Tales of the Otori 3 - Brilliance of the Moon by Lian Hearn

Author:Lian Hearn
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2005-06-07T04:00:00+00:00

7

I feared I would have to report your disappearance to your wife,“ Makoto said as we made our way through the darkness to the shrine. ”I dreaded it more than any battle I have ever faced.“

“I was afraid you would have deserted me,” I replied. “I hope you know me better than that.‘ It would have been my duty to tell Lady Otori, but I was going to leave Jiro here with horses and food and return as soon as I had spoken to her.” He added in a low voice, “I would never desert you, Takeo; you must know that.” I felt ashamed of my doubts and did not share them with him. He called to the men who were keeping guard and they shouted in reply.

“Are you all awake?” I said, for usually we shared the night watch and slept in turns.

“None of us felt like sleep,” he replied. “The night is too still and heavy. The recent storm, the one that delayed you, came up out of nowhere. And for the last couple of days we’ve had the feeling there is someone spying on us. Yesterday, Jiro went to look for wild yams in the forest and saw someone lurking in the trees. I thought the bandits the fisherman mentioned might have got word of our presence and were checking out our strength.“

We’d been making more noise than a team of oxen as we stumbled along the overgrown path. If anyone was spying on us, they would have no doubt of my return.

“They’re probably afraid we’re competition,” I said. “As soon as we get back with more men we’ll get rid of them, but the six of us can’t take them on now. We’ll leave at first light and hope they don’t ambush us on the road.”

It was impossible to tell what hour it was or how long it would be till dawn. The old shrine buildings were full of strange noises, creaks from the timber, rustling in the thatch. Owls called all night from the woods, and once I heard a pad of feet: a wild dog, perhaps, or maybe even a wolf. I tried to sleep, but my mind was full of all those who wanted to kill me. It was quite possible that we had been traced here, and the delay made it even more likely. The fisherman—Ryoma, even—might have let slip something about my trip to Oshima, and I knew only too well that the Tribe’s spies were everywhere. Quite apart from the edict they had issued against me, many of them would now feel bound by blood feuds to avenge their relatives.

Though by day I might believe in the truth of the prophecy, as always in the early hours of the morning I found it less comforting. I was inching toward achieving my goal; I could not bear the thought of dying before I’d succeeded. But with so many arrayed against me, was I as much of a lunatic as Jo-An to

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