The Divining

by Wood, Barbara

  Timonides glanced in the direction of his master, who sat at his own campfire, studying his most recently acquired map of the region. Timonides wondered briefly what was going through Sebastianus's mind—entertaining thoughts, no doubt, of Ulrika—and then Timonides returned his attention to the flames and the "dragon bone."

  As Sebastianus studied his map, he was momentarily distracted by an eruption of loud, drunken laughter. He looked up to see Primo and his men, sitting at their campfire, comfortably wrapped in warm cloaks and passing around a wineskin. We have come a long way, my comrades and I, Sebastianus thought. And soon we will see the wonders of a world no Roman has ever seen, a world called the Flowery Land.

  Along the route, people had told Sebastianus strange and impossible tales of the Han People, some stories too incredible to believe—"Women give birth through their mouths." "They live to be a thousand years old." Tomorrow he would see with his own eyes. If only Ulrika were here to share the triumph with him. How he missed her. He would memorize and record every detail for her, so that she could experience it with him when they were together again.

  The ox scapula made a cracking sound and the fortune-teller, using bronze pincers, pulled it from the fire. Sebastianus watched as Timonides and his companions bent forward to see the dark blood-figures etched into the bone. They held their breath as they wondered what Timonides's future was. The fortune-teller frowned, shook his head, then sat back and, through the interpreter, said, "Beware the mulberry worm."

  Timonides waited for the rest. When none was forthcoming, he said, "That's it? Beware of a mulberry worm? In the name of Zeus, what is that supposed to mean?" Certain that the translator had made a mistake, he had the fortune-teller repeat his pronouncement. It went through three interpreters before it was repeated exactly the same to Timonides.

  As they had covered the miles, and entered regions with new dialects, Sebastianus had realized he would have to devise a system of communication, for he would never find a man who spoke both Chinese and Latin. And so they had picked up two translators along the way, happy to come along for the adventure and act as communication intermediaries: the first, speaking Latin and Persian, the second speaking only Persian and Kashmiri. A week ago, they had taken on a third man who spoke Kashmiri and Chinese. A long chain of dialogue to be sure, and one open for error, but Sebastianus knew that until he learned to speak Chinese, he would need to rely on these middlemen.

  The fortune-teller lifted a deeply lined, weathered face to Timonides and said, "Your life ends with the mulberry worm."

  Sebastianus saw the look of skepticism on the old astrologer's face. It made Sebastianus smile. Despite his absolute faith in the stars and their infallible predictions, Timonides was like any other man, he had a weakness for seers and their promises.

  As Sebastianus returned to his map, he reached for his mug of watered wine and a strange whistle filled the night air. In the next moment, he felt a breath of wind rush past his head. He looked up in time to see the second and third arrows fly into the camp. One of Timonides's companions cried out and clutched his arm.

  And then suddenly men were jumping up and shouting as a hail of arrows came down on them. As women and children dashed inside tents, men reached for swords and daggers, ducking behind boulders and shrubs, trying to see where the volley was coming from.

  Inhuman shrieks pierced the night as dark shapes appeared from out of nowhere, jumping down the mountain slopes, materializing out of ravines, great formidable men wielding massive swords and axes. They bore down on the camp with a frenzy of speed and unearthly screams, swinging their weapons this way and that, bashing anything that was in their way.

  Sebastianus was on his feet and racing toward them, his own sword clasped between his hands. Behind him, Primo and his trained men threw off their merchants' cloaks to charge at the invaders with clubs and spears, no longer the merry drunks they had appeared to be moments before, as no wine had passed their lips, for that was part of their ruse. Now the attackers saw the "merchants" for what they truly were, fighting men in Roman military costume, muscular, powerful, engaging the brigands with a ferocity that took them by surprise.

  Almost as quickly as they had charged into the camp the brigands fell back, as so many had before them during the caravan's eastward progress, lawless mountain men seeing the fat and lazy members of a rich caravan and tasting the victory and spoils of so easy a prey. But now they were on the run, finding themselves outnumbered and outmatched by foreigners who had staged a deception. Primo and his men yelled with glee as, once again, they drove raiders from their camp.

  When Sebastianus heard a strange sound fill the night, he turned and frowned. When it sounded a second time, and he recognized the unmistakable ringing of a gong, he shouted, "Wait!"

  Primo and his men stopped and turned, a puzzled look on their faces. They had the brigands within reach. They could teach the outlaws a lesson, as they had previous others. But before Primo could protest, his eyes widened at an astonishing sight approaching from the mountain's eastern road.

  Accompanied by swaying lanterns, an elegant carrying chair of red and gold, borne on the shoulders of twenty porters, led a procession of another twenty men, all costumed in red and gold silk with black silk caps on their heads. Two men carried an enormous brass gong between them, and bringing up the rear were pack animals laden with goods.

  Sebastianus knew what this was. He had suspected that, when word of the caravan from the west reached Luoyang, the Chinese emperor might dispatch an envoy to meet the strangers. He watched as the remarkable procession came to a halt and the red and gold chair was lowered with great ceremony to the ground. As the night wind blew, causing torches to flicker and pennants to snap, the visitors from Rome watched as an extraordinary man stepped to a cushion set before him on the ground.

  Tall and gaunt with a yellowish cast to his skin, he wore black silk shoes over white socks, which peeped out from beneath the hem of a lavish robe made of red silk breathtakingly embroidered with dragons and birds. The robe was wrapped around the man's slender body and secured with a wide red sash. A wispy white beard lay upon his chest, above which a long thin moustache cascaded down below the chin. His face was thin and bony with high cheekbones, his eyes almond-shaped and slanting beneath thin white eyebrows. Upon his head, a wide-brimmed hat of stiff black silk, under which long white hair had been brushed up and tucked.

  He came silently forward, his hands clasped together in the voluminous sleeves of his robe. Dark, shining eyes scanned the strangers, one at a time, as if trying to determine who was the leader of the group. Finally he said, "Are you the travelers from Li-chien?" The translation was passed along from Chinese to Kashmiri to Persian to Latin.

  Sebastianus knew that Li-chien was China's name for the Roman Empire, which no Chinese had ever visited but of which they had heard in mythical tales. "I am," he replied.

  The man bowed. "Noble Heron, lowly and unworthy servant of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of the Great Han Dynasty, Son of Heaven, Lord of Ten Thousand Years. I humbly invite you and your companions to visit the house of My Lord, who is interested to meet travelers from so far away."

  Sebastianus had learned along the route that, two years prior, Emperor Guangwu had died and Crown Prince Zhuang had ascended the throne as Emperor Ming. "Are you here to escort us to Emperor Ming?"

  Noble Heron nodded with a slight tremor of his eyebrows. "It is my humble honor to enlighten My Lord's illustrious guests on court etiquette and protocol, for how are you to know when you have never been here? It is taboo to speak the emperor's name, or the name of any royal or exalted person. You may call me Noble Heron because I am but a lowly servant at the imperial court. The emperor can be addressed in many ways, which I will teach to you."

  Sebastianus saw that the man was struggling with his impulse to stare at the strangers. He wondered if what the Chinese had heard of Romans was as outlandish as what the Romans had heard of the Chinese. When Noble Heron brough
t out a hand to gesture in the direction of Luoyang, it was Sebastianus's turn to stare. The Chinese official's fingernails were so long they grew in curls, and each was tipped with a protective gold cap.

  "My esteemed friend," Sebastianus said through the interpreters, "you would do us a great honor by sharing our camp, and while you accept our hospitality, I will explain to you as best I can our customs, which must seem strange to you."

  As Noble Heron graciously accepted, and retreated while his servants prepared his tent, Primo came up to Sebastianus and said quietly, "I do not trust that man."

  Sebastianus turned to him. "Go on."

  "There was something strange about the attack. For weeks now we have not been troubled by local brigands, not since we entered the sphere of Chinese military influence. All the tribes and settlements we encountered were vassals of the emperor. So how is it that these brigands should attack so close to the capital city? How could they not have seen this fellow and his enormous retinue coming up the road, clearly an envoy from the imperial court?"

  "It was staged," Sebastianus said. "To assess our strengths and vulnerabilities, and to learn if we come in peace or as a conquering army. We will have to be on our guard from now on. I suspect there are more tests to come."

  The imperial official stayed the night at the caravan camp, eating dinner by himself and served by his personal servants. At dawn they broke camp and Sebastianus led the massive train of camels, donkeys, horses, and carts down the mountain track, with Noble Heron at his side, now riding a handsome sorrel mare.

  Before starting out, Timonides read his master's horoscope while Noble Heron lit incense sticks and paid respect to the Guardians of the Four Winds: snake and tortoise in the north; red bird in the south; green dragon in the east; white tiger in the west. Along the way, as they descended to lush plains and verdant farms, Noble Heron told Sebastianus about the man whom everyone called Lord Over All Under Heaven.

  Emperor Ming, aged thirty, sat on the throne with his favorite wife, Consort Ma, a beautiful woman of not yet twenty years. Ming's mother was the Dowager Empress Yin, in her fifties and known for her beauty and meekness. The emperor was famous for his generosity and affection for his family; he adhered to the moral and ethical code of the Great Sage, but he also respected the many hundreds of gods in Taoist belief, and was known to have a lively curiosity about the religions and faiths of foreigners. "The Lord of All Under Heaven," Noble Heron said, "would welcome word about the gods of Li-chien."

  Luoyang was situated on a plain between the Mang Mountains and the Luo River, a rectangular-shaped city surrounded by a high stone wall and a moat with drawbridges. On the congested river, Sebastianus saw craft that he had recently learned were called junks and sampans, crowded together as floating houses. Farms covered the countryside surrounding the city, where the peasants tilled the earth, yellow from sand carried in on winds from the northeastern deserts. Farmers at their labors paused to straighten and watch the remarkable procession move by; women came out of huts to stare at the long line of animals and beasts of burden, men walking alongside wearing the various costumes of different tribes.

  Crowds stood on either side of the massive stone gates, as word had reached the populace that a most remarkable caravan was coming to pay respects to the emperor. Excitement filled the air. Everyone anticipated the great festival to come, commemorating this extraordinary event.

  The citizens of Luoyang were colorful in their garb, which ranged from hemp to silk, in all the hues of the rainbow, elegant men in bright robes, peasants and merchants in trousers and tunics. But Sebastianus was more interested in the guards occupying the sixteen tall towers, their armor glinting in the sun, their crossbows at the ready. Noble Heron directed the caravan to a large area on the western side of the city, where smaller caravans were already camped, and where, Sebastianus was not surprised to see, an impressive contingent of imperial soldiers waited to take their places as guards of the newly arrived goods from the west.

  "You will grant us the honor," Noble Heron said, "of being our guests in the city. You might wish to retrieve personal items from your caravan."

  At the city gate, carrying chairs were waiting for the visitors, small conveyances enclosed in colorful fabric and borne on the shoulders of slaves in matching costumes. Noble Heron, with his entourage, led the way, and Sebastianus, Timonides, Primo, and the three interpreters, followed. Timonides insisted upon bringing Nestor along, as he had lately developed a habit of wandering off.

  When the procession emerged on the other side, the newcomers looked out the small windows of the carrying chairs and found themselves on a broad avenue lined with onlookers, behind whom multistoried pagodas rose, their red-tiled roofs shining in the sun. Tiny bells jingled on the enclosed chairs as the slaves trotted down the avenue, and when the aroma of cooking and smoke and flowering blossoms reached Sebastianus's nostrils, when he saw the upcurved eaves of the Oriental roofs, when he heard the exotic cadence of Chinese speech as citizens remarked and commented on the strange looks of the foreigners—when it truly struck Sebastianus that he was here at last, the first man from the west to enter the capital city of Imperial China, he felt his heart expand with pride and excitement. He sent a silent prayer to his ancestors—the fathers and grandfathers who had carved trade routes before him and who would be so proud of this moment: when a son of Gallus had reached the other side of the world!

  He wished Ulrika were at his side. And little did he know, five years ago, when they first met outside of Rome, that he would be making such an extraordinary wish.

  They were carried through another gate and into a courtyard where attendants stood waiting. Noble Heron explained that this was the special residence reserved for esteemed visitors and important dignitaries. Sebastianus and his companions would be given the opportunity to wash off the dust and grime of travel before being taken before the emperor.

  They were led down a colonnaded hall lined with tall crimson columns, where servants in baggy pants and wraparound tunics stopped and stared. The quarters, though sparsely furnished with low tables and cushions, were sumptuously decorated with beautiful rugs, elegant silk hangings, painted screens, large bronze and jade urns filled with fresh flowers.

  Over the miles and months of travel, Sebastianus and his companions had adapted local dress and had arrived in Luoyang wearing leather trousers and padded lamb's wool tunics. But these were discarded now, as they enjoyed steaming baths in enormous bamboo tubs filled with fragrant water. To the shock and delight of the weary men from Rome, young ladies in long blue wraparound robes scrubbed their backs and limbs, and afterward massaged their bodies with warm oil. Sebastianus, Timonides, and Primo enjoyed their first shaves and haircuts in months, and began to feel like civilized Romans again.

  When Noble Heron returned to escort them into the imperial presence of the Lord of Ten Thousand Years, he stopped short and stared at his transformed guests, now formally garbed in Roman tunic and toga, Greek robes, and the tunic and leather breastplate of a legionary.

  "Aya," Noble Heron whispered, his normally composed face suddenly a landscape of distress. He was silent for a long moment and appeared to be struggling with his next words. "I beg our esteemed visitor to forgive this miserable servant if any offense is caused, for I do not know your customs for mourning. If I dishonor you or your family in any way, may I suffer the death of a thousand cuts. But ... who has died?"

  Sebastianus thought the translators had made a mistake, but when the question was repeated, he said, "No one. Why?"

  Noble Heron gave him an astonished look. "But you wear white and you have cut off all your hair."

  "This is how we customarily dress and groom in Rome."

  "Ah, I see."

  But the distressed facial expression did not fade, and Sebastianus saw nervous movement beneath the silk of Noble Heron's sleeves, where his hidden hands worried clasped wrists. "Is there a problem?" Sebastianus asked.

  "Smite me for my ignorance, e
steemed guest, for I am truly an unworthy man without knowledge, but I do not understand your other custom ..."

  "Other custom?"

  Noble Heron searched the bedchamber for his next words, scanning the woven mats and sprigs of bamboo as if to find them there. Then he said, "Perhaps my lofty guests would be more comfortable in Chinese robes?"

  "We're comfortable the way we are," Primo growled, getting hungry and impatient. "What's wrong with the way we're dressed?"

  Sebastianus recalled the people they had seen in the streets, the peasants on the farms, and the servants and attendants within these walls. Then he considered Noble Heron's appearance and it came to him: even though it was a warm spring day, only a person's hands and face were exposed. And in the case of such a high official as Noble Heron, even the hands were hidden.

  The tunics worn by Sebastianus and his three friends had short sleeves, leaving arms exposed, with hems that reached only the knees, leaving much leg exposed. "We mean no offense, Noble Heron, but we are here as citizens of Rome and representatives of our own emperor. If there is to be a first meeting of our two worlds, and a cultural exchange that has never before been experienced by either of our peoples, then it would be dishonest of us to appear before your emperor as anything other than our true selves."