"May I ask why?"

She looked at me and said, "Because it is not time yet, although my pa.s.sion would certainly prompt me to."

And at that point, I knew. I knew beyond question, beyond doubt.

I took several fast steps toward her, or at least as fast as I was able. She looked up at me with luminous eyes.

"And because," I said triumphantly, "he's your father! Isn't that right, Mitsu!"

I reached up and yanked the mask away from her face.

I have to say, that was one d.a.m.ned ugly woman.

Gorgeous eyes, but flattened nose, scarred and twisted lips, and apparently twice as many teeth in her mouth as normally resided there. "Or... not," I said. She just stared at me. I held up the blade.

"Would you like to lick my sword some more?"

Okay, so I wasn't always right. I'd been wrong about the late Go Nogo, and who this odd Anais Ninja woman was. Everyone has an off day now and then.

Chapter 6.

Love at First w.a.n.g

The Anais Ninja had certainly come prepared.

She led me a short distance from the camp, and my horse was waiting there, tethered to a small tree.

Standing beside it was the animal I presumed my rescuer had arrived upon. It was truly a magnificent animal. Solid black, with a sleek coat and fiery eyes that bespoke intelligence. Then again, considering some of the fools I'd encountered in my life, it wasn't that difficult to find a horse with more brainpower than they.

Having affixed her mask back in place, whilst giving me strange looks as she did so, she vaulted onto the back of the horse so lightly that she seemed almost like a puppet yanked aloft by strings. I, naturally, took far longer to get atop my horse, but soon we were mounted up and riding away from the scene of the calamity. In the distance, I could hear the sounds of building continuing. The lunatics were still constructing the incredibly pointless wall, probably because no one had specifically said to them, "Stop doing that."

And we got the h.e.l.l out of there.

Night had fallen, which meant we could ride only so fast, lest the horses trip. But we pushed the limit as much as we could. We rode long and we rode hard, and the only thing that made me somewhat insane was that the Anais Ninja seemed to be getting tremendous s.e.xual gratification from riding the horse. In fact, she appeared to be bouncing up and down upon the animal with far greater vigor than could remotely have been deemed necessary. "Madam, stop that at once!!" I kept hissing at her. I don't think she heard me over her constant low moans. On the other hand, I didn't have to worry about losing her in the darkness. I could have kept up with her if I was blind.

As we traveled, my mind was racing ahead of us. I kept toying with the notion of breaking off, trying to escape into the night. But to what end? To return to the Imperior? Perhaps even be rounded up by soldiers who might have awakened by this point from the drugged tea? That certainly seemed a less-than-intelligent strategy.

Yet look at the alternative. I was riding h.e.l.l-bent-for-leather to keep up with a mysterious, vicious,lethal woman who was leading me to others who were probably just like her. I was willingly being led to the very people who were responsible for the death of the very fellow whose death I was out to avenge.

The odds were sensational that they would endeavor to annihilate me the moment I set foot in their lair, wherever that was, take the tachi sword, and be done.

Why did they want the sword? I still had no idea.

However, one thing kept tumbling around in my mind, prompted by something that the late Go Nogo had said: "If I wanted to kill you, you would be dead."

The fact was that these Anais Ninjas seemed to come and go as they pleased. The shadows were their second homes. They wafted through the air, as easy to capture as a pa.s.sing breeze. This one had the Imperior at her mercy. The Imperior, reputed to be their greatest enemy and opponent. But she did not dispatch him. And all that time that I was residing in the palace, how likely was it that the Anais Ninjas could not possibly have made their way in under cover of darkness, kill me, and take the sword for themselves?

They didn't just want the sword for some reason. They wanted the sword and me for some reason. I couldn't fathom why. It did, however, embolden me.

Once upon a time, I would never have embarked upon such a foolish avenue of endeavor for fear of my life. But, as noted, my experiences in Wuin had hardened me. I did not actively seek out death, but paralyzing dread of it no longer ruled my actions. I was willing to take a chance, to play along with the Forked Tong, to see who was in charge and what they wanted.

Besides, it wasn't as if the other side in this power struggle was any great delight to work with. The Imperior had tried to have me kill myself. That hardly engendered depths of loyalty.

But I was not about to forget they'd slain my teacher. Someone was going to pay for that. And if it meant playing along, outwitting the women in charge, playing them against each other while seeking out weaknesses I could exploit, well... I was fully confident that I had the mental tools to engage in such a battle of wits and ultimately triumph.

Such were the dangers of hubris.

It was some hours later that we departed the main road and headed off down a side path. We had gone only a few feet, however, when the Anais Ninja called a halt. As I reined up, she vaulted off her horse, went back to the road, pulled some brush from a nearby bush, and wiped away any trace on the dirt road that we had veered off. She slapped her sleek black horse on its rump, and the animal obediently charged back off onto the main road, vanis.h.i.+ng moments later into the darkness. The reason why was obvious: to lead away any possible pursuers. The road was fairly well traveled. It would take even the most eagle-eyed of trackers some work to notice that the number of tracks they were following had gone from two to one.

She walked down the dirt road toward me, and I couldn't help but think she'd just created more work for herself. Then I looked beyond her and realized she was walking so lightly, she was leaving no tracks in the dirt. I didn't know how such a thing was possible, unless she was spectral. At that point I wasn't prepared to dismiss any notion out of hand. Just as she'd leaped onto horseback with facility before, she vaulted this time onto the back of mine.

Instantly she insinuated her body against me.

"Let's stay professional, shall we?" I insisted.

"Absolutely," she replied. And yet I noticed, as we continued on our way that apparently the only thing she could hold on to to maintain her balance was my b.u.m.

The side road angled downward for a time, and I guided the horse through carefully, keeping an eye out for stray roots or logs overgrown by ivy and weeds. The entire business was becoming increasingly creepy for me. I felt animal eyes upon me from all directions, things moving through the forest. I heard a brief crack of a branch overhead, thought I saw something winged and menacing, and then it was gone.

My forest-trained senses were running riot, although part of that might well have been fueled by my agitated state.

"Where are we going?" I said, trying not to sound nervous.

"There," she said, and pointed.

At first I couldn't see where she was indicating, but then I squinted and was able to make it out. There was what appeared to be some sort of temple or shrine ahead of us. A small building, overgrown and covered with weeds and vines. I reined up and dismounted, as the Anais Ninja lightly vaulted to the ground behind us.

"This had better not be a trap," I warned her.

Even in the darkness, I could see the grim amus.e.m.e.nt in her eyes. "Or else--?"

Naturally I had no fallback. But I simply looked intense, nodded, and said, "Yes."

That appeared to confuse her slightly, for which I was glad. My certainty that I was doing the right thing was starting to waver a bit, but it was too late to back out.

I waited a few moments for my eyes to adjust, and then I made my way into the temple. As soon as I was within, I saw there were candles burning just ahead. So someone was waiting for us.

This is it. You're not getting out of this, you idiot. You've stuck your head into the noose and they're going to snap it tight around your neck. Enjoy dancing in the air.

But I didn't believe it. As reliable as my inner voice usually was, there was just no feeling of... of completion. If I were to die here, now, there was too much left unanswered, too many questions hanging about. None of it made any sense.

Then again, life wasn't about making sense. Life was about existing for as long as you could until some thing or things brought you down, and there was no requirement for closure or an answer to all life's mysteries. In fact, the odds were that when you died, you'd die in ignorance at some level no matter what. It was hardly a comforting train of thought to engage in.

The shadows were long from the candles, and then they began to move.

I couldn't make out a lot in the darkness, but that much I could see. More of the Anais Ninjas,stepping out from the inky blackness, their eyes glittering. I heard them breathing heavily, and some of them were absently running their hands across their b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

This was one wild group of shadow warriors. They seemed as likely to embark upon an orgy as kill you. Although considering the overheated sentiments the ones I had encountered had been spouting up until now, I wasn't sure which would be the preferable fate to suffer.

(All right, that's obviously not true. But d.a.m.n, it sounded good, didn't it?) The one who had led me there stepped forward, placed her right fist into her left palm in front of her chest, and then mashed them against her b.r.e.a.s.t.s three times. The others promptly returned what was obviously their form of greeting.

And then, from beyond the candles, I heard a musical voice, filled with amus.e.m.e.nt and even vague interest. "So... this is he. The renowned Po."

"And you would be...?"

A woman stepped from the shadows, although to call her a woman would be to understate it.

She was, quite simply, the most magnificent creature I'd ever encountered.

The Anais Ninja once again performed that bizarre little ritual of breast pus.h.i.+ng, and the gorgeous woman who had taken center stage in this show of force and strangeness returned the gesture.

As for me, I had no idea how long I stood there, staring at her. Time seemed to freeze. No, not just freeze. To become utterly irrelevant. I could have remained there all day just gazing at her. The Anais Ninja had stepped forward and was speaking softly to this perfect creature, who was listening and nodding, glancing in my direction every so often as she took in the information. When she was done, the Anais Ninja stepped back and the woman straightened up, staring at me, giving not the slightest hint of what she was thinking.

Her fragile Chinpanese features gave her the look of a porcelain doll. Her face was pure white, her eyebrows and eyes delicately underlined and slightly exaggerated, adding to the exotic and erotic look of her. She was the most elaborately costumed individual I'd yet encountered. Her outermost garment was a wide-sleeved jacket, reaching to the waist, with a pattern of bird medallions brocaded in greens and yellows.

Attached to the waist of the jacket's back was a long, pleated train of sheer, white silk, decorated with yet another dragon design. This one actually looked surprisingly like Mordant. Beneath the jacket, she wore a purple kimono of what also seemed silk. It was abnormally large, the large skirt swirling out around her feet, since she was wearing more kimonos beneath.

Her hair was elaborately done up in an elaborate coiffure, and attached to her forehead were lacquered, gold-sprinkled combs over-laid with a gold lacquered chrysanthemum crest.

And her eyes... I could swim in her eyes. Drown in them, die in them, and go to a watery grave happier than I'd ever been in my entire miserable existence. She was as nothing I'd ever seen or could ever hope to see again.

All I could think of at that instant was what Mitsu had said to me about instantly falling in love. Atlooking into someone's eyes and seeing a reflection not only of yourself, but the life the two of you had spent together in some previous incarnation.

Madness. Insanity. I, Apropos the Cynic, Apropos the Realist, Apropos Who Knew Better Than Anyone Else. To even open myself up to the possibility of such an experience was to admit that there were far greater possibilities to life than I had ever dared imagine.

Romantics were fools. They were mold on bread, mushrooms upon trees. They grew upon the harsh reality of life and softened it and made it weak. They viewed the world through a wet prism of feebleness that bordered on the pathetic. I had always known this for a fact. To fall in love to any degree is to needlessly expose yourself to inevitable betrayal and falsehood and, ultimately, the object of that love not possibly being everything that you wanted them or needed them to be.

I knew all this. I knew it as surely as I knew my own name.

And yet, at that moment, I did not care. Seeing her there illuminated by the candles, it was as if light was being brought for the first time to the wretched and tortured thing I called my daily existence.

She was beautiful. She was soulful. And best of all...

She was evil.

Well, of course. Naturally. That had to be clear, wasn't it? She was evil. She was connected to this group of thieves and criminals and murderers. She was quite likely the leader, or one of the key figures, considering the deference they showed her. Perhaps she was even this mysterious "Ho" I'd heard tell of.

What did that mean to me?

No chance of being let down. No chance of betrayal. No chance of her turning out to be something other than she was.

If I did follow the call of my heart, I was going into it with my eyes wide open. Dazzled by her beauty, but wide open. Every woman that I had ever become romantically involved with had not only turned out to be something other than what I'd expected, but had wound up betraying my trust in the process. Here was a woman, though, whom I knew I could never trust. Ever.

Most romantics believe that true, great love must be built upon a foundation of trust. This is patently untrue. True love is not built on trust. True love is built on knowledge. Trust is simply what you subst.i.tute for lack of knowledge, and then you hope for the best. But with this woman, with this G.o.ddess in a mortal world--and believe me, I know something of G.o.ddesses in mortal worlds--I knew that betrayal was not only a likelihood, but nigh unto a certainty. It removed all doubt. I would never have to worry if she would betray me; only how.

It was liberating. With the knowledge that she would betray me came the awareness that I could likewise betray her at some point when it suited my needs. All was fair, as the saying went. Love and war, gloriously intertwined.

Was any of this pa.s.sing through her mind? I couldn't know for sure. She appeared to regard me with open curiosity. She arched a single eyebrow which, thanks to her makeup, was laced with a subtext that was practically erotic. "I hear tell," she said, "that you occasionally have been known to speak."

I found my voice. To my surprise, it was huskier than it usually was. "I am... Apropos. That is my full name, actually."

"Apropos." Her tongue seemed to glide over each letter. "Ap-propos." She said it several times, each time slightly different in her p.r.o.nunciation. "A most unusual name."

"And to whom do I have the... honor... of speaking?" I asked. My left leg was trembling slightly and I steadied it. Since that was my good leg, I certainly didn't want it going out from under me. Falling flat on my face was not the best way to make a good first impression.

"I," she said slowly, "am w.a.n.g Ho. Veruh w.a.n.g Ho. Leader of the Skang Kei family. Founding member of the Forked Tong. I am who your Imperior has been searching for, for quite some time."

"He's hardly my Imperior," I said. "I'm just a visitor here."

"And yet, for a visitor, you have made quite an impression and have found yourself in the midst of some very troubled circ.u.mstances."

I shrugged, trying to sound casual in her presence. "Call it a knack."

"Oh, I call it far more than that. I call it... most interesting." She was standing, but perfectly still, like a statue. Only her small movements, such as reaching up and thoughtfully touching her chin with an outstretched finger, convinced me that she was actually flesh and blood. "So it is my understanding that you wish to join the Forked Tong. Why should we permit that?'

"The question could easily be turned around," I replied. I couldn't let my overwhelming attraction to her shake my resolve or unman me. I sensed that this was a woman who respected only strength. To display weakness would be fatal. "Why should I want to join? I have grievances against your organization."

"Do you."

"You killed my teacher. You killed my teacher, Ali."

"Ali. Yes." She nodded thoughtfully. "The previous owner of that sword," and she inclined her head toward the sword dangling from my hip. "He imparted knowledge and wisdom to you, did he?"

"What my teacher taught me remains between he and I," I said.

"Just as the unbalanced scales for his death remain between you and I."

"I see. And what would you have, Apropos?" she asked with a faintly mocking smile. "Revenge?

Revenge upon the sisters who killed him? Can you pick out which ones did it?" and she gestured sweepingly around the room.

"Perhaps I could just avenge myself upon you."

"You could. However, be aware that I did not order the attack upon Ali. I do not direct every move the sisters make. In this instance, sisters were doing it for themselves. They have their own plans, theirown priorities."

"So you do not condone what happened?"

"I did not say that." She laughed. She had a l.u.s.trous-yet-light laugh, like morning bells calling vespers.

It was difficult for me to believe I was admiring the laugh of someone who was chuckling over the death of my teacher, and yet, so it was. "For reasons you do not yet fully comprehend, what happened to Ali was no tragedy."