The Divining

by Wood, Barbara

  Sebastianus smiled. "It is a potent brew."

  "Indeed! What is it called?"

  "The Ethiopian said it had no name as the beans grow on a plant everyone thought useless. But he called it qahiya, which in his language means to have no appetite, as this brew dulls hunger."

  "Perhaps it dulls the stomach's hunger, but it stimulates another type of hunger. I feel I could bed ten women tonight and not sleep! Very well, for that entire bag of qahiya, I will take you and your people out of Luoyang. This is my plan ..."

  Little Sparrow trembled as she listened to the details of Heroic Tiger's escape.

  He was going to leave her. The only man she had ever loved.

  NO ONE COULD GUESS the dowager empress's age. Each morning, her team of personal beauticians scrubbed her face and removed every speck of hair, including her eyebrows. Then they artfully repainted her face on a background of white rice power. In order to preserve the look, the empress controlled her facial expressions and spoke with minimal movement of her lips and jaw. The effect was to give her the appearance of a ceramic doll.

  "I granted this audience, Little Sparrow," she said in a voice that was as smooth and flawless as the silk robes she wore, "because I call your father my friend. But be quick, for time rushes."

  Little Sparrow kowtowed nine times before the emperor's mother, and when she received permission to speak, told of the late-night meeting between the esteemed trader from Rome and a nobleman named Bold Dragon—a scheme to help the westerners escape. "Bold Dragon will bring a traveling troupe of entertainers for the Festival of the Silver Moon," Little Sparrow said as she shook with fear before the powerful woman—but she had no choice, she had to keep Heroic Tiger in Luoyang! "And while His Sublime Radiance, the Emperor, is thus distracted, one by one the entertainers will be replaced by men from the west. This will be done after each act is completed and the entertainers leave the floor. They will exchange clothes with the foreigners, who will go out into the city disguised and then through the city gates. When all the westerners have gone, then the four personal guests of the Son of Heaven will be rescued during the dead of night, and taken away to join their comrades. They plan to be far away by the time the deception is realized."

  The dowager's pet cricket chirped in its bamboo cage while her ladies-in-waiting stood as still and silent as statues. The empress did not move. The gold tassels and paper birds that adorned her elaborate headdress stirred only because of a breeze that wafted through the pavilion.

  Little Sparrow's heart raced as she wondered belatedly if she had committed a horrible blunder.

  Finally the dowager said, "By telling me this secret, you have brought dishonor upon your family."

  Little Sparrow fell to her knees and prostrated herself. "But I had thought Your Sublime Majesty would be pleased to learn of the trickery, and place guards around the foreigners!" Keeping them here. Keeping my Heroic Tiger here forever.

  "Foolish child, to assume that my son would be so easily duped. Foolish child, for forgetting one of the rules of your calling, that it is forbidden to speak of matters that an honored guest discusses in the bedroom. You will go home to your family. You will tell your father that his name will no longer be spoken in the emperor's court."

  "But ... he will put me to death!"

  "As is a father's right."

  A quick signal from the empress, and guards stepped in to drag Little Sparrow away. She did not plead for mercy. She kept her dignity to the last, even in the final moment as she understood the cruel irony of what she had just done: by revealing Heroic Tiger's secret plan to escape so that he could not leave, she had forfeited her own life.

  32

  T

  HIS IS DANGEROUS BUSINESS, MASTER," Timonides said as they scanned the busy marketplace for Bold Dragon. As he spoke, Timonides kept an eye on Nestor, who still had to be reminded at age thirty-five that goods offered in merchants' stalls were not there simply for the taking. "The emperor has eyes and ears everywhere. Ming knows we want to leave and that we will be searching for any possible avenue of escape."

  "And if we don't find that avenue, my friend," Sebastianus replied as he watched the Gate of Heavenly Harmony for Primo and Bold Dragon, "we will truly be here for the rest of our lives." After nine months of enjoying the emperor's hospitality, generous and lavish though it was, Sebastianus was anxious to be heading home. But Ming seemed determined to keep the westerners prisoner.

  Timonides was also eager to start for home. While he found this exotic land and culture forever delightful and challenging, and he did not truly mind being a "permanent guest," he was worried about his son.

  As he kept an eye on Nestor's progress among the merchant stalls, Timonides saw three women stumbling about the marketplace, their sad cries for food and mercy making his stomach churn. They were yoked together at the neck, their three heads rising from a wooden plank upon which their crimes had been listed. He could not read Chinese, but imagined they had either disobeyed their husbands or spread malicious gossip about their neighbors. Women's crimes were not as vicious as men's, but the punishments were brutal nonetheless.

  He turned away and once again his eyes went to Nestor, who was watching a pair of jugglers. Timonides was worried because his son had been acting strangely of late, exhibiting an anxiety and anxiousness uncharacteristic of the otherwise placid and contented Nestor. He was acting almost as if he knew they were being held prisoner in this city. Timonides understood his son's simple mind, that he had no true concept of time and distance. To Nestor, the city of Antioch lay just on the other side of the Mang Mountains, and they had left only yesterday. Thus, the years and miles that would make a sound-minded man grow anxious about going home would not normally trouble Nestor.

  So what was causing this strange new anxiousness?

  And where was Bold Dragon, the man whom they were trusting to help them escape?

  Sebastianus and his companions had not been allowed outside Luoyang since the day of their arrival. It was a show of power, of course. The emperor had proudly captured the Roman Caesar's ambassador in the same way soldiers on a battlefield capture the enemy's flags. Ming would have sent word of such, along with China's precious silk brocade, lacquerware, and porcelain, westward on trade routes, to boast that he was the benevolent host to Rome's ambassadors, in the hope that the message would ultimately reach that other emperor, the one called Caesar.

  Of course, Timonides thought philosophically, there was a great chance the news would not reach Nero at all. And if it did, there was nothing he could do to rescue them. But it wasn't as if their captivity was unpleasant. Timonides had to concede that detainment in the capital city was surprisingly comfortable, in fact luxurious. The villa he shared with his son, Sebastianus, and Primo was spacious with many servants. Their living quarters looked out upon a garden called the Courtyard of the Pure Heart, where trickling fountains delighted the eye, lily pads floated on the pond's tranquil surface, tame egrets waded in the shallows, and songbirds in airy cages filled the air with trilling music. The visitors from the west enjoyed plentiful delicious food and delightful pastimes that included discreet young ladies, called Social Flowers, at night.

  They rarely saw any other women in the imperial compound, as the sexes were separated. But they sometimes heard, during warm evenings filled with the scent of jasmine, voices on the other side of the Gate of Whispering Bamboos, feminine chatter and laughter and the clatter of mah-jongg tiles—the emperor's mother, sisters, nieces, aunts, and concubines, along with hundreds of female servants and eunuchs, whiling away their hours and lives in idle leisure.

  A paradise on earth, Timonides thought. But it was not Rome. And as Sebastianus and Timonides and Primo had explored every inch of this city, which was two miles long and one mile wide, there was nothing left that they did not know of it—from the filthy crowding of the southern poor quarters where families were crammed in hovels and barely earned a subsistence living, to the villas of the rich in the north b
ordering the Imperial Palace, whose lives were filled with grace and ease.

  Timonides knew that their caravan and all its goods had been confiscated by the emperor. But Sebastianus could not complain. He himself had declared them to be gifts for Ming. The slaves and servants, even Primo's fighting men, were all detained in Luoyang, in quarters suitable to their respective social status. The only ones who were thrilled with the captivity were the Buddhist missionaries who were spending many hours with the emperor, teaching him the life and philosophy of their founder, the Enlightened One.

  "Master," Timonides said now for the hundredth time, "why not give the emperor what he wants? If you don't want to tell him where military garrisons are located, or vital geography, then invent them. Draw him a fanciful map of the Roman empire. He would never know!"

  Whenever Sebastianus was summoned to the presence of the emperor, Ming would request politely that his honored guest draw a map of the Roman empire, indicating military installations, troop movements, war strategies. And each time Sebastianus would aver his ignorance on the subject—which was only partially true. Timonides knew they would be kept in Luoyang until the day they died if Sebastianus did not give the sovereign what he wanted.

  "Because, Timonides my old friend, as I have already explained to you, Ming is putting me to a test. He is judging my integrity and character. Whether I draw him a true military map of the empire or a false one, either way it will reveal a lack of character on my part, for the former would mean a betrayal of my sovereign, the latter would mean I am being deceitful. Ming knows it can only be one or the other. And once I lose the emperor's respect, then we are no longer his guests, I am no longer an ambassador of Rome, and we go home in disgrace, having failed utterly at our mission."

  "But now we do not go home at all!"

  "But if we can manage to escape and avoid recapture, then we have saved face in both the eyes of Caesar and Emperor Ming. However, we need help. Where are Primo and Bold Dragon?"

  Because they knew they were being watched, Sebastianus and Timonides strolled through the marketplace, idly inspecting novelty items unknown in Rome, which needed to be demonstrated in order to understand their function: small, handheld sticks for eating; a device made of bamboo and oiled cloth, held over the head against rain and the hot sun; fans made of feathers and silk, for wafting the face in heat; a board fixed with a metal spoon that, when spun, always returned to pointing north. They saw such wonders as lanterns made of paper, glowing in the night breeze; alchemists experimenting with a black powder that exploded; bamboo frameworks covered with silk, flying in the wind at the end of a long string.

  Mostly they seemed like toys and gadgets to Sebastianus, but there were truly ingenious inventions as well, such as the small hand-propelled vehicle with one wheel in the front and two handles in the rear by which a man pushed and guided it—an ingenious device that allowed a worker to transport material too heavy to carry on his own. No such tool existed in Rome.

  Sebastianus wished Ulrika could see these inventions for herself. Each time Sebastianus came upon something new, he thought of her, imagining her reaction. Ulrika loved to read. What would she make of Chinese literature printed on silk scrolls or painted in books made of peach wood? How would she discuss The Book of Changes by Confucius; The Art of War by Sun Tzu; a book of divination called I Ching by Fei Zhi; histories, biographies, volumes of poetry, myths, and fables?

  He would love to discuss China's unique philosophies and beliefs with her. What would Ulrika make of the Great Sage, whose name was taboo to utter, a philosopher who lived five centuries ago? His name, Sebastianus had finally discovered, was K'ung-fu-tzu which meant "Master Kong," and which Sebastianus and Timonides rendered as Confucius, in order to avoid breaking the law of name-taboo. The Great Sage lived long ago and introduced a code of living that stressed morality, ethics, justice, and compassion, with principles of good conduct, practical wisdom, and proper social relationships.

  There was also a local folk belief called Taoism, founded two hundred years prior by a man named Lao-Tzu. Tao was considered to be the Cosmic Intelligence, inaccessible to human understanding, that governed the natural course of all things. The practice encompassed black magic, alchemy, elixirs of life, and hundreds of gods. Taoists revered ancestor spirits and beings they called the Immortals, and were known for their devotion to the quest for immortality, as evidenced in their search for magic herbs and minerals that would promote eternal earthly life.

  So many wonders in this exotic land! Sebastianus wished he could take Ulrika to the emperor's private zoo so that she could marvel at the black-eyed pandas, pacing white tigers, and orangutans that looked like old men. He wished she could feast her eyes on other fabulous offerings in the marketplace: towering statues of pink jade, carved into the likeness of Kwan-Yin, goddess of mercy; mountains of colorful silks and satins that blinded the eye; vast amphorae filled with delectable rice wine; urns beyond counting, groaning with aromatic spices; a confection made of almonds, called marzipan, molded into the shapes of animals and flowers; and bundles of a rare medicinal plant, called rhubarb, highly prized and very costly and found only on the banks of the Chang Jiang River.

  He could not wait to share with her Chinese customs and traditions: the belief in and respect for dragons; the custom of both men and women to wear their hair long in the belief that since one got one's hair from one's parents it was disrespectful to cut it; the practice of dressing little boys as girls in the hope of fooling mischievous spirit-thieves into thinking he was a mere girl and not worth stealing; the ritual of placing dried peonies beneath a bed to keep evil spirits away.

  He would explain to Ulrika that preserving family honor, saving face, and paying respects to the ancestors were prized above one's life, and that a man would prefer death to failing to observe these virtues. The Chinese also had a passion for harmony, long life, and good luck, all of which were pursued through the use of incense, amulets, charms, lucky numbers, and an almost fanatical devotion to keeping evil spirits out of the house by use of deceptive screens, waterfalls, and broomsticks.

  Ulrika was in Sebastianus's thoughts day and night. Every single new thing he met and marveled at made him wish to share it with her. His love for her had grown over the miles and the months. He thought of the Social Flowers who greeted him and his companions in the evenings, after a day spent with the emperor or with astrologers and philosophers and other learned men. Beautiful young women, slim and delicate, like lilies indeed, demure and compliant, sweetly scented and softly spoken. They gave pleasure, as their name promised, but Sebastianus found it to be an empty pleasure, as there was only one woman whose embrace he truly desired.

  Sebastianus had achieved his goal of reaching the throne of China. He knew that honors awaited him in Rome, that his name would be spoken far and wide for his achievement. But, in the end, what he had learned from Chinese philosophers and astrologers, from the emperor and his mandarins, from people in the streets and merchants' stalls, from the Social Flowers even, was that love was more important than honors and fame and knowledge. After nearly a year of drinking in this exotic culture and soaking up China's wisdom, Sebastianus knew that it was all empty if he had no one with whom to share it.

  And what of Ulrika's life? What was she doing at that moment? Where was she? Was she happy or sad? Did she find her mother in Jerusalem? Did she find an explanation for her visions? Does she now know the meaning of the Divining and the location of Shalamandar? Sebastianus did not want to miss out on the milestones of Ulrika's life. Just as he wished she could share in his adventure, he wanted to share in hers.

  "Primo said they would be here by noon," Sebastianus murmured as they neared the Gate of Heavenly Harmony, which led to the crowded southern quarter of the city. He looked up at the sun. It was now midday.

  Timonides sensed his master's growing anxiousness and wished there was something he could do to alleviate it. He cast Sebastianus's horoscope twice a day, but nowhere could he re
ad when their day of departure would be, or the manner of that departure. Wondering if perhaps, because they were in China, they should employ the methods of Chinese astrology, Timonides had studied the heavens with palace astrologers, but had ultimately not been able to master the science as it was so different from that of Greece and Rome.

  In Chinese astrology, there were twelve star signs, each a different animal that ruled its own year and that supposedly demonstrated the characteristics of the person born in that year. There were also animal signs assigned to each month (called inner animals) and then to hours of the day (called secret animals). And so while a person might appear to be an Ox because he was born in the year of the Ox, he might also be a Bear internally and a Dragon secretively. This made for over eight thousand combinations, each a different personality with a different horoscope.

  It made Timonides's head spin. He went back to his twelve zodiacal signs, his charts, and his protractor. But no predictions were forthcoming and he was beginning to wonder if possibly the power of the gods of Greece and Rome did not reach this far.

  He returned to watching Nestor, a giant among the citizens of Luoyang, as he wandered into the corner of the spice market, where food vendors were cooking over open fires. Nestor had not found eastern cooking a challenge, quickly taking to soybeans, native to China, and other such culinary oddities as cucumbers, ginger, and anise. Nestor had even learned a new way of cooking: because China did not have big forests, cooking fuel was always hard to find and so the Chinese had learned to cut up their food into tiny pieces so that it would fry quickly when stirred over a small fire.

  Typical of the astrologer's simple-minded son, Nestor had already mastered such exotic dishes as rice fried with scallions; stewed crab and crispy eel; boiled turtle with ham; lotus seeds in honey. His masterpiece was deep-fried chicken feet with black bean sauce. It made Timonides salivate just to think of them.