The Heike Story (82 page)

"Has he come yet?"

"Not yet."

"He's late."

"No, we're earlier than usual. The moon is still over there," replied one, pointing up at the sky. Several pairs of eyes followed the pointed finger.

"Well then, we might as well go on talking."

The floor of the valley was strewn with boulders, and the roaring of a torrent through a gorge sounded all round this singular gathering.

"Tonight will be the last time we meet."

"Not exactly—we can meet here whenever we like, but it will be another year before we hear from Chieftain Hidehira in the northeast."

"Kichiji says we shall have to wait another year. He keeps insisting that it's still too soon, but if we wait another year, the Heike may discover what's happening and the work of ten years come to nothing."

"I don't quite trust Kichiji. He's put us off from one year to the next with one excuse or another. I wonder if he really has an understanding with Chieftain Hidehira."

"True. We can't be sure of that."

"The Genji have had many allies in the northeast for generations, but Hidehira isn't hostile to the Heike. One might even say that he and Kiyomori have ambitions in common."

"Is that possible? . . . Who can tell?"

A thoughtful silence ensued.

Another Tengu resumed: "It might be well for us to think that over. It's two years now since Hidehira was made a general of the army in the northeast. People say that he owed it to Kiyomori. That alone is enough to show us what the Heike think of the chieftain."

"No, that's too simple a conclusion. You're assuming too much. That was only a sop to Hidehira and proves nothing about how Kiyomori feels toward him. The harbor at Owada and the buildings at Itsuku-shima are costing Kiyomori a great deal, and Kiyomori needs all the gold he can get from Hidehira. There's no doubt that Hidehira knows it. They're rivals and they know it."

"Good! that's more like the truth. Anyway, Konno-maru should soon be here, and he'll tell us about his talk with Kichiji last night. We'll soon know what they've decided. We can't risk anything now, nor can we delay much longer. No matter what Kichiji says, we'd better take matters into our own hands."

A scout who had been peering down into the ravine suddenly shouted down to the Tengu: "I see them now! They're coming!"

A shape approached down the precipitous valley wall, swinging from branch to branch, slithering nimbly from boulder to boulder. It stood out clearly in the moonlight which flooded the surface of the rocks and the trees. The Tengu below stared up at it in silence, with absorbed, adoring eyes.

"Konno-maru, we've come out in a different spot tonight."

"I can hear a roaring below; we must have come out above the falls."

"The falls, eh?"

"It's dangerous there; we'd better find another way down."

"Look, they're waiting down there. Let's go down this way."

"Impossible!"

"You go round the other way, I'm going to jump."

Konno-maru knew from experience that it was useless to remonstrate with Ushiwaka, and clung to some shrubs as his eyes searched the steep rock-face. More than twenty feet below him yawned a chasm of rocks, and at the bottom lay a pool into which a cataract leaped in sprays of mist.

Konno-maru gave a warning cry, but Ushiwaka had already leaped into space and now swung from the branch of a large tree below, fumbling for a foothold in another tree lower down.

"This is how to do it, Konno-maru!" Ushiwaka shouted as the branch bent under his weight. He wound his feet around another branch and released his hold.

Konno-maru had difficulty following him.

"You're not much good at this, Konno-maru," Ushiwaka jeered mischievously.

He was small for his age; there was a wizened look about his cheeks; his arms and legs were overly slender. Scantily fed and thinly clad since the time he arrived at the monastery, Ushiwaka seemed to have survived by a miracle. He was the smallest and least prepossessing of all the novices at the monastery, the butt of innumerable cruel jokes. High-strung and obstinate, Ushiwaka often went off by himself to relieve his feelings in wild fits of crying that became the talk of all the monasteries around. By the time he was ten, he received, in addition to his religious training, training in arms, for the monasteries on Kurama Mountain were under the jurisdiction of Mount Hiei and not only trained their monks to fight, but maintained a modest-sized army of mercenaries.

As Ushiwaka grew older, his eyes took on a keen hawklike look; the lines of the intelligent mouth hardened early and he bore himself with a haughty air. He cared nothing, however, about his appearance. His hair grew long and unkempt, his legs bore scars of old wounds and were always marked with fresh ones, and in spite of reminders that he should mend the tears in his tunic and trousers, he went about with large rents in his clothes. But a startling change had come over him in the past few years. He suddenly became amenable, eager to obey and please his superiors, who put it down to the training they gave him. But the truth was that Ushiwaka had been stealing out of the novices' dormitory at night to meet the Tengu in the valley below, and there learned what had been kept from him: that he was their chieftain, the son of Yoshitomo of the Genji, and a prisoner of Kiyomori of the Heike. From the Tengu he also heard of his father's sudden end and his mother's fate. And from that time on he needed no promptings from the Tengu as to what his future should be, nor was he ignorant of the dangers before him.

"All right, Konno-maru, can you follow me?"

"Yes, but you must be careful of yourself."

"No need to worry about me. Here, I'm going to jump," Ushiwaka said over, his shoulder; then, crossing from tree limb to tree limb, he measured the distance between him and the pool below and leaped to a boulder.

"Neatly done!" the Tengu cried, running forward and surrounding Ushiwaka.

Konno-maru, however drew back, and the Tengu shouted with scorn until all the valley echoed. But Konno-maru suddenly called to the Tengu below:

"I see someone hiding beyond that rock. Catch him!"

The Tengu scattered in consternation and scrambled over rocks and boulders. From his superior position Konno-maru saw a shape in the moonlight slipping away among the shadows of the rock-strewn valley.

It was easy to escape and lie hidden among the large boulders heaped along the riverbank, among the massive tree-trunks felled by the weather and rot, or in the thick undergrowth. Asatori fled, stumbling and darting among the shelter of rocks. He finally crawled between two boulders and crouched there breathless, listening to the shouts overhead.

"Did you get him?"

"No, have you searched over there?"

"Yes, but I can't find him."

From a distance came a shout, borne on the wind: "Oy-y-y, have you caught him?"

"Nothing at all. Any luck over there?"

"Can't see a thing over here."

"I wonder what caused Konno-maru to make such a commotion."

"He must have seen a monkey or a deer."

The voices soon faded away. The Tengu seemed to have abandoned the search, and only the sound of the wind filled the valley.

Asatori sighed. It was painful lying still in his cramped position, so he crawled out of his hole. His eyes on the hollow where the Tengu had gathered, he once more stealthily made his way toward them. They were sitting cross-legged in a ring, absorbed in talk. Seated above them on some object was Ushiwaka, with Konno-maru beside him. There were close to a score of them, calling each other by names which Asatori recognized were those of illustrious Genji warriors in the east.

"Well, Konno-maru, does Kichiji insist that it's too soon?"

One of the Tengu, who seemed to be the acknowledged leader of the group, replied: "It is so. We told him very definitely what we think of the matter, but Kichiji refuses to change his plans. He insists that it's far too soon yet."

"Exactly when does he think it will be time to act?"

"He was vague about that, but implied that we are to wait until some upheaval takes place."

"What did he mean by that?"

"For instance, there are signs that all is not well between the ex-Emperor Goshirakawa and Kiyomori of the Heike. Whatever comes of that, there'll be no mistaking the signs when the rupture comes."

"What if this present state of affairs goes on for years?"

"Yes, we'll have to take that into account, too."

"Are you men prepared for that? Are you willing to wait indefinitely?"

The leader saw that none of his comrades were willing to wait further. Yet Kichiji was their only hope now. Everything depended on following his orders. Without him and Hidehira's help there was no way to insure Ushiwaka's safety or the future of the Genji.

The men fell silent, dejected

Suddenly Ushiwaka spoke. "Enough—let's not talk of this any more. Let's not even think of it."

The men stared at Ushiwaka in astonishment, and one of them addressed him with tears in his eyes, saying:

"My young master, what makes you say that? Think of all we have gone through until now, and of our oath to you."

"I only meant that all this arguing is useless."

"Why useless?"

"Why should we wait and hope for something that may never happen? The time is near when I shall have to take the vows, and I want nothing of that."

"Yes, that is what makes us so anxious. We want Kichiji to come to an understanding with the Chieftain Hidehira soon."

"Kichiji—that trader? Depend on him?"

The men listened incredulously. Ushiwaka had said what none of them had dared to put into words.

Ushiwaka looked round him. "Very well, I expect nothing of him. What's to become of me if we have to depend on Kichiji? No matter what anyone says, nothing will keep me from escaping from Kurama Mountain this year. You shall see!"

The men heard him in consternation, and then broke into protests, warning him not to be rash.

Asatori, who caught only snatches of what was being said, crept up closer, determined that he would risk being caught in order to give Ushiwaka what his mother, Tokiwa, had sent him. But before this happened, Ushiwaka broke into loud and prolonged weeping.

Asatori wakened to the sound of birds singing. He went over the curious events of the past night, piecing together what he had heard and shaping them into coherence.

The sun was high, and the whole valley was flooded with the May sunlight. He crept cautiously from his hiding-place and looked about him. For two days he stayed where he was, catching fish in the mountain stream near by and bringing down a bird or two with his sling. Then he had made up his mind to stay here and wait until a chance came to find Ushiwaka alone.

Days went by and then weeks, until one day Asatori saw some travelers approaching along a ridge. Even at a distance he could see that they were not priests. He watched the procession wistfully, for he had not seen or talked to anyone in several weeks. He was sure that these were pilgrims on their way from the region of Lake Biwa, or from Tamba, so he set out to meet them. As they drew closer, his heart beat wildly, for he could tell by the color of their cloaks and the shapes of their headdresses that they were court musicians. He wondered if he would find some of his old friends among them, and impulsively ran down the road over which the procession of eighteen or more men were approaching. As the men caught sight of Asatori they halted, then huddled together.

Asatori realized that they took him for a brigand. Bowing low, he called to them: "Do not be afraid. I also am a musician. Which way are you going?"

The musicians hurriedly whispered to one another, then one of them approached Asatori and said:

"We are musicians from Shuzan and have come again this year to perform at the festival on Kurama Mountain, You say that you also are a musician, but what brings you here?"

Asatori hesitated for a reply, and then asked: "The festival? When does that take place?"

"It will not be for another two weeks or so, but we are here for the rehearsals."

"From Shuzan?"