The shadow moved more slowly as it came nearer. Shih-ka'i snorted in surprise. "Put that thing away, Pan ku."
His batman did as he was told. Reluctantly.
Their visitor wore Tervola garb, but no mask. The moonlight illuminated his lean, aristocratic face, exposing weariness and fear. "Lord Ssu-ma."
"Lord Kuo."
"I've suffered a turn of fortunes."
"So I've heard." Shih-ka'i examined his feelings. He wanted no part of Shinsan's tortuous politics. He simply wanted to get on with his job. Yet he owed this man. Lord Kuo had given him his chance at a major command. "We've tried to avoid getting involved."
"Your situation. Is it bad?"
"Looking better today." He explained. Lord Kuo nodded thoughtfully. "What brings you to me?" Shih-ka'i asked.
"I didn't have anywhere else to go." Kuo did not ask for help directly.
"Uhm. My officers aren't your friends."
"That's my own fault."
"The situation being what it is, there's not much I can do."
"I understand."
"There's Hsu Shen's island, Lord," Pan ku said.
"Of course. And we were about to go, weren't we? Lord, I can hide you on the Pracchia's island in the east. Pan ku. Hsu Shen hasn't been in contact, has he? He won't have heard from the plotters?"
"I think not, Lord."
Shih-ka'i had been downplaying Hsu Shen's presence on the island, hoping the Deliverer would miss it. "All right. We'll go now. Pan ku, find My Lord a mask. I saw several in the old Seventeenth museum."
Lord Kuo said, "I should shift to enlisted garb."
"Good idea. Pan ku, assemble a decurion's kit and uniform. Northern Army badges."
Later, in his quarters, Shih-ka'i studied the result. "Pan ku?"
"We need less arrogance, Lord. A soldier doesn't bear himself as if he expects Candidates to throw roses in his path."
"I see what you mean," Wen-chin said. "Drill me."
Shih-ka'i watched the time closely. The night was proceeding. Dawn would reach the island before it arrived here. He wanted to get there before sunrise. He explained, "Hsu Shen and his men should get used to you before daylight begins accenting your little lapses." He examined Lord Kuo's kit with a drillmaster's eyes. "Mask and robes on the bottom? Good. Pan ku, yours is ready?" They would all take kits to make Wen-chin's less conspicuous. His and Pan ku's would remain with Lord Kuo.
Shih-ka'i was a worried man. How long could he shelter Lord Kuo? He owed the man, but how much? Wen-chin's enemies would not see this as a private matter.
Too, Lord Kuo needed a secondary cover if he were to be long exposed to Hsu Shen. That he was Tervola could not be hidden indefinitely. Special investigator? That might do it.
"I think we're as close as we can get on short practice, Lord," Pan ku said.
"Then let's make the transfer. Lord, don't say anything unless you have to. Best they don't notice you. Pan ku, you go through first. Get their attention."
"I'll be invisible," Kuo promised, apparently amused.
Shih-ka'i supposed he was overly worried. Who would be watching for Lord Kuo? The man was believed killed during Mist's attacks on his headquarters.
The Lioantung end of the transfer went perfectly. No one seemed surprised that Shih-ka'i had gotten his man a helper. Other senior Tervola maintained retinues.
Shih-ka'i went through last. He arrived, found Hsu Shen galloping toward him, trying to put his apparel in order. "Lord," he gasped, "you should have warned us. We would've provided a more fitting reception."
"Receptions are of no moment, Hsu Shen. You needn't have interrupted your sleep."
"But... "
"Never mind. It's time to try our luck with the stone thing. They've reached Lioantung. We don't want them doing what they did at the Tusghus."
Hsu Shen nodded. "We've watched as closely as we dared. There's a great rage in the thing. Its servants betrayed it."
"Uhm. Could we enlist it? No. We don't need that kind of ally. Did you find any weaknesses?"
"Have you eaten, Lord? Can we discuss it over breakfast?"
"Fine. We've been up all night, and had nothing since yesterday noon."
Over the meal, Hsu Shen said, "We observed what happened both before and after the battle on the Tusghus." He explained how the woman in white had removed and returned the godling to its home.
"Very good," Shih-ka'i said. "I appreciate it, Hsu Shen. I'll remember you. How dangerous is it in its current circumstances? Can it stop us?"
"I don't know, Lord. When the woman removed it, it seemed happy. No reason to dispute what was happening. When she returned it, it was unconscious. It awakened furious."
"And now?"
"Angry somnolence? Yes. It's in a dreaming rage. But we're really too far away to tell anything for sure."
"I understand." After a few minutes, Shih-ka'i said, "We'll go over tonight. I'd better rest."
"Tonight, Lord? That's cutting it fine. I'll have to send someone now in order to get a portal placed in time."
"Right. Be careful. Don't alert it. And wake me if it does get excited."
"As you command, Lord."
Shih-ka'i retired to quarters hastily prepared for him. Pan ku and Lord Kuo accompanied him.
Lord Kuo took a chair. "This monster... It's what I sensed back when?" Shih-ka'i nodded. "What're you going to do with it once you've taken it out of the stone thing?"
"I'll consider my options when the time comes."
"Did they notice me? I was too nervous to tell."
"No. Let's get some sleep. I've been too long without."
Hsu Shen himself wakened Shih-ka'i. "Sunset, Lord. I've moved a team to within a mile. Hard on the men. The heat was insufferable."
So are you sometimes, Shih-ka'i thought. "Let's have supper before we go."
"It's ready. I'll have the stewards set it out."
"Give us time for our rituals."
"Of course, Lord." Hsu Shen seemed surprised.
"Yes. I still perform mine. We don't outgrow the need, Hsu Shen."
Pan ku came striding into the apartment as Shih-ka'i completed his rituals. "Where have you been?"
"Prowling, Lord. To see if there was any talk about our friend."
"And?"
"Nothing. And they'd come to me if they had questions about my master."
"Good. Satisfied, Lord Kuo?"
"Eminently."
"Pan ku, we may have to leave in a hurry if this raid sours. Be ready. In any case, you'll be the last man off the island."
"It's a good hiding place," Wen-chin observed.
"One thing, Lord. I'm not a political man. Don't involve me."
"You've done more than I deserved already. I won't put you at risk."
"Thank you. Pan ku, suppertime."
Shih-ka'i went through the transfer first. One by one, Hsu Shen's men followed him into the cooling desert. This promised to become a chilly night's work.
Shih-ka'i prepared protective spells, then seated himself on the crest of a dune. The stone monster loomed before him. The thing within was sleeping. The transfer had not alerted it.
Hsu Shen settled beside him. "We go in between the forepaws. There's a stairway to its back. Up near the shoulder there's a plug that lifts out. I'm not sure what we'll find inside. I couldn't probe that closely."
Shih-ka'i nodded. "I want complete silence when we go in. I don't expect it sees or hears in mortal fashion, but why take risks?" He stared at the dark bulk. "I wish we knew more about it."
The last men arrived. Hsu Shen spread them in a skirmish line. Shih-ka'i wondered why he wanted so much help. Numbers meant nothing tonight.