The Dragon's Ring Pt 1, Chapter 1

Book 1 The Dragon's Ring

By Ellen Clutch



Part 1: The Twelfth Sign



I walked hurriedly across the dusk-lit street, not wanting to be seen by anyone. A dirty leather pouch was clutched tightly in my hands, and sweat poured down my forehead like a river, a sure sign that I was frightened at what I was about to do.

The previous night, I sneaked into my master's bedroom and stolen (back) 100 yuan from under his bed in a compartment where he kept his money that he was too lazy to put in his vault. Before returning to the other slaves, I made sure it was the money master Chan had taken from me a week prior, and given it too his despicable father, because though the master would hardly notice a few grimy, old, weathered yen disappeared before nightly counting, he would be sure to notice if a crisp, clean bill had been removed from his living quarters.

I then crept to the corner of the room, and into the air vent. being small, I easily crawled the familiar maze of ducts, listening to conversations traveling from every which way, turning the drone too an indistinguishable haze of words and phrases, and outside behind some reeds of bamboo. I then buried the money in a leather sack, and then hurried to the slave cabins.

That leather sack is now clutched in my hand as I head into the Lovely Panda, the most popular jewelry shop in Hong Kong, the money jangling guiltily at my side.

As I entered, a cool musty gust of air washed over me, overpowering the damp, hot air outside. I had to make this quick, as I was supposed to be gardening, but my partner is my best friend and she promised not to tell anyone I was gone. The reason I sneaked away at 7:30 of all times while I was supposed to be gardening is no mystery. I am not allowed to be off property, I'm not allowed to have money at all, and the little money I have was found on the streets while I was supposed to be doing chores with Wen, so not a very good place to get into trouble. But being sworn best friends, she vowed never to tell of my absences.

"You want to buy something, girly? The store closes in 10 minutes."

"Oh!" I start at the short, balding man behind the counter, then smile sweetly as if to assure him I would only be a few minutes, but the man just scowled and turned away to polish some brooches.

I directed my attention too the small panda ring under display in the checkout window, and I sigh mesmerized by its beauty, the same that captured my heart as a very small child. 75 yuan, I have just enough. I am unlatching the leather sack at my side when a screechy voice outside the shop froze me in the efforts of untying the twine around my pouch.

"But Mom, you said I could have 55 yuan for that panda ring." A ball to ice, starts forming in my stomach a million miles per hour. Before the cash register knew any better, I had dodged into the necklace isle, sprinted to the end, then squeezed between 2 shelves of earrings, trying to conceal myself between a stepping stool.

"How could you ever have come up with that?" a nicer, more harmonious voice met my ears, much louder now, so they must have entered the shop. "I offered 50 yuan, and plus daddy's offer, you're 5 less." Yes, I said in my mind, Leave, you have too little money. But leave they did not. They argued back, and forth, back and forth, the daughter's scratchy voice ripping the air, then the mothers smooth tune sewing the tears. Finally, after almost ten minutes, the daughter seemed not to have enough energy to tear and the mother not enough thread to sew, and as if controlled, the both turned and left, the girl looking daggers at her mother. I waited a bit then leapt from my hiding space and dashed back to the checkout desk. The man turned around, a bigger scowl on his face now that I had reappeared in the form of disrupting him from polishing the opal earrings.

" The store closed 45 seconds ago, so hurry it up," he growled, then went back to polishing. I stuck my lower lip out, and I glared in annoyance.

"Excuse me?" I asked trying to wipe the annoyance from my face and put on an innocent smile, and he turned around, practically breathing fire.

"You again?" he spat, not bothering to keep the rudeness from his voice. I practically fought World War I trying to keep my own voice calm and polite, but I answered slowly, trying to control my words which fought like a trapped tiger to travel from my mind too my mouth and allow them to claw the man in the face. "I need that pearl panda ring from below the counter." He turned back around and grunted, "90 yuan, so pay up or get out." I was seriously considering letting my inner tiger loose, but forced myself to remain calm as I spoke. "The card says 75 yuan."

"It's an antique, nearly 1,000 years old, so it'll cost you extra," he said not bothering to turn around as he picked up nearly a dozen "Sorry, We're Closed " signs and began to bustle of too the window and hang them up in a way that you couldn't miss them even if you were clear down the street. Pursing my lips, I pulled out 100 yuan and and did well so make sure I slapped them as hard as I could on the glass counter, and though my hand throbbed, it was worth seeing bald and ugly jump and drop the remaining closed signs. He turned and looked at me in astonishment, and I looked back at him innocently. "I have enough money," said in my sweetest honey voice "so I'm ready to pay up now." Still looking amazed, he walked over and was in the process of pulling out my ring out of the display case when I asked " And can I get a case to go with it?" I asked, looking at the sign that told that they were 2 yuan a box. The prospect of buying something else when I was already holding him in five minutes after closing time snapped bald and ugly out of his shocked trance. "5 yuan," he said gruffly, "no pay no business."

"Would it matter if I pointed out that the sign says 2 yuan?"

"Typo." he said, starting to put my ring back.

"Fine, I'm paying, I'm paying!" I said, throwing up my arms in exasperation and defeat, anyway, it didn't matter if I had no money left, because little did anyone know, that I had been adopted into an American family, and aside from the Master, the only one that knew of my arrangements to move was Wen.

"This Friday?!" she exclaimed, when I had told her 2 days prior, "How long have you known? Oh, I'll have so little time to organize a parting ceremony, and then the goodbye present, and-"

"You don't have to do all that!" I exclaimed, shocked at the how serious she was being. She just grinned and said "Now don't worry, you just leave everything to me," and then walked away.

Now I was walking out of the Lovely Panda, avoiding the glare of baldy as he put up the remaining "closed" signs and closed the blinds with a snap, and I remembered Wen, doing my chores at the Master's mansion. I sped my steady pace up to a trot , hoping I could get there in time to help with the rest of the chores, and maybe steal her a dumpling from the kitchens.

****

After the gardening was done, and we had finished our six dumplings I had managed to snatch up, Wen helped me bury my ring in a little box until it was time for me to leave, so it wouldn't be stumbled upon during the nightly search. But little did I know that as I patted the last bit of dirt into place that the roots around the box were slowly shriveling up and dyeing. Little did I know as I walked to the temporary servant cabins that all carefully tended dirt circling the box within a foot radius had went from rich black too gritty gray sand. Little did I know, as I was being checked among the other servants for stolen items, that all insects died within a foot radius of the box along with the rich dirt. Little did I know, that below ground, surrounded by dead insects and gray sand, red eyes glared from inside the box.