Naamah's Kiss - Jacqueline Carey [240]
I didn't dare pause to think, to wonder. I called the twilight, but instead of breathing it out, I poured it into Snow Tiger, my hands still clutching her arm, feeling my energies ebb.
She shone.
It was the way I saw her in the twilight with the dragon's silver-bright celestial energy coiling all around her and through her, only it was here on mortal soil in the ordinary darkness of night. Stone and sea! Barefoot and blindfolded, in a sleeping-robe of plain cotton, a naked blade of steel in her hand, she shone.
The fighting straggled to a halt.
The fighters gaped.
"My people." She didn't have to raise her voice. "On behalf of the Son of Heaven, I thank you so much for your valor and loyalty. But these men are friends." She gestured. "Do you imagine his Celestial Majesty's daughter so easily captured? We travel in guise. We travel not to surrender to Lord Jiang Quan, but to oppose him." She spread her arms, effortlessly freeing herself from my grip. Silvery brightness coiled around her. "We travel to thwart an army and free a dragon! Will you fight us or aid us?"
To the sound of cheers, I sank to my knees and let the twilight go.
It was enough.
"Stupid girl," Bao muttered, stooping beside me and flinging my arm over his shoulders. He helped me to my feet. "Your doing?"
I leaned against him, grateful for his presence. "Only a little. Master Lo?"
"He's fine."
We watched the farmers kneel and offer fealty to the princess. Tortoise limped over to join us, groaning at the effort. Ten Tigers Dai escorted Master Lo to do the same, unexpectedly solicitous. We stood together in the torchlight, watching the princess accept the farmers' oaths of loyalty with grace and dignity. Even without my gift opening a gateway, something about her shone.
"Well," Master Lo said presently. "It seems we are leading an insurrection against the insurrection."
"Uh-huh." Bao's arm tightened around me. "It does."
* * *
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX
We couldn't get rid of the farmers. They wanted to accompany us, wanted to fight on Snow Tiger's behalf. I couldn't fault them for the sentiment, but it was a mixed blessing. With their presence, our progress was slowed and our guise in tatters.
"It is in tatters anyway," Master Lo Feng said to the princess. "Already, word spreads. You set this in motion when you revealed yourself in the marketplace, your highness. If you would have my counsel, I would say, heed the wisdom of the ancients. Yield, and overcome."
"Let us determine which ones have any fighting potential, my lady," Bao said on a more pragmatic note. "We have weapons and mounts to spare. We can outfit a few. The rest will have to fend for themselves and keep up as best they may."
So it was decided.
I didn't expect any of the folk not chosen to ride with us to keep up, but to my amazement, some of them did, at least for a time. They were a lean, impoverished lot, but they had hearts like lions. They trotted alongside us with mattocks and scythes in hand. And when the pace grew too grueling, they faded into the countryside, carrying word of our presence to folk they trusted, country folk like themselves.
More came to replace them.
More men, young men armed with cudgels and farming tools, fire in their eyes. Old grandmothers toting sacks of rice hidden in their stores, giving them freely to feed our unlikely army. Folk of all ages carrying news of the armies' movements.
By day, the princess received them all with grace.
At night, alone in the tent we shared, she allowed herself to express her fears and doubts, pacing restlessly.
"So many!" There was a note of despair in her voice. "So young, so poor, so untrained. Merciful gods, Moirin! How am I to protect them all?"
"They don't expect you to, my lady," I said softly. "They expect to protect you. Because you are the daughter of the Son of Heaven, and that is the way the world is meant to be." I thought of telling her the story of the great D'Angeline Queen Ysandre, whose folk had helped her quell an insurrection;