Shadow Magic (22 page)

“What shall we do at the border?” Mamoru asked me, shooing a
mosquito away from his cheek. Thankfully, it was not their season. Nevertheless, he would feel the itch and the burn soon enough, and I would have nothing with which to soothe him.

“For the crossings,” I began hesitantly, “I thought we might avoid closer scrutiny by continuing dressed as we are.”

“I might pretend to be your sister,” Mamoru offered. If it troubled him to return to that mode of disguise—one so familiar and yet so remote—he did not show it.

“Two men are suspect,” I agreed. “A man and a woman… That is not the quarry they seek.”

My lord nodded, satisfied. “Yes,” he said. “They would never think…”

He did not finish the thought. I wagered a guess as to why, and did not press him. At least he was not dressed as some lowly creature of burden, but a simple common woman. I knotted my hands in the horse’s reins, and we rode on.

It was late in the day, the sun already beginning to sink below the distant horizon, when the dusty back road we were on opened up without warning, and we found ourselves riding into the roadside rest stop.

There was a tea-and-noodle house, and a sheltered bench just outside it for rainy days, should any unlucky traveler be caught out beneath a sudden storm. Only two horses were tethered outside the shop, and the door was closed, but we could hear well enough the sound of a few voices from within—no doubt belonging to the shop owner and the few travelers who were stopped there for the night.

In front of me, Mamoru breathed in deeply, as though he were trying to calm the quickened pace of his heart. After a moment, however, I realized the truth of the matter: he could smell food on the air, the simple, clean scent of white rice in the pot. There was a hunger in his eyes I’d never seen.

We had some money from my old clothes; I’d spent most of it on new shoes for Mamoru and then, when he insisted, on sandals for myself, as well. There was a little coin left—enough for a night spent at a roadside inn, a bowl of rice for each of us, and some left over.

Mamoru’s fingers tightened against the horse’s mane, and the creature whinnied. I thought of my prince sleeping on the forest floor, of his bathing in the forest stream, of skinning rabbits for his breakfast.

“I’d like to sleep in a real bed tonight,” I said. Perhaps it was weak of
me to give in so easily to the mere sense of what my lord desired, but how was I to know when we might get the same chance again? Honganje and my sister’s cooking were both a great distance away from where my lord and I found ourselves.

“Kouje,” Mamoru said, but the protest was weak.

“Only if you think it wise to grant my wish, of course,” I said. “It was merely a suggestion—and perhaps it was an unwise one?”

My lord looked at me over his shoulder, his eyes bright with the conflict. He wanted a simple bed that night—we could only hope a decent business was being run there, and that there were no fleas between the sheets—and, more than that, I knew, he wanted a bowl of rice. Yet he also wanted to do what was most practical. It was better that I make the decision for him, so that it would not be his to regret. If I was treating him like a child, then I would allow him to grow resentful at my actions—but better that than to resent himself.

After a long pause, Mamoru made as if to speak, then shook his head. “If you think it wise to stop,” he said, “then you know full well I would not argue against it.”

“Then it’s settled,” I said.

We saw to the horse—or rather, I saw to the horse while Mamoru stroked its nose and murmured wordlessly to it; he was gifted with the creature in ways I was not. It was a slow night, with few travelers. When we entered the rest house, there were only two men sitting at one of the homely tables and the shop owner serving them. The latter was glad enough to see us there, and as I haggled, Mamoru kept close by my side.

The other two travelers ate and watched us to the point of staring. Just as I thought I would have to better inform their poor manners, one of the men broke into a wide smile and waved us over.

“Lonely night,” he said, “isn’t it?” I nodded. “Jiang and me were beginning to think we’d stumbled into a ghost story.”

The one named Jiang shrugged, arms folded over his chest. “The old man,” he said, nodding toward the shop owner, “keeps talking to himself. You never know, on a night like this.”

It was, as I understood it, as much of an invitation to join them for dinner as we’d ever get from people like them. Mamoru and I sat with them as we waited for our rice—and if the shop owner took longer with it, I thought, then he really would be a ghost; I’d see to it.

“Traveling long?” the man—not Jiang—asked, looking pointedly at the dust that had gathered on our clothes and settled, it would seem permanently, in our hair. Of the two, he was clearly the more outgoing. I wished that he were not so friendly, nor Jiang so laconic, and I wished that both of them would stop staring at Mamoru.

“And farther still to go,” I said.

“Your wife?” Jiang asked, nodding this time at Mamoru.

I swallowed my temper, forcing it back down into my chest, and balled my hands into fists under the table. Mamoru patted one of my hands; I could feel how nervous he was simply by sitting beside him.

“Not your wife, then,” the friendly one said, breaking out into a wide grin. “No need to explain to me, friend. I see how it can be. Times are changing, eh? The name’s Inokichi, but they call me Kichi for short.”

I offered up our predetermined aliases. After that, the rice was finally brought, and they paused, almost respectfully, for Mamoru and me to eat. I saw him try not to wolf his food down, but it was a struggle, and he was finished quickly enough that it was plain how hungry he had been. I offered him what was left in my bowl, but he refused, even if he was sorely tempted to accept it. I ate it as quickly as I could after that, so he would not have to sit and watch me eat longer than was absolutely necessary.

“Hungry, eh,” Kichi said. It wasn’t entirely a question, and he looked too amused by it for me to feel any traveler’s companionship for him at all. Besides which, he’d said it to Mamoru more than to me, and I didn’t like the tone of voice he was using, or the slant of his mouth.

I edged closer to Mamoru on the bench. “We’ve been riding hard,” I said, trying to find some comfortable medium between too vulgar and too polite. I was a common merchant, if that; I was dressed in a servant’s clothing, and it was better that I spoke like one. Yet to embrace the coarser speech Jiang and Kichi so readily employed, or to speak of Mamoru the way they did, was also a poor option.

“Riding hard, eh,” Kichi said. “Heard about the young prince, have you?”

“Gossip, mostly,” I said. “Have they caught him yet?”

Jiang snorted, and Kichi burst into laughter. “Caught him?” he said, slapping the table. “Giving the Emperor a run ’round the bush at every turn. They don’t even know where he is, I’m telling you; he’s given
them the slip and they’ll be lucky if they ever find him. Making life damn hard for the rest of us, though.”

I feigned concern. “How?” I asked.

“Imagine this,” Kichi explained. “You’re minding your own business, just trying to sell your goods, when all of a sudden you can’t even get past the borders—that is, if you’re a man traveling alone or two men traveling together. And they search
everything
. My friend Hanzo was stopped for two whole hours, just ’cause he had a regal look about him.”

“Ah,” I said. “I didn’t ever think I’d say it, but… It’s a lucky thing we’re traveling together.” I nodded toward Mamoru at that, and he patted my hand again; perhaps he was trying to assure me that being disrespectful in a place like that and under those circumstances was all right. I wasn’t going to be unless I had to, though. My nails dug into my palms, but I offered a companionable smile to our new friends.

“Well, you’d think that, wouldn’t you,” Kichi said, “but they’re searching women now, too. Apparently the prince could be disguised as anyone, so they’re stripping women who fit the bill right there at the station. Naked as babies, Hanzo tells me. I tell you, brother, I was born into the wrong job—am I right?” Here he slapped at my arm for agreement, and I laughed with them, all the while wanting to slap him back.

I feared that I would do it too hard, and would then have yet another apology to make to my lord, on top of all the others I felt I owed him. Next to me, Mamoru smiled politely, so that even he looked more good-humored than I. Reluctantly, I allowed a quiet laugh to escape my lips, as though I were either too polite or too slow to have enjoyed the joke properly. Still, knowing what they’d told me now, it was rather difficult to laugh. If they were stopping anyone with even a passing resemblance—if they were going so far as to strip women naked at the station—then my lord and I would soon have a very serious problem on our hands.

How to get past the prefecture checkpoint without being detected?

My worry must have shown plainly on my face, for Kichi slapped my arm again, this time in a manner that was meant to be reassuring rather than crass. Or, at least, that was what I thought. “Worried about your lady friend? I’d be too, if she were mine.
Very
beautiful. There’s no telling for certain whether or not they’ll see a hint of royalty in her. Or maybe the looks of her will leave ’em feeling… particularly dutiful.”

That time, Mamoru put a hand on my arm before I could move,
else I might have lost my temper entirely. He cast his eyes down, for all the world like a shy maiden. His cheeks were flushed with embarrassment, and I could not ignore the sharp pang in my chest of a duty neglected, no matter how I had resolved to shun that duty for another.

Had we been our former selves, I would have killed anyone who humiliated the prince so. Now I was forced to laugh with them and call them friends. Breathing slowly, I endeavored to be calm.

They seemed like decent enough men. Perhaps I was judging them altogether too harshly.

“Yes,” I said, edging the words out until I could make them sound natural. “That thought had crossed my mind.”

Kichi nodded. “I don’t blame you one bit, either. You get a woman like this for yourself, you don’t want anyone else seeing her naked.”

“She’s my sister,” I said finally, hoping that would put an end to some of the joking once and for all. I had a sister and I knew well what clarifying that relationship did to dissuade discussion of their beauty or any other… attributes.

“Ah,” said Kichi. “Say no more, good sir. It’s your protective instincts as a brother that put such a fearsome spark in your eyes. I understand completely. I’ve got sisters myself, two of them—both with faces like radishes, though. Never have to endure such talk.”

“We’ve been trying to figure out how to get past ourselves,” Jiang said, without warning. I’d almost forgotten he was there, for all that his loquacious companion overshadowed him. “Not that either of us looks womanly enough to be stripped bare, mind you, but I’d rather keep my belongings private and not laid out on display if you know what I’m saying.”

“Been at this game as long as we have and you’re still nervous as a newlywed on her wedding night. They’re hardly going to keep
us
, brother.” Kichi laughed, slapping his companion on the back. I was glad it wasn’t me this time. “Not with a face like yours.”

“I’m less worried about
my
face, and more worried about
your
mouth,” Jiang said, with a long-suffering eye toward the pair of us, as though he weathered such abuses every day but only rarely entertained a sympathetic audience for them.

Kichi stroked his long face thoughtfully. He looked like a painting of the monkey god come to life, I decided, only his beard was short and black instead of long and white.

“We
could
travel
with
you.”

I nearly didn’t recognize my lord’s voice as it came so sudden and clear from my side. He bowed his head when the three of us craned around to look at him, as though suddenly conscious of how he’d managed to capture everyone’s attention when he had meant to do anything but.

“What I mean to say is, that if they’re more suspicious of groups traveling in pairs, wouldn’t it make sense to go along as a bigger group? They might not scrutinize each of us so thoroughly, which would save you time, and I might escape with my dignity intact.”

Kichi gave Mamoru a look that was admiring, and Jiang surveyed him with something else besides that in his eyes, something I was sure I disapproved of.

“I like the way you think,” Kichi said, smiling his monkey smile. “Sensible
and
clever. You’ll want to watch out, brother, or some devilish man’s going to take her from you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said, gritting my teeth together. My lord’s hand was still on my arm. He gave me a pat that was equal parts warning and reassurance.

“Anyhow,” said Kichi. He leaned back in his chair as though he meant to get up, and perhaps he’d sensed my animosity after all. “It’s a fine plan. Your sister’s got a fine head on her shoulders. If you want company for this leg of the journey, you’ve got it, right, Jiang?”

He stuck out his hand without waiting for Jiang’s confirmation. I got the impression that all their decisions were made in a similarly one-sided fashion.

I could feel my lord’s hopeful eyes on me, and despite what misgivings I had, I knew what the decision would have to be.

I put my hand in Kichi’s and shook. The radiant air of his smile did nothing to assuage my misgivings.

“That’s agreeable of you,” Jiang said, getting up from the table. He didn’t seem to bear his companion any ill will for his brash nature, or for his willingness to make decisions on his own that affected the two of them. Perhaps he’d grown used to it. “Just the spirit of brotherhood—sisterhood as well, you’ll pardon me, miss—that’s been lacking in these parts of late.”

Mamoru bowed his head and, if he felt any remorse at the mention
of brotherhood, he kept it to himself. I waited until our colorful benefactors had left before I dared to turn to Mamoru, my contrition written plainly over my face.