The Peasant (5 page)

“Absolutely. I've saved my fellow peasants a lot of suffering, lowered their taxes and given them back their dignity.”

“I asked because not one of six Emperors Arrow has hauled in such a catch, even in favorable seas.”

“Not surprising, Lord Oak, considering our poverty.”

“A situation the Tiger Prefects have ignored. Listen, Bear, the Lord Emperor wants his clams. I'll convince him to settle for twenty. Deliver them within a year and he'll consider making you captain of this sinking garbage scow.”

“Sounds like a promise, Lord Oak.”

“It's not—he'd as soon order you to walk the plank tomorrow as make you Prefect, eh? That's as the Lord Emperor wills. If he makes you Prefect, though, you'll have the authority to pilot the prefecture from poverty, if you don't run aground.”

Looking sharply at the other man, Guarding Bear saw Aged Oak meant what he said. “I also think we can improve conditions here, Lord Oak. My brother and I dream of the day when the Caven Hills is part of the Eastern Empire, not just a garbage heap for its human outcasts.”

“I'd like to see it included as well, and I'll gladly help—as long as you help me.” Aged Oak looked at him suspiciously.

Brazen Bear and Guarding Bear glanced at each other and smiled, having found someone to help them build their dream.

* * *

Our dream became a reality, Guarding Bear thought, drawing strength from his memories. Strength he'd need for the audience with the Emperor Flying Arrow, a few minutes hence.

A large bear claw embroidered across the back of his robe, Guarding Bear strode along the dusty street. Passersby bowed, and he nodded in return. A ceremonial pair of guards marched a pace apart and a pace behind him. One was Mouse, the courier from the north. The castle blotted out the setting sun. His mate and daughter had already reached it, and he now hurried there himself, dread and excitement warring within him.

Guarding Bear's bowels churned. His guts ground every time the Emperor ordered him to the castle.

He wished he could disobey the summons. But his daughter was sick and only the Imperial Medacor could help her. And the Imperial Sword enabled Flying Arrow to punish offenders anywhere in the Eastern Empire with his electrokinesis. Guarding Bear didn't want to be shocked. Which made the summons no easier to swallow.

A telepathic Wizard can send a message thirty miles, Guarding Bear thought. With the Imperial Sword, Flying Arrow can summon me from Bastion. A pyrokinetic Wizard can burn a tree from five miles away. With the Imperial, Sword Flying Arrow can make a bonfire of Cove. Cursing the ancestors who'd endowed the Swords with the dominion they had today, Guarding Bear wished for a similar talisman to blast apart Flying Arrow's reign. Long ago, talismans had been outlawed to preserve the sovereignty of the Swords.

Guarding Bear's wish passed quickly.

He nodded to the bows of more passersby. He simply wanted the Emperor to rule less oppressively. Why did Flying Arrow
really
summon me? he wondered, gusts tousling his black unruly hair. What mischief is he planning for me?

Guarding Bear lowered his shields to test the mood of the flow. It was quiet, the amount of psychic activity below normal for a windy, late-summer dusk. His primary talent protected him by harnessing others' psychic energy. He littered battlefields with detailed statues in gruesome postures unbecoming of the human physique.

Another passer by bowed. Guarding Bear nodded.

One of his secondary talents was sectathonics, which detected small disruptions in the psychic flow. A sectathonic Wizard might scan the flow for all human presence within twenty miles. The General could only see those within a mile.

Four Arrow spies watching, he thought, recognizing their altered signatures.

Three passersby rose from their bows and charged past his guards. The General kicked away one knife, cracking bone, then caught a wrist. With his other hand he grabbed a forearm and pulled his hands together.

Two assassins collided with each other. He felled the third with a lightning kick to the groin.

Three thwarted assassins lay sprawled on the street, writhing.

“Scowling Tiger sent three at once. That's a new tactic.” Guarding Bear checked each one's injuries. “Medacor!” he shouted.

“I'm a medacor, Lord Bear.” At an alley entrance stood a boy, his hair the blond of wheat and eyes the blue of ice. He looked about seven years old.

Gesturing him over, Guarding Bear collected the weapons, two knives and a sword, and stepped toward the three men who'd tried to kill him.

The blond boy placed his large hands on the worst wound. A sliver of bone protruded from the forearm. The bone slid underneath the skin, which then closed without a scar. “You'll have to kill with your other arm for a day or two, Lord Assassin.” The boy stood and stepped toward the General. “You're fast, Lord Bear.”

“Thank you, Healer. You're not a
certified
medacor, are you?”

Smiling sheepishly, the boy shook his head.

Guarding Bear stepped past him. “Here, don't leave your weapons.” He tossed them on the ground in the midst of the trio, and then turned his back on the assassins.

His one real guard opened his mouth and then promptly closed it.

Mouse, the courier from the north, was sweating and shaking, his face pale. His squinty eyes were open so wide that he looked as though he'd never squint again.

The boy grinned at the Guarding Bear. “The Lady Water sent me.” He touched the General's arm.

The boy's power washed over him like ocean breaker over coral reef. Guarding Bear's talent rose to protect him, then quickly subsided. Like water from the fountain of youth, the boy's energy spread through his body and mind. Scars shrank and disappeared, replaced with unblemished skin. Old fractures mended with new bone, a badly set thumb healing properly. Deep abiding angers fled their abodes.

The boy's power knocked him backward. Guarding Bear stepped on a hand reaching for a knife. An assassin yelped and grimaced. “Forgive me,” Guarding Bear said, “an accident, eh?”

Taking his weight off the foot, Guarding Bear reviewed the boy's message. The first image showed a human hand stained with blood above his daughter. Someone poisoned her! he thought. The second image showed the large hands of Healing Hand on his daughter's head. The boy healed her! the General thought, sighing.

Kneeling, he looked into the boy's ice-blue eyes. “Infinite bless you for healing my daughter, Hand. Listen carefully. Captain Silent Whisper will come along this street. I'll tell him to look for you. For your own safety, please go with him and do as he says. Questions?”

Healing Hand frowned. “Why would anyone do that to her?”

Shaking his head, Guarding Bear tousled the boy's hair. “Bless you your caring, Hand. Someone did it to hurt me, eh? Now, disappear until Lord Captain Whisper comes along.”

Healing Hand nodded, turned and fled up the alley.

Standing, Guarding Bear checked his nose for the livid scar. To his relief, he found it unhealed.

Why didn't Bubbling Water find some pretext not to enter the castle? Guarding Bear wondered. We don't need the Imperial Medacor anymore. If she weren't already there, Guarding Bear would've found some excuse to disobey Flying Arrow's summons.

“Let's go,” Guarding Bear said, starting for the castle.

“Forgive me, Lord General,” said the real guard. “What about
them
?”

One assassin had bared his stomach and was preparing to fall on his knife.

The second nudged him and said, “What happened?”

The third, holding up his broken hand, looked mournfully after the fleeing boy.

“What
about
them?” the General asked, then turned and walked off.

His guards returned to their positions, hurrying to catch up.

Guarding Bear checked the flow for further danger. Not seeing the signatures of the spies, he wondered what his talent had done to them. They probably suffered the same fate as my battlefield enemies, he thought.

Returning from the castle at a casual stroll was Bubbling Water's detachment of Bear Warriors. They surrounded Guarding Bear. Among them was Captain Silent Whisper, who nodded informally, as instructed.

“Insure Healing Hand's safety in case someone identified him,” Guarding Bear said, his voice low. “Let no one speak with him until I do. Find his mother and father if you can.”

“How much do I tell them, Lord?” the Captain whispered back.

“Only as much as they need to know, eh?” Guarding Bear nodded and the detachment strolled away. The courier from the north and another warrior had traded places without being noticed. Minutes later, the General received confirmation that the courier was on his way north. Guarding Bear chuckled, feeling good despite the chilling wind, the Tiger assassins, the nosy spies, the infuriating news, the Emperor Arrow.

Infinite help me stick to my promises, Guarding Bear thought. In the eighteen months since making them, they hadn't been tempered in the forge of adversity. He repeated them to steel his resolve: I will not war except on those who war on me. I will not kill except those who try to kill me.

Sighing, the General approached the eastern gate of Emparia Castle. With a burst of flatulence, his bowels relaxed. Like the summons that Guarding Bear had found difficult to digest earlier, the castle swallowed him, only to eject him later like so much excess wind.

W
hen an Emperor dies, the other three Emperors attend the successor's coronation. Originally a ceremony to celebrate the succession, this practice is now the stage on which the three reigning Emperors give the successor their sanction. For an Emperor-elect popular with his people, the sanction of the other three Emperors isn't important. For an Emperor-elect with little popular support, sanction is crucial. Without the sanction of his fellow Emperors, an Emperor elect often has to fight to keep his throne.—
Interregnums: Desperate Times, Tumultuous Times
.

* * *

Her fine silk robes were bright, lively colors. Her black, lustrous hair was fashionably coiffed. Her jade-green eyes were set wide on her face. She was beautiful. Her mood was ugly.

The Matriarch Bubbling Water stopped outside the door of the eastern hall, boiling inside. The guards at the castle gate had forcibly taken her daughter. Why did Flying Arrow order them to separate us? she wondered.

Emblazoned upon the double doors was the emblem of the Imperial Arrow Family. On each side stood a guard. In the small antechamber were several human sculptures, some in the throes of agony, others those of ecstasy. Etched upon each three-inch pedestal was the claw of Bear.

The Emperor's personal servant appeared between the two sentries. The withered man who'd served three generations of Emperors Arrow commented on her glowing health. He turned and announced her, his voice strong despite his age.

Bubbling Water entered and approached the dais, stopping twenty paces from the Emperor. Bowing deeply as protocol required, she held the bow until he acknowledged her. The custom was a reminder of who was sovereign here.

“Lady Matriarch Water.” Flying Arrow's voice was a nasal tenor.

“Infinite be with you, Lord Emperor Arrow,” she said, rising from the obeisance and looking at him closely.

His brown hair was streaked with gray. His blue eyes were laced with crimson. He stood five feet, six inches. His arms and face were thin, his chin weak. The Emperor needed every inch of the six-foot pyramidal dais to look the least bit imposing.

Above Flying Arrow shimmered an old silk tapestry, blue and white the principal colors. Seven arrows in a quiver portrayed seven Emperors, each shaft distinct from the others. Woven most recently into the tapestry was an arrow with white wings, representing the present Emperor.

On a tasseled pillow nearby lay three swords. They didn't look important. The Eastern Imperial Sword was adorned with a large diamond, the source of Flying Arrow's political power. Beside it, adorned with a smaller diamond, was the Eastern Heir Sword, which assured the succession. The third sword, having a ruby instead of a diamond, was the Northern Imperial Sword. A fourth sword would have completed the set. Its absence diminished the importance of the other three. Missing, and presumed destroyed, was the Northern Heir Sword, its function to assure the Northern Succession.

To assure a succession, one must sire a child, Bubbling Water thought ruefully, glancing at Flying Arrow.

She saw that she and the Emperor were the only ones present—no servants, no guards. Not waiting for his invitation, she eased herself to the nearby cushion, folding her legs beneath her. “Getting your invitation pleased me greatly, Lord Nephew.”

Sculptures stood at both the forward corners of the dais, the two Arrow sentries eternally sentinel in their obsidian cages. They always made her nervous.

“My cousin's illness demanded immediate attention, Lady Water. Six medacors couldn't cure her disease, eh? I know just two diseases a medacor can't arrest: Death and treachery.”

She smiled. “I'd heard about the recent outbreaks here in the castle. Fortunately, Lord Nephew, they haven't spread to Emparia City. A passing boy cured my daughter's sickness. If an untrained boy could do it, the illness can't have been serious.” Bubbling Water wondered whether to protest the taking of her daughter now or later.

“Eh? She's
better
?!”

Why isn't he relieved? she wondered. Was my daughter's illness
his
doing? “Yes, Lord Nephew, and you'll have the Infinite to pay if I discover you arranged her sickness.”

“
I
?” Flying Arrow said, his voice shrill. “How could I—?”

“And if your monkeys interfere with me again, on or off castle grounds, I'll decorate your walls with their brains.”

“Monkeys, Lady Water? Only that Southern barbarian keeps monkeys—”

“Your warriors, Lord Nephew,” she interrupted.

The double doors behind her squeaked open, and the ancient servant announced, “The Lord General Guarding Bear.”

Bubbling Water turned. Guarding Bear strode toward the dais and stopped beside her. Seeing his vibrant health, she knew Healing Hand had found him. Now Guarding Bear knows someone poisoned our daughter, she thought, wondering if he knew
who
. She glanced toward the Emperor, frowning.

* * *

Guarding Bear bowed, strangling the hilt of his sword. He wished it were Flying Arrow's neck. “Lord Emperor Arrow, why did you have my daughter abducted at the castle gate?” The General had two spies in Emparia Castle for every one Flying Arrow had on him.

The Emperor's face turned red. “Why shouldn't I take your head for your intolerable rudeness, eh? For Infinite's sake, Lord Bear, stop acting like a peasant!”

“I
am
a peasant, Lord Emperor,” Guarding Bear replied genially. “I realize her health concerned you, Lord, but your guards saw that my daughter is healthier than the Imperial Medacor himself.”

“Forgive them, Lord Bear. I ordered them to take her directly to the Medacor's office. If there were objections, the Captain should have consulted me. I'll have him punished. Inexcusable, not having eyes to see with, eh?”

“Inexcusable, not having brains to think with, Lord Nephew.”

“Yes,” the Emperor muttered, looking puzzled. “Stop calling me 'Nephew'! You know how it annoys me.”

“Forgive me, Lord Emperor. I forgot you don't like to be reminded I'm your Patriarch.”

“Where the Infinite
is
Rippling Water?” Bubbling Water asked. “Please have the Lord Spirit return her, Lord Nephew.”

Guarding Bear allowed himself a small smile, drawing strength from his mate. Her elder sister having died giving birth, Bubbling Water had reared Flying Arrow, wasn't as afraid of him as most people, and called him anything she wanted.

“Of course, Lady Water.” Watching them, Flying Arrow reached for the Imperial Sword.

His hand fell on the sword with the ruby. A bright spark flashed, white steam puffed, and the Emperor yelped. Muttering curses, he touched the weapon to which he belonged, the diamond glowing briefly.

Guarding Bear grinned. “Please be careful, Lord Emperor. Did you forget you can't wield that Sword?”

“Eh? Of course not!” His hand a pink, boiled crab, the Emperor glowered at the General. “I'd be able to wield it if you'd found the Heir Sword!”

“If I
had
found it, you'd have enslaved the people of the Northern Empire.”

“Of course I'd have enslaved them! They deserved it!”

“Because Lofty Lion insulted you by refusing to attend your coronation ceremony? He refused because you're not fit to rule, a point you've proved a thousand times since. All three refused because they knew you'd be a tyrant.”

Flying Arrow had lost vast face when not a single Emperor had come to his coronation. “As if you could do better, Lord Emperor Bear. You wouldn't have had the testicles to grind Lofty Lion's face in the dirt!” So he'd given Guarding Bear command of the Eastern Armed Forces. “I had to
order
you to raze the Northern Empire. A man with meat between his legs would've volunteered.”

“If you'd had meat between your legs, you'd have led our armies yourself.” Guarding Bear had led the Eastern Empire to a lightning victory, routing Lofty Lion's armies in less than a year. “You fought one stinking duel, while
I
defeated his armies and
I
ground his face in the dirt.
One
!”

“
I
defeated the man who cleaved your nose in half, Lord Undefeated Bear!”

“Your
victory
isn't worth a bucket of dung. When you didn't find the Heir Sword, you lost the war.” Lofty Lion had either hidden or destroyed the Northern Heir Sword simply to spite his Eastern foes. “Now you can't even cut your fingernails with the Northern Imperial Sword!” No man could wield it without the Heir Sword's preparation.

“It's not
my
fault Lofty Lion wouldn't tell me where the Heir Sword was. I did everything I could to find it!”

“Torturing and executing all those Northerners in front of him was barbaric! No wonder he died. An Emperor fit to rule doesn't slaughter a half-million people. You lost the war, Lord Emperor. Admit it!” Infinite forgive me my part in their deaths, the General thought, the crushing weight of all those Northern souls on his shoulders.

“I didn't lose the war. You
lost
it!”

“I conquered the Northern Empire, but
you
lost the war.”

“Listen, you insufferable peasant—”

“
You
listen, you insufferable tyrant—”

“Cease!” Bubbling Water said. “I'm ashamed of you both. If you don't stop this instant, I'll bash your heads together. If you want to pour salt into each other's old wounds, don't do it in
my
presence. I won't have my mate and my nephew arguing like children.” The Matriarch took a deep breath. “Now, apologize to each other.”

Guarding Bear ran his hands through his hair and sighed. “I'm sorry, my mate. Forgive me, Lord Emperor.”

Flying Arrow frowned, then sighed. “Yes, Lady Empress Water. The fault was mine, Lord Bear. Please forgive me.”

The two men bowed to the same depth, then grinned at each other. “They're indomitable, eh Lord Nephew?”

“Indeed, Lord Bear. What would we do without women?”

“You'd thrust your swords into each other's back passages,” Bubbling Water said. Both men laughed and Guarding Bear hugged her.

“I wish you'd told me about my cousin's sickness earlier, Lady Water,” Flying Arrow said. “I'd have happily sent the Imperial Medacor to cure her.”

They all three knew he'd have forbidden Soothing Spirit to do exactly that.

“We didn't want to bother you with such a petty matter, Lord Nephew.” She looked pleased to have defused the hostility between her men this time. She turned to Guarding Bear. “You met with the boy.”

“Are you thinking what I'm thinking?” Guarding Bear glanced toward the dais. “We ought to retain him, eh?” They didn't open their minds to each other. Flying Arrow might intercept their thoughts, and opening one's mind in the Emperor's presence invited his mischief.

“I am. The boy might prove worthy of our patronage.”

“What boy?” Flying Arrow asked.

“The one who cured our daughter, Lord. We always reward good deeds.” Bubbling Water smiled at her nephew.

Guarding Bear wondered how she'd retaliate for her daughter's poisoning.

“You should punish bad ones;
I
always do.” Flying Arrow frowned at them.

The ancient servant entered and announced, “The Lord Imperial Medacor Soothing Spirit.”

Soothing Spirit walked toward the dais, a child in his arms. His head was completely bald and his skin was pink, without a wrinkle despite his eighty-one years. Radiating inner peace, he aimed his eyes at the floor. To everyone's surprise, he made no obeisance; instead, he handed the child to Bubbling Water as he passed her. Climbing the dais, he grasped the Emperor's hand and healed the burn, then wrapped gauze around the pink, new skin. “Please be careful with the hand until it heals fully, Lord Emperor.” Soothing Spirit retreated to the base of the dais and bowed to the mates. “Forgive my lack of manners, Lord General, Lady Matriarch. The Lord Emperor had hurt himself.”

“Nothing to forgive, Lord Medacor.” Bubbling Water nodded to acknowledge the obeisance.

“Infinite bless you, Lady Matriarch.”

Guarding Bear felt Soothing Spirit's psychic scan.

“Infinite be with you as well, Lord General. Both of you look well.”

“Thank you, Lord Medacor,” he replied, nodding.

“How is my cousin, Lord Spirit?” Flying Arrow asked.

Soothing Spirit glanced at the girl. “Rippling Water is in excellent health, Lord Emperor.”

Guarding Bear watched the Medacor. He was disappointed that Soothing Spirit didn't question why Flying Arrow had ordered him to examine a perfectly healthy child. The Emperor had long ago extinguished the Medacor's curiosity.

“It pleases me to hear it,” Flying Arrow muttered.

The Medacor glanced toward the door, his features serene. “Forgive me, Lord Emperor, I must attend to an emergency. Lord General and Lady Matriarch, my apologies for having to leave so abruptly.”

“What emergency?” Flying Arrow asked, flexing his hand.

“Two men have turned up unconscious, Lord Emperor, not an inch of skin on their bodies.” Soothing Spirit glanced placidly toward the door again.

Flying Arrow dismissed him with a wave.

As the Imperial Medacor turned, the servant entered. They met at the door and spoke. “Another one?” Soothing Spirit left quickly.

Guarding Bear frowned. They'd find a fourth man without skin, he knew—the spies who'd watched him on his way to the castle. They're my fellow citizens, Guarding Bear thought, feeling sad.

“Why do you frown, Lord Bear?”

“We don't see each other often enough, Lord Nephew.” He knew the Emperor would never understand his sadness.

His heart went cold. Leaping to his feet, Guarding Bear spun to face the door, his sword singing from scabbard.

Unannounced, the Sorcerer Lurking Hawk stood just inside the double doors. Like most Northerners, his hair was blond, his skin pale. Like many Wizards, his face was gaunt from his abuse of his talents.

Guarding Bear glared, his stance set and his body fluid to act at the first twitch of motion.

“Lord General,” the Sorcerer said, his voice a hiss. He offered no obeisance. On his wrist glittered a silver bracelet.