L. Sprague De Camp - The Emperor's Fan

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2024-11-24 0 0 28.66KB 10 页 5.9玖币
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THE EMPEROR'S FAN
IN THE FIFTEENTH year of his reign, Tsotuga the Fourth, Emperor of
Kuromon, sat in the Forbidden Chamber of his Proscribed Palace, in
his imperial city of Chingun. He played a game of Sachi with his
crony, Reiro the beggar.
The pieces on one side were carved from single emeralds; those
on the other, from single rubies. The board was of squares of onyx
and gold. The many shelves and taborets in the room were crowded with
small art objects. There were knickknacks of gold and silver, of
ivory and ebony, of porcelain and pewter, of jasper and jade, of
chrysoprase and chalcedony.
In a silken robe embroidered with lilies in silver thread and
lotuses in golden thread, Tsotuga sat on a semithrone-a chair of
gilded mahogany, the arms of which were carved in the form of
diamond-eyed dragons. The Emperor was plainly well fed, and within
the hour he had been bathed and perfumed. Yet, although he had just
won a game, Emperor Tsotuga was not happy.
"The trouble with you, chum," said Reiro the beggar, "is that,
not having enough real dangers to worry about, you make up imaginary
ones."The Emperor took no offense. The purpose of the Forbidden
Chamber was to afford him a place where he could treat and be treated
by his crony as if they were ordinary human beings, without the
court's stifling formality.
Nor was it an accident that Reiro was a beggar. As such, he
would never try to intrigue against or murder his imperial friend in
order to seize the throne.
Although a fairly competent ruler, Tsotuga was not a man of
much personal charm. He was in fact rather dull save when, as some-
times happened, he lost his temper. Then he might visit dire dooms on
those about him. After he had calmed down, Tsotuga would regret his
injustice and might even pension the victim's dependents. He honestly
tried to be just but lacked the self-control and objectivity to do
so. Reiro got along with the Emperor well enough. While the beggar
cared nothing for art, save when he could filch and sell a piece of
it, he was glad to listen to the Emperor's endless tales of his
collection in return for the sumptuous repasts he enjoyed. Reiro had
gained twenty pounds since he had become intimate with the Emperor.
"Oh, yes?" said Tsotuga. "That is easy for you to say. You are
not nightly haunted by your father's ghost, threatening dreadful
doom."Reiro shrugged. "You knew the risk when you had the old man
poisoned. It is all in the game, pal. For your pay, I would
cheerfully submit to any number of nightmares. How does old Haryo
look in these dreams?"
"The same old tyrant. I had to slay him-you know that-crc he
ruined the Empire. But have a care with that flapping tongue."
"Nought I hear here goes beyond these walls. Anyway, if you
think Haryo's fate be not widely known, you do but befool yourself."
"I daresay it is suspected. But then, foul play is always
suspected when an emperor dies. As said Dauhai to the timorous bird,
every twig is a serpent.
"Still," continued the Emperor, "that solves not my problem. I
wear mail beneath my robe. I sleep on a mattress floating in a pool
of quicksilver. I have given up futtering my women, lest whilst I lie
in their arms, some conspirator steal up and dagger me. The Empress,
I can tell you, mislikes this abstinence. But still Haryo threatens
and prophesies, and the warnings of a ghost are not to be flouted. I
need some impregnable magical defense. That idiot Koxima does nought
but frimigate and exorcise, which may drive out the demons but fails
L. Sprague De Camp - The Emperor's Fan.pdf

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分类：外语学习 价格：5.9玖币 属性：10 页 大小：28.66KB 格式：PDF 时间：2024-11-24

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