Read The Twelve Kingdoms: The Shore in Twilight for Free Online

anything but that!" The voice mingling with the sound of the wind was suffused with grief and heartbreak. In her mind's eye, woman's face pulled into focus, on the verge of tears. "What a wretched and cowardly thing to do!"
    "Yes it is," Risai said, turning to face the empty air and nodding her head. I know the awfulness of what I am doing, Kaei.

Chapter 5
    " T he new king ascended the Tai throne some seven years ago this fall. The king's name is Saku Gyousou."
    The matter-of-fact voice echoed around the room. They were in a building called the Sekisui-dai, a section of the library found at the very back of the Inner Palace. Though not to the same extent as the world below, the heavy heat particular to the Gyouten summer stagnated in the snug room.
    The rear windows faced a rock wall covered with moss and ferns. A delicate, white waterfall tumbled down the wall to a small, clear lake spreading out below the balcony, dappled with the sunlight streaming through the greenery. The sound of water mingled with the songs of the birds floated on a cool breeze through the open windows.
    "He served under the previous monarch as General of the Regiment of the Left in the Palace Guard. He served with loyalty and distinction and was loved and respected by both his soldiers and the people of the region, sufficient that his fame spread to other kingdoms. Almost as soon as the previous government collapsed, that General Saku should be the next king was widely rumored about."
    "He sounds like a remarkable person," Youko said in admiration, a touch of envy in her voice.
    "Indeed," agreed Chousai Koukan, Minister-in-Chief of the Rikkan. "Following the demise of the late king, he continued to prop up the Imperial Court. Everybody had high expectations for him. As soon as the Yellow Flag was raised, he journeyed to the Yellow Sea and made the pilgrimage to Mt. Hou. There he was anointed by Taiki and acceded to the throne. He's been called a hyoufuu king."
    "A hyoufuu king?"
    "Meaning the whirlwind king. He was chosen from among the first pilgrims traveling to Mt. Hou for the shouzan. "
    The kirin chose the king. Or rather, it was through the kirin that the Mandate of Heaven was expressed. The kirin were born and raised on Mt. Hou in the center of the world. When a kirin became old enough to choose the king, a flag was raised at the temple in the middle of the kingdom. All those desiring to be king journeyed to the Yellow Sea and set forth to Mt. Hou. There they met with the kirin, who ascertained the Divine Will on their behalf. This was called the shouzan, meaning the "ascension of the mountain."
    "He was a king who ascended the throne like a sudden squall. It's said that a rain squall doesn't last the morning, and a raging heat quickly cools. Some also say that a whirlwind king will be a strong oak or a leaf in the wind. One or the other."
    "Huh."
    "On the other hand, seeing that over ten years had passed in the interim, calling the Royal Tai a whirlwind king is perhaps not appropriate. In any case, The Taiho of Tai would be a fellow countryman of Your Highness."
    "Ah," Youko said with a nod. "A taika like me. The Royal En has said a much."
    Youko was born in Yamato, the distant, mythic land at the far reaches of the eastern seas where the streets were supposedly paved with gold. However, Yamato was not the actual land of her origins. Yamato was "there," and now she was "here." That was the only way she felt comfortable describing the difference. The one was always a dream world to the other, though rarely the two did intersect.
    Youko had been swept away during one of those rare crossings of worlds, and then she had returned. That's what it came down to. She grasped that much in her mind, but didn't feel it in her bones.
    She'd been swept away while still in embryonic form. In this world, children were born from the raika --the "egg fruit"--that grew on trees. When "here" and "there" crossed, the raika that contained Youko was swept away to