The Initiate Brother Duology

by Russell, Sean

  “Tranquillity of purpose.”

  The merchant stopped short. “Tranquillity of purpose; yes, Sire.

  “He met with Brother Hutto when he arrived in Yankura. I had no instructions, so I allowed him to do so.”

  “You acted correctly. How was the old monk?”

  “I didn’t go myself but sent guards as escort. They reported that Brother Hutto treated Shuyun-sum with great respect—almost as an equal.”

  “They exaggerate, surely! I would be surprised to hear that Brother Hutto thought the Emperor his equal.”

  “I was not there, Sire, but I believe the reports to be accurate.”

  “Huh. Did the two of you talk?”

  “Some, Sire. He is like most Botahists, difficult to draw out, but even so I managed to find out a number of things.”

  “Such as?”

  “He is well informed, Sire. The Brothers appear to have excellent sources of intelligence and obviously they have been preparing your advisor with care. His knowledge of the powers-that-be within Wa is good; his view of the political situation, broad; and, I must admit, he even has a working understanding of our economy, which I believe I have added to.”

  “No doubt. Did you talk of Seh?”

  “Yes, and again he knew who the strongest lords were and what the history of their alliances has been. He knew who had married into which family and who could be considered as a possible ally. He views the entire endeavor with suspicion, though he said you were undoubtedly the finest general in Wa and the logical choice to send to Seh.

  “Shuyun-sum also said something else, Sire, something I had not considered. He seems to think that there is a historical pattern in the barbarian wars, and that pattern, he believes, has now been broken.” Tanaka paused as if gauging his lord’s reaction, but Shonto said nothing so the merchant went on. “Shuyun-sum thinks that there is a twenty-five-year cycle in which the last seven years see an escalation which may or may not then lead to major war depending on the situation of the barbarian tribes. Our young Brother thinks that certain factors are critical at this point—the economy of the tribes, the strength of their leaders, the quality of the resistance they experience in Seh, and also the effects of the climate on what they call agriculture. All of these things affect their ability and their desire to mount a major campaign against the Empire. Shuyun-sum has pointed out that it has been over thirty years since the last Barbarian War.”

  “Interesting. Do you think this is his own observation?”

  Tanaka stroked his beard, his gaze far away. “A good point, Sire, I don’t know.”

  A message, Shonto wondered, is this a message from the monks? He poured his cha and Tanaka did likewise. The lord began his habit of turning the cup in his hand as he stared into its depths, looking for answers, for questions.

  “Did you ask him how he will resolve the conflict between his service to the Shonto and his allegiance to the Brotherhood?”

  “I did, Sire. He said the interests of the Brotherhood and your interests were not in conflict.”

  “I see. And?”

  “He seems to believe it, Sire. He is young despite his abilities—only time can erase naïveté.”

  “His answer is not good enough, though it will do for now. Even the Botahist trained are not beyond influence…we shall see.”

  A swallow swooped through the open wall and out again, landing on the porch rail where it sat regarding the two men. Shonto watched the bird for a few seconds then said, his voice betraying a trace of weariness, “I heard a nightingale three evenings past, singing in the moonlight…it would be good to have peace again, yeh?”

  “It would, Lord Shonto.”

  The two men sipped their cha and looked into the garden.

  “Have you heard the most recent pronouncement of the Botahists’ Supreme Master, Sire?”

  Shonto turned his gaze from the swallow. “What now?”

  “The Botahist Brothers have decided that though it’s true women cannot attain enlightenment because they are too attached to the cycles of the earth, they can attain much greater spiritual knowledge than was formerly believed. Apparently they still think that women must finally be reborn as men before they can attain enlightenment. That point, they have not given up.”

  Shonto shook his head. “So, the celibate Brothers have finally realized that women have souls.” The lord snorted. “How can such intelligent men suffer under so many delusions? If Brother Satake had become Supreme Master, he would have united the Sisterhood and Brotherhood and done away with this squabbling.”

  “That is one of the many reasons Satake-sum could not have become Supreme Master, Sire.”

  “True, my friend, true.”

  “The activities of the Botahist Brotherhood in the past years have begun to intrigue me, Sire. Their policies seem suddenly out of character, inconsistent.”

  Shonto’s interest rose immediately, “I have thought the same thing, Tanaka-sum. The Brotherhood has never been known to ingratiate itself with anyone in the past, but now they recognize the Yamaku Dynasty of their own volition, receiving nothing in return but the Emperor’s scorn; they gift the Son of Heaven valuable land, again receiving nothing in compensation; and now this sop to the Botahist Sisters. I believe that even I have been treated unusually. Kamu-sum arranged a most reasonable price for the services of our young Brother. He was full of suspicion afterward.”

  Tanaka shook his head, causing a golden drop of cha to fall from his mustache onto his dark robe. “The Empire is in the grip of some strange magic, Sire. I would have said that the Botahists would never lose their arrogance, their nerve, yet look at this! I do not understand. They must know that, despite his own convictions, the Emperor could never touch the Brotherhood without bringing about his own downfall. His own soldiers would take his head if the Guardians of Botahara’s Word were ever threatened. I am less and less sure of what transpires in the Empire. Excuse me, Sire, I don’t mean to sound pessimistic.”

  “Good, there is enough pessimism among my retainers over this appointment to Seh, and then this omen, this ‘assassination attempt.’ Huh!”

  “It is only concern for their liege-lord, Sire. There is more to this appointment to Seh than meets the eye. Everyone feels that. We all fear treachery from this family that calls itself Imperial. We all fear the Yamaku trap.”

  Shonto’s nostrils flared. “I’ve been in and out of a dozen traps in my time and have only wisdom to show for it. Have my own retainers come to doubt me?”

  “Never, Sire! Their faith in you in unshakable, but they are concerned nonetheless, because they honor you, and the Shonto House.”

  Shonto sat for a moment staring into his cha. A knock at the entryway seemed loud in the silence. The screen slid open and a guard’s face appeared.

  “Excuse me, Sire. Kamu-sum has sent the message you requested.”

  “Ah. Enter.”

  The servant, Toko, who had earlier in the day become an assistant to Kamu, knelt in the doorway and bowed. Shonto motioned him forward and he moved, kneeling, with the grace of one who has performed this act countless times. Removing a scroll from his sleeve and setting it within Shonto’s reach on the dais, he bowed again and retreated the appropriate distance.

  Shonto checked the seal on the scroll and then broke it, finding Kamu’s spidery brushwork inside. “You may go,” he said to the boy. When the shoji slid closed behind the servant, Shonto turned to his merchant. “After I have met with Shuyun-sum, you will join me in a meal with the young Lord Komawara. You remember his father?”

  Tanaka nodded.

  “The old Komawara sold a piece of his fief before his death, undoubtedly to allow the son to begin trade; so the new Lord of the Komawara is here to begin this endeavor. He will need guidance.” Shonto consulted the scroll again and quoted a substantial sum in Imperial ril. “I wouldn’t think he has the entire amount available, but we will assume he has a good portion of it. Do you have some venture he could invest in that would pr
ove profitable?”

  “For a knowledgeable man this is a time of great opportunities. I’m sure we can get the young lord started, but truly he should have his own vassal-merchant, Sire.”

  “But finding or training such a man takes time and I want him in Seh, not here.”

  “In that case I believe I can accommodate him until a suitable vassal-merchant can be found. I may be able to locate an acceptable person myself, if this would serve your purpose, Lord Shonto. But, Sire, surely you should assess him some part of his profit otherwise he will feel it is charity—a proud man would not allow that.”

  “As always, your advice is sound, Tanaka-sum. What would be appropriate in such a case?”

  Tanaka caught the corner of his mustache between his teeth and worried it for a second, making his lord smile.

  “Eight parts per hundred would be too generous, Sire…twelve parts would be fair.”

  Shonto smiled again. “Ten, then. I will suggest it over the meal. I want this young man treated with respect, old friend. He is not powerful in Seh, but he seems knowledgeable and that will be just as important.”

  “And he is the son of your father’s friend,” Tanaka said.

  “Yes. He is the son of my father’s friend,” Shonto repeated.

  Tanaka nodded and filed the figures away in his fine memory. Even as he did so, the merchant found himself observing his lord carefully. He had watched Shonto all the nobleman’s impressive life—had watched the precocious child grow into the strong-willed young man, the young man become the head of one of the most powerful Houses in Wa. It had been an inspiring process to witness. Tanaka, though fourteen years older, had had his own education to concern him in those days, but still he had come to know Shonto Motoru—had come to admire him. The man Tanaka saw before him now looked like the gii master that indeed he was—a man who surveyed the board in all of its complexity without thought of losing. A man who came alive to challenge.

  Tanaka had often played gii with Shonto when they were young; the lord had learned the game too quickly and left the merchant-to-be far behind, but still he remembered the Shonto style forming—bold and subtle in turns. Equally strong on defense or offense. Shonto would understand the traps Tanaka laid better than the merchant understood them himself, sometimes stepping into them with impunity and turning them against their surprised designer. Yet the peaceful life of the gii master was not possible for the bearer of the Shonto name and the lord had indulged his passion for the game for only a short time. In the end he had made gii subservient to his larger needs—using his skill at the board to make a point to any of his generals who questioned his decisions too often. The military men prided themselves on their ability at the gii board, yet few in all of Wa had the skill to sit across the board from the Lord of the Shonto as an equal.

  “It seems a long time since the days when we played gii, Sire.”

  Shonto smiled warmly, “We still play gii, my friend, but the board has become larger than we ever imagined and now we share the pieces of the same side. Individually we are strong, together we are formidable. Don’t ever think I’m unaware of this. The world has changed, Tanaka-sum; for better or for worse doesn’t matter, it has changed irrevocably and therefore so must we. A strong arm and a sharp sword are not what they once were. We play a different game now, and in the next exchanges you will be a general in your own right. The Shonto interests must be protected at all costs. They are the basis of our future strength. Never forget that.”

  The merchant nodded and then, emboldened by his lord’s confidence, spoke quietly, asking the question that weighed on him, “Why are you going to Seh, Lord Shonto?”

  Without pause Shonto answered, “Because my Emperor commands it and therefore it is my duty.”

  Tanaka’s eyes flicked to Shonto’s sword in its stand and back to the lord. “I heard of the Emperor’s empty threat at his party. He cannot possibly believe you will fail?”

  “No, I’m sure he doesn’t. The barbarians are already beaten.” Shonto paused and tapped his armrest with his fingers. “And who else could he send to Seh that has my battle experience? Jaku Katta? No. He likes to keep the Black Tiger close to him, and not just for his protection. Lord Omawara is dying, I’m sad to say. There are a few others who have the fighting skills but would not command the respect of the men of Seh. The plague and the Interim Wars have destroyed a generation of worthy generals, Tanaka-sum. I am his only choice and yet…he thinks I am his greatest threat. So, until the barbarians are put down, I believe I am safe from whatever the Emperor plots. I have a year—an entire year—that must be long enough.”

  The two men were silent then. Lord Shonto poured more cha, but it was overly strong so he let it sit and did not call for more.

  “I am ready to meet my Spiritual Advisor now. Perhaps my spirit has need of this, yeh?” He clapped his hands twice and servants scurried in to remove the tables and the cha bowls. The guard opened the shoji at the far end of the hall. “Please bring in Brother Shuyun and the honored Brother.”

  Shonto felt his fists clenching involuntarily and he forced them to open, assuming a posture of studied ease. In the back of his mind he heard his own voice saying that Brother Satake would not have been fooled by this act. Satake-sum had missed nothing—not the tiniest detail.

  Guards opened the screens at the end of the hall to their full width and a young monk, accompanied by a senior Botahist Brother, stepped inside. Yes, Shonto thought, he is the one, and visions of a kick boxing tournament years before flashed before his eyes.

  The two men bowed in the manner of their Order, a quick double bow, low but not touching the floor, a gesture reserved only for the seniors of their faith or the Emperor.

  Shonto stared at the small monk, ignoring his companion. Young, the lord thought, so young. Yet he seemed calm under this scrutiny. But was it real, Shonto wondered, was it that same inner stillness that his predecessor had possessed? Brother Satake had been a man who had not been in a perpetual state of reaction—constantly vibrating with the motion around him. With Satake-sum, there had been only stillness and silence—what the old monk had called “tranquillity of purpose,” something Shonto had been able to achieve only to the smallest degree. “I offer no resistance,” Satake-sum had answered when Shonto had questioned him, and that was all the explanation the lord had ever received.

  Now Shonto found himself staring at this young man and trying to detect this same quality in the first seconds of their meeting.

  He nodded and then spoke formally, “Come forward, honored Brothers, I welcome you to my House.”

  The two monks stopped within a respectful distance of the dais, Shuyun kneeling so that the shadow of a post fell in a dark diagonal across his chest, leaving his hands and his face in golden sunlight.

  “Brothers, I am honored by your presence as is my House.”

  The older monk spoke in a soft voice that rasped deep in his throat. “The honor, Lord Shonto, is ours. I am Brother Notua, Master of the Botahist Faith, and this is Brother Shuyun.”

  Shonto nodded toward his Spiritual Advisor, noting the fine structure of his cleanly shaven face, the perfect posture without trace of stiffness. But the eyes unsettled him—the eyes did not seem to belong to the face. They were neither young nor old, but somehow ageless, as though they viewed time differently, and remained unaffected by it. Shonto realized that everyone was politely waiting for him to speak.

  “Your journey has not been uneventful, I am told.”

  The young monk nodded. “There was a sad occurrence on board ship, Lord Shonto, but it found resolution.”

  “And the young girl?”

  “She was well at the time she was taken from the boat, but understandably unhappy.”

  “I am curious about this incident, this merchant Kogami. He was a servant of the Emperor?”

  “It would appear so, Sire.”

  “Did you realize that, Brother?”

  The older monk observed this exchange carefull
y. He was surprised that Shonto had gone into this incident so soon, almost before it was polite to do so. Of course what was polite for a Botahist Brother and what was considered so for the Lord of the Shonto were different things.

  “I thought it was so. The priest invoked the Emperor’s protection during our confrontation…and then there was the poison. Such treachery is the way of the priests.”

  Shonto was silent for a moment. “And the priest, what happened to him?”

  “He was met in the Floating City by Imperial Guards dressed as followers of Tomso.” He said this with assurance and the lord did not doubt it was the truth.

  “Huh. In the future you will not go beyond the walls of a Shonto residence without guards. The Empire is yet unstable and dangerous even to the disciples of the Perfect Master.” Shonto looked around suddenly as if something were missing. “May I offer you mead, Brothers?”

  Servants appeared at Shonto’s call, and tables, laid with cups and flasks of fine mead, were set before the guests. Polite inquiries into the health of one’s family would normally have followed, but Shonto turned again to the young monk. “Brother Shuyun, you should know that you replace a man I esteemed above all but my own father. You take up a difficult position.”

  “Brother Satake was an exceptional man and as honored in our Order as he was in your House, Sire. I’m sure he was irreplaceable. It is my hope that I may be of equal value to you in my own way.”

  Shonto nodded, seeming to find this answer acceptable. He hesitated a moment and then said, “Brother Satake, in an uncharacteristic moment, once demonstrated what he called ‘Inner Force’ by breaking a rather stout oar that had been placed across the gunnels of a sampan. He accomplished this by merely pressing down upon it with his hand without being able to bring the weight of his body to bear, for he was sitting at the time. None of the oarsmen could do this, and they were as strong as any of their profession, nor could I, and I was a younger man then. Do you know how this feat is performed, Brother?”