Chung Kuo - The Marriage Of The Living Dark Part 20

Maybe, Kuei Jen thought, looking up at his husband, immensely proud of him at that moment, but first we must survive the next two days.

They took him to a cave below the lip of the great rock and sat him on a rock ledge. There they removed his blindfold and unbound him, then left him. It was a long, low-ceilinged cave. A single lamp burned in a cresset to his left. It was cool and dry and smelled of cinnamon and spice. Alone in the half dark, Li Yuan sat and waited, listening to the slow drip of water from the far end of the cave. The very sound of stillness. Outside it was night. A pitch black, moonless night Even so, he could make out the outline of the entrance, above him and to his right, shaped like an inverted s.h.i.+eld, jagged on one side, smooth on the other. Li Yuan looked down, staring at his hands, remembering the heavy ring of iron he had once worn on the index finger of his left hand; a ring of power, symbol of the authority of the Seven who had once ruled Chung Kuo. His father's ring, and his father's before that. The same ring that now lay at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, where his son had thrown it.

Li Yuan frowned, recalling Kuei Jen's words that day when they had left City Europe. "Chung Kuo is gone. We must learn to be ordinary people now." So it was. But though he had not been happy when he had worn the ring, he still could not understand how Kuei Jen had thrown it away so casually. "Oh, it was far from casual."

Li Yuan turned, startled. He had heard no one come into the cave. The voice - the same voice as earlier - came from the shadows behind him. He turned to face them, unable to discern a figure there.

"I am here, Li Yuan. But you cannot see me. Not yet. Not until you are ready to see me."

"What is this?" Li Yuan asked. But he felt shaken. How had his interrogator known what he was thinking?

"Oh, I know many things, my friend. All manner of things that you would rather have kept hidden."

Li Yuan took a long breath, then, "How do you do that?""Tell what1 s on your mind?" There was gentle laughter. "It is not hard, Li Yuan. You are a simple man when it comes down to it Oh, maybe not as simple as these Americans, but certainly no wiser."

"You seem to take great pleasure in insulting me." There was a brief silence then. "No. No pleasure. And I meant no insult Yet we are not here to flatter each other."

"Then what are we here for?"

"To find out what manner of man you are, and why you have wasted your life." "Wasted?" Li Yuan stood and took a step toward the voice. Still he could not see the figure of his interrogator. "How do you mean, wasted?" "You wish to argue otherwise?"

"I..." He paused, then backtracked. "I heard your voice... out in the desert, coming here."

"That is so."

Li Yuan nodded to himself, then smiled, as if he suddenly understood. "Speakers.

You are using hidden speakers, aren't you? It is all tricks. Illusions."

"If that explanation makes you happy."

"But it is the truth, neh?"

The same gentle laughter spilled out into the darkness, making Li Yuan go rigid with anger. He did not like being patronised.

"Too tense," the voice said, more familiar by the moment "You were always too tense. Except with your maids. And there you had nothing to prove, neh?" Li Yuan jutted out his jaw, an ugly expression on his face. "What do you mean, loo jen?"

"Only that a poor horseman always blames his animal..."

Li Yuan closed his eyes, anger burning in him. Insults. Nothing but insults.

"... or kills it"

His eyes flicked open, surprised that the old man knew so much about him. He had indeed killed his horses, but only to stop his pregnant wife from riding. "Rather drastic, wouldn't you say?"

Li Yuan shook himself, as if to wake himself from a dream. "How ...?" "... do I know your thoughts?" There was the rustle of silks, then, "It is a power I have. To see clearly into the minds of others. For a long time I had forgotten how, but now my powers have returned. The time is almost upon us, and the way must be prepared."

"The way?"

"Of that I cannot speak. Not yet. But you are part of it, Li Yuan, and must be prepared for what lies ahead. You must be purged. Then, and only then, can you be reborn."

"It sounds ..." he sought for the word Zelic had used for some of the Han beliefs they had talked about, "... cranky."

"Irrational, you mean?"

"That also."

"And you were ever one for rational explanations, weren't you, Li Yuan?"

"The world is what it is," he answered, "subject to fixed laws." "That is true," the voice answered from the darkness, "but what if you do not understand those laws, Li Yuan? What if those laws make the universe quite other than you think it is. Your senses, after all, are limited." "Even so..."

"Go to the pool, Li Yuan."

The voice was commanding. Li Yuan stood.

"Behind you," the voice said. "Can you not hear the water dripping?" Li Yuan turned, then slowly walked across, stopping before what looked like a large, shallow bowl. The surface of it was black like ink. Staring down into it, Li Yuan s.h.i.+vered, the memory returning to him of all the times he had stood beside the carp pond in Tongjiang, watching the dark shapes of the fish move slowly in the depths like circling thoughts. A drop of water fell. The dark surface rippled, then settled again. It was like looking into the pupil of an eye.

"Well, Li Yuan? What would you like to see?"He looked up, turning his head. It was as if the voice was at his shoulder now. More trickery, he guessed. Like this. This too, he suspected, was an elaborate trick. "My mother," he said. "I'd like to see my mother." A drop of water fell, the surface rippled. As it cleared, the pool began to glow. Slowly an image formed.

Two naked, sweat-wreathed bodies in the throes of pa.s.sion, the man pressing down, the tendons in his arms strained and rigid beside the woman's head, his powerful b.u.t.tocks thrusting like a blacksmith hammering iron, the woman's limbs embracing his flanks, her pert b.r.e.a.s.t.s moulded to his chest as she pushed up to receive each penetrating stroke.

And their faces ...

Li Yuan gasped, realising what he was witnessing. He fell onto his knees, horrified, but unable now to look away.

A drop fell, rippling the surface, but still it went on. Slowly their movements grew more urgent, like two riders urging their mounts on, each matching thrust more brutal and more desperate until, the muscles of their faces locking in mutual agony, their two bodies tensed and seemed to quiver against each other, their groins pressed as close as flesh permitted. And then a great spasm pa.s.sed through them, making them shudder, as if an electric shock had been administered.

Their mouths groaned silently as they strained to break down the natural barriers of flesh, he into her, she into him. And then, when it seemed relief would never come, she fell back, he expiring upon her. And there they lay, her hand about his neck, caressing him.

Li Yuan s.h.i.+vered, astonished by the sight, amazed both by the brutality of the act and the tenderness that followed.

'Thus were you conceived, Li Yuan."

Yes, and thus had his father wors.h.i.+pped.his mother, and she him.

"You understand, then, Li Yuan?"

He nodded, numbed by the knowledge. Oh, he had guessed how much his father had missed his mother, if only from his own feelings of loneliness, but never - until this moment - hadhe known just how finally his father's world had ended that evening in the floating palace, high above Chung Kuo. Yes, ended, even as his own had begun.

Beside that single loss, his own losses - all of them, piled high, one atop another - were as nothing, for he had never loved like that No, not even Fei Yen.

"Ah, then, you do understand."

Li Yuan felt a hand gently touch his shoulder. There was the rustle of silk and then the old man stood beside him. He turned, his eyes widening with surprise. "Tuan Ti Fo!"

The old Master smiled. "So I am known to men. But I too have had to remember much that I had forgotten."

"Forgotten?"

"Look," Tuan Ti Fo said, pointing down into the darkness of the pool once more.

"Look and tell me what you see."

There was a commotion at the main door to the hall. A group of stewards were blocking the way of three men who seemed keen to gain admittance. Excusing himself, Li Han Ch'in got up and went across to see to the matter. After the initial shock of the announcement, things had gone well, particularly when it became apparent that martial law would affect none of those present in the hall. For them it would be business as usual, but without the risk of late night hara.s.sment by surly and dissatisfied citizenry. Kuei Jen's idea of "special pa.s.ses" for the privileged few had gone down well, taking the edge off a measure that might otherwise have provoked bitter opposition. And when Egan had gone on to speak of the planned campaign in the south, Kuei Jen had felt the mood in the hall change dramatically, becoming bullish once more - unrealistically optimistic.

And that was the trouble in the first place.

Over by the doorway voices had been raised. Han Ch'in's voice sounded loudly. "I don't give a s.h.i.+t what that says! You are not coming in, and thaf s that!"Kuei Jen smiled at the person to whom he'd been talking, then turned, looking across.

Han Ch'in stood just in front of the line of stewards, arguing with one of the newcomers, a Senior Advocate whom Kuei Jen recognised from court He sometimes worked for Chancellor Harding and others of the older generation. Egan leaned across and gestured toward the group. "Thaf s going on over there?

Are we expecting anyone else?"

"Not that I know of," Kuei Jen answered, dabbing at his lips with the cloth.

"I'll go and see."

"What is it?" he asked his half-brother, as he stepped up to the group, his long dress trailing on the floor behind him.

Han Ch'in glared, then shook his head, handing Kuei Jen the doc.u.ment he had been holding. It was a lawyer's affidavit Kuei Jen read through it quickly, then glanced up, shocked, looking past the Advocate to meet the young man's eyes.

"It is true," the young man said, a strange depth to his voice. "I am Josiah Egan, and I demand to be admitted."

Kuei Jen studied him a moment, noting the absence of wrinkling of the skin, the pure, almost infant freshness of its flesh tone. It was a perfect body, more like a sculpture than something genuinely human, and the face, if anything, seemed not handsome in itself, but a mask of handsomeness. All this was evidence. Yet it was the eyes that convinced Kuei Jea They were clear and bright, a young man's eyes, and yet something ancient stared out through them. Looking at them, Kuei Jen s.h.i.+vered, knowing that at last it had been done Lifting his dress slightly, Kuei Jen curtsied low. "Mister Egan," he said, straightening up and smiling, raising his voice so all nearby could hear. "Welcome to our humble gathering. May I have the honour of escorting you to the top table. Your grandson will be delighted to see you again."

"Did you love your brother?"

Li Yuan looked up, meeting Tuan Ti Fo's eyes. Both men were seated now, cross-legged, facing each other across the ink black pool.

TO NINEVEH.

"I idolised him."

"And used him, too ..."

"Used?"

"As an excuse, when things went wrong."

"No, I..."

Tuan Ti Fo's eyes were compa.s.sionate, yet his words, as ever, went to the nub of things. So it had been this past hour.

"Think back, Li Yuan. How many times, when tilings did not go as you desired, did you not say to yourself, it is not my fault, I was not born to rule. And again, with Fei Yen, did you not convince yourself that it failed not through any fault of yours, but because she was your brother's wife?" "That is not fair!"

"No?" Tuan Ti Fo looked down. At once the pool began to glow. A drop of water fell. The pool rippled and cleared, and as it did, Li Yuan found himself looking at the image of the young Fei Yen, standing at the great window at Tongjiang, her face anxious. There was no sound, but he could make out the words she said as clearly as if he had heard them.

"Why has he left me here alone? Why does he not come?'

A drop of water fell. The pool rippled once more as the image faded into black. "You neglected her, Li Yuan. She could have been everything to you. Yes, and would have been, did you but know it But you did not value what you were given. You never valued it It was always too easy for you." "Easy?" Li Yuan laughed scornfully. "It was never easy. There were so many conflicting choices, so many enemies."

"True. But also many friends. And advisors, too. Good men whom you might have listened to." Tuan Ti Fo shook his head, like a father chastising an errant son. "You were given a world, Li Yuan. Yes, and the intelligence and compa.s.sion to govern it But you did not value what you were given. You took it for granted. As with Fei Yen, you had to lose it before you understood its worth." Li Yuan huffed impatiently, clearly put out by the old man's words. "And that is how you see it, is it, loo jen? It was as simple as that?""I did not say it was simple, yet the underlying causes ..." He paused, then, leaning towards Li Yuan asked gently. "When did it start, Li Yuan? When were you first wounded?" "Wounded?"

"Yes. When did the hurt begin?"

Li Yuan was silent a moment, then, very quietly: "It did not begin. It was always there. I woke to life with it"

"Your mother..."

"Yes."

Tuan Ti Fo watched Li Yuan a while, then nodded to himself, his dark eyes thoughtful.

"When a man is hurt - hurt in the way that you were hurt, his nature scarred from birth - he can inflict much damage on those about him. That hurt can be a poison, festering in him, making him a source of much corruption. Yet when an emperor - a T'ang - is hurt, how much greater the damage he can do. So it was with you, Li Yuan. Your hurt - that scar you were born with - also scarred a world. It damaged not merely those about you, but billions of ordinary lives." Li Yuan's eyes flared. "So it was all my fault?" "No. Not all of it Yet you were thoughtless sometimes, callous even. As when you drew the line between the cities. That scar inside you made you blind to the suffering of others. You did not imagine what you were doing." Li Yuan sat there, staring at the surface of the pool, his silence like a shroud about him.

"Well?" Tuan Ti Fo said, after a while. "Have I said too much?" Li Yuan looked up, a weariness in his eyes. "No." He sighed. "I remember Karr mentioning it to me once. About the people falling. Like grains of pepper, so he said. But even then I did not see it Not the truth of it, anyway." "So you never saw the faces?"

"Faces?"

"The faces in the ice ... where you drew the line"