The Tiger's Turn by Richard Parks

Author:Richard Parks [Parks, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-01-12T05:00:00+00:00

The warrior monk was waiting for us as we emerged from the valley path. Except for a monkish white cowl he wore instead of a helmet he looked like any other bushi, in a tight-fitting hitatare under black armor laced with red cords and a long tachi at his side. I breathed a little easier. I had long since given up the idea that Mt. Hiei was on a warlike footing, but I’d been wrong before. Even so, the situation was bad enough as it was.

He had the girl named Kasumi clutched in one thick arm, and with the other he pressed a dagger against her throat. Kasumi looked more puzzled than fearful. Tadanobu set an arrow to his bowstring, but I told him to hold.

“You there,” the monk said, pointing the dagger briefly at me, “you will surrender to me what you found in the woods or I will kill this girl.”

I snorted in derision. “What makes you think I care what happens to a peasant girl?”

He laughed then. It wasn’t a pleasant laugh. “Lord Yamada, we know you at Enryaku-ji. Your reputation is dubious at best, but you are not known to be cruel.”

“As opposed to yourself?” Kenji asked mildly.

“Silence, you worthless hedge priest,” the man said. “I was speaking to Lord Yamada.”

“I gather you plan to kill us all whether Lord Yamada surrenders the object or not,” Tadanobu said, scowling. “You will not find that easy to accomplish.”

The monk laughed again. “Kill you? Why should I? You will have no proof, and I am merely one nameless sohei. Accuse me, and the Temple will simply deny my existence. Persist, and my brothers will rise to defend their rights with force, if necessary. The Court will not risk that for your sake or twenty better.”

I shrugged. “I suppose we have no choice.” I took out the chestnut and tossed it to the monk, who loosened his grip just long enough to catch it. “Now let her go,” I said.

He stared at the chestnut. “What is this?!”

“I would think that would be obvious. It’s a chestnut.”

“Do you take me for a fool?”

I smiled then. “Honestly, monk, have you lost anything that would lead us to Enryaku-ji? Were those fools you killed carrying anything that would lead anyone to the Temple? When I practically shouted in the woods that I’d found proof, did you even stop for a moment to consider that I might be lying?”

From the stunned look on the man’s face, it was obvious he had not.

“Monk, I said what I said to lure you out, so that I would know who was responsible, and obviously it worked. As for you being a fool, that matter is already settled.”

“Don’t goad me, Lord Yamada. My brothers wait in ambush even as we speak. A word from me and you all die.”

I sighed. “Oh, honestly…. If that were the case all you had to do was wait for us on the road, ambush us in force and kill us, and that would be that.

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