A Deadly Injustice Read Online Free Page A

times, but I had learned to listen to him. He had been brought up in the convoluted world that made up Cathay, and could see currents under the muddy waters that were invisible to me.
    â€˜What’s the problem?’
    A look of distress crossed Lin’s face. He didn’t like openly pointing out my failings, as it offended his sense of politeness. And to have to explain would show up my ignorance. So he carefully phrased his reply.
    â€˜The request – which in essence is a command that has its origin with Kubilai – has come through the agency of Ko Su-Tsung. So it is really Ko who has caused the request to land on my doorstep. The apparent purpose is to investigate the ruling of a death sentence made by a prefect on a Chinee woman, who is now languishing in gaol under threat of execution. The prefect acts for his Mongol overlord in P’ing-Yang-Fu, which by the way is a journey of at least two weeks from here, so we have little time. The problem is that we will be in effect arbitrating between a lowly Han Jen woman and a Mongol governor of high status.’
    â€˜If she’s guilty, what’s the problem? We can confirm the verdict and get on our way.’
    I could see Lin was distressed by my cavalier approach. He pressed on with his insight into Chinee politics, and the serpentine coils of the civil service that ran Kubilai’s affairs.
    â€˜If she were guilty, there would be no point in us being there. Therefore I assume she must be innocent, or Ko would not want us to go. Oh, it will suit him that we are in some forsaken backwater of the Khan’s empire, leaving him free to plot his way back into favour at our expense. But if it were only that, I would not be worried too much. No, I am certain we are being set up to be in an impossible position. We will find her innocent, and have either to suppress the truth, which Ko will use against us, or judge in her favour and embarrass a highly placed Mongol official. We can’t win, Master Nick. Ko has us in a stranglehold.’
    I grimaced, my mind racing.
    â€˜You said at the beginning that whether the command originated directly from Kubilai or not, we would have to go, yes?’
    â€˜Yes. Ko must have persuaded him of the importance of the matter.’
    â€˜Then we do not have an option. We must go, so let’s get on. There will be time a-plenty to plan our strategy on the journey there, if it takes as long as you say.’
    Lin appeared almost relieved by my apparent fatalism. He gave a short nod of his head that I took as approval.
    â€˜As ever, you cut through my indecision like a sword through a watermelon, Nick. We will make ready.’
    I didn’t point out to him that my decision sounded, even to me, more like avoidance than decisiveness, and had been driven by my desire not to have Mongotai’s sword slice through my cheating brain as through the previously mentioned melon. But twas the decision made, so I grabbed the sulky Gurbesu’s arm and pulled her to her feet. Throughout my discussion with Lin, I had failed to consult her, and I knew she would now resent being dragged off to pack for a long journey that she had not agreed to. But I knew she fancied the chance to see more of Cathay, and wouldn’t object for long. I grinned and looked down at her bare feet.
    â€˜Come on, Gurbesu. Be good, and I might even buy you some new shoes.’
    I know how to win the heart of a girl, don’t you think?

THREE
    If you wish to know the mind of a man, listen to his words .
    G urbesu and I hurried back to Old Yenking in the south of Khan-balik in order to tell the others our new plans. The buildings there still clung to the old grid of streets laid out before Kubilai’s grandfather, Chinghis, had laid waste to the Chinee city. Ironically, this act had assisted Kubilai. Fifty years later, he had fewer buildings to clear away in order to build his new winter capital. Many had already been obliterated.