“Keep the money,” he said patiently. “If I don’t come back, you will need the money for Kiku-chan. If I do come back, you can use the money to help the theater and Goro and Hanzo. Just don’t tell them you have it, and don’t tell them who gave it to you. The last time I gave them money, they were banging their heads on the ground with bows of gratitude. It was disgusting. I don’t want to see that again.”
“But Goro and Hanzo won’t need the money. The theater is doing better, thanks to you.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. The actors are using the wild makeup, like you did, and the people love it. We can’t show passion on the stage, but we can talk about it, and women seem to like that even better than showing it. I’ve also had the idea that we should include sword fights in our plays, after seeing you with the ninja. I’m sure that will be popular, too! Here. Take the money back. You’ll need it.”
Kaze frowned. Momoko knew she was spoiling the moment, and she cursed her inability to really understand how the samurai mind worked. Talking to a samurai like Matsuyama-san about money was very bad manners, especially after he had entrusted you with handling his money for him.
“Sumimasen. I’m sorry,” she said, with a deep bow. “I’ll get the clothes and arrange for the horse.”
Kaze sat in the valley where two roofs came together, hidden from the ground but still able to watch the temple. He had been watching for a day and a night and a second day, only leaving briefly to answer calls of nature or to take a drink from the communal well, late at night when he wouldn’t be seen. He had a small store of toasted rice cakes he brought with him, the kind of rations he might have on a hard military campaign.
As in a military campaign, Kaze didn’t consider waiting as wasted time. Every warrior knew how to act, but the good ones also knew how to wait. Timing in a campaign, battle, or fight was crucial. Action and waiting were a natural balance, like breathing in and breathing out. Kaze knew his waiting and watching was just the prelude to action. Of course, Kaze also knew that his waiting might be in vain. Thus it was with battle plans, where sometimes waiting came to nothing because an expected situation didn’t develop.
During the first day, he saw the man he was waiting for. He was staying in the temple because of Edo’s housing shortage. Kaze was able to identify him by the crest on his helmet, which Nobu had described to him. He seemed to be going about his normal duties, so Kaze had no interest in him then.
In the depth of the second night, in the early morning, at the hour of the Tiger, Kaze did have an interest in the man. His waiting paid off. He saw the man leaving the temple with two companions. They were on horseback, and what interested Kaze was that he carried a musket and he was not wearing his insignia. He and his companions were dressed as charcoal burners.
They must be going into the woods, Kaze thought, where their costumes would allow them to blend in. On the day of the attempted assassination, Kaze was sure he had worn his uniform. With so many soldiers rushing about after the shot was fired, another soldier was almost invisible in the crowd, even one carrying a musket. That’s also why the yagura watchman didn’t cry out when an armed man entered his watch platform. It would not be unusual for a uniformed officer to want to get a good observation perch. It’s also why no one noticed him leaving the scene of the assassination attempt.
Kaze watched what direction they took leaving Edo, and quickly got off the roof and rushed to the stable where his horse was waiting.
Following people undetected on horseback was harder than following them on foot, especially since Kaze didn’t want them to get too far ahead of him. But the darkness helped as they crossed the farms and villages that surrounded Edo, and by the time the dawn arrived, they were off the roads and into the woods to the northwest of Edo, where the trees could screen Kaze.
The trio proceeded into the forest, to a point where the thick groves of trees were broken up by meadows. Then they stopped, with two of them moving forward on foot while the third held the horses.
Kaze tied his own horse and circled around the man holding the horses. Moving with the silence of an experienced hunter, he crept up to the two men, who seemed to be sitting behind a large rock, waiting. Kaze sat and waited, too.
This is my favorite time, Honda.” Ieyasu was anxious to get to the hunt. Behind him, several horses with packs that supported perches for birds trailed, led by the bird’s trainers. They were followed by a half-dozen mounted bodyguards.
The hawking party broke out of the forest and into a meadow. It was one of Ieyasu’s favorite hawking sites, and he ordered the birds forward, so he could decide which one he wanted to fly first.
Ieyasu looked up at the blue sky. “It’s a perfect day for the birds,” he remarked.
“It won’t be a perfect day for the prey,” Honda grumped. “Today they’ll die.”
“To live is to die,” Ieyasu said, quoting a proverb. “Besides, when you have to die, it’s probably best to die on a day such as this one. When it is my time to go to the void, I wish it would be on a day just like today.”
Kaze watched one of the men pop his head up over the top of the rock, and then say something to the one with the musket. The man with the gun took out his flint and steel, and set the cord on his musket burning. He was getting ready to shoot. Kaze looked in the meadow in front of the rock and saw a party out hawk hunting. He realized the two men on horseback were Ieyasu and Honda.
The man with the musket stood and started taking aim. He was using the most modern gun and technology available. Kaze chose a more ancient weapon. More ancient even than his sword. He picked up a fist-sized rock and threw it with all his strength.
The rock hit Niiya in the side of the head just as he pressed the trigger of his musket. The burning cord hit the touch hole, and the musket fired with a loud crack that shattered the silence of the meadow. Niiya collapsed, his musket ball flying harmlessly into the air.
Niiya’s companion drew his sword and turned to face Kaze, just as the ronin ran from his hiding place to the rock. The man was a good swordsman but not an excellent one, and the duel was over in an instant, the man falling dead to the ground from a cut across his neck and shoulders as Kaze rushed past him.
Kaze wanted Niiya alive, and he knelt down next to the prone man, loosening the man’s jacket sash and using it to tie up Niiya’s hands. Across the meadow, Kaze could see Honda and Ieyasu’s bodyguards springing into action, riding at full tilt toward the sound of the shot and the rock. Honda joined them, the old warrior acting instinctively to defend his Lord. It was over a hundred paces to the rock, so Kaze was able to quickly tie Niiya’s hands as the samurai charged forward.
Just as Kaze was completing the knot securing Niiya, he sensed a presence behind him. Grabbing his sword, which he had laid on the ground next to him, Kaze spun halfway around while still kneeling, just in time to block a cut to his head by the man who had been holding the horses. He had come to investigate when his two companions didn’t come to the horses to make their escape right after the shot was fired.
At a disadvantage because he was still in a kneeling position, Kaze blocked a second cut without having an opportunity to go on the offensive. The man was smart enough not to let up, and he drew back for a third cut before Kaze could regain his feet. A large shadow suddenly blocked out the sun, and Kaze realized that a horse was jumping over the rock, sailing over Kaze and Niiya. The body of the horse blocked Kaze’s view of the blow, but as the horse hit the ground, Kaze was able to see the results. The man’s head was flying through the air, cleanly taken by the horseman while still in the midst of the jump. As other horses drew up on either side of the rock, Kaze glanced at the first horseman and saw it was Honda. Honda’s eyes burned with excitement, and the call to arms had stripped away years from the old warrior’s face.