Brilliance of the Moon (26 page)

“I wish I were
protected from sorrow,” I said. “Then you would indeed reach enlightenment,” he
replied dryly.

The full moon brought a change in the weather.The heat lessened
and the air cleared. There was even a hint of autumn in the coolness of the
mornings. Once the festival was over, my spirits lifted a little. Other words
of the abbot came to me, reminding me that my followers, all those who
supported me, did so of their own free will. I had to set my grief aside and
take up my cause again so that their deaths would not be in vain. And the words
Shigeru had spoken to me in a small village called Hinode, on the far side of
the Three Countries, also returned to me.

Only children
weep. Men and women endure.

We made plans to move on the following day, but that afternoon
there was a slight earth tremor, just enough to set the wind chimes ringing and
make the dogs howl. In the evening there was another, stronger one. A lamp was
knocked over in a house up the street from where we were lodging, and we spent
most of the night helping the townspeople contain the ensuing fire. As a
result, we were delayed another few days.

By the time we left I was mad with impatience to be with Kaede
again. It made me hurry toward Maruyama, rising early and pushing the horses
till late at night under the waning moon. We were silent mostly; Jiro’s
presence was too sharply missed to allow the light-hearted banter with which we
had ridden out, and I had a vague sense of apprehension that I could not rid
myself of.

It was well into the Hour of the Dog when we reached the town.
Most of the houses were already darkened and the castle gates were barred. The
guards greeted us warmly, but they could not dispel my unease. I told myself
that it was just that I was tired and irritable after the tedious journey. I
wanted a hot bath, something decent to eat, and to sleep with my wife. However,
her woman, Manami, met me at the entrance to the residence, and as soon as I
saw her face I knew something was wrong.

I asked her to tell Kaede I had returned, and she fell to her
knees.

“Sir… Lord Otori…” she stammered, “she has gone to Shira-kawa to
bring her sisters here.”

“What?” I could not believe what I was hearing. Kaede had gone
off on her own, without telling me or asking me? “How long ago? When is she expected
back?”

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“She left shortly after the Festival.” Manami looked as
if
she would burst into tears. “I don’t want to alarm Your
Lordship, but I expected her before now.”

“Why did you not go with her?”

“She would not allow it. She wanted to ride, to go quickly so she
would be back before your return.”

“Light the lamps and send someone to fetch Lord Sugita,” I said,
but it seemed he had already heard of my return and was on his way.

I walked into the residence. I thought I could still smell
Kaede’s fragrance on the air. The beautiful rooms with their hangings and
painted screens were all as she had designed them; the memory of her presence
was everywhere.

Manami had told the maids to bring lamps, and their shadowy forms
moved silently through the rooms. One of them approached me and whispered that
the bath was ready for me, but I told her I would speak with Sugita first.

I went into Kaede’s favorite room and my gaze fell on the writing
table where she knelt so often to copy the records of the Tribe. The wooden box
that held them always stood alongside the table; it was not there. I was
wondering if she had hidden it or taken it with her when the maid announced
Sugita’s arrival.

“I entrusted my wife to you,” I said. I was beyond rage, just
cold to the depths of my being. “Why did you allow her to leave?”

He looked surprised at the question. “Forgive me,” he said. “Lady
Otori insisted on going. She took plenty of men with her, led by Amano Tenzo.
My nephew, Hiroshi, went too. It was a pleasure trip, to see her family home
and bring her sisters here.”

“Then why has she not returned?” It seemed harmless enough; maybe
I was overreacting.

“I am sure she will be back tomorrow,” Sugita said. “Lady Naomi made
many such journeys; the domain is used to their mistress
traveling
in
this fashion.“

The maid brought tea and food, and we talked briefly of my
journey while I ate. I had not told Sugita exactly what I’d had in mind in case
it all came to nothing, and I did not go into details now but merely said that
I was working out a long-term strategy.

There was no word from the Miyoshi brothers and no reports on
what either Arai or the Otori were up to. I felt as
if
I were wandering in half-darkness. I wanted to talk to Kaede and
I hated this lack of information. If only I had a network of spies working for
me… I found myself wondering as I had before if it would be possible to find
talented children—Tribe orphans, if such children existed—and bring them up for
my own purposes. I thought of my son with a strange longing. Would he have a
combination of Yuki’s talents and mine? If he did, they would be used against
me. Sugita said, “I hear young Jiro died.”

“Yes, sadly. He was struck by an arrow that was intended for me.”

“What a blessing
Your Lordship escaped!” he exclaimed. “What happened to the assassin?”

“He died. It will not be the last attempt. It is the work of the
Tribe.” I wondered how much Sugita knew about my Tribe blood, what rumors had
been circulating about me during my absence. “By the way, my wife was copying
something for me. What happened to the box and the scrolls?”

“She never let them out of her sight,” he replied. “If they are
not here, she must have taken them with her.”

I did not want to show my concern, so I said no more. Sugita left
me and I took a bath, calling to one of the maids to come and scrub my back,
wishing Kaede would suddenly appear as she had at Niwa’s house, and then
remembering, almost unbearably, Yuki.

When the maid had left me, I soaked in the hot water thinking
about what I was going to tell Kaede, for I knew I must share the prophecy
about my son with her, yet I could not imagine how I would frame the words.

Manami had spread out the beds and was waiting to extinguish the
lamps. I asked her about the records box and she gave me the same answer as
Sugita.

Sleep was a long time coming. I heard the first roosters crow and
then fell into a heavy slumber just as day was breaking. When I woke, the sun
was well up and I could hear the sounds of the household all around me.

Manami had just come in with breakfast and was fussing over me
and telling me to rest after such a long and tiring journey when I heard
Makoto’s voice outside. I told Manami to bring him in, but he called to me from
the garden, not bothering to undo his sandals.

“Come at once. The boy, Hiroshi, has returned.”

I stood so quickly that I knocked the tray and sent it flying.
Manami exclaimed in shock and started to pick the things up. Roughly, I told
her to leave them and bring my clothes.

When I was dressed I joined Makoto outside.

“Where is he?”

“At his uncles house. He’s not in very good shape.” Makoto
gripped my shoulder. “I’m sorry: The news he brings is terrible.”

My immediate thought was of the earthquake. I saw again the
flames that we had fought to extinguish and imagined Kaede caught in them,
trapped in her burning house. I stared at Makoto, saw the pain in his eyes, and
tried to form the unspeakable words.

“She is not dead,” he said quickly. “But Amano and all the men,
it seems, were slaughtered. Only Hiroshi escaped.”

I could not imagine what had happened. No one would dare harm Kaede
in either Maruyama or Shirakawa lands. Had the Tribe kidnapped her to strike at
me?

“It was Lord Fujiwara,” Makoto said. “She is in his house.” We
ran across the main bailey, through the castle gates, down the slope, and over
the bridge into the town. Sugita’s house lay immediately opposite. A small
crowd had gathered outside, staring silently. We pushed through them and
entered the garden. Two grooms were endeavoring to persuade an exhausted horse
to get to its feet. It was a pretty roan color, its flanks darkened by sweat.
Its eyes rolled in its head and froth came from its mouth. I did not think it
would ever get up again. “The boy rode day and night to get here,” Makoto said,
but I hardly heard him. Even more than usual I was acutely aware of every
detail around me: the shine of the wooden floors from within the house, the
fragrance of the flowers placed in alcoves, birdsong in the garden shrubs.
Inside my head a dull voice was repeating,
Fujiwara
?

Sugita came out at our approach, his face ashen. There was
nothing he could say to me. He looked like a man who had already decided to end
his life, a shell of what he’d been the night before. “Lord Otori…” he said,
faltering. “Is the boy hurt? Can he talk?”

“You had better
come and speak to him.”

Hiroshi lay in a room at the back of the house. It gave onto a
small green garden; I could hear a stream flowing through it. It was cooler
here than in the main rooms, and the bright morning glare was tempered by shady
trees. Two women knelt beside the boy, one wiping his face and limbs with a
damp cloth. The other held a tea bowl from which she was trying to persuade him
to drink.

They both stopped what they were doing and bowed to the ground
when we came in. Hiroshi turned his head, saw me, and tried to sit. “Lord
Otori,” he whispered, and despite himself his eyes rilled with tears.
Struggling to control them, he said, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Forgive me.”

I pitied him. He was trying so hard to be a warrior, trying so
hard to live by the warrior’s strict code. I knelt beside him and gently laid
my hand on his hair. He still wore it dressed like a child’s; he was years from
his commg-of-age day, yet he tried to act like a man.

“Tell me what happened.”

His eyes were fixed on my face, but I did not return his gaze. He
spoke in a quiet, steady voice, as though he had been rehearsing his account
over and over on the long ride home.

“When we came to Lady Otori’s house, the retainer, Lord Shoji—
don’t trust him, he betrayed us!—told the lady that her sisters were visiting
Lord Fujiwara. She sent him to bring them back, but he returned saying they
were no longer there but the lord would tell Lady Shirakawa—he would only call
her that—where they were if she visited him. We went the next day. A man called
Murita came to meet us. As soon as Lady Otori rode through the gate, she was
seized. Amano, who was at her side, was killed at once. I didn’t see any more…”

His voice trailed off and he took a deep breath. “My horse bolted.
I could not control him. I should have taken a quieter horse, but I liked this
one because he was so beautiful. Amano rebuked me for it; he said he was too
strong for me. I wouldn’t listen. I couldn’t defend her.”

Tears began to pour down his cheeks. One of the women leaned over
and wiped them away.

Makoto said gently, “We must be grateful to your horse. He
certainly saved your life, and if you hadn’t escaped we would never have known
what had happened.”

I tried to think of something to say to comfort Hiroshi, but
there was no comfort.

“Lord Oton,” he said, trying to get up. “I’ll show you the way.
We can go and get her back.‘”

The effort was too much for him. I could see his eyes begin to
glaze over. I took him by the shoulders and made him lie down. Sweat was
mingling with the tears now, and he was trembling all over.

“He needs to rest, but he becomes agitated and tries to get up,”
Sugita said.

“Look at me, Hiroshi.” I leaned over him and let my eyes meet
his.

Sleep came to him at once. His body relaxed and his breathing
evened.

The women could not help gasping, and I caught the look that flashed
between them. They seemed to shrink away from me, averting their heads and
taking great care not to brush against my clothes.

“He’ll sleep for a long time,” I said. “It’s what he needs. Tell
me when he wakes up.”

I got to my feet. Makoto and Sugita also rose, looking at me
expectantly. Inwardly, I was reeling with outrage, but the numbing calm of
shock had descended on me.

“Come with me,” I said to Sugita. I really wanted to speak with
Makoto alone, but I did not want to risk leaving Sugita. I was afraid he would
slit his own belly, and I could not afford to lose him. The Maruyama clan’s
first loyalty was to Kaede, not to myself; I did not know how they would react
to this news. I trusted Sugita more than the rest of them and felt that if he
stayed loyal, so would they.

We walked back across the bridge and up the hill to the castle.
The crowd outside had increased, and armed men were appearing in the streets.
There was an atmosphere of unrest—not really panic or even alarm, just a host
of unruly people milling, exchanging rumors, readying themselves for some
unexpected action. I had to make decisions quickly before the situation caught
fire and burned out of control. Once we were inside the gates, I said to
Makoto, “Prepare the men. We’ll take half our warriors and ride at once against
Fujiwara. Sugita, you must stay here and hold the town. We’ll leave two
thousand men with you. Stock the castle against siege. I will leave tomorrow at
first light.“