Free Dark of the Sun by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro Page B

courteous you are,” Jo-Hsu said with all the spite of her nineteen years.
    By the time he left the Heavenly Flute it was nearer sunrise than midnight; he had presented the landlord with two silver bars, with the assurance that one would be set aside for Jo-Hsu’s future use, to the ill-concealed amusement of Shan and his assistant. The blizzard Yao had sensed was beginning in the mountains, and here, at the edge of the foothills, sleet fell relentlessly on the angling wind as Zangi-Ragozh hunched into his cloak and drew his hat down over his forehead to make his way back to the Inn of the Immortal Peach.
     
    Text of a letter written in Imperial Latin from Atta Olivia Clemens at Lago Comus in northern Italy to Ragoczy Sanct’ Germain Franciscus in Yang-Chau; carried by caravan for two years, never delivered.
     
    To the distinguished foreigner and my ancient, most honored friend, the greetings of Atta Olivia Clemens on this, the 20th day of June in the Year of the City 1286, or the 533rd Year of Salvation, according to the Pope, whoever the new one may be. Boniface II has been reported near death, so I must suppose he has departed this world for the next by now, and his successor, if one has been elected, is not known here at Lago Comus, nor is likely to be for a while yet, since news in these days travels very slowly.
    You see, I have taken your advice at last and got out of Rome again. The distressing inclination of various barbarians to sack and loot the city is becoming inconvenient—not to say revolting in every sense of the word—and so I have come to your lovely villa here eat Lago Comus to avoid the rape and pillage that has beome all too frequent in the city of my birth. I cannot tell you how much devastation has been visited on Rome, nor the appalling failure to protect its walls and buildings that has been the most consistent nature of its defense. If only I could be indifferent to Rome, I would be off to travel the world, as you do, but since I have not yet learned how to journey so far from my native Roman earth, Lago Comus must suffice.
    Niklos Aulirios is with me, of course, and I have begun assembling a household from the various villages in the area. I have also begun work expanding your stables here: I trust you will not object, or, if you do, you will come here to voice your disapproval in person, which would make any chiding a most welcome experience. He has proven to be the most capable of bondsmen, and I thank you from the very marrow of my bones for providing him to me.
    I have brought forty-three horses with me from my estate, and I’ll look for good stock in this region to breed with. I have only eight stallions—the rest are mares, and in good health. I might as well make the most of this opportunity and improve my stock while I avoid the continuing assaults on Rome. Next year I should have sixty to seventy in my herd, and that will be a satisfactory number. As you have remarked before, the barbarians may come down from the north to sack Rome, but they do not often attack such remote places as this one, having a number of towns and cities to attract their attention. The mountains here also provide a kind of protection, as well as providing a setting of impressive beauty. Not even Rome’s seven hills are as beautiful as these mountains, though as a Roman, it galls me to say it.
    Another reason for my coming to this place is that there has been a change in the laws again in Rome, and now, without a Papal dispensation allowing it, women are no longer allowed to inherit or possess property. What the Pope can do about it is limited, for, of course, the power of the Church is growing, but it is hardly sufficient to dictate to the rulers, but through their superstition. Not that such fancies cannot be useful, but they are far from reliable, and it is my understanding that what may work in one’s favor on one occasion may be contrary the next time. Certainly the Church gained prestige when Pope Leo