‘Disgraceful!’
‘They are an insulting people.’
Oshi entered silently, bowed twice – then saw the dead rat. He retrieved Chien’s knife and removed the corpse by the tail. ‘It has fleas,’ he said, holding the body at arm’s length.
‘Throw it from the window,’ ordered Chien. ‘If we leave it here, we will probably find it served to us for supper.’ Oshi hurled the rat to the gardens below and wandered off to the back room to clean the knife, while Chien turned back to the warrior. ‘Tomorrow we will be leaving for the south.’
‘Yes, lord.’
Chien hesitated and closed his eyes. His concentration hardened and he felt the floating presence of a spirit within the room. He smiled. So, he thought, they are not quite such savages. His fingers flickered against his belt; Sukai read the message, and smoothly moved from Kiatze to Nadir.
‘Will the Lord Khan be supplying us with guides, sir?’
‘But of course. He is a noble king, of a noble line. But I do not think we should all presume upon his hospitality. You will arrange for a guard of twenty men to take the women and all manservants bar Oshi back to Kiatze. I will send a message to the Divine Emperor, telling him of the success of our mission and the kind words of Jungir Khan. The journey south would be too hard on my girls.’
‘Yes, lord.’
‘We will take only one wagon – with gifts for the Queen. All my goods will go back to Kiatze.’
‘With the exception of your tent, my lord?’
‘No, that also. I will take my paints and brushes, that is all. There may be some interesting flowers along the way.’ His fingers appeared to brush a speck of dust from his sleeve.
Sukai bowed. ‘I have noticed many red blooms, sir.’
‘You will see many more.”
Sukai’s face hardened. ‘May I be permitted to write to my family, lord?’
‘Of course. Now leave me. I will see you at dawn.’
As the officer departed Oshi returned to the room with Chien’s freshly cleaned knife in his hands. Chien returned the blade to the oiled sheath in his sleeve.
Oshi moved the cleaned chair to the window and Chien sat, seemingly lost in thought. He focused his mind on the intrusive spirit in the room and saw a thin, wrinkled old man with pale eyes and a weasel face. He was floating just below the high ceiling. Chien sat silently until the watcher’s presence faded.
‘Oshi!’
‘Yes, lord?’
‘Go to the kitchens and find some bread. They will have no fish, but choose me some dried meat that is not full of corruption.’
‘At once!’
Chien folded his arms and thought of Mai-syn. To her this place must have seemed worse than squalid. He concentrated on the beauty of her face, trying to communicate with her spirit. But there was only a cosmic silence. Perhaps she is too far from here, he thought. Perhaps not, the darker side of his nature told him.
The chamberlain knocked at the door and told Chien that the Lord Jungir Khan had arranged a feast in his honour. It would be this evening at moonrise. It would be acceptable if the Lord Ambassador wished to bring the Chief of his Guards. Chien bowed and accepted.
What new humiliation will the savages plan for tonight, he wondered?
*
The great hall was packed with warriors, seated around a score of bench tables pushed together to make an enormous open square. Jungir Khan – in tight-fitting tunic of black leather embroidered with gold thread – sat at the southern end of the hall, the throne dais behind him. Chien was seated at his right hand and to his right sat Sukai, ill at ease and eating little. To Jungir’s left was a wizened man whom the Khan introduced as Shotza, the court shaman. Chien inclined his head to the man. ‘We have heard much of the skills of the Nadir shamen,’ he said.
‘As we have of the court magicians of the Kiatze,’ responded Shotza. ‘Is it true they make tiny golden machines that fly in the air, imitating birds?’
‘The Divine King has three,’ answered Chien-tsu.