‘Not the people,’ he said bitterly. ‘The Senshi. Lord Arisaka has led his clan in a revolt against my rule. They’ve seized the palace at Ito and killed many of my supporters. The Umaki clan has joined them.’
These were two of the most powerful and influential Senshi clans in the country. Horace and George exchanged horrified glances. Then George addressed the Emperor.
‘But, your excellency, these clans have sworn their obedience to you, surely? How can they break that oath?’ George knew that among the Senshi class, an oath was inviolable.
Shigeru’s lips were drawn together in a tight line and he shook his head, unable to speak for the moment, overcome with emotion. It was Shukin who answered for him.
‘They claim the Emperor has violated his own oath by trying to raise up the common people against their betters. They claim he has betrayed his class – the Senshi class – and is no longer worthy to be Emperor.’
‘And as a result,’ Shigeru added bitterly, ‘their oath of loyalty to me is worthless. I am the oath-breaker, not they.’
‘But…’ Horace hesitated, searching for the right words. ‘You’re not “raising up the common people”. You’re simply trying to make their lives better, by recognising their value. How can Arisaka get away with such a distortion of the true facts?’
Shigeru met the young man’s gaze. He had regained a little control now and spoke evenly.
‘Or’ss-san, people will believe half-truths and distortions if they coincide with what they want to believe. If they reflect their fears. The Senshi have an irrational fear that I want to take away their power over the people and Arisaka has traded upon that fear.’
‘But Arisaka doesn’t believe it himself?’ George said.
‘Arisaka believes something else,’ Shigeru replied. ‘When the previous emperor died without an heir, Arisaka believes he should have been chosen as Emperor in my place.’
‘He’s been busy for months,’ Shukin told them, his contempt for the traitor Arisaka all too obvious in his voice, ‘sowing fear and dissent among the Senshi, spreading the lie that my cousin is betraying his class and planning to give the common people power over them. His campaign has been successful, it seems.’
‘Like all successful lies, it is based on the tiniest grain of truth,’ Shigeru said. ‘I do want the people to have a greater stake in the way the country is governed. Arisaka has blown that out of all proportion.’
Horace turned to the messenger. He recognised him now as one of the senior advisers he had seen at the Ito palace. ‘You said two clans had joined this revolt,’ he said. ‘What about the others? What about the Emperor’s clan?’
‘Many of the Emperor’s clan are dead already. They tried to resist Arisaka, and his men killed them. They outnumbered them five or six to one. Those who aren’t dead are scattered and in hiding.’
‘And the others?’ George asked. ‘The Meishi, the Tokoradi and the Kitotashi? They owe no allegiance to Arisaka.’
‘None of them can stand against the Shimonseki on their own. And each is waiting to see what the others will do. So far, all they will say is that if what Lord Arisaka says is true, then perhaps his actions are justified.’
George snorted in disgust. ‘If and perhaps,’ he said. ‘The language of procrastination and uncertainty. That’s just people looking to justify their own lack of action.’
‘Arisaka has the momentum,’ Horace said. As a soldier, he understood the value of swift and determined action that presented possible dissidents with a fait accompli. ‘If they’d resisted at the very beginning, Arisaka might not have got away with it. Now he has control of the palace and the ball is rolling. It’s too late to stop him easily.’ He looked at Shigeru. ‘The question is, your excellency, what are you planning to do about it?’
Shigeru paused thoughtfully and glanced at the messenger. ‘Where is Arisaka now?’
‘He’s heading north from the capital, your excellency. He plans to take you prisoner.’
Shukin and the emperor exchanged a quick glance.
‘How far behind you is he, Reito-san?’ Shukin asked and the messenger shrugged.
‘Probably several days. He didn’t set out immediately. But there are some survivors from the royal army not far behind me. They could be here in a few hours.’
‘How many of them?’ Horace asked quickly. Without any conscious decision on his part, he was beginning to think about the possibility of a quick counterattack, but Reito’s next words dispelled the idea.
‘Only forty or fifty,’ he replied. ‘And Arisaka has at least three hundred men with him.’
Horace nodded, chewing his lip thoughtfully. Shigeru’s army had been a small one. He ruled by consensus, not force. Which was why, he thought, Arisaka’s coup had been so successful.
‘All the more reason for us to pause here for a few hours,’ Shigeru said, taking charge of the situation. ‘Arisaka won’t be here for several days. But my soldiers will arrive soon. We should join up with them. And while we’re waiting, we can decide on our next move.’
They moved off the track onto a small, level meadow beside it. The men from the escort pitched two pavilions – one for the command group and one for the rest of the party. They wouldn’t be camping overnight so all that was needed was temporary shelter from the weather while they waited for the survivors of Shigeru’s army to arrive.
And while the leaders had time to consider the situation and make their plans.
A woven bamboo mat was placed over the damp ground inside one pavilion and a low table and five stools placed on it. Shigeru, Shukin, Reito, Horace and George sat around the table. An orderly placed several pots of green tea and handle-less porcelain cups before them. Horace sipped gratefully at the tea. It wasn’t as good as coffee, he thought, but any hot drink in this weather was welcome.
The canvas walls of the pavilion shook in a gust of wind and the first rain rattled against them.
‘North,’ Shukin was saying. ‘We have to head back north.’
‘Logical, since Arisaka and his army are in the south,’ Horace said. ‘But is there any other advantage in the north? Do you have allies there – clans you could raise so that you could face Arisaka?’
Shigeru shook his head. ‘There are no Senshi clans in the north,’ he said. ‘There are the Kikori, that’s all. They’re not warriors.’
His two countrymen nodded agreement. But Horace wanted more information. ‘Who are the Kikori?’
‘Timber workers,’ George told him. ‘They work in among the tall timber in the mountains. Their villages are scattered everywhere.’
‘If they’re timber workers, they’ll be fit and strong and they’ll have axes,’ Horace said. ‘And they’ll know how to use them. Could we recruit them as soldiers? Would they fight for you, your excellency?’
Shigeru and Shukin exchanged glances and the Emperor shook his head.
‘They would. They are intensely loyal. But I won’t ask them to. They’re not trained warriors, Or’ss-san. Arisaka’s men would massacre them. I can’t ask them to fight when they have no hope.’
George leaned forward and touched Horace’s sleeve, drawing his attention. He added, in a lowered tone, ‘There’s another problem, Horace. The Kikori would fight. But they wouldn’t believe they had any chance against the Senshi – because they’d believe they have no right to fight them.’
‘No right? What do you mean? Of course they –’
‘It’s a matter of their mindset. They’ve spent centuries believing they are inferior to the Senshi. Shigeru-san is trying to turn that around but it will take a long time to do it. Just as the Senshi are conditioned to believe they are superior to the other classes, the Kikori believe the Senshi are their superiors. They might go into battle against them. But they’d do it expecting to lose.’
‘That’s crazy,’ Horace said. But he could see the reason in George’s statement.
‘You’re a soldier, Horace. Would you lead an army into battle if the men
expected to be beaten? Even worse, if the men thought they had no right to win?’
‘I suppose not.’ Horace’s shoulders slumped. For a moment, he thought he had seen a possible course of action, but George was right. An army that believed it was destined to lose would be marching to its death.
‘There are the Hasanu,’ Shukin was saying thoughtfully. ‘And Lord Nimatsu is an honourable man. He wouldn’t turn his back on his oath of allegiance.’
‘The Hasanu are certainly fighters,’ Shigeru said. ‘But to the far north, with an enormous mountain range separating us from them. It would take weeks, months even, to reach them. And I have no idea how they would respond. They are strange people.’
‘If they are people, in fact,’ Reito put in.
Shigeru gave him a look of rebuke. ‘Don’t believe the old superstitions, Reito,’ he said. ‘The Hasanu are…unusual, shall we say? But I’m convinced they’re human.’
‘Who are the Hasanu?’ Horace whispered to George. ‘Are they another clan of warriors?’ But George was shaking his head, a puzzled look on his face.
‘I’ve never heard of them. They’re not a clan. I’m sure I know all of them.’
Before they could pursue the matter any further, Shukin spoke in an authoritative tone.
‘Whether or not we can muster forces for a counterattack against Arisaka, our first course is to make sure the Emperor is safe. We have to head north back into the mountains. We won’t ask the Kikori to fight, but they’ll be willing to hide us from Arisaka.’
Shigeru was nodding agreement. ‘Perhaps not the most gallant course of action,’ he said. ‘But certainly the wisest. If we can evade Arisaka’s men for a month or two, winter will be here and the weather will protect us.’
‘There’s always the fortress at Ran-Koshi,’ Reito suggested and the Emperor and his cousin looked at him quickly.
‘Ran-Koshi?’ said Shukin. ‘I always thought that was a myth.’
Reito shook his head. ‘Many people do. But I’m sure it’s real. The problem is, how to find it.’
‘What is this fortress?’ Horace asked.
‘Ran-Koshi is a fortress that’s spoken of in an old folk tale,’ Shigeru told them. ‘That’s why Shukin doubted its existence. It’s said to be high in the mountains, in a hidden valley. Many hundreds of years ago, there was a civil war over the rightful succession to the throne.’
‘Not unlike now, in fact,’ Shukin said grimly and the Emperor glanced at him.
‘Precisely,’ he said, then turned back to the two Araluans. ‘The eventual winner used Ran-Koshi as his power base. It was said to be an impregnable fortress, with massive walls and a deep moat.’
‘Sounds like the sort of place you could use,’ Horace said.
Shigeru nodded thoughtfully. ‘It would be derelict by now,’ he said. ‘If it exists at all.’
‘If it’s there, there is one group of people who will know where it is,’ Reito said. ‘The Kikori. They’ve spent generations combing the mountains for groves of trees, then building trails to bring the fallen logs down to the low country. They know every inch of the northern mountains.’
‘Then why have they never revealed its location?’ Shukin said.
Shigeru inclined his head towards his cousin. ‘Why should they?’ he replied. ‘Over the years, the Kikori have had little reason to love the ruling class of this country. If they knew this secret, I doubt they would have told the Senshi about it. They won’t fight the warrior class, but there’s no reason why they should do anything to help them.’
‘Good point,’ Horace said. ‘So all we have to do is head north, contact the Kikori, and take shelter in this mythical fortress?’
Shigeru gave him a good-humoured nod. After his first shock at the news of Arisaka’s treachery, he had recovered some of his normal spirits.
‘Perhaps we should take it one step at a time, Or’ss-san,’ he said. ‘Our first priority is simply to evade Arisaka, and for that, I agree that we have to head north. But I’m afraid you won’t be coming with us.’
Horace opened his mouth to reply, felt George’s hand on his arm and stopped.
‘We’re on a diplomatic mission, Horace,’ George said quietly. ‘We have no right to interfere in internal matters among the Nihon-Jan.’
That statement brought Horace up short. His first instinct on hearing about Arisaka’s rebellion had been to help the Emperor find a way to defeat the treacherous warlord. Now, he realised, he had no right to do any such thing. He sat back, confused. Shigeru saw the conflict on his face and offered Horace a sad little smile.
‘George-san is right. This is not your battle. You are observers in our country and, just as I can’t ask the Kikori to fight, I can’t expect you to risk your lives on my behalf. You should return to your own land.’
‘It might be better if Or’ss-san and George-san also avoided Arisaka’s men,’ Shukin said. ‘The Shimonseki may not understand the niceties of diplomatic immunity.’
Shigeru looked at his cousin. Shukin made a good point, he thought. Arisaka’s men would have their blood up. They would be arrogant and argumentative, and Horace might well be provoked by them if he encountered them. They would know the young Araluan was a friend of the Emperor and they would know he was a warrior. Better if he avoided contact altogether.
‘There is a secondary road to Iwanai a little north of here,’ he said. ‘It’s not as well travelled as the main road. In fact, it’s more of a mountain track. But you’d be better to take it, I think. Perhaps you should accompany us that far, then leave us.’
Horace shook his head helplessly. He knew they were right but he hated to desert a friend in danger.
‘I don’t like it, your excellency,’ he said eventually.
‘Neither do I, Or’ss-san. But, trust me, it’s for the best.’
Nihon-Ja
An hour passed without any sign of the remnants of the Emperor’s army. Shukin came to a decision.
‘We can’t wait any longer, cousin. Every minute we delay lets Arisaka get closer to us.’
‘I don’t like deserting my men. They fought in my name, after all. It’s a poor reward for them if I abandon them,’ Shigeru replied.
‘Poorer still if they see you taken by Arisaka. Reito-san can ride back and lead them to join us. We can arrange a rendezvous. But right now, you must get on the road again.’
‘Reito said that Arisaka’s men were several days behind him,’ the Emperor pointed out, but Shukin was unconvinced.
‘His main army, yes. But in his place, I would have sent out fast scouting parties to search for you. They could be upon us any time. After all, the survivors from the Ito garrison are travelling on foot and bringing their wounded with them. They’ll be moving a lot slower than a mounted scouting party.’
Reluctantly, Shigeru agreed. The men from the escort began to dismantle the two pavilions and pack them away. Reito and Shukin put their heads together over a map and agreed on a rendezvous point where Reito should lead the survivors.
‘Wait for us here,’ Shukin told him, pointing to a village marked on the map. ‘We’ll make contact with you.’ He was all too aware of the possibility that Reito and the rest of Shigeru’s men might be followed and captured. Best if they couldn’t tell Arisaka exactly where the Emperor had gone to ground. Reito met his gaze, understood, and nodded.
‘Look for us in a few days,’ he said. Then, bowing hastily to Shigeru, he mounted his horse and rode off down the trail to the south.
The others mounted and turned their horses’ heads north, starting back along the trail that had brought them down from the summer lodge. After a few kilometres, they came across another trail that branched off to the west, and led down into the valleys.
Shukin, riding in the lead, reined in his horse and waited while Horace caught up with him. He indicated the new trail.
‘We’ll take this track. It will lead us to the turn-off for Iwanai, where you’ll leave us.’
Horace nodd
ed unhappily. ‘I hate to leave,’ he said. ‘I feel as if I’m deserting you.’
Shukin leaned over and grasped the young warrior’s forearm. ‘I can’t imagine anyone I’d rather have by my side, Or’ss-san,’ he said. ‘But as the Emperor says, this is not your fight.’
‘I know that,’ Horace replied. ‘But I don’t have to like it.’
Shukin smiled grimly. ‘Look on the bright side. At least the rain has stopped.’
Then he spurred his horse into a canter and rode to resume his position at the head of the little column.
George moved up to ride beside Horace. He shifted in his saddle, standing in the stirrups to ease his aching backside. George was not an accomplished rider and Shukin had been pushing the pace for the last few hours. The attorney had been bounced and jounced continually in the saddle and he was sure his behind would be black and blue. His thigh muscles were aching and cramped. His discomfort was physical, but he knew that Horace was feeling an acute mental anguish that was just as bad and he wanted to take his friend’s mind off it.
‘Are we nearly there?’ he asked, hiding a smile as he voiced the age-old complaint of children on a journey.
Horace couldn’t help grinning in return. ‘You didn’t sign up for this, did you?’ he said. ‘You probably thought it would all be polite meetings and formal banquets in the palace at Ito.’
‘Too true,’ George replied, with some feeling. ‘It never occurred to me that we’d spend our time galloping up and down mountains on tracks that a self-respecting goat would avoid. If I’d…Look out!’ he yelled suddenly and leaned over in the saddle to shove Horace to one side.
Horace heard a savage hiss as something flew past his face, missing him by inches. Then he saw George swaying, a long arrow buried in the upper part of his arm. As he watched, George slid sideways from his saddle and thudded onto the rough, churned-up earth of the track.
Their attackers came out of the trees on either side. The initial volley of arrows had taken down three of the escort, as well as George. Now nine swordsmen charged in at the small party. Horace drew his sword and shrugged his shield round into position, his left arm slipping through the straps and finding the hand grip with the speed of long practice.