A Thousand Leagues of Wind, the Sky at Dawn ttk-4

by Fuyumi Ono

  Shoukei called out, "Hey! Suzu!"

  Suzu glanced over her shoulder at Koshou. "They're not our enemies! I met her at Rou's place!"

  Suzu sidled up to hole in the shield wall and peaked out. The beautiful striped horse sailed right up next to her. The rider leaned forward. "Suzu! Are you all right?"

  "Shoukei! How did you get here?"

  Shoukei held out her right hand and pointed straight ahead.

  "What?"

  Suzu leaned over the wall. Shoukei pointed east down the main boulevard, toward the Blue Dragon Gate where the provincial guard was bivouacked. Throngs of people were pouring off the street.

  "That's--"

  Shoukei waved to her and then dropped down, weaving the kitsuryou in and out of the shadows between the buildings, flying north. Watching her leave, Suzu sensed someone standing at her side. She looked up. It was the man who had jumped off the back of the kitsuryou.

  "You're Suzu?"

  "Yes. And you are?"

  The man gave her a charming smile. "I'm Kantai. I guess you could call me a colleague of Shoukei's."

  Suzu looked eastward. "And they are--?"

  Koshou leaned out over the wall to see what she had seen. "Your comrades in arms?"

  "They arrived before the main body of the provincial guard. Jolly well done, I say." Kantai laughed. "Five thousand strong."

  Part XVIII

  18-1

  In the streets of Meikaku, the capital city of Wa Province, rumors abounded of strange goings-on in Takuhou in Shisui Prefecture. Having heard the same from her friends, after completing the shopping she'd been sent to do, Shoukei rushed home.

  "Did you hear, Kantai?"

  Standing in the center of an assembled group, Kantai nodded. "Yes, Takuhou. It appears that someone has been so audacious to set fire to Shoukou's residence." He grinned. "Shu On was a brilliant stroke. Our colleagues in Takuhou have their game together."

  "I wonder if they'll be okay."

  Kantai thought it over, saying neither yea nor nay. "The word is the assailants have already fled. They attacked the residence, and then escaped Takuhou before the gates were opened. Half their number made it across the border into Ei Province. However, the man himself wasn't at the castle compound."

  "Wasn't he their objective, then?"

  "That's what makes it such a strange story. We have allies in Takuhou who have Shoukou in their sights. They've gone so far as to amass winter weapons, so I have to believe this is part of a greater plan of insurrection. Maybe those fled after missing their target."

  "Perhaps," Shoukei nodded. She couldn't believe the people who had collected those thirty winter weapons would have only gone so far and no further. "Maybe it's a completely different group. Not our friends in Takuhou."

  "Hard to say," Kantai agreed. "But if this is their work, Shoukou's not going to just let it blow over."

  "Eh?"

  "If nothing else, they're not idiots."

  The next day, Shoukei was preparing breakfast when Kantai suddenly called out for everybody to gather in the main hall. There she saw that all the mercenaries had gathered, along with Saibou.

  "What's going on?" she asked, and was told to wait until everybody else had arrived. After biding her time there for a while, the arrival of three "merchants" she didn't know was the signal for the doors to close.

  Kantai got to his feet. "A messenger pigeon arrived this morning from Takuhou. Shortly before dawn, the castle granary was attacked. The granary was set alight, and the attackers fled to Ei Province. They were from the same group who left the aforementioned Shu On."

  A murmur of conversation ran through the room.

  "Our colleagues in Takuhou know what they're doing. Their true intent is to sow discord."

  "What kind of--" Shoukei queried in a quiet voice.

  Kantai nodded. "The group that raided Shoukou's residence yesterday did not err in failing to seize Shoukou. Only twenty attacked the residence, made a big deal of leaving the characters Shu On behind, and fled to Ei Province. Both teams having made their getaway to Ei, about now Shoukou is really getting incensed. This is not the kind of man who can deal with such a provocation with any sense of humor."

  "Yes, I know, but--"

  "Shoukou will surely order the garrisoned guardsmen and his praetorians to secure the border. They'll increase surveillance of the citizenry and will try to ferret out the rebels. The rebels' clear intent is to disperse Shoukou's defenses."

  Shoukei couldn't follow everything she was being told. She scanned the audience and found she wasn't alone.

  "There are three battalions of 1500 men garrisoned at the prefectural castle, one thousand praetorians, and five hundred archers. Three thousand soldiers. Without the matching troop strength necessary to win a head-on attack, they're doing what I would do. Get Shoukou riled up, get him to dilute his troop strength, and as much as possible reduce the force presence at the prefectural castle. I don't know how many troops have been sent to track down the brigands, but in any case, an appropriate number of soldiers must be garrisoned at the castle, and Shoukou will no doubt be recalling troops deployed in neighboring counties."

  "But won't that end up increasing troop strength?"

  "It will take two or three days to recall the troops. That's when they must act. They'll spring another decoy outside Takuhou, enrage Shoukou, draw away more soldiers, and then rush the castle."

  The room fell into a dead silence.

  "Even if it hadn't come to my attention that our colleagues were amassing a stockpile of winter weapons, it'd strike me as a doable plan. But they have to raise an army before the praetorians return. They probably have no more than three days. To draw away the provincial guard, they're going to have to devote a convincing number to the decoy, who will have to stick it out just long enough. After that, they'll charge the castle with everything they've got left."

  Shoukei caught her breath. How would Suzu fare? What role would she play? Would she remain unscathed? Would she come through it okay?

  "However, they don't know the full story," said Kantai. Shoukei leaned forward and Kantai continued. "Shoukou and Gahou are joined at the hip. If Shoukou was a run-of-the-mill regional administrator, Gahou wouldn't lift a finger to help him. The arrival of the guard would be delayed, and only a minor contingent would be dispatched. There'd be no reason to cover for an administrator the people found so disagreeable that they'd resort to violence. Yet knowing all this, Gahou will continue to succor Shoukou. To put in other words, Gahou's trained Shoukou like a pet to do his dirty work for him."

  Kantai paused and then said, "In short, Shoukou knows where the bodies are buried. If the conflict stretches out without immediate resolution, the kingdom may get involved and things would get complicated. If, by chance, Shoukou is captured and placed in the dock, he won't go down quietly. Gahou is already readying a large army. He'll stop at nothing to suppress this uprising. Our colleagues, who will have their arms full with just three thousand defenders, haven't got a chance."

  A stir of conversation filled the meeting hall.

  "We shall ride to the support our Shu On brethren!" Kantai declared. "And while we're at it, we'll cause a little mischief of our own."

  "What kind of mischief?" someone asked, and Kantai flashed a guileless smile. "Well, to put down the Shu On Rebellion--as we shall call it--the provincial guard will take one or two days to reach Takuhou. Meikaku will empty out in the meantime. Why we let this opportunity slip through our fingers?"

  "Ahh--" went the murmur through the room.

  Kantai beckoned to the three "merchants." He said, "I'm giving you the opportunity to remove the stigma from your names. Together with your followers, set forth to Takuhou. Be sure to arrive before the provincial guard."

  The stigma? Shoukei puzzled, but the men answered in unison: "Yes!"

  Kantai turned to Saibou, man seated in front of a display cabinet. "And how shall we proceed?"

  Saibou thought it over for a mo
ment. He looked at Kantai and said, "Leave Meikaku to me. You go to Takuhou."

  Kantai smiled. "Cat's out of the bag, eh?"

  "I know you have a fondness for hotheads like that bunch. However, I'm asking you to start a war. As soon as your men are provisioned, set forth for Takuhou. Our objective is not Gahou's assassination, but to make the Empress aware that something is rotten in Wa Province. Don't turn this into a do-or-die effort. Lose if you must. I'll figure something out afterward."

  "Thank you!"

  Shoukei raised her voice. "I want to go to Takuhou too."

  "Oh?" Saibou looked at her.

  "A friend of mine is in Takuhou, fighting alongside the Shu On Rebels. Please allow me."

  Saibou nodded. "Shoukei, you said your name was? Can you ride a pegasus?"

  "I can."

  "Then accompany Kantai. Go and assist those brave souls."

  Shoukei bowed deeply. "I won't disappoint you!"

  18-2

  "Just how many--!" exclaimed Koshou, as Shoukei explained how they had come to be here. She'd returned with the five thousand citizen soldiers, escorting them into the castle. Koshou finally got to ask his original question: "How many men do you have left in Meikaku?"

  Shoukei looked at Kantai, and Kantai smiled mischievously. "Twice the number we sent here."

  The uproar momentarily filled the calm guard tower.

  When the onslaught came from every direction in the brightening dawn, the few hundred remaining provincial guard encamped at the West Gate couldn't surrender fast enough. Kantai's irregulars whittled the air calvary down to half their original number and forced them to withdraw. Suffused with the rays of the morning sun, the castle compound filled with ringing cheers. But this was not the end of things. The rest of provincial army was scheduled to arrive the day after tomorrow.

  "Unfortunately, we've got to keep the provincial guard pinned down here for three days. Given three days, by the time the guard hears about the state of emergency in Meikaku and are ordered to return, the die will have already been cast."

  Koshou looked up at the ceiling and heaved a big sigh. "Step on a cockroach, and there's a hundred more where that one came from. I assume you've got mates aiming to take out Gahou."

  "What? No. We've got no plans to knock off Gahou and take over the provincial castle. We only hope to sully his image and tarnish his name. That you'd actually schemed to overrun a prefectural castle was a huge surprise on our end."

  Koshou laughed loudly. "A feather in our caps, then. When guys like us lock our jaws on something, we don't let go so easy."

  When Shoukei emerged onto the wall walk, Suzu and another girl were looking down at the castle compound.

  "It's a good thing you weren't wounded," Shoukei said.

  Suzu glanced back over her shoulder. "Yeah," she said. With a shining countenance, she turned to the girl next to her. "Youshi, this is--"

  Recognizing her, Shoukei burst out, "It's you!"

  The girl reacted with equal surprise. Taken aback, Suzu said, "You already know each other?"

  The girl nodded. Shoukei spoke up. "She saved my life in Meikaku. I didn't get a chance to thank you. I never imagined we would have met in such a place as this."

  "No problem," the girl answered, with a smile.

  "Your name is Youshi? We didn't have time to introduce ourselves before."

  "This is unbelievable," said Suzu. "Youshi, this is Shoukei."

  Youshi flashed her a smile, as did Shoukei in return. They lined up on either side of Suzu, shoulder to shoulder, and gazed down at the foot of the wall walk.

  "It's incredible, all these people," Suzu blurted out.

  Shoukei grinned. "You didn't expect it?"

  "Not in a million years. To be honest, I have to wonder if it's the best tack to take."

  "Smooth sailing certainly doesn't await us. The provincial guard are on the march and headed our way. They'll get here tomorrow or the day after. Today's our one chance to take a breather."

  "Yeah."

  "At least you captured Shoukou."

  Suzu nodded and turned to her neighbor. "Because Youshi said not to kill him. And the fact of the matter is, killing him would have felt good in the moment, but over the long haul, it wouldn't have meant anything. He's an awful man, but it's better that he should stand in the dock for his crimes."

  "You're right."

  Suzu and Shoukei were silent for several minutes. The warm, springlike sunlight flooded the wall walk. The smell of blood and death was in the wind, but they had become inured to its scent.

  Suzu said, "I can't believe that we're just hanging out like this."

  Shoukei agreed. "Really. The city feels so strange."

  The hustle and bustle inside the castle filled the air with a dull roar. Outside the walls, the city was silent. The main boulevard was devoid of people. The only time a person did appear was to cross the street, walking briskly to the other side as if to fetch something left behind.

  Although the castle gates were closed and secured, people came and went in significant numbers. Despite this, none of the city's denizens dared to come and check things out for themselves. Even individuals spotted crossing the boulevard far off in the distance acted as if they knew nothing and saw nothing.

  "Everybody's holding their breath, wondering what's coming next."

  "Holding their breath?"

  "Shoukou really was a monster. In one way or another, everybody was terrified of him. There's not much humanity left in this city."

  "Meaning--?"

  "The same time we were tracking down Shoukou, our agents fanned out throughout the city to rally support for our cause. But nobody answered the call. Even when the prefectural castle fell before their very eyes, they wouldn't get off their butts. They're all convinced that if they even raise a finger, they'll be found out and consequences will follow."

  "That's harsh."

  "Still," said Suzu, placing her hands on the merlon and straightening herself, "I have a pretty good idea where they're coming from."

  "How's that?"

  "I was working at a big estate before I came to Kei. The mistress there made my life hell. When I think back about it now, I should have asked her, 'Why are you doing this?' But show disrespect to Mistress Riyou-sama and she'd tear you apart with her tongue and then work your fingers to the bone. So you shut up and lived with the fear. You shut up and persevered, and all the while only got more and more scared."

  "Huh."

  "She was always saying, 'If anything bad happens, you'll catch it,' and you'd be overcome with this sense of unease. When I sort it out in my mind, though, Mistress Riyou-sama wasn't so cruel that she'd ever deliberately kill me--she didn't even physically accost me--but I could never convince myself that she wouldn't."

  Suzu turned her back to the city. "When you're putting up with something, it's coming to the end of your tether that scares you. No matter how hard things are now, you just know your life will get so much worse if you give into your impulses and go flying off the handle."

  "I suppose that's true--"

  "But that doesn't mean the times weren't tough. Because my life was hard, I couldn't stop thinking how unlucky I was and couldn't stop feeling sorry for myself. The people shut up in their houses right now are in exactly the same state of mind. It would never occur to them to try and take down some big important person."

  An ironic smile came to Shoukei's lips. "Anybody who ends up dead probably had it coming. That's what they're thinking. But when you understand that there are people like Shoukou in the world, then you know the murderers are the evil ones."

  "That's true."

  "People treat unhappiness like a competition. Of course, the dead are the most unfortunate of all, but when you feel compelled to pity another person, it somehow makes you feel like the loser. Believing that you're the most pitiable person on the face of the earth isn't so different from believing you're the most blessed. Feeling sorry for yourself and resenting all others
, you run away from what you really should be doing."

  "Indeed."

  "When someone tells you, 'No, you're wrong,' you get all pissed off at them. You're angry because they dared to criticize poor unlucky you."

  Suzu giggled. "Exactly."

  Shoukei looked at Youshi, who, eyes downcast, hadn't said a word so far. "Sorry. We didn't mean to bug you with all this chit-chat."

  "Not at all," Youshi said, not shifting her gaze. "I've been thinking about how we all managed to end up in the same place, in the same predicament."

  "Yeah."

  "Being happy is simple. It's the getting there that's hard to pull off. At least, that's the way it strikes me."

  "You know," said Suzu. "when it comes to living a life, happiness is only the half of it. Suffering is the other half."

  "I couldn't agree more," Shoukei said with a nod. "But all we see is the suffering. Little by little, we lose the ability to even recognize happiness when it's in our grasp."

  "It's a matter of willpower. You know, this is a strange conversation we're having."

  "Strange indeed."

  Shoukei and Suzu ran out of things to say. The three of them lazily enjoyed the slight breeze.

  "People are curious creatures," Suzu said absent-mindedly. As if snapping out of a daze, she lifted her head. "Hey, how about we do a patrol? Let's take a walk around the walls."

  18-3

  On such a carefree afternoon, it was hard to believe that there was a war going on.

  "Starting tomorrow, people are going to start dying," Suzu blurted out as they strode along the wall walk.

  "With so many sacrifices being made," Shoukei added, "news of this is bound to reach the ears of the Royal Kei."

  Youko stopped in her tracks. Shoukei glanced over her shoulder, a quizzical look on her face. "Ah," she said, a smile coming to her face. "You see, even if we attempted a coup d'etat, there's no guarantee that it would succeed. Kantai and the others aren't thinking about dispatching Gahou. If they could have their way, they'd like to know why their leader was punished by the Royal Kei. But if she takes notice, then it's worth the cost."