Cloud of Sparrows (32 page)

Genji said, “Not so. They are both merely extensions of the man holding them.”

Genji removed his swords and replaced them with one of the borrowed shinai. The other he gave to the outsider. He spoke a few unintelligible words, and the two men faced each other.

As soon as the outsider’s hand moved, Genji whipped his shinai from his belt and struck the outsider in the right temple.

The second time, Genji moved first. Before the outsider could respond, he was hit once again, in the right shoulder.

The third time, their movements were nearly simultaneous, but the result was the same. Genji’s shinai reached the outsider’s forehead before the outsider’s reached Genji’s neck.

On the fourth draw, the outsider had his first victory, a clean blow to the temple.

By the fifth, he was able to hit Genji before the lord could draw his shinai completely out of his belt.

“Which proves nothing,” one of the men said. “What great feat is it to defeat someone like Lord Genji?”

“Besides,” said another, “he must have let the outsider win in order to puff up his confidence.”

“Perhaps,” the sentry said. But his tone and expression said otherwise.

They started back toward the tournament platform. The sentry slipped away. As he left, he heard a few more words.

Shigeru said, “Does he know why you are doing this?”

“No. But he trusts me.”

“What arrogance,” one of the men said. “He seeks to humiliate us for his own entertainment.”

“I wonder,” Hiromitsu said.

“What other motive could he have?” the chamberlain said.

“He may be fulfilling a prophecy.”

“My lord, that is sheer foolishness,” the chamberlain said. “He is no more a prophet than you or I.”

“Do you know that for a fact?” Hiromitsu asked. “No, and neither do I. Let us proceed with caution. Toshio. You will face the outsider first. Be attentive.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Iaido usually began in a seated position. The contestants knelt at opposite ends of the platform, bowed, and moved deliberately toward each other on their knees. When they were at an appropriate distance, usually between five and ten paces, they would draw their swords and strike in one smooth motion. There was no parrying. There was no second chance. The winner was the man who drew his sword most swiftly and struck with accuracy.

In deference to the outsider, who was incapable of sitting properly on his knees, the rules were modified to permit standing confrontation. Also, to keep the numbers even, a samurai chosen by lot withdrew.

Despite the sentry’s report, Toshio was overconfident. He was so busy glaring disdainfully at Stark, he was struck in the neck before his shinai cleared his belt. The second man, more alert, fared no better. The outsider struck him in the shoulder of his sword arm as he moved to deploy his weapon. The third was disqualified for drawing too soon and charging, rather than drawing and striking in one movement as required. The chastened samurai was pitifully apologetic.

“It was the heat of the moment,” he said, pressing his forehead to the floor of the platform and weeping openly. “I lost all discipline. It was unforgivable.”

“No,” Hiromitsu said. “You are in shock, as we all are. Lord Genji, how long has this outsider been in Japan?”

“Three weeks.”

“He mastered iaido in three weeks?”

“In five minutes,” Genji said. “He never tried it before today.”

“I don’t mean to doubt you, but that is difficult to imagine.”

“The outsiders have a similar art. Instead of swords, they use guns. Stark is an accomplished practitioner.”

“Ah. We were wrong to take him lightly simply because he is an outsider.”

“When we let ourselves see only what we expect to see,” Genji said, “we view the contents of our own minds and miss what is truly before us.”

Was Genji alluding to his ability to see the future? It certainly seemed that way to Hiromitsu. In fact, it almost seemed as though he were saying he had known the outcome of the contest before it began. If he knew something so trivial, would he not also know the result of the larger matters facing them, the largest of them being the impending civil war? Hiromitsu decided he must discuss the issue with the other Great Lords in the region at the earliest opportunity. Something remarkable was taking place here. Perhaps it extended well beyond a mere iaido tournament.

Genji said, “Since you did not know of his background, it would be unfair to hold you to the wager. I will withdraw Stark from the contest.”

“Oh, no, Lord Genji, we must continue. This is most entertaining. Besides, the risk is all on your side. I wagered nothing.”

“Neither did I,” Genji said, “since the outcome was never in doubt.”

Genji was definitely claiming foreknowledge. Here, then, was a chance to test him. Hiromitsu said, “If you will permit it, I would like to make substitutions for the final two rounds.”

“Please do so.”

Hiromitsu assigned his infantry commander, Akechi, to face the outsider next. If the outsider survived, then he would face his cavalry commander, Masayuki. Akechi struck the outsider cleanly in the right rib cage. But the strike came a moment after the outsider hit him in the neck.

Masayuki was the best swordsman in Yamakawa Domain, and the equal of the best anywhere, save Shigeru. If he could not defeat the outsider, then surely mystical forces were at work. Only the power of an undeflectable prophecy could accomplish such a thing.

Masayuki and the outsider drew at the same moment. Both their strikes were true. Masayuki hit the outsider in the forehead. The outsider hit Masayuki in the right temple.

“Simultaneous strikes,” the chamberlain said from the judge’s seat on the west.

“It appears so to me as well,” Hiromitsu said. “Do you have a differing view, Lord Genji, Lord Shigeru?”

“No,” Shigeru said. “It looked simultaneous.”

“Then I have lost the wager,” Genji said.

“Neither of us has lost. It is a tie.”

“I have lost,” Genji said, “because I said Stark would win. He has not.”

Masayuki bowed to the outsider. The outsider extended his hand.

“They shake hands instead of bowing,” Genji said. “He is acknowledging your victory.”

The outsider and the samurai shook hands.

“Well done, Masayuki,” Genji said. “You have won a fine warhorse and one hundred gold ryo for yourself, and what will surely be an entertaining week for your lord.”

Masayuki bowed low. “I cannot accept the prizes, Lord Genji. The outsider’s blow landed before mine. He is the winner.”

“Are you certain?” Hiromitsu said.

“Yes, my lord.” He bowed again. His pride would not allow him to claim a victory he knew did not belong to him. “I deeply regret my failure.”

Genji said, “It is no failure to do your best and honestly accept the results.”

“Well,” Hiromitsu said, “what a surprising outcome. For me, if not for you, Lord Genji.”

Shigeru said, “My nephew is rarely surprised.”

“So I have heard,” Hiromitsu said.

The chamberlain said, “Where shall we deliver the prize?”

“There is no need for delivery,” Genji said. “Stark will ride it.”

“My lord,” the chamberlain said, “this is a warhorse, not a tame prancer. It will kill any but an expert horseman.”

Genji smiled. “Would you care to wager on it?”

His guests declined Hiromitsu’s offer of lodging at his castle for the night. He did not ask why they were in a hurry to continue their journey to wherever they were going. He was certain that Genji, with his foreknowledge of the future, was already as good as there.

Shigeru said, “You made clever use of your reputation.”

“For contests and gambling?”

“For prescience and mystical powers. Hiromitsu is now convinced you somehow transformed an outsider into a master of iaido in minutes. Or that you knew, thanks to your gift of foresight, that the impossible would happen, that he would win. An excellent strategy.”

“Still a gamble,” Genji said. “I thought Stark’s ability with a gun would transfer to a sword, at least in this limited way. It was a guess, not a certainty.”

“Then, in addition to everything else, you are lucky as well. I congratulate you for that, also. If you are sufficiently lucky, your other attributes will be amplified by it.”

“Luck was with us this time anyway,” Genji said. “Our present pursuers will get little assistance from Hiromitsu. And later, if the Shogun tries to mobilize the north against us for war, I think every lord in Hiromitsu’s circle will be extremely slow to respond.” He looked around at the surrounding mountains. “Aren’t we near Mushindo Monastery?”

Jimbo bowed in gratitude to the hot spring for providing the surrounding growth of unseasonable plants with the heat they needed to flourish in the midst of winter. He bowed to the old pine tree for giving the shiitake mushrooms the shadow that protected them from sunlight. He bowed to each mushroom before he plucked it, thanking them for giving up their existence so that he and other humans could continue theirs. There were enough of the succulent fungi here to make a feast. He took only what he needed to enliven the simple meal he planned for the village children. Shiitake was a delicacy. They would enjoy it. He moved around the hot spring collecting savory herbs and edible flowers. The simpleton, Goro, loved to eat flowers.

Thinking of children, he paused, and, pausing, felt himself flooded with intense sorrow and regret. He bowed in apology to two children no longer upon the earth, two whose lives he had cruelly ended. He thought of them many times every day, always picturing them reborn in heaven or the Pure Land, in the arms of Christ Our Lord or Kannon the Compassionate One. He pictured their innocent faces bright with eternal happiness. But he never forgot how they looked when they had breathed their last earthly breaths. He asked Christ to redeem his soul and Kannon to bathe him in her all-forgiving love.

He met Kimi, one of the little village girls, on his way back to Mushindo.

“Jimbo, someone is coming this way! Outsiders!”

Jimbo looked where Kimi pointed. On the other side of the valley, six riders guided their steeds along a precipitously narrow path on the mountainside. They were too far away to recognize. Two of them, a man and a woman, were definitely outsiders. Were they the two True Word missionaries Lord Genji had mentioned?

Kimi stepped out into a clearing and yelled out at the top of her little lungs, “Hello! Hello!” She moved her small, thin arms in the biggest rotations she could manage.

The third horseman in the line waved back. Something about the gesture made him think of Lord Genji.

“They saw us. Let’s go greet them, Jimbo.”

“They’re not coming here, Kimi. They’re just passing by.”

“Oh, no. How disappointing. I wanted to see more outsiders.”

“I’m sure you will,” Jimbo said, “when the time is right.”

“Jimbo! Jimbo! Jimbo!” Goro’s powerful voice echoed through the valley.

“We’re up here, Goro!” Kimi turned to go back down the path. “I’d better get him. He gets lost easily.”

Jimbo watched the riders until they disappeared into the next valley.

The trail ahead forked in three directions.

“We will separate here,” Genji said. “Heiko, you will guide Stark along the windward trails of these mountains. I will go with Emily through the valleys. Shigeru will backtrack and thin the ranks of our closest pursuers. That is likely to be Kudo and his men. He likes snipers, so be careful. Hidé will remain here. Find several locations from which you can launch ambushes. If any get this far, delay them as long as you can.”

“Let the women travel together,” Shigeru said. “Stark should go with you.”

“I agree,” Hidé said. “The prophecy says an outsider will save your life in the New Year. With our own eyes, we have seen Stark wield a shinai after a few minutes of instruction. It is clear he must be the one. He cannot fulfill his part if he is not with you.”

“This wilderness is filled with bandits and deserters,” Genji said. “Two women alone will not last long.”

“I am not so helpless, my lord,” Heiko said. “Lend me your short sword and I will get us through. I promise.”

“You will get through because Stark will get you through,” Genji said. “There is no use arguing. My mind is made up. The New Year is long. Who is to say when the saving will take place? And who is to say who will do the saving? Perhaps it will be Emily, not Stark. Prophecies are notoriously difficult to interpret.”

“This is no time for jests,” Hidé said. “Stark will be of great help if you are confronted. Emily will only burden you with her care.”

“I am a samurai,” Genji said, “with two swords and a bow. Are you saying I am incapable of defending myself and one companion?”

“Of course not, my lord. It is simply wisest to keep risks to a minimum.”

“It is settled. We will meet again in Akaoka.”

Genji explained his plan to Stark and Emily.

“May I speak privately with Emily?” Stark said.