by Джеффри Лорд
Chapter 15
Blade knocked lightly three times on the sliding wooden door. The signal would alert Lady Oyasa without carrying warning to any ears that might be listening. There weren't likely to be many in the half-deserted castle in any case. Maids and attendants and servants had been fleeing like frightened birds ever since the return from Deyun a week ago.
From the lady's point of view, that was fine. It made it safe and easy to hold her final rendezvous with Blade in the comfort of a castle chamber, rather than in the drafty but in the dark woods. The booby traps were disconnected, the eunuchs and maids had fled, and only Lady Musura was standing by.
The panic of Lord Tsekuin's household was a grim spectacle. To Blade the castle seemed like an old man, dying alone and deserted by all his friends. For years it had been a place of safety to those who served Lord Tsekuin. Now they fled as though a volcano was about to erupt underneath it.
Blade didn't blame them. Even some of the dabuni had fled into the mountains when word came that the Hungshu's army was approaching, ten thousand strong. They would occupy the castle and lands peacefully if possible. But they would fight if anyone was foolish enough to resist.
So far nobody had been that foolish. They fled or waited for the inevitable. Blade was left alone to prowl the empty halls of the castle, his footsteps echoing hollowly.
The three knocks were repeated from the far side of the door. Then it scraped open. Blade slipped through into darkness, but he heard breathing and a gentle laugh in that darkness. Then a yellow spark flared. An orange yellow glow wavered to life.
«Welcome, Blade. Welcome to our farewell.»
Lady Oyasa was already on her sleeping mat and curled up under the quilts. Only her head and bare shoulders were visible. Her black hair was unbound and flowed like a river of ink across the pillows. Blade felt desire rise in him as he looked at her lying there. Desire-and regret. She was right. This would be their farewell, however much longer he found himself staying in Gaikon. He barred the door behind him, laid his swords on the floor, threw off his cloak, and began undoing his sash.
Knowing this was their last time gave the lovemaking something new. Call it tenderness, call it-Blade really didn't care what they called it. He only knew that it was there. He also knew that because of it he went on and on, again and again, and it did the same for Lady Oyasa. She muffled her screams into whimpers and groans. But she gasped, sucked in air as though she were drowning, clawed at Blade's back and shoulders, bit his ears, locked her legs around him, writhed and heaved herself about like a madwoman.
How long they went on, Blade couldn't even guess. Time lost its meaning for both of them. But eventually they both reached the end of their strength. They lay quietly, in luxurious exhaustion, until their panting breath steadied and the sweat dried on their bare skins.
«Blade,» said Lady Oyasa. She ran a long-fingered hand across his chest. «You know I must spend tomorrow night with my husband.»
«Yes.» The morning of the day after tomorrow was fixed for Lord Tsekuin's suicide. «Custom demands it.»
«Yes, and I wish it also. In some ways my husband has been a fool. If he had not been a fool he would not be facing what he now faces. But he had some notions of honor and decency. He has asked my forgiveness for much that he has made me endure. I think that if he were not doomed, we»- She broke off. Blade sensed that she found «what might have been» too painful, and did not press her.
After another silence, she went on. «I think there are also a good many of my husband's dabuni who are willing to forgive his faults. But they will not forget the Hongshu's treachery, nor Lord Geron. Yezjaro is young, Doifuzan is old, but I think both have long memories.»
«I agree,» said Blade. He grinned. «They also both have a talent for keeping their mouths shut. I too suspect they have some plans of their own afoot. But I don't know any more about them than you do.»
Lady Oyasa shrugged. «Why should I? I am a woman, and Yezjaro at least suspects that my conduct has not been all that it should be. Besides, I will be returning to my family, and my sister is married to a man too high in the Hongshu's councils for comfort.
«You are a proven and mighty warrior, but you are a stranger in Gaikon. The Hongshu himself offers you a place in his service. In fact, he wishes you in his service so badly that he goes to great lengths to keep you from serving any other lord. Is it surprising that my husband's dabuni seem to think you may be tempted? To serve the Hongshu is-«
«They don't know me very well,» said Blade sharply. «Even if I owed Lord Tsekuin or his memory no loyalty at all, there is still common sense. I have served many lords in many lands, some stranger by far than Gaikon. If I had not learned to recognize a man too treacherous to follow safely, I would never have lived to reach Gaikon.»
«That would have been sad,» said Lady Oyasa with a smile. «For many people.» Her arms reached out for him again. Blade found that he had no trouble responding.
When the very last fit of passion had faded away, Lady Oyasa reached under her pillow and drew out a small lacquered metal box.
«This is for you, Blade. For all you have done, and for all you may yet do.»
Blade unlatched the box, pushed back the lid, and reached inside. Something wrapped in red silk lay there on a piece of fur. He unbound the silk, and stared.
A diamond lay there in the palm of his hand. A diamond of the finest gem quality, expertly cut and faceted into an oval, and at least six hundred carats. Blade tried to compute its value in home dimension terms, then realized he couldn't. No diamond that size had turned up in home dimension for many years. But he was obviously holding several million dollars at least in the palm of his hand.
«I thought of giving you something simply to make you remember me,» Lady Oyasa said. «But this is better. It will also stand between you and hunger if necessary.» Her lips softly caressed his.
Blade couldn't see any reason to try putting their farewell into words. Instead he rose silently, dressed and armed himself, and slipped out. The lamp went out behind him as he stepped through the doorway, and in the darkness he heard a faint sob. Then Lady Musura seemed to sprout from the floor at his side, sliding the door shut and leading him away down the silent halls.
Lord Tsekuin and Lady Oyasa spent the next night together. Blade spent the next night in the lowest cellars of the castle, carefully disguising the diamond. By the time he had finished the job, the diamond looked and smelled like something dredged up from a particularly filthy sewer. Blade then wrapped it in silk again and coated the silk with hot wax to keep the smell in and prying fingers out. Lady Oyasa had been right. The diamond could be his fortune. It could even more easily get him a slit throat if anyone knew he had it.
Morning came. Before the dew had dried on the sand of the courtyard the dabuni who were to witness Lord Tsekuin's death had assembled. Blade was among them. Yezjaro and Doifuzan might have their doubts about Blade's loyalty, but they would not give him the mortal insult of barring him from Lord Tsekuin's last ritual.
The sun rose above the roofs surrounding the courtyard. Lord Tsekuin appeared, dressed in white from head to foot, his feet bare and his head shaved and annointed with the oil of Kunkoi. The priestess followed him, and after the priestess came a servant, carrying a short sword with a particularly ornate hilt.
Lord Tsekuin knelt on a small square of black silk that contrasted sharply with the white sand spread across the courtyard. The priestess hobbled three times around him in a circle, intoning blessings to speed his spirit to the Sun Goddess as it deserved.
Then from opposite sides Doifuzan and the servant stepped forward. The servant handed Lord Tsekuin the short sword. Doifuzan drew his own sword and took a solid two-handed grip on it. A deathly silence fell on the courtyard.
Lord Tsekuin raised the short sword, then turned it in his hand until it was pointing at the right side of his stomach. His mouth hardened into a thin line. Then with a jerk of his arm he drove the point of the sword
into himself.
His face twisted, but his hand locked on the sword, driving it in deeper. He coughed, and blood sprayed from his mouth, leaving spots on the sand and on his white clothing. Then he began to draw the sword across his stomach, leaving a gaping bloody slash.
As he finished carving the slash, Doifuzan stepped forward. The first dabuno's sword flashed in the sun, then whistled down in an arc. Lord Tsekuin's head leaped from his shoulders in a mighty fountaining spray of blood and fell to the sand with a dull whump. The headless body remained kneeling upright for a moment. Then it folded forward and lay motionless as the last few beats of the heart drove out the last of the blood. The smell of the blood rose thickly into the warm still air of the courtyard.
Doifuzan raised one hand. «It is finished, and our lord has done his duty to the Hongshu.»
Yezjaro stepped forward and also raised one hand. «Let us be mindful of our duty also.» Blade tried to catch the instructor's eyes, but the young man refused to meet Blade's gaze. He persistently looked away, until Blade finally gave up, turned away, and strode off toward the gate of the courtyard. No one followed him, spoke to him, or even looked at his departing back.
Chapter 16
Blade left the castle as soon as he could. A few days' food, extra clothes and footgear, the diamond, and a couple of knives filled a sack slung over one shoulder. His two swords rode in place in his sash, and the best spear he could find in the armory rode on the other shoulder.
No one bothered him as he equipped himself or as he walked to the castle gate. No one spoke to him, even to curse him. But a few of the dabuni he passed could not conceal the doubt in their eyes as they looked at him. He was a man who had been invited to join the service of the Hongshu. How could be not be tempted? How could he be trusted to be faithful to the end to Lord Tsekuin's memory?
Blade wasn't going to worry about these vague suspicions. But he wanted to be well away from the castle before the suspicions turned into open hostility. That hostility could too easily inspire someone with the idea of sticking a knife into Blade some dark night. He was damned if he was going to let this whole frustrating mission in Gaikon end in such an ignominious death!
A mile beyond the gate he met the advanced guard of the Hongshu's army moving in on the castle. The elaborately armored mounted officer in command hailed him.
«You are the stranger, Blade, are you not?»
Blade nodded silently.
«Then I have a message for you.» He reached into a pouch at his belt, drew out a scroll, and tossed it arrogantly. «Open it and read, Blade.» His voice was harsh and gloating.
Blade felt more like unlimbering his spear and ramming about two feet of it up into the officers' belly. But he clamped down on his temper and obeyed.
The scroll was simple and blunt. The dabuno Blade, from lands outside Gaikon and formerly in the service of Lord Tsekuin, was under suspicion of plotting against the Hongshu. He was not yet worthy of confinement or interrogation, but no warlords might swear him into their service. He was to keep this scroll on his person at all times and in all places and show it to any officer or lord who might ask. Failure to do so would lead to his immediate arrest.
It was signed by Lord Geron.
After reading that, Blade felt even more like removing at least one officer from the Hungshu's service. But there were at least fifty armed men within a few yards, some of them archers. This was not the time or the place.
Instead he bowed. «The Hongshu has spoken,» he intoned.
«He has,» said the officer. «I hope some day you will listen to him more respectfully.»
Blade bowed again. «Not bloody likely!» was the reply in his mind as he strode away down the road.
The next few weeks were about the most frustrating in Blade's whole life. Lord Tsekuin was dead, so Blade's place in Gaikon as a member of Tsekuin's household was gone. The household itself was scattered and the castle and lands swarming with the Hongshu's troops. Some of the dabuni were obviously planning something to avenge their dead lord. But none of them would say a word to Blade. He suspected that some of them might kill him for even asking. There seemed to be nothing for him to do but wander off and spend the rest of his time in Gaikon exploring the land. Sooner or later, Lord Leighton's computer would snatch him back to home dimension, scroll, diamond, and all. No doubt the diamond would be put to good use-it was worth enough to finance the whole Project Dimension X for months. But that seemed about all he was going to get out of this particular trip.
But wandering through Gaikon was not as easy as Blade had hoped. Not while he carried the Hongshu's scroll. If he had been able to disguise himself, he might have been able to safely throw it away. But his light skin could not easily be disguised, and that set him apart. Even under a coat of dirt it remained suspiciously pale. So he kept the scroll, showed it when asked, and roamed the land as a law-abiding uroi, a masterless dabuno.
After the first weary weeks of tramping the roads in all weathers and at all hours, Blade began to drift toward Deyun. The Hongshu's capital might not be the safest place for a man in his position, but it would certainly be a more comfortable place to wait out the rest of his time in Gaikon than some drafty peasant hut in a mountain village. There would be people who knew what was going on. There would be women. There might even be some of Lord Tsekuin's dabuni, particularly Yezjaro.
If there were any of those, Blade was going to ask a few questions. He made up his mind that he was also going to get answers, whether the people he asked were willing to give them or not. He might not owe Lord Tsekuin the deep loyalty that the other dabuni felt, but treachery like the Hongshu's disgusted him. If he could help make the ruler pay, he would.
Besides, he still didn't like being left out of things.
Deyun seemed even bigger and more crowded than Blade remembered it. But as he had expected, it was easier to live there. There were usually men and women who would stand an uroi a drink or a meal or a night's lodging. The ones who learned that Blade had served Lord Tsekuin were particularly generous. None of them said anything precise, out of fear of the Hongshu's informers. But none of them left Blade in any doubt that they thought Lord Tsekuin had been sadly abused.
Not that there was much hope of any rebellion succeeding. At least fifty thousand of the Hongshu's soldiers were quartered in and around Deyun. Two or three times as many appeared to be scattered in garrisons all over Gaikon. It wasn't surprising that even those who might hate and fear the Hongshu weren't willing to risk the price involved in rebelling against him.
The fact that Deyun was swarming with the Hongshu's soldiers and officials soon began to give Blade problems. The Hongshu's men seemed to have orders to do everything they could think of to make Blade's life impossible.
First it was stopping him five and six times a day to check if he still had his scroll. Then it was searching him, more to annoy him than with the idea of finding anything. They fingered the package holding the diamond, but never tried to open it.
The next step was parties of soldiers stopping in at taverns where Blade might be having a meal. They yelled curses, bullied the servants, broke furniture, threw cups and plates around, drove off the other customers, and generally made nuisances of themselves and a mess of the place.
The climax came when twelve soldiers stormed into a tavern where Blade was sipping wine and filling himself with fish and porridge. They upset the stove.
They broke all the wine jugs and poured the wine on the hot coals. They slashed the scrolls on the walls with their swords. They knocked the tavernkeeper down and kicked him in the stomach and ribs until he was writhing and coughing blood. They snatched his daughter from where she cowered in a back room and threw her down on the mats. Then all twelve of them raped her there on the floor. Her screams drew an angry crowd. The crowd swiftly drew more soldiers, too many for Blade to fight. He suspected also that if he fought anyway, the soldiers would massacre everybody in the crowd. Although he was white and shaking with
rage, he couldn't see what else there was to do but quietly slip away.
Word of the incident spread rapidly. Within a few days Blade found that he was no longer welcome in most shops and taverns in Deyun. People did not hate him-their voices shook with rage when they mentioned the Hongshu. But they turned him away nonetheless.
Blade found himself having to offer to work for his keep. But no one dared to risk hiring him as a guard or a house servant. Those who hired him for menial jobs knew that he was desperate, and paid him as little as they dared. Sometimes his pay for a day's hard work was nothing more than a bowl of porridge and a few sour vegetables.
After a few days of this Blade was about ready to leave Deyun behind and head out into the country again. If he stayed in the city and refused to join the Hongshu's service, sooner or later he would starve or have to turn thief. He might still have to turn bandit out in the country. But at least there he would be farther from the Hongshu's soldiers, and so have a better chance to return safely to home dimension. That was about all he could hope for now. The trip to Gaikon had been a waste almost from first to last.
He decided to wait one more day, then head for the country. Then he rose and went out into the morning.
He was walking along a street about a mile from the Warm Gates quarter when he heard harsh, angry voices from ahead. They came from a small alley off to the right. Blade quickened his step, but did not draw his sword or unsling his spear-yet.
A few steps took him to the entrance to the alley. A middle-aged woman in peasant clothing was backed against the sooty timbers of one side of the alley. At her feet lay a large bundle of rushes. She was holding out both hands in front of her, trying to fend off four soldiers who were trying to push her back against the wall and clutch at her trousers.
