The Way of the Fox (35 page)

The gate shimmered and flashed closed, leaving a swirl of tiny petals in the air.

Sura gave a sigh of relief. She flicked a glance to Tonbo, who immediately went to keep watch over the town below. Some residents were out in the street: a Raiden patrol carrying naginatas and lanterns were running about the road. A group of armoured samurai on horseback trotted from the distant castle gates to investigate the disturbance in the town.

Sura knelt down and picked up one of the
petals. It melted away like a snowflake, leaving a simmer of perfume in the air. Sura examined the little puff of vapour with a scowl.

“They’re never lotus petals.
I have no idea where Buddhists get that obsession from…” She gave a sigh. “Ah well!”

Tonbo came over and pointed towards the castle
: more lanterns had appeared, and there seemed to be a loud argument outside the brothel gates. The fox nodded and rose up, looking towards the town in thought. She wagged a finger towards Akiko and Benten.

“R
ight – I need you two out of sight. They’ll check the inn.” The fox pointed to Kuno. “Kuno, Chiri! Get these two to the bridge where we met the crow! Hide them well. Tonbo – run to the inn, grab our stuff, and get to the bridge, fast as you can.” The fox struck an heroic pose.

“And I…? I am going to find my damned pants. An icy wind is blowing down the pass.”

Chiri rose and ran to the edge of the hill, looking off towards the town.

“I will fetch them, Sura san. With Bifuuko and
Daitanishi to scout, I am safe.”

“And get my sword!”

“Yes. Absolutely.” The white rat tucked her hair beneath her robes, and threw a dark scarf over her head and face. The transformation was remarkable – she suddenly became almost nondescript. “And your socks and sandals.”

“And my canteen!” The fox gathered up Akiko and Benten. Tonbo had already thundered off towards the inn. “Make sure you get my canteen!”

The rat was gone, vanishing into the bushes with her two little elementals fanning out to scout the way ahead. Kuno ran a short way towards the road and knelt down in cover, making certain that the Raiden patrols were still back near the brothel. He crossed the road swiftly and paused, waiting for Sura to usher Benten and Akiko over into hiding. They all paused and looked back – seeing lanterns gathered outside Mama Ippongi’s brothel, then plunged into the forest.

They would have to avoid the road. It would be safe enough at the very verges of the forest – the Raiden would not set traps and patrols too near the edge, where
they might be found and seen. Sura sniffed, caught the scent of the river, and led the way forward into the pitch black undergrowth, prodding for pit traps with the butt end of her spear.

Holding Akiko’s hand, Benten clung tight behind
Sura as they threaded off into the bushes.

“Sura san! Can you find your way to this bridge in the dark?”

“What? Oh sure. Trust me – I’m a fox!” Sura led the way forward through the trees.

“D
amn but this wind is cold.”

Kuno kept his sword drawn until long after they had lost sight of the road.

They gathered in a ruined farmhouse near the old bridge. Tonbo had come running, shadowing the road, carrying their packs, with Chiri joining them a few minutes later.

A single pair of Raiden
samurai had ridden down the road as far as the bridge, but had halted without crossing, having found no sign of any traffic. The group paused in cover, watching as the samurai scanned the road ahead – but the way was obviously deserted. The two men rode back towards the castle, moving at an unhurried pace. Clearly they believed there was nothing to report.

Inside the ruins, brambles
and a new-sprung tree provided perfect cover. Uncovering her hair, Chiri breathlessly unrolled a bundle and handed it bit by bit to Sura.

“Here are your pants, Sura san! And little-brush!” The rat had fluffed Sura’s pleated hakama clean of dust. “And your
footwear – and canteen.” It was a beautiful, gorgeous old canteen from ancient, weathered bamboo engraved with a grinning fox face. “It seems very old. It is valuable?”

“Priceless!” Sura drank – and there was a sudden scent of plum wine upon the air. Sura saw that everyone was looking at her. “What?
It’s from Mama Ippongi’s! Hey – I was going to share it around!”

Tonbo heaved a sigh and put a hand out for the canteen. “Perhaps you had better put on your pants.”

“If you insist. But you guys just don’t know what you’re missing!” Sura fumbled for her hakama in the dark, and stepped into them – found out they were on backwards, then clumsily started once again. “So – trouble in the town?”

“Lights in the castle.
Some Raiden samurai came into the streets.” Chiri sat herself down upon a stone. “There’s an argument going on with some of the old hatamoto – the senior retainers of the old lord. They’re at the brothel. Apparently they have been forbidden permission to leave the town.”

Akiko nodded
softly. “They are very high prestige customers of Mama Ippongi’s house whenever they come to town.”

“Indeed.” Chiri
remained in rat form, tall pink ears gleaming in the dark. “I caught only a few most distant words. But the young lord’s senior retainers are accusing the old hatamoto of fermenting trouble. I believe they feel the damage in the town is an attempted diversion.”

Kuno gave a terse nod of satisfaction. “They sound like they’re falling out – old regime against the new.”

“Suits me fine!” Sura had managed to gain hold of her canteen again. “Nothing is more hilarious that your enemies fighting amongst themselves.”

Benten blinked.

“Is that a quote by a fox, Sura san?”

“No
… Lao Tzu, I think. The man apparently really loved a fist fight.” Sura drank, then corked the wine. “Now then! I want to fill in a few holes. Akiko san – can you tell me what’s been going on? So you escaped the castle as a child, back when the Raiden invaded. What happened then?”

The rabbit girl c
ombed her hair back and away from her tall, elegant ears. With her true form now revealed, it was clear that Akiko’s loose skirt had been intended to conceal a beautiful short, fluffy tail bound tight beneath her clothes. The rabbit sat quietly upon a pile of stones, close by her beloved Benten.

“I was quite alone, Sura san. I wandered the forest,
and eventually found a path. The path led to a road, and the road went through many fields. There were many, many refugees fleeing from the main Raiden army. I dug roots from the field, and finally encountered a country inn. A woman was there – a woman in full make up, travelling in a lacquered palanquin. She was accompanied by several courtesans. I came up to them and with my most courtly manners, I offered to perform tasks for them in exchange for food.”

“Ah.” Sura smiled. “And so you became a maid to courtesans
.”

“
And as I found later – a girl being groomed to become a courtesan herself.” Akiko gratefully accepted a measure of wine poured out by Kuno. “But the madam was favourably impressed with my diction and my manner. I told her that I was the daughter of a shrine priest from far to the south – but that Raiden samurai had burned the shrine down. The women took me to a nearby town. I adopted the name Hanako – the name of my old nurse. Although the Raiden occupied the town, they never searched for me. The entire Usagi clan was declared to be dead. Our retainers and relatives scattered in far off lands tried to rally support against the Raiden. But all efforts failed when an imperial edict declared my clan to have been rebels against the throne.”

Kuno listened most carefully. He held up
hand, leaning forward to clarify a point.

“
Forgive me, Akiko hime – but the Raiden justified their attack upon your clan by saying they had uncovered evidence of a plot against the emperor.”

“
Lies. All lies. They manufactured their evidence after they had wiped out my family.” Akiko gripped her fan tightly between her hands. “A series of huge bandit raids had been conducted against caravans travelling close to the Raiden and Usagi lands. Raiden troops had been slain, and a fortune in copper coins had been stolen – and imperial tax officials had been slaughtered. After their invasion, the Raiden produced the coins, the heads of the dead imperial officials, and some miserable wretches that they claimed were the bandits. The emperor – grandfather of our current emperor – immediately applauded the Raiden invasion. He rewarded them with our lands – and all investigations were immediately closed.” Akiko’s eyes were hard. “I am told that the Raiden financed a great pleasure garden and pagoda at the imperial palace. They paid for it in gold.”

Sura nodde
d, leaning on her spear. “They swapped copper for gold.”

“Precisely, Sura san.” Akiko
set aside her wine cup. “Now through you, Benten has discovered why my family died. The Raiden had secretly sent prospectors to the forest, and had discovered gold upon our poor lands. It was the gold they wanted. And so they engineered their ‘bandit raids’.”

Chiri gave a frown.

“But why have they kept the gold mine a secret, Akiko himē?

“
Gold is an important resource, Chiri san. The emperor is rightfully given half of all gold mined in the empire as tax. This way the Raiden can amass gold without paying tax. And they use those secret funds to fuel some dark plan of their own.” Akiko looked towards the mountains. Somewhere beyond in a great, cold fief, the Raiden kept their main strength hidden. “There is something going on here, unseen. The Raiden are part of something large and terrible.”

The rabbit gave a sigh of frustration.

“Lord Raiden had the key. A butcher he may have been – but he was also an orderly one. If Lord Raiden was raping this province for its gold, he would have kept records. He would want to record yearly production and yearly profits.”

Tonbo thumped the butt of his tetsubo against the ground in thought.

“The black ledger…’

“
Yes, Tonbo san.” Akiko closed her eyes. “When Lord Raiden summoned me to the castle as a courtesan, I knew that opportunity had come at last. We knew that the lord came to this fief for some reason – he did it every year, with many armed guards – but most importantly, with clerks and accountants. It could never have been merely on account of our poor taxes! So – I thought I might have the chance at last to search Lord Raiden’s rooms for account books or paperwork.”

Sura made an easy gesture. “
And bring him some of your herbs and medicines.”

Akiko blushed to
admit it. Her ears turned pink.

“It – it is so,
Sura san. The lord had tea delivered. My own maid distracted the girl bringing the tea, and I doctored the teapot with some of Mama Ippongi’s sleeping draft. Then we were kept waiting – kept waiting for so long that I felt certain the lord must have fallen asleep. We were about to enter the room quietly and conduct our search. But no – Lord Raiden suddenly appeared, looking extremely strange – energised, frantic and dazed. He took me into his rooms. I cannot understand why the sleeping draft failed to work.”

“Aha! It didn’t work because the old man took a powerful
aphrodisiac!” Sura turned to Chiri. “How do these drugs work?”

This time, it was the rat who blushed.

“For… for a man, these are often merely medicines that increase the force of the blood. They can be dangerous for those who suffer from a weakness of the heart. An overdose could prove to be quite fatal. It would effectively cause a heart attack.”

She looked up at S
ura, and the fox clucked her tongue in triumph. “Yep. The doctor works for Raiden Katsura. They just massively upped the man’s usual dose. The lord was intended to die of a heart attack while lying with you, Akiko hime. An easily explainable death in an old man!” Sura curled her tail. “But your own sleeping drug was in the cup. They were at war in him. One made him dazed and drowsy, and one gave him a raging… headache. He stayed awake long enough to summon you – but then had to dismiss you as he began to feel more and more unwell.” Sura frowned. “And so you did not get the opportunity to search the lord’s chamber.”

“No, Sura san. I did not.”

Kuno looked off in the general direction of the Raiden castle, scowling at the darkness. “Did the drugs kill Lord Raiden? Was he slain by his own son?”

“Mmmm – I think not. No – that was the ghost.” Sura swished her tail as she pondered. “
In the morning, Lord Raiden would have summoned Akiko again – either to dishonour her, or to erase his shame by punishing her. The protective ghost knew this. And so it left Akiko once she slept and slew the lord in his chamber. It struck just as it had so many times before.” Sura made an easy gesture with her hand. “The lord’s son decided that the aphrodisiac drug overdose had done its job.”

The group all considered. The
explanations all rang true, but nothing seemed to have been resolved. Finally Benten shook his head in frustration.

“
We can do nothing to prove that Raiden Katsura tried to slay his father. His grasp upon the Raiden fief is secure.”