The Initiate Brother Duology

by Russell, Sean

  “They were starved, Sire.”

  “An admirable tactic, but one we don’t have time for.”

  “We must scale the figures to the windows, Lord Shonto,” Shuyun said. “There is no other possibility.”

  “How do you propose this be done?”

  Shuyun bowed quickly, and Shonto suspected he had entered a meditative trance, like the one he had seen at the home of Myochin Ekun. “I have taken the liberty of examining the figures on the cliff, without going close enough to arouse suspicion. The lower section, ten times the height of a man, is impassable, so we must find a way to raise a man above it. Once on the figures, there seem to be cracks and areas of broken stone. It is possible that they could be scaled to one of the lower openings. All must be done in stealth, the guards must be subdued without a sound. If it is accomplished as I have said, it would allow access to the plain inside the Hajiwara defenses.” Shuyun bowed.

  The generals exchanged glances and the senior member, Hojo Masakada, was silently selected as their spokesman. “Sire, it is a bold plan, and one which should receive consideration, but it has some weaknesses. The cliff must be scaled in the dark, which would be very nearly impossible. And if the climbers are detected, any other plans we have would be rendered useless—the Hajiwara will only be caught off guard once. The plan we select must not have so weak a link. And also, there is the matter of the cliff itself; who among us has the skill to climb such a face?”

  “I would climb it, General,” Shuyun said.

  “Not alone, Brother,” Lord Komawara said. “I would climb with you.”

  “Your courage is to be commended, Brother, Lord Komawara—and never to be doubted. But the danger of your failure is not confined to yourselves. All would fall with you.”

  Looking out at the faces before him, Shonto saw resistance, resistance to this new advisor. It will not do, the lord thought. They fear to look less skilled than this new one, this boy-man.

  Shonto turned to his Spiritual Advisor. “Could you climb this cliff, Brother?”

  The monk answered so quietly that all present leaned forward to hear his words. “I am Botahist trained,” he said.

  “Yes,” Shonto said, nodding, “I have seen.”

  He turned back to his generals and spoke quickly. “We must draw the Hajiwara from their defenses and then they must find the Shonto army behind them. We need the cooperation of the Butto—this I’m sure we can achieve. But we must find a way out of Denji Gorge.”

  Shonto rose suddenly, a guard rushing to take up his sword. “I will hear your alternatives to Brother Shuyun’s suggestion when I return.”

  The screen closed behind Lord Shonto and the room returned to perfect silence. The lamps swayed. Water lapped the hull.

  Twenty

  THE MANSION OF Butto Joda sat upon a hill looking west across the slopes that swept down to Denji Gorge. It was not coincidental that this situation also provided a perfect view of the lands of the Hajiwara. The fortifications surrounding the mansion were designed and built to be the strongest and most modern defenses possible, yet aesthetics had not been ignored entirely. The palisades and towers were of the finest local material and constructed in the sweeping style of the Mori period.

  Kamu mounted the steps to the high tower, accompanied by Butto guards. Much negotiation had preceded this meeting with Butto Joda, the younger son of Lord Butto Taga, for Kamu had insisted that the meeting take place in privacy, away from the prying eyes of Joda’s older brother.

  A day had been lost in these arrangements, and Kamu knew he had no more time to lose. The bait must be offered and the Butto must take it without delay. Outwardly, Kamu maintained the serenity one would expect from a warrior who had seen many battles, yet this was a serenity that did not come from within. So much depended on this meeting—everything, in fact.

  At the top of the stairway, guards flanked large painted screens depicting the Butto armies in victory over their rivals. The guards bowed low, showing respect to the representative of the great Lord Shonto Motoru, but also honoring the famous warrior, Tenge Kamu.

  The screens slid aside, revealing Lord Butto Joda, sitting on a dais at the end of an audience chamber of modest proportion. Entering the room, Kamu knelt and bowed respectfully. The lord nodded, and Kamu was again surprised by his youthful appearance. Even Lord Komawara seemed older than this pup, yet Butto Joda was not to be taken lightly. For three years, he had directed the battles against the Hajiwara, and the Hajiwara House was headed by a man twice his age.

  “It is an honor to receive you again so soon, Kamu-sum. I have looked forward to this private discussion with great anticipation. Tell me, has your lord’s condition improved?”

  “I thank you for your words, as does my lord’s House. Lord Shonto recovers quickly and sends his regrets that he cannot meet with you in person. It was his wish that he could pay his respects to his old friend, your honored father. May I enquire after his well-being?”

  “The Lord Butto will be most pleased to hear of your kind concern. He grows stronger and I hope he will soon take his place in our councils again—a place I hold by his wish, until his recovery.” Polite enquiry followed polite enquiry until the host deemed it proper to discuss other matters. “Is there some issue that Lord Shonto has instructed you to convey to my father? If there is, I would be pleased to be the bearer of such information.”

  “You are most perceptive, Lord Butto, for indeed my lord wishes to ask the boon of advice in a matter which he deems most sensitive”

  “Please, Kamu-sum, it would be our honor to comply, though it is difficult for me to imagine a lord as famed for wisdom as Lord Shonto requiring our humble counsel. Please go on.”

  “As I have said, it is a matter of great sensitivity, and Lord Shonto would not speak of it if it were not of present importance.” Kamu stopped as if what he was about to say was terribly embarrassing to him. “The problem my lord wishes your opinion on has arisen in his dealings with your close neighbors, the House of Hajiwara.”

  “Ah,” the youthful lord said as though he were surprised but understood.

  “I am not sure how best to explain this, Lord Butto, I don’t wish my words to reflect badly upon a family you have, no doubt, been associated with for generations.”

  “I understand, Kamu-sum, but the Shonto are also our friends, please…speak as though you were in your own chambers.”

  Kamu bowed in thanks. “I am honored that you think of the Shonto as your friends, for so Lord Shonto regards the Butto.” Kamu smiled warmly at the boy before him. Oh, he is bright, the warrior thought. No more than eighteen years old, and listen to the way he speaks! In ten years he will be a force to be reckoned with. “It has become apparent, in our short time here, that the Hajiwara have arrogated onto themselves powers that are the strict and exclusive domain of our revered Emperor. I hardly need to describe these to you, Lord Butto, for it is obvious that the Hajiwara control, for their own benefit, the traffic of the Imperial Waterway. As a representative of the Throne, Lord Shonto is most concerned by this situation.”

  The young lord nodded as Kamu spoke, a look of grave concern on his face. “For this very reason, and others also, my own House has been at odds with the Hajiwara for some length of time. In fact, I will tell you as one friend to another, this is only the most recent of a long history of such actions by the Hajiwara.”

  “Ah, Lord Butto, do you then share Lord Shonto’s concern for this situation?”

  “I hesitate to speak for my esteemed father, but I think I may say that this situation has been an insult to many Houses in this province that are loyal to the Son of Heaven, rather than to their own profit.”

  “What of the governor, then?”

  Butta Joda laughed aloud. “Pardon my outburst, Kamu-sum. As you no doubt are aware, the Governor of Itsa Province is Lord Hajiwara’s son-in-law, and loyal to the intentions of his wife’s father.” He said this with a trace of bitterness.

  “I would not say this else
where, Lord Butto, but the Emperor has not paid close enough attention to your difficulties in Itsa.”

  The young lord nodded, but said nothing.

  Kamu hesitated before speaking again. “It seems that a representative of the Throne should deal with this problem, and soon.” He watched Butto’s expression carefully as he said this.

  The youth did not hesitate. “How could this be done, Kamu-sum?”

  Yes, the old warrior thought, he is interested, but is he brave enough? “It is the opinion of some members of Lord Shonto’s council that the actions of the Hajiwara are outside of the laws of Wa and therefore subject to sanction. As the governor of the province, the Imperial representative has broken his oath of duty to allow his wife’s family to disregard the edicts that govern the canal, it may be necessary for another to enforce those laws in his place.”

  “What you say is wise, Kamu-sum, but the governor is still, despite all, the representative of the Throne. To oppose him is to defy the Emperor.”

  “This is true, Lord Butto, but it is not necessary to oppose the governor. To do his proper duty for him, that is what I suggest. I would also suggest that another Imperial representative could take the initiative in this, thus making it clear to the Son of Heaven that this was not merely a jealousy between rival Houses.”

  “What you say would, no doubt, be of interest to my father, but before I approach him with your words, I cannot help but wonder where such a willing representative of the Throne could be found. The only person in Itsa with such a title is Lord Shonto, and is his fleet not trapped in the Denji Gorge by the very family we discuss?”

  “Lord Shonto is an Imperial Governor; he may go where he pleases.”

  “Ah. Then I have misunderstood. I was under the impression that the Hajiwara…hindered Lord Shonto in his progress north.”

  Kamu touched his hand to his chin, considering these words carefully. “Hindered would seem a good description, Lord Butto, yes, but my lord is a most resourceful man and has found a way out of this predicament.”

  “This I am most happy to hear. Will he go on his way soon?”

  “Not,” Kamu said, “until he has dealt with this situation to his satisfaction.”

  “May I ask how Lord Shonto will accomplish this? I have lived beside Denji Gorge all of my life, and I confess I don’t know how this could be done.”

  Kamu folded his hand in his lap. “It has been said that if one separates true lovers, they will find a way to surmount all difficulties that hold them apart. My lord is like this—there is no difficulty he cannot surmount.”

  The young man broke into a boyish smile. “The Butto are fortunate to have such a friend. My father is a loyal subject of the Emperor and willing to help his delegates in any way. Is there some specific task the Butto could perform that I may discuss with my father?”

  “It is kind of you to enquire. There is something you could do which would be a great service to the Son of Heaven….”

  Twenty-one

  THE CHAIR HOJO Masakada rode in had once belonged to Chakao Isha, a famous general of the Dono Dynasty. Chakao Isha had been a forebear of the House of Hajiwara, so it was a great honor that they carried the emissary of Lord Shonto in such state.

  Hojo Masakada thought it unfortunate that the Isha blood had been wed to, and finally found its end in, this House. He looked around at the green-liveried Hajiwara guards that accompanied him and could not tell that they were not farmers in costume.

  They are a minor House in a small province, he told himself, and little different from any other in the same position. I must not forget that, at the moment, they have power over us.

  The procession proceeded along a narrow road that led under long rows of peach trees. The sun cast the shadows of the almost bare, twisted branches onto the white gravel of the road, so that it appeared his bearers walked through a dark and tangled pattern.

  Behind General Hojo came thirty Shonto guards in full armor and the blue livery of their House. It was a small retinue for such an occasion, but it had been calculated to appear so—an admission of the circumstances in which the Shonto found themselves.

  Walls appeared at the end of the corridor of trees, the walls of a fortress, granite, like the walls that formed the famous gorge. As he drew closer, the general could see that it was a typical fortified dwelling of the country type, surrounded by a wide moat—though it appeared that this moat was not purely decorative. Unlike most other dwellings of its kind, this one was accessible only by drawbridge. It said much when a lord’s home, only seven days’ journey from the capital, had need of such defenses.

  Hajiwara guards knelt in rows along either side of the wooden bridge as the procession passed, bowing carefully. The general wondered if the description he had read of Lord Hajiwara Harita would match the man he was about to meet. Shonto intelligence was seldom wrong, but when it came to men, Hojo liked to make his own assessments.

  The Hajiwara steward received the Shonto emissary in the most formal manner. “General Hojo, my lord welcomes you to his house. His family is honored to receive you. Do you wish to refresh yourself before your audience?”

  Audience? Hojo asked himself. Does this country lord think he sits on a throne? “I am honored that your lord receives me. The journey has been short, and I do not wish to detain your lord. If it is convenient, I would meet with him as soon as possible.”

  The steward bowed and the Shonto general was led up a wide flight of stone steps and through a gate. The garden they entered was of the middle Botahist period, sparsely planted, with large expanses of raked gravel broken by careful arrangements of stones—a type of garden once thought to be ideal for meditation. Behind a sculpted pine tree was a small summerhouse, and, as they rounded it, General Hojo could see, sitting inside, the large figure of the Hajiwara Lord. Hojo Masakada bowed to him and in return received a nod.

  So it begins, the general thought, and entered the summerhouse.

  The lord who sat before him had seen perhaps thirty-five summers, yet his face was lined like a much older man’s. His hands, too, seemed to show more age—the large, tanned hands of a veteran campaigner. Yet, in contrast to this, he wore a robe of the latest and most elaborate fashion which, General Hojo thought, looked entirely out of place on the man’s immense frame.

  The lord welcomed him in a slow, deep tone, enquiring into the health of Lord Shonto. Cha was served and the two warriors discussed the unseasonal weather and the hunting in Itsa Province.

  When the cha was gone, and the stories of hunting exhausted, Lord Hajiwara said, “I look forward to a meeting with Lord Shonto upon his recovery. I’m sure it is out of the question to move him while he is ill.”

  “My lord has instructed me to discuss this with you, Sire. He feels the need to continue on his way as soon as possible. He has a duty to the Emperor that cannot be ignored.”

  “Lord Shonto must not let duty endanger his health. It would be better for the people of Seh if their new governor would arrive with all of his strength. I’m sure the Son of Heaven would agree. Let us not speak of it any more.”

  The general almost smiled at this. Yes, my friend, he thought, you will have few surprises for us. “I am sure my liege-lord will be most grateful for your concern. He, too, has expressed concern for your own position, Lord Hajiwara.”

  The lord raised his eyebrows. “Pardon me, General—my position?”

  “Your military situation, Sire. All of your efforts brought to a standstill, as they have been.”

  “Perhaps Lord Shonto is not truly aware of the situation, General, having only recently come to Itsa,” the lord said, mustering all possible dignity.

  Immediately, Hojo looked contrite. “I’m certain that is the case, Lord Hajiwara. It is never good to listen to the gossip around the Imperial Palace. I’m sure your position is not understood in the capital.”

  “They speak of my position in the capital?” The large man flushed now.

  “Sire, I’m sorry to have m
entioned it. You know the gossip that one hears from idle courtiers and Imperial functionaries,” the general paused, “and ministers and generals.”

  The lord’s eyes went wide. “What is it they say, General Hojo?”

  “Pardon me, Sire, I do not believe what they say for a moment but…in the capital they say you are being mastered by a boy.”

  “What!” The lord wheeled on his guest, knocking the cups from the table. “Who dares say this? Who?”

  The general began picking up the cha service hurriedly, all the while shaking his head. “Please Sire, pay no attention to this. These Imperial Guards know nothing of what happens in the provinces, truly.”

  The lord smashed his fist on the table. “Guardsmen! How dare they speak thus of me!”

  Hojo observed every minute detail of the lord’s reaction, just as Lord Shonto had instructed him. Hajiwara had responded to the mention of Imperial Guards just as Shonto had thought he would. Interesting.

  “It is a despicable situation, Lord Hajiwara, and one my lord is equally offended by. So offended, in fact, that he has instructed me to relate a proposal that he believes would change your position entirely.”

  The lord sat upright, straightening his robe. “I do not need Lord Shonto’s assistance.” But then Hojo’s words seemed to register. “What do you mean, change my position?”

  “Well, if I have not been misinformed, have not the Butto established a fortress on your own fief, a fortress that has been there for several years? Has not your offensive been thwarted—for some time now, I believe. As a warrior, of course, I understand that these are only appearances, but others who are less well trained….” The general gestured with an open hand. “Lord Shonto was only hoping to assist in a small way in your efforts against the arrogant Butto. Our passage through the Butto locks was hardly arranged with the honor due to an Imperial Governor! I see that it must be a constant insult to have to deal with this House headed by a boy.”

  “Huh! This will not continue. The Hajiwara will triumph!”