by Brian Thomas
T’ze took a stiff step forward and replied angrily. “You are an ignorant fool if you think we can stand against the emperor! The Temple binds itself by the covenant because it has no choice. Because it is the only way the Temple can survive and it survives to reduce the burden on the people! The only chance to assuage the emperor’s vengeance and show the Temple’s innocence is with the Temple taking your life!”
Li Chin looked to the dais of elders transfixed by T’ze’s angry dialogue. “But the Temple is not reducing the burden upon the people. Over generations it has compounded it and will eventually drag them down. Nor will the emperor be assuaged by my life. He will not be content until he controls everything and has stifled all independence, making the Hansee his slaves in all but name. He will continue until his evil has devoured everything within his reach and only then, when all is consumed, will he starve and die as a result. The covenant between the Temple and the Sun Palace is not delivering the benefits to our people originally anticipated. In the long term our people’s suffering is greater because of it. The Temple should not survive merely for its own sake, it should take a stand for those who are unable to defend themselves and strike down evil where it sees it. If the Temple falls as a consequence, then at least it will have taken the courageous and honourable path on behalf of its people.”
Completely enraged T’ze took another step in Li Chin’s direction, when Si Li held up his hand to stop him. “Hold!” When T’ze stopped Si Li turned to briefly confer with the other elders, turning back to Li Chin with a bleak and ravaged expression. “Something beyond our understanding has happened here. But it is clear to us that you have been possessed or influenced by evil spirits, which have corrupted your soul and led you to abandon your loyalty to Temple and brothers alike. Since you still hold these views long after the events they instigated, even here at the Temple, indicates these evil spirits probably still reside within you. They have compelled you to turn your back on the Temple and in doing so have placed us all in great peril. In succumbing to them you have failed the Hansee people, who you claim to champion. The Temple can do no less to you and must do so for its own safety.”
Straightening as he delivered his pronouncement, though unable to entirely conceal his anguish, Si Li continued in a bleak and damming tone. “You will be banished from the Temple, sent away and forced to take the malevolent spirits which possess you far from us, rather than risk freeing them amongst us with your death. Otherwise we would execute you here and now!”
Reaching out to a priest who had approached as he spoke, Si Li reached into a bowl of rice and took a handful of the cooked grains in his palm.
Holding out the handful of rice towards Li Chin, Si Li slowly gripped it in his fist before reversing his hand and dropping the mashed grains to the floor. “You are denied food!”
Reaching into a small bowl beside the rice he took a pinch of salt and again stretched out his hand towards Li Chin letting the salt scatter to the ground. “You are denied salt!” taking the last item, a jug of water, Si Li poured it over the mashed rice and scattered salt. “You are denied water!”
Raising both hands out to the silent terraces, Si Li concluded the final rite. “You are denied the succour and membership of this Temple! You have no brothers here. They turn their back upon you and do not recognise you.”
Having completed the last rite of banishment from the Temple there was a moment’s silence. Then the stern faced priests in the terraces stood and began to filter from the arena in fulfilment of the last rite.
Though Li Chin had not expected to survive his visit to the Temple he was no less devastated at being banished and disillusioned at its refusal to resist the emperor. He used all of his strength to maintain his stoicism as the ranks began to filter silently out of the arena. The reality of being publicly stripped of his honour in the eyes of the Temple burned, deeper and more painfully than he could have imagined, while their continued support for the tyrannical regime left him feeling empty.
Si Li signalled to an acolyte who quickly came over at his summons. “You will accompany T’ze to the river ferry.” Turning to the still smouldering T’ze Si Li spoke firmly. “There is no time for delay. You must return to the Sun Palace and warn the emperor that others seek to turn him against the Temple and that he must not succumb to their machinations. You must convince him this was not the Temple’s doing and that we hold to the covenant.”
Hearing the words spoken to T’ze brought home to Li Chin the extent to which he had failed in his bid to turn the Temple against the emperor. There was to be no holding back the tidal wave of suffering the people would endure from the empire’s masters. The Temple now seemed conspiratorial in its dealings with the emperor and his disillusionment in the Temple was only matched by his anger with it.
T’ze glared angrily at Li Chin struggling to control his own rage and what he feared may be the truth of Si Li’s concerns. In the act of protesting further T’ze caught a glimpse of Si Li’s expression. He saw the extent to which Li Chin’s statements had affected him, reminding T’ze that Li Chin had been like a son to Si Li and he had just been forced to cast him out of the Temple. In the face of the old man’s grief at his fallen protégé, T’ze’s own anger cooled, seeing the wisdom of Si Li’s words and accepting that in his current wounded condition he could not defeat Li Chin.
Even if he were to kill Li Chin, there was no knowing what the demons who possessed him might do if their host were killed. If he was possessed as Si Li suspected. The information that an unknown and powerful force was acting against the emperor and could do so on a spiritual dimension was important information, which should be given to the emperor immediately. Though the Temple’s assertion the guardian had been possessed while murdering his nephew gave T’ze little confidence he would survive his next audience with the emperor or the Temple his master’s retribution.
Accepting his duty as the emperor’s guardian was nevertheless to warn the emperor, T’ze paused to throw a final comment at Li Chin. “Know that if the emperor seeks his revenge against the Temple, I and any remaining priests will not rest until you have paid for your betrayal of us. Demons or no demons.” Snatching his robe from the waiting acolyte T’ze stalked past Li Chin with a look of loathing, as he started the long journey back to the Sun Palace.
Chapter 10
On hearing Si Li’s pronouncement Li Chin had studied the moon rather than watch as his Temple brothers abandoned him. Mixed emotions of shame and righteous anger overlaid with a strong sense of disappointment filled his core. The sound of the packed terraces gradually emptying emphasised the extent of his isolation, the Temple actually turning its back on him as they had apparently done on the Hansee people they were pledged to serve.
The subsequent quiet of the arena forced home his new isolation. He was grappling with this new appreciation when he heard Si Li speak his name.
Surprised, he looked up to see four of the elders still seated cross legged on the dais before him. Other than Li Chin and the elders the arena was empty. If the banishment ritual had been followed correctly the elders should have left with the other priests. He should be completely shunned, alone and unwelcome within the Temple grounds with no option but to leave. His surprise became confusion as he realised that Si Li’s expression and tone now conveyed great pride and compassion for Li Chin, whilst the other elders showed not the slightest sense of disquiet at being in his apparently loathsome company.
“Before we say anything else we must first apologise for publicly discrediting you and for the ignominy of your banishment, which while unjust must nevertheless prevail. You are a tool of prophecy and this is never an easy burden to bear.”
Li Chin focused his attention on Si Li who remained the master of ceremonies. It seemed the Temple still had items on the agenda for him, despite his banishment. “A tool of prophecy?” Li Chin queried cautiously as he regarded the elders. Besides Si Li there was Melong, Hoosinn and Seesfar. Seesfar always had a distracted aspect
, as though his mind were focused on something else. This was no doubt heightened by the prodigious amounts of resin distilled from the potent fungi he was often seen chewing, a hallucinogenic sometimes used by priests searching for a deep level of trance and the secrets they held. It had been rumoured amongst the other priests that Seesfar spent so long in the spirit world that he never truly returned to the real world but sat straddling the two, constantly getting them confused.
Si Li gave a shallow nod. “Slaying your previous master and his life guard was foretold. It was also foretold that to preserve the Temple we must banish you, rather than allow either yourself or another to end your life. Before your arrival we were not entirely certain of why this was essential as the more severe punishment of execution may have been more likely to assuage the emperor’s wrath and prevent further reprisal against the Temple. Though the chance this may have been the case was always small. However, the “emperor’s sword” will return to tell the emperor of events here, warning him of how he must now defend against a different enemy who seeks to set him against the Temple for its own ends. Why the emperor should believe this, again we are not certain. But as it was foretold we assume it will be the case.” Si Li looked confident, as did the other elders, that they would indeed survive the emperor’s anger.
Li Chin was as surprised at Si Li’s confidence of the emperor’s reaction to his slaughtering of Zu Wah as he was at his apparent change of heart with regards to it. “How can you be so sure? T’ze did not appear confident of any such favourable outcome when he left?”
Si Li looked less pleased as he replied. “At the end you spoke the great truth which will hopefully enable us to perpetuate a lie. That the emperor is killing the essence of our people, inevitably destroying our great civilisation and that to prevent this we cannot sit by but must take action to prevent it. The lie we wish to perpetuate is that we are in thrall to the emperor and will continue to support him, while in reality we endeavour to undermine his dynasty and to replace him. The difficulty of how to achieve this remains but we have our ways and there are the Temple prophecies, which sometimes are of aid.”
“So my banishment is nothing but a sop you have decided to throw the emperor to allay his suspicions, while you nibble at the edges of his sovereignty?” Li Chin queried, unable to keep his pique from the question.
Melong glared icily at Li Chin. “The decisions you made were your own. The Temple merely used prophecy to navigate its way through the difficult situation brought about by those decisions. The outcome satisfies us both, as the alternative would have been your execution by the Temple or the subsequent destruction of the Temple by the emperor to satisfy his vengeance. Or more likely his concern that we were not the leashed hound he had thought us. It would also have meant an end to any possible chance for our people to free themselves from the emperor’s yoke, before they too were crushed under its oppressive weight.”
Melong relented slightly, raising both eyebrows. “In making these assumptions we are of course assuming we have done all that was necessary to ensure real events occurred as prophecy required, directing our world along the preferred branch upon the Tree of Futures. We will only know this if we survive to continue our struggle against the emperor.” Li Chin looked suitably chastened at the reminder that it had been he who had brought the trouble to the Temple, resulting in his banishment and that the Temple did in reality seek to remove the emperor. “In the meantime, are we to assume from what you have said you wish to actively work in bringing the emperor and his dynasty down, to replace it with a more favourable ruling family?”
Evading the question for the moment Li Chin countered. “What can I achieve alone, severed from the Temple and hunted by the emperor? I had hoped to persuade the Temple to join me in an assault upon the emperor, call upon allies to join in our cause and act as a rallying point for resistance throughout the empire. The Temple already seems set upon perpetuating a low level and surreptitious campaign of its own. Would the Hansee not be better served if the Temple take up the cause fully and out in the open?”
“Foolish boy!” snapped Seesfar testily. “Do you think there is only one way to achieve an end, the only way to bring down the emperor being to throw ourselves upon the spears of his army? No doubt you would wash your clothes by throwing yourself into the river and then beating yourself senseless against a rock until they were clean. We believed you had more intelligence and understanding of strategy than you are displaying to us now!”
Li Chin paused briefly before replying, with a display of greater humility this time. “I can see the Temple’s attempts to undermine the emperor would best be kept secret to have more chance of succeeding and that the combined wisdom of the Temple would be capable of devising some subtle means of doing so without my knowledge. As you have already revealed so much to me, may I ask what your plan is?”
Hoosinn responded this time, his slightly lecturing tone masking an underlying disquiet felt by all of the elders. “The objective is to remove the yoke of oppression from our people and ensure our civilisation’s longevity. There would be no benefit in removing one oppressive dynasty to replace it with another, the whip merely transferred to another’s hand. If we remove the emperor without careful planning one of the other Great Houses will fill the void and we will be no better off than we are now but in the meantime will have suffered much and risked all.”
“So,” continued Si Li, “we do what we can to erode the emperor’s power and advance those families we favour above others.”
Li Chin thought briefly of what he had been told. “But the prophesised great truth, you say I spoke of earlier, implies I have warned what you are doing is not working. It is as I said; you nibble at the edges of the emperor’s sovereignty but represent no great threat to his position.” As Li Chin spoke he realised they accepted this must be the case, why else would the elders be speaking to him now if it were not so.
Si Li spoke for the elders again. “It is true we have not succeeded, so far. It is also true that while we remain unable to identify an alternative ruling family to take the place of the Wang dynasty our efforts will likely remain unsuccessful. The task we have set ourselves is difficult and long but it is a worthy task we shall persevere with until we succeed.”
Li Chin frowned in puzzlement. “But you agree what you are doing is not working, you are failing?”
“So what would you have us do boy? Throw ourselves on the emperor’s spears in a doomed, vainglory attempt to overthrow him?” Seesfar was dreamy in his response, as though thinking back to when he had already seen such an event, the despair of the outcome tingeing his voice. It was obvious he didn’t relish being told by a priest, ex-priest Li Chin corrected himself, something they already knew. “No. To succeed we must be subtle, using our limited strength wisely and to good effect. We can do neither until we have decided upon a successor who can lead our people after we have been successful in removing the emperor.” Seesfar’s angry features softened. “I have seen the alternative in many different branches on the Great Tree and it must not be so!” Seesfar’s tone was touched with dread at the prospect, his memory no doubt reliving the bloody alternative futures he had seen.
“It is possible that prophecy may point us to a successful outcome.” added Si Li. “You have slain your previous master and in coming here fulfilled prophecy long thought key to the Temple’s future. It may be that you could fulfil another prophecy, which will show the way ahead for the Temple.”
Si Li left the statement hanging in the air but Li Chin did not respond, instead trying to discover a fault with the elders’ reasoning so far. “What of the second guide who took me to the Tree of Futures, to show me the future with Zu Wah? It was because of this second guide I decided to slay Zu Wah and bring you the troubles I do. This was not part of your scheme and it may be we dance to another’s tune and the outcome will not be what you seek.”
Si Li nodded in acknowledgement of the risk. “From what you have said of the other guide i
t would appear we have common values and, at least for now, common goals. Without their intervention the prophecy you have just fulfilled, and which promises our success, could not have happened. We can only assume, therefore, that the second guide was instrumental to this prophecy. The second guide’s intervention in the first prophecy should not necessarily prevent the fulfilment of another prophecy or indicate the other guide’s involvement is detrimental to our cause.”
Li Chin knew the discussion would go no further until he asked the question the elders waited for. “What prophecy do you think I could fulfil?”
Si Li focused intently on Li Chin as he quoted from memory in tones of great portent. “The Truthsayer must seek the barbarian king that never is, who freely offers the Truthsayer his life for nought. The barbarian never-king is the guide to the Temple’s answer and will declare himself to the truthsayer as the true guide with a lie and misdirection.”
Li Chin blinked in incomprehension. After a moment’s consideration he asked Si Li innocently. “What is your interpretation of its meaning?”
Si Li’s excitement, though masked, was obvious to anyone who knew him as well as Li Chin. “From the previous prophecy we have identified you as the truthsayer. The Temple seeks an answer to how we replace the emperor and remove the yoke from about our people’s neck. The barbarian no-king will give or lead you to this answer, which you will bring to the Temple.”