Dragonkeeper 2: Garden of the Purple Dragon (11 page)

“I advise you not to touch the items, Your Imperial Majesty,” Dong Fang Suo said.

“Why not?” asked the Emperor.

“There is some sort of enchantment on the sorceress’s things.” The Imperial Magician’s smile looked dangerously close to fading. “Two imperial guards who touched her belongings immediately fell to the ground in a faint. One of them woke after a few days, the other is still unconscious. Physicians have been unable to rouse him. Let someone else pick up the items for you, Your Imperial Majesty.”

The Imperial Magician moved to pick up an object for the Emperor, but changed his mind and waved a servant over to do it instead. The terrified servant reached towards Ping’s comb with a trembling hand, but snatched his fingers back before they touched it.

The Emperor let out an impatient sigh. He picked up the comb and the jade pendant. He looked at all the items and then picked up one of the pieces of dragon stone. He held it up to the light.

“Is this a piece of the stone that the dragon hunter tried to take from you on Tai Shan?”

Ping nodded. Liu Che had witnessed her battle with Diao from a distance. He had seen her defeat the dragon
hunter, and then watched as she picked up the dragon stone and escaped on the old dragon’s back.

“What happened to it?” he asked.

“I dropped it,” Ping replied. “It broke.”

He put down the shard.

“You no longer have the seal of the Imperial Dragonkeeper,” the Emperor said angrily.

“Yes I do,” Ping said, pulling the white jade seal from her pouch.

Liu Che waved Dong Fang Suo to take it from her. The Imperial Magician wiped off the caterpillar innards and insect legs that were stuck to it and put it in the Emperor’s hand. The Emperor examined the seal, rubbing the chipped corner with his thumb. Ping wished she’d taken greater care of it. He put the seal on the table with the other things and reached towards the folded leaf. He opened it out. Ping’s cheeks burned. Inside was the pressed magnolia petal on which the Emperor had shown her how to use the Dragonkeeper’s seal. Ping had kept it as a souvenir of that happy time. He turned the brittle petal over. It was a fragile thing and would have crumbled if handled roughly, but he put it back between the folds of the leaf undamaged.

The Emperor turned to Ping.

“Your possessions are puzzling,” he said.

He picked up the soup ladle on the table and examined its dragon-head handle. Then he looked at the ladle on Ping’s arm.

“My spies tell me you have been living on Tai Shan in a cave.”

He moved over to stand in front of her as he spoke.

“Why did you find the need to have two such expensive bronze soup ladles?”

With the Emperor standing so close, Ping couldn’t think of an answer. He reached out to take the ladle from her arm.

“Don’t touch it, Liu Che!” Ping cried, jumping to her feet and holding back the Emperor’s hand.

There was a sound like a brief, sharp wind, as every single person in the hall gasped in astonishment. Ping had dared to touch the Emperor … and to call him by his personal name. Most people weren’t even allowed to hear the imperial name, let alone speak it. But before the guards had a chance to drag her away, the soup ladle on Ping’s arm started to shimmer. Its colour began to change from dull bronze to purple. The gasps turned to cries of real fear. There before the eyes of twice-ten or more witnesses the soup ladle turned into a small dragon.

The ladies-in-waiting screamed. A servant dropped a wine jar. The ministers and guards jumped back in astonishment—except for Dong Fang Suo who chuckled heartily to himself, as if he’d just solved a puzzle that had been eluding him. The servants stared at the baby dragon. The Princess leaned forward in her chair to get a closer look. The Emperor stood with his mouth open,
looking more like a startled boy than an Emperor.

Kai blinked and made a high sound like a single shrill note on a flute repeated again and again. He was terrified. He’d never had so many people staring at him before. He turned into a bucket, then a pot plant, then back into a dragon again. There were groans of discomfort from those who had continued to watch the shape-changing. One of the Princess’s maids was sick.

Then Ping heard different sounds, high-pitched but tuneful. It took a moment for Ping to realise that the sounds weren’t the dragon’s. They were coming from Princess Yangxin. When the small dragon reappeared, the melody broke out again. The Princess was laughing. The guards and servants stared from the dragon to the Princess, not sure which was the most miraculous. Not only had a dragon materialised in front of them, but also the Princess, who hadn’t smiled in years, was laughing. Dong Fang Suo laughed with her. It was infectious. The ministers and servants began to chuckle. Ping smiled too.

Kai saw the Emperor’s smiling face. His sounds changed to happy flute notes.

“His name is Kai, Your Imperial Majesty. Long Kai Duan,” Ping explained. “I didn’t know it the last time I was here at Ming Yang, but the dragon stone was an egg. When we reached Ocean, Kai hatched out of it.”

The little dragon ran over to the Emperor making excited noises, like someone blowing the highest
possible notes on a flute. The Emperor looked down at the purple creature at his feet. He shook his head in amazement.

“Hello, Kai,” the Emperor said. “My name is Liu Che.”

“Lu … Lu,” said the dragon voice inside Ping’s head, trying to pronounce the unfamiliar name. “Lu-lu!”

Ping was very glad no one else could hear.

The Emperor laughed as Kai sat on his gold-embroidered shoes.

“This is a most auspicious day,” he announced. “Heaven has chosen to deliver a gift to me. Where is the scribe? Let him record that on the ninth day of the ninth month of the first year of my reign, a new imperial dragon appeared at Ming Yang Lodge.”

Ping and Kai were moved out of the animal cage and into a chamber in Ming Yang Lodge. It was just as lovely as the one that Ping had stayed in the last time she was at Ming Yang, but this time it was Kai who slept in the comfortable bed. Ping was expected to sleep on a straw mattress on the floor.

A cook came to ask what the dragon ate. Ping gave him a long list of insects. The cook went away with a perplexed look, never having been asked to serve such things before. Not long after, a servant arrived
and presented Kai with a platter of worms, snails and caterpillars, artfully arranged and decorated with butterfly wings. There was also a large bowl of milk. It was three times the size of the meals he’d had on Tai Shan, but he ate it all, including the decorations. Ping thought that for the first time in his short life he had enough to eat. When Kai had finished eating, the servant brought Ping a small bowl of gruel.

They were allowed to walk in the gardens whenever they wished, but some things hadn’t changed. The pair of imperial guards was never far behind them. Ping tried not to let Kai out of her sight, but it was hard to keep up with him. He was enjoying his freedom. On Tai Shan, Ping had never let him go far. Worried that he might trip over his big feet and fall down a cliff, she had only allowed him to play in the restricted space around the pool. Now he could run around wherever he pleased.

Ping walked slowly up Ming Yang hill. It would take her a while to recover her full strength. She couldn’t keep up with Kai. She had last seen him heading towards the Garden of Secluded Harmony. When she came to the Watching Magnolia Buds Open Pavilion she sat down to rest. She heard footsteps and the high sweet notes of a flute. The Emperor was walking towards the pavilion with a happy dragon at his feet.

“Ping,” Kai’s voice said in her mind. “Not hungry, Ping.”

Ping lowered herself to her knees and bowed down before the Emperor.

“Lu-lu,” said the little dragon excitedly. He had taken to imperial life as if he were born to it.

The Emperor didn’t say anything. Ping remained on her knees wondering what he would think of the name Kai had for him. A pair of worn slippers came into view alongside the Emperor’s embroidered shoes. They had holes cut in them to accommodate the lumps on the feet inside. Ping could hear the panting breath of the Imperial Magician.

“It seems that there is another crime to add to your list of charges,” the Emperor said. “The theft of an imperial dragon egg.”

Ping could tell from his tone that Liu Che was no longer angry with her. She smiled into the path and then sat back on her heels.

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kai wander into a flower bed, trampling yellow autumn crocuses before he lifted his back leg and peed on a plant pot.

“Pee,” he said proudly. That was a new word.

“Why did you commit this crime?” the Imperial Magician asked.

The foul smell of dragon urine drifted over the garden.

“Pong,” said Kai. Another new word.

“It was what Danzi wanted me to do,” Ping replied.
“He didn’t want his son to live in captivity.”

“Pee pong,” said the dragon. “Pong, Ping.”

Dong Fang Suo’s straggly ribbons of office were fluttering in the breeze. They caught the little dragon’s attention. He ran over and tried to catch them in his mouth.

“So you chose to hide the young dragon from His Imperial Majesty?” the Imperial Magician said.

Ping nodded.

Kai’s teeth snapped around one of the ribbons. He tugged at it, growling as he did.

“Stop that, Kai,” said Ping. “Don’t annoy Dong Fang Suo.”

“Fat-so,” said Kai.

“You didn’t trust me to care for the dragon, Ping?”

It was the Emperor who spoke this time. Ping felt her cheeks burn.

“It was Danzi’s wish.”

“Do you expect Danzi to return?” the Emperor asked, ignoring the tussle between his dragon and his Imperial Magician.

The Imperial Magician pulled the other end of the ribbon. It ripped, leaving a length dangling from the dragon’s mouth. Dong Fang Suo staggered backwards, his belly jiggling.

“Fatso, Fatso, Fatso,” said Kai.

Ping lowered her forehead to the path again, so that the Emperor couldn’t see her smile.

“Did you hear my question, Ping?” the Emperor asked.

“Yes. I’m sorry, Your Imperial Majesty,” Ping stammered, “but Kai keeps distracting me.”

“Do you understand his sounds as you did with the old dragon?”

“Yes,” Ping said.

“What is he saying?”

“Pee pee pong,” said Kai.

“Nothing that makes any sense, Your Imperial Majesty,” said Ping. “It’s just baby talk.”

“Get up, Ping,” the Emperor ordered. “I can’t hear what you’re saying when you’re talking into the path.”

Ping stood up.

“I have been speaking with the Longevity Council,” he said. “They think it is most fortunate that the young dragon has arrived at this time. They see it as a unique opportunity to learn more about dragons.”

“Since dragons live for hundreds, possibly thousands of years,” Dong Fang Suo said, “the council believes that dragons might be important in His Imperial Majesty’s search for longevity. We are looking forward to studying the dragon to discover what gives them such long life.”

Ping was about to ask how they were going to study Kai, when Dong Fang gasped in surprise.

“Look!” he said. “Your Imperial Majesty, a green sparrow! The most auspicious bird.”

He was pointing at a tree. Ping and the Emperor both
peered at it, but couldn’t see a bird. The leaves rustled.

“I see it!” exclaimed Liu Che.

Ping stared at the tree, but still couldn’t see a bird.

“There, on the lower branch.”

Ping finally located the bird. It was just like an ordinary sparrow, except that it was green. Not bright green, but a rather drab colour flecked with brown. It blended almost invisibly with the leaves that were starting to turn brown around the edges. The Emperor and the Imperial Magician were very excited by the dull little bird.

“I have never seen such a bird before!” the Emperor said.

“I have lived four times as long as Your Imperial Majesty and this is only the second time I have glimpsed one!” the Imperial Magician said. “This is a true sign that Heaven is smiling on your reign.”

Ping thought the bird was rather dowdy and unremarkable compared to the red phoenix she’d seen on Tai Shan, but she kept this to herself.

The Emperor smiled. Ping was glad to see him happy.

“Good,” he said. “I have been hoping for an auspicious omen.”

The bird fluttered to another tree and disappeared among the leaves. Ping wondered why there weren’t more birds with green feathers. It was the perfect concealment for them.

The Emperor turned to Ping. His smile didn’t fade. “I have decided not to have you beheaded.”

“Your Imperial Majesty is very kind.”

“I didn’t have a choice,” he said bluntly. “The court’s knowledge of dragons has greatly diminished thanks to my family’s neglect. You know more about dragons than anyone.”

He sat on a stone bench. “I am still angry with you for allowing my other dragon to escape, though.”

“I’m sorry, Your Imperial Majesty.”

“But you made my sister laugh. I’m grateful for that.” His voice softened when he spoke of his sister.

“Thank you, Your Imperial Majesty. But it was Kai who made her laugh, not me.”

“Don’t contradict me, Ping, or I might change my mind. You brought him here. I like having a dragon around.”

“He likes you, Your Imperial Majesty,” Ping replied. “He’s wary of others, but he took to you straightaway.”

The Emperor gestured for Ping to sit on the bench next to him. Kai was trying to sit on the hem of his gown. “You can call me Liu Che again, Ping,” the Emperor said.

“Lu-lu,” Kai agreed.

“Thank you,” Ping said. “I shouldn’t have hidden Kai from you. It only put him at more risk.”

“You must trust in me to take good care of Kai.”

“I will.”

They sat in silence while Kai scampered after some autumn leaves. It was the comfortable silence of friends.