Lord Oda's Revenge (43 page)

He was about to turn and run when he saw that Hiro was walking towards the ghost. ‘Shusaku!' his friend said. ‘Shusaku, what happened to your skin? I can't believe you're alive!'

‘Wait,' Taro said. ‘You see him too?' His friends had never seen his mother, he knew, and neither had Hiro or Hana seen the ghost that had been haunting Hayao, the samurai.

‘What?' said Hiro. ‘Of course. He's right there. I just can't believe it!' Uncharacteristically, Hiro seemed to be crying. ‘We thought you were dead, Shusaku!'

‘I can see him as well,' said Hana, walking over to stand with Taro. She bowed to the man in the hood, the terribly burned man who spoke in Shusaku's voice. The ground seemed unsteady beneath Taro's feet; he felt as he had when he fell into the ball for the first time, leaving the world behind. ‘We met in the woods,' said Hana. ‘When you saved me from the bandits.'

‘I remember,' said Shusaku. ‘Well met, Lady Hana.'

Shusaku came closer. ‘I'm not a ghost,' he said, and when his mouth moved, the terrible scars on his face creased and folded. ‘The sun burned me, but it couldn't kill me.'

Hana reached out a hand and touched Shusaku's face. ‘Those scars. . .,' she whispered. ‘It must have been terrible.'

He shrugged. ‘It was. Lots of things are.'

Taro's heart seemed about to grow wings and fly out of his throat. ‘Is it really you?' he asked.

‘Yes. It's me. I'm sorry I didn't find you sooner.'

Taro shrugged away the apology and ran forward to throw his arms around the old ninja. Even the odd, disconcerting feeling of talking to a man whose face you couldn't see was still welcome. He closed his eyes and wished this moment would go on forever, and Shusaku lifted him from the ground and spun him around.

Shusaku gave an embarrassed laugh. ‘It's good to see you, too,' he said. ‘I have thought of you every day.' He coughed. ‘Those I train do not usually occupy my thoughts so much.'

‘But how did the sun not kill you?' Taro asked.

The abbot spoke from behind him. ‘The Heart Sutra,' he said. ‘Interesting. Does it make you invisible to other vampires?'

Shusaku nodded.

‘Ah,' said the abbot. ‘So the sun. . . Well, the sun is a spirit too. She is Amaterasu, in the Shinto faith. Your tattoos hid you from the sun itself.'

‘That was my conclusion also,' said Shusaku. ‘She couldn't see me properly to burn me.' He pointed to his eyes. ‘Unfortunately, I lost my sight. That is why it has taken me so long to find Taro again.'

Taro realized then that he couldn't see Shusaku's eyes –
always before he'd been able to see them floating in the air. They were the one part of his body he'd been unable to tattoo, and thus the only part that vampires and other spirits could see. They had been his downfall at Lord Oda's castle – giving away his whereabouts to the ninja called Namae, who had struck out and cut him down.

‘You lost your
eyes
,' said Taro, remembering when Namae cut them out. ‘I'm so sorry.'

‘Why?' said Shusaku. ‘You didn't do it.'

Taro swallowed. ‘No, but you were helping me when—'

Shusaku raised a hand to cut him off. ‘No. Anything I do is my own choice. You may blame yourself for what you choose, but not for this.' He looked around, then coughed discreetly. ‘Abbot,' he said. ‘Could I have a moment alone with Taro and his friends?'

The abbot bowed. ‘Of course. You are welcome here, as you know.' Taro remembered that the abbot and Shusaku knew each other, though the abbot had never said how. He didn't think it likely that Buddhist monks had many dealings with vampires. But then he also knew that Shusaku had been a samurai before he was turned, so it was possible he had spent time at the monastery, attending sutra readings and the like. Anyway, there were far more pressing questions on Taro's mind.

When the abbot had disappeared into the shadows, heading towards the ruins of the Hokke-do, Shusaku gestured to them to sit down, then crossed his own legs on the grass. Taro sat down beside him and took his hand, so the blind man would know where he was. Shusaku smiled at him. ‘Taro,' he said. ‘After I threw you off the ship—'

‘That
was
you!' said Taro.

‘Yes. After that, I was wounded by Lord Tokugawa, and I—'

‘By Lord Tokugawa? But I thought he was your sponsor?'

‘He was. But I did stop him killing you on that boat. That's enough to make any man—'

Taro's legs almost gave way. ‘On the – you mean – that was
him
? The big samurai on the boat?' He'd been standing in front of his
father
, that night in Shirahama bay, and he hadn't even known it. His father had almost cut him open, in fact. And Shusaku had saved him. Taro couldn't imagine the consequences of such an act – it was bad enough that Shusaku was known to Lord Oda as the ninja who had infiltrated his castle, but now he'd made an enemy of Lord Tokugawa, the other of the two most powerful daimyo, and the man who had protected and hired him even after he was turned.

‘Yes,' said Shusaku. ‘But that's not our biggest problem. What really worries me is that Lord Oda's troops are gathering at the base of the mountain. I sensed them as I climbed the steps. I believe they're readying another attack on the monastery.'

Taro closed his eyes wearily. ‘Gods. How did he find me?'

‘He must have had you followed. Were you aware of anyone behind you, as you came here from Shirahama?'

‘I didn't come here from Shirahama,' said Taro. He explained about the trip to the ninja mountain, the carnage they had found there – and his haunting by his mother, which had required Hiro and Little Kawabata to practically carry him here to the monastery.

Shusaku nodded slowly. ‘Perhaps you were followed, and perhaps not. It is possible that Yukiko merely suspected you would return here, when she didn't find Hiro at the mountain.'

Taro sighed. ‘Lord Oda's never going to stop, is he?' He looked at Shusaku. ‘But why did
you
come, when you knew the army was there? You could have stayed safe. If you're here with
me, you could get yourself killed. I'm not worth that.'

‘You are,' said Shusaku. ‘But that's beside the point. Remember the prophecy? You will be shogun one day. I don't think sticking by you can possibly be a bad plan.'

Hiro laughed. ‘He's not too bad, once you get used to him,' he said.

‘Anyway,' said Shusaku, ‘we haven't lost everything yet. I believe Lord Tokugawa has a plan. He could have killed me on that ship, but he didn't – and I don't believe he does anything by accident.' He unslung the bag from his shoulder. ‘Lord Tokugawa pressed this into my hands,' he said, ‘before he threw me overboard with a hole in my belly.' From the bag he withdrew the large, gaudy golden ball that Taro had found on the reef.

Little Kawabata gasped. ‘Now
that's
real treasure!' he said.

‘But it doesn't work,' said Taro. ‘Not like the real one.' He held up the Buddha ball, much smaller and less prepossessing than the gold fake in Shusaku's hands.

Now it was Shusaku's turn to take in a sharp breath. ‘You found it? The genuine Buddha ball? Why didn't you tell me immediately?'

‘I
have
it,' said Taro. ‘But it's not what you think. It can't hurt anyone, or make anyone do anything they don't want to do.' He told Shusaku about his journey to hell, his meeting with his mother, and his failed attempts to use the ball to subvert the right way of things, or make people perform actions against their will. ‘It lets me pick up weapons with my mind,' said Taro. ‘But it won't let me use them.'

‘Interesting. But unsurprising, I suppose. It belonged to the Buddha, after all. Does it do
anything
?'

‘It can control the four elements,' said Taro. ‘The wind, the
earth, leaves – things like that. Weather.'

‘Hmm,' said Shusaku. ‘That's not quite what I had hoped.' He leaned forward over his knees, as if thinking. There was silence for a long time, and Taro met Hana's eye and saw that she was concerned too. It seemed that even Shusaku didn't know what to do, and he was
always
the one who knew what was best.

Just then a monk came running into the clearing. ‘The abbot sent me,' he said, as he neared them. ‘He says there's a single samurai riding up the east slope of the mountain, bearing Lord Oda's
mon
on a flag.'

 

W
HAT SEEMED LIKE
only moments later, Taro stood beside Hiro and Hana in silence as they waited. Shusaku had gone with the abbot to meet the messenger. It had been decided that Taro and his friends should stay hidden in the shadows of the hall – it was better to assume that Lord Oda didn't know Taro was here. No point in endangering themselves if they didn't have to.

Of course, Taro knew that there was little hope Lord Oda didn't already know everything. He'd known where the ninja mountain was, thanks to Yukiko, and he'd even seemed to know where the fake ball was hidden in Shirahama bay, given that his ship full of pirates had turned up just after Lord Tokugawa's. But Taro was willing to stand in the shadows, if it meant there was the slightest chance of protecting his friends from violence.

After what seemed an interminable delay, Shusaku and the abbot entered the hall. They walked close together, and Taro wondered again what shared history they had – though he could think of no way of asking that would not be too direct. He'd learned over the months with Shusaku that the ninja did not respond well to direct questions.

‘Lord Oda has given an ultimatum,' said the abbot without
preamble. ‘We hand over Taro by dawn, or they attack. This time they will destroy us completely.' He turned to Taro, and hesitated.

Hana leaped to her feet. ‘No! You can't just
sacrifice
him.'

The abbot looked pained. ‘We wouldn't do that,' he said hurriedly. ‘Of course not. But the monks. . . there are still dozens left. And the scrolls. If we resist Lord Oda, he will crush everything. It will be as if the monastery was never here.'

‘I should go to them,' said Taro, his shoulders slumped. ‘I should let Lord Oda have me.'

‘No!' said Hana. ‘Stop it! There must be some other way.'

Hana turned to Shusaku, an imploring expression on her face, but the ninja seemed to be still deep in thought. Finally he raised his head to the abbot. ‘He didn't mention the ball,' he said.

‘I'm sorry?'

‘The ball. The messenger didn't say anything about it. So Lord Oda doesn't know whether Taro has it or not. By the time his pirates reached Lord Tokugawa's ship, the
fake
ball was gone, and he can't know anything about Taro's journey to hell.'

‘I don't see what difference it makes,' said the abbot.

‘It explains their caution,' said Shusaku. ‘They could have attacked straightaway, but instead they gave us a deadline. It means they're on edge, and likely to make mistakes.' He hung his head in thought a moment longer, and this time when he looked up he was facing Taro, though Taro could not, of course, see his face.

‘You say that thing can control the weather?' he asked.

‘Yes,' said Taro.

‘In that case,' said Shusaku, ‘I think I finally understand what Lord Tokugawa has been planning.'

 

T
HEY HAD UNTIL
dawn.

Smoke rose into the sky behind them, and it was as if the samurai had burned the mountain again. But it was only the funeral pyres of the dead, disintegrating into their constituent atoms and blowing away in the wind. Hiro had once again supported Taro as the abbot lit the kindling, his hand under his arm, but Taro had not needed it so much this time. He knew better than anyone that his mother had gone on to a better place, and what was burned by the flames was nothing but a husk.