The Emperor of Nihon-Ja

by John Flanagan

  ‘In oars!’ Gundar yelled. Water cascaded down over the rowers as they raised their oars to the vertical, then lowered them and stowed them. The ship was coming into the mole at an angle, her bow pointing at the middle of the gap left between two other ships. Gundar, intent on his task, eased the tiller to the right and the bow swung to port.

  ‘Stern line!’ he called and the sailor beside him sent the mooring line curling high into the air to land on the mole. Instantly, three shore men seized it and began hauling on it. The ship’s stern swung into the pier and they took a turn around a wooden bollard, checking her way as they heaved on it, allowing the rope to run increasingly slowly.

  ‘Bow line away!’ Gundar called. The second rope sailed in a high parabola, and was hauled in in its turn. The ship had lost all forward way now and was sliding sideways through the water towards the pier. Four of the starboard-side rowers tossed wicker fenders over the bulwark, letting them hang down to protect the ship’s planking from the rough stone of the mole.

  The fenders creaked a protest as Wolfwill made contact with the land, the sound gradually diminishing to a few low squeaks as she stopped moving. Two of the ship’s crew sprang ashore and supervised the fastening of the mooring lines. Gundar never trusted local shore idlers to carry out that task. He let go a deep breath and turned to his expectant passengers.

  ‘Well,’ he said, ‘here we are.’

  Shukin found a suitable spot for his plan midway through the following morning.

  They had descended a deep valley between two massive ridges, and a fast-running river ran through the lowest point. The trail they were following led to a shallow ford, wide enough for only two men to cross at a time. On the upstream side of the ford, the river tumbled down a steep, rocky cliff. Downstream was a deep, wide pool. Either side, the banks were sheer and steep. Shukin paused as he surveyed the site, waiting for the last of the Kikori to cross. They waded through the water with difficulty – the shallow water of the ford made the river run even more quickly.

  ‘A few men could hold this for hours,’ he said. ‘Arisaka’s men can only come at us two at a time.’

  Horace surveyed the spot quickly. ‘Those high banks upstream and downstream will stop them coming ashore there. You’re right. This is the only point where they can cross. The only danger is if there’s another ford somewhere downstream, where they could get across and flank your position.’

  ‘Even if there is, the trees are too thick for them to move downstream quickly. No, this is where they’ll have to cross.’

  Shigeru was nodding. ‘Besides, it’s not in Arisaka’s nature to look for an alternative crossing,’ he said. ‘He’ll want to try to bull his way across the river here. He’s not renowned for subtlety and he has little regard for the lives of his men.’

  ‘That’s what I was thinking,’ Shukin said.

  ‘We could reinforce this side with stakes driven into the sand on either side of the ford,’ Horace said. ‘That’d make sure they have to cross on a narrow front.’

  ‘Good idea,’ Shukin said. He glanced around, saw Eiko watching them and passed on instructions for some of the Kikori to cut and sharpen stakes from the trees and hammer them into the ground, set at an angle and jutting out over the river’s surface. Immediately, a dozen men set about the task.

  ‘Helps to have skilled timber workers with you,’ Horace said with a small grin.

  ‘So, cousin,’ Shigeru said, choosing his words carefully, ‘your plan is to leave a small party of men here to hold the ford and delay Arisaka’s army as long as possible?’

  But Shukin was shaking his head before Shigeru finished speaking – as the Emperor had suspected he would be.

  ‘I’m not leaving a party of men here,’ he said. ‘I’m staying with them. I can’t ask them to do this unless I’m willing to share the danger with them.’

  ‘Shukin, I need you with me,’ Shigeru said quietly. But Shukin’s face had a determined set to it and Horace could see that his mind was made up.

  ‘My task is to make sure you’re safe,’ he said. ‘The best way I can do that is to delay Arisaka’s men and give you a chance to reach the fortress at Ran-Koshi. You’ll be safe there once the snows come.’

  ‘And in spring?’ Shigeru asked. ‘Do you think I won’t need you then?’

  ‘By that time, a lot of things may have happened. Believe me, Shigeru, I’ve thought about this and this is the best way I can serve you. Besides, once we’ve delayed them long enough, we can slip away into the trees and rejoin you later.’

  The fact that he used Shigeru’s name and neither a formal or informal title was proof of the depth of his conviction. And the pretence that he and his men could escape through the trees fooled nobody.

  Shigeru continued to regard him sadly. ‘At least half a dozen other warriors would be willing to command this rearguard,’ he said. ‘I understand that your personal sense of honour might lead you to do it. But there’s more than your honour at stake.’

  ‘That’s true. And I’m not doing this from any misguided sense of honour. But what do you imagine will happen here?’

  Shigeru shrugged. ‘Arisaka’s men will try to cross. You and your men will repel them. They’ll try again. Eventually, they will make it across. You can’t hold them back forever.’

  ‘That’s right,’ Shukin said. ‘And unfortunately, the advantage this position gives us is also a disadvantage. They can only attack us two at a time but, by the same token, only two of us can face them at any one time. So it’s important that the men defending the ford are our best warriors. Do you know anyone in our group who could best me with a sword?’

  Shigeru went to answer, hesitated, then dropped his eyes as he realised that Shukin wasn’t boasting. He was speaking the simple truth.

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘You’re the best we have.’

  ‘Exactly. And so I have the best chance of holding off Arisaka’s men for the longest period.’

  ‘Eventually, of course, Arisaka will realise this. He’ll send his best warriors to face you and, if necessary, he’ll come at you himself,’ Shigeru said.

  Shukin allowed himself a grim smile. ‘And that might solve the entire problem.’

  Shigeru said nothing. They both knew that, as fine a warrior as Shukin might be, Arisaka was one of the best swordsmen in Nihon-Ja. In a one-on-one battle, the odds were vastly in his favour.

  ‘I’ll stay with you,’ Horace said suddenly, breaking the silence. But both his friends shook their heads.

  ‘I can’t ask that,’ Shigeru said. ‘It’s bad enough that my cousin is ready to do this. I can’t ask an outsider to sacrifice himself as well.’

  ‘And besides, Kurokuma, I’m depending on you to advise Lord Shigeru in my absence,’ Shukin told him. ‘He needs an experienced soldier standing beside him. I can see now why you were sent to us. I can command this rearguard with a much clearer mind if I know the Emperor will have your experience and knowledge to call on. You can serve him in my place. That will be worth more to me than having another sword to help me.’

  Horace drew breath to argue but Shigeru laid a hand on his forearm.

  ‘Shukin is right, Or’ss-san,’ he said, foregoing the use of the Horace’s joking nickname. ‘I’ll need all the help I can get.’

  After a few seconds, Horace capitulated. He nodded sadly, eyes cast down to the ground.

  ‘Very well.’ He looked up and met Shukin’s gaze. ‘You can depend on me,’ he said simply and the Senshi leader nodded.

  ‘I know that, Or’ss-san.’

  Horace looked around for some way to break the awkward silence that fell over them.

  ‘Keep some of those sharpened stakes and have your unengaged warriors use them as pikes,’ he said. ‘You can stop some of Arisaka’s men before they reach the bank.’

  Shukin nodded, recognising a good idea.

  ‘You see?’ he said, smiling. ‘This is why I want you to stay with Shigeru.’

  ‘Just don’t let you
r ideas of honour get in the way. Stop Arisaka any way you can. All right?’

  ‘You have my word. Now give me your hand, Or’ss-san. It’s been a pleasure knowing you.’ All pretence that Shukin and his men might escape from the ambush site was now abandoned. Horace gripped his hand and Shukin embraced him around the shoulders with his left arm.

  ‘There’s a gift for you in my pack,’ Shukin told him. ‘It’s wrapped in yellow oilcloth. Something for you to remember me by.’

  ‘I don’t need any gift to remember you. Take care, Shukin.’

  As he said the words and stepped back, Horace realised how ridiculous they were. But Shukin merely smiled. Then he embraced Shigeru. The two men moved a few paces away from Horace and he turned away to give them a moment of privacy. They spoke softly in their own language. Shukin dropped to one knee, his head bowed, and Shigeru placed his right hand on his cousin’s head in benediction.

  Then the private moment was over. Shukin rose to his feet and briskly called the names of half a dozen of the Senshi. They stepped forward as he called them.

  ‘We’re staying here to swat these annoying mosquitoes who are following us,’ he told them and they all smiled, then made stiff little bows towards Shigeru. No calling for volunteers, Horace noted. These men were all volunteers anyway.

  ‘Now, cousin, you had best get on the move. You need to be at that bridge before Arisaka finds another way across the river.’ Shukin had returned to the pretence that they would stop Arisaka permanently at this spot.

  Shigeru nodded and turned away. Horace, after a moment’s hesitation, followed him and they began the long, difficult slog up the next ridge.

  Behind them, Horace could hear Shukin issuing instructions to his small party, pairing them off in teams of two.

  The ridge they were climbing was one of the highest and steepest so far. The track was cut into its side in a series of switchbacks, so that they continually reversed direction and passed above the spot where Shukin waited to meet their pursuers – each time a little higher. Occasionally, in places where the trees cleared, they could see the small figures by the ford quite clearly. Shukin had despatched one of his men to the far side of the ford, sending him several hundred metres back up the track to give warning of the approach of Arisaka’s men. The others sat on the grass beside the ford, resting. Their weapons were kept close to hand, however. Once, Shukin looked up as they passed a clear spot and waved to them.

  Reito, as the senior surviving adviser of Shigeru’s bodyguard, had taken command of the column and kept pushing the pace as they wound slowly upwards, zigzagging back and forth along the face of the ridge. They were two-thirds of the way up, and had just reached another switchback in the trail, when one of the Kikori let out a warning cry, pointing across the valley to the ridge opposite.

  Horace stopped, leaning heavily on the staff he had cut to help him keep his footing on the steep, muddy trail. The rain misted down, preventing the track from ever drying out. It came and went in waves, alternatively shrouding them in mist, then passing so that they could see clearly across the valley. One such shower had just gone over and now the air was clear again. He looked across the valley as the Kikori pointed and saw movement on the mountain-side opposite.

  Tiny figures were making their way down the track.

  ‘Arisaka,’ he said quietly. This was no advance party. There were several hundred warriors and they were moving at a brisk pace. Halfway along the column he could see banners waving in the brisk mountain wind. That would be the command party, he thought. Arisaka himself was probably there. He squinted, straining to see if he could make out the enemy leader, but it was impossible to pick out an individual from the group. Even if he could have done so, the distance was too great to make out any detail.

  The Kikori had come to a halt, watching the pursuing army nervously. In a straight line across the valley, they were less than a kilometre away – although the distance they would have to travel to catch up was many times that. But it was unnerving to see them so close.

  He caught Reito’s eye and gestured to the opposite ridge.

  ‘They’re moving fast,’ he said. ‘Faster than we are.’

  Reito nodded. ‘They don’t have wounded to carry with them,’ he said. ‘Lord Shukin will slow them down,’ he added confidently.

  ‘Maybe,’ Horace said. He wondered how much time Shukin would be able to buy them. ‘But let’s keep moving anyway.’

  Reito turned away and shouted an order. The column began to move again, slipping and sliding in the mud. Those at the rear had the hardest time, as the surface of the track was churned by hundreds of feet before them. Eyes were turned towards the far ridge as they continued upwards. But then the trees blocked it from sight. Horace wasn’t sure which he preferred. Seeing how close the enemy were might be an unnerving experience, but not seeing them, yet knowing they were there, seemed worse somehow.

  Reito called a ten-minute rest stop and ordered a change of stretcher bearers. Those who had been carrying the wounded set their burdens down gratefully and fresh bearers came to take over the load. The rest period seemed to pass in an instant and Reito had them on the move again. He moved up and down the column, sometimes chivvying the weary travellers to greater efforts, sometimes joking and encouraging them as the situation seemed to demand. Horace thought wearily that Reito, with all his back and forth movement along the column, was covering twice as much ground as the rest of them.

  They were close to the top of the ridge when Shigeru pointed to a rocky outcrop, where a gap in the trees afforded a clear sight of the valley. As the group of Kikori and Senshi toiled upwards, he and Horace clambered onto the rocks and looked down.

  The ford was below them. On the far side, Arisaka’s men were massed. A small group of warriors was struggling across the river, waist deep in the swift water, to attack the defenders. It was obviously not the first attack. Several bodies were slumped over the hedge of sharpened stakes that had been driven into the ground of the river bank. More were visible, drifting slowly downstream in the deeper water below the ford. The river itself was streaked with red ribbons of blood.

  Horace looked carefully but he could see only four defenders on the near side of the bank. He heaved a sigh of relief as he made out Shukin’s blue-lacquered leather armour. The Senshi leader was positioned now to meet the next attack. One of his men stood beside him, sword drawn. The others crouched behind them, each armed with a long, sharpened stake. As the attackers came within range, they thrust forward at the leading men. One of the attackers was knocked off balance and fell, to be swept away into the deep water beside the ford. Another swept his sword at the probing stake and shattered it. Instantly, the defender withdrew, leaving Shukin and his companion room to fight at close quarters.

  Swords flashed in the dim shadows of the valley. The sound of steel ringing on steel carried faintly to them, but it was delayed by the distance and out of time with the actions of the men below, making Horace feel strangely disoriented.

  Five of the enemy fell in the first rapid exchanges, Shukin accounting for three of them, and the other attackers drew back to the middle of the stream to regroup. But now Horace could see that Shukin’s companion had sunk to his knees as well. One of the others tossed aside his stake, drew his sword and stepped up beside Shukin. The injured man crawled back to the bank. He managed to creep a few metres away from the ford, then lay still.

  Shigeru touched his hand to Horace’s arm.

  ‘Look,’ he said, pointing.

  On the far side of the ford, a figure was striding purposefully into the water. He was flanked by at least ten warriors and he wore brilliant, vermilion-coloured armour.

  ‘Arisaka?’ Horace asked, although he already thought he knew the answer.

  Shigeru nodded gravely. ‘Apparently he thinks Shukin has delayed them long enough.’

  Horace looked at his friend. Shigeru’s face, normally so enigmatic and composed, was drawn with worry.

  ‘Do
es Shukin have any chance against Arisaka?’ he asked.

  Slowly, the Emperor shook his head. ‘No.’

  The latest attack was taking shape now. The ten men with Arisaka crowded forward, slashing and stabbing, in a compact mass. Shukin and his companion met them, cutting at them so that men reeled away in pain or fell and lay still in the river. But sheer weight of numbers was pushing the defenders back. The attackers had managed to gain a foothold on the bank now, inside the hedge of sharpened stakes. Most of them were concentrating their efforts on Shukin’s assistant. Shukin launched himself in a flank attack on the knot of fighting men, and two fell in quick succession. But he had to turn aside to do it and that left him vulnerable. Suddenly, the vermilion-armoured figure charged forward, shoving some of his own men aside, and Shukin found himself flanked. He turned to face Arisaka, parried the general’s blade and cut backwards with his own. Arisaka recoiled.

  ‘He cut him!’ Horace called excitedly. His hand gripped Shigeru’s shoulder. But the Emperor shook his head.

  ‘Not badly,’ he said and Horace saw he was right. Arisaka was advancing again and Shukin was forced back by the wheeling circle of light formed by Arisaka’s blade.

  ‘Be careful, Shukin! Remember he will…Aaaah!’

  The cry of despair was torn from Shigeru as Arisaka launched a sudden, confusing attack. He struck two blindingly fast blows at Shukin, from the left and the right, swinging in a high downward stroke each time and wheeling in a full circle to give his sword extra force and momentum. As Shukin parried desperately, Arisaka pirouetted for a third strike, and Shukin’s blade went up defensively again. But this time, the anticipated blow never came. Instead, as he was halfway through his turn, Arisaka reversed his grip on the sword and delivered a lightning-fast backward thrust. Caught by surprise, Shigeru’s cousin staggered to one side, his sword falling from his hand. He doubled over in agony and fell to one knee.