Part 32 (1/2)

Did she know what was to come? Was she expecting the a.s.sault, the mayhem that I was preparing to inflict upon some of the palace denizens, including her own father? I had no way of knowing. I certainly hoped she did, because otherwise she was in for one h.e.l.l of a shock.

Even as my horse strode across the bridge, I also kept careful watch for archers. Perhaps the plan was to try and pick me off from a distance. The thought made me squeeze tighter the hilt of the demon sword, so hard that the carvings of the bird's folded wings in the hilt itself were pressed into the flat of my hand. But I saw nothing. No threat was presenting itself from any direction.

We crossed the bridge and got to the main entrance. There were a number of Hamunri waiting for me, and the only way to distinguish them from the Hamunri who had been trying to kill me during my sojourn was that these were bowing. I dismounted and, slapping my hands against my thighs, bowed in reply. They seemed quite delighted by the quality and depth of my bow. So naturally they bowed again.

At which point I bowed again.

This went on for a couple of minutes, although it actually seemed more like forever. Apparently realizing that this could occupy the rest of the day, one of them indicated to the other two to cease what they were doing. ”The Imperior is expecting you,” he a.s.sured me.

”Is he now,” I replied, sounding sarcastic. ”Somehow I tend to doubt he is expecting what I am prepared to give him.”

I allowed the Hamunri to serve as escorts into the palace, even though I certainly knew my way around well enough. My horse was taken away to be housed in the stables. If their intention was to isolate me, they were succeeding. But their success would be shortlived, as would indeed everyone who tried to get in my way.

It could not have been easier. It was so easy, in fact, that I was starting to feel guilty about it. I had some pa.s.sing familiarity with quests or adventures, and this one involved such lack of risk that it was like insulting the memories of all those who had gone on, and died upon, quests. But then I thought, why not?

After everything I've gone through, why shouldn't something be easy one time? I deserved a fragment of luck, did I not?

We went straight to the throne room, and there was the Imperior, much as he'd been when I first met him. He sat upon his dragon throne and was watching me with steady, warm eyes. ”Po,” he said softly. He rose from his throne, came down off the small platform, and walked toward me. There were personal guards standing about, but no one seemed especially concerned. That was incredibly odd considering I had enough weapons upon me to cut down the Imperior where he stood.

”Po,” he said again, and to my shock, opened his arms and wrapped them around me. My hand was against the demon sword's hilt in readiness for an attack. This might have been many things--a trick, the act of a demented mind--but an attack it definitely was not.

”Po, my boy... it is good to see you.” He stepped back and steadied himself. ”Forgive a grateful old man's sentimentality. It was brilliant. Brilliant. But why did you not tell me?”

I had no idea whatsoever what to say in response to that. My hand slipped off the hilt of the demon sword. The Imperior didn't appear to notice or care. He was oblivious of any danger. His personal guards actually seemed pleased at the insane interaction that was occurring. I felt as if I were hallucinating. None of this made any d.a.m.ned bit of sense.

”Tell you?” I echoed.

”You do not have to respond. I know why... and I suppose in some ways, I had it coming.”

He stepped back, shaking his head. ”For so long,” he said, ”so long I have held myself up as the Divine One. The One who is told by the G.o.ds what is to be, what is to come, and all that is. Yet if that were really true, I would have known instantly the true nature of your plan. The brilliance of its execution.

And you knew that. Because of that, you did not tell me. Perhaps you counted on me to know because you too thought me to be omniscient. Or perhaps you were testing me... and if that is the case then, dear boy, I have truly been found wanting.” He stared at me, looking briefly puzzled. ”You are pinching yourself very, very hard. Why are you doing that?”

Realizing that the gesture was not causing me to wake up, I muttered, ”It... is a traditional gesture for self-congratulations in my country.”

”Ah. Well... go question others' traditions. All they do is make our own look sane in comparison.”

He was walking in a small circle around the room. ”And to think: I believed it to be some sort of insane mistake. A miscommunication caused by inept.i.tude. Instead it was a dazzling, brilliant defense maneuver. The greatest in the history of Chinpan... and it is all thanks to you. Had I only been the truly omniscient individual you thought me to be, or that I wished me to be, I would have divined your intent and a great deal of aggravation could have been avoided.”

”I... think you're being too hard on yourself, Divine One,” I managed to say. I realized that I was actually following him. ”There is, uhm... no way you could have known. And I... suppose I could have been more forthcoming. Really. I cannot dismiss my responsibility in this matter.”

”Well, all I can say to you is that it worked to far greater a degree than I think anyone could possibly have expected it to.”

”Certainly beyond mine,” I said.

I heard a bustling at the doors at the far end, and for a moment I tensed, thinking that the true attack was now to be forthcoming. That they had endeavored to put me off guard. But no, it was merely the Imperior's councilors, with Itso Esi leading the way. They were all talking at once, rendering it impossiblefor me to understand exactly what any of them was saying. It was clear, though, that they were all echoing the Imperior's words of praise. Except I still had no clue what the h.e.l.l I was being praised for.

Itso Esi's voice managed to carry above the others as he stopped and bowed to me, as did the others. They remained that way until I bowed in response, and then Itso Esi said, ”I must say, honorable Po, on behalf of the council... we wish that you had taken us into your confidence when you conceived your brilliant plan. But since you chose not to, we respect your wisdom in this matter. We collectively wonder, though: How did you come up with the idea?”

There was expectant silence. ”The idea?” I echoed.

”Yes, the idea. For the Great Wall.”

”The Great Wall?”

”Of Chinpan, yes.”

”Ohhhhh, the Great Wall!” I said, doing everything I could to act as if we'd simply had a mere communications error, rather than that I was just now learning about the brilliant strategy I had supposedly unilaterally developed. I spoke with grand, sweeping gestures, as if I were a grand orator speaking to a crowded amphitheater. ”Yes, of course, the Great Wall, well... I, uhm... I studied the situation, and tried to discern just... what we needed. And I thought, 'Hunh. Well... obviously, only a Great Wall will do the trick.'”

There were nods and murmurs of ”Of course. It's so simple the way he tells it.” I smiled gamely, and then added in an almost off hand way, ”Now... obviously I've been somewhat occupied in the past days, so I couldn't monitor the situation myself.”

They gave each other grim, almost accusing looks, silently admitting that they themselves were the cause for my being ”occupied.”

”So I have to wonder,” I continued, ”how, exactly, did the Great Wall work out? In regards to the situation, I mean.”

”Better than even you could have antic.i.p.ated,” said Itso Esi, as the others bobbed their heads. ”I wish you could have seen the effectiveness with which it halted the Mingol hordes. How did you know they were coming?”

Oh my G.o.ds.

”Ahhhh,” I said slowly. ”Well, gentlemen... and Divine One... that is a most... most interesting tale. The Mingol hordes... they were, in fact, in league with the Forked Tong.”

There were cries of ”I knew it! Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!”

”The Forked Tong sought an alliance with the Mingol hordes in the hopes of overthrowing the Divine One. They carefully a.n.a.lyzed where Chinpan was most vulnerable... provided aid, weapons, and staging areas for the hordes... and then sat back and waited for them to do all the heavy-duty conquest.”

”Little suspecting,” intoned the Imperior, ”that when they came charging up to our borders, they would discover a ma.s.sive wall, miles long. They never stopped building, Kan Du and his men. They must haveshared your vision.”

”Of course,” I said hollowly.

”And since the Hamunri and I were so intent on trying to find you, no one was paying attention to Kan Du. They kept building the wall, and building, and building. They're still working on it, you know. I've authorized continued work on it. All the materials, all the funding they need, to build a wall that will block Chinpan from all invaders all throughout our borders. Good walls make good neighbors, I say.”

There were bobbing heads and ”They do indeed, Divine One” coming from every quarter.

The Imperior was shaking his head in wonder. ”Would that you could have been there to see the culmination of your vision, Po. The battle was spectacular. We suffered no casualties at all. There were the bewildered Mingols, slamming up against the impenetrable Great Wall. They tried to shatter it, to climb over it. None of it did any good. And there were our people, atop the wall, pouring down hot oil upon them, or loosing arrows. The Mingols' casualties were astronomical. The ground ran red with their blood. Their corpses were as numerous as grains of sand upon the beach. It was one of the most splendid sights these old eyes have ever seen, and we have none but you to thank for it. A man of true vision. A man of wisdom. Why, after such a shattering defeat when they doubtless thought we would be easily conquered, it is likely that the Mingols may never recover. We may well have heard the last of those hara.s.sing barbarians. What do you say to that, Po?”

”Huzzah?” I said weakly.

”Huzzah!” they repeated, stumbling over the unfamiliar word but managing it as best they could.

The Imperior rested a hand on my shoulder and said solemnly, ”Young Po... you have earned more than a seat on my council. You have earned a place at my right hand. Go Nogo is gone. Until now, he had been my most trusted advisor. Yet he was so blinded by his hatred for you, that even he was unable to fully grasp the subtlety of your genius. You will take his place.”

”Imperior...”

”What?”

I stepped away from him, trying to remain focused. They were all looking at me expectantly, as if I were the wisest individual in the history of the country, about to impart more morsels of my great wisdom upon them.