“Ah yes,” he mocked, “a spy. And you carried a small weapon, quite deadly concealed in your clothing. What kind of weapons, then, do the soldiers among you carry?”
The emperor’s dark eyes held Baver’s. His tufted brows had risen slightly. The star man tried not to think, but at the question, information rose to near the surface of his subconscious, image-rich, concept-rich, and mostly very foreign. Seemingly the star people had no soldiers or warriors, but . . . There were weapons larger and more powerful than the one he’d tried, much more deadly, and useful at a much greater distance. Also there were stones which exploded, bursting, killing those around them. These they . . .
YOUR MAGNIFICENCE! It was Tenzin, interrupting telepathically with a great sense of urgency. THE DEMON HAS CAPTURED MAAMO’S MIND, AND POSSESSES HIS BODY. HE HAS CAPTURED JAMPA AND THE BARBARIAN!
The emperor’s mind fired a question.
He has killed Xiaou and his soldiers, and has just entered the Dzong with the captives! He must have subverted the yetis.
An angry query.
He was inside the gate before I knew any of this. I believe he is coming to the Sanctuary to kill the Circle and myself!
Was it possible? Could the yetis be subverted? Perhaps against Xiaou or the Circle, if the demon was clever enough. Then you must get out! Get to the barracks. The guards will protect you!
No, Your Magnificence! We need protection here! THE DEMON IS OUTSIDE THE FABRIC OF THE TAO, AND WE WILL TRY TO CLOSE IT TO HIM! IF WE SUCCEED, WE HAVE DEFEATED HIM, REGARDLESS OF WHAT HE MAY DO OUTSIDE IT!
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The realization thunderstruck the emperor. Do it then! Right away!
I have already examined the place in which he lay. The opening is not like an aperture, more like a depression. And it’s hardened by his having occupied it these weeks. It will take time!
The emperor leaped to his feet, barking instructions, calling for the yeti guard, those on shift and ready. He watched his runner dart out, the orders indelible in the man’s trained mind. The demon as Maamo might get other yetis to act against Xiaou or Tenzin, but if he himself were there … To him they were loyal, the emperor told himself, irrevocably loyal; they couldn’t help themselves. He’d face the demon at the Sanctuary, with a squad of loyal yetis. But he needed to be quick!
The emperor’s thoughts reached Tenzin in a tumult, but he received them clearly; he was used to human thought processes, excited as well as calm. He cut the thought connection and submerged into the deep and powerful channel of the Circle.
The entire exchange had taken only seconds, via a tight channel specifically between two telepaths who were very familiar with each other. But the intensity had been felt by everyone in the room. The emperor moved toward the door, then remembered the pistol, and his thoughts racing ahead to the gomba, stepped quickly to his chair. There he grabbed the recorder instead of the pistol, and thrusting it in a pocket, rushed out, followed by the yeti. Baver and the guards who’d brought him stared after them.
“What happened?” Baver asked in Mongol.
“An emergency,” Nogai said. Knowing nothing of Ten-zin’s urgent message, he was as perplexed as the star man. Turning Baver by a shoulder, he shoved him toward the balcony doors. As they passed the emperor’s chair, Baver stumbled, nearly fell.
From the balcony, Nogai saw faint dawnlight in the east. Then he looked toward the goinba, where every-
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thing seemed peaceful. What does the emperor expect to find there? he wondered.
Shrugging he turned away. “Come,” he said to Baver. “We will take you to your cell.”
When they left, the pistol was gone from the arm of the emperor’s chair.
FORTY-EIGHT
Hans hissed Chert to a halt, and sat peering intently ahead into darkness. Chen strained to see, and thought perhaps he did see something, barely, uncertainly, at the edge of visibility. “What is it?” he murmured.
The tall ones, the yetis. They seem to be driving the horses off the road.”
“Off the road? What for?”