The Best of Beneath Ceaseless Skies Online Magazine, Year Eight

by Catherynne M. Valente

  Wuda slipped from my grasp and crashed into the water with a resounding splash.

  I teetered on the edge, and would have fallen in after him had someone not yanked me back onto the tiles by my shirt.

  “Tangren Ao, I presume,” whispered Doctor Yan.

  How had she climbed up here without a sound?

  “That man will drown—”

  “Lun’s gone in to save him,” she said. Indeed, I heard wading noises. “I didn’t think you could take him.”

  “Surprised me too.” I set the squished pig sculpture down. “Thank you for coming.”

  “I count myself friend to all kindly spirits,” Yan said, her voice taking on a more soothing tone. “The hunters will have heard that, so let’s not tarry.” She knelt by the tiger. “May I examine you, Lady Tigress?”

  The Pale Tigress studied Yan intensely before she gave a slow, upward nod.

  As Yan attended to her patient, I studied the tiger’s odd but fascinating pattern of stripes. The moonlight through the mist was wan, but if examined carefully, what seemed at first to be stripes of her dark fur deepened as if by magic to become shadowed streets with stalls, trees, and even swaying shop signs in ghostly miniature.

  The Pale Tigress was a living map of Chengdu.

  Yan produced a small sachet and took a blend of herbs from it. “This arrow was enchanted to stop its victim from drawing divine strength. The extraction must be delicate and slow, lest the arrowhead break off inside her.” She sprinkled a pinch onto the wound. “And who might you be, Tangren Ao, to be tasked to save the City God’s Tiger?”

  “I’m merely a candy peddler who sometimes meddles when there’s need for meddling,” I said. “What of you, Doctor Yan? So light of foot, so quick of hand, and of no small strength. I’ve not seen a swordsman in the Jianghu as capable as you.”

  “I’m a simple physician,” Yan said, though she was surely much more. “Lun says you saved the city from burning by conjuring a dragon made of water.”

  “Ah, such tales he tells,” I said, while trying to figure out more streets among the Pale Tigress’s stripes. There was Barrel Street, which crossed Fragrant Osmanthus Street; Golden Alley, and Little Bowl Road where they sold my favorite spicy tofu. If I concentrated, I could even follow the mirage roads as though I were hurtling along the rooftops and leaping across alleyways. But where was the treasure supposedly hidden in her fur? And would I know it when I saw it?

  Yan smiled a bewitching smile. “We both have secrets, it seems.”

  They said that doctors in the Jianghu could read a woman’s pulse by merely touching a string tied to her wrist. I saw an echo of that as Yan gently took hold of the arrow with her left hand. The Tigress flinched, and that was when I saw it: hidden in the stripes of her fur, always floating at the juncture of the same mirage streets, was the image of a bronze pearl.

  Was the pearl the treasure that so intrigued Pig?

  Yan flicked her right hand, and a small knife appeared in her grasp. “Lady Tigress, the first cut will be the worst, but for all our sakes, hold your roar. Ao, I need your help holding the Tigress down.”

  The Tigress gave another upward nod.

  I whispered an apology to her as I put my hands where the doctor indicated, on either side of the wound. I thought her flesh would be warm, but it was supernaturally cold.

  From this vantage I could see the pearl clearly. It floated above the crossing of the same phantom roads. If I had identified the landmarks right, that intersection must be Pawnshop Road and Birdcage Alley. Could this mean that one of the shops there might hide a treasure of Chengdu? Did this charm hint that the prize was also a pearl, or did it merely signify a hiding place?

  The doctor made her incision. The Pale Tigress writhed, despite my best attempt to keep her still.

  But what willpower she must have, to not roar in pain!

  A moment after Yan took the blade to the Tigress again, she hesitated. “Voices approaching, and many,” she whispered. “But I can’t stop the procedure now.”

  I heard them too. “I’ll lure them away.”

  Lun should still have the dog figurine. I closed my eyes and sent my soul forth once more.

  The first sensations that hit me when I inhabited my caramel dog were wetness and cold. I was bobbing in the stream next to Lun, who was holding that man Wuda’s head above water while grabbing onto the lower edge of the bridge. The structure shielded them from sight, but how much longer could they bear the cold waters?

  Honored Gallant Dog! I called. This loyal servant begs your aid to save his friends.

  Let’s play, Pup-Brother Aoooooo! barked the shengxiao spirit, harkening to the dog shape of my caramel body. Wag your tail if you’re happy to see me, just like that.

  To my surprise, my candy tail was indeed wagging. My Genial Friend, I said, I intend to shape a hound from the water.

  Ah, your growing water-shaping skills, said Dog. You’ve already set Chengdu a-stir with that magic, Ao. A water dragon against the fire. Rats of wine and tea against assassins. Now a river dog against tiger-slayers?

  That alone won’t be enough to distract the Crows’ men, I replied. But if I could borrow a bite’s worth of your authority over the dogs of the city. . . .

  You wish to lead a pack? Let me gnaw on that. What meat will you bring me for that right?

  The voices were getting closer, and I couldn’t risk not reaching a deal. But what would Dog find pleasing?

  I thought back to a scruffy Shar-pei that had tagged along with us when I was small. My best friend for few happy years, I named him Rumor because he was vicious when it suited him and he always ran wild. But when Father and I needed to escape Fujian by junk, we had been forced to leave old Rumor behind.

  What if I promise to take in a dog as a companion? I asked.

  Dog howled with glee. One of my choosing? Oh, what opportunities that opens! Lead on, Aoooooo. Shape your water-hound. I give you leave to call all the dogs you can convince to follow you.

  I sensed the blessing of Dog rise within me, boundless in vigor like a pup chasing her own tail. My conjurations had no voice, so I couldn’t howl to the dogs for aid. I am in your debt, Friend, but how do I. . .?

  Use what you already know, said Dog, and his presence receded.

  What did he mean? I thought back to the bridgetop confrontation. Scent, not sight or sound, had given us away. Dogs had an incredible sense of smell; Rumor had always known in which hand I hid a treat. Could I use scent to my advantage? I had, after all, spent the day at the South City Gate selling blown caramel animals made from my family’s secret blend of sugars. Some of my creations had likely been eaten since then, but some might’ve been kept to admire while others thrown away. My Tangren magic connected me to all those candies scattered across the city.

  What if I worked Dog’s blessing into that power and called to the dogs of the city through the fragrance of my sugar-blend?

  Men with bows and belt-quivers were nearing the bridge, shouting for their man Wuda.

  I opened pathways to all traces of my sugar-blend in the city and let Dog’s blessing sprint through them all to mark their aromas with a plea: “Dogs of Chengdu, by the power of the shengxiao I call you to my side. Wherever you lie, awaken.”

  Distant barks broke the silence. Some dogs must have smelled my summons, but would they come in force and in time?

  I needed to stall the Crows’ men. I asked the Golden Water River for leave to shape my water-hound from its substance, and in return I’d offer my candy dog as tribute. It was pleased, and it pulled the caramel into deeper currents while granting me dominion over a vat’s worth of sugar-tinged riverwater.

  My soul animated the river’s gift. I sculpted my liquid body as I would a glob of hot caramel, paying homage to my old beloved dog. I shaped and smoothed a flat and broad head with a full and wide muzzle, and pinched surface folds to look wrinkly all over. Lastly, to imitate the short ‘sand-skin’ fur that gave the Shar-pei its name, I ima
gined a dusting of sugar crystals to render the right texture. Once I felt the shape was right I clambered onto the riverbank.

  Like a wet dog I felt a compulsion to shake myself dry, but if I did my water-body might fall apart. With my new canine nose I could scent my fragrant call, drifting down from the crushed pig candy atop Fledgling Bridge. But my airborne message was not pure sweet: the hint of dank was my doubt and the sour my fear. Would enough answer my call?

  I had no time to court those that questioned my call. I called to the others: “Helpers south of the Golden Water, bark at the shadows or yelp in fear. Make noise, make men come and see. Scrappers north, come to me in silence and under cover. I may need you all.”

  My dogs began their commotion just as the Crows’ men were about to set foot on the bridge. As I hoped, the frenetic barking on the south shore drew the hunters’ attention. With luck they might believe that the dogs were spooked by a wounded tiger and race to find her before the night watchmen took interest in all the noise.

  My gambit played out half-right. Their ringleader sent all but one of his men dashing south. He, a tall malodorous man with a bow in his left hand and a sword in his right, bade an underling to stay and search the bridge while he himself took the riverbank, heading towards the water’s edge.

  I couldn’t let them find Lun with Wuda.

  Water-paws on grass, I charged the ringleader. He must have seen me out of the corner of his eye and tumbled aside. He cut me with his sword, but it passed through without harm.

  He sneered. “Another damnable servant of the City God?”

  His underling heard and turned. I barreled onto the bridge and slammed my watery body against the underling’s legs with the force of a waterfall. He fell, and I continued on. I needed to startle and anger them so that they’d ignore the waterline and the roof of the Fledgling Bridge and chase after me.

  “Leave him,” said the ringleader. “The cur took pains to remove Wuda, and now he’s desperate to lead us away, which means the tiger demon must be here. I’ll skin her yet. Check above.”

  With that, my ploy fell to pieces. I frothed at the mouth to see the underling grab the handrail and struggle to his feet.

  The ringleader looked under the bridge. “You, in the water. My nephew had better be alive.”

  Deception wouldn’t work any longer. I charged the ringleader.

  The dogs that had answered my summons scrambled from the mists of the northern shore, barking wildly. Mangy strays, white field dogs, Tibetan mastiffs, and even a pampered lion dog darted into the fray. Two growling mastiffs leapt upon the underling and pulled him down, while others chomped at his limbs. He cried out and struggled but to no avail against the massive weights of the pair of Tibetans.

  I continued towards the ringleader on the south riverbank, with a press of Chongqing and Xiasi dogs behind me.

  With much calm the man flung his bow at my head. I knew the weapon would pass through me so I didn’t dodge. The hit disrupted my eyes, blinding me for a moment.

  He was counting on that. Drawing a black arrow from his belt-quiver, he drove it deep into my side.

  The arrow stuck in me like I was truly a creature of flesh and blood, and a chilling pain surged in my right lung. The ringleader let go of the arrow and swung his sword.

  This time, I was afraid.

  I bore the arrow’s pain and scurried a tail’s length away from the blade, which struck the muddy riverbank where I had stood but a moment before.

  My pack of attack dogs became confused, unsure, and retreated from the man.

  I put more distance between me and him. Where the arrow had hit me, the water was turning into ice, and the ice was spreading.

  A new fear consumed me. What would happen to me if my water-body froze solid? Could my foe then smash the ice and shatter my soul?

  My instinct was to remove myself from the water-hound manifestation, but the cursed arrow had lodged in my soul. I was stuck. And just as the one in the Tigress had cut her off from divine help, this arrow was undoing the shengxiao magic gifted me by Dog. The chorus of barks south of us dwindled, and the fight fled my pack of scrappy defenders.

  The ringleader kicked a field dog aside and advanced upon me. He could smash the part of me that had turned to ice.

  I didn’t want to die here, but what could I do? Jump into the river to save myself, letting the current carry me downstream?

  But if I ran and somehow survived, the twelve spirits of the shengxiao would all know me as a coward. If they thought me unworthy, would they ever deign to help me again?

  No, I couldn’t be craven. Tonight, I had begged Dog to let me lead his kin, so I must behave like a true leader, one who’d never tuck tail and run. If I died here, I’d die with honor to my family name.

  I stood my ground and bared my teeth, though the arrow’s curse was creeping up my neck, threatening to freeze my snarl in place.

  Three dogs who hadn’t yet fled in the chaos followed my lead, growling at the ringleader, readying an attack.

  It gave the man pause. Our gazes locked as he considered his next move.

  In the mist behind my foe, Lun heaved the unconscious Wuda onto shore and clambered out of the water, shivering.

  The ringleader spotted him. “Another come to die?”

  I cursed. Knowing Lun, he’d do something stupid like tackle the man and end up dead on the point of the sword.

  Get away, I shouted to Lun with my mind-voice, but he couldn’t hear me.

  But my dogs seemed to. They yelped and turned to run.

  The ringleader stepped towards Lun. “Will your eyes sate the carrion crows, I wonder?”

  Pouncing from the mists above Lun, the Pale Tigress fell upon the ringleader and forced him to the muddy ground. With a matter-of-course bite to the back of his neck, she snapped it.

  The arrow in her side was gone. She was still weak, I could see, but somehow she had mustered enough strength to save me.

  Her eyes burned blue as she stared through me.

  I thanked her with my heart.

  The Tigress gave an upnod, then dragged the dead man into the shadows.

  I felt more of my water-hound body turning to ice, and all I wanted was to close my eyes and sleep away the pain. But I also knew if I did I’d die.

  Doctor Yan called to Lun from the roof of the bridge. “Help me move Tangren Ao closer to his conjured self, please.”

  Lun nodded. He retrieved my slumbering body and brought it to my side.

  Doctor Yan appeared from behind him, clutching the cursed arrow she had removed from the Tigress. “She saved you,” she said to my dog form, “at much risk of aggravating her wound, but likely wanted to thank you for buying us time, Tangren Ao. As do I.”

  No time or way to blush. I lifted my paw, the only part of the water-hound that hadn’t frozen yet, and touched the lips of my sleeping body. Would the trace of sweet water in this conjured form return me to my flesh?

  A part of my soul was still pinned to the water-and-ice by the cursed arrow. I had no choice but to will my soul to tear free from the arrow, feeling the agony as though I had ripped it from my own chest.

  Only then did I fully reclaim my body.

  Without my animating force, the ice-and-water hound fell and smashed apart against the riverbank dirt.

  I sat up with a start, and couldn’t stop wheezing.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Yan.

  “I still feel the pain from the arrow strike,” I said in short breaths.

  Lantern lights signaled the approach of the night watchmen. “Get him home safely, Lun, and don’t be seen,” she whispered.

  “Shouldn’t we all help the Tigress find sanctuary?” I asked.

  Yan shook her head. “Now that the arrow’s out of her, even as wounded as she is she remains faster and stealthier than any of us. But here, one man nearly drowned and the other’s newly mauled. I can’t leave them untended in good conscience, even if they are criminals. I’ll meet you at the wheelw
right’s when I can.”

  Lun hefted me onto his wet back and headed away from Fledgling Bridge.

  “Thank you for your help, Lun,” I said.

  “No thanks needed,” Lun said. “The troublemaker I was misses these midnight adventures.”

  Twenty, thirty paces later, I lost consciousness.

  ~ ~ ~

  I was awakened by a warm, wet tongue licking my face. Groggy and short of breath, I fended off the dog and sat up to get my bearings.

  I was in my bed in the back of the wheelwright’s shop. By the light, it must have been well past midday.

  Doctor Yan sat bedside, studying my face. “How do you feel, Ao?”

  “Still hard to breathe,” I admitted. The dog with the slobbering tongue was a Xiasi Quan, lean and powerful with a white, wiry pelt. I rubbed her head and noted a deep notch in her left ear. “Your pet, Doctor?”

  “Ours,” corrected Lun, entering the room with a bowl of medicinal stew on a tray held in freshly-bandaged hands. “She followed us home and wouldn’t leave you.”

  I recognized the dog now: one of the last three who had fought at my side against the malodorous ringleader. I rubbed her head in thanks, and remembered my promise to the spirit of Dog. Was this the companion he chose for me?

  “Drink,” Doctor Yan bade.

  I gagged from the bitterness of the goldthread herb but downed the awful soup in the end.

  Yan told me to breathe deep, and listened to my respiration. “There’s nothing wrong with you physically, Ao. I fear your lack of breath comes from a deeper cause.” She showed me the two black arrows from the night before. “Your soul remembers the wound where the water-hound was struck: in the right lung. You’re fortunate that it did not pierce the heart.”

  My chest tightened. It dawned on me what this meant for my livelihood and my magic. While my soul stayed wounded, I’d continue to have difficulties breathing. I wouldn’t be able to inflate a bubble of hot caramel to shape my figurines, no matter how skilled I still was with my hands.

  I could work no more as a sugar-styler.

  Or Tangren sorcerer.

  “Will it heal?” I asked, softly.

  Sadness clouded her eyes. “It might heal on its own, or it might not. I don’t know. . .yet. But we have these arrows. I’ll learn all I can. Until then, you are my patient. I’ll visit again in a few days.”