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 floor 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.
"So you're Shoukou."
"No, I'm not!"
"What did you do with Enho?"
"Enho?"
"If you can deliver Enho alive, we may spare your life for the time being."
The man little eyes nervously flitted back and fro.
"On the other hand, if you wish to die, I will accommodate your desires." She drew her sword. The man frantically backed away. He looked like a fat bear trying to scratch his back on the divan.
"Really? You're really going to help me?"
"You have my word."
Youko looked up at Koshou. With a bewildered expression, he looked back and forth between Youko and Shoukou. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Now you're making promises like that. He's all yours, then."
Youko replied with a slight nod. She knelt down in front of Shoukou. "Out with it. Where's Enho?"
"H-he's n-not h-here."
"What?"
The man raised a quavering hand, his stubby forefinger tracing a crooked circle in the air. "Meikaku. I know nothing. The Marquis of Wa asked me to. So I sent him to Meikaku."
"Gahou? Why would Gahou want to kidnap Enho?"
"I was told to kill him. Because he was a survivor of the Evergreen Seminary. That's what he said. I ordered the raid, but didn't kill him. The fools brought him here. When I informed the Marquis, he said to deliver Enho to him."
"So he is still alive?"
"I didn't kill him. Truly."
Youko glanced behind her, at the flustered and perplexed faces looking down at them. "I understand the malice in your hearts, but please discipline yourselves for now. This man is tied to Gahou. If he is killed and Gahou escapes, all will be for naught."
His knowledge of the depraved lengths to which the Wa Province Lord had gone made Shoukou a vital link.
A man standing next to Koshou cast his eyes up toward the heavens and heaved a big sigh. Taking that as a signal, the room shook with jeers of derision. Some crying out in scorn, a few others quietly holding back tears of despair.
The room once again fell into silence and the human cordon around Shoukou dispersed. Dejected, shoulders drooping, they exited the room. Behind them, Koshou suddenly scraped the tip of his broadsword against the floor.
"The provincial guard is coming! This is no time to get complacent!"
At once, his crestfallen comrades were seized by the warrior spirit. After the requisite disrespectful glances at Shoukou, they snapped out of it, lifted their heads proudly, and marched out of the room.
Suzu continued to stare at Shoukou. He was nothing but a frightened, stupid-looking man. Her malice for him was deep, but that malice was hers alone. Not even Seishuu had shared it when he died. If Seishuu had spoken any words of revenge in his final moments, she would have killed him no matter what Youshi said.
"You killed a child in Takuhou."
Shoukou shuddered violently, like a wounded bird.
Suzu balled her hands into fists as she turned on her heels. "And I will never forget it."
17-4
The soldier arrived at a gallop in the middle of the night. After counting the dead hanging from the walls across the mote, he'd come to the conclusion that the castle defenders had given up the fight.
A nearby vassal looked up and said, "Meaning--"
Astride his horse, the battalion commander nodded. "Meaning the rebels have control of the keep."
The castle grounds were still as death. Rugged gates and thick walls guarded the prefectural offices. When the provincial guard had arrived, the castle was already in the control of the rebels. They would have no choice but to directly challenge these formidable defenses. Even if they broke through, what they had come to defend was likely no longer there.
"Tell them to cease fighting and pull back. Launching an offensive now would be meaningless."
"But the praetorians--"
The commander's gaze fell upon the praetorians, who were feverishly readying themselves for a charge upon the main gates. "Give them fair warning as well. In any case, the rebels will have already found their quarry. Say that I'm ordering them to cease engaging and withdraw because the person who would call them to account likely no longer draws breath."
He knew that the zeal of the praetorians had little to do with honor or loyalty, but sprang forth from fear. If they pleased Shoukou, they won whatever rewards they could imagine. But if they displeased him in the least, they would be dispatched without mercy. Those who served Shoukou knew this better than any.
"Retreat and regroup. Pitch camp at the West Gate. We'll rest until dawn and await reinforcements from Meikaku. The rebels may attempt to flee before then. Capture anyone who attempts to leave the castle. If they resist, do not hesitate to employ deadly force."