NOVEL NEXT Bk 5 Ch 14: Audience
Joshi turned away from his fallen foes. Chang-li was looking grimly determined. He met Joshi's eyes and gave him a nod. Chang-li understood that Joshi had done what must be done. The former scribe had come a long way from his starting point. No-one would call him soft or sheltered, now.
General Li turned to Khan Temaj. "I will have a brief word with your brother. We will join you at the command tent shortly."
Joshi's brother bristled. He started to open his mouth, but the general pulled a lux crystal from his void space, an orb nearly the size of his own head, and quickly drained it.
An instant later, he snapped his fingers, and Joshi found himself lifted off his feet. He fought an instant of panic as he felt the general's will surround him like bands of iron. The general was not a Prism, but his will felt easily as dense as Nai Hong's or Eri's.
Joshi forced himself to remain calm. Lux escaped from the general as they hung together in the air, several hundred feet above the camp. It was dark now. The moon hung low on the horizon. The fires of the camp below sent up plumes of twisting smoke. The general stood in the air as if supported by it.
"You had an interesting display of force in that fight," the general said casually. "You used the little lux available to you well, but I wonder, did you forget how effective your Will could be? At your level of advancement, you could have forced those three men to kneel to you."
"My will isn't strong enough to affect everyone watching," Joshi said. "And I know my people. Seeing three of their best warriors kneeling to another, without a single blow being exchanged, would never have impressed them. I wasn't trying to win the fight: I was trying to win the argument."
"A subtle point," the general acknowledged. "Not something I'd expect your brother to appreciate. You have depths."
Joshi said nothing. The general was gazing toward the Pillar of Sky. "The Heart of Ice is emerging."
Joshi held quiet. The general turned, fixed Joshi with a stare. "I do not know why our fates seem to be entwined," he said abruptly, "but my wife taught me never to dismiss the will of heaven without inquiry. You sought to kill me once."
Joshi bowed his head. "I did."
"Why?"
Joshi tried to remember his confused tangle of emotions. "I was young and immature. My brothers had made me feel insignificant. I thought I could prove myself to them by ending the war."
"And yet you stood there for much longer than it would have taken you to strike, without ever trying to stab me," the general said.
Joshi stiffened. The general gave him a cold smile. "You will find, if you ever reach the heights I have, advanced cultivation mean you do not truly need sleep. I, like most other cultivators of my rank, allow those around me to believe I am more like mortals, needing sleep and food. That is not the case. I was aware of your presence in my tent. Had you attempted to kill me, your life would have been forfeit on the spot. I was never in any danger. Even without a core full of lux, a lux Dominator cannot be killed by mortal weapons."
Rage and a feeling of shame bubbled up out of Joshi. He had endured slavery, disgrace, and the knowledge of his own failings, for no reason whatsoever. "Then you merely used my presence as an excuse to further persecute my people?"
The general snorted. "If I had truly been trying to conquer your people at any time in this past five years, they would all be dead. This war serves to sharpen my own men in preparation for a real conflict, one that will inevitably come, whatever the Prisms say. It also gives me an excuse to stay here at the fringes of empire, rather than back in that scheming court of vipers. Yes, I was forced to make a few demonstrations to show that the empire cannot allow such insult. I note that you have not thanked me for the mercy I showed you."
"No man of my people would prefer slavery to a clean death."
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"It wouldn't have been clean," the general said, glaring at him.
Joshi, too angry to be properly respectful, met the general's eyes, and was surprised to see real emotion there. The general was angry at him, or perhaps at himself, and he spoke in harsh tones. "Nevertheless, our paths have met and intertwined here a dozen times now, and I cannot believe that is pure coincidence."
"You killed my father," Joshi growled.
The general held up a hand. "In fact, I think you might appreciate knowing what truly happened." He pointed a hand at Joshi's eyes and snapped. At once, a vision overwhelmed Joshi.
He was standing on a battlefield. The Empire lined up in preparation to face a horde of Darwar. He watched in horror as it all unfolded, a conference between his father and the general agreeing on terms of peace, an end to the wasteful fight that had occupied them both these past years.
And then, death. Raining down from the sky as Eri appeared and struck down his father and a host of others.
The vision receded. Joshi struggled for breath, trying to sort through it. He had no doubt it had happened as the general had shown him. This was too vivid. Now he wondered at the way Prism Eri had sought him out, telling him lies. Had she perhaps intended to use him in a scheme against the general?
"We share a common enemy," the general said quietly. "Eri murdered my wife, and I have been forbidden my revenge, almost twenty years. Hardly anything in the lifespan of a Prism… but everything in the life of my daughter. I will wait no longer. I will have my revenge upon Eri, no matter what the cost. Now you are bound up in my revenge. Your brother agrees to fight beside me for the chance at seeing vengeance for your father."
"And my people are about to be caught in a battle between master cultivators," Joshi whispered.
The general looked at him, something like surprise in his face. "If they do not have strong enough cultivators of their own, yes. That is where you will come in. I admit, I had intended merely to raise your people high enough to stand against Eri's lower minions when they come. I don't have the wealth of techniques needed to do more than that. I am a master of my own path but to teach an army requires more. But your coming does present an opportunity. I have spoken to your senior cultivation spouse, Min. If she does not lie then you and your companion have already trained one army. If they will listen, I will allow you to raise up true cultivators among your own people."
"I don't need your permission," Joshi said roughly.
"Perhaps, perhaps not. We will discuss more later. However, I wish to take this time to get your measure. I still do not know why the heavens have brought us together in so many ways, but there is one matter I will make quite plain. The betrothal between you and my daughter is broken."
His words were like the crack of a whip. Joshi started. He stared at the man, a dozen thoughts forming in his head at once. He thought to protest that the betrothal had been none of his idea, but what came out instead was, "The betrothal between your daughter and myself has been sanctioned by the Gem Court."
"Perhaps I should make my feelings more clear," the general said. "I may not have the authority to command my daughter where she will or will not marry, but should she wed a man I do not approve of, she will be a widow before the sun sets on her wedding night. Is that clear?"
Joshi found himself truly angry. The general was a cultivator many ranks higher than him. He commanded an entire army. Men would live and die at his command. Joshi had endured months of slavery thanks to his orders, and that was all right. It was the way the world worked.
But what was between him and Hiroko was between them. "I suppose then you think Hiroko should find another man who has reached the Peak of Spiritual Refinement in less than six months of dedicated cultivation?"
The general's mouth curled at the corners. "I think she could do better, yes."
Joshi could feel just how high up he was. The wind whistled in his ears. His life was in the hands of this man. And why should he fight for a betrothal he had never wanted? Yet, the idea of the choice being taken away from him and Hiroko infuriated him. "Find such a man and I will prove you wrong," he said. "You want my measure? I have taken yours. I see that, far from allies, my people are pawns in your scheme. So be it. Lesser cultivators are always manipulated by those higher up. But I will do everything in my power to ensure my people survive being used by you, who break vows so lightly."
"How dare you…" the general growled. For a long moment Joshi thought the general might attack him but then the older man mastered himself. "Just as long as you stay away from my daughter" he snapping his fingers once more and returning them to the ground, quickly at first, then slower, until he landed them just outside the command tent.
He stepped inside without a backward glance.
Joshi took a deep breath and attempted to cycle, even without lux in his veins, just to calm his racing heart. The General of the West was his enemy. He had always known that. He would do well not to further incite the man.
But it was clear the general would be pursuing his own agendas to the detriment of Joshi's own people. Without cultivators of their own, they were mere pawns in the great game.
Chang-li was badly damaged. He needed entry into the tower and a chance to repair his own cultivation. He would not be able to do much to help Joshi.
Somehow, he would have to ensure that his people were looked after. That started with learning what the general truly wanted.
Joshi quelled his anger and ducked into the tent.