He wouldn’t arrive until noon. The shop was three streets away, and a quick dash there and back in a taxi would enable her to collect what she needed and return before him. She took her suitcases down to the front door, and spoke to the tenant of the downstairs apartment.
‘If a man calls for me, will you tell him I’ll be back in ten minutes? Thanks.’
She called a taxi and waited for it outside, waving cheerfully at a little girl from one of the other apartments who was playing nearby. The taxi was prompt and she took off, managing to be back barely five minutes after midday. With luck, she thought, Lang wouldn’t be there yet-but it wasn’t really a surprise to find him ahead of her. What did surprise her was the volcanic look on his face.
‘Where the devil have you been?’ he demanded explosively.
‘Hey, cut it out!’ she told him. ‘I’m a few minutes late. It’s not the end of the world. I went to do a bit of last- minute shopping. I left you a message with the woman who lives downstairs. Didn’t you see her?’
‘The only person I’ve seen is a child who was playing here. She said you got into a taxi and went away
Olivia groaned. ‘I know who you mean. She saw me get into the taxi but the rest is her imagination. I just went to buy something. I’m here now. Have you been waiting long?’
‘Five minutes.’
She stared. ‘Five minutes? That’s nothing. No need to make a fuss.’
For answer he slammed his hand down hard on the bonnet of the taxi, causing the driver to object loudly. While they sorted it out, Olivia dashed inside to retrieve her suitcases.
She was stunned at what she’d just seen. Lang was the last man she would have suspected of such an outburst. Here was a troubling mystery, but her dismay faded as she emerged from the building and saw his face. It was no longer angry, but full of a suffering he was fighting to hide.
The driver, placated by a large tip, helped them load the bags, and then they were off.
In the taxi Olivia took Lang’s hand and rallied him cheerfully. ‘We’re going to have a great time. Don’t spoil it by being mad at me.’
‘I’m not. I’m mad at myself for making a mountain out of a molehill. After all, what’s five minutes? That’s the trouble with being a doctor, you get to be a stickler for time.’
He went on talking, turning it into a joke against himself. But Olivia knew it wasn’t a joke really. It wasn’t about five minutes; just what it was about was something she had yet to learn. In the meantime, she fell in with his mood, and they went to the airport in apparently good spirits.
The flight took two hours, and they reached the hotel in the evening.
‘Is your room all right?’ Lang asked as they went down to the restaurant.
‘Yes, I’m going to sleep fine. Not that I plan to do much sleeping. I’ve still got a lot of reading to do about the Emperor.’
‘I saw you buried in a book on the plane. Good grief, you’ve brought it down here with you.’
‘He fascinates me. He took the throne of Qin when he was only thirteen, unified all the states into one country, standardised money, weights and measures, built canals and roads. But he only lived to be fifty, and he seems to have spent the last few years of his life trying to find a way to avoid death.’
‘Yes, he dreaded the idea of dying,’ Lang agreed. ‘He sent court officials all over the world with orders to find a magic elixir. Most of them simply vanished because they didn’t dare go back empty-handed. He tried to prolong his life by taking mercury, but that’s probably what killed him so soon.’
‘Which makes it all the more ironic that he had over half a million men building his tomb for years.’
‘That was the convention. The pharaohs in Egypt used to do the same thing-start building their pyramids as soon as they ascended the throne.’
‘And in the end all those poor, innocent women were trapped in there with him.’ She sighed. ‘What a pity we can’t see inside.’
So far the tomb had not been excavated, although radar investigations had suggested many things of interest, including booby traps and rivers of mercury. Olivia knew that it would probably be several years before visitors could go into the tomb and see the place where Jaio would have died if Renshu hadn’t rescued her.
In the meantime there was the other great sight to be seen, the terracotta warriors, buried nearly a mile away from the tomb and discovered thirty-five years earlier by farmers who’d happened to be digging in a field. The inspiration for these statues had been the men who protected the Emperor, of whom Renshu was one.
‘I wonder how they met,’ she mused now. ‘Weren’t the concubines kept strictly away from other men, except eunuchs?’
‘Yes. The story is that Renshu was part of a group of soldiers who escorted her from the far city where she lived. Even so, he wasn’t meant to see her face, but he did so by accident. The other story is that he was on duty in the palace one evening and caught a glimpse of her.’
‘But could that be enough?’ Olivia asked. ‘They see each other for just a moment and everything follows from that?’
‘Just a moment can be more than enough,’ Lang mused. ‘You never know when it’s going to happen, or how hard it’s going to hit you. You don’t get to pick the person, either. She’s just there in front of you, and it’s her. She’s the one.’
He gave a faint smile, aimed mainly at himself.
‘Sometimes you might wish that she wasn’t,’ he said softly. ‘But it’s too late for that.’
‘Oh, really? And why would you wish that she wasn’t?’
‘Lots of reasons. She might be really awkward. She might get you in such a state that you didn’t know whether you were coming or going. You could go to bed at night thinking, “I don’t need this. How can I get her out of my hair?” But the answer is always the same. You can’t.
‘And you come to realise that whichever one of the deities decides these things isn’t asking your opinion, just giving you orders…“There she is, she’s the one. Get on with it”.’
Olivia nodded. ‘You say deity, but that voice can be more like a nagging aunt.’
‘You too?’ he asked slowly.
‘Yes,’ she said in a low voice. ‘Me too. You try to explain to the aunt that she’s got it all wrong-you weren’t planning for anything like this guy-and all she says is, “Did I ask what you planned?”’
Lang laughed at her assumed hauteur. His eyes were warm as they rested on her.
‘It’s like being swept along by an avalanche,’ Olivia continued. ‘And sometimes you just want to go with it, but at other times you think-’
‘Not yet?’ Lang supplied helpfully.
‘Yes. Just a little longer.’
She wished she could explain the sweet excitement he caused within her, and the caution she still had to overcome. But he came to her rescue, saying, ‘I imagine Renshu felt the same when he fell in love with Jaio. He probably had a fine career in the army, and falling for the Emperor’s concubine just spelled big trouble. He must have fought it, and maybe he kidded himself that he was succeeding, until her life was threatened, and then nothing else mattered. He knew he had to save her, and then he knew he had to be with her for ever-to love her, protect her, have children with her.’
His voice became reflective, as though he was just realising something.
‘When he finally faced it, he was probably relieved. However hard the way ahead, he’d be at peace, because the big decision was made.’
‘And yet he gave up so much,’ Olivia mused. ‘It was easier for her, she had nothing to lose, but he lost everything.’
‘No, he gained everything,’ Lang said quickly. ‘Even though they didn’t have very long together, she fulfilled him as nothing else ever could have done. And he knew that she would, or he’d never have gone to such lengths to make her his.’
‘And yet think of how they must have lived,’ Olivia said. ‘On the run for the rest of their lives, never really able to relax because they were afraid of being caught.’
‘I expect it was more than just being afraid,’ Lang said. ‘They probably knew for certain that one day they’d be caught and pay a heavy price. And, when it came, they were ready. The story is that when the soldiers found them Renshu tried to make Jaio escape while he held them off, but she went to stand beside him and they died together.’
