"Who are you?" I whispered, unsure if the man before me was alive, dead or simply a demon in disguise.
"That is a stupid question," the man said, pointing at me with his sticks. "You are the one who summoned me, and you don't know who I am?"
I shook my head. The man carefully set down his bowl and slipped off the desk.
"I am Qin," he said with a bow. "You may know me as China?"
I perked up.
"China! Yes, I have heard of you!" Quickly I blew out my candles and collected them, scuffing out the circle of chalk. China watched me as I worked, then wandered to my bookcase. "I've heard of you from Portugal. And Russia has also spoken of you, though he's more familiar with Mongolia."
I dumped my candles into my trunk and brushed my hands on my doublet.
"Yes, Mongolia," China said absently, pulling out a book and rifling through it. "I really hate that guy. This is an impressive collection!"
"What? Oh, well." I coughed and stood at attention. "It is as complete as I can make it, for now. Perhaps someday I'll have a chance to know the majicks of all other nations…"
"Majicks?" China looked amused. He handed me the book. "That is what you call the sustained warping of reality? How quaint!"
He squatted next to my trunk and rummaged through it.
"Careful!" I quickly placed the book on its shelf and kneeled next to China, waving my hands above the trunk. "Some of this is priceless."
China pulled out a string of bones from various small rodents. He smirked.
"I see."
He tossed the bones back in the trunk and wiped his hand on his pant leg. He stood and leaned against my desk.
"With all of these knickknacks of sorcery, whatever could you need me for?" He said, his voice oozing sarcasm. I blushed and stood, back straight.
"You were summoned to show me how to stop death," I said coolly.
China's eyebrows jot up, he grinned.
"Now THAT is interesting!" He said. "How to stop death! One wonders how any country can –"
"Not a nation," I interrupted, shaking my head. "A human."
"Oh." China crossed his arms, his eyes dull. "That's far less interesting. No challenge in keeping a human alive."
"So you do know how to save a human life?" I said excitedly, grabbing China's shoulders and squeezing them.
"Yes, of course," he said, his voice bored. "You do not live as long as I have without picking up a few things."
He gently pushed me away and slid a clean piece of parchment from the top of a pile of paper to the center of the desk. He then took my quill from its well, flipped it and dipped the feathered end into the ink. With a smooth hand and steady wrist, he sketched a number of symbols unknown to me.
"There, you see?" he said, laying down the quill.
I stared at the symbols, frustrated.
"This means nothing to me," I snapped.
China sighed and handed me the quill. He pointed to each symbol, calling out their names.
"The blood of your human. The blood of a nation (in this instance, of course, you). Tea made from mandrake root, heated on a black flame (I am sure you have the black flame, right? Of course you do, you hold most of a magic shop in your library.) Pour the blood in the tea as you say this chant, here (there must be a chant. Always a chant to firm things up). Then, either have your human ingest the tea or dip a talisman in the tea for your human to wear. The effects of the former are, of course, more permanent than the effects of the latter." He stepped back. "Will that do?"
I jotted everything down on the parchment as he spoke, but paused when he spoke of the effects. I narrowed my eyes.
"This is no health potion," I said, reading over what I had written. "With the mandrake alone…"
"Oh, a health potion!" China clapped his hand against his temple and shook his head. "Well, that would require an entirely different –"
"No, wait," I said, holding up my hand. "What exactly is this spell?"
"It is nothing," China said, grabbing for the parchment. I jumped away, holding the thick paper close to my chest. We eyed each other a moment. He looked down and shrugged.
"It is just a little something I discovered a thousand years ago or so," he said, voice bored once more. "A spell to help humans cheat death for a while."
"Cheat death?" I looked at the symbols. "You mean…Immortality?"
"Not quite," he said, leaning against the desk once more. "You link the person with the life of a nation. His lifespan, his apparent age, his stamina, all reflect that of the nation. For a human, it is as if they have achieved life eternal, since they are likely to live ever so much longer than they would as a human. Of course, we know that no country lives forever." China grinned. "And of course, there is no guarantee that death will not come sooner than expected. If a country is close to death so shall be the human."
My wonder and excitement grew as he spoke.
"And you have used this before?" I asked breathlessly.
"Eight times," he said. His voice lowered. "Eight people who now think of themselves as immortal. And only one who visits me regularly."
I did not pay attention.
"To think that she can be with me forever," I murmured.
"Do you still want your health potion?" China asked, picking up his noodles.
"Nononono, this is perfect," I said, waving him off without looking at him.
"Very well," China said with a shrug. "Good luck, little nation. Until we meet again."
"Yes, yes, thank –" I looked up. He was gone.
The doctors and ladies in waiting barely perceived me as I lit the black flame candle and placed it under a metal wire flame on the Queen's bedside table. I set a small cast iron pot filled with the milky liquid of a pressed mandrake on the frame. An unpleasant odor filled the room, cutting through the general stuffiness of sickness and sweat. I picked up the Queen's pale hand, so far unmarked by the pox.
"Soon you will be well, your majesty," I whispered. She did not respond, too deep in her fever for comprehension. I drew my knife from my belt and slit her index finger. Blood welled from the cut. I slit my own, and held both her hand and mine over the pot. I took a quick breath:
"Thy life intertwine
Join thee with mine
Thy life undone
Two become one."
The liquid became a deep, syrupy red. I set the queen's hand down again, and reached for a small gold chain around her neck.
"A talisman," I whispered. My hand hovered over the chain, and I stared at the liquid.
"More permanent," I said. I pulled my hand back in to my chest, wiggling my fingers.
"Yes."
I picked up the pot and carefully poured its contents into a goblet on the table. I picked up the goblet and blew on the potion before moving my arm under the queen and lifting her head. I held the goblet to her lips.
"Drink," I said, pouring a bit into her mouth. Her lips moved slightly, then opened. I poured a bit more. She swallowed. Her eyes flew open, and she took the goblet from my hand and tipped it back, drinking greedily. She threw the goblet to the floor and gasped for breath. The doctors looked up from their notes and ran to her bed.
"She is in crisis!" one cried, shoving me away.
The queen sat up completely and screamed. The pox that curdled her skin dried up and flaked off her face. The doctors backed away from their patient, one crossing himself. The queen's scream stopped suddenly, and she fell back into her pillow. The doctors stood in awe, the ladies maids huddled in fear. There was silence.
The queen opened her eyes once more and sat up slowly.
"I am the Queen of England," she said quietly. "I have been favored by God today. Glory to him and all his power."
The ladies in waiting swarmed the bed, chattering, weeping, questioning. I smiled and backed out of the room as quickly and as silently as I could.