Dragonwall Troy Denning

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the bar-barian pursuit. "The barbarians will follow along this path—"
"How can you be sure?" asked the general from Mai Yuan. "With their horses, the enemy could just as
easily outflank Hsuang and wipe out the nobles."
"They might as well outflank the wind," Batu said. "The noble armies will abandon their artillery and flee
under cover of darkness. They will be inside Shou Kuan's walls by dawn, long before the Tuigan can
pursue safely."
Batu continued the barbarians' red line to Shou Kuan. "The enemy will siege the city."
"They will have no choice," agreed Mai Yuan. "No com-mander would be fool enough to leave a large
enemy force to his rear."
"Precisely," Batu responded, changing brushes again.
"What are we doing out here?" Kei Bot asked, placing a finger on the Celestial Sea.
The commanding general dipped his brush in a fresh pot of ink. He drew a yellow line that ran up the
Shengti River clear to Yenching. "We will outflank the enemy and disem-bark at Yenching," Batu said,
drawing an "X" at the city.
"That's more than fifteen hundred miles!" Mai Yuan ob-jected. "It will take weeks to sail up the river."
"Five weeks, more or less," Batu responded. "We should arrive in Yenching at about the same time the
barbarians en-gage Hsuang outside of Shou Kuan."
"Forgive my ignorance," Kei Bot interjected, his cunning eyes betraying no lack of intelligence. "But if
the battle is to take place at Shou Kuan, why are we going to Yenching?"
Batu dipped his brush again, then began following the southward paths of both the Tuigan and noble
armies. "We will follow the enemy south, cutting its communication routes and destroying its garrisons as
we go."
The yellow line reached Shou Kuan. "When we reach Shou Kuan, there will be a second battle," Batu
said. "As we approach, Tzu Hsuang's forces will sally from inside the city, holding the enemy's attention.
When the barbarians re-spond, we'll take them from the rear. No matter how the Tuigan react, they'll be
caught in a crossfire. Not even their horses will save them."
The five generals remained silent for a very long time. Fi-nally, Kei Bot tapped Shou Kuan with one of
his squat fin-gers. "How will Hsuang know when to feign his attack?"
Detailed comments and questions such as these meant the generals approved of his plan, Batu realized.
He smiled, then answered the question. "We have the High Minister of Magic to thank for that," he said.
"Tzu Hsuang and I will keep in touch through the Mirror of Shao."
Later that afternoon, just as Batu's ragged fleet skirted the Horn of Wak'an, the general's wife and
children stood out-side the walls of the Celestial Garden of the Virtuous Con-sort. The trio was surrounded
by eighteen guards, and two more were currently inside, verifying that it was safe to enter.
"Can't we go in?" asked Ji, tugging impatiently at his moth-er's hand. At five years of age, he looked
more like his grandfather than his father. Tzu Hsuang's noble blood showed in the boy's silky hair, refined
features, and statu-esque proportions.
"We waited long enough!" commented Yo, frowning at the delay. With wide-set eyes, flat high
cheekbones, and flaring nostrils, Yo was the child who most resembled her father. Fortunately, Wu thought,
she was only four and there was still a good chance the girl would grow out of this particular legacy. On a
man, Batu's rugged features were engaging and appealing, but Wu had no doubt they would seem
misplaced in the face of a young lady.
Both children were anxious, Wu knew, because it was al-ready approaching dusk. They would have
only twenty or thirty minutes to play before darkness settled in and the guards declared it unsafe to remain
outdoors.
Nevertheless, the children had to learn to be patient. Wu tugged sternly on each of their hands. "You are
the grand-children of a lord and the children of the General of the Northern Marches. Is this how you
should behave?"
Reminded of their duty, both Ji and Yo sighed, then fell silent.
The Celestial Garden was the only area in the summer pal-ace where Wu felt secure, for it was the one
place where she could go to forget what she viewed as her imprison-ment. It had been just eighteen days
since Batu had left, but already the sycophants of the imperial court were maneu-vering to discredit him—in
large part, she reflected, be-cause his plan had succeeded too well.
Though reports of her father's progress circulated through the court daily, no one had seen or heard
anything of Batu's armies since the emperor's blessing. From what the bureaucrats could tell, the newly
appointed General of the Northern Marches had simply taken one hundred thou-sand men and vanished. At
first, the bureaucrats had been amazed at such a feat. Their gossip had concerned how he had managed
such a thing. As the week had worn on and there was no sign of Batu, however, it had become
fashion-able to attribute the disappearance to sinister occurrences.
The desertion theory had begun to circulate two days ago. According to this hypothesis, Batu had
rendezvoused with an advanced enemy army and defected with all his sol-diers. The advocates of this
notion took great delight in sug-gesting that he would return to Tai Tung at the head of a mixed barbarian
and Shou army.
Having helped her husband develop his plan, Wu knew nothing could be farther from the truth.
Unfortunately, she was the only person in the summer palace who could say so with absolute certainty. Still,
she did not dare speak in her husband's defense for fear that Tuigan spies would uncover Batu's plan.
So, amid the splendor and pageantry of the imperial court, Wu remained shunned and isolated. For her, it
was not a great sacrifice. The ladies of the court, with their plucked and painted eyebrows, seemed
universally shallow and dull. Wu had no desire to share in their company.
The children, however, were accustomed to the freedom of immense gardens and a plethora of
playmates. In the summer palace, though, room was at a premium and young companions were a rarity.
The few children who did live in the court had been forbidden from socializing with "the de-serter's
progeny." For Ji and Yo, the summer palace had be-come even more of a jail than it was for Wu.
The one island in this sea of isolation had been the Minis-ter of State, Ju-Hai Chou. Wu suspected that
the minister had guessed something of her husband's plan. Several times, he had called to reassure her that
Batu had the em-peror's complete confidence, no matter what the syco-phants whispered. Ju-Hai had also
gone out of his way to see that Wu lacked no luxury. He had even convinced the bu-reaucracy to let Wu
and the children use the Celestial Gar-den.
Of all the things Ju-Hai had done, Wu appreciated this last favor the most. Located in the northwest
corner of the pal-ace, the garden was a small retreat no more than two hun-dred feet on a side. It was a
feral place filled with trees of many varieties: plum, small magnolias, white mulberries. There were even
two grand willows that, with their puff-ball shapes and weeping leaves, made the garden seem al-most as
wild and as marvelous as the parks of Chukei.
From Wu's perspective, however, the best thing about the Celestial Garden was its walls. The ones on [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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