Part 4 (2/2)

Grow up and kill them, then!”

”Describe the men to me,” I said.

”They wore dark clothes. They made no sound at all. And they did that trick so that you could not see them.” He spat and added, ”Sorcery!”

”And the army that came through?”

”Iida Nariaki of the Tohan, together with some Seishuu. I recognized their crests.”

”How many?”

”Hundreds,” he replied. ”They took a long time to go past. But it's not so long since the last ones rode through. I was waiting until I thought they had all gone. I was about to come out when I heard you, so I stayed hidden.”

”What's your name?”

”Sugita Hiros.h.i.+, son of Hikaru.”

”You live in Maruyama?”

”Yes, my uncle Sugita Haruki is chief retainer to the Maruyama.”

”You'd better come with us,” I said. ”Do you know who we are?”

”You are Otori,” he said, smiling for the first time, a wan, feeble smile. ”I can tell by your crests. I think you are the ones we have been waiting for.”

”I am Otori Takeo and this is Miyos.h.i.+ Kahei. My wife is s.h.i.+ra-kawa Kaede, heir to this domain.”

He dropped to his knees. ”Lord Otori. Lord Miyos.h.i.+'s brother came to my uncle. They are preparing men because my uncle is sure Iida Nariaki will not let Lady s.h.i.+rakawa inherit without a fight. He's right, isn't he?”

Kahei patted him on the shoulder. ”Go and say good-bye to your father. And bring his sword. It must be yours now. When the battle is won we will bring him to Maruyama and bury him with honor.”

This is the upbringing I should have had, I thought, watching Hiros.h.i.+ come back holding the sword, which was almost as long as he was. My mother had told me not to tear the claws off crabs, not to hurt any living creature, but this child had been taught since birth to have no fear of death or cruelty. I knew Kahei approved of his courage: He had been raised in the same code. Well, if I did not have ruthlessness by now, after my training in the Tribe, I would never get it. I would have to pretend it.

”They drove off all our horses!” Hiros.h.i.+ exclaimed as we walked past the empty stables. He was shaking again, but with rage, I thought, not fear.

”We'll get them back, and more,” Kahei promised him. ”You go with Jiro, and stay out of trouble.”

”Take him back to the women and tell Manami to look after him,” I said to Jiro as I took Shun from him and remounted.

”I don't want to be looked after,” the boy announced when Kahei lifted him onto the back of Jiro's horse. ”I want to go into battle with you.”

”Don't kill anyone by mistake with that sword,” Kahei said, laughing. ”We're your friends, remember!”

”The attack must have come as a complete surprise,” I said to Makoto, after telling him briefly what we'd learned. ”The guardhouse was hardly manned.”

”Or maybe the Maruyama forces were expecting it and pulled back all their available men to ambush them or attack on more favorable ground,” he replied. ”Do you know the land between here and the town?”

”I've never been here.”

”Has your wife?”

I shook my head.

”Then you'd better get that boy back. He may be our only guide.”

Kahei shouted to Jiro, who had not gone far. Hiros.h.i.+ was delighted to be brought back again, and he knew a surprising amount about the terrain and the fortification of the town. Maruyama was a hill castle; a sizable town lay on the slopes and at the foot of the rounded hill on which the castle was built. A small, fast-flowing river supplied the town with water and fed a network of ca.n.a.ls, kept well stocked with fish; the castle had its own springs. The outer walls of the town had formerly been kept in good repair and could be defended indefinitely, but since Lady Maruyama's death and the confusion that had followed Iida's downfall, repairs had not been kept up and guards were few. In effect, the town was divided between those who supported Sugita and his champions.h.i.+p of Kaede, and those who thought it more practical to bend before the wind of fate and accept the rule of Iida Nariaki and his wife, whose claim, they said, also had legitimacy.

”Where is your uncle now?” I asked Hiros.h.i.+.

”He has been waiting a little way from the town with all his men. He did not want to go too far from it, in case it was taken over behind his back. So I heard my father say.”

”Will he retreat into the town?”

The boy's eyes narrowed in an adult way. ”Only if he absolutely has to, and then he would have to fall back to the castle, for the town can no longer be defended. We are very short of food: Last year's storms destroyed much of the harvest, and the winter was unusually hard. We could not stand a long siege.”

”Where would your uncle fight if he had the choice?”

”Not far from the town gate this road crosses a river, the Asagawa. There's a ford; it's almost always shallow, but sometimes there's a flash flood. To get to the ford, the road goes down into a steep ravine and then up again. Then there's a small plain with a favorable slope. My father taught me you could hold up an invading army there. And with enough men you could outflank them and box them in the ravine.”

”Well spoken, Captain,” Kahei said. ”Remind me to take you with me on all my campaigns!”

”I only know this district,” Hiros.h.i.+ said, suddenly bashful. ”But my father taught me that in war one must know the terrain above everything.”

”He would be proud of you,” I said. It seemed our best plan would be to press on and hope to trap the forces in front of us in the ravine. Even if Sugita had pulled back into the town, we could take the attacking army by surprise from behind.

I had one more question for the boy: ”You said it's possible to outflank an army in the ravine. So there's another route between here and the plain?”

He nodded. ”A few miles further to the north there is another crossing. We rode that way a few days ago to come here. After a day of heavy rain there was a sudden flood through the ford. It takes a little longer, but not if you gallop.”

”Can you show Lord Miyos.h.i.+ the way?”

”Of course,” he said, looking up at Kahei with eager eyes. ”Kahei, take your hors.e.m.e.n and ride with all speed that way. Hiros.h.i.+ will show you where to find Sugita. Tell him we are coming and that he is to keep the enemy bottled up in the ravine. The foot soldiers and farmers will come with me.”

”That's good,” Hiros.h.i.+ said approvingly. ”The ford is full of boulders; the footing is not really favorable to war horses. And the Tohan will think you are weaker than you are and underestimate you. They won't expect farmers to fight.”

I thought, I should be taking lessons in strategy from him I should be taking lessons in strategy from him.

Jiro said, ”Am I to go with Lord Miyos.h.i.+ too?”

”Yes, take Hiros.h.i.+ on your horse, and keep an eye on him.”

The hors.e.m.e.n rode away, the hoofs echoing across the broad valley.

”What hour is it?” I asked Makoto.

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