by Fuyumi Ono
Based on the precedents established after the previous two incidents, Shoukou would dispatch his praetorian guard to where Wa borders Ei Province. As the previous attackers had numbered twenty and thirty respectively, when two hundred rebels showed up in force, he would conclude that he now had the measure of their entire contingent. The possibility was high that the inflamed Shoukou would redeploy his forces from the castle perimeter to his personal manse.
And in fact, two battalions of provincial guardsmen and half as many praetorians surrounded the estate, with another battalion manning the blockades along the highways. Left in Takuhou were five hundred constables and five hundred of Shoukou's personal security detail. Of them, in the afternoon, half were ordered to the estate, and those remaining were dispersed to stand watch in the city, guard the prefectural castle, and protect the granary.
Koshou raised his sword, and then lightly planted the tip in the earth. The long blade glimmered. "There should be two hundred or so fools left in the castle." Suzu turned to him when he spoke. "Watch out for the crossbows. With your back against the sky, you'll stand out like a sore thumb."
Suzu grasped her short sword and nodded. They and their more than 800 compatriots assaulting the castle possessed no satisfactory defenses.
"We'll see you later, I guess?"
Outside the window, the dusk was falling. The few left behind watched Suzu and her party leave the brothel. They and a few dozen others scattered throughout the city still had things to do that needed to get done.
"It's getting dark."
Youko wiped the falling dew from the blade and looked at the sky beyond the tower gates. Like Shoukou's own elevated pride, the ramparts surrounding his estate were surprisingly high. He was apparently possessed of the conviction that not even the treetops in his carefully groomed arbor should be seen by the hoi polloi.
Of the hundred-odd armed farmers and citizen-soldiers with her, by and large the majority of them were still in fine fettle. They were well protected by the bulwarks and watchtowers that Shoukou himself had built.
"The sun is down," Youko said. "They'll be coming over the walls." A man arming his crossbow next to her nodded. She said, "Retreat toward the main hall, link up with them there, and then regroup."
The man warily slid his gaze across the perimeter, and started back toward the main hall. The others followed after him in twos and threes.
Bringing up the rear, Youko said as if to herself, "Hankyo--"
Yes, came the whisper of his voice.
"After this, I'll leave the rest up to the shirei." She had borrowed from Keiki every shirei he could spare.
"You should escape to the Imperial Palace and muster the Imperial Army."
"Do you think what Keiki could not achieve I would be able to accomplish?"
Dismiss Shoukou, she had demanded of him. Or else mobilize the Ei Provincial Guard. Neither request had been honored. The ministers wanted details about why she wanted to dismiss Shoukou. A letter dispatched with Hankyou, carrying the Imperial Seal, proved similarly useless. Ultimately, her request to mobilize even the Ei Provincial Guard was refused.
"Prepare for the worst. We only have ourselves to rely on. Fly with the night and reduce the enemies' numbers as much as possible."
"Is this your desire, Empress?"
Youko replied with a bitter smile. "You have my permission."
Chapter 65
The provincial castle compound had four gates. Of the four, the main or southern gate was also called the Phoenix Gate. The sentries at the Phoenix Gate suddenly found themselves confronted by several hundred citizens of Takuhou. Horrified, they watched as this mass of humanity flooded across the drawbridge toward them, brandishing weapons. The sentries frantically began to close the castle gates, which had been left open that night to allow ministers and soldiers free passage in and out of the castle grounds.
The mounted knight leading the mob reached the gate before it closed and swiftly dispatched the sentries. The gates were opened wide, and the armed civilians rushed the lookouts above the gate.
Archers posted at the merlons found themselves hamstrung by the sheer height and excessive ornamentation of the parapet walls, all built as a sop to Shoukou's vanity. The main gates were at least thirty meters high. Already, because of the height of gates and the failing light, it was impossible to discriminate friend from foe in the shadows. Moreover, turrets that should have afforded a clear lookout constituted little more than architectural embellishments, and faced the outside of the gate with severely compromised fields of view.
At any rate, blindly firing their crossbows, they had no idea whether they were hitting anything or not. As it took time to rearm the crossbows, they were overrun before they could get off three arrows each. Seconds later, they had no choice but surrender. Not surprisingly, the warning fires were extinguished without an acknowledged reply, as if the posted sentry had stepped out to take care of business and didn't bother returning.
A contingent of castle guards ran along the wall walks, stampeding into the castle. Praetorians scattered here and there tried to raise the alarm. Most of them were cut down by the arrows and fell futilely in the dust.
The temporarily opened gates swallowed up the citizens of Takuhou and then closed.
"Lower the portcullis!"
Accompanying the cry, a block and tackle at the base of the watchtower began to move. The thick, single panel inside the gates noisily descended toward the tracks in the roadway under the gate. Suzu watched from the dark tunnel closed off by the gate to make sure the portcullis fell squarely into place in the channels, and then caught up with the crowd already running to middle gate that closed off the inner court.
They had only crossed a short distance when the middle gate was closed and the sound of the descending portcullis rang out. The castle guards inside shut the gate with their own self-defense in mind. Normally, inner court gates were simply constructed. The walls surrounding the inner court were as well only a taller, thicker variety of the walls that surrounded a typical domicile. Connected in a single span to the main castle walls, the appearance of the inner gate, which lacked the typical main and auxiliary entrances, again put Shoukou's aesthetic tastes on full display.
"Suzu!"
Suzu looked back at the sound of Koshou's voice. She reached and Koshou grasped her hand. As soon as he vaulted onto the back of the sansui, Suzu barked out a command to the bucking sansui and it launched itself into the air.
The sansui easily scaled the walls. Koshou jumped off before its feet touched the wall walk. Suzu swung the sansui around and set it down outside the gate. She made five trips carrying men over the wall. On the sixth, a cry of exultation arose from the gate turrets.
"Good job!" shouted Koshou, and turned to the sixth man alighting from the sansui. "Open the inner gate! Suzu, direct everybody to the inner court!"
"Yes, sir!"
The gate was opening inwards by the time the sansui returned to the threshold of the gate. She saw the portcullis in front of the gates raising up, and further beyond a clutch of constables on the run.
"Sekki! Climb on!" Suzu urged him from astride the sansui.
Sekki bent his bow and let an arrow fly in the direction of the middle gate. Then he nodded and ran over to her. Suzu reached out her hand. He wrapped his hand around hers and she pulled him onto the sansui's back. The sansui neighed with obvious irritation. Suzu patted his neck to calm it down. "That's a good boy, that's a good boy. Don't be so disagreeable. Sekki, are you all right?"
"I'm okay," came his voice behind her. "Suzu, when I give you the signal, lean forward in the saddle. I don't want to hit you when I fire the bow."
"Got it." Suzu spurred on the sansui. When they passed through the gate, Koshou raised himself to his full height and thrust his broadsword into the air. "If all our number are here, then close the gates! Onto Shoukou's quarters!"
The answering cries shook the ground.
People ran along the wall walks,
weapons raised, breaking down the doors of the turrets and guardrooms along the way.
Confident that their comrades occupying the ramparts had their backs, they overwhelmed the onrushing praetorians. The men accompanying Suzu charged into the depths of the prefectural offices. In the innermost heart of the castle they found themselves facing Shoukou's official castle residence.
Every time Sekki said to jump, Suzu nimbly launched the sansui into the air. From the elevated vantage point, they could take in the full extent of the panic gripping the compound. People rushing in and people running for their lives, all crashing about in extreme disarray. The overwhelming majority comprised those fleeing the scene, but Sekki pointed out that they likely anticipated the arrival of the provincial guardsmen and praetorians currently racing toward the city.
"Will they really come?"
"For sure. But with our allies manning the ramparts and guarding the gates, it will take them some time. If we can capture Shoukou before then, they may well lose the will to carry on the fight." Sekki yelled at the top of his lungs, "Suzu!"
Suzu glanced ahead of the sansui's landing area and caught her breath. Two sentries wielding battle axes awaited them. The sansui couldn't launch itself again without touching ground, and there wasn't time to turn aside.
The blades flashed at the sansui.
She instinctively shut her eyes, barely managing to swallow the scream that came to her lips. The sansui bellowed. The next sound was the heavy thud of the collision. They hit the ground. The sansui's descent came to a halt.
"Youshi!"
At the sound of Sekki's voice, Suzu opened her eyes. The two sentries lay sprawled before them.
"You saved us!"
"I only took out one of them," said Youshi. "Your sansui kicked the other one into next week. That's one smart animal."
"And the estate?" There was not the slightest hint of relief in Sekki's voice.
"They're hanging in there. They were doing such a good job holding the fort, I left things in their hands for the time being."
"Holding the fort--"
In contrast to Sekki's tone of voice, Youshi's was rather cheerful. "I'd estimate that we've reduced the troop strength of those heading our way by at least half."
The two battalions (1000 soldiers) and five hundred praetorians surrounding Shoukou's country estate were in complete disarray. Despite all the watch fires lit, places remained in darkness. And in that darkness, something moved.
The enemy barricaded inside the main hall of the estate in front of them was not the problem.
Screams burst forth from the darkness, and when they ran to see they found their fallen comrades wailing pitifully, deep wounds in their limbs, wounds that had been inflicted by no moral weapon, but resembled the teeth and claw marks left by beasts. Yet they caught no sight of whatever creature had caused them.
All they knew was that something was out there, and there were many of them. Fear seized them until they quailed at the sound of their own footsteps.
They began to retreat in ones and twos. When the arrows ceased to fly, they realized that they were now too far from the main hall for a bow to reach. The order had not come to withdraw, but no soldier had any desire to hold that ground. They whimpered and cried like children. Accustomed to preying on the weak, they had no experience going against an enemy whose fear of them was so much less than their own fear of the darkness.
"The prefectural castle is under attack!"
At the height of the tension, the word raced through the rank and file. Profound feelings of relief gripped all the soldiers equally. The battalion commanders were no exception.
"What is going on!"
"Hundreds of armed civilians have stormed the castle!"
Thin smiles showed on the faces of the battalion commanders as they conversed together: "We're walking into a trap here. We'd better go back." They shouted in voices that might have sounded a tad too enthusiastic, "Return to the castle!!"
Like a dam breaking, the soldiers stamped toward the Hare Gate. The number of troops abandoning their positions and pouring like a tidal wave through the gate were at least half of their original strength.
Left behind where they had fallen in the darkened countryside, the cries of the wounded still called out for rescue.
Chapter 66
With Koshou flanking her, Youko advanced on the keep of the provincial castle.
Every now and then, they'd cross swords with a castle guard or sentry barreling around a corner, shrieking bloody murder. Youko glanced at Koshou. Koshou wielded his broadsword in a furious manner. The blade of the sword was tipped with a thick, barbed fluke instead of a regular spear point. The weapon itself must weigh more than a hundred pounds. His ability to keep knocking the enemy about with it was a feat worthy of admiration.
By simply swinging the broadsword at a charging enemy, its hundred-plus pound mass alone would shatter his opponent's bones. The sheer force generated when he flung the sword out to the side flattened armor like a swatted fly. In that manner he warded off any attackers who came at them from the rear.
Every swing of Koshou's sword was met with a ghastly shriek in return.
"Incredible," Youko muttered to herself.
Koshou laughed and glanced over his shoulder. "You're no ordinary person yourself."
"I'm not doing anything so extraordinary."
"Then how'd a pretty young thing like you get used to so much death?" As they ran down a hallway, Koshou's breathing told her he was close behind.
"Long story," Youko replied with a thin smile. I fought the pretender's army. And fighting meant killing. If she had faltered then, her supporters would have died. She couldn't very well have hidden behind the backs of those protecting her, fearing soiling her own hands with blood.
In any case, a throne is a thing purchased with blood. That is what the Royal En told her. Even had she received the throne from Heaven without shedding a drop, it would have been impossible to hold onto it without the rivers flowing red. The pretender's army would still have to be vanquished, internal rebellion crushed, criminals executed.
One way or the other, better not to be a coward.
"Youshi!" came Suzu's cry, as the sansui soared over the roof and landed in the courtyard.
Youko sensed murderous intent to her right and crouched down. She heard the sound of enemy armor and a slashing attack whistled over her head. She answered in the same direction, reaching out to parry and thrust in return. Against this weapon--that could pierce the toughest youma--the armor was so much tissue paper. The sword bisected the enemy like a hot knife through butter. She yanked it out and whipped it around, flinging the gore off the blade. Not a drop adhered to the shining steel.
"That sword is some piece of work," said Koshou, with a grim smile.
At the back of her thoughts, Youko heard a voiceless whisper. Hankyo-- She didn't have to ask if he'd returned. Go! she told him. Get to where Shoukou is and cull the enemy's forces.
There was no reply, but Youko knew that her orders had been delivered.
When Suzu's squad arrived at the castle keep, for reasons unknown, the grounds before the governor's residence were awash with blood. Suzu reflexively brought her hand to her mouth.
Koshou raced up behind her. "How did this happen?"
"Our allies must have gotten here first," was Youko's quick explanation, as she jumped over the corpses. She was breathing hard but her steps were steady.
"Huh---" said Koshou, with a befuddled expression, casting a puzzled glance at the corpses. He planted himself beside the door. The voices of the men bringing up the rear fell to a hush.
Koshou delivered a single blow with the broadsword. The thick wood splintered. The rest of the assault group piled on, and a second and then third attack rent it in two. The tip of Koshou's sword still embedded in the wood, door collapsed inward.
The building appeared empty, quiet as death. There was no sign of any human presence. Bodies were strewn across the fl
oor as if cut down in the middle of a conversation. They opened doors here and there, checking every nook and cranny and then ran toward the inner sanctum. At the very heart, across from the open door, the figure of a man huddled in the corner of the room.
The people entering the room momentarily froze in place.
Suzu dismounted from the sansui was following hard on Youko's heels. She also stopped in her tracks.
The man crouched down, trying to crawl under the divan in the gorgeously-arrayed room. He had a blanket pulled over his head, yet the mound of cloth could be clearly seen for what it was. And as the mound itself was the size of the divan, how he was going to fit under the divan was anybody's guess. And even a child knew better than to leave his nose poking out from the folds. The round, lumpy mound trembled.
Koshou acted first. He approached the man and grabbed the blanket. A strangled scream reverberated from beneath the layers of cloth.
The scream came from a tremendously fat man. His age was difficult to determine. That's how tremendously obese the man was. An eternity of gluttony had left him hardly a man but a strange species of creature.
Koshou tossed the blanket to the side. Half-buried in the mass of flesh, the small, animal-like, beady eyes looked up at Koshou, suffused with fear.
"Shoukou, I presume," Koshou stated flatly.
"No, no, no!" the man shrieked.
"Who else in Takuhou could be mistaken for the likes of you?"
People poured into the room, surrounded him. Among them was Suzu, who reached into her tunic, to where the sword rested against her racing heart. She firmly grasped the hilt.
This is Shoukou.
Her hand trembled. She drew the sword from its sheath.
The man who killed Seishuu.
"Suzu."
Youshi spoke in a low voice. Suzu started, her eyes wide in surprise. When she looked back over her shoulder, Youshi shook her head, no. She lightly patted Suzu on the arm and then pressed through the ring or people, who all stood there as if frozen in place.
