Sky of Paper: An Asian Steam-Driven Fantasy Tale

by Matthew Seaver

  "Please, help them," I said with as much humility as I could muster.

  "How dare you touch his Imperial Highness," Dae Jung growled. "Take your hand off him."

  I ignored him, looking solely at the boy who’d earlier risked his own life for my sake. I knew him well enough now, that I was certain he shared my feelings about those trapped outside.

  "Help them how?” he pleaded. “We can't lower the ramp again. There's no time."

  “There has to be a way,“ I said, then darted away and climbed up several stairwells until I reached the main deck and found the guard captain still yelling at the crowd below.

  "We need to drop the rope ladders," I said, but the guard captain seemed too occupied to attend to the pandering of a young boy such as myself.

  "Drop the rope ladders." I cried out much louder this time.

  Still nothing.

  I ran across the deck, pulling open one of the deck panels which stored a single rope ladder and picked up the bundle, intent on throwing it over the side, but several guards pulled me away from the railing and restrained my arms.

  "What do you think you're doing?" the guard captain demanded, but I realized that no matter what I said, he‘d never listen.

  A defiant grunt spat from my lips as one of the guards tightened his grasp and twisted my arm, but I kept my silence. There was no longer any point in explaining myself. Losing their patience and knowing that they had little time to quarrel with children they proceeded to take me away. I struggled, then struck the back of my head against the man’s chest and elbowed him in the stomach. He winced from the pain, relaxing his grip. I broke free and headed for the rope ladder still piled near the railing, but to my dismay, I didn’t get very far. Just as I was about to pick up the pile once more, the guard captain took me by the wrist.

  "Let him go." Young Emperor’s command rang out like a gong, immediately turning the guards' attention.

  Without hesitation, he released his grasp and followed suit with the other men who acknowledged his presence with a bow.

  "Release the rope ladders, all of them," He said.

  "As you command," the guard captain replied, then repeated the order to the deck hands. All the deck panels were opened and every rope ladder was tossed over the side.

  "You will make sure that everyone below is brought aboard," he continued. "Those too weak to climb will be tied and hoisted. Do you understand."

  With practiced discipline, the guard captain acknowledged the order and sent runners below to summon more help.

  The Young Emperor and I looked at each other, knowing that this one small triumph had saved the both of us from a lifetime of shame and regret. Kassashimei emerged from below nodding approvingly at me as if she’d witnessed my deed.

  "Lai is in the ritual room," she said. "He's going to launch the ship."

  "What about Ai?" I asked. "Shouldn't she be doing it?"

  "Of course not," she said matter-of-factly. "She has more urgent things to do."

  "What urgent things?"

  Ai loomed from an open hatch some distance away, reverently making her way across the deck. A steady line of chienkuu ko followed behind her then spread to the railings on either side. They took their places, sure of the task given to them. The boys stood to the front against the rail taking their ready stances while the girls waited patiently behind them.

  The guard captain took great care to make sure that the children were not disturbed as he and his men hoisted the refugees aboard; all the while, the Young Emperor looked on, keeping an aura of confidence in all he surveyed.

  Ai peered over her shoulder to both Kassashimei and I. "You two, come with me."

  The ominous snapping of gunfire seemed closer now. Any moment, the general's men would be upon us.

  Ai took her place at the very bow of the ship, right up against the very edge of the railing. She took a deep breath, calming herself.

  Keeping her back to us, she said, "you must help me."

  "I don't understand. Help you with what?" I asked.

  "You will know in a moment."

  With great, sweeping motions of her body, she summoned a gentle breeze that swept across the ship, rustling trees and picking up swarms of leaves. After a short time, the sky darkened ever so slightly and a damp smell, like the withering moments just after a spring rain, filled the air. Above us, clouds began to form.

  I watched with great surprise as Ai made her talents known to me, leaving me humbled as she displayed her mastery in controlling even the weather. It wasn’t long before I came to realize what she was doing.

  After Kassashimei gave me a confirming nod, I proceeded into my ready stance. The ether became a swirling mass, writhing and churning as if someone were stirring the sky itself with an invisible brush.

  Taking a queue from Ai, I swept my arms about and took grasp of the clouds that had formed above us, spreading them out, until they were large enough to cover the sun. Then, just as I had seen Ai done last night, we toppled the ether like an avalanche, sending the clouds falling to the earth.

  The refugees shouted and cried out with such distress as what was only a moment ago, a bright sunny day, had now become gray and murky as a thick fog filled the air. Such was the veil that would shield our escape.

  The chienkuu ko lined neatly across the deck used their own skills to suspend and shape the fog so as to keep the ship hidden.

  "Captain, is everyone aboard?"

  From where I stood, the child emperor’s form was but a dark, ghostly shadow amidst the gray, watery haze.

  "We have done as you commanded your Imperial Highness," the guard captain replied. "Everyone we could possibly save is now aboard."

  "Then it‘s time to leave."

  A runner was sent aft, where he gave the all-ready into the voice tube. The ship's captain high above in the command tower sounded the departure bells. Shortly, the hull began to creak and rattle, straining against the steam engines as they came to full power, lurching us forward ever steadily. The ship seemed anxious in its departure as it scraped against the ground, pummeling trees and foliage under its bow. We found ourselves in such a hurry that the engines were premature in giving the vessel forward momentum as Lai in the ritual room below, had not yet completed his task of lifting the bow into the air. But I had little doubt in his skills, as almost instantly the ship began to float into the currents.

  Moments later, a familiar voice was heard crying out from within the fog.

  "Ai! I know you’re there." It was Masa, Ai's brother, beckoning from below. "Please come back to us. Father says he forgives you. I know you‘re not a traitor."

  Masa was certainly with the general's party and there was no doubt that he was now a part of Rui Nan's Air Navy, one of many chienkuu ko in service to General Fung's military. Still, to hear his voice sounding in the distance was a shock that Ai was assuredly not prepared for.

  I watched as she froze, while a brief expression of disbelief flashed suddenly upon her face. She then lowered her listless gaze.

  "You shouldn’t listen to him," I said. “Especially if he’s joined your father.”

  "He's lying." Though it was obvious that hearing her brother saddened her, I sensed a hint of admiration as she spoke of him. "Even though he's calling out to me, he has no sincerity in his voice. He's calling my name only because Master Lu... our father ordered him to. I know my brother, and I know what he truly wants for me. He wants me to run. He wants me to stay away, to stay as far away as I can possibly go."

  "You can tell that, just by hearing his voice?" Kassashimei asked.

  "Of course. We're siblings are we not?" She turned her head away in a vain attempt to conceal her emotions. Her voice wavered slightly. "Please, keep at your duties. We‘re not in the clear just yet."

  I nodded, and Kassashimei and I turned our focus back to the task at hand. Just as we had shaped the flames the night before, we pushed and pulled at the surrounding clouds, making sure to obscure our escape.

&n
bsp; However, even as I kept to my duties, an icy feeling of guilt gripped my chest. I‘d seen something that very few had ever witnessed. Ai, in all her elegance and gentle pride, had faltered and shown me herself in a fleeting moment of weakness. Though I knew it was not my place ask, I wondered what regrets, or perhaps what shame she carried secretly with her.

  We left the Eastern Kingdom that day in much the same way that we’d left Rui Nan. We’d become a ship of outcasts, carrying the exiled from not one, but two separate countries.

  The Eastern Kingdom was a nation four times the size of our homeland. But because of its history of ceaseless civil conflicts, the country was never stable enough to carry a sizable military. Unrest amongst neighboring clans and border raiders had left the citizens of the Eastern Kingdom in greater poverty than any nation in the world at the time. It was because of this that General Fung was able to conquer the king's territory in only one short month. Though his surprise attack was ruthless and unrelenting the rest of the countries of the world, concerned with their own domestic affairs and hiding behind a curtain of ignorance hardly paid any notice of the actions of one tiny island nation. Why would anyone care about the ambitions of one unimportant, impoverished country conquering another?

  Chapter 19

  "I am the Queen of this ship." Princess Xiangfeng and a few of her own guards confronted Dae Jung, who stood unwaveringly between her and the gold and brass laden doors that lead into the ship's throne room. "You will let me see the Emperor this instant."

  "My lady," Dae Jung said bowing his head slightly. "The Young Emperor cannot be disturbed. He is in his morning prayer rituals. You may see him when he is finished."

  I watched from the other side of the corridor as the princess of the Eastern Kingdom, betrothed to our Young Emperor, and one of many desperate people whom we had saved in the capital over a month ago, stammer on before Dae Jung in an almost undignified manner. Her mother, An Wei, did all she could to calm her angry daughter, but for all her efforts, she seemed unable to tame the young, growling beast-of-girl. I found myself growing wary, as I had been summoned to the throne room, as crossing the young girl’s path did not seem to be the wisest thing to do.

  Even so, I took a deep breath, and before I had a chance to consider the awkward situation I‘d be bringing myself into, I stepped quickly down the hall. I bowed quite respectfully to Princess Xiangfeng, then turned and faced Dae Jung immediately, whom I also gave a courteous bow.

  "I have been summoned by the Young Emperor," I said.

  My interjection had somehow silenced the quarrel between the two, at least for the moment. I kept my eyes averted, determined not to look into the face of the man whom I knew was carefully judging the truth of my words.

  "Very well," he said finally.

  The door guards cracked open the door and waved me in. Immediately Princess Xiangfeng protested.

  "So the boy is given audience while I, the Emperor's destined bride, stands ignored?" she said haughtily.

  "I'm afraid that he did not ask for you my lady," Dae Jung replied.

  The furious, muddled tones of her voice resonated even after the doors shut behind me. I gave a long, accomplished sigh of relief, then looked out across the vast throne room that had also become the Young Emperor‘s personal chambers. I’d never been inside such a place, and to be standing within the most important room at the heart of a floating palace sent both feelings of uneasiness and awe rippling down my spine like a curtain of water.

  The room was quite cavernous, with a ceiling high enough that it must have towered through several decks. From one length to the other, almost every detail, including the floors, were made of wood, shined to a beautiful, glossy sheen. Even the delicate pillars, wrapped in detailed gold moldings in the shape of dragons, seemed to be made entirely of a single tree trunk. Adding to the grandeur of the room, the grain in the wood, gave a faint shimmer, as if carved from some rare, enchanted tree. If given the chance, I probably would have felt content to simply spend the day in the majesty of my surroundings.

  Laid out across the center of the floor, was a heavy red and gold length of carpet that stretched from the entrance to the steps of a large, brass throne at the far end of the room. Lining the walls to the left and right, were thin sliding doors made of white paper fabric, each probably hiding a room with their own divine aura of importance. Hanging from the walls high above, were banners and scrolls, all painted with the same picturesque image of mist-covered mountains looming over wide valleys of forests and farmland. Many years later, I would learn that such ink paintings were commonplace in the halls of the Imperial Family. These paintings were presented in respect for the ancient days when Rui Nan's capital began as a humble stretch of huts and rice-laden fields.

  Scattered about the room were a dozen or so conversing individuals, dressed in finely woven robes and intricate hair styles adorned with gleaming trinkets. A few were plainly dressed monks, wearing cotton red robes standing obediently next to a small golden gong which they used to ring in the time and summon the Young Emperor to his next appointment.

  To my surprise, I found Kassashimei with the Young Emperor himself. They were both standing next to the throne. She spoke to him in hushed, intimate tones, as if she were conveying words to him that possessed great importance. He lowered his head, as they leaned in close to each other, then listened to her as if he were moved by the haunting melodies of some musician's flute. Watching the two left me with an eerie feeling of emptiness, which drove me to bewilderment and confusion. As I approached, a soft, whispered voice beckoned my attention.

  "Terr, please come here." Ai was standing in the open doorway of one of the side rooms. She waved me towards her, then slid the door closed as I came in and asked that I sit at the low table in the middle of the room. The room was very small, with just enough space for four tatami mats and a square table, which had upon it, two bamboo cups and a ceramic teapot. She sat across from me and poured tea for the both of us. The delicate, exotic scent of the tea made me feel strangely uneasy. "I may be blind, but I can tell that being near me makes you uncomfortable."

  "No, that isn't it," I said. "It's just, no one except my sister has ever poured tea for me."

  She held the cup to her nose taking pleasure in its aroma.

  "Well, you may not be royalty, but you are a guest in this room. Besides, you've endured serving tea to my father for all those months. Why not allow me to do this small favor?"

  I took a sip. It was the most heavenly thing I had ever tasted.

  "This is Master Lu's favorite," she said. "One of his old personal servants is aboard this ship. I thought it would be fitting to have him make it for us."

  "I thought he hated tea."

  "He lies quite a bit Terr."

  I placed the cup on the table feeling somehow cheated. In a practiced, ceremonial-like fashion she sipped from her own cup, relishing the taste, then gently set it down.

  "I was the one who summoned you Terr."

  "Did you also summon Kassashimei?"

  "Actually, it was she who asked that I allow her to see the Young Emperor. Normally I don't grant such requests, but there‘s definitely something about her that makes her different from everyone else. I don‘t know if you‘ve realized it yet, but she‘s quite special."

  "I'm sorry if I seem a little rude, but why does she want to see him?"

  "Unfortunately, that is a personal matter that I can't share with you. If you really are concerned, you should ask her yourself.” She paused, rubbing the brim of her cup with the tips of her fingers. “Now, there’s something important that both you and I need to discuss."

  Her tone left me worried. "Is something wrong? There‘s something wrong isn‘t there? Is something terrible about to happen."

  "Terrible things have already happened Terr. We no longer have a home to sail to and our one and only ally is gone. We are alone. Dae Jung will be looking into other possible destinations, but for now, we cannot have the Young Emperor l
ose hope. Be there when he needs you and help him in any way you can. I had hoped that Princess Xiangfeng would be the companionship he needed, but I see now that he needs much more than her."

  I too looked longingly into my cup, then raised my eyes to meet hers.

  "I've been told all this before by Dae Jung. Now that I‘ve been told a second time, how is it any different?"

  "Because Terr, the days are coming when your faith in everyone as well as the Young Emperor‘s, will be tested."

  That evening, Kassashimei and I were waiting in the ritual room, preparing to fly the ship. The monks sounded a set of chimes, informing the two children, whom we were to replace, that their shift had come to an end.

  Kassashimei seemed distracted as she gazed upon the shadowy sky beyond the glass canopy. The image of her with the child emperor still lingered in my mind. Determined, I decided to ask her why she was with him.

  "Kass-?"

  "Terr," she interrupted, her eyes still upon the sky.

  "Y-yes?"

  "Did you remember to bring your beads?"

  I sighed. "Yes I remembered."

  "Good."

  The monks blessed us with a few chants and meticulously prepared us for the next four hours we‘d be spending in that room. Perhaps it would have been rude of me to ask her, or maybe I was scared of the answer. Regardless of the reason, I decided to let the question go, if only for the night.

  There are many stories in the Eastern Kingdom about Queen Xiangfeng, the Warrior Queen; some so incredible, that they must have been born of fantasy and exaggeration. The ones which most people believe to be true honored her grand military conquests and fierce leadership. She was certainly a woman both feared and deeply respected. While many royal women at the time learned the ways of courting, polite conversation and politics she demanded an education in battlefield strategy, uniform wear and warrior codes and ethics. Her unique upbringing alone had made her a legend in her own country. Everyone knew, whether true or not, that she lived as a grand, untamable woman. As a young girl however, I was one of the few who knew her during her most mysterious and undocumented period of her life.