Chapter XVII (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter XVIII (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter XIX (#litres_trial_promo)
Part Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter XX (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter XXI (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter XXII (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter XXIII (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter XXIV (#litres_trial_promo)
Part Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter XXV (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter XXVI (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter XXVII (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter XXVIII (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter XXIX (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter XXX (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)
Also by Guy Gavriel Kay (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS
(A partial list, characters generally identified by their role when first appearing)
Associated with the court
Emperor Wenzong of Kitai
Chizu, his son and heir
Zhizeng (“Prince Jen”), his ninth son
Hang Dejin, prime minister of Kitai
Hang Hsien, his son
Kai Zhen, deputy prime minister of Kitai
Yu-lan, his wife
Tan Ming, one of his concubines
Wu Tong, a eunuch, Kai Zhen’s ally, a military commander
Sun Shiwei, an assassin
Elsewhere in Kitai
Ren Yuan, a clerk in the western village of Shengdu
Ren Daiyan, his younger son
Wang Fuyin, sub-prefect in Shengdu
Tuan Lung (“Teacher Tuan”), founder of an academy in Shengdu
Zhao Ziji, a military officer
Lin Kuo, a court gentleman
Lin Shan, his daughter and only child
Qi Wai, husband to Shan
Xi Wengao (“Master Xi”), formerly prime minister, a historian
Lu Chen, friend to Xi Wengao, a poet, exiled
Lu Chao, Chen’s brother, also exiled
Lu Mah, Chen’s son
Shao Bian, a young woman in the Great River town of Chunyu
Shao Pan, her younger brother
Sima Peng, a woman in Gongzhu, a hamlet near the Great River
Zhi-li, her daughter
Ming Dun, a soldier