Then from opposite sides Doifuzan and the servant stepped forward. The servant handed Lord Tsekuin the short sword. Doifuzan drew his own sword and took a solid two-handed grip on it. A deathly silence fell on the courtyard.

Lord Tsekuin raised the short sword, then turned it in his hand until it was pointing at the right side of his stomach. His mouth hardened into a thin line. Then with a jerk of his arm he drove the point of the sword into himself.

His face twisted, but his hand locked on the sword, driving it in deeper. He coughed, and blood sprayed from his mouth, leaving spots on the sand and on his white clothing. Then he began to draw the sword across his stomach, leaving a gaping bloody slash.

As he finished carving the slash, Doifuzan stepped forward. The first dabuno's sword flashed in the sun, then whistled down in an arc. Lord Tsekuin's head leaped from his shoulders in a mighty fountaining spray of blood and fell to the sand with a dull whump. The headless body remained kneeling upright for a moment. Then it folded forward and lay motionless as the last few beats of the heart drove out the last of the blood. The smell of the blood rose thickly into the warm still air of the courtyard.

Doifuzan raised one hand. «It is finished, and our lord has done his duty to the Hongshu.»

Yezjaro stepped forward and also raised one hand. «Let us be mindful of our duty also.» Blade tried to catch the instructor's eyes, but the young man refused to meet Blade's gaze. He persistently looked away, until Blade finally gave up, turned away, and strode off toward the gate of the courtyard. No one followed him, spoke to him, or even looked at his departing back.

Chapter 16

Blade left the castle as soon as he could. A few days' food, extra clothes and footgear, the diamond, and a couple of knives filled a sack slung over one shoulder. His two swords rode in place in his sash, and the best spear he could find in the armory rode on the other shoulder.

No one bothered him as he equipped himself or as he walked to the castle gate. No one spoke to him, even to curse him. But a few of the dabuni he passed could not conceal the doubt in their eyes as they looked at him. He was a man who had been invited to join the service of the Hongshu. How could be not be tempted? How could he be trusted to be faithful to the end to Lord Tsekuin's memory?

Blade wasn't going to worry about these vague suspicions. But he wanted to be well away from the castle before the suspicions turned into open hostility. That hostility could too easily inspire someone with the idea of sticking a knife into Blade some dark night. He was damned if he was going to let this whole frustrating mission in Gaikon end in such an ignominious death!

A mile beyond the gate he met the advanced guard of the Hongshu's army moving in on the castle. The elaborately armored mounted officer in command hailed him.

«You are the stranger, Blade, are you not?»

Blade nodded silently.

«Then I have a message for you.» He reached into a pouch at his belt, drew out a scroll, and tossed it arrogantly. «Open it and read, Blade.» His voice was harsh and gloating.

Blade felt more like unlimbering his spear and ramming about two feet of it up into the officers' belly. But he clamped down on his temper and obeyed.

The scroll was simple and blunt. The dabuno Blade, from lands outside Gaikon and formerly in the service of Lord Tsekuin, was under suspicion of plotting against the Hongshu. He was not yet worthy of confinement or interrogation, but no warlords might swear him into their service. He was to keep this scroll on his person at all times and in all places and show it to any officer or lord who might ask. Failure to do so would lead to his immediate arrest.

It was signed by Lord Geron.

After reading that, Blade felt even more like removing at least one officer from the Hungshu's service. But there were at least fifty armed men within a few yards, some of them archers. This was not the time or the place.

Instead he bowed. «The Hongshu has spoken,» he intoned.

«He has,» said the officer. «I hope some day you will listen to him more respectfully.»

Blade bowed again. «Not bloody likely!» was the reply in his mind as he strode away down the road.

The next few weeks were about the most frustrating in Blade's whole life. Lord Tsekuin was dead, so Blade's place in Gaikon as a member of Tsekuin's household was gone. The household itself was scattered and the castle and lands swarming with the Hongshu's troops. Some of the dabuni were obviously planning something to avenge their dead lord. But none of them would say a word to Blade. He suspected that some of them might kill him for even asking. There seemed to be nothing for him to do but wander off and spend the rest of his time in Gaikon exploring the land. Sooner or later, Lord Leighton's computer would snatch him back to home dimension, scroll, diamond, and all. No doubt the diamond would be put to good use-it was worth enough to finance the whole Project Dimension X for months. But that seemed about all he was going to get out of this particular trip.

But wandering through Gaikon was not as easy as Blade had hoped. Not while he carried the Hongshu's scroll. If he had been able to disguise himself, he might have been able to safely throw it away. But his light skin could not easily be disguised, and that set him apart. Even under a coat of dirt it remained suspiciously pale. So he kept the scroll, showed it when asked, and roamed the land as a law-abiding uroi, a masterless dabuno.

After the first weary weeks of tramping the roads in all weathers and at all hours, Blade began to drift toward Deyun. The Hongshu's capital might not be the safest place for a man in his position, but it would certainly be a more comfortable place to wait out the rest of his time in Gaikon than some drafty peasant hut in a mountain village. There would be people who knew what was going on. There would be women. There might even be some of Lord Tsekuin's dabuni, particularly Yezjaro.

If there were any of those, Blade was going to ask a few questions. He made up his mind that he was also going to get answers, whether the people he asked were willing to give them or not. He might not owe Lord Tsekuin the deep loyalty that the other dabuni felt, but treachery like the Hongshu's disgusted him. If he could help make the ruler pay, he would.

Besides, he still didn't like being left out of things.

Deyun seemed even bigger and more crowded than Blade remembered it. But as he had expected, it was easier to live there. There were usually men and women who would stand an uroi a drink or a meal or a night's lodging. The ones who learned that Blade had served Lord Tsekuin were particularly generous. None of them said anything precise, out of fear of the Hongshu's informers. But none of them left Blade in any doubt that they thought Lord Tsekuin had been sadly abused.

Not that there was much hope of any rebellion succeeding. At least fifty thousand of the Hongshu's soldiers were quartered in and around Deyun. Two or three times as many appeared to be scattered in garrisons all over Gaikon. It wasn't surprising that even those who might hate and fear the Hongshu weren't willing to risk the price involved in rebelling against him.

The fact that Deyun was swarming with the Hongshu's soldiers and officials soon began to give Blade problems. The Hongshu's men seemed to have orders to do everything they could think of to make Blade's life impossible.

First it was stopping him five and six times a day to check if he still had his scroll. Then it was searching him, more to annoy him than with the idea of finding anything. They fingered the package holding the diamond, but never tried to open it.