Shadow of the Moon, a Sea of Shadows ttk-1

by Fuyumi Ono

  His mother nodded. "Yes, indeed. I would agree."

  "With that in mind, I'll take her as far as Kankyuu. We'll need to get her some clothes she can bring with her."

  His mother looked Rakushun in the eyes. She said bruskly, "You're going to do what?"

  "There's nothing to worry about. I'll be there and back before you know it! She doesn't know where anything is, so I'll show her the way. You're tough as an ox, Mom. You'll be okay on your own, right?"

  His mother gave Rakushun a long look, then nodded. "Well, all right, then. You be careful, though."

  "Rakushun," Youko interjected. "I appreciate your concern for me, but I don't want to cause you any more trouble. Once you show me the way, I'm sure I can figure things out."

  She couldn't bring herself to say that she found the prospect of a traveling companion quite alarming. "I don't want to impose on you, but you could draw me a map like you were showing me before."

  "Youko, if it were simply a matter of getting to En, assuming that you'd then be in a position to petition the king, you could never do it on your own. Even knowing the way, it will take at least three months to get to the palace in Kankyuu. In the meantime, what will you eat? Where will you stay? How will you pay for anything?"

  Youko couldn't answer.

  "This is not a journey you want to take by yourself. You said it yourself, you don't know anything about this world."

  Youko thought about it. After thinking it through for a while, she nodded. "All right."

  As she spoke, out of the corners of her eyes she caught sight of the shrouded sword. Perhaps it would be better to have Rakushun along for the journey. Both he and his mother seemed ready to give her what help they could, though that wasn't necessarily the real truth. Whether friend or foe, she couldn't know for certain. But as long as they knew where she was going, she couldn't afford to take chances. If the authorities were quickly informed as soon as she left, what awaited her in Agan would not be a ship, but a cage.

  If Rakushun accompanied her, however, he'd essentially become her hostage. And if by chance he proved an unacceptable risk, her sword would settle the question.

  Thinking this, she was struck by the feeling that she truly had become a pathetic creature.

  5-7

  Five days had passed since she had set off with Rakushun. At least he and his mother had treated her like they were sympathetic to her plight, and that gave her time to rest and recuperate.

  "You have no idea what the two of them have up their sleeves," the blue monkey lectured her. This was hardly news to her.

  Rakushun's mom made all the preparations for their journey. Despite subsisting on an even more meager income than Takki, she was able to put together a change of clothes for Youko. The clothing was rough and plain and seemed made originally for a larger man. Youko guessed they had belonged to Rakushun's father.

  It only made Youko more wary. She could not believe they were simply a pair of good Samaritans. She was still okay with Rakushun because of his non-human form. She didn't have the courage to trust his mother completely.

  "Why are you doing so much to help me?" she asked. They had left Rakushun's home and the dwelling had finally disappeared from view. She couldn't bear not knowing any longer.

  Rakushun stroked his whiskers with his small forefeet. "Well, it's because you were all alone and we have to get you to Kankyuu."

  "Don't you think that giving me the directions would have been enough?"

  "What are you talking about? The sights in Kankyuu aren't half bad, or so I've heard. A most interesting place. It's like that other world, probably because that's where the king is from."

  "Like Yamato or like China?"

  "Like Yamato. The Royal En came from Yamato."

  "And that's your only reason?"

  Rakushun looked up at Youko. "You still don't trust me, do you, Youko?"

  "And perhaps you've been overdoing it a bit?"

  The rat was carrying a knapsack on his back. He scratched the fur on his chest. "Well, look at me. I'm a hanjuu."

  "A hanjuu?"

  "A half-beast, a chimera. The Royal Kou doesn't like hanjuu, either. He hates kaikyaku, hates anything that is different."

  Youko nodded.

  "There aren't a lot of kaikyaku in Kou. Most kaikyaku wash ashore in the eastern kingdoms. But when I say, 'most,' in fact their actual numbers aren't that great."

  "About how many?"

  "I'd say one shows up every couple years or so."

  "Huh," said Youko. Even that was more than she would have imagined.

  "At any rate, the greatest number of kaikyaku are found in Kei, perhaps because Kei is the easternmost of the kingdoms. After that, En and then Kou. There aren't many hanjuu in Kou. I couldn't tell you why or to what degree."

  "Are there many in the other kingdoms?"

  "More than there are in Kou. I'm the only hanjuu around these parts. The king isn't a bad person, but he does have his prejudices. He deals severely with kaikyaku and keeps his distance from hanjuu like me." Rakushun gave his whiskers a twitch. "I don't mean to boast, but I am the sharpest apple in the barrel around here."

  Unable to grasp the intent of this statement, Youko just looked at him.

  "Not to mention intelligent, quick-witted, and fairly even-tempered."

  Youko laughed politely. "Of course you are."

  "Yet all that won't make me a full-fledged human being. No matter how much time passes, I'll always be half a man. Because I'll never be anything more than half-human. It was set in stone when I was born in this form. Not being able to do anything about it doesn't make it my fault."

  Youko replied with a slight nod. Though she vaguely understood what he was getting at, it didn't assuage any of her misgivings.

  "A kaikyaku is the same. Killing a kaikyaku for being a kaikyaku is not something I can condone."

  "Indeed."

  Rakushun scratched the bottoms of his big ears. "Do you know what a joushou is? It's a district academy. I was first in my class and was recommended by the dean to the provincial university. If I had attended university, I could have become a local government official."

  "Is a district bigger than a county?"

  "Bigger than a prefecture. There are a handful of districts in a province. How many's a handful depends, though. Each district has a population of fifty thousand households. Each district has four prefectures with a population of twelve thousand, five hundred. There are five counties to a prefecture."

  "Huh." She had a hard time wrapping her head around a number like fifty thousand.

  "In fact, I only made it to the district academy after my mom petitioned over and over, and she was finally able to get me admitted. If my grades were good, I knew I could go to the university and become a government official. Because I'm half-human, I won't get an allotment. But even without an allotment, I could make a decent life for myself. As it turns out, though, hanjuu aren't allowed into the provincial university."

  "Oh."

  "In order to pay my tuition to the district academy, my mom ended up selling her own allotment."

  "And now?"

  "And now she's a tenant farmer. She farms land rented from one of the richer homesteads in the area."

  "Homestead?"

  "Homesteads are granted by the executor for public lands. After getting permission from the government, the newly cultivated land is called a homestead. Still, my mom can work the land, but not me. People don't hire out hanjuu. The taxes are too high."

  Youko tilted her head to one side. "Why's that?"

  "Among the hanjuu, there are also those of us who resemble bears or cows. They are more powerful than ordinary humans. But what it comes down to is, the king doesn't like hanjuu. That's all."

  "Yeah, that really sucks."

  "He doesn't hate us as much as kaikyaku. I can't say we're arrested or executed or things like that. But we're not counted as part of the official census. That's why we're not given allotments or jobs. My mom h
as to provide for both of us. That's why we're so poor."

  "Oh."

  "I'd really like to get a job." Rakushun gestured to the purse hanging around his neck. "This is all the money my mom saved up so that I could pay the tuition at a university in En. In En, even hanjuu are admitted to the best universities in the country and become important statesmen. I'd be recognized as a legal adult, given an allotment and included in the census. I thought that if I went to En with you, I could get myself a job, too."

  So it wasn't all out of the kindness of his heart, Youko thought cynically. There was no malice in it, but this was no altruistic act, either.

  "Yes, it all makes perfect sense."

  There was a barb in her voice that made Rakushun stop and look at Youko for a moment. But he kept his thoughts to himself.

  Youko said nothing more after that. Everybody keeps their own welfare first and foremost in mind. Question an act of charity deeply enough and you'll discover a kernel of selfishness in it. That's why she begrudged nothing Rakushun had said.

  Of course, Youko thought. That's why we betray one another. In the end, we're only out for number one. It doesn't matter who you are, nobody can live with another person's welfare solely in mind.

  5-8

  That evening they arrived at a city called Kakuraku, a city as big as Kasai.

  Youko had traveled with a person from this world before, but compared to then they were on a much tighter budget. They ate dinner at a roadside stand and spent the night in the cheapest inn. A single night costs fifty sen, and for that you got a bed in a big room sectioned off with folding screens. Because Rakushun was picking up the tab, Youko was in no position to complain.

  Rakushun passed off Youko as his younger brother. If nobody had a problem with him having a human mother, they shouldn't have a problem with him having a human brother. And, in fact, no one gave them so much as a second glance.

  It was at first an uneventful journey. As they walked along, Rakushun helpfully explained things. "The Twelve Kingdoms are made up of four Great Realms (Taikoku), four Principalities (Shuukoku), and four Outlands (Kyokukoku)."

  "Four Great Realms?" Youko glanced over her shoulder at Rakushun, tottering along beside her.

  "That's right. The four Great Realms are the Eastern Kingdom of Kei, the Southern Kingdom of Sou, the Western Kingdom of Han, and the Northern Kingdom of Ryuu. The Great Realms are not particularly bigger than the Principalities, but that's what they're called. The Principalities are En Shuukoku, Kyou Shuukoku, Sai Shuukoku and Kou Shuukoku. The four Outlands are Tai, Shun, Hou and Ren."

  "In other words, Tai Kyokukoku, Shun Kyokukoku, Hou Kyokukoku and Ren Kyokukoku?"

  "Correct. Each is ruled by a king. The Royal Kou is known as the Mountain King. His palace is in Gousou, in Ki Province. It is called Suikou, the Palace of Green Bamboo."

  "Gousou is a city?"

  Nodding, Rakushun pointed off to the left at the mountains coming into view. The land was very hilly here. In the distance she could see a rising line of foothills, and beyond, dimly visible, an even more formidable range of towering mountains.

  "In that direction, far beyond those mountains is a mountain that reaches up to heaven. Mount Gousou. At its peak is Suikou, the Palace of Green Bamboo. Around the foot of the mountain is the city of Gousou."

  "No kidding."

  "From there the king rules the country. He appoints the province lords, promulgates laws, and allocates public lands to the people."

  "What do the province lords do, then?"

  "The province lords are the de facto rulers of each province. They are responsible for the disposition of provincial lands, the welfare of the citizenry, and the conduct of the military. They formalize and execute the laws, conduct the census, collect taxes, and mobilize the troops in times of emergency."

  "It sounds to me like the king isn't the person who's really running things."

  "It is the job of the king to provide the guidelines for the administration of the government."

  She didn't really understand it, but perhaps it was like the federal system in the United States.

  "The king lays down what is known as the Law of the Land. The province lords can also legislate but they cannot go against the Law of the Land. And neither can the Law of the Land violate the Divine Decrees."

  "The Divine Decrees?"

  "The Divine Decrees are handed down to the sovereign, declaring how a kingdom must be ruled. If you think of this world as broad pavilion, the Decrees are the pillars that hold it up. They're also known as the Pillars of Heaven, or the Great Colonnade. Even kings bow to their authority. As long as a king does not tread upon the Great Colonnade, he may rule his kingdom as he sees fit."

  "Huh. So who decided what this Great Colonnade was? You're not telling me it's some sort of God, are you?"

  Well, Rakushun chuckled. "The story is that a long, long time ago, Tentei--the Lord God of the Heavens, the Divine Creator--vanquished the Nine Dominions and the Four Barbarian Domains that comprised the Thirteen Realms. Five gods and twelve mortals were spared and all the rest of humanity were returned to their eggs. In the center of the world, five mountains were created, and presided over by Seioubo, the Royal Mother of the West. The realm encircling the five mountains was transformed into the Yellow Sea. The five gods were appointed the Dragon Kings of the Five Seas.

  "A creation myth, in other words."

  "So it is. Each of the remaining twelve was given a branch of a tree. A snake coiled around each branch, and each branch bore three fruits. The snakes unwound themselves from each branch and lifted the sky to the heavens. The fruits fell down creating, in turn, the earth, a kingdom and a throne. Then each of the branches turned into a calligraphy brush."

  This is was a creation myth different from any Youko had heard of.

  "The snakes are the pillars of the Great Colonnade, the earth represents the census, the kingdoms stand for the law, the thrones symbolize justice and virtue, or the Saiho and the ministers of the realm, and the brush records the history of the people." Rakushun twitched his whiskers. "At that time none of us had been born, so nobody knows how true is really is."

  "Naturally." When she was a lot younger, she'd read about Chinese creation myths in a children's book. She remembered none of it now. Even so, she had a hard time believing there could be any similarities. "I take it this Tentei is the head God?"

  "I guess you could put it that way."

  "So if you're going to pray to anybody, Tentei is the guy to pray to?"

  Pray to? Rakushun seemed to say, tilting his head to the side. "Well, if you were praying for a child, yes, you would petition the Tentei."

  "Other than that? What about praying for wealth and prosperity?"

  "If you were asking for wealth and prosperity, you'd petition Gyoutei, the August God. Speaking of which, there are sects that worship Gyoutei. And in that same vein, to escape floods, there are those who look to Utei. To escape youma, there's Koutei."

  "So there are all kinds?"

  "Yes, and there are religions that worship all of them, too."

  "But it's not something people normally do?"

  "No need to. If the weather is good to us, the harvest will be bountiful. Whether the weather is good or bad depends on the conditions of the heavens. The rain falls on the happy and the sad, on the just and the unjust alike. When it doesn't, there's a drought. Praying about it won't do any good."

  Youko was taken aback by this. "Yeah, but if there's a flood, isn't that going to cause problems for everybody?"

  "In order to prevent floods, the king orders that dikes and dams be built."

  "Or, say, frost damage?"

  "So there won't be famine at such times, wouldn't it be up to the king to manage the distribution of food?"

  I don't get this at all. What she did get was that these people weren't like the people she knew at all. "So what you're saying is, nobody says prayers to pass a test, or save money, or stuff like that."

&n
bsp; It was Rakushun's turn to look surprised. "Don't things like that all depend on the effort of the individual involved? How would you go about praying for them?"

  "Well, yeah, but … . "

  "If you study for a test, then you'll pass. If you work hard, you'll earn money. What exactly is praying about it supposed to accomplish?"

  So that's what this is all about. Youko laughed cynically to herself. Nobody crosses their fingers, nobody makes promises to God. So if you've got the chance to sell a kaikyaku into slavery, make yourself a little on the side, hey, what's the problem? Waste not, want not.

  "Yeah, I guess it figures," she muttered, but there was a coldness in her words that made Rakushun look up at her and made his whiskers droop in disappointment.

  It was something he usually boasted of only to himself, but Rakushun was well-studied and had an unusually sharp mind. He found it painful to think that despite this he should become a burden on his mother, and only because he was a half-human hanjuu.

  Rakushun wanted to ask more about Youko and about Japan, but she had nothing more to say.

  And so it was, on the sixteenth day of their journey, that the attack came.

  5-9

  Evening approached. Goryou, the city they planned to stay in that night, had just come into view.

  The travelers moving hastily along the highway had created a crush of people in front of the gates. Youko found herself caught up with them and quickened her pace. It was about five hundred yards to the gates. As if to hurry them along, from within the walls a big drum began pounding. When the drum stopped sounding, the gates would close. Everybody started running. This only added to the throngs jammed up at the gates. Then amongst the crowds somebody started yelling.

  As if drawn along by the voice, a person, then two, then more looked back and up at the sky. Here and there the crowd came to a standstill. Noting this with great suspicion, Youko glanced back over her shoulder. Already she could clearly see the silhouette of a great bird. A great bird like an eagle with a horn. And there were eight of them.