Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4-7 2019 | Page 95

I can feel the ragged parchment beneath my armor. The first I found in Ceylon, the second in Java when we
defeated the Majapahit king. The third was guarded by the Sinhalese until our troops defeated them. The fourth I
extracted from Sekandar at Sumatra before his execution, the fifth from East Africa, the sixth from Malacca.
Six voyages, six pieces.
The waves have raged on my every voyage, rearing and leaping like a wild stallion: the white foam its
streaming mane; the thunderous echoes of the waves are its pounding hooves striking the seabed, beating out a nightly
rhythm that never ceases; the sea is my tireless steed that carries me, caught in the frenzy of my revenge -
One more to go.
“Sir?” calls a voice.
We’ve already arrived at the harbor. Looking down, I see a messenger.
“Sir, the emperor demands that you return to Nanjing immediately,” he says.
I am seized with a sudden fear. Has he found out?
“Why?” I ask.
“Haven’t you heard, sir?” The messenger’s face is drawn with sadness. “The Yongle Emperor is dead.”
~
They call me Zheng He.
I am no longer a seafarer. I fell before the prime of my glory. Why did my father tell me to wait, to seek the
secret, before I killed Zhu Di? Why had I hesitated, why had I stayed my hand? I could have delivered the killing blow.
There’s a new emperor. I’m appointed defender of Nanjing, forbidden to return to the seas. I hear the sea’s
song, mournful and frustrated, hammering against a locked door, unable to break the chain -
Of course. The chain of a slave. I was one when I came to the household of the son of the man who killed my
father. I thought that when I was upon the seas, I was free. How ridiculous. Here I am, after the deaths of two
emperors, serving a new one, but still - no matter how much I fight - I remained as a slave.
The Hongxi Emperor has made further treasure voyages forbidden. And here I stand, looking helplessly at the
ocean I cannot reach, thirsting for revenge that is now impossible, now that Zhu Di is dead. I try to summon the
ocean’s song in my heart, but it has gone silent.
~
“Zheng He?”
I turn at the approach of the new emperor. “Yes, my liege?”
“I would like you to return to the seas,” says the Xuande Emperor. “I wish to resurrect what my grandfather
has done.”
The old hatred instantly returns.
“This is an order, Zheng He,” he says, perhaps seeing the momentary anger flash in my face. “Do you accept?”
I think of the six pieces of the map. My father’s last words to me. Find it. Dare I go beyond the horizon to
seek for the seventh and last piece of the legendary map, although the one I swore to take revenge on is gone?
“I do,” I say, and am instantly reminded of the same words I said to Zhu Di, what seems like a lifetime ago.
~
This will be my last voyage. I can feel it as I set sail.
The legendary map will tell me how my revenge shall be taken.
I can feel it as I discover the last piece, at last, upon the great plains of Kenya. I trekked through the endless
grasslands for over three days to find it at last, wedged in the hollow of a weather-beaten tree.
Panting with exhaustion, I slide down against the tree trunk. For a moment, I suppress the overwhelming
triumph that fills my heart and threatens to make it explode. The joy, the ecstasy, the pure jubilance of it all! Allah,
Tianfei, they have granted it all to me. I feel the urge to laugh, to run barefoot on the plains, suddenly dizzy with
giddiness of victory.
From underneath my tunic, I draw out the other six pieces of the map and arrange them, like a puzzle. My
heart throbs, pounding furiously, and I wait with bated breath as I put them all together.
When the final piece is in place, silvery lines begin to snake across the yellowed parchment. They crisscross and
interweave, and I recognize my father’s handwriting. Stars, silvery stars, mapped out in great detail, fanning out to every
corner of the map, and in the center of the parchment characters begin to ripple and float before my eyes.
Forgiveness is Allah’s greatest gift .
I’m dumbfounded. Five words… five words! All my life I’ve sought the completion of this map, and all it
contains is five words! Five words, with completely no meaning! I sought revenge. I thought this map would tell me
what to do, how to avenge my father upon the death of the ones I meant to take revenge on.
All is truly lost.