by Mark Morris
Pero looked almost wistful now. On his scarred and brutal features the expression was an unusual one to see. “If only the Frenchman was here to see this.”
William barked a laugh. “The lying bastard was right.”
There was a rustling of hooves behind them. Pero glanced back to see that the pursuing tribesmen had stopped at the crest of the hill, and were now glancing uneasily up at the wall and the still-silent, purple-armored horsemen. But they were not retreating. They were waiting patiently, clearly believing that eventually the two mercenaries would have no choice but to turn back, into their clutches.
“I have no desire to go down fighting,” Pero said. “Not today.”
William too looked back at the tribesmen, then nodded. “Agreed. I say we take our chances with the gents in front of us.”
“I haven’t surrendered in a while,” Pero said with the ghost of a smirk.
William grinned, his teeth white in his filthy face. “It’ll come back to you.”
He sheathed his bow, then dismounted from his horse and, still holding the reins, raised his hands. He led his horse out through the encircling fence of arrows and began walking slowly towards the soldiers. Pero followed suit, walking a few steps behind William, hands held high. From behind them came a cry of disgust, and William turned to see the tribesmen wheeling away, spurring their horses.
He looked at Pero and nodded. Pero nodded back.
The purple-clad horsemen remained motionless as the two men approached. William eyed their lances and swords uneasily.
Let’s hope we’ve done the right thing, he thought.
3
“General Shao requests Commander Wu of the Tiger Corps! Commander Chen of the Eagle Corps!”
The runner, clutching a black signal flag, was small and wiry. Dressed in a simple uniform of shimmering black silk, he scurried through the complex, intertwining corridors of the massive fortress like a worker ant through the tunnels of a colossal nest.
“Commander Deng of Deer Corps!” he shouted, scampering along a corridor lined with Deer Corps soldiers in their resplendent purple armour, metal antlers curling from their elaborate, tight fitting helmets.
Down another corridor, then another. He knew this vast interior structure like the back of his hand. A wave of red-armored soldiers, their helmets resembling beaked eagles, parted like a crimson sea before him.
Another corridor, and here was a set of downward-leading stairs, which in turn led to a long, wide tunnel, where a line of soldiers at least three hundred strong, their armour yellow, their helmets molded into the shapes of glaring tigers’ heads, were passing crates of arrows and bolts and other weaponry from hand to hand with tireless mechanical efficiency.
“General Shao summons Commander Lin of Crane Corps!” the runner shouted. “Immediate request for Commander Lin of Crane Corps! Commander Lin is needed at once!”
He sprinted around another corner. Ahead of him stretched another staircase, leading upwards this time. Seeing him, a dozen guards jumped to attention, pushing open a pair of burnished, exquisitely embossed metal doors as he flew up the stairs. The runner shot through the doors and along another corridor, lined with soldiers in gleaming blue armour.
At the end of this corridor was yet another set of double doors, even grander than the last. A blue-armored soldier opened this door for him, and he shot through into a huge, high-ceilinged room.
“Commander Lin of Crane Corps!” he shouted again. “Immediate request for Commander Lin of…”
He halted. On the far side of the room, at least two dozen officers and adjutants, who were huddled around an expansive desk, turned to regard him.
The wiry little runner, still clutching his flag, stared back at them impassively. Then he opened his mouth.
“General Shao requests Commander Lin! Immediately!”
A huge powerhouse of a man, well over six feet tall, stepped forward from the throng, his black armour topped with a helmet molded into the shape of a snarling bear’s head. The man’s shoulders were so broad that the armour seemed to fit him like a second skin. He took another clumping step towards the runner, the deep blue, highly polished floor seeming to vibrate as he did so. Then he moved to one side, gesturing with his hand.
“Here she is.”
Commander Lin Mae, visible now through the gap that the Bear Corps officer had created by stepping aside, rose elegantly from her seated position behind the desk. Like the rest of the Crane Corps soldiers, she was a lithe and athletic young woman, her shimmering blue armour more lightweight than that of her male colleagues in order to better accommodate the seemingly gravity-defying aerial acrobatics that the Crane Corps were renowned for. Her features were delicate, bird-like, beautiful, her hair framing her face like shimmering blue-black raven wings. Her movements, as befitting her stature, were so economical they seemed barely to disturb the air. She gave the runner a single sharp nod.
“Tell General Shao that I am coming.”
* * *
The Great Hall was a huge gathering space, simply but beautifully furnished in black, white and gold. The stone floor was dominated by a massive ceremonial table, which could have sat four dozen people with ease, its dark lacquered surface gleaming.
Lin Mae was the last of the Corps commanders to arrive. Commander Wu of the Tiger Corps, Commander Chen of the Eagle Corps and Commander Deng of the Deer Corps were clustered around General Shao in their lavishly vibrant armour and flowing capes, and looked up at her as she walked in. Lin Mae was flanked by her lieutenants Xiao Yu and Li Qing and a number of Crane Corps soldiers, whose job it was to pass on through the ranks any information or instructions conveyed here today. Arrayed behind the commanders were at least fifty other officers and attendants, all of whom were standing in respectful silence, deferring to the central figure of General Shao, the man who had called the impromptu conference.
Shao, Commander of the Bear Corps, and overall leader of the Nameless Order, was, appropriately, a bear of a man. Taller, broader and a couple of decades older than the other Corps Commanders, the bearded giant cut an impressive figure in his black armour. When Lin Mae entered the room, he was leaning forward over the ceremonial table, his gauntleted fists resting on its edge, staring broodingly down at an object that had been placed on its lacquered surface. Lin Mae barely had time to register that the object appeared to be a massive green claw equipped with curved black talons, when her attention was snagged by two figures sitting off to one side, who were so filthy and ragged that they provided a startling contrast to the immaculately attired gathering and the ancient majesty of their surroundings.
* * *
Sitting on the cold stone floor, back to back, William stared at the grim faces of the soldiers as they looked down on the green claw on the table in front of them.
Turning his head towards Pero, he muttered, “They know what it is.”
He felt Pero’s long, straggly hair move against his own as he nodded. “And they don’t look happy to see it.”
“All the more reason to get the hell out of here,” said William. He nodded towards a side table against the far wall. “Our weapons are on that table.”
Pero’s voice was full of incredulity as he realized what his friend was proposing. “Are you out of your mind?”
Stubbornly William said, “I can take out the guards on the perimeter with my bow. You cut the legs out from under the officers.”
Pero looked around the room, at the dozens of soldiers in their resplendent armour, at the guards manning the doors. “I must confess, this is not my favorite plan.”
Both men fell silent as the female officer in the blue armour suddenly rounded the table and stalked towards them. Indicating the claw she barked, “Where was this found?”
William and Pero looked at her in astonishment, their eyes widening in realization that she must have understood every word they had said to one another.
“You speak English?” William exclaimed, trying to sound as if he w
as pleased.
Pero sighed and slumped back against his friend. “Fantastic,” he muttered.
* * *
Lin Mae regarded the two men with distaste. Both had straggly beards and matted hair, and faces that were brown with dirt and dust. Even though she was a good ten or fifteen yards from them, she could smell the high, rank stench that came off them in waves.
Nevertheless when one of the men—the less brutal-looking one—grinned as he asked his question, she couldn’t help but find it disarming. All the same, she would not get drawn into conversation, not here with General Shao and everyone else looking at her. Her voice hardened. “Where was this found? Where?”
The grin slipped from the man’s face. He looked abashed. “It wasn’t found. It was taken. This… thing killed two men and three horses before we took it down.”
“Where?” Lin Mae asked again.
The man gestured vaguely. “North. The mountains.”
Lin Mae looked at General Shao, who stared back at her impassively. In Mandarin she said, “He says north in the mountains. They claim to have killed it.”
General Shao’s eyes narrowed. “A scout? That’s earlier than we expected.” He looked to his right and raised his voice. “Strategist Wang?”
Lin Mae followed her leader’s gaze. She hadn’t even noticed that on the far side of the room, a short, round-faced man, dressed in simple, black scholarly robes and a black skullcap, was bent over a side table, carefully examining a disparate scattering of objects, which Lin Mae guessed were the men’s possessions.
Without looking up, Wang said, “I’m listening, General.”
* * *
Unbeknownst to everyone else in the room, a shadowy figure was watching proceedings from an upper walkway. With thin, almost ascetic European features, but dressed in an eclectic mix of Eastern and Western garb, the man was crouched behind a pillar, his eagle eyes darting here and there to take in every detail of the scene below, his sharp ears listening to every word.
He perused the two prisoners with interest, noting that despite their ragged clothes and the layers of filth that coated their bodies, they possessed the brute poise of trained soldiers. The one who was doing all the talking seemed to be English like himself, whereas the other appeared to be… what? Spanish? Portuguese? He guessed the men were mercenaries—and good ones too. Neither was especially young, which meant they knew how to survive.
His eyes darted over the men’s possessions, which Wang was currently examining at the side of the room. He saw weapons, of course—knives, swords, daggers, a longbow and nine arrows—and also wax, pitch, a mixture of strange coins and precious stones, flints and tinder…
There was nothing surprising here, nothing out of the ordinary… except for one item—well, two, if you counted the taloned claw on the ceremonial table. In the center of the side table, dominating it in many ways, was a peculiar black stone. As big as a man’s clenched fist and glittering, as though studded with flecks of crystal.
* * *
On the floor below the interrogation was still going on. William wondered when and how it would end. He and Pero had not exactly been treated roughly, but neither had they been greeted with open arms. His attempt to establish a rapport with the beautiful woman in the blue armour, the one who spoke English, had not been entirely successful (much to Pero’s amusement, no doubt), but the green claw had caused a great deal of excitement, which meant it might still provide the key to their continued survival, or even their eventual freedom. William was all too aware that he and Pero were currently standing on very uncertain ground. But at least, for the moment, they were still standing.
“What time of day?” the blue-armored woman asked him now.
“Night,” said William. “Our camp was pitched next to a chasm—not that we knew it at the time. With a river below. It was the night before last.”
He saw the woman hesitate, and then translate his words. He knew very little Chinese, though he had picked up a smattering of words on his travels. He heard her use the word “black”. Black Chasm?
The big man in the bear armour scowled and barked something. Lin Mae turned back to William to translate her commander’s words.
“There were just the two of you? You alone did this?”
Pero looked uncertain, as if he didn’t know where this was going. William wondered whether the creature he had killed was sacred in some way, and whether whoever killed such a creature was destined to face a terrible punishment.
“Well… that’s…” Pero was saying, but before he could wrongly incriminate himself, William jumped in.
“I killed it.”
The blue-armored woman’s eyes widened incredulously. “You alone?”
William felt all eyes on him. He didn’t need the woman to tell him that the air was thick with hostility and suspicion. He nodded.
The blue-armored woman turned back to the black-armored commander and spoke in Mandarin, presumably telling him of William’s claim to have killed the creature by himself.
Now the eyes that looked at him were full of incredulity, scorn. The little man in the black robes and hat on the far side of the room was gazing at William with an intensity that he found unsettling.
Pero leaned towards him. “What if that’s the wrong answer?” he hissed.
The commander in the purple armour, metal antlers curling from his helmet, asked what was clearly a question, his manner full of astonishment. The red-armored commander responded with equal disbelief. It was clear that they were questioning William’s claim to have killed the creature single-handed.
Confirming his assumption, the blue-armored woman said, “Tell me how you did this.”
William nodded at the other commanders, who clearly didn’t believe a word of his story. “Is that what they were asking?”
“Yes. They want to know how you alone killed the creature.”
William shrugged. “With a swing of the sword.” He demonstrated as best he could. “Sweep, thrust and full carry-round. The piece on the table… the hand… it came away clean. The beast fell back into a chasm. It landed somewhere in the river below.”
Now the blue-armored woman’s eyes widened even more than they had previously. “It fell back?”
“Yes.”
She shook her head fiercely. “They do not fall back.”
William looked at her in frustration, and then at the others. Was she the only one who spoke English? The only one he could talk to?
Pero spoke up for the first time, addressing the blue-armored woman. “It had no choice but to fall back. William was attacking it. If it hadn’t fallen he would have cut it apart.”
The blue-armored woman was silent. Now she was regarding them both suspiciously.
Frustrated, William said, “Well, aren’t you going to tell them? You’re not telling them what we’re saying.”
“I think you lie,” she said fiercely.
William rolled his eyes. “Are you in charge?”
Instead of answering his question, the blue-armored woman responded with a question of her own. “Why are you here?”
“We came to trade,” William said quickly. “We were ambushed.”
The blue-armored woman barked an order, and William and Pero were grabbed by the soldiers flanking them and hauled to their feet. The soldiers then wrenched aside their ragged outer robes, exposing the chainmail tunics beneath. Before either William or Pero could react, the female officer had drawn her sword in one slick motion and pressed the point into William’s throat, forcing him to tilt his head back.
“You lie!” she hissed. “You are soldiers! Why are you here?”
The bearded, black-armored General lifted a hand and barked a command, and after a moment the woman reluctantly sheathed her sword and stood back.
Ruefully William rubbed his throat. “Seems to me he’s the one in charge. Maybe you should tell him what I said.”
The woman’s eyes flashed dangerously. “Hold your tongue.”
&
nbsp; For a moment there was a stand-off between them, each staring into the other’s eyes.
At last William said mildly, “I think your General is waiting.”
The blue-armored woman’s pale cheeks flushed. She took an aggressive step back towards him, fixing his gaze with her own. “And I think you lie.” She gestured disdainfully at the green claw. “I think you found this in the mountains.”
The black-armored General asked a brief question, his voice curious, concerned. One of the words he spoke was “Lin”. Was that the woman’s name?
The woman’s eyes flickered, and then her expression became steely. She turned to the General, speaking in tight, clipped phrases. William supposed she was telling her superior, and the rest of the room, how he had disposed of the creature, exactly what had happened. He didn’t for a moment believe she was repeating what he had said after that.
* * *
Lin Mae was angry at the stinking foreign soldier for making her feel flustered, but trying not to show it. Her voice business-like, she said, “They claim to be traders who were ambushed. He says he killed the creature with a sword and it fell into the Black Canyon at the mountain pass.”
Commander Chen of the Eagle Corps was scornful. “He expects us to believe that? These barbarians are liars!”
Across the room Strategist Wang had been examining the glittering black rock. Now he placed it carefully back on the table and looked up.
“I believe him.”
His voice rang across the room. Everyone looked at him in surprise.
Indicating the green claw with an economical twitch of his hand, Wang said, “They brought the claw here. The wound is fresh. He has green blood on his sword and clothes. These details verify his story.”
Now attention swung back to the two men, who looked uncomfortable and concerned beneath the steady gaze of at least fifty blank-faced soldiers.
“They travelled thousands of miles and encountered Tao Tei as soon as they entered China,” Wang continued. “Does that sound likely to you?”
Still brimming with anger, Lin Mae barked, “Does it matter?” She looked at William. “I say we kill them now to preserve our secret and escape the trouble they will bring.”
