The Wandering God

27 Eat Bear Heart and Leopard Gall 2/2

吃熊心豹子胆
chīxióngxīnbàozidǎn
To eat bear heart and leopard gall.
To pluck up some courage.

As it happened, the opportunity to ask Ao about her past presented itself the next day.

"Zakhar," Ao's voice said above him.

Zakhar opened his eyes. He was laying on a sofa on the terrace of Wo You Nai. Ao stood above him, dressed in robes of deep blue.

Zakhar had moved to the terrace just before dawn after he had woken from sleep. Another dark dream, of gnashing teeth and black blood and a white sky.

Even after moving, he had been unable to fall back asleep, and had resigned himself to simply laying there with his eyes closed as he listened to the world come alive around him. But he must have drifted off at some point however, for he had not heard Ao approach.

Judging by the way the light filtered through the great trees that stretched above Wo You Nai it was now mid morning.

"Do you want to come into Linjing with us today?" Ao asked him. A familiar smile quirked her red lips.

Zakhar sat up. "I'll come. When are you leaving?"

"As soon as Ermi and Liang'yi arrive."

Zakhar hurriedly rose, went to his room and dressed in one of his better shirts. He ran a hand through his wild hair and glanced at himself in the mirror.

"Bloody hell, I really do look like an old man," he said, seeing his own face from behind the beard. Tugging at it, he left.

Outside, Ermi and Liang'yi had arrived in Ermi's carriage.

"Ah, I thought you were walking," he said. "I'll saddle Dunya and follow."

"Ride with us, Zakhar Dage!" said Ermi enthusiastically, leaning out of her carriage window. The princess was dressed elaborately in robes of red and orange. "We can practice our lines in the carriage."

I don't have any lines, thought Zakhar, but he obediently climbed into the carriage.

Inside, he found himself squashed on the bench next to Ao.

"Sorry," he apologized to the slim woman as forced himself into the small space. He sat down, and was forced to stretch his arm along the back of the seat behind Ao to fit in. The seats were made for young ladies and their maids, not men Zakhar's size.

"It's fine," said Ao, looking out the window to where the forest was now flashing past.

Across from him, Liang'yi nodded at Zakhar's arm stretched around Ao's shoulders and gave Zakhar a pronounced wink.

Zakhar shook his head at the Dachuo.

"I'll read brother's part," said Ermi, taking up a script. Zakhar saw Liang'yi and Ao also had scripts in their hands, though Ao seemed more interested in looking out the window and Linagyi had leaned back against the bench, eyes closed.

"'Oh great fortune it is that I came here today and happened upon you, my lady," Ermi began dramatically. "'Were it not for the whims of fate that brought me here, you might have met your end in this monster's maw.'"