“I want to go, Mei.”
“Just a moment, Daisy.” I wanted to take a closer look, but I dared not walk too close. So I waded through the snow to my left and tried to climb a tree. The trunk was slippery with frost, but eventually I grabbed a thick branch over my head and found a firm footing. I hoisted up and peered at the canal. There, I got a better view of the canal and the Duke, and I could see clearly that those animals—there were at least twenty of them—were not dogs but men with their heads covered in some black cloth. Their arms and legs trussed, they struggled frantically. Some boulders were attached to their necks and feet, and a rope wound around their waists, tying them together. My heart raced faster. What was the Duke going to do with these men?
“Get down, Mei! Why are you climbing on a tree?”
“Be quiet, Daisy,” I whispered, hoping she would lower her voice. The Emperor and the Duke would kill me if they found out I was watching them.
“I’m leaving, Mei. Are you coming?”
I could not reply, because at that moment, the Duke kicked a man near him and shoved him to the edge of the boat. The man cried out, his voice muffled, but the Duke continued to shove until he dropped into the canal. He sank into the water instantly, weighed down by the boulders tied to his body. The rope, linked to another man, pulled him to the edge of the boat as well. Sensing danger, the man struggled, his body twisting. The Duke unsheathed his sword and thrust it into his chest. The man slumped and fell into the water.
I lost my grip on the branch and dropped to the ground. My face was chilled, and my teeth were chattering. I wanted to call out for Daisy, but I could not find my voice. My hands trembling, I climbed the tree again. But my legs were too weak, and I could not pull myself up. I could hear, however, the desperate cries and the loud splashing coming from the canal. When I was able to hold on to a branch again, I peered at the canal.
The men were all gone, and the Duke was alone in the boat. On the surface of the water, some black cloths popped like bubbles and sank slowly as I watched, and a carpet of broken floes, thick heaps of algae, dead leaves, and grass floated over to cover the spot where the men had sunk.
And the Emperor nodded as though he was greatly pleased.
“D-Daisy? Did you…did you see that?” I whispered. “Daisy?”
I did not hear her answer. She had already gone ahead of me, but she turned around and came back to me. “What? A snake? Did you say a snake? Where?”
I slipped off the tree. “No. Not snake.”
“Then what is it? We better go, Mei. The guards will find us gone. Are you coming?”
“Yes, yes, but…” I swallowed the rest of my words. From behind, the Emperor’s voice drifted toward me.
“How many left?”
“About one hundred and fifty.” The Duke’s voice.
“You will take care of them?”
“I shall be honored, the One Above All.”
There was heavy breathing as the Emperor climbed uphill. “…so that should take care of the prophecy…”
I stumbled. My hand swept a branch, a shower of snow raining down on my head. Shivering, I hurried to catch up with Daisy.
AD 644
the Eighteenth Year of Emperor Taizong’s Reign of Peaceful Prospect
SPRING
32
The Emperor was desperate. The demeaning ballad was sung in many corners of the kingdom, rumor said, and still the Emperor had not captured the man who had spread it.
And he was running out of time. Revolts from many regions of the kingdom were reported, each claiming their leader was the man in the prophecy. The peasants in the south, led by a woman general, were said to be most threatening.
Every week, messages sent by horse relay were placed on the Emperor’s table, indicating the progress of the thousands of peasants who had joined to attack the local yamen and officials. Every day, the woman general gained more support. The army overtook Yangzhou and controlled the Grand Canal. The Emperor dispatched five thousand men to quench the revolt but failed. The peasant army was marching north to Jingzhou. In two months’ time, the army, if not stopped, would reach Chang’an.