Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Copyright Page
THE FURUBE SUTRA (the 'Shrugging Off')
THREE LEVELS of THE EYE OF THE BEAST
Chapter ONE The brave new Edo
Chapter TWO Double dealings
Chapter THREE Summoned by a sage
Chapter FOUR Heart of ice
Chapter FIVE A quiet day at the market
Chapter SIX Enemies old and new
Chapter SEVEN The kindness of strangers
Chapter EIGHT Beware of the Kappa
Chapter NINE Mountain of the White Nun
Chapter TEN Dangerous friends
Chapter ELEVEN Sailing with Rokurokubi
Chapter TWELVE Of one mind
Chapter THIRTEEN Dreams and thunder
Chapter FOURTEEN Of two battlefields
Chapter FIFTEEN A feast for Yamamba?
Chapter SIXTEEN Turning tides
Chapter SEVENTEEN Swords and numbers
Chapter EIGHTEEN The greatest gift
Chapter NINETEEN A fine parade
Chapter TWENTY The perfect name
Glossary
Author's note and acknowledgements
About the Author
MOONSHADOW 3 The Twilight War
MOONSHADOW
The Wrath of Silver Wolf
SIMON HIGGISN
RANDOM HOUSE AUSTRALIA
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Moonshadow 2: The Wrath of Silver Wolf
ePub ISBN 9781864714890
Kindle ISBN 9781864717495
A Random House book
Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd
Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060
www.randomhouse.com.au
First published by Random House Australia in 2009
Copyright © Simon Higgins 2009
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia.
Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at www.randomhouse.com.au/offices.
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry
Author: Higgins, Simon, 1958–.
Title: The wrath of Silver Wolf / Simon Higgins.
ISBN: 978 1 74166 405 8 (pbk.)
Series: Higgins, Simon, 1958– Moonshadow; 2.
Target Audience: For primary school age.
Subjects: Secret societies – Juvenile fiction.
Bounty hunters – Juvenile fiction.
Spies – Juvenile fiction.
Dewey Number: A823.4
Cover and internal illustrations by Ari Gibson, except stamp logo by
Design Cherry
Cover design by Design Cherry
Internal design by Midland Typesetters, Australia
Typeset in Goudy by Midland Typesetters, Australia
Printed and bound by Griffin Press, South Australia
To the memory of my father,
Major Aubrey Higgins,
Royal Engineers, 1914–2007,
the gentle samurai who raised me.
THE FURUBE SUTRA
(the 'Shrugging Off')
Preparation Verse
Gather, tidy and align your doings and
their karma
Facing Self Verse
Cleanse any lies made this day, scatter not one
grain of life
Verse of One Resolved
To end this path in happiness, make still
your mind
THREE LEVELS of THE EYE OF THE BEAST
1. Beast Sight
To link your mind to a creature and use its senses
2. Dual Sight
To see with your own eyes and those of a
linked animal
3. Sight-Control
To both see through and command a beast,
making it your spy or weapon
ONE
The brave new Edo
The midnight temple bell gave a final hum, masking the sound of Moonshadow's landing. Its voice declared the halfway mark of the Hour of the Rat.
He crouched low on the roof, scanned the moonlit horizon ahead and listened. Before the echo of the bell died away, the tiles behind him creaked.
Moonshadow turned without a sound. His tightly bound night cowl showed only his eyes but he offered Snowhawk a smile anyway. Just a dark willowy silhouette, she returned a nod, adjusted the sword on her back, then stretched out to press an ear to the cold, curved tiles.
Snowhawk bobbed up, drawing an iron right-angle and a small crowbar from her backpack. While she silently worked the first large tile loose, Moonshadow rotated slowly on the spot, checking their surroundings for any hint of movement.
His sharp eyes probed the darkness, ears strained to pick up any hint of trouble. Moon felt his mouth turn dry. It wasn't due to anything he saw or heard. He always grew tense just around this point in a mission. The cloth covering his nose and mouth trapped a taut sigh. Tension and fear, though never pleasant, were actually friends. They kept a spy sharp, cautious, attentive to detail, improving the chances of surviving a mission.
Slowly Moonshadow began a second circle. He and Snowhawk might not be that far from home, but ambush and death could swoop as quickly here as in any far-off valley or castle. There was only one place in all the world he could relax: the walled monastery of the Grey Light Order.
But that lay on the opposite side of this massive, fast-growing city.
He studied the jagged Edo skyline as he turned. So many new, unfamiliar buildings. Thanks to the rising foreign influence, a few even had flat roofs, the way men made houses at the far end of the world. Everywhere were the beams and poles of new construction. No wonder Brother Badger's charts of the city were never quite up-to-date.
A minor lord, Akechi, owned the mansion they were breaking into tonight. It stood in the centre of the aristocratic quarter of Tsukiji. It was a whole new district, perched on reclaimed land that had once been the lowland marshes of the Sumida River delta. Moon shook his head at the breadth of the Shogun's capital. Under this crescent moon, the great whale that was Edo sprawled in every direction, striped with grey and silver shadows.
To the north-west, past the palaces and man– sions of the high-born, lay mighty Edo Castle, home and eastern garrison of the Shogun, the man who had finally brought peace to Japan. It rose, stark in the moonlight, the keep's whitewashed walls shining. Moonshadow knew that it was earth taken from the Shogun's extensive canal and moat excavations that had filled in the marshes along the river, forming new land for the city to sprawl across.
What a twist! The Shogun himself had created Tsukiji and now here, beneath Moon's very feet – if their intelligence was right – a nobleman pl
otted treason against their ruler.
Moonshadow braced himself. They would stop him.
Around Edo Castle – beyond its huge grounds, high stone walls and complex system of moats – the densely packed homes of commoners stretched to the horizon. There, black mountains carved the wide sky and beyond them, the distant snowy cap of Mount Fuji glowed like an upturned white bowl, small and faint in the moonlight.
He stared south-east to the wide, dark sweep of Edo Bay. Tiny soft lights bobbed in the harbour where fishermen cast night nets or samurai guarded their lords' coastal ships.
Moonshadow heard no sounds but the usual: cats fighting here and there; far off, the short-lived barking of a startled dog, quickly followed by its owner's rebuke; a shrill seabird, calling its mate to the northern fork of the bay.
A gentle breeze swept the roof. Moon pulled down the edge of his cowl's face-bindings, cooling the sweat on his upper lip as he drew in the zephyr's salty tang.
A tap on his shoulder made him turn. Snowhawk had finished lifting tiles and it was time to descend. They had recited the furube sutra together just before this mission, but its mind-clearing effect, at least for Moonshadow, was proving shortlived. That tension was rising, gradually knotting his stomach. His thoughts were speeding up too.
Once inside the attic, they would be especially vulnerable to ambush. A spy's worst nightmare was being cornered in a small space. There, swords were nearly useless and most tricks and illusions wouldn't work. Shuriken throws could be hampered by roofing beams. Any light at all, and eye-tricking night suits lost their power.
Growing up, Moon had heard many awful stories from his trainers about agents who were detected and then trapped in cellars, drains or attics. Attics just like this one.
The nastiest tales all involved an enemy retaliating with fire.
Moonshadow glanced down at their square black entry point and tried not to picture flames roaring below. He had just fought off the image when a muffled sound made him shudder. His eyes darted to the left.
What was that? Movement across tiles. Very faint, but close. Up on the next roof? Whoever it was had an incredibly light step. That meant a high level of stealth training.
His hand glided to the grip of his back-mounted sword.
Snowhawk saw the motion and instantly slid backwards into a band of shadow, her long fingers creeping between the lapels of her jacket.
Moon pointed up at the next roof's visible face, its gentle slope looming over them. The roof capped a mansion one storey higher than the one they were entering. The pale wall under its dark tiles was bland and, luckily, windowless.
He listened intently. More sounds. Someone was definitely moving up the roof's opposite slope, heading for that nobbled ridge-cap at the apex. Their erratic footfall grew a little louder. Snowhawk drew a shuriken from a concealed pouch in her jacket. Moon knew that like him and unlike normal folk, she too could hear the sounds – but only now that they'd intensified. There was often a vast difference between their audio abilities.
Her hearing was sharp from a lifelong special shinobi diet, sensory focus training and years of listening for the accelerating mutter of a weapon that might slay her.
She and Moonshadow, as orphans raised by separate spy houses, shared that training back ground. But at times, his hearing was also un naturally enhanced. It came and went, a heightening that his brother agent Groundspider called 'residue'. Which it was.
One of Moonshadow's more unique abilities was the Old Country science called the Eye of the Beast. It enabled him to mentally join with a nearby animal, seeing through its eyes or even taking control of it. An animal-quality sense such as hearing or smell would often linger in Moonshadow after he had joined his mind with that of a bird or beast. It could fade, then return unpredictably. Sometimes these random heightenings were so intense they became overwhelming, even making him feel sick. But not tonight. For now, a manageable audio residue, sharp but not too strong, was serving him well.
Moon inclined his head, opening his mouth to help stretch that enhanced hearing even further. They needed more information, and fast. Whoever approached was high on the roof's hidden face now, about to peep – or plunge – over that bumpy apex.
Once that unknown individual let themselves be seen, they would attack fast.
'Get ready to throw,' he whispered to Snowhawk.
With a short, crisp nod, she brought her right hand up, in line with one high cheekbone. The curved blades of a Clan Fuma shuriken peeped between her fingers. Moonshadow frowned at it then looked back up to the next roof's apex.
How strange. Despite being given a pouch of Grey Light Order throwing stars with the classic straight-bladed Iga-Koga design, she was still using her old supply.
Why use a style favoured by the very clan she had fled? Was it just familiarity?
They both recoiled as movement broke the next roof's skyline. A head appeared.
Snowhawk's hand dropped. She and Moonshadow sighed heavily, their shoulders relaxing. Above them bobbed a tiny head with pointy ears.
A cat. Though not just any passing cat. The temple cat that lived with them.
'What are you doing here?' Moon whispered to it. 'Have you tailed us all night?'
The temple cat strolled up and down the high roof line, flicking its tail but not making a sound. Moonshadow never ceased to marvel at the animal's oddity. Like any other temple or 'kimono' cat, it had been born with rare markings that were considered sacred. They resembled an image of a woman in a kimono, and by tradition, such cats lived in the grounds of temples or shrines. But regular temple cats had stumpy, triangular tails. This one's tail was long, thick and expressive.
Smiling with relief, Moon looked up at the eccentric creature that had adopted him two months ago. It had been during the first real mission of his life, where he had also met Snowhawk. The beautiful, skilful Snowhawk.
Moon glanced at her with furtive admiration. He still wasn't sure if he'd rescued her, she him, or they each other. Whatever the case, it had been one crazy, dangerous mission. He'd been wounded and made himself a powerful enemy, but it had all ended in success.
Above, the cat turned suddenly on the apex, drawing his eye.
Snowhawk moved noiselessly to his side. 'This is getting ridiculous,' she whispered. 'It's sweet the way she's so crazy about you, but she's going to get us detected.'
He nodded, squinting up at the animal. What was the cat's game? Now she was leaning sharply towards Edo Castle, tail swishing around fast. She turned and glared down at Moonshadow then resumed the same antics. Thankfully, without a single meow.
'Wait,' he muttered. 'She's signalling something.' But what? A warning?
Great timing! Both he and Snowhawk needed to enter this attic, and now. But perhaps there was good cause to have somebody keep watch. Moon shadow scratched his cheek, reasoning it through. He could do both at once, but it would cost him precious life force, ki energy, temporarily draining his strength. That always increased the risk factor during a mission. If he failed to rest properly afterwards, or sight-joined again too quickly, total exhaustion – and disaster – would follow.
Yet what choice did he have? If this was a warning and he simply ignored it . . .
He glanced to one side. Snowhawk was staring at him. She leaned in close.
'You're planning to link with it, aren't you?' she whispered quickly. He nodded. 'We've covered a lot of ground tonight, and there's more to come when we move on to that fishing village, Yokohama, before sunrise.' She gripped his arm. 'Have you enough energy for all this? Controlling a sentry cat and helping me memorise whatever we hear?'
'I think so. Anyway –' Moonshadow gestured down at the square opening she had created in the tiles – 'we can't waste time weighing it up. The conspirators arranged to gather once the midnight bell had sounded. So we need to get into place. If our information's right, their meeting will start at any moment, if it hasn't already.'
'You're right.' She gave a relenting sigh
. 'I'll go in first, check for chime traps and find us a good spot, right above them.'
'Be careful,' Moon said, letting his hand brush her arm. An unexpected wave of anxious, protective feelings rolled over him. He summoned up his will to push them off. This was no time to turn all slushy, as Groundspider called it. It'd get them both killed.
Snowhawk gave him a warm glance and then, head-first, warily entered the attic.
He turned away to stare up at the temple cat. Moon concentrated on the animal and for a few seconds his hands trembled. The cat looked down at him and, as their gazes met, a subtle green hue sheened its eyes. Moonshadow knew the same unnatural colour was sparkling around his pupils too. His nostrils flared and twitched as he began to share the cat's powerful sense of smell.
The barrage of new odours threatened to overwhelm him. The smell of old incense from a house below. Freshly caught fish and pork roasting somewhere in the distance. A sandalwood scent from the damp laundry drying on a pole nearby. And another aroma, sweet, almost sickly, coming from so far off he couldn't identify it.
Focusing his will, Moon accessed the second level of the Eye of the Beast craft. Abruptly he saw through both the cat's eyes and his own.
With his human vision, he saw the temple cat standing motionless, leaning once more from the higher roof's apex, a dark Edo skyline behind it.
Superimposed over that sight, he saw what the cat saw: the opposite skyline, with Edo Castle at its centre. The animal vision rippled through what looked like a thin layer of water, a side-effect he was used to. Distant movement in the vista caught his attention. A tiny figure, hard for even the cat's eyes to make out, was cautiously hopping roofs, bobbing as if searching, gradually approaching from the direction of the Shogun's castle.
The Wrath of Silver Wolf Page 1
