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strong and unscrupulous
Hongshu, and a foolish, headstrong, and ill-informed warlord. Those who were
predicting trouble during the journey of Obedience seemed to be making sense.
Chapter 10
«^»
Gaikon's year moved on toward spring. The snow melted on the mountains to the
west, swelling buds made the trees a green haze on the hills, the farmers
worked late in their paddies setting in the fresh shoots. Winter clothing and
winter quilts were stored away one by one. Yezjaro moved his sword practice
with Blade out into one of the courtyards.
The year was also moving toward the journey of Obedience. People no longer
made any particular effort to hide their concern about it, although they said
more to Blade with their faces than with their lips.
Only Lady Musura continued to speak freely. Blade found himself more than
willing to join the hunts that
Yezjaro and other senior dabuni organized in the forests that lay between the
castle and the mountains.
Like them, he needed something to take his mind off the approaching crisis.
The morning of his fourth hunt, Blade awoke to find an arrow sticking in the
wall above his head. It
had obviously been fired in through the narrow latticed window during the
night. Blade did not need the letter that was tied around the arrow to know
that it could only have been fired by Lady Musura. No one else in the castle
could have hit the narrow window from the nearest place that offered a clear
shot, a good hundred and fifty yards away.
The note said:
"I will speak to you with another arrow today while you ride on the hunt. Ride
so that none may overhear."
Blade couldn't help wondering what Lady Musura had in mind for him
if he followed her request and what she had in mind for him if he didn't.
But if she felt he was dangerous, she could and would pick him off when and
where she chose. Besides, his curiosity was aroused. So he decided to watch
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for her arrow and then "listen" to what it might say to him.
It bothered no one when Blade asked to ride in the rear of the hunting party.
Except for Yezjaro and
Doifuzan, the gray-haired first dabuno of Lord Tsekuin, most of the warriors
of the castle found Blade a little hard to understand or accept. Therefore
they never objected when he chose to remain a little apart.
The six hunters rode in silence for several miles, then dismounted to cross a
shallow river by a ford marked by two large yellow-barked trees growing side
by side on the opposite bank. Blade was just stopping his horse to remount on
the far side when he heard a faint whuffff overhead and a slightly louder
chunk. He recognized the sound of one of Lady Musura's special silent jinai
arrows, and looked up. The arrow was sticking into the right-hand tree about
three feet above Blade's head. He swung up into the saddle, waited until the
last of the other hunters was out of sight ahead, then stood in his stirrups
and pulled down the arrow.
The paper around this one read:
"At sunset, the arrow's feathers bid you to the correct path."
Blade looked along the direction from which the arrow had come. The "correct
path" led straight downstream for about a hundred yards, then vanished into
the forest again. When he had memorized the direction, he urged his horse
forward to catch up with the rest of the hunting party.
The day's hunting was for wild mountain sheep, elusive game that more often
than not led their hunters a merry chase over mile after mile of countryside.
So Blade only had to be a little "careless" in keeping track of his fellow
hunters in order to find himself alone as the sun began to sink toward the
horizon. By the time it had dipped to the treetops, he was back at the ford.
Blade dismounted and led his horse along the bank of the stream until the
forest began to close about him. Then he found a concealed place to tether the
horse, took his spears, and struck off into the trees.
It was heavy going. The shadows were already thick and the heavy underbrush
made it difficult to keep on course. Blade could not help wondering about his
chances of getting anywhere in this unknown forest after darkness came down.
He had the feeling that he might wind up getting lost. That wouldn't be
dangerous, but it would be embarrassing.
On the other hand it might be dangerous after all. Nerves were growing tighter
and tighter in the castle. His absence might be hard to convincingly explain.
Suppose Lord Tsekuin came to suspect that
Blade had been out in the forest meeting with agents of the Hongshu?
Before Blade could consider any more unpleasant possibilities, he saw ruddy
sunset light shining through the trees ahead. A few more steps, and Blade saw
a small clearing with a tumbledown but, obviously long abandoned. On the roof
of the hut lay a small figure dressed in black. Blade recognized
Lady Musura, wearing the black costume of a jinai without the hood and mask.
He stayed under cover, though, until he had examined the forest around the
clearing almost tree by tree and bush by bush. He trusted that Lady Musura had
some good reason for wanting him here. But he realized he still did not know
enough about life in Gaikon to completely rule out treachery.
There seemed to be nothing in the forest within sight or hearing except a
swelling chorus of insects.
Blade unslung his spear and held it in one hand as he stepped out of cover,
then raised it in salute. Lady
Musura sprang to her feet, raised one hand in greeting, and pointed downward
with the other. She seemed to be pointing toward the door of the hut. Blade
saw that the gap between the sagging door and the frame had been largely
sealed with strips of red leather.
The color and the material struck sparks in Blade's memory. Lady Oyasa and her
red leather mask, the day she had come out to inspect the new dabuno! Blade
froze almost in midstride, then glared up at
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Lady Musura. The black-clad jinai woman returned his glare with a bland
smile then nocked an arrow to her bow and pointed it at Blade. Blade measured
the distance to the hut and the cover of the forest. It would be a miracle if
he could make it to the forest safely, but to the hut
Without any tensing of muscles to warn the sharp-eyed woman, Blade sprang
forward. He covered the twenty feet to the hut in two tremendous leaps,
stopping just below her. The lady crouched on the edge of the overhanging
roof, turning to bring her bow to aim at Blade. Before she could draw a bead
on him he thrust upward with his spear. The spearhead shot up between the bow
and the bowstring. Then
Blade swung the spear outward with all his strength and weight behind it.
In her surprise at Blade's attack, Lady Musura was a fraction of a second slow
in letting go of her bow.
The spear jerked the bow savagely outward and she followed it, to the edge of
the roof and over.
She was still in midair as Blade jerked the spear back, sending the bow flying
out into the field. Then he reversed the spear, striking with the butt and
shaft at Lady Musura as she landed. With the catlike quickness of the trained
jinai, the lady flipped in midair to land on her feet. But once again she was
a fraction of a second too slow to cope with Blade. His thrust with the butt
end of the spear caught her in the stomach. She gasped and started to double
over. Then he swung the spear shaft sideways and caught her behind the knees.
She went down, and Blade reversed the spear again, closed in, and stood over
her with the point of the spear at her throat. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]