Part 20 (1/2)

”Lord Otori.”

Being addressed thus by s.h.i.+zuka had a strange effect on me, for I had only heard her use the name before to s.h.i.+geru. I realized realized that during the course of our meeting I had progressed from that during the course of our meeting I had progressed from Cousin Cousin to to Takeo Takeo to to Lord Otori Lord Otori. Irrationally it pleased me. I felt that if s.h.i.+zuka recognized my authority, it must be real.

I told my guards to keep an eye on Taku and went to check out what remained of my army. The two days of rest and decent food had done wonders for both men and horses. I was anxious to move back to the coast, to hear from Fumio as soon as possible, and thought I would ride there with a small group, but I was unsure what to do with the rest of the troops. The problem as always was one of food. The Shuho people had been generous to us, but to expect them to continue to feed us was stretching their goodwill and their resources. Even if I sent the bulk of the army now, under Kahei's command, to follow Arai by the land route, I needed provisions for them.

I was mulling over these problems as I returned to s.h.i.+ro's house at midday. I recalled the fisherman on the beach and the bandits he had been afraid of. A sortie against bandits might be just the thing to fill in time, keep the men from idleness, restore their fighting spirit after our retreat, please the local people, and possibly obtain more provisions and equipment. The idea appealed to me enormously.

A man was squatting on his heels in the shadow of the tile roof- an unremarkable man, wearing faded blue-gray clothes and carrying no visible weapon. A boy about twelve years old was beside him. They both stood up slowly when they saw me.

I made a movement with my head. ”Come up.”

Kenji stepped out of his sandals onto the veranda.

”Wait here,” I told him. ”Let the boy come with me.” I went inside with Zenko to where Taku still slept. I took Taku's own garrote and told the guards to strangle the boys with it if any attack was made on me. Zenko said nothing and made no sign of fear. I could see how like Arai he was. Then I went back to my teacher.

Once we were inside the house, we both sat down. We studied each other for a moment, then Kenji bowed and said in his ironic way, ”Lord Otori.”

”Muto,” I replied. ”Taku is also in the next room. He and his brother will die immediately if there is any attempt made on my life.”

Kenji looked older, and I saw a weariness in his face that had not been there before. His hair was beginning to gray at the temples.

”I have no desire to harm you, Takeo.” He saw my frown and amended his words somewhat impatiently: ”Lord Otori. You probably won't believe me, but I never did. I meant it that night at s.h.i.+geru's when I vowed I would protect you while I lived.”

”You have a strange way of keeping your promises,” I said.

”I think we all know what it's like to be torn between conflicting obligations,” he said. ”Can we put that behind us now?”

”I would be glad if we were no longer enemies.” I was acting more coldly than I felt, constrained by all that had happened between my old teacher and myself. For a long time I'd held him partly responsible for s.h.i.+geru's death; now my resentment was melted by sorrow for Yuki's death, for his grief. But I was not proud of myself in relation to Yuki, and then there was the question of the child, my son, his grandson.

Kenji sighed. ”The situation's become intolerable. What's the point of wiping each other out? The reason the Kikuta claimed you in the first place was to try to preserve your talents. If anyone ever spat upward it was them! I know you have the records that s.h.i.+geru kept. I don't doubt that you can deal a terrible blow to the Tribe.”

”I would rather work with the Tribe than destroy them,” I said. ”But their loyalty to me must be total. Can you guarantee that?”

”I can for all except the Kikuta. They will never be reconciled to you.” He said nothing for a moment, then continued bleakly: ”Nor I to them.”

I said, ”I am very sorry about your daughter. I blame myself terribly for her death. I can make no excuse. I just wish I could say that if I had my life over again, I would act differently.”

”I don't blame you,” Kenji said. ”Yuki chose you. I blame myself because I brought her up to believe she had more freedom than she really did. Ever since she brought Jato to you, the Kikuta doubted her obedience to them. They were afraid she would influence the child. He is to hate you, you understand. The Kikuta are very patient. And Yuki did not hate you and never would. She always took your part.” He smiled painfully. ”She was very angry when we took you at Inuyama. She told me it would never work out to keep you against your will.”

I felt the corners of my eyes grow hot.

”She loved you,” Kenji said. ”Perhaps you would have loved her if you had not already met Lady s.h.i.+rakawa. I blame myself for that too. I actually arranged your meeting. I watched you fall in love with her during the training session. Why, I don't know. Sometimes I think we were all bewitched on that journey.”

I thought so, too, remembering the pelting rain, the intensity of my pa.s.sion for Kaede, the madness of my foray into Yamagata Castle, s.h.i.+geru's journey toward death.

”I might wish things had been different, Takeo, but I don't blame you or hold any grudge against you.”

I did not pick him up on his familiarity this time. He went on, sounding more like my old teacher: ”You often act like an idiot, but fate seems to be using you for some purpose, and our lives are bound together in some way. I'm prepared to entrust Zenko andTaku to you as a sign of my good faith.”

”Let's drink to it,” I said, and called to s.h.i.+ro's daughter to bring wine.

When she had poured it and gone back to the kitchen, I said, ”Do you know where my son is?” I found it hard to imagine the child, a baby, motherless.

”I've been unable to find out. But I suspect Akio may have taken him north, beyond the Three Countries. I suppose you will try to find him?”

”When all this is over.” I was tempted to tell Kenji about the prophecy, that my own son would destroy me, but in the end I kept it to myself.

”It seems that the Kikuta master Kotaro is in Hagi,” Kenji told me as we drank.

”Then we will meet there. I hope you will come with me.”

He promised he would and we embraced.

”What do you want to do with the boys?” Kenji said. ”Will you keep them here with you?”

”Yes. Taku seems to be very talented. Would you send him alone on a spying mission? I might have a job for him.”

”Into Hagi? That would be a bit beyond him.”

”No, just locally. I want to track down some bandits.”

”It's unknown territory to him around here. He'd probably get lost. What do you want to find out?”

”How many they are, what their stronghold's like, that sort of thing.

He has invisibility, doesn't he? He wouldn't have got past my guards without it.”

Kenji nodded. ”Maybe s.h.i.+zuka can go with him. But is there a local person who can accompany them at least some of the way? It would save a lot of time on the mountain.”

We asked s.h.i.+ro's daughters and the younger one said she would go. She often went out to collect mushrooms and wild plants for food and medicine, and though she avoided the bandits' area, she knew the countryside all the way to the coast.

Taku woke up as we were talking. The guards called to me and Kenji and I went in to see him. Zenko still sat where I had left him, unmoving.

Taku grinned at us and exclaimed, ”I saw Hachiman in a dream!”

”That's good,” I told him, ”because you are going to war!”

He and s.h.i.+zuka went out that night and returned with all the information I needed. Makoto came back from the coast just in time to accompany me as we took two hundred men and stormed the rocky hideout, with so few losses I could hardly describe it as a battle. The results were all I'd hoped for: all the bandits dead, save two who were captured alive, and their winter provisions ours. We set free a number of women who had been abducted, among them the mother and sisters of the child I had fed on the beach. Zenko came with us and fought like a man, and Taku proved invaluable: Even his mother gave him a word of praise. Word spread quickly to the fis.h.i.+ng villages that I had returned and kept my promise to the fisherman. Everyone came to offer their boats to help transport my men.

I told myself all this activity was to keep my men from idleness, but in fact it was as much for my own sake. Speaking to s.h.i.+zuka about Kaede and hearing of her intolerable plight intensified my longing for her a thousandfold. I was busy enough in the day to keep my thoughts at bay, but at night they returned to torment me. All week there were small earth tremors. I had the enduring vision of her trapped in a shaking building as it collapsed and burned. I was riven by anxiety: that she should die, that she should think I had abandoned her, that I would die without telling her how much I loved her and would never love anyone but her. The knowledge that s.h.i.+zuka could possibly get a message to her kept returning to me with needling intensity.

Taku and Hiros.h.i.+ formed a somewhat stormy relations.h.i.+p, being about the same age but total opposites in upbringing and character. Hiros.h.i.+ disapproved of Taku and was jealous of him. Taku teased him with Tribe tricks that infuriated him. I was too busy to mediate between them, but they followed me around most of the time, squabbling like dogs. The older boy, Zenko, kept aloof from both of them. I knew his Tribe talents were slight, but he was good with horses and already an expert with the sword. He also seemed to have been trained perfectly in obedience. I was not sure what I would do with him in the future, but he was Arai's heir and I knew I would have to come to a decision about him sooner or later.

We held a great feast to bid farewell to the people of Shuho, and then, with the food supplied by the bandits, Kahei, Makoto, and my main force set out to march to Hagi. I sent Hiros.h.i.+ with them, silencing his protests by telling him he could ride Shun, and hoping the horse would take as good care of him as he had of me.

It was hard to say good-bye to them all, especially to Makoto. My closest friend and I held each other in a long embrace. I wished we were going into battle together, but he had no knowledge of boats and I needed him to command the land army with Kahei. ”We will meet in Hagi,” we promised each other. Once they were gone, I felt I needed to keep informed about their movements, about Aral's progress, and about the situation in Maruyama and at Lord Fujiwara's residence. I wanted to know the n.o.bleman's reaction to my new alliance with Arai. Now I could start using the Muto Tribe network.