Steven Harper - The Dragon Men

Su Shun groaned softly.

“What must we do about the Jade Hand?” Li said in both Chinese and English. “Young Lord Zaichun is here. We could-”

A few paces away, something clunked to the ground and clattered away. Startled, Alice picked the object up. It was a Dragon Man’s salamander, bent and broken from the impact. What on earth?

Trying to understand, she peered upward. A figure was falling toward the courtyard. As it grew closer, she could make out the tattered remnants of wings. Her heart jerked. Gavin! He plummeted straight toward the stones near her feet. His arms pinwheeled-he was still alive.

Alice made a wordless scream. She had already let him go. She couldn’t watch him die. But there was nothing she could do. She couldn’t fly. She couldn’t catch him. There was nothing for him to land-

Click meowed again from his spot near the Ebony Chamber. With chilly fingers, Alice snatched it up. The lid was still open from when Su Shun had opened it so Gavin could put the Cube inside. Not quite believing her own audacity, she ran forward with it. This had to work, this had to work, this had to work.

“Ennock!” Phipps barked. “Dive! Dive , you fool!”

Somehow, Gavin heard and understood. Perhaps it was the last of the clockwork plague still at work augmenting his mind, or perhaps it was sheer luck operating in their favor at last. He twisted round and came down, hands first, straight as an arrow. Alice maneuvered the Ebony Chamber directly beneath him and held her breath. Gavin slammed headfirst into the Chamber. White light and a terrible noise exploded in all directions. Blind, Alice staggered but managed to stay upright. The lid crashed shut in her hands, and Alice blinked her vision clear. She found herself standing alone in the courtyard and holding the Ebony Chamber. The remnants of Gavin’s shattered wings lay in pieces all about her. They had been sheared clean off. Of Gavin himself there was no sign. The Chamber felt the same-no heavier or lighter than before.

Trembling with fear and uncertainty, Alice set the Chamber down.

“What happened?” Phipps asked beside her. Click had followed her down the steps. “Is he alive or is he dead?”

“I can’t tell.” Alice clenched her hands. Dread and doubt made cold lumps inside. Her words came out in tiny bursts. “Oh God, I have no idea. I’m scared to open it and find out. It’s safer not to know.”

“Just do it,” Phipps said tightly.

The phoenix latch still read 000. Her breath quick and frightened, Alice unlocked the latch and opened the Chamber. Its hinges creaked like quiet laughter or a soft scream, Alice couldn’t tell which. She held her breath and peered inside.

The box was empty.

“No,” she whispered. “No. Please.”

She reached into the box and felt around, as if that might change something. But all she touched was unyielding wood. Gavin was gone.

Sorrow crushed Alice to the ground. She knelt amid the shattered remains of Gavin’s wings and pounded the stones on either side of the Ebony Chamber with her bare fists, not feeling the pain in her hands, only the pain in her heart. The solid stones refused to swallow her up. They left her there, cold and alone. Susan finally drew her up and away.

“Come along,” she said. “We set out to stop a war, and we saved the world instead. Thanks to him and thanks to you.”

Alice shook her head and choked out, “What kind of world takes away the one who saves it?”

But Phipps had no answer.

Lady Orchid, meanwhile, removed the battery pack from Su Shun’s back, set it on the ground, and raised the wire sword high with her good hand. Her son stood next to her on the steps, looking pale. Both were still wet from the well. By now, eunuchs and maids were moving into the courtyard from other parts of the Forbidden City. Most had fled the buildings when the tremors began and were now coming to a more central area for news. Surprise rippled through them when they saw the emperor half conscious on the stone steps and the Jade Hand in the grip of the Imperial Concubine. Alice saw Prince Kung, and with him were a great many soldiers. Her two whirligig automatons zipped in to land on her shoulders.

“I declare Su Shun a traitor to the people of China,” Lady Orchid called over the nighttime crowd, and Phipps hastened to translate. “Proof lies here, in the way the Jade Hand has rejected him.”

Zaichun picked up the Jade Hand. The bit of Su Shun’s wrist left inside the Jade Hand chose that moment to slide out and flop to the steps at Lady Orchid’s feet. The crowd murmured.

“No.” Su Shun got to his hands and knees, shaking his head.

“See how he kneels before the true emperor,” Lady Orchid continued. “See how he confesses his guilt. And there is but one punishment for treason.”

Su Shun started to rise farther, but Lady Orchid was quick. She flicked the sword down. Although Su Shun saw it coming, he couldn’t move out of the way. His eyes went wide as the vibrating blade sliced through his brass-bound neck, leaving no blood. His head tumbled down the steps, crunching and clattering, to fetch up at Li’s feet. His empty eyes stared upward; his brass jaw gaped. Li shoved the head aside with his foot, and it rolled away like a piece of trash. Alice thought she should feel ill or upset, but she could only think of Gavin and the awful hole in her life. There was a brief silence, and then the crowd of maids and eunuchs cheered.

“The reign of the despot is over,” Lady Orchid continued. “The true emperor stands before you now.”

Zaichun gulped, set his face, and took a step forward. But Lady Orchid shut the sword off, dropped it, and took the Jade Hand from Zaichun. To the amazement of Alice and everyone else in the assembled crowd, Lady Orchid slid the Jade Hand over the stump of her right wrist. The hand jerked. It moved and clicked and inserted wires and metal strips. When it finished, Lady Orchid, in obvious pain but doing her best to hide it, raised the Jade Hand high. It glowed green.

“The hand has accepted a new emperor,” she boomed. “One who will govern all of China with a firm and just rule.”

The stunned crowd remained silent. Alice understood. The idea of a female emperor was unthinkable, impossible. The Jade Hand lent her some credibility, but-

“Bring forth the Ebony Chamber!” Lady Orchid commanded.

Before Alice could quite comprehend what was going on, Lieutenant Li brought the dark box with its gold dragons up the steps to Lady Orchid. Zaichun stared uncertainly. Li knelt at Lady Orchid’s feet and knocked his head on the stones just as a soldier would for an emperor. The crowd murmured again.

“Rise, General,” Lady Orchid said, and the promotion wasn’t lost on Li-or Phipps. He handed her the Ebony Chamber. Lady Orchid showed it to the crowd with the grace and style of a magician and then pressed the Jade Hand to the phoenix latch. The Hand glowed green. Understanding swept over Alice a second before the next event happened. The Ebony Chamber exploded open, and Gavin tumbled out onto the steps. His pale hair was disheveled and his clothes were torn, but he was alive.

“Gavin!” The greatest joy of her life overtook Alice. She rushed up the steps and swept him into her arms, or perhaps he swept her into his. Her automatons squeaked and leaped away, propellers whirling madly. And then Gavin was kissing her, and she didn’t care who was watching or how many people saw. Her Gavin was here, and she would never be apart from him again.

“I love you always,” he whispered.

“I love you always,” she whispered back.

“Long live Emperor Cixi!” Prince Kung bellowed. “Long live Emperor Cixi!”