Tiger's Voyage (52 page)

At first, I thought I understood Ren’s style. He selected an item to barter, extolled the virtues of the object and shared its history and value while Jīnsèlóng shrewdly listened. Then he would act as if he couldn’t bear to part with it after all. Reluctantly, he’d offer it again but only in exchange for twenty such items belonging to the dragon. The dragon would refuse and make a counteroffer, and then Ren would sneak in something else like the whereabouts of the white dragon’s lair and other items.

The dragon would laugh and eliminate all but two or three of the things Ren asked for, and Ren would once again dangle the item and talk about how precious it was to his family. The dragon’s lust for acquiring new objects worked in our favor, and soon we had a large pile of valuable treasures. They made several offers and counteroffers in this way until one of them would say, “Accept.” Then the other one could propose a different bid or also say, “Accept.” Once they’d both said “Accept,” the deal was done, and the dragon would clap his hands, causing the objects to switch locations. What he won disappeared into his hoard, and what we won piled on the floor behind us.

During a break, I was admiring a Spanish sword when I asked Jīnsèlóng where all his treasure came from. He sipped from his jewel-encrusted goblet, smiled, and offered me an arm. “Would you like to see my castle?”

I peeked over his shoulder, and Ren and Kishan both shook their heads.

I rolled my eyes at their overprotectiveness. “Yes, I’d love to,” I replied. “As long as you promise not to trick me out of any information.”

He snorted gray smoke into his hand and held his palm out to shake. “Dragon’s honor.”

Ren rose, and they went through a complicated verbal dance assuring my safe return, and the dragon’s promise that he wouldn’t probe me for information. They both accepted before Jīnsèlóng tucked my hand into the crook of his arm and took me for a stroll.

I asked again about his wealth. He responded, “All the treasures of the sea belong to me.”

“So this is all sunken treasure from lost ships?”

“Mostly. In centuries past, a wise cargo captain would throw me a trifle to appease my appetites. If they forgot, I’d have to do something about it. It’s a fair trade, after all. Safe passage in exchange for a small bauble. It’s not too much to ask, is it?”

“And if they refused or forgot, what exactly did you do?”

“Bah, spare me that judgmental look in your eye. I’m not a
monster
.”

I folded my arms across my chest and raised an eyebrow.

He threw up his hands in disgust. “Fine. I’d harass their ship until they remembered, or I’d let the storms have them.” He stuck a finger in the air. “I get paid no matter what. It’s the law of the sea.” He walked over to a marble statue of Aphrodite and stroked her arm. “Hello, beautiful.” He cleared his throat as if embarrassed to be caught talking to a very …
voluptuous
version of the goddess of love and turned back to me. “In the old days, such beautiful things were carried in ships. Now I could sink a fleet of them and get not much more than a hunk of scrap metal.”

I touched the delicate fingertip of Aphrodite. “That’s probably true. These types of things are almost certainly flown across the sea now if they’re moved at all. They’d likely be holed up in museums.”

“Hmm. Every once in a while, I can catch a plane, but only when there’s lots of moisture in the clouds,” he mumbled.

“Catch a plane? You mean you
purposefully
make airplanes crash?”

He frowned. “Not as many as I used to. It’s a big effort, you know, and very little reward. Besides, Bermuda is pretty far from home.”

“Bermuda? As in the Bermuda Triangle?”

“I have no idea what triangle you are talking about. Dragons such as I waste no time on geometry except when it’s used in art.”

I poked him in the arm several times to illustrate each word. “You are a terrible dragon. All of you just make trouble. What’s the point of your existence?”

“You want to know the point of my existence? Come with me. I’ll show you.”

He led me through another opulent hall with carved walls depicting the great sculptors of the world at work. They were lovely, and I felt myself softening at the sight. Surely someone who cares for the world’s most priceless treasures couldn’t be
all
bad.

We stopped at heavy wooden doors, ornately fashioned and polished to a gleaming sheen. He clapped his hands, and the doors opened. We stepped inside a warehouse of the most exquisite things I’d ever seen. Centuries-old paintings looked as new as if they’d just been finished. Statuary was glossy and perfect. Diamond chandeliers hung from the ceiling, casting rainbows around the room as the light bounced off jewels as big as footballs. Ancient tapestries hung as if they’d just been woven.

He let me touch everything, pleased that I took such an interest in his collection. I found a golden replica of the
Titanic
, a life-sized horse cast in bronze, a queen’s tiara encrusted with diamonds and emeralds, and a perfect white pearl the size of a globe resting on a red, velvet pillow.

Each step made me gasp as I beheld the splendor of his treasure room. I lifted a hand to touch the head of a jade tiger and smiled. “It’s so amazing.” I turned to look at the dragon with an expression of awe. He seemed smug. “Still … it doesn’t justify killing people,” I charged.

“Doesn’t preserving all of this make up for it? How many of these things remain on the surface—ruined and uncared for?”

“Too many,” I admitted.

“There, you see? I’m preserving humanity’s most precious contributions.”

“But no one sees it but you.”

He hedged, blew some smoke out of his nostrils, and abruptly turned, expecting me to follow.

I did, and the doors closed and locked right behind me. Though he was short, he strode quickly ahead. “I know … I know,” he said through clenched teeth. “Yínbáilóng has been after me for years to stop sinking ships and downing planes.”

“Yínbáilóng?”

“Yes, the white dragon. He’s the eldest and has
opinions
about everything, including drowning humans.”

“Maybe you should listen to him.”

“Maybe. But then what would I do? It’s not like I get many visitors down here, and I don’t want to sleep all the time like Qīnglóng or go crazy like Lǜ sèlóng. All
he
thinks about is hunting.”

“Maybe you could help people. Leave a coin under their pillows like the tooth fairy.”

“Are you serious? Perhaps you didn’t get enough oxygen on the way down. You are nothing if not interesting, my dear. Give up my treasure? Bah! The last thing I would ever do is give up my wealth. Come. We’ve left those crafty brothers alone too long. They’re probably devising new ways to cheat me out of more of my fortune.”

“Well, it’s nothing you don’t deserve.”

“Ha!” He led me back into the room, seeming somewhat distracted by our talk. This time during the bartering if he got particularly greedy, I’d raise an eyebrow, and he’d be distracted enough to make a bad agreement.

I would casually insert extra items in Ren’s wish list, like not sinking any ships in the next century or not going to Bermuda anymore. Ren added them in without questioning me.

Occasionally, Kishan would lean over to whisper something to Ren as well, and among the three of us, we made some headway. Jīnsèlóng was scowling all the time and after a particularly bad loss, he began crying. He wept crocodile tears and talked about all the people he drowned. He seemed truly repentant, and I felt terribly sorry for him.

He asked if I had a tissue, and I scrambled around for a moment, then pulled out the Scarf and asked it for a tissue. It shimmered and changed into a beautiful monogrammed handkerchief. Embroidered on it was:

I stared at it for a moment, puzzled, then it hit me. Alagan Dhiren Rajaram. I flushed and gave the Scarf a mental warning to cut it out.

“Here you go,” I said to the dragon, and handed it to him just as Ren’s hand darted toward mine.

The dragon snatched it away and pressed it to his wet face. Ren sighed and dropped his hand, and it took me another few seconds to realize that what I thought were Jīnsèlóng’s heaving sobs were actually heaving peals of laughter.

As he wiped the tears from his smiling face, I folded my arms and accused, “You tricked me.”

He pointed a finger and wagged it happily at Ren. “And
that’s
why you never allow women into the bartering chamber. Your magical cloth is mine!” he tittered in delight.

Ren smiled evilly. “You don’t even know what you have there. The cloth is cursed, you know. I’m actually glad you took it. The curse can only be transferred if another person willingly accepts it, and you played right into our hands.”

“You’re bluffing,” the dragon said with a laugh and looked at Kishan. Kishan shook his head as if in pity.

“I only wish he was, dragon,” Kishan added. “It’s a terrible curse too. It weakens a man to the point of death, but perhaps it won’t affect you in the same way.”

“What … what do you mean?” the dragon asked.

“It makes you fall in love. With her.” Ren tossed his head toward me while my face registered shock.

The automatically suspicious dragon narrowed his eyes and peered at me, as if trying to glean the truth from my expression.

“She’s already tried to work her wiles on you, hasn’t she?” Ren suggested.

The dragon stammered, “Well,
no
. Not …
exactly
.”

Kishan spoke up, “Did she make you feel guilty? Make you want to improve yourself? That’s part of what she does. Before you know it, you’ve lost yourself to her. You’re not the same dragon you used to be.”

“Now wait just a minute!” I threatened.

“See?” Ren interrupted. “She doesn’t want to be exposed. Believe
me
. If you keep that Scarf, you will soon be besotted with her. She’ll have you giving up whatever is most precious to you.”

“She wouldn’t.”

“That’s what she does,” Kishan said. “Oh, you won’t notice it at the time, and you’ll even thank her for it. She’ll make you think it’s
your
idea, and she’ll have you eating out of her hand in no time. Just wait. Can you feel it now? It’s already eating away at you, isn’t it? Festering in your gut?”

Ren elbowed Kishan. “She’s probably already got her hooks into him. See? He’s squirming under her gaze already. He’s been making bad agreements ever since he came back into the room. He shouldn’t have been left alone with her.”

Kishan replied, “Yes, you’re right. But it’s a classic mistake. Anyone could have made it, even a dragon.” He sighed. “Well, she’s drained
us
of all of our resources, so I guess she’ll be happy enough to move on to her next victim.”

The dragon swallowed dryly and darted a glance at me, then laughed shakily. “You three had me … had me going for a minute there, but I don’t believe you. You’re fabricating this whole thing.”

“Are we?” Kishan leaned forward. “I can tell you right now, I’ve never loved someone as fiercely as I love her. I would do anything to protect her and keep her by my side. I’d want to kill
anyone
who took her from me.”

I snorted at his obvious jibe at Ren.
Subtle Kishan. Real subtle.

Kishan paused to study my expression but only briefly. “However, I would stay my hand
if
I felt assured that
you
were the one she really wanted.”

That
wiped the smile off my face.
Did he mean that?
I knotted my fingers and twisted them, tense and edgy after Kishan’s declaration. I knew that he loved me, but I guess I’d never considered that he was as intense about it as Ren was.
Could I callously brush him aside the way Ren
wants me to? No. I can’t hurt him like that. He is good to me, a good man,
and I
do
love him.

Phet said they were both pillows in a world of rocks.
I could find a
place to rest my head either way.
Kishan turned to me and winked. I half smiled back and bit my lower lip.
Of course there was another possibility.
Perhaps Kishan exaggerated his feelings for the dragon’s sake.
But his golden eyes met mine, and I knew he hadn’t been exaggerating. He really loved me that much, and he really would let me go.

The dragon began to sweat, recognizing the truth of Kishan’s words.

Ren had been sitting forward, rubbing his hands together in slow revolutions as he listened to Kishan talk. He glanced at his brother briefly, and then sat back and turned his head to look in my eyes. He smiled and spoke quietly. So soft was his voice that he seemed to be speaking only to me. Everyone leaned forward to hear him, myself included.

“I don’t think I could be so generous. You see, I’ve loved her since the moment I laid eyes on her. I’ve been tortured to the point of death in her name. I would journey across the world to see her smile, to make her happy. When she becomes yours, dragon, and binds the threads of her Scarf around your heart, I will probably wither and die, for I am as wrapped up in her as a vine that clings to a tree seeking sustenance. She’s tied me to her for eternity. She’s my home. She’s my reason for being. To win and hold her heart is my
only
purpose.”