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Under Heaven
Guy Gavriel Kay
An epic historical adventure set in a pseudo 8th century China, from the author of the 2008 World Fantasy winner, Ysabel. Under Heaven is a novel of heroes, assassins, concubines and emperors set against a majestic and unforgiving landscape.An epic historical adventure set in a pseudo 8th century China, from the author of the 2008 World Fantasy winner, Ysabel. Under Heaven is a novel of heroes, assassins, concubines and emperors set against a majestic and unforgiving landscape.For two years Shen Tai has mourned his father, living like a hermit beyond the borders of the Kitan Empire, by a mountain lake where terrible battles have long been fought between the Kitai and the neighbouring Tagurans, including one for which his father - a great general - was honoured. But Tai's father never forgot the brutal slaughter involved. The bones of 100,000 soldiers still lie unburied by the lake and their wailing ghosts at night strike terror in the living, leaving the lake and meadow abandoned in its ring of mountains.To honour and redress his father's sorrow, Tai has journeyed west to the lake and has laboured, alone, to bury the dead of both empires. His supplies are replenished by his own people from the nearest fort, and also - since peace has been bought with the bartering of an imperial princess - by the Tagurans, for his solitary honouring of their dead.The Tagurans soldiers one day bring an unexpected letter. It is from the bartered Kitan Princess Cheng-wan, and it contains a poisoned chalice: she has gifted Tai with two hundred and fifty Sardian horses, to reward him for his courage. The Sardians are legendary steeds from the far west, famed, highly-prized, long-coveted by the Kitans.
Under Heaven
Guy Gavriel Kay
Copyright (#ulink_06bb8a02-cf1d-5a98-9e60-da3459bcbdae)
HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2010
Copyright © Guy Gavriel Kay 2010
Guy Gavriel Kay asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.
Source ISBN: 978007242913
EBook Edition © 2006 ISBN: 9780007342020
Version: 2018-08-07
to Sybil, with love
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
…peace to our children when they fall in small war on the heels of small war—until the end of time…
—ROBERT LOWELL
Table of Contents
Cover Page (#u2cbf1970-56e8-578b-977b-84837475a609)
Title Page (#ua9a86846-59cb-5787-9bc3-6a217368b552)
Copyright (#u160e231b-1a93-5d4c-9e81-fc850c2cd355)
Dedication (#u5a4e9a7e-0ee5-55de-8552-c96b6f62dc58)
Epigraph (#u31ead331-c91b-5bf1-8479-268c1e058188)
Maps (#u39e838fd-687f-5a49-9ca4-95683d3592a4)
PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS (#u5afee955-683c-540e-90b8-6c6e04d04c1d)
PART ONE (#u9ce8f260-79a6-566f-b802-833025d3b30a)
CHAPTER I (#u09c3bbfa-ddda-5e51-bbae-34e0362da355)
CHAPTER II (#u68a761ec-5d93-5c86-87fa-1bac348d4d21)
CHAPTER III (#uddac1843-bd08-5e3a-8747-3a83d0e9dd27)
CHAPTER IV (#u751ac298-e01f-59aa-b820-6b4ff42825a2)
CHAPTER V (#u102d77b0-5d77-507c-96ae-8b22a24b01af)
CHAPTER VI (#u9d47bb18-a8b6-5465-afc7-b01a4c74700a)
CHAPTER VII (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER VIII (#litres_trial_promo)
PART TWO (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER IX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER X (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER XI (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER XII (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER XIII (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER XIV (#litres_trial_promo)
PART THREE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER XV (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER XVI (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER XVII (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER XVIII (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER XIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER XX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER XXI (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER XXII (#litres_trial_promo)
PART FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER XXIII (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER XXIV (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER XXV (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER XXVI (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER XXVII (#litres_trial_promo)
KEEP READING (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (#litres_trial_promo)
ALSO BY GUY GAVRIEL KAY (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Maps (#ulink_6b8c5d24-4590-5925-9797-046296625d06)
PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS (#ulink_954601b5-0ee0-5d90-83d4-994ab7ae9fa6)
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
