The Cartographer's Daughter

16. Elizabeth Bowen

The Imperial City. We are no longer skirting its borders; now we're heading straight into the mouth of the lion. Our course has taken on a new and sinister objective. Powerful as she is, not even the Dragon Lady's ships have permeated the Imperial waters, let alone set foot on the shore.

The Imperial City's airspace and ocean are patrolled by hovercraft, and approaching by foot the city is ringed by a great stone wall with watchtowers within sighting distance of each other. Inside the wall, it's still twenty kilometers of open ground to the outskirts, enough space to be picked off like mice by a hawk. By night the Watchmen at these barricades will be equipped with heatseekers and night vision.

The detail around the Imperial City on my father's map is both heartwarming and horrifying. My father has been here. And it will not be easy to follow him.

Brainstorming in the Dragon Lady's study brings no solutions, though we can all come up with ways through the barrier. A cloaking hovercraft; a submarine to sneak up the river; a tunnel underneath the wall. But each option requires equipment and manpower that we do not have.

After a month at sea we're nearing the Imperial City with no workable idea of how to breach it. We make berth at Inanna, the last friendly outpost before we enter Imperially-sympathetic territory. Though friendly, her name offers a sense of foreboding. Inanna was the Sumerian goddess who traveled to the underworld and only returned to the living by bribing the gatekeepers with a replacement. It's a fate one cannot safeguard against when traveling with pirates.

At landfall the men go wild, scattering to the taverns and gambling houses. The Dragon Lady leads Amundi, Bami and myself to one such house, walking us past the smoke-lit tables and silk cushions to a curtain in the back. The milky-skinned servant steps forward to pull it aside for us. I still do not know his name. He is so tightly attuned to the Dragon Lady that she does not refer to him by name, only by gestures and small turns of her head. And the servant has never told me because he does not speak. I am not sure if he can.

Behind the curtain is a militaristic study to equal the Dragon Lady's, though the décor is plainer, with oak chairs and a heavy walnut table and electric lights. Here, close to the Imperials, they are able to siphon off a tiny bit of power that runs in the late hours.

At the head of the table is Elizabeth Bowen, also known as the Smuggler, the Spymaster, or simply Lizzy. She is referred to by all these names when we ask where to find her. Lizzy is the spider in the middle of the threads that connect Inanna with the Imperial City. If there is a way in, Lizzy knows. If there is a way in, we pray she will tell us.

Elizabeth Bowen certainly doesn't look like a pirate, a smuggler, a spymaster, or even the owner of a gambling house. Her face is finely lined like glove leather, her wispy grey hair pulled back in a dignified bun. Over a simple belted dress she wears a maroon riding jacket, the chain of a military pocket watch like Amundi's secured to the side. Her soft leather boots are almost soundless when she walks around the table to greet us, shaking each hand in turn. Her grip is far stronger than I would expect from an elderly woman. It's another detail of her quiet ferocity.

“So,” she says, taking her seat again at the table and pressing her fingertips together. “What can I do for you?” Her American accent adds a harshness to her clear voice. We have all agreed that the Dragon Lady will be the only one to speak. Though they have never met, their reputations precede them both.

“We have come to Inanna to resupply our men, and we hope you will find some favorable trade goods among our wares in return.” The Dragon Lady's demeanor is confident, with her token touch of arrogance, but subtly she shifts her weight uncomfortably. Elizabeth Bowen is a fearsome woman to make the Dragon Lady uneasy.