Naamah's Kiss - Jacqueline Carey [231]
We ran.
It was mayhem in the market square; mayhem with a small, slender figure in green robes and a veiled hat at the center of it. On either side of the princess, Bao and Dai leapt and whirled and fought, staves a blur. A dozen stick-fighters were arrayed against them—and losing.
Everywhere else, folk cowered. Farmers come to sell rice and chickens and cabbages huddled over their wares. Folk come to buy or barter retreated to cringe along the outskirts of the square.
Kang plunged into the fray, battling a path to our allies, assaulting their assailants from behind. I followed in his wake, bow in hand and arrow nocked, identifying targets should it be needful. But by the time we reached the princess, it was over.
The beaten stick-fighters groaned.
Snow Tiger stood very still before the farmers, listening to the murmurs arise. We arrayed ourselves around her; but it was her at whom the commonfolk stared.
And me.
I realized my hat had blown off along the way, revealing my half-D'Angeline features and green eyes. They knew. They knew who we were.
I kept an arrow nocked.
"My people." Snow Tiger's voice was crisp. "We are in a time of war. This is a hardship you suffer. Lord Jiang claims to command here, but he has left you bereft. In the name of my father, his Imperial Majesty, the Son of Heaven, I bid you to endure this hardship with kindness and compassion. I bid you to aid one another. Let the wealthy have charity for the poor. Let the strong have mercy on the weak. And I promise, if we are victorious, such a time shall never come again." Holding her sword at eye level, she unsheathed the weapon that had remained in its scabbard during the entire fight. Naked steel flashed in the sunlight. "This, I swear to you on my blade. Will you heed me?"
In awed silence, they knelt to her—every man, woman, and child in the square, kneeling and pressing their brows to the ground.
"Well," I said to no one in particular. "This complicates matters."
* * *
CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO
"We cannot stay on the river much longer," Master Lo said ruefully. "There is one thing that flies swifter than any hawk, and that is rumor."
"I did but act on the lesson you taught me," the princess murmured. "Perhaps I misunderstood?"
He sighed. "No, my lady. You understood it all too well. But in dangerous times, noble impulse must be tempered with caution."
She accepted the rebuke with a graceful nod. "What is your counsel?"
Master Lo stroked his chin. "We must strike out over land. The monastery temple that houses Guanyin of a Thousand Eyes and many other famous carvings is not far from here. If he is still alive, the abbot is a man I knew well, once. It is one reason I chose to invoke the place as our destination. He will conceal our trail from any seekers."
Snow Tiger tilted her head. "Then let us go there."
It sounded simple.
It wasn't.
The Ch'in folk do build temples in their cities, many of them. But the ones they love best, the ones that are most sacred to them, they build in the highest, most remote places one can find.
This was such a one.
The following morning, in a towering gorge where the cliffs rose sheer around us, Master Lo pointed to a tiny landing. Bao steered the boat expertly toward it. There, we climbed out of the unsteady vessel and unloaded our meager possessions.
Tortoise eyed the narrow track that stitched its way up the steep cliff face and sighed with profound misgivings. "There?"
"Uh-huh." Bao tossed him a half-empty sack of rice, then cut the boat loose to drift. "Master Lo and the lady say climb, we climb."
We climbed.
How far, I could not say. I had no head for reckoning distances, save in terms of the time it took to traverse them. It took us a day to climb the face of the cliff. But the distance was the least of it. It was the growing height and the precariousness of the path that made the journey a terrifying one.
At the halfway point, my legs began to tremble. Below us, the green ribbon of the river dwindled and shrank. I dared not look down lest the drop make