[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
else he could appropriately say. Besides, this was certainly being at the
center of things!
Chapter 14
«^»
Blade stood in the first warrior's black square and stared out across the
enormous Hu-board pattern that covered the entire floor of the huge chamber.
The black and white squares gleamed in the light of the lamps swinging from
the beams overhead. Behind him Lord Tsekuin sat on a chair cushioned with
white silk. At the opposite corner of the board sat the Hongshu. Beside him
Lord Geron lay on a litter. Lord
Tsekuin had not wounded the second chancellor as seriously as it had been
believed at first. But it would be several weeks more before he could walk
about normally. The side of his face that was now swathed in bandages would be
scarred for life.
Beside Lord Tsekuin sat Doifuzan. Other than the two players and their
companions, the only people in the chamber were the five "pieces" of each
player's hand. Blade had wondered why the Hongshu thought he would be safe
Page 43
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
facing a man whom he had disgraced and doomed.
"You may wonder that," Doifuzan had said. "But not aloud. To even think of
striking at the person of the Hongshu is an abomination. Were any of us to do
that, the whole clan would be swept from the land.
Castles and huts alike would burn, fields would be plowed up and sown with
salt, men, women, children, warriors, and peasants all would perish by fire or
steel or slow torture. Do not speak the least word of rebellion against the
person of the Hongshu."
Blade saw the wisdom of that. It was not the time or place to point out that
dead Hongshus execute no rebels. It was also not the time to ask what might be
done against other enemies than the Hongshu himself. Blade was sure that
Yezjaro and Doifuzan were already thinking about this. He was just as sure
they would not welcome his questions about it.
Blade threw a brief glance at the Hongshu. He was on the small side, but he
wore his hair tied higher than usual and sat very erect to conceal the fact.
He looked lean and in fighting trim, although a full beard suggested something
about his face that he preferred to conceal. His eyes moved continuously about
the chamber. In another man this might have given the impression of
restlessness. In this man it gave the impression of a ceaseless curiosity, a
constant ferreting out of other people's secrets.
A formidable man, Blade suspected. Perhaps there was reason why even the
Hongshu's enemies preferred his ironhanded rule to that of the present
overeducated, weak-willed emperor.
But the politics of Gaikon meant nothing one way or the other in this chamber.
Blade turned his eyes to the five dabuni of the Hongshu's hand. The man had
certainly picked them for size. There wasn't one of them less than six feet
tall or lighter than two hundred pounds. Their swords and spears were in
proportion. But did they have skill to match their brawn?
All four of Blade's own comrades were at least competent fighters. Two carried
spears, two carried swords. But Blade suspected he was going to wind up doing
most of the fighting.
The sound of another of Gaikon's thousands of gongs broke into his thoughts.
The Hongshu rose from his chair and stepped forward to stand beside his first
warrior. Lord Tsekuin did the same with
Blade. Lord Tsekuin bowed deeply; the Hongshu bowed much less deeply. The
Hongshu stepped back and intoned in a surprisingly deep voice:
"We meet here in the master game of Hu. Such is the wish of Lord Tsekuin. Such
wish is his right by the laws and customs of proper obedience, as established
by the Hongshu Korlo in the fifty-fourth year of the power of this house. Let
it be witnessed that this is his wish, and to it we consent."
Lord Geron and Doifuzan spoke together. "It is witnessed."
The Hongshu nodded slowly. "Then let the game commence." He sat down again,
while the gongs sounded again from above. Then he folded his arms and leaned
back in his chair, waiting for Lord
Tsekuin to declare the first move.
Even with only ten pieces on its forty-eight-square board, Hu was a
complicated game. Each of the five pieces of each hand first warrior, first
and second swordsman, first and second spearman had about thirty different
moves. Some they could make at all times, others only under certain
conditions.
Blade remembered his remark when Yezjaro first summarized the rules and moves
for him.
"It sounds like a long game."
"It is. Two truly skilled players have been known to sit at a board for three
days continuously,
without food or sleep. A normal game can last six or seven hours."
But this game would not last even a few hours, let alone several days. There
would be no captures, only death, and the blood on the tiled squares would be
Page 44
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
entirely real.
The gongs died away. From behind him Blade heard the rustle of Lord Tsekuin's
robes as he sat down. Then the man's voice rang out in the sudden silence of
the chamber, loud enough to echo.
"Second spearman-Jufon move to square six-five."
Both players devoted their first few moves to maneuvering their five pieces
out toward the center of the board. The Hongshu seemed to prefer a more open
formation, Lord Tsekuin a tight one. Blade suspected that was to make it
easier for him to move into action against any of his five possible
opponents. There were strategies in the regular game of Hu built around the
first warrior in just that way.
They made even more sense here.
After that came a quick series of another half-dozen moves, most of them
unnecessarily intricate.
When that was finished, the two clusters of warriors were almost exactly where
they had started. Blade suspected the two players were trying to either
impress or confuse each other with their skill at the more intricate moves of
the game.
But both players were too experienced to let a show-off opponent's tricks
bother them. When the sequence of moves was done, Blade shot a quick look
behind him. Lord Tsekuin sat motionless in his chair, arms crossed on his
chest, his face a mask as immobile as if it had been cast in bronze. Blade's
respect for the doomed lord rose. Keeping that iron calm under the
circumstances was admirable.
A long silent pause followed. The moment for the first blood was approaching.
Blade knew that neither player was hesitating out of any fear of that moment.
But now the price of a wrong move had suddenly risen. Now it could throw away
a warrior of the hand, and perhaps the game.
It was the Hongshu's turn now. One of his swordsmen made a simple move
out to the right.
Simple but it brought him to where one of Lord Tsekuin's spearmen could engage
him by any of half a dozen moves.
The Hongshu had thrown out his challenge. Now the decision lay in Lord
Tsekuin's hands. Blood now or later?
Lord Tsekuin rose to the challenge. He called out a move in clipped, cool
tones. The spearman moved to engage. He was the youngest of the five dabuni in
Tsekuin's hand. Could he have any chance against the Hongshu's swordsman?
His opponent was half again as large as the spearman and looked larger still.
With a rasp of metal he drew his sword. The spearman's weapon rose into
position and he dropped into fighting stance. The silence in the chamber
deepened. The two opponents stood motionless, their weapons raised. From where
Blade stood, he couldn't even see them breathe.
Suddenly the two frozen figures in the center of the chamber exploded in sound
and movement. The swordsman's weapon swung wide, leaving him open to the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl szamanka888.keep.pl
else he could appropriately say. Besides, this was certainly being at the
center of things!
Chapter 14
«^»
Blade stood in the first warrior's black square and stared out across the
enormous Hu-board pattern that covered the entire floor of the huge chamber.
The black and white squares gleamed in the light of the lamps swinging from
the beams overhead. Behind him Lord Tsekuin sat on a chair cushioned with
white silk. At the opposite corner of the board sat the Hongshu. Beside him
Lord Geron lay on a litter. Lord
Tsekuin had not wounded the second chancellor as seriously as it had been
believed at first. But it would be several weeks more before he could walk
about normally. The side of his face that was now swathed in bandages would be
scarred for life.
Beside Lord Tsekuin sat Doifuzan. Other than the two players and their
companions, the only people in the chamber were the five "pieces" of each
player's hand. Blade had wondered why the Hongshu thought he would be safe
Page 43
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
facing a man whom he had disgraced and doomed.
"You may wonder that," Doifuzan had said. "But not aloud. To even think of
striking at the person of the Hongshu is an abomination. Were any of us to do
that, the whole clan would be swept from the land.
Castles and huts alike would burn, fields would be plowed up and sown with
salt, men, women, children, warriors, and peasants all would perish by fire or
steel or slow torture. Do not speak the least word of rebellion against the
person of the Hongshu."
Blade saw the wisdom of that. It was not the time or place to point out that
dead Hongshus execute no rebels. It was also not the time to ask what might be
done against other enemies than the Hongshu himself. Blade was sure that
Yezjaro and Doifuzan were already thinking about this. He was just as sure
they would not welcome his questions about it.
Blade threw a brief glance at the Hongshu. He was on the small side, but he
wore his hair tied higher than usual and sat very erect to conceal the fact.
He looked lean and in fighting trim, although a full beard suggested something
about his face that he preferred to conceal. His eyes moved continuously about
the chamber. In another man this might have given the impression of
restlessness. In this man it gave the impression of a ceaseless curiosity, a
constant ferreting out of other people's secrets.
A formidable man, Blade suspected. Perhaps there was reason why even the
Hongshu's enemies preferred his ironhanded rule to that of the present
overeducated, weak-willed emperor.
But the politics of Gaikon meant nothing one way or the other in this chamber.
Blade turned his eyes to the five dabuni of the Hongshu's hand. The man had
certainly picked them for size. There wasn't one of them less than six feet
tall or lighter than two hundred pounds. Their swords and spears were in
proportion. But did they have skill to match their brawn?
All four of Blade's own comrades were at least competent fighters. Two carried
spears, two carried swords. But Blade suspected he was going to wind up doing
most of the fighting.
The sound of another of Gaikon's thousands of gongs broke into his thoughts.
The Hongshu rose from his chair and stepped forward to stand beside his first
warrior. Lord Tsekuin did the same with
Blade. Lord Tsekuin bowed deeply; the Hongshu bowed much less deeply. The
Hongshu stepped back and intoned in a surprisingly deep voice:
"We meet here in the master game of Hu. Such is the wish of Lord Tsekuin. Such
wish is his right by the laws and customs of proper obedience, as established
by the Hongshu Korlo in the fifty-fourth year of the power of this house. Let
it be witnessed that this is his wish, and to it we consent."
Lord Geron and Doifuzan spoke together. "It is witnessed."
The Hongshu nodded slowly. "Then let the game commence." He sat down again,
while the gongs sounded again from above. Then he folded his arms and leaned
back in his chair, waiting for Lord
Tsekuin to declare the first move.
Even with only ten pieces on its forty-eight-square board, Hu was a
complicated game. Each of the five pieces of each hand first warrior, first
and second swordsman, first and second spearman had about thirty different
moves. Some they could make at all times, others only under certain
conditions.
Blade remembered his remark when Yezjaro first summarized the rules and moves
for him.
"It sounds like a long game."
"It is. Two truly skilled players have been known to sit at a board for three
days continuously,
without food or sleep. A normal game can last six or seven hours."
But this game would not last even a few hours, let alone several days. There
would be no captures, only death, and the blood on the tiled squares would be
Page 44
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
entirely real.
The gongs died away. From behind him Blade heard the rustle of Lord Tsekuin's
robes as he sat down. Then the man's voice rang out in the sudden silence of
the chamber, loud enough to echo.
"Second spearman-Jufon move to square six-five."
Both players devoted their first few moves to maneuvering their five pieces
out toward the center of the board. The Hongshu seemed to prefer a more open
formation, Lord Tsekuin a tight one. Blade suspected that was to make it
easier for him to move into action against any of his five possible
opponents. There were strategies in the regular game of Hu built around the
first warrior in just that way.
They made even more sense here.
After that came a quick series of another half-dozen moves, most of them
unnecessarily intricate.
When that was finished, the two clusters of warriors were almost exactly where
they had started. Blade suspected the two players were trying to either
impress or confuse each other with their skill at the more intricate moves of
the game.
But both players were too experienced to let a show-off opponent's tricks
bother them. When the sequence of moves was done, Blade shot a quick look
behind him. Lord Tsekuin sat motionless in his chair, arms crossed on his
chest, his face a mask as immobile as if it had been cast in bronze. Blade's
respect for the doomed lord rose. Keeping that iron calm under the
circumstances was admirable.
A long silent pause followed. The moment for the first blood was approaching.
Blade knew that neither player was hesitating out of any fear of that moment.
But now the price of a wrong move had suddenly risen. Now it could throw away
a warrior of the hand, and perhaps the game.
It was the Hongshu's turn now. One of his swordsmen made a simple move
out to the right.
Simple but it brought him to where one of Lord Tsekuin's spearmen could engage
him by any of half a dozen moves.
The Hongshu had thrown out his challenge. Now the decision lay in Lord
Tsekuin's hands. Blood now or later?
Lord Tsekuin rose to the challenge. He called out a move in clipped, cool
tones. The spearman moved to engage. He was the youngest of the five dabuni in
Tsekuin's hand. Could he have any chance against the Hongshu's swordsman?
His opponent was half again as large as the spearman and looked larger still.
With a rasp of metal he drew his sword. The spearman's weapon rose into
position and he dropped into fighting stance. The silence in the chamber
deepened. The two opponents stood motionless, their weapons raised. From where
Blade stood, he couldn't even see them breathe.
Suddenly the two frozen figures in the center of the chamber exploded in sound
and movement. The swordsman's weapon swung wide, leaving him open to the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]