Guy Gavriel Kay - Under Heaven

Table of Contents

ALSO BY GUY GAVRIEL KAY

The Fionavar Tapestry:
The Summer Tree
The Wandering Fire
The Darkest Road

Tigana

A Song for Arbonne

The Lions of Al-Rassan

The Sarantine Mosaic:
Sailing to Sarantium
Lord of Emperors

The Last Light of the Sun

Ysabel

Beyond This Dark House
(poetry)

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Published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library,
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Previously published in a Viking Canada edition.

First ROC Printing, May 2010

Copyright (c) Guy Gavriel Kay, 2010

eISBN : 978-1-101-18700-5

Map copyright (c) Martin Springett, 2010
All rights reserved

Excerpt by Robert Lowell from "Waking Early Sunday Morning,"
published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1965.

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to Sybil,
with love

PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS

The Imperial Family, and Ta-Ming Palace mandarins

Taizu, the Son of Heaven, emperor of Kitai
Shinzu, his third son, and heir
Xue, his thirty-first daughter
Wen Jian, the Precious Consort, also called the Beloved Companion
Chin Hai, formerly first minister, now deceased
Wen Zhou, first minister of Kitai, cousin to Wen Jian

The Shen Family

General Shen Gao, deceased, once Left Side Commander of the Pacified West
Shen Liu, his oldest son, principal adviser to the first minister
Shen Tai, his second son
Shen Chao, his third son
Shen Li-Mei, his daughter

The Army

An Li ("Roshan"), military governor of the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Districts
An Rong, his oldest son
An Tsao, a younger son
Xu Bihai, military governor of the Second and Third Districts, in Chenyao
Xu Liang, his older daughter
Lin Fong, commander of Iron Gate Fortress
Wujen Ning, a soldier at Iron Gate
Tazek Karad, an officer on the Long Wall

Kanlin Warriors

Wan-si
Wei Song
Lu Chen
Ssu Tan
Zhong Ma

Artists

Sima Zian, a poet, the Banished Immortal
Chan Du, a poet

In Xinan, the capital

Spring Rain, a courtesan in the North District, later named Lin Chang

Feng, a guard in the employ of Wen Zhou
Hwan, a servant of Wen Zhou
Pei Qin, a beggar in the street
Ye Lao, a steward

Beyond the borders of Kitai

West
Sangrama the Lion, ruling the Empire of Tagur
Cheng-wan, the White Jade Princess, one of his wives, seventeenth daughter of Emperor Taizu
Bytsan sri Nespo, a Taguran army officer
Nespo sri Mgar, his father, a senior officer

North
Dulan, kaghan of the Bogu people of the steppe
Hurok, his sister's husband, later kaghan
Meshag, Hurok's older son
Tarduk, Hurok's second son
With bronze as a mirror one can correct one's
appearance; with history as a mirror, one can
understand the rise and fall of a state; with good
men as a mirror, one can distinguish right from wrong.

--LI SHIMIN, TANG EMPEROR TAIZONG

PART ONE

CHAPTER I

Amid the ten thousand noises and the jade-and-gold and the whirling dust of Xinan, he had often stayed awake all night among friends, drinking spiced wine in the North District with the courtesans.
They would listen to flute or pipa music and declaim poetry, test each other with jibes and quotes, sometimes find a private room with a scented, silken woman, before weaving unsteadily home after the dawn drums sounded curfew's end, to sleep away the day instead of studying.
Here in the mountains, alone in hard, clear air by the waters of Kuala Nor, far to the west of the imperial city, beyond the borders of the empire, even, Tai was in a narrow bed by darkfall, under the first brilliant stars, and awake at sunrise.