At first the Emperor protested. But Chuko Liang held firm in his resolve and insisted that he was no longer fit for his post, having made such a fatal error as to select Ma Su as chief commander in the field. The Emperor honored such honesty, which held by the teachings of older, more upright days. So, though he took away the post of First Minister, still he laid upon Chuko Liang the generalship of the army, with as many rights and duties as he had held before, only the outer honor being lessened. And all men continued to speak highly of Chuko Liang as a wise and honorable man.

And they made the Slumbering Dragon a subject of song, which said to him:

“Quite open lay the city to the foe,
But Chuko’s lute of jasper wonders wrought
It turned aside the legion’s onward march
For both leaders guessed the other’s thought.”

6

Dust on the Table

“Slumbering dragon”—the words sighed through the dark room hissingly, as if the dragon himself had spoken them.

But the dragon slept upon the table, his eyes half shut. He looked just like the one on Chuko Liang’s sword. That had been silver, though, because it was on a steel blade, whereas this one was the Imperial Yellow, as it might appear on the Son of Heaven’s own banner.

The Son of Heaven! It was a long, long time since there had been an Emperor in China. Kim ran his fingertip lightly over the body of the yellow dragon. The pieces had gone so tightly together he could hardly see or feel their divisions now. The puzzle was complete.

Dragons—he studied the silver one coiling at the top, the queer blue one at the bottom, the red to balance the yellow at the sides. Had they—Sig, Ras, Artie—also met dragons?

But Shui Mien Lung held him the longest. Kim could feel again that weariness that had struck to his very bones when he had ridden with Ma Su and Weng Ping and then returned with the map and the report. He also knew again the fear that had dried his mouth, yet made his hands sweat on the hilt of the sheathed sword as he stood beside the Minister and watched Ssuma and his officers ride up to the wall.

You made no excuses, you took the blame for your errors of choice as well as act. That was what he had learned from Chuko Liang. Whole sentences the Minister had said came back to him word by word.