Chasing the Secret

by Maya Snow

  As dusk turned to night around us, we moved through the treetops quickly. We made good progress, taking turns to help Manabu. Branches dipped and swayed gracefully beneath our toes as we leaped from one tree to the next. The palms of my hands became sticky with sap. I wondered what we must look like from the ground, with the pale sleeves of our kimono jackets fluttering. If any of the samurai had glanced up and seen us, flitting from branch to branch, they would have thought we were indeed demons, haunting the ancient forest.

  Two birds flapped up and away, startled by our presence in the trees. A breeze picked up, whispering through the pine needles, and my mind turned toward Mother and Moriyasu, hiding at the eastern lake. Were they safe now that night had fallen? Was there shelter to keep them warm and dry? Would we really be able to find them?

  “Do you know where on the lake the mistress will be, Kimi-gozen?” Manabu asked, almost as if he had been able to read my thoughts.

  “I have no idea,” I said. He gave me a sympathetic look. “My hope is that things will become clear when we get there.”

  A soft rain had begun to fall, making the branches slippery and treacherous, especially for Manabu. He stepped past me, his feet easing along a wet branch in search of firmer footing. Suddenly he slipped. I shot out a hand and gripped his sleeve, twisting him back up to safety.

  “Thank you, Kimi-gozen,” the servant said. “I am so sorry to hold you back….”

  “The soldiers are long gone,” Tatsuya said. “Perhaps it would be all right for Manabu to be let down from the tree now?” He glanced at the way ahead. “We’re almost at the edge of the forest anyway.”

  I knew that Tatsuya felt that Manabu was a burden. We were moving more slowly than we would have if the servant hadn’t been with us. But Mother had sent him to us, and we couldn’t abandon him.

  “We must stay together,” I told Tatsuya firmly.

  Manabu smiled at me and moved on into the next tree. Hana followed him, her arms spread wide as she kept her center of balance. The moon was beginning to rise, and the silver light picked out the raindrops sparkling in her dark hair.

  The trees were farther apart as we neared the edge of the forest and we couldn’t climb between them easily. Ahead I could see the moon, half-full, sitting low over the rocky mountainside, its light glinting on the lake that stretched out like a black mirror far below. We could only see this one lake, as each of the others was only visible from a different point on the enormous mountain.

  Hana was crouching on a nearby branch, peering toward the ground. “Is it safe to go down?” she asked.

  We all held our breath, listening and looking. There seemed to be no sign of any soldiers, but Tatsuya put his fingers to his lips to signal that we should be quiet while he checked.

  He shinned down the tree and dropped to the ground, landing softly on a carpet of wet pine needles. He edged forward and scanned the moonlit landscape, then did a small circuit of the last few shadowy trees, just to be sure.

  Eventually he signaled up to us. All clear.

  Hana and I helped Manabu out of the trees. We brushed ourselves off and I picked a small pinecone from Hana’s hair. Then we struck out toward the east, keeping the mountain behind us. We walked in a line, one behind the other with Manabu in the lead, then Hana, then Tatsuya, and then me. I kept my head down against the rain, counting my footsteps as they squelched in the mud.

  Ahead of me, I could hear Hana and Manabu talking about the uprising and the way Uncle Hidehira’s men had begun the slaughter.

  “What happened to you that night, Manabu?” Hana asked gently. “Kimi and I believed that everyone had been killed.”

  “Many people were,” Manabu said, his voice bitter. “Hidehira ordered a massacre….” He glanced back over his shoulder and I caught a glimpse of his thin face, bleak memories etched across it. “I was in the servants’ quarters when I heard the first screams. I rushed to the mistress’s room to warn her. She wanted to run and help your father, but I convinced her that it would be too dangerous. I helped her bundle up young Moriyasu and the three of us escaped together. I have been helping them ever since, arranging for the delivery of letters to Master Goku and keeping watch for soldiers.”

  “How is Moriyasu?” I asked. “He must have been so frightened.” My soul twisted at the thought.

  Manabu shot me a sympathetic look. “He is his father’s son, and very brave. The two of them cannot wait to see you again.”

  My heart swelled with love at the thought of Moriyasu being so brave.

  “And what about you two?” Manabu asked Hana. “Life must have been very difficult for you both. You were lucky to find people to help you while you were in hiding.” He glanced at me with a friendly smile. “They say there are rebel groups preparing a rebellion against the new Jito…perhaps you know them already?”

  I shook my head. “I’ve heard of them,” I said, remembering what the priest at the temple had told us. “But we don’t know who they are. It was difficult work at the dojo, as servants, but we learned so much from Master Goku and we will be forever grateful to him for his kindness.”

  “You were lucky to stumble on such a friend,” Manabu said.

  I nodded, feeling the loss of my Master yet again.

  Soon the rain eased up and then finally stopped altogether. I straightened up and looked around, catching a glimpse of the lake. We’d come a long way. Behind us, the forest was now no more than a dark line on the horizon.

  During our walk I noticed Tatsuya glancing back over his shoulder several times, as if he thought someone was following us. I caught up to him and touched his sleeve. “Are you all right?” I asked him in a low voice.

  He hesitated, and then said, “I don’t want to worry you, but I think there might be someone tracking us.”

  My heart missed a beat. “Are you sure?”

  He nodded.

  Up ahead, Manabu had come to a halt. He gave Tatsuya a doubtful glance. “Surely you’re imagining things, young master,” he said.

  Tatsuya bristled and was about to argue when Hana spoke up. “I feel it, too,” she said, her gaze fixed on some faraway point in the darkness behind us. “There is someone close by.”

  I shivered, feeling suddenly cold and vulnerable out on the open mountainside. “We should make sure,” I said, looking around warily. “Let’s double back…stay hidden….”

  Tatsuya caught my gaze and nodded. “Good idea,” he said. “If we circle back toward the forest, then whoever is following will be ahead of us. We’ll come up behind them.”

  I nodded, and Tatsuya silently led us off the path. With Hana and Manabu following cautiously, we made our way behind a craggy outcrop and then across the mountainside. Above us, the rain clouds thickened again, almost obscuring the half-moon.

  At last we curved back toward our own pathway. Tatsuya crouched down to peer at the tracks in the mud.

  I leaned over his shoulder and saw our own footprints—Hana’s and mine small, Tatsuya’s slightly larger, and Manabu’s those of a full-grown man. But there were also others—large prints, like Manabu’s—that obliterated the traces of ours here and there.

  “Some of those footprints are on top of ours and others are to the side,” Hana whispered. “They could only have been made since we passed this way.”

  We looked around, eyes straining against the darkness, but there was no sign of anyone nearby.

  “Who do you think it is?” Manabu asked anxiously.

  “It must be Uncle’s soldiers,” I said as I turned a full circle, scanning the rocks and shadows, the bushes and occasional straggly tree. I could see no one, but the skin prickled on the back of my neck as I wondered whether they could see me.

  “What shall we do, Kimi?” whispered Hana, looking into my eyes with such concern on her face.

  “We have to lose them,” I told her. “Because if we don’t, we’ll lead them right to Mother and Moriyasu.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Determined to con
fuse the soldiers and throw them off our track, we took a deviating trail across the mountain.

  A couple of times, we doubled back again, hoping to find only our own footprints in the mud. But on every occasion my heart sank like a stone dropped into a pond—we always saw those same prints, obliterating our own.

  Hana looked around, her gaze probing every contour of the mountainside. “Why don’t we ever see the soldiers who are making these prints?” she asked.

  “Because it’s their turn to be like demons,” I said grimly.

  Tatsuya looked grave. Perhaps he thought it was ninja again.

  Even as we stood at the side of the track, looking down, the rain began to fall again, heavier this time. It quickly washed the footprints away and filled the ruts in the track until they became small lakes. I watched our tracks disappear and bit my lip thoughtfully. There had to have been a way to avoid making fresh footprints.

  Glancing around, I saw a tumble of rocks nearby.

  “We should climb up on there,” I said. “We won’t leave prints on the rock, and any disturbance we make, or signs of our passing, will be washed away by the rain.”

  “Good idea,” Tatsuya said.

  We scrambled up, fingers and sandals sliding on the wet surface. Some of the rocks shifted dangerously under our weight, but even so, we felt safer up there. We hurried along, heads down against the rain. I was cold and tired. Rain plastered my hair to my face. Then one of Hana’s frayed sandals broke, and I knew we should stop.

  “We can shelter up there,” Tatsuya said, pointing to a rocky overhang.

  We scrambled up and squeezed together, grateful to be out of the rain at last. Tatsuya said he would keep watch, while I tore a strip of cloth from the inside of my kimono and fixed Hana’s sandal as best as I could. Her feet were icy to the touch, and I reflected for a moment on how much our lives had changed since the golden days at the shinden when our maids would have rubbed our feet with pumice stone to soften them, and then bathed them in scented oils.

  Hana must have guessed what I was thinking because she caught my eye and we exchanged a sad, secret look. “Our old life seems so far away, doesn’t it?” she said gently. “But one day soon, everything will come right again, Kimi.”

  The rain worsened. A chill wind howled across the mountainside. Wet and cold, we huddled together in the darkness for warmth. Beyond the rocky overhang, the rain tipped out of the black sky like thin bamboo rods.

  After a while, Manabu put his head on his knees and seemed to sleep. Tatsuya crouched with his swords across his lap, gaze fixed on the dark horizon as he watched for soldiers. Hana rested against my shoulder. Soon her breathing slowed and I knew she was sleeping.

  I closed my eyes and felt my mind drift into that place where sleep hovers. Time stretched around me, and after a while I dreamed of standing in a garden. Mother was there, holding an open scroll in her hands and smiling as she read the poem about the five lakes to me. I felt my heart soar at the sight of her, but when I tried to hurry across the garden toward her I found I couldn’t move. I called out, but Mother turned her face away, and when I awoke I found my cheeks were wet with tears.

  I sat still, half-awake, shivering in the cold. It was still raining. Hana snuggled closer to me and I put my arm around her, wondering how long the storm would go on. I pictured Mother, waiting for us, worrying and wondering why we did not come. I thought about how she had recited the poem in my dream. How beautiful it had been to hear her voice again and to listen to the words of the poem. Fujigoko. Five lakes. Five elements. Wood and fire, metal and water, earth…

  Suddenly I sat up straight and clutched Hana’s sleeve. “I know what Mother meant!” I exclaimed, and Hana woke with a start. “We must find a place on the lake that has all five of the elements. Water and earth are there already…but she means that we should find somewhere near the water, with wood, metal, and fire as well.”

  Hana’s eyes focused on me and then lit up with excitement. “‘Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water,’” she recited, fully awake now. “‘Nothing can break the strength of all five elements when they are together.’”

  “Let’s go now,” I said. “I don’t care about the rain. Now that we know what to look for, I want to get there as quickly as possible.”

  “It looks as if the rain is slowing now anyway,” Tatsuya said as he stood up. It surprised me that he was already awake. Was it our excitement that had stirred him?

  Hana reached out as if to shake Manabu awake, but he lifted his head before she could touch him. The servant looked startled for a moment and reached for his blade with his good hand, as if he had forgotten where he was. Then his shoulders relaxed and he laughed. “I’ve slept in many strange places, Hanagozen,” he said. “But never under a rock. We’ve turned into beetles, eh?”

  Hana and I exchanged an amused look, and Hana hid her smile behind her hand. I grinned across at Tatsuya, but he didn’t grin back. He seemed different—wary and watchful—and I wondered whether he had slept at all.

  “We’re almost at the end of our journey,” I said, watching him check his arrows.

  “I hope so,” he murmured, his expression blank.

  Irritation swept over me. I wouldn’t let him spoil my excitement. Everything was going to work out all right—Hana and I were nearly there.

  Renewed energy buzzed through my limbs as we set off down the mountainside. There was no sign of anyone following us and I felt sure we had lost whoever it had been.

  “Things are beginning to go our way,” I said to Hana as we walked.

  She nodded and smiled. “We know where we’re going, and we seem to have lost the soldiers.”

  “The rain has stopped, too,” Tatsuya observed.

  Soon the rain clouds broke apart and moonlight bathed the landscape once more. Silvery beams picked up rocks and bushes…and away in the distance, far below, a great expanse of water that gleamed like black onyx.

  “There’s the eastern lake,” Hana said.

  We hurried on, making our way ever faster downhill. The ground became steep, and so wet that it was treacherous in parts. I slipped and slid, and when the rain began to come down again I thought I would weep with frustration. We hit a bank of thick mud that clung to our sandals and oozed around our feet. Quickly I bent down and rolled up the bottoms of my trousers, tying them at the back.

  “This mud is like glue,” Hana said, from just behind me. We were walking single file, heads down, with Manabu in the lead and Tatsuya bringing up the rear.

  Manabu suddenly stopped, holding his arm out to make everyone halt behind him. “I don’t think we should go any farther,” he said uncertainly. “This doesn’t feel right.”

  I looked down and saw that the mud came up to my knees, swirling like soup. I glanced back at Hana and saw that she was up to her ankles.

  “This isn’t ordinary mud,” I said, my heart suddenly hammering against my ribs. “It’s more like quicksand….”

  Ahead of me, Manabu began to struggle, then sank even deeper into the mud. “I can’t lift my foot!”

  Tatsuya was behind us and called out, “Don’t make any sudden movements. Just relax. The more you struggle, the faster you will sink.”

  “I’m frightened,” Hana said.

  Tatsuya was close enough to reach out and take her hand. “You haven’t gone as deep as the others,” he said. “Move slowly toward me….”

  Hana glanced at me and I nodded. “Do as he says,” I urged breathlessly. I could feel the mud tight around my knees, a cold and deadly vise.

  Slowly Hana lifted first one foot and then the next, moving back toward the firmer ground. The mud made sucking sounds as she reached Tatsuya, but it let her go.

  Manabu, meanwhile, was struggling. And sinking deeper. “It’s pulling me under!” he cried.

  Tatsuya shook his head. “No,” he said firmly. “Don’t panic, Manabu. It’s just water and earth.”

  “How do you know?” Manabu’s movements had slowed, but he was
still struggling a little.

  “I’ve been caught like this before,” Tatsuya explained as he gently guided Hana to safer ground. “Out in the marshes near my village. So you’re going to listen and do as I say. Keep still and listen to me.”

  When Hana was safe, Tatsuya turned back to look at me. “Kimi, try to lie down,” he ordered.

  “Lie down?” I repeated uncertainly.

  Tatsuya nodded. “Trust me,” he said, fixing me with his intense gaze. “Standing up means all your weight will go down through your feet, and you’ll sink more quickly, whereas if you lie down, your body area will be bigger. That makes it harder to sink.” He glanced at Manabu. “You both need to lie down on the mud.”

  I glanced at Manabu. His eyes were wide with fear, but he nodded and I took a deep breath. Tatsuya encouraged us gently as we slowly lowered ourselves down onto the cold, wet mud. It squelched and sucked loudly, oozing around my hands. For a moment I thought that Tatsuya was wrong and that the mud was going to swallow us. I glanced at Manabu and saw that he was flat on his stomach, his arm and both his legs spread wide.

  Then suddenly I realized I seemed to be floating, like a lily on a pond.

  “What do we do now?” I asked, turning my face to the side so that I didn’t take a mouthful of the mud.

  Tatsuya crouched down, a short distance away. “Stretch out your arm,” he urged. “Take my hand.”

  I stretched out. Our fingertips didn’t quite touch.

  “I’ll find a branch or something for you to hold on to,” Hana said quickly. She darted away toward a clump of trees.

  Manabu made a whimpering sound. I turned to look at him. Had he sunk a little lower in the mud? His chin was black, and he was straining to tilt his head back and keep his face free.

  “Help him,” I said, panicking. “He’s going to drown!”

  A muscle twitched in Tatsuya’s jaw. “He won’t drown,” he said sharply. He stretched out his arm farther to me. “Come on, Kimi. Reach for my hand.”

  Manabu made a gurgling sound, his eyes widening.

  “Help him first!” I cried desperately to Tatsuya. “He’s sinking.”