The Flood Dragon's Sacrifice

by Sarah Ash

  Naoki had not ventured further than the abbot’s garden, awaiting further orders from the prince. Masao had charged him to look after Yūgiri but now that the shaman seemed to have regained consciousness he judged it safe to take a look around and assess the situation.

  “Wait here. I’ll go and find out.”

  ***

  Kai let himself be manhandled up the cliff path by the two guards. He was no longer sure if he was still Lord Kaito clan lord of the Black Cranes, Kaishin the apprentice healer, or someone quite different.

  But when they dragged him through the sea gate, he was confronted with a sight that brought him abruptly back to reality. The temple had been reduced to a smoldering shell; smoke still rose from the charred, rain-soaked timbers, and the reek of burning tainted the air, catching at the back of his throat.

  It’s all been destroyed: the ancient Tide Dragon statues, the inner shrine, the very heart of the monastery itself.

  He felt numb with shock, unable to comprehend the extent of the damage, fearing to see what else had been lost to the flames, as they rounded the corner.

  The infirmary was still standing. The infirmary garden was spilling over with green plants; the herbs that he had so carefully planted and tended were flourishing.

  He closed his eyes and offered up a silent prayer of thanks that the rest of the monastery had been spared. But Master Seishi and his assistants must be overburdened with casualties from the events of the last hours. If only they’d let me go and help…

  Two warrior monks went past, carrying a body on a stretcher toward the infirmary.

  Kai stopped, staring.

  “Keep moving.” Hotaru’s guards tugged him onward.

  “Who is that?” he called out, although he had a horrible feeling he already knew.

  “Kaishin – is that you?” So they had recognized him.

  “Wait,” Kai ordered his captors. “Let me see.”

  The monks set the stretcher down and, bowing their heads respectfully, lifted the cloth covering the face.

  “Kakumyo,” Kai said in disbelief. The captain’s face, dominated by the deep scar that he had taken shielding him as they fled the Kites, was expressionless in death. “But how –”

  “No one knows,” said one of the monks, gently replacing the cloth. “But there are scorch marks on his clothes. Perhaps burning debris from the fire…”

  “That’s enough.” Hotaru’s guards were growing impatient; they pulled Kai away from the stretcher.

  As he allowed himself to be marched onward, memories of Kakumyo filled Kai’s mind. His father’s trusted right-hand man, the captain had watched over him ever since the night his father was murdered. And if it weren’t for his bravery, I would have been killed too.

  Masao’s voice penetrated his thoughts. “Was that the redoubtable Captain Kakumyo?”

  “Yes. He was like a guardian to me,” Kai heard himself answering. “No, more than a guardian – more like a second father.” And we parted on such bad terms…if only I could have had the chance to tell him how much I owed him…

  The sound of exultant cheering filled the air. Their guards halted, listening.

  “Ho - ta - ru! Ho - ta - ru!”

  “So Suzaku’s reign is over,” Masao said quietly.

  Kai was still so stunned by the sight of Kakumyo’s body that he hardly noticed the cheering. It wasn’t until they reached the main courtyard and the Imperial Guard challenged their captors to identify themselves that he began to pay more attention to what was going on.

  “Prince Hotaru ordered us to arrest these two men. They’re to be taken to the capital under armed guard to stand trial.”

  “They’ll have to be locked up in the guardhouse here overnight,” said the lieutenant in charge. “All my men have been ordered to help in the clean-up operation.”

  The guardhouse. As their captors dragged them across the courtyard, Kai could not help noting the irony of being confined in the very cells where they had imprisoned Naoki.

  ***

  Naoki surveyed the courtyard from the roof of the main hall; no one had noticed him lift through the air to land silently on the shingles.

  Lucky that I already know the layout of the place so well…

  From the moment he had spotted the prisoners being dragged through the sea gate, he had shadowed the guards escorting Masao and Kaito.

  “So they’re locking you up in the guardhouse? Well, that’s ironic, isn’t it, Lord Kaito? Now the tables are turned.”

  It wasn’t so long since he had been the one dragged in chains to the guardhouse cell by Kakumyo’s men before the abortive hostage exchange.

  Was that why he was perched up here, watching the coming and going of the guards as dusk fell, estimating the best time to make his move?

  I owe it to the clan to get Masao out of there. And I can’t very well rescue him and leave Kaito behind. Can I?

  ***

  “What happened to you out there, my lady?” Reika asked as she dried Ayaka’s hair.

  Ayaka’s thoughts had been very far away. “Out there?” she said dreamily, luxuriating in the warmth of clean, dry clothes and hot sake.

  “Don’t you remember?” Reika’s voice dropped. “Before the prince’s guards came to rescue us.”

  “It’s all still a blur.” So much had happened that Ayaka felt utterly overwhelmed. Every time she remembered Flood scooping her up, then dropping her into the sea, she shuddered. The choking pressure of the cloudy water dragging me down, filling my mouth, my throat, my lungs… She didn’t want to be made to relive her ordeal. I thought I was going to drown. And then Lord Kaito rescued me.

  “You kissed them,” Reika whispered in her ear. “First Lord Masao…and then Lord Kaito.”

  Ayaka clapped both hands to her burning cheeks. “No. I would never do such a shameful thing. Kiss not one but two complete strangers? In front of the prince?”

  “Perhaps you were grateful that they rescued you?”

  “Grateful, yes,” Ayaka allowed, “but not to the extent that I would act so disgracefully.” As Reika began to comb camellia oil through her hair, she found herself wondering why she had behaved so scandalously in front of Prince Hotaru.

  “And now they’re both locked up, awaiting deportation to the capital to be tried for attempted assassination.”

  “But that means they’ll be executed.” Ayaka turned around to Reika. “And Lord Kaito saved my life. Surely that’s reason enough to pardon him? Besides, he has such soulful eyes. So sad, so compassionate – quite unlike his older brother.”

  “And you were so adamant that you’d never marry him.” Reika patiently resumed the combing. “‘I refuse!’ were your exact words, I seem to recall…”

  “Perhaps it was an accident. He’s crippled. Perhaps his leg gave way and he fell heavily against the prince, knocking him into the sea.”

  “That wasn’t what I witnessed,” Reika said quietly. “But if you want to testify to the contrary…although, as his fiancée, I suspect that you won’t be allowed to speak in his defense.”

  ***

  Kai sat huddled in the corner of the guardhouse cell, watching the shadows lengthen. The warrior monks on duty had persuaded his guards to exchange his wet tunic for clean, dry robes before they shackled him.

  Masao, resting his head on his up-drawn knees, sat opposite him. An open drain ran along the length of one wall, exuding a vile reek of foul water and stale piss.

  “Do you think they’ve forgotten about us?” Masao said eventually, raising his head. Kai saw that the sea-green glint in his eyes had not faded; if anything, in the gloom, it had intensified.

  “Lord Masao,” he said, “look at my eyes. Tell me what you see.”

  “Blue,” said Masao without hesitating. “They’re still blue.”

  “And yours are still green.” Kai raised his left hand, making the heavy chains attaching him to the wall clink loudly. “And why hasn’t my Sacrifice seal faded away? If anything it’s bec
ome brighter, almost as if…” he faltered, trying to think of the right words, “as if it were glowing from within.”

  Masao wearily lifted his hands, which had been manacled together at the wrists, and Kai caught a glimpse of the Ebb Dragon tattoo, gleaming beneath the restraints. “Shouldn’t they have disappeared when the Tide Jewels dissolved in the sea?”

  “Something happened out there,” Kai said. “I still feel…as if I’m not alone in my own body.”

  “What do you mean?” The green eyes glinted more intensely.

  “Lady Inari told me that if I returned the jewels to the sea, I would set Shiohiru and Shiomitsu free. The Sacrifice seals would be broken and our lives would no longer be forfeit. And yet… though my memory’s hazy… I seem to remember Shiomitsu joining my seal with his.”

  “Shiohiru did the same to me,” came Masao’s voice from the darkness. “But after that…nothing. A void. It’s almost as if we weren’t meant to remember.”

  Kai lapsed back into silence, trying to piece the fragments together to make sense of them.

  “We’ve got more immediate concerns,” Masao said after a while. “They’re going to try us for attempting to murder Hotaru. Any attempt on the life of an imperial prince is punishable by death. They’ll want to make an example of us to dissuade any other would-be rebels, so they’ll probably torture us first to extract a confession of guilt.”

  “I did what had to be done,” Kai said quietly, as much to himself as to Masao. “I couldn’t see any other way.”

  “And then they’ll punish our families too.” Masao suddenly struck his fist on the ground, setting the chains jangling. “Why must we pay the price for his treachery? He set us up. Everything has gone his way.”

  “Why so gloomy, Masao?”

  Kai looked up.

  Naoki stood in the doorway; by the faint lantern light spilling in from the courtyard outside, Kai could just make out that he was grinning.

  “Nao – ” Masao began.

  “Keep your voice down.”

  “How did you get in?”

  “The imperial guards are somewhat on edge, to say the least.” Naoki began to work at the lock on the barred door with his knife. “I just happened to mention that I’d seen two shadowy figures climbing in over the wall of the abbot’s garden.” The lock gave with a dull metallic click and he slipped into the cell. “They’ll be busy searching for a while yet.” He sniffed the air, wrinkling his nose in distaste. “Ah, that delightful open drain aroma; I remember it so well.”

  He knelt beside Masao and slipped the knife-tip into the manacles lock, twisting and turning.

  “Is Yū all right? Where did you leave him?” Kai heard Masao ask quietly. “Naoki?”

  “I left him in the abbot’s garden. But you haven’t time for fond farewells; you have to get out of here while Hotaru’s distracted with affairs of state.”

  “You’re getting quite adept at this lock-breaking trick,” Masao said, and Kai detected a note of wry admiration in his voice.

  “But how are we going to get away?” Kai asked. “And where are we going to go?” He tried to imagine a life on the run, going from one island to the next, never able to stay in one place for long before the emperor’s agents tracked him down. The life of an itinerant medicine seller…

  “Details, details,” Naoki gave a grunt of effort as he forced the lock on the manacles open. “Now get out of here, Masao.”

  “Not without Lord Kaito. I’ll keep watch.”

  Naoki shrugged and squatted beside Kai, setting to work on his shackles.

  “Why are you doing this?” Kai said quietly. Had Naoki regretted his earlier actions? Was this some kind of penance? You killed Sakami. And I’m not sure I can ever forgive you for that. Naoki was so close that Kai could have thrown his chains around his neck, tugged hard, and strangled him. But you know that I’m not that kind of man. You trust me.

  “And what if your new lord and master discovers that you let us out?” Masao was rubbing the red weals where the manacles had bitten into his skin. “He won’t deal kindly with you. You’ve seen what he’s capable of.”

  “If it makes you feel any better,” Naoki said, continuing to work on Kai’s shackles, “look on this as a trade. I want information from you. About Kurika.”

  “What kind of information?” Kai asked warily.

  “Kurika started the fire in the temple. I saw it. I saw the rising sparks that looked like a cloud of fireflies.”

  “Like the fire that destroyed Sakuranbo village?” Kai remembered Sakami’s vivid description.

  “And the fire that destroyed Akatobi castle,” said Masao. Kai looked up at the two Kites as each man silently acknowledged the connection.

  “Why?” Masao said in a stifled voice. “Why would Hotaru commit such atrocities?”

  “Perhaps he couldn’t control Kurika.” Naoki spoke through gritted teeth as he struggled to undo the stubborn lock. Even in the gloom, Kai could see the slick of sweat gleaming on his face. “Perhaps Kurika went on the rampage when he set him free.”

  “Why do you defend Hotaru?” Masao turned on Naoki. “He’s used you. He’s lied to you. You’re as much bound to him as Kurika is. He’s made you his mortal shikigami.”

  “I should have left you here to rot,” Naoki muttered.

  “Wait – you’re saying that Prince Hotaru is the one who set Kurika free?” Kai had only just begun to make sense of their conversation. “That Hotaru is the onmyōji who controls him?” His first thought was of Inari – and her shrine in Castle Kurozuro. Did Kurika still harbor a grudge against the goddess who had imprisoned him? “Where is Kurika now?”

  For a moment Naoki stopped work. “I don’t know.”

  Masao’s eyes glinted dangerously green in the murky light. “You don’t know?”

  “I’m not his keeper,” Naoki answered, returning to the stubborn lock. “Hotaru must have given him some new task to carry out.”

  “How can a mortal man – even an onmyōji – keep control over such a powerful kami?” Kai said. “We have to put Kurika back beneath the mountain.”

  Naoki let out a dry laugh. “You’ve yet to meet Kurika, haven’t you?”

  “This kami set fire to your castle. He killed your mother and brother. And Hotaru put the blame on my clan.” Kai was determined to goad a response from Naoki. “Why did he do it, Naoki? Don’t you want to find out?”

  And at last Naoki’s blade-tip released the lock mechanism and Kai’s shackles fell off. Kai, freed, fell forward; Naoki caught him by the arm and steadied him, so that he found himself gazing into the Kite’s face.

  “Your eyes.” Naoki said. “Since when did you have such blue eyes, Lord Kaito?”

  The heavy tread of marching feet approaching broke the silence.

  Masao swore. “Too late. The guards are back.”

  Chapter 48

  “Let me look at you.” Ayaka’s mother made her turn around one way and then the other, while she surveyed her appearance with a critical eye.

  “I layered my robes to reflect the colors of the sea, Mother: the white brocade, then the cloud grey and the misty blue, the turquoise, and last of all the midnight blue.” Ayaka looked behind her at the long silken train, artfully arranged by Reika to display her mistress’s artistic blending of delicate fabrics.

  “I suppose it will have to do.” The princess seemed a little disappointed. “We mustn’t let your father down; this is, after all, a momentous occasion.”

  Ayaka dutifully followed her mother across the main monastery courtyard and into the audience hall. Officers of the Imperial Guard escorted them to an area to the left of the hall where other ladies of the court were already seated on silken cushions.

  “Where’s the empress?” Princess Omiya asked Princess Kumoi as she settled herself beside her.

  Princess Kumoi slowly shook her head. “She refuses to leave the little prince’s side, I hear; it’s said she fears for his life,” she whispered.

 
“Surely Prince Hotaru wouldn’t harm his own nephew – ” Omiya was interrupted as the main doors were flung open and the Imperial Guard came in, escorting Suzaku and Hotaru; the ministers of state followed, then Abbot Genko.

  Lords Nagamoto and Kiyomori bowed to the imperial brothers and turned to address the court.

  “In accordance with the ancient traditions of Cipangu,” announced Lord Nagamoto, “Emperor Suzaku has announced his intention to abdicate from the Phoenix Throne in favor of his younger brother, Hotaru.”

  “And I have agreed to go into exile,” said Suzaku in a quiet, expressionless voice. “Although as yet the exact place of exile has to be decided upon.”

  “Then perhaps Akatobi Island would be the most suitable,” suggested Lord Nagamoto.

  “What about the Clan of the Red Kites?” demanded Lord Kiyomori tetchily. “In case the Minister of the Right has forgotten, may I remind him that they have been in exile there for seven years?”

  “Oh, no one has forgotten, my lord.” Hotaru spoke for the first time. “My first act when I become emperor will be to bring the Red Kites back from exile.”

  This statement created such a stir of muttered conversation among the nobles that Ayaka couldn’t help wondering if this first act was going to prove rather controversial.

  “And my second will be to take a consort. I think my choice will meet with the court’s approval; she is a talented dancer and poet, but above all a courageous and spirited young woman, who stood by my side and supported me even in the greatest of danger.”

  As Hotaru was speaking, Ayaka began to realize that he was addressing his words to her. She felt a chill run through her – and then a wave of heat. Everyone’s looking at me.

  “Lord Nagamoto, I intend to make your daughter Ayaka my wife and future empress of Cipangu.”

  Ayaka could see that her mother was fanning herself so furiously that a little wind was stirring her hair.

  “Come here, Ayaka.” Her father was nodding to her and smiling. She rose carefully, making certain that she didn’t trip over her carefully layered train.

  “My little girl,” she heard Omiya whisper ecstatically to Princess Kumoi as she went forward to kneel before the prince.