The Grace of Kings (82 page)

He knelt among the broken stones, and the bright sun warmed his face. He closed his eyes and listened, and all around him was the sound of peace.

Then, he went to the Great Temple to Lutho. Stepping through the Great Hall and avoiding the throngs of worshippers, he made his way to the small courtyard behind the temple. There, he looked around and saw that there was a large yellowish rock leaning against one of the trees. It resembled a turtle in its shell.

He knelt down.

“Teacher, I've come because I think my task is done.”

He waited patiently, hoping for the old fisherman who had given him
Gitré Üthu
, the book of knowledge, to return. But as the sun set and the moon rose, no one showed up.

He felt a stirring in the bundle on his back. He opened the cloth and took out the magical tome. The pages fluttered open by themselves, filled with notes and diagrams he had recorded over the years, a trail of the peregrinations of his mind. Then the book stopped on the first blank page.

A line of glowing word-squares appeared:
When the cruben breaches, the sensible remora detaches; when the task is done, the wise servant withdraws.

Luan sat in the darkness for a long time before bowing down to touch his forehead to the ground in front of the book. “Thank you, Teacher.”

Another line of text appeared:
You've always known everything in this book; I just had to point them out.

Then the glowing letters faded, and though Luan Zya waited until the sun rose, nothing more appeared on the empty page.

After visiting the grave of the old dockmaster in the nearby countryside, Queen Gin came to Dimushi.

She stayed in the finest inn in Dimushi with Luan Zya as her guest. They did not emerge from their bedroom for a few days.

One morning, the two decided to take a ride outside the city walls. Gin wrapped herself in a comfortable dress instead of her royal robes, and Luan wore a plain blue scholar's tunic instead of his formal court garb. The two looked like a pair of lovers out for a spring stroll rather than a queen and Dara's prime strategist. They let the reins hang loose and allowed the horses to wander where they would, taking delight in the bright sunlight and warm breeze.

“Have you thought about what's next for you, Gin?” Luan Zya asked.

“Kuni has said that he wants to make me Queen of Géjira after the coronation. Géjira would be far richer than Rima and Faça. It's a good reward.”

When there was no response from Luan, Gin turned and saw that his brows were furrowed.

“What?”

Luan spoke slowly. “But you would also have to leave your army behind in Faça and Rima and start all over again in a new place.”

Gin laughed. “I'm used to that.”

Just then they came upon a few hunters by the side of the road.

“A lot of wild geese?” asked Gin.

“Not a good season,” replied one of the hunters. “We've been out for most of the morning and have nothing to show for it. Looks like we'll have to wait until the fall.”

Luan and Gin watched as the hunters leashed their hounds, who whimpered unhappily, and wrapped their bows in thick layers of cloth to be stored away until fall. Then the hunters bid them farewell and left.

“You're a marshal,” said Luan. “But now there is peace. Do you think you're very different from a hound or bow in the emperor's eyes when all the rabbits have been caught and all the wild geese killed?”

Gin narrowed her eyes. “You think Kuni is sending me to Gan to separate me from officers loyal to me?”

“That is one interpretation.”

“But he also told me that I would be allowed to wear my sword to his court, an honor not even allowed to men who have followed him far longer like Mün Çakri or Than Carucono. Why would he tell me this if he suspects me of ambition?”

“Did you refuse this honor?”

“Of course not! I've certainly earned it.”

Luan shook his head. “I don't know what Kuni is thinking. But I do know that power changes how a man sees his friends. Cogo understood this before any of us, and he wisely chose to allay Kuni's suspicions by acting the fool. Had he not sullied his own name deliberately, Kuni might have suspected him of trying to pry the hearts of the people away from his master.”

“Do you always think of the worst even when well-deserved glory is handed to you?”

“It's the prudent thing to do. Trusting the favor of the powerful is like riding a kite in the wind.”

Gin urged her horse to begin a trot. “Speak not to me of prudence. I've lived on the edge of a sword all my life. I'm good at leading soldiers, but Kuni is good at leading generals. My ambition is satisfied with serving a great lord.”

“Yet you killed Shilué to pave your rise. Do you truly know your heart? Or how others will see it? If you do not retire when the path is still open to you, you may be forced to fight for your life someday.”

Mazoti's face tightened. “I once had the chance to betray Kuni, but I refused it. The world is not only a world of brute force and heartless betrayals. Kuni has nothing to fear from me, and I likewise will not fear him.”

They rode back to the city in silence.

There were a few more people that Mazoti needed to see in Dimushi.

First, she asked for Gray Weasel's old gang and the broken children who had once begged for them.

It was not easy to find members of a long-dissolved gang, but the magistrates and constables of Dimushi were eager to please this most powerful of Kuni Garu's new nobles, and eventually, they brought half a dozen men to her in chains.

“These are the only ones we could find,” said the senior magistrate. “Even thieves don't do well in wars.”

“What about the children?” she asked.

“They”—the senior magistrate dared not meet her gaze—“probably didn't survive.”

Mazoti nodded and stared into the distance.

She had the men's hands cut off and their legs broken.

“Look at me,” Mazoti said. Her soldiers held up the limp bodies. The thieves, now barely conscious, struggled to lift their heads. “This is the last face you'll see in your lives.”

Then she had their eyes poked out with an iron rod heated in a furnace. The thieves screamed as their flesh sizzled.

“This isn't for me, but those children.”

Mazoti had their eardrums pierced as well, so that their own screams would echo in their minds for the rest of their days.

Next was the old laundress who had shared her meal with Mazoti when she was a young girl. It took even longer to find her, but Mazoti sent her soldiers to scour the villages along the Liru River and rounded up all the old women until the right one was found.

The old woman trembled as she was brought to the queen. Mazoti gave her ten thousand gold pieces. “Granny, you helped me when I was a nobody. But the gods do not forget a real act of kindness.”

Then came the couple, the followers of Rufizo, who had tried to make her a respectable young lady by hurting her.

Mazoti gave them fifty pieces of silver. “This should be enough to reimburse you for the cost of housing and feeding me for those months. You intended to heal, yet you had no patience for the real hard work of warming the heart of a wounded young girl. Perhaps next time you'll do better.”

Finally, Mazoti brought in the bully, the man between whose legs Gin had once crawled.

The man quaked with fear. The tale of what had happened to Gray Weasel's old gang had spread far and wide. He collapsed into a heap of trembling flesh on the floor, not daring to say a word.

Mazoti offered him a seat and asked him to be at ease. “You once humiliated me, but you also taught me that it was important to bear small insults if one wishes to rise high.

“I was once an urchin in these streets, and now I return as a queen. But if I seek only to visit vengeance upon you, then I will be demonstrating that I've learned nothing.

“Let us drink together.”

Today would be the last day that Kuni Garu was to be known by his old name. Tomorrow, he would become Emperor Ragin, and the Reign of Four Placid Seas would begin. Eventually, there would be a new palace in Pan, the Harmonious City, a formal coronation, and new rituals and titles. Cogo Yelu had already prepared a thick stack of petitions for Kuni to review: ideas for administering the Dasu Empire and how to make the people's lives better.

But today Kuni would sit in
géüpa
and drink with his old friends as Kuni Garu in Zudi. Wine would flow freely and table manners would be forgotten. Today, anything could be said.

Mün Çakri, First General of the Infantry, Than Carucono, First General of the Cavalry, and Rin Coda, Farsight Secretary (a title he suggested because it sounded better than “Spymaster”), hosted Duke Théca Kimo and Marquess Puma Yemu at a table in the corner, where their rowdy drinking games wouldn't bother the other guests. From time to time, when they argued too loudly about who should be drinking, Kuni had to go over to adjudicate personally.

Next to them was the spirit table, where empty place settings and seats were left for friends and family who did not live to see this day: Naré, Hupé, Muru, Ratho, Captain Dosa, Phin, Mata, Mira, Kikomi . . . From time to time, Kuni and the others came by the table to toast the departed. Though their eyes might be moist, their words were celebratory: Hope was the best way to honor the dead.

The only thing that marred the festive mood was the absence of Dafiro Miro, captain of the palace guards. He had accompanied the body of his brother, Ratho, to their home village near Kiesa for burial, where he vowed to stay in mourning for a year.

Widow Wasu of the Splendid Urn catered the food and drinks; she was offering much more upscale fare these days, thanks to the booming business brought about by visitors curious about Kuni Garu's origins—and Wasu knew to be discreet and only smiled mysteriously when patrons asked her to confirm some legend or other. She was even serving a new drink at the Urn she marketed specifically to scholars—students from around Dara had come to Zudi to study at academies opened by Master Loing's other students; it was too bad that Master Loing had passed away, but surely being taught by the emperor's former classmates was also a measure of honor? A rising tide lifted all boats.

Up on the dais, at the table of honor next to Kuni and his wives, sat Féso Garu, Kuni's father; Kado and Tete Garu, his brother and sister-in-law; and Gilo and Lu Matiza, Jia's parents. The smiles on the faces of the Matizas were a bit strained, but Kuni had been in a forgiving mood, and he hadn't given them a hard time when he came to Zudi. (However, at the beginning of the banquet, he had banged on an empty pot loudly and smiled as Tete blushed furiously.)

Jia kept on raising her cup to Gin Mazoti, Luan Zya, and Cogo Yelu. These three were the most important people in the new Dasu Empire. She seemed to be trying to make up for lost time as she had been absent for years while Risana was here to win their favor.