. he's yours, isn't he? Yours. And you knew it, didn't you? Knew it all along!"

Li Yuan shook his head. "No, Fei Yen. Han Ch'in is your son. Yours alone. You made your bed, now you must lie in it."

She stood, angry now and close to tears. "I shall do no such thing! My son"-she swallowed, then lifted her head proudly-"my son shall be a T'ang one day!"

He answered her scathingly, his eyes cold. "Your son is nothing, woman. Understand me? Nothing.'" He took a step toward her, his very calmness menacing. "It was always the way with you, wasn't it, Fei Yen?

You could never be content. You always had to meddle. To spoil things and break them. Too much was never enough for you, you always had to have more. More and more and more, like a petulant child. But now"-he sighed and shook his head-"now it must end. You have finally overstepped the mark. You have left me with no option."

Tsu Ma reached out and touched his arm. "But, Li Yuan . . ."

Li Yuan turned, looking down at the hand that rested on his arm, his eyes burning with indignation.

"Cousin . . . don't you think you've done enough?"

Tsu Ma drew back, bowing his head.

Li Yuan stared at him a moment longer, then turned back, facing his ex-wife.

"As for you, Fei Yen, you shall return to Hei Shui, but this time under guard. You are to speak to no one and see no one. All correspondence between you and the outside world will be strictly censored. And as for your son . . . Your son shall be kept elsewhere, as guarantee of your good behavior."

She stared at him, then gave a wail of anguish and sank to her knees, pressing her forehead to the floor, her voice distraught.

"Aiya! Please the gods, no, Li Yuan. Please leave Han Ch'in with me. I've nothing without him.

Nothing!"

She looked up at him, tearful now, her eyes imploring him. "As you once loved me, please do this for me, Li Yuan. Let my son live with me at Hei Shui. I shall do anything . . . sign anything at all, but let him stay.

Please the gods, let him stay!"

He stood there a moment, staring down at her, thinking of the hell she had put him through-of all the bitter blackness he had suffered because of her-and slowly shook his head."It is over, Fei Yen. It is finished now. You understand?"

Then, turning from her, he left the cell, Tsu Ma following him out, neither man looking at the other, the screams of the woman following them as they walked, silent, side by side, down the dimly lit corridor.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

Where the Path Divides.

LI YUAN returned to Tongjiang at once, taking Pei K'ung and all his entourage with him. There, in the great study that had been his father's and his father's father's before him, he called together all his senior officials, summoning them from whatever duties they were attending to. By five they were all gathered and the Council of War began.

On the journey back he had spoken to no one, not even his Chancellor, Nan Ho, giving no explanation for his mood or actions. Nor, when he opened the great meeting of State, did he say a word about what had happened at Astrakhan, though all there, having heard of the alarm during the wedding ceremony, knew that something had transpired.

Watching him from the other side of the council table, Master Nan saw the new hardness in his Master's face and wondered what had passed between him and Tsu M*. He had seen him return from the meeting in the cells-had seen the coldness, the distance, between the two great friends-and known at once that something was wrong. Then, when Li Yuan had ordered them gone from there, he had known there had been a breach. Nothing else would have made Li Yuan miss his cousin's wedding celebrations. But what had caused it?

For hours Nan Ho listened as each man spoke, spelling out what stage their preparations were at, yet he knew for a fact that many there-surprised by the suddenness of the summons-were far from being as advanced as they claimed. Contingency plans had been drawn up months ago, after the New Year meeting of Ministers, but no one had seriously expected war. Not this year. But now things had changed.

When they were gone, Master Nan held back, waiting by the door. Normally Li Yuan would call him back to discuss what had been said, but now he just sat there, slumped forward in his chair, his fingers steepled beneath his chin, staring into space.

He closed the door then went across.

"Chieh Hsia?"

Li Yuan looked up, his eyes distracted, then sat up straighter.

"Master Nan, I guess you deserve an explanation."

Nan Ho waited, silent, head bowed.

"I ... I have done something that perhaps I should not have done. I have cast off a wife and denied a rightful son."

Nan Ho looked up, surprised. Li Yuan was looking past him, his face tensed against the strong emotions the words were evoking, but his eyes were misted.

"I acted wrongly, Master Nan. Yet, I, too, was wronged . . . both by my wife and by my most trustedfriend."

Nan Ho felt a ripple of shock pass through him. So it was true.

"I didn't know," Li Yuan went on. "I didn't really want to know, I suppose. Until today." He paused a moment, as if steeling himself against what he was saying, then spoke again. "Today it was all made clear.

Today I understood how it was-how it has been all this time."

"Chieh Hsia-"

"No, Master Nan, let me finish. I should have found out long ago. I should have made it my business to know what really happened. My father said I ought, but my pride was sorely hurt and besides, I ... I could just about bear it if I didn't know. Knowing . . . knowing exactly what happened . . . that would have broken me." "I understand."

He stared at his Master, seeing, for that brief moment, the vulnerable little boy he had once had to tend-the young man whom he had introduced into the ways of the flesh. Oh, if he had only known what love would do to his charge, he would have killed Fei Yen with his own hands long before she got her talons into him. He would have gladly sacrificed himself to prevent it. But now it was too late. Now they must learn to exist in the ruins of these relationships. He sighed, then uttered the words his Master did not wish to hear.

"You must make peace with him, Chieh Hsia. You must set aside your feelings as a man and act as a T'ang ... as an Emperor."

Li Yuan stared at him a moment, then shook his head. "It is too late for that, Master Nan. To be a T'ang .

. . well, one must know where one stands, neh? One must know who one's friends are and who one's enemies. All I know, right now, is that Tsu Ma is no friend. And if not a friend, then I must count him henceforth as an enemy-as someone I cannot trust to come when I call. I must make my plans dependent upon my own strength and follow my own counsel from here on."

"But, Chieh Hsia-"

Li Yuan raised his hand imperiously, silencing his Chancellor.

"You are a good man, Master Nan, but do not oppose me in this. Be as a friend and aid me. For I have need of friends."

"Nu'ts'ai, Chieh Hsia," he said, sinking to his knees and touching his forehead to the ground. I am your slave, Majesty.

KARR CAME TO him an hour later.

"Chieh Hsia?"

"Colonel . . . please, relax a moment. Take a seat. We need to talk."

Karr hesitated, then sat, facing Li Yuan, his huge frame filling the tall-backed official's chair.

"Is there any news of the boy?"

"No, Chieh Hsia. I'm fairly certain now that it was one of our own elite teams."

"I see." Li Yuan sat back. "And Marshal Tolonen? How is he taking this?"Karr sighed. "Badly, Chieh Hsia. He . . . Well, forgive me if this sounds impertinent, but I feel he is close to breaking point."

"Should I send one of my surgeons?"

"It would do no good, Chieh Hsia. His daughter tried to get him to rest, but he has refused all sedation.

Indeed, I saw him take two Stayawake capsules. He is determined to see this through, whatever the personal cost."

Li Yuan nodded, his eyes pained. "Perhaps I should order him to rest."

"Maybe so, Chieh Hsia."

"And the other matter . . . your investigations into the household staff. How goes that?"

"Slowly, Chieh Hsia. It is difficult to know where to start. 1 have asked the six most senior members of the palace household to draw up lists of those they would trust implicitly and those they are less certain of."

"And what good will that do?"

"It is my intention to compare the lists and see where they differ- then go back and ask why. At the same time, Chieh Hsia, I have set up a team to monitor all contacts between Tongjiang and the outside world. If there is an information leak, we shall find it."

"Good. But one further thing before you go. You will have heard that I called a special meeting of my most senior ministers and advisors."

"Chieh Hsia?"

"To judge what was said in that meeting, we would be ready to fight a war at a moment's notice. The truth is very different. My own assessment is that we are weeks, possibly even months, from a state of readiness. Would that be your reading, too, Colonel Karr?"

Karr smiled. "It would, Chieh Hsia."

"And what would you say was the greatest problem confronting us?"

"Speaking from experience, Chieh Hsia, I'd say it was supplies. A war against Li Min . . . well, it would be even more difficult a logistics problem than the campaign in Africa. There we could at least stake out and clear a stack before each supply drop. Here in Europe . . . Well, it would be a war fought level by level on our own territory. Supplying our own forces while denying our enemies access to those same supplies-that would be an almost impossible task."

"I agree. If, that is, we were to fight a war on that basis."

"Chieh Hsia?"

"One last thing. How long would it take to prepare the three Banner armies in Africa for a new campaign?"

Karr considered, then shrugged. "Three days, Chieh Hsia."

"Good. Then that is all."Karr bowed his head, then, as his T'ang stood, hastened to his feet.

"You have been most helpful," Li Yuan said, ushering Karr to the door. "If you would keep me advised on any developments with the boy."

"Of course, Chieh Hsia."

"Good. I understand your wife is here."

"That is so, Chieh Hsia."

"Then you must see her. Spend the night with her."

"Forgive me, Chieh Hsia, but I am on duty."

Li Yuan smiled and put his hand briefly on the giant's arm. "Go. I order it. I shall have Master Nan arrange cover for you. And make the best of it, neh? I fear you may have few such opportunities in the weeks to come."

AS THE EVENING LIGHT began to fade, Karr walked back slowly to the guards' quarters, his heart heavy, his mood darkened by what Li Yuan had said. He had known war would come-they all had-but it had always been at some vague time in the future, never soon-never only a matter of days away. He should have been ready for it, for he had seen much fighting in the African campaign, yet somehow this was different. War in City Europe; hand-to-hand fighting in the levels; all of that disruption, all of that chaos and carnage, the awful, barbaric brutality of it-it was hard to believe all that must come now to his homeland.

Marie was in the kitchen when he got there, singing to herself as she unpacked things from one of the big transit-boxes and put them away on shelves. He went across and put his arms about her waist, making her jump with surprise, then snuggle back against him.

"Where's May?" he asked, murmuring into her neck as he kissed it.

She turned and leaned back against the sink, smiling at him. "She's out in the gardens with the other children. It's like paradise for her. Why, she doesn't even seem bothered by the insects!"

He looked past her out of the half-open window, hearing the distant shrieks and laughter of the children.

It was true. This was like paradise after the confinement of the levels, yet his pleasure at being there was muted by his knowledge of what lay ahead.

"What is it?" she asked, seeing the shadows in his face.

He met her eyes, pained by the simple strength and beauty of her. "It's war, my love."

Her breath caught. "Did he say that?"

"No. But I could see it in his eyes. He is determined on it. Something must have happened."

The light had gone out of her face. She looked away, then looked back at him, offering a tight smile.

"Well, maybe it's best that we're here, then. Back there . . ."

Hejjodded, then reached out and held her once more, kissing her brow. "I'm off duty tonight," he whispered, smiling at her. "The T'ang has ordered it."

"Ah . . ." Her face lightened, her eyes widening, but still there was a darkness at the back of them. War .. . who knew what war would bring?

"I have some news too," she said, her smile broadening.

"News?"

"A baby," she said hesitantly. "We're going to have another baby, Gregor."