“Which Lady?” Talon asked.
“Lady Meng Lanfen,” she told him with a smile. Talon nodded. The Grandmother. It was late, but he glanced at Reza with a raised eyebrow and turned to follow her. Reza shrugged and round about to accompany Talon.
Lihua led the way towards the inner courtyard of the villa.
They found the Lady Meng Lanfen seated on a chair that was too large for her in her private living room. Talon noted the small shrine in one corner of the dimly lit chamber. The shutters were closed, but the air was thick with the smell of incense and the scent of camphor. Lihua bowed politely to the old lady, who gave what might have passed for a smile when Talon bowed low in front of her.
She said something, and Lihua smiled and turned to Talon.
“She says that you look good in Chinese clothes, Master Talon.”
He smiled back and said, “We are in China, a great civilization. Besides they are very comfortable.”
Grandmother Meng nodded approval. With Lihua translating she went on. “My son, Lord Meng Hsü, has informed me that we are under your protection while he is gone. It would seem that he has a high regard for your prowess as a warrior.”
“If Lord Meng has concerns about safety, then it is important for my people to be vigilant for all our sakes, Madam,” Talon responded.
The meeting lasted only about fifteen minutes, but during that time Talon was struck by her sharp mind.”
At one point she asked him what he thought of what he had seen so far.
“I am constantly awestruck at what we see in this country, Madam,” he told her truthfully. “I cannot take it all in. In my own country to the far, far west of Byzantium, we still have to learn how to build ships that don’t sink in the first harsh wind that come along.”
She laughed at that, encouraging him to talk. He went on to mention how impressed he had been by the artwork, the pottery and the silk industry. “We simply do not have any of these things in our own countries,” he told her.
*****
On the fifth night of Hsü’ absence, Yosef and Dar’an were on guard. Neither wanted the duty, even if Talon and Reza would be on for the other half. However, Talon had stressed the importance of the work. They were standing together at the small gateway that led from the guest quarters to the main courtyard, listening to the night sounds. The frogs and the crickets were noisy tonight. The muted sound of water cascading down the stone fountain could be clearly heard, and the occasional cry of a night bird. They both jumped when they heard the hoot of an owl on the rooftops behind them, then settled back to relax.
Yosef yawned. “I am going to go and see if I can find some tea,” he told Dar’an. “I need something to help me stay awake.”
He got up and walked across the courtyard and into the main room of the guest house. Dar’an rubbed his eyes. He was tired. They had been on and off duty for four nights now, and there had been nothing to alarm them. The guards on the gate didn’t know about their vigil and would saunter about the yard talking to one another at all hours without paying any attention to their surroundings. Talon had told both Yosef and Dar’an that these guards were lax and that Fang would need to discipline them when he came back. The young men didn’t want that label applied to them, so they tried hard to stay awake and alert.
Dar’an heard a horse snort and stamp its foot. He peered to his right, in the direction of the stables. The crickets had stopped sawing and the frogs were quieter for some reason. Nothing unusual about a horse stamping, he thought to himself, but then he noticed a slight movement on the pathway the led to the main house.
He rubbed his eyes again and squinted into the night. His night vision was good. There it was again, not one but two shadows were moving soundlessly across the gardens towards the inner court where the Meng family slept. He stared, motionless, wondering if he might be seeing the guards, but his ears told him that those worthies were squatting at the main gate, talking and paying no attention to the interior of the compound where at least two of them should have been patrolling.
Dar’an moved back deeper into the shadows and continued to watch the two dark forms creep along the walls, moving from one dark shadow to another. It was time to raise the alarm. He pulled back and ran silently across the small courtyard to the guest building, where he found Yosef about to bring a small cup of hot tea to him.
Yosef stopped when he saw the alarm on Dar’an’s face.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Talon was right, there are intruders!” Dar’an hissed. “Be quiet, they might hear you!”
“Wake Talon and Reza, be quick!” Yosef whispered. “I’ll go and keep watch. Where did you see them last?”
Dar’an hurriedly told him, and then ran up the stairs to call on Talon and Reza.
Yosef cautiously peered in the direction Dar’an had indicated, but saw nothing. He could hear the guards, oblivious of any trouble, still chattering to one another by the gate.
Taking his spear with him, Yosef decided to find out where the intruders might have gone. He believed Dar’an had seen something but wasn’t sure if he had really seen intruders. He hurried silently across the intervening space, which brought him to the entrance to the inner compound. Nothing. He moved very carefully around the last post of the balcony.
Talon and Reza were awake in an instant when Dar’an knocked urgently on their doors.
“What is it?” Talon demanded, swiping a hand across his face to try and wake himself up.
Dar’an cracked the bedroom door open. “I, I saw something moving in the direction of the inner courtyard, Talon,” he said.
“Where is Yosef?” Reza asked in a sharp tone as he emerged from his room.
He is watching for them until you come. He should be outside now,” Dar’an whispered back excitedly.
“Come on, Reza,” Talon snapped to his friend. “Dar’an, stay up here on guard. Let no one up the stairs unless it is us.” He spun around and snatched up his bow and sword. Rav’an was sitting up in the bed. “What is it, Talon?” she asked sleepily.
“Dar’an thinks he saw someone creeping about the yard. Reza and I are going to investigate,” he told her, then slipped quietly from the room.
Reza met him at the top of the stairs, also carrying his bow. They sped down the stairs on bare feet to emerge into the small courtyard, and then ran silently through the doorway. Their vision adjusted quickly and their ears became accustomed to the small noises; they could hear the guards off by the gates. There was, however, no sign of Yosef, and nothing to be seen of the intruders Dar’an thought he had seen.
“Where is Yosef?” Reza whispered into Talon’s ear.
He shook his head. “Come, we must go over there,” he pointed to the main house, “and find out if Dar’an really saw anything,” he whispered back.
Like two wraiths they raced across the short distance towards the entrance of the private quarters. They could now see the darkened opening; just inside they saw a dark bundle on the ground. Both men instantly tensed and crept by way of the shadows until they were very close to the motionless form, but not exposed to anyone who might be inside watching the entrance. Any other noises were muffled by the sound of water pouring down into the pond from the fountain and the burping of a lonely frog nearby.
The bundle groaned and a hand scrabbled in the dust, and then stilled. It was Yosef, but neither Talon nor Reza moved forward. They were too experienced to be caught in a trap, even if it was Yosef. Both knew that there was now great danger about, but they could not see where it was. Talon listened hard while his eyes searched the darkness ahead. He reasoned that Yosef had walked into one of the intruders and been struck down. They had to help him, but unless they knew where the intruders were they were in mortal danger themselves. Why were these people here, and where were they hiding?
Reza, who had the keenest eyes, touched him, making him jerk. Reza leaned towards him.
“Someone, to the left. Deep in the shadows. I think he is wat
ching the entrance. Can you see him?”
“We have to distract him somehow,” Talon whispered back, his eyes probing the area Reza had indicated. Yes, there it was: a darker shadow than the rest. He began to make out the form of a man in a half crouch holding a bow at the ready. “Yes, I see him now.”
They both pulled back from the corner.
“I’ll distract him. You kill him,” Reza whispered. It was not a discussion. He very slowly laid down his bow and Talon took out an arrow and knocked it in the string of his bow. He knew what Reza had in mind. It was incredibly risky; if the intruder was a good bowman, Reza was going to get killed.
“Ready?” Reza hissed.
Talon touched him on the arm with his elbow. “Yes!”
Reza took a long step, then threw himself across the opening of the entrance to the courtyard and rolled.
There was an exclamation and the twang of a bowstring. An arrow flew past Reza, who was back up on his feet and on the other side out of sight, while Talon leapt into the opening with a drawn bow. He released his arrow and it sped to strike with an audible thump the dark form twenty feet from him.
The figure dropped his bow with a clatter and fell with a choking cry face down on the verandah.
Reza and Talon ran past the dead man and on toward the house, where they stopped: watching, listening, waiting. The night was still, as though listening with them.
There was no sound from within the building.
“He was good; I felt the wind of the arrow pass me,” Reza told him.
“You are just getting slow, my Brother,” Talon answered.
The response was a snort.
“I must go in and find out where the other one is, if there is another,” Talon whispered.
“One of us must help Yosef, or he is a dead man,” Reza whispered back.
“You stay and prevent anyone from leaving. I don’t think there is another way in or out,” Talon said. “Do what you can for Yosef.”
He detached himself from the dark shadow and moved slowly towards the door. It was not locked, so he eased himself into the blackness beyond, and then pressed against the wall to stop again and listen. The quiet of the building, apart from the odd creak, was absolute—or was it?
He thought he heard a slight scuffing sound up the stairs right above his head. The hair on his neck rose as he looked up. He could make out a landing, which led off to several rooms with closed doors. He could barely make them out in the darkness. There was someone up there moving about in a very stealthy manner.
Moving very quietly, he placed his bow on a table and drew his sword. He slipped silently up the stairs until he reached the landing, where he paused. Again he heard a tiny sound, from off to his right in one of the rooms. Moving like a ghost he approached the doorway where he thought he had heard the sound, and touched the door with a finger. The door opened silently on its hinges. There was deeper darkness within and the distinct scent of women’s perfume.
This might be a bedroom, he reasoned, as he peered into the darkness. Again there was that tiny shuffling sound, and this time he was certain it came from within. Then he noticed something. There was a light in a corner, but it was very faint. It came from a small taper of incense on a stick that had been placed on a table. The red glow was sufficient to illuminate what might have been a small shrine.
He slipped into the room, noiseless on bare feet, and stepped to the side against the wall to listen again, but the sounds had stopped and there was an ominous silence.
Talon tensed. A black shadow obliterated the view of the glowing stick for an instant and he felt the presence of someone suddenly very close.
Talon could have struck then and probably would have succeeded in killing the man, but he hesitated. One of the intruders was already dead. At the back of his mind he wanted a chance to find out why they were there. He knew in an instant that his hesitation had been a mistake.
The intruder had instincts just as finely tuned by adrenaline and tension as his. Somehow he realized that he was not alone. The figure abruptly made a dash for the door. That was also a mistake.
Talon swung his sword in an arc meant to cut into an arm and disable the intruder. But the man was quick; his own sword was there to block the attack with a shriek of steel edge on steel edge that reverberated around the room. Something on the intruder’s back rattled like stones within a box.
Talon disengaged and struck again, but again the other man managed to duck and riposte. Talon felt the steel thrust through his loose jacket and slice the sleeve open. Both men were now so close that Talon could smell the garlic on the other man’s breath, which came in short gasps as the surprised intruder now fought for his life.
Neither paid any attention to the hysterical shrieks that now came from the bed as they stumbled out of the living room onto the landing where there was somewhat more light, both of them still lunging and stashing. Abruptly they could see one another, and then the fight really began. Talon recognized that he was up against a good swordsman who threw all he could at him in a flurry of slashing, stabbing strikes. He managed to block and stab back with the same vigor, driving the shorter, dark shape back and back.
The screaming continued from within the bedroom behind them, and now there were shouts from below as servants woke up to rush out with lanterns and stand peering up at the two combatants. No one wanted to become entangled in the savage fight going on above their heads, but they raised their lanterns to see better, providing enough light for Talon to see his opponent with more clarity.
Talon didn’t think; he struck and stabbed with a rhythm that he had learned a long time ago. His sword was like a piston and the figure in front of him began to tire. Before very long Talon could see that the intruder was trying desperately to break away and escape: all he was doing now was parrying and blocking while glancing about him for a means of escape.
Without warning his opponent dived into another room, shoving aside someone at the entrance who gave a cry of surprise. The man disappeared into the darkness of the room, Talon in hot pursuit. He brushed past Lihua, who was on her knees, and charged into the room to hear the crash of breaking shutters. The intruder was gone. Talon arrived at the balcony just in time to hear the thump of someone landing like a cat on the ground outside, and then he vanished into the bushes. Talon peered into the darkness and shook his head. There would be no following him in the dark. He would be long gone from the premises by the time Talon made it to the gardens.
He turned back with a weary shrug and walked back to Lihua, who was still on the floor, leaning on one arm and looking shocked. Even in this disheveled condition he noted how beautiful she was as he took her other arm and lifted her to her feet.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yes,” she nodded. “I was surprised. I didn’t expect to be knocked over in the middle of the night.”
He chuckled with approval. She was not too badly shaken.
“I must go to my Lady Meng. She sounds very upset,” she told him.
He had to agree. The screams and shouting from that bedroom had not stopped. Servants were streaming up the stairs, yelling and shouting in their strange language, sounding even more high-pitched than usual.
“We need a physician, if there is such a person. It is very urgent,” Talon told her.
“Why, are you injured?” she asked with concern. “Is my Lady?”
“No, it is Yosef, one of my people, who is hurt, I think badly,” Talon told her.
At that moment the guards burst into the house and began shouting and gesticulating wildly, pushing the servants around and generally increasing the panic.
Talon strode to the edge of the balcony and, imitating Captain Dandachi, roared as loudly as he could at them in his own language to shut up and stop their noise.
They stopped and gaped up at him. All noise ceased as everyone stared at him in surprise.
“Tell the guards to get out into the garden and check for any other intruders, I
want to know how they got in without the sentries noticing,” Talon told Lihua, who immediately began to translate.
“Tell them also to find a physician and bring him to the guest quarters as soon as possible. We have someone badly wounded.”
Lihua translated and the guards left, chastened, while the servants ran about lighting lanterns. Several of the women hurried to the quarters of the family members to attend to them.
“Please tell me, what happened, Talon?” Lihua begged him when order seemed at least somewhat restored.
“Come with me and I can tell you after we have seen to Yosef,” Talon told her.
They hurried down the stairs, pushing past the still agitated and frightened servants, to go out into the courtyard, past a prone body with an arrow sticking out of its chest, to where they found Reza supporting Yosef, who was unconscious with a bloody rag tied around his neck.
Reza looked up. “Glad to see you are still alive, Brother. I am not so sure about Yosef; he is in a very bad way.”
Lihua dropped to her knees beside Yosef and without preamble opened his sopping, blood-soaked vest to look at the wound. The rag that Reza had tied around his neck was also soaked in blood. His throat had been cut. She gasped, and Talon’s heart did a loop as he saw the horror of what had been done, but then Reza said, “If it had been his jugular he would be dead by now. We might still be able to save him.” Talon had to agree, although it still didn’t look good at all.
“He has lost a lot of blood,” Lihua said unnecessarily.
“We will take him to the guest house and do what we can for him there. We must have a physician,” Talon told her.
“I have told the guards to find one as soon as possible.”
“You stay here and take care of the ladies, please, Lihua. We can talk in the morning.”
She nodded agreement.
*****
Lihua walked into the bedroom of Lady Meilin to find the woman sitting up on her bed. Meilin glared up at Lihua with hate in her black eyes. She deeply resented the young, slim beauty that Hsü had brought into her house. Her own crippled state prevented her from doing anything useful, even in these outrageous circumstances. Her bound feet inhibited all walking. Any attempt was accompanied by intense pain, forcing her to depend upon servants to carry her anywhere.
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