The Flood Dragon's Sacrifice Page 31

  Kai reached out to take it and opened the lid; there inside shimmered both sacred Tide Jewels, each with its inner soul flame burning at the heart.

  “Thank you, Takanaga no Masao,” he said. He held up the casket for all the clan to see. “Here they are at last: the imperial Tide Jewels.”

  As the sunlight glinted on the sacred pearls, he heard the awed whispers of his clan. People have given their lives to save these treasures. Is anyone wondering, just as I am, in the secrecy of their own heart, ‘Were they really worth so much sacrifice?’

  Naoki was rubbing the red weals on his arms where the shackles had chafed the skin. “Masao,” Kai heard him say in a low voice to the young shinobi, “what have you done?”

  “I’ve come for you, my lord,” Masao said, raising his head to gaze steadily at his master. “I’m sorry that it’s taken me so long.”

  “General,” Kai said, aware that the seal on his wrist had begun to radiate a brilliant glimmer of its own, “please give the order to let Lord Naoki and his retainer go free.”

  Tachibana hesitated. Then he slowly lowered his blade. As he did so, Rikyu signaled to the archers and they lowered their bows. “Open the gates!” Tachibana cried.

  “Just before you leave us, Lord Naoki.” A woman’s voice, clear and commanding, rang out. Kai recognized his mother’s authoritative tones and, turning, saw to his surprise that she had appeared at the window of the main tower. “Do we have your word that your father will call off the siege? And leave our shores with his war fleet?”

  “I cannot answer for my father, your highness,” said Naoki, and there was an exaggerated formality about the way he addressed Princess Asagao that grated on Kai’s ears, “but I will point out to him the futility of continuing the siege now that the hostage has been set free.”

  As Naoki walked out of the main gateway, Masao following protectively a pace or two behind, Kai saw him shrug, then straighten his shoulders, as if casting off a heavy cloak.

  “Follow them,” Tachibana murmured to two of the Crane shinobi, “but make sure you’re not seen.”

  Why waste the effort? Kai wondered. Our Cranes will never be able to move fast enough to catch two swift Kites.

  He looked down at the radiant Tide Jewels.

  Now I know the real truth: my life – as well as Naoki’s – is inextricably bound to these enchanted pearls.

  ***

  Masao wanted to throw his arms around Naoki and hug him. As they walked free from the Cranes’ stronghold, he felt nothing but a glow of relief suffusing his whole body. Yet there was something about Naoki’s silence that disturbed him. Was he still angry with him for abandoning him at the monastery? Or was something else troubling him?

  Is he still under Prince Hotaru’s influence?

  As they walked on, feet crunching over dry pine needles as they passed between the first trees that lay beyond the compound, Masao’s sense of triumph was fast draining from him, leaving him confused and ill at ease.

  “My father sent you?” Naoki did not even meet his eyes as he spoke, staring at some unseen fixed point ahead.

  “No,” Masao admitted.

  Naoki stopped and turned around. “Are you out of your mind?” His eyes blazed. “If you go back to camp now, he’ll have you executed for treason. He’ll see this as nothing but another defeat.”

  “I was out of my mind.” What was the point in pretending he didn’t know about Naoki’s conspiracy? “But, thanks to Yūgiri Hisui, I’m no longer under Prince Hotaru’s control. I’m not so sure I can say the same about you, Nao-kun.”

  “I’ve no idea what you’re babbling about,” Naoki snapped. “And don’t talk down to me.”

  Masao passed a hand over his face, unable to come to terms with Naoki’s hostile response. I wasn’t expecting gratitude, but this coldness is hard to bear. Doesn’t he realize how close he was to death? “But the Cranes were planning to execute you tonight,” he said.

  “Listen to me.” Naoki grabbed Masao’s tunic, pulling his face close to his own. “Why have I had to go through all this only to walk out of Castle Kurozuro with nothing to show for my pains?”

  “Nothing?” Masao, his eyes seared by Naoki’s hot breath, felt a righteous anger well up within him. “Is your life worth nothing? And the lives of all our clansmen who died trying to free you? What’s happened to you, Naoki? If this is the kind of man you’ve become, then I don’t want to be your retainer any longer.”

  Naoki lashed out. Hard. Masao felt his jaw and cheekbone judder with the force of the blow as Naoki’s knuckles powered into the side of his face. Taken by surprise, he staggered, crashing back against a thick pine trunk, ears ringing and eyes watering.

  “You believed I’d plead with my father for your life? Why do you think he’ll pay any attention to me? I’m still only his second son. Why else would he have made me a Tide Dragon Sacrifice?” Naoki yelled, thrusting his left wrist in front of Masao’s face.

  Through a watery haze, Masao saw that the Tide Dragon seal on Naoki’s skin was glowing, the jewel-bright colors on the curled dragon tattoo glowing as if lit from within. Somewhere at the back of his mind, Masao understood that Naoki was giving vent to a long-festering bitterness. But as he tasted blood from his split lip and tongue, he was no longer in the mood to be sympathetic. He wiped the blood away with the back of his hand and pushed himself up again. He was so enraged that he could hardly feel the throb of the bruised flesh. He lurched toward Naoki, trying to keep his balance even though the dappled light filtering through the branches was wavering before his eyes.

  “You’re still under his control. Aren’t you?” He reached out for Naoki, clamping his hands tightly around his shoulders and pulling him toward him. He felt Naoki flinch as his fingers connected with the half-healed arrow wound, but he didn’t care. He wanted to look his young lord directly in the eyes and see if he could detect any trace of the prince’s mind-controlling spell.

  “Fuck you, Masao, let me go!” Naoki fought back, hurling obscenities at him. But Masao had always been the stronger of the two, and as he shoved Naoki back against a tree trunk he caught hold of his chin, forcing his lord to look up into his face. If he could detect even the slightest trace of the onmyōji’s mindspell, he knew that he could forgive him. Yet all he could see burning in Naoki’s dark eyes was fury and outrage.

  “What’s the point of going back if I haven’t got the jewels?” Naoki spat at him. “Do you really want to spend the rest of your life as an exile on that miserable, fog-ridden island? Don’t you understand? Prince Hotaru promised me he would restore our lands and exile the Cranes. The Tide Jewels were a small price to pay for our freedom.”

  “He made us commit treason.” Masao heard his own voice shaking; he was finding it hard not to beat some sense into Naoki. He felt doubly betrayed now that he had heard Naoki openly admit that he was in league with the prince; but what really enraged him was that he had unknowingly been coerced into Hotaru’s conspiracy. “How could you do that, Naoki? You dishonored your name. And mine.”

  “So you’re willing to blindly ignore the testament of the Crane who set fire to our home? Who killed my mother – and yours?”

  “How can you trust any evidence the prince has provided? If he can control me with his magic, then it can’t be so hard to control others too. Even you, Naoki.”

  “No.” He could feel Naoki trembling even as he restrained him. “This can’t all have been for nothing. I’m not going to give up now. Not when I came so close…” Had the time Naoki spent as the Cranes’ prisoner disturbed the balance of his mind? Had they tortured him? Masao slowly relaxed his grip on Naoki and stepped back a pace.

  “There’s still time,” he heard Naoki saying. “The Cranes will be eager to try to deliver the jewels back to the monastery as soon as possible. All we have to do is keep watch and ambush them.”

  A sudden shiver of Shadow wings.

  Chikaaki and Yoriaki appeared, alighting on either side of Masao. Chikaaki�
�s hand clamped around his sword arm, gripping him so tightly that he couldn’t draw to defend himself. A chill sliver of steel kissed the skin of his throat. “Don’t move,” whispered the shinobi in his ear. Masao stood still. It was far too late to escape. How could I be so oblivious? He cursed himself for giving vent to his feelings and forgetting to keep watch. But he had been so taken aback by Naoki’s fury that he had let his guard slip.

  “Lord Naoki?” Yoriaki knelt down. Masao could not see his face but he could tell from his tone that the imperturbable shinobi master was genuinely surprised. “You escaped the castle?”

  “Masao set me free.” Naoki’s voice was expressionless.

  A look passed between Yoriaki and Chikaaki. “We must get you to your father before the Cranes change their minds,” said Yoriaki. “They’re watching, aren’t they?”

  “Whatever…”

  “And you, Masao. Who gave you permission to embark on such a reckless mission? Someone let off a quantity of fire drug this morning, causing a major alert. One of the pages saw you, so don’t deny it. You’ve got some explaining to do.”

  Masao said nothing, but as Chikaaki hustled him down the steep slope back toward the shore, one single thought was in his mind:

  Is it possible that no one’s noticed yet that the Tide Jewels are missing?

  Chapter 33

  Sakami wriggled her way to the front of the crowd.

  Please be careful, Kai, she prayed silently. She was worried about him. Suppose this was all part of the Kites’ plan: a sneak attack, whilst distracting everyone with the Tide Jewels? There he stood, utterly unprotected, an easy target for an enemy archer.

  But as Kai held up the little casket to show the jewels to the clan, she found herself choked by a sudden fierce rush of emotion . So this is what all the fuss has been about. As the strong sunlight gleamed on the two sacred pearls, she saw quite clearly the flames flickering at the heart of each jewel, one bathed in Ebb’s foam-white purity, the other burning darkly in Flood’s intense sea-blue.

  “So beautiful,” she whispered, “and so dangerous.”

  She looked at Kai and saw the pearls’ brilliance reflected in his eyes, as if his body had become a vessel for the Tide Dragons’ power.

  No, Kai! Fear pulsed through her. Why must you be their Sacrifice? I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you…

  Blinking hard, she looked again. The unearthly radiance had faded. I must have been dazzled by the sunlight.

  “What’s up with you, Sakami?” Mai’s sharp voice pierced her reverie. “The siege is over. Why the long face?”

  “It’s really over?”

  “Yes, you dummy. And if we’re lucky, Yuna will dig into her secret store of adzuki beans and we can make sekihan to celebrate!”

  Red rice. Sakami began to smile; they had been on half rations for several days and she was growing tired of millet. I love adzuki beans; they’re such a treat. She realized that all around her the other servants and villagers had begun to chatter; everyone was smiling too. Now there will be no more casualties. No more heartbreaking sounds of weeping as the smoke from another funeral pyre darkens the skies above the castle. The honor of the Black Cranes has been restored.

  I must tell Shun. As she set off toward the guards’ hall, a group of villagers began to sing an old celebratory song, clapping and stamping in the chorus. Little children jumped up and down, cheering. Their happiness was so infectious that she didn’t immediately recognize the woman coming toward her through the crowd, a wide-brimmed sedge-straw hat pulled down to cover her face.

  “Sakami,” said the woman, “come with me.”

  The words were softly spoken but in such a commanding tone that Sakami did not dare disobey. From the way her skin had begun to prickle, she knew that the plain clothes of a peasant farmer’s wife concealed the peerless beauty of the rice goddess Inari.

  ***

  “I don’t like it.” General Tachibana stopped in his pacing to stare at the Tide Jewels’ black casket, which had been placed on a low table before Princess Asagao. “There has to be a catch; Lord Toshiro would never have capitulated this easily in the old days.”

  “Perhaps age has tempered his impulsive nature,” said the princess. Kai glanced at his mother; she seemed to be abstracted, toying with her fan, half opening it then shutting it again.

  “And why haven’t the Kites sailed away yet? It’s long past midday.”

  “With respect, General,” said Kai, “we have a more immediate concern: how to return the jewels safely to the monastery in time for the Tide Festival.”

  “Sea would be the quickest route.” Tachibana had begun to pace again. His restlessness was making Kai feel on edge. “But also the riskiest. Even if the Kites withdraw from our lands, their ships will be following the coastline back toward Akatobi Island.”

  “Then I’ll take the jewels,” said Kai. “I’ll go the way I came; over the mountain.”

  Tachibana stopped abruptly. Princess Asagao looked up from her fan.

  “Oh, come now, Kaito, don’t be absurd. We need you here; and besides – ”

  “Hear me out, Mother.” Kai was determined not to be dissuaded this time. “You don’t need me any longer. Takeru is making good progress. The Kites are retreating.”

  “But if the Kites have planted shinobi in the forest – ”

  “They’ll expect us to send the jewels back to the monastery by sea. So let’s set up a decoy. We’ll send out a fishing boat, a fast one. We’ll hide the jewel casket on board. If the Kites are planning to cheat us, they’ll be distracted into chasing the decoy. Sooner or later, they’ll find they’ve been pursuing the wrong target.” He finished and glanced from one to the other to see if they approved his plan. “But by then the jewels will be back at the monastery.”

  “I never knew you had such a devious mind, Kaito,” said his mother coolly. “I don’t suppose you’re thinking of taking that kitchen girl from Sakuranbo as your guide again?”

  Kai felt the color flooding his cheeks. Had someone told his mother that he had been seeing Sakami? “No one knows the mountain as well as she does. And her – um – cousin Honou will act as lookout.”

  “But to travel without an armed escort is the height of foolishness,” said Tachibana.

  “Any kind of escort is bound to draw attention,” Kai said. “No one will look twice at a travelling medicine seller and his servant.”

  “A medicine seller? It’s such a dishonorable way for a Kurozuro lord to conduct himself.” The princess began to fan herself vigorously. “Pretending to be one of the common people…”

  ***

  The goddess’s calm, smiling aura had vanished; she stared at Sakami with haggard eyes as if she had just awoken from a terrifying dream.

  “The Tide Jewels are here, aren’t they?” she said. “I can sense them.”

  Sakami nodded.

  Inari’s hands shot out and gripped her shoulders, drawing her close.

  Have I done something wrong? Why is she so angry with me? Sakami stared down at her feet, too frightened to sustain Inari’s piercing gaze. Suppose she knows what happened between Kai and me last night…

  “Listen to me, Sakami. You have to take the Tide Jewels and throw them into the sea. Give back to the sea what was stolen from it so many years ago.”

  “What?” This was unexpected. “I – I can’t do that.” Sakami shook her head, appalled at the thought.

  “You must. You’re the only one who can. Black Cranes, Red Kites, they can’t be trusted with such a sensitive task.”

  “Why not you, Lady Inari? You’re a kami; you’re much more powerful than I am.”

  “Don’t you think I would have done so already if I could?” Inari’s eyes flashed cold fire and Sakami shrank back, wondering how she could have been so rude as to challenge the goddess. “I can’t touch them. I mustn’t. Even to look at them diminishes my powers.”

  “But the emperor is waiting for the jewels. If he doesn’t sum
mon the Tide Dragons at the festival, his reign will be over.”

  “I don’t care about the little lives of emperors, or warring clans. I care about the land. It’s my sacred duty to protect Cipangu. And Flood must never be let loose on the land again.”

  “Even if I manage to lay my hands on the Tide Jewels, how do I get close enough to the sea to return them? The seashore is still swarming with Kites. If they catch me, the jewels will be back in their possession and then – ” Sakami broke off, overwhelmed by the burden of responsibility Inari had laid upon her.

  “Don’t you want to set your lord free of the curse of the Sacrifice?” Inari’s voice became softer, seductively persuasive.

  “If I give the jewels back to the sea he’ll be set free?” Is Inari telling me the truth or just trying to persuade me to do her bidding?

  “But of course. The jewels bind the Tide Dragons to do the imperial family’s will. The instant they are returned, the contract is ended.”

  Sakami fell silent, digesting this information. “But wouldn’t Kai and his family be blamed if the Tide Jewels disappeared? Wouldn’t the emperor punish the whole clan?”

  She found she was addressing empty air. The goddess had vanished.

  ***

  Shun picked up the bowl of soup Sakami had made and drank it down in one long draught.

  “That was good,” he said, handing the bowl back to her. “Is there any more?”

  Sakami sat back on her heels, unable to hide her smile of delight. He’s getting his appetite back – that’s more like the old Shun. His face, though still drawn, had regained its old healthy color. “I’ll go and fetch some. But Shun,” and she hesitated, not sure how to tell him her news, “I’ll be away for a little while. The princess has given me another errand. It’ll just be a few days.”

  “Another errand?” Shun frowned. “Is the princess paying you properly for all these little trips? And why you, not one of the clan shinobi?”

  She had known that he wouldn’t approve. And she hadn’t even mentioned Lord Kaito’s name. She sighed and leaned forward to squeeze his hand. “I’ll ask Mai to visit you. Or Mami.”