Five Odd Honors by Jane Lindskold Read Free Book Online

the light hit them.
    Thundering Heaven’s features were handsome, although, coarsened by age and exposure, they no longer held the heart-stopping masculine beauty that made his great-nephew, Flying Claw, seem more like a work of art come to life than a living man. Yet the resemblance between them could still be seen. Loyal Wind understood how Pearl Bright could have caught a glimpse of the one and known the nature of the other.
    “You have a question for me,” Thundering Heaven said, stopping in his advance as soon as he was out into full light. “Ask then.”
    “I have traced Bent Bamboo, the Monkey, here,” Loyal Wind said. “I have news for him—good news. Steps are being taken to finally end our exile.”
    “But you need his help to achieve this admirable goal,” Thundering Heaven sneered. “Don’t ask how I know. I do. Living and dead must join forces if this exile is to end soon enough to benefit those who—in all justice—should be viewed as our enemies.”
    “They are not enemies,” Loyal Wind said. “Peace has been made between us, peace confirmed by loyalty when confronted by considerable danger. Surely we, who have been exiles ourselves, understand the desire to return home. Moreover, the exile will not end only for them. Our new allies have sworn that upon their return they will rescind our sentence. All will be as we wished.”
    “Will it?” Thundering Heaven asked the question first as one who meditates over a philosophical conundrum. Then he repeated it with mockery in his voice. “Will it? They promise, but can they keep their promise?”
    “I believe they will,” Loyal Wind said.
    “But why should I?” Thundering Heaven smiled a very unkind smile. “Ah, what I believe does not interest you. You do not want my assistance. You came here not for me, but for Bent Bamboo, the Monkey, who is my guest.”
    “Guest?” Loyal Wind asked. “Then why does Bent Bamboo not come forward to speak to me? We were once comrades.”
    “Perhaps he does not wish to speak to a comrade who betrayed him,” Thundering Heaven said slyly.
    But Loyal Wind was beyond where such comments could sting him.
    “If so, then bring Bent Bamboo forth so that I may apologize. When my apologies are made, I will explain to him what has happened in the world of the living, and how, with his aid, all can be right again.”
    “I have already told him,” Thundering Heaven said. “And I now come to tell you that Bent Bamboo is not interested in your proposition.”
    “Let me ask him myself!” Loyal Wind replied, not bothering to keep the note of challenge from his voice. “Let me hear his answer.”
    But Thundering Heaven replied as if he had not heard.
    “Bent Bamboo is not interested in your proposition unless . . .”
    He paused, drawing out the words, but Loyal Wind did not think that what Thundering Heaven had to say would surprise him. He met the other’s gaze and found madness glittering like flaws in broken obsidian.
    “. . . Unless the offer is made to both of us. Then Bent Bamboo will sever the tie that binds his neglectful heir to the Monkey and take on the mantle again. And, since dead can serve your needs as easily as can the living, Pearl will renounce her scandalous connection to the Tiger. Then I will take up my rightful place among the Twelve.”
    “Pearl Bright is the Tiger,” Loyal Wind said. “Proven and confirmed in that role by Pai Hu, the White Tiger of the West, himself. She has not forgotten her place nor neglected her training as my own heir has done. We do not—”
    He bit off the hasty words, but Thundering Heaven finished them with a slow, ugly grin.
    “You do not need me. You have a Tiger—two Tigers if one includes our enemy turned ally, Flying Claw. What you need is a Monkey, but I have the Monkey.”
    “Then Bent Bamboo is your prisoner!”
    “He is my guest. I assure you. He does not wish to see you.”
    “Only because you have poisoned his thoughts.”
    But Loyal Wind