When Akitada joined him, helooked through a loophole from which an archer could shoot arrows into thelower entrance courtyard. Armed soldiers sat about in small groups.Black-and-white Uesugi banners were everywhere. One man carried equipment tothe tower above the gate. Akitada’s heart sank. They could not reach the gatewithout being cut down in the attempt. Even if the men in the courtyard couldbe distracted long enough, the watchtower above bristled with archers.
Kaoru closed the shutter andwent to put the grate back into place. “We cannot stay here,” he said softly. “Someonemight come any moment. Follow me, but remember the place in case you have torun for your life.” They ran down the corridor away from the main house.Akitada chafed at this and at the fact that Kaoru had taken over and was givingthe orders, but he submitted. He felt badly out of his depth.
The gallery adjoined another,equally empty, and this led to one of the service areas. Kaoru peered outcautiously. It was the kitchen yard, and deserted. No smoke came from thekitchen hearth. The cooking fires had been extinguished prior to battle. Kaorucrossed the yard, headed for a storage shed. They followed, slipped in behindhim, and he closed the door.
“You’ll be safe here for themoment,” he said.
They stood in a small spacefilled with baskets and brooms, kettles and pails, faggots and oil jars, allthe paraphernalia to keep a large household stocked. Akitada’s heart waspounding. He said, “The gate. We must reach that gate. How many men does ittake to open it?”
“One, at the most two.”
Kaoru still sounded confident,but Akitada had become all too aware of his own lack of planning. “You’re sure?”he persisted, wondering if two of them could engage the soldiers he had seen,some fifteen or twenty, long enough to let the other two slip past to the gate.With the archers above, it wasn’t likely.
“There’s a counterweight. I cando it by myself.”
“We need to draw some of thesoldiers away. What about that fire Koreburo was to start?”
Kaoru opened the shed door andpeered out. He closed it again. “No sign of it. He should have done so already.If you’ll wait here, I’ll try to find him.” Before Akitada could protest, Kaoruhad slipped out.
Akitada suppressed a suddenpanic and motioned to the other two to sit down. They sat, each caught in hisown thoughts, and waited in the murky semidarkness of the small shed. The smellof wood and dried grasses hung in the chill air.
Tora’s eyes were wide open andhis hands twitched occasionally with suppressed excitement. Hitomaro leanedback against the wall, perfectly still, his eyes closed, his chin on his chest.Looking at them, Akitada reflected how close these two men were to him, and howdanger affected them all differently. He remembered Takesuke’s fervent wishthat Uesugi would attack the tribunal, while he himself had been weighed downwith fears for his family and his people. Takesuke’s high spirits had struckhim as irresponsible and bloodthirsty then. Now he wondered if he was the onewho was inadequate to his duty. Takesuke, Tora, and Hitomaro were all trainedsoldiers, while he was an official. What did he know of war? Yet, by acceptingthis appointment, he had also accepted the possibility of having to fight.
Here he was, in unaccustomedarmor and uncomfortable, feeling ambivalent about the violence he was about toface and-worse-to commit. They had gained entrance to the stronghold withoutbeing discovered, but the real test still lay ahead, and Akitada doubted thathe could pass it.
If Kaoru was caught, he wouldbe questioned under torture. Whether he revealed their presence or not, asubsequent search would find them, and then they would die ignobly here,slaughtered among brooms and braziers. There was no defense against the odds,even if it were possible to swing a sword in these cramped quarters.
It wasn’t going to be easy atall.
* * * *
TWENTY-ONE
TO THE DEATH
A
kitadadid not want to wait for death.
Neither did the others. Torabroke into his thoughts impatiently. “Where in hell is Kaoru? He has nerve,telling us to sit here and wait for him. Who does he think he is? I don’t likeit. We’re stuck here like rats in a box.” He stood up and walked to the door,opening it a crack.
Hitomaro went to join him. “It’stoo quiet,” he said.
Tora asked, “What if it’s atrap, sir? To my mind the fellow’s just too well informed about this place fora mere woodsman.”
Akitada hated the inactivity,but he shook his head. “No, we must trust Kaoru. He’ll be back any moment.”
Hitomaro closed the door andpaced. Tora grunted and sat down.
Akitada thought he could findthe way to the gate from what he remembered of his earlier visits. They hadbeen taken from the gate to an inner courtyard. From there, Akitada had goneinto the main house. The trouble was, he was not sure where they were now. Heclosed his eyes and pictured Kaoru’s sketch of the secret entrance. He mustsomehow get back to the main house. The gallery from which he had seen thenorth pavilion had been on the west side, but they had gone there throughanother gallery that served as an armory.
Never mind. They were notheaded to the north pavilion but to the gate. They had to open the gate to letTakesuke in before they did anything else. The problem was how to get therefrom here. He had spoken to the servants in a courtyard not unlike the one theywere in. For that matter, where were the servants? Some must be in the kitchen,even with the fires out. Had they all been pressed into defending the manor?
“Tora,” he said, opening hiseyes, “where did they take you during the banquet?”
“One of their barracks. Theyfed me. Seemed decent fellows.” Tora grimaced.
Akitada guessed that Tora didnot like the thought of killing such hospitable men, or being killed by them. “Butwhere were the barracks? In relation to the gate and the main house?”
“Between the house and thegate. Why?”
That accounted for one of thecourtyards. “I’m wondering if we can find our way to the gate without Kaoru.Takesuke’s men are preparing to attack. We cannot wait much longer.”
“Then let’s go, sir.” Hitomarowas on his feet. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
Akitada sighed and rose. “Yes.Something must have gone wrong. We have waited long enough. Take another look outsideand tell me if you see any smoke anywhere in the compound.”
Hitomaro reported, “Nothing,sir. They must’ve caught both of them.”
Akitada looked around the shed.“Very well. Since the materials are at hand, we’ll make the fire here. Pile upall the baskets, brooms, and kindling against that wall over there. Then we’llpour the lamp oil over it and light it.”
Tora grinned. “Good idea. Thekitchen next door has a thatched roof. That should get their attention.”
Hitomaro nodded, and they fellto work. Akitada emptied baskets and tossed them on the pile. “We are goingback the way we came,” he said as he worked. “That gallery should take us tothe main house, and from there we’ll get to the gate.”
“They’ll be coming that waywhen they see the fire,” Hitomaro muttered.
“We’ll just have to be fast,”said Tora happily.
Akitada thought it likely that theywould be seen even before the smoke attracted notice. He dragged one of thehuge earthenware jars full of oil across the dirt floor. Hitomaro came to givehim a hand. Together they lifted and emptied the dark, viscous liquid over thepile. Their enemies had thoughtfully supplied an assortment of flints, wicks,and spills to keep the manor’s oil lamps lit, and in a moment eager flameslicked upward, joining others with a cheerful crackle, and cast a flickeringred light on their faces. Smoke rose.
They looked at each other. Tora’sgrin looked more like a demon’s snarl in the firelight. Akitada tried to shedthe image of hell, and said, “Good. Let’s go.”
Just as they burst from theshed, Akitada in front, a woman cried out. The kitchen door stood open, and twomaids goggled at them and at the inferno behind them. Ignoring the maids, theycrossed the courtyard at a run and entered the enclosed gallery. Miraculously,it was still empty. Midway, Akitada checked his speed and opened one of theloophole shutters. The scene below had changed. The watchtower, almost on alevel with the gallery, now bristled with archers and the men in the courtyardwere on their feet, swords and halberds at the ready. Judging from the soundsof high-pitched whinnies and scuffling of hooves, there were horses, too.Akitada estimated thirty men below and twenty on the tower, and more wereprobably out of sight or waiting in other courtyards. Those he could see hadtheir backs to him, their attention on what was going on outside the gate. Andnow he heard it, the sound of approaching battle drums.