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that would go on outside this chamber a game in which he would have a part
whether he knew the rules or not.
Chapter 15
«^»
Blade knocked lightly three times on the sliding wooden door. The signal would
alert Lady Oyasa without carrying warning to any ears that might be
listening. There weren't likely to be many in the half-deserted castle in any
case. Maids and attendants and servants had been fleeing like frightened birds
ever since the return from Deyun a week ago.
From the lady's point of view, that was fine. It made it safe and easy to hold
her final rendezvous with
Blade in the comfort of a castle chamber, rather than in the drafty but in the
dark woods. The booby traps were disconnected, the eunuchs and maids had fled,
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and only Lady Musura was standing by.
The panic of Lord Tsekuin's household was a grim spectacle. To Blade the
castle seemed like an old man, dying alone and deserted by all his friends.
For years it had been a place of safety to those who served Lord Tsekuin. Now
they fled as though a volcano was about to erupt underneath it.
Blade didn't blame them. Even some of the dabuni had fled into the mountains
when word came that the Hongshu's army was approaching, ten thousand strong.
They would occupy the castle and lands peacefully if possible. But they would
fight if anyone was foolish enough to resist.
So far nobody had been that foolish. They fled or waited for the inevitable.
Blade was left alone to prowl the empty halls of the castle, his footsteps
echoing hollowly.
The three knocks were repeated from the far side of the door. Then it scraped
open. Blade slipped through into darkness, but he heard breathing and a gentle
laugh in that darkness. Then a yellow spark flared. An orange yellow glow
wavered to life.
"Welcome, Blade. Welcome to our farewell."
Lady Oyasa was already on her sleeping mat and curled up under the quilts.
Only her head and bare shoulders were visible. Her black hair was unbound and
flowed like a river of ink across the pillows.
Blade felt desire rise in him as he looked at her lying there. Desire and
regret. She was right. This would be their farewell, however much longer he
found himself staying in Gaikon. He barred the door behind him, laid his
swords on the floor, threw off his cloak, and began undoing his sash.
Knowing this was their last time gave the lovemaking something new.
Call it tenderness, call it Blade really didn't care what they called it.
He only knew that it was there. He also knew that because of it he went on and
on, again and again, and it did the same for Lady Oyasa. She muffled her
screams into whimpers and groans. But she gasped, sucked in air as though she
were drowning, clawed at Blade's back and shoulders, bit his ears, locked her
legs around him, writhed and heaved herself about like a madwoman.
How long they went on, Blade couldn't even guess. Time lost its meaning for
both of them. But eventually they both reached the end of their strength. They
lay quietly, in luxurious exhaustion, until their panting breath steadied and
the sweat dried on their bare skins.
"Blade," said Lady Oyasa. She ran a long-fingered hand across his chest. "You
know I must spend tomorrow night with my husband."
"Yes." The morning of the day after tomorrow was fixed for Lord
Tsekuin's suicide. "Custom
demands it."
"Yes, and I wish it also. In some ways my husband has been a fool. If he had
not been a fool he would not be facing what he now faces. But he had some
notions of honor and decency. He has asked my forgiveness for much that he has
made me endure. I think that if he were not doomed, we" She broke off. Blade
sensed that she found "what might have been" too painful, and did not press
her.
After another silence, she went on. "I think there are also a good many of my
husband's dabuni who are willing to forgive his faults. But they will not
forget the Hongshu's treachery, nor Lord Geron. Yezjaro is young, Doifuzan is
old, but I think both have long memories."
"I agree," said Blade. He grinned. "They also both have a talent for keeping
their mouths shut. I too suspect they have some plans of their own afoot. But
I don't know any more about them than you do."
Lady Oyasa shrugged. "Why should I? I am a woman, and Yezjaro at least
suspects that my conduct has not been all that it should be. Besides, I will
be returning to my family, and my sister is married to a man too high in the
Hongshu's councils for comfort.
"You are a proven and mighty warrior, but you are a stranger in Gaikon. The
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Hongshu himself offers you a place in his service. In fact, he wishes you in
his service so badly that he goes to great lengths to keep you from serving
any other lord. Is it surprising that my husband's dabuni seem to think you
may be tempted? To serve the Hongshu is "
"They don't know me very well," said Blade sharply. "Even if I owed Lord
Tsekuin or his memory no loyalty at all, there is still common sense. I have
served many lords in many lands, some stranger by far than Gaikon. If I had
not learned to recognize a man too treacherous to follow safely, I would never
have lived to reach Gaikon."
"That would have been sad," said Lady Oyasa with a smile. "For many people."
Her arms reached out for him again. Blade found that he had no trouble
responding.
When the very last fit of passion had faded away, Lady Oyasa reached under her
pillow and drew out a small lacquered metal box.
"This is for you, Blade. For all you have done, and for all you may yet do."
Blade unlatched the box, pushed back the lid, and reached inside. Something
wrapped in red silk lay there on a piece of fur. He unbound the silk, and
stared.
A diamond lay there in the palm of his hand. A diamond of the finest gem
quality, expertly cut and faceted into an oval, and at least six hundred
carats. Blade tried to compute its value in Home Dimension terms, then
realized he couldn't. No diamond that size had turned up in Home Dimension for
many years.
But he was obviously holding several million dollars at least in the palm of
his hand.
"I thought of giving you something simply to make you remember me," Lady Oyasa
said. "But this is better. It will also stand between you and hunger if
necessary." Her lips softly caressed his.
Blade couldn't see any reason to try putting their farewell into words.
Instead he rose silently, dressed and armed himself, and slipped out. The lamp
went out behind him as he stepped through the doorway, and in the darkness he
heard a faint sob. Then Lady Musura seemed to sprout from the floor at his
side, sliding the door shut and leading him away down the silent halls.
Lord Tsekuin and Lady Oyasa spent the next night together. Blade spent the
next night in the lowest cellars of the castle, carefully disguising the
diamond. By the time he had finished the job, the diamond
looked and smelled like something dredged up from a particularly filthy sewer.
Blade then wrapped it in silk again and coated the silk with hot wax to keep
the smell in and prying fingers out. Lady Oyasa had been right. The diamond
could be his fortune. It could even more easily get him a slit throat if
anyone knew he had it.
Morning came. Before the dew had dried on the sand of the courtyard the dabuni
who were to witness Lord Tsekuin's death had assembled. Blade was among them.
Yezjaro and Doifuzan might have their doubts about Blade's loyalty, but they
would not give him the mortal insult of barring him from Lord
Tsekuin's last ritual.
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