Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay

Author:Guy Gavriel Kay
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Tags: Fantasy, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9780670068098
Publisher: Penguin Canada
Published: 2010-10-14T07:00:00+00:00

“YOUR BROTHER,” Roshan had said without preamble, as Tai closed the carriage door and sat opposite him, “is not named in the letter. It was read to me several times. I do not,” he’d added, “read, myself.”

It was widely known. A source of derision among the aristocrats and the examination-trained mandarins. It was regarded as a principal reason why the endlessly subtle Chin Hai, once first minister, once feared everywhere, now gone to his ancestors, had allowed Roshan and other barbarian generals to acquire so much power on the borders. An illiterate had no chance of threatening him at the centre of his webs in the Ta-Ming, the way an aristocrat with an army could.

Such, at any rate, had been the view of the students taking the examinations, or preparing to. And, of course, whatever they agreed upon had to be true, did it not?

Settling into the carriage, Tai had immediately felt out of his depth. Which was, he was certain, the point of Roshan’s remark.

“Why would you imagine I’d consider that possible? That my brother could be accused of anything regarding me?”

He was delaying, trying to get his bearings. The governor leaned back against a profusion of cushions, eyeing him. An Li was, from this close, even more awesomely vast. A size that seemed mythic, a figure of legend.

He had, when not yet promoted to the rank of general, led three companies of Seventh District cavalry through five brutal days and nights of riding to turn the tide of battle against an incursion from the Koreini Peninsula. The Koreini of the far east, ambitious under their own emperor, had elected that spring to test the Kitan emperor’s commitment to the building of garrison forts beyond the Wall.

They had been given an answer, to their very great cost—but only because of Roshan. That was twenty years ago. Tai’s father had told him about that ride.

He had told Liu, as well, Tai remembered.

An Li shifted on his cushions again. “Your brother is principal counsellor to the first minister. Shen Liu has made his choice of paths. The letter—you may read it—indicates that Prime Minister Wen had his reasons for wishing you no longer among us, or in a dear woman’s thoughts. Or perhaps able to disrupt your brother’s plans for your sister. He does, after all, depend on Shen Liu for a great deal. It was the first minister who formally proposed your sister’s elevation to exalted status. You did know that?”

Tai shook his head. He hadn’t, but it made sense.

The governor sighed, fluttered a hand. His fingers were unexpectedly long. He wore a sweet, floral scent, it filled the carriage. He said, “Spring Rain? Is that the charming creature’s name? It will puzzle me until I draw my last breath how men can be so undone by women.” He paused, then added, thoughtfully, “Not even the highest among us are immune to the folly of that.”

Nothing he says is unplanned, Tai told himself. And that last remark was treason, since the highest among us could only mean the emperor.

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