THE GLARE OF THE AFTERNOON sun beamed through the window in the room of an inn where Xin had been laid since his return from Liaodong Peninsula. He opened his eyes to a room bathed in golden sunlight and to the noise of a bustling nearby street. His body ached and he groaned with the soreness that coursed through his limbs; his abdomen still tender from Kurr's powerful blow.

"If I had not believed in the orchestrations of a higher power, I would say your stubbornness ...