Read Wild Orchid for Free Online Page A

tree. The next, I was hurtling down. And that is how I came to fall from the same tree twice.

F IVE
    I’d like to tell you that I fell in brave and stoic silence, but the truth is that I shrieked like an outraged cat the whole way down. I landed in the stream this time around. The impact was painful. The water wasn’t deep enough to truly cushion my fall, and the stream-bed was full of stones.
    I had no time to consider my cuts and bruises, however, because I landed squarely in the path of the lead horse. Its cry of alarm and outrage echoed my own. I scrambled to get my legs back under me, scurrying backward like a crab, kneeling on all fours. I tossed my drenched braid over my back and looked up just in time to see a pair of hooves pawing the air above me.
    Every instinct screamed at me to move , to get out of the way. But here my mind won out. I put my arms up to shield my head and stayed right where I was. To move now would only startle the horse further. And I had no idea just where those pawing hooves might fall. If I moved, I could put myself squarely beneath them. Terrifying as it was, I had to stay still and pray that the rider would soon get the frightened animal under control.
    Above the high-pitched neighing of the horse, I heard a deep voice speaking sternly yet with great calm. The voice found its way to my racing heart, steadying its beats, though they still came fast and hard.
    With a final cry of outrage the horse brought his front legs down, hooves clacking sharply as they struck the stones of the streambed less than a hand’s breadth from where I knelt. The horse snorted and danced backward a few steps before finally agreeing to stand still, the stern, soothing voice of its rider congratulating it now.
    I wished the earth would open up and swallow me whole. That way I wouldn’t be required to provide explanations for my behavior, nor patiently accept the punishments that would no doubt be the result. I would simply disappear, my transgressions vanishing with me as if we had never existed at all.
    But since I already knew all about wishes that never came true, I did the only thing I could: I lowered my arms from shielding my face and looked up.
    The horse’s legs were the first thing I saw.
    They were pure white, as if he’d borrowed foam from the water, and they rose up to join a glossy dark coat the color of chestnuts. He had a broad chest and bright, intelligent eyes. Though, I could see from his still-quick breathing that only the will of his rider kept him in place.
    The rider , I thought.
    “Yuanliang wo,” I said, remembering my manners at long last. “Forgive me, elder.”
    Still kneeling in the stream, I bent over until my face was almost touching the water. I did not know who the stranger on this horse might be, but I knew enough to recognize that he had to be someone of rank—a court official, maybe even a nobleman. No ordinary man rode a horse such as this.
    “I did not mean to startle your horse.”
    The horse blew out a great breath, as if to encourage its rider to speak. To my astonishment, it worked.
    “But you did mean to fall from the tree,” suggested a deep voice.
    I straightened up in protest before I could help myself.
    “No!” I cried. “I am a good climber. I’ve only fallen once before, and that was when I was much younger. This was all—”
    Appalled with myself, I broke off, bowing low once more. Li Po had not fallen when I had. If I did not mention him, there was every reason to think I could keep him out of trouble.
    “It’s all my fault, elder,” I heard Li Po say. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him march down the bank and make the proper obeisance. He’d climbed down from the tree while I was doing my best to avoid being trampled by the horse.
    Oh, Li Po, you should have stayed put , I thought.
    “And how is it your fault?” the stern voice asked. “I don’t see you in the water.”
    “No, but you should,” Li Po replied in a steadyvoice that I