The Wrath of Silver Wolf (20 page)

EIGHTEEN
The
greatest gift

Jiro squealed and buckled to the ground, his
bandaged fist flailing. Moonshadow gasped at
the shuriken that had bitten into the gangster's
hand from behind. It was not a Fuma throwing
star, but one of the simple, cross-spiked Iga-Koga
design.

Clutching his wound, Jiro squealed with pain
and distress, rolling in the leaves.

Moon's eyes flashed to the apparent leader of
the new arrivals, a big fellow drawing his sword.
'For the Grey Light!' the man shouted and at once
Moon knew him.

The other five agents unsheathed their
weapons. Groundspider led them forward.

Moonshadow also recognised the strapping
fellow beside Groundspider. The freelancer they'd
met on the mission to Lord Akechi's secret
meeting in Edo!

Kagero's eyes flicked straight to Snowhawk's.
'We'll meet again.' She smiled. 'Your business
with the Fuma isn't done . . . nor with me!' She
nodded to the claw-wearing ninja, then shouted,
'Jiro, fool! Get over here!'

The
real
Fuma agents who could still stand
scurried into a cluster around Kagero, one of them
dragging Jiro behind him.

'What of Chikuma?' said Mr Claw, peering
downhill.

'Leave him,' Kagero snapped, 'like the
wounded. Let our enemies here save Clan Fuma
their work!'

With pained, deliberate movements her hand
went into her jacket. The shuko-wearing ninja
leader did the same. Groundspider held up a fist
and his circle of advancing warriors froze. Kagero
and the Fuma around her quickly stroked the air,
hands flashing.

A chain of smoke bombs went off before them.
Each cloud expanded fast, the staggered white
eruptions meshing to form a dense, high wall of
smoke.

'Down, everyone!' Moonshadow yelled.
'Beware of shuriken!'

He hunched low, supporting Snowhawk, who
ground her teeth and cursed.

'Nobody move!' Groundspider called from
somewhere beyond the smoke. 'Defence only!'

With a stubborn hiss, the last smoke bomb
gave out and the white cloud quickly thinned
and broke apart, wisps drifting through the
clumps of bamboo. As the final shreds of it lifted,
Moon stared at the spot where Kagero and his
other enemies had just stood.
Nothing
. His eyes
narrowed. The Fuma must have helped the bounty
hunter and Jiro jump away, then run, well beyond
the smokescreen. Still clutching Snowhawk, he
turned his head. Where were they hiding? They
couldn't have gone far, not yet.

Groundspider ran up to him, sheathing his
sword. His men did the same.

'What are you doing?' Moon frowned. 'You're
not going after them?'

'No. We're to let them go!' Groundspider
signalled to his troops. He pulled down his face-binding
and chuckled at Moon. 'Don't stay wound
up, kid.
This
really
is
a rescue mission! We're not
to engage them.' His eyes darted to Snowhawk.
'But I see you already have. Snowy doesn't look
too well.' He turned and motioned for the battlefield
healer among his men to come and deal with
Snowhawk.

She looked up at Groundspider with glazed
eyes. 'I'm still strong enough to flatten you if you
call me Snowy again.'

Groundspider smiled down at her with genuine
concern. '
That's
a good sign.'

'How did you get here?' Moonshadow asked as
the healer eased Snowhawk from his grip, lowering
her gently on her side into the pine needles and
leaves.

The big agent shrugged. 'We stole a cavalry
unit's best horses. They're all tethered downhill.
I have a seventh warrior guarding them. Our fast
way home!'

Moonshadow gaped. 'You did
what
? You robbed
a daimyo?'

'Oh, don't worry, he's just some minor lord and
anyway, he'll blame the Fuma. We made sure one
of his experienced guards saw
these
.' Groundspider
tugged at his uniform. 'Pretty good, neh? Badger
had these made a year ago after I captured that
Fuma spy in Kyoto, you remember, the one who
took poison before we could interrogate him?'

'You
told
me about it,' Moon nodded, 'but I was
a no-name, not an agent then.'

'Yeah, well, I guess that just by wearing his
clan's only forest suit design, he gave us precious
information after all. I was wondering when we'd
get a chance to use these. Badger was originally
thinking
infiltration
, but today they also made for
a nice ambush!'

Moon could not disguise his amazement. 'And
that . . . that was all
your
idea?'

'Sure.' Groundspider frowned indignantly.
'Why not?'

'That's . . . brilliant,' Moonshadow grinned.
'They tricked us with a false message, but
you
turned the tables back on them with false Fuma
ninja. And laying blame on
them
while getting
such good horses . . .' He laughed, then gave a
massive sigh of relief.

Groundspider shoved him, making him
wince from many bruises. 'Quit acting so surprised,
kid. It's not like I used an Old Country
skill. You want to know the truth? Most people
just don't use the greatest gift they've been given.
So happens that I do, that's all.'

'Which gift is that?' Snowhawk called sceptically
from the forest floor.

'Imagination,' the White Nun's voice answered,
her tone emphatic.

Beaming, Moonshadow turned around. The
sage looked utterly wrung-out. Nonetheless, she
had managed to sneak up on them all.

'Am I not right, Brother Groundspider?' The
White Nun smiled knowingly. 'Is the answer not
imagination
?'

The big shinobi bowed low in deference. 'Yes
indeed, great sage.'

Moon shook his head, astonished by it all.

Groundspider straightened up and gave him an
even harder shove. Moon groaned.

'See, kid? Imagination. Don't you know
anything
?'

NINETEEN
A fine
parade

Katsu sniffed the air as he was escorted through
the immaculate garden to the main courtyard
of Momoyama Castle.

A dour-looking samurai who never spoke led
him across a small wooden bridge that forded the
garden's spring-fed stream. Beyond it, Katsu slowed
at a stone lantern under a maple tree. He studied
the maple's invigorated leaves, green and flushed
with life, before skirting a miniature 'sea' of raked
sand. Spring was waning, Katsu thought. The first
hint of the coming summer's humidity tinged the
air. Soon the last wave of spring rains would give
way to the typhoon season. Some said there would
be earthquakes this year. Upheavals of a manmade
kind concerned him far more. What would
his volatile, changeable master do on hearing his
latest report? Slay him where he stood? Pay up
happily? With Silver Wolf, either was possible.

Gesturing edgily, the silent escort led him
through a narrow stone corridor. It opened onto a
wide, packed-grit courtyard crowded with samurai.
Hundreds
of them.

Rows of armoured men stood proud and silent,
faces full of resolution. Swords curved from their
hips, spear-blades rose in neat gleaming lines
from their shoulders. War banners fluttered overhead
to identify each of Silver Wolf's units. Katsu
smelled sweat and ambition even before he saw
the warlord in his brilliant red armour, pacing up
and down before his troops, a riding crop under
one arm.

Silver Wolf stopped before one stocky samurai
whose face was badly scarred. The extensive, ugly
wounds looked quite old. Fire? Katsu wondered.
Clamping a gauntlet on the man's shoulder, Silver
Wolf engaged the surrounding ranks of warriors.

'This fellow once saved my life!' he shouted.
'Are each of you as much a
man
?'

He paced on, chiding a tall spearman for his
passive facial expression. 'I want you to terrify my
enemies, not lull them into sleep.' Silver Wolf
laughed. 'Work on that face!'

Katsu swallowed, intimidated by the atmosphere
of warmongering. Military musters, like
mock battles, were supposed to be held only with
the Shogun's knowledge and blessing. He couldn't
imagine Silver Wolf respecting either. The lavish
parade so unsettled Katsu, he failed to see his
grumpy escort urging him forward.

Just as he noticed the samurai gesturing and
scowling, Silver Wolf himself called Katsu's
name. Forcing a breezy look onto his face, he
paced quickly to his master. Katsu bowed low and
received a loose nod in return.

Silver Wolf led him along the front line of
samurai. Each warrior they passed watched Katsu
closely, openly disdainful of the commoner beside
their lord. No sudden moves, he reminded himself:
many overzealous veterans slice first, investigate
later.

'Inspiring, are they not?' Silver Wolf watched
Katsu's face as he put the question to him.

Fortunately, Katsu was ready with an irresistible
lie. 'Breathtaking, my master. On seeing them
when I first entered, I was deeply moved. The
keenness of their devotion to you struck me at
once. These magnificent warriors will not fail you,
no matter what.'

The warlord nodded slowly. He flashed a crafty
smile. 'But some others have?'

Katsu put his hands behind his back to hide
his shaking fingers. 'About that,' he drew in a slow
breath, 'it is now my unhappy duty to report.'

Silver Wolf's face betrayed no reaction as
Katsu summed up the debacle on the mountain of
the White Nun. It was, he admitted, a rather sad
damage report and not much more. He told of Jiro,
injured worse than last time, taking permanent
damage to one hand. The supposedly invincible
Chikuma and several other Fuma shinobi, defeated,
had been abandoned by their own people,
presumably now to be hunted and killed for failure.
It seemed that executing such sentences doubled
as training exercises for the Fuma's more successful
agents.

The warlord shook his head at the account of
Kagero's defeat and flight with
two
wounds. His
eyes narrowed as Katsu reluctantly admitted that,
to round it all off most miserably, Snowhawk and
Moonshadow remained alive and at large.

'Perhaps they are resting now at their GLO
base in Edo.' Silver Wolf's voice grew cold with
menace. 'Or perhaps they're up on
that
roof –' he
pointed angrily – 'about to hurl a bomb at me!'
He watched Katsu sweat and squirm, then threw
back his head and laughed. Silver Wolf raised one
finger and the whole courtyard of samurai joined
in, guffawing along with their master without a
clue about what was so funny.

Katsu blinked at the ranks of hardened soldiers,
then smiled sheepishly at their warlord. Silver
Wolf made a gesture in the air and as one the
whole army fell silent.

'
That
, Katsu,' he said, 'is
real
power. Years from
now, you will tell your children of the awe you
felt at seeing it.' He patted his hireling's shoulder
amiably. 'Yesterday, I might have been so offended
by your news as to have taken your large head.
But not today. Not after the letter I just received,
which bore an update on what you've told me.
An update showing that both my wrath
and
my
money proved well-aimed arrows!'

'An update?' Katsu asked through dry lips. An
update had saved his life?

Silver Wolf nodded. 'Before dawn today, a
black message arrow, a Fuma trademark, landed
right here where we stand. The battlement night
watch saw no one.'

'What . . . what did it say, lord?' Katsu asked
guardedly, his eyes narrow.

'It seems the Fuma want this
Snowhawk
back
quite badly. Who knows why? They also want their
defeat on the mountain avenged. I sense they are
enraged at having to hunt and slay one of their
most special assassins for failure.' He smiled. 'It's
perfect! Come, Katsu, you're a detective. Tell me
what this all adds up to.'

'Lord . . .' Katsu faltered, too scared to venture
a theory. 'I am not really sure –'

'The Fuma, just as I'd hoped, have at last
grown
angry enough
, the way I had to at the
upstart Shogun. My plan has worked! Don't you
see? I
never
intended, of course, to complicate
my relations with the shadow clans by actually
capturing that weird old crone of a sorceress,
the White Nun. Hah! That would be political
suicide for one who deals with shinobi so regularly
these days. And I didn't care whether the Fuma
actually re-took their runaway agent, or killed
Moonshadow for me just yet. I was never worried
about
that
for a moment! When it comes to feud
and vendetta, in truth, my fury has its patient
side.'

Katsu watched Silver Wolf produce a folded
letter from his belt. Handmade black paper. The
words
Great Lord Silver Wolf
were brushed on it in
white ink.

Holding up the message, the warlord laughed
self-importantly. His men watched him, eager for
their cue, but this time he didn't signal them so
they all remained quiet.

'Behold, proof of the value of patience! Clan
Fuma, as I prayed, have declared, according to
ancient shinobi custom,
Twilight War
against the
Grey Light Order.'

'Twilight War?' Katsu gaped. 'What does that
mean?'

'Secret, but
total
war, with no possibility of
truce.' Silver Wolf sniggered. 'Winner takes all.
No mercy. No terms of surrender accepted. I
like
this tradition!'

'Then, not only Moonshadow but all those
with him,' Katsu mused, 'will die at the Fuma's
hands. You need do no more for now.'

'Exactly,' the warlord's eyes glowed. 'Mark my
words, early in this Twilight War, his young head
will go chattering into the dust! I have just pitted
two great shadow armies against one another,
and made the Fuma the instrument of my rage.
Once the Grey Light Order falls, who will save
the Shogun from us? There will be no
lasting age
of peace
in my Japan. Not while I live. There will
be a revival of the old ways, the settling of some
scores, then . . . conquest!'

'A golden age, my master,' Katsu said, forcing a
smile and hiding his thundering heart.

Silver Wolf turned to his army. 'What
is
life
without war?' The rows of warriors erupted into
cheering, each man hoisting his weapon or shaking
a gauntleted fist.