried to free herself.
“There is no need to be afraid,” said a gentle voice behind her.
Ping stopped struggling. She recognised the voice. It was Lady An.
“Put this on,” she said taking off the blue and gold cloak and head scarf that she was wearing.
Underneath she was wearing a reddish gown similar to Ping’s. Ping draped the cape around her shoulders and put the head scarf over her hair.
“Tell Kai to turn into something you can carry,” Lady An said.
Kai understood her words. He changed back into a basket.
“More imperial guards are coming,” Lady An said. “Go to Princess Yangxin.”
Before Ping had a chance to say anything, Lady An started to run through the bamboo grove, slipping through the narrow spaces between the canes, darting this way and that like a startled animal. Guards came crashing past. Ignoring the girl wearing the Duke’s colours and carrying a basket, they chased after the running figure.
Ping stepped out into the road again glad that the cloak and head scarf concealed her. Guards were everywhere, searching every wagon, prodding and poking every bucket and jar. She walked towards the sedan chairs and the camels that were loaded with the Princess’s baggage.
She had to stop to rest. She put the basket-shaped dragon down for a moment near a stall selling hot food.
“I’ve found it!”
An imperial guard appeared at the stall. He had discovered a soup ladle with a handle carved in the shape of a dragon. He poked the ladle with his sword but didn’t dare pick it up.
Ping couldn’t see Kai anywhere.
She heard sweet flute notes. Ping looked around trying to find their source. There were people and animals everywhere, but her eyes fell on one little boy. He was about four years old. It was her own half-brother. He looked up at her with a gap-toothed smile. Ping reached out to stroke his hair. She felt a strange sensation as her hand rested, not on silky hair, but on the rough scales of a dragon.
Ping stared at the boy.
“But you didn’t come to my family’s house. How do you know what Liang looks like?”
“Kai see in Ping’s mind.”
The curtains of one of the sedan chairs were drawn aside.
“Get in, Ping.” It was the Princess. “Where is Kai?”
Ping pointed to the child beside her. Just as Ping and Kai climbed up, the camel drivers flicked their beasts with whips. The camels set off groaning and complaining.
The bearers lifted the sedan chair. They were moving. Ping slumped back in her seat, suddenly overcome by weariness and relief. She looked across at the Princess who looked as cool and calm as ever.
“Thank you, Your Imperial Majesty,” she said.
Kai was sniffing a basket.
“Would Kai like something to eat?”
“He hasn’t had any food since yesterday and he’s very weak.”
“I heard what my brother did to him,” the Princess said. She opened the basket and the smell of roasted meat wafted out.
“Birdies!” said Kai, popping back into his dragon shape again.
The basket contained a number of roasted quails.
“Eat all you like,” the Princess said.
Kai didn’t need further encouragement. He stuck his head in the basket and ate the quails, bones and all.
“I’m afraid you will have to wait until we stop for the midday meal to eat and change your clothes, Ping.”
“I don’t want to cause you any trouble,” Ping said. “Once we are away from the river, we’ll make our own way.”
“You won’t get far,” the Princess replied. “You have serious injuries and the weather is worsening. Come all the way to Yan with us.”
“I’ve allowed the promise of safety and comfort to lure me away from my true path too often.”
“You mustn’t punish yourself, Ping. You have saved Kai. Heal yourself before you start on your journey. You haven’t had time to decide where you are going. And, believe me, Yan is not always safe or comfortable.”
“But what about the Duke?”
“You can pose as one of my servants. Kai can be an orphan boy who I have taken on to train as a bodyguard. The Duke will have no interest in either of you.”
Through a gap in the hangings, Ping could see the bamboo canes march by without her having to lift a toe. She was willing to be carried wherever the sedan chair was going.
“You have been so kind to me, Princess Yangxin,” Ping said.
“My brother has treated you and Kai shamefully,” the Princess said. “If he hadn’t been blinded by his obsession, he would know you are the true Dragonkeeper.”
“You believe I am?”
“I know you are,” the Princess replied. “I have watched you with Kai. I have seen your devotion to him. You are injured, bleeding, but your first thought is for him.”
“The Emperor doesn’t think I’m the true Dragonkeeper.”
“I have to confess that I wasn’t sure at first.”
“What convinced you?”
The Princess pulled something from the sleeve of her gown. It was a strip of bamboo with characters written on it. It was the same strip that Hua had brought to her. Ping looked at the characters. To her surprise she could read almost all of them. It was a prediction.
“In the second year of Emperor Wu a new Dragonkeeper will appear. She will be shunned but she is the true Dragonkeeper.”
Ping stared at the strip. “It says ‘she’.”
“Yes.”
“It could be a mistake.”
The Princess shook her head.
“How did you get this?”
“Your rat brought it to me.
“But I thought you hated rats.”
“I do, but this one was so persistent. After he had brought it to me for the third time, I read it. It is the last strip of a book. Someone untied it, so it couldn’t be read.”
Ping remembered when she had burst in on the Emperor and Dong Fang Suo when the bamboo books about dragons had first arrived from Chang’an. The Imperial Magician had been retying the strings of a book then. She looked at the strip in her hand. All the books would have been destroyed in the fire. This one strip was all that remained of them. Now there was no doubting it. All of the knowledge about dragons in the Empire was contained in her head.
“You have had your doubts, Ping,” Princess Yangxin said. “Are you now convinced you are the true Dragonkeeper?”
“I know I am,” she said. “I didn’t need a bamboo book to tell me. In my heart, I knew.”
She stroked Kai’s rough scales. “I just didn’t believe I could do the job properly.”
Ping didn’t know whether Danzi had withheld knowledge from her on
purpose, or whether the old dragon had just forgotten what he was supposed to tell her. It didn’t matter. No set of rules could help her. She had to teach herself. And Danzi trusted her to do that. She was the last Dragonkeeper, that’s what he’d said. With that he had actually told her all she needed to know. She had to end dragons’ reliance on people. She had to teach Kai how to take care of himself. Accepting the imperial seal had been a mistake. She had allowed her affection for the Emperor to cloud her judgment. She wasn’t a slave girl, but she wasn’t an imperial courtier either. She was the Dragonkeeper. The last one. She had to find a place where Kai could live in freedom.
“Liu Che said there was nothing that prophesised a female Dragonkeeper,” Ping said. “He lied to me.”
The Princess’s eyes filled with tears. “His true character is good and honest. I pray that it is not lost forever.”
“Aren’t you angry that he is sending you back to Yan?” Ping asked.
The Princess shook her head. “I begged the Duke to take me back.”
Ping turned to the Princess in surprise.
“The Duke was ready to enlist the barbarians beyond the Great Wall and prepare to wage war on the Empire. Liu Che ignored this threat. You were right, Ping. My brother is obsessed with his search for immortality.”
“But he’s going back to Chang’an now, isn’t he? The Grand Counsellor will bring him to his senses.”
The Princess shook her head sadly.
“He is not going to Chang’an. He plans to sail to the source of the Yellow River where he has heard the peaches of immortality grow. The Empire is weak already, war would bring it to its knees. It is within my power to prevent this from happening. The Duke was fond of me before my indiscretion.”
The sedan chair slowed down and stopped.
“What’s wrong?” Ping said anxiously.
The hangings were pulled aside and Lady An stepped in. There were beads of perspiration on her forehead.
“One of the boxes has come loose. The camel drivers are securing it.”
“You lost your pursuers?” the Princess asked.
Lady An smiled. “They are chasing a deer.”
Urgent flute notes rang out. “Kai need to pee.”
“No, Kai,” said Ping anxiously. “You can’t.” She remembered what had happened the last time they were travelling and Kai had wanted to pee.
“Must go now!”
Ping couldn’t bear the thought of the Princess’s sedan chair flooded with foul-smelling dragon urine.
“We won’t be long,” she said to the Princess.
Princess Yangxin looked puzzled. “But the camels will start moving again at any moment. We must keep up with them.”
“Quick, Kai,” Ping said. “Take on the shape of Liang.”
The little dragon shook his head. “Only pee in dragon shape.”
Kai jumped out of the sedan chair. Ping followed him. They had travelled no more than two or three li. The road was still crowded with people who had come to see the camel caravan from Yan. Ping held out her cloak to hide the dragon.
“Hurry up!” she said.
“Won’t come,” Kai said sadly.
The Princess peeped through the curtains to see what the delay was.
“Trying,” said Kai.
“Your Majesty,” Ping said. “Do you have a wine jar?”
The Princess nodded. She handed Ping a lovely alabaster wine jar. Ping tipped the jar and let the wine dribble out onto the road. The trickling sound did the trick.
“Peeing,” said Kai triumphantly.
A pool of dark green dragon urine formed on the road. Ping looked around anxiously, sure that the awful smell would attract attention. The camel drivers called out in a strange language. The camels answered with their grunting, groaning cry and set off again.
“Hurry up!”
“Not finished.”
The bearers picked up the sedan chair.
There was a sudden gust of icy wind. Leaves swirled in the air. Something else was blown along by the wind. It fluttered and turned, billowing in the breeze like a miniature sail on a boat. It fluttered down and settled on a tuft of grass poking up between two stone slabs. It was the silk square. The dragon repositioned himself. A new stream of urine splashed onto the tuft of grass, soaking the silk square.
“Wet,” said Kai cheerfully.
Ping peered at the silk. It was changing. Faint marks were appearing on it. Despite the terrible smell, she picked up the silk by one corner. She could see pale characters on it. The marks were getting darker.
The sedan chair had moved ahead. Ping picked up Kai and tried to catch up with it. Every step sent pain shooting through her body. The bearers increased their pace. The Princess held back the curtains. With a huge effort, Ping managed to lift the little dragon into the sedan chair. She ran, despite the pain, but she couldn’t climb up herself. Her last shu of energy had been used up.
Snowflakes stared to fall. The clouds that had been threatening for over a week decided to release their burden. Princess Yangxin reached out and took Ping’s outstretched hand. She pulled Ping inside. The Princess had more strength than Ping had ever imagined.
Ping collapsed on the floor gasping with pain and exhaustion. She lifted herself onto the seat next to the Princess and stared at the dripping silk, which was still clutched in her hand. The marks were now dark brown. The silk square was covered with lines and curves. There were some characters too, written scratchily with a shaky hand. Ping could read many of them. They were the names of roads, rivers and a mountain.
“What do these other two characters say?” she asked.
The Princess held a fold of her head scarf over her nose and looked at the silk. “Kun-lun,” she answered. “The Kun-lun Mountains. It’s a map.”
Kai was perched on the seat between her and the Princess, making high and happy flute notes.
“Message from Father,” he said.
“Yes,” said Ping. “It’s a message from Danzi. Hidden behind your reverse scale. Now I know where our path lies.”
“Not just yet though,” the Princess said. “Allow yourself some time to rest and recover.”
The snow was falling heavily. The countryside had turned white.
“The Kun-lun Mountains are impassable in winter. You must spend the winter months in Yan.”
“Travel with Prissy,” Kai said, happily snuffling about in the basket to see if there was any food he had missed.
It took Ping a moment to work out who Kai meant.
The little dragon looked up at the Princess. “Prissy play ball?”
“No, Kai!” Ping exclaimed.
“Prissy tell story?”
“No! You’ll have to sit still and behave yourself all the way to Yan.”
Kai belched.
“Okay.”
He walked round in a circle in the space between Ping and the Princess. Finally, he settled down. He coiled his scaly body into a tight knot with his nose under his back paws and his tail pulled up through the middle.
The Princess smiled. So did Ping. She settled back to enjoy the peace and quiet. She knew it wouldn’t last long.
GLOSSARY
CHANG
A measure of distance equal to about 2.3 metres.
CINNABAR
A bright red mineral whose chemical name is mercuric sulphide.
HAN DYNASTY
A period in Chinese history when the emperors all belonged to a particular family. It lasted from 202 BCE to 220 CE.
HAN FOOT
A measure of length equal to about 23 centimetres.
JADE
A semiprecious stone also known as nephrite. Its colour varies from green to white.
JIN
The measure of weight for gold.
JUJUBE
A name for the fruit known as the Chinese date.
LI
A measure of distance equal to about half a kilometre.
QI
According to traditional
Chinese beliefs, qi is the life energy that flows through us and controls the workings of the body.
SHU
A measure of weight equal to about half a gram.
PRONUNCIATION
The Chinese words in this book are written in pinyin which is the official way of writing the sound of Chinese characters using the English alphabet. These words aren’t always pronounced the way you might think. Here is a guide to help you pronounce them correctly.
Dong Fang Suo Dung (u as in butcher) Fang Swar (as in swarm)
Hua Hw-ar (rhymes with far)
Huan Hwan
Huangling Hwang-ling
Jun Jun (u as in butcher)
Long Kai Duan Lung (u as in butcher) Kai (rhymes with buy) Dw-aan
Lao Ma L-ow (rhymes with now) Ma (rhymes with far)
Liu Che Lee-oo (oo as in loop) Chur (as in church)
Lu-lin Loo (rhymes with shoe) lin
Danzi Dan-za
Ming Yang Sounds just like it looks
Ping Sounds just like it looks
Tai Shan Tai (pronounced as tie) Shan
Xiao Zheng Show (as in shower) Jung (u as in butcher)
Xiu-xin Shee-oo (oo as in loop) shin (rhymes with bin)
Yangxin Yang Shin (rhymes with bin)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Once again I am indebted to all those researchers who have written about the Han Dynasty and scholars who have translated ancient Chinese books, and made all their knowledge available to people like me. There is a full bibliography on my website at http://home.iprimus. com.au/carolew/
I’d like to make special mention of Marinus Willem de Visser, to whom I have dedicated this book. He was a Dutch academic who studied Chinese and Japanese religion and folklore—and dragons. His book The Dragon in China and Japan, published in 1913, contains translations of dragon mythology from ancient Chinese works and is the source of most of my knowledge of Chinese dragons.
I would also like to thank my husband, John, and my daughter, Lili, for their continual support, love and friendship.
Special thanks to everyone at black dog books, especially Alison Arnold and Andrew Kelly, for their unflagging enthusiasm and dedication in the creation of this book.
Carole Wilkinson’s Dragonkeeper series is loved by readers all over the world and books in the series have won both literary and children’s choice awards. Carole embarked on her writing career at the age of 40, happily leaving behind her previous employment as a laboratory technician in jobs involving blood and brains. She has been making up for lost time ever since. She has a fascination with dragons and is interested in the history of everything. Her books are a combination of meticulous research and imagination.
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