Eunuch Lo took the lead for a while, followed by Zhihao, and finally Jiayi. Eunuch Lo was very thorough as he searched high and low for anything out of place. They moved slowly and surely until Zhihao and Jiayi heard a groan from Eunuch Lo. They all looked up as a string his torch had touched sizzled and snapped. The cave rumbled, and they all hit the ground and covered their heads as several large boulders bounced toward them but glanced off the higher rocks around them and fell down a nearby cliff. They waited until the cave was silent again before moving.
“We are lucky that didn’t start a cave-in,” Zhihao said.
“Maybe we should head back,” Jiayi said. “Maybe the cave is cursed. Or maybe it is like the pearl over the emperor’s throne—no one should be here except the emperor.”
“Don’t be silly,” Zhihao said. “It’s not a curse. The traps were set by humans. We just have to be smarter humans.”
Jiayi didn’t think it would be that simple. It was easier to set traps than avoid them, she figured. But she didn’t really want to go back. She agreed that the cave had to be trapped for a reason. She hung back, though, away from Zhihao and Eunuch Lo as they moved deeper into the cave. They managed to find three more trap triggers, more twine stretching the length of the path high and low, and avoided them. They finally came to a large open cavern. The ceiling had to be dozens of meters high. There was filtered light coming in through small cracks in the far wall that glistened off of the moist stalactites. Jiayi gasped. She had seen many amazing things in her visions, but seeing something so incredible in real life took her breath away.
Zhihao smiled at her. “It never gets old,” he said.
“What?” she asked.
“I’ve been in caves all over the world, yet each one is a marvel of nature.”
Jiayi nodded in agreement.
Her wonder quickly soured, though, when she saw that there were several more old skeletons scattered around the room. This place might not be cursed, but it certainly had a foul energy.
But there, in the middle of the room, sitting reverently on a stone pedestal, was a red lacquer box, just like the one that had once held the emperor’s seal.
Sixteen
“We found it!” Zhihao exclaimed. He couldn’t contain his excitement. They found it! Only a few days before, he thought this was nothing but a fool’s errand, but now they had actually found the damn thing!
The three of them ran over to it for a closer look. The box looked exactly the same as the one in the empress’s possession.
“It can’t be the real box,” Jiayi said. “The empress has the box.”
“But the empress has a fake seal,” Zhihao replied. “Maybe she has a fake box.”
“No,” Jiayi said, shaking her head. “I’ve traveled all through history with that box. I know it’s real.”
Zhihao nodded. “You are probably right. But still, this must be where the seal has been hidden all these years.”
He reached out to touch the box, but Eunuch Lo grabbed his wrist. “We found many traps in this cave,” he said. “The box could be a trap as well.”
Zhihao pulled his hand back but leaned in for a closer look. “You may be right,” he said. “But I’m not sure we will be able to find out if it is rigged or not without taking a chance.”
Jiayi held up her torch and looked around the room. She walked over to the cracked wall and ran her fingers over it. “Do you suppose this is where the emperor originally entered the cave?” she asked. “These rocks don’t quite fit together.”
Zhihao stood next to her and looked at his map. “Yes, I believe so. The emperor’s tent would have been on the other side of this wall.”
Jiayi sighed. “It’s just so overwhelming,” she said. “To be here, where the emperor once stood. Figuring out his greatest secret.”
“Well, we haven’t figured it out yet,” Zhihao said. “First, we need to get the seal out of the box.”
“What do you want to do?” she asked.
“Touch the box,” he said. “Maybe you will be able to learn whether or not the box is rigged and find out for sure if the seal is inside.”
Jiayi nodded. She walked over to the box and took some deep breaths. “Be sure to catch me when I fall,” Jiayi said to Zhihao.
“Always,” Zhihao said.
Jiayi’s heart swelled. She was foolish to think she could ever trust Marcus more than Zhihao. Zhihao was her friend and partner. After this was over, she would tell him everything and get him to help her escape the empress. Maybe he would even go with her.
As Zhihao stood next to her, she took off her gloves, inhaled deeply, and then reached out to touch the box.
Lady Cai looked around the cave. The entrance to the cave the men had built was concealed by the emperor’s tent, but a dozen torches lit the room bright as day. Several men were centering a large round stone in the room, the one that would hold the fake box for the seal. Or so the minister would think.
The emperor approached her and embraced her warmly, then the emperor kissed her with a hunger.
“What of the rebels?” she asked when the emperor stopped kissing her long enough to take a breath. “Have they been subdued?”
“Easily,” he said. “They were just hired thugs meant to menace me so I would have a chance to give you the seal.”
“I can’t believe Minister Shun thought I would betray you so easily,” Lady Cai said.
The emperor gently touched her face. “He doesn’t believe that love can be a powerful, protective force. He thinks it is a weakness.”
“Your love gives me strength,” she said. “Though I am still afraid. He is very powerful.”
“I know,” he said. “He would do anything to get his hands on it. And after you fail him, who knows who else of my inner circle he will try to enlist. That is why the seal must be hidden. We must keep it safe until I am sure of who I can trust again.”
The emperor waved his hand, summoning a young man. He could not have been much more than a teenager, but the family resemblance to Lady Cai was obvious.
“I appreciate you coming,” the emperor said. “If my lady trusts you, then I trust you as well.”
The boy kowtowed on the dirty ground. “Your faith in me is not misplaced,” he said.
“Stand up, brother,” the emperor said. He then motioned to Lady Cai.
From the box, Lady Cai removed the seal. In the light from the torches, the seal gleamed like fire. She placed the seal in a simple, unadorned wooden box and handed it to her brother.
“You must tell no one what you do with it, save the emperor himself. Not even me. Do you understand?” she asked.
“I do, dear sister,” the boy said, holding out his arms. She gave him the box. He then placed the box in a large sack and covered it with raw wool. If he were stopped, he would look like a simple shepherd.
“Go, and do not return,” the emperor said. “One of my men will arm traps leading to the cave’s entrance after you have exited.”
The boy bowed and backed away from the emperor until he was out of sight, followed by one of the emperor’s men. A person was never to turn his back on the emperor.
The emperor placed the empty seal box on the large stone and placed a scroll inside.
“I hope the minister does trace the seal here,” the emperor said. “It would serve the traitor right. If only I could see his face.”
“You have outsmarted him,” Lady Cai said. “He should know better than to try and betray you.”
The emperor looked around the room as his men placed the final stones in the way of the entrance from his tent. There was only one small opening left. The man who armed the traps then returned to the room.
“Men,” the emperor called out. “Line up.” They did as they were told. “You have served me well. Your families will be honored for your service.”
“May the emperor live ten thousand years!” they said in unison as they kowtowed.
The emperor then drew his sword and, before the me
n could react, he began to slaughter them one by one. Lady Cai screamed. The first man never saw the strike coming. The second and third men were too stunned to react. The last two men tried to escape, but there was nowhere to go. The emperor was blocking the way to his tent, but if they ran down the path, they would run into the traps. The men were unarmed as they were only performing physical labor. As the men panicked, the emperor calmly stalked them as a tiger does his prey and cut them down with ease.
Lady Cai was sick with horror. She had no idea he was going to kill the men who helped dig into the cavern and set the traps.
“How could you?” she asked.
“How could I not?” he asked. “It was the only way to protect the secrets of this place. Now only you, I, and your brother know the truth. Is that going to be a problem?” he asked, squeezing her hand tightly.
“No, no, my love,” she said, but she knew it was a lie. Their love would never be the same. She had never known the emperor to be so cold, so cruel. Was this the price of power? The price of keeping the throne secure?
“Good,” he said. He took her hand and led her through the small opening back to his tent. He then placed the last stone over the opening himself.
Jiayi’s eyes fluttered open. She was lying in Zhihao’s arms, and he was looking down at her affectionately.
“Welcome back,” he said. “So, is the box rigged? Can we open it?”
She sat up and rubbed her head, which was so overwhelmed with emotion. How could the emperor do that to his own men? She could feel Lady Cai’s anguish at instantly falling out of love and into fear of who she thought was her soulmate. Jiayi herself worried about how Zhihao was going to react when he learned the seal was not here. He would not be pleased.
“No. Yes…I don’t know. What was the question?” she asked as she tried to stand.
Zhihao held her hands and helped her to her feet. “Is the seal in the box? Is it safe to open?”
“I…I don’t know if it is safe to open,” she said. “I didn’t see him set a trap, but the emperor was…he was frightening.”
“What do you mean?” he asked. “Where is the seal?”
“It’s not here,” Jiayi finally said in a low voice, her head drooping. “He gave the seal to Lady Cai’s brother and set this cave up as a diversion, a trap for the minister.”
“What?” Zhihao nearly roared, his voice reverberating off the walls.
“I’m sorry,” Jiayi said, as though this was her fault.
Zhihao stomped over to the box and threw the lid back. He picked up the scroll that was inside it. He ripped the red silk band off and unfurled the paper.
“Congratulations, Minister,” he read aloud. “Your plan to gain control of the seal nearly worked, but the woman who you were sure would betray me saved me instead. It is you who will die this day. Perhaps you should have taken your own advice and never placed your trust in a mere girl.”
Zhihao crumpled the paper up and threw it to the ground. He looked in the box again, gripping its sides. “I can’t believe this,” he said. “After all that, it’s still lost.”
“We could still find it,” Jiayi said. “He sent it with Lady Cai’s brother. If we can find out who her brother was…”
“It doesn’t matter!” Zhihao yelled. “He’s long dead, whoever he was. He could have hidden it anywhere in China. Anywhere in the world!”
“But we’ve come this far,” Jiayi said. “If we find the brother, we can track more clues. Maybe he told another family member or lover about it. Maybe he left a will…”
“Maybe, maybe, maybe!” Zhihao said. “This whole endeavor is a waste of time. We never should have come here. I wish the empress had never sent for me. I never should have trusted her, never should have believed in…”
“…Me?” Jiayi finished for him.
Zhihao’s face went red and he turned away sheepishly. “We should go,” he finally said.
As he turned back toward the path, they all heard a clicking sound come from the seal box and then a low rumble.
“What did the letter say?” Jiayi asked, her voice trembling. “‘It is you who will die this day.’ How would he know that…unless…”
Zhihao sighed. “Unless he set the trap himself.”
They all looked up. Far above their heads, they saw a giant boulder swing free. It smashed into what must have been a load-bearing stalactite. As the rock hit it, the whole cave started to rumble and shake and rocks fell all around them.
“Run!” Eunuch Lo yelled as he grabbed Jiayi’s arm and pushed her toward the path. They all started running down the path, Zhihao in front, then Jiayi, and Eunuch Lo behind. The ground was slippery and uneven, and the shaking was getting worse. Jiayi was doing her best to keep up, and she was glad to have her thick-soled boots, but she was falling farther behind as they climbed over and under and around the obstructions on the way to the cave entrance.
In their rush, Jiayi forgot about the trap triggers they had avoided on the way in and she tripped over one of the taut pieces of twine.
“Oh no!” she gasped as she looked up and saw a large boulder falling toward her. She scrambled backward but not nearly fast enough.
“Jiayi!” Zhihao called out, but it was too late. He had to move forward, away from her to keep from getting crushed.
Jiayi screamed and held her hands over her head, sure she was about to die, when she felt the strong arms of Eunuch Lo pull her back. He pushed her against the wall and shielded her with his own body as the rock landed with an earth-shattering thud. Jiayi had barely taken a breath when the shaking started again. The rock then fell through the ground as the cavern floor split and the whole cave shifted. When the shaking stopped, Jiayi and Eunuch Lo were on one side of a vast gulf and Zhihao was on the other.
“Oh my god,” Jiayi moaned. There was no way she could jump across. If she went back, she would just end up back in the large room, which had most likely collapsed by now. The shaking and rumbling started again as the cave continued to collapse.
“Run!” Jiayi screamed to Zhihao. “Get out of here!”
“Jump!” Zhihao ordered. “You can make it.”
“I can’t!” she yelled back. The rumbling grew louder and some smaller rocks once again began falling around them.
Jiayi felt Eunuch Lo grab her belt.
“Catch her!” he yelled to Zhihao. Zhihao nodded.
“What?” Jiayi asked, panicked.
“I have fulfilled my promise,” Eunuch Lo whispered in her ear. Before she could react, he grabbed her foot and used all his strength to hurl her across the crevasse.
Jiayi stretched her hand out toward Zhihao and was shocked when their fingers touched. She felt Zhihao’s hands grip both of her wrists as she kept falling. Her body slammed into the wall of the crevasse, but she had at least stopped falling. She looked up and saw Zhihao straining to hold on.
“Use your feet!” he yelled. “Climb up! Climb up!”
She nodded and did as she was told, quickly finding footholds on the rock wall to shift her weight on to. After only two or three steps, Zhihao was able to lift her over the side of the ravine and back onto the path.
Without thinking, she embraced him, but only for a second. She then stood and looked back across the ravine at Eunuch Lo.
“Jump!” she called to him. “Hurry!”
“Run!” he yelled as more rocks fell, quicker now. Zhihao grabbed her arm and pulled her back down the path as the rocks fell in a deluge. She lost sight of Eunuch Lo.
Jiayi and Zhihao quickly made their way back along the remainder of the path. The temperature rose and sunlight began illuminating the cave. Even though they could still hear the cave falling apart behind them, they were soon safe outside.
Seventeen
Once they were out of the cave, Zhihao and Jiayi both collapsed in relief. They took deep breaths, grateful to be alive. After a minute, Jiayi ran back to the cave entrance.
“Eunuch Lo!” she called out. “Eunuch Lo!” But
all she heard was a slight rumbling of the last rocks settling. “What promise?” she screamed.
Zhihao grunted in annoyance. “He’s dead, Jiayi!” he snapped, more harshly than he intended.
Jiayi slumped to the ground and began to cry.
“Oh stop,” Zhihao said. “You never liked him anyway.”
“I didn’t want him to die,” she said. “Especially not for me! Why would he do that?”
“Don’t put too much thought into it,” he said. “It was his job to protect you. If you had died and he went back to the empress, she’d have killed him anyway.”
“How can you be so heartless?” she asked, tears streaming down her face.
Zhihao ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “Forget it, Jiayi. Just forget it. Let’s go home. I’ll be glad to put this whole fiasco behind me.”
Jiayi wiped her face as the two of them headed back to camp. Zhihao knew he was acting badly. He shouldn’t be so cruel or blame Jiayi for what happened. But the truth was that he was feeling terribly guilty over the death of Eunuch Lo, and it was bringing back horrible memories of his last dig in Egypt and how things had ended with Rebecca. He groaned to himself and walked more quickly back to the camp.
When they arrived, Zhihao started tearing down his tent and packing what he could on his horse.
“Zhihao,” Jiayi said softly. “It is already late in the day and we are both exhausted. Should we not stay here for the night?”
“I couldn’t stay here another moment,” he said. “You do what you want.”
“You would…leave me here?” she asked, worry lines creasing her brow.
Zhihao tightened one of his saddle straps. He wanted to be alone. He wanted to ride away by himself and never speak of this misadventure again, but he took a deep breath and stopped himself from saying such out loud.
“Of course not,” he said after an unacceptably long pause. “Just pack your things, please, and let’s get out of here.”
Jiayi turned and did her best to tear down her tent and pack her things. She was clumsy and obviously had no idea what she was doing, but Zhihao couldn’t find it in himself to help her. He remembered that it was Eunuch Lo who had built and tore down her tent the past few nights. It was Eunuch Lo who had packed her gear and cooked her breakfast. As a lady raised in the palace, Jiayi had not been taught a single life skill. She would surely die if he left her to her own devices.
The Emperor's Seal Page 10
