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Both Ji and Yo scrambled to their feet, but before they turned to leave, Batu said, "Wait—I guess your
father looks silly, doesn't he? Come here and give me my hug."
In the dim light, Batu could see his children's broad grins, but that was all. They rushed to his side—the
five-year-old boy, Ji, to the left, and the four-year-old girl, Yo, to the right.
As they embraced him, they were far from careful to avoid the bruises their mother had just inflicted,
but Batu did not care. He simply did not feel the pain.
After a moment, the children stood. Wu ordered them to find their grandfather and have him put them to
bed. Batu tried to free himself from Wu's grasp, but found his body too sore to move.
"What did you do?" he asked.
"Angry goose nerve kick," she replied. "You were reaching for your sword. My only other choice was to
break your arm."
Batu touched his sorest spot, the soft pit just beneath the cleft of his chin. A fresh wave of agony rolled
through his entire body. "How long am I going to feel like this?"
"No more than an hour," Wu replied. "I am truly sorry. In the dark, all I could see was your chia." She
tugged at his tat-tered armor. "It was so shabby that I thought you were an intruder."
Batu chuckled. "I should have been so lucky. You would have killed an intruder."
At that moment, a tall man carrying a lit lamp entered the hall. "I put the children in the next hall," he
said.
The man's long, graying hair was tied in the warrior's top-knot, and he wore the brocaded hai-waitao of
a Shou noble-man. When the tall man saw that Batu was awake, he stopped and bowed. As always, the
nobleman's firm face was unreadable.
Batu tried to stand and found it too difficult. He merely in-clined his head for a long moment. "Tzu
Hsuang, please for-give me for not rising. I fear your daughter has incapacitated me."
Hsuang acknowledged Batu's apology with a stiff nod, then said, "Yes, so I see. If the damage is
permanent, perhaps we should make her the General of the Northern Marches."
His father-in-law's sarcasm was not lost on Batu. Hsuang, the general suspected, had been the
silhouette that served to bait Wu's trap. Had Batu fallen for such a textbook am-bush on the battlefield, he
would have resigned his commission out of shame. "The trap was well laid," Batu acknowl-edged. "What,
besides your modest son-in-law, were you trying to capture?"
"Vagabonds," Wu responded, using the Shou slang for hired assassins.
Placing the lamp on a low table, Tzu Hsuang seated him-self on a couch and continued the explanation.
"This after-noon, a friend's messenger arrived at my camp to report rumors that you would soon be
appointed General of the Northern Marches," Hsuang said. "Needless to say, we were skeptical."
"You were skeptical," Wu corrected. "At least until the im-perial chamberlain's assistant arrived."
Hsuang ignored his daughter's admonishment. "He of-fered to escort us to your new home. Before we
could leave, however, another messenger arrived. This one was from Ju-Hai," the noblemen said. Using the
Minister of State's given name was pretentious, but, when it came to politics, Wu's father was given to
affectation. "The minister wished to warn us that Kwan is jealous of your favor with the em-peror."
"When we arrived, the house was guarded by Kwan's troops," Wu said, slowly stroking Batu's temples.
"I sent them away immediately," Hsuang recounted, point-ing an accusing finger at Batu. "Then you
came sneaking in here like a murderer."
"A murderer!" Batu snapped. "This is my house. Where did you expect me to sleep?"
"We did not expect you back so soon, my love," Wu said. She moved her fingers to the sides of Batu's
neck and began rubbing it gently. "The messengers said you had been sequestered with the emperor all
afternoon, and that you might be with him all night."
Tzu Hsuang regarded Batu with an appraising eye, then asked, "Exactly what passed between you and
the Divine One? The last battlefield report said you had lost your army and were retreating before the
barbarians."
"Before that, we had already given you up for dead," Wu added. "Your letter from the sorghum field
sounded as though the enemy had his sword to your throat."
"I turned his blade," Batu said, irritated. Tzu Hsuang's ob-servation concerning the loss of his army had
pricked the general's ego, as he was sure Hsuang had intended. Though the general and his father-in-law
enjoyed cordial relations, Hsuang rarely missed an opportunity to abuse Batu's pride. The aging nobleman
would never quite forgive his son-in-law for stealing Wu away from the Hsuang family.
As Tzu Hsuang's only legitimate child, Wu had rarely been refused anything during her early years. Her
father had af-forded her many privileges usually reserved for noblemen's sons. Sitting at her father's knee,
Wu had learned to admin-ister accounts and issue orders with a commanding pres-ence. Fascinated by the
military, she had also spent much of her time following the commanders of her father's army. As a result,
she had learned the basics of military doctrine, how to handle a variety of weapons, and had begun her
study of kung fu.
Unfortunately for Hsuang, his early indulgence resulted in a defiant daughter, at least according to the
standards of Shou nobility. By the time a young officer named Batu Min Ho had come to her attention, Wu
had become an indepen-dent and headstrong young lady. She had also blossomed into a woman of
incredible beauty. Despite their great dif-ference in social standing, Batu had set his heart on earning Wu's
love.
As it turned out, winning her heart had been the easiest part of the conflict that followed. Batu's rugged
features, forthright manner, and determined courtship had appealed to Wu, so she had found many pretexts
to enjoy his com-pany. Eventually, she had fallen as deeply in love with the young officer as he had with
her.
However, as a man of high standing, Hsuang had pos-sessed no desire to wed his daughter to the son of
a minor landowner, especially one only three generations removed from barbarian ancestors. The lord had
forbidden his daughter from seeing Batu, then tried to arrange several marriages more appropriate to her
station. Each time, Wu had chased away the suitor with her stubborn, disrespect-ful manners. The
animosity between the nobleman and his daughter had eventually become more than Hsuang could bear.
The lord had consented to the marriage, but only if Batu Min Ho could elevate himself to the rank of
general.
Both Batu and Wu had soon realized that Hsuang was stalling, hoping Wu would outgrow what he
considered an infatuation with a low-born soldier. However, the lord had underestimated the young officer's
determination and his daughter's love. Batu had left Hsuang's private army and taken a commission in the
imperial military. Fifteen years later, he had become one of the empire's youngest generals.
For her part, Wu had resisted her father's repeated at-tempts to arrange alternative marriages. As a
man of his word, Tzu Hsuang had been forced to allow the wedding when Batu returned wearing the armor
of a Shou general.
The young general had expected relations with Hsuang to remain cold. To his surprise, the noble had [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]