The Dark Horse

This story is by Rory Badland and was part of our 2025 Fall Writing Contest. You can find all the writing contest stories here.

“No, no! That’s impossible!”

“Why not possible?” Li’s voice was light, shimmering above the calm waters of Kunming Lake on that serene, late autumn Sunday.

The pedal boat had been Li’s idea. In all their visits to the Summer Palace in Beijing, Sophie had never seen the historic pavilions from the water. Li decided it was time to correct this oversight. Out in the middle of the lake, away from the prying eyes of many residents taking refuge from the unseasonal heat, they were able to relax after so many unsettled weeks.

For a time, they had drifted, occasionally pedaling when the mood took them, or when Li wanted to explain something of historic interest.

He had been right. Sophie appreciated so much more from the water. It afforded a new perspective on the vast imperial complex with its rich, troubled history.

But history was not Li’s purpose in escaping the scrutiny of the multitudes. His goals were firmly fixed on their future. Though smiling still, his eyes betrayed single-minded purpose.

 “So, my sweet Sophie. You really think your simple driver could not be…. more than you already know?”

Grinning mischievously, Li leaned over to stroke Sophie’s forehead, now contracted in a deep frown of uncertainty.

She twisted away from his hand as though stung, retreating into the hard plastic embrace of the pedal boat. She hugged her knees, repeating that it just couldn’t be possible. She didn’t look at him. She couldn’t.

Li withdrew his hand, quietly watching her with grimly amused resignation. He was intimately acquainted with her sudden temper flares. They were brief, intense reactions. In a few minutes, they would be able to discuss the matter calmly. He had timed his revelation well. Sophie was powerless to escape him just at that moment.

He waited until he saw the familiar easing of tension in her shoulders, the pause in her characteristic fidgeting. When, at last, she conceded a deep sigh, he reached over again to take her hands in his. This time, she didn’t pull away. She turned to face him, and he was surprised to see her eyes brimming.

Li gently stroked her cheek, savouring her tears on his fingertips. It was only the second time he had seen her cry.

Perhaps he had underestimated her instinctive ability to comprehend quickly the implications that would reshape her life. Was it possible Sophie had already grasped the same unwelcome conclusion he had reluctantly reached himself?

“My darling one, listen to me now,” he began, gently urgent. He was aware of the sun’s passage over the lake. They didn’t have much more time.

But she shook him off with a renewed vehemence.

“No! You listen!” In the close confines of the pedal boat, her voice sounded unnaturally shrill. “You’ve always said no secrets. That you had told me everything. The Red Guards, all your time in the countryside in the Cultural Revolution struggling to survive. Your sister’s death. Your marriage of convenience….”

Overcome by weeks of worry and frustration, Sophie faltered. Peevishly, she wiped away the inconvenient tears.

“All that is correct, yes.” Li touched her sleeve tentatively. “I did not make this story out of thin air. Every bit is true.”

With tender insistence, he took her hands once more in his. He spoke so softly she had to strain to listen.

“But I left out a part. I buried it in plain sight, as you might say.”

Sophie watched his face intently, feeling the pressure of his fingers on hers.

“When I returned home after the Chaos, there were no chances for me to continue my formal education.”

Sophie nodded, murmuring that she had heard all this.

“Yes,” he agreed. “But what I did not tell you was that They decided I had other skills, special skills, that would make me useful in…” he paused, weighing his words, “observation and evaluation.”

Over the next few minutes, he divulged to her the full extent of his multi-layered role as Company driver. The sun’s last rays shimmered on the lake behind him, delicately illuminating his head in an unlikely halo.

Fully absorbed, Sophie listened, not interrupting him. Her mood had shifted. He could see the questions gathering in her deepening astonishment. But with the shock was something else. Admiration? Exhilaration?

Li spread his hands. “Well, that is it. You now know all.”

“Not quite all,” she corrected him. “Not by a long shot.  What happens now?”

“With us, you mean?”

“Of course!” Sophie gave him an ironic look. “With us, well, with me actually….”

She looked down at her hands. They were trembling. “Maybe I should just leave China now. I can see how I must be inconvenient for you.”

She was aware that her voice sounded sour, resentful.

Li shifted uncomfortably beside her, and his short silence lasted a little too long. It confirmed Sophie’s initial thought on discovering his true purpose in being assigned to her. Her eyes filled again. Suddenly, she was again overwhelmed by the naïve absurdity of that moment in time where she had thought she might stay forever. With him.

She had so much to say, so much to ask. And yet, only one thought, quietly spoken, emerged now.

“I believed you.”

“You were meant to,” he replied mildly, nodding contritely, stroking her fingers. “It was believable because it was – it is – all true.”

“Well, all except for our ‘happily ever after’.

“That also was true except…” Li stopped abruptly, letting go of her hands.

For the first time, he looked away, lost in ruminations cast over the darkening waters towards Longevity Hill, now almost indistinguishable in the gloaming. After a time, he said that they should return to shore. The crowds had noticeably thinned, the residents reluctantly returning to cramped, unventilated apartments. How many of them were not what they seemed?

As they began to peddle, Sophie asked him whether there had ever truly been a future for the two of them, confined in the inscrutable, labyrinthine world ruled by the Party.

Li suddenly stopped pedaling. Smoothly, he turned the little boat to obscure it from the approaching shore.  Shifting closer to Sophie, he put his arms around her, hugging tightly.

“Sophie, my darling. I convinced myself that it could work. Over these past, very wonderful months, I prepared a careful plan.”

“That you didn’t think to share with me?” She retorted softly, but without anger. The familiar security of his embrace, denied to her for weeks, was an intoxicating relief. “Why not?”

“I could not. There was much happening. Some things you saw at the Company. You were so curious, remember?”

“Of course. It was only a few months ago!”

But, in truth, those tranquil summer months now felt part of a different age entirely.

Which of those many ‘things’, as Li prosaically put it, had been more obscure, laden with cunning objective, than it had appeared to the guileless bystander? Not for the first time, Sophie was aware of myriad layers operating simultaneously within their Chinese joint venture. But now, with darkening shadows lapping beneath her, she felt the tremor of insight.  Reflecting, she could discern another set of imperatives, concealed in murky depths.

For the first time, Sophie felt she might be out of her own depth.

Li was still talking quietly as they drifted.

“… and other things, you could not see. I had, as you would say, a lot on my mind.”

She felt him grin beside her. She pressed herself more tightly against him, not wanting him to make the inevitable turn back to shore.

“Well, you’re a dark horse, aren’t you? She squeezed his arm.

“Dark horse?” Li turned to face her. In the dim light, she could see his familiar, quizzical smile, delighted as always in learning something new. “What does that mean?”

Sophie explained and he conceded, chuckling, that this was accurate indeed. But he became quickly serious. He had shifted in the boat to note the attendant beckoning with considerable impatience. They absolutely must now return to shore.

As they pedaled towards the lantern brandished imperiously by the exasperated merchant, Li’s fingers closed themselves subtly over Sophie’s cold hand.

“Believe me, dearest Sophie, never in my life have I wanted something so much.”

The desperate echo in his voice carved easily through Sophie’s residual shock and indignation, setting her wrath to one side. Suddenly all she felt was compassion. And love.

“I believe you…. Still.” She gave him a small smile. Returning his gentle pressure with a final squeeze, she squared her shoulders and released his hand into the darkness.

They had reached the shore.

Coolly ignoring the attendant’s vehement curiosity, admonishing them while staring in wonder at the blond-haired, blue-eyed occupant still seated in the boat, Li bowed slightly. Ceremoniously, and with decorum, he stretched his hand towards Sophie.

“Then shall we go, Miss Sophie?”

She wondered if she had ever really understood him. Or China.