The Dragon's Gate

by Barry Wolverton

  “The Mountain began to tremble with rage. The Valley shook and the River flowed backwards. As the Mountain’s anger grew, the earth was rent and flooded, and fires spread through the land, and finally, the Mountain threw down stones to keep the River from flowing into Paradise.

  “None shall pass through here except in death, it said. The Valley, refusing to lie at the foot of the mountain, withered and died. The River, unable to flow across the Angry Mountain, divided itself in two, passing by on both sides, and to symbolize the rending of harmony, one side took the black jade and the other the white.”

  Yaozu touched his finger to the oracle bone map, in what would be the northwest part of China, if their theory were correct. “This I believe to be the Takla Makan Desert, which some call the Sea of Death. And these two hairline cracks, converging . . . the Black Jade and White Jade Rivers.”

  “And there’s a mountain between them?” said Bren.

  “I believe so,” said Yaozu.

  “What will I find there?” said Mouse. “What is the Dragon’s Gate?”

  “That I do not know for sure,” said Yaozu. “Only that many consider it a key to the search for immortality.”

  Sean could only shake his head. “What does all this mean?”

  “Well—when I told you I wanted to go to China,” said Barrett, “I left a little something out.”

  “Aye. There’s a surprise.”

  “I don’t believe it was any of your business, Mr. Graham, seeing as how I only asked you to take me to the borders. You certainly didn’t turn your nose up at my gold and silver.”

  Sean’s mouth opened but only hot air came out. Finally he laughed and threw up his hands. “You know, I’m just a hired hand taking you to the coast of China. What difference does it make if I think you’re crazy, or what fool errand you’re on?”

  “Because I want Bren and Mouse to go with me,” said Barrett.

  Sean stopped laughing. He stood up from the table and then leaned forward on his fists, his face stopping just inches from Barrett’s. “You must be mad.”

  She kept her seat and didn’t flinch.

  “You were charged with finding Bren and bringing him back home. By someone you claim to be a friend, no less. And I presume you were paid to do it, am I right?”

  “You are.”

  “Then how on earth can you justify putting Bren at risk instead? And Mouse too? How can two children help you?”

  The question seemed to catch Barrett up short. Bren realized everyone, including him, was waiting for a good answer. Perhaps it was all those adventure books he’d read at Black’s, or what he’d been through already, but he’d grown accustomed to thinking it was normal for a twelve- or thirteen-year-old boy and an even younger girl to risk their lives side by side with adults, for the adults’ benefit, no less.

  Barrett, normally so quick with her words, thought about her answer and responded carefully. “Okay, Mr. Graham, fair question. Back your face up and I’ll tell you.”

  “I can hear you better up close,” he said.

  Barrett stood suddenly and drew her sword so swiftly that Sean stumbled trying to retreat, tripping over the saloon bench. From his backside he drew his own short dagger, realizing immediately he was at a severe disadvantage.

  “Remember how the governor’s elephant attacked him? That was me,” said Barrett. “Or rather, this,” she said, brandishing the sword.

  “A magic sword,” said Sean, slowly getting back on his feet and sheathing his dagger.

  “Before the first imperial dynasty,” said Yaozu, “thousands of years ago, China was governed by people we now call the Ancients. And before them, the universe was ruled by—”

  “Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors,” Bren interjected.

  Barrett smiled. “You really did spend time in Archibald’s bookstore.”

  “Actually, Admiral Bowman explained all that to me. Are you saying that sword is one of the Eight Immortals?”

  “Yaozu calls it the Tamer of Beasts,” said Barrett, resheathing it and handing Bren the scarlet-and-gold scabbard. It was obvious Sean was lost again. “Eight magical objects, Mr. Graham, empowered by the gifts of the eight demigods who once ruled Heaven and Earth.”

  She turned to Bren. “And it wasn’t just luck that we found you so quickly.”

  Yaozu showed them the jade tablet.

  “Another one of these Eight Immortals?” said Sean. “And let me guess, you’re after the rest of them?”

  “You catch on quick for an Eirish,” said Barrett.

  Bren returned the sword to her. “You think you know where the others are?”

  “Yes and no,” said Yaozu. “At one time I didn’t think the artifacts existed. Now I fear they may all be waiting to be found, and that is a problem.”

  “How so?” said Sean.

  “Because anyone could use them,” said Barrett. “We wouldn’t want them to fall into the wrong hands.”

  Her choice of words made Bren cringe. Admiral Bowman had said almost the same thing in justifying his pursuit of Far Eastern magic.

  “The fact is, I believe someone already has used them for ill,” said Yaozu.

  “Oh, you mean Lady Barrett,” said Sean. “Using the ‘Tamer of Beasts’ to ruin that poor man’s Utopia.”

  Bren was sure he could hear Lady Barrett grinding her teeth.

  “I mean the Emperor Qin Shi Huang,” said Yaozu. “The founder of China’s first imperial dynasty. The one who ended the time of the Ancients.”

  “By using their magical objects against them?” said Mouse.

  “Most forget—Qin was just a boy of thirteen at the time of his conquest,” said Yaozu. “There are many who believe he could not have succeeded without the Eight Immortals, or some of them, anyway.”

  “Thirteen!” said Bren. “That’s how old I am . . . I think.”

  “Natural disasters, in particular, played a key role in his victory,” Yaozu explained, “weakening his enemies and giving his army strategic advantages.”

  “And the Eight Immortals can have power over weather and the environment, right?” said Bren. “The admiral explained that to me, about how the magic of the Ancients was more tied to the natural world.”

  Yaozu nodded.

  “But you’re literally talking about ancient history,” said Sean. “This emperor has been dead . . .”

  “Almost two thousand years.”

  “Almost two thousand years!” said Sean. “He probably had his toys and weapons buried with him!”

  “Precisely!” said Yaozu, smiling broadly. “But that is what we must find out.”

  Sean ran his fingers through his hair, tugging at his cowlicks. “You need Bren and Mouse to help you dig up an old emperor?”

  “Not at all,” said Yaozu. “If I or anyone else knew where Qin was buried, his tomb would have been pillaged ages ago. No, I need them—specifically Mouse—to help us find it.”

  Sean cursed him loudly. Yaozu calmly ignored this and went to Mouse.

  “The ability to read oracle bones—truly read them—was thought to have been lost with the Ancients,” he said. “Few can even read the language, much less divine anything from them. You have an extraordinary gift, young one.”

  He sat her down at the table and held her hand in his. “There is a relic in a small holy place on an island called the Pearl Cliffs, near where I was born. It is believed to be the collarbone of Di Xin, the last Shang king. No one knows for sure where it came from, or if the story is even true. But if it is true, I believe you could use the bone to divine the location of Qin’s tomb. If you let me take you there, I will lead you to the Dragon’s Gate.”

  “This is crazy,” said Sean. “You can’t believe any of this, Barrett. Even if you do, what do you need Bren for?”

  Barrett stood between Bren and Mouse. “Your stone has powers, does it not?” she said to Mouse.

  “I think so.”

  “And yours too?” she asked Bren.

  “Acc
ording to Mouse, it protects me,” he said. “I know it sounds crazy, Sean, but I’ve been wearing the stone every time I’ve narrowly avoided being killed. Back in Map, when the Iberians attacked . . .”

  “Bren! You can’t believe all this nonsense!”

  “It’s true,” said Mouse, holding up the white jade again. “When the admiral found Bren and me, he tried to take the stone. He was going to kill us. But I killed him instead, using the stone.”

  “Killed him how?” said Sean.

  “I summoned a dragon from the silver river,” she said. “I’m not sure how. I didn’t mean to kill the admiral . . . at least, I don’t think I did.”

  “Mouse—”

  “And back on New Amsterdam, my spirit entered the second elephant, the one that attacked the Dutch governor.”

  “Soul-traveling?” said Yaozu.

  She nodded again. “I tried to use the stone at first, to control the elephant. I don’t like to leave myself, become other things, but I couldn’t do anything with it. I don’t know why; it was just like I was holding an ordinary stone.”

  Bren remembered how she had showed him the stone in her hand, there on the beach, and then put it away.

  “I believe Mouse was destined to find that stone,” said Barrett, looking Sean in the eye, “and that I was destined to find her. I can’t explain or prove anything to your satisfaction, I’m sure, Mr. Graham, but I think the Eight Immortals are meant to be together, and that our being together only increases the chances of finding more. As for Bren, I’m not sure what role he will ultimately play, and I don’t think Mouse does either, but this means something.” She reached out and gently lifted the black stone from around Bren’s neck. “Two jade stones, one black, one white, just like in the fable of the Angry Mountain. Like the Chinese philosophy of yin and yang . . . opposites coming together to make a balanced whole . . . the one unable to exist without the other.”

  Sean turned to Bren, his eyes as bloodshot as if he’d been drinking all night. “I wasn’t the one sent to rescue you, lad. I can’t make you do anything. But I thought you wanted to go home?”

  Bren said nothing at first. He did still want to go home. But he didn’t want Lady Barrett to leave him. And despite their quarrels, he didn’t want to lose Mouse, either. He didn’t understand why she felt this need to go to China. But the catfish man had given Mouse the jade eye, told her she was the guardian, asked her to read the oracle bones. Maybe she didn’t know exactly what she was doing. It was more like she was acting on orders, and if Bren really was her friend, maybe he had a duty to help her.

  “I think I want to go with them,” he said finally. He could tell that wasn’t what Sean wanted to hear, but he didn’t seem surprised by Bren’s answer either.

  “Me too,” said Mouse. “I’ll help you find the tomb.”

  Yaozu smiled, squeezing her hand.

  “Aye, I guess we’re all going to China then,” said Sean. “I’ve grown very fond of Bren and Mouse, and I don’t trust you one lick, Lady Jean Barrett. I’m going to see to it they make it home safely.”

  CHAPTER

  13

  CHANGE OF PLANS

  The two men who got off the boat at Bombay Island couldn’t have been more conspicuous. The first was overburdened with large brass-and-leather cases, one under each arm and another one in each hand. You would have thought he was the servant of the second man, tall and rigidly thin, wearing tan pants and a white shirt with a broad-brimmed hat, so that he looked somewhat like a palm tree.

  The man with all the luggage was suddenly swarmed by children, offering to carry his bags.

  “Don’t do it, Owen,” said the thin man. “This place is notorious for thieves.”

  “If you’d like to lend a hand,” said David Owen, “I might not be tempted.”

  The thin man turned and looked at him, children pressing up against them. “Shoo, shoo, urchins,” he said. “The British government was supposed to arrange for transport. Just hang tight, David.”

  David Owen dropped all four cases and stacked them two by two, sitting on one pair. “I’m only guarding this pair, Archibald,” he said. “If you’re so worried about theft, I suggest you guard the other two with your narrow behind.”

  Archibald Black arched a long eyebrow at his companion, but proceeded to sit down on the other pair.

  “How will this transporter know who to look for?” said Owen.

  “We’re the only Europeans here,” said Black.

  David Owen looked around the port, which was teeming with Indians. Map, even on its busiest day, was nothing compared to this. He pulled out a filthy rag to mop his brow. “Must be near a hundred degrees here. And humid to boot!”

  “Compared to Map it feels like Hell,” said Black. “But at least it’s not raining for now.”

  “What do you mean, for now?”

  “Didn’t you know?” said Black. “Monsoon season starts in a month or so. This place will be flooded with rain. Hundreds of inches.”

  Owen seemed dumbfounded. Black laughed.

  “Did Rand McNally not bother with those minor details when he agreed to let you lead up a scout team for the survey?”

  David Owen mopped his brow some more. “It doesn’t matter. We’re here for one reason, and one reason only. And it doesn’t have anything to do with that damned survey.”

  Black felt sorry for the man squatting on the two cases, slumped over from the burden of grief and frustration. As much as he, too, wanted Bren to return safely, he didn’t have much faith in David Owen’s plan. If Lady Jean Barrett hadn’t succeeded, why would they? But he understood why Owen wanted to do it. He had nothing left in Map. Not his wife, nor his son. At least being in India, working on the survey, would take him away from his empty house and his old routine. And Black got a chance to go to Persia, and perhaps see inside the legendary House of Wisdom.

  A man wearing a turban and a knee-length red-and-gold frock coat came running toward them.

  “Sahib!” he said, although it was unclear whether he was addressing Black or Owen. “Your carriage has arrived!” The man, who couldn’t have been more than twenty, practically yanked the large cases out from under Black. “Allow me.”

  David Owen hopped up before he, too, was dethroned.

  “Where are you taking us?” said Black. “And be careful with those! They contain expensive instruments.”

  The boy was half dragging, half pulling all four cases along the dock, until they reached a carriage that was little more than a flat cart with a piece of canvas propped above it on four sticks to shield them from the sun. He loaded the cases onto the back and then leaped onto a warped bench, taking up the reins of a single horse that looked like it had seen better days.

  “Hop in! The back, please.”

  David Owen didn’t seem to mind, but Black was scowling as they loaded themselves into the cart next to their luggage.

  “Where can I get a boat to Persia?” Black called as the boy slowly steered their carriage through smothering crowds of people.

  “Persia?”

  “Yes, I’m going north. Not south like my friend here.”

  The boy laughed. “Oh, but your friend is going north. You both are!”

  “What?” said Owen. “I’m part of the Royal Survey!”

  “And I’m not!” Black sputtered.

  “Yes, yes, Royal Survey!” said the boy. “Change of plans. Emperor Akbar wants you to survey his territory first.”

  David Owen avoided eye contact with Black. “Well, you said you wanted an adventure.”

  “I most certainly did not,” Black replied.

  PART TWO

  THE DRAGON’S GATE

  CHAPTER

  14

  THE ROTTERDAM STRAITS

  “Does your ship have a name?” asked Sean.

  They were standing on the quarterdeck, just as the two main Dragon Islands of the East Netherlands—Sunda and Java—came into view.

  “A name?” said Barrett, star
ing off toward the gap between the two islands, the Rotterdam Straits. “Oh yes, you mean, what was she christened?”

  “If we’re going through on business, this all has to look official,” said Sean. “That man you hired out, I assume this is his boat?”

  Barrett squirmed a bit before answering. “Well, we may have borrowed it in the Gulf of Arabia.”

  “Borrowed?” gasped Sean. “From whom?”

  “I’m not sure,” said Barrett. “The owner wasn’t around when we borrowed it.”

  She half smiled, and Bren couldn’t tell if she was proud or embarrassed. Either way, Sean was in neither a humorous nor a forgiving mood.

  “We’re sailing into Java with a stolen ship?”

  “Would Sunda be better?”

  Sean almost hit her this time. He stormed to the other side of the ship and then back again, bending the boards with every stomping step.

  “You’re going to get us all arrested, Barrett. This needs to be a legitimate ship with a legitimate purpose.”

  “How about the Sally Turner?”

  “The Sally Turner?”

  “She was a girl I knew in school. I fancied her quite a bit.”

  Sean closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “You need a better name than that—and you need papers for the clerk at Bantam. I don’t suppose you thought to borrow those as well?”

  There was an awkward pause that quickly turned into an awkward moment and then a full-fledged awkward silence.

  “I can do it,” said Bren. “I can forge papers for us. I saw official documents back in Map, in Rand McNally’s office. . . . I can duplicate the seal of the Netherlands and Britannia, and I saw King Maximilian’s signature in Admiral Bowman’s cabin once. Sean, you’ve been sailing long enough to tell me what transit papers should say, right?”

  Sean’s face returned to its more normal, calmer shade of pale. “Aye, I suppose. If you’re sure about the rest.”

  Bren nodded. He’d put his memory to far greater tests than this for Admiral Bowman.

  “Smashing!” said Barrett. “To my cabin then.”