“This way,” the voice repeated from deeper inside. She looked down the hallway and saw the Head Eunuch half illuminated by a lantern.
“This is really a meeting with the Emperor?” she breathed, hurrying forward. The Head Eunuch would not be here otherwise, would he?
“The Emperor will be watching,” the man responded. “See that you perform as instructed.”
She slowed her steps and pretended to worry with her hair. This was clearly a trap of some kind. The eunuchs were acting too slyly, but how did she protect herself? “Perform how? What am I to do?”
“As you are instructed,” he repeated. Then he stepped fully into the shadows such that the light fell upon a recessed door. “Inside there, virgin.”
She couldn’t go in blindly. Anything could be on the other side! So she started to take a step back. But just at that moment, another virgin was pushed into the hallway. It was Li Fei, the girl from the country who was the closest Ji Yue had to a friend among the virgins. Her eyes were huge in her pale face and a nervous giggle betrayed her anxiety.
“Ji Yue, have you been ordered to come too? Well, of course you have. I mean he noticed you that very first night. You know, when we were celebrating the defeat of the Taipings? Of course, you didn’t do so well then, but you’re here now. But your hair is down. Are you sure you don’t–”
“You are late!” snapped the Head Eunuch. “Hurry up! Inside now!” He grabbed hold of Li Fei and dragged her forward.
Ji Yue tried to stop them, but there was no room. The Head Eunuch pushed Li Fei who in turn pushed Ji Yue ahead. Within moments, the two girls stumbled forward–Ji Yue in the lead–and straight into a room hazy with a dirty, blueish smoke.
Li Fei immediately started coughing. Ji Yue’s eyes watered, but she was more used to the smell of men’s tobacco. Her father loved to smoke after dinner. Except this smell was more than just tobacco. It included opium, spiced teas, and men. A lot of men.
“We should leave,” Ji Yue murmured. “Now.”
To her credit, Li Fei did not argue. She had stopped coughing, but her eyes were watering enough that the black make up around her eyes was smudged. Ji Yue backed up and felt for the door. She couldn’t find it. She spun around, but all she could see was the flat panel of a painted wall. There was a latch here somewhere. There had to be!
“Hey ho! Another one!” a man’s voice called out in the coarse dialect of Canton.
Male cheers responded and suddenly someone grabbedhold of her arm. Ji Yue tried to jerk free, but he was large and strong, and when she looked up into his face, she saw he was a white man like those from the Dutch envoy.
She would have screamed, but her throat had closed off in terror. Beside her, Li Fei did better. She jerked backwards from her captor and screamed, “White devil!”
Crack! Li Fei’s head snapped back as her captor backhanded her. This time a squeak of alarm managed its way out of Ji Yue’s tight throat, but that was all the sound she made as her own captor lifted his arm threateningly. Ji Yue braced for the blow, raising her arm to block and adjusting her body to kick the brute right between his legs. She doubted this one was a eunuch. He would feel her blow for certain.
But a voice stopped her. “Do not be afraid, virgins,” the man said in his high eunuch’s voice. It was Duan Xu, the Head Eunuch’s favorite assistant. “The Emperor wished you brought here to entertain our guests.” He sauntered forward, a pipe in his hands. “Take a breath. It will help relax your fears.”
“That’s opium,” Ji Yue guessed.
Duan Xu smiled. “Have you always wanted a taste? Have some. The Emperor’s special gift to you.”
“No, it’s not,” she snapped. She scanned the room quickly, looking for a way to escape. She saw a dozen or more men–white and Chinese–all lounging throughout the room. The opium smokers were obvious by their glazed looks. Unfortunately, there were not many. The others drank or leered at the virgins in different places throughout the room. All of the girls had a pipe pressed to their lips.
And no where did she see an exit. It wasn’t even that the exits were guarded. She didn’t see a door anywhere.
The white man grabbed the pipe and brought it to her face. He was saying something and smiling as if his dog-like voice would reassure her. She fought him. She kicked and punched,but he was too large and she was backed up against a wall with the white man on one side and a eunuch on the other. They pinned her head and pushed the pipe to her lips.
“Don’t waste it!” he growled.
She couldn’t move her head. Fortunately, that helped in keeping her lips sealed. She would not put that foul thing in her mouth! She would not!
Then she watched as the euncuch pulled back his fist. She tensed, fearing another blow to her face. But instead of hitting her cheek, pain lanced through her belly.
She gasped in shock, her knees crumpling beneath her, but the white man was there holding her up by her head. And sweet, hot smoke filled her lungs.
No!
Too late.
She had breathed–she was continuing to breathe–and the sweet feel of it was... It was like duck feathers–light, bright, soft down in her head and blood.
Then it was gone, and the air was clean again. She frowned as she took more breaths. She didn’t want the opium smoke, and yet part of her already mourned its loss. Glancing to the side, she saw Li Fei in a similar state. Her skin was pale except for the swelling red mark on her cheek and her body was still held by her captor, but she was not fighting. In fact, her gaze followed the opium pipe as it was pulled away.
