Sowing Ghosts 12.3

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[continuing chapter 12]

Hiroki was still pressed, shivering, against the underside of the bank when he heard Jiro’s voice. “Master?” The volume was low but the sound carrying, a trick Hiroki had taught Jiro as well as Shiro and Tetsuo. “Are you here?”

“I am,” Hiroki said, a little more loudly so that he could be heard above the bank. “I am frozen stiff, and will need your help to stand and dress.”


He used his staff to support himself, so as to leave Jiro free to dress him. “I am afraid you have made yourself ill, master,” Jiro said as he tied strings and cords. “That was a poor turn of luck, that was.”

“My own discomfort is nothing,” he said, trying to keep his teeth from chattering. “And well worth it for what I learned. Jiro, I may have to send you to retrieve young Shiro and Tetsuo.” He paused, fighting back a wave of pain and nausea. “Or to find out what has happened to them. We have to get back to the capital, and quickly. Before the wakashū and Miyoshi Motonaga can, at any rate.”

“Don’t recall any time in your service when you weren’t in a hurry because of something you’d just learned, master.” He tied the cords of Hiroki’s scabbard to his belt. “There. Now I’ll get you onto your horse and go see what’s become of those two.”

With nothing to do but watch the horses and wait, Hiroki had plenty of opportunity to think about what he had overheard. What he did not have, it appeared, was the stamina. Whenever he tried to concentrate on the threads tying all of these men together his mind somehow skipped from the hard work of thought and landed on the easier task of self-pity. He was becoming tired of the capital and its complexities, he decided.

What does any of this — all of this — have to do with Lord Tanuma? He could not come up with a suitable answer to the question, simple as it was. That there was no real help to be obtained from the Ashikaga clan ought to have been clear to him days ago, he decided. How he was to make this clear to Lord Naitō was something, unfortunately, that was nowhere nearly so obvious. Somehow I have to persuade him to lead us back to Kozuke. We will accomplish nothing here.

It should have been a source of shame that he walk away from an assignment without having finished it. But however pleasant a woman he had found Lady Tomiko, the truth was that there were no ties binding him to her, nor any binding his lord to her brother. No ties of obligation, at any rate. Only those of exploitation, and he saw no virtue in allowing Lord Tanuma to be exploited by the Miyoshi, much less what was left of the Ashikaga. Perhaps this country needs a cleansing, he thought.

He was pleased to discover that Jiro, Shiro and Tetsuo had reappeared without his having heard their approach. In fact, the horses were what told him of their approach. You’re not at your best right now, he reminded himself. Normally you’d have heard them coming a hundred paces away. Perhaps.

“Hiroki, you aren’t going to believe what we’ve learned,” Shiro said, rushing up to him. “And who we found.”

“I might,” Hiroki said in reply. “Mount up, Shiro.” He nodded his approval at Tetsuo, who was already in the saddle.

“This is important,” Shiro said.

“I understand, Shiro. But we have to get away from here, and we have to do it now. We will talk about what you’ve discovered once we’re away from this mountain and these horrible monks.”

“Aren’t we going to do anything about it?”

“We are, Shiro, but not here. We’ll discuss it once we’re on the road to the capital. Now for the gods’ sakes, mount up.”

Next    Characters    Chapter 1    Chapter 2    Chapter 3    Chapter 4    Chapter 5    Chapter 6
Chapter 7    Chapter 8    Chapter 9    Chapter 10    Chapter 11    Chapter 12