Mirror Sword and Shadow Prince

by Noriko Ogiwara

  It can’t be helped, Lady Akaru told herself. You knew what to expect. Yet she could not ignore the pain she had felt at the contempt on her sister’s face. Enduring the storm of emotions inside her, she continued to kneel quietly, both hands on the floor in front of her. She needed every ounce of strength to keep herself from regretting her decision.

  Finally, the curtain behind the dais moved slightly, and the high priestess appeared, leaning on an attendant. Lady Akaru bowed her head so low it almost touched the floor. After settling herself in her seat, the white-haired priestess spoke. Her words struck Lady Akaru’s ears cruelly. “So, you have nerve to come back instead of taking your life.”

  Lady Akaru strove desperately to keep her fingers from trembling. Don’t shake. Don’t cry. You left all such weakness behind in that little hut at Mahoroba. She raised her head. “Yes, I have returned to Mino. And I have therefore come today to request your blessing for the bond that unites me with Prince Oh-usu.”

  “I never dreamed you could be so shameless! Perhaps my old eyes were too clouded to see clearly when I gave you the magatama. Where is it? What have you done with the magatama I entrusted to you when you left Mino?”

  Lady Akaru’s eyes fell. “… It lost its brightness. The emperor took the jewel from me and it never shone again. It remains in his hands.”

  “What have you done?!” The high priestess shouted with such vehemence that her body seemed to lift off the chair. Her attendant rose hastily and reached out a hand. “Do you intend to destroy us? You were sent to purify his heart, but instead you have entrusted to him an object of power. Once they have realized its worth, do you know what the emperor and his bloodline will do? They will reach out their hands to tear up that power from its roots. They will stop at nothing in their pursuit of it. How could you—you who I believed so rare and special among Tachibana women—how could you commit such a dreadful mistake? Who was it that dragged you down so low? Prince Oh-usu?”

  “No,” Lady Akaru replied clearly. “It was Prince Oh-usu who saved me. Without him, I would surely have lost my mind or taken my own life. But instead, he gave me hope. It is thanks to him that I do not wander the world, a wraith crushed by my fate.”

  “Silence!” The priestess glared at her. “What do you know about fate? The omens clearly showed that the emperor would love and cherish you. You were destined to marry one another. But instead you are so depraved you chose the young prince instead.”

  “That’s not true!” Lady Akaru said. “The emperor showed not one speck of love for me. And it was not because I had given my love to someone else. It’s true that when the prince came as the emperor’s messenger, my heart was moved. I admit that. But I went to the capital with every intention of serving the emperor and loving him with all my heart. And with the expectation that he would love me in return. I believed it was my destiny. It never occurred to me that there could be any other way. But I will never forget what I saw in the emperor’s face when I stood in his bedroom.”

  She gripped her arms tightly, trying to control the emotions that shook her. “He looked at me as if I were an object, something that came with the magatama. That was the only thing he was interested in. But I am human. I am a woman. Without love, how could I possibly make the magatama shine?”

  “But that can’t be. You were meant to love one another.”

  “No. We could not,” Lady Akaru stated flatly. “Keeper of the Shrine, you did not see the emperor’s eyes. What I saw there was certainly not love.”

  The high priestess paused and then said quietly, “Are you saying that my prophecy was false?”

  “When he knew that my magatama was useless, the emperor banished me away to the servants’ quarters without remorse. He made me work from dawn to dusk in the kitchens and saw to it that I was punished severely for any little mistake. Do you still insist that I could have loved him when he behaved so cruelly?”

  “Are you saying that my prophecy was false?”

  The intensity with which the high priestess repeated her question made Lady Akaru pause for a moment. She clenched her fists. “Yes,” she said finally.

  A taut silence settled over them. They sat motionless, glaring at one another. The quiet shrine deep in the forest was now hushed to the point where even the hum of insect wings seemed to reverberate in the room. Finally the old woman stirred and spoke. “Let us suppose then that to marry the emperor was not your destiny. Even so, your duty to your clan is not erased. What do you intend to do? Surely you must have something in mind if you have come back bearing portents of war instead of the magatama. Tell me. How do you feel about our clan, which your selfishness has brought to the brink of destruction?”

  For the first time Lady Akaru’s voice shook. “I have no intention of destroying our clan. The prince will be victorious. The people of Mino have welcomed him as their commander.”

  “The oracles all point to misfortune. Do you intend to overturn this prophecy as well?”

  Lady Akaru swallowed. “Yes.”

  “Then can you regain the magatama from the emperor?”

  “Even if it costs me my life.”

  At this, the priestess’s eyes flashed. “You quenched the light of the magatama. Its light will never again shine for the emperor. Nor will it shine for anyone else. Because it has lost that for which it was destined. This is the fruit of your ministry as the bearer. It will take your successor, the next bearer, to win back the magatama.”

  Lady Akaru bit her lip. “Then choose the next bearer and let me pass it on to her.”

  “The magatama can be yielded to another just once in a lifetime, and only someone, such as I, who has borne it without touching its power, can pass it on while still drawing breath. As for you, you can only surrender the magatama when your own life ends.”

  The blood drained from Lady Akaru’s lips, and her skin, already fair, grew so pale it seemed transparent. “Is that what you would have me do?”

  “I am only telling you to fulfill your duty as a priestess of the Tachibana clan.”

  Lady Akaru had kept her chin raised defiantly all this time, but now she bowed her head. Her freshly washed hair caressed her cheek. “So,” she whispered. “You will not forgive me, Keeper of the Shrine.”

  “It is not I who won’t forgive you,” the priestess answered. Her voice seemed emotionless.

  “I am not afraid of death,” Lady Akaru said. “I have thought of taking my life many, many times to atone for my sin. It would have been so much easier. But I just could not see why I should be to blame. The magatama lost its light. Perhaps that is a sin unworthy of a Tachibana. Yet I just can’t believe that it was my fault.” Her voice grew stronger and more spirited as she spoke. She raised her face once more and her eyes were shining. Reaching a hand inside her robe, she calmly drew out a small dagger and unsheathed its thin, sharp blade. “I met Prince Oh-usu and I loved him. I will never regret that. I believe our love is true. To prove my love for him, I would gladly die here. I will gladly offer you my life, not to atone for any failure to fulfill my destiny, but rather to demonstrate the truth of one who has searched for and found her own heart.”

  The dagger glittered, casting a silver light in the gloom. The priestess, who seemed to have been rendered speechless by the sight, finally opened her mouth to speak. But at that moment a high-pitched shriek came from outside the door. “Keeper of the Shrine!” It was Kisako. A moment later she ran into the room with tears streaming down her face, looking very unlike a shrine maiden. “Keeper of the Shrine! That Toko! Please make her pay for this!” But before she could continue, Toko appeared, and behind her stood the prince, tall and regal.

  The attendant made a sound like a strangled chicken. “She’s brought an outsider!”

  Lady Akaru turned to look and froze with her dagger still raised.

  “Keeper of the Shrine,” Toko began boldly. “This is Prince Oh-usu, first son of the emperor of Mahoroba. I apologize for coming so suddenly, but I remembered that you a
sked my mother to show you her adopted son. I’m afraid Oguna can’t come because he has gone to the capital, but fortunately the prince is here. He looks just like Oguna. Please let him enter.”

  “Toko,” Lady Akaru gasped. “That’s outrageous.”

  The prince, ignoring Toko’s words and without even glancing at the high priestess, flew to Lady Akaru’s side and grabbed the dagger from her hand. “What on earth were you planning to do with this? Honestly! I can’t leave you alone for a second.”

  Gazing up at him, Lady Akaru’s eyes filled with tears. “But I had to … I had to prove myself.”

  The prince pulled her close and then looked up at the priestess sitting on the dais. “Forgive me for barging in uninvited, but I don’t care who you are—how, as ruler of this clan, can you justify ordering her suicide just because she loves someone?”

  “How dare you!” the high priestess snapped. “This woman is married to the emperor. It’s you who are in the wrong.”

  “I am sure from what this lady has told you that you must already know who is truly worthy of censure, my father or me,” the prince said, struggling to keep his voice calm. “If, even knowing that, you still insist that I’m in the wrong, you can say what you please. I intend to oppose the emperor until every last person is forced to acknowledge the truth.”

  “Then know this: the omens show that war will only bring you misfortune.”

  “And what of it?”

  “Enough.” The high priestess sank into her seat as if something inside her had snapped. “I’m tired. I have no strength left to deal with your stubbornness in addition to Lady Akaru’s. Take her and leave this shrine. Your presence is so unruly it makes it hard to breathe in this small space.”

  The prince looked taken aback, but before she could change her mind he bowed his head and said, “If you’ll excuse us.” He turned and, placing an arm around the princess, began leading her away.

  “You are indeed a Takeru,” the high priestess said.

  The prince turned. “What did you say?”

  “I said you are a Takeru, a hero that none can withstand.”

  The prince smiled, showing his white teeth. “Such high praise. And I thought you said the omens were against me.” He left the room and so failed to hear her final words.

  “None can withstand a Takeru because he burns his life away in a moment. A Takeru is fated to die young.”

  Toko, however, heard and stopped short, a delay that she regretted instantly.

  “Toko!” the priestess called sharply. “Where do you think you’re going? I don’t remember giving you permission to leave.”

  Seizing this chance, Kisako announced triumphantly, “It’s all Toko’s fault, my lady. Please punish her. She pushed me out of the way when I tried to stop her and brought that stranger in.”

  Oh dear. This is bad. Really bad … Toko thought. She had meant to come and go like a whirlwind, but she had been too slow. She could not possibly leave now. As she stood despondent, the high priestess said gently, “Don’t worry. I won’t punish you. I’m too tired to be angry. But there’s something I want to talk to you about, so stay with me a little longer.”

  The high priestess rose from her chair and withdrew to a small room behind the dais, commanding Toko to join her. Kisako, ordered back to her regular duties, departed with a disgusted look, leaving the two alone. For some time the high priestess sipped a hot medicinal tea, which Toko tasted but found unpleasant. Finally, however, the priestess put down her cup and began to talk.

  “Well! You certainly are bold. You’ve become even more devil-may-care since I saw you last. Even I was taken by surprise today. Yet … strangely enough, it’s hard to dislike you, Toko. There’s something about you that’s very refreshing, although I can see that you have a long, hard road ahead of you.”

  Toko was thrown into confusion. Already regretting her rash behavior, she said, quite meekly for her, “I’m so sorry I was rude. I just had to help Lady Akaru somehow. She loves the prince from the bottom of her heart. And he loves her. If you must punish someone, you can punish me … though I hope you won’t punish me too harshly. Just please forgive Lady Akaru.”

  The high priestess nodded. “I knew that already. There was not a trace of doubt in her eyes. No matter what happens, she will live and die with the prince. I was simply testing her resolve.”

  “So you had already forgiven her from the start,” Toko said.

  “What was there to forgive? The prophecy was false. The omens no longer speak the truth. I never dreamed I’d live to see such a terrible thing. I’ve lived so long that now I must watch the unthinkable happen. Your generation may be the last of the Mino Tachibana clan.” Her shoulders drooped and she seemed to shrink before Toko’s eyes. This woman who she had once thought as changeless as a rock now appeared frailer than a withered tree.

  “Keeper of the Shrine,” Toko whispered.

  “Some power strong enough to twist fate has come into this world—a power that directly opposes the gods we worship. It is very dangerous. Left unchecked it will affect the entire land of Toyoashihara and cause great destruction. I have sensed this threat for many years, and when the omens told me it was linked to Mino, I tried hard to identify it. Today, I finally discovered what it is. Thanks to you, Toko.”

  Toko tilted her head, puzzled. “Did I do something?”

  The high priestess gazed at her, her eyes dark and troubled. “It was something you said. You told me that the foster child raised in your house looks just like the prince. When I heard that, everything fell into place. I should have had him brought to me much sooner. He is the cause of this evil.”

  “Oguna? … He what?”

  “He is an abomination, the source of all our misfortunes.”

  “Oguna?!”

  4

  OGUNA RECOVERED rapidly. His body had been conditioned through hard training, and by now he knew how to regain his strength. Although the servants treated him with lavish care, it was not his nature to relax and enjoy it. Some animal instinct constantly urged him to hurry and regain control of his life. He was worried about the prince and his friends, but he was even more anxious about being here in Itsuse—and about the woman who was his mother.

  Oguna worked daily to build up his stamina. He ate every morsel placed in front of him. Considering that Itsuse was located deep in the mountains, a surprisingly significant fraction of his diet was seafood. Apparently the villagers who lived along the coast below climbed the mountain every day to deliver it.

  Spending mealtimes with Oguna seemed to be Princess Momoso’s greatest pleasure. When she took his bowl to serve him more rice, she frequently exclaimed with delight, “My, what an appetite boys have! So this is how boys grow. It’s wonderful.”

  “Mother, you hardly eat at all,” Oguna remarked one day. “Are you not hungry?”

  “Oh, but I do not wish to become fat. Would it not be a disgrace if I became like Lady Inabi?”

  An image of Prince Oh-usu’s plump mother rose into Oguna’s mind. “If I had to choose, I suppose I prefer women who are slim,” he said.

  “Of course you do. Who do you think is prettier? Me or Inabi?” she asked, leaning toward him.

  “You, mother,” Oguna responded without any intention to flatter.

  “My, how happy you make me!” she exclaimed, pressing her hands against her cheeks.

  She’s like a little girl, Oguna thought. The way she behaved with him was endearing and without a trace of haughtiness, so the difference in her manner when she delivered orders to those around her always came as a shock. He was gradually coming to see that the stern face she showed the rest of the world was a mask. Inside she was a lonely little girl. It was easy to tell that, being the Itsuki no Miya, she had been forced to forgo interaction with other people.

  Just being with Oguna made her happy. He only had to move or speak for her to look upon him proudly. Even when he was too busy exercising to talk to her, she was content to watch him. Oguna
, who had never experienced such overwhelming love before, felt bewildered and did not know how to respond. It also concerned him that she was neglecting her duties as priestess to be with him. At last he summoned the courage to speak.

  “Mother, I think it is unwise for me to stay here for very long. Only women are allowed in this shrine and …” He struggled to find the words. “Not everyone knows that I am your son … so they must think this is strange. You are, after all, the Itsuki no Miya.” Her faced clouded over and he added hastily, “Besides, I’m better now. I can’t just sit around and do nothing. Please give me your permission to go.”

  Princess Momoso looked at him, her expression grave. “I too have been thinking about what you should do from now on. But first, tell me what you wish. What do you want to do?”

  Oguna answered without a moment’s hesitation. “I want to go to Mino. I want to find Prince Oh-usu and, if he is still alive, join him and his followers.”

  Princess Momoso’s eyes widened. “Goodness! Surely you are not serious. How innocent and gullible you are. That man left you to die. Do you really intend to serve him again? Even though you would have been tortured and beaten to death save for me? After all the suffering he caused you, why should you serve Oh-usu?”

  Now it was Oguna’s turn to be surprised. He had never thought about it like that. Fumbling for words, he tried to explain. “But … I am his shadow. I don’t know what else I should do. And after all, I grew up in Mino …”

  Princess Momoso scowled. “Forget that you were ever his shadow,” she said firmly. “The very thought of it is revolting. You, a shadow? Why, it is he who is the shadow. Yes, he is but a shadow compared to you. Your blood is far purer than his. You have no lowly blood like that woman Inabi’s running in your veins.”

  Oguna looked at her sharply. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that I, your mother, believe you are suited to inherit the throne.”

  The term doting parent flashed through Oguna’s mind, but her behavior far exceeded that description. “It’s very generous of you to say so. But to be honest, from what I learned under the prince, being heir to the throne does not look very appealing.”