Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress XXIII

by Waters, Elisabeth

  Catherine's body may be in San Francisco, but her heart is clearly in China. When not writing or at the obligatory day job, she hangs out at the Asian Art Museum, explores sushi bars, and collects Asian art. She is also currently amassing a collection of t-shirts with Chinese characters, courtesy of the local Olympics store.

  #

  Lin Mei, in that half-awake state just before waking, dreamt she was a cat. It was just before dawn, and the sound of a temple bell sounded in the distance. She blearily opened her eyes just long enough to identify the bundle of fur on her chest, her cat Twilight. Shadow, Twilight's litter-mate, slept with Lin Mei's brother Biao Mei on the other side of the room.

  She closed her eyes again. She recalled the odd dream, fixing it in her memory before it faded away.

  Step by step, the boards go by underfoot. Jump up on the box—intriguing smells coming from within. Cinnamon? Jump down, explore more. Coils of rope, bolts of cloth, boxes with more intriguing smells wafting out from inside.

  She was walking on four feet. Scent, sound, and touch were as important as sight.

  Yawn and stretch. Walk down the middle of the room, past stacks of wonderful-smelling stuff. Outside into the cold night. Almost dawn. Man and woman in shadows. Talking. A quick nod, man runs away into night, woman turns and enters. Follow, crawling through gap under gate. Find sleeping friend. Lie down on top, curl forepaws under chest, feel rise and fall of friendly breathing. Contentment. Sleep.

  Lin Mei lay there quietly, enjoying the warmth of the quilt covering her body. It had been a long time since she'd enjoyed such a luxury. Wang Liu, the merchant who owned the compound and was their employer for the winter, had given his guards some old quilts. Guards worked better when they got enough food, sleep, and pay.

  It was still dark, but dawn was near. She considered the dream. No doubt the presence of the cats had triggered it, but those dreams were more frequent lately. She recalled a series of similar dreams she'd had earlier that winter, which had turned out to be caused by the presence of a Stone Serpent Demoness in the rock garden in the center of the compound. Her present dreams were doubtless due to the two cats who were sleeping in her room every morning, regardless of where they had started the night. The markings on them: dark faces, paws, and tails, had prompted some people to call them "Devil Cats." Lin Mei didn't believe that; they gave her a warm feeling of comfort when they were nearby.

  Biao Mei stirred and turned over under his quilt, dislodging Shadow.

  "Time to rise, Sister," Biao Mei said, standing and grabbing his sword and dagger. Lin Mei mouthed a phrase she had not learned at her mother's knee and gently slid out from under the quilt, leaving Twilight undisturbed on the bedding. Her sword and dagger were by her side also. She slid both into her sash. She and her brother were young, seventeen and fifteen years, but already tragedy and a harsh life had taught them hard lessons. They slept fully clothed and with their weapons close at hand.

  Shadow had already curled up on the quilt next to Twilight. Lin Mei and her brother left them and went outside. It was still dark, but the household was already stirring. The kitchen was coming to life. Outside carts went by, the sounds of creaking wheels coming over the compound's walls. Biao Mei walked to the privy, leaving her alone on the veranda. She automatically melted back into the shadow under the eaves, her eyes adjusting to the darkness. And so she was the only one who saw the small side door of the main building open just enough to allow a slender figure to enter the women's quarters. It was one she recognized, and she realized it was also the woman in her dream.

  "Too much barley bread last night?" she asked when her brother returned. He made a face. "Watch until I return," she said.

  Alone in the privy, she considered her options. As a guard, she should report anything out of the ordinary. But she knew the woman, so the only question was why she had been outside. A nighttime romantic liaison? Perhaps. Something else? Also possible. Finally she decided that discretion was the wiser course. Besides, aside from one glimpse, all Lin Mei had was a dream. While it was known that the ancestors often visited in dreams to bring messages and understanding, they seldom involved cats. For now, silence was best.

  After washing and eating a light breakfast, they went to the practice hall and began the day. Along with Biao Mei, she went through the eight Sword Forms, then began again. After the second round, they went out to the well for a drink.

  There they met Ro Min and Kin Shin, two female bodyguards who had come from the capital last autumn with Wang Liu's new wife.

  "Good morning," Ro Min greeted them.

  "Good morning," Biao Mei replied. Lin Mei nodded to hide her smile. Biao had a young boy's crush on Ro Min, who was quite attractive.

  "Starting early?" Kin Shin asked. Lin Mei nodded. "Good," Kin Shin replied. "Best get the routines out of the way before the day's events begin."

  "What day's events?" Lin Mei asked.

  The two bodyguards looked at each other. "The embassy from Tifun arrived yesterday afternoon," Ro Min replied. "The ambassador and his party are staying in the Dragon Inn. But most of the embassy is encamped outside the city walls. Later today the ambassador will present his credentials to the Magistrate." Lin Mei nodded. Kendar was a frontier outpost, albeit a wealthy one, and one of the duties of the Magistrate was to keep an eye on border traffic. Welcoming an embassy—and checking its credentials—would be one of his duties.

  "How many are encamped outside?" Biao Mei asked.

  "More than a thousand men," Ro Min said. "Most should return home now that they brought the ambassador this far." The embassy would need only a small guard now that they were safely in the Empire.

  "I can see why they are encamped outside," Biao Mei said. "Aside from being too many to stay at the inn, letting that many inside Kendar would not be wise." The two bodyguards nodded in agreement. Tifun was a predatory empire to the south, barbaric and warlike. In the last century, it had been expanding out of the Yar Lung Valley. More than a few times, the Empire's armies and the hordes of Tifun had met in battle as they fought for control of the strategic Silk Road.

  "The Dragon Inn is just down the street," Kin Shin said. "From the roof you can see in and maybe see the embassy."

  She was right. The inn was two compounds over, and they were not the only ones perched on rooftops. In Kendar, far from the capital, buildings were low, one or two stories high, built of earthen walls faced with plaster or tiles to guard against rain. Wide tile roofs were supported by pillars and beams brought down from the mountains.

  The Dragon Inn was a converted estate, purchased from the family of a wealthy man who had met an early and, rumor had it, richly-deserved end. It sprawled across half a block, with four main buildings and six minor ones used for storage and servants' quarters. There was generally not enough travel to need such a large establishment, so most of the year the proprietor rented out storage space. But now it was full, with the ambassador's personal guards and servants quartered there.

  "There seems to be a commotion," Biao Mei noted. Lin Mei looked where he was pointing. He was right. There was a flurry of movement near the main hall, as officials ran about frantically. An armed man, the bodyguard commander from the look of his richly gilded armor, shouted orders and waved his arms as his men rushed to the inn's gates.

  Suddenly he looked up and saw all the spectators. He shouted more orders in the guttural tongue of the Tifun, and his men raised bows.

  "Drop!" Ro Min yelled, unnecessarily. Lin Mei and Biao Mei were already dropping to the cover provided by the slope of the roof. They all slid down to the eaves and swung to the courtyard below. Lin Mei noted that even in divided skirts the two bodyguards navigated the descent with practiced ease. Interesting.

  "What's going on?" she asked.

  "Not certain," Ro Min said. "Go and tell Shin Hu what has happened. We will tell Wang Liu about this." The bodyguards hurried off, while Lin Mei and Biao Mei ran to find their commander.

  Shin Hu listened in attent
ive silence as they recounted what they had seen. When they finished, he gave them a long hard look, then nodded.

  "Obviously they are disturbed," he said, pointing at the courtyard. They turned and saw three arrows sticking in the sand garden at the far end of the courtyard. With practiced eyes, they measured the trajectories and saw they intersected with the positions they had occupied on the roof. Those had not been warning shots.

  Shin Hu ordered his force to barricade the gates and take up positions on the walls and rooftops, cautioning them about more arrows. "You two," he said, eyeing them with an iron-hard gaze, "see to all the buildings. Make sure there are no intruders." With quick nods they rushed off to obey.

  "I know why he wants us to do this," Biao Mei commented as they prowled through the main storage building where trade goods were stacked to the rafters. "We seem to have found quite a few intruders of late."

  "Pray to our ancestors we find no more," Lin Mei replied. "With Tifun warriors inside Kendar and shooting arrows at us we have enough worries."

  "Truth in that," he replied, peering into a space between stacked bales of silk. "And there are a thousand more outside the walls. I wonder how many of the tales we've heard about them are true?"

  "Even one is too many," she replied absently, eyeing a stack of carpets that brushed against the rafters overhead and wondering how to get up and check the space above them. Suddenly she was overtaken by vertigo, and it seemed as if she was looking down from the rafters, instead of up at them. She swayed, and trained reflexes made her drop to one knee and steady herself with one hand on the floorboards.

  "Lin Mei!" her brother cried, moving quickly to her side.

  "It's nothing," she said, "just a flash of dizziness." In truth the moment had passed, and she felt clear headed again. She stood, looking about, and then looked up to see Shadow peering down at her from the rafters.

  A moment of annoyance came and went, replaced by a sudden thought. With the ease of long practice, she set her mind into meditative state. Then she thought about looking around, seeing what the space above the carpets held. Shadow moved to a spot above the center of the stack and looked around.

  Suddenly it came to Lin Mei, a view of the space between the carpets and the roof, enlarged to the size of a great hall, with a carpeted floor stretching to the far distance.

  She shut down the vision, a cold certainty growing in her.

  "Are you well?" Biao Mei asked, looking at her worriedly.

  "Yes," she replied, blinking back to her normal vision.

  They finished checking out the rest of the storerooms. Lin Mei noticed that Shadow kept up with them, although he managed to avoid Biao Mei's sight.

  Shin Hu listened to their report almost absently. "Get some rest," he ordered brusquely in dismissal. "I suspect we'll be busy later." With that, he turned and strode away to inspect the men on the walls and rooftops, leaving Lin Mei and her brother looking at each other in wonder.

  "What is going on?" he asked, in a low worried tone.

  "Nothing good, I fear," she replied. She spied Ro Min and Kin Shin sitting on the veranda across the courtyard, inspecting several quivers filled with arrows. That made sense; they were superb archers. But the fact that they were inspecting their armaments was ominous.

  "Can you take a walk and talk with the two archers?" she asked her brother. "I suspect they might know more than we do." He nodded and strode across the courtyard. Lin Mei smiled. He would enjoy talking with the two women, especially Ro Min, and she would have some time for an errand of her own.

  "So you are here again," the old cook said as she entered the kitchen. He was slicing radishes for the midday meal. She had stopped for a cup of tea, and she brought him one. He set aside his knife and picked it up. "You want something," he said, taking a sip.

  She eyed him carefully. He had been a monk in his youth, before a young man's indiscretion and the resulting scandal had sent him away from the monastery and down to the lowlands. But the mountains were the land of Tifun, and there were a hundred Tifun warriors inside Kendar, and a thousand more outside walls that would not stop them for long if they decided to enter. She would have to be careful.

  "What do you know about dreams?" she asked. He took a sip of tea, eyeing her closely.

  "Dreams can have meaning," he replied. "The ancestors sometimes visit us in dreams, to give warning, or advice. Spirits also can visit, as can ghosts and demons."

  "What kind of spirits?" she asked, taking a sip of her tea. He smiled slightly.

  "Many kinds," he replied. "The spirits of the mountains, the rivers and streams. Heaven has many, and then there are animal spirits." He saw her eyes look up at that.

  "Like cat spirits?" she asked. He sat back, eyeing her with eyes that knew more than they might have wanted to.

  "It has happened," he said softly.

  "What has happened?" she asked. He looked at her for a long time, his wise old eyes probing her until he felt he was gazing into her soul.

  "The Tao, he said slowly, "can take many forms. Like a stream that flows around boulders, over a bed of rocks, or through a bed of sand so that it is not seen from above. It can harden to ice in the winter, or vanish into the air in high summer. It can be solid and hard like a stone, or alive, like a tall tree in the mountains."

  "Or something else alive?" she asked. He smiled.

  "The abandoned temple you sheltered in early last winter," he began, "was once the abode of the mountain and forest spirits of these lands. When men went away and there was no one to offer the proper services and rites, some of the spirits sought other abodes. Many of the cats who used to guard the temple left. But some stayed, and perhaps there was a reason for that."

  "The spirits entered the cats?" she asked.

  He gestured to the stove. "If we take a burning ember from the stove and use it to light a lamp, is it the same flame, or is it a new flame that is born of the heat from the old one? If the essence of a spirit quickens a new one in another form, who is to say whether they are the same, or different?"

  Something told her she had learned all she was going to, for the moment anyway. She thanked the old cook and left, taking both empty teacups back to the wash rack.

  Outside her brother was still in the company of the two bodyguards. She didn't like the look on their faces.

  "What's wrong?" she asked.

  "The Tifun Fish is missing," Ro Min said. "The ambassador is demanding its return by dawn tomorrow or he will order the city destroyed."

  * * * *

  "When the Khan of the Tifun asked to send an embassy to the Celestial Court, he was presented with a token, a bronze fish," Ro Min explained. "On it is the name of his country and the month they are expected in Chang An. A duplicate of the fish is at the capital. When the embassy arrives the two tokens will be compared and if they match, the embassy will be received. But the embassy must arrive with its token during the month inscribed on it, or they will not be received."

  "How much time is left?" Lin Mei asked.

  "The embassy is due in the third month," Ro Min replied. There was silence as the news sank in. It was now the week before New Year. The journey to Chang An, the capital, would take at least two months.

  "There are no suspects?" Biao Mei asked.

  "Everyone in the Dragon Inn is being questioned," Kin Shin said grimly. Inwardly Lin Mei winced. "Questioning" by the Magistrate's men could be a painful business.

  "The Inn compound was guarded on all sides by Tifun and Imperial troops," Shin Hu said. "It would have been difficult for thieves to enter and leave. Still, a bronze fish would be easy enough to hide under clothing."

  "The embassy arrived early yesterday," Kin Shin noted. "Not much time for thieves to plan something. Most likely, it was done by someone inside."

  "Why would thieves steal a bronze fish?" Biao Mei asked. "It is not something you can easily sell in the market." Ro Min gave Lin Mei a sympathetic look; Lin Mei smiled wanly. Her brother was a brave, loyal, and ski
llful fighter, but she often had to do the thinking for both of them. Fortunately she was up to the task.

  "Perhaps the intent was to prevent the embassy from being received," Ro Min pointed out gently, as Kin Shin and the rest of the room struggled to keep their composure.

  "Is the ambassador serious about destroying Kendar?" Lin Mei asked.

  "With those barbarians, I would take any threats seriously," Shin Hu said.

  "It would be an act of war!" Biao Mei said. "Tifun and the Empire would fight again!"

  "We would not see it," Shin Hu said grimly. "Riders were seen leaving the Tifun camp just an hour ago. If they return with enough reinforcements, Kendar will be overrun in a day." There was a moment of grim silence. They all knew about barbarian ways of war. A quick death in combat was the best they could hope for.

  "Kendar may be a frontier outpost," Shin Hu went on, "but we can make them pay dearly for it."

  "Buy low and sell high," Wang Liu chuckled grimly from where he stood in the doorway. "You would have made a good merchant, Shin Hu." Shin Hu grunted at that while everyone else laughed.

  "Is there any way to find out more?" Lin Mei asked as she walked outside next to Ro Min.

  "Perhaps," the older woman replied absently. "I could inquire." With that she strode away with a swish of her divided skirts.

  "What was that about?" Biao Mei asked.

  "We'll find out," Lin Mei replied absently. "Can I be alone for a while? I want to get some meditating after all this excitement."

  "If it helps you," her brother replied. "I'll take a walk around the city. See what the defenses look like."

  "Good idea," she replied. An idea came to her. "Can you make some inquiries about the owners and history of the Dragon Inn?" she asked.

  "As you ask, so it is done," her brother replied, settling his sword and dagger in his sash and sauntering off. Lin Mei watched him go off with a fond look. The task would keep him usefully occupied, and he might learn something useful. Meanwhile, she had important business.