Dark of the Sun Read Online Free PDF Page B

provide or to diminish her provision in times to come impugns the honor of the Middle Kingdom as well as my own, and for that reason I am moved to provide a fund to vindicate her liberty and to permit her to enjoy her possessions and privileges in peace, without arbitrary impositions of the demands of court, of Magistrate, or of relatives. She is to be entitled to the support of such counsel as she requires in order to preserve what she has been granted.
    There are no limits or conditions attached to this release, which is total and without qualification or hindrance. Her status is that of any freeborn woman without obligation to her family or to anyone seeking to make a claim upon her. She is not being returned to her father or any member of her family, and they have no cause for pursuing any hold on her for they accepted full payment for her from me seven years ago, and a document to that effect is recorded at the Tribunal. I, Zangi-Ragozh, who paid for her, guarantee her freedom and independence, and ensure that no one may vacate the unconditional terms of this writ, save the Emperor himself, in accordance with the law of the land.
    In order that she may maintain herself, I, Zangi-Ragozh, give to her a house in Yang-Chau located on Waning Moon Street, which has been completely paid for and staffed with three servants, whose salaries are to be paid by my shipping company, and further provide her with the income from my merchant ship Golden Moon so that she may continue to enjoy the freedom she has been granted and live in a manner appropriate to virtuous women. The sum of ten gold bars and fourteen jewels of various sorts, along with six fine pearls, have been given to Dei-Na so that she may not have to marry or sell herself in order to survive. If she wishes to marry, there are five gold bars on deposit with the Magistrate of Yang-Chau to pay her bride-price so she will not have to ask anything of her father.
    The furnishings of her house are hers, as are two horses and a carriage for her use. No one may make a claim against any of these gifts, and any such attempts are to be paid through my business, the Eclipse Trading Company.
    In verification of this, I fix my name, my chop, and my sigil on this day, the tenth day after the Winter Solstice in the Magisterial Records Offices of Yang-Chau.
     
    Zangi-Ragozh
(his sigil, the eclipse)
(his chop)
     
    The Seal of the Magistrate’s Secretary
(his chop)

2
     
    “Do you think you ought to leave just now? I realize there’s some urgency, but we are in the full grip of winter. Wouldn’t you prefer to travel in spring?” Ro-shei asked Zangi-Ragozh in Imperial Latin as they watched through the open salon doorway while half a dozen servants loaded up a wagon at the head of the drive. A second, smaller wagon stood waiting behind it. There was a light dusting of snow on the ground and a pale mist hung in the air.
    “Would you rather not go with me?” Zangi-Ragozh asked, looking up from the book he held. He set this down in order to give Ro-shei his full attention.
    He did not answer directly. “Matters in Chang’an are still very uncertain, and it will be cold and wet on the road.”
    “If it is any comfort to you, I think it probably is a trifle precipitous to go just now, but a nearly-royal summons is a nearly-royal summons. Under ordinary circumstances I would remain here for a month or so, preferably two, before setting out for the west,” said Zangi-Ragozh in the same tongue. “But I have been sent for by Wen Emperor Yuan Buo-Ju, as he styles himself, to meet with him and a number of merchants in Chang’an; it would be foolish not to obey, as he is about to ascend the throne there, and he needs to show everyone his power.”
    “By summoning merchants at the end of January,” said Ro-shei in annoyance.
    Zangi-Ragozh waved his hand as if to express his will. “Better merchants than warlords. He wishes to make his authority recognized, and not just in the west but