Sowing Ghosts 12.5

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[concluding chapter 12]

They saw the smoke when they began their descent from the north-east hills toward the capital. “More fighting between the two administrations,” Tetsuo said, sounding as if he’d grown up with fire and chaos, the way Hiroki had, and not discovered it for the first time earlier this week. “Or the factions inside the Sakai administration, I guess.”

“We’ll have to be careful, then,” Hiroki said. “We don’t want to ride into the middle of a street-fight.” Especially when I can hardly fight in my own defence, much less anyone else’s.


“Master,” Jiro asked, “shall I ride ahead to prepare for your return home?”

“That’s an excellent idea,” Tetsuo said.

“Tell them to make his bath extra-hot,” Shiro said. “Hiroki is not looking well, is he?”

“I will survive,” Hiroki grumbled. “But I will be grateful for a hot bath and some rest.”

“And some more of the willow-bark and opium,” Jiro said. Then he kicked his horse into a canter, and disappeared around a bend in the road, taking the pack-horse with him.

“Let’s hope we don’t need our armour,” Shiro muttered. “Because there it goes.”

“We won’t need it, Shiro,” Hiroki said. “I understand these fights never last long. If we’re seeing smoke now the actual battle will likely be finished by the time we could reach it.” We’re still going to be careful, he said to himself, tugging his staff free from its fastenings and couching it under his right arm like a lance.

By the time they had passed the barriers and got into the city the smoke had turned from a thin, black pillar into a broader tower the colour of ash. Something was odd about the smoke, though it took Hiroki some time to work out what that something was.

“If that smoke is from fighting between the factions,” he said —

“ — Then it should seem closer to us, by now, than it does,” Tetsuo finished. “Could it be a fire at the central market?”

“The market is farther west than that,” Hiroki said. “See how the smoke seems almost to be coming from the river?”

“That’s true,” Tetsuo said. “Rivers don’t burn, though. So where is it coming from?”

Hiroki did not respond. His mind suddenly sharpened, and pushed the pain deep into the background. We may have to fight after all, he thought. If I’m lucky.

“That smoke is coming from one of the poorer neighbourhoods,” he said. “Where you don’t normally get fighting between the factions.”

He kicked his horse into a faster pace. “What you do get there,” he said over his shoulder to the others, “is robbery and extortion of the poor by the factions. And I’m worried that this smoke is coming from the neighbourhood where Katsumi lives.”

By the time he reached Muromachi Street he had his horse running at a gallop.

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