Free TUN-HUANG by Yasushi Inoué Page A

dismounted. They were at a clearing by the city wall near the East Gate. A path led to the top of the wall, where he could see a round building resembling a beacon tower.
    Hsing-te took a bundle of wolf manure from a soldier and went up the wall. It was twenty feet high. From the top he got a panoramic view of the vast plains surrounding Kan-chou.
    “Get down!” Wang-li shouted to him from below, but Hsing-te would not lie down to take cover. His fear of death had completely vanished. At first, the beacon tower had seemed small, but now that Hsing-te had climbed up the wall, he discovered that it was quite large—about thirty feet high—and a ladder had been placed there to reach the tower platform.
    Hsing-te climbed up the ladder. Wang-li and the others below dwindled in size. The beacon tower was two-storied; on the lower level was a small room large enough to hold two or three persons; it housed an enormous drum. Hsing-te climbed another ladder from that room to the upper level. When he had gone several rungs up and half-emerged on the upper level, he suddenly tensed. He saw a young girl crouching on the beacon platform. Her aquiline nose was framed by a thin face, and her dark, frightened eyes were deep-set. Instinctively, Hsing-te knew that the girl was of mixed Chinese and Uighur blood. She wore a garment with narrow sleeves, open collar, and pleated skirt. At a glance he could tell that she was of high birth.
    Before he set foot on the platform, Hsing-te said reassuringly in Chinese, “There’s no need to worry. I won’t hurt you.” Then he repeated the same words in Uighur. Whether she understood or not, the young girl made no response and continued to eye him fearfully.
    Hsing-te placed the wolf manure on the platform and set fire to it. Immediately the stench filled the air and black smoke began to rise from the beacon tower. When the dark smoke formed a straight column and began to drift slowly upward, without changing its shape, Hsing-te set another pile of manure alight. He repeated this until five columns were rising, signalling to the distant main army and other forces outside that the vanguard occupied the city. When he had completed his task, Hsing-te turned to the girl and said, “There’s nothing to worry about. Stay where you are. I’ll come to get you later and take you to a safer place.”
    “Are you the daughter of a tradesman?” Hsing-te questioned her in Chinese again. Apparently she understood, for she shook her head slightly.
    “Is your father an official?” he asked.
    Again she moved her head. Hsing-te’s attention was drawn to the two necklaces around the girl’s neck.
    “Are you of royal birth?” She would not answer, but gazed silently at Hsing-te. “Who is your father?”
    In reply she whispered, “The king’s younger brother.”
    “The king?”
    Hsing-te looked at her with renewed interest. If her father was the king’s brother, was she then of royal lineage? Leaving the girl there, Hsing-te descended the tower to the city wall, and then down to a corner of the square where Wang-li and the other soldiers were gathered.
    “You were the first to enter the city; you were at the head of the search patrol; and you accomplished the great mission of making smoke signals at considerable risk to yourself. One of these days I may recommend you for promotion as commander of thirty men,” said Wang-li to the only survivor of his original unit.
    They waited there for the other units to join them in the city. Wang-li ordered five men to look for wine, then sent another five to search the nearby homes in case women were hidden inside. Hsing-te sat down on a rock, and from time to time looked up toward the beacon tower where the young girl was. He wondered what he should do with her, but he could come to no decision. He finally reached the conclusion that he had no choice but to tell Wang-li about the girl and seek his help in protecting her. But Hsing-te knew little about the man’s