SHIANG

by C. F. Iggulden

  ‘Tie these two well, Galen,’ Tellius said. ‘They will be deadly with any weapon. Treat them with enormous care and put them in the cells at the estate.’

  He stopped and thought for a moment, pressing his finger to his lips.

  ‘They are going to strip you now,’ he said to Hondo. ‘I’m sorry, but I cannot allow you to hide weapons you might use to escape. I’ll have a blanket brought for you and another for your friend.’

  Hondo swore at him and struggled, but he could not move.

  ‘What about the big one on the bed?’ Galen said.

  Tellius shrugged.

  ‘Thank your lucky stars he wasn’t able to jump in and help the other two. By the size of him, I’d have needed more than one Green. Yes, though. Put him on a cart and bring him too. Oh, and you’ll have to pay Basker for the wall. Be generous. He won’t be able to rent the room until it is repaired.’

  17

  Breach

  Gabriel first spotted the village by the pale streams of smoke rising from its fires. Night had come almost imperceptibly as he and the others had walked through another long day. Marias was limping badly, but he’d been able to resist the desire to heal her – a small victory that had raised his spirits. Lord Ran was skeletal. Gabriel suspected the man was willing himself to die rather than serve. He vowed to watch that Lord Ran ate properly from then on, determined to protect the one man who understood the stones.

  The village was no more than three or four streets criss-crossing one another, with farmland all around it. Gabriel could smell the hot iron and embers of a smithy along one of the roads, with the sweetness of old beer marking a tavern on another. Under moonlight, he and his companion passed dark houses with shuttered windows, feeling as if they were the only ones alive in the world.

  Sanjin strode ahead of them, confident in his own powers. Heat trailed him through the night air. Gabriel was caught between wanting to preserve a resource that could be vital to them and letting the fool exhaust his store. He had not enjoyed the Sanjin that had come out of the high passes. Some men were quiet and dignified in lesser positions, but tyrants when they had power. It seemed Sanjin was one of those. He wore his arrogance like a cloak and Gabriel saw the calculation in him, whenever he was asked to do anything. Could he be made to do it? No, that was beyond them. Gabriel thought he might perhaps manage to kill the man, but never force him to carry a shield, or scout ahead, not if Sanjin refused.

  An owl hooted in the trees behind them and Gabriel heard the soft snort of a horse nearby. He breathed in relief. Marias could hardly walk another step. Gabriel suspected the only reason he remained well was that he healed himself of weariness as he went. If that were true, it was beyond his conscious control – and as much a waste of power as Sanjin torching dead trees in the woods, drunk on what he could do. The ocean could not be allowed to run dry – until he possessed another stone.

  Gabriel stopped at a wide gate and unlatched it, stepping through into a yard lit only by a sliver of moon. The horse stalls were sheltered from wind and rain and in deeper darkness, so that he could barely sense the movement as horses put their heads out. They were such curious creatures, he thought, stepping over to one and stroking its neck. The animal seemed content just to snuffle against him, looking for food.

  Gabriel was waiting for some alarm to be raised, but the house slept on and nothing came. He saw an oil lamp hung from a nail and looked around for Sanjin to light it. There was no sign of him and Gabriel had to search for a flint and striker, finding it on a shelf nearby. He smiled, imagining the stable owner putting it exactly where he could find it again, even in the dark. They were a long way from home, but people still thought about the same things. They still planned for hard winters and cared for horses. They built a city like Darien and they didn’t understand what they had, or that it could all be taken from them.

  He cupped the wick in his hands and enjoyed the light that sprang up. There was no breeze in the shelter of the stalls, but he replaced the glass even so, as any careful owner would have done. This was a well-kept stable, a place of order. Gabriel raised the lamp and saw the nodding shapes of a dozen horses stretching away down the yard.

  A dog began to bark, snarling and snapping madly. Gabriel cursed under his breath.

  ‘Sanjin? Where are you?’

  The light of the lamp didn’t reach far enough to give him the answer, so he strode forward. In that moment, he didn’t want to break the slumber of someone’s home with more blood and violence. He just wanted to take horses and tack and ride away, leaving the people to their peaceful lives.

  A dark shape came racing across the yard at them, a big animal driven mad with rage at the sight of intruders. Gabriel tutted to himself, but he raised the lamp with one hand and struck out with the sword as the dog reached him. The blade he carried may not have cut through steel for him, but it was still a four-foot razor and he made it sing.

  The barking was silenced in that blow and he stalked forward, spreading the light of the lamp to reveal a long, low house at the other side of the yard. He understood the noises he had heard then, the thumps and muffled cries. His previous sense of peace disappeared like morning frost. Wherever he went, violence followed, Gabriel thought. Perhaps it was not something he could avoid.

  Sanjin came out of the house, grinning to himself and shaking his head. He saw Gabriel waiting there, with the dark shadow of Thomas coming up behind him. They faced the limping soldier as if they stood on one side and he on the other. They could see Sanjin felt their judgement as they looked at him. There was blood on his sleeve. He saw Gabriel’s gaze rest on the stain and he raised it up, instantly defensive.

  ‘I took care of the family. Don’t worry about it. They won’t be raising an alarm, not now.’

  ‘ “The family”?’ Gabriel repeated quietly.

  Sanjin either didn’t see the warning in his stance, or more likely he didn’t care.

  ‘Father, mother, three daughters. A family. Oldest girl offered to do anything to save the others.’ He chuckled in memory, flicking blood from his sword so that it spattered on the stone flags of the yard. ‘I could have made her dance a lot longer than I did, but I knew you wanted to move on.’

  He seemed to sense the anger or disapproval in the others and he bristled, suddenly angry.

  ‘Don’t thank me, then! You’d both rather they went running to the other houses, would you? How many would you have to kill then, if they came against us?’

  ‘You are right, of course,’ Gabriel said. He waited for the man’s ruffled feathers to settle. ‘Choose a horse, Sanjin. I will not rest in this place. The city is close and I am weary.’

  ‘Fine,’ Sanjin said. He had been expecting an argument and they hadn’t obliged him. He still felt nettled, somehow, dissatisfied, but he walked to the horses. All along the stalls, a row of oil lamps lit without a touch to give him light, with only the one Gabriel held missing from the row. Sanjin looked back in triumph at the show of power. Gabriel inclined his head to the man, but when he turned away, he and Thomas exchanged a look that had his death written in it.

  ‘We need him,’ Gabriel murmured.

  Thomas dipped his head a fraction.

  ‘For the moment, yes.’

  Like the dog that had come snarling across the yard, they would put him down as a danger to them all. When they had taken the stones, when Sanjin had used the ocean within him, when he was weak, they would send him back to the grey place without regret.

  No one else from their group went into the house. Marias and Lord Ran stood in numb silence as horses were brought for them. Thomas checked the animals had taken the bits and each belly band had been tightened. He helped Marias to mount, cradling her boot in his hands.

  ‘What kind of man kills children?’ she whispered down to him.

  Thomas winced.

  ‘You’ll lead the Fool’s horse,’ he said, ignoring the question. ‘I haven’t fetched a long rein for you to be led in turn. Call out if h
e falls or jumps down. If you run, I’ll ride you down myself. Is that understood?’

  She nodded, her eyes accusing. Thomas shook his head like a twitch and walked away to help Lord Ran to mount and tie his hands to the pommel.

  When they were all ready, Gabriel led them out. Thomas and Sanjin followed side by side and the others trotted miserably behind. The oil lamps snuffed one by one as Sanjin passed through the gate, so that darkness and silence returned.

  Tellius stopped the head of the Sallet household with a hand on her arm.

  ‘Do not get within arm’s reach of him, Win. Promise me. A sword saint is … always dangerous. A hundred thousand master swordsmen compete every twelve years – once a generation. The man in this room is the one who beat them all.’

  ‘So you have said, dear,’ Win replied. ‘Honestly, you’d think I’d never met a dangerous criminal in these cells before.’

  He chuckled, remembering his first glimpse of her, when he’d been chained to the table where Hondo now sat.

  ‘Then try not to fall in love with this one, all right?’

  Lady Sallet nodded, more serious. She saw genuine worry in the man the city jokingly called her consort. In its own way it was a compliment.

  ‘I will be careful, I promise.’

  He nodded and opened the door, stepping through before her. For any other door in the city, Tellius would have held it open, but he would not let her step before him into a room containing the sword saint.

  Tellius looked over the chains holding Hondo in place. The Sallet captain had taken his warning seriously, it seemed. Thick iron links clinked at every movement, running through a massive shackle welded to the table. Tellius shook them hard, testing whether they were still solid. He drew both opposing chairs out from under the table and only then did he invite Lady Sallet to take a seat.

  ‘There,’ Tellius said. ‘Master Hondo, I would like to introduce you to Lady Sallet. Mentor to the king and head of one of the first families in Darien.’

  ‘It is a pleasure,’ Hondo said. ‘Excuse me if I do not rise to kiss your hand.’

  His wry mood lasted as long as it took to speak and then he frowned at Tellius.

  ‘I have had neither water nor food since my arrival. Nor have I been allowed to …’ He glanced at Lady Sallet and Tellius repressed a smile. ‘To bathe. If I am to be a prisoner, you should remember that you might one day sit in my place.’

  ‘I will give the relevant orders, sir, the moment we leave this room,’ Lady Sallet said.

  Hondo looked to her, trying to gauge the relationship. Younger than Tellius, she was a striking woman. She wore a dress of green velvet cut deep at the neck over a white blouse. The effect was one of simplicity and he found himself admiring her. With an effort, Hondo turned his mind to more serious concerns.

  ‘What of my companions?’

  ‘The twin is kept in much the same conditions as these,’ Tellius answered. ‘We returned an urn of his brother’s ashes to him and he has not said a word to anyone. Is he a mute?’

  ‘No,’ Hondo said. ‘Though he does not waste words. Perhaps he has nothing to say to a traitor.’

  Tellius stiffened and glanced at Lady Sallet. He cared for her opinion of him, Hondo realised. That was interesting. She raised an eyebrow, though her gaze never left the man she had chained in a cell far below her family estate. Hondo wondered how difficult it would be to make him disappear as if he had never come to Darien. As he looked into cold blue eyes, he suspected the answer would be not very hard at all.

  ‘I am not a traitor, Master Hondo, no matter what you have been told. I made a mistake when I was a young man – and I regret it bitterly. I regret too that my nephew should be so concerned about the ashes of the past, long dead though they surely are, as to send four swordsmen to Darien. What, to snatch me off the street?’

  Hondo shrugged.

  ‘If it came to that, yes. My orders were to bring you back, to face your accuser.’ He rattled his chains. ‘If you free me, you could still come home.’

  ‘I am home,’ Tellius retorted. ‘It is a shame you don’t understand that.’

  ‘What of Bosin?’ Hondo went on without a pause. ‘Has he woken? Did his fever break?’

  ‘Doctor Burroughs says his lung was damaged,’ Lady Sallet said. ‘It is filled with poisonous muck and he has grown too weak to cough it out.’

  Hondo looked at his chained hands for a moment. It did not sound like they expected the big man to recover. He was surprised how much the news dismayed him and he bit his lip in thought.

  ‘Then he will die,’ he said. He hesitated and then spoke again. ‘You have magic – green warriors, strange glowing … stones in your walls. Can you heal him?’

  ‘Lord Canis …’ Lady Sallet began, leaning forward.

  Tellius put his hand across, reminding her not to get too close to the most dangerous man in the city.

  ‘No, we cannot heal your friend. The cost is too high and if we could ask this Bosin for permission, he would not be willing to pay such a price.’

  ‘So you could heal him?’ Hondo asked. ‘But you choose not to. He is your prisoner now. If he dies and you could have saved him, his blood is on your hands.’

  ‘That thought does not trouble me particularly,’ Tellius said. ‘Do not believe these people are soft, Master Hondo. I have learned to love them in my years on this side of the world, but they can be a hard people. Pray you never have to learn the truth of that.’

  ‘So I am to be held until Bosin has recovered or died, though you do not think he will live. Why not just kill him as he sleeps, Yuan-Tellius? If your new friends are so ruthless? At least then I could see if you will honour your promise and return my sword to me!’

  He said the last as a shout and tried to rise from the table. The chains held, though they creaked. Tellius was up and ushering Lady Sallet out of the room in an instant, pulling the door shut behind him. He jerked his head to the guard in the corridor.

  ‘Keep an eye on him through the window. At all times. If he escapes, he will wreak havoc in the city, understand? It took a Sallet Green to capture him the first time – and he came close to putting it down.’

  The young man nodded and leaned against the door to see the man struggling with his chains within.

  ‘And check the chains!’ Tellius said. ‘Take a group of three or four men, with no weapons he can grab, to test each chain and make sure he hasn’t broken one.’

  As he spoke, he walked Win away to the stairs that led to sunshine and the world above.

  ‘Lord Canis can heal his friend,’ she said softly.

  ‘You know the cost,’ Tellius snapped. He saw her expression of surprise and was instantly contrite. ‘I’m sorry, Win. I just … I would not do that to anyone. None of the Canis family are right and it’s all the fault of their damned stone. You know about his daughter?’

  ‘Of course. That was sickening. I understand, but if you want these men of Shiang to stop hunting you, you have some hard decisions ahead. I merely wanted you to consider asking Lord Canis. There are other choices.’

  Tellius shook his head.

  ‘I won’t kill them, Win.’

  ‘That one back there would kill you. In a heartbeat. I can see it in him whenever he looks at you.’

  ‘Perhaps, though he has a sense of honour. I will say then that I would prefer not to kill them. If there is no other choice …’

  ‘Ask Galen to do it. He understands how valuable you are to me. If he has to remove three prisoners to keep you at my side, he will not see a problem.’

  ‘No, my love, I don’t think I will. If it comes to that, some things a man should do for himself, unpleasant as they might be.’

  The sun had risen in the east as he and Lady Sallet came up the last flight of steps from the cells below. They’d passed through two barriers of iron and one set in the walls that opened only because Lady Win carried a cell token in a pocket of her dress. Anyone who tried to push through without such a
token would be made a greasy puddle on the fine stone floor. Like her Sallet Greens, it was an old magic. She wondered if one day it would stop working and she or Tellius would be torn apart by whatever forces lurked in the walls.

  ‘Yuan-Tellius?’ she asked as they turned to the rising sun.

  He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment.

  ‘A family name. No longer a part of me. It was another life, my love.’

  ‘Why then did he call you traitor?’ she asked softly. As she spoke, she wound her hand into the cloth of her skirt, as a comfort.

  ‘I had an affair with my brother’s wife. It was discovered and I ran, rather than face him. According to our friend in the cell, things were not right between them after that. They tried for years to patch it up. They even had a son and heir out of duty, but after that, my brother took ill and died. His wife followed, while the king was still a boy.’

  ‘They left their son alone?’ she asked softly.

  Tellius clenched his fist.

  ‘Yes. It seems I am responsible for a great deal of pain and grief. The son blames me for the loss of his parents. Believe me, that does not make me proud. I thought I’d put it all a long way behind me.’

  ‘The boy shouldn’t blame you, though, not for all of it.’

  Tellius rubbed his eyes, feeling them sting.

  ‘If I am the cause of it all, perhaps he should.’

  ‘I would not let them take you,’ Lady Sallet said firmly. ‘You are a man of Darien now.’

  He smiled, but it was in sadness.

  ‘Ah, love. I wish that were true, or the whole truth. Yet my memories go back a lot further, to a different time and place.’

  The main gate of the estate opened to admit Captain Galen on horseback. As First Sword among the Sallet guards, he was one of the few outside the bloodlines of the Twelve Families with permission to ride a warhorse on the streets of the city. Galen made a fine figure as he dismounted and bowed to his mistress first. He and Tellius had grown accustomed to one another over the years. Galen accepted that the older man would never allow Lady Sallet to be harmed. On that subject, they were in perfect agreement.