She rose, went to the corner, and opened a box. From it, she drew a folded piece of parchnt. "She left this for you. If you should co."
Wuyi took it with a bow. "Your servant, my lady. May I express my congratulations on your elevation, and my—" He stopped. Swallowed. "I will make a donation to the Pavilion. Please give Lady Liwei my congratulations and my kindest regards."
He reached the courtyard. Toby was holding his horse. He was tired.
Wuyi took the reins and vaulted into the saddle, aware, in that cursed part of him that was always awake, that he was on the stage, and that half of the Warriors of Tianqin were watching him.
Then he rode down the hill to his camp. He paused at the guard fire.
He was certain she wouldn't be coming with them.
Wuyi took the parchnt from his breast and threw it in the fire unread.
Jia was sitting in his tent. He leaped to his feet, obviously guilty about sothing. "Master, soone is waiting for you," he said. "I was entertaining him!"
Qingyu Xie sat with a mug of drink, and Baijian sat across Wuyi's camp table with another. They had dice on the table and cards.
"It'd be a pity to stop him playing," Baijian said. "Especially as I'm taking all his silver," he added.
"I'm so pleased you two feel free to make use of my tent and table," Wuyi spat.
Baijian raised an eyebrow. "Brother's got sothing to say," he said.
Qingyu Xie rose. "I need to make a great deal of money," he said. "I wonder if you'll have as a mber." He looked embarrassed to ask.
"I'd have thought the king would've kept you in the royal guard," Wuyi said.
Qingyu Xie shrugged.
"All right," said Wuyi, sitting and pouring wine for himself. "Now deal a hand."
"But first," Qingyu Xie said, "I have to pay a visit to the Black Snake of Ercie." Wuyi gagged on his wine. "The leaders of beasts?"
"The beast is lord in the hills, or so we call him," Qingyu Xie said, and Baijian nodded.
Wuyi shook his head. "I don't understand." He frowned. "Possibly because I'm drunk."
Baijian shrugged. "The ways of the hills are easier on a man with drink in him. Tis like this, my lord: the snake guarantees us peace for a tithe of the flocks. Tis been that way for twenty generations of n or more. These Nomads that killed our warriors – they were serving a Power of the demonic Wild called Luding. Aye?"
"Naming calls. But yes." Wuyi drank.
"So I call him and he cos and I gut him," said Baijian. "So?" "Excellent point," Wuyi said. "Go on."
"The beast owes us for our loss," Qingyu Xie said.
Wuyi sat back. "I'm not drunk enough to believe that," he said. Baijian and Qingyu Xie sat with set faces.
Wuyi finished his cup. Jia poured him more, and he didn't say no. And then he said, "She's taking orders as a pavilion, Baijian." He had thought she would accompany him. He had to accept that he had connected with her at so point.
Baijian shrugged as if all won were one and the sa. "Best find another one then," he said. And then, as if the collapse of Wuyi's hopes was not the most important thing in the world, he said, "So we want leave to go to the Snake."
Wuyi shook his head. "I have a better idea," he said. "Let's all go." Qingyu Xie looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
"I love him," Baijian said. "He's mad as an adder." Qingyu Xie smiled. "So we all go? The group?"
"Yes. This is important."
Wuyi suddenly had a piercing pain between his eyes. That was not a good idea, he guessed.
"Be quiet. You're a guest."
"You are getting drunk because you've been spurned by a woman. How romantic of you. Of course, that note might have confessed her undying love for you and her willingness to elope tonight to face the future as a concubine of young master. Hmm? But you burned it, so you'll never know. Youth is wasted on the young."
He sighed when he heard this. It was Xiali in his mind from the statue of knowledge communicating. He still hadn't solved the issue of Xiali.
"Listen, young man. Master Zhang is right – humanity is losing. But he is also wrong – as I will endeavor to prove. The world is not as I thought it was, and your going to see the Snake is the very best idea I have ever heard. You must go to the Snake. The stakes of this ga are imnse.
The consequences of failure are extermination – the death of our race. Your dalliance with so novice – albeit one imbued with power of the very highest order – is not quite in the sa league."
Wuyi put his head in his hands.
Baijian grinned at him. "You're drunk, my lord."
Wuyi took a deep breath. "I have a headache," he said. "I find it unfair that I have the hangover before I'm done with the drunk."
Jia leaned forward and poured more wine.
Yun Ming ca in with Shen, both of them drunk too. They were singing "Green Grow the Rushes" with their arms around iying, who seed to be carrying them.
"Three, three, the lily boys, clothed all in green, oh, Two, two the rivals. And one is one and all alone, and ever more shall be, oh."
Their attempt at harmony was almost as horrible as a charge of swamplings.
Baijian started to laugh.
Yun Ming poured a cup of wine, sat on a stool, and raised his cup. "Absent friends," he said.
Baijian's laughter stopped. He rose to his feet, and so did the rest. "Victory and defeat are for amateurs," Baijian said. "For us, there is only life and death."
They all raised their cups and drank. "Absent friends," they chanted, one by one.
Wuyi put his cup down on the table carefully because it seed to be a long way away and it moved slightly. He leaned on the table to make sure he could stay on his feet. "They will bury the old Mistress tomorrow," he said. "I'd like every man and woman at that service in their best, but with the camp struck first, ready to march."
His group leaders nodded.
"The master Zhang paid today," he said. "With a success bonus and a tallage for the horses we lost. A pretty sum. I invested it. But none of you needs to fight for a living. Your shares will be a hundred gold and spirit stones or more.
Enough to buy a noble's life."
Yun Ming shrugged. Baijian sneered.
iying looked away. Jia laughed.
Qingyu Xie smiled. "Wish it was mine," he said.
"It will be," Wuyi said. "We have a new group, and I an to wrap it up quickly." He felt a little better. "iying, co here."
She was dressed in old clothes but looked feminine – sothing of a brag, since it flattered her figure as much as any feminine dress. She leered at him. "Any ti, Young Master," she said, with a spark of her old iying.
"Kneel," Wuyi said. He held out his hand to Michael. Jia handed him his war sword.
iying paused and knelt. On the edge of a double entendre, she stopped. Baijian nodded. "Do it."
Wuyi raised his sword. "By the virtue of Noble blood and my birth, with the Heavens you believe in as witness, I dub you my true noble warrior," he said. He didn't slur the words. His sword pressed down hard on each of her shoulders.
She burst into tears.
Baijian smacked her, quite hard, on the shoulder. "Let that be the last blow you ever accept without reprisal," he said. He grinned.
"Jia, kneel," Wuyi said. Jia knelt.
"By the virtue of Nobility and my birth, with the Heavens you believe in as witness, I dub thee true noble warrior," Wuyi said.
Jia accepted the slap from Baijian, rocked back on his heels, and smiled.
Wuyi took his wine cup. "I ant to do it on the battlefield," he said, and shrugged. "We were busy."
Jia stood up. "I'm a noble?" he laughed. "A noble warrior and not just any attendant?" He laughed again.
"I'll need a new attendant," Wuyi said. iying was still crying. "Is it real?" she asked.
Baijian put an arm around her shoulder. "Of course it is, lass. He wouldn't mock you with such."
Wuyi sat back down. "We need twenty new warriors. We need as many warriors and a dozen attendants and so archers." He shrugged. "My brother Guan is one. Wuli Yuan is another, and they'll ride away with us. Zhai Jiang himself, despite negotiating our contract, will be joining us.
Any other prospects?"
Yun Ming nodded. "I have half a dozen younger sons ready to sign with us, all with armors and horses."
Qingyu Xie shrugged. "All my lads, too," he said. "We have no other ans of employnt, at least for the balance of the year."
Baijian leaned forward. "From villagers, we got many." He grinned. "Archers."
Yun Ming nodded. "I made out a list," he said.
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