The Twelve Kingdoms: The Shore in Twilight Read online

  "The summer was cool and Bun Province faces a hard winter. The provisions necessary to winter over are sparse. If we disperse the stores in the warehouses in the name of Imperial decrees, the people will starve to death. That is not a tenable option. What others are available to us?"

  Eishou raised his head. "His Highness has instructed us to put down the rebellion. Those who His Highness calls rebels are rebels to ourselves as well. That should be true of all the Palace Guard, should it not?"

  But of course, Gyousou smiled thinly. "So you are the King's lapdog, then? But I ask you, what is a King in the first place?"

  Eishou held his tongue.

  "If the citizens of Tetsui were inflicting harm on people elsewhere, we should be ready to wipe them out to ensure the greater good. If the citizens of Tetsui rejected this forced servitude, the burden gets passed on to other cities in the county. Consequently we should force open the gates of Tetsui and the vaults of the treasury. But is there any need to exceed such measures?"

  A silence descended on the camp.

  "The Imperial rescript orders us to force our way into Tetsui and open the treasury. However, it says nothing about harming even person in Tetsui." Declared Gyousou, "Soldiers are not permitted to carry swords. Shields may be deployed, but not swung or otherwise used against the citizenry with the intent of using them as weapons."

  Shields were fashioned from rugged hardwood. Steel reinforcing was allowed on the inside of the shields, but not on the outside. Taking into account their civilian opponents when in the heat of battle hot-blooded soldiers were likely to lash out with their shields, the outside of the shields were covered with thick lamb's wool. The wool was white

  If, contrary to orders, a shield was used as a weapon and a civilian was injured--even a spot of blood staining the wool--the standing order was for that soldier to be punished severely.

  Captured individuals were admonished and released. They could return to Tetsui if they so wished, or to the towns and villages in the countryside.

  "I know how you must feel, groaning under the weight of so many taxes. But if the Imperial edicts are taken for granted, they would in a flash lose all the gravity attached to them. Weary of the hard toil, if your inclination to pull your fingers from the dikes spreads far and wide, you will be ones who ultimately suffer. If the tax protesters in Tetsui go unchallenged, that burden will simply pass to the other citizens of the county. If you can grasp this principle, then should not the treasury be opened?"

  Some returned to their town and villages. Some spoke of their will to return to Tetsui. At first the people were gripped by suspicions. But once their discerned the willingness of Gyousou's soldiers to stay their hands, they gave more thought to his intentions.

  The siege went on for forty days. The Imperial Army repeatedly threatened to force their way into the county palace and retreated. Their shields remained white, unblemished by a single drop of blood. As the people of Tetsui tested the limits of the "liberating" Imperial troops, this was communicated to Kouki, and the will of the King continued to be assessed.

  A mutual compromise became inevitable. Gyousou's soldiers would not be deemed "victorious," but neither would their campaign be called a failure. On the one hand, the besieged citizens of Tetsui had to face the impossibility of keeping the treasury closed. On the other, the King had to face the reality that his own Palace Guard were in an unwinnable draw.

  Finally, on the forty-first day of the siege, the palace gates were opened. But not as the result of conquest on the field of battle.

  Gyousou passed through the mountains as the first snows of winter fell. He returned to Kouki and there gave an accounting of his "defeat." His soldiers had taken ten thousand blows and returned not a one. However, the treasury had been liberated because the people had chosen the right path and opened it themselves. The people of Tetsui has preserved the Divine Will.

  As a result, the taxes were collected and this "defeat" was set aside, the ends having been said to justify the means.

  Subsequently, the expression "A Tetsui Shield" circulated through the northern districts of Tai, also known as the "White Wool Shield." It was used as a sign of good faith, as in: "If you wish us to take you seriously, show us a Tetsui Shield."

  Gyousou and Tetsui were bound by the bonds of good faith. When Tetsui was pulled into the vortex of war, Gyousou could not turn a blind eye. Together with Sougen and twenty-thousand soldiers under their command, they set out for Bun Province.

  Risai wrapped her arms around Taiki's shoulders as they watched them leave.

  "Gyousou-sama is going to come back safely, right?" The young kirin looked up at her, worry etched on his face.

  Risai nodded with confidence. "Everything's going to be all right, Taiho."

  My assurances have all been turned into lies, she knew when she thought about it later. The chaos had from the first been carefully planned to drag Tetsui into the middle of the conflict. And that couldn't have resulted from the violent lashing mere rebels. The rebels had been organized and given direction and guided from the darkness. The person standing in the darkness had anticipated that Gyousou could not leave Tetsui to its own devices.

  The second time around, Gyousou had not returned to Kouki.

  Chapter 10

  Risai?"

  A questioning voice brought her back to her senses. The Royal Kei was looking at her, concern etched on her face. What should I tell her? Searching for the words, she found herself descending deep into her own memories.

  "Are you not feeling well? If so--"

  Risai shook her head. "I beg your pardon. It's just that I've had a lot on my mind."

  I understand, Youko said with a nod of her head.

  "You inquired as to what has been happening in Tai. In short, there was a coup d'etat. His Highness was drawn out of the capital to a rebellion in one of the provinces and disappeared."

  In a simple and forthright fashion, Risai outlined the nature of the conflict.

  "Even I am unaware of the specific details. I have subsequently learned that he managed to make it to the outskirts of Tetsui and set up camp there. They were attacked. At the height of the battle, he vanished from sight. And not a word has been forthcoming about him since."

  "Nothing more? Not a single word?"

  "There is likely more to know. I haven't been able to meet with people who were in Bun Province at the time and who have more precise information about the incident. I don't know if others have investigated the matter closely, or whether a search is underway. It is possible that nothing has been done at all. When I was informed that His Highness had disappeared, the Imperial Court was in an uproar. Nothing could get organized in a systematic way. Nothing could get accomplished."

  "Why?"

  "Because of the shoku."

  The shoku occurred a fortnight after Gyousou departed for Bun Province. The day before, word had arrived at the capital from Sougen, also headed to Bun Province. Gyousou and company had safely crossed the mountains. If that indeed was the case, then Tetsui would be several days away. In fact, several days later another messenger pigeon arrived. They had arrived at Rin'u, the prefectural palace this side of Tetsui, and had set up camp.

  "It would seem he arrived safely," said Senkaku, the Minister of Earth, with a relieved smile.

  She'd run into him in the Romon, the soaring gate to the south of the Imperial living quarters and the Imperial Court. It was a huge building with three towers at least ten times the height of a normal person. In the center of the white hall, sandwiched between the open north and south doors, a large, white staircase descended toward the Sea of Clouds.

  "I wish all the best to His Highness," said Senkaku. "Though I fear expressing such concerns to a man who was once a general could be thought offensive."

  "Indeed," Risai agreed with a smile, and continued down the staircase.

  That was when it happened. The low, faint, subterranean rumble. Risai stopped in her tracks, wondering where the sou
nd could be coming from. Apparently deaf to it, Senkaku glanced curiously over his shoulder at her.

  "What was that sound just now?" Risai said.

  She remembered later that at that moment the mountain shook. The sound arose from the earth beneath her feet--from the whole of Ryou'un Mountain supporting the Imperial Palace--shaking her body. Or so it seemed to her. The world wavered back and forth, the enormous Romon creaked back and forth like a bundle of sticks.

  A shadow fell across her startled, wide-open eyes. She tilted her head back just in time to see the tiles peel away from roof of the Romon and cascade down like an avalanche.

  At that moment, a quake had indeed shaken the mountain. Observing the Imperial Palace from the air, the observer would have seen an island floating in the Sea of Clouds. And in the center of the island, huge, round wave rising high against the cliffs that formed the bay and then spreading out concentric circles.

  The surface of the Sea of Clouds rose up and crashed down on a wing of one of the palace buildings adjacent the cliffs. Simultaneously the building rocked and shook and collapsed with a deafening scream. As if someone had taken a giant hammer to a section of the palace.

  The whirlwind kicked up by the blow turned into a squall racing out into all directions. The sun dimmed, turning into a copper shadow. A moment later, the rusty red-tinged sky began to gather into a swirling whirlpool, like some poisonous volcanic miasma.

  What is this?

  Risai sat down suddenly in amazement in the place she was standing. What was this strange sky expanding beyond the veil of dust? Spasms repeatedly coursed through the ground. The shaking had already ceased, but as if some being were stirring in the bowels of the Earth, the tremors shot up through the palms of her hands, planted on the floor.

  "A shoku--" screamed a nearby voice on the verge of hysteria.

  When Risai glanced back over her shoulder, Senkaku looked up at her. He was sprawled on the cobblestones of the Romon, covered with dirt.

  The thought, "This is a shoku," mingled with thought, "Why?" She had never encountered a shoku before. But she had also heard that a shoku never occurred above the Sea of Clouds.

  Senkaku picked himself up. The tile shards had rained down even to where he'd been standing. Another two or three steps and the both of them would be buried beneath them.

  "Risai, the Taiho--"

  Hearing the urgency in his voice, Risai sprang to her feet. The earth continued to groan. No small number of people lay on the ground around them, moaning and screaming. But she couldn't spare them any attention now.

  Where was Taiki? It was a little too early for him to be attending the afternoon's session on government affairs. He should have already left the Gai-den, but he couldn't have already made it all the way back to his room in the Seishin. He must be in Jinjuu Manor.

  "It's okay," Risai said. "The Daiboku should be with the Taiho--"

  Senkaku grasped Risai's arm. His dirty face had turned quite green. "Risai, don't you know? Shoku just don't occur naturally in the heavens. If a meishoku has occurred, then it could only have been brought about by the Taiho."

  Risai broke into a sprint.

  "Risai!"

  "Senkaku, please take care of the wounded!" she called out behind her. She leapt over the rubble and ran toward the Roshin. Risai had heard about this before, that a kirin could cause a very small shoku called a "meishoku." But a kirin born and raised in Yamato should not know how to bring such a shoku about.

  Risai had met Taiki on Mt. Hou. In all honesty, when Gyousou had set forth on the Shouzan, so had she. The kirin she met there couldn't transform into a unicorn and had no shirei. A kirin born and raised in Yamato couldn't really understand what being a kirin was all about. Those powers his instincts had awakened within him must have sprung forth under by necessity. That being the case, what could have happened?

  The smell of dirt and torn, fresh wood; the ripening, rancid sun; the rust-colored sky; the writhing red currents in the air; the continuous, turbulent timbre of subterranean rumblings--Risai could not help but be gripped by evil forebodings. Something bad had happened. Something unbelievably bad.

  In fact, the damage to the buildings grew worse the closer she got to Jinjuu Manor. The gate in front of the Provincial Offices had toppled on its side. In places the walls had fallen down, and through the gaps she could see that the buildings inside were badly listing and likely had collapsed. Cobblestones bubbled up like foam on water and likely had all flipped a hundred and eighty degrees. Fissures snaked through the ground and rubble was strewn about everywhere.

  The grounds of Jinjuu Manor came into view. Most of the buildings there had been reduced to piles of stone.

  The rumblings in the earth ceased. In their place, she could hear the shrieks and moans of people. The dim rays of the sun shone down. She looked up. The ominous red bands in the sky were fading as well.

  People at last began to huddle together. Most of the mustered soldiers pawed through the rubble looking for any sign of Taiki. But the small kirin was nowhere to be found. On the western side of the Seiden in Jinjuu Manor, there was no trace of him on the balcony or in the gardens facing the Sea of Clouds.

  The buildings and trees had both been torn up by the roots. The agitated earth and shards of tile had heaped up in piles. Then the giant waves smashed down on top of them, sweeping everything into the Sea of Clouds and leaving only the scarred ground behind.

  Ships were launched, kijuu saddled up, the gardens excavated--all searching for signs of the small Saiho. But since that day his whereabouts had not been discovered.

  While the search continued, a messenger pigeon bearing news of the emergency was dispatched to Bun Province. Before that bird reached Bun Province, a pigeon from Bun Province arrived at the capital, carrying word that Gyousou had suddenly vanished.

  The bedroom fell into silence. Risai clung to the jewel hanging around her neck as if for dear life.

  "We have heard nothing more of His Highness. Or of the Taiho."

  "Risai, if this is too hard for you--" Youko was about to call a halt to the proceedings, but Risai closed her eyes and shook her head.

  "The Imperial Court was thrown into chaos. Nobody could put together an organized plan to look for His Highness and the Taiho."

  Risai gasped for breath. Youko anxiously grasped her hand. "Are you all right?"

  I'm fine, Risai meant to reply, but her voice faded away in the middle of her labored breath. Only the sound of the wind. The sound of her ringing ears. And within the wind, the sound of Kaei's voice.

  No.

  "We'll call it a day and pick things up at this point next time. Well, then--"

  Risai stretched out her arm in the direction of her voice. She stretched out her arm--and realized again that her right arm was missing. This was how much she had lost. After so long the anguish welled up inside her.

  "Please help us." Releasing the jewel clasped in her hand, she reached out. A warm hand enclosed hers. "I beg of you. Save Tai."

  "I understand."

  Risai heard the doctor in the waiting room rushing to her side. "That's enough," she heard him say as she sank down into darkness and remorse.

  Chapter 11

  "What do you think?" Youko asked the two men following her as they left the Ka-den.

  The one appeared expressionless, deep in his thoughts. The other replied, "I'm not sure what to think. For the time being, at least, we now have some understanding as to what led up to the disappearance of the Royal Tai and the Tai Taiho."

  "That's not what I meant," Youko said with a bit of a frown. "The woman wants us to help her save Tai. What do you think about that?"

  Koukan raised an eyebrow. "Lady Risai seems to be requesting that concrete measures be taken on her kingdom's behalf. But what Kei can provide in its present state becomes somewhat problematic."

  As Koukan began to speak, Keiki stopped and bowed. He'd been called back to the provincial offices to attend to business. Koukan as wel
l had to attend to his duties as Chousai and exited the Seishin.

  Her entire entourage couldn't spend all their time tending to Risai, Youko thought as she headed to the Inner Palace. Kei was a kingdom in motion, and she had problems enough of her own.

  Like Koukan said. It was easy to ask for help, but when reality reared its ugly head, what exactly could she do? Exactly two years had passed since her coronation. She was an inexperienced, illiterate taika empress, a stranger in a strange land who left most of the weightier matters of government to Koukan and Keiki. With the free time not taken up by the tasks they shouldered, she studied under the guidance of her tutors.

  That was the way things stood for now. There was nothing from the Imperial Treasury or the Imperial Court to spare for other kingdoms.

  With these thoughts on her mind, as she headed toward the west wing of the Inner Palace, she spotted a man in armor coming toward her along the colonnade.

  "Oh, Kantai."

  Recognizing her, Kantai stopped and bowed. Kantai was the general of the Palace Guard.

  "Just the man I was looking for," Youko said.

  Kantai took a measured step backwards. "If Your Highness is looking for a fencing partner, I must beg off. I just came from giving your retainers a real work-out. I'm afraid that any attempts to 'blow off a little steam' at this point would lay me out flat."

  Youko smiled. "No problem, no problem. Why not sit back and relax for a while, then?"

  "Yes," Kantai said with a bow, and accompanied her to the library at the heart of the Inner Palace. During the day, this was where Youko relaxed when not conducting official business.

  "This is one ragtag dynasty," Youko said to herself as she brewed herself a cup of tea. Kantai started a bit and Youko smiled thinly. Whatever could be done to save Tai, it was energy she should be expending on behalf of Kei.

  Before mastering the business of government, this monarch had to learn how to read and write. That summed up the state things were in. A good half of her retainers had originally been self-styled "knights of the streets," ignorant of both the law and the basic rules of warfare. They pretty much had to be taught everything from scratch. And there was no surplus of teachers. The responsibility had fallen directly upon the General of the Palace Guard of the Left.