Description: Chapter One: An Assassin CHAPTER ONE AN ASSASSIN ZUDI: THE SEVENTH MONTH IN THE FOURTEENTH YEAR OF THE REIGN OF ONE BRIGHT HEAVEN. A white bird hung still in the clear western sky and flapped its wings sporadically. Perhaps it was a raptor that had left its nest on one of the soaring peaks of the Er-M Mountains a few miles away in search of prey. But this was not a good day for hunting--a raptor''s usual domain, this sun-parched section of the Porin Plains, had been taken over by people. Thousands of spectators lined both sides of the wide road out of Zudi; they paid the bird no attention. They were here for the Imperial Procession. They had gasped in awe as a fleet of giant Imperial airships passed overhead, shifting gracefully from one elegant formation to another. They had gawped in respectful silence as the heavy battle-carts rolled before them, thick bundles of ox sinew draping from the stone-throwing arms. They had praised the emperor''s foresight and generosity as his engineers sprayed the crowd with perfumed water from ice wagons, cool and refreshing in the hot sun and dusty air of northern Cocru. They had clapped and cheered the best dancers the six conquered Tiro states had to offer: five hundred Faa maidens who gyrated seductively in the veil dance, a sight once reserved for the royal court in Boama; four hundred Cocru sword twirlers who spun their blades into bright chrysanthemums of cold light that melded martial glory with lyrical grace; dozens of elegant, stately elephants from wild, sparsely settled cofi Island, painted with the colors of the Seven States--the largest male draped in the white flag of Xana, as one would expect, while the others wore the rainbow colors of the conquered lands. The elephants pulled a moving platform on which stood two hundred of the best singers all the Islands of Dara had to offer, a choir whose existence would have been impossible before the Xana Conquest. They sang a new song, a composition by the great imperial scholar Lgo Crupo to celebrate the occasion of the Imperial tour of the Islands: To the north: Fruitful Faa, green as the eyes of kind Rufizo, Pastures ever kissed by sweet rain, craggy highlands shrouded in mist. Soldiers walking next to the moving platform tossed trinkets into the crowd: Xana-style decorative knots made with bits of colorful string to represent the Seven States. The shapes of the knots were meant to evoke the logograms for "prosperity" and "luck." Spectators scrambled and fought one another to catch a memento of this exciting day. To the south: Castled Cocru, fields of sorghum and rice, both pale and dark, Red, for martial glory, white, like proud Rapa, black, as mournful Kana. The crowd cheered especially loudly after this verse about their homeland. To the west: Alluring Amu, the jewel of Tututika, Luminous elegance, filigreed cities surround two blue lakes. To the east: Gleaming Gan, where Tazu''s trades and gambles glitter, Wealthy as the sea''s bounty, cultured like the scholars'' layered gray robes. Walking behind the singers, other soldiers held up long silk banners embroidered with elaborate scenes of the beauty and wonder of the Seven States: moonlight glinting from snowcapped Mount Kiji; schools of fish sparkling in Lake Tututika at sunrise; breaching crubens and whales sighted off the shores of Wolf''s Paw; joyous crowds lining the wide streets in Pan, the capital; serious scholars debating policy in front of the wise, all-knowing emperor.... To the northwest: High-minded Haan, forum of philosophy, Tracing the tortuous paths of the gods on Lutho''s yellow shell. In the middle: Ring-wooded Rima, where sunlight pierces ancient Forests to dapple the ground, as sharp as Fithowo''s black sword. Between each verse, the crowd bellowed out the chorus along with the singers: We bow down, bow down, bow down to Xana, Zenith, Ruler of Air, Why resist, why persist against Lord Kiji in strife that we can''t bear? If the servile words bothered those in this Cocru crowd who had probably taken up arms against the Xana invaders scarcely more than a dozen years ago, any mutterings were drowned out by the full-throated, frenzied singing of the men and women around them. The hypnotic chant held a power of its own, as if by mere repetition the words gained weight, became more true. But the crowd wasn''t close to being satisfied by the spectacle thus far. They hadn''t seen the heart of the Procession yet: the emperor. The white bird glided closer. Its wings seemed to be as wide and long as the spinning vanes of the windmills in Zudi that drew water from deep wells and piped it into the houses of the wealthy--too big to be an ordinary eagle or vulture. A few spectators looked up and idly wondered if it was a giant Mingn falcon, taken more than a thousand miles from its home in faraway Rui Island and released here by the emperor''s trainers to impress the crowd. But an Imperial scout hidden among the crowd looked at the bird and furrowed his brows. Then he turned and shoved his way through the crowd toward the temporary viewing platform where the local officials were gathered. Anticipation among the spectators grew as the Imperial Guards passed by, marching like columns of mechanical men: eyes straight ahead, legs and arms swinging in unison, stringed marionettes under the guidance of a single pair of hands. Their discipline and order contrasted sharply with the dynamic dancers who had passed before them. After a momentary pause, the crowd roared their approval. Never mind that this same army had slaughtered Cocru''s soldiers and disgraced her old nobles. The people watching simply wanted spectacle, and they loved the gleaming armor and the martial splendor. The bird drifted even closer. "Coming through! Coming through!" Two fourteen-year-old boys shoved their way through the tightly packed crowd like a pair of colts butting through a sugarcane field. The boy in the lead, Kuni Garu, wore his long, straight, black hair in a topknot in the style of a student in the private academies. He was stocky--not fat but well-muscled, with strong arms and thighs. His eyes, long and narrow like most men from Cocru, glinted with intelligence that verged on slyness. He made no effort to be gentle, elbowing men and women aside as he forced his way forward. Behind him, he left a trail of bruised ribs and angry curses. The boy in the back, Rin Coda, was gangly and nervous, and as he followed his friend through the throng like a seagull dragged along on the tailwind of a ship, he murmured apologies at the enraged men and women around them. "Kuni, I think we''ll be okay just standing in the back," Rin said. "I really don''t think this is a good idea." "Then don''t think," Kuni said. "Your problem is that you think too much. Just do ." "Master Loing says that the gods want us to always think before we act." Rin winced and ducked out of the way as another man swore at the pair and took a swing at them. "No one knows what the gods want." Kuni didn''t look back as he forged ahead. "Not even Master Loing." They finally made it through the dense crowd and stood right next to the road, where white chalk lines indicated how far spectators could stand. "Now, this is what I call a view," Kuni said, breathing deeply and taking everything in. He whistled appreciatively as the last of the semi-nude Faa veil dancers passed in front of him. "I can see the attraction of being emperor." "Stop talking like that! Do you want to go to jail?" Rin looked nervously around to see if anyone was paying attention--Kuni had a habit of saying outrageous things that could be easily interpreted as treason. "Now, doesn''t this beat sitting in class practicing carving wax logograms and memorizing Kon Fiji''s Treatise on Moral Relations ?" Kuni draped his arm around Rin''s shoulders. "Admit it: You''re glad you came with me." Master Loing had explained that he wasn''t going to close his school for the Procession because he believed the emperor wouldn''t want the children to interrupt their studies--but Rin secretly suspected that it was because Master Loing didn''t approve of the emperor. A lot of people in Zudi had complicated views about the emperor. "Master Loing would definitely not approve of this ," Rin said, but he couldn''t take his eyes away from the veil dancers either. Kuni laughed. "If the master is going to slap us with his ferule for skipping classes for three full days anyway, we might as well get our pain''s worth." "Except you always seem to come up with some clever argument to wiggle out of being punished, and I end up getting double strokes!" The crowd''s cheers rose to a crescendo. On top of the Throne Pagoda, the emperor was seated with his legs stretched out in front of him in the position of thakrido , cushioned by soft silk pillows. Only the emperor would be able to sit like this publicly, as everyone was his social inferior. The Throne Pagoda was a five-story bamboo-and-silk structure erected on a platform formed from twenty thick bamboo poles--ten across, ten perpendicular--carried on the shoulders of a hundred men, their chests and arms bare, oiled to glisten in the sunlight. The four lower stories of the Throne Pagoda were filled with intricate, jewel-like clockwo

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