Brilliance of the Moon (39 page)

Fujiwara was lying behind Kaede, partly covered by the fallen
roof. His body was twisted and he did not seem to be able to get up, but he
reached out to her and took her ankle in his hand, the first time he had ever
touched her. His fingers were cold and his grip inescapable. The dust was
making him cough, his clothes were filthy, and he smelled of sweat and urine
beneath the customary fragrance; yet when he spoke his voice was as calm as
ever.

“If we are to die, let us die together,” he said.

Behind him she could hear the flames, crackling and snarling like
a living creature. The smoke thickened, stinging her eyes and masking all the
other smells.

She pulled and kicked against his clutching fingers.

“I just wanted to possess you,” he said. “You were the most
beautiful thing I had ever seen. I wanted you to be mine and no one else’s. I
wanted to intensify your love for Takeo by denying it so I could share in the
tragedy of your suffering.”

“Let go of me!” she screamed. She could feel the heat of the fire
now. “Shizuka! Kondo! Help me!”

Shizuka was fully occupied with the other guards, fighting like a
man. Ishida’s hands were still tied to the post. Kondo killed one of the guards
from behind, turned his head at Kaede’s voice, and then strode toward the
burning house. He leaped onto the edge of the veranda.

“Lady Otori,” he said, “I’ll free you. Run to the garden, to the
pools. Shizuka will look after you.” He climbed down and deliberately cut
through Fujiwara’s wrist. The nobleman gave one harsh scream of pain and
outrage; his hand fell from Kaede’s ankle.

Kondo pushed her upward and over the edge. “Take my sword. I know
you can defend yourself.”

He thrust it into her hands and went on swiftly: “I swore
allegiance to you. I meant it. I would never let anyone hurt you while I live.
But it was a crime for someone like me to kill your father. It’s even more of a
crime to attack a nobleman and kill him. I’m ready to pay for it.”

He gave her a look stripped of all irony and smiled. “Run,” he
said. “Run! Your husband will come for you.”

She stepped backward. She saw Fujiwara try to rise, the blood
pouring from the stump of his arm. Kondo wound his long arms round the nobleman
and held him firmly. The flames burst through the fragile walls and received
them both, wrapping them, concealing them.

The heat and the screams engulfed her.
He is burning,
all his treasures are burning
, she thought wildly. She
thought she heard Kumiko cry out from the inferno and wanted to do something to
save her, but as she started toward the house, Shizuka pulled her back.

“You are on fire!”

Kaede dropped the sword and put her hands uselessly to her head
as the flames erupted on her oiled hair.

The sun set and the moon rose over the still surface of the sea,
making a silver road for our fleet to follow. It was so bright, I could see
clearly the range of mountains behind the coast we were leaving. The tide
rippled under the hulls and the sails flapped in the offshore breeze. The oars
splashed in a steady rhythm.

We came to Oshima in the early hours of the morning. A white mist
rose from the surface of the sea, and Fumio told me it would be the same for
the next few nights as the air grew colder. It was perfect for our purpose. We
spent the day on the island, reprovisioning from the pirates’ stores and taking
on board more of Terada’s men, who were armed with swords, knives, and a
variety of other weapons, most of which I’d never seen before.

At the end of the afternoon we went to the shrine and made
offerings to Ebisu and Hachiman, praying for calm seas and the defeat of our
enemies. The priests gave us conch shells for each ship and auspicious fortunes
that encouraged the men, though Fumio took it all with a certain skepticism,
patting his firearm and muttering, “This is more auspicious, in my opinion!”
while I was happy enough to pray to any god, knowing that they were simply
different faces, created by men, of one indivisible truth.

The moon, one night off full, was rising over the mountains as we
set sail for Hagi.This time Kenji, Taku, and I went with Ryoma in his smaller,
swifter boat. I left Zenko in Fumio’s care, having told him of the boy’s
parentage and impressing on him the importance of keeping Aral’s son alive.
Just before dawn the mist began to form above the water, shrouding us as we
approached the sleeping city. From across the bay I could hear the first
roosters crowing and the early bells from Tokoji and Daishoin.

My plan was to go straight to the castle. I had no desire to
destroy my city or see the Otori clan wash blood with blood. I thought that if
we could kill or capture the Otori lords right away, there was every chance the
clan would side with me rather than tear itself apart. This was also the
opinion of the Otori warriors who had already joined me. Many of them had
begged to be allowed to accompany me and take part in the vengeance firsthand.
They all had experiences of ill treatment, insults, and breaches of faith. But
my aim was to penetrate the castle silently and secretly. I would take only
Kenji and Taku. I placed all the other men under Terada’s command.

The old pirate had been alight with excitement and the
anticipation of settling long-standing scores. I’d given him some instructions:
The boats were to remain offshore until daybreak. Then they were to sound the
conch shells and advance through the mist. The rest was up to him. I hoped to
be able to convince the city to surrender; if not, we would fight through the
streets to the bridge and open it for Arai’s army.

The castle was built on a promontory between the river and the
sea. I knew, from my visit on the day of my adoption, that the residence was on
the seaward side, where a huge wall, considered to be invulnerable, rose from
the water around it.

Kenji and Taku had their grapples and other Tribe weapons. I was
armed with throwing knives, a short sword, and Jato.

The moon set and the mist grew thicker. The boat drifted silently
toward the shore and nudged the seawall with the faintest of sounds. One by one
we climbed onto the wall and went invisible.

I heard footsteps above our heads and a voice called out, “Who’s
there? Name yourself.‘”

Ryoma answered in the dialect of a Hagi fisherman, “Only me. Got
a bit lost in this dirty mist.”

“Got a bit pissed, you mean,” a second man called back. “Get out
of here! If we can see you when the fog clears, we’ll put an arrow in you.” The
sound of the oar faded away. I hissed at the other two—I couldn’t see either of
them—and we began to climb. It was a slow process; the wall, washed twice a day
by the tide, was coated in seaweed and slippery. But inch by inch we crawled up
it and eventually came to its top. One last autumn cricket was chirping and it
fell suddenly silent. Kenji chirped in its place. I could hear the guards
talking at the far corner of the bailey. A lamp and a brazier burned beside
them. Beyond them lay the residence where the Otori lords, their retainers, and
families would be sleeping.

I could hear only two voices, which surprised me. I’d thought
there would be more, but from their conversation I gathered that all available
men had been posted on the bridge and along the river in anticipation of Arai’s
attack.

“Wish he’d get it over with,” one of them grumbled. “It’s this
waiting I can’t stand.”

“He must know how little food there is in the town,” the other
replied. “Probably thinks he can starve us out.”

“I suppose it’s better to have him out there than in here.”

“Enjoy it while you can. If the town falls to Arai, it’ll be a
bloodbath. Even Takeo ran away into a typhoon rather than face Arai!”

I felt alongside me for Taku, found his shape, and pulled his
head close to me. “Go inside the wall,” I mouthed in his ear. “Distract them
while we take them from behind.”

I felt him nod and heard the tiny sound as he moved away. Kenji
and I followed him over the wall. In the glow from the brazier I suddenly
caught sight of a small shadow. It flitted across the ground and then divided
in two, silent and ghostly.

“What was that?” one of the guards exclaimed.

They were both on their feet and staring toward Taku’s two
images. It was easy for us: We took one each, soundlessly.

The guards had just made tea, so we drank it while we waited for
daybreak. The sky paled gradually. There was no separation between it and the
water; it was all one shimmering surface. When the conch shells began to sound,
the hair stood up on the back of my neck. Dogs howled in response from the
shore.

I heard the household within erupt into activity: the padding of
feet, not yet frantic, cries of surprise, not yet alarm. The shutters were
thrown open and the doors slid apart. A group of guards rushed out, followed by
Shoichi and Masahiro, still in night attire but with their swords in their
hands.

They stopped dead as I walked toward them, Jato unsheathed in my
hand, the mist wreathing around me. Behind me the first ships were appearing;
the conch shells sang again over the water and the sound echoed back from the
mountains around the bay.

Masahiro took a step back. “Shigeru?” he gasped.

His older brother went white. They saw the man they had tried to
murder; they saw the Otori sword in his hand, and they were terrified.

I said in a loud voice, “I am Otori Takeo, grandson of Shigemori,
nephew and adopted son of Shigeru. I hold you responsible for the death of the
rightful heir to the Otori clan. You sent Shintaro to assassinate him, and when
that failed, you conspired with Iida Sadamu to murder him. Iida has already
paid with his life, and now you will!” I was aware that Kenji stood behind me,
sword drawn, and hoped Taku was still invisible. I did not take my eyes off the
men in front of me. Shoichi tried to regain his composure. “Your adoption was
illegal. You have no claim to Otori blood nor to the sword you carry. We do not
recognize you.” He called to the retainers. “Cut them down!”

Jato seemed to quiver in my hands as it came alive. I was
prepared to meet the attack, but no one moved. I saw Shoichi’s face change as
he realized he was going to have to fight me himself.

“I have no wish to split the clan,” I said. “My only desire is
for your heads.” I thought I’d given them enough warning. I could feel Jato
thirsting for blood. It was as though Shigeru’s spirit had taken me over and
would have his revenge.

Shoichi was the closer and I knew he was the better swordsman. I
would get rid of him first. They had both been good fighters, but they were now
old men in their late forties and they wore no armor. I was at the height of
speed and fitness, flesh and bone planed by hardship and war. I killed Shoichi
with a blow to the neck that cut him diagonally. Masahiro swung at me from
behind, but Kenji parried the stroke, and as I spun to meet my other opponent I
saw fear distort his face. I pushed him back toward the wall. He avoided each
stroke, weaving and parrying, but his heart was not in it. He made one last
appeal to his men, but still not one of them moved.

The first ships were not far offshore. Masahiro looked behind
him, looked back, and saw Jato descend on him. He made a frantic, ducking
movement and fell over the wall.

Furious that he had escaped me, I was about to jump after him
when his son, Yoshitomi, my old enemy from the fighting hall, came running from
the residence, followed by a handful of his brothers and cousins. None of them
was more than twenty.

“I’ll fight you, sorcerer,” Yoshitomi cried. “Let’s see if you
can fight like a warrior!”

I had gone into an almost supernatural state, and Jato was
enraged by now and had tasted blood. It moved faster than the eye could follow.
Whenever I seemed to be outnumbered, Kenji was at my side. I was sorry such
young men had to die but glad that they, too, paid for the treachery of their
fathers. When I was able to turn my attention back to Masahiro, I saw he had
surfaced near a small boat at the front of the line of ships. It was Ryoma’s.
Seizing his father by his hair, the young man pulled him upward and cut his
throat with one of the knives fishermen use to gut fish. Whatever Masahiro’s
crimes, this was a far more terrible death than any I could have devised for
him: to be killed by his own son while trying to escape in fear.

I turned to face the crowd of retainers. “I have a huge force of
men on the ships out there and Lord Arai is in alliance with me. I have no
quarrel with any of you. You may take your own lives, you may serve me, or you
may fight me one-on-one now. I have fulfilled my duty to Lord Shigeru and done
what he commanded.”

I could still feel his spirit inhabiting me.

One of the older men stepped forward. I remembered his face, but
his name escaped me.

“I am Endo Chikara. Many of us have sons and nephews who have
already joined you. We have no desire to fight our own children. You have done
what was your duty and your right in a fair and honorable way. For the sake of
the clan, I am prepared to serve you, Lord Otori.”

With that he knelt and one by one the others followed. Kenji and I
went through the residence and placed guards on the women and children. I hoped
the women would take their own lives honorably. I would decide what to do with
the children later. We checked all the secret places and flushed out several
spies hidden there. Some were obviously Kikuta, but neither in the residence
nor the castle was there any sign of Kotaro, who Kenji had been told was in
Hagi.