The Dance of Time

Then, turned to stare at Khandik and the other two Ye-tai mercenaries.

Khandik grinned, rather humorlessly. 'Why not? Five against a hundred.'

'More like eighty,' qualified Rajiv.

'Eighty-three,' specified Tarun.

Everyone stared at him. 'I can count!' protested the Bengali boy. 'You have to be able to count, running a stable.'

Anastasius grunted. 'Still, it's odds of sixteen or seventeen to one. All garrison troops, of course.' He spit on the floor of the stable, as if to emphasize his low opinion of garrison soldiers.

'It's not that bad,' said Valentinian. 'At least half of them will be off duty.'

'On that day?' demanded Khandik. 'With tens of thousands of Rajputs howling at the gates? I don't think so.'

Valentinian grimaced. 'Well. . true.' He tugged at his beard. 'But the way Rajiv and Tarun report the layout of the gate, we'd only have to deal with some of them.'

'If we move fast enough,' agreed Rajiv.

Now, it was everyone's turn to stare at Rajiv.

'What's this 'we' business?' demanded Anastasius.

Rajiv squared his shoulders. 'It'll go easier if I'm already inside.'

'Me too!' said Tarun proudly. 'Rajiv and me already figured it out.'

Valentinian slanted his head skeptically. 'And just why would you be invited in? Other than to be a catamite, which I don't recommend as a way to augment your princely status.'

Rajiv made a face. So did Tarun, who stuck out his tongue in the bargain. 'Uck!'

'It's not that,' said Rajiv. For a moment, he had an uncertain expression on his face. An uncomfortable one, actually. 'The soldiers are pretty friendly, to tell you the truth. Even their leaders, except for the captain. He's a kshatriya, but the rest are just peasants, including the four sergeants. Most of them Bengalis, just like Tarun. They've got their wives and kids in the barracks with them, too, remember. Lots of kids, and all ages-and the barracks are almost part of the gate itself. After a while, if Tarun and I spend enough time there, nobody will notice us coming or going.'

'On that day?' asked Khandik skeptically.

Rajiv shrugged. 'I think especially on that day. Who's going to pay any attention to me-when my father is on the other side of the gate, making threats and issuing promises?'

That brought a round of soft laughter to the small group of soldiers clustered in a corner of the stable.

'Well,' said Khandik. 'That's true.'

* * *

Hearing the laughter, Lady Sanga scowled. She and Lady Damodara were perched on cushions in another part of the stable.

'See?' she demanded.

Her companion made a wry face. 'I'm glad my son is only seven.'

Lady Sanga sniffed. 'Guard him carefully. Or the next thing you know, Valentinian will have him practicing with sticks.'

Lady Damodara looked startled. Just the other day, she'd noticed. .

'He wouldn't!'

'He would.'

* * *

But even the two ladies were in a better mood, nine days later.

Ajatasutra showed up. At last!

'Wasn't hard,' he said cheerfully. 'They're still not screening anyone at the city's gates very thoroughly. Skandagupta's an idiot, trying to suppress the news of the rebellion the way he is. The rumors are flying all over already-ten times more so, once the emperor reaches the Yamuna, which he should be doing pretty soon. But since nothing is officially confirmed by Skandagupta and his officials, and no clear orders are being given, the soldiers are still going about their business as usual. They're mostly peasants, after all. None of their business, the doings of the high and mighty.'

'You look tired,' said Dhruva. Hearing the concern in her voice, Valentinian frowned. Seeing the frown, Anastasius had to fight down a grin.

Valentinian, jealous. Would wonders never cease?

Smiling-tiredly-Ajatasutra shrugged. 'Well, yes. I've come something like seven hundred miles in less than two weeks, since I left the emperor. Even as much time as I've spent in the saddle in my life, my legs feel like they're about to fall off. Best we not discuss at all the state of my buttocks.'

Once the emperor reaches the Yamuna. Since I left the emperor.

Lady Damodara almost shivered, at the casual and matter-of-fact manner of those statements. When she'd last seen her husband, he'd been simply the man she'd known and come to love since their wedding. They'd been but teenagers, at the time. He, sixteen; and she, a year younger.

Now, today. .

'Oh, forgot.' Ajatasutra started digging in his tunic. 'Rana Sanga-the emperor also, once he saw-asked me to bring you gifts. Nothing fancy, of course, traveling as lightly as I was.'

His hand emerged, holding two small onions. One, he gave to Lady Sanga; the other, to Lady Damodara.

Rana Sanga's wife burst into tears. Lady Damodara just smiled.

She even managed to keep the smile on her face a minute later. Ajatasutra had addressed her as 'Your Majesty' from the moment he arrived, and had done so throughout the long report he'd given them. But she hadn't really thought much of it. That just seemed part of the project of disguise and deception she'd been involved with for over a year, now. Hearing him-so casually, so matter-of-factly! — refer to her as the Empress to Lady Sanga, was a different thing altogether.

* * *

After Ajatasutra left her part of the stable, to confer with the soldiers in their own corner, Lady Damodara gave vent to her confusion and uncertainty.

'I don't feel any different.'

Her companion smiled. Rana Sanga's wife had become Lady Damodara's close friend, over the past months. The closest friend she'd ever had, in fact.

'Oh, but you are. Your semi-divine aura is quite noticeable now.'

'Even when I shit?' Lady Damodara pointed to a chamber pot not more than five feet away. 'Damn this stable, anyway.'

Sanga's wife grimaced. 'Well. Maybe you need to work on that part. On the other hand, why bother? Before too long, you'll either be dead or be crapping in the biggest palace in the world. With fifty chambermaids to carry out the results, and twenty spies and three executioners to make sure they keep their mouths shut about the contents.'

Lady Damodara laughed.

* * *

A few minutes later, hearing the soft laughter coming from the knot of soldiers in the corner of the stable, she frowned.

'My son's not over there, is he?' But, looking around, she spotted him playing with two of the other small boys in a different part of the stable. So, her frown faded.

Lady Sanga's frown, on the other hand, had deepened into a full scowl.

'No. But my son is.'

* * *

'Only fifteen-to-one odds,' said Khandik with satisfaction, 'now that Ajatasutra's here.'

Young Tarun shook his head. 'Thirteen-to-one. Well. A bit more.'

The glare bestowed upon him by the Ye-tai mercenary was a half-and-half business. On the one hand, it was unseemly for a mere stable-boy-a wretched Bengali, to boot-to correct his superior and elder. On the other hand. .