Empire of the Dragon Read online

  “Find him! I do not care how many villages you sack, kill as many as need calls for, but find Li Zheng, find him or your heads will join those of the fallen!” He wadded up the chain and the nugget and threw it angrily into a pile of burning rubble. The resulting explosion flared bright blue and green, killing five of his own personal guard from the debris thrown up by the nugget striking the flame. “My bastard brother knows how to control that! It is in his very blood. If he turns this against me, I cannot stop him. If he is alive, find him and bring him before me. Then execute all who ever followed him.”

  General Kang watched the Emperor as he turned his horse and sped from the burning Hunan capital, followed by his personal guard of fifty cavalrymen. Kang started giving orders as Hunan’s capital buildings fell in embers and flames.

  “Use ten thousand men, all of our scouts, assassins, scoundrels, but find him!”

  * * *

  The orders had gone out all over China—find the man known as Li Zheng, the long-lost half-brother of the new sovereign Emperor of China, and the last of the mythical Elementals.

  * * *

  Huang He River (Yellow River) Region,

  Thirteen miles south of the Great Wall, five years later

  The large village of Lanzhou was one populated by teachers, artisans and engineers, and the men and women they supported, the laborers. They all had equal voice in village affairs. These were men who had fled with their families to escape the genocide in the south. With their women and children by their sides, they sold their skills to the new emperor’s task masters in the construction of the massive wall that would separate the new nation from their far-off enemies of the north, the Mongol hordes. This was the place they had chosen to hide—right beneath the very nose of the man they feared most—Emperor Qin Shi Huang. They lived in relative obscurity, due to the valuable work the engineers and scholars offered the new empire. They were left to their own devices after trading their knowledge for food and other bartered items from the large army of the emperor’s soldiers that guarded the Great Wall’s construction.

  After the day’s work was completed, the villagers moved back into the relative safety of the small city they called home. Traveling outside of the area was forbidden by the elders as that was deemed too risky. Any chance discovery or loose talk would cause them all to lose their heads. The emperor had been searching for them for the past five years, never realizing they were right here in the north, actually assisting him to build his great barrier. This was a joke told many times around village camp fires and caused the horde of followers many a laugh at the man they deemed a devil.

  The cries and shouts of children met the smiling faces of the men as they moved into the village after their labors at the wall. They were greeted with hugs and offers of water from the river. The men laughed and scooped the smaller of these children into their arms as they were more formally greeted by their spouses. Life was a constant fear of discovery by the Emperor, but at this moment, life was also good.

  It was after the moon had risen high when the men of the village met in the great hall made of tall logs and covered in a heavy cotton tent. The fire in the middle of the enclave offered warmth and gave the men a sense of camaraderie. The laughter and goodwill were prevalent and much food was had. Men told stories about the failed attempts of their taskmasters to rope them in. The soldiers and the emperor’s engineers knew the wall could not be built without their knowledge, and they used that to great advantage over the entities of the man that wished them found and beheaded.

  The men sat upon bundles of soft woven pillows. Women appeared every few minutes with even more food—food that was bartered for through their skills as artisans and engineers and chief laborers, as they all considered each other a valuable asset to their survival. The emperor’s construction specialists and soldiers were so dependent on these strange people that they were able to hide in plain sight among the Emperor’s spies and informants.

  Qui Li, the eldest member of the village council, stood and smiled at his friends. The old man had to be helped to his feet. Qui Li was the man responsible for keeping the secret that was Lanzhou. The old man raised his right hand and the large enclosure quieted.

  “I wish to offer my condolences to Wei Chi and his wife. The loss of your eldest son at the wall last week was a blow to our family of man, beyond which we will not soon recover.”

  All faces turned toward the center of the crowded hall and a middle-aged man sitting with a wooden cup of water. He nodded his head in deference to the man standing before him. The father slowly poured the water from his cup and stood. He bowed to the east, the west, the north and the south. He straightened and then looked around him at the men in the meeting. He faced the front once more.

  “I thank our elders for their consideration and condolence.” The man grew somber as he reflected on his son and all in attendance felt the mood change from jovial to serious. “My son was a proud boy, but also a curious one. We have yet to learn just what it was that our son died for. He and many others. We help the Emperor build his wall, a man that would kill every man, woman and child here if he knew where it was we were hiding. We have yet to hear the grand plan.” A man reached up and tried his best to still the words of hurt feelings of the father, but the hand was eased away by the sorrowful man. “Why isn’t this plan shared with those who follow? For many years we have lived and died without explanation as to what it is we are truly doing.” The father of the dead boy looked around at his brethren. “We assist the beast we should be meeting in battle. We build a wall that will eventually be used to corral us like animals, ready for slaughter. This Great Wall is not for the defense of this new, evil empire. It is to be used to cage us like the animals the Emperor thinks we are. The time has come for this grand plan to be told to the people. The Great Wall is nearing completion. It is time our Master shares with us the escape plan he has promised for so many years.”

  Slowly, there were nods of agreement from the two hundred men of the council. The elder remained standing and his eyes told the men he was in complete understanding of their fears. Again, he nodded to the father of the dead boy and the man reluctantly sat down. Many a hand reached out to convey to him the village’s sorrow over his loss and agreement with his thoughts.

  “Our hearts are with you, brother Sum. To have a boy crushed between blocks of stone is disheartening to all. Even our Master. He has heard all of the people’s anger and extreme blackness of loss. The mistake you make in your harsh judgement of our Master is the fact that this wall we assist in building is not to keep the Emperor’s subjects caged like beasts, it’s to keep our Master and ourselves out if we escape his evil grasp. It is our Master he fears, thus this Great Wall.”

  “Then, where is he, why can we not hear this from the Master himself?” shouted one man from the darkness at the back of the wooden building. This same question was echoed by a few others as the old man tried to bring back order.

  “You receive messages from him, but we have not seen the Master since he went North of the construction. Has he been killed by the barbarian hordes of the North? Has he abandoned us to the murderous rampage of the Emperor?”

  The elder looked at the man who had spoken. It was General Jai Li Chang. The once proud soldier who had served the Master since the beginning. His words stung only because of the weight it carried for the other ears listening. The shouts of agreement were louder. The old man could see the conflict in the eyes of the General. If the Master lost his closest military leader, all could be lost.

  “If this is so, we must come up with a plan of our own. For too long have we awaited the Master’s views on what happens when our skills are no longer needed. As a man trained in the art of war, it is my feeling that the long arms of the Emperor are reaching for us, growing ever closer. A feeling of gut? Yes, that has always been a general’s strength—my strength. He is coming, make no mistake. Strangers have been seen in and around the wall and villages, asking questions. Men an
d soldiers that we have never seen before scour the land, asking questions about our Master. The emperor has never believed the false rumors perpetrated by us of the Master’s demise. Our time is short,” the general said as he looked around, his eyes finally settling on the row of elders at the head of the gathering and the old man standing before them. “My old friend and mentor, General Kang, is rumored to be near. A rumor that includes an army of ten thousand men traveling with him. This force is not here to celebrate the final blocks of stone as they are placed in the wall. They are here for us. I cannot train artisans and engineers for battle against such a force. If we cannot fight, then we must either flee or disband forever, to melt into the heart of China. Only the Master can give us guidance about this deadly quandary.”

  The old man again raised his hand as the last of the goodwill escaped the meeting. He shook his head as he had no answer. It would be a knife straight to the heart of every man present if it were known that he had not spoken words with the Master for over three years. He looked at his fellows who sat in silence as they too saw the former general’s point. Time was indeed running out.

  “Is the Master dead?” came an ominous question from the dark. Men stood and faced the elders and shouted their agreement of the query.

  “I am afraid the question you ask is somewhat without merit, as I sit here among you.”

  The council chamber quieted as if by magic as the voice carried to every corner. The fire blazed and erupted as a man in a torn and battered robe stood and then lowered the hood of his cloak. The figure moved easily through the stunned men as he took up station in front of the grieving father who had started the small revolt. He touched the man on his shoulder and bade him to rise. The father stood, tears coming to his eyes as he recognized the man who had sat with them unnoticed.

  “My heart breaks for you, my friend,” the man said as the father lowered his eyes in shame for speaking out against him. “But soon there may be many more sons and daughters that will join him in the darkness that is death.” The man nodded and then removed his robe. As it fell to the floor, he turned and faced the men in the room, each getting a good look at the man they had not seen in three long years. “The General is right. The time has finally come, my brothers of the earth. Many of you think that we may have clung too long to the hope of blending into this new world, but it was an unavoidable evil. The Emperor would have become aware of us if we had suddenly packed everything and left before the wall’s completion. This, my brothers, would not have given us the time and cover needed to go to our new home. It is time—now is that time.”

  Every man in the council chamber went to their knees as his face looked about them. Even the elders kneeled and lowered their eyes.

  Li Zheng, the half-brother of the Emperor, raised both hands to the air and bade the men to rise.

  “No brothers, no. Rise and face the world and you will never bow to a man again. I have been away too long. You are not to bow to me. I am a brother of every man in this council, not your ruler.” He turned so all could see. “Rise, you are men!”

  General Jai Li Chang took the six steps toward Li Zheng and went to his knee, taking the older man’s right hand, and kissing it. “You will forgive my harsh words, Master?”

  “Stand, old friend, there is nothing to forgive. I cannot fault a man when he is right,” he looked about at the faces that were now raised to see the great one. “I cannot lay blame for men fearing for their families and loved ones, if I did, I would be far worse than my brother. The General is right.” He looked over the men as they rose to their feet. “By the next full moon, we will be well on our journey to our new home, my birth place. The land of my mother. For every man, woman, and child who choose to follow me, we will vanish into a new life far beyond the borders of the Emperor’s new China.”

  “My Master, where is this new home?” asked the father who had led the revolt.

  The silence made those watching Li Zheng afraid. He looked around those faces and settled on the General.

  “You will prepare our people to travel far North of the Great Wall.”

  The men were shocked as they saw the words spill from the Master’s mouth. They looked from him to each other.

  “Yes, my brothers, we will escape into the great desert to the north. Our new home, where we can live out our lives in peace for generations to come.”

  “Into the hands of enemies that are worse than the Emperor?” came many voices at once, only in differing forms.

  Li Zheng tried in vain to silence the men around him. Even the village elders stood in disbelief of the final plan for escaping the wrath of the Emperor. The shouts of doubt and anger filled the ears of Master Li Zheng, and for the first time in years he felt his anger boil to the surface.

  Both arms flew into the air, and the graying beard of Li Zheng rose and fell in a wash of wind that sprang from nowhere.

  “Silence!” came his strong voice. The wood of the structure shook, and many planks popped free of their notched anchors. The fire pit erupted, and the flames shot straight into the air. The force was so powerful, the cotton fabric of the roof burned away into nothingness as it rose with the flame toward the stars. The water in the rain barrels also erupted into the air, washing the men free of their sudden anger and fear. Debris, along with wooden and porcelain cups went flying, some striking men that shouted the loudest.

  They had gained the unwanted attention of the Master—the last Elemental.

  He lowered his arms and the fire retreated back into the pit. The water, not as controllable, was still soaking most of the stunned villagers. One by one they sat. One by one they lowered their gaze from the eyes of the small man standing amongst them. The few burning remnants of the roof flitted away into the night as if fireflies, and all was silent.

  “Those of you who choose to stay, may stay. I make no demand. I give no orders. I have told you the plan I have for some, but not all. Many of you will be able to blend in with the new world order. I cannot. Many of you will choose to follow me into the wilderness, and many of you may die. I make no promise as to life, only the freedom for you to choose where and when that life may end, or flourish. Sometimes that is the only true freedom one has in life.”

  “But how will we—”

  The man asking the question was silenced by a young boy, dressed in ill-fitting ancient leather armor handed down to him by his father and his father before him. The boy stood at the doorway trying to catch his fleeing breath.

  Li Zheng nodded for the boy to enter. He went straight to General Chang.

  “We have received word from our outer pickets, the soldiers at the Wall are gathering. One of our men at the construction site has heard word that they are to be the advance element coming here. General Kang is nearing the wall from the south. It looks as if they seek to catch the village in-between. Many of our spies’ voices were silenced before they could get word to us.”

  “Get the boy some water,” Li Zheng called out as he took the runner by the shoulders and pulled him from the general. “Where is General Kang now?”

  “Still across the Huang He River, thirty miles distant,” the boy said, breathing heavily. He gratefully accepted a cup of water and drank greedily. He was patted on the back as the Master turned to the men who stood nervously.

  “Those of you fleeing northward across the wall, prepare. Those of you who have chosen to stay, take your families to the river and hide amongst the forest and the rocks, you will know when it is safe to flee south.”

  “When will we know that?” shouted the voice of a frightened man.

  “When the sounds of battle and the cries of many soldiers as they die have subsided,” Li Zheng said loudly as he turned to the General. “You, my old friend, we will face General Kang. You and I.”

  “How many men shall I muster to assist?” Jai Li Chang asked with an appeased nod and bow, as he was finally going to face his old friend in combat, even if doing so meant his own death. He was tired of hiding.

/>   The man with the deep brown eyes smiled softly as he squeezed the general’s shoulder. “No soldiers other than your personal guard, General. You and I. Together we will face General Kang at the river.” He again smiled and for a reason the general would never be able to explain, he understood what it was that was being asked.

  “It will be my life’s honor to die at your side, Master Zheng.”

  Li Zheng accepted the robes that he had discarded earlier from one of the elders as other men prepared to do as ordered, while the rest ran for their families in preparation to flee the coming battle and imminent slaughter.

  “Many men will die this night, General, but our deaths will not be counted among them.”

  The general nodded his head. He still didn’t understand but knew the plan he had so worried over was about to be explained to him in deadly detail. He would bow to the power of the last Master of the natural elements of the very planet. They were to rely on the magic of the far North.

  “Elders, take those that are coming north of the wall for a new life, to the low plane of wall at the village of Hinn Shu Wei, the wall is still incomplete there. Wait until I arrive to cross over. Now please, go.”

  Men scrambled from the council chamber. Many ran for families to flee with Li Zheng, many more others to flee with wives, children and as many belongings as they could carry for their flight to the south and the protection of the river.

  “Shall we go and admire the rays of the moon by the river’s edge, General?”

  In minutes, the village of Lanzhou, a home which had stood for fifteen years hiding the fugitives of the Emperor, would vanish into history and myth.

  * * *

  The General saw that Li Zheng altered his course to the river. He held his hand in the air and his personal guard turned with the Master. The General slid his horse in beside that of Li Zheng.