and gentle and lying in its undertones was a feeling of being pleased with himself that was oddly pleasant to hear. But abruptly his voice sharpened. 'Why do you concern yourself with me, soldier?'
'I am no soldier!' Casca spat back. 'I am a slave like you.'
'You are a soldier… regardless of what your present state may be. We are what we are from the time of birth and cannot escape it. You are a soldier. You may be many other things also in your life, but, as the great wheel turns, you will return to what you really are.' The gentleness was back, a timeless gentleness, yet he looked deep into Casca's eyes.
The gaze of Shiu Tze made Casca uneasy, and his own voice took on a sharp edge. 'And what are you, little man, if not a slave?'
'I am a humble follower of the great sage Kung Fu Tzu, Kung the Philosopher-or, as your learned men call him, Confucius. I follow his teaching and rules of living.'
'Not another religion,' mumbled Casca. 'That's all this world needs, another group of gods to finish driving man crazy.'
Shiu Tze laughed gently. 'No, my big-nosed barbarian. Kung Fu Tzu-or perhaps I should call him Confucius; that will be easier for you to say with your uneducated tongue-Confucius is not a god. He is a way of life that can bring peace and joy to all men.'
Curiosity settled in on Casca. The little man had a magnetic appeal for him. 'And what is that way, Shiu Tze?'
'It is the path of enlightenment. My master, the sage Confucius, has only one primary law to live by and that is not to do to others what you do not want them to do to you.'
'Is that all there is to it?'
'There are the Analects and five Ching of his teachings, but it is not a religion as you have with your panoply of gods. The great sage lived and walked the earth over five hundred years ago. He is no god, but his teachings can give you peace of mind. My religion as such is that. The members of my order believe that the soul lives on as long as a man's descendants remember him, so as I honor my father, my sons must honor me until the time of my rebirth. And then, if I have achieved merit, I shall be born again as a man. If not, it will be as a lesser being, or beast, until I pay enough penance.'
'Religion,' Casca grumbled. 'Enough of religion. I want to know how you did what you did to those two dummies over there.' He indicated the two toughs who were even now consoling themselves with the idea that Shiu had hit them with a club when they weren't looking. In another hour they would believe their own lie.
Shiu laughed, a tinkling sound, as of wind chimes. His voice had a surprisingly lilting quality to it.
'Very well, O mighty warrior. What you witnessed was no more than the way of the open hand. It is an art many of those in my brotherhood practice. You see, our code forbids the use of weapons, but we are not so stupid as to believe that absolute passivity will solve every situation. So, when all else fails, we go the way of the open hand. It came to us from across the great mountains along with the teachings of another great sage, Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha. Many of his followers were masters of this art, and we learned from them and have changed it to suit ourselves.'
'But,' Casca broke in, 'How does it work? You're so much smaller than those two, yet you handled them as if they were babes. How?'
Shiu laughed again. 'I like you, barbarian. And because I like you and believe that basically you are a good man, I will tell you of the way of the great circle. For every movement there is a counter movement. You use your opponent's strength and weight against him. While this journey lasts I will instruct you in the Way, but in exchange for this, you must also let me tell you of the way of Confucius in the hope that I may attain greater merit for my efforts. Agreed?'
Casca was not particularly interested in the religion part, but that other. 'Agreed,' he said.
As he reached out to shake on the deal he noticed for the first time that Shiu's hands were odd looking. The two large knuckles on each hand were much greater in size than they should have been and were covered by a thick pad of callus. Another pad ran down the edge of his palm. And the little man's hand was as hard as Casca's-even after Casca's years in the mines.
For Casca, the rest of the trip was much too short. The time spent with Shiu taught him more about life and people than all his other years combined. Even the little man's philosphy of life would have been pleasant to believe in. However, Casca knew that it was not his way. His fate was forever merged with the sword. As for Shiu, Casca liked and respected the little man.
Shiu's hands and feet were faster than the eye could follow. Yet he claimed there were others even faster than he, that masters in this art in his home country of Khitai could snatch arrows from the air, such was their proficiency. But, laughing his tinkling laugh, he said, 'Do not concern yourself with that, big nose, for you will not reach that level in the short time we have together. That is the undertaking of years, and I fear you are too old to begin. One must start as a child to learn properly, but you will learn enough to make you a master among your peers. For, is not a one-eyed man king in the land of the blind? You will not learn all, but perhaps it will be enough for your purposes.'
Casca was fascinated by the ritual-looking motions of the forms that Shiu went through. After a couple of days he could see that they were not just forms for mental discipline, but actual movements and strikes of deadly efficiency.
Shiu concentrated on teaching Casca only those techniques easiest to learn. They exercised these for ten or more hours every day. The other slaves thought they had gone insane with mad dancing and whirling.
As for Crespas, he left Casca to his own, only calling to see him now and then to make sure he was eating properly and wasn't getting sick. A wise man took good care of his stock-and Casca could be worth thousands.
Crespas knew nothing of the little yellow man.
FIFTEEN
The day before landfall began with deceptive peace. It was hard to imagine that violence and danger might occur before the voyage ended. For Casca and Shiu the morning was tranquil. They stood on the foredeck enjoying the cool breeze. To the starboard the redtiled roofs of Rhegium were reflecting the rosy glow from the morning sun, the contrasting whitewashed sides of the houses making a pleasant and relaxed picture. To port lay the huge island of Sicily over which Rome and Carthage had battled and where also were Greek colonies that had been founded over seven hundred years before, the oldest of which was Naxos, too far to the south for Casca and Shiu to see. The galley glided along, gradually entering choppier waters as they came into the Straits of Messina. But the bronze-tipped ramming prow was slicing its way closer and closer to Rome. By late tomorrow they should make landfall at the port of Ostia.
The oar slaves lay with the oars to hand in case the wind behind failed and the waters of this narrow stretch turned treacherous. But at the moment, all was peace and calm.
Casca turned to Shiu, letting his eyes take in this strange and unusual man who was so surprisingly gentle for one with such great fighting capabilities.
'Shiu, I asked you before, and you said you would say later. We have only this last day and night before we land and we are separated. Tell me. I wish to know. How did you come to be where you are? And what are you? Who is it that you are being sent to?'
Shiu smiled gently, the wind whipping his robes as if trying to fill them as it did the rigged sails of the galley.
'Very well, big nose. Sit and listen. I come from the province of Tsi, near the great river of Hwangho. There I was raised in the teachings of my master, Confucius. I studied with my brothers at the monastery. When the elder brothers deemed I was worthy, they sent me out to teach the way to the unenlightened.
'I took only my beggar's bowl and staff. Many provinces did I travel to, spreading the word. I have seen wonders you have not dreamed of.
'But I also discovered I have a great curiosity to see even more. And because of that curiosity I found myself taken captive by pirates on the way to the kingdom of the Khmer.'
The morning sun reflected like silver coins off the channel as Shiu paused to collect his thoughts.
