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fists and spear butts hammering on wood.
Blade couldn't help wondering. Would he and Lady Musura still receive the
hospitality of the quarter if it involved making a stand against the Hongshu's
whole army?
Chapter 18
«^»
The hospitality of the Warm Gates quarter held firm against the Hongshu's
soldiers. But this was not entirely a matter of the stubbornness of the
courtesans or their debts to Lady Musura. It was not even a matter of the
soldiers' arrows having killed and wounded several people within the quarter.
News that the soldiers were trying to break into the Warm Gates quarter spread
swiftly through
Deyun. Within an hour the soldiers at the gates were hemmed in by a mob at
least ten thousand strong.
More soldiers appeared to disperse the crowd. Fighting started between the
soldiers and some of the tougher citizens porters, sailors, bargemen. Within
two hours a tremendous riot was raging through the streets around the Warm
Gates quarter. Curses, shouts, screams of fear and agony filled the air. Then
came sounds of splintering wood and crackling flames as overturned stoves set
fire to mats and paper partitions.
Eventually somebody in authority gathered his wits together and called off the
soldiers. He was just in time. From the roof of a building inside the walls,
Blade could see the riot spreading slowly but surely across the city. If it
went on much longer, the Hongshu might have a full-scale revolt on his hands.
That would certainly be one way of avenging Lord Tsekuin and teaching the
ruler of Gaikon a badly needed lesson. But Blade didn't much care for getting
thousands of innocent people killed in the process.
He wanted to deliver the message to the Hongshu more personally. He suspected
that the dabuni who were plotting to avenge their betrayed lord had similar
notions.
By dusk the riot had burned itself out, and so had many of the fires started
during the rioting. But others went on burning through the night, sending up
clouds of smoke and a sinister red glare over the
quarter. By dawn only smoking debris remained of nearly a dozen streets.
Standing with Lady Musura on the roof of the same building, Blade inhaled the
cool morning air and looked out over the city. In the distance he could see
the dark, sprawling mass of the Hongshu's palace.
Lady Musura rested a hand on his shoulder and followed his eyes with her own.
"You think again, perhaps, of striking back, for Lord Tsekuin's memory?"
Blade nodded. "There was a time when I didn't see any point in trying. If the
dabuni did not trust me, so be it. But now now I think I am angry enough to
want to strike at the Hongshu alone, if necessary."
It was almost his last chance before returning to Home Dimension to make his
whole journey to Gaikon worthwhile. Blade did not want to see an entire
journey into Dimension X wasted.
"You will not be alone," said Lady Musura. Her hand reached out and clasped
his. "I will stand beside you in everything you may wish or seek to do. My
eyes will be your eyes, my lips your lips, my sword your sword."
Blade turned to look down at the woman beside him.
"You once served the Hongshu as a jinai. What makes you turn against him now?"
He did not want to have to add, "What makes you think I should trust you not
to betray me and any others who may join us?"
Lady Musura was silent for a long moment. "I swore an oath to serve the
Hongshu until released and never lift a weapon against him. I have been
released, and I will not forswear the second part of my oath even now. Do you
think even Yezjaro and Doifuzan wish to strike at the Hongshu himself, and let
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loose chaos in Gaikon?"
"Not if they are wise."
"Then assume I am wise also. Our blow will must fall on Lord Geron. We know
whose orders he obeys, to be sure. But the words that drove Lord Tsekuin to
rage and folly were spoken by Lord Geron.
Lord Geron's death will go far to avenge Lord Tsekuin. It will also be a
warning to the Hongshu. Perhaps he will think twice the next time he plots
against a warlord, if he considers that it may cost him trusted servants.
Diamond mines are often easier to find than second chancellors who will obey
in silence."
Blade nodded. He could not have described the situation more accurately
himself.
The fact that Blade and Lady Musura were now working as a team toward a common
goal didn't immediately work any miracles. Their work as guards in the quarter
left them a good deal of free time, but information still came slowly for
them.
Lord Geron, they soon discovered, was still convalescing at his private house
inside the palace walls.
Between Lord Geron and any possible assassins stood the mazes, traps, and
guards of the great palace.
Those guards were picked fighting men, unlike the soldiers Blade had killed in
the streets.
But Lady Musura had been a jinai of the Hongshu's service. Perhaps she knew
her way through the mazes to Lord Geron's house?
She shook her head when Blade asked her that. "The traps and passwords are
changed every few months. I know nothing of what might have been done in the
four years since I was last within the palace.
Even if I could guide you, we would be only two. Any accident could doom us.
We must go in force when we go. That means more men than could ever pass
unobserved through the mazes."
Obviously the Hongshu made sure that even those who ferreted out other's
secrets for him did not
ferret out his. Blade could recognize security-consciousness when he saw it.
He could also curse it, when it stood between him and his goals.
But now memories awoke, memories of what Yezjaro had once said about secret
routes for bringing
Warm Gates ladies into the Hongshu's palace for the delight of the nobles.
Those memories had slept since he had heard the instructor's words. Why not,
when until now there bad been no prospect of ever doing anything with them?
He told Lady Musura. She lit up with delight. "Yes, I remember now. I never
had anything to do with it myself. But several of the jinai I knew were once
put to work spying on just that."
"What did they find out?"
"They did not speak of it in detail. But it was decided that there was no
danger to the Hongshu from it. I think no one tried to stop it."
"Good. Did you learn the names of any of the Warm Gates people involved?"
"No. Even if I had, much would have changed since then. But I am sure that we
can learn if we work quietly. I doubt if the hospitality of the quarter would
be ours for long if they learned what we were planning."
"That will take time," said Blade.
"I know," said Lady Musura. "But it seems the best thing we can do for our
lord."
Blade nodded. He was also happy that Lady Musura knew the matter was going to
take time. If there was one thing he had learned in his Home Dimension
espionage work, it was to give a project all the time it needed. Shortcuts
were too often shortcuts to disaster. Two people working alone against the
ruler of Gaikon couldn't afford even the smallest accident.
In a week they knew that the smuggling of Warm Gates ladies into the palace
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was still going on. But it took a month more before they had learned the
route, with its underground passages, concealed stairs, and the rest.
Lady Musura, an expert at disguises, worked by day. Blade, his skin finally
darkened by dye Lady
Musura concocted, worked by night. They slept little, ate less, grew gaunt and
tired, seldom spoke about anything but their latest discoveries. But it was a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]