F U CHIANG stood beside Karr at the rail, looking down into the fight pit.
"It is brutal, I know, but it is also one of the few pure things there is. To see them fight . . ." Fu Chiang smiled and turned to look at the giant, casting admiring eyes over his physique. "It cannot be faked. One wins, the other dies. There is such . . . clarity."
"I know," Karr said, his look intense. "I was a Blood. I, too, once fought in a pit, beneath the lights."
Fu Chiang's eyes widened. "You fought . . ." Then he laughed. "You jest with me, Colonel?"
Karr turned to him, his eyes deadly serious. "I fought. Beneath the Net. Eight contests, to the death. And then the Supreme Master, Hwa. He almost beat me." Karr breathed deeply then nodded. "He was a great man, Hwa."
"And then?"
Karr smiled. "And then Tolonen found me, used me. Made me the T'ang's man."
Fu Chiang frowned. "I did not know. It ... well, it strikes me as odd that a Blood should rise to become a Colonel in Security, yet looking at you ..."
Fu Chiang put out a hand, touching Karr's chest. It was like touching a warm stone pillar. Karr watched him patiently, neither offended nor pleased by the small man's touch. Fu Chiang let his hand fall and shrugged. "Anyway, to business . . ."
"He's here?"
"Up above, in the Tower Hall. I left him admiring the view."
"It must be beautiful."
"It is." Fu Chiang smiled. "I like you, Colonel Karr. If ever you tire of being in Li Yuan's service . . ."
He left the rest unsaid, then put out an arm, indicating that they should leave. As they walked along they talked, going down corridors and up stairs, moving along passages cut from the stone of the mountainside, guards everywhere.
"You know what to do?" Fu Chiang asked, pausing outside the great doors.
Karr nodded. "You talked of purity back there. Of the clarity that comes when life or death's the issue. But it isn't always so. These days . . ." He looked away, troubled, then met Fu Chiang's eyes again. "Deals. That's all there is these days. Deals."
"That worries you," Fu Chiang said; statement, not question.
"Yes," Karr admitted. "But I can live with that, if it means I can serve the moral good."
"The moral good? You actually believe that?"
"Not all the time. Yet I know there is a difference. To serve a good man, however bad the system that he oversees, well, it might seem strange to you, Fu Chiang, but I find it better than serving such a one as Li Min."
"You make it sound so simple."
Karr shook his head. "Simple? No. It's never simple. Some days . . ." He smiled, then took a step back from the edge. "Never mind. Let's see the White T'ang's man—the Traitor's traitor."
Fu Chiang laughed. "The Traitor's traitor. I like that. I take it you do not trust our friend Li Min?"
"No."
"Nor I . . ."
"Shall we?" Karr said, indicating the doors.
Fu Chiang smiled. "Be patient, Colonel. Visak will wait as long as you and I wish him to wait, but this . . . ah, it is rare to talk without masks. I had almost forgotten how."
Karr raised an eyebrow. "Have you no wife, Fu Chiang? No friend in whom to confide?"
"A wife?" Fu Chiang snorted. "I have a dozen wives! But trusting them . . . why, I'd sooner trust my bollocks on a butcher's block!"
Karr laughed, then grew serious again. "And yet a man cannot live in isolation."
"No?" Fu Chiang considered that, then shrugged. "All my life I have been alone. It is the condition in which I exist. I thought you understood that. To be a Mountain Lord ... it is not an easy path."
"No . . ." Karr's eyes studied him, their earlier suspicion changed to sympathy. "I understand."
"You understand?" Fu Chiang, half Karr's height, an eighth his size, laughed, then met the giant's eyes. "No, Colonel Karr. You do not even begin to understand."
VISAK WAS STANDING beside the fountain, one hand resting on the horse's flank. Hearing the doors creak open, he turned, then hurriedly came across, his nervousness marked.
"What's happening, Fu Chiang? Has Li Yuan agreed my terms?"
"Your terms?" Karr stepped between Visak and Fu Chiang.
Visak took a step back, then, deliberately ignoring Karr, looked to Fu Chiang again. "You know what I said, Fu Chiang. I want guarantees. A safe place. Protection. Twenty million yuan."
Fu Chiang looked to Karr and nodded. Karr stepped forward, the quickness of the movement surprising for so big a man. In an instant he had pinned Visak's arms behind his back and bound them.
"No deals," Karr said, stepping back. "You're my prisoner now, Shih Visak."
Visak glared at Fu Chiang. "You viper. You—"
"You had nothing," Fu Chiang said. "Nothing for yourself, that is. But for me . . ." He grinned, then turned to Karr. "Tell Li Yuan I am grateful for his patronage. Tell him . . . tell him I hope my gift helps him snare that monster in the depths of his City."
Visak looked from one to the other and then snarled. "You cunt! You fucking—"
Fu Chiang's hand flashed out, the stiffened fingers catching Visak crisply in the solar plexus. Visak doubled up, gasping. Fu Chiang turned, meeting Karr's eyes.
"That was good," Karr said, lowering his head respectfully.
Fu Chiang smiled. "Maybe I should have told you, Gregor Karr, but 1 too was once a Blood. Long ago now. Long, long ago ..."
Lf YUAN had signed the Recall Order and was inking it with the Great Seal, pushing down with both hands on the massive chop, when Nan Ho's secretary, Hu Chang, entered the room and, hurrying to his Master, whispered something to him. Nan Ho listened, then stepped forward and spoke up.
"Chieh Hsia. It seems Marshal Tolonen wishes to speak with you urgently."
Li Yuan looked up, smiling bleakly. "Put him on. I am sure he will want to hear the news."
He moved back, letting the two Custodians of the Seal ease the great square stamp from the silk-paper page and replace it on the cushion, then turned to face the screen which slid down from the ceiling to his left.
"Knut . . . what is it?"
The old man's face was bright with joyful relief. "He's back, Chieh Hsia.1 Li Min has returned the boy!"
"Returned . . ." For a moment he did not understand. "You mean Pauli? Li Min has returned him?"
"Yes!" Tolonen laughed, forgetting himself. "It's wonderful, neh? And no strings!"
No strings. Li Yuan felt his heart sink. What was Li Min up to? "Is he all right?"
"Oh, he's fine, Chieh Hsia!"
Li Yuan nodded, forcing himself to smile, to pretend to share the old man's joy. It was good news, there was no doubting that, yet he could not help but suspect the move. One thing he knew about Li Min, and that was that there was a reason for everything he did. This was no act of kindness, this was a calculated strategy. But to what end? What else was Li Min planning?
"Have you . . . have you had the boy checked?"
"Checked, Chieh Hsia?"
He swallowed, then, knowing no tactful way to put it, said what was on his mind. "Is the boy . . . reai? I mean . . ."
Tolonen laughed. "My personal surgeon has completed a full examination, Chieh Hsia. It is Pauli."
"Good." Li Yuan smiled, relaxing a little. "While you are on, Knut, let me tell you the news. I have recalled the Banner Annies from Africa."
"Chieh Hsia?" Tolonen's smile faded. "But I thought—"
"I have made my decision, Knut. Now forgive me. There is much to do."
Abruptly he cut contact, not wishing to argue the matter out in public with his Marshal.
He turned, looking for his Chancellor, but Nan Ho had left the room. Frowning, he beckoned Nan's secretary across.
"Hu Chang! Where is Master Nan?"
Yet even as he asked, Nan Ho returned, breathless, a strange smile on his face. He came halfway across the great study, then bowed low.