Naamah's Kiss - Jacqueline Carey [233]
I breathed the Breath of Trees Growing, breathed it in, breathed it out. It was easy here. The ancient trees that grew on the mountainside aided me. I summoned the twilight. No one was looking at me. I breathed it in, taking it deep inside me, and breathed it out, flinging it like a cloak around the princess and me, bathing us both in dusk.
Someone uttered a short, startled cry.
"Come, my lady." I rose and extended my hand. She took it. "Master Lo, will you please ask the abbot to follow?"
I led her along the paths of the gorge. Master Lo and the abbot and the others trailed behind us, curious and uncertain. Somewhere, there was the sound of chanting, steady and sonorous. The sun was setting, bathing the immense carvings with their serene faces in golden light. Removing her veiled hat, Snow Tiger gazed at them in awe.
"Here." I tugged her into a recessed grotto, where the gilded figure of Guanyin resided. Her inward-looking face was filled with compassion. She sat cross-legged and held a thousand arms upraised, a seeing eye embedded in each gilded palm.
In every palm, the dragon was reflected.
Oh…he sighed. Oh!
The others crowded behind us. I breathed slowly and deeply through the cycle of the Five Styles, reaching deeper into the twilight. This was a holy place, sanctified by centuries of prayer. I spun the cloak into a net, cast it over the entire grotto.
They saw.
A thousand pearlescent dragons coiled and uncoiled in a thousand gilded palms, in every gilded curve, beautiful and celestial and unmistakable. There was a soft sound, the sudden intake of every watcher's breath.
I was too tired to hold the twilight for long, even in this place. I warned the princess, and she donned her hat. The dragon murmured in disappointment as I released the twilight. Everyone blinked as the golden light of the setting sun returned in a rush and the images of the dragon's reflection vanished.
"I see." Abbot Hong bowed to me. "A doubting man might claim that this is merely an illusion worked by barbarian magic. I am not a doubting man. If the gods allowed you to work falsehood in this place, I have spent my life in vain."
All I wanted to do was lie down and sleep, but I bowed in return. "Thank you, Revered Brother."
The abbot turned to Master Lo. "I will aid you in any way I can."
* * *
CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE
I passed the night sleeping on a mat in a humble cell, waking to the sound of chanting. It would not be an unpleasant way to live, spending one's life in prayer and contemplation, surrounded by such beauty. I thought about the three Camaeline snowdrop bulbs nestled in a jar at the bottom of my satchel, and wondered if they would thrive here in the mountains. It seemed a fitting place for them.
No, the dragon said. It is not high enough, not cold enough. You will plant them in the snows of White Jade Mountain, and I will watch over them always, remembering you.
There was a poignant note in his tone that made my heart ache. "I pray you're right, treasured friend."
So do I. His tone brightened. Today is a good day for hope!
I smiled. "So it is."
Indeed, it felt like it. There wasn't much the abbot could do to aid us, but what aid he could give, he gave unstintingly. Our meager stores had been replenished, and we were armed with knowledge of several companies of Lord Jiang's men laying in wait for us. After the princess had, revealed herself in the marketplace, that knowledge was more valuable than gold. We had the abbot's promise not to reveal our passage. The sun was shining and I was well rested.
It was a good day for hope.
After we broke our fast, the abbot himself and a score of his monks escorted us down the gorge. At every step of the way, I marveled at the continuous carvings. On one plateau, there was an effigy of Sakyamuni reclining that was so immense, it dwarfed all the others.
Bao laughed at my enthusiasm. "Maybe you'll decide to follow the Path of Dharma after all, huh?"
"Oh, I haven't abandoned the notion of the Path of Desire," I assured