Floating City Read Free

have him here, I will humiliate him for the loss of face he has caused me among my men. Then I will bury him up to his thick neck and let the ants and the sun take care of him.
    The only possible cloud on his horizon was Mai. Where was she? And why had she not killed this foreign devil, as she had been ordered to do? Perhaps, the general mused, she had not yet devised a clever way of meeting him. Then, unbidden, the thought arose, as black and ugly as dung, that something had befallen Mai. Perhaps she had been hurt in the jungle or again kidnapped by one of General Quan’s many enemies. His scrotum contracted painfully at the thought. What would he do without his precious Mai? She was his talisman; everything good that had happened to him had occurred while she was with him.
    General Quan smiled at Rock. “More tea, perhaps?”
    Rock nodded. “Thank you for your hospitality,” he said, bowing. “I am unworthy of such munificence.” As he watched the beautiful young woman pour, he wondered whether this one might be Mai’s sister. For as sure as he was sitting here now, Rock knew that Mai belonged to General Quan.
    From his longtime contacts among the Wa, the Lu, and the Lisu, he had heard the jungle rumors about Mai’s prowess in effecting, as the Chinese termed it, the clouds and the rain, eliciting spectacular orgasms from her lover. But he had treated them as just that, rumors that picked up embellishments from each mouth that passed them on. Until Mai had taken him between her lips. Then he knew—the Ruby had told him with a certainty impossible to ignore.
    When they had finished their second cup of tea, Rock said, “In addition to the recompense for the grieving families, I have brought the general a special present.” He began to unpack his stewpot and sacks. General Quan’s men reacted by lowering the muzzles of their machine pistols.
    “Food!” Rock cried, laughing, as he ladled the stew into the pot, hung it over the fire. “Food fit for the gods themselves!”
    The general watched the proceedings with a jaundiced eye. “I have been paid in rubies, sapphires, jade, and gold. But never with a meal.” He was not displeased, however. Good food was one of his passions, as Rock had heard from his contacts.
    Wild Boy ladled out the stew, placing it before General Quan, who, leaning over the steaming bowl, inhaled deeply. “It smells delicious.”
    He signaled to one of his bodyguards, who slung his machine pistol across his back, picked up the bowl, and dipping two fingers into stew, ate several mouthfuls. General Quan watched him expectantly.
    At length, the bodyguard belched, gave a curt nod, and handed the bowl back to his leader. General Quan made no apologies for this seeming lack of manners, and Rock did not ask for one.
    General Quan took up a pair of golden chopsticks encrusted with rubies and sapphires, settled the bowl in the palm of his hand, and holding it just under his chin, commenced to shovel the food into his mouth. He was like a mammoth machine; even Wild Boy was impressed by this engine of consumption. The general paused only once, and that was to gasp, “It tastes even more delicious than it smells.”
    “You are most kind.” Rock bowed again. He held out his hand. “Please. Allow me to refill the general’s bowl.” He stirred the bottom of the pot with his ladle, then loaded up the bowl General Quan handed back.
    While he watched the general continue his shoveling act, Rock said, “I had heard that the general enjoys his women fully as much as he does his food.” He turned his head in the young woman’s direction. “Now I know the truth to those stories.”
    The general’s small eyes were almost closed with the pleasure of gorging himself on Rock’s magnificent stew.
    “I have also heard,” Rock said, “that the jewel among the general’s women is one named Mai. Is she here, General? Might I see her?”
    “Uh.” There was only a momentary lapse in the shoveling