Starry River of the Sky

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FOR KI-KI

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

ALEX, ALVINA, BETHANY, LIBBY, AND REBECCA

Rendi was not sure how long the moon had been missing. He knew only that for weeks, the wind seemed to be whimpering as if the sky were suffering. At first, he had thought the moans were his own because his whole body ached from hiding in the merchant’s moving cart. However, it was when the cart had stopped for the evening, when the bumping and knocking had ended, that the groans began.

The sky had moaned and cried for many nights before Rendi finally dared to peek out. When he heard the
donkey being led away and the nighttime wails beginning again, Rendi crawled from behind the
gangs
of wine—huge pottery vessels as big as he was—and poked out his head from the covered cart. Yet when he looked up into the sky, he saw nothing. The stars had dimmed to little more than faded shadows, and the mournful noises echoed in the blackness. It was then that Rendi realized the moon was missing.

He thought it would appear the next night, or the night after. Rendi was sure the moon would return, as it always had—glowing as if it were cut from the sky with a pair of sharp scissors. But it did not. Every evening, after the merchant had left, Rendi crept from the stifling, sticky cart into the fresh night air and peeked up. And every time, the Starry River of the Sky was empty.

“You must have wine,” a voice said.
The merchant!
In the cart, Rendi froze. Another moonless night had passed, and the darkness inside the covered cart had thinned with the morning’s arrival. The hitching of the donkey had jerked Rendi awake, his head knocking against one of the clay vats, but it was the sound of voices that alarmed
him. “It is the Day of Five Poisons. I can sell you a
gang
,” the smooth voice of the merchant said.

“I own an inn, not a tavern,” another voice replied. “I don’t need a
gang
of wine. That is too much.”

“Ah, but having some wine stocked does not make your place a tavern,” the merchant replied. “You offer tea and food in the dining room of your inn, do you not? Offer wine as well, and your guests will gladly pay.”

“I just need enough wine to protect us from the Noxious Animals,” the innkeeper said. “For me to drink and to write the
wang
symbol on my daughter’s forehead. One jug will be fine.”

“But it is the famous Son Wine,” the merchant said. “And I can give you a very good deal.”

“Son Wine?” the innkeeper said. Rendi could hear the hesitation.
Don’t buy any!
Rendi begged silently, trying to quiet his thumping heart.
Don’t open the cart!

“I can sell it in the city for a high price, but it has been so hot that I’m afraid the wine may spoil before I get there,” the merchant continued. “You can see I’ve even had to cover my cart. It’s better for me to sell you some now. We can include my last night’s lodging in the cost.”

As noiselessly as possible, Rendi scrambled to the back of the cart while the men outside agreed on a price. Rendi squeezed between the two
gangs
farthest from the opening, the huge clay containers compressing him like meat in a dumpling. The cart opened, and Rendi clasped his bag close to him, feeling the hardness of his rice bowl through the cloth.

The merchant and the innkeeper struggled to remove a
gang
, rocking the cart back and forth. Rendi scarcely breathed, and the men grunted as they pushed and shoved. Neither noticed the small figure well hidden in the shadows of the remaining
gangs
.

With a rude curse from the merchant, the vat finally dropped safely to the ground with a thud. Both men leaned against the cart, and the sun glinted from the back of the merchant’s bald, perspiring head. As the innkeeper sighed from the exertion, Rendi slowly let out his breath.
Safe
, Rendi thought as he listened to the men finish their deal. He closed his eyes in relief.

“What’s that?” the innkeeper said.

Rendi’s eyes flew open. Hands and arms reached toward him, grabbing and pulling. He squirmed and struggled,
but there was no escape. Rendi was roughly dragged out of the cart, and soon he was staggering and squinting in the bright daylight.

“A stowaway!” the merchant growled, his friendly manner disappearing. The merchant was wiry and sun-brown, and his hands were as strong as iron chains. One hand clamped the back of Rendi’s neck in a relentless grip while the other rose to strike him with a vicious blow.

Rendi cringed, but the innkeeper grabbed the merchant’s arm before it struck. “He’s just a boy,” said the innkeeper, who was shaped a bit like a jug of wine himself. “He doesn’t look much older than my daughter.”

“You can have him, then!” the merchant said with an unkind laugh. He shoved Rendi to the ground. As Rendi coughed up dust and the innkeeper helped him to his feet, the merchant quickly closed the cart, climbed into the driver’s seat, and grabbed the reins of the donkey. “Didn’t you say your son left?” he mocked. “Take this one. He’s included with the wine!”

“But…” the innkeeper said as the wheels of the cart spit dust at him. “But…”

Swiftly, the merchant drove away, deaf to the innkeeper’s
stammers. The innkeeper gaped from the cart to the boy, and then at the cart again. The boy clung to his cloth bag, and the cart blurred in the distance. The innkeeper stared blankly at it. And when the merchant and his cart finally disappeared into the flat line of the horizon, Master Chao, the innkeeper, was still staring.

Rendi’s muscles were as soft as uncooked tofu and his face as friendly as an angry tiger, but Master Chao said finally, “I do need someone to help with the chores at the inn.”

A chore boy!
Rendi scowled with scorn, but then he saw the long, wide, empty road in front of him and the dust from the merchant’s cart floating in the air like a fading ghost. The grass was yellow and withering, and a quick scan around showed, besides the shabby inn, a handful of broken-down stone houses.
There’s nothing here!
Rendi thought with shock.
Where am I?

“What kind of chores?” Rendi said, forcing the words from his mouth. He would stay for now, he told himself. But just for now.

“Well, first,” Master Chao said, “I need you to help me bring this wine into the inn.”

Rendi was not much help moving the wine. He could not get his puny arms around the
gang
, much less lift it. Master Chao grunted and huffed and panted and had only succeeded in moving the wine a few feet when Rendi said, “If we put it on its side, we could roll it.”

Master Chao stopped and said, “What is your name?”