But the possibility of that happening was frail. In ten years Li Yuan had not failed to sign a single one of Pei K'ung's edicts.
Heng sat down heavily in his high-backed chair, staring across the huge, empty room sightlessly, a sense of futility gripping him. He had tried to be a good man, to conduct himself as honestly and openly as possible, but it had been hard. In truth, the politics of the San Chang were the politics of the snake pit. It was bite or be bitten.
The gods help us, he thought. Soon the sadists and the madmen will take over completely. Ming Ai and his stunted half-men unB rule the roost!
The buzzer sounded on his desk. He stared at it, as if it lay a thousand li from where he sat. Then, wearily, he leaned forward and placed his palm against the contact pad.
"What is it, Fen Chun?"
"Master Heng?"
He sat bolt upright, suddenly alert. "Chieh Hsia?"
"Come to my rooms at once."
"At once, Chieh Hsia," he answered, instinctively bowing his head, but he was speaking to himself. Li Yuan had already cut contact.
He sat back and closed his eyes. What now? It was but four hours since he had last seen his Master.
The answer came to him at once. The unmarked craft that had arrived an hour back. Perhaps Li Yuan was about to let him in on what was going on.
If so it would bring matters to a head. For a long time now he had sought to serve both his Master and his Mistress equally. Now, however, if Li Yuan insisted on his secrecy, he would have to disappoint Pei K'ung. And that, he realised, was not something he looked forward to. No, for he had seen what had happened to those who betrayed the Empress.
The thought of it made him turn pale. Li Yuan might well be the head, but Pei K'ung, without doubt, was the hands. Cross her and he might as well take the knife and use it on himself.
He stood. His legs felt weak and there was a sudden pounding at his temple. I am ill, he told himself. But he knew it wasn't any common illness. This was a sickness of the soul.
Li Yuan was waiting for him at the door to his study. Ushering him inside, the T'ang closed the door himself, then, unexpectedly taking Heng"s arm, he drew him across to the window.
"Do you see?" he asked, pointing out into the gardens.
Heng looked. There, in the late afternoon sunlight, two young men stood beneath a blossoming cherry tree.
"The prince!" Heng turned, surprised, looking to his Master. "But I thought he wasn't due back until tomorrow?"
"He came back yesterday. We sneaked him in on one of the regular security patrols. The young man with him is an American. Mark Egan is his name. He is one of the New Colonists."
"Chieh Hsia?"
"I'll explain tomorrow. Right now I want you to go and see Pei K'ung."
"Chieh Hsia?"
Li Yuan smiled, then, going to the desk, rummaged amongst his papers until he found something. He brought it back across. "Here, Master Heng. Give her this. I know I promised you my answer tomorrow, but I had an hour to kill earlier this afternoon." He held out a large white parchment letter, sealed with his imperial stamp. "It is my answer to the document the Empress sent me this morning."
Heng took the letter and stared at it a moment, openmouthed, unable to believe that his Master had at last stood up to Pei K'ung. Again this was Shepherd's doing, he was sure.
He looked up, unable to keep the smile from his face. "Forgive me if I seem impertinent, Chieh Hsia, but might I ask your reasons for not signing the edict."
"Not signing?" Li Yuan gave him a puzzled look. "Did I say I was not signing? No, Master Heng. You have it wrong. I shall sign her document, and gladly, but I want changes to it first."
"Changes?" Heng Yu asked, the smile fading, the last flicker of hope guttering in his chest.
"Of course. The main thrust of her policy is sound, but her strategy. . . Well, you will see my proposals for yourself. They are ... refinements."
"Refinements," Heng repeated, knowing for certain now that all was lost, that it would be war, endless war, for years to come.
"And the prince?" he asked, looking out into the gardens once again and wondering if Kuei Jen's return had to do with this insane plan to reconquer Asia and make Chung Kuo whole again. "Am I to mention that he's back?"
Li Yuan's tight smile gave nothing away. "Not yet, Master Heng. You know how it is between them. They only bicker. Let her think, for the time being, that he is to return tomorrow, in time for the banquet. Besides, I think the letter you are carrying will more than fill her thoughts, neh, Master Heng?"
"Why, yes, Chieh Hsia."
Li Yuan laughed. "Then go and let her know my thoughts. Oh, and Heng Yu . . ."
"Yes, Chieh Hsia?"
"Cheer up a little. You would think the world had ended by that face of yours."
Gregor Karr sat back in his armchair and laughed. Behind him, his eldest daughter, May, nineteen and barely a head shorter than him, held on to the back of the chair, laughing along with him. On the far side of the room, framed in the doorway, stood Karr's youngest, his five-year-old, Beth, her arms extended at full stretch, her father's white Marshal's tunic draped like a tent about her.
"Gregor?" Marie came from the kitchen then, seeing what was up, began to giggle. "Beth. . . come now. You know daddy has to wear that at the banquet tomorrow night. If you get it dirty . . ."
"Leave her," Karr said good-humouredly, sitting forward and holding out his arms to the infant. "I can always get it cleaned."
Marie looked at him fondly as he lifted Beth up onto his knee and cuddled her. "You spoil her, Gregor. She'll become a little Empress."
His look - of mock horror - made her smile. Each knew, without it needing to be said, what the other thought of Pei K'ung.
She looked to May. "Sweetheart, will you chase those two out of the bathroom. It's time I got Beth bathed and into bed."
"Okay," May said, hurrying off.
"They're good girls," Gregor said, smiling at to his wife. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow night. It's not often in a man's life that he can present five such fine-looking women to his T'ang."
She smiled and came across, laying a hand on his shoulder. "You want to see their dresses, Gregor?"
"What, now? But I thought. . ."
Beth grabbed his chin with both of her tiny hands and turned it, so that he had to look at her. "Mease, daddy."
"Okay. But what about that bath. You stink, you little monkey!"
"Oh, I'll bath her in a while. But they'd like that, Gregor. You know how they always want to show off."
He grinned. "Okay, then. But I'm back on duty in an hour."
She squeezed his shoulder. "It'll take five minutes at most. Come on, you . .." And, reaching across Gregor she lifted Beth and twirled her round. "We'll show daddy just what a little angel you can be!"
He watched them go, then sat back, enjoying the peace of his own living room, the sound of his girls - his wife and his four darling daughters - moving and talking in the rooms about him. It was rare that he had the chance to relax this way. Most of the time he was in barracks at Bremen, among his men. He smiled, thinking of it. Though he enjoyed it, he had to admit that it was a hard, unashamedly masculine world. It looked and smelled of men. Of leather and sweat. Here it was different. This here was his place of softness - a Yin world of perfumed comfort and loving kindness. Here he could indulge that other, more feminine side of his nature; a side that only those he loved best - only his girls - knew existed.
And his men?
Karr looked down thoughtfully. In the days to come he would learn just how well his men loved him, for there were rumours that the Empress was planning a campaign -unconfirmed stories that she had been holding consultations and commissioning reports. It was hard to know the truth, of course, especially where that viper I Ye was concerned, but Karr had heard enough - and from enough different sources -to know there was some substance to the talk. And if it was true . . .