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Authors: Barbara Hambly
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Later two of the dogs became sick and died as well.’
Asher’s glance crossed Karlebach’s and saw, behind the small, oval spectacles, the dark eyes fill with tears.
It had once been a man
, thought Asher, setting down the tray with its fragmentary remains.
A man with a wife and probably a child – like Miranda. A man who had loved and been loved, wanting only to get through this life
. . .
And unlike the vampire, he had not chosen to make this change.
Contamination of blood
, Ysidro had said.
They do not seem to retain that individuality which makes me Simon and you James
. . .
‘Ho brought the creature back to me at once.’ With the point of the tongs, Dr Bauer gently touched one monstrous fang. ‘Ho has never believed in demons. He insisted that the things people said they saw in the twilight had some kind of natural explanation. He also insists that the stories that these
yao-kuei
can summon and dismiss hordes of rats from the mines are superstition—’
‘Rats?’ Karlebach looked up sharply.
‘So the story goes. Such vermin are abundant both in the mines and in the marsh below the main entrance.’
‘And how long,’ inquired Asher, ‘has the story “gone” like this, Frau Doktor? I’ve studied the folklore of Hebei Province, and nothing I’ve heard of has ever sounded like this.’
‘No, this is very recent. The villagers call them
yao-kuei
, but most attribute their appearance to the misdeeds of the Emperor and the loss of Heaven’s Mandate for his rule. I first heard stories of
yao-kuei
being seen not long before Christmas, so it has been almost a year.’
She replaced the bone fragments in their box and locked it up again. ‘You understand, my people here go out very little once the sun is down. Aside from concern about ghosts in the darkness, for years now there have been brigands in these hills. Now that Kuo Min-tang militia are forming, it isn’t unheard of for men to be kidnapped into their bands. Poor Mrs Wei swears that the
yao-kuei
took her husband, who was lame and of no use to either the bandits or the Kuo Min-tang.’ She shook her head. ‘One cannot understand people like that.’
Karlebach whispered, ‘A year . . .’
‘It is conceivable, is it not –’ Dr Bauer carefully locked the box back into its cupboard – ‘that a group of these creatures – a little tribe – has been concealed in the caves in these hills, all these centuries? The caves near Nan Che-Ying Village have never been completely explored, and the river that runs through the Kong-Shui caves goes for miles beneath the earth. Such creatures might well scavenge food from the mine workings and from the garbage heaps of the temples.’
‘But in that case,’ said Asher, ‘wouldn’t there be stories earlier than last year?’
‘Let me see its clothing.’ Karlebach’s voice was hoarse.
Dr Bauer pulled back the window curtains, opened the shutters, and fetched another box. Good-humoredly, she said, ‘I have to warn you about these.’
Asher flinched from the smell as she brought out the rags: the remains of a short
ch’i-p’ao
– the straight, baggy, coat-like tunic that for two hundred and fifty years had been standard dress for all Chinese, male and female – and the remains of a man’s
ku
trousers. Both had been torn to ribbons by the dogs and were unspeakably soiled.
‘You read my description of the thing,’ said Bauer quietly. ‘I wish you could have seen it. It must have observed how men wear clothing and put these on in imitation of what it had seen. You saw the skull. The face wasn’t remotely human. It was almost hairless, its spine bent forward, and the hands bore claws rather than human nails. For twenty-five years I have worked here in Mingliang, calling these beautiful souls here to Christ, and never have I heard of anything like these: not in fairy tales, not in legends, not in the stories that grandfathers told the little ones to scare them from going into the old mines.
Asher’s glance crossed Karlebach’s and saw, behind the small, oval spectacles, the dark eyes fill with tears.
It had once been a man
, thought Asher, setting down the tray with its fragmentary remains.
A man with a wife and probably a child – like Miranda. A man who had loved and been loved, wanting only to get through this life
. . .
And unlike the vampire, he had not chosen to make this change.
Contamination of blood
, Ysidro had said.
They do not seem to retain that individuality which makes me Simon and you James
. . .
‘Ho brought the creature back to me at once.’ With the point of the tongs, Dr Bauer gently touched one monstrous fang. ‘Ho has never believed in demons. He insisted that the things people said they saw in the twilight had some kind of natural explanation. He also insists that the stories that these
yao-kuei
can summon and dismiss hordes of rats from the mines are superstition—’
‘Rats?’ Karlebach looked up sharply.
‘So the story goes. Such vermin are abundant both in the mines and in the marsh below the main entrance.’
‘And how long,’ inquired Asher, ‘has the story “gone” like this, Frau Doktor? I’ve studied the folklore of Hebei Province, and nothing I’ve heard of has ever sounded like this.’
‘No, this is very recent. The villagers call them
yao-kuei
, but most attribute their appearance to the misdeeds of the Emperor and the loss of Heaven’s Mandate for his rule. I first heard stories of
yao-kuei
being seen not long before Christmas, so it has been almost a year.’
She replaced the bone fragments in their box and locked it up again. ‘You understand, my people here go out very little once the sun is down. Aside from concern about ghosts in the darkness, for years now there have been brigands in these hills. Now that Kuo Min-tang militia are forming, it isn’t unheard of for men to be kidnapped into their bands. Poor Mrs Wei swears that the
yao-kuei
took her husband, who was lame and of no use to either the bandits or the Kuo Min-tang.’ She shook her head. ‘One cannot understand people like that.’
Karlebach whispered, ‘A year . . .’
‘It is conceivable, is it not –’ Dr Bauer carefully locked the box back into its cupboard – ‘that a group of these creatures – a little tribe – has been concealed in the caves in these hills, all these centuries? The caves near Nan Che-Ying Village have never been completely explored, and the river that runs through the Kong-Shui caves goes for miles beneath the earth. Such creatures might well scavenge food from the mine workings and from the garbage heaps of the temples.’
‘But in that case,’ said Asher, ‘wouldn’t there be stories earlier than last year?’
‘Let me see its clothing.’ Karlebach’s voice was hoarse.
Dr Bauer pulled back the window curtains, opened the shutters, and fetched another box. Good-humoredly, she said, ‘I have to warn you about these.’
Asher flinched from the smell as she brought out the rags: the remains of a short
ch’i-p’ao
– the straight, baggy, coat-like tunic that for two hundred and fifty years had been standard dress for all Chinese, male and female – and the remains of a man’s
ku
trousers. Both had been torn to ribbons by the dogs and were unspeakably soiled.
‘You read my description of the thing,’ said Bauer quietly. ‘I wish you could have seen it. It must have observed how men wear clothing and put these on in imitation of what it had seen. You saw the skull. The face wasn’t remotely human. It was almost hairless, its spine bent forward, and the hands bore claws rather than human nails. For twenty-five years I have worked here in Mingliang, calling these beautiful souls here to Christ, and never have I heard of anything like these: not in fairy tales, not in legends, not in the stories that grandfathers told the little ones to scare them from going into the old mines.
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