Lord Yoshiie awaited me in the lecture hall, and as I expected, he was not alone. I had already seen bushi bearing the Shibata mon on the grounds assisting Lord Yoshiie’s men with the bodies, though there was little left for them to do save stand watch. I got a glimpse of Kenji, but didn’t attempt to speak to him. Unless there was another in Lord Yoshiie’s levy I didn’t know about, Kenji was the only living priest now available, so it would fall to him to see the proper funeral rites were observed until more clerics could be summoned.
Lord Yoshiie and his visitor sat on cushions on the dais, where the former abbot or higher ranking priests would recite the sutras or lecture in happier times. I found a cushion on the floor in front of them, kneeled, and bowed low.
“Lord Shibata no Marumasa, may I present my counselor, Lord Yamada.”
I almost smiled. Counselor? Well, I had to admit it was a far better designation than “unwanted baggage the royal family forced on me,” and perhaps indicative of my improved standing in Lord Yoshiie’s estimation. I hoped I wasn’t about to make him doubt his judgment.
“It is an honor,” I said.
The chief of the Shibata Clan was a youthful-seeming man whom I knew to be in his middle fifties. He had managed to keep the Shibata uninvolved with the struggles against the Abe Clan until now, but I had the feeling the situation was about to change and indeed already had.
“Lord Yamada,” he said. “I have heard of you.”
I could only imagine what he had heard and how much of it was true. Judging from his expression, very little of it, true or not, appeared to be in my favor.
“Akimasa reported the ladders. Did you find anything else?”
I told them about our trek through the ravine, the boats, and the—likely—pirate vessel in the Echigo coastal waters. “I believe their plan was to skirt the coast past the northern border of Dewa. They could have returned to Mutsu on its northern coast. Or . . . ”
Lord Shibata frowned. “Or?”
“Or just as likely the pirates would have murdered the lot of them and claimed any reward for themselves. As the assassins failed in their mission, it is a moot point.”
I deemed it prudent not to mention the fishermen. If Lord Yoshiie needed a target for his anger, it was best directed toward his actual enemies.
“Not everyone knew about the ravine,” Lord Muramasa said. “Nor was the normal sort of pilgrim who came to the temple likely to discover it. There had been a small gate placed there, but it had been sealed over for many years.”
This was something I had not known. “If you will forgive my asking, why was it sealed?”
The older man smiled then. “In my grandfather’s time it was planned as a means of escape in case the temple was attacked by bandits or the Emishi, who raided much farther south in those days. Yet the abbot discovered it was mostly being used by priests who wished to avoid their dietary restrictions by buying fish from the locals . . . or for even less appropriate meetings. He had the gate removed and the gap sealed.”
“So whoever ordered the attack on Lord Yoshiie had to know about the ravine beforehand. It was a crucial part of their plan.”
Lord Muramasa raised an eyebrow. “What are you implying?”
I bowed again. “My lord, no one would either consider or believe for a moment your clan would have any part of an attack on its own holy temple. I merely meant Lord Yoshiie’s movements have been precisely tracked, and however this is being accomplished, our enemies were also supplied with the layout of the temple, including the best means of sudden and secret entry.”
“I have faith in my scouts, but they have found nothing. How could this be done?” Lord Yoshiie asked.
“This question is puzzling me as well, my lords. I do intend to find the answer.”
“Regardless, we know who is ultimately responsible,” Lord Yoshiie said.
“I can hardly believe this outrage,” Lord Muramasa said, and his anger and bewilderment were both evident. “The Shabata Clan’s relation with the Abe have never been warm, but to do this? I would not have believed it possible. Yet the evidence is overwhelming.”
Evidence?
Obviously, the arrow of guilt pointed directly at the Abe, but that was only common sense, not proof. I wanted to ask what evidence he was referring to but, as with the fishermen, I considered it best to keep silent, at least until I had the chance to find other sources of information.
“Lord Muramasa and I have much to discuss,” Lord Yoshiie said. “Please inform me if there is any change in your understanding.”
The dismissal was clear and I took my leave. Outside, now and then one could still hear the crows calling to one another, but the covering of the bodies had seemed to discourage them, and there were fewer in the trees now. I immediately went searching for Kenji. As I did so, I spotted Lord Yasuna some distance away, standing with a group of Shibata bushi as if he were just one more member of the honor guard over the bodies. His expression was as melancholy as any I’d ever seen on a human being. Naturally, I would have expected one of his cultured sensibilities to be shocked and outraged by what had happened here, but I saw no sign of it now, just a profound melancholy. I should have taken the time then to speak to him, but I had more pressing business. I found Kenji working among the dead, calmly and methodically washing a corpse.
“If I were a follower of the Way of the Gods, this would render me ritually impure for a month or more,” he said. “As it is, this is merely distasteful. But there is no one else, at least for the men.”
“What about those unfortunate women in the nunnery?”
“Your sister and the nun Tomoko-ana have assumed this duty . . . for which I owe her a great deal. I’m not sure I could have borne it.”
“I’m sure my sister would have preferred an occupation to sitting idle,” I said.
“She said the same when she informed me of what she was going to do. Not asked, mind you. Informed. Not that I would have objected. Where have you been?”
I repeated to Kenji what I had told Lord Yoshiie, only this time I didn’t leave out the part about the fishermen. He just grunted.
“I don’t think they deserved to keep their heads, and such foolish behavior will catch up with them sooner rather than later,” Kenji said. “Yet for what little it matters, I agree with your actions.”
“Regardless, they are not our concern. We know the Abe, at least indirectly, were responsible for the attack. Yet so far we haven’t found any sign that shikigami were involved, or indeed anything which would point directly to the onmyoji working for Lord Sadato. I had believed there was no proof of the Abe’s involvement. Lord Muramasa indicated there was. Do you know what he was talking about?”
“I believe I do. Come with me.”
Kenji led me farther into the compound where three bodies lay wrapped in white cloth, and nearby a fourth, only it had been draped over with bloodstained robes, not carefully wrapped in clean cloth like the others. “All the attackers had shaved heads, so with both assassins and priests in a similar state of bloody mess, at first glance it was hard to tell them apart. No one realized this man was in priestly robes. Since the only men who were so garbed were our attackers, by rights he should have been dumped in the pile outside with the other assassins. If this had happened, it is likely no one would have known. I had already started my ritual cleansing when I noticed it myself.”
“Noticed what?”
“This.”
Kenji uncovered the man’s lower half. At first I didn’t see anything other than a gaping cut, but then I saw his pubic hair. “It’s red?” It wasn’t blood, I knew. It was the wrong shade of red, and blood would have turned black by now in any case.
“Red. This man was an Emishi.”
The barbarians’ hair color varied from very light to dark, but a light red was not uncommon. “Was there just this one?”
“No. Now that I knew what to look for, I did look, and it was clear at least three more attackers were Emishi. Their features are slightly different from the others, but under the circumstances no one noticed. I reported this to Lord Yoshiie.”
“So the attackers did come from Mutsu,” I said.
“There is no doubt at all. What I still don’t understand is why.”
“Isn’t it obvious? To kill Lord Yoshiie.”
He sighed. “That’s not what I meant. What I don’t understand is why they would risk using Emishi in the first place, even if it was only three or four of the lot. Their presence is a direct link to Mutsu!”
“True,” I said. “But think about it—if the attack succeeded? No trace of the attackers to be found, and no one could prove that Mutsu was involved. Even if the Shibata suspected Mutsu and wanted revenge, now they would be on their own. With Yoshiie dead, his father would have had difficulty continuing, and the Emperor’s writ would likely be rescinded if the campaign failed. The other bushi would have returned to their homes, leaving Mutsu unmolested for at least a year or more. Plenty of time to strengthen their position and work on alliances before a new military governor could be appointed. It’s possible the Emperor’s government would have been forced to come to terms with the Abe rather than punishing them.”
“But the attack did not succeed,” Kenji pointed out.
“Again true, but the nature of the plan meant the Shibata Clan would be left with a violated clan temple and a strong desire for revenge on whoever was responsible. This would be more than enough incentive to finally join the Minamoto cause, and proof be sodded. That there is proof is almost beside the point, and if the Emishi warriors were available, no reason not to use them. If the plan failed, it failed utterly, and the presence or absence of the barbarians changes nothing. No, Kenji, what interests me now is the reasoning behind the attempt.”
“Other than killing Yoshiie would likely, as you just pointed out, end the war? It has been going on, with minor interruptions, for nearly twelve years!”
“But why take the risk? Lord Sadato has bested Yoshiie in the field before. It’s not impossible he might do so again. This possibility had to be weighing on the minds of all bushi who have joined the Minamoto. The forces we’ve picked up along the way have, for the most part, been little more than tokens. This is about to change—drastically, I wager.”
“The Shibata?”
“Not just the Shibata. If the governor of Echigo doesn’t at least double his intended levy, I’ll be amazed. Then there are the temples in Echigo and Dewa. Once they learn of this outrage—and you can be certain Lord Yoshiie will see they do learn—likely they will send their lay-brother warriors, the sohei, to join us as well. How long will the funeral rites take? The Shibata will insist on a delay until that is done, almost certainly.”
“More than a month, under normal circumstances, but Lord Yoshiie has already sent messengers to the closest temples. They will be sending additional priests to handle the prayers and to take over the proper functioning of the temple itself for the time being, so all will be handled appropriately and respectfully enough to satisfy the Shibata, I think. We will be able to continue to Dewa once the initial rites are concluded . . . probably a week or two at most.”
“More than enough time for Lord Yoshiie to pick up even more support. This ill-conceived attack is likely to mean the complete destruction of the Abe Clan. There was potential benefit, but nothing compared to what the Abe stood to lose. Lord Sadato, by all accounts, is neither a fool nor reckless. So again I must wonder—why take this risk?”
Kenji rubbed the stubble on his head. “I can’t fault your expression of the matter, and if what you say is true, then there are only three possibilities I can see. The first is the Abe Clan’s situation is worse than we were led to believe, and this was an act of pure desperation.”
“Possible, but unlikely,” I said.
“The second is this plan was conceived and carried out without either Lord Sadato’s knowledge or approval.”
“Possible,” I admitted. “Perhaps even likely. What’s the third alternative?”
“One which does not necessarily exclude the second, unfortunately. The alternative that concerns me the most—the possibility the plan to assassinate Lord Yoshiie has not failed. Yet.”
I frowned. “You suspect other conspirators, unknown to us?”
Kenji sighed. “I suspect nothing. I simply remember something an occasionally wise man once said to me. He told me to be on my guard. When I asked him why, he essentially said ‘because there was no reason to do so.’ ”
I almost laughed. “I believe I’ve met the fellow, Master Kenji. But I would never call him wise.”
“Be that as it may, we now believe the worst is behind us, Lord Yamada. What if we’re wrong?”
I started to argue the point, but it occurred to me my own advice might have some merit. “Then let us be on our guard,” I said. “Always.”
I left Kenji to his grim duty and crossed into the nunnery, where I found my sister Rie and Tomoko-ana likewise engaged. The first guard was no longer there, but another kept watch at a respectful distance.
“I don’t wish to intrude—”
Rie dismissed my remark. “Under the circumstances, we will not ask for your assistance—not out of delicacy, as our sister nuns are no longer concerned with such trivialities—but because I know my brother, even after all these years. You did not come here to assess our progress, did you?”
My sister, as I remembered, was just as blunt of speech as ever, but she wasn’t wrong. “I still need to speak to the nun called Mai,” I said. “Is she any better?”
“Brother, you will have to judge for yourself, but there was no change when we left her to assume this sad duty,” Rie said. “Just so you understand the situation better, Mai-chan has not yet taken holy orders. She was offered to the temple as a servant by parents who could no longer care for her. Such things happen far too often with girls of poor families. She was only fortunate they didn’t choose to sell her to a brothel instead. Our prioress took her in with the understanding she would make her own choice when the time came . . . which now, may never come.”
I considered this. “Thank you. We will talk later, when both of our obligations allow.”
I bowed to the women and proceeded to the building where the three surviving nuns were being housed. The guard acknowledged me and I went inside. I came back out onto the veranda immediately.
“Where is she?”
“Who—” the guard started to ask, but then he hurried past me and peered into the interior. “How did she escape?” he asked.
It took us only a moment more to discover the shuttered window, now closed but unlatched. Difficult to force from the outside, but simplicity itself to open from the inside. Any suspicion I’d had that Mai had been taken against her will evaporated. Mai had apparently recovered her senses well enough to work out an escape, but the how of it barely concerned me. I wanted and needed to know why. When we came back outside, Rie and Tomoko-ana were waiting for us.
“What has happened? Where is Mai?” Rie asked.
“Gone, and apparently of her own volition,” I said.
“The child is not in her right mind,” Tomoko-ana said. “She must be found before she comes to harm.”
I wanted to say she could not have gone far, but in truth she could have vanished the moment Rie and Tomoko left her alone, and they had been at their work, judging from their progress, for hours. “Is there another way out of the compound?”
“We have another door in the wall,” Rie said. “We use it for errands.”
I had an idea. “Could it have been used to get one of the assassins into the compound?”
Rie was adamant. “No. It was always barred from the inside, the same as the main gate. Since they somehow got our connecting gate open, there would have been no need to unbar both of them.”
What Rie said made perfect sense, and there was still no answer as to how the assassin had gotten inside. I put the question aside for the more immediate concern. “Show me.”
Rie and Tomoko-ana led me to the far side of the nunnery compound. There was a small but strong door, almost a second gate, set in the wall. Only it was not barred and halfway open. I saw a small footprint in the dirt just beyond it. I looked out. There was a small road going north and south, beyond that wooded hillsides, but no sign of Mai. “Why would she run?” I asked. “The danger is past.”
“She may not understand this. It is as Tomoko-ana said,” Rie replied. “Her mind is clouded by fear. Who can say what she was thinking? But we need to find her before . . . before anything more happens to the poor girl. She is simply not capable of fending for herself in her current state.”
“Leave this to me,” I said, as I closed the door and picked up the bar and put it back into place. “For now, keep this door barred and continue with what needs to be done. I will let you know as soon as she’s found.”
“We must depend on you, brother,” Rie said. “Please, find Mai-chan for us.”
The sun was getting lower in the sky, which was more than enough reason to hurry. I commandeered two bushi who looked as if they needed something to do. I told them who we were searching for and, once the trail from the nunnery had proved impossible to follow, sent one on the road north toward the ocean and the other south toward the town of Yahiko. For myself, I crossed the road and entered the trees of the hillside. I didn’t necessarily expect to find Mai there, but I knew I would find someone.
I had barely reached the crest of the first wooded hill when Lady Kuzunoha appeared there. I sometimes forgot just how beautiful she was in her human form. What I never intended to forget was what she really was under the mask of humanity she wore. A mask, I knew, she often wore merely to humor ones such as myself. It was only when she spoke of Lord Yasuna I felt as if she secretly wished with all her heart her human mask was real.
“Lord Yamada,” she said without any preamble, “what is the matter with Lord Yasuna?”
“I don’t understand what you mean,” I said. “I saw your lord just before I left the temple compound. He was in good health and certainly, to my best knowledge, under no threat of any kind.”
“Did he not seem . . . disturbed to you? Or did you notice?”
“Actually, he seemed sad. A thing not to be overly wondered at, I would think, considering what happened in the temple, as I’m sure you’re aware.”
“I know what happened there,” she said. “And before you ask me, no, I was not involved in the attempt on Lord Yoshiie’s life.”
I was about to set foot in dangerous territory, but I didn’t see any way around it. “Lady Kuzunoha, surely you cannot be indifferent in this? We both understand it would be to your advantage for Lord Yoshiie’s mission to fail. If he falls, the attack against the Abe is thwarted, and Lord Yasuna will be able to return home.”
“If Yoshiie succeeds, the result is the same,” Lady Kuzunoha pointed out. She smiled then. “Yet my lord returns to the capital much faster and is less exposed to the hazards of war if Lord Yoshiie were to meet with fatal misfortune sooner rather than later, and I will not pretend to weep if it happens, but neither do I seek it. I have been honest with you in this regard, Lord Yamada, and I will continue to be so. I expect the same from you.”
“Very well, then I must ask—did you know an attack was planned?”
“I did not. Before today I had not so much as crossed this road. I had planned to avoid the temple altogether. There is something . . . something not right there.” She said, hesitantly. I was not used to Lady Kuzunoha being hesitant, and it worried me.
“There would have been a large number of assassins pretending to be priests,” I said.
She looked at me with the vaguely pitying look I had seen from her at our first meeting, many years before. “There is no ‘would have been,’ Lord Yamada. There is nothing ‘past.’ Whatever was wrong there is still wrong. My concern for my lord brought me there so I could see him with my own eyes, and I do not regret that, but I will not go there again except either to save or avenge him.”
“What are you talking about? What is wrong?”
“I do not know,” she said. “But I should not have to tell you my fox-demon senses are much more refined than your own, and there is something unnatural about the place. If you really want to protect Lord Yoshiie, I’d advise him to continue to Dewa province without delay.”
I knew this would not be possible, at least not yet. Decorum and proper respect was crucial when building alliances, which Lord Yoshiie was in the process of doing even as Lady Kuzunoha and I met. There was no chance he would risk failure at such an important task based on what was no more than a suspicion. I would have told Lady Kuzunoha the same, but her attention had already shifted.
“I wanted to see you because of my concern for Lord Yasuna. Something is troubling him. I can sense this, even as I sense what is waiting within the temple grounds now. I would understand anger or fear, perhaps, in this situation, but sadness? This I do not understand. I-I want you to find out what is making him so sad.”
It seemed Lady Kuzunoha was as confused by Lord Yasuna’s reaction as I was. “He may not confide in me, but I will do my best, I promise. In return, however, I am in need of a favor from you.”
She frowned. “What is it?”
“Sometime this afternoon a young woman named Mai disappeared from the community of nuns. I need your help to find her, and before dark if possible. She is . . . confused, somewhat, by what has occurred.”
Lady Kuzunoha smiled. “Confused? If she sought escape I’d call her mind clearer than the lot of yours. Regardless, there are youkai and worse lurking in these woods, so it would probably be best she is among her own kind. At least they—so far as I know—do not wish to make a meal of her. Show me where I can find her scent.”
That wasn’t as straightforward a matter as I would have liked. In order to properly catch the scent, Lady Kuzunoha would need to do it in her true fox-demon form without attracting attention, and there was an army camped outside the temple now. Fortunately, decorum—and Lord Yoshiie’s orders—had kept the bulk of the men away from the northwest side of the compound where the nunnery was located. We chose our moment and slipped across the road to the back gate.
“There are many scents,” Lady Kuzunoha said, her muzzle twitching.
“You’ll be looking for the most recent.”
I had been careful not to disturb the tracks Mai had left there, and it took only a few more moments before Lady Kuzunoha had isolated Mai’s spoor. “This way,” she said.
We crossed the road again, and Lady Kuzunoha led us back into the wooded hills, but in a slightly different direction, further north and west than where we had met.
“Why did she flee? Do you know?” Lady Kuzunoha asked. I have no idea how she was able to form human words with a fox’s muzzle, but during the time I’d known her, the ability had been apparent.
“I did say she wasn’t in her right mind.”
The fox sighed. “So you did, which explains nothing. When the rational mind fails, there is still instinct, even in humans. Instinctive reactions are simple and direct, and so are what triggers them—hunger, pain, lust, but most of all, fear.”
“Perhaps, but fear of what? The danger was past, so far as she knew.”
“She is apparently of a different opinion on the matter, would be my guess,” Lady Kuzunoha said. “Ah. This way . . . and you brought your sword. Excellent.”
“Excellent? Why?”
“Because we are not the only ones trailing your fleeing maiden. I suggest we hurry if you want her returned alive.”
We picked up our pace, but there was a limit to how fast we could move through the woods without risking losing the scent. The trail led into a defile not unlike the one on the opposite side of the temple, only this one led us up into the space between two large hills rather than down into a ravine.
“I hear them,” Lady Kuzunoha said. “Follow me!”
That proved difficult, as Lady Kuzunoha in her fox-demon form was faster than the fastest courier who ever ran. But I did manage to keep her in sight until she disappeared into the undergrowth about a bowshot ahead of me. I forced my way through the bushes, getting several scratches on my hands and forearms in the process. When I emerged again into the open, I found Lady Kuzunoha standing stock still just a few paces into the clearing. Just ahead of us I saw Mai with her back pressed against the rocks where the defile dead-ended against a sheer rock wall. Apparently she’d been trying to climb it when her pursuers, including us, had caught up to her. To the left was what appeared to be an elegant lady in long robes. To the right was a stubby little creature, outwardly a man, on all fours and completely naked, with no head. It had what looked like its rear end pointed straight at Mai.
“Why didn’t you—” I began, but then I realized why Lady Kuzunoha had not leaped to the girl’s defense. “Oh.”
“I would just have frightened her more,” Lady Kuzunoha said as she reassumed her human form. “You take care of this.”
I sighed and calmly walked between Mai and the two youkai. It was as I expected—the thing with a woman’s form had a face completely blank, as if her eyes, nose, and mouth were covered by skin. The naked torso and legs had a single eye where by rights its arse-hole should have been.
A noppera-bō and a shirime. I drew my sword, but I didn’t even bother to swing it. “Shoo. Both of you. Now.”
They didn’t need much goading. Such creatures lived to startle and frighten the unwary, but Mai was already frightened, and their weird appearance was not having much additional effect. The youkai clearly were not getting the reaction they’d expected from me, either, so they emitted chittering laughter as if their tricks had worked anyway and then faded like wraiths into the bushes. I put my tachi back in its scabbard. “It’s all right, Mai-chan. They’re just trickster creatures—a little startling in appearance, but completely harmless. You’re lucky it wasn’t an ogre.”
Mai just pressed her back tighter against the rock face. Her eyes darted left and right, and apparently she decided on right. I barely managed to catch her arm as she tried to dash away. She tried to bite my hand, and I managed to pin her and then hold her at arm’s length as I looked directly into the terror in her eyes. “You’re safe now. Stop fighting me!”
I was a little surprised when she did just that. I felt her relax in my arms. “I’m going to let you go now, Mai. Please don’t try to run again.”
I did so, and she did not run. She sank to her knees for a moment and then bowed forward, but she wasn’t bowing to either me or Lady Kuzunoha, who was merely watching the scene with polite curiosity.
“In case you’re wondering, Lord Yamada, the girl is still terrified, I can smell it. She’s just given up. Resigned herself to her fate.”
“Resigned? To what?”
Lady Kuzunoha looked puzzled. “If I didn’t know better, I would think she has resigned herself to death. Lord Yamada, the poor girl thinks you’re going to kill her!”
I could hardly believe it, but then Mai reached up and pulled her hair—too long, I finally noticed, for a proper nun’s tonsure—to the side, exposing her slim neck, and I knew that Lady Kuzunoha was right. Mai was waiting to die. Expecting to die.
“This is very interesting,” Lady Kuzunoha said. “Lord Yamada, what did you do to the poor girl?”
I glared at the fox-demon. “Other than chase her through the woods so she doesn’t end up as a ogre’s dinner? Nothing, I swear.”
She smiled then. “Don’t swear to me, Lord Yamada—it’s none of my concern either way. But if the girl has no reason to be afraid of you, I’d suggest finding out why she is, if you can. It might be important to know.”
I kneeled down. Mai shuddered when I took her shoulders, and I raised her up and forced her to look at me. “Mai-chan, I know you have been through a lot, but you are safe now, I promise. I am not going to hurt you, and I’m not going to let anyone else do so.”
One thing I realized right away, looking into the girl’s eyes, was something I had not understood until then—Mai was no mere frightened animal, with her mind unhinged and unable to comprehend—I knew she heard me and understood what I was saying to her. What she seemed to be having a problem with was in believing what I told her. “Girl, think. If I wanted you dead, you would be dead now. So why are you still alive?”
Her mouth moved then, but no words came out. After a moment she just looked at me. I wasn’t sure if what I was seeing then was actual hope, but it was no longer the panic and terror I had seen before. Her mouth moved again, and I could see the struggle on her face, but she still could produce no sound, not even a whimper. She tried once more, and there were tears streaming down her face.
“I hope we can speak later,” I said, “but for now, it’s all right. You’ll speak when you’re ready, but it’s getting dark. We need to get back to the temple.”
She shied away then, briefly. “You are under my protection from this moment on, Mai-chan. Nothing there is going to hurt you, I promise.”
“Be certain you keep your word, Lord Yamada,” Lady Kuzunoha said. “I don’t think you’ll get a second chance with this one.”
Mai let me lead her out of the woods. Lady Kuzunoha accompanied us to the edge of the trees but no farther. “Remember your promise to me,” she said and then vanished into the shadowed forest.
I knew the nunnery gate would still be barred, so I took Mai through the main gate. We got several interested looks from the bushi quartered nearby, but no one tried to interfere. I had intended to take Mai back to the nunnery to place her in the care of my sister and the nun Tomoko, but as soon as I started in that direction, she hung back and started to resist me.
“What is it, Mai? What’s wrong?”
Again, silence, but now the girl was pressed against my back, holding on to my hitatare as if I were the only thing to cling to and there was some abyss waiting to swallow her below. “Oh. You remember what happened there, don’t you? It’s all right now, the assassins are dead. You’re safe.”
Mai clearly wasn’t convinced, and the more I tried to take her in toward the nunnery, the more panicked she became. I finally gave up and accepted the inevitable. I moved again, this time toward the lecture hall, and Mai followed me without resistance. I found Kenji resting under a tree. He looked as drained and weary as I felt.
“Who is your charming shadow?” he asked.
“Her name is Mai. She is a survivor of the massacre in the nunnery. It would appear her memories of that tragedy are too vivid to allow her to return there, at least for now.”
“Hello, Mai-chan,” Kenji said. Mai just moved a little closer behind me and Kenji grunted. “A shy one. What do you plan to do about her?”
I’d been giving the matter some thought as well and could manage just one conclusion. “The only thing I can do, I’m afraid.”
I saw one of Lord Yoshiie’s messengers nearby and called him over. “As I am otherwise obligated, I need you to deliver a message to Lady Rie in the nunnery. Can you do this for me?”
“I am at your service, Lord Yamada. What is the message?”
“Tell my sister that Mai has been found and is safe,” I said, “but for the time being, she must remain under my protection.”
Kenji raised an eyebrow, but the courier merely bowed and left to deliver my message. “Now then, before you say anything on the matter, this is strictly until Mai-chan has recovered from her trauma. Once she’s feeling better, I expect her to return to the nunnery, or possibly to another such establishment, I suppose, depending upon what the Shibata decide about the further operation of the temple.”
“I have no direct information,” Kenji said, “but if they do not re-establish Yahiko-ji as it was, perhaps with the addition of a large contingent of sohei, I will be surprised. But the three of us will be in close quarters in the rooms Lord Yoshiie has allocated to us. What shall I say if anyone asks about Mai?”
“Say she’s my servant. There is a small storeroom off the same corridor, no more uncomfortable than our own arrangements. Mai can sleep there.”
“You’ve never taken on a servant in your life, Lord Yamada.”
“And I haven’t now, but I need an excuse to keep the girl close to me until this . . . situation, is resolved.”
I told Kenji what Lady Kuzunoha had said. “You’re sure you haven’t sensed anything?”
“Nothing at all,” Kenji said. “It’s possible the spiritual defilement of this place is dulling my senses . . . either that, or I am very tired. We will start the funeral fires soon, and I have some assistance arriving tomorrow, I am informed. If they are priests attached to the Shibata Clan, likely they’ll just take over, so perhaps I can start looking for this wrongness Lady Kuzunoha spoke of. But at the moment I need sleep. Badly.”
“Let’s find something to eat first. I’m sure Mai is as famished as I am.”
“No problem there. I received a large gift of rice and two bolts of silk from Lord Yoshiie today.”
I was not surprised. Lord Yoshiie was not one to overlook a detail. Neither, I hoped, was I. “By the way, on the subject of Mai-chan, Master Kenji . . . ”
He just grinned. “I know what you’re going to say, Lord Yamada. Do not worry—Mai-chan is safe with me. Or safe from me, however you choose to look at it.”
I smiled then. “I’m glad we understand one another.”
“How could it be otherwise?” Kenji asked. “We know each other too well.”