Yamada Monogatori: The Emperor in Shadow (3 page)

Not that this was an option, as traveling without an escort had become too risky, and Kenji had become less fond of walking over the last few years. As I took my leave of Ichiro and claimed the horse one of the attendants held for me, I checked to make certain an extra mount had been brought for the reluctant priest.

We made our first stop of the journey at the entrance to Kenji’s temple, though perhaps I should have said Yamada’s temple. We had yet to dedicate the temple with a formal name, but since it was endowed by me and built on land I had dedicated to the purpose, those it served had taken to calling it Yamada-ji, for want of a better name. I didn’t think I should allow that to continue for much longer, but that was a problem for another day.

Kenji mounted up. “Lord Yamada, are you
certain
Prince Kanemore requested my presence as well? This sounds like a political matter, not a spiritual one.”

“First, we don’t yet know what sort it is. Second, he specifically mentioned where we were to meet him upon
our
arrival. I believe he took it as given you would accompany me.”

Kenji looked disgusted. “And here I was almost believing I had honorably retired from such things.”

“Perhaps, due to our altered circumstances, I had some notion of that myself. Clearly, we were both mistaken.”

That was only a little bit of a lie. Until Prince Takahito was crowned and Princess Teiko’s last wish for her son fulfilled, there would be no peace for me in Kamakura. Now that the succession to follow Takahito was likewise in doubt, I wondered if there ever would be peace for me, anywhere.

I suspected Prince Kanemore was wondering the same thing. I knew his deeply held desire to renounce his title and retire from court to found his own clan had long been delayed in service to his nephew. While he was five years or so younger than I, neither of us had so much time left we could afford to misuse it.

We passed the first border barrier and reached the western road on our first day, and by nightfall we had crossed from Sagami into Suruga province. We passed the first night in the guest quarters of a local temple. On the second night we were not quite so fortunate, and made a rough camp at the edge of a deep forest. The
shōshō
of my escort, Minamoto no Morofusa, saw to the guards while the servants prepared a meal. Kenji stood near the edge of the meadow looking into the dark woods.

“We’re too close, Lord Yamada,” he said. “There could be anything in this wood: bandits,
youkai
 . . . well, anything.”

“The same will likely be true until we reach Ise. Much of the road to the Capital is like this. You know that.”

“I do. And yet I felt safer those times when it was only the two of us traveling. You make a much bigger target these days, Lord Yamada.”

I didn’t need to ask what he meant. My escort was handpicked and mostly drawn from families allied with the Minamoto. If something did happen to me, they’d be explaining their failure to Lord Yoriyoshi personally. That was all very well, but I knew that, to some bandit gangs, the greater the obstacles, the greater the prize. I had no illusions about what would happen if we encountered bandits able to muster overwhelming force. Yet I was reasonably certain, for tonight, we were not in any serious danger, and I said as much.

Kenji raised an eyebrow. “Oh, and what makes you so certain?”

I nodded toward the forest. “That.”

At first he apparently thought I meant the forest itself, but then the object of my attention moved just slightly.

“Oh. An
onibi.
”

And only one. A pale little ghost light, floating in and out among the maples at the edge of the forest.

“Do you think we’d be seeing this, if there were anything bigger and nastier lurking about? Even ghosts tend to be absent when too many people or a creature at the ogre or
tengu
level is near. I’m surprised that we haven’t frightened it off.”

Kenji looked thoughtful. “We’re a long way from anywhere. How do you suppose it came to be here?” he asked.

“I have no idea, but of course you knew that. We can tell each other stories about what the light might be, or who it might be, or why it might be here. Such things can pass the time pleasantly enough, but in the end we’ll know no more than we did.”

“Or we could go talk to it,” Kenji said.

“Kenji, it is not like you to go looking for trouble . . . aside from your romantic entanglements, of course. What made you consider this?”

Kenji blinked. “You know, I really couldn’t say. Perhaps it’s the monotony of travel. If our fancies of the ghost’s own story would pass the time, imagine how diverting the truth might be.”

“Kenji, you know ghosts are not to be approached lightly. Yes, most are harmless, and I see nothing about this one to suggest otherwise. That doesn’t mean you talk to them on a whim.”

“I do know that,” Kenji said, after a moment’s hesitation. “I confess it, Lord Yamada—I am in a strange humor this evening. I am at a loss to explain it.”

I looked up. “Well, it’s moot. I don’t see the ghost light now.”

Kenji looked back at the woods and saw what I saw—just a forest. There was no sign of the
onibi.

“Another opportunity gone,” Kenji said. “Now we’ll never know.”

After a fitful night, we broke camp early and were back on the trail before mid-morning. From Suruga we passed through Totomi and then on into Mikawa without further incident. We set a good pace. I had considered taking the sea road from either Mikawa or Owari directly across Ise Bay to Ise-jingu, but the storm clouds approaching from the west made that course inadvisable. Rather than risk capricious weather, we turned north to follow the coastline toward Owari. From there we could turn south to Ise along the coastal road. We did not make as good a pace as previously, and we were still some distance from the Owari Barrier when the storms caught us away from any villages or chance of shelter. The attendants raised a pavilion within sight of the ocean in the lee of a small pine grove. Here we kept dry as best we could while we waited for the storm to pass.

I was huddled under the pavilion, watching the whitecaps break on the shore when something else caught my attention. An
onibi
, floating along the beach.

“Another one,” Kenji said, sitting down beside me. “This trip does seem to be attracting lonely ghosts.”

Whereas I merely felt like one. I waited, since I was fairly certain what was coming next. Perhaps Kenji had become predictable, which was just another way of saying that I knew him too well.

“Lord Yamada, why are we going to Ise?”

“Because Lady Kuzunoha informed me that Prince Kanemore wished it.”

“You do realize, of course, that going to Ise seems useless. It’s leagues out of our way, and the imperial court is at Kyoto, and it is there that Takahito’s ascension and legacy will be determined.”

“So we believe, yet Kyoto may not be the only place of importance. Prince Kanemore understands the situation better than I do, and he wants us to travel to Ise first. I trust him as both a friend and a tactician. If we are going to Ise, there must be a very good reason.”

Kenji frowned. “You do not know the reason, do you?”

“I never claimed I did. All I do know is that Kanemore’s instructions were to ‘Go first to Ise. When you understand why you are there, then come ahead to Kyoto. I will be waiting.’ ”

“Why the mystery? Why didn’t he just tell you?”

“I’ve been wondering about that myself and am no closer to discerning the answer than I was when Lady Kuzunoha delivered her instructions. Prince Kanemore believes I will find something—or someone—with a part to play in this. I can only hope his faith in me is not misplaced, for at this moment, Kenji-san, you know as much as I do.”

Kenji shook his head. “There’s a thought to disturb one’s sleep . . . well, mine, anyway.”

I repressed a smile. “You may trust me when I say I’m as worried about it as you are.”

Kenji let the subject drop. Together we watched the ghost light making its way along the shoreline, sometimes winking out only to reappear a few paces away, sometimes floating some little distance over the water like a child wading in the shadows, but in either case taking no apparent notice of the rain. So far, as with the
onibi
in Suruga, we had only seen the ghost light that indicated a spirit’s presence, but we had seen no sign of the ghost itself. Usually a wandering spirit would be surrounded by an escort of such bluish lights, the number varying, but seldom fewer than two. I had expected to see the ghost itself before now, probably an unfortunate fisherman or child that had been drowned in the sea, but there was only the one light.

“Doesn’t this
onibi
strike you as a little odd?” I asked Kenji.

“You’re referring to it being alone? Of course. What do you think it means?”

“It may not mean anything. There’s a fine line between ‘unusual’ and ‘important.’ They’re not always the same thing.”

“Not always,” Kenji agreed and again seemed willing to drop the subject. “The rain shows no sign of stopping, so we’d better get some sleep if that’s possible. Tomorrow’s another long day.”

Kenji then sought out his sleeping arrangements. I meant to follow, but for a while I could not take my eyes off the
onibi
, fascinated despite myself, but eventually it winked out and did not reappear. I made a mental note about the location where it disappeared and then went to look for a dry place to sleep. After I finally drifted off, I did not sleep well. I had dreams of something dark and vicious hunting me, but each time I awoke I could not remember what it was. I could only remember the fear. Then the storm finally relented into a gentle rain, and I slept, for a time, without dreams.

The next morning Kenji found me up to my knees in the cold surf.

“Lord Yamada, might I ask what you are doing?”

“Believe me, I’m asking myself the same thing.”

I had thought perhaps that there was some indication of why the
onibi
had disappeared when and where it did, so I had waded to the place I remembered it happening the previous evening. But there was nothing there, no stone or pile of bones hidden in the sand. Nothing but a few shells and a bit of seaweed.

“You might consider getting out of the water before you catch a chill. We brought horses but no one thought to bring a palanquin.”

Cursing myself for my folly, I waded to shore and went looking for a change of clothes. When I was dry again and a little warmer, I explained myself to Kenji as best I could. When I was done, the priest looked thoughtful.

“Again, a single
onibi
, with no actual spirit in sight, not even so much as a mist. While I can’t approve of your splashing around in the ocean, I understand your curiosity. As I said, it is odd, isn’t it?”

“Just a little,” I said, but that wasn’t what I was thinking.

Far more than a little.

I was on the verge of a suspicion but not so near as to bother Kenji with it. Time would tell. For now, it was best we got back on the road. While I appreciated Prince Kanemore’s confidence in me, I was less sure than he seemed to be that I would know what I was looking for at Ise even if I found it, so the more time I had to address the issue, the better.

We crossed the barrier into Owari province before mid-morning. It was not so large a province as Mikawa, but we still had a good two day’s travel ahead before we could turn south again toward the shrine. The detour south to Ise would cost us a least a week, and that was assuming our stay there was brief.

What could be so important there that Prince Kanemore would delay our meeting? If Lady Kuzunoha is correct—and it would be foolish to think otherwise—time is something in rapidly diminishing supply.

I had been asked to proceed on faith, which I was more than willing to do. My friendship with Prince Kanemore had shown me more than once what a brilliant tactician he was, and his knowledge of the political situation certainly far exceeded mine. Still, it was puzzling. Another puzzling thing was the
onibi.
That evening I saw it again.

The circumstances were a little different this time. In Owari we had been able to find more comfortable lodging as the guests of a temple in a fishing village at the northern end of Ise Bay. As I sat on the veranda admiring a waning moon, I saw the ghost-light floating along a path that led through the courtyard garden. At first I thought it was someone walking with a lantern, but as the path wound closer to the guest quarters. I soon realized my mistake.

I glanced up and found Kenji in a spirited conversation with the local abbot. “Master Kenji, might I interrupt for a moment?”

The conversation abruptly ended. The abbot, a rather plump and jovial older man, bowed slightly in my direction and withdrew toward the main lecture hall. Kenji came to sit beside me.

“I hope I didn’t interrupt anything important,” I said.

Kenji just glanced toward the heavens. “You are Yamada no Goji. For ones such as myself and the abbot, all things are of lesser concern.”

“Rubbish. Not to mention that you only seem to remember my exalted status when it suits your own purposes.”

“It really was nothing,” Kenji said. “The abbot was merely waxing enthusiastic on his interpretation of an obscure passage in the Diamond Sutra. I was pretending to be interested, as is the obligation of a guest.”

“Meaning you thought his interpretation was rubbish.”

“Thought? Lord Yamada, my own interpretation of that same passage created a ward that repelled a fully-grown
oni.
I rather doubt the abbot could say the same,” Kenji said, not even bothering to keep the pride out of his voice.

“You’re almost certainly correct. Now bend your spiritual skill toward helping me understand what I am seeing now.”

Kenji belatedly turned his attention from his own accomplishments long enough to notice the
onibi.
For a few moments he didn’t say anything. He looked puzzled.

“Lord Yamada, if I didn’t know better—”