by Troy Denning
"You know better than I," Qwo replied pointedly. She wiped the blood off her mistress's hand. "You came home in this state last night."
As Qwo turned away to rinse the cloth, the events of the previous night returned to Wu: following Ju-Hai to Ting Mei Wan's house, the hurried search that yielded only the ebony tube Ting had been carrying when the Minister of State arrived, meeting the unexpected guard on the way out of the house. The sentry had taken Wu by surprise, stepping out of a kiosk that had been empty when she had passed it earlier.
If the guard had challenged her before attacking, he might still be alive. When she had felt the blade of his chiang-chun burning across her abdomen, however, Wu had reacted instantly. She had lashed at the bone in front of the man's ear with an eagle-beak finger strike. The sentry was dead before he dropped his weapon.
Doing her best to staunch the bleeding, Wu had rushed home without regard to silence or stealth. She had not dared to examine the laceration's severity. As soon as the stinging blade had slid across her abdomen, Wu had known that she was badly hurt. Inspecting the wound would have increased her chance of fainting before reaching help.
At her house, only the gate guards had returned from searching for Ju-Hai's mysterious spy. Even wounded and dizzy from the loss of blood, Wu had scaled the wall and slipped into her home in silence. The last thing she remembered was stepping into the courtyard, feeling her knees buckle, and calling for Qwo.
Qwo finished rinsing the cloth and turned back to her patient.
"The tube," Wu asked. "What was inside?"
Qwo sighed. "I didn't look. Spying is not a woman's business."
Gritting her teeth against the pain, Wu pulled herself into a half-seated position. "Bring it here."
Qwo fetched the tube from the night cabinet. When Wu moved to accept it, her hand was sticky with blood. "You'd better read it to me," she ordered.
Scowling with disapproval, the old servant opened the end cap and removed a piece of paper. She unrolled it and squinted at the writing. Speaking slowly, she read.
" 'Mighty One: Your humble servant begs forgiveness for her lengthy silence. The guards captured your messenger of three fortnights ago as he fled the summer palace. Though he died rather than reveal my identity, security within the grounds has been tightened. Illustrious Emperor of All Peoples, not even I can pass freely, though I have tried several times to reach your agents in the city.'"
Qwo paused to look at Wu. "Who is this 'Illustrious Emperor of All Peoples?'"
"The enemy commander," Wu said anxiously. "Read"
Qwo turned her eyes back to the paper." 'I have much to report. The emperor has relieved General Kwan of responsibility for the war against your indestructible armies, and surprised the Mandarinate by placing a young general from Chukei, Batu Min Ho, in command of the war. Batu is highly regarded by the wisest men of this court, who are but candles next to your brilliance. It is whispered that Tuigan blood runs thick in his veins. If he is as cunning as they say, perhaps this is the reason.' "
The old servant paused, unable to suppress a smile at the flattering reference to her mistress's husband.
"Go on," Wu urged.
Qwo scowled at Wu's impatience, but did as instructed. " 'The emperor has given Batu one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers. These troops consist of five provincial armies numbering twenty thousand apiece. The balance comes from twenty-five small noble armies. You have already engaged and defeated the noble armies under the leadership of Tzu Hsuang Yu Po-' "
At the mention of Hsuang's defeat, a catch developed in Qwo's throat. She paused to clear it, then continued reading a moment later. " '-and news of the outcome was received quite sorrowfully by the court.
" 'I can tell you nothing of General Batu's armies. He has disappeared with his entire force, and no one knows how. I will attempt to discover where they have gone. In the meantime, I have taken advantage of his disappearance to start several rumors suggesting General Batu has deserted and joined the mighty forces of your irresistible horde.' "
"I'll choke her with her own eyes!" Wu spat. The fervor of her words sent a wave of pain through her abdomen. She could not stifle a groan.
"Not soon, you won't," Qwo observed.
"Keep reading," Wu instructed. "I must know what else this traitor has done to my family."
Qwo returned her eyes to the document. " 'I have only one other item to report, Dispenser of Ultimate Justice. Emperor Kai Chin had nothing to do with the attempt on your life, and even now does not know of Shou Lung's involvement. Two of my fellow mandarins, Ministers Kwan Chan Sen and Ju-Hai Chou, were the ones who sent the hu-hsien assassin against you. After your ultimate victory, it will give me great pleasure as your Shou regent to dispense the final punishment to these murderous dogs. Until we meet, I remain your dedicated and faithful servant.'"
Qwo looked over the top of the paper. "Can this be true?" she asked. "Did it take only two men to start this war?"
"Perhaps," Wu said, astonished by this last revelation. "It doesn't matter. The war can't be stopped now, perhaps not even by one hundred thousand men. We must take this message to the emperor."
Rolling the scroll, Qwo said, "I'll fetch Xeng and have him take this to Minister Ju-Hai-"
"No!" Wu snapped, her abdomen once again filling with fire. "It must go directly to the emperor."
"But Xeng will never get an audience," Qwo protested.
"He must," Wu countered. She was simultaneously afraid to charge Xeng with such an important mission and resigned to the fact that she had no other choice. Clearly, she could not deliver the message herself.
"We can't trust Ju-Hai," Wu continued. "This letter accuses him of some terrible acts. He might not wish it to reach the hands of the Divine One."
The old servant frowned. "But your father trusts him."
"My father didn't know of the minister's involvement in starting this war," Wu said, "and my father didn't see him sharing a spy's bed."
"That can't be possible," Qwo objected. She raised the hand holding Ting's message as if warding off an evil spirit. "Your father's alliance with Ju-Hai goes back ten years. There must be an explanation for what you saw."
"Perhaps," Wu replied, "but I'm not willing to take that chance. Summon your son, then get a brush and paper. An explanatory letter might gain him a faster audience."
Qwo left the hall, then returned a few moments later with a brush and paper.
Wu dictated a message to the emperor. In it, she apologized for disobeying his command, then explained what she had discovered. As she signed the letter, she hoped the Divine One would not be offended by the blood that smeared off her hand onto the paper.
Xeng arrived just as his mother sealed both Wu's letter and Ting's message into the ebony tube. Wu quickly explained what she wanted, telling him twice to ask the emperor to send a contingent of his troops to replace Ting's.
After Wu finished, Qwo handed the ebony tube to Xeng, then kissed him on the brow. "Take care, my son," she said. "If Ting's troops see you leave, I doubt you'll reach the emperor alive."
Xeng placed a hand over the jade pendant hanging beneath his robes. "There is no need to worry, Mother," he said. As he spoke, his body and clothes changed colors to match the hues of the chamber walls. "I won't fail Lady Wu."
By the time Xeng finished speaking, Wu could no longer see him. Qwo's son was not so much invisible, she knew, as perfectly camouflaged. As her father's steward slid aside a wall panel and left, the one weakness of his magic medallion became apparent. When he moved, Wu saw a watery, man-shaped blur against the backdrop of the wall.
After Xeng left, Qwo peeled Wu's cover back to reveal a thick swath of crimson bandages. "You need a doctor," she said, her tone almost chastising.
Wu nodded. "After Xeng returns with help, but no earlier. Ting may not know who stole her message. Until the emperor arrests her, it's too dangerous to reveal my injury. A doctor could lead her right to us."
"We must hope Xeng reache
s the emperor soon," the old maidservant said. She unfastened the bandage and changed the dressing. As Qwo finished, two sets of small feet sounded in the stone courtyard outside.
"The children!" Wu gasped, pushing her maidservant away. "Don't let them see me like this!"
Qwo threw the cover over Wu, then stepped to intercept Ji and Yo.
She could not move quickly enough. A wall panel slid aside, then Ji burst into the room, his sister in tow. "Mother!" he cried, pointing a slender finger toward the front of the house. "The emperor's wife is coming!"
Wu and Qwo looked at each other, confused and alarmed. "The Shining Empress?" Wu asked. "Are you certain?"
Ji nodded. "She has a whole bunch of soldiers!"
"How do you know it's the empress and not a consort, child?" asked Qwo, fixing her eyes on the boy.
"Because I saw her before," Ji responded, scowling at being doubted. "In the emperor's house-"
"You've never been in the Forbidden Halls," Wu objected.
"Yes we have!" Yo interrupted, stamping a foot. "You remember. I went to sleep!"
"We weren't in the Forbidden Halls," Wu explained. "We were in the Hall of-" She stopped in midsentence, realizing Ji and Yo were mistaken about more than the building they had been in. Aside from Wu, the only woman in the Hall of Supreme Harmony that night had been Ting Mei Wan.
"Qwo," she gasped, "they're talking about Ting!"
The old woman's face blanched. "What are we going to do?"
Wu threw her covers aside and tried to rise, but the effort hurt too much. Fleeing was out of the question. It would be a marvel if she made it out of the room.
"Meet them at the gate and then stall," Wu instructed her servant.
"Stall," Qwo repeated, half dazed. "I'll try." She scurried toward the front of the house.
Wu turned to Ji and Yo. They were both staring at her bandage with big, frightened eyes. A lump formed in Wu's chest and she almost began to cry. She was more frightened than she had ever been, but only for her children.
"Come here, little ones," Wu said, holding out her arms.
They obeyed, their eyes still fixed on their mother's wound. Tears came to both their eyes, and they began to sob.
"Shhh," Wu urged, embracing them closely. She could barely restrain her own tears. "Mother has been hurt, but you must be brave. Some bad people are coming."
"What should we do?" asked Ji, choking back his sobs and wiping his eyes.
Wu wished that she had an answer. She might be able to move long enough to help Ji and Yo climb over the exterior wall. Even if they escaped, though, the little ones would be lost and alone in the immensity of the summer palace. Her only choice was to hide her children and hope Xeng returned with help soon.
Releasing her son and daughter, Wu said, "Do you know a good place to hide?"
"Under the floor!" Yo said, pointing a stubby finger toward the center of the room. "When I hid there, Ji couldn't find me."
"You were cheating!" Ji objected, furrowing his smooth brow.
"That doesn't matter now," Wu said, laying a gentle hand on her son's shoulder. "These people will search for you much harder than you look when you play games. Are you sure this is a good place to hide?"
They glanced at each other uncertainly. Finally, Ji said, "It's very dark and small."
"Good. You must go there quickly. Don't come out until Xeng, Qwo, or I tell you it's safe."
Wu kissed each of her children, then sent them away.
They had barely left the hall before Qwo's voice echoed across the courtyard. "I insist, Minister Ting. Lady Wu is ill. She is not receiving visitors."
"All the more reason I must see her," Ting replied tersely. "Now stand aside."
"I refuse," Qwo replied.
"Guards!" Ting roared.
The sound of a short scuffle followed, then twenty boots clattered across the stone courtyard. Wu adjusted her cover so that it concealed her bloody bandage, then prepared to receive Ting.
She did not wait long. Within moments, a soldier grabbed a wall panel and thrust it roughly aside. Two green-armored guards stepped into the sleeping room, their weapons held at the ready. Ting came next, followed by an angry Qwo.
"What is the meaning of this?" Wu demanded, scowling at the mandarin. "Can't you see that I'm ill?"
"Please forgive this intrusion," Ting said curtly, obviously unconcerned with whether Wu forgave it or not. The minister turned to a guard. "Uncover her."
The soldier frowned at being asked to invade a noblewoman's privacy. Nevertheless, he did as ordered.
Ting pointed at the freshly changed bandage, which was already spotted with new blood. "So you were the one," she said. "How disappointing."
"What do mean?" Wu demanded.
"Last night, a spy broke into my house and stole an important state document," Ting said, stepping toward the bed. "This spy killed a guard on the way out, but not before being wounded. As we can see, you are wounded."
"This?" Wu asked, indicating her bandage. "Qwo and I were cutting some silk. Her knife slipped."
"Not likely," Ting replied. "Save me the trouble of searching your house. Return the document and no harm will come to you or your family."
Even if the ebony tube had been in her possession, Wu would not have returned it. She had already seen that Ting was an accomplished liar, and the minister could not afford to spare the life of anyone who knew the truth about her.
In response to Ting's demand, Wu simply shrugged her shoulders. "What document?" she asked.
She had decided to feign innocence, but not because she hoped to fool Ting. If Ting's guards were not part of the mandarin's plot, and Wu suspected that they were not, Ting would have to go through the pretense of firmly establishing Wu's guilt before causing the noblewoman any harm. That would take time, and the longer Wu could stall, the better the chance that Xeng would return with help.
Xeng was not having much success, however. He stood at the gateway to the Square of Heavenly Delight, in the center of which rose the Hall of Supreme Harmony. His medallion remained activated and he was still perfectly camouflaged. Unfortunately, the pendant's magic only worked for a certain amount of time and it would soon fade. He would not be able to reactivate it for at least a day.
The emperor's guards stood shoulder-to-shoulder around the Hall of Supreme Harmony, their weapons drawn. The great square surrounding the tower was filled with the green-armored guards of the Ministry of State Security. Xeng did not doubt that Ting had arranged the tight security measures, probably by claiming to have discovered a plot against the Divine One's life. Still, considering the evidence he carried in the ebony tube, Xeng thought he would attain an audience-providing he could reach the chamberlain.
To do that, however, the steward had to slip past Ting's guards. Xeng had no doubt their orders were to detain or kill anyone attempting to see the Son of Heaven. Still, he had to try, for Wu's life clearly depended upon his success.
There had been a time when the steward would not have cared about Wu's safety. At the age of fifteen, a friend had remarked on his uncanny resemblance to Tzu Hsuang, and Xeng had finally realized why the lord took so much interest in his well-being. Instead of being thankful for Hsuang's attention and love, though, Xeng had grown resentful and bitter because his true lineage would never be acknowledged. Nevertheless, Wu had treated him with nothing but respect and kindness, tolerating his snide remarks with an easy-going grace that only infuriated him further.
Xeng had remained hostile for nearly five years, until his own mother finally grew so tired of his attitude that she asked him to leave the Hsuang castle. It had been Wu, the object of so much of his enmity, who had interceded on his behalf and asked Qwo to reconsider. Though Wu had not said as much, it had been clear that she realized their relationship and did not want to see harm come to her half-brother. After that, Xeng's attitude had reversed itself. Wu had subtly acknowledged his lineage and hereditary rights even more than his own mother. As a resul
t, he was not about to allow any harm to come to his half-sister now.
Xeng stepped forward, moving slowly to take maximum advantage of his magic camouflage. Though he often used his dragon medallion to spy upon his father's enemies, the steward had never before attempted to sneak past so many armed men.
In the next minute, he advanced thirty steps and came to the fringe of Ting's troops. They stood at attention in small units of ten, each formation turned to face a different section of the park and separated by ten feet. Xeng selected the two groups closest to him. He slipped forward ever so slowly, carefully watching his footing so he did not trip or disturb a loose stone. Though his heart beat like a hammer and his panicked lungs craved air, he forced himself to breathe in small, even breaths.
Nevertheless, on several occasions a sentry squinted or shook his head as Xeng moved. Each time, the steward froze and did not move again until the guard looked away.
Finally, disaster struck. Two guards noticed him simultaneously.
As the one on the left rubbed his eyes, the one on the right asked, "Did you see something?"
"A blur," the other responded.
Xeng knew he was in trouble. He turned and, heedless of how easy it would be to see him, rushed toward the gate. The two guards shouted an alarm, then ran after his hazy form.
Well-practiced in escaping pursuit while camouflaged, Xeng did not panic. He suddenly stopped and dropped to his belly. A moment later, he slowly crawled a short distance back toward the Hall of Supreme Harmony and did not move. The soldiers began yelling in confusion, issuing contradictory reports of his whereabouts.
Xeng remained on his stomach for several moments, considering his next move. Ting's troops clearly wanted to capture him, for over a hundred of them ran about the square, wildly swinging their polearms at the air. As the steward studied his pursuers, it became clear that they were more concerned with preventing him from reaching the Hall of Supreme Harmony than with catching him. The largest number moved to form a wall between him and his objective. Behind Ting's guards, the emperor's troops watched the square with interest, but did not budge from their assigned posts.
