The Tengu's Game of Go (13 page)

“Lady Yayoi,” Kinmaru said, and Monmaru bowed his head, yet she sensed a reserve in them toward her. She wondered what accusations had been made of her in her absence. Had they been sent to bring her back to be punished for murder?

“A message came from Lady Asagao,” Monmaru began immediately, not even waiting to sit down. “She was taken to Matsutani by Lord Masachika. She must have made a good impression; maybe she spoke on our behalf. Anyway, the lord has summoned us, with the musicians, to entertain a great assembly, including Lord Aritomo himself, at a hunt in the southern Darkwood. Saru, you, and Yoshi must go with us. We are halfway to Matsutani, there is no point in going home first. The others will meet us there. They've already set out with the monkeys and all our equipment.”

“It's a great honor,” Kinmaru said. “And we will be richly rewarded, Asagao says. These lords know how to give generously. But we must leave at once, we have less than half a month.”

“What about them?” Yoshi said, indicating the captive monkeys.

“You'll have to let them go,” Kinmaru said. “We can't risk taking young, untrained monkeys with us.”

Saru looked upset. “Then we've wasted the whole summer here. These are really promising ones, too.”

“You can come back next year,” Monmaru consoled him. “This is too good an opportunity to miss.”

“Yoshi should take the young monkeys home with the horse,” Hina said. She had been listening to the conversation with mounting dread.

They all stared at her. “We can't perform without Yoshi,” Saru said.

“Where's Take?” Kinmaru looked around. “He'll need to come, too.”

“He's gone off somewhere,” Saru replied. “We can manage without him, but that's all the more reason why Yoshi must come.”

He flung an arm around his friend's shoulder and hugged him. “Exciting, isn't it?”

“Yoshi,” Hina said. “I need to talk to you alone.”

Yoshi shrugged his shoulders slightly. His usually cheerful expression turned sullen as he followed Hina. Kon swooped overhead, calling piercingly.

Yoshi looked up. “I hate that bird,” he muttered. “I wish it would go away.”

When they were out of earshot, Hina said, “You must not go. You will be in great danger.”

He made no response, just stared at the ground.

“Yoshi! Look at me! Do you understand what I am saying?”

He looked at her then, his expression unreadable.

“Do you remember anything about the past, where you came from, who you are?”

“I am an acrobat. I work with monkeys. That's the only life I've ever known.”

Hina wondered if she should tell him: Would he be safer if he knew or would ignorance protect him?

Yoshi said, in a low, rapid voice, “I do remember one thing. A woman telling me I must never reveal my true identity. Kai knows, for she came with me from the same world, but she has never said a word to anyone else. That's why I love her and why she's the only person I could love. I know why Kon follows me day and night. I saw how Take's attitude changed toward me—you told him, didn't you? You have known since the day we met, for the lute betrayed me. I'm grateful to you for keeping my secret all these years. But I will never admit it to anyone. You can't make me. I will deny it to the end of my days. I am not interested in power or position. I will live and die an acrobat and nothing you can say will make me change my mind.”

Even as he denied it he spoke with all the true authority of the Emperor. She found she could not argue with him.

The young monkeys were released, and were greeted by their families with cries of relief and excitement.

“You'll come with us, Lady Yayoi?” Kinmaru said, when they were ready to leave.

“I will wait for Take,” she replied. “He will be back soon.”

Monmaru said nervously, “We were told to bring you back with us. We will certainly be questioned about you.”

“You must say nothing!” Yoshi declared and then, taking Yayoi aside, said quietly, “I promise I will not give you away, and you must make the same promise to me.”

“I will,” she whispered.

They did not try to persuade her further, fully aware she faced arrest if she was found. Better to starve to death in the Darkwood or be killed by wild animals than fall into the hands of Aritomo's torturers.

*   *   *

The monkeys disappeared. After the two young ones were released and the excitement had died down, they all began to hurry away to the northeast, deep into the forest, as if each member of the group had received a hidden signal.

Hina missed their chatter and their activity. The trees seemed to press around her more densely and she heard strange noises that alarmed her. Kon had flown after Yoshi, adding to her fears—surely Masachika or one of his men would have the skill to shoot the bird down? Yet there was no way she could prevent him from following Yoshi, just as she could not stop Yoshi from going to Matsutani. He was the Emperor, he would go where he willed and Kon's destiny was to follow him.

Kon's presence must have intimidated the other birds and animals, for after he had departed they began to come more boldly into the clearing. Crows alighted on the ground beside her, cawing loudly and pecking at scraps of food left behind, peering at her with their fearless eyes, as if they hoped the flesh that covered her bones would soon become carrion.

Some animal, either a small wolf or a very large fox, lurked every evening on the edge of the clearing. She heard it hunting in the night, heard the sudden short scream of its prey. She was wary of it, knowing that, when winter came, wolves would move southward through the Darkwood. She remembered hearing them howling on snowy nights when she was a child at Matsutani. Sometimes, made desperate by hunger, they would attack the horses. Being awakened by the screaming horses, the snarling wolves, and the shouts of men running to drive them away was one of her enduring memories. In the morning there would be dead wolves to skin—their furs made warm winter coverings or chaps for riding—and wounded horses to put down, with the promise of fresh meat for days to come.

But she was most cautious of the wild boar, which, as autumn drew into winter, she often heard crashing through the undergrowth. She had seen dogs and men ripped open by their tusks. They were aggressive, seemed half-mad, even when they were not being hunted. She did not dare venture far from the clearing in case she was attacked by one. Yet staying where she was made her anxious, too. Yoshi had ordered the acrobats to say nothing about her, but they could so easily let slip a casual word and betray her.

The acrobats had left her food, and wood for the fire, which she kept going diligently. There was a grove of chestnut trees near the spring and the nuts were ripening. She collected them, storing them like a squirrel. But every night was a little colder than the last. Soon it would begin to freeze and then it would snow.
I will have to spend the winter in the hot spring if Take does not return
, she thought, but the reality, she knew, was she could not survive there.

Sometimes her passive waiting infuriated her. She longed to act. For so many years she had been told what to do by Fuji, had submitted to everything asked of her and suppressed all her own hopes and desires. Now she was free of all constraints, except those imposed by the weather and the changing seasons, and the frailty of her own body. Yet she did not know what action she could take.

In the short hours of daylight she took out the medicine stone and the Kudzu Vine Treasure Store. The Abbess had been right. In some way that Hina did not fully understand, the stone made the text readable. If she kept her left hand on the stone, she found she could not only read but understand what she read. As a child she had longed to make people and animals well, riven by pity for their suffering. Now that childish pity had turned into a mature, all-encompassing compassion.

So she made a virtue out of her solitude, overcoming her fears and her hunger, until she had completely absorbed the teachings of the text. She had grown so used to being alone that when a man and a tall brown horse appeared in the clearing one morning, for a moment she could not recognize what they were. They seemed one strange being, threatening and unpredictable. So they had come for her. She wanted to hide, but there was no time.

The man dismounted, calling her name. It was Chika, whom she had last seen when he came to Fuji's boat—or had she seen his shape underwater, the night Fuji died? He had come then to ask her to help Shikanoko. Her heart began to beat faster with excitement. Was it, at last, the time for Chika to take her to him?

He slid down from the horse's back and came to her, dropped to one knee, and bowed his head. The horse pulled on the reins, trying to reach the grass.

“Hina! I was told I would find you here.”

Excitement and hope made her greet him warmly, despite his familiar tone. “I am so glad to see you, Chika,” she said eagerly. “What news do you bring?”

He stood again, not speaking for a moment, studying her face with an intense expression that made her uncomfortable. She took a step back as she said, “I have no food to offer you, but let me take your horse to the spring to drink and I will bring back fresh water.”

“I don't need anything,” he said, dropping the reins. “The horse can find water if it's thirsty. Let's sit down and talk.”

The sun was just beginning to clear the trees. Hina led him to a patch of sunlight on the western side of the spring. The horse went to drink deeply, snorting through its nose. The ground was still cold. Hina sat on a small outcrop of rock. Chika pulled his sword from his sash and laid it down, then squatted on his haunches next to her.

“I've come from Kitakami,” he said. “The brothers I told you about, Master Kikuta and Mu, have been reconciled, making the Tribe, as they call themselves, stronger than ever.”

“And Shikanoko?” Hina said, his name filling her with joy and nervousness.

“Mu has gone to find him,” Chika said.

“Will he bring him here?”

He frowned as though her eagerness distressed him and did not answer her question. “I've been thinking while I've been riding. I've had a lot of time lately to reflect on my life. I am not proud of what I have become.”

“None of us can avoid our fate,” Hina said.

“Maybe that is true, or maybe what proves a man is striving against fate and having the will to mold it to his own design. I am a warrior's son, Hina. It's a long time since I've lived as a warrior.”

He put out a hand impulsively and gripped her thigh, his touch sending shock waves through her. “Aritomo is planning an attack on the Kakizuki in Rakuhara, to be led by your old patron, Arinori. That's why Arinori gave up his pursuit of you. Masachika knows you came into the Darkwood with the acrobats, he will find out where you are and will certainly come after you sooner or later. But Kiku, who has informants everywhere now, even in the capital, has already sent messengers to Lord Keita. The Kakizuki will be prepared and the Miboshi will be defeated. It's a chance for us to flee together. We can ride south and find the Kakizuki. We are of the same class, our families have been linked for generations. Ever since we were children I dreamed we would marry one day—I told you this before.”

“But what about Shikanoko?” Hina said.

“You asked if Mu would bring him here. He will but he will be leading him to his death. Kiku says he wants to be of service to Shika, to restore the Emperor, but what he really wants is the mask Shika wears. I told you my sister's dream. I believe it means that you could remove the mask. But if Kiku takes possession of it, you will have condemned Shikanoko to death. He has said as much to me. In fact, he ordered me to kill him. Come with me and you will save not only your life but his, too.”

His touch was embarrassing her with its intimacy and she tried to move from under it.

He looked at his own hand as if in surprise and lifted it away. “I'm sorry. I should not touch you. But you have had so many men and I have wanted you for so long. Won't you look with favor on me? I will take you away to safety. You can't stay here on your own. Masachika's men will find you eventually, if you aren't killed by wild animals first.”

When she did not reply he went on. “We killed Unagi, you know, his sons and his father. I did it partly for you, so you would never be insulted by him again. And Kiku wanted to get rid of him. But once it was done I felt that part of my life was over. Or maybe Mu coming changed everything. I thought I was as close to Kiku as anyone, but Mu has become closer. I realized I was weary to death of that world of sorcerers and imps. I will never belong in it. Can you understand my loneliness? Kiku has offered me women, but I will never be able to meet and marry anyone of my own rank and I will not accept anyone else. But if we go to the Kakizuki, you, Kiyoyori's daughter, shall be the wife of Kongyo's son.”

“That is impossible,” she said, staring at him, shocked by his words. “I pity you deeply, but I was very fond of Unagi and, as I said to you before, he was a good man. I can't marry the man who killed him.”

“I could show you I am a better man and a better lover. What's more, I am offering you a chance to escape, to save your life. You have no choice, Hina.” He grasped both her arms as if he would lift her up. “You must come with me. I'll carry you if I have to!”

There was a crashing and rustling in the undergrowth and the horse squealed in fear. It threw up its head and barged past Chika, unbalancing him and knocking him to the ground. Suddenly released, Hina fell on her hands and knees.

She looked at the undergrowth, the sun dazzling her. The crashing noise came again and a huge boar, the largest she had ever seen, came bursting out, head down, charging toward them.

Its long tusks gleamed, its little eyes were red with rage, streams of saliva dripped from its glistening mottled snout. Each bristle stood out as sharp as a needle.