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Human Beings about like the markers in a game of
Na
. Perhaps they shifted each other around so, but was a scholar. He could see
through their pitiful, dull machinations he as if they were sheerest silk. Not
every detail, perhaps, not yet, but he could see the shape of something
beneath that thin skirt, and it was not the curved courtesan he was expected
to see.
Who was Yen? That he did not know, but he was no merchant s son. His accent,
while passable, was all wrong. His manner, his pretense of submissive
cooperation was poorly acted indeed; they hoped to disguise a deeper
haughtiness. None of this had mattered before now, and thus he had simply not
expended the mental energy to make these connections. But since Yen s
reappearance, his questions about Hezhi, his research on the Great Water
Temple, Ghan was forced to reevaluate everything about the young man. Now that
he set his mind to it a finely tuned instrument, even now it was clear to him
that Yen had pretended from the first moment. His intention had always been to
be near Hezhi. That made it likely almost certain, in fact that it had been
Yen set to watch her, Yen who betrayed her, and who now sought to redress his
error in allowing her to escape. And so Hezhi was in danger. Yen s
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THE BLACKGOD
suggestion that her peril came from the priesthood was probably a lie unless
the expedition the man was assembling was created by the priesthood. That was
a logical conclusion after all, those set to watch royal children were usually
Jik assassins and therefore of the priestly order. Yet these were
unquestionably the emperor s elite escorting him, and it seemed improbable
that the emperor and the priesthood would work together on anything.
Anything, that is, save perhaps in the containment of one of the Waterborn.
The priesthood and the emperor were of one mind on that, and only that. And
perhaps they knew something Ghan did not, something about Hezhi s power or
potential that moved both parties to cooperate above and beyond the norm.
So
, Ghan thought as he passed the ever-grander house walls fining the street,
best assume it is both of them. The emperor and the priesthood, but only know
where Hezhi might be
I
.
And so this elaborate tale to convince him. Well, he was convinced. If he
resisted, they might find some way to force him to tell. If he pretended to be
duped by their moronic ruse, then he could do something.
Something
. But what?
After Ghan departed, Ghe sat brooding in the cabin. He wished to leave the
narrow confines of the living quarters, to pace the proud decks of the barge,
meet the sailing men who would carry him up-River. But by now, surely, the
priesthood had gotten wind of something
. He knew well how deeply the palace was penetrated by the eyes of the temple,
and mis movement of men and supplies to one of the barges must have raised at
least a few suspicious hackles. If were seen, they would know for certain
what was he afoot, and whatever story was being circulated about the purpose
of the expedition would be known as false. He was commanded by the emperor to
remain cloistered until the barge was well away from Nhol.
It was a wise command, and therefore he heeded it. And so, instead of
following his desires, he explored the world he was allowed, for the moment.
That meant the little cluster of rooms at the rear of the barge which, from
out of the boat, resembled an elegant, spacious mansion.
Inside, that apparent grandeur was seen as illusion, though the design of the
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cabins was essentially the same as a suite of rooms in the palace. His cabin
opened directly onto the central deck, but it also had an entrance into a
courtyard, of sorts. It was a small, narrow imitation of the ones in the
palace, but it served the same purpose, allowing fresh air into the cabins
arranged about it, especially those that crowded to the edges of the barge and
could not thus open onto the deck. In all, four cabins similar to his own
opened into the yard relatively capacious rooms, furnished with colorful rugs
and pillows, beds of down-stuffed linen. There were two much larger spaces,
but those stacked sleeping shelves so that ten men could room in each. The
whole complex was sunken into the deck on the rear end of the ship, and
Ghe knew that there was another such cluster of rooms forward, but all of
those were crowded ones, built to accommodate sailors and soldiers. The floor
of the cabins was the bottom hull of the barge; the surface of the deck set a
half a man s length higher to provide protected space for cargo.
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Ghe wandered through the various rooms, noting their furnishings, access, and
escape routes. He always preferred to know every way by which a room could be
exited. One of the larger cabins, he discovered, had a latched access to the
cramped cargo space that ran the length of the barge between the two
 houses at each end. After a moment s pause, he shucked his expensive robe it
had come with the cabin and entered the dark space, clad in only the brief
cotton cloth that wrapped twice around his waist and once to cover his crotch
and in the scarf tied about his neck. Unused as he was to fine clothing like
the robe, he did not want to soil it in his explorations.
In a deep crouch, he wandered curiously about the hold. Light streamed through
a pair of open hatches and through the occasional perforations in the bulwarks
at floor level that would drain rainwater or any other inundation that might
tend to flood the barge or stand in the hold. Several sailors stood in the
hatches, shuttling a few remaining items into storage. Though there was no
particular need to, Ghe avoided them, padding through the shadowed crates and
bags, identifying them by their markings;., food, rope, assorted trade goods
if they needed them. In addition, Ghe knew, there were sealed packs of arrows,
spare edged weapons, extra boots and clothing for cooler climates. Finally,
wrapped carefully and stored separately, a number of the head-size pitch balls
that the catapult mounted abovedeck could fling at any vessel that might
oppose them.
The horses were not on board yet, but Ghe found and wandered through the maze
of stalls, wondering how such large beasts would be able to stand imprisonment
that scarcely allowed them a pace to move in. This part of the hold was also
open to the sky, though canopied in good weather with an elevated tarp. He
wound through the stalls in the suffuse light that bled through the canvas,
and though the deck was clean to a polish, he smelled the faint, musky odor of
beasts. He found where the bulwark could be opened to let the animals on and
off and marked it in his memory for his own possible use.
It seemed, to Ghe, a well-equipped expedition. Fifty footmen most of them
elite thirty horse, himself, an engineer, the captain, whoever he was and
Ghan. Yes. it seemed a force to be reckoned with, but then, what did know of
that? What sort of dangers might they meet? He would have to talk he
 to Ghan, to the sailors who had been up-River before. Despite the tales he
had told Hezhi, Ghe himself had never been more than a league beyond the walls
of the city.
He could summon the ancient lord living in his belly to his lips, he supposed, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]