“I want a servant too.”

There was a long pause following this announcement as everyone stared at the Persian in various degrees of disbelief. Mehdi glared back defiantly like a wilful little cat with fur fluffed up ready for an argument. Shuai Tiao folded his arms, sighed and looked at Liang Fu as if to say This is your problem, while the Chinese official visibly mustered himself to attempt to reason with the unreasonable concubine.

“There is no time to find a servant so quickly, Mehdi. Look – the horses are ready, everyone is waiting, and it’s almost mid-day!”

“This is your fault, therefore it’s up to you to find a solution,” Mehdi informed him haughtily, “You never told me I could bring a servant, else I would have done.” He conveniently ignored the fact that most of the servants employed by the late Emir Hakam ibn al-Ashath would have willingly fallen on a dagger rather than follow his spoiled pet – who may or may not have killed him but certainly had earned no favours with them either way – across a desert.

The Chinese doctor was pretending to inspect his nails with a spitefully triumphant smirk, which wasn’t lost on Shuai Tiao. The swordsman had by now pieced together rumour with what he saw before him, and the truth of the tense situation had now dawned on him. He appeared to be in two minds whether to inform the harried Liang Fu his services were withdrawn, or simply start laughing helplessly.

“I don’t have a servant either, and nor does Shuai Tiao, but it doesn’t bother us,” the Japanese youth Genji offered brightly into the silence. Everyone ignored this irrelevancy. An impasse appeared to have been reached: Mehdi’s look of petulant determination hadn’t wavered, Liang Fu was clearly wishing he could simply conjure an agreeable servant out of thin air to satisfy the Persian’s demands, and the doctor Jin was complacently smoothing down his sleeves as if he’d scored the first hit in a battle.

“Mehdi, I would give you one of my own servants if it were possible,” Liang Fu sighed. Shuai Tiao quite correctly interpreted this as, whatever it would take to get you off my hands!. “But at this late stage, there is no one…”

“Honourable sirs, please forgive this humble person for interrupting.”

No one had noticed the young Chinese who had quietly approached during the altercation, or his swiftly whispered exchange with Jin’s servant Zian. Now all eyes turned to him, and he bowed low to each of the gentlemen in turn. “I will go as the esteemed gentleman’s servant if it pleases my master,” he said simply.

Mehdi regarded him for a moment, noting his close resemblance to Zian. He would have preferred a Persian, of course, someone civilised who understood his own particular tastes and requirements, but this would do. He glanced challengingly at Liang Fu. “Well? He said he would – can he?”

Liang Fu considered the situation and saw he had no choice if he ever expected to get this troublesome concubine out of the city today. He sighed again and threw up his hands. “This is Zhou Zhong, Third Servant of my household. I dare say I can do without him.”

“Excellent!” Mehdi shot the Chinese doctor a haughty smirk of triumphant and pointed to his over-stuffed saddlebags. “My baggage is there, Zhong,” he said airily, “We can go now.”

“Praise the One-Eyed God!” Shuai Tiao exhaled and rolled his eyes in relief. “Genji, please get the bags and the honourable gentlemen on the horses before the Luminous Gates close for the night!”