The Shattering Waves (The Year of the Dragon, Book 7) (9 page)

“And what do I call you?
Strategist
?”

“I’ll settle for Yui,” the Fanged replied. “Others call me Father Saturn, or Master Yui, but I won’t insist on titles until you decide to use them yourself.”

He pushed the tray towards her. She started pouring, and dropped the clay flask in fright. It was filled with dense, bright-red blood.

“It’s ox blood,” said the Fanged. “I’m not as cruel as Moon … as Yodo-
dono
.”

“I-I don’t believe you.”

“But you
know
it to be true. At least you should be able to tell the difference by now. If you’re truly ready, that is.”

Satō put the flask to her nose and took a sniff. It smelled nothing like the blood of the dead servant. The scent still awoke in her the pangs of hunger, but it wasn’t as delicious or enticing as before. She took a sip, fighting back the gagging reflex. The moment the first drop touched her tongue, the world around her lit up, her senses sharpened, her magic powers tingled in anticipation. No longer able to withstand the urge, she poured herself a cup and swallowed it in one gulp.

“Why are you doing this to me,” she asked in a hoarse voice after the first astonishing effects of the ox’s blood melted away and she was able to think clearly again.

“And what is it, exactly, that you think we’re doing?” he replied with a question and poured himself some of the blood as casually as if it were a cup of
cha.

“Making me addicted to blood magic. Turning me into one of your slaves.”

He smiled again. “It wouldn’t take us nearly that long, I assure you. We can be pretty effective if we put our hands to it.”

“Yodo-
do …
Yodo said the same. That I will join you of my own will. But how is it my own will if my decisions are guided by an addiction?”

“The addiction is just an unfortunate side effect of our power.” The Fanged twirled his whiskers. His voice trickled like honey, charming and alluring. “But if it makes you feel more at ease, I can offer you as much blood as you want to keep your addiction at bay, with no strings attached. We desire for you to become one of us, and that can only be achieved through persuasion, not force.”

“Why would I ever do
that
? You are monsters! Blood-thirsty demons. You are the enemy of everything I believe in.”

He stood up and started pacing around her with unhurried steps, his hands behind his back. “You don’t know much about what we’re really fighting for, do you?”

Satō shrugged. “Power. Rule over Yamato.”

Yui stepped over to the wall and touched the runes. A map of the world appeared, drawn in glowing red lines. He laid a finger on a cluster of dots off the eastern end of the largest continent.

“This tiny speck of land? Who would want to rule that? Who would want to spend so much effort to gain control over something so insignificant?”

“You can’t believe you’d be able to conquer the
world
. Not even with your powers.”

“Maybe not.” Yui returned to his place on the floor. “Not yet, at least. No, our mission is not power for power’s sake. What I say now may come as a shock, considering how many lies you’ve been fed by the Renegade, but … we do what must be done, because it’s the best way to
protect
Yamato.”

“
Protect?
You’re the ones
Yamato needs protecting from!”

He shook his head. “I understand. Really, I do. You only know what the Renegade told you about us—”

“You killed my father. You almost killed Nagomi. I knew what your kind was like long before I met Dōraku-
sama.
”

Yui winced. “Brother Mars — I suppose you knew him as Ganryū, yes? His methods were, shall I say, unorthodox. And that silly feud he had with the Renegade … We gave him a free hand over the Chinzei operations because he had promised us he would deliver something very important and valuable. But that proved a mistake — for which I apologise unreservedly.”

He bowed so deep, his forehead almost touched the floor. This took Satō aback. The last thing she expected from the Fanged was an apology for Ganryū’s actions.

“You’re lying,” she said through clenched teeth. “
You
slaughtered my companions in battle;
you’ve
abducted and tortured me. I still can’t move for pain.”

He nodded with a sad, concerned face. “We had to force you to reveal your true potential. This required some drastic action. As I said, we are short on time. I hope you will be able to forgive us.”

It appeared he had an answer to everything. She searched her memory for more accusations. The heady, sickly smell of blood and the exhaustion from Yodo’s torments clouded her mind.

“What about Heian? You’ve destroyed an entire city. My
husband
died there.”

“We?” He gave her a wounded look. “That was a barbarian
dorako,
acting on orders from the
Taikun.
We merely offered some assistance in battle against the rebels, hoping to protect the city. Your husband died a hero.”

“That’s it—” She snapped her fingers, glad at last to have found blame to pin on the Fanged. “You support the
Taikun
against the
Mikado
and the uprising. No matter what else you say, this makes us enemies.”

“And why wouldn’t we? He is the rightful ruler of this country.”

“He is a tyrant who bows to barbarian invaders!”

Yui traced the edge of the cup with his fingers. “Barbarians … like your friend, Bran-
sama
?”

“He’s … he’s different.”

“Your father’s friends from Dejima, then? Or the priestess’s father, Von Siebold? The Dracalish who support the rebels?
Those
barbarian invaders?”

She struggled to find an answer to that.

The Fanged pushed the tray away. “I see you are confused and weak. Why won’t you go back to your room. We’ll return to this conversation tomorrow.”

CHAPTER VI

Satō’s torments didn’t end after the meeting with Yui. The moment she stepped out of the octagonal room, she felt an exhilarating pain, as the thin blade sliced through her kidneys. Lady Yodo threw her bleeding out onto the floor of the holding cell, forcing the wizardess to expend all the precious energy on healing the wound all over again.

The breakfast next morning was brought by an automated servant, whirling gears and clacking pulleys. Satō guessed they did not want to tempt her with a living, bleeding human. The food also changed from her usual fare. The fish was alive, pinned to a wooden board with a knife through its gills. Instead of pickles or seaweed, the third plate contained an entire heart, still warm, freshly torn out from some small animal. She devoured it all, consumed with shame and pain.

Once again she was brought to the octagonal room, the tray and cups set up before her. She sniffed the flask — the smell was different this time.

“It’s deer’s blood today,” explained Yui. “You will learn to tell them apart in no time. The pig’s blood, we found, is the closest in taste and regenerative potential to that of a human — but we’d have to buy it from the Bataavians, and that is difficult for the moment.”

She felt wretched at the thought of drinking blood again. Until recently, she hadn’t even been eating any red meat. Her stomach lurched, threatening to expel the entire content of the breakfast. Her hands grew cold and clammy; she shivered all over.

Yui poured himself the red liquid and downed it. He wiped his lips and whiskers with a silk handkerchief. Not a single drop stained the snow-white robe.

“So, Takashima-
sama
. What are your rebels fighting for?” he asked. “Why did you join them? Think carefully before you answer.”

This wasn’t an easy question, and they both knew it. There was a great disparity of goals among the various factions. Nariakira had his own selfish agenda. Mori, too, and even the
kiheitai,
ostensibly under his instructions, fought for their own cause. There was pretty much only one thing they all agreed on.

“To abolish the
Taikun,
” she said, and then added, to make the declaration sound more convincing, “and bring back the honour of Yamato.”

“The
Taikun
you started this fight against, Tokugawa Ieyoshi, is dead,” said Yui. “Young Iesada is a new man, a changed man. You haven’t even given him a chance to prove his worth.”

“We gave him a chance. He burned down Heian.”

“
You
brought the war to the city. And for what? For an old and sick
Mikado,
and for Mori-
dono
, a
daimyo
who hates foreigners even more than he wishes to conquer Edo.”

He raised his hand and pointed to the wall. The contours of the world lit up again.

“Look at the map,” he said. “Look how big it is, how many countries and peoples there are. You’ve seen it before, on your father’s globe.”

How does he know that?

“
Vanquish the barbarians,
indeed,” he scoffed. “You might as well stem a flood with a fishing net. Is this really what your comrades died for?”

“We just can’t let them
all
in,” she said. “We’d end up like Qin. We need to study their ways but be prepared to fight them off.”

“Oh, I agree. In normal circumstances that’s exactly what we’d do. You may be familiar with our friends the Aizu? They have been trying to establish a
Rangaku
academy for years. Sadly, all the best wizards moved south.”

“Not of their own will.”

“No, but that was the previous
Taikun’s
government sentencing all our best men to exile. Iesada is much more …
lenient.
But that’s neither here nor there.”

He waved a hand. The map on the wall zoomed in on Yamato. Arrows appeared around its shore, signed with the names of Western nations: Gorllewin. Varyaga. Bataave. Dracaland.

“We’re out of time. The invaders are here. And who do you think is best equipped to fend them off — a ragtag bunch of rebel
daimyos
fighting for their own cause, or a nation united under one strong ruler?”

“But you’ve already surrendered. You’ve sold Yamato to the Black Wings—”

“Fight fire with fire,” replied Yui. “We had to ally with one of the barbarian nations against the others — and the Gorllewin offer was the strongest. It’s only temporary.”

“I wonder how you propose to get rid of them when the deal is over,” she scoffed. “I’ve seen what Bran’s
dorako
did to one of you — and the Black Wings are orders of magnitude stronger.”

His smile turned into a mysterious grin. “This might be where
you
come in, Takashima Satō ... But we’re getting ahead of ourselves! You’re still not convinced
about our cause yet.”

He transformed the map again, dividing Yamato into domains and war regions, drawing frontlines and army movements. “Let’s say we allowed, for example, Shimazu Nariakira to win the war and sit on the Edo throne as new
Taikun
…”

That night, she was free from pain.

Lady Yodo led her back to the cell unharmed and left her alone without the magic-draining chains and shackles. There weren’t even any guards left outside, at least, none that she could sense. She was free to fight her way out of the castle.

Instead, she lay curled on the floor, gathering her thoughts after Yui’s day-long lecture in the octagonal room. It left her with more questions than answers.

Much of what the Fanged had said agreed with what she herself had been contemplating: the isolationist policies of the
Mikado
and the self-serving
daimyos
supporting him; the need of learning from foreign powers, but keeping them at bay at the same time. This was all her father believed in — and, it now seemed, what the Serpent wanted.

She did not want another old warlord clan running the country — what good would it do? Once she believed Nariakira Shimazu was a good candidate to take over the throne, but that was before he’d thrown her inside the elemental mine to die … He was no better than the Fanged. Lord Mori? He wanted to expel
all
the “barbarians” from Yamato, and that was a goal as unachievable as defeating the Black Wings, and just as futile.

What did the other members of the rebellion fight for, she didn’t even know. The only factions she could associate her ideals with were Takasugi’s
kiheitai,
and the wizards of Kiyō, and they were now few and scattered in the winds of war.

Was Yui telling the truth, then? Was the Serpent nothing but a secret conclave of immortal nobles, striving to steer Yamato in the direction of power and prosperity since the days of the first
Taikuns
?

Everything she knew about them so far was what Dōraku had told her and he
was
a Renegade. He had his own reasons to hate and fear the others. He had been engaged in a personal feud with Ganryū for centuries. Yui claimed Crimson Robe too, acted rashly and with unnecessary cruelty, his goals not aligned with those of a Serpent. Satō had had the chance to witness that the relations between the Heads of the Serpent were far from rosy.