"It was the Dragon Emerald Eye," Lum said, sipping the tea Wen had given him. "I thought you were dead, or that I'd somehow failed to recite the spell properly. It's a relief to know that you'd been hiding yourself. As soon as you put the Eye back on, though, I saw in a dream where you were, and my dreams have been leading me to you ever since."
"You're no magician."
"No, but the Lady Fengzi is more than a scholar." Lum grinned. "She's the one who came up with the spell."
"I'm never going to be allowed to forget that, am I?" Wen asked. "But at least it means she's thinking about me."
"I suppose you could say that." Lum put down his tea-cup. "We were a bit—upset, I guess—when you left the way you did. It wasn't the right thing to do, captain."
"I thought it was the right thing," Wen said, "given that nobody else wanted to collect the Meiyou treasure. Was I supposed to just sit there and sulk with the rest of you? How do I get the money I need that way?"
Lum shook his head. "By yourself, captain, I'm not sure you get any money at all. But that's just my opinion."
Wen nodded his head, but just a little. "A good point. Tell me: does the fact that you still call me 'captain' mean that you're a creature of habit, or does it mean I have not, in fact, been replaced?"
"You are still captain of the Jade Maiden," Lum said. "For the time being, at least. As for the Meiyou treasure, what makes you so certain we're intended to collect it? Or that you are, by yourself?"
"If you mean have there been portents, or have I been visited by spirits in my dreams, no. Come to think of it, I haven't dreamed at all for some time now. But if you mean am I expecting a reward because I've been clever and determined, then yes. I have found the treasure, Lum!"
"So is that what you were talking about to yourself when I arrived?"
"That's exactly what I mean." Wen explained about Chin's mostly empty mansion on the hill, and about the plan to raid the place in the early hours of the morning.
"You recruited a new crew?"
"No, you myopic fellow, that's not what I've done. I've collected a motley group of pack-mules. I expect there to be far too much silver in Chin's store-house for one man to be able to carry. Had the Jade Maiden and her crew accompanied me up here we could have been out with the treasure and on our way back to Penglai by now. As it is, I hope that you and I, at least, can be on our way south again by cock-crow."
"Haven't you heard about Penglai, then?"
Wen froze. "Heard what?"
"Governor Li mounted an expedition against Penglai. They raided the island last week."
"What happened? Why didn't you tell me this before?"
"Don't worry, captain. She's fine. Everyone is fine. Li's men didn't bother with Scholar Wu's house—mostly, I think, because it was too hard a climb—and Jade Maiden is still where you left her, hidden in our little cove. One crewman was taken, because he had the bad luck to be in a wine-shop when the soldiers came. But they only raided, they didn't stay. Burned a few buildings and shouted a lot of threats. Pocapetl's wine-shop was spared; everyone seems to like him, for some reason." Lum was pacing now, kicking up the bits of sticks and paper that always accumulated in abandoned houses. "I think the real point of the raid was to let us know that Governor Li is going to be making life harder for the people of Penglai than his predecessor did. We may have to find another resting place."
"Only if we can bring Pocapetl and his mescal-wine with us," Wen said. "I'd rather get rid of Governor Li, if I have the choice. Which is another reason for collecting that treasure, Lum: part of it, at least, will help fund somebody's efforts to throw out that man and his prince."
"Somebody's? Why not yours?"
"You know me, Lum. I'm not going to be satisfied with just changing the man at the top. Getting away from southern Fusang is my goal—and it should be yours, too."
"I've never really had goals," Lum said, "beyond surviving the next fight and being able to afford a binge every now and then."
"Come with me," Wen said, collecting his sword and a couple of empty grain sacks from where they'd been hidden, "and you'll be able to afford the mother of all binges."
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