The Yellow Silk - Don Bassingthwaite [27]
The only thing the demand produced was more laughter. Red-faced with rage, Li had held himself in check until the guards' laughter had settled down then he asked who their commander was and where he could find him. "Oh," one guard had said quickly, "you'll be wanting to speak to Mard Dantakain. He's the Captain of the Guard. He'll most likely be at home right now. You just march right up to hightown and ask for him. Can't miss his house." He walked over to the door and pointed farther into the heart of Spandeliyon to a small but solid fortress. "He lives right beside the citadel."
Li had stalked out with laughter ringing in his ears once more.
That wasn't going to happen again. As Mard Dan-takain's startled doorman recovered himself and more servants began to appear, Li stepped into the entrance hall and stood tall, trying to imagine that the filthy clothes he wore were actually a formal maitung robe embroidered with the symbols of his ministry and rank. "I am Kuang Li Chien of the city of Keelung in the Hai Yuan province of the Great Empire of Shou Lung," he thundered, "and I serve the Son of Heaven in the Department of Lost Treasures!" He glared down at the servants and anger lent him exaggeration. "I represent Shou Lung in this place and I demand to speak with Mard Dantakain!"
"I'm Mard Dantakain."
The voice that filled the hall was confident, commanding, and very clearly irritated. The gathered servants fell quiet. Li looked up. At the head of a flight of stairs ascending to the second floor of the house stood a tall man with a strong build. His face was hard and sour. He wore an open vest and held papers in both hands, as if he had just risen from work at a desk. Li immediately bent in a formal bow. "Honored sir, I-"
He hadn't gotten more than a few words out before the servants swarmed him, seizing him by the arms and shoulders. Li roared again and tried to shake them off, but they had a solid grip. The best he could manage was to heave himself upright again-only to find Mard Dantakain right in front of him. "Well," he said in a low tone, "you're speaking to me. Now tell me why I shouldn't have you thrown in jail for invading my home."
Li struggled for dignity. "Honored sir," he said with all the grace he could muster, "I was told you are captain of the city guard. I need your help-I was robbed not long after arriving in your city last night and-"
"Robbed? Robbed where?"
"By the docks."
Mard frowned and his face creased into deep lines as if well-used to the expression. "What in Helm's name were you doing down there?"
"I… " Words failed him. He held his head high and bluffed. "I am a representative of Shou Lung. What I was doing there is the business of me and my emperor."
The lines on Mard's face only grew deeper. "So you're some kind of ambassador?"
Li hesitated for a heartbeat and then nodded. Impersonating an imperial ambassador. He would have been executed if he tried this in Shou Lung! So far away, though, there was no one to know any different. At his nod, though, Mard's eyes flicked up and down and settled on Li's face once more. "Where's your staff?" he asked. "I never met an ambassador without a retinue that could fill a room." His nose wrinkled in disgust. "And what hap* pened to your clothes?"
"I was robbed," Li said again. He clenched his teeth and hissed his words between them. "My clothes were stolen. I need your help. I have been to two guard stations this morning and was thrown out of both."
"You're close to being thrown out of here as well!" Mard snarled. "If I take you up to the citadel, will Kargil Ninton recognize you?"
Li blinked and hesitated again. This time, though, he must have hesitated