Naamah's Kiss (78 page)

I gazed at her slight, regal figure. Despite her luxurious, embroidered crimson robes, she looked like a weapon, a slender dagger, bright and deadly. "My lady, I must ask this formally. Master Lo Feng's honor demands nothing less. Your father, the Son of Heaven, has resolved that he will not wage war against Lord Jiang. On the day that Jiang Quan's forces assail Shuntian, he will cede the throne and the Mandate of Heaven."

Her shoulders tensed. "Yes. I know."

"Is it your will to defy him?" I asked. "Is it your desire that we find a way to convey you to White Jade Mountain?"

Yes!

"Yes." Snow Tiger's gaze flicked to the mirror, then me. "I would defy my father. It is my will and our desire, Moirin of the Maghuin Dhonn." She took a deep breath. "It is a difficult thing for me to confess. How many times must I say it?"

"I only needed to hear it once more," I assured her. "Master Lo insists that you must have a guard. Are there none left who are loyal to you?"

"No." Her head turned, showing her delicate profile. "None."

I tried not to show my disappointment. "Then we will find others."

Her head swung back to me. "Where?"

"Oh" I shrugged. "Somewhere. Anyway, we must settle the problem of the cage also. I must find a way to free you from it, and obtaining the key will be a tricky matter."

The princess laughed humorlessly. " This cage?" Aye.

"Come." She rose with that unnerving, boneless grace and crossed the twilit courtyard. I trailed in her wake. Slim fingers grasped the iron bars and pulled.

The bars bent, opening a gap large enough for both of us to pass through.

I gaped.

"The cage is for show," Snow Tiger said to me. "It helps ease my mind, and the minds of those who attend me, although they do not know it. But there is no cage that can contain the dragon, save the cage of my mortal flesh."

Iron screeched as she straightened the bars.

I swallowed hard. "Duly noted, my lady. That eliminates one obstacle."

"Good." Her expression softened briefly. "I'm sorry. It is a hard task I've laid upon you. I wish I had more to offer."

"We will find a way," I assured her with a confidence I didn't feel.

On the heels of my assignation with the princess and the dragon, I reported to Bao and Master Lo Feng. Like me, they were awed at the demonstration of her strength; and like me, they were disappointed to find that the princess had no other allies save us.

"She must have a guard!" Master Lo fretted. "Honor and common sense alike demands it!"

Bao was silent a moment. "I can get us men."

"Where?" I asked.

He jerked his chin in the direction of Shuntian's city center. "There are men out there who were loyal to me once. All I need to do is challenge their new leader and take over once more."

"Thugs and bullies?" Master Lo asked in horror. "How can you possibly think to trust them?"

Bao laughed. "You trusted me, Master."

"On my own behalf, yes," he observed. "Forgive my candor, but on first acquaintance, I would not have trusted you with the Emperor's daughter, my magpie. And what would happen if you were to lose your challenge ?"

"I won't lose," Bao said simply. "And I will treat only with those willing to swear the Thieves' Oath."

"You were a thief, too?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Untrustworthy men must have some way of trusting one another. That is why the Thieves' Oath was created, and it is the one oath none of them will break. To do so involves many, many years of hideous torment in the courts of the Yama Kings," he added. "I can describe it to you if you like."

I shuddered, remembering the Chamber of Ripping Tongues. "Thank you, no."

We went around and around with the matter, but in the end, there were no better options. As highly regarded as he was, Master Lo had spent much of his life in relative solitude. And he was a man of honor he knew no one he could trust with such an unthinkable breach of propriety.

"They would think I have lost my wits," he mused. "And perhaps I have."

On the following morning, Bao was in surprisingly good spirits as he prepared to set out for the park where the stick-fighters dallied.

"You're not concerned that you'll be tempted to slip back into your old ways?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "We are on a quest to save a princess and a dragon, Moirin. Today I fight for noble reasons." He fiddled with his staff. "Just because these men lead unsavory lives, do not assume they are all bad. Some are, some are not. Many come from harsh childhoods like me. No one has ever offered them something good to fight for."

I was skeptical. "These are the same men who mocked Master Lo when he came seeking a travelling companion?"

"Some," Bao admitted. "It has been years. But Master Lo is not a beautiful princess in need of heroes to rescue her."

"You're counting on there being a hopeless romantic or two in the lot."

He grinned. "Uh-huh."

I eyed him. "I'm going with you."

Bao argued against it, but he didn't argue hard or long, and I thought that despite his bravado, he would be glad to have me there. I fetched my bow and quiver and went with him.

Although the mood in Shuntian was restless and uncertain, people were going about their daily lives. The park was a pleasant place, open for all the folk of the city to enjoy. We passed a square filled with young women practicing a graceful dance with long scarlet ribbons that swirled and trailed in the air, reminding me of the dragon's coils. We passed long pavilions where old men sat and played games with porcelain tiles or polished stones. Our passage drew a few curious glances, but as long as I kept my eyes averted, no one stared.

We heard the clash of stick-fighters sparring before we reached the square they considered their own. There were over twenty of them, laughing and shouting, some engaging in mock duels, others lounging on benches. They were a colorful lot, flaunting their ill-gotten wealth in bright clothing.

At the edge of the square, Bao planted his staff and stood, waiting. Beside him, I unslung my bow, holding it loosely.

A tall fellow with an even taller hat was the first to spot us. "Hey, peasant-boy!" he called. "You come to pick a fight?"

"Uh-huh."

"You've come to the right" The tall stick-fighter paled. " Shangun ?"

"Lightning Stick?" I murmured.

Bao gave me a sidelong glance. "I was young and foolish, all right?" He jerked his chin at the tall fellow. "Gaomen! Who leads you these days?"

It had gotten very quiet in the square. All sparring ceased. The men lounging on benches got to their feet, staves in hand, all save one handsome, strapping young fellow. They were staring at Baoand they were staring at me, which meant I couldn't summon the twilight. I tightened my grip on my bow, calculating how quickly I could draw and nock an arrow.

"Well?" Bao faced the twenty-odd members of his former gang. "Who leads you these days?"

"You've come to challenge?" asked a burly fellow with a sloping chin.

"Tortoise." Bao smiled a little, and I eased my grip on my bow. "Yes." He made a gesture with his staff. "Do I need to prove myself to the new blood? Or do you concede my right to challenge your leader?"

The stick-fighters exchanged murmurs.

The young man yet lounging on the bench rose. The others parted and made way for him. "I will accept the challenge."

Bao inclined his head. "You lead here?"

"You don't know me?" The young man planted his staff and gripped it with white-knuckled intensity, staring at Bao. Alone among the stick-fighters, he hadn't the slightest interest in me.

"Ah no."

"I was the boy you didn't deem worthy of teaching, Shangun," he said grimly. "I was the boy you humiliated and abandoned. But I found other teachers, and I learned until I bested them all. Now I lead in your place." With one deft move, he whipped his staff to a horizontal position. "And I am more than ready to accept your challenge."

Bao looked blankly at him. "You're that boy? And you're angry because I didn't bugger your ass?"

The others snickered.

Their leader flushed. "You promised to teach me!" Now he did look at me with a hot, appraising gaze. "I am willing to put my leadership at stake. What will you risk, Shangun? Will you risk the foreign woman? Will you give her to me if I defeat you?"

"You think you're man enough to handle a sorceress?" Bao shook his head. "Boy, she would shrivel your manhood with one glance."

The men regarded me uneasily. I raised my brows and did my best to look capable of executing his threat.

The young man's flush deepened. "We'll see. Are you ready to run away again, or will you stand and fight me?"

Bao shrugged. "I came to fight."

The young man attacked without a word of warning, quick as a snake, one end of his staff lashing out at Bao's head.

Bao was quicker, his staff rising to catch it. "Heh."

With that the fight began in earnest. Everyone, me included, scrambled to clear a space for them.

It was brutal and beautiful, like some strange, violent dance. They wielded their staves with two hands, the ends moving so fast it was hard to see. Back and forth across the square they went, bamboo clattering on bamboo. At first glance, I thought mayhap they were evenly matched.

And then Bao planted his staff and vaulted over the younger man's head, just as he'd done to me long ago in the glass pavilion. His opponent spun, but Bao was already in motion. He leapt backward onto the low railing surrounding the square and balanced there with careless grace. The other man swore, lashing out at his legs. Bao hopped just high enough to avoid his blows, sandal-clad feet landing with deft precision. His staff whirled in his hands, tapping his opponent on both shoulders.

A couple of the stick-fighters cheered, others groaned. And one struck Bao hard across the back of his knees from behind.

It was the tall man with the tall hat. Bao yelled and toppled forward, turning his fall into a somersault. He came up with his staff in his hands and eyes blazing, his battle-grin giving way to genuine anger.

I loosed the arrow I'd nocked without thinking. It plucked the embroidered hat from the tall man's head and thunked into a pillar of the distant pavilion behind him, the hat dangling from the shaft. "The next man to interfere gets an arrow in his chest!"