Page 154 of Tiger's Voyage
“Bah,” Jnsèlóng said, but peeked at me out of the corner of his eye and laughed uproariously. “Very well, I’ll provide refreshments. I have a feeling you’re going to be very good at this.” He wagged his finger at Ren while grinning.
“I should be. I was well trained in negotiating trade for my father’s kingdom.”
“Ah, but I promise you, you’ve never dealt with one such as me.” The dragon clapped his hands and a platter of strange appetizers appeared before us. “Please sit and enjoy the bounties of the sea. Do you see how generous I am?”
I sat down on a handsome golden chair softened with thick pillows. “Yes, you are the epitome of a gracious host,” I mumbled as I picked up a goblet and sniffed before sipping. It tasted like a cross between prune juice and cranberry. I bit into an appetizer and found it salty and crunchy. “What is this?” I asked.
“Crispy swordfish on a seaweed cracker glazed with golden starfish butter. The drink is squeezed from the bulbs of flowering sea grass.”
“Uh-huh.” I dusted the remaining crumbs from my fingers, swallowed thickly, and set down my drink. “Delicious,” I said with a forced smile.
Kishan leaned forward, scooped up a seaweed cracker, and chewed, while watching the man across from us. This dragon’s human form was more diminutive than his brothers’. His hair was shoulder length and gray, and the top of his head was bald. A bulbous-tipped nose sat above a lip so thin it might as well be nonexistent, while his thick bottom lip protruded slightly outward. Ginger brown eyes sparkled with intelligence as he sat forward and rubbed his hands together greedily. He looked like an old principal of mine, and I wondered if his appearance was purposely divined to put us at ease in the negotiation process.
The dragon interrupted my thoughts. “Now, shall we begin?” he inquired impatiently.
Ren nodded and opened his bag, then reconsidered. “Perhaps the first item we should consider is the brooch in Kelsey’s hand.” He turned to me. “May I?”
I dropped the brooch into Ren’s outstretched hand and saw the dragon peer at it hungrily. What happened over the next few hours amazed me. The dragon began with a surprising bid—information on the white dragon in exchange for everything in our bag, sight unseen. I would have immediately accepted but Ren sat back, pressed his hands together as if seriously considering the offer, and then politely declined. A moment later, I remembered that the Fruit and the Scarf were in the bag, and the brothers had probably stowed thechakramand the trident in there too, so I was glad he declined.
Ren made a counteroffer so low it made the dragon laugh—my brooch in exchange for information. After that, the two men became very serious. It was like watching a game of mental chess. Each man was considering several moves into the future while I had a hard time figuring out what they were trying to accomplish in the present. In a matter of minutes, the dragon had the brooch, the large ruby from our bag, a Shangri-la buffet, and a set of fairy clothes, and we had a guaranteed safe passage to the surface, though he wouldn’t tell us how, a chest of coins, a priceless jade statue from China, and a diamond necklace.
After another hour, I wasn’t sure Ren was making any real progress. Jnsèlóng seemed overly interested in our bag now, assuming it would create any treasure we came up with. He hadn’t noticed yet it made only food and things made of cloth. Ren and the dragon had a curious way of dealing with each other.
At first, I thought I understood Ren’s style. He selected an item to barter, extolled the virtues of the object and shared its history and value while Jnsèlóng shrewdly listened. Then he would act as if he couldn’t bear to part with it after all. Reluctantly, he’d offer it again but only in exchange for twenty such items belonging to the dragon. The dragon would refuse and make a counteroffer, and then Ren would sneak in something else like the whereabouts of the white dragon’s lair and other items.
The dragon would laugh and eliminate all but two or three of the things Ren asked for, and Ren would once again dangle the item and talk about how precious it was to his family. The dragon’s lust for acquiring new objects worked in our favor, and soon we had a large pile of valuable treasures. They made several offers and counteroffers in this way until one of them would say, “Accept.” Then the other one could propose a different bid or also say, “Accept.” Once they’d both said “Accept,” the deal was done, and the dragon would clap his hands, causing the objects to switch locations. What he won disappeared into his hoard, and what we won piled on the floor behind us.
During a break, I was admiring a Spanish sword when I asked Jnsèlóng where all his treasure came from. He sipped from his jewel-encrusted goblet, smiled, and offered me an arm. “Would you like to see my castle?”
I peeked over his shoulder, and Ren and Kishan both shook their heads.
I rolled my eyes at their overprotectiveness. “Yes, I’d love to,” I replied. “As long as you promise not to trick me out of any information.”
He snorted gray smoke into his hand and held his palm out to shake. “Dragon’s honor.”
Ren rose, and they went through a complicated verbal dance assuring my safe return, and the dragon’s promise that he wouldn’t probe me for information. They both accepted before Jnsèlóng tucked my hand into the crook of his arm and took me for a stroll.
I asked again about his wealth. He responded, “All the treasures of the sea belong to me.”
“So this is all sunken treasure from lost ships?”
“Mostly. In centuries past, a wise cargo captain would throw me a trifle to appease my appetites. If they forgot, I’d have to do something about it. It’s a fair trade, after all. Safe passage in exchange for a small bauble. It’s not too much to ask, is it?”
“And if they refused or forgot, what exactly did you do?”
“Bah, spare me that judgmental look in your eye. I’m not amonster.”
I folded my arms across my chest and raised an eyebrow.
He threw up his hands in disgust. “Fine. I’d harass their ship until they remembered, or I’d let the storms have them.” He stuck a finger in the air. “I get paid no matter what. It’s the law of the sea.” He walked over to a marble statue of Aphrodite and stroked her arm. “Hello, beautiful.” He cleared his throat as if embarrassed to be caught talking to a very …voluptuousversion of the goddess of love and turned back to me. “In the old days, such beautiful things were carried in ships. Now I could sink a fleet of them and get not much more than a hunk of scrap metal.”
I touched the delicate fingertip of Aphrodite. “That’s probably true. These types of things are almost certainly flown across the sea now if they’re moved at all. They’d likely be holed up in museums.”
“Hmm. Every once in a while, I can catch a plane, but only when there’s lots of moisture in the clouds,” he mumbled.
“Catch a plane? You mean youpurposefullymake airplanes crash?”
He frowned. “Not as many as I used to. It’s a big effort, you know, and very little reward. Besides, Bermuda is pretty far from home.”
