And as she knew he was never going to be allowed to leave Luoyang, she prayed that when she grew old and was no longer desirable in bed, he would keep her as a companion.
A distant gong sounded the midnight hour, and she knew it was time to leave. As always, Heroic Tiger kissed her tenderly on the forehead and rolled over to go to sleep. But as she dressed, she heard a knock on the outer door, and when Heroic Tiger left the bed to see who it was, Little Sparrow heard an urgent exchange of words.
When she saw the big ugly westerner named Primo stride into the chamber, followed by one of Heroic Tiger's translators, and a man who wore the robes and colors of a nobleman from a southern province, she gathered her clothes to her naked breast and slipped behind a privacy screen where she could eavesdrop.
She recognized the fourth man in the group. He was Bold Dragon, and everyone knew of his political ambitions.
HIS FAMILY WAS POWERFUL AND RICH, with many friends, and, as she listened, Little Sparrow quickly grasped that he was here to offer a means of escape to the westerners. She suspected it was a way to undermine the emperor's power rather than an act of kindness. For these foreign "guests" to escape so easily from the Emperor's clutches would cause Ming to lose face.
Little Sparrow held her breath as she listened to a scheme emerge from the words the translator spoke—Bold Dragon boasting that he knew how to get Heroic Tiger out of Luoyang and back to the western borders, but that it would cost a high price. He did not need gold or riches, the young nobleman said. And as he was doing this at great personal risk, the reward would have to be something very desirable indeed.
When Heroic Tiger offered him a rare and potent aphrodisiac, Little Sparrow saw that he suddenly had Bold Dragon's attention.
She watched as a curious scene unfolded. Heroic Tiger went to a locked chest and brought out a cloth sack. He opened it and showed Bold Dragon the contents, letting him sniff them and feel some of the stuff on his fingertips. Heroic Tiger then took the teapot that was simmering with hot water, poured it into a cup, and sprinkled some of the bag's contents into the water.
While the mixture brewed, Heroic Tiger said, "I met a man in Babylon. He told me he had a farm in distant Ethiopia which lies near the source of the Nile. He noticed one day that his goats were extraordinarily frisky, and mating almost constantly. He watched them over a few days, and found that they were eating the berries off what he had thought was a useless bush. He picked some berries and tried to eat them, but they were inedible for a man. And so he roasted them in a fire, and then ground them to a gritty powder. Boiling this powder in water provided a bitter brew, but he drank it down, wondering if the berries would have the same effect on him as they had on his goats.
"His experiment worked. Within a short while, the farmer felt himself grow younger, more invigorated, and with more energy than he had felt in years. He immediately sought out his wife, and delighted her for days. The Ethiopian then took his discovery to Babylon, where I encountered him. I tasted the brew and indeed felt its stimulating affects. And now, my honored guest, you will experience this remarkable elixir for yourself."
Heroic Tiger gave it to Bold Dragon to drink, taking a sip first to prove it was not poison.
Bold Dragon sipped and pulled a face.
"Drink it all," Heroic Tiger said, while the ugly one named Primo and the translator looked on.
Bold Dragon drained the cup, smacked his lips and said, "I feel nothing."
"It takes a short spell."
The four stood in silent anticipation as Little Sparrow watched from behind the screen. Bold Dragon looked down at himself, then ran his hand over his groin. He frowned. "I have drunk only brown water."
"Patience, my friend. How do you plan to get us out of the city?"
"I can arrange for it tomorrow. You and your companion will meet me at—"
"It is not just for me and Primo. All my men are to leave."
Bold Dragon's eyebrows shot up. "All your men? That is over a hundred, I believe."
"I will not leave anyone behind."
Bold Dragon gave this some thought, and as he did, he raised his hand to rub his nose. But his hand shook. He held it out and the trembling increased. He whispered an oath that the interpreter did not translate. And then he said, "I am feeling something! I feel ... invigorated!"
Sebastianus smiled. "It is a potent brew."
"Indeed! What is it called?"
"The Ethiopian said it had no name as the beans grow on a plant everyone thought useless. But he called it qahiya, which in his language means to have no appetite, as this brew dulls hunger."
"Perhaps it dulls the stomach's hunger, but it stimulates another type of hunger. I feel I could bed ten women tonight and not sleep! Very well, for that entire bag of qahiya, I will take you and your people out of Luoyang. This is my plan ..."
Little Sparrow trembled as she listened to the details of Heroic Tiger's escape.
He was going to leave her. The only man she had ever loved.
NO ONE COULD GUESS the dowager empress's age. Each morning, her team of personal beauticians scrubbed her face and removed every speck of hair, including her eyebrows. Then they artfully repainted her face on a background of white rice power. In order to preserve the look, the empress controlled her facial expressions and spoke with minimal movement of her lips and jaw. The effect was to give her the appearance of a ceramic doll.
"I granted this audience, Little Sparrow," she said in a voice that was as smooth and flawless as the silk robes she wore, "because I call your father my friend. But be quick, for time rushes."
Little Sparrow kowtowed nine times before the emperor's mother, and when she received permission to speak, told of the late-night meeting between the esteemed trader from Rome and a nobleman named Bold Dragon—a scheme to help the westerners escape. "Bold Dragon will bring a traveling troupe of entertainers for the Festival of the Silver Moon," Little Sparrow said as she shook with fear before the powerful woman—but she had no choice, she had to keep Heroic Tiger in Luoyang! "And while His Sublime Radiance, the Emperor, is thus distracted, one by one the entertainers will be replaced by men from the west. This will be done after each act is completed and the entertainers leave the floor. They will exchange clothes with the foreigners, who will go out into the city disguised and then through the city gates. When all the westerners have gone, then the four personal guests of the Son of Heaven will be rescued during the dead of night, and taken away to join their comrades. They plan to be far away by the time the deception is realized."
The dowager's pet cricket chirped in its bamboo cage while her ladies-in-waiting stood as still and silent as statues. The empress did not move. The gold tassels and paper birds that adorned her elaborate headdress stirred only because of a breeze that wafted through the pavilion.
Little Sparrow's heart raced as she wondered belatedly if she had committed a horrible blunder.