“All women like flattery,” Alice said, “even when they’re waiting to hear from-”
“Lady Orchid!” Phipps interrupted.
They all turned. Lady Orchid and a worried-looking man in a white cap were coming up the gangplank. Lieutenant Li preceded them, holding a phosphorescent lantern in one hand. In the other, he held a black box with dragons on it.
“We would like to speak,” Lady Orchid said.
Chapter Twelve
Dragons embossed in gold twisted across the surface of the box, and they engaged Alice’s eye. Hypnotic, really. Rather like the Impossible Cube, but pleasant, without inducing a headache.
Everyone got to his feet as the new trio boarded the ship. Gavin attempted a bow in the Oriental fashion. A smile quirked at the edges of Lady Orchid’s mouth, though Alice couldn’t tell whether it was a smile of approval or disdain. Since they were trying to be optimistic, she settled on approval.
Gavin scrambled about for chairs for everyone. Kung hesitated a moment, but Orchid settled into hers as if she had used them all her life, though Alice didn’t remember seeing anything but a low stool in the grand house, and Yeh had sat on pillows back in Tehran. Did the Orientals even use chairs? Li was the only one who remained standing. He set the box on the table in front of Lady Orchid. The dragons looked as though they were dancing. Gavin was avoiding looking directly at the box, and Alice wondered nervously if the dragons might draw him into one of those awful fugues.
“I am Prince Kung,” the man said. “Emperor Xianfeng was my half brother.”
“I am sorry to hear of your loss, sir,” Alice said formally.
“Thank you.” He took a breath. “It is. . strange to speak with foreigners, but still interesting.”
“In what way?” Phipps asked.
“You do not know our manners, just as we do not know yours, though it was good of Lord Ennock to make an attempt.” He nodded at Gavin, who flushed slightly. “You speak too bluntly for us, too forthrightly. On the other hand, we have little time, and our usual ways to discuss will fail. So I will be. . forthright. I have learned English because I feel our two worlds, East and West, would be better off in cooperation than at war. My half brother did not feel as I do, and General Su Shun definitely does not. He intends to invade the West as soon as he can confirm the death of Lady Michaels.”
He repeated this in Chinese for Orchid’s benefit.
“We know this,” Gavin said. “We also know that Lady Orchid wants to put her son on the throne so she can rule as regent.”
“That is so,” Kung replied with a nod. “Normally, we would work out a careful, subtle plan to discredit Su Shun and push him off the throne, or even assassinate him through a careful campaign of poisons. But we simply do not have time.”
“He is already partly discredited,” Orchid said in Chinese, with Kung translating. “The emperor cannot be one who is disfigured by the blessing of dragons. He must be unsullied so his body may accept the power of the Jade Hand.”
Phipps crossed her arms in a familiar gesture. “So the emperor must be physically perfect, but once he ascends the throne, he becomes disfigured. Interesting.”
“Not disfigured,” Kung replied. “Enhanced. The Jade Hand is a piece of heaven. Therefore, it does not mar. It improves.”
“But my arm and my eye”-Phipps held out the former and tapped the latter-“are disfigurements?”
“They are not the Jade Hand.”
“It makes as much sense as declaring a bit of glassy carbon valuable,” Gavin said. “I think the point Prince Kung wants to make is that the fastest way to change power is to steal the Jade Hand and give it to Lady Orchid’s son.”
“Wouldn’t that mean. . cutting off the boy’s hand?” Alice asked in a hesitant voice.
“Yes,” Orchid said simply.
A moment of silence followed.
“Su Shun cut his own off when Xianfeng died,” Kung said at last. “It’s been that way since the time of Lung Fei.”
“Wait,” Alice said as something occurred to her. “If you are-were-Emperor Xianfeng’s half brother, you must also be half brother to Jun Lung, the Chinese ambassador to England.”
“Ah, yes.” Kung nodded. “My brother shares my views on East-West cooperation, though he was more or less exiled for his pains.”
“Was he a Dragon Man?” Gavin asked. “His family name was Lung.”
Kung shook his head. “Coincidence. Lung was once common as a family name until it became customary for Dragon Men to take that name, but here and there you will still find a Lung who has not received the blessing of dragons. Xianfeng was a Lung before he took his Celestial name. My brother is even more aggressive about cooperation with the West than I, and the ambassador position was granted him to get him out of Peking, I am sorry to say.”
“Along with his son, Feng,” Alice said leadingly.
“Feng, yes.” A vague look of distaste crossed Kung’s face. “We do not speak of my nephew.”
Alice leaned forward. “Because he was disgraced for not being able to follow into Jun Lung’s profession.”
“You know of this?” Kung looked startled.
“Feng was my friend,” Gavin said. “I saved his life, and he saved mine. More than once.”
“Where he is now?” Kung demanded.
Alice and Gavin exchanged glances. There was an uncomfortable pause, and then Gavin finally said, “Sir, I regret to inform you that Feng has died.”
“Has he?” Kung didn’t look distressed. Rather, he calmly steepled his fingers. “How?”
“It is a long and complicated story,” Alice said. “And we will gladly give you every detail at a more opportune time. However, suffice it to say that Feng sacrificed his own life to save mine and Gavin’s.”
“Actually,” Phipps said, “his sacrifice saved the entire world.”
At this, Kung raised both eyebrows. “The world?”
“Perhaps even more,” Phipps said. “Far from being ashamed of your nephew, sir, you should be proud of him.”
“I see. Then I am most eager to hear this entire story.” Kung resettled himself. “But as Lady Michaels has pointed out, first we must finish our current business.”
“We have a number of problems to overcome if we wish to steal the Jade Hand,” Lady Orchid said. “Su Shun has barricaded himself in the Forbidden City, and I don’t think we can lure him out.”
“What exactly is the Forbidden City?” Gavin asked. “I’ve heard of it but don’t know anything about it.”
“The Forbidden City is the official palace compound of the emperor in Peking,” Kung explained. “It is located in the northeastern part of Peking and is surrounded by a moat and a high wall pierced by four gates. It covers many acres, including a river, and contains many buildings. A second wall surrounds the Palace of Heavenly Purity, where the emperor once lived, but after the great Emperor Yongzheng died, the emperor’s residence moved just outside the second wall to the Hall of Mental Cultivation, which is fortunate for us. The difficulty is that only a handful of people are allowed to go in or out of the city itself. Concubines are not allowed to leave the Forbidden City without special permission, and only recognized concubines are allowed to go in. The same applies to general maidservants-everyone is scrutinized upon entering and leaving.”
“What about men?” Gavin asked.
Lady Orchid looked shocked. “The only men allowed into the Forbidden City are close friends or advisers to the emperor, and even they must leave after sundown. No man but the emperor passes the night in the Forbidden City.”
“Why is that?” said Alice.
“To ensure proper succession, of course,” Kung replied. “No one can doubt that Lady Orchid’s son is anyone but the emperor’s issue because no man has ever been allowed to spend time in Lady Orchid’s presence. Until she fled, at any rate.”