The Vampire Genevieve by Kim Newman

Author:Kim Newman
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2021-02-25T16:59:56+00:00

VII

Dien Ch’ing bowed low, in the Celestial fashion, prostrating himself and touching his forehead to the flagstones. They were cold.

‘My humble and unworthy self is honoured to be graciously admitted into your estimable presence, noble sir.’

The ambassador knew that Hasselstein had no patience with Cathayan courtesy, but conducted himself impeccably anyway. That was important. His mask must not slip.

‘Get up, ambassador,’ he said, ‘you make yourself ridiculous.’

Dien Ch’ing stood, wiping non-existent dust from his robes. The palace floors were as clean as a virgin’s conscience.

The Emperor’s confessor was not wearing his lector’s hood. He was dressed like any other courtier, in fine white linen and a green velvet cloak. Out of his habit, he did not look especially ascetic.

‘Nevertheless, noble sir, I am pleased to be granted this audience.’

Hasselstein was obviously distracted. Dien Ch’ing assumed that the man had actually forgotten their appointment. He was unprepared for their discussions and that made him irritable. He was too much the smooth courtier to give offence to the representative of the Monkey King, but he had other, more pressing business, and he would prefer to be seeing to it. That was interesting. The cause of the Lord Tsien-Tsin could be assisted by such distractions.

Besides, it was just as well. Dien Ch’ing wondered how generous the welcome would be if Hasselstein and his Emperor knew that he did not, in fact, serve the Monkey King and that the real ambassador, despatched two years ago from far Cathay, was resting with his throat cut in an unmarked grave somewhere in the Dark Lands. He assumed that things would be very different indeed.

‘Has the Emperor found the time to consider the Monkey King’s petition, noble sir?’

Some memory of the matter surfaced in Hasselstein’s mind and he dredged the facts together. Behind him, rolled up in tubes, were all the petitions. Dien Ch’ing could see his perfect forgery stuffed in with the others.

‘Your proposed expedition to the Dark Lands, eh?’

Dien Ch’ing touched his thumb to his forehead and bowed again.

‘Even so, noble sir.’

Hasselstein was playing with the papers on his desk, pretending to be busy. It was not like the man. Dien Ch’ing understood the Emperor’s confessor to be a skilled politician, not a distracted curmudgeon. There was something seriously amiss at the court of Karl-Franz.

‘It is being considered. The undertaking would be costly and difficult to put together. I’m sure you understand.’

‘Indeed, noble sir. That is why the Monkey King proposes a joint venture. The Lord of the East should shake hands with the Emperor of the West. And the encroachments of evil grow greater every day. The time is right for a full-scale campaign.’

‘Um,’ said Hasselstein, ‘possibly.’

Dien Ch’ing smiled inside, but let nothing show. He must be humble, he must be patient. One does not ascend the Pagoda of Tsien-Tsin at a single leap. One must take the steps individually and pause for rest and reflection at each level. The plan for this trap had been laid years earlier, in the Dark Lands, and there would be no haste in springing it.

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