"Shoukou, you mean."
Sekki nodded. "The vice-minister was pulling the strings behind the scenes, but the mastermind was surely Shoukou. I have no idea why Shoukou should so despise a seminary in Baku Province. But if he knew that survivors from the seminary were in Hokui, he would make every effort to finish them off. That's the kind of man he is."
Youko looked at the face of the boy who was relating all this so calmly. "So Enho is perhaps in Takuhou?"
"The possibility is high. Whether alive or dead, I can't say."
Youko jumped to her feet.
"Hey, where you going?
She stopped at the sound of Koshou's voice. "I'm going to rescue him."
"Don't talk nonsense!"
"I have to!" She owned him that debt of moral obligation and respect. Rangyoku was dead and Keikei lay at death's door. Only Enho could she save.
"Stop!"
Koshou grabbed her by the arm. She jerked herself free of his grasp. Sekki stood in front of her, blocking the way. She took him by the shoulders and pushed him to the side.
"Youshi! Wait!" Suzu's shrill voice froze her in her tracks. "Shoukou has dozens of guards at his beck and call. His carriage entered Takuhou, but do you have any idea where he went? Or the many places Shoukou could be imprisoning his detractors? Don't go leaping before you look."
"But--" Youko started to say, when Koshou again took a hold of her arm.
"We have associates constantly keeping an eye on Shoukou. I think they'll know where that troublesome carriage ended up."
"Associates?"
"We've been on his trail for three years. There's not a day that goes by when we don't know what the bastard's been up to."
"Koshou--you--" Youko scanned the faces of men in the dining hall, whose numbers had at some point swelled to a dozen or more. "You are--?"
If she'd thought it through, this was the conclusion she should have come to. There was no way Suzu's malice toward Shoukou would have abated in the least.
Koshou lightly clapped Youko on the back. "You're packing a helluva weapon there, but can it cut a wizard? Or should I ask, can you wield a sword that will cut a wizard?"
PAGE 235
Youko smiled thinly. "To the bone."
Koshou sent off a messenger, who returned past midnight. Koshou looked at the people assembled in the main hall. "The carriage entered the prefectural castle. As you all know, of late, Shoukou hasn't left his official residence at the castle."
Youko glanced at the nodding faces. The faces of those willing and able to do what I cannot.
"We don't know why he brought Enho back to the prefectural castle. But that's how the man operates. He's definitely up to no good. If Enho still lives, then I want to rescue him."
The silence filled with a powerful feeling of mutual consent.
"In any case, I don't intend to wait much longer to get things rolling. That could mean tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow." Having spoken his mind, Koshou surveyed the crowd gathered in the main hall. "What say you?"
His question was answered with a shout of approval.
"Good!" Koshou said with a nod. "We have bided our time for three years. The moment has come to bring an end to Shoukou's rule!"
Part XVII
17-1
In the second year of Sekiraku, according to the calendar of the Kingdom of Kei, during the early dawn hours on the first day of February, one of the official residences of Shoukou, the governor of Shisui Prefecture, was attacked. The assailants, comprising some twenty citizens of Shisui Prefecture, shot fire arrows from the surrounding streets, scaled the walls, and fought their way into the inner sanctum. Yet the person of Shoukou was not found within.
After crossing swords with the residential guards, the assailants scrawled the characters Shu On on the walls. As soon as the city gates opened, they broke through the Horse Gate and fled. Pursued by provincials guardsmen, at least half their number slipped free and escaped to Ei Province.
Shoukou's full name was Seki On. Shoukou read the characters Shu On ("a special gift") as Chuu On ("the gift of execution"), expressing a desire for his assassination. In his indignation, he sent two hundred of his troops after the assailants and ordered five hundred more mustered from the surrounding territories to stand guard at the prefectural castle.
Just before these troops were scheduled to arrive at Takuhou, on the night of the first attack on the governor's residence, the granary in the center of the castle compound was attacked. Mere moments before the arrival of the praetorian guard assigned to Shoukou's personal protection detail and the provincial garrison at Takuhou, the assailants set fire to the granary and fled.
The fires were extinguished before the structure was consumed, yet the assailants again left behind the characters Shu On, and absconded to Ei Province. This time, approximately thirty individuals broke through the Horse Gate, half their number escaping capture and crossing the provincial border into Ei.
Clearly rogue elements were attempting to foment a rebellion. Suspecting another attack on the granary in the works, Shoukou assigned provincial guardsmen along with his praetorian guard to cordon off the granary. Three hundred praetorians were further dispatched to watch the roads and the borders. However, after two days, no assault had come. Early in the morning of the third day, Shoukou having let down his guard if only in the slightest, the attack came at his countryside estate east of Takuhou.
The assailants numbered a hundred. When the provincial guardsmen and praetorians stationed at the granary arrived at the estate, the forces inside and outside the estate fought to a standstill.
"I wonder if they're okay."
At the window of the brothel, Suzu looked in the direction of the Hare Gate. In the midst of the chaotic city, dusk was already falling.
"They'll be okay, as long as they've got Youshi," Koshou reassured her. He didn't offer any reasons, and Suzu took an uncertain breath. Koshou said, "I offered two hundred men, and Youshi said she could get the job done with a hundred. I'd say the odds are on their side."
Youshi had promised if they could capture Shoukou without killing him, she'd make it happen with a hundred.
"You need to be concerned for yourself, Suzu," Sekki said, as he strung a bow.
"I'll be okay," she'd replied. "After all, nobody can handle the sansui without me around."
"I'll leave Sekki to your care," Koshou said.
She nodded. "But what about you, Sekki? Can you draw a bow like that?"
"No problem. I don't have the best aim, but I'm not totally useless." He laughed nervously. "Do you know how they settle things when two kids applying to school come out the same in grades, character, and relative merits?"
"I don't. An archery contest, perhaps?"
"That's right. The best shot wins. So I did a lot of practicing."
"I see."
Sekki wanted to become a government official. If he wished to make anything of himself in this kingdom, that was his first step, Sekki had the brains to succeed. In fact, he had an almost uncanny ability to read things right.
First, we send out twenty to get Shoukou all riled up.
These twenty had set fire to Shoukou's official residence on the inner loop road. Then hightailed it out of there. The next time, thirty struck the granary.
The granary was a warehouse that stored grain against times of famine. Setting it alight was a bold gesture on Sekki's part. "Our actual intent is not to burn it down," he explained. "And if by chance it should be consumed, Shoukou never had any intent on distributing it to the people, anyway."