Chapter 21
The Broken Branch
27th of Sixthmoon, Kohbun 24 (6 Charles 9)
Heiankyoh, Daihei Province, Gandoh
Seizoh did not even have enough life in him to make a sound as the next needle was slowly inserted into another nerve cluster. The rest of the retainers being tortured before Prince Sadanaru were faring little better. Most of them tried to be brave, but in the hands of such experts at this craft, even the bravest man would become as wet clay.
As the heir to a cadet branch of the Imperial Family, Prince Sadanaru could not be harmed personally and so those around him were made to suffer. Most of them did not have the slightest idea what he had done. They cursed the torturers as traitors and damned by the gods for daring to defile the royal person of the Prince. Then Seizoh and others who were party to the Prince's conspiracy started admitting to the plot. It was enough to break the spirits of the hapless retainers caught up in the net. Now it was painfully quiet. It was almost as if they were already dead.
Ukon, a colonel in the elite Soh-hei corps of warrior-monks, told the Prince, "Existence is suffering. From man to microbe, all will suffer all the days of their lives, but what is the root of suffering? Desire. All that lives desires and that desire invites suffering."
He was citing the most basic teachings of the Kyoh. Any child could repeat the same, but of course there was a reason he was doing this.
"Tell me, Highness, what desire invited the suffering you have witnessed this day?"
The plot was exposed. The conspirators apprehended. At this point, what more was there to say? The Prince's words would only condemn him further.
"There are two principles governing the Universe," Ukon continued. "Obligation and Consequence. The Obligation of a dumb beast is simple, for it must only be a beast according to its kind. A man, however, has many roles in his life and each role has an Obligation to fulfill. If he does well, the Consequence is good. If he does ill, the Consequence is bad. The accumulation of bad Consequence always catches up to a man. If not in this life, then the next."
The elementary sermonizing was a form of torture in its own right. The Prince wondered if Seizoh was in the more enviable position.
"A royal prince, a kinsman to the Emperor, a Gandohese. You have betrayed your Obligation in so many roles. Did you think that there would be no Consequence?"
If the Oniwaban had done their job, there would have been an irreparable breach with the foreigners. Gandoh would have to fend for herself as she always had. Their people would then drive off the foreign menace or else make such a last stand that their spirits would march as conquerors into the heavens.
Instead, the ministers would smoothe things over with oily words and the nation's humiliation would continue. What would they do when the Son of Sun renounced his title and the living god would become just a man? The order that held their empire together for over three centuries would collapse. After all the blood and sacrifice, all the storied feats of valor, the Unconquerable Rock would be made subject to foreign powers. How could the Prince not rebel against such a future?
"What do you think of the Consequence of your cowardice?" the Prince spat back. "When our people are made slaves to the foreign devils, what of your Obligation then?"
Ukon said nothing. When it looked like he might say something, he was interrupted by a subordinate who whispered in his ear, then pulled out a message tube with the Imperial seal. He offered up the message tube with both hands and bowed, for he was carrying the very word of the Emperor. Ukon received it in kind. The subordinate then bowed and took his leave.
Ukon opened the message tube and unfurled the scroll inside. For public declarations, this act was accompanied with much ceremony, as it was with the Tungese, but here in this dungeon that did not see the light of the sun, the message was treated with only a little more reverence than any other.
Ukon read the message and then rolled up the scroll. He looked to Prince Sadanaru and said, "The Emperor has cut ties with the Utsunomiya Clan. You are no longer a part of the Imperial Family. You are no longer a Prince. I believe you know what this means."
It meant that the now former prince was about to become intimately familiar with the concept that Existence was suffering. No doubt they had ways that would make what he had seen done to Seizoh and the others seem like bliss by comparison. There was no honor in it, but there was a way out open to prisoners. However, almost as soon as the idea occurred to him, Ukon's arm lashed out like a whip as he forced his fingers into the former prince's mouth so hard that he bent the front teeth.
"You do not get to escape Consequence in this world so easily," Ukon said. "I cannot send you off to the ten thousand burning hells without first preparing you for it. It is a mercy."
The former prince was quite certain he would not see it that way.