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eyes, a cloudy essence, a struggle, perhaps.
Nikumu sat. A muscle along his jaw twitched.
"Ke'ema," he said quietly.
One of the men in charcoal grey rose and
gripped Ronin's bicep.
Ronin continued to stare, an edge of panic
rising within him. Nothing.
"You will leave us now," said the man at his
side. His grip tightened.
The perfect oval of her face.
The man began to exert real pressure.
The glint of silver around her slender white
neck
Ronin was pushed back a step. He jabbed with
his elbow, simultaneously positioning his left foot.
He struck out with his right arm, straight and
rigid as a board. A bright crack as bone shattered.
The man's mouth opened in a silent scream as he
toppled backward into the river.
Nikumu rose, his face drained of blood. The
remaining man in charcoal grey stepped toward
Ronin.
Then Okami was at his side, his voice low and
penetrating, and he took Ronin swiftly away,
through the turning, curious faces, away from the
shouts and the commotion, into the deepening
mists of evening.
"What madness made you do that?"
"I know her."
"I cannot believe that."
"You must believe it."
"She is Nikumu's wife."
"What? But that cannot be!"
"My friend, what is, is."
"Her name is Moeru."
"Yes." Okami's face furrowed in puzzlement.
"That's correct." He shook his head. "Nikumu's
wife! How ?"
"Okami, she wears the silver sakura that I gave
her "
There was a silence between them for a time
while Okami's eyes, black as stone, searched his
face for the answer to an unknown question. And
Ronin knew that here was the true test of the
friendship that had been forged along the Kiso-
kaido, in a mountain station powdered white by
snow, in a
DAI-SAN 105
high gorge filled with falling water and metal and
death.
Beyond the oiled rice paper soji, the tall bamboo
swayed in the gathering wind. The bright camellias
were black in the night. A frog called to its mate,
a lonely sound.
Okami went through the opened soji, out into
the glowing dark. Ronin followed him. The sky was
so clear that the stars seemed to be burning the
fabric of the sky just above their heads.
"The cherry blossom of Ama-no-mori," Okami
said then. "How would you get a sakura?"
Ronin sighed, knew that this was all that was left
him now. "On the continent of man," he said
slowly, "in Sha'angh'sei its great port city, I came
upon a man being beaten in an alley. It was near
to night and all I could see was that there were
four or five against the one. I went to his aid but
it was already too late. I slew two of them but the
man was dead. In one hand he grasped a silver
chain with the sakura. For some reason, I cannot
say what, I took it from him."
They began to walk to the pool.
"He was Bujun, of course, though why he was so
far from Ama-no-mori is a mystery."
"What has this to do with Moeru?"
"I found her in Sha'angh'sei. She had come in,
sick and starving, with refugees from the north. She
would have been left for dead had I not taken her
to Tencho, where I stayed, to be cared for. When
I sailed from the continent of man in search of
Ama-no-mori, she was with me and I gave her the
sakura as a present. I thought her killed in an
attack by warriors in strange obsidian ships which
rode above the waves. How she came here I have
no idea."
"Why should she not be here?" said Okami. "She
is Bujun."
The pool was silent between them.
"You do not believe me?"
"Why should she leave Ama-no-mori?"
"Why should a Bujun be in Sha'angh'sei?"
"Because " Okarni's face was in deep shadow,
the light spilling from the house, at his back.
"Ronin, Nikumu is leader of the sason."
The frog had ceased its croaking at their
approach. Only the cicadas chattered on,
unperturbed..
"He is also the most powerful member of the
jogen sow, the council which advises the Kunshin
on vital matters of state policy. It is only recently
that the sasori have risen. They are
106 EncY Lustbader
martialists, Bujun not content to live on
Ama-no-mori. They wish to invade the continent
of man."
"So the Bujun in Sha'angh'sei was a spy."
Okami nodded. "Suggested by Nikumu, passed
by the jagen sow, he was sent to inform us of the
city's strengths and weaknesses."
"Not all Bujun wish this."
"No, of course not. Just a minority. But
recently, they have become much more powerful.
And now that Nikumu is their leader "
"What does the Kunshin think of that?"
Okami shrugged pragmatically.
"He has done nothing to stop the affiliation."
"Okami, you must trust me. I know Moeru."
"All right. I concede there is a possibility that
she too was sent to the continent of man."
"You do not understand, my friend. There is
something very wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"She did not recognise me. There was nothing
in her eyes. Nothing."
Whisper of the bamboo. A fish broke the
surface of the pool, a pale wisp of
phosphorescence.
Okami got up.
"Come with me," he said.
Inside the house, he called for food and their
traveling cloaks.
"Where are we going ?"
"Into the countryside. Away from Eido for a
while."
"But the scroll "
"Nikumu will send his men here looking for
you. We must be gone before then."
"But there must be other "
"He will find us in Eido," Okami said flatly.
"I will not run from him. I must get Moeru back."
Okami turned on him.
"Back? She is his wife, Ronin."
He felt again the edge of a peculiar kind of
desperation. K'reen, Matsu, now No! There was
a chance.
"Okami, I know her. She is not herself." Okami
donned his long cloak. "I will stay here alone
then."
"You will not." The eyes blazed and the voice
took on the tone of command. "You will come
with me and do exactly as I say." He gripped
Ronin's arms and his face softened. "Think,
DAI-SAN 107
my friend! If there is to be any chance for you and
for Moeru, we must both leave now." Behind him,
one of Okami's women settled his cloak about his
shoulders.
Outside, in the garden, the frog began its sad song
again.
They went south, out along the wide Tokaido, a
more traveled highway than the mountainous
Kisokaido and soon the vast sprawl of the city was
far behind them, the flat yellow light like an aurora
within the mist.
To the west, it was already raining; here the air
was damp and still and electric. Above them, the
stars were rapidly disappearing behind rushing
black clouds. They wrapped their traveling cloaks
more tightly about them and secured their sloping
sedge hats on their heads. They were on foot
although Ronin had argued against this, but his
impatience was forced to accede to Okami's
common sense: on horseback, they would be far
more conspicuous. Now they were merely two
more travelers on the Tokaido.
The slanting rain, hissing through the night, hit
them just as they left a forest of pine. They had
reached the foot of a steep hill. Trees lined the
Tokaido here, tall, slender bamboo, affording little
shelter. On the road stood a huge boulder, like a
marker on a page.
"This is Nissaka," said Okami through the
downpour as they passed the rock. The brims of
their hats overlapped. "The stone is said to have
witnessed the struggle between a woman and a
mountain bandit who attacked her when she
refused his demands. The woman was pregnant
and, although she died, her baby survived because
the stone cried out, invoking the merciful goddess
Kannon, who reared the infant." The hill stretched
out before them as they climbed. It was very dark
and visibility was sharply decreased by the storm. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]