The Prince

After the Commander leaves, it’s a long time before I get any sleep.  I feel very disturbed and I can’t quite figure out why.  Then it comes to me.

When my mother was alive, we were cold-shouldered by the rest of the Imperial family.  Our only companions were two maids who had come with her into the Palace.  We were all very close.  My mother kept her face veiled after her accident, but she was always cheerful and loving.  I remember her softness and the fragrance of flowers on her clothes.  In summer we used to play together in the garden, rolling around on the grass, throwing flower-heads at one another and feeding the carp in the lily pond.  In winter we huddled round the big stove, telling stories, reading and painting, or playing music.

Then when I was ten, she died and everything changed. 

The maids were sent out of the Palace and after that there was no more hugging, no more laughing and playing around on the grass. And for the last four years, no-one’s touched me at all except Ah-Cheng and occasionally, the Imperial doctors who felt my pulse when I fell ill.   

Until now. 

In the past few days I’ve been assaulted, drugged and forcibly shipped off like a bundle of merchandise.  But when I woke up out of the drug-induced nightmares, someone was holding my hand in a firm, reassuring grip.  Later I found myself leaning against a warm body which smelled of leather and horses and wood-smoke, and this evening, the same person spent over an hour combing out my embarrassing hair and telling faintly ridiculous stories in a quiet deep voice.  He didn’t even call me Your Highness.  In fact, he treated me just like an ordinary person. 

I’ve got used to being lonely.  I’ve got used to not being touched.  And now all these new sensations are overwhelming and I don’t know how to handle them.

I do fall asleep eventually, only to be woken up very early by what I can only describe as a hullabaloo.  Something’s going on outside.  I scramble to the broken window and hang out of it.  The weather’s not so good today.  There seems indeed to be a lot of running-around. 

There’s a cough behind me, and I turn to see a young man, a soldier, his hair cut short, holding a bowl of what smells like porridge.  He looks awkward and bashful.  He says, “Um…breakfast,” and then adds “Your Highness” and blushes.  He puts the bowl down, disappears briefly and comes back with a teapot and cup on a tray.  He has big hands, but he’s not clumsy.  I seem to have graduated from water to tea, which is welcome, but I’ve had nothing but porridge since yesterday morning and I’m really fed-up with it.  I ask,” What’s your name?”

“Mo Jiang.”   After a minute, he remembers and adds:  “Your Highness.”   I see him mentally kicking himself.

I sit down on the bed and take the bowl and spoon.  “What are they doing out there?  I can’t see what’s going on.”

He hums and shuffles a little and then says, “Well the thing is, we need to be prepared in case anyone attacks us, because we’re carrying a lot of valuable goods and everything needs to be protected.  So the Commander’s worked out a plan.  Some of us are detailed to protect the wagons, some have to protect the animals and others have to carry out a counter-attack.” He grins.  “Commander Liao and some of the others pretend to attack us and we have to stop them.  It can get really wild.  People get damaged.”

“Who’s likely to attack us?”

“Nobody at the moment because we’re still in home territory.  But once we get further out, there are bandits and barbarians and suchlike.  There’s a lot of trouble in the country at the moment.”

This is interesting.  I put down the spoon.  “Why’s that?”

“Bad harvests, high taxes, people don’t have enough to eat.  So they blame the Emperor.”  He suddenly remembers that the Emperor’s my father and starts to stammer.  “Y- Your Highness, please forgive this stupid person’s disrespect.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I say, resuming the porridge.  “I’ve nothing to thank my father for.”

He shuffles his feet a little more and then says:  “I’ll get you some hot water,” and disappears again.

I think about what he’s just said.  If I’m going to escape, I’d better do it before we get out of home territory.  I don’t want to be wandering round in uncharted country with bandits and barbarians on the loose.  And I need to be near a town.  I’ve got to get more information about our route.

Mo Jiang comes back with a large basin of steaming water, which he puts down on the wooden chest by the side of the bed.  He has a drying-cloth over one arm.

“I have to go and join the others,” he says.  “But Doctor Liang will be coming by in a while.”  And he grabs up the empty porridge bowl and vanishes.  I suddenly realize that I have never in my life washed my own face and put on my own clothes.  If it comes to that, where are my clothes?  Everything I was wearing when I left the Palace has disappeared.  But I’m wearing clean white undergarments and they must have come from somewhere.  I jump off the bed and start to rummage through the chests.

I utter a heartfelt prayer of thanks to Ah-Cheng because all my personal stuff’s here:  clothes, books, brushes and ink-stone, paper, hand-mirror, jewelry, even a delicate porcelain tea-set which is all I have left of my mother's.  And at the bottom of the second chest, I find my little hoard of wealth, carefully wrapped up in silk.  Plus a rather wicked-looking dagger which I’ve never seen before.  I feel tears come into my eyes and wipe them hurriedly.  This Prince humbly thanks you, Ah-Cheng.  You were my only friend and you looked after me to the end. 

The noise outside becomes deafening.  I get into the first robe which comes to hand and dash to the window, trying to fasten my sash at the same time.  I’m just in time to see a herd of horses gallop past the wagon, urged on by two men lying low on the necks of their mounts.  I don’t recognize one of them, a plain-looking man with cropped hair and big shoulders, but the other’s Commander Liao, yelling at the top of his voice, his long hair flying. He looks as if he’s having fun. They vanish out of sight, to the accompaniment of despairing yells and the hysterical barking of dogs.  I hang out of the window to try and see what’s happened, but all I can see is dust.

A voice behind me says,  “Your Highness?”  It’s the doctor.  I hastily pull my head in and turn round, trying to look dignified, but not sure I’m succeeding.

“Your Highness is feeling better,” he says.  It’s not a question. 

“Much better,” I say.  “Thank you.”

I sit and he takes my wrist in his hand and feels my pulse, closing his eyes.  When he opens them again, he’s smiling.  “Yes, the poison’s out of your system.  Now we only need to feed you up.”

“Not more porridge, please,” I say hopefully, and he laughs.

“I just saw all the horses running away.  What’s going on?”

“Ah.  Commander Liao and Deputy Commander Shao sneaked in and stole the horses.  I’m afraid the guards were inadequate.”

“Stole the horses?  What’s going to happen?”

“I think some people are going to have an uncomfortable day.  The horses will have to be rounded up again.  And I rather think that when everyone gets back, they’ll find that some of the goods have been abstracted as well.  Only temporarily, of course.”

“Don’t the men mind?”

He laughs again.  “They take whatever Commander Liao throws at them.  He’s their hero, you know.”

He looks round at the mess in the wagon.  I’ve left everything lying about all over the place.  And then I suddenly think, The dagger.  Where have I left the dagger?  Suppose he sees it?

“Shall I send someone in to help you clear this up?” he enquires, getting up.

Hastily, I say “No, no, I’ll do it myself, thank you.”  And to distract him, I add:  “Where are we going next?  I mean, I’d really like to know what route we’re taking.  Just so I know what to expect.”

“I’ll ask the Commander to come in and explain it to you,” he says.  “And now, I think there may be some broken heads out there that need my attention.  Don’t over-exert yourself.  And drink your tea before it gets cold.”

I hear him leaving the wagon and breathe a sigh of relief.  I hastily clear up the mess, stuffing things back into the chests any old how.  Then I remember that I haven’t got a personal servant to take care of things now, so I take everything out again and put it back neatly, folding the clothes and stowing the personal items away carefully.  I’m going to have to learn to rely on myself in the future.  The dagger and the money are hidden underneath everything else.

My tea’s cold by now, but I drink it anyway.