Part 18 (1/2)
He stared at me for some time. I couldn't begin to imagine what he was thinking, his face was such a deadpan. Finally he said, ”I am Go Nogo.”
”I see.”
”What are you doing here?”
”Well...” I wasn't sure where to begin. ”I... was told I should bathe, and after having my things put in my room, I was brought here to--”
”What are you doing here, in the Forbidding City?” he interrupted.
”Oh. That. Well... I was sent here by a great king as an emissary...”
”No.”
”No?”
”A king is one who operates from a level of strength,” said Go Nogo. ”He would choose as his emissary one who reflects that strength. He would not choose one who is lame of leg, for that would senda message to all who saw him that the king is weak as well.”
”Really,” I said, my mouth drawn tight. ”And yet the Imperior, who draws his inspiration from the G.o.ds, accepts me at my word. Are you saying that the Divine One is wrong and you are right? I would hate to think you would try to elevate yourself above him. Seems rather insulting. Even dishonorable. You might be asked to apologize by gutting yourself like a trout.”
His face darkened even more than it had been, and I knew I had him then. ”I would gladly lay down my life in the service of the Imperior.”
”If laying down your life is what you're interested in doing, then judging by what I've seen, you're working for the right fellow. By the way, if I may ask, what do you do here? What's your function, I mean.”
And suddenly I was submerged.
Go Nogo had reached across the tub underwater, quick as a swamp snake, and grabbed my ankle.
Considering my relative vulnerability at that moment, I suppose I should have been grateful that my ankle was all he was grabbing. But I was hardly in a position to express grat.i.tude for anything, considering he had pulled me sharply toward him. I slid right off the seat and it was only by a miracle that I didn't strike the back of my head upon it as I went under.
I tried to sit up, but was unable to as his hand shoved down on my chest, pus.h.i.+ng all the air out of my lungs. I grabbed at his forearm, tried to push him away, but wasn't at all successful. I might as well have been trying to uproot an oak tree. a.s.sa.s.sin! He's an a.s.sa.s.sin! An a.s.sa.s.sin from the Forked Tong! I'm going to die. Underwater, in a d.a.m.ned bathtub, at the hands of a stranger, I'm going to die. Well... at least I didn't have to have s.e.x with the Imperior...
Suddenly the pressure was gone. Instantly I splashed upward, and when my head broke the surface, great geysers of water blasted out of my lungs. I thought I was going to accomplish the singular feat of drowning while above the surface of the water, but thirty seconds of violent coughing, spasming, and heaving later, I had managed to get all the water out of my chest.
The bathing wench was kneeling nearby, her hands daintily placed upon her thighs. Go Nogo was seated on the opposite side of the tub, his face as inscrutable as it had been before. And standing nearby, her hands on her hips, was Mitsu. She was wearing a plain white kimono and was looking far more like a female than when I'd first met her.
”Are you quite through, Go?” she demanded.
”What the h.e.l.l did you do that for?” I said. Actually, ”said” may be too generous. I managed to get the sentence out one or two words at a time in between gasps.
”A warning.”
”Doesn't anyone around here believe in just saying what's on their mind instead of trying to kill somebody or making sure they kill themselves?! Why is everything life-and-death with you people?”
”Life and death are intertwined,” said Go Nogo. ”To accept the way of one is to accept the inevitability of the other. It does not matter when death comes. Only how one dies is of consequence.” ”All right, well I'm casting a vote right now for in my bed of old age!”
He snorted disdainfully at that, and then rose from the tub, at which point I was able to see for myself just why he would hold me--and probably a good deal of the rest of mankind--in disdain.
Mitsu barely afforded him a glance. These people were amazingly blase about nudity, which was interesting considering I hadn't seen any such att.i.tudes among the farmers back in Hosbiyu. And considering the attractive figures of some of those farm girls, they couldn't have gotten me to leave in any manner short of swordpoint if they'd had such customs.
Go Nogo picked up a robe from a peg where it was hanging nearby, and draped it around himself.
”Remember my warning,” he said. Then he turned, bowed once to the princess, and walked out with a swagger that was almost as impressive as the rest of him.
”He's an a.s.sa.s.sin!” I said the moment he was out of earshot. ”He would have killed me if you hadn't--”
My voice caught. Princess Mitsu had divested herself of her robe and was now standing naked as her birthday. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were quite small, almost childlike. The rest of her figure, though, belied the notion that she was in any way immature. The only thing that managed to draw my attention away from the more traditional eye-catching parts of her body was the fascinating tattoo she had on her right arm which stretched to her upper shoulder. It was a dragon (no shock there), its tail encircling down to her elbow and its head coming up and over her shoulder. Its mouth was open and it had a long, fierce, red tongue extended angling down toward her...
Quickly I looked away again.
Several bathing maidens had entered and were was.h.i.+ng her down with cloths. She looked rather bored. ”He wouldn't have killed you. He simply becomes overenthusiastic sometimes.” Then I heard her chuckle from behind me. ”You know, this is the first time you've lowered your gaze from me. Do you have a problem with naked women where you come from?”
”Not under certain circ.u.mstances. But these are not those.”
”Ahhh. You a.s.sociate the naked body of the opposite s.e.x with intercourse, yes?”
”And you don't?”
She shook her head as she gestured for the maidens to step aside, and she approached the tub. My mind flew back to the last time I was in a tub with a naked woman. It had been the Lady Kate, back when I was peacelord, and a good time was had by all. Then I suddenly began to feel a certain degree of urgency in my loins, stemming from both my recollection of times past and what was occurring now. I came to the realization that if I didn't get the h.e.l.l out of the tub at that moment, my condition would reach the point where exiting the tub and displaying my ”enthusiasm” would simply prove far too embarra.s.sing.
And I did not want to take any chance of anything happening with Mitsu in the tub. The circ.u.mstances were very different from what had transpired between Princess Entipy and myself, but there were enough similarities that I wanted to steer very clear of any possible repet.i.tion. To say nothing of the fact that her father was a crazy man who thought that requiring people to kill themselves was a perfectly acceptable way to conduct one's daily routine. I had no desire to be added to that rapidly expanding list of corpses. I lurched to my feet, moving quickly, turning my back to Mitsu. My back, admittedly, was also naked, but it was less inflammatory. I splashed out onto the floor and my slick feet went out from under me, causing me to fall flat. This was one occasion I didn't mind, however, since it helped conceal that which I far preferred to keep to myself.
There was amused laughter from Mitsu and the other women, but I didn't care. I quickly got my robe around me, and draped a towel around my middle for good measure. With a sigh of relief, I got to my feet and leaned against the tub.
Mitsu was in the middle of the tub, looking very relaxed. She was regarding me with a raised eyebrow. ”Are you quite all right?” she inquired.
”As right as I can be considering someone was trying to kill me less than a minute ago.”
”I told you, he was just warning you. Go Nogo takes his position very seriously.”
”And what position is that?” I demanded, grabbing another towel and drying my hair. ”Lord high executioner?”
”No. Head of security.”
”Wonderful.” I stared at her more openly considering she was submerged from the neck down. ”So you wandered about and your father objected.”
”He objects to anything I do that would be akin to what a man does,” she replied airily. ”He believes females should know their place. Do you?” she asked.
I shrugged. ”I don't even know what my place is. I wouldn't presume to tell someone else to know theirs. And how did you get together with Mordant?”
”Mordant?” She raised the other eyebrow, both of them meeting somewhat near the top of her forehead.
”The drabit. You know... the small dragon...”
”Oh. Yes.” She made a casual, dismissive gesture. ”He caught my fancy in the circus cage. I decided it was unfair such a creature should be imprisoned. So I decided to free him. Simple as that.”
I knew perfectly well it wasn't that simple. The princess may have been many things, but a skilled liar was not among them. But there was no point in pressing her on it.
”I am very impressed, by the way,” she said.