The Way of the Fox (16 page)

The two men looked at one another. The shorter, rounder man – far the more confident – bowed deeply to his lord.

“Tono!
We passed Assistant Instructor Yoshikiyo’s room, and he was awake, writing. We then spoke with Hamada Bunji as he was closing his door, and he gave answer. We continued our patrol, and found no disturbances. The guard was changed at in two hours time.”

“Did you
see
Hamada Bunji – or did you merely speak with him?”

The two guards exchanged a telling look. Once again, the stouter man answered.

“My lord – we did not
see
him. The candle had been blown out, and the door was sliding shut.”

The
magistrate nodded.

He drew in a breath, pondering the matter.
Sura had already sent him a written report – an interesting document indeed. Lord Masura gestured to the gathered suspects and witnesses with his fan.

“
All of you – show me your sword sheaths.”

The assembled ‘guests’ drew their short sword sheathes out of their belts. Sura’s weapon
, ‘Little Brush’, was a clean, simple and elegant thing with a plain red-oaken scabbard. Likewise Tonbo and the guards had simple lacquered sheathes. But Asodo Kuno, Sano Moko and those with more expensive tastes had far more elaborate affairs. Commander Hoichi came forth to inspect each weapon with care.

“
My lord. Assistant Instructor Yoshikiyo, Deputy Asodo Kuno, and Sano Moko all have kodzuka in their scabbards.” He inspected the narrow utility knives with an experienced eye. “All the knives are oiled and clean.”

Lord Masura nodded. He beckoned Commander Hijiya to his dais,
and the two men conferred. The magistrate nodded in agreement to some of the commander’s points, and then turned to face the lines of witnesses and suspects gathered in the room.

He straightened his robes, and settled in a position of awe
-inspiring authority. His voice deepened as he made his pronouncements.

With a measured, interested expression on his face, Lord Masura regarded the fox as she sat at ease over to one side. He stroked his moustache slowly, sharing her amusement as she watched him.

“Kitsune Sura. A creature with the gall to invite herself into the castle of an imperial magistrate is clearly not foolish enough to sleep next to her own murder victim.” Lord Masura tapped his folded fan into his hand. “We have become aware of your activities during your travels. In view of your skills, we give you leave to investigate this murder. You will cooperate with my chief deputy Hijiya Hoichi in all respects.”

Commander Hijiya seemed utterly alarmed.

“My lord!” The commander stared at the fox as though she had already begun to steal the castle treasury. “Are you certain of this?

“
Kitsune Sura is a fox of Kitsune Mountain. She will be prying into this affair whether we condone it or not. It is best, then, that we make a virtue out of inevitability.”

Commander Hijiya was decidedly not a happy man.

“My lord – the way of the fox is not the way of the samurai!”

Lord Masura pushed his fan into his belt with an air of wry finality.

“The perfect sword is a blend of virtues, Hoichi san. Its strength comes from its flexibility. Justice must never be rigid, lest it shatter in our hands.” He looked to Sura with great, penetrating intelligence in his eyes.

“
We shall see if Kitsune Sura truly has her tails.”

With great calm and certainty, Lord Masura rose f
rom his place. The assembled audience bowed, and Lord Masura made his way towards the door. He cast a wry glance over Chiri, Asodo Kuno, and the massive figure of Tonbo at Sura’s side.

“
Kitsune Sura, you may retain your three ‘assistants’. But you must all remain within the castle grounds. We will reconvene this evening. Dismissed.”

Despite all precautions, the peach bowl had somehow managed to empty itself. The
magistrate shook his head and headed off into the castle – onward to deal with another busy day. Hijiya Hoichi gave a last fierce glare at the assembled suspects, then followed hard upon his master’s heels.

Yoshikiyo left – stiff and with his face frozen in a mask of
dislike. Sano Moko bowed to the others and followed soon after, leaving alongside the night guards and maids. Sura got up, stretched herself and yawned, jamming her short sword back into her belt.

“Right! Let’s go solve some crime!” She nudged Kuno, who was looking quite ashen. “Rela
x! We can fix this. Trust me – I’m a fox!”

Kuno looked to Chiri as Sura left the room.

“I hate it when she says that.”

A peach flew through the air to land in Kuno’s lap. “Come on – chop chop! Shake your tails – we’re Spirit Hunters!”

The fox ran merrily down the stairs. Tonbo, Chiri and Kuno followed, out into the open air.

The keep’s huge towers loo
med behind them. The morning had vanished in all of the meetings, fuss and investigations. It was already the hour of the horse, nearing midday. The day was still grey: rain clouds were dispersing slowly, with brilliant sunlight shining upon the forests and the hills. Sura stood looking at it all, her spear canted across one shoulder, enjoying the brisk scents in the air. She fluffed out her tail, then took Chiri under her wing and ushered her friends back towards the main castle grounds.

“Yoiks and away!”

The other suspects – Yoshikiyo, Sano Moko, maids, guards and even the monk were all still in sight. The monk walked serenely towards the great castle pagoda, already bringing forth his interminable bell. Yoshikiyo marched off towards the distant tower and compound used as a training ground by his sword school, tightly gripping a small item inside one fist. Sura kept the man in the corner of her eye, even as she led the way towards the barracks where the castle’s ordinary foot soldiers all kept house.

The
foot soldiers were a rough, delightful, merry bunch of men. Full time soldiers with a wage paid by the emperor, they were a cut above the part time warriors used by the feudal fiefs. They were extremely friendly – deferent and deeply impressed by Kuno’s prowess, and utterly fascinated by the fox and rat. Sura called greetings to a bustling crowd of men who were lining up to receive their lunch. She chivvied her companions into the line, happily answering the greetings of the soldiers. Kuno – sunk deep into his woes – took a moment to realise exactly where he was.

“
Do you ever stop eating?”

“When hungry – eat! When tired – sleep! That is the way of the tao
.” The fox gave an airy wave of her hand. “Hey – it’s a working lunch. And Chiri needs some condition! We must feed the rattie.”

The soldiers were being handed
bowls of fish soup, and rice balls filled with savoury beans. Sura chatted merrily with the cooks, saw to it that her companions had food – with an extra rice ball for Tonbo. She led the way over to the porch of the soldiers’ quarters so that they could all sit and eat. Sura propped her spear against a wall, and sat cross legged, as happy as a frog in a mud pond. Out in the gardens, several upper-class wives were strutting about and inspecting flowers. Sura slurped at her soup, finding a fish cake at the bottom. She hooked it out with her fingers, and offered some to the ever-scowling rock elemental. The rock merely looked at her as though she were one of the truly
landmark
irritations of its life.

Sura
urged Chiri to eat.

Setting his bowl aside, Tonbo leaned upon his tetsubo. He mused out over the castle grounds.

Chiri propped her face upon her hand – an act copied almost exactly by her air elemental, Bifuuko.

“Yes, Tonbo san. But one of those murders was one that she reported herself.”

“Ah.” Tonbo conceded the point. “Yes – yes indeed.”

The rat girl fretted over events. “Kuno san does seem to stand out as a possible culprit. How are we to clear his name?”

Sura tossed back her soup, then pitched the bowl aside in triumph.

“
Ha! The magistrate doesn’t believe he did it for a minute! No – he wants us all on the job because we’ve been on a similar murder site. We’re the only ones who know what to look for.” She swirled her fluffy tail. “That – and he has an eye for genius!”

The fox leapt up to squat atop a nearby rough stone statue of a frog. She merrily waved her hand.

“
No clues? No leads? Possible conviction and execution hanging over Kuno’s head! And did the fox panic? Ha! She did not!”

Tonbo gave his companion
a dry, patient glance.

“
Hmph. So what are your plans, oh mighty fox?”

The fox sat upon her perch and merrily waved a hand.

“Right! We have a dead Hamada Bunji. One previous owner – slightly shop soiled!” Sura tucked in her feet. “So what might have happened? Was he killed by ninja super assassins? Did he throttle himself on his own ego in his sleep? Maybe the fencing school killed him off for being an embarrassment..?”

Tonbo rather liked the last of those ideas. “
The assistant instructor, Yoshikiyo…” He thought back to the night of the murder. “I heard Yoshikiyo and Hamada Bunji in argument last night. There was much hate and resentment there. Yoshikiyo held Bunji in great contempt.”

Sura was quite delighted.
She revelled from atop her silly perch. “Ooooh! I like that! Juicy! And he has one of those kodzuka thingies, too!” She slyly tapped at her nose. “And he secretly carries an amulet made from blood red stone…”

This was indeed a revelation. Kuno sat bolt upright, quite amazed. Sura preened, well pleased at her own cleverness.

Chiri considered the matter, and creased her fine brows into a frown. “But Sura san! What would Yoshikiyo do with all of that blood?”

“Maybe he’s summoning evil powers! We should totally go and check it out
!”

The fox leapt down from her perch, already planning an adventure. She scuttled Chiri over to Kuno and Tonbo,
then began piling weapons into the men’s arms.

“
Right – you two guys go talk to the guards. I need an exact idea of when they went on shift, exactly who they saw and what time they saw them. And check the sentries and the gate guards. Maybe somebody saw or heard something.”

Sura changed
into animal form, leaving her empty clothes to suddenly fall to the ground. She wriggled out and shook herself, fur fluffing out merrily.

“
Chiri! Four-foots form. Come on!”

Chiri hesitated, and then was swept along. She switched into rat form, her little animal body wriggling out from her fallen clothes. The
neat white rat bowed to Tonbo and Kuno, twiddling her whiskers. Kuno collected her clothing, folding it carefully.

“
Sura san! Where are you going?”

“I have a great idea!” The fox chivvied Chiri along with her nose. “
Come on! Into cover.”

The two animals slipped
off into the garden beds – Chiri seemed shyly confused, while the fox was simply brimming full of schemes. Watching the two animals vanish, Kuno distinctly sensed more trouble brewing in the wind.

“
Why do I feel this will be illegal and embarrassing?”

“Relax! This will be great!”
The fox looked back, tail held high. “Hey – I’m a fox priestess! What could possibly go wrong?”

The two animal spirits disappeared into the bushes, bustling swiftly away. The
pair of elementals made haste to chase after Chiri, diving down out of sight amongst the shrubbery. Asodo Kuno could only look to Tonbo and shake his head.

“
I do not feel that my apprehensions have been soothed…”

Tonbo gave a nod – but there was no point standing in the way of Sura and her wild ideas. He hefted the
womens’ weapons and carried the burden off towards their quarters, where maids bustled, and guests were gossiping.