Yamada Monogatari: The War God's Son

by Richard Parks

  “I know,” I said. “But I do. The revenge I seek is on my own behalf, not yours. I do not claim to be as enlightened a being as I know you are. I am a creature of this world as it is, sister. I want revenge for what has been taken from me.”

  “Brother, I renounced this world over twenty years ago. We have hardly spoken to each other for fifteen of those years. How could I be taken from you, when I was already gone?”

  “But you weren’t,” I said. “At least, not until now.”

  “What difference does death make?” Rie asked. “It is the same.”

  “No. Before Yahiko-ji, I knew you were alive and safe. When I came to the temple, I learned more than that. I learned you were happy and doing what you felt called to do. You cannot imagine what this meant to me, Elder Sister. Renouncing the world is not the same as leaving it, for as I well know the world is far more tenacious than that. The work you were doing might have been in preparation for the next world, but it was done within this one, the one I shared with you. All this is what Lord Tenshin has taken from me.”

  Rie sighed. “And what has Lord Tenshin taken from me? My life, my work, my sister nuns whose deaths I brought about through his direction? I would have added poor Mai-chan and Tomoko-ana as well if he had so ordered. Who has the greater cause for revenge, brother?”

  I didn’t have to think about the question for very long. “You do,” I said.

  “Which I hereby forswear.”

  I almost smiled then. “As I said, sister—I never claimed to be as enlightened as you are.”

  “I am no saint, brother, but I do understand something you do not—a sword of revenge always has two edges, and if one tastes blood, so will the other.”

  “I will take the risk.”

  “I will not,” she said. “Kill me.”

  “I promise, you will be released when Lord Tenshin dies. Until then, the bond between you keeps him weakened. He will do greater evil if he has the chance, and I do not intend to give him that chance.”

  “I am not asking you to spare his life, brother. I am asking you to destroy me now. What Lord Tenshin does then is his affair and on his own head. Deal with him as you see fit. But when the time comes, let there be no connection between myself and Lord Tenshin. Do not tell yourself you take your revenge to earn my release. Release me yourself. Let me go, brother.”

  “T-that is Lord Tenshin speaking,” I said.

  She smiled at me through the gloom, and she didn’t bother to cover it. “Goji-kun, you know this is not true. Whatever part of Rie remains now is speaking to you, and it is your sister who asks this of you—kill me, or rather destroy this thing I have become.”

  “You cannot ask me . . . ”

  “I can,” Rie said. “I do.”

  “I must go,” I said then. I didn’t wait to hear anything else she might say. I stumbled away, not really caring about direction or how far I had walked until I felt a tug at my sleeve.

  “Lord Yamada?”

  It was Taro. I looked up and realized I was near where the horses had been corralled. I even recognized Shiroirei and Neko quietly chewing their fodder. “Don’t worry about what she said to you,” Taro said. “She said many things to me, but I didn’t listen, just as you instructed. Whatever she said to you, it wasn’t real.”

  Yes, it was. That is the problem.

  “You did well, Taro-san,” I said. “I should have taken better heed of my own instructions. Thank you for your concern. I am all right.”

  Which wasn’t true at all. But hope I might eventually be so. “We’re leaving tomorrow, I am told. Is all prepared?”

  “Yes, my lord. I’ve seen to your armor. You’ll need to wear it through the mountain pass.”

  “Why? Do you think the Abe will ambush us there?”

  “No,” he said. “They will not be able to bring enough force to bear. More likely they will contest our passage on the other side. I am told the outlet will be relatively narrow, and thus the Minamoto won’t be able to bring their full force into use. If the Abe can hold the passes, they can delay us for weeks, possibly months, even until winter. This is what I would do.”

  “I’m sure Lord Yoshiie has considered this,” I said.

  “That may be,” Taro said, “but I don’t know what he plans to do about it.”

  Neither did I, but it made an interesting question to ponder while I tried my very best not to think of what Rie had said to me.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  In another week, young Taro’s grasp of tactics was fully validated. When our vanguard reached the end of the mountain passage, they were greeted with a rain of arrows. Six or seven bushi were killed or wounded immediately. While the passage itself was not blocked, the Abe had fortified positions controlling the exit. Lord Yoshiie ordered a halt, and I heard the command echoed up and down the line. It was impossible to retreat quickly, as our column was spread out for some distance through the mountains, and as it was, we were barely out of arrow range ourselves, and every now and then one would skip past our horses’ hooves like a dying hornet.

  Kenji managed to thread his mount through the confusion to where I was. “Is the war over before it even began? How are we supposed to get out of this?”

  “That is a good question. Let us hope our young general knows the answer.”

  Lord Yoshiie seemed completely unconcerned. He gave orders to two of his scouts, who immediately moved forward to positions that, while not out of danger, were out of the direct line of fire of the archers, even though the archers were doing their best to kill them anyway. I could see sparks from the steel arrowheads striking the rocks providing the scouts cover.

  “What are they going to accomplish there?”

  We didn’t have to wait long to find out. Suddenly there was the sound of drums and a great shout from outside the passage. The order was relayed to stand ready for a charge. Then one of the scouts, after a quick look around the rock shielding him, struck sparks to a fire arrow and launched it high over the mouth of the passage.

  “Forward!”

  I didn’t have time to think about what was happening. Our column, narrow as it was, thundered down the last several hundred feet to the passage end, and then we were riding toward what looked like a forest of pointed stakes. Just as I was certain we were about to be impaled, the entire column wheeled to our left, punched through a line of mounted archers before they could nock another arrow, and then fell upon the Abe right flank. I felt a sting at my shoulder and another across my forearm, but I drew my sword and cut down a man trying to spear someone next to me.

  I now had a better idea of the forces arrayed against us and had thus started to wonder why we all hadn’t been killed in the first few seconds of our charge, but a glance toward the Abe left flank gave me my answer. At least half of the opposing force had not been able to concentrate their arrows on us because they were already under attack. I saw bushi bearing the Shibata Clan colors firing into the massed Abe archers who were quickly falling into disarray.

  Where did they come from? I thought, before I remembered the Shibata force which had remained behind. They weren’t to guard the border, as I had first believed; they were to enter Mutsu in enough force to make their way west and then north to meet us upon our entry into the province. It was clear they had taken the Abe by surprise, and their attack was what the scouts were waiting for and what the fire arrow signal had meant.

  I had hoped that Kenji had been sensible and hung back, but I saw him dodging a spearman in order to knock an Abe archer from his saddle. I rode to his side as soon I managed to disentangle myself from a knot of riders that was half Abe, half Kiyohara, though I knocked an Abe bushi from his saddle in the process. I found myself hoping I hadn’t ridden over the man, then remembered this was war and to do so would be a desired outcome. I was still having trouble grasping what I was doing. I had fought for my life on more than one occasion and against multiple opponents, but there was always a more personal element to it. The kill or be kil
led dynamic was the same, but I personally bore no ill will to anyone I was fighting. I wondered if it was the same for them, even as they did their best to kill me.

  I reached Kenji only to have him take a hard swing at my head, which I barely dodged. Even so, his glancing blow made my ears ring. “Stop, you idiot! It’s me!”

  “Lord Yamada? Sorry, I forgot about the armor.”

  “It is fortunate for me I didn’t. What about you? You’re not supposed to be here!”

  Kenji didn’t look happy. “When the order came, I didn’t have much choice! It was either flow with the river or be drowned!”

  “As long as you’re here, let’s find Yoshiie . . . and try to stay alive.”

  “You do the same!”

  It was the place of a general to direct his forces from a secure position, but there was no secure position on that first battlefield. While Lord Yoriyoshi directed forces from the rear, we found Lord Yoshiie in the thick of the fight, surrounded by his personal guard, but even so two arrows were lodged in his armor. He was taking no notice of them that I could tell. Kenji and I joined the perimeter bushi. The greatest danger was arrows, but every now and again a foot soldier or unhorsed bushi would try our line. At first I had thought it reckless for Lord Yoshiie to lead the charge, but now I was starting to understand his strategy. While the Shibata charge had allowed the vanguard to get through, the balance of our forces were still in the passage, leaving us heavily outnumbered, and Lord Yoshiie had made himself a target. Yet the longer he remained alive, and the longer the Abe warriors concentrated on attacking him, the fewer there were to contest the mountain pass. Every minute brought hundreds of Minamoto and Kiyohara bushi through the pass in a flood that showed no signs of abating.

  One of Yoshiie’s guards went down with an arrow piercing his throat. I goaded Kenji’s horse through the gap and then took my place in the defensive circle. One of Yoshiie’s personal attendants ran to my side and handed me a long spear. I could see the advantage, as I really had no room to swing my tachi now, and I sheathed the blade and took up the spear instead. The weapon was unfamiliar, but the principle of it was simple enough—use the pointed end, which I did several times in quick succession. Sweat was running into my eyes now despite the helmet’s padding, and it was getting harder to see. I used a lull to wipe my eyes, and then I realized it wasn’t a lull. The reinforcements streaming through the mountain pass had finally broken the Abe center, and those Abe who had survived were in orderly retreat. Lord Yoshiie immediately called off any pursuit and began to roam the field to arrange his forces in formal battle order while his father led our remaining forces out through the pass. I rode with Lord Yoshiie’s bodyguard while Kenji separated himself to perform priestly duties.

  There was a great deal for Kenji to do in the aftermath, but it had to be done quickly. Lord Yoshiie soon ordered the advance, and we pushed on toward the heart of Mutsu until evening. There was a considerable force of Abe bushi still in our vicinity, but we didn’t stop until Lord Yoshiie and his father found what they considered an adequate defensive position to make camp. I didn’t see Kenji again until nightfall. By then the wagons and servants had caught up. I was relieved to see Taro, leading Rie’s cart. He in turn seemed very relieved Kenji and I had not managed to get ourselves killed but perhaps more so that Shiroirei and Neko had come through unscathed.

  “You’d best have someone look at that arrow, Lord Yamada,” he said as he led our mounts away to be tended.

  Arrow . . . ?

  It wasn’t until I was standing on the ground again that I began to realize just how weary I was and remember I had not come through the battle untouched. I found a campstool and Kenji helped me peel the armor off. When we were ready to remove the chest and back pieces, we realized doing so wouldn’t be possible until the arrow was removed.

  “Brace yourself,” Kenji said, barely giving me time to do anything before he yanked the thing out.

  “Chie . . . !”

  “Language, Lord Yamada.” Kenji held up the arrow. “Fortunately for you it wasn’t the barbed sort, or it would have hurt a lot more.”

  The arrowhead looked like a miniature of my spearhead. There was a bit of blood on it, but only a bit. Kenji lifted the body armor over my head and dropped it unceremoniously on the ground with the arm and leg pieces. I had already removed my helmet.

  “I was too old for this when I started,” I muttered, giving my weariness full rein. The rush of battle was long over, and whatever mixture of excitement and terror that had kept me going until then was quite used up. Kenji examined my wounds. Aside from the arrow in my shoulder, there had been a glancing strike on my left forearm that had drawn blood, but neither was serious. Without the armor it would have been a tale with a different ending.

  “Kenji—” I began, but he interrupted me.

  “Before you say anything, I promise to stay out of the next one if at all possible. I am a priest, and that’s a warrior of a different sort. And you should do the same. You didn’t dishonor yourself by any means, but this is not your element.”

  “I know, but until our business is concluded, it will have to be. Lord Yoshiie remains our priority, with or without magical attacks. Speaking of which, did you see any signs of shikigami back there?”

  “Nothing at all,” Kenji said, “which you must admit is strange, considering the number of warriors assigned to prevent our passage. Clearly Lord Sadato understood the importance of containing us there, and a fight with such a limited tactical goal would have been a natural fit for the use of shikigami . . . if the word ‘natural’ can be used at all when referencing such an unnatural creature.”

  I considered. “Maybe you were right about Lord Sadato. Have we seen any shikigami at all since Akimasa’s archer destroyed that one in crow form?”

  Kenji grunted. “No, but it doesn’t matter if I am right or not,” he said. “The danger from human beings is real enough.”

  I entrusted my armor to the supply wagons, and Taro promised to look after it. Fortunately it needed no patching, so it would be ready for my use whenever required, which I hoped would not be for a while yet.

  “I still have some of Lord Yoshiie’s gift of rice,” Kenji said. “Let’s make a fire and have something to eat.”

  “I like your idea,” I said, but we were immediately interrupted by a messenger in Minamoto colors.

  “Gentlemen, Lord Yoshiie requests you attend him.”

  Kenji and I glanced at each other, but there was nothing to do but follow the messenger back to where Lord Yoshiie was quartered. A maku of cloth bearing a design of the Doves of Hachiman, which Yoshiie sometimes used as a crest, had been erected in a circle near the hilltop, essentially no more than a privacy curtain, and we were ushered inside. As camps went, it was not especially luxurious. There was a pavilion that could possibly keep the rain off, but otherwise the cook fires, pots, and racks of weapons were little different than one would have found in any bushi encampment. I didn’t see Lord Yoriyoshi, but Lord Yoshiie was out of his armor now, which had been stored on a special rack made for it, and I noted bandages on his right arm and chest. Kenji and I presented ourselves and kneeled.

  “You summoned us, my lord?” I said.

  “I did. First I must scold Master Kenji a bit for taking the field, first as a priest and second without proper armor. That was brave, but also both foolish and inappropriate.”

  I was sure Kenji was smiling, or wanted to, but he didn’t raise his head. “My lord, I heartily agree with you. It will not happen again.”

  Lord Yoshiie grunted. “Then we need not speak of it again. As for you, Lord Yamada—thank you.”

  I almost looked up then. “I am your servant, but may I ask what I am being thanked for?”

  “For taking the field, even though it was not your responsibility to do so. For joining my guard when it was necessary to hold the line until the rest of our troops could join us. For deflecting at least one arrow meant for me.”

  I had
absolutely no memory of that last incident, but I had to admit it was quite possible. There had been a lot of arrows.

  “Your life is also my responsibility, my lord, in order for the Emperor’s will to be carried out, but I admit I am no bushi.”

  “Just so,” he said. “Which makes your behavior and effectiveness in today’s engagement all the more surprising. It has yet again been made clear to me that Prince Kanemore did me a great service in securing your involvement in this matter.”

  “I am honored.”

  And I was honored. I was also worried. Lord Yoshiie, whatever else he might have been, was a practical man. If he was praising me now, he certainly meant what he said, but I had the distinct feeling there was more to this than I had yet heard.

  “Gentlemen, please raise yourselves. My father needs rest and has retired early, but you will be dining with me this evening, and there is a matter I would discuss with you.”

  We sat up then and were served by members of Lord Yoshiie’s personal guard, men I had fought beside that day. The fare wasn’t much different than what Kenji and I would have managed on our own—rice, of course, and the added luxury of broiled fish and a bit of radish. There was also rice wine. Kenji shot me a questioning look, which did not go unnoticed by Lord Yoshiie.

  “I have heard something of your reputation, Lord Yamada,” Lord Yoshiie said. “If the wine is inappropriate, I apologize.”

  “Not at all, my lord. It is very true there was a time in my life when I was more likely to be drunk than sober on any given day. Yet it is also true drink was never my master. I had hoped to turn rice wine into a servant and bend its effects to my will. That did not happen, but nothing prevents me from drinking to your continued fortune and good health.”

  I took the cup and drained it with one gulp. The fire in my throat was familiar but faint, almost ghostly. In a moment or two it had faded completely. I set the cup aside. “We are at your disposal. What did you wish to discuss with us?”

  “This does concern both of you, but specifically you, Lord Yamada.” His attendants brought up a low table on which had been placed a map. “Now then. You can see this river here . . . ” Lord Yoshiie indicated the map. “Lord Sadato’s primary castle lies on the Kuriya River just to the north of us. There are smaller hill-forts and such scattered around, but the ones that really matter are located where the Koromo River meets the Kitakami River . . . here, then again where it meets the Kuriya . . . here, and one closer to the headwaters of the Kitakami . . . here.” He touched the points on the map where the locations of the forts had been marked. “Each is well stocked and garrisoned, and the retreating forces from our battle today will likely be used to reinforce all of them. If we attack one at a time, even with such a large force as ours, we risk flanking attacks from the other forts in relief. If we proceed directly to Lord Sadato’s stronghold, we place large and active forces on our rear and right flank. Unacceptable, and Lord Sadato would be a fool not to take advantage. Yet the number of our forces gives us another option—we are going to ignore Lord Sadato’s main fortress and attack all three supporting fortresses at once, with myself and my father keeping a large enough force in reserve to move against Lord Sadato if he attempts to relieve any of them.”