Page 26 of Song of the Crimson Flower

“And this,” Empress Jade said, putting an arm around the secondwoman who had joined them, “is my dear Wren, a lieutenant in the Crimson Army. She will join your journey south.”

Lan’s attention shifted at once. Unlike talk of the Serpent God, the Crimson Armywasa topic allowed at home by her parents, and she had hungrily absorbed every detail about the fierce female warriors who lived in the mountains of Dagovad. She knew that the Crimson Army had been invaluable in the defeat of Empress Jade’s wicked stepmother, and that Wren had gone on the quest with the Empress and Lord Koichi.

Where Lady Yen was soft and round, Wren seemed all angles and lines, tall and thick with muscle. Both her fine black clothes and the weapons around her sturdy waist looked to be of the highest quality. But despite her dangerous reputation, Wren was all smiles as she embraced the Empress and Lord Koichi. “I don’t dare hugyou, sir,” she told Commander Wei, “so I’ll simply nod and tell you how gray your hair has gotten since I saw you last.”

“And I’ll tellyouthat you are as impudent as ever,” he said loftily.

“I didn’t say gray was abadlook on you,” Wren pointed out, and Lan stared in surprise as the Commander reached out and folded the lieutenant in a gruff one-armed hug. “So, we’re off to the southern Grasslands tomorrow. One hears of nothing else but the Gray City these days—except for the topic of bloodpox, which has reached the kingdom of Dagovad at last.”

“Is everyone in the Crimson Army safe?” Empress Jade asked, alarmed.

“Yes, thank the gods. But Sparrow tells me not a day goes by at court without someone lobbying for the legalization of black spice. There’s some rumor that it could treat bloodpox.” Wren rolled her eyes. “As though Mistress Vy needs any more encouragement to keep producing that nightmare drug behind the walls of her city.”

“No one in that family has ever needed encouragement,” CommanderWei said with disgust, as he gave orders for the wagon of black spice to be brought before the Empress. “Mistress Vy’s ancestor didn’t hesitate to make a profit when he first discovered the uses of the poppy, nor did his witch of a wife, who helped him create the first formula for black spice.”

Bao looked at Lan, his face troubled. “What is it?” she whispered, but he shook his head.

“But you must remember that my own ancestor, who was Emperor then, honored that family and gave them leave to perform their research,” Empress Jade said, watching as a pair of horses pulled a large, bulky wagon toward them. “Even Xifeng supported them by using their incense. Things have only changed for the worse in the past eight years, with so many families in ruin.”

“Mistress Vy still has support from some nobles even today,” Lord Koichi put in. “She’s tried many times to enlist Lord Nguyen’s help. She has never shown any interest in meeting our terms, which is why I think Wei’s trip south to negotiate will really be the first step in the war.”

The Empress placed a hand on his shoulder. “But it must be done nonetheless. Even she deserves one more chance.”

Lan listened with growing unease. As reluctant as her father had been to let her go before, she felt sure he would summon a battalion to bring her home if he knew she was going straight into a potential war zone. But she looked at Bao’s worried face and knew she could not leave him alone, not even with an armed escort.

Soldiers pulled the confiscated wagon in front of Empress Jade and lifted the canvas, revealing a wealth of materials: bundles of jet-black incense sticks, piles of pots of waxy balm, and jars of black powder. Lan noticed a powerful, earthy scent like that of a rotting swamp and fought the urge to cover her nose.

“Are the waxes and powders also black spice, Your Majesty?” she asked.

Empress Jade gave a grim nod, holding her belly with both hands as though protecting her baby from the drug. “All of it is, my young friend. In the past decade or so, the Gray City developed a balm to be applied to the skin as well as a powder that can be smoked in a pipe, which is the strongest, most intense form there is.”

“There’s your proof, Koichi,” the Commander said, and the Empress’s husband nodded, circling the wagon with a frown. Bao followed suit, his keen eyes roving over the supply and his awkwardness slipping from him like a cloak. As Lan watched him study the contents, his intelligent face bright with curiosity, she thought she could see what her father liked so much in him.

Wren and Empress Jade stood talking in low voices while Lady Yen hung back, looking a bit disturbed. Lan opened her mouth to speak to her, but caught sight of Commander Wei. His attention was not on the black spice, but on the noblewoman, and his expression had a hungry intensity to it. Yen glanced at him, seeming to feel his gaze, and they looked at each other for a second, no more. But in that briefest of exchanges, Lan could have sworn she saw the air move between them. It fascinated her, this charge in the air that vanished as soon as the stare was broken, and she wondered if such a spark had ever existed between her and Tam.

Lan turned back and gave a start when she caught Bao watching her from the other side of the wagon. He looked away quickly when Lord Koichi told him, “We can demonstrate the incense for you, but I think my wife and Lady Yen had better return to the house. Would you like to go with them, Lan?”

“I’d like to stay, sir,” Lan said, peeking at Commander Wei to see ifhe would follow the noblewoman. But he remained in place, casting a look like thunder on the wagon of black spice.

“Well, in that case...” Lord Koichi handed her a strip of brown cloth that had a loop of ribbon sewn onto each side. Lan looked around at the others and saw that the Commander had slipped each loop over his ears, turning the cloth into a sort of protective mask. “This is meant to keep the black spice from affecting you. The seamstresses have been kept busy mass-producing these for the army of the Great Forest, as well as those of Dagovad and the Grasslands.”

“Will Mistress Vy be using black spice as a weapon, then, sir? If it comes to war?” Lan asked, meaning it as a joke, but Lord Koichi answered seriously.

“You are more right than you think, Miss Vu. It was how Xifeng fought in the Great Battle—with bundles of incense that she lit against my wife’s forces.”

Lan shivered a bit as she put the mask on, again catching Bao’s eye as one of the soldiers struck a sulfur match and applied the flame to the tip of an incense stick. For a moment, nothing happened, and then an enormous gray-black plume emerged. Lan took an involuntary step backward, shocked by how much smoke could come from one of the slender sticks. She watched the soldier press his free hand over his mask, keeping it securely in place, and hold the stick as far from his body as possible.

“Evil substance,” Commander Wei muttered, his voice muffled behind the mask.

Lord Koichi and Wren moved deftly out of the path of the smoke. “All that is needed,” the Empress’s husband told Bao, “is to inhale the plumes for a minute or two and the effects will be felt. It’s said to induce a feeling of calmness and well-being, and may relieve pain in some. But severe addiction is a cost that far outweighs the benefits.”

Lan saw that Bao’s face was pale beneath his mask, and the shadows under his eyes were pronounced than ever. “Sir,” she said in alarm, looking at Commander Wei, but he had already seen Bao’s pallor and begun moving toward him.

“What’s wrong? Is it the spell?” the Commander demanded, but Bao did not answer. He stared blankly into empty space, his eyes unfocused and red-rimmed. His knees began to shake, and both the Commander and Lord Koichi helped him onto the ground.

“Put it out at once,” Lord Koichi ordered the soldier who held the incense stick. It took a few moments for the residual smoke to clear, and then Bao blinked rapidly up at them all.

“What happened?” he gasped. “I... I felt so faint.”

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