The Dragon and the Pearl Part 23

'I will be waiting,' he said with a mock intimacy that made her blood go cold.

He hooked his fingers into her bodice and wrenched downwards. Her robe split at the seam, the rending of silk deafening. She bit down on her lip and willed the pain to take away her fear.

Jun struggled free, only to have Zheng swat him back. His meaty arm connected with the boy's jaw. She cringed at the sharp impact. All she could think of was Li Tao and their baby. A surge of protectiveness seized her and she squeezed her eyes shut. She would survive this. No matter what they did to her, she had to stay alive.

'Is that all you have, Ling Guifei? No fight left in you?'

Her eyes flew open. Zheng was breathing hard, aroused. This went beyond l.u.s.t. He was savouring his power over her and, more importantly, his power over Li Tao. There was an old grudge there. She was certain of it.

A cry rose behind them. In a whiplash of motion, Jun snapped forwards, a knife gleaming in his good hand. Badger staggered backwards with blood seeping through his fingers.

'We have orders,' Jun snarled.

This could be her only chance. She shoved at Zheng and scrambled to her feet. The ground lurched unexpectedly and her vision blurred. Her skirt clung like a net about her ankles when she tried to run. A trace of whatever Jun had put into her food remained in her.

A hand grabbed her roughly, tugging on the silken robe. It was Zheng again. He forced her to the ground and threw himself on top of her. His knee wedged between her thighs. She tried to claw at him, but he pinned her arms against the jagged ground.

'Hold!' It was Badger that spoke. 'Back off, Zheng. You saw it.'

Zheng's grip tightened defiantly on her wrists. 'It means nothing.'

'She's been marked,' Badger insisted.

Zheng returned his attention to her, his gaze cold. 'The mark of a traitor means nothing.'

The tattoo. The a.s.sa.s.sins of An Ying spoke in language and codes of conduct that no one else could understand.

Jun came close. 'You have much to answer for if you touch her.'

He clenched his fists so tight that they shook, but there was nothing the youth could do against the two more experienced a.s.sa.s.sins. Zheng sniffed dismissively, but his wiry companion came up behind him. His long shadow fell over her eyes.

'Release her,' Badger said. 'She's untouchable and you know it.'

Suyin clutched the edges of her robe together the moment Zheng's grip loosened. He removed himself from her, but his eyes clamped on to her.

Jun moved to help her stand, but she refused his hand. Of the entire household, she'd been kindest to the boy. His attention had seemed so genuine that she'd left herself vulnerable. Apparently she wasn't immune to deception either.

Horses had been stowed in the brush along with travel packs. Suyin fought a wave of panic. The a.s.sa.s.sins were taking her far away. She prayed that the swordsman w.a.n.g and the rest of the bodyguards would organise a search party-if they had survived.

Jun stayed close, as if he could still fulfil his promise to Li Tao to take care of her. He held out a cloak. 'Put this on.'

'I won't accept anything from you.' She clutched the torn silk to her breast as the men prepared the horses.

'Lady Ling, please.'

His words held no hint of plaintiveness. Jun was hardly the awkward boy he had affected so flawlessly. The look of innocence was gone, replaced by a hardness that set her on guard.

'You were one of them all along,' she said. 'Ever since Auntie took you in.'

'Yes.'

'A frail helpless orphan.'

Jun smirked. 'What would the great Li Tao have to fear from a cripple?'

It was more than that. Lao Sou knew what Li Tao had been, the streets that he had prowled. The Old Man had held up a mirror to Li Tao and he had been unwittingly fooled by his own image.

She watched Badger and Zheng as they readied the horses. According to their account, they had sacrificed many others last night in order for Jun to be able to steal her away. The Old Man wanted Li Tao alive.

She needed to work out which one of these men was the most dangerous. The two larger men were brutes, used for ramming through fortress gates and scaling walls. They had nothing like the stealth of Li Tao or Jun. Li Tao had hidden within the Emperor's army for years. Jun was possibly even more skilled.

'Not many people can fool me,' she said coldly. 'That takes a special breed of treachery.'

Jun fell silent and she saw a trace of the same austere discipline that had been instilled in Li Tao. He stood rigid beside her, battling within himself. He was uncomfortable with her anger. Jun might be a trained a.s.sa.s.sin, but he'd been fed on Auntie's kindness. It gave her a small spark of hope.

He held out the cloak once again. 'Take this.'

Badger came up to them, ending the argument by grabbing the wool and jerking it over her shoulders roughly. 'Zheng needs no more encouragement.'

Despite her defiance, the cloak provided a semblance of comfort, some armour against these dangerous men. She stared at the spot where Zheng waited by the horses. The memory of him pinning her against the ground made her go cold. She longed for Li Tao so much it hurt, but he was far away, occupied with the approaching armies.

Had anyone been left alive? Inwardly, she wept for Auntie, for Cook, for the servants who had become like family. She prayed for their safety.

'Where are you taking me?' she asked.

Badger answered, direct and simple. 'The Old Man wants to meet you.'

He took a knife from his belt and slashed a line on to a nearby tree before directing her towards the horses.

Chapter Twenty.

Luoyang-AD 739

20 years earlier

After his third job, Feng invited Tao to join his gang. When Tao refused, Feng sent a gutter rat after him, someone larger, more experienced, but not as desperate to draw his next breath. The first rat, then the second, turned up dead and Feng stopped cluttering the alleys with his urchins.

Tao never joined any of the other street gangs. He didn't want the shackles of such an a.s.sociation even for the protection it provided. He worked the dark corners and outskirts of the territories, carving out his own domain.

One night he found a grey man in a grey robe leaning in one of his corners.

'Old man,' he called out.

'Young boy.' The street lanterns revealed a twist of a smile on the old man's face.

He took no offence even though he was no longer a boy. Pride could be deadly in these streets.

'I am looking for the one they call Tao.'

'That is me.'

The old man's eyes gleamed with enjoyment. The oddness of it made Tao slip his knife into his hand while he hung back in the shadows.

'Just Tao? Not Tao the Knife or Tao the Tiger?'

The grey man shook with laughter, utterly at ease in the back streets, which meant he was drunk or mad or dangerous.

'Who are you?' Tao demanded.

'You had it right from the start. They call me "Lao Sou".' Old Man.

'I have never heard of you.'

'No one has.'

Tao stepped back and his gaze darted to the rooftops, to the far end of the alley. He saw nothing, heard nothing, but he knew the grey man was not here alone.

'I have a job for you, Tao the Silent.'

'Tonight?'

The Old Man chuckled. 'No, no. Not until you're ready. Put away your knife and walk with me.'

She knew the sound of water, even from a distance. The ebb and flow of it grew louder as they rode. They must be nearing the banks of the Jin. They veered into the thick of the forest, dismounting to continue on foot.

'You're not going to cover my eyes?' she asked.

Zheng snorted. 'An Ying is everywhere. We can disappear like the blowing wind.'

'How poetic,' she remarked blandly.

He shoved her forwards. The forest gave way to a stone path, encroached and overgrown with roots. The broken tiles led to a sudden part in the trees to reveal the face of a once-grand temple. The cracked paint lent it a hint of antiquity, a venerable sheen.

Zheng clamped a hand on to her shoulder. She shook him free and stepped forwards of her own volition, searching among the pillars and alcoves. There had been sliver of movement among the shadows, she was certain of it. Jun's hand slipped to the knife in his belt.

'You've never seen Lao Sou, have you?' she asked.

'Few have,' Jun replied.

'Yet you serve him above the people who cared for you.'

'Don't let her bewitch you, boy,' Badger drawled from behind them.

She slid him a look over her shoulder and Badger flashed a crooked smile. An Ying was an odd collection of characters.

They stepped around the broken incense urn in the yard. A set of weathered steps led to the open doors. Zheng took hold of her again as they crossed the threshold. She peered through the dimly lit interior to the man seated where the altar once stood. The effect of it was akin to an emperor on his throne.

'Fine work, young Jun,' he said.

Li Tao had told her that Lao Sou preferred to wear drab clothing and disappear unnoticed in a crowd, but the man before her was dressed like a n.o.bleman, his robe richly embroidered and of the finest silk. His face remained shadowed.

'The notorious Ling Guifei honours us with her presence.'

'Lao Sou,' she greeted. 'Your servant has his hand on me. I beseech you to have him remove it.'

'Zheng, show respect for our guest.'

His hand tightened momentarily, anger vibrating through his fingertips. Then, without a word, he let her go. And just like that rank was established. She met Lao Sou's gaze with a look that said, We are equals, you and I. Even though he held all the power.

He beckoned her with a wrinkled hand. 'Come closer.'

She stepped on to the raised platform, noting how he was alone in the chamber. No, not alone. Once again, she caught a ripple of movement in the niche of the altar. Lao Sou didn't want to appear as if he needed protection, but there was no way to tell how many guarded him.

'Closer, closer. I am not the demon Li Tao described.'

He remained seated, his head tilted as if gauging each step. His eyes remained unfocused and blank. Blind. Li Tao had not told her that. How did a blind man command the respect of this horde of murderers and spies?

'Li Tao never spoke of you as a demon.'

He raised a thick grey eyebrow. 'No? What did he say?'

'That you would come for him some day.'

He nodded, seemingly pleased, and a wave of powerlessness swept over her, weakening her resolve. It was as Li Tao had said. They were being manipulated, their fate not entirely their own.

'Come closer, my lady.'

Lao Sou pushed off against the arms of the chair and stood, reaching out to her sightlessly. She found herself obliging him, taking his arm as if he was an old grandfather rather than the killer she knew he was.

'My eyes are old and dim. I have never regretted it so much as now.' He chuckled softly as he gestured toward the adjoining chamber. 'I would have liked to look upon Ling Guifei's renowned beauty.'

The old man led the way to a second chamber and they left Jun standing with Badger and Zheng in the centre of the room. The arm beneath hers was tough with wiry muscle and his step was agile and confident. He needed no a.s.sistance, she realised. Lao Sou was holding on to keep control of her.