Blood of the Fox

Chapter 3

Zimei herself was the also the Empress' personal guard, and she wore a sword tucked into her waistline and two daggers carried by each claw-tipped wing.

"She is nothing, a human almost, so of course she doesn't resemble that deceitful whore, Yunyang."

Of course, the realization cracked through Ruyi like thunder. She wants to keep me close to her lest the Jade Emperor take a fancy to me.

The thought was almost laughable. She had never even set eyes on the Jade Emperor and nor was he likely to notice another maid among the millions serving him.

It is because I am a fox, she thought somewhat hysterically. And she is frightened of foxes!

Everyone in the Heavenly Palace knew the story. She'd heard it on her first day there, as soon as the older girls found out she was a fox.

Yunyang seduced the Jade Emperor, they told her. He was entranced by her and enamored by her, to the extent that he stopped even going to the Outer Court. His brother the West Dragon King had to rule in his stead for nearly a hundred years! It was a great scandal, especially when it was revealed that she was in league with the Demon King from the Five Demon Realms. She betrayed him and nearly brought the Heavenly Realm to ruin. But the Pure Empress - oh she was only the Pure Concubine at the time - she brought Phoenixes from the Fire Realm and helped the Imperial Guards defeat them. That's why she was promoted to Empress afterwards. But they say the Jade Emperor has never quite forgotten Yunyang and that's why he's depressed all the time and always asks for rain.

"What is your name?" The Pure Empress was asking her now. She was covered in so much jewels and gold that it was difficult to see her small, pinched white face. Only her very red lips stood out, jerking quickly over the furious words.

"My name Ruyi, your Highness."

The red lips twisted into an expression of derision. "How human you sound and look. As weak and as insubstantial as glass. Can you really serve in the Palace of Purifying Fire?"

This seemed rather less like a question than a statement. Before Ruyi could respond - or indeed ponder whether it was in fact wise to respond - the Empress added sharply, "Zimei - summon tea."

The phoenix girl moved her hand and a tray of tea in a gold and red teapot and cups appeared, seemingly from thin air. She held it out towards Ruyi.

Ruyi rose to her feet. Serve tea? She thought, somewhat amused. How hard can that be? I've only done it a hundred times before at the Fragrant Plum House.

She held the tray firmly as she ascended the fifty steps towards the dais. As the Empress gazed down upon the skinny, steadily advancing figure, Ruyi was not aware that her naive confidence seemed something akin to insolence and that it would further flamed the bitter fire in the immortal woman's heart. She only thought about how important it was that she not spill a single drop of tea, as her mother had taught her not so long ago. As Ruyi reached her she knelt down and held the tray above her head.

"Heavenly Empress, your lowly servant brings you tea."

One of the Empress' maidservant moved to receive it but the Empress said, "Wait. Let her serve it so we can see if she is truly an immortal."

Ruyi stood up. She was not allowed to look at the Empress in the eye but she looked around her, somewhat confused. Serve it? But on what? There was no table or flat surface in sight. Oh...

She realized that obviously the immortals had no need of such thing. Likely they would suspend the tray in mid air and perhaps they would even command the teapot to pour itself. But she did not have such an ability.

Ruyi gritted her teeth. Dimly in the back of her mind she realized the smart thing to do would be to grovel now and beg for the Empress' forgiveness even though she had done nothing wrong. Actually doing it was however, not really in her nature. You picked the wrong task Phoenix Queen, Ruyi thought. She has only been doing this all of her life. She slid one hand under the tray until it was perfectly centered and removed her other hand slowly. The tray stayed still. She lifted the teapot with her other hand, preparing to pour it.

The Empress narrowed her eyes. She wiggled a finger imperceptibly. The tray tilted suddenly, knocking into the teapot. Hot tea splashed all over her. Try as she might Ruyi couldn't help a cry of pain and surprise. The water was hotter than anything she had experienced before. It scalded her and the skin it touched immediately began to melt, as though burnt by fire. The pain was excruciating.

A smile of pleasure twisted the Empress' very red lips as, unable to stand it any longer, Ruyi dropped the tray to the ground and cradled her injured hand. The younger girl bit her lip to avoid crying out again, she didn't want to give the Empress the pleasure.

"This is just a small taste of the power of phoenix fire," Zimei had come to stand next to her, staring down at her victoriously. "How does it feel, you weak human-thing?"

Ruyi ignored her, gazing down in dismay at her charred and ruined hand. But then everyone was surprised. As they watched a change became to come over her skin. It began to heal and close before her eyes, the tendons and muscles and epithelium re-attaching themselves until it left only a red and obvious scar. Even Ruyi stared at it in amazement since nothing like this had ever happened before in the human realm, at least not to this degree.

Zimei curled her lip and looked at the Empress.

"Well, well," The Empress said softly. "So she is a fox after all."