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 agonow. 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 acrossthe great study, then bowed low.

"Master Nan?"

Nan Ho straightened, then held up a flimsy piece of paper. His eyes were twinkling, his face almost laughing now. "It has come, Chieh Hsia! At the last moment it has come!"

He bowed low a second time, then held out his arm, offering the paper to his Master. Li Yuan came around the desk and took it, beginning to read. He had barely read more than a paragraph of it when he looked up abruptly, shocked, meeting Nan Ho's eyes.

"But this is-"

"His capitulation, Chieh Hsia! He calls you Son of Heaven and swears his absolute loyalty, offering his neck before your foot!" Nan Ho laughed. "We have won, Chieh Hsia!"

Li Yuan shook the paper as if to emphasize its flimsiness. "But this means nothing!"

Nan Ho bowed his head, sobered by his T'ang's words. "Forgive me, Chieh Hsia, but you have not heard the rest. This document . . . copies of it are going up throughout the Lowers even as we speak.

Millions of copies. Tens of millions! He bows before you, Chieh Hsia! He calls you Son of Heaven!"

"I-" Li Yuan was about to say something more, to question what his Chancellor had said, but the summons bell behind his desk had begun to ring urgently. Wei Tseng-li was trying to contact him.

He returned to his desk and faced the screen once more as his young cousin's face appeared.

"Cousin Wei," he said formally, conscious of the servants in the room with him.

"Cousin Li," Wei Tseng-li answered, an unaccustomed hardness in his face. "I am much worried. Word has come that your African armies are to be mobilized and moved to Europe."

Word.

7.

Li Yuan felt himself go cold. How could word have got to Wei Tseng-li so fast? He had only made the decision an hour back. And the Recall Order . . . that was less than half an hour old! Who of the twenty or so who knew of this had informed his cousin Wei?

"Forgive me, cousin," he said, with a gesture dismissing all those in the room, "but may I ask from whom you heard this . . . rumor?"

Wei Tseng-li waved the query aside. "Do not toy with me, Yuan. I have heard of your quarrel with Tsu Ma. The whys and wherefores I know nothing of, but if you plan to throw your City into a state of war simply to-"

"To what?" Li Yuan interrupted angrily. "Cousin . . . I owe you the life of my son . . . and much more beside . . . but I am a T'ang and what I decide-"

"Will affect my City." Wei Tseng-li leaned into the screen. "What is happening, Li Yuan? Come clean with me. If you are planning war, then tell me, for I shall need to take measures in my own City. If not . .

Li Yuan sat back, holding his cousin's eyes a moment, then shook his head.

"The Banners stay in Africa. As for war . , ." He picked up the document and turned it, holding it up so Wei Tseng-li could see.Wei read, then laughed. "But, Yuan, that is"-he laughed, a boyish laugh of delight that strangely warmed Li Yuan-"that's wonderful!"

Li Yuan nodded, but still he was uncertain. Wonderful? Was it wonderful? Or was it some trick, some empty form designed to trap him? The truth was, he did not know. To the edge . . . The bastard had taken him right to the edge. But for now-for this brief intermission, at least-it was peace.

He let out a long, sighing breath, then laughed, letting himself succumb to Wei Tseng-li's obvious delight.

"Yes, cousin Tseng, it is! It really is!"

CHAPTER NINE.

Light and Dark.

K.

IM STOOD ON the verandah outside his new study, looking out across the gardens. There, on the south lawn between the gravel path and the outer wall, they had erected a geodesic dome-a huge structure more than sixty ch'i in height, framed by a protective web of high-tensile steel. Beneath its darkened outer layer lay two others, all three manufactured from a specially toughened variant of ice Kim had devised himself, the inner layers sealed from the outside and accessible only through a single cast-steel tunnel in which were three air locks. Beside the circle of the outer lock stood T'ai Cho, his tall, senatorial figure making a stark contrast to the workmen who were bowed deferentially before him. Kim smiled, then looked about him, pleased by what he saw. It looked so much better now that they'd laid the lawn and removed the diggers. For weeks it had been chaos, but in the last few days it had all come together. Almost miraculously, it seemed.

Thank the gods T'ai Cho is here, Kim thought with a smile, knowing he would have gone mad trying to cope with this and the project at the same time. As it was the conversion had gone very smoothly. In less than three weeks they had transformed the old Mansion. All that remained now was for the dome's alarm system to be connected and the rose garden transferred from its home in SimFic's labs.

Just in time, he thought, looking back at the elaborately wrapped present that lay on the table beside the open door, for tonight was Jelka's Coming-of-Age party. Tonight, after seven years, he would finally get to see her again.

He smiled, then went inside, walking from room to room past bowing servants, feeling an immense satisfaction at what had been achieved. T'ai Cho had done an excellent job furnishing the house. Gone was the heaviness of the old decor, the oppressive sense of age and mustiness; in its place was something much lighter and simpler.

Yes, Kim thought, stepping into the airy main reception room. This is more like it. This is a home.

Home. The very word was alien to his experience. He had never had a home before, only rooms. But this . . . this had the feeling of a home, of somewhere one could work and live. A place one could venture out from and return to, knowing it would always be there.

A; place waiting to be filled with life.

He walked to the great window and looked out. To the left was the east wing of the house and, on thefar side of a shallow lake, an apple orchard; to the right the main driveway and, beyond the pale, lacelike stone of a curving bridge, the massive arch of the ornamental gates.

Home, he thought, surprised by the strength of the emotion engendered by that single word. The Machine was right. I needed to make a home-a place for us to be. . . .

He looked across. T'ai Cho, it seemed, had finished. With a curt gesture he dismissed the men then turned and, gathering his silks about him, began to make his way back to the house.

Kim went out, meeting his old friend in the entrance hall, the great sweep of the stairs to his right.

"Is everything ready?"

T'ai Cho handed the electronic clipboard to a servant, then turned to Kim. "We've had a few problems with the T'ang's Inspectorate, but I think I've smoothed them over. They're going to give the system a trial run. Once that's done we can arrange the transfer."

"Today?"

T'ai Cho shook his head. "The Inspectorate are demanding the very tightest security. They want it done tonight, in the early hours when the levels are clear. And SimFic say they'd need twelve hours' notice."

Kim looked down, disappointed.

"Chin up. It'll make no difference. Besides, it's almost midday. Even if we could arrange it for this evening you'd only miss it. Unless of course-"

"No. We'll wait."