An Inch of Ashes Read Online Free PDF Page A

his head – to be able to limit the effects of his badness? And if a man is good—’
    Tolonen interrupted him. ‘You, I, your father – we are good men. We act because we must – for the good of all. Yet when we have left this earth, what then? How can we guarantee that those who rule Chung Kuo after us will be good? How can we guarantee
their
motives? So, you see, I’d answer you thus, my prince. It does not matter if the man with the wire in his head is good or bad. What matters is the moral standing of the man who holds the wires in his hands, like ten thousand million strings. Will he make the puppets dance? Or will he leave them be?’
    Li Yuan sat back slowly, shaking his head. ‘You talk of dictatorships, Marshal Tolonen. Yet we are Seven.’
    Tolonen turned his head aside, a strange bitterness in his eyes. ‘I talk of things to be – whether they come in ten years or ten thousand.’ He looked back at Li Yuan, his grey eyes filled with sadness. ‘Whatever you or I might wish, history tells us this – that nothing is eternal. Things change.’
    ‘You once thought differently. I have heard you speaking so myself, Knut. Was it not you yourself who said we should build a great dam against the floodwaters of Change?’
    Tolonen nodded, suddenly wistful, his lips formed into a sad smile. ‘Yes... but
this
!’
    He sat there afterwards, when the Prince had gone, staring down at his hands. He would do it. Of course he would. Hadn’t his T’ang asked him to take this on? Even so, he felt heavy of heart. Had the dream died, then? The great vision of a world at peace – a world where a man could find his level and raise his family without need or care. And was this the first sign of the nightmare to come? Of the great, engulfing darkness?
    He kept thinking of Jelka, and of the grandchildren he would some day have. What kind of a world would it be for them? Could he bear to see them wired – made vulnerable to the least whim of their lords and masters? He gritted his teeth, pained by the thought. Had it changed so much that even he – the cornerstone – began to doubt their course?
    ‘Knut?’
    He raised his head, then got to his feet hurriedly. He had been so caught up in his thoughts he not heard the T’ang enter.
    ‘Chieh Hsia!’
He bowed his head exaggeratedly.
    Li Shai Tung sat where his son had been sitting only moments before, silent, studying his Marshal. Then, with a vague nod of his head as if satisfied with what he had seen, he leaned towards Tolonen.
    ‘I heard all that passed between you and my son.’
    ‘Yes,
Chieh Hsia
.’
    ‘And I am grateful for your openness.’
    Tolonen met his eyes unflinchingly. ‘It was only my duty, Li Shai Tung.’
    ‘Yes. But there was a reason for letting Yuan talk to you first. You see, while my son is, in his way, quite wise, he is also young. Too young, perhaps, to understand the essence of things: the place of
li
and
ch’i
in this great world of ours; the fine balance that exists between the shaping force and the passive substance.’
    Tolonen frowned, lowering his head slightly. ‘I’m afraid I don’t follow you,
Chieh Hsia
.’
    The T’ang smiled. ‘Well, Knut, I’ll put it simply, and bind you to keep this secret from my son. I have authorized his scheme, but that is not to say it will ever come about. You understand me?’
    ‘Not fully, my lord. You mean you are only humouring Li Yuan?’
    Li Shai Tung hesitated. ‘In a way, yes, I suppose you could say I am. But this idea is deep-rooted in Yuan. I have seen it grow from the seed, until now it dominates his thinking. He believes he can shape the world to his conception; that this scheme of his will answer all the questions.’
    ‘And you think he’s wrong?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Then why encourage him? Why authorize this madness?’
    ‘Because Yuan will be T’ang one day. If I oppose him now in this, he will only return to it after my death. And that would be disastrous. It would bring him