Page 4 of The Cinders
Mercy wriggled beneath his fingers, pulling him from the bleakness of his thoughts.The carp always knew just when to distract him.His mother had been adept at such things too, easily turning the attention of a distraught young boy towards something that would make him laugh, and forget his tears.
‘I should consider my scars a good fortune, truly, Mercy.I shall never have to worry about my hand being taken in marriage, and that suits me just fine.’He picked a piece of hornwort and moved it through the water as Mercy gave chase.‘Can you imagine the hue and cry from the household staff, if I left?The marchioness’s attention would be on them like a swarm of bees, without me to bully about.They’d have to clean all the hearths down to the last cinder every day, dust the leaves of every potted plant three times over, and polish the floors until they were too slippery to stand on.There would be revolt.’
Xian chuckled, but he was very good at making noise that could be mistaken for genuine mirth.He cupped his hand just beneath the surface of the water, creating an underwater bowl of sorts.Mercy slid her smooth body against the palm of his hand and rested her weight there.The dry skin of his knuckles stung with being submerged.
Xian smiled down at Mercy, who rolled herself back and forth in his makeshift cradle, her huge black eyes glistening like exotic gems.
‘I wish I could bring you with me,’ he sighed.‘I have such an ill feeling for today.’
The carp rounded her mouth and jettisoned a tiny fountain of water into the air.Xian grinned, relaxing into the calm that the fish’s presence brought him.Somewhere in the garden, tree sparrows loosened their spirited calls, and a cuckoo made its repetitive cry.The afternoon was cool, but not terribly so.Winter in Kunming was kind, and certainly not so harsh and snow-drowned as those places further north.The city was afforded dry and mild days, usually sunny, with last night’s rain a rare event.The next two weeks of celebrations, leading to the New Year on January twenty-fourth, were promising to be favourable, at least so far as the weather was concerned.Xian closed his eyes, taking in the sounds, letting his rattled nerves soothe.
‘Xian…Xian…’ The harsh whisper startled him, even as he recognised the person who addressed him so informally.
Mercy darted from his hold, and Xian twisted, the beading whipping about, striking at his cheek.
‘Daiyu?’
‘She’s found your room empty, you need to go.’The herbalist’s daughter seemed to fly down the stairs, her short stature no impediment on the broad steps.Her hair, normally carefully restrained in a bun, had loosened, and black strands wriggled like thin worms about her face.Daiyu’s brown eyes now held an uncommon wildness.‘She is in a vile temper.Oh, Xian, your clothes…and your shoes!You mustn’t let her see you like this.’
Xian hardly heard the words, his blood like waterfalls thundering in his ears.He glanced down, and his entire world seemed to quake.He’d become lax with holding his gown clear of the ground; mud stained his hem, and darkened the toes of his slippers.
Xian slumped against the stones, his blood turning cold.He could not seem to catch his breath.Mercy nudged his fingers, bringing him back to himself.
‘How long do I have?’He forced himself upright; his legs were jellied with shock.‘Which way, Daiyu?Which way do I go?’
He was not proud of how his voice wobbled.
‘Quickly, come with me.Fast as you can.’Daiyu reached for him and cupped his scarred elbow.She knew he shirked from touch and usually kept her distance, which meant now she was as fear-struck as him.‘Her Grace has sent her guards to locate you.They musn’t see you like this.For one, I don’t have near enough coin on me to bribe them to forget the state of your dress.’She pressed at his arm, urging him to move.‘And secondly they are a bunch ofnucaiwithout an inch of sense among them, likely to lead you through every muddy puddle when they take you back to your rooms, ruining your gown far worse than you have.Come away now, quickly.’
Xian turned to the pond.‘Goodbye, Mercy.I’ll be back, I promise.’Daiyu had never bothered him about his fondness for the fish, though he was sure she found it strange.
The carp pushed her body higher out of the water, resting on the stone, and regarded him with an ink-black eye as he hurried away.
Daiyu took him in the opposite direction whence he’d come.
‘Where are we going, Daiyu?’
‘I know a route through the kitchens that will take you back to your chambers unseen.’
Xian nodded, though he felt only marginally more at ease.The manor servants knew he understood their hard lives in a way no other member of the Governor’s family could manage.But they were exhausted by the long hours, and not well rewarded.He could not blame them if they tattled on him, revealing his hiding place in return for an extra ration of rice or an afternoon of free time.
‘Perhaps we could conceal ourselves here a moment.’He gestured to where the weeping willows were thickest at the west side of the garden.‘They might not think to search here—’
‘Because it’s the last place you should be in your exquisite ceremonial gown?’Daiyu did not falter in her quick strides, her dark qun much more suited to hiding stains than the lighter tones of his own skirt.‘A reasonable idea, except that there is only one place you ever are, if you are not inside the manor.Her Grace ordered the guards to the fishpond the moment she knew you missing.’
Daiyu released his arm, and stepped ahead, pushing aside the heavy draping branches of the largest willow.She led him through the dangling fronds, their sway like dripping gold, to where the outer wall of the gardens stood high and mighty.Except one section was not so formidable at all.Xian stared at the makeshift entrance.A hole in the brickwork that was jagged and obviously unplanned.
‘How long has that been there?’
‘Since I was a child, and those willows weren’t much more than saplings.Come on.’
They stepped through into a hutong, the narrow alleyway formed between siheyuan; the traditional courtyard residence style of architecture common in Kunming, and indeed, all over the Middle Kingdom.
Daiyu frowned, glancing left and right.They had stepped from the grandeur of the manor grounds, and into what was clearly the realm of the household servants.The air was ripe with the scent of cooking and livestock.Distant voices lifted with the lighter, more earnest sound of those who did not have to choose every word carefully.But barely had he gotten his bearings, and the regimented footfall of the guards came from behind the wall.Daiyu cursed beneath her breath.‘This way, come on.’
She grabbed his arm again, but Xian was not prepared this time.Startled at her closeness, he jerked away, stepping on a slippery patch in the shade at the foot of the wall.
‘No!’he cried.