by Джеффри Лорд
Blade realized that he didn't need to ask what Lord Tsekuin's mines produced. Nor did he need to wonder why the Hongshu might be intriguing against Lord Tsekuin and casting greedy eyes on his lands.
He also realized that Yezjaro and Tsekuin had been exchanging polite formalities while he stared at the warlord. Now both broke off suddenly and looked back along the road toward the castle.
A large red two-wheeled cart was rumbling toward them, drawn by four horses and carrying a tented enclosure perched behind the two drivers. Blade saw both Yezjaro and Lord Tsekuin grimace. The warlord's escort reluctantly made a clear path for the cart. With shouts and whip-cracking it came to a stop just behind Lord Tsekuin's horse. The green curtains were thrust open from within, and a woman's head peered out.
The woman wore a narrow mask of red leather over her eyes, and black silk gloves. She wore no jewels on her fingers or clothes. But these were her only concessions to the public modesty that custom required of noblewomen in Gaikon. Around her slender, creamy brown throat and in her black hair she wore enough diamonds to stock a fair-sized home dimension jeweler's store. The eyes that stared out through the large holes in the mask did not drop to the ground when Blade met that stare. They held his own eyes, openly, frankly, almost appraisingly. Then the initial boldness in the woman's eyes faded. Blade sensed something admiring and almost welcoming in them. He felt it so strongly and unmistakably that he wondered how Lord Tsekuin could avoid noticing it.
Whatever Lord Tsekuin noticed, it was enough to set off his temper. His eyes flared as he saw the woman peering out of her cart. His voice rose to a screech.
«Back to the castle, Lady! You shame the house out here. Back, I say!» If the glare on his face had been turned into heat, the lady, cart, horses, and drivers would have all vanished in a puff of smoke.
The lady at least had enough sense not to argue. The curtains closed behind her as the two drivers began struggling with reins and whips to get the cart turned around. Lord Tsekuin did not help matters by storming at them with shrill curses and snapping his own riding whip at the heads of the horses. But finally they clattered off toward the castle, followed by a good many stares-including Blade's.
Lord Tsekuin turned back to Yezjaro and Blade, his voice still hoarse and shaking from his burst of rage. «I am shamed for this befouling of your welcoming, worthy brothers. But I-«He threw up his hands in a gesture of disgust and despair, turned his own horse, and cantered off after the cart. His escort followed in disorderly haste.
When the last of them was out of earshot, Blade turned to Yezjaro. «The woman in the cart-that was the Lady Oyasa, wasn't it?»
«Do you think there is great wisdom in realizing that, Blade?»
«No, I think there is only the ability to see what is in front of one's eyes. And that ability I told you I have.»
«True. But there are times when a blind man may reach a higher level of wisdom than one who sees clearly.»
«No doubt there are such times. But is this one of them? Or is it a question of merely a longer life, rather than a higher level of wisdom?»
«You place so little value on life, Blade?»
«That is a question that must be answered each time one's life is in danger. If there was one answer and only one, all warriors would either die young or live to a great age.»
Yezjaro threw back his head and laughed. «Blade, if you spend enough time in Gaikon, I can conceive that your sayings will fill many scrolls, like the war words of the great dabuno Mino Tojai. You speak like a man both brave and wise. I hope your wisdom will make it possible for your bravery to receive the honors it deserves.»
Blade rather hoped so too. But there was certainly a nasty mixture of elements here in the fief of Lord Tsekuin. A young, hot tempered, and petulant lord, ill-suited to his rank and position. Diamonds that apparently could be scooped out of the ground as easily as potatoes out of a backyard garden. A strong-willed lady with a sharp eye and little wish to bow to the customs of Gaikon that governed other ladies of her rank. And hovering over them all, a greedy Hongshu who understandably lusted after that openly flaunted wealth of jewels.
Chapter 9
The next day Blade was sworn into the service of Lord Tsekuin. He received a blue robe embroidered with the gold sun and the clan badge of Tsekuin-La, two swords and a spear from the armory, and an annointing with the sacred oil of Kunkoi. Judging from the smell of the oil, it had been around nearly since the time of the Sun Goddess' last appearance in Gaikon some three thousand years before. Blade could smell it thirty yards upwind. After the castle's ninety-year old priestess of Kunkoi had rubbed the oil on Blade's arms and into his pubic hair, everyone could smell him thirty yards upwind.
Fortunately, Gaikon was a dimension in which people could and did take regular baths, with hot water and soap.
Blade settled in to learning what was required of a house dabuno in the service of Lord Tsekuin. Fortunately, he already knew or could guess most of it. As a lesser brother among the dabuni (with his temples and a strip over the top of his skull shaved), he had to sit well to the rear, look sharp, be obedient, and keep his mouth shut. That was the best possible way of learning things, anyway.
Except for the use of the distinctive curved sword, Blade already knew most of the dabuno's standard weapons. He took to the bow in particular with spectacular skill. The archery instructor might turn as white as a starched bedsheet at Blade's lack of «philosophy» in his archery. But the more practical among the dabuni pointed out that even without philosophy Blade could put eight successive arrows into a six-inch circle at four hundred yards, with the last one on its way before the first one had hit.
«Therefore,» as Yezjaro put it, «he may be forgiven having come to our philosophy somewhat late in life. Are there any who dispute this?»
There was very seldom anybody who disputed anything with Yezjaro, a notable advantage for Blade. Their friendship was further cemented when the instructor took personal charge of teaching Blade how to use the deadly sword of Gaikon. After several weeks of exercises each day, Blade knew he was a long way from being a finished swordsman by Gaikon's standards.
«I fear that at least a third of the swordsmen you would meet could now slice you up like a fisherman slicing salt bait,» said Yezjaro one afternoon. «So pick your quarrels with the other two-thirds for the moment. You have both the body and the soul of a warrior, however. It will not be long before you can take on all but a few of Gaikon's swordsmen and walk away.»
«How long is 'not long'?» asked Blade, with a grin.
«Oh, not more than four years,» said Yezjaro. «But do not despair. Even now there are not a dozen men I have met who could touch you with a spear. I know I could not. And your skill with the bow is all but something out of a legend. Any dabuno who thinks you are a helpless babe is unlikely to live long. But if you are wise and learn well, you will live long and die in your bed with your wives, concubines, numerous descendants, and a still more numerous household lamenting your passing into the arms of Kunkoi.»
«Then let us go and drink to dying in bed,» said Blade. «Though obviously bed must be the most dangerous place in the world, considering how many people die there.»
It was a hoary joke in Home Dimension, but it made Yezjaro laugh all the way to the cellar where the hot saya awaited them.
Blade saw no more of Lady Oyasa as time passed. Except when the whim took her, she apparently stayed in proper seclusion in the women's wing of the sprawling castle. The approaches to that wing were guarded by booby traps (or so Yezjaro said), by a contingent of six-foot eunuchs, and by several of Lady Oyasa's personal maids who had taken training in arms.
Yezjaro pointed out one of them as the one person in the whole castle who probably knew the most about the affairs of the warlord and his family. He also warned Blade against trifling with her.
Blade hardly needed the warning. Lady Musura was not unattractive, although rather gaunt and well into her thirties. But she sported a col
lection of scars on the right side of her face, and normally carried at least two knives in her sash. She was reputed to have been-when younger-a jinai, one of the sworn order of assassins and secret agents serving the Hongshu. When these grew too old, some retired to the special secluded villages maintained by the jinai clans. Others renounced safety and seclusion and remained in the outer world. Only a few took service with warlords, but even those who did always remained to some degree their own masters.
Certainly Blade could not imagine anyone getting from Lady Musura a loyalty she was not willing to give. Always taciturn, seldom smiling, the only time she apparently cared to speak to Blade was when they were on the archery range. Although her lighter bow could not carry as far as Blade's seven-footer, she could match his shooting within the range of about two hundred yards.
It was not much of a bond between them, but it was one that enabled two otherwise different people to talk to each other. Both were experts in the skills of a warrior, and both turned out to have an equally keen eye for intrigue and conspiracy.
This also meant that Blade learned more about the situation facing Lord Tsekuin than Yezjaro had ever cared to tell him. As much as people tried to keep their worries off their faces and out of their conversation, no one in the castle had much real hope for peace. That the Hongshu would move against Lord Tsekuin sooner or later was more or less assumed. Lady Musura suspected that the move might take place during the forthcoming journey of Obedience to the Hongshu's capital.
«The journey must be made once every four years,» she said. «Four years ago our lord's father was alive, and the Hongshu respected him enough to deal justly with him, for all his growing wealth. And the eldest son was also alive then, a formidable warrior. But now both are gone. You have seen the man who now rules this fief as the Lord Tsekuin. Are you surprised that the Hongshu thinks he may be easily separated from his great and growing wealth?»
«Not at all,» said Blade. «I am surprised that he has waited so long.»
«The journey of Obedience is the best occasion,» said Lady Musura. «Lord Tsekuin will be in the Hongshu's capital, ignorant of the etiquette of the court, with only a small retinue of picked warriors. He will never be more at the mercy of the Hongshu and his various chancellors, who have even more greed and fewer scruples than the Hongshu himself.» She hesitated before going on. «Perhaps he has also been waiting to be sure that the emperor will not interfere. But I doubt that.»
«Why? Is the emperor that helpless?»
«To some degree, yes. There have been emperors with the skills to make their 'strong younger brothers' walk a straight path in dealing with loyal warlords. But he who sits upon the Sun Throne today-«Her voice trailed off.
Blade finished the sentence mentally. A weak or self-indulgent emperor, a strong and unscrupulous Hongshu, and a foolish, headstrong, and ill-informed warlord. Those who were predicting trouble during the journey of Obedience seemed to be making sense.
Chapter 10
Gaikon's year moved on toward spring. The snow melted on the mountains to the west, swelling buds made the trees a green haze on the hills, the farmers worked late in their paddies setting in the fresh shoots. Winter clothing and winter quilts were stored away one by one. Yezjaro moved his sword practice with Blade out into one of the courtyards.
The year was also moving toward the journey of Obedience. People no longer made any particular effort to hide their concern about it, although they said more to Blade with their faces than with their lips. Only Lady Musura continued to speak freely. Blade found himself more than willing to join the hunts that Yezjaro and other senior dabuni organized in the forests that lay between the castle and the mountains. Like them, he needed something to take his mind off the approaching crisis.
The morning of his fourth hunt, Blade awoke to find an arrow sticking in the wall above his head. It had obviously been fired in through the narrow latticed window during the night. Blade did not need the letter that was tied around the arrow to know that it could only have been fired by Lady Musura. No one else in the castle could have hit the narrow window from the nearest place that offered a clear shot, a good hundred and fifty yards away.
The note said:
«I will speak to you with another arrow today while you ride on the hunt. Ride so that none may overhear.»
Blade couldn't help wondering what Lady Musura had in mind for him if he followed her request-and what she had in mind for him if he didn't. But if she felt he was dangerous, she could and would pick him off when and where she chose. Besides, his curiosity was aroused. So he decided to watch for her arrow and then «listen» to what it might say to him.
It bothered no one when Blade asked to ride in the rear of the hunting party. Except for Yezjaro and Doifuzan, the gray-haired first dabuno of Lord Tsekuin, most of the warriors of the castle found Blade a little hard to understand or accept. Therefore they never objected when he chose to remain a little apart.
The six hunters rode in silence for several miles, then dismounted to cross a shallow river by a ford marked by two large yellow-barked trees growing side by side on the opposite bank. Blade was just stopping his horse to remount on the far side when he heard a faint whuffff overhead and a slightly louder chunk. He recognized the sound of one of Lady Musura's special silent jinai arrows, and looked up. The arrow was sticking into the right-hand tree about three feet above Blade's head. He swung up into the saddle, waited until the last of the other hunters was out of sight ahead, then stood in his stirrups and pulled down the arrow.
The paper around this one read:
«At sunset, the arrow's feathers bid you to the correct path.»
Blade looked along the direction from which the arrow had come. The «correct path» led straight downstream for about a hundred yards, then vanished into the forest again. When he had memorized the direction, he urged his horse forward to catch up with the rest of the hunting party.
The day's hunting was for wild mountain sheep, elusive game that more often than not led their hunters a merry chase over mile after mile of countryside. So Blade only had to be a little «careless» in keeping track of his fellow hunters in order to find himself alone as the sun began to sink toward the horizon. By the time it had dipped to the treetops, he was back at the ford.
Blade dismounted and led his horse along the bank of the stream until the forest began to close about him. Then he found a concealed place to tether the horse, took his spears, and struck off into the trees.
It was heavy going. The shadows were already thick and the heavy underbrush made it difficult to keep on course. Blade could not help wondering about his chances of getting anywhere in this unknown forest after darkness came down. He had the feeling that he might wind up getting lost. That wouldn't be dangerous, but it would be embarrassing.
On the other hand it might be dangerous after all. Nerves were growing tighter and tighter in the castle. His absence might be hard to convincingly explain. Suppose Lord Tsekuin came to suspect that Blade had been out in the forest meeting with agents of the Hongshu?
Before Blade could consider any more unpleasant possibilities, he saw ruddy sunset light shining through the trees ahead. A few more steps, and Blade saw a small clearing with a tumbledown but, obviously long abandoned. On the roof of the hut lay a small figure dressed in black. Blade recognized Lady Musura, wearing the black costume of a jinai without the hood and mask.
He stayed under cover, though, until he had examined the forest around the clearing almost tree by tree and bush by bush. He trusted that Lady Musura had some good reason for wanting him here. But he realized he still did not know enough about life in Gaikon to completely rule out treachery.
There seemed to be nothing in the forest within sight or hearing except a swelling chorus of insects. Blade unslung his spear and held it in one hand as he stepped out of cover, then raised it in salute. Lady Musura sprang to her feet, raised one hand in greeting, and pointed downward with the other. She seemed to be pointing tow
ard the door of the hut. Blade saw that the gap between the sagging door and the frame had been largely sealed with strips of red leather.
The color and the material struck sparks in Blade's memory. Lady Oyasa and her red leather mask, the day she had come out to inspect the new dabuno! Blade froze almost in midstride, then glared up at Lady Musura. The black-clad jinai woman returned his glare with a bland smile-then nocked an arrow to her bow and pointed it at Blade. Blade measured the distance to the hut and the cover of the forest. It would be a miracle if he could make it to the forest safely, but to the hut-
Without any tensing of muscles to warn the sharp-eyed woman, Blade sprang forward. He covered the twenty feet to the hut in two tremendous leaps, stopping just below her. The lady crouched on the edge of the overhanging roof, turning to bring her bow to aim at Blade. Before she could draw a bead on him he thrust upward with his spear. The spearhead shot up between the bow and the bowstring. Then Blade swung the spear outward with all his strength and weight behind it.
In her surprise at Blade's attack, Lady Musura was a fraction of a second slow in letting go of her bow.
The spear jerked the bow savagely outward and she followed it, to the edge of the roof and over.
She was still in midair as Blade jerked the spear back, sending the bow flying out into the field. Then he reversed the spear, striking with the butt and shaft at Lady Musura as she landed. With the catlike quickness of the trained jinai, the lady flipped in midair to land on her feet. But once again she was a fraction of a second too slow to cope with Blade. His thrust with the butt end of the spear caught her in the stomach. She gasped and started to double over. Then he swung the spear shaft sideways and caught her behind the knees. She went down, and Blade reversed the spear again, closed in, and stood over her with the point of the spear at her throat.
