Not soon enough. Where is Gao Xin-wu? Not soon enough.

Chang Shu-lin, why are you still here?

My very question to you. What madness is this? These soldiers are as fickle as . . .

As we are. You surprise me sir. How can you doubt the whims of fortune when you live by the whims of fortune.

We are trapped.

Not me. I have a swift horse waiting for me at the Western gate - a swift steed to Nan-ch’ang!

(rushes at him) Out of my way sir! Han Shih-chung has taken Li-hsien and Lu I-hao’s advance guards have been seen in the Ma-fa-ch’ieh precincts. Out of my way.

Not enough silver will buy your soul from hell!

Bastards! True as mirror magic! Gao Xin-wu, you will not escape your duty to this cause. I will not let these matters get so far out of hand that we loose the throne.

He still lives! Prince Kang is still with us. That’s the cause. If he were dead, they would need to recognize the young Emperor’s claim. Why did you not let me kill him? Weak women. Weaker obedience to the distaff side!

He still lives - and is still here under my control. There is time. There is time to mute him away for ever and . . .

They light their candles and see their way to the walls of the city. We must flee with the prize. Up quivering heart. Up and away with the prize.

Beware foppish generals of the North. K’ai Ma-yuan has temper and will still shape some part of this affair.

Firebrands! What startling scorches of the night sky. From the high dim window, it lit the room of our containment. It woke us from our mortal fear and gave us hope.

So my eunuch comes to recues me. See, what ho! I said that the heart song’s dream told of rescue when it told of my grand lady’s death.

Han Shih-chung, faithful man.

And others I hope. We will be free gentlemen to complete the tasks we were meant by fate to meter.

Such tasks we had from fate.

I will serve you in all things your Majesty.

May I live then thousand years.

Sire, what happened to your sour disposition?

(to Fu Lin-t’o) Come dance with me, charmer.

We are not free yet. There are people dying - and we dance.

Fuck decorum and ceremony. I will be Emperor once again and my days of carefree frivolity will be banished to the life of ceremony and state affairs. Let’s dance in the firebrands' light.

Li come be lifted. Even if we are to die, let us gather life about the light and do a dance.

(to K’u) Join us then.

Master, I know no such dance.

Indeed, I didn’t. I knew another.

I know this one.

How crude.

Not crude - alive! Alive!

Your majesty.

May I live ten thousand fucking years!

May we all live that long!

Even the piss-ants. May we live to see those doors open wide.

There’s some one there.

Is it life?

Or death?

Gentlemen, it is the wind! The wind at our asses. Feel its might!

You see, gentlemen, my days of mirth and joy have ceased. I must proceed to my misled son and my miserable, unfortunate wife.

Chang Shu-lin was dead. Gao Xin-wu fled to Nan-ch’ang. K’ai Ma-yuan, mad as he was, stalked the streets city to the Imperial audience hall. There he waited.

They are coming for me. Surely he will be merciful. I did not harm him. He must not harm me. I am his wife. I am his wife. I am the mother to his son.

Who’s there?

General K’ai and the Emperor.

Not so fast, madam. His majesty has told me you have not served him well as regent and means to assure this is rectified.

Forgive me. I did not mean to be so spoiled against you. You have been my support and rock.

I have. But His Majesty is in need of a new regent.

I am the regent.

You are a weak and foolish woman.

I am. I admit it. But I was named regent by Yang Yuan-yu. I am his mother.

His majesty has told me he has no mother. You have become no more than his amah.

No. I am his mother. And I am the regent.

Your majesty, may you live ten thousand years. I will be your regent and advisor. I have a boat waiting for you at the river’s edge. In two days we can be at sea to wait our turn.

I will come.

You will not. He has willed it so!

Who have you become? Who have you become? This is my child sir and you shall not have him.

Madam, you will not interfere with the Imperial will.

No, I would live.

Your majesty, be prepared for the journey.

This cannot be happening. What is my life without him, without my precious child? What mother lets her son be taken by a mad man, for he is mad? What is this place? Where am I? Where’s my little boy? What have we done?

K’ai Ma-yuan! K’ai Ma-yuan. Give me back my son.

What mischief do we have here? Was that the Empress?

I fear so, sire.

Nan Ya, she looked so old and drawn. This has been a bad business.

Shall we go after her?

No, Nan Ya. I can not deal with her now. I must ponder this thing before I see her again.

She looked quite mad, sire. She might do herself harm.

She has already done herself harm. It will never be the same for her. Never the same for me.

This seat is harder than at most times. No comfort here. I should have it chopped up and burned, hideous thing. Everyone wants it. They want to reach out from its sandlewood heart and command the souls of Han - to be the supreme of Heaven’s children and by that power force all under it to their will. They all want it, except me! And I am forced to possess it in trust for this House until there is one more worthy than me to sit and abuse it. I should chop it up and burn it. We could use the wood.

Your majesty, we should seek safety until the city is secure.

As you wish, Private Secretary. As you wish.

But we have not finished here yet. There’s the one who wanted to rule most — from her seat of power at Nan-ch’ang. No, not finished yet.

Come! I hear your footsteps. Do not be shy! I am a dead woman - but not yet a ghost.

My lady.

Who are you little man? You are like a little frog! What’s your name frog?

Gao Xin-wu!

Gao Xin-wu! Come to claim your reward!

Come here, and you shall have it; and from the head of the woman you have killed.

Madam, we were brave in your service. Chang Shu-lin was most brave indeed.

And where is he?

Dead. Killed by the madman.

All men are mad in these times.

By K’ai Ma-yuan. All would have been won if it were not for his irrational behavior.

That is my fault. I chose poorly then. I regret it and pay for it now with my life.

But we never connected your name to . . .

I connected it to me. Do you think me so dishonorable as to act without honor! I am the daughter of a gentleman sir! Your mother was a tadpole’s ass for all I know. I chose poorly and it looks like he chose worse.

All he had to do was dispose of my nephew and his supporters. Then the little one would have been golden property.

But we were not to harm the Emperor at your command. And we never had the Sessions mark to kill the others.

The sessions mark! No such thing man. Stupid man! And since when is the command of an old woman taken seriously by those with ambition. Your ambition has failed you and me.

Where is the Empress Chia?

Dead, madam.

Silly child. How?

She was following K’ai Ma-yuan, screaming at him "K’ai Ma-yuan, give me back my son!" He took her head off with one blow.

Then, K’ai Ma-yuan has my grand nephew Meng?

He escaped with the child, madam. He was heading for the coast.

Fool! He has sealed his own fate. He should have brought the child here. Now, we are all fated to wait on death’s footstep.

One question, Gao Xin-wu.

Yes, madam.

Why aren’t you dead?

I have lived to tell you the news.

Well, you have delivered the news. Now go and die.

Dear aunt, such times as these will not bode well in history.

Do not rush to write history, Fei-ti. This history will be written by the next generation, particularly your son.

My son?

Yes, cherish him as he will no doubt be the successor in years to come, if this old strategic head can still think things through correctly. Your job is to keep him alive to write us all in history’s best light.

It will be as you wish.

O, Fei-ti, my wishes are dead already. You must abide by your brother once again.

Now here. Take this.

But auntie, your treasure.

No. hold it safe. Let it steer your course; and give it to your son on his coronation day. It has always brought me luck, until now.

Now leave me. Have my servants lock these doors. Never again will I see the sunlight or the blue sky again. Never again. The reign period of Ming-shou is over.

Your Majesty, may your live ten thousand years, your Empire is restored to you. The rebels have been crushed.

Chang Shu-lin is dead, killed at K’ai Ma-yuan’s hands.

Gao Xin-wu took his own life. He fled to Nan-ch’ang to see the Empress Dowager. Overcome with guilt and remorse, he impaled himself on his sword.

I rejoice at their deaths. And my aunt?

The great Yang Yuan-yu has shut herself up in the innermost room of her castle. She refuses all food and water. Her soul will dissipate shortly.

I loved her, you know. She was my mother since age 5. She was all the world to me. When I came to hate her, I cannot remember; but, I will not hate her now. I am sure the Jade Emperor will take her on high. She had a sad life fraught with misery and deception. She knew no better. She will be honored in death. She will be honored.

Nan Ya, I truly loved her. I still do. My heart is breaking. But I fear, it will break some more.

I fear it will, sire. I fear it will.

Your wife, the Empress Chia is dead.

This we know. Has K’ai Ma-yuan been captured.

Well my lord, General Chang Chun pursued him to the coast. K’ai Ma-yuan then embarked on a sea-bound junk. He was pursued by our entire fleet. Chang Chun personally supervised . . .

I do not care who did what. Is K’ai Ma-Yuan dead?

Yes, my lord. He died at sea.

And my son?

Well, my lord.

Han Shih-chung, my son. Do you have my son?

Your majesty, the sea-bound Junk was surrounded. It was doomed to be fired. However, it was known that the Prince was on board, so great care was taken not to sink the vessel. But, K’ai Ma-yuan knew the end was near. He was seen on the deck playing with the boy. It looked like he was giving him pony rides — you know, on his shoulders. Then, with the little prince upon his back, K’ai Ma-yuan stood at the bow of the vessel and shouted out a speech about the glories of Ming-shou. He then jumped into the sea . . . with your son upon his back.

Courage, sire.

(quivering) My son is dead, you say. You say he has drowned. My little baby son. Am I to lose all my loved ones? I have a whole family locked in the forests of Chin - and an Aunt wasting away in the bowls of a castle in Nan-ch’ang - a wife dead at my very feet ;and now my son, beneath the sea - the cruel sea.

K’ai Ma-yuan, give me back my son! Give me back my son!

The events of the Ming-shou mutiny hung over Emperor Kao for the rest of his life. Soon, there was little time for mourning. Wu Shu was joined by his brother Prince Xiung and together they crossed the river and drove the court from Yang-chou. The Emperor was cut off from Han Shih-chung and the other generals. He managed to get to the coast himself. He boarded the same sea-bound junk, filled with the ghost of his child. For six months, the Sung court was a city of vessels, escaping the Jurchen’s wrath hopping from island to island.

Then, when the Jurchen finally retreated back across the River, the Emperor moved the court from city to town to village to city for years, until settling finally in Hang-chou and also settling down to peace making. He renamed Hang-chou — Lin-an; and the Sung finally had a permenant home again, a new and brighter K’ai-feng.

But the Emperor Kao never took an Empress to his side again. He never had another son to succeed him. He settled the succession on his nephew, Princess Fei-ti’s son. Then, after forty years of reigning, like his father before him, the Emperor Kao retired to a palace on a high hill overlooking Lin-an. His nephew, the Emperor Hsiao fancied himsefl a warrior and picked a fight with the Jurchen. Not seeing eye to eye with his nephew, the retired Emperor constantly meddled with affairs of state from his high hill. But behind the throne was another strong-armed lady — Fei-ti.

(to Li K’ai-men) Isn’t that your man-servant, what’s his name?

Yes, sire.

K’u Ko-ling at your service, your majesty, may you . . .

Save it for my nephew. He’s got to listen to that crap now. It’s good to see you again K’u Ko-ling. I remember the days in Yang-chou when we shared a room together.

It was my pleasure, your majesty.

Ko-ling, don’t be so cavalier with his majesty.

And if I remember, Nan Ya, your heart song was with us also. Where is . . . .?

(gasps) To painful to recall.

Ah, beg pardon.

Died on Hai-nan Island.

Why I ever exiled you, is beyond me.

Well, it’s not beyond me, sir; and I’m back. And I might add by your nephew’s beheast, not yours.

Yes, but I’ll never do it again.

Oh ho! You won’t live so long; and neither will I.

Ko-ling, perhaps you could get us some plum wine.

That would be delicate.

But master, you’ll fart all night.

So what. Does it bother you? Fetch it now.

I like that fellow.

Your majesty.

I swear uncle, you chose to live up here to tire me out. What a climb.

Then, why come here?

To escape her.

Oh, the dragon - my sister. Don’t be offended if I don’t get up - and I exempt my old friend Nan Ya from doing the same. Heaven knows, Nan Ya has spent most of his life on his knees.

(sitting) I need your help uncle.

I’m retired. Come enjoy my garden, the peonies are in bloom.

No truly, uncle. Your sister, my mother has been incorrigible. She has aligned herself with my daughter-in-law - and I swear if they continue this way, there will be two retired Emperor’s on this hill.

Please, please. Only one retired-Emperor at a time. Well, Nan Ya, should we take a stroll down to our old quarters, those houses of shit and puke we call the government. I’d rather admire the peonies.

Why not, only don’t expect me to walk back up here. I want to be carried.

So do I? Eh, nephew, so do I?

You are wearing it, I see.

Oh, grand auntie’s pearl pendant. It’s suppose to bring luck. I don’t think it does. In fact, I am sure it brings the opposite.

Here. You have always wanted it. Take it.

(taking it) I did always want it. You know I played with this as a baby. It has always been in my life. But, now I see her face in it. Nan Ya, I did always love her, you know.

I know.

No, nephew, you keep it.

I do not want it. It’s has bad spirit.

Do you want it, Nan Ya?

No, sire, my jewel is buried on Hai-nan Island.

Then to hell with it. Lead on.

Have you ever seen a sky so blue?

The tips are getting better. Better indeed.

(distant) Never a sky so blue.