“Tea,” she muttered. “Sure. Can’t have too much of that.”
She shifted her butt uncomfortably on the hard wooden chair.
Baguen had refused to sit. He stood behind her, his protective hovering unambiguous.
“Look,” Cass said, barely giving the servant a glance as her tea cup was refilled. “You know I’m here as a spokesperson for Allie, right?”
“Of course.” Voi Pai smiled, gesturing in the respectful sign of the Bridge.
“Then you know what I want?”
Still smiling, the seer threw up her hands in a pretense of confused dismay. “I am afraid I have no idea what the Esteemed Bridge would want from me, dear cousin.”
“Okay. Fine. We’ll keep going with that…”
Distracted, Cass glanced up suddenly, meeting the gaze of the seer who had just served her tea. When she did, she started violently, gaping up at him.
The seer was just as large as she remembered, but next to Baguen, he seemed almost normal-sized. His brown hair was tied back in a ponytail, like that of all of the servants she’d seen. He also wore the same dark-blue hanfu clothing.
“Garensche,” she whispered. “Oh my god… Gar.”
He winked at her, but she saw a taut look on his face.
Gritting her teeth, Cass swiveled her gaze back to Voi Pai.
“Since you got no message,” she said, yanking the scroll angrily out of her jacket and cracking the seal with her fingers. “…and since you clearly didn’t bother to read the request sent to you by the Bridge, then I’ll just read it for you…”
“No, no.” Voi Pai waved, clicking her fingers to the two Lao Hu standing behind her. “That will not do at all. It is against protocol, dear cousin. Please. Just hand it to my brother, Maiwan…”
“Oh, it’s no trouble at all,” Cass said, not bothering to hide her anger. “I’m happy to do it, most venerable Voi Pai. And what’s a little protocol between such gloriously enlightened seers as you and the Esteemed Bridge? I would hate so much for another of my Master’s messages to get lost in what must be an impressively large stack of mail…”
Behind her, she heard Garensche snort.
Baguen was staring at him now, too, frowning below his hard, black eyes.
Before Maiwan could move towards her from the wall, or Voi Pai could argue with her again, Cass unrolled the scroll that Allie had spent a full day transcribing so that it would be in the ceremonial format.
“...With Respect to You, Voi Pai, Leader of the Lao Hu...” she began reading shortly.
She gave Voi Pai a hard look, silently promising herself Allie didn’t need to know all of her hard work with the ceremonial stuff might have gone to waste.
“Respect this… respect that…” she said, skipping over the second paragraph, her voice bored. “…Title, title, ceremonial crap… I think you can fill in the blanks on all of the formalities, right, cousin Voi? I mean, we wouldn’t want to waste your time now, would we? And you’re old enough that crap must bore you to tears, am I right?”
The Lao Hu leader’s eyes narrowed to slits.
Cass skimmed her way down a few more paragraphs.
“Okay,” she said. “Here’s some meat.”
She began once more to read Allie’s actual words.
“I know that this message will receive a fair hearing from you,” Cass said, speaking slightly louder than usual. “For I know from the hospitality of my short stay in your City that you are a seer who honors the old forms, and whose manners are exceeded only by the generosity of sharing your beautiful home with a stranger in need of her assistance…”
Hearing Voi Pai sniff at this, Cass raised her voice still more.
“That being said, I must tell you, honorable Voi Pai, I am very displeased with you, and with the actions you have taken against our brothers and sisters who are loyal to my husband, Syrimne d’Gaos. Although I feel certain you are treating them with the same hospitality afforded me during my stay in your fair City, it is my strong opinion, based on intelligence I have received, that you are holding them there against their will.
“Further, I have had numerous reports that the way in which you compelled them to return with you to Beijing did not accord with treatment befitting our free peoples, no matter what your intention. I have since heard that you placed some in other facilities outside Beijing, as well, where they live in far less hospitable conditions…”
Cass’s jaw hardened at the last. She knew it was Allie’s polite way of telling Voi Pai she knew about the Rebel seers sent to Chinese work camps.
Baguen seemed to want to punctuate that point as well, grunting angrily from behind her and laying a heavy hand on her shoulder.
Cass didn’t look at Garensche, but continued to read.
“…I have no desire to debate the veracity of any particular set of circumstances I have laid before you. Nor am I interested in punishing you for these crimes against our race. I would instead like only to determine what terms you would require for the release of my husband’s loyal friends, as well as their safe transport back to their homeland.
“That said, please be aware, venerable Voi Pai, I will be most displeased with you, if you do not provide reasonable terms to me, in writing, before my emissaries leave Beijing.
“Further, I will consider any such refusal an act of war between us, one to which I will not hesitate to respond. Since your taking of these beloved brothers and sisters blatantly violated the terms of our original treaty, you should consider it an extreme courtesy that I have not declared such a state between us already…”
Cass heard Garensche clear his throat behind her.
Pausing, she glanced up at his face.
The ex-Rebel’s expression held a thinly disguised shock, but she saw something else on his face too, an emotional reaction he seemed to be trying to mute in some way, maybe even to disguise as something else. Looking up at his large, hazel eyes, she realized he was close to tears, that at least part of the look on his face was relief.
Smiling at him, she wished she could grab his hand.
Clearing her throat instead, she turned back to the note.
“I would like to leave you with a final caution, sister Voi Pai. This is not a process I wish to see drawn out in any way. I am aware that your favorite game is to toy with the ceremonial forms to delay the delivery of agreed-upon goods in legal contracts with your allies and enemies. Without postulating as to which of these categories I may fall into of late, you should know that my patience is increasingly thinned from my increased responsibilities to our people.
“In short, I am unwilling to play this game with you, as far as my people are concerned. If that requires a difference in payment, then do not be coy about outlining any stipulations in your terms to that effect. I am willing to provide any settlement that is reasonable to see this accomplished, but I warn you, I expect it to occur within a timeframe appropriate for the reconciliation between our two peoples. For there will be no peace with us, Voi Pai, as long as you hold a single of my brothers and sisters hostage.”
“Further,” Cass added, giving the Lao Hu leader a hard stare.
“…I would like to request, as a sign of your good faith, the release of five of these seers at once, to return with my emissaries, Cassandra and Baguen.
“As I said before, fair and mutually agreeable payment will be made for the return of all of my brothers and sisters to me, and as quickly as possible.
“As you clearly did not view our previous agreement as acceptable in terms of the payment originally agreed upon, I would like an honest answer as to what you would require to make this trade with me complete within two weeks’ time.
“Any failure to do so,” Cass read. “Will result in a assumption that you wish war with me, sister Voi Pai, and with the seers under my and my husband’s command.”
Rolling up the scroll in her hand, Cass gave the Lao Hu leader a flat look, still speaking as if reading from the letter.
“…Y
adda, yadda… sincerely yours, hugs and kisses, Esteemed Bridge.”
At the Lao Hu leader’s faint smile, Cass leaned back in the wooden chair, picking up her cup of tea and taking a slow sip.
“Oh, and then there’s the postscript she forgot to include,” she said, as she lowered the cup. “Would you like to hear that, as well?”
Voi Pai stared, her predatory eyes fixed on Cass’s face. She seemed to have forgotten Baguen and Garensche. When Cass simply returned her look, expressionless, the seer smiled more widely, motioning with one hand as she poured herself more tea.
“Please do, continue, most honorable emissary to the Bridge.”
“Okay. It goes something like this,” Cass said, folding her arms. “The Sword is feeling better. In fact, both of them are feeling better. If you don’t do as she asks, the two of them might just decide to come up here and light your ‘fair City’ on fire.”
Voi Pai’s dark pupils narrowed, but her porcelain face did not move.
“The Sword is her prisoner? You admit to that?”
“Was her prisoner, yeah.”
The female seer stared at her, unblinking.
Cass found herself quite sure the other woman was reading her light, and likely every word in her mind. Feeling Baguen move closer to her in the pause, she realized he’d felt it, too, and likely was trying to shield her.
She didn’t care. She’d known that would happen coming in; so had Allie.
“You believe this,” the Lao Hu leader said. “You believe he will come here.”
“You’re damned right, I do,” Cass said, gritting her teeth. “And you might be forgetting… he’s not the only telekinetic seer on the block anymore. Even if he doesn’t, Allie will come here. You can bet on it. And she won’t be alone. She knows exactly what you’ve done to those Rebel seers and she’s furious. Maybe you didn’t realize they were her friends, too?”
Voi Pai smiled, but Cass saw the wary look in her eyes, the hardness that shimmered over her yellow irises. After another long-feeling pause, Voi Pai averted her gaze, clicking softly.
“But of course we will accede to her wishes,” the seer purred. “There was never any question of that. We all live to serve the Bridge.”
Turning to the two seers behind her, Maiwan and Yunes, she began speaking rapidly in Mandarin. Cass looked up to Baguen, knowing he would understand their words. When he gave Cass a reassuring look, touching her shoulder with one hand, she relaxed somewhat.
Voi Pai returned her gaze to Cass.
“You may have this one, too,” she said, gesturing at Garensche. “He is next to useless to me, even as a trainee.”
When Cass grinned at Garensche, he grinned back, his face stretched by the scar that slid from one of his ears to his eyebrow. He had moved away from them, but Cass figured it was more ceremonial crap, since he stood in an alcove by the wall, likely a servant’s station.
“…But of course, you cannot leave here,” Voi Pai added, her voice a purr.
The smile slid off Cass’s face. “What?”
“Not until I have spoken to the Bridge personally,” Voi Pai explained smoothly in Prexci. “I must apologize to her in person, of course. For the wrongs she feels I have done her.”
“Are you kidding me?” Cass frowned. “No way. That’s not part of the deal. We’re going back with your terms. In writing. With five of the Rebels.”
“I’m afraid that won’t suffice,” Voi Pai said silkily, her expression showing a theatrical affect of grief as she held up her hands. “You see, I simply cannot bear the thought that I have offended one of our revered intermediaries. I must apologize to her in person… and to her husband, if he is indeed ‘feeling better,’ as you say.”
Cass clenched her jaw, keeping her voice low with an effort.
“She’ll see this as an act of war,” she said tersely.
“An act of war?” Voi Pai said. “My attempt to apologize, an act of war?”
“Holding us against our will,” Cass snapped. “Making us your prisoners.”
“I sincerely doubt that,” Voi Pai said sweetly.
She gestured to the guards who appeared in the doorway, motioning with one hand lazily towards Cass and Baguen, then making a few precise signs with her fingers.
“…Since your mistress has such an appreciation for the hospitality of the Lao Hu,” Voi Pai said. “She must surely see this as the highest compliment, honorable emissary of the Bridge. Our desire to keep you here, with us, is meant only as a gift to you… as well as a gift to your most impressive escort, who was obviously chosen for his familial ties to our nation, as a representative of one of its most ancient tribes.”
Cass swallowed, looking up at Baguen.
She’d heard the threat there. Most of the Chinese seers viewed the Wvercians as throwbacks. Little more than animals.
Baguen returned her look, eyes hard, a deep black in his head.
She knew he was ready to fight them off, if one of Voi Pai’s seers came near her. She also knew the Lao Hu would kill him without a second thought. Clutching his fingers with one hand, she gave him a warning look, right before she rose to her feet.
She looked down at Voi Pai, her voice hard.
“Fine. You heard the note. You know what you’re doing.”
Voi Pai smiled again. “We will pamper you and your consort well, cousin. Please follow my guards. They will show you to your quarters.”
Baguen stiffened when the seer sentries approached. Cass squeezed his fingers tighter, forcing him to meet her gaze.
“No, Bags,” she said softly in English. “Allie wouldn’t like it. We’ll just have to play this bitch’s little game for now.”
Looking down at her, he frowned, his dark eyes displeased, but not at her.
“Bridge come,” he said, after a pause.
It wasn’t a question.
“Yeah,” Cass said, staring at the Lao Hu leader. “Bridge come.”
She stole another glance at Garensche, who remained in the shadowed alcove. The look on his face startled her. His eyes were trained on the Lao Hu leader, and for the first time since she’d known him, she didn’t see the jovial, good-natured seer in that look.
He looked at Voi Pai like he intended to kill her.
“I think she might have some help, Bags,” she murmured, still tugging on the Wvercian’s hand. “I think she might have more help here than she thinks.”
Without another word, Cass followed their Lao Hu escorts through the doorway into the garden. As they made their way down the stone path towards the guest area of the Inner City, Cass saw the first, thick flakes of snow drifting down from the sky, reflecting in orange lamplight before they stuck to the trees or the ground.
Looking up as the flakes multiplied, coming down faster, she found herself wondering just how long it would take before Allie realized they were overdue.
27
KUCHTA
“…I DON’T WANT to talk about it,” he says. He smiles at her, shoving his hands into the front pockets of the coarse work pants he wears, leaning back on the bale of hay. “You are a pervert, you know? Wanting to talk about this all the time.”
She smacks his arm, shoving him on the blanket until he laughs.
“I am not a pervert! You are one to be calling me that anyway, with a reputation like yours.” When he shakes his head at her, pretending annoyance, she shoves at him again, forcing him to look over at her. “You know there are girls who say you have bewitched them, Ewald? That you put them in a trance to get their clothes off?”
He looks away, reddening, and she snorts, taking a bite out of her sandwich.
“Look at you, shy suddenly! I will have to tell the other girls it is true.”
“Kuchta,” he begins. “Don’t.”
“I am only teasing you, Ewald,” she says, leaning back on her elbows. Still gripping the sandwich in one hand, she closes her eyes against the sun, sprawling out her legs in the work dress she wears. “I have kept your secret. No o
ne knows about our little outings. But I have to have some fun… especially since you will not do this bewitching thing to me.”
“You are my friend.”
“So? You do not bewitch your friends?”
“No,” he says, turning to look at her again. “No, I don’t.”
Seeing the serious expression in his clear eyes, she smiles, lowering her upper body to the hay and cushioning her head on her arm. She takes another bite of the sandwich, chewing as she gazes up at the rafters.
“Then I will consider myself fortunate,” she says, laughing. “To have evaded your snare. I will have enough trouble marrying, with my father being the old drunk he is.”
Her smile widens, right before she prods him with one foot.
“If I have to explain my lack of virtue due to bewitchings, it will only be the harder.”
He smiles at her, pushing back at her booted foot with one hand. “You won’t have trouble marrying, Kuchta. Men like bossy women. And long, dark hair.”
“So he says… the one who tries to bed every girl in town but me.” Seeing his mouth tighten, she grins at him, motioning towards the blanket. “Eat! You complain you are hungry, then you won’t eat.”
He picks up the other sandwich, the one she brought for him, frowning at it a little before he takes a bite. Grimacing briefly, he forces himself to chew, fighting the ripples off his light as he tries to eat it as seer food, and can’t.
“You don’t like chicken?”
“It is okay.”
“Okay, only?” She lies back on the hay, closing her eyes. “Why do I invite you on these picnics of ours? You hate my cooking, you will not bewitch me, or help me with math or science, or even tell me if the rumors about you are true.”
Feeling her words, part of them anyway, he looks at her.
“You should not, Kuchta.” He frowns again. “You should not invite me on these things. We should only talk on the retreats. Where it is safe.”
“Only retreats? But those are only once every month. I would never see you if I waited until then! And you would get very lonesome, Ewald.” She smiles, her dark hair wound into a bun behind her head. She tugs on his playfully, and he lets her, leaning into her arm “And anyway,” she says. “Why shouldn’t I? Did you not just say we are friends?”
Shadow (Bridge & Sword: Awakenings #4): Bridge & Sword World Page 25
