The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu Page B

don’t understand,” Emperor Erishi said. “I don’t see a horse. I see a deer.”
    Crupo bowed deeply again. “Sire, you are mistaken, but that is to be expected, since you are young and still have much to learn. Perhaps the other ministers and generals here can help enlighten you.”
    Crupo looked slowly around the room, and his right hand stroked the stag’s back lightly. His gaze was cold and severe. No one dared to meet it.
    â€œTell me, my lords, do you see what I see? Is this a fine horse or a deer?”
    Those who were more clever and sensitive to the winds of change caught on.
    â€œAn admirable horse, Regent.”
    â€œA very fine horse.”
    â€œI see a beautiful horse.”
    â€œ Rénga , you must listen to the wise regent. That is a horse.”
    â€œAnyone who says that is a deer must face my sword!”
    But some ministers, and especially the generals, shook their heads in disbelief. “This is shameful,” said General Thumi Yuma, who had been in the Xana army for more than fifty years, serving even under Emperor Mapidéré’s father and grandfather. “That is a deer. Crupo, you may be powerful, but you cannot make men believe or say what is not true.”
    â€œWhat is truth?” the regent said, enunciating his words carefully. “What happened in the Grand Tunnels? What happened on the Island of Écofi? These things must be written down in the history books, and someone has to decide what should be written.”
    Emboldened by General Yuma, more ministers stepped forward and declared that the regent had brought a deer to the Grand Audi­ence Hall. But the pro-horse party refused to back down, and the two sides got into a shouting match. Crupo smiled and stroked his chin thoughtfully. Emperor Erishi looked from one side to the other and laughed. He thought it was yet another of Crupo’s strange jokes.
    As the months went by, fewer and fewer of those who stood up against Crupo on that day remained. Many were discovered to be coconspirators of the disgraced Prince Pulo, and from prison they wrote—after some convincing—tearful confessions of their crimes against the throne. They and their families were executed. That was the law of Xana: Treason was a taint in the blood, and five generations would pay for the crime of one.
    Even General Yuma turned out to be one of the ringleaders in the failed plot—indeed, there was evidence that he had also tried to conspire with the emperor’s other surviving brothers. Those other princes all swallowed poison just as the emperor’s palace guards were about to seize them.
    Unlike the other conspirators, though, Yuma refused to confess even after being shown incontrovertible proof of his guilt. The emperor was utterly devastated by the news of this betrayal.
    â€œIf he would just confess,” the emperor said, “I would spare him, considering his service to Xana!”
    â€œAlas,” the regent said, “we tried to help him regain his conscience through the judicious application of physical pain, which cleanses the soul. But he is very stubborn.”
    â€œHow can anyone be trusted if even the great Yuma thought to rebel?”
    The regent bowed and said nothing.
    The next time the regent brought his horse to the Grand Audience Hall, everyone agreed that it was a very fine horse indeed.
    The young Emperor Erishi was at a loss. “I still see antlers,” he muttered to himself. “How can that be a horse?”
    â€œDon’t worry about it, Rénga ,” Pira whispered next to his ear. “You still have much to learn.”

CHAPTER SIX
    CORVÉE
    KIESA: THE EIGHTH MONTH IN THE THIRD YEAR OF THE REIGN OF RIGHTEOUS FORCE.
    Because Huno Krima and Zopa Shigin were the tallest among the group of men sent from the village of Kiesa to fulfill the yearly quota of corvée laborers, they were made cocaptains. Krima was thin and bald as a