Cloud of Sparrows (45 page)

Kawakami understood. Sohaku knew death was his fate no matter what happened to Genji, so he chose to die sword in hand. He was no longer concerned about the success or failure of the campaign itself. That had become irrelevant.

“Extend my thanks to the Reverend Abbot for informing me of his actions. Tell him I will pray to the gods for his success.”

“Lord.”

Kawakami was with his six hundred men at Yamanaka Village. Of these, only one hundred were primarily swordsmen. They were there to protect the others, a regiment of musketeers, against close-quarters assault. He did not expect it to come to that. Even though Sohaku outnumbered Genji two to one—that is, if he retained all his men, which Kawakami doubted—he would fail in his attack. He would fail because his sole concern was to display his courage, not to win. Die-hard cavalryman that he was, he would probably intercept Genji at the Mié Pass. The slopes there were ideal for a downhill charge from both sides. If he did that against a force such as Kawakami’s, he and all his men would be cut down long before they could draw a single drop of blood with their swords. But the Okumichi clansmen were not musketeers. Like Sohaku, they were living relics of another era. They would meet the charge with one of their own, and the two sides would clash with katana and wakizashi, with yumi, yari, naginata, and tanto, with the weapons and wild courage of their ancient ancestors.

They were doomed, all of them. Sohaku would die in the Mié Pass. Genji and Shigeru would die at Mushindo, where they would go after defeating Sohaku. Kawakami, of course, would be waiting for them there. He would take the heads of the last Okumichi lords to the shrine of his ancestors in Hino Domain.

After two hundred sixty years, the Battle of Sekigahara was about to end.

In several lengthy sessions, Genji listened to Shigeru speak of his visions. His uncle described occurrences so strange they could occur only in a distant future, if at all. Devices that allowed communication over great distances. Flying craft. Unbreathable air. Undrinkable water. The now-fecund Inland Sea full of dying fish, its coasts inhabited by deformed wretches. Populations so dense people crushed up against each other within carriages miles long and thought nothing of it. Large numbers of outsiders everywhere, not just in the restricted zones around Edo and Nagasaki. Wars so brutal and so vast whole cities disappeared in flames in a single night.

Genji decided to have Shigeru’s words recorded in the family annals and left for posterity. They did no good now. His hope that his own visions would be clarified by them was completely frustrated. Except in a single unwelcome respect.

In Genji’s vision of his death, he saw something Shigeru saw in every one of his own: There were no men with topknots, swords, or kimonos. Samurai were extinct. Inconceivable though it seemed, this at least would occur in Genji’s lifetime.

He looked at the men riding with him. Was it really possible? In a few short years, would they all be swept away in the outsiders’ total conquest of Japan, as Shigeru believed?

Hidé and Taro rode up alongside. Hidé said, “My lord, we are approaching the Mié Pass.”

“Do you really think we are in danger here?”

Taro said, “Yes, lord. Abbot Sohaku was my commander for five years. This is precisely the kind of terrain he favors. He can attack at high speed from both sides of the valley.”

“Very well,” Genji said. “Tell Heiko and Hanako to drop back with Emily and Matthew.”

“Yes, lord,” Hidé said. “How many men shall I assign to guard them?”

“None. If Sohaku awaits, he will not bother them. My uncle and I are his only interest.”

“Lord.”

Genji turned to Saiki. “You didn’t add your views.”

“Your instructions were quite appropriate, my lord, and complete. There was nothing to add.” Saiki was at peace. Whatever would happen, would happen. He did not know whether he would live or die. He knew he would act as a loyal retainer should. This was enough to know.

Heiko was not happy with the instructions she received. She obeyed them, nevertheless. She had already promised to do so as a condition of her pardon.

Until I say otherwise, you are a geisha only. You will not use your other skills against either Sohaku or Kawakami. Agreed?

I can agree about Sohaku, but not about the Sticky Eye. He must be eliminated at the earliest possible moment.

I did not ask for your opinion. Do you agree, or do you not? His expression was without the slightest sign of humor.

Yes, my lord, I agree.

So here she was, dressed in a fancy, cumbersome traveling kimono of great beauty and little combat utility, in the saddle of a mare as tame as the one bearing Emily, and without weapons of any kind, apart from her bare hands.

“Lady Heiko,” Hanako said.

“Yes?”

“If you should need them, there are throwing daggers in my right saddlebag, and a short sword in my left.”

“Lord Genji has forbidden me to have them.”

“You do not have them, my lady, I do.”

Heiko bowed in gratitude. “Let us hope they are not needed.”

Emily said to Stark, “What if the man you seek is not at the monastery?”

“Then I’ll keep looking.”

“And if he died in the epidemic?”

“He didn’t.”

Through Heiko, he had spoken with Taro about the outsider monk at Mushindo. The Japanese called him Jimbo, which was a shortened form of the man’s name, Jim Bohannan. Since the Japanese word for monk was
bozu
, it was also a pun. Whatever he called himself, his description fit Ethan Cruz exactly.

What’s a pun? Stark asked.

A play on words, Heiko said, a certain sound conveying more than one meaning.

Oh.

Heiko and Stark looked at each other. They both laughed.

Stark said, I guess you’ll have to teach me English before you teach me Japanese.

“I don’t know in what way he offended you,” Emily said, “but vengeance is a bitter fruit. Better by far to forgive. ‘If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.’ ”

“Amen,” Stark said.

“Shigeru is not among them,” the scout said.

“Of course not,” Sohaku said. “He is circling to ambush us when we set the ambush he expects us to set.”

He laughed, and his lieutenants laughed with him. Like all dead men, they were slightly giddy at finding themselves still upon the earth, and were completely without fear. One of them took his musket from its sheath, looked at it as if he had never seen it before, and dropped it on the ground. Other muskets fell until they had all been discarded.

Shigeru turned to the five ranks of cavalrymen behind him. “Are you ready?”

A samurai stood in his stirrups, raised his lance, and yelled at the top of his voice, “Ten thousand years!” Soon the cry was taken up by all. Men who had been laughing a moment earlier were now weeping and screaming out the same words in a single united voice.

“Ten thousand years!”

“Ten thousand years!”

“Ten thousand years!”

Sohaku drew his sword and spurred his horse into a charge.

Emily heard the loud exclamations from the road ahead.

“Banzai! Banzai! Banzai!”

“Has someone come to greet Lord Genji?” she asked.

“Yes,” Heiko said.

“What does ‘banzai’ mean?”

“It is an ancient way of saying ‘ten thousand years.’ The true meaning is more difficult to explain. I suppose you could say it is an expression of deepest sincerity, deepest commitment. The speaker is expressing his willingness to trade eternity for this single moment.”

“Ah, then these are Lord Genji’s allies,” Emily said.

“No,” Heiko said. “They are his deadly foes.”

Stark drew both his guns and kicked his horse toward Genji.

When they entered the pass, Sohaku’s men were not met by a countercharge, as they expected, but by a volley of musket fire from the trees on their left flank. A quarter of their number fell, many because their horses had been struck. Following their commander, the rest wheeled and attacked uphill toward the tree line. Two more devastating volleys shattered their ranks. Only then did Genji’s men become cavalrymen again, mounting their own charge out of the trees.

Sohaku aimed himself straight at Genji. He cut through the first two men he met. The next, Masahiro, was a samurai he had trained, and trained well. Masahiro deflected the blade directed at him and rammed Sohaku’s horse with his own. Sohaku felt his knee snap. With only one leg to use for leverage in the stirrups, he was hard-pressed to keep Masahiro from striking a lethal blow. This delay saved his life.

Stark rode up next to Genji with a revolver in either hand and shot at the closest attackers. He fired eleven times, and nine of Sohaku’s men fell dead from their saddles. Masahiro’s vigorous efforts kept Sohaku at a distance. That was the only reason the twelfth bullet missed his heart. He saw Stark point the big revolver at him, and he saw the puff of smoke. Strangely, he heard nothing. An invisible blow of great weight struck the left side of his chest. Then a feeling of weightlessness threatened to lift him skyward. He pushed himself forward onto his horse’s neck, trying not to lose consciousness and fighting desperately to stay in the saddle.

“Reverend Abbot!” Someone took hold of the reins, he wasn’t awake enough to know who. “Hold on!” The horse galloped beneath him. How shameful it was to die of a gunshot wound without once having crossed swords with an Okumichi lord.

When he heard the shouts of Sohaku’s men, Shigeru knew he had made a mistake. There was no one waiting in ambush. He rode to the crest of the hill just in time to see the charge. By the time he arrived, it was over.

Saiki said, “We lost but six men. Sohaku rode straight into our guns.”

“It was a reenactment of Nagashino,” Genji said. “He used tactics that failed three hundred years ago.”

“It suited his purpose,” Shigeru said. He dismounted and began looking among the enemy dead.

“He is not among the fallen,” Saiki said. “After Mr. Stark shot him, one of his men led him away.”

“And you permitted it?”

“I was not standing idly about,” Saiki said. “More pressing matters demanded my attention.”

Shigeru didn’t bother to reply. He leaped back onto his horse and spurred it toward Mushindo Monastery.

“This way of fighting was very effective, my lord,” Saiki said.

“You do not exhibit the happiness your words suggest,” Genji said.

“I am an old man,” Saiki said. “My way is the old way. To be in a battle decided by guns brings me no joy.”

“Even when you are on the winning side?”

At last, Saiki smiled. “It is better to be on the winning side. That, at least, I can happily accept.”

It did not take long to dispose of the wounded among the enemy. In deference to Emily, Genji forbade decapitations and, further, ordered the bodies covered as well as they could be while she rode past.

He thought Shigeru would find Sohaku quickly and be waiting when he reached Mushindo Monastery. His former cavalry commander appeared to have suffered a fatal wound from Stark’s bullet. He could not have ridden far. But as Genji approached the walls of the monastery, his uncle was nowhere to be seen. Apparently, Sohaku had stayed alive long enough to require a more extended pursuit.

Saiki said, “My lord, please wait here until we are certain no trickery lies ahead.” He rode ahead with Masahiro.

“Your marksmanship is most impressive,” Genji said to Stark. “There must be few in America who are your equal.”

A huge explosion prevented Stark from answering.

The meditation hall disintegrated, throwing debris in every direction. Several in their party were struck in this way and instantly killed. A section of heavy beam broke the forelegs of Genji’s horse and threw both animal and rider to the ground. At almost the very same moment, the surrounding woods erupted in massed musket fire.

Heiko pulled Emily from the saddle and covered her with her own body. If she was to be the mother of Genji’s heir, no injury must come to her. All around them, men and horses died. Their corpses absorbed the bullets that continued to rip through the air. Heiko could not raise her head to see what had happened to Genji and Stark. She silently pleaded with Amida Buddha to shield them with her radiant benevolence.

As if in answer to her plea, voices in the woods called out, “Cease fire! Cease fire!”

The shooting stopped. Another voice said, “Lord Genji! Lord Kawakami invites you to approach and discuss the terms of your surrender!”

Heiko saw Taro and Hidé pulling Genji out from under his dead horse. He said something to Hidé. The chief bodyguard laughed and bowed to his lord. Then he said, “Lord Genji invites Lord Kawakami to approach and discuss the terms of
his
surrender!”

Anticipating a resumption of the attack, every survivor in Genji’s party pressed themselves even harder against the ground. But after a few moments of silence, there was a reply from the woods.

“Lord Genji! You are surrounded by six hundred men! There are women and outsiders with you! Lord Kawakami will guarantee their safety if you will meet with him!”