Short Story: Demon Dragonfly

      The slave Mao Ping picked himself up from the street and dusted off his elegant embroidered robe.  His cowardly porter peeked from behind a vendor stall, stumbled out to him, and bent over to reclaim the brown, cloth-wrapped package. 

      Happily, Mao Ping thought, the mysterious package did not appear damaged. It might be the open umbrella of a princess, but was heavier, as he had noticed earlier when they collected it at the wood carver’s shop.

      Mao Ping took a last forlorn look at a nearby squat, square building inside a bamboo barricade and pushed on through the crowd, his porter creeping behind him lugging the cumbersome parcel...

Demon Dragonfly (2300 words) is available for publication.