Brilliance of the Moon (27 page)

BOOK: Brilliance of the Moon
10.22Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Makoto’s face was drawn and his voice anxious. “Don’t do anything
hasty. We have no idea where Arai is. You could be simply riding into a trap.To
attack Lord Fujiwara, a man of his rank and status, will only turn opinion against
you. It may be best not to react immedi—” I cut him off. “It’s impossible for
me to wait. I will do nothing except bring her back. Start at once.”

We spent the day in frantic preparation. I knew I was right to
act immediately. The first reaction of the Maruyama people was fury and
outrage. I wanted to take advantage of that. If I delayed I would seem
halfhearted, seeming to accept others’ opinion of my legitimacy. I was all too
aware of the risks I was taking, and knew I was following one act of rashness
with another, but I could not conceive of any other way of acting.

At the end of the afternoon I told Sugita to summon the elders.
Within the hour they were all assembled. I informed them of my intentions,
warned them of the consequences, and told them I expected their complete
loyalty to myself and my wife. None of them made any objections—I think my
anger was too strong for that—but I was uneasy about them.They were of the same
generation as Fujiwara and Arai and were formed by the same code. I trusted
Sugita, but with Kaede gone, could he keep them loyal while I was absent?

Then I called for Shun and went out for a ride on him to clear my
head, stretch his legs before taking him on another hard journey, and look at
the state of the land.

About half the rice harvest was in, the farmers working day and
night to get the rice cut before the weather changed. Those I spoke to were
anxious, forecasting an imminent typhoon, citing the halo around the last full
moon, the migrating geese, their own aching bones. I organized Sugita’s
warriors to lend a hand in strengthening the dikes and banks against floods; no
doubt they would complain, but I hoped the sense of crisis would override their
pride.

Finally I found myself, only half-intentionally, on the edge of
the hamlet where the outcasts had settled. The usual smell of tanning hides and
fresh blood hung over it. Some men, Jo-An among them, were skinning a dead
horse. I recognized the bright roan color; it was Hiroshi’s, the one I’d seen
dying that morning. I called to Jo-An and dismounted, giving the reins to one
of the grooms who’d ridden out with me. I went and stood by the riverbank and
Jo-An came and crouched by the water, washing the blood from his hands and
arms. “You’ve heard the news?”

He nodded, glanced at me, and said, “What will you do?”

“What
should I
do?” I wanted some word from some god. I wanted to hear another prophecy, one
that included Kaede, that bound our futures together. I would follow it
blindly.

“There are three more battles,” Jo-An said. “One to lose and two
to win. Then you will rule in peace, from sea to sea.”

“With my wife?”

He looked away across the water. Two white egrets were fishing
near the weir. There was a flash of orange and blue as a kingfisher swooped
from a willow. “If you are to lose one battle, you should lose it now,” he
said.

“If I lose my wife, none of it matters to me,” I said. “I would
kill myself.”

“That is forbidden to us,” he replied quickly. “God has his plan
for your life. All you have to do is follow it.”

When I did not reply, he went on: “It matters to us who have left
everything for you. It matters to those in the Otori lands who suffer now. We
can bear war if peace comes from it. Don’t abandon us.“

Standing by the peaceful river in the evening light, I thought that
if I did not get her back, my heart would break utterly. A gray heron came
flying slowly over the surface of the water, just above its own reflection. It
folded its huge wings and landed with the slightest of splashes. It turned its
head toward us, watching us, then, satisfied that we posed no danger to it,
began to stalk silently through the shallows.

My real goal was to avenge Shigeru’s death completely and take up
my inheritance. Then the prophecy would be fulfilled. But it was impossible for
me to let anyone take Kaede from me without resistance. I could do nothing but
go after her, even if it meant throwing away everything I had struggled for.

I bade farewell to Jo-An and rode back to the castle. Word had
come that Hiroshi was awake and improving in health. I asked for him to be
brought to me shortly. While I was waiting I searched the residence for the box
of records but found no trace of it. It was yet another source of concern. I
feared it might have been stolen, which would mean the Tribe had penetrated the
castle once and could do so again.

Hiroshi came to me just before nightfall. He was pale, with dark
hollows under his eyes, but otherwise he had made a swift recovery. Physically
and mentally he was as tough as a full-grown man. I questioned him about every
detail of the journey and made him describe the terrain around Shirakawa and
Fujiwara’s residence. He told me how Raku had been killed, and the news
saddened me deeply. The black-maned gray horse was the first I had mastered, a
link with Shigeru and my brief life as his son in Hagi. Raku had been my gift
to Kaede when I had nothing else to give her, and he had brought her to
Terayama.

I’d sent everyone else away so I could speak in private to
Hiroshi, and now I told him to move closer.

“Promise you will tell no one what we speak of next.”

“I swear it,” he
said, adding impulsively, “Lord Otori, I already owe you my life. I’ll do
anything to help rescue Lady Otori.”

“We will rescue
her,” I said. “I leave tomorrow.”

“Take me with
you,” he begged.

I was tempted to, but I did not think he was well enough. “No,
you are to stay here.”

He looked as if he would protest, but thought better of it and
bit his lip.

“The records my
wife
was
copying—did she take them with her?”

He whispered, “We took both the originals and the copies. We hid
them at Shirakawa in the sacred caves.”

I blessed Kaede in my heart for her wisdom and foresight. “Does
anyone else know this?”

He shook his head.

“And you could find them again?”

“Of course.”

“You must never tell anyone where they are. Someday we will make
a trip together to retrieve them.”

“Then we can punish Shoji,” he said gleefully. After a moment he
added, “Lord Otori, may I ask you something?”

“Certainly.”

“The day my father died, the men who killed the guards made themselves
unseen in some way. Can you do that?”

“Why do you ask? Do you think I can?”

“The women in the room today were saying that you were a
sorcerer—forgive me. But you can do many strange things, like making me sleep.”
He looked at me, frowning. “It was no ordinary sleep; I saw vivid dreams and
understood things I’d never known before. If you can make yourself invisible,
will you teach me how?”

“Some things cannot be taught,” I said. “They are talents that
are born in you. You already have many skills and you have had the best of
upbringings.”

Something I said made his eyes suddenly fill with tears. “They
told me Jiro was dead.”

“Yes, he was killed by an assassin who was aiming at me.”

“And you killed the assassin?”

“I had him put to death, but he was already dying. He bit off his
own tongue.”

Hiroshi’s eyes gleamed. I wanted to explain something of my pain
at Hajime’s death and Jiro’s, my revulsion at the endless cycle of bloodshed
and revenge, but I did not think this warrior’s son would be capable of understanding
it, even after the Kikuta sleep, and I wanted to ask something else of him.

“Do many people believe I am a sorcerer?”

“Some whisper about it,” he admitted. “Mostly women, and idiots.”

“I am afraid of disloyalty in the castle. That’s why I want to
leave you here. If you think there is any danger that Maruyama will side with
Arai when I am gone, send word to me.”

Hiroshi stared at me. “No one here would be disloyal to Lord
Otori.”

“I wish I could be as certain.”

“I’ll ride and find you myself,” he promised.

“Just make sure you take a quiet horse,” I told him.

I sent him back to his uncle’s house and ordered food to be
brought. Makoto returned with a report on the preparations; everything was
ready for our early departure. However, after the meal he tried again to
dissuade me.

“It’s utter madness,” he said. “I won’t say another word after tonight,
and I’ll go with you, but to attack a nobleman whose betrothed you stole…“

“We were legally married,” I said. “He is the one who has
committed an act of madness.”

“Didn’t I warn you at Terayama how such a marriage would be
viewed by the world? It was your own rashness that has led to this, and it will
lead to your downfall if you persist in it.”

“Can you be sure you weren’t motivated by jealousy then as you
are now? You’ve always resented my love for Kaede.”

“Only because it will destroy you both,” he replied quietly.
“Your passion blinds you to everything. You were in the wrong. It would be
better to submit to that and try to make your peace with Arai. Don’t forget, he
is probably holding the Miyoshi brothers as hostages. Attacking Lord Fujiwara
will only enrage him further…”

“Don’t give me such advice.‘” I said in fury. “Submit to having
my wife taken from me? The whole world would despise me. I would rather die!”

“We probably all will,” he replied. “I am sorry I have to say
these things to you, Takeo, but it is my duty to. However, I have told you many
times that your cause is mine and I will follow you no matter what you choose
to do.”

I was too angry to continue talking to him. I told him I wanted
to be alone and called to Manami. She came in, her eyes red with weeping, and
took away the food trays and spread out the bed. I took a bath, thinking it
might be the last for some time. I did not want to stop being angry, for when
my rage abated, grief and something worse—apprehension— took its place. I
wanted to stay in the intense, dark mood of my Kikuta side that made me
fearless. One of Matsuda’s teachings came into my
mind:
If one fights desperately, he will survive. If he tries to survive,
he will die
.

 

The time had come to fight desperately, for if I lost Kaede, I
lost everything.

Manami was even more distressed in the morning, sobbing
uncontrollably as she said good-bye and setting off the other maids too. But
the mood among the men and in the streets was cheerful, with many townspeople
flocking out to shout and wave at us as we rode past. I took only warriors,
mamly the Otori and the others who had been with me since Terayama, leaving the
farmers to finish bringing in the harvest and to protect their own houses and
the town. Most of the Maruyama men stayed to defend the castle, but a few came
with us to act as guides and scouts.

I had about five hundred warriors on horseback and perhaps another
five hundred bowmen, some mounted and some on foot. The rest were foot soldiers
armed with poles and spears. There was a train of packhorses, as well as
porters, carrying provisions. I was proud of how quickly my army had been
mustered and equipped.

We had not gone far and were about to ford the Asagawa, where we
had inflicted such a huge defeat on Iida Nariaki, when I became aware that
Jo-An and a handful of outcasts were following us. After the river we took the
south road toward Shirakawa. I had never traveled on that road before, but I
knew it would take us two days at least to reach Kaede’s home, and Makoto had
told me Fujiwaras residence lay a short distance farther to the south.

When we stopped for the midday meal, I went to speak to Jo-An, aware
as I did so of the glances the men sent in my direction. I set my ears to catch
any comments, determined I would punish anyone who muttered anything, but no
one dared.

Jo-An prostrated himself at my feet and I told him to sit up.
“Why have you come?”

He gave a smile that was more like a grimace, showing his broken
teeth. “To bury the dead.”

It was a chilling reply, and one I did not want to hear.

“The weather is changing,” Jo-An went on, gazing at a mass of
high cloud spreading like horses’ tails across the sky from the west. “A
typhoon is coming.”

“Don’t you have any good news for me?”

“God always has good news for you,” he replied. “I am to remind
you of that afterward.”

“Afterward?”

“After the battle you lose.”

“Maybe I won’t lose it!” Indeed I could not imagine it, with my
men so fresh and eager and my own rage burning so powerfully within me.

Jo-An said no more but his lips moved silently, and I knew he was
praying.

Makoto also seemed to be praying as we rode on, or was in that
state of meditation that monks achieve. He looked serene and with-drawn, as if
he had already cut his ties with this world. I hardly spoke to him, as I was
still angry with him, but we rode side by side as we had so often done before.
Whatever his doubts about this campaign, I knew he would not leave me, and
little by little, soothed by the rhythm of the horses’ feet, my rage against
him abated.

BOOK: Brilliance of the Moon
10.22Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Spark by Brigid Kemmerer
The Lightning Key by Jon Berkeley
Warworld: The Lidless Eye by John F. Carr, Don Hawthorne
Mumbai Noir by Altaf Tyrewala
Faces of Fear by Saul, John
The Truth Commission by Susan Juby
Waiting for Mercy (Cambions) by Dermott, Shannon
Homeward Bound by Peter Ames Carlin