‘Did you tell them about the beggar?’
Wenbo nodded reluctantly.
‘Yes, I had to. Madam Gao told them about him. They seemed excited to learn about that. Maybe we should have told the prefect about him before. Then you might not be in this situation.’
He banged his hand continuously against the cell door that separated them, and Jianxu reached through the grille. She stroked his cheek to calm him.
‘Never mind that now. What’s done is done. They may even find out that the beggar is the guilty party. If so, I will be freed very soon, and it will all be thanks to you.’
Even as she spoke, she could hardly bear to look at his shining face.
I managed to slip away after it got dark. Lin had retired to his own quarters, and for once the wine had got the better of Gurbesu. Mainly because I had plied her with it during the evening. As I left, I could hear her snoring loudly. I hoped it would not disturb Lin too much. The streets were quieter and I got a few curious looks as I made my way to the central square. One woman stopped and rubbed a small charm in the shape of a dragon that hung around her neck. I was clearly an evil spirit to be warded off. Her talisman worked, because I was on my way without a thought for her. She was too old for me anyway.
The theatre was now a dark and gloomy place with scraps of paper drifting across the empty yard. The warning poster put up by Li Wen-Tao had been torn from the entrance door and shredded. The wind grew in strength, and I could hear the structure of the raised platform creaking. One of the pieces of paper lifted up and blew against my legs. I peeled it off, and looked at the Chinee letters. I think it was the last part of the poster — the bit that said ‘SEVERELY PUNISHED’. I hoped it wasn’t an omen. I screwed the warning up and threw it to one side. The creaking of the platform sounded more than the wind would account for. I guessed the fat prefect was somewhere on the stage waiting for me. So I walked over to the steps that led up to the raised area where the actors performed.
Taking each one carefully, I ended up on the stage and turned and looked out at the expanse of the bare yard. At the back, I could make out the structure of the god’s tower, where Lin and I had sat. But no one was present now to observe the little play that was about to be acted out. Once more I heard the creaking of the stage floor. The noise came from behind the backcloth on which was painted a fanciful scene of mountains and frothy rivers. I called out to Li Wen-Tao.
‘Master Prefect, it’s time to do business. Come out and state your terms.’
Though I didn’t turn round to look, the creaking of the timbers told me Li had made his entrance. I made my speech out to the empty yard.
‘You will find me very accommodating. If you want a bigger cut, you can have it. But I need my share.’
I could hear his wheezy breath close behind me. Then he spoke out confidently and harshly.
‘You will be getting nothing, barbarian monkey. I have been warned about you by a high official of the Khan’s.’
I was puzzled by his cryptic comment, but suddenly wondered if somehow Ko was stirring matters from afar. But I did not have long to think on this. I turned round, and saw why the stage had creaked so much. It was not only Li’s weight, but that of the two bodyguards I had used when I had first collected my share of the scam from Li. They had, it appeared, changed sides, and I was in for a beating. I tried to escape down the stairs, but one of the muscle-bound young men leaped through the air and stopped me. His fist crunched into my back and I collapsed in a heap. He swung his booted foot at my midriff and all the air was expelled from my lungs. Li watched with joy as the second turncoat joined in, throwing a punch at my unprotected face. Blood spurted from my lips, and I curled up in a ball as the two of them kicked and punched me.
‘Enough!’
It was Li who stopped the onslaught, apparently satisfied he had warned me off trying to worm my way back into the scam. Whatever was given to the old priestess would now all be his, apart from the temple’s share. I would have nothing. Wiping the blood from my chin, I staggered down the steps and off into the night. Li’s triumphant laughter rang in my ears.
EIGHTEEN
In the morning, Gurbesu touched the bruises gently.
‘How did those get there?’
I shrugged my shoulders, putting on an air of masculine hardiness.
‘Oh, they are nothing. Just the price of a scheme of mine.’
I could see that she didn’t know what I was talking about, but she wasn’t going to admit it.
‘One that didn’t work, by the look of those bruises.’
She leaned across me to reach her bag of cures and salves. I think she deliberately put her full weight on the biggest bruise on my chest. I winced, and she smiled sweetly, unwrapping a pot of something greasy. She began to apply it, and I must say I liked the process. The beating was almost worth it for receiving such compensation. I sniffed the unguent.
‘That is nice. What’s in it?’
‘Marigold mainly. Though I think this also contains some crushed plantain.’
I lay back and allowed her to ease my manly pain. As she massaged the ointment in my wounds, she taxed me on my reply to her question.
‘What do you mean by the price of a scheme? What have you been doing? I bet you got mixed up in some underhand deal again like that one you told me about once. The long… thing.’
‘The long firm.’
I laughed. Once, a long time ago when I was trapped by snow and ice in a hut along with a bunch of warlike Tartars, I had had time to think up this plan. Being a trader, I knew it was possible to obtain goods on credit. Now, if you first bought small quantities of, say, wine, and paid quickly, you would develop a reputation for reliability. The next step would be to place several large orders on credit with different suppliers of wine. Once the big orders arrived, you disappeared and sold the wine under another name elsewhere. Your creditors could go hang. Your reputation could take up to a year to establish, so I called it the long firm scam. I looked at Gurbesu accusingly.
‘It was only an idea I once had. How could you think I would ever carry it out? Besides, how could I be doing it now, when we have only been here a week?’
She pinched one of my bruises, and I winced.
‘That hurt!’
‘Good, it was meant to. I hate it when you keep things a secret from me. I bet you never did it with Kat- erina.’
I corrected her instinctively, as I always did, though it never seemed to have an effect.
‘Caterina. I kept plenty of secrets from her, or she would not have liked me as much as she did.’ I sighed. ‘But then she got her own back by keeping the biggest secret she could have from me.’
‘Carrying your baby? All women are afraid to tell their man that secret. We don’t know how you will react.’
I could not imagine any man being anything other than joyful at the thought of his lover giving him a child. But I had messed up and left Venice just when Cat had fallen pregnant. Or so I realized only after Gurbesu had explained to me why Cat had been moody and sick just before I had fled Venice to escape charges of wrongdoing. I saw that Gurbesu had swung her legs round and was getting off the bed. She knew what my silence meant. I was thinking about her rival again. But how could there be rivalry between two women who were thousands of li apart? They were destined never to meet. In fact, I had no realistic chance of seeing Cat again. Unless I could work my way to making Kubilai so indebted to me that he would release me from his service. So I had need of solving the mystery of Old Geng’s death, and pretty soon.
I watched as Gurbesu lifted a white silk shift over her head. It slid down down her dark and alluring skin
