the word came from the High Temple, commanding Sherin to tend to the Jade Princess. I did try to dissuade her from going, but not as forcefully as I should have. The song . . . it was like the long, growing note that plays before the crescendo. The night after she left it brought dreams. I saw chaos, I saw blood, I saw the walls of Min-Tran crumbling . . . and I saw you, brother. In the morning I sent my wife away. You may recall Shoala was never a woman of placid character, and persuading her to leave was no easy task.” His features bunched in a frown of deep regret. “It is my hope that one day she will forgive me.”
“As Sherin forgave me?”
The poorly concealed wince that flickered across Ahm Lin’s face was answer enough to this long-pondered question. Some scars never heal. “She still lives, doesn’t she?” Vaelin asked, swallowing a sigh. “Your song tells you this?”
“She lives.” Ahm Lin nodded at the horizon. “Though she is far away and intent on reaching her destination.”
“What is it? Where is she going?”
“I know only that it is important. I sense her urgency, and the purpose of the one she travels with, though her tune is much more serene. I should warn you, brother, neither are likely to be pleased when we find them.”
* * *
◆ ◆ ◆
After ten miles the fine road they had followed from Min-Tran rapidly degenerated into a track of loose gravel, their passage birthing a tall plume of dust in their wake. The foot messengers had long since been replaced by horsemen. At least one would gallop past every hour, the riders displaying the same single-minded indifference to the Red Scouts or the increasingly infrequent north-bound travellers. The southward traffic, by contrast, increased by the mile. Thin, grey-faced people in ragged clothes shuffled clear of the soldiers’ path with barely a glance. There were many children amongst them, the absence of tears or infant wailing telling a grim tale.
“Starving children stop crying after a while, my dear,” Erlin explained to Ellese when she commented on the ragged people’s strange silence.
“But we have food to spare,” she said. Reaching for her saddlebags she extracted some of the salted pork they had been provisioned with in Min-Tran. A warning shout from the Red Scout sergeant came too late as Ellese leaned down from the saddle to offer the food to a passing woman with a hollow-cheeked, dull-eyed child lolling in her arms. Within seconds Ellese was mobbed, emaciated people thronging around her with arms outstretched, beseeching voices raised in a collective, needful groan.
Cursing, the sergeant barked out a command and a squad of scouts spurred their mounts into the mob, striking out with riding crops. The people duly reared back, most resuming their slump-shouldered trek whilst a few dozen lingered at the side of the road. They cast shouts and raised fists at the soldiers until, inevitably, their words were accompanied by a hail of stones. From the fury and shock with which the soldiers responded, open displays of defiance were far beyond their experience.
“Insolent northern swine!” Corporal Wei spat, drawing his sword and spurring towards the small knot of protestors. Two of his comrades followed suit but all three came to an abrupt halt as Nortah wheeled his horse into their path.
“Out of my way, you barbarian fucker!” Wei commanded, the words accompanied by his usual cloud of spittle.
Nortah possessed only a rudimentary knowledge of Chu-Shin but Vaelin doubted he missed the man’s meaning. Nevertheless he calmly wiped the spit from his face before reaching over his shoulder to draw his own sword. “I don’t think I care for your tone,” he said, resting the blade on his shoulder.
A brief drum of hooves brought Sehmon, Alum, Chien and Ellese to Nortah’s side, whilst a half-dozen Red Scouts moved to fall in on Wei’s flanks. Vaelin glanced at Sho Tsai, sitting apparently at ease on his horse some twenty yards away. The captain’s gaze was fixed on Tsai Lin rather than the unfolding confrontation.
Vaelin kicked his horse closer to the Dai Lo, speaking softly, “An apprentice officer is still an officer. Unless you want some of your men to die today, I suggest you get them under control.”
Tsai Lin’s gaze flicked from Vaelin to his father and back again. Vaelin found his expression odd, more reluctant than fearful. It was clear something was expected of him here, a task he would rather not