Page 119 of The Cinders
‘Never mind.Let’s just ride on.Master Ren is expecting us.’He urged Longma forward with a thrust forward of his hips that had Xian’s eyes widening.
He swallowed hard.‘Master Ren?’
‘A good man I met when I arrived here.Could hardly believe my eyes when I saw his farmhouse in the distance, and thought I must have been dreaming when I found Ren was at home.I was sure he’d have gone to the palace to watch those fireworks.’His shiver touched Xian’s back.‘Lucky thing he didn’t considering the mess that became.What sort of idiots burn down their own palace, because they are too busy showing off and acting like peacocks to bother with the dangers?’
Xian chose not to speak of Sir William’s hand in the chaos.He was enjoying this ride; telling Lim the daemon’s catastrophic interference with the fireworks had almost cost his life would only spoil things.‘It sounds like fortune is with us.Is Master Ren’s farm near the river?’
‘It is.He’s a farmer of the water, he says.’
Xian’s head was light with the scent of the shoemaker, and his back heated by his closeness.Song Lim’s solid body was a wall at his back, his arms twin barriers against a world that may yet still come for Xian.
Though there was a particular hardness Xian struggled to place.Until his appallingly clueless mind realised that it was not a hidden tool in Lim’s trousers responsible for the prodding.Not a tool for the workshop, at least.
‘How far is it to Master Ren’s place?’he asked, fingers clenching Longma’s mane.Maybe the motion of the horse stirred such rises?‘Is it very far?’
His thoughts swirled like leaves caught in the autumn winds.Did he wish the journey near or far?Should he dismount?Was it paining Lim to ride like that?
‘The distance is not far, no.But Xian—’ The name rumbled in Lim’s chest, and Xian had to gather himself before he replied.
‘Yes?Is it too much?Do you want me to get down?I don’t mind.’
‘What?Too much?No, no.’Lim’s confusion tilted his words.‘Xian, there is something you should know of Master Ren.You have much in common.I mean, I’m sure he’s not a fox spirit, but he’s…well, he’s a Natural, I’m certain.’
‘A Natural?’Xian swallowed, grateful for the surprise that took his mind from thought of Lim’s hard touch.‘With Sir William that is three I know of here in Manhao.The flower seller near Master Chen’s workshop was unique as well, she assisted me in finding you.’
‘And me when I tried to run from the guards.A decent woman.’Lim urged Longma down a darkened roadway, the warehouses on either side standing unlit and lifeless.Xian felt every flex of Lim’s muscles.‘Is there need for England then?Perhaps Sir William does not know that you might find your kind here?’
Xian’s nervous happiness evaporated with the thought of Captain Duan’s lifeless eyes, and the vile threats cast by the Mandarin, the banishment from the Imperial Palace and the long, terrible years endured at the hands of Marchioness Shen.
‘I don’t want to stay, Lim.’He’d never be free here.‘I will tell you everything, I promise you, but just know that the Middle Kingdom must be in my past.’
Longma walked steadily down the deserted path; one that smelled of mould and damp earth.
‘And that is all I need know.’Lim’s breath shifted Xian’s hair, and he caressed his arm with a thumb lifted from the reins.‘I know you are not fond of horses, but I’d like to get us to Master Ren’s fast as we can.Could you manage a quicker pace do you think?’
‘Longma is a fine animal.He does not frighten me, but I’m not a skilled rider.’
‘I’ll not let you fall.’
‘I know.Ride as fast as you like.I’m not afraid.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
THE ROADtook them where houses were fewer and fewer, until there were none; only fields, rice paddies and grassy sweeps of land where the dark shapes of grazing animals could be seen.Xian’s damp nose twitched at the scent of deep water.
‘Are we near the Red River?’
‘Can you see it?’
‘I can smell it.’
Lim’s laughter shoved them together, upsetting the reasonable rhythm they’d found to manage Longma’s canter.‘Magnificent, aren’t you?My huli jing prince.’
Xian smiled, warming under Lim’s easy affection.
A farmhouse appeared up ahead, a beautiful structure whose red cedar timbers contrasted the duller greys of the night-lit world.Two wings spread out from the central building, and all along ran a verandah, decorated with chunlian and lanterns.None were lit, so the house looked to be deserted.
They travelled the stone path that passed in front of the farmhouse.Lim settled Longma into a trot, then into a walk.Xian found himself out of breath, aching in so many places he wondered how he’d dismount.