Brilliance of the Moon (35 page)

The tea came and she sipped at it slowly. “I suppose you have
heard of Yuki’s death?” she said.

“Yes, I was deeply grieved by the news. And outraged that she
should have been used like that. You know about the child?”

Shizuka nodded. “My uncle cannot forgive the Kikuta. That’s why
he’s prepared to defy Kotaro’s edict and support you.”

“He doesn’t blame me?”

“No, he blames them for their harshness and inflexibility. And
himself, for many things: Shigeru’s death, encouraging you and Kaede to fall in
love—maybe for his daughter’s death too.”

“We all blame ourselves, but fate uses us,” I said in a low
voice.

“It’s true,” Shizuka said. “We live in the midst of the world; we
can live no other way.”

“Do you have any news of her?” I did not want to ask about Kaede.
I did not want to reveal my weakness and my humiliation, but I could not help
it.

“She is married. She lives in total seclusion. She is alive.”

“Is there any way you can contact her?”

Shizuka’s face softened slightly. “I am on friendly terms with
Fujiwara’s physician, and a Muto girl is a maid in the household. So from time
to time we hear about her. But there is very little we can do. I dare not make
any direct contact. I don’t suppose even Kaede fully realizes the danger she is
in. Fujiwara has had servants, sometimes even his companions, put to death for
no other reason than a dropped tray, a broken plant, or some other
misdemeanor.”

“Makoto says he does not sleep with her…”

“I believe not,” Shizuka replied. “Generally he dislikes women,
but Kaede appeals to some part of him. She is one of his treasures.”

My teeth ground in rage. I imagined penetrating his mansion at
night and seeking him out. I would cut him to pieces, slowly.

“He is protected by his relationship to the emperor,” Shizuka
remarked, as though she could read my mind.

“The emperor! What does the emperor do for us, miles away from
the capital? There might not even be an emperor. It’s like a ghost story, made
up to frighten children.‘”

“If we are speaking of guilt,” Shizuka said, ignoring my
outburst,

“I feel I am to blame. I persuaded Kaede to attract Fujiwara. But
if it had not been for his support, we would all have starved at Shirakawa last
winter.”

She finished her tea and bowed formally to me.

“If Lord Otori is willing I will go and fetch my uncle now.”

“I’ll meet him here in a couple of hours. I have some
arrangements to see to first.”

“Lord Otori.”

Being addressed thus by Shizuka had a strange effect on me, for I
had only heard her use the name before to Shigeru. I
realized
that during the course of our meeting I had progressed from
Cousin
to
Takeo
to
Lord
Otori
. Irrationally it pleased me. I felt that if
Shizuka recognized my authority, it must be real.

I told my guards to keep an eye on Taku and went to check out
what remained of my army. The two days of rest and decent food had done wonders
for both men and horses. I was anxious to move back to the coast, to hear from
Fumio as soon as possible, and thought I would ride there with a small group,
but I was unsure what to do with the rest of the troops. The problem as always
was one of food. The Shuho people had been generous to us, but to expect them
to continue to feed us was stretching their goodwill and their resources. Even
if I sent the bulk of the army now, under Kahei’s command, to follow Arai by
the land route, I needed provisions for them.

I was mulling over these problems as I returned to Shiro’s house
at midday. I recalled the fisherman on the beach and the bandits he had been
afraid of. A sortie against bandits might be just the thing to fill in time,
keep the men from idleness, restore their fighting spirit after our retreat,
please the local people, and possibly obtain more provisions and equipment. The
idea appealed to me enormously.

A man was squatting on his heels in the shadow of the tile roof— an
unremarkable man, wearing faded blue-gray clothes and carrying no visible
weapon. A boy about twelve years old was beside him. They both stood up slowly
when they saw me.

I made a movement with my head. “Come up.”

Kenji stepped out of his sandals onto the veranda.

“Wait here,” I told him. “Let the boy come with me.” I went
inside with Zenko to where Taku still slept. I took Taku’s own garrote and told
the guards to strangle the boys with it if any attack was made on me. Zenko
said nothing and made no sign of fear. I could see how like Arai he was. Then I
went back to my teacher.

Once we were inside the house, we both sat down. We studied each
other for a moment, then Kenji bowed and said in his ironic way, “Lord Otori.”

“Muto,” I replied. “Taku is also in the next room. He and his
brother will die immediately if there is any attempt made on my life.”

Kenji looked older, and I saw a weariness in his face that had
not been there before. His hair was beginning to gray at the temples.

“I have no desire to harm you, Takeo.” He saw my frown and
amended his words somewhat impatiently: “Lord Otori. You probably won’t believe
me, but I never did. I meant it that night at Shigeru’s when I vowed I would
protect you while I lived.”

“You have a strange way of keeping your promises,” I said.

“I think we all know what it’s like to be torn between
conflicting obligations,” he said. “Can we put that behind us now?”

“I would be glad if we were no longer enemies.” I was acting more
coldly than I felt, constrained by all that had happened between my old teacher
and myself. For a long time I’d held him partly responsible for Shigeru’s
death; now my resentment was melted by sorrow for Yuki’s death, for his grief.
But I was not proud of myself in relation to Yuki, and then there was the
question of the child, my son, his grandson.

Kenji sighed. “The situation’s become intolerable. What’s the
point of wiping each other out? The reason the Kikuta claimed you in the first
place was to try to preserve your talents. If anyone ever spat upward it was
them! I know you have the records that Shigeru kept. I don’t doubt that you can
deal a terrible blow to the Tribe.”

“I would rather work with the Tribe than destroy them,” I said.
“But their loyalty to me must be total. Can you guarantee that?”

“I can for all except the Kikuta. They will never be reconciled
to you.” He said nothing for a moment, then continued bleakly: “Nor I to them.”

I said, “I am very sorry about your daughter. I blame myself
terribly for her death. I can make no excuse. I just wish I could say that if I
had my life over again, I would act differently.”

“I don’t blame you,” Kenji said. “Yuki chose you. I blame myself
because I brought her up to believe she had more freedom than she really did.
Ever since she brought Jato to you, the Kikuta doubted her obedience to them.
They were afraid she would influence the child. He is to hate you, you
understand. The Kikuta are very patient. And Yuki did not hate you and never
would. She always took your part.” He smiled painfully. “She was very angry
when we took you at Inuyama. She told me it would never work out to keep you
against your will.”

I felt the corners of my eyes grow hot.

“She loved you,” Kenji said. “Perhaps you would have loved her if
you had not already met Lady Shirakawa. I blame myself for that too. I actually
arranged your meeting. I watched you fall in love with her during the training
session. Why, I don’t know. Sometimes I think we were all bewitched on that
journey.”

I thought so, too, remembering the pelting rain, the intensity of
my passion for Kaede, the madness of my foray into Yamagata Castle, Shigeru’s
journey toward death.

“I might wish things had been different, Takeo, but I don’t blame
you or hold any grudge against you.”

I did not pick him up on his familiarity this time. He went on,
sounding more like my old teacher: “You often act like an idiot, but fate seems
to be using you for some purpose, and our lives are bound together in some way.
I’m prepared to entrust Zenko andTaku to you as a sign of my good faith.”

“Let’s drink to it,” I said, and called to Shiro’s daughter to
bring wine.

When she had poured it and gone back to the kitchen, I said, “Do
you know where my son is?” I found it hard to imagine the child, a baby,
motherless.

“I’ve been unable to find out. But I suspect Akio may have taken
him north, beyond the Three Countries. I suppose you will try to find him?”

“When all this is over.” I was tempted to tell Kenji about the
prophecy, that my own son would destroy me, but in the end I kept it to myself.

“It seems that the Kikuta master Kotaro is in Hagi,” Kenji told
me as we drank.

“Then we will meet there. I hope you will come with me.”

He promised he would and we embraced.

“What do you want to do with the boys?” Kenji said. “Will you
keep them here with you?”

“Yes. Taku seems to be very talented. Would you send him alone on
a spying mission? I might have a job for him.”

“Into Hagi? That would be a bit beyond him.”

“No, just locally. I want to track down some bandits.”

“It’s unknown territory to him around here. He’d probably get
lost. What do you want to find out?”

“How many they are, what their stronghold’s like, that sort of
thing.

He has invisibility, doesn’t he? He wouldn’t have got past my
guards without it.“

Kenji nodded. “Maybe Shizuka can go with him. But is there a
local person who can accompany them at least some of the way? It would save a
lot of time on the mountain.”

We asked Shiro’s daughters and the younger one said she would go.
She often went out to collect mushrooms and wild plants for food and medicine,
and though she avoided the bandits’ area, she knew the countryside all the way
to the coast.

Taku woke up as we were talking. The guards called to me and
Kenji and I went in to see him. Zenko still sat where I had left him, unmoving.

Taku grinned at us and exclaimed, “I saw Hachiman in a dream!”

“That’s good,” I told him, “because you are going to war!”

He and Shizuka went out that night and returned with all the
information I needed. Makoto came back from the coast just in time to accompany
me as we took two hundred men and stormed the rocky hideout, with so few losses
I could hardly describe it as a battle. The results were all I’d hoped for: all
the bandits dead, save two who were captured alive, and their winter provisions
ours. We set free a number of women who had been abducted, among them the
mother and sisters of the child I had fed on the beach. Zenko came with us and
fought like a man, and Taku proved invaluable: Even his mother gave him a word
of praise. Word spread quickly to the fishing villages that I had returned and
kept my promise to the fisherman. Everyone came to offer their boats to help
transport my men.

I told myself all this activity was to keep my men from idleness,
but in fact it was as much for my own sake. Speaking to Shizuka about Kaede and
hearing of her intolerable plight intensified my longing for her a
thousandfold. I was busy enough in the day to keep my thoughts at bay, but at
night they returned to torment me. All week there were small earth tremors. I
had the enduring vision of her trapped in a shaking building as it collapsed
and burned. I was riven by anxiety: that she should die, that she should think
I had abandoned her, that I would die without telling her how much I loved her
and would never love anyone but her. The knowledge that Shizuka could possibly get
a message to her kept returning to me with needling intensity.

Taku and Hiroshi formed a somewhat stormy relationship, being
about the same age but total opposites in upbringing and character. Hiroshi
disapproved of Taku and was jealous of him. Taku teased him with Tribe tricks
that infuriated him. I was too busy to mediate between them, but they followed
me around most of the time, squabbling like dogs. The older boy, Zenko, kept
aloof from both of them. I knew his Tribe talents were slight, but he was good
with horses and already an expert with the sword. He also seemed to have been
trained perfectly in obedience. I was not sure what I would do with him in the
future, but he was Arai’s heir and I knew I would have to come to a decision
about him sooner or later.

We held a great feast to bid farewell to the people of Shuho, and
then, with the food supplied by the bandits, Kahei, Makoto, and my main force
set out to march to Hagi. I sent Hiroshi with them, silencing his protests by
telling him he could ride Shun, and hoping the horse would take as good care of
him as he had of me.

It was hard to say good-bye to them all, especially to Makoto. My
closest friend and I held each other in a long embrace. I wished we were going
into battle together, but he had no knowledge of boats and I needed him to
command the land army with Kahei. “We will meet in Hagi,” we promised each
other. Once they were gone, I felt I needed to keep informed about their movements,
about Aral’s progress, and about the situation in Maruyama and at Lord
Fujiwara’s residence. I wanted to know the nobleman’s reaction to my new
alliance with Arai. Now I could start using the Muto Tribe network.