Cloud of Sparrows (33 page)

“Please do.”

Stark and Emily rode off a short distance. He took the small .32 revolver from his jacket and offered it to her.

“You may need this.”

“It will be more useful in your hands. Or perhaps you should give it to Lord Genji.”

“He might not be able to protect you.”

“If he cannot, how can I? I’ve never fired a gun in my life.”

“You hold the grip like this,” Stark said, “cock the hammer back, and pull the trigger. It’s simple.”

“Is there not a matter of aiming?”

“Press it against your target.” He held the gun against his own temple. “You won’t need to aim.”

Emily understood. Matthew was preparing her for disaster. If necessary, he was giving her a way to escape a fate worse than death. He didn’t know she had already suffered it. And she was a Christian. Not as good a one as her late fiancé, but still a Christian. She could not take her own life under even the most terrible of circumstances.

“Thank you for thinking of me, Matthew. But what of Lady Heiko? Can we rightly think of ourselves before others, especially others we are pledged to save in Christ’s name? How can you protect her if I have your gun?”

Stark dismounted. He undid his saddle pack. Inside was a knitted sweater. He unrolled it and took out the .44 revolver she had seen him save from the ruins of the palace. His holster was next. He belted it on, tied the leather thong around his thigh, and slipped the big gun in. He slowly eased it in and out a few times, testing the resistance of metal against leather.

When he offered her the .32 again, she took it, not because she intended to use it, but to give him some peace of mind. They both had a long way to go. It would not help if he were worrying about her during his own perilous journey.

When Hidé saw the gun, he said, “If he has two, we should ask him to give the other to Lord Genji.”

“No man, not even an outsider, can be asked to surrender his weapon to another,” Shigeru said. “He will give it if he wants to. Otherwise, it is not our place to say anything at all.” He bowed to Genji from his saddle. “May our ancestors watch over you and safeguard you on your journey home.” He turned and spurred his horse away. Within a few moments, he could neither be seen nor heard.

“I promised to show you my castle, Lady Heiko, and soon my promise will be fulfilled.”

“I look forward to it, my lord. Farewell.” She and Stark continued on the trail going northward.

“No one will pass this way while I live,” Hidé said.

“It is enough if you delay them without sacrificing your life. There are few men I can trust completely. You are one of them. Be sure to meet me at Cloud of Sparrows.”

“Lord.” Greatly moved, Hidé was unable to say more.

Genji led Emily away before he was forced to witness more tears from his lachrymose chief bodyguard.

The storm lasted longer than Saiki thought it would. Five days later, they were still being lashed by wind and wave.

“We will be within sight of land in another two hours or so,” Saiki said.

“You said that two hours ago,” Taro said. He and Shimoda were exhausted. Their hands bled from the constant rowing necessary to keep the boat’s bow turned into the waves.

Saiki strained his eyes. There was a turbulence in the water ahead of them. Whirlpools rarely occurred this far from land. Perhaps it was uncharted reef.

“There may be danger ahead,” he said. “Be prepared to change course quickly.”

The water under the boat itself began to move upward. Just as Saiki realized what was causing it, one of them breached twenty feet away.

“Sea monsters!” Taro said.

“Whales,” Saiki said. Two more broke the surface nearby, a mother and its calf. He had never seen them near Akaoka this late in the year. Perhaps mild weather had kept this pod in the north longer than usual. He acknowledged them with a bow as they passed. Once he had hunted them. Now he would only watch as they swam by.

Then the water beneath them exploded, splintering the boat and throwing the three men into the sea. The powerful turbulence of the passing whale sucked Saiki deep underwater. He fought his way to the surface at the same instant his burning lungs forced his throat open. There was an odd taste in the water. He looked at himself, expecting to see a wound. Instead, he saw blood, gallons of it. There wasn’t that much in his entire body. More bubbled up from below him. He felt the warmth of the crimson current just as a whale with a harpoon in its back surfaced not ten feet away. It stared at him with a huge, baleful eye.

Was it only a whale, or the ghostly incarnation of one he had killed long ago? Had its spirit come back seeking retribution? Karma was inescapable. Now he was paying for his crimes against fellow sentient beings. Did not Buddha say all life is the same? He would die drenched in this ghostly blood, and his lord’s hopes for rescue would die with him. His own life could now be measured in minutes. He wouldn’t last long in the frigid winter sea.

Then he saw the dorsal fins cutting the stormy surface of the water. Sharks. The ghosts of the whales he had slaughtered would be completely satisfied. As he had killed and eaten them, now he would be killed and eaten by the carnivores attracted by the blood in the water.

“There!” He heard a man yelling. “There’s another one!”

When he turned toward the voice, he saw a longboat moving rapidly in his direction.

The fishing boat was from Kageshima Village, the very village where he had spent much of his youth. The wounded whale had been fleeing when it crashed into Saiki’s boat. It was not a karmic specter after all.

“Shimoda is badly injured,” Taro said. The fisherman had plucked them from the water first. “Several ribs are broken, and his left leg.”

“He’ll heal,” one of the fishermen said. “My cousin had both his legs shattered, and he lived. Of course, he doesn’t walk very well anymore.”

“What were you doing so far from shore in such a small craft?” another asked.

“These men and I are in the service of Genji, Great Lord of Akaoka,” Saiki said. “It is vital that we reach Cloud of Sparrows as quickly as possible. Can you take us there?”

“Not in such rough seas,” said the man sitting at the tiller. He was the eldest among the fishermen, and the captain of the longboat. “If you are samurai, where are your swords?”

“Don’t be impudent,” Saiki said. “Obviously, we lost our swords in the ocean.”

“Samurai are not supposed to lose their swords.”

“Silence! Behave as befits your station.”

The man bowed, but not very deeply. Saiki would deal with him once they were ashore.

One of the fishermen had been staring at Taro. “Aren’t you one of Abbot Sohaku’s men?”

“Do I know you?”

“I delivered dried fish to the monastery three months ago. You were working in the kitchen.”

“Ah, I remember. What a coincidence that we should meet again in such a way.”

“Are you still the abbot’s vassal?” the captain asked.

“Of course. As my father was before me.”

“Good,” the captain said.

Saiki said, “What is a fisherman doing questioning the loyalty of samurai?”

“Seize him,” the captain said.

Several of the fishermen fell on Saiki and swiftly bound him with harpoon line. They restrained Taro but didn’t tie him.

The captain said, “Abbot Sohaku has declared a regency. Our lord, Fumio, follows Sohaku. You said you are still his vassal, too. Are you?”

Taro looked at Saiki. “I’m sorry, Lord Chamberlain, but I must obey my oath. Yes, I am still Abbot Sohaku’s vassal.” The fishermen released their grip on him.

The captain pointed at Shimoda with his chin. “Tie that other one up, too.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Taro said. “He is already bound by his injuries.”

“Tie him anyway. There is no telling with samurai. Even if he was dying, he’d be dangerous.”

Night fell as they came ashore. Taro was given a bath and a change of clothing. Saiki and Shimoda were unceremoniously placed in a corner of a hut and watched over by two fishermen armed with harpoons.

“The domain is on the brink of civil war,” the captain said. He was also one of the village elders. “A third of the retainers have avoided choosing sides so far. The others are split evenly between Genji and Sohaku.”

“Should we not permit these two to bathe, also?” a man asked. Saiki recognized him. Twenty-five years ago, he had helped Saiki take his last whale.

“Not important,” the elder said. “Soon they will be dead.”

Saiki said, “How can you turn against a Great Lord who can see the future as clearly as you can see yesterday?”

“We may seem like stupid peasants to you, sir samurai, but we are not that stupid.”

“I have witnessed his ability with my own eyes,” Saiki said.

“Is that so? Then tell us what will happen to you.”

Saiki stared disdainfully at the man. “It is my lord who is prescient, not me.”

“And he never told you your future?”

“I serve him, not the other way around.”

“How convenient.”

“He predicted Sohaku and Kudo’s treachery, and so sent me here to raise the army. In the meantime, Lord Shigeru will take care of many of the traitors.”

“Lord Shigeru is dead.”

“Believe what you wish. I grow tired of this foolishness.” Saiki closed his eyes, seemingly oblivious to his fate.

“Sir?” The elder addressed Taro. “It’s not true, is it?”

“It is,” Taro said. “I rode from Mushindo Monastery to Edo with Lord Shigeru, and left him there with Lord Genji not five days ago.”

The fishermen hastily conferred.

“We must ask Lord Fumio for instructions. If Lord Shigeru is alive, it will be very dangerous to fight his nephew.”

“Who will go?”

“One of the elders.”

“I will go,” Taro said. “It would be disrespectful for a peasant to convey such a message to your lord when a samurai is available to do so. In the meantime, see that these two are secured and that no harm comes to them.”

“Thank you, sir. We will do nothing until you return with instructions from our lord.”

Six hours later, the village was asleep. Even the two guards watching over their prisoners dozed. Taro slipped silently into the hut. He broke the first guard’s neck, took his harpoon, and drove it straight into the other’s heart. Both men died without making a sound.

“I swore an oath to Sohaku,” Taro said, freeing Saiki and Shimoda. “I also swore one to Hidé that I would help him guard Lord Genji with my life. That oath takes precedence.”

“I cannot travel,” Shimoda said. He held a harpoon in his hands. “Don’t worry. I will give a good accounting of myself before I die.”

Saiki took a long last look at the village before he and Taro entered the forest. He would never see it this way again. When the rebels were put down, he would return with troops and personally lead the extermination of Kageshima. Much of the happiness of his own youth would die along with it. He did not try to restrain his tears.

Truly, the whales will be fully avenged then.

Shortly after they parted from Lord Genji, Heiko excused herself to change. She didn’t ask Stark about the gun he wore, or how he had managed to defeat five experienced samurai with a weapon he’d never even seen before today. He wasn’t sure he knew himself. Genji had known he’d win. He’d seen Stark use a gun once, and from that, he knew Stark could quick-draw a sword. Or, if he didn’t know, he was willing to gamble on it.

The horse under him pawed at the snow-covered ground and pulled against the reins. Stark patted his neck and murmured soothingly, and the horse calmed down.

When Heiko returned, she looked completely different. The colorful kimono was gone, and so was the elaborate coiffure. She wore a simple jacket, and the same loose pants the samurai wore, and riding boots, and a wide round hat over her loosely braided hair, and a short sword in her sash. She hadn’t asked him about the gun or the iaido, so he didn’t ask her about her clothes and her sword.

“The trail we will take is little used,” Heiko said. “We are unlikely to encounter bandits. They prefer places with more traffic. The danger will come from Sohaku. He knows these mountains, too. He may have sent men ahead of us.”

“I’m ready.”

She smiled. “I know you are, Matthew. So I am very confident we will reach our destination safely.”

They traveled for two days without incident. On the third day, Heiko halted her horse and raised her hand to her lips for silence. She dismounted, handed Stark the reins, and disappeared into the trees ahead. She returned an hour later. Still motioning for silence, she gestured for him to leave the horses and follow her.

From the crest of the next hill, they could see thirty samurai armed with muskets congregated at a bend in the trail, which was now blocked with a barricade of logs five feet high. When she was sure Stark had seen what there was to see, she led him back to their horses.

“Sohaku,” she said.

“I didn’t see him.”