"Fragments? What were they like?"
"I cannot remember. Nothing important. Let's have the morning's shot, huh?"
"Do you realize that the last thing you said was not spoken in Chinese?"
Timyin Tin's eyes widened. He looked away. He looked down at his feet. He looked back at Toba.
"No," he said. "It just came out that way."
His eyes filled with tears.
"What is happening to me? Who will win?"
"You will be the ultimate winner, by regaining what you had lost."
"But perhaps—" Then his expression changed. His eyes narrowed, the lines of his cheeks softened, a faint smile curved the corner of his lips. "Of course," he said, "and I thank you for it.
"How far must we journey?" he asked then.
"It is difficult to explain," Toba said, "but we should be out of these mountains in three days. Then perhaps a week's travel will take us to a major trail we must follow. It will be much easier after that, but the exact destination will depend on word we receive at a rest stop along the way. Let us give you your treatment now and begin."
"Very well."
That evening and the following day, Timyin Tin did not speak of whatever recollections might have come to him. When asked, he was vague. Sundoc and Toba did not press the matter. The treatments continued. The next afternoon, however, as they were making their way down through a pass toward the foothills, Timyin Tin pulled upon their sleeves to gain their attention.
"We are being followed," he whispered. "Continue on as if all is well. I will join you later."
"Wait!" said Toba. "I do not want you to take any risks. You see, we have weapons of a sort you do not understand. We—"
He stopped, for the smaller man was smiling.
"Really?" Timyin Tin said. "Are you quite certain about that? No, I fear that your firearms would not help you against a storm of arrows from above. As I said, I will join you shortly."
He turned and vanished among the rocks to their
right.
"What shall we do?" Toba asked.
"What he told us: continue on," Sundoc replied. "The man is no fool."
"But he is not in a normal state of mind."
"It is obvious that he remembers more than he has said. We must trust him now. Actually, we haven't much of a choice."
They continued on.
Almost an hour passed. The wind fled about them and the echoes of their mounts' hoofs sounded against the rocky walls. Twice, Sundoc had dissuaded Toba from returning to search for their charge. Now his face, too, was tight, and his eyes shifted often toward the heights. Both men were more than normally hunched as they rode.
"If we've lost him," Toba said, "we are in deep trouble."
The larger man's voice did not carry conviction as he replied, "We haven't lost him."
They rode a little farther and a dark object fell to the trail some distance before them. It bounced, then rolled, giving, for a moment, the appearance of a rock. Then they noticed the hair. Shortly thereafter, the torso struck the ground. Two entire bodies followed moments later.
They drew rein just as a shout echoed about them.
Seeking its source, they saw Timyin Tin atop a crag high above them to the right. He waved a saber, placed it upon the ground, then commenced climbing down the rocky wall.
"I told you we hadn't lost him," Sundoc said.
When the smaller man had completed his descent and approached them, Toba shifted and frowned.
"You took unnecessary risks," he said. "You do not know what weapons we have with us. We could have helped you. Three against one are not good odds."
Timyin Tin smiled faintly.
"There were seven," he replied. "Only three were so positioned that they were borne over the edge. But I took no unnecessary chances, and your weapons would only have gotten in the way."
Sundoc whistled softly. Toba shook his head.
"We were worried. Whatever your prowess, your mind is not yet normal."
"In this it is," the other replied. "Shall we continue our journey?"
They rode for a long while without speaking, then Sundoc asked, "How do you feel now?"
Timyin Tin nodded.
"All right."
"Yet you have been frowning, as if something troubles you. Has this to do with this afternoon's— conflict?"
"Yes, I am somewhat troubled by what occurred."
"It is understandable. That part of you which is a monk—"
The smaller man shook his head violently.
"No! That is not it! We may kill in self-defense, and this was surely that. My concern runs deeper than the act and its justifications, karmic or otherwise."
"What, then?"
"I did not know that it lay within me to derive pleasure from it. I see now that I should have taken warning from the dreams."
"This pleasure was great?"
"Yes."
"Might it not have been pride for the success of your expedition?"
"It grew very much within that place, yet its roots ran deeper still—to some other place where there are no reasons, only feelings. I have been examining it, as I have learned to question my motives, and I can go no further than the simple fact of its existence. It has given me wonder, however..."
"Of what sort?"
"When whatever was done to me was done, making me forget who I had been and what I had wrought, there must have been a good reason. Could it have been that I was a threat, that I represented a danger as I was?"
"I will be honest with you, rather than keep you wondering and worrying," Sundoc said. "Yes, this was the case. But you must realize, too, that you were not destroyed when you could have been. There was also that about you which was considered worth saving."
"But what was it?" Timyin Tin said. "Was it a hidden measure of moral worth some benign prince wished to see nurtured, to balance other things I might have been? Or was it rather that he did not wish to destroy what had once proved a useful tool?"
"Perhaps something of both," Sundoc said, "plus being in your debt."
"The memories of princes are generally short. But be that as it may, I see only one special item in my repertoire for which one such might desire my recall. Whoever sent you here wants me to kill someone, does he not?"
"I think these are matters best to be discussed at a later date, when your treatment has been completed."
Sundoc moved to shake his mount's reins, but Timyin Tin's hand had somehow grasped them before that action could be completed.
"Now," the smaller man said. "I want to know now.
I possess a sufficient degree of self-awareness to understand a simple yes or no answer to my question."
Sundoc looked into his dark eyes, looked away.
"And if the answer is yes?"
"Try it and we'll see."
"Look, I am not the proper person to be making you any proposals. Why don't you wait until we get to where we are going? You will be more in control of yourself and there will be someone there who—"
"Yes or no?" he said as Toba drew up beside them.
Sundoc looked at the other man, who nodded.
"All right. Yes, someone wants a man dead and thinks that you are the best man for the job. That is why we came for you."
The smaller man released the reins.
"That is sufficient for now," he said. "I am not interested in the details yet."
"Well, what is your reaction to the information?" Toba asked.
"It is nice to be wanted," Timyin Tin replied. "Let us be on our way."
"You heard the words with equanimity. How interested do you feel you would be in such an undertaking?"
"Very," he said, "since it must be intricate to warrant my resurrection. I wonder more, though, about another thing."