The Initiate Brother Duology (134 page)

Nishima nodded at this. “What is your advice, General Hojo. Large armed parties wandering through our lands is a matter for concern.”

Hojo considered a moment. “Combining all the men who remain from the Imperial Army and our own, Empress, gives us a force of perhaps thirty thousand men. Certainly enough to meet the threat of any of the three barbarian armies, though hardly enough men to deal with them all at once. The barbarians outside the city have disarmed, but we cannot leave them unwatched. If they do not receive assistance soon…” Hojo shrugged. “Thirty thousand barbarian warriors, well armed or not is a significant force. They will also need to be fed.” Hojo stroked his graying beard. “The companies making their way toward the Botahist temples are of concern. We have sent messages to the Brothers so that they will be prepared, but still it would be best if these barbarians could be reasoned with, though I would prefer to send out a force of some size to emphasize the prudence of finding a solution that does not require swords.

“The army moving north is of greater concern to me, Empress. It is both larger and its intent less clear. Do they plan to take Seh and hold it as their own? Is it their wish to simply return to the desert? The Kalam believes they hope to escape the plague and do not trust the people of the Empire sufficiently to lay down their weapons. Brother Shuyun is certain the plague will begin to show its hand among these men very soon. We have sent patrols out to warn any citizens who are on the barbarian’s path, but who knows what dying men might do? If the Botahist Brothers agree to minister to the barbarians, then perhaps we will be able to take some number of Brothers north in the wake of the retreating barbarians in hopes that the men of the desert will see the futility of what they do and allow the Brothers to help them.” Hojo bowed and fell silent.

Nishima nodded. “I thank you, General.” She looked around at the others, raising an eyebrow as they had often seen her father do.

Komawara touched his head to the mats. “Empress. I agree entirely with General Hojo. May I suggest that with the force that travels north we might
send the Kalam? He is of an eastern tribe himself and may gain their trust more easily than the leader of a well armed force.”

Nishima looked over to Shuyun who sat between Komawara and the tribesman. “Brother?”

Shuyun bowed low before speaking. “I will ask the Kalam, Empress, if I may?”

She nodded and the monk spoke quietly to the tribesman who responded in a whisper. Shuyun turned back to Nishima. “The Kalam asks me to say that he will do anything within his power to serve the Empress.”

Nishima gave a half bow to the tribesman who touched his forehead to the floor in return, his embarrassment obvious.

“General Hojo, we remain in a state of war, so I do not feel the need to consult the Great Council in this matter. Who would you suggest to carry out each of these tasks? We must send no one who is bent on revenge upon the tribes—we have had a thousand years of raids and war because of a barbarian vendetta, let us do nothing to fuel their anger.”

Hojo looked over at Kamu as though the two consulted silently. “I would send Lord Butto to pursue the barbarian army north on the canal. The lord has his own interests to consider there and I must say, Lady Ni…Empress, that he is a young man of great political skills. Kamu-sum has made the same assessment.

“Certainly Lord Taiki would be the correct choice to defend the temples, his devotion has been great since Brother Shuyun saved the life of his son. If I remain in the capital, I will see to the barbarians beyond the walls, with Brother Shuyun’s counsel, if he will be so kind.”

Nishima looked at Shuyun who nodded. Lord Butto and Lord Taiki were out in the fields patrolling beyond the barbarian encampment. “General Hojo, I will leave this in your hands. I wish to be kept constantly informed. We must restore peace and security to the Empire before we can begin to address the other ills the Yamaku have left us.”

Nishima turned to Kamu who consulted a small scroll. “The matter of the Brothers, Empress,” he said. The young sovereign turned to Shuyun.

“I have spoken to the Primate of the Imperial Capital, Empress.” Shuyun said. “Brother Hutto and the Supreme Master of the Botahist Order sailed from Yankura recently. They should arrive in the capital very soon, perhaps tomorrow.”

“The Supreme Master?” Nishima opened her fan. “Does he not sequester himself on an island in the sea?”

“He does, Empress,” Shuyun answered. “Events in the Empire may have convinced him his presence would be required.”

“How are we best to proceed to gain their support?” Nishima asked.

“I would speak with the Supreme Master and Brother Hutto myself, Empress, if that is acceptable.”

Nishima nodded. “I will concern myself with this matter no more, Brother Shuyun, if I know that it is in your capable hands.” She turned back to the Shonto steward. “Kamu-sum?”

“There is a shortage of grain in the capital, Empress, and many other things as well. Crowds have begun to gather at the gates of the palace asking for food. As of yet they have been orderly, but if they grow desperate this will change.”

“They must be fed,” Nishima said. “Certainly we did not destroy all the grain in the Empire as we came down the canal?”

Kamu nodded in response to this, glancing over at Hojo, whose face remained grave but whose eyes smiled. “There is perhaps someone more suited to dealing with this matter than any present, if you will excuse me for saying so,” he hastened to add, addressing his remark to all present. Turning back to Nishima; “We have had word from Tanaka, Empress. He comes from Yankura even now.”

Nishima greeted this news with a great smile, something her retainers had not seen in recent days. “The barbarians did not find him after all!” she said happily. “Colonel Tadamoto was mistaken.”

“No, they did not,” Hojo said. “Our good merchant is unscathed, or so he says. There is certainly food in the Empire despite the attempts of many to hide it away. Tanaka will know the best method to bring it forth, and he will not empty the Imperial Treasury to accomplish it, either.”

Nishima looked over at Shokan who shook his head in mock dismay. “My steward, my senior general, my guard captain, and now my merchant. Will you leave my personal servants at least, and perhaps my gardener? But what do I say? Anything for my Empress.”

“Lord Shonto,” Nishima said gravely. “I wish only to borrow Tanaka-sum—for indeed I shall raise his rank so that he is addressed as he deserves, as my father always addressed him. In a brief time I’m sure he will have rooted out all of the corruption in my government. For this service I will pay you well, brother—and I shall pay Tanaka-sum well also. As to your gardener…” Nishima said, as though this thought had not occurred
to her. She moved her head back and forth, weighing the idea. “Perhaps not at this time, thank you.”

Shokan nodded.

Nishima turned to Kamu who became serious immediately. “My list is without end, Empress, but may I suggest that we have all done much this day. Brother Shuyun must prepare for his meeting with the senior members of his Order, for their cooperation is crucial to the peace we have arranged. We have, after all, pledged the Brotherhood’s assistance without consulting them. This may please them less than we hope, Empress.”

Nishima tapped the edge of the low dais with her fan. “You are no doubt correct, Major Chancellor. There are so many matters to consider and so many who have risked so much in these last days, yet I can hardly begin to think of this until we are assured of peace and the plague is contained.” She nodded to all present. “I thank you. Brother Shuyun, I wish to discuss your coming audience with your superiors, if it is convenient.”

Nishima rose and everyone bowed their heads to the mat as she left.

*   *   *

Nishima did not feel a desire to live in the apartments that had been the quarters of the Yamaku nor was she comfortable with the thought of moving into the abandoned rooms of the Hanama Emperors—ghosts or no—they had fallen to bad luck in the end and Nishima did not want be reminded of that. Fortunately the palace had any number of rooms to choose from and she was soon settled, if only temporarily, in apartments meant for visiting relatives of the Emperors. These apartments had been left in the Hanama style, uncluttered, almost austere in their simplicity and Nishima had the rugs she had brought from Seh spread over the straw-matted floors. With her own servants and retainers about, her situation did not feel as strange as she expected. Occasionally she even forgot that her father was no longer part of this present in which Nishima found herself, though these moments were brief.

A warm evening had arrived, creeping silently up the river from the sea, and with it came cloud. The sound of falling rain seemed comforting to the new Empress as though it formed a protective barrier from the world beyond. Outside her rooms a terrace with small trees situated carefully about it looked out to the west. The soft cadence of the spring rain on the terrace stones and the leaves of trees—a sound in harmony with the mood of the young aristocrat.

Nishima wore her own familiar robes, avoiding Imperial finery, though her clothing was of white—not of her choosing. She sat near a partially open screen that led onto the terrace and rubbed a resin stick over the blackened surface of her inkstone. A bead curtain of water drops had formed from the rain as it ran off the tile roof, and this caught the light from her lamp and glittered like strings of bronze colored jewels.

So many things had occurred in the past two days that Nishima did not feel as though she were part of it somehow—her life was changing more rapidly than she was able to change herself, there was little question of that. Only the day before she had been lost in the fog with Kitsura and Shuyun and the Empire had been poised on an edge, about to slide into the abyss of the complete unknown. That morning Lady Nishima Fanisan Shonto had lit a torch to the pyre of Lord Shonto Motoru. She closed her eyes tightly. And now, miraculously, the Empire had been delivered. A half-barbarian chieftain who had been destined for the throne had fallen to the sword of one of his own followers…and Nishima had ascended the throne left empty by the passing of the Yamaku. Ascended against her most profound desires.

“I am the Empress,” she whispered, as though saying these words aloud would force her mind to accept this information, help her understand the truth, for she did not feel like an Empress, she was sure of that.

Certainly she had heard the crowds repeating her name as though it were a litany. Nishima could not remember an experience that had left her feeling so cold, so isolated.

Closing her eyes she tried to conjure up another time, and an image of walking along the cliffs above the sea on the Shonto fief came to her. She could see the bleached copper grasses, their color so carefully complimenting the blues of the summer sea and the whites of the lazy, drifting clouds that spread across the far horizon. The breeze was soft and warm, welcoming her to the shore.

Eyes still closed, Nishima rubbed her inkstone, reaching out to that time, trying to hold it—but she could not. The chanting of the crowd came back, mixed with the sound of the funeral pyre as it began to blaze.

Opening her eyes Nishima picked up her brush, dipped it in ink and with great care selected a piece of mulberry paper.

For some time Nishima sat looking at the lines she had written, wondering, for they seemed to have come unbidden, as poetry often did. The rain washed the world outside her rooms.

A knock sounded then and Nishima swirled her brush in water and set it on its rest. “Please enter,” she called out.

A woman bowed low in the opening and then rose. The round, girlish face of Lady Kento appeared, looking more serious than Nishima had ever seen it.

“Kento-sum!” Nishima broke into a smile. “It lifts my spirits to see you. Miracle after miracle has occurred this day. How is it you are here?”

Kento bowed. “It is a brief story, Empress, and less interesting than one might think especially to one who has experienced what the Empress has these past months.” Kento cast a glance over her shoulder. “I would certainly tell my tale though at the moment Lord Shonto awaits your favor.”

“Cha and a tale you must certainly tell me. Please, invite Shokan-sum to join me.”

Nishima set a small jade paperweight on the edge of her poem and moved her cushion a pace away from the table. The screen slid aside and Shokan knelt in the opening, head bowed low. Even my stepbrother must offer obeisance, Nishima thought, for an Empress has no equals—how very sad.

“Shokan-sum, please, enter.” Nishima gestured to a second cushion as her brother rose.

The lord had the powerful build of his father and a similar talent for making his presence felt in a room, even when he was not the center of the situation. Dressed in rich robes of white with the blue edges of under-robes showing at his sleeves and neck and hem, Shokan struck Nishima as a handsome figure. The sadness she could see in his face and the white robes of mourning only added to his nobility.

Taking his place, Shokan regarded his sister with a look of concern. “It has been a day that will occupy the historians for a hundred years. May I say that the Empress has begun her reign auspiciously, showing both skill and wisdom.”

“You may say that but only if you will stop calling me Empress with each breath. We are in the privacy of my rooms.
Nishima,
please, Shokan-sum,
Nishi
would be preferred though I hold little hope that you will breach this foolish etiquette to such a degree, no matter how much I desire it.”

Shokan gave a half bow. “Excuse me for saying so, Empress, but these formalities have been the tradition in the Imperial Palace for our entire history. It is difficult for me to ignore that.”

Nishima stared at him in exasperation. “In the Great Council,” she said with deadly seriousness, “I shall insist upon referring to you as
Shoki-sum.
”