The Paladin Part 31

"M'lord?" he heard then, plaintively, as the noise died down, a feminine voice; so he gave a whistle back, gathered himself up, and heard a sound by him, someone breaking away to run through the brush.

"Get that one!" he yelled, and heard a rider take out in pursuit, dark body racing right past him in the thicket, to fetch up short. But whoever it was left the saddle and raced after the noise.

"Taizu!" he yelled; and got, "I'm here!" from the vicinity of the horses. Then he remembered she had a horse in lead from her saddle-thank the G.o.ds it was not Taizu cras.h.i.+ng off through the brush. He came back to the clearing, hearing the sound of someone cras.h.i.+ng about out there, but no sound else.

The white-legged mare showed even in that dark. He found Taizu, and Jiro, in her charge. "Are you all right?" Taizu said.

"No problem," he said, taking Jiro's reins from her hand. But he heard a sudden stillness in the brush, where a man of theirs had been, and knew their man had gotten smarter and gotten down and still to listen or they had just lost a man, one or the other.

In either case they had let a man escape them, to run for his superiors and spread alarm.

He whistled, the signal he had instructed Reidi's men to obey for recall-too much risk and too much delay in hunting through the brush for an enemy better than his fellows; and everything to gain by putting distance between themselves and the mercenary camp, wherever it was.

A horse whinnied out of the dark, off beyond the woods. "There they are," someone said.

Hare off into the dark into what could be ambush, where there was already a man loose and unaccounted for. h.e.l.l.

"We've got some kind of courier here," a man said, displaying an ivory chit from the purse on one of the bodies.

"That's one message not going through," Shoka said, and swung up to Jiro's saddle. "But there's one loose that is. Come on. We haven't got time to go through things. Let's get out of here!"

"Pei's not back, m'lord!"

"Pei may not becoming back! It's Pei's problem! We don't know what the h.e.l.l that man can raise. Let's move! Now!"

"M'lord," Reidi's voice protested sternly.

"This iswar , m'lord! -Come on, Taizu!"

"Don't be so sudden!" Reidi said, as horses milled and backed and his men who had dismounted to search the dead scrambled to mount without his orders. "A man of mine is-"

"Dead, m'lord Reidi, or he'll catch us up on his own! Are you with me? Do you take my advice? Or not?"

"Dammit-"

"Are you coming, m'lord?"

"All right," the old man growled. "All right-"

Shoka clapped his heels to Jiro's sides and Jiro surged into motion, full-out down the road; Taizu on the white-legged mare was right with him and the whole company sorted itself out behind.

"Keep low!" he yelled at Taizu as they broke through the screen of trees and out into the open.

But there was nothing in front of them but open land, and the first red seam of dawn on the right.

The man they had left did not overtake them. "a.s.sume the worst," he said to lord Reidi, riding close to the old man when they settled to a saner pace. "My condolences and my apologies, m'lord, for your man back there, but he didn't answer my signal and we're on the G.o.ds' thin tolerance as it is-and I'd rather trust something more substantial."

"The G.o.ds favor us," Reidi declared thinly.

Ruffled religiosity. He was back in Chiyaden. He swallowed an acid witticism and said: "I trust so, m'lord, but I don't test their good will by haring off sidelong when they give us the road we need, m'lord. .

. . Theytake their sacrifices, and they ask us to go on-"

Pious asininity, old man, you lose men, that's all, and you give an order and you hope to h.e.l.l the one who goes knows what he's doing, my lord, or you lose him- No d.a.m.n time left. No time.

As the sun came up in a cloudy east and the horses labored under the going.

And a band of riders appeared on the hill.

He saw it in the same instant that outcries of alarm broke out from the company, as men reined back and threw the column into confusion. "Comeon ," he said; and it was Taizu by him before it was anyone.

"You get back," he said. "Take to the bow, rear rank. You haven't the weight."

"That's banners, husband! That's banners up ahead, it's a lord's ensign!"

He saw that, too. He heard what she had said to him. His heart was beating with a heavy rhythm, in time to Jiro's footfalls. Red banners, white device; blue with gold.

Red of Feiyan. Blue of Hainan.

"Up with the banners!" Reidi ordered, and Shoka did not gainsay that. The black and white of Hois.h.i.+ came up on its pole, unfiirled and snapped in the wind.

"My lord Saukendar," said Maijun of Feiyan as they met afoot, their riders around them, banners fluttering and cracking. "My lord Reidi," with bows and like courtesies from stout Lintai of Hainan, the son of old Jendei. "My father would be here," Lintai said, "if he could ride at all. There are-" Diffidently.

"-four hundred men behind us, afoot. Light-armed, traveling at their own speed. We met your messengers on the road. We'd already set out. They're on to Yiungei."

"G.o.ds' speed," Reidi said piously. "Brave lads."

Trust the birds' speed, Shoka thought: itwas good news, that the birds had been sufficient to rouse two provinces, as much as anything. That the riders were already headed north was a second bit of hope. But not enough. Five hundred heavy cavalry with Maijun, four with Lintai, maybe three, four hundred peasants back there somewhere, and, Shoka thought, amid the general elation of the three lords and the troops:Not enough to beat the Guard, too many for mobility.

Enough to keep the south off our backs, and stir up the east, if they'll take orders.

Reason had never been Maijun's strong point: Maijun of Feiyan was of that generation he knew, a man who made up his mind and spent all his subsequent thought justifying his opinions.

But it was the moment, emotion was high, he had Maijun's attention, and Shoka said: "My lords, you couldn't have come at a better time. I don't know what's coming at our heels, but we've stirred things up behind us. I'm going with a small force-speed, m'lords, and surprise, to get us across the Hisei before they know where we are-look like one of the mercenary squads and cut right through their defenses, ourselves the edge of the axe and your forces behind us-as if we were one of their own bands falling back from your advance, dust and noise and all."

"Dangerous, m'lord Saukendar!" Maijun of Feiyan said. "Danger from our own partisans as well as the Guard-" "No time to wait. We hope those partisans arethere , m'lords."

"There will be, m'lord Saukendar. Messages are out. They'll answer."

Hope to the G.o.ds they answer. I don't like this. I've never trusted another man's estimations. I've never gone blind into a thing. d.a.m.n, it has a queasy feeling. But stopping's worse. "Then expect we'll have the way open. Whatever's with you can follow us."

"If the people cansee you, m'lord, if you're more than a rumor to them-the people need tosee you-"

"Tell themyou've seen me. Tell them I'm going straight up the road-" He lifted a hand toward Choedri.

"-and they'll find proof enough where I've been. If they're fast enough, they'll take advantage of it. If we'refast enough, my lords, we can keep them revising their plans till we're up their throats, at which point your light-armed folk and your heavy cavalry need to be there. We're already inside their perimeter.

If we slow now, Ghita's hired soldiers can come at our backs and hit us from all sides. If we get as far north as the Hisei there's myown province to draw on, and the lords northward and the troops off in Kiang; if we have them, then we've got the Regent front and back. He'll pull back behind the Chaighin if we don't give him time to organize at the Hisei. Speed, my lords, and flexibility. Right now we're mobile enough to get in there and get out again if he gets his defenses up too fast: that's all we can count on. But we have to have you up there at a pace that won't exhaust your infantry. If you'll do us a service, trade us for some of our weaker horses."

Everything trembled on a knife's edge, yea and nay with these lords. Maijun's eyes s.h.i.+fted from him to Reidi, to all the company about, and lingered on Taizu with a peculiar expression, before they s.h.i.+fted back to him.

"Pigeons," Maijun said. "The Emperor's own birds. Faster than any horse, m'lord Saukendar. If the Emperor's men have any afield-"

"I'm betting they do. But it's still less risk than getting us bogged down in an engagement too far south for the northern lords to feel the urgency of it. Every league we gain toward their territory is that much closer to their hearts, gentlemen, and if they don't know we're more than a rumor of an insurrection, they're not going to commit to it. Let the people see me, that they'd better, they'd better seeus , my lords, they'd better see the Regent back away, they'd better see us driving toward the capital, that's what has to happen, or we'll be d.a.m.n lonely in a circle of Ghita's hired troops, and our heads will be on the block, gentlemen, yours and mine alike. -Lord Reidi, it's a hard ride we've had this far; now we've got relief, I'd not think less of you if you'd leave the hard riding to younger men and join these gentlemen-it's no less danger, but it's a d.a.m.n sight less hard on the gut."

The old man set his jaw. "There's nothing wrong with my gut, m'lord Saukendar."

Shoka nodded, in one part relieved, in one part thinking,I've tried. Poor brave fool. "Then we'd better move." Before someone could open his mouth and start discussing, G.o.ds help them; and the lords start objecting and thinking, G.o.ds doubly help them. No knowing if therewere messenger-birds flying north and east; and what murders might be happening and who might be arrested by now in the north and what traps laid at the Hisei, if Ghita had his hand on things as closely as he might.

"Do we have the horses?" Shoka asked.

"Yes, m'lord," Maijun said. "My grat.i.tude." He bowed to the lords and walked among the men, singling out the worst of their mounts. "This one," he said, of a horse that had been coughing; "the sorrel, there," of one he knew was always hindmost. He did not presume on the lords' generosity by giving them too many culls, but he picked out eighteen that were in difficulty, traded them out to lord Maijun's men with profound thanks.

But Jiro he kept; and as well, he thought, to keep Taizu's mare: she was sound, and h.e.l.l with the loud markings, she had battle-sense, the old judge had told the truth-no shying and no bolting, and that was more than he could swear to in the remounts.

He took Jiro's reins from Taizu then, and got up to Jiro's back while the rest of the men mounted up. But when the lords met him, their men mustering behind them with banners and all, he saw anxiousness in the look they gave him, that set his teeth on edge.

Then as they met face to face, the two columns, Reidi and his men, and him, he saw it was not himself they were looking at, but to the companion on his right.

A woman in armor. Of course it troubled them. Of course they took second looks and wonderedwas it a woman or a too-feminine boy. ... Or they had heardthat too. Reidi's lads, Shoka thought, and said, doggedly polite, "Taizu, my lords. My wife."

Anxious looks none the less, glancing from her to him. And respectful bows from the lords and whispers among the men.

"We've heard," Lintai said, too quick for thought; and Maijun kept his jaw clamped, more discreet, and bowed.

"My lady."

Shoka winced, uneasy at thatMy lady to Taizu's face; and felt more uneasy at the signs the troops made as they rode past, the touches at amulets, and the close and furtive looks they gave her.

"Don't scowl like that," he hissed at her, once the lords were out of earshot. "Smile, dammit."

She smiled. She turned her head and smiled deliberately, showing her teeth, and nodded at the pa.s.sing riders as both columns got into motion. And, looking back, scowled at him.

"They've heard all the way from Mon!"

"They heard from Reidi's men! Don't scowl!"

"Tell them I'm from Hua!"

"I told Reidi! I could have, then. Would it change anything? Has it made any difference? -Lord Reidi says you're Kaijeng's daughter. . . . That you came to trick me into fighting-"

"That's a lie!" The whisper almost got beyond a whisper. She looked fit to strangle. And that indignation of hers cut through a last few threads that, he realized only that moment, had been bothering him. "Doyou think that?"

"I don't. I've even stopped checking your thumbs when we sleep together." "It's not funny, dammit!"

It was not. It was far from harmless, to either of them. He was quiet for a long moment as they rode, while Reidi's man furled the banners and they became mercenaries again. "You're my wife. There's a price for that. You say, wait til we get to Cheng'di and I may change my mind. I say . . . you're my wife, and I wish to the G.o.ds I could unravel everything back to the start, I wish I'd not thought-"

"-what?" she asked after a moment of silence.

"-not thought I coulduse the rumor. Spread a bit of confusion, make it so fantastical people wouldn't believe, the court wouldn't take it seriously-or enemies might not follow us home, if they did believe it-d.a.m.n them."

"Well, tell them the truth!"

"Ihave , I'm telling you.You can tell them the truth, and it won't help you. Nothing will stop what people want to believe." He looked at her indignant face, at truth and honesty br.i.m.m.i.n.g over, and felt a pain around his heart. "I'm a fool. I thought you knew that. You tell me often enough."

"It's not funny, master Shoka!"

"I'm not joking. I know what it costs.d.a.m.n , I know what it costs." He saw her going away from him-saw her, even if they lived, deserting him ... to save herself; and even that would generate rumors; and leave him-wis.h.i.+ng himself dead . . . pining away, like the d.a.m.n fools in the ballads he tried to evade. But even a real heart could break, after so much and so long. He clamped his jaw and stared at the rolling hills in front of them, that led down and down to Choedri-that they were going past, soon, quickly: Saukendar's thoughts, going on in coldest good sense, telling Shoka-the-man that what he wanted and what he hoped had no place in the world and there was certainly no leisure for his worries now. The rumors were a weapon, he used even Taizu, he generated fear about him, he bullied the lords because they were wrong and he was right, and there was no other course but the one he took, Saukendar had no doubt at all, nor fear, nor pain for the things he did.

Except when he heard the girl by him say, meekly, "Master Shoka?"

He did not look at her. It hurt too much.

"M'lord? -What am I supposed to call you? Nothing feels right."

"Anything you like," he said, too harshly. His hoa.r.s.eness tried to come back. He wondered, cooly, distantly, if he wept in front of Reidi and his men, ifthat would shake their confidence. But that coldness took hold, and would not let him go. Not now, it told him, not with lives at stake.

(Die in this, dammit, and they'll say how a demon led us-) Taizu said nothing for a long, long time. Men came around them. There was no privacy for talking.

But when they changed horses again she came up beside him and touched his arm. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Sorry?" He was bewildered. "For what, for the G.o.ds' sake?"

He confused her too. He saw that. We may be dead in the next hour. She's a kid. A girl. What in h.e.l.l is she doing in this? Why didn't I stop her?

"Have I done anything you said not?" Men were mounting up all around them. "Have I?"

Straight to the heart. "Youought to be out of here," he said. And remembered that there was no safety for Saukendar's wife. Anywhere. Ever. "d.a.m.n."

"What did I do wrong?"

"It's my fault."

"It'snot your fault." She was trying to whisper and her voice kept cracking up a notch. "Dammit,I'm not your fault, I'm n.o.body's fault but mine, don't you tell me anything different! What did I do?"

He looked at her, sorting through that step by step. They might have been back on their own front porch. The cabin. A year ago. For some reason he felt his balance settle, dead center.

"Nothing," he said, taking Jiro's reins from her. "Not a d.a.m.n thing. I've seen far worse."d.a.m.n, why can't I say it straight? "Few better. I justlike your neck that length. Take care of it for me. Listen. If this goes wrong-if I'm killed-"

"Don't say-"

"Go to the country.Get Gitu. Pay the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds for this. Does that appeal to you?"

A dark fire came into Taizu's eyes. Her head came up a bit. She nodded, very faintly, very surely.