Lord Yasuna’s face brightened in recognition. “Lord Yamada! It is good to see you again.”
“And you, my lord. I trust your son Doshi is well?”
He smiled briefly. “Twelve years old and almost a man. He will be taller than I am within two years, mark my words.”
Prince Kanemore grunted. “I should be surprised you gentlemen already know each other, and perhaps a story for another evening. Let it suffice for the moment that Lord Yasuna has consented to join us,” Prince Kanemore said. “We should be going.”
We mounted and rode northeast through the city. A suspicion dawned, and I reined in beside Prince Kanemore. “If you’ll pardon my asking, where are we going?”
“We’re going to the Widow Tamahara’s to meet Lord Yoshiie. I would rather the meeting took place at the mansion, but apparently our guest has chosen the venue on his own.”
I knew Prince Kanemore wasn’t concerned about appearing at the Widow Tamahara’s. This would not the first time an Imperial prince had patronized the Widow Tamahara’s establishment, and Kanemore was willing to do so openly. That Yoshiie would choose it was another matter, and this did concern me a little.
“I take it Lord Yoshiie has not been in the capital very often?”
“He went to war against the Abe when he was fifteen,” Prince Kanemore confirmed. “He’s seldom been out of the field since.”
“So I’m guessing he didn’t so much choose the venue as make it impossible to meet elsewhere?”
Kanemore sighed. “A bit of carousing is to be expected, considering the circumstances. Yet it is still damned reckless of him. You know as well as I that simply because the Abe bushi are not in the capital does not mean there is no danger. Even so, Lord Yoshiie has been planning this excursion, I am told, since he arrived.”
“I can see that the Widow Tamahara’s reputation is more widespread than I had thought. I’m not entirely sure this will please her—” I stopped. “You say he planned to be out tonight? And this was known?”
“He’s spoken of little else.”
Damn . . .
Now I knew what the shikigami had been doing lurking in the Widow Tamahara’s courtyard. I prayed to any kami willing to listen that I was wrong.
“Your Highness, Lord Yoshiie is in danger!”
I didn’t wait for a reply. I kicked my horse’s flanks, and it lurched into a gallop. I suddenly remembered how much I hated riding, but it did not stop me from urging the beast into a run. I heard the pounding of hooves behind me as the rest of the escort gave chase. When Kanemore caught up to me, he didn’t waste his breath on questions. In a moment he had passed me and now I was urging my mount to greater speed. We reached the Widow Tamahara’s to find the entire compound in an uproar.
I heard screams and the clash of weapons within. Prince Kanemore leaped from his mount before it even had time to stop. I was not far behind, mostly because I fell when my foot slipped out of the stirrup, and it was only my grip on the saddle that stopped me from taking a nasty tumble. The gate to the compound was open and we rushed through, followed closely by Kenji and Lord Yasuna. A lantern was on fire on the ground by the veranda; I saw two of the women in the Widow Tamahara’s employ cowering by the building, and as we watched, a rather disheveled older man crashed through a sliding screen and fell face first onto the veranda. He staggered to his feet, and I saw he was bleeding, but whether from a cut or the fall I could not tell. His eyes were slightly unfocused but he wasn’t armed, and I recognized him as a regular patron. He stumbled past us seeking the gate, and one of the escort moved to intercept him.
“Let him go!” I shouted, and the man half ran, half stumbled out into the streets.
“Swords!” roared Prince Kanemore. It took me a moment to understand what he was referring to, but then I saw the members of the escort, who had finally caught up with us, dropping their bows and drawing swords. Of course. We were about to go into tight quarters where bows were likely useless, and the escorts were the only ones properly armed. Even Prince Kanemore had left his tachi behind, but he did have a dagger and so did I. Kenji had his priestly staff, and Lord Yasuna picked up one of the bows and an arrow that had been dropped. There was no time to do better. Prince Kanemore directed three of the bushi to circle the building while the rest of us ran through the opening the escaping patron had made and followed the shouting.
We found a young man in the large wine shop wing of the building grimly holding off a ring of attackers with no more than a long dagger and battered stool. He swung the stool as one his attackers darted in and was rewarded with a loud crunch as the bludgeon connected. His attacker went down and, not at all to my surprise, disappeared.
“Shikigami,” Kenji muttered. “But how?”
“Later, if there is a later. Kenji, can you reach the casks?”
He understood my intent immediately and bolted for the long fixed table behind which the Widow Tamahara kept the saké ready to be served. Prince Kanemore and our escort engaged the attackers, and the prince took out two of the creatures with one sweeping cut, aided by the fact that the creatures’ attention was all on the young man I assumed was Yoshiie. I used my dagger to decapitate a third, but even as the creature fell, I had the sick feeling it wouldn’t be enough. Yoshiie was about to be overwhelmed—there were simply too many of them and not nearly enough of us.
I heard Kenji shout “Kampai!” at the top of his lungs, and suddenly it was raining inside the building. I smelled the saké. One entire arc of the attacking creatures dissolved to wet paper as the young man gleefully bashed two more of the shikigami with his improvised club, and now the tide had turned. Yoshiie was still on his feet, but he was bleeding at shoulder and thigh; there was no way to tell how badly he was wounded. Prince Kanemore rushed forward as Kenji sprayed a second shower of saké from a broken cask, but one of the creatures managed to tackle Yoshiie and raised the point of a sword over his throat.
I heard the twang of a bowstring just before the arrow tore out the shikigami’s throat. Lord Yasuna had found work for his bow after all. Yoshiie staggered to his feet.
“Come on!” he roared, but there were no more of the creatures left. There were shouts from the courtyard on the far side of the building, then silence. The remainder of our escort appeared on the veranda. We had lost two men to the creatures, but it could have been a great deal worse. Yoshiie grinned, then sat down hard on the floor.
“Kenji!”
The priest drained the last of the cask down his throat and discarded it. “At your service.”
Prince Kanemore set guards at front and back of the room and sent the rest to scour the grounds. I did not think they would find anything else, but it was best to be sure. In the meantime, Kenji examined the young man who was still grinning, despite what he’d just endured.
“Your wounds aren’t severe, my lord,” Kenji said, “but they will need tending.”
He grunted. “I’ve had worse dozens of times. It’s nothing.”
“Nevertheless,” Prince Kanemore said. “I would be neglecting my duties as host and as your father’s friend if I did not insist you follow Master Kenji’s advice.”
“I’ve fought those things before, I think,” he said.
“Quite right, my lord. They were magical assassins sent to kill you,” I said.
He frowned. “And who are you gentlemen? I mean, I was told who to expect, and Prince Kanemore I know, and I do owe you all my thanks, but aren’t introductions in order? Isn’t that proper?”
“Very proper,” Kanemore said. “Lord Yamada, Master Kenji, Lord Yasuna—”
“The bowman,” the young man said. “Well shot.”
Lord Yasuna apparently only then realized he was still holding the bow. He set it aside. “Thank you, though it was no great distance.”
“Too long for me to cover in time,” Prince Kanemore said. “Now I think everyone does know each other. Gentlemen, this is Lord Minamoto no Yoshiie.”
“And I am both drenched a
nd parched,” he said. “Master Priest, would you be so good as to open another cask?”
“Perhaps it would be wiser to withdraw to the mansion?” Lord Yasuna asked.
“Certainly,” Lord Yoshiie said. “But considering what we’ve all just been through, I think drinks are in order.”
Prince Kanemore consented to one round of saké while the dead were being removed and our wounded seen to. The Widow Tamahara finally emerged, along with what servants she could round up, and began putting the place to rights, though not without a few scowls in our direction. I felt certain I would hear more of the matter later, but she would no more create a fuss in front of Prince Kanemore than she would sleep on hot coals. Fortunately, more than one round of drinks was unnecessary. The battle light had long since faded from Yoshiie’s eyes, and in the end we had to carry him out to the wagon we sent for to take him back to the Sixth Ward, along with enough additional escort to make certain he would arrive safely. Prince Kanemore, Lord Yasuna, Kenji, and I remained behind.
“An interesting first meeting,” I said. “And, in its way, impressive. Lord Yoshiie had already been drinking, and yet he held off more than a dozen of the creatures for a minute or two before we got here, armed with nothing more than a dagger and a wooden stool.”
Prince Kanemore shrugged. “He’s been a warrior since he was fifteen. One who has survived to his current, albeit not advanced age, suggests a high level of both skill and luck,” he said. “But none of it would have mattered if we had arrived any later. Lord Yamada, how did you know?”
I took a slow breath. “I didn’t, at least not for certain. But I’d been puzzling over the matter of a shikigami planted at the Widow Tamahara’s. I know Lord Tenshin placed it there, and I know he did not do it on a whim. I’d already realized I could not be the target. What did not occur to me until almost too late was the creature’s discovery and disposal was simply too easy.”
Kenji frowned. “Are you saying Kaoru-chan was involved?”
“Not in the sense she had anything to do with the creature being there. I had assumed the creature’s reaction was simply defensive, but if that were true, then the way Kaoru-chan described it made no sense. Why would the creature become enraged rather than simply kill her and walk away? There were no other witnesses—it could have remained at its post.”
Now Lord Yasuna looked thoughtful. “But surely there would have been some sort of inquiry?”
“Exactly,” I said. “The Widow Tamahara has her faults, but she does care for the people in her employ. I would have gotten involved, and all this would have brought unwanted attention. But if the danger was perceived to be past? Another matter entirely.”
“So the creature created a fuss instead,” Kenji said. “And when you found the ensorcelled paper, that would be the end of it. Danger past, whatever it had been. Or so everyone would have believed.”
“Lord Tenshin didn’t know about me, but he did expect someone to find the creature. That is what, in my arrogance, I overlooked. Once the shikigami had reverted, it would still have motive power. There are a thousand places it could have hidden between and within those storehouses, and none the wiser, including me. The creature was meant to be found and destroyed because its work was already done. Once I learned Lord Yoshiie’s plans were commonly known, and assuming—with reason—that Lord Tenshin is in the employ of the Mutsu Abe, the real target became obvious. Then my original question—what was the creature doing there in the first place?—had an answer.”
Kenji considered. “But why raise a fuss at all? Why not just slip quietly away once it had planted the other shikigami?”
I smiled. “When anyone voluntarily leaves the Widow Tamahara’s employ, the first thing she does is a careful and very thorough inventory, as she trusts no one. There was a chance she would uncover the creatures too soon. My guess is Lord Tenshin knew that as well and decided not to take the chance. The planning was meticulous.”
Prince Kanemore looked a little pale. “One assassin? Possible, but chancy. A dozen?”
Lord Yasuna smiled grimly. “It almost worked. And the loss of young Lord Yoshiie would have been devastating to the Minamoto—and by extension, Imperial—cause. It’s unlikely Lord Yoriyoshi would be able to succeed without his son’s help. You are as clever as I remember, Lord Yamada.”
I sighed. “Thank you, my lord, but I have to disagree. I very nearly allowed the plan to work.”
“Barely dodging an arrow is not the same as having it take up lodging in your heart,” Prince Kanemore pointed out.
“Which may be, Your Highness,” I said, “but there are a lot more arrows in that particular quiver.”
CHAPTER FOUR
When we met Lord Yoshiie for a proper audience the next morning, you could hardly tell he’d been in a drunken fight for his life the night before. Frankly, he looked in better shape than Kenji, who had overindulged a bit once the fighting was over. Lord Yoshiie did, however, appear a little bit uncomfortable. I had thought it might be related to his wounds but then realized he was pulling at the edge of his formal robes at the neck and waist as if he didn’t like the feel of them.
“ . . . a warrior since he was fifteen . . . ”
It occurred to me that Lord Yoshiie might have chosen a less formal venue the day before because he was simply not comfortable in formal robes and setting. Now he sat on a cushion on a raised dais beside Prince Kanemore, not bothering to pretend his heavily brocaded and stiff Court robes weren’t making him itch. He bestowed gifts on Kenji, Lord Yasuna, and myself, which was only proper under the circumstances. He had clearly been coached on the proper etiquette. Matters only became more interesting when the formal part of the audience was over.
“Lord Yasuna,” he said. “I have been instructed by the Emperor himself to take you with us as we return to Mutsu.”
Yasuna bowed. “As the Emperor commands.”
Yoshiie leaned forward. “You and I—and I’m sure the gentlemen present—know this is likely pointless, yet the Emperor will have it so, and I will obey, and thus so must you. You may arrange a personal escort and whatever attendants you require, I would suggest no more than six of each, as you will also be required to provision them yourself. We are both at the Emperor’s command, and so I will not consider you my prisoner unless you make it necessary. Please do not do so.”
“You are generous, my lord,” Yasuna said.
Yoshiie grunted. “No, I am not. I am grateful to you, as I am to His Highness and Lord Yamada and Master Kenji. I am very aware that, without your timely aid, I would likely be dead. However, my gratitude does not lessen my obligations to my father and clan. We will be at war, and I cannot guarantee the safety of any of you,” he said, glancing at Kenji and me. “I am also grateful for any assistance you may be able to offer. But I want one thing understood, Lord Yasuna—I must subdue the Mutsu Abe at all costs. If I am wrong and you do in fact have some influence among your kinsmen, I will make use of it. That is how matters stand.”
Later, Kenji and I ate the noon meal together in the mansion’s garden where I had met Lady Kuzunoha only two days before.
“I’m not sure if I find Lord Yoshiie’s candor refreshing or troubling,” Kenji said between mouthfuls of rice.
I sighed. “Why choose? It can be both. I found his honesty refreshing but his bluntness a bit worrisome.”
“I would simply expect someone of noble family to be a bit more at home within the capital,” Kenji said. “It’s clear to me Yoshiie does not feel at home here, despite being perfectly willing to take advantage of its . . . diversions. I’m certain this is not what worries you.”
“Actually it is, in an abstract way. I’ve been observing the young man, to the extent I have been able to do so. It’s not his manners which concern me, but rather his mannerism. His entire bearing. Imagine, for a moment, that Prince Kanemore as a young man had no obligations to the Court and was able to follow his inclination. What do you think he would be like?”
Kenji pondered, but not for very long. “I think,” he said, “His Highness would be a great deal like our young Lord Yoshiie. He has always been as much bushi as prince.”
“Now consider all the provinces, not just Mutsu: Miyagi, Eichizen, Oe . . . all of them. There are provincial noble families who share responsibility for both governing and enforcing the writ of the Emperor. And they are all producing sons just like Yoshiie—more at home in armor and on a horse than sitting through the New Year’s poetry competition. Fighting for their lord and clan first of all and the Emperor as a distant second, if at all.
“Probably not exactly his equal,” Kenji observed dryly, “but I take your point.”
“Many have kuge branches, such as produced Lord Yasuna. A worthy man, but as we have seen, his kinsmen outside the capital look to their own provinces, their own holdings, and seek to expand them. Do other governors and military commanders, like Lord Sadato and his father before him, see those places as their personal possessions and not held in trust for the Emperor?”
“No one would dare—” Kenji began, then stopped. “A foolish thing to say. They already have, haven’t they?”
“Yoshitoki and his son Sadato are proof of it. I don’t question Lord Yoshiie’s loyalty, mind,” I said. “But one does have to wonder how deep a particular stream runs. The Minamoto have been fighting the Abe for almost twelve years because the Emperor told them to. He also promised them the military governorship of Mutsu province if they succeed. Do we really wonder which of the two is the greater inducement?”
Kenji took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “If there are greater matters afoot it is even more important we tend our own garden, Lord Yamada. So. What do we do now?”
Yamada Monogatari: The War God's Son Page 5