The flight south was to continue, and to carry them through the lands of Miitsu and into those of Hokutō just to the south of the former. It was there that they came to a halt near the river Hokugawa, a place that Satomine knew well and was confident he might find aid. The reason for his confidence lay in how thereupon a small almost inland islet with a pair of stone-bridges stood the great fortress of Yōsashima. Built two centuries prior by the finest stone-workers the Tahara could possibly find, it stood more than thirty meters high, was twenty wide and long so that it covered the whole of the islet. To either side of it that is to say to the east and west there were a pair of smaller forts eighteen meters high, long and wide which guarded the pair of stone-bridges that led to the great fortress. Each of them was built in the Zipangan style, which involved pagoda roofs, white marble stones and high twenty meters high walls.
Dubbed the 'Gateway to the North' it was also called the 'Northern Wall' as it was long believed that so long as it stood, the Emishi would never cross south to challenge the Empire. The trouble in the view of Satomine, Motonaga would advance forward with the traitor-armies and Emishi vanguard acting as a kind of advanced force against the rural forts of the Emipre.
He only hoped that the example of Yōsuke still lived on in the hearts of the lords of Yōsashima. The founder of this fort, who had fought and bled for the Empire and worked tirelessly to expand the frontiers further north than they had ever been before, would have already charged forth from behind the castle walls in his view.
The current occupant of the castle had proven to Satomine upon his last visit therewith Yoshinobu and many of his men, a descendant of Tahara no Yōsuke. Descended from that great man's eighth son, his lineage had become associated with the fortress to such an extent that they had adopted it as their name. It was said that during the northern frontier wars, it had been them that had led the bushi in the war against the Emishi. At other times they had guarded the whole of the marcher lands from the northerners.
"What is this place?" Harukor gasped amazed by so grand a vision, "Amazing, who built it?"
"That would be Tahara no Yōsuke, one of the finest men of that illustrious lineage, he was father to the first Kampaku, if you must know. He was a hero of the Second Wars of Darkness, and was said to have fought the enemy to a stand-still thereupon the isle of Yōsashima. It was for this reason that he wished to build a great fortress, seeing it as necessary in the continued besieging of the north. The trouble for him was that he was needed in the south and was recalled from this place." Satomine explained to him, quite familiar with the history of this locality as he had spent much time within this region throughout his youth.
Yoshinobu was on extremely friendly ties with the old lord of the Yōsashima who was his cousin, by virtue of his grandfather's marriage to a daughter of the latter's line. The sole reason that this lord had not been brought north was due entirely to his concern for the fortress.
"Will we find succour there?" Akemi asked of the young bushi, worried for her uncle, "Shinkei-ojiisama shan't survive another fortnight without medicine and new bindings."
Nodding absently to her, Satomine was to respond with a helpless shrug of his shoulders, "Do we have any other choice ahead of us?"
In response to those words, Akito spurred his horse forward, keen to approach the great keep, with nary a glance at the bushi who followed after him if somewhat reluctantly. It was with a glance in his direction that Akemi was to ask of him with a great deal of consternation, "What of this keep? Why do you still look hesitant?"
"We have met with treachery all throughout the journey to and from the north, so that I wonder if maybe it has found its way like a disease into the heart of Yōsashima-dono," Satomine said with more than a little worry and with a glance over his left shoulder.
He could have sworn that he had heard something from behind him. It sounded not unlike hooves striking the ground, however it did not sound as though it were the horses of a whole army but those of a singular steed.
"Satomine-san! Satomine-san! Why are you not listening to us?" Akemi growled at him from where she sat now upon the horse of Akito.
Seeing how irritated she was made him grimace if only to himself all the more. It was with a glance at Harukor that he saw that the other youth shared his opinion. The man was weary of her company and was evidently more concerned about Shinkei. "It is only that I thought I heard something that sounded akin to hooves behind us."
"There is nothing," She said after listening for a moment.
The men for their parts turned their heads with their ears open and their eyes searching the distant woodlands they had surged forth from. Neither of the two young men nor the monk knew exactly what sort of man it was that they were searching for, only that he would likely come riding out on a horse.
No one came. Relieved at how nothing had happened, they were to chortle nervously, with Akito remarking, "Mayhaps it was just the wind, Satomine-san?"
"It was not." He replied certain that it was very much real. Experience had taught him in recent days that there were no mirages, no illusions that was pursuing them, but very real shadows and scouts of the wiliest sort.
They had travelled far since they had left the forest behind them. Yet there still remained a persistent thread of doubt towards the bushi. Quite why, was a source of mystery to the youth who felt another spark of irritation against his newfound friends. Glancing at the wounded monk, he regretted the fact that the old man, was not in any condition to discuss their pursuers and the situation with him. He would have liked to discuss the matter of those in pursuit of them with the old man, yet as the man was almost listless thereupon the back of Harukor's horse it was highly unlikely for him to be able to have such a talk.
Worried over this matter, he followed after his travelling companions, ignoring the derisive words of Akito as the youth complained at some length about Satomine. Deriding him, and treating him as an incompetent, even as Akito was to sigh in frustration and snap at the other youth and Akemi.
Though they regarded him with mixed views, as some looked on him as a source of embarrassment to his entire caste, with the other half of their group looking on him with respect, the bushi himself felt no animosity towards them. He did however regard them with impatience and irritation, as their complaints and the protecting of them served to continuously slow him in his journey south.
If he had only the temerity to abandon them he might well have throve and made it as far south as the fortress of Yōsashima, in the heartland of the northern branch of the Takimoto family. Yet he could not do so, thus he was trapped, he mused as he internally felt listless at the realization even as he sought to project the sort of confidence that Yoshinobu-dono would have. It was the only way that he might instil in his companions the sort of strength and courage they would need going forward, and respect in the people of Yōsashima that might otherwise convince them not to punish him for the betrayal at Midorigawa.
*****
The welcome that they received once behind the gates was a warm one. It was with more than a little bewilderment that they were to take note of how each and every single one of the guards that stood about the gates, or to either side of them bowed his head towards them. This respectful treatment immediately worked to allay the concerns of the new arrivals, with Harukor and Akito both grinning widely at one another and Akemi. She for her own part was to flush bright red, as she was hardly accustomed to such good treatment and only wished that her hair was cleaner, and that she was wearing a cleaner, and more impressive dress than that which she presently wore. No less pleased than they, in spite of his wounds Shinkei was to smile a pained grin that garnered more than a little concern from some of the men.
Murmurs soon overtook the whole of the courtyard with every single man present all around them staring in visible surprise and amazement. None of them had foreseen the possibility that a survivor might arrive from the battle that had seen the end of Yoshinobu. It was but a few seconds before they were to call to send for the lord, at which time a boy was despatched to do just that.
It was with more than a little disconcertment that the lord of the castle received the news whilst in the midst of waiting for his breakfast to be served. No less amazed at the revelation that there was a survivor of the recent massacre, of which he still awaited more news about. What surprised him all the more was the knowledge that for a man to have flown from battle was punishable with death therefore to his mind it was madness to hurry forth from the north to the south.
If indeed Satomine had suffered defeat, he was disgraced. Certainly exceptions had been made in the past, and yet they were considered truly exceptional and remarkable. It was with his confidence utterly shaken he prayed to Hachiman that there might be one made once more. Ashigaru were permitted to retreat, just as lower captains and lower ranking bushi and yet for one who had served as herald of a great lord it was very likely to result in his death.
This knowledge darkened Satomine's mood, so that when he saw Yōsashima arrive as fast as his feet could carry him he did not greet him with the same bright gaze he had the last time he had seen him. To the contrary, his gaze was darkened with melancholy, so that where the prior time Yōsashima was hardly pleased now it was he who was amused and relieved.
The man received him with a hearty cheer, saying to him, "You! I know you, the herald of my good friend Yoshinobu-dono!"
"Yes, tonō," Satomine confirmed only to add when the man stared, "It is Satomine, I acted as herald for Takimoto-dono."
The last time he had met the old baron, he had comported himself cheerfully so that he had charmed him. Satomine could vividly recall how warmly the old man had chortled and how cheerfully he had comported himself with regards to the bushi and those others who were attached to the head of the Takimoto clan.
At present though there was none of that same warmth, only a hint of uncertainty and amazement, which soon metamorphosed into displeasure. This made the former herald of the Takimoto wonder as to why should the man in command of the fortress at the crossroads might show such irritation towards him.
As swift as these emotions flashed across his flat face, they disappeared no less quickly to be replaced by an impassive mask. "For what reason have you come hither, and without thy lord? And who are these peasants and that monk who lies dying thereupon the steed behind thee?"
At his questions the bushi felt embarrassed. He knew that to return south risked death, yet still he had an obligation to speak up even as he froze with momentary fear. Swallowing this unwelcome emotion he bowed his head still lower saying as he did so, "It happens tonō that Takiomoto-dono has fallen."
There was a great gasp that spread throughout the courtyard. Every lady looked as though she might swoon, even as the children shrunk back and to a man the men-folk stared in rapt horror at the new-arrival.
Yōsashima for his part pursed his lips and replied almost at once, "Why should I not have ye all slain for desertion and cowardice?"
Stunned at his words, those behind Satomine paled. Akemi's breath coming out in short gasps even as Akito swallowed audibly. The bushi for his part emboldened by the memory of his prior visit and of the charge he carried in the form of Yoshinobu's head and corpse, and Kazokiri retorted evenly. "Because it would be the height of folly not to help care for our companion, and to help speed me on my way that I might fly to Mononobe and warn the Takimoto of what has come to pass in the north."
It was but a brief moment during which Yōsashima was visibly discomfited by the words of the younger bushi, and looked as though he might well throw him outside the gates. It was a notion that did not seem to occur to him alone, with the likes of Satomine and Harukor and Akito along with Akemi all exchanging worried glances.
It happened that it was the young woman who throwing herself forward, to cling to the knees of the great baron begged him, "Please Yōsashima-dono! My uncle, he is wounded and could well die! Help him!"
This caused the baron to soften if slightly as he regarded the young woman with unease and pity, evidently moved by her plight. Turning his gaze to several of his men he was to command them, "Take her uncle and have him seen to, send for Iori-dono, and tell him the old man's health is of the utmost importance."
"Oh thank you, so very much tonō we are truly indebted to you!" Akemi cried full of joy and gratitude to him for this act of kindness.
The man studied her for a moment as she threw herself to the ground, bowing and weeping before him and something in him softened then. His countenance gave way to an inner gentility ever so slightly so that Satomine felt his concerns about the possibilities of the old man having betrayed Yoshinobu diminish ever so slightly.
"Come now Satomine-kun, I would hear more of what has happened in the north, especially of the death of my beloved liege, Yoshinobu-dono!" Yōsashima growled as he shook himself from his momentary softness so that he transformed himself once more into the great northern bear he had appeared to be previously.
*****
Swept along after the bushi and the kinsmen of the Lord of Yōsashima, Satomine was to seat himself before them. His head bowed at first, he hesitated for some time before he threw himself into the telling of his tale. As he recounted what had taken place since the great Takimoto army's departure for the north those around him listened raptly, with the heir Yukinaga interrupting him only after the newcomer had fallen quiet at the death of Yoshinobu.
"Sit here, we intend to eat soon, and my father and I would have you well fed and treated as one of us," He instructed with unusual sympathy.
Surprised as he had not taken the other man for the sort to behave so courteously, due to how during the prior time he had visited Yukinaga had comported himself poorly. The man had been so drunk that his father had ordered him out of the fortress, and to go hunting less he take his head.
Grateful for this small act, Satomine bowed his head and moving to take the place vacated by the heavily bearded heir of Yōsashima he was impressed when almost immediately a platter of food was called for. Platters were swiftly delivered along with chopsticks, with Satomine now finding himself seated between the heir to the keep and the small pedestal of sorts that the lord was seated upon.
"Satomine-kun, I would hear the rest of thy story but hope that this is not an imposition for you," Yōsashima told him genially as he leant back in his own seat as a servant girl bowed, before she laid the platter before him.
This done she swiftly bowed once more, crawled backwards away from him and with the other two servant-girls swiftly departed leaving the men alone. None of them had spoken a word though their presence had served to quiet some of the uncertainties that loomed over the herald of Yoshinobu.
"I disagree tonō I would have us hear the rest of this tale at once, while preparations are made for his room." Katsuie one of the favourites of Yōsashima growled at the newcomer, asking of him when the youth continued to eat whilst studying him with worried eyes. "It must be asked, and we have refrained from doing so out of courtesy. However, is it possible that you might have had some involvement in the murder of our beloved lord, Satomine-kun?"
Almost choking on the rice he was in the midst of swallowing, the bushi could not help but stare at the old man with sincere shock and horror. "What?" He asked when at last he could speak with the word coming out more as a croak. "I- how could I- No, I loved Yoshinobu-dono! He was as a father to me!"
The other man continued to study him with a piercing gaze, one that could well have punctured the armour and breast of another man far better than any katana or arrow could well have done. It was with more than a little apprehension that Satomine risked a glance at those around him, only to tremble a little when he saw how they glowered at him also.
The feeling that arose in his breast then was not solely fear though, as fury intermingled with that sentiment to overshadow all others. "I am and have always been loyal! None loved Yoshinobu-dono more than I! I would challenge any man present herewith us who would otherwise question that!"
His bold words uttered with the sort of heat and passion that only the young could summon forth, were greeted with many smiles and nods by some. It was also received with some measure of doubtful looks from others, notably those nearest to Yōsashima in blood and favour, as his most senior of retainers and sons' knew his mind best. Each of them was filled with suspicion towards the youth and was of a view Satomine guessed that all outsiders were to be regarded with suspicion.
It was some time before he was to be rescued by Yōsashima himself, who let slip a great booming laugh after several minutes, "There is no need to be so serious Satomine-kun! We are all friends here, and all know of the courage with which you have always served the house of Takimoto! You are welcome herein my house, yet as I understand there is much that we must discuss. While thine friends rest, will you not join me and inform us of all that has happened hitherto now?"
The relief which the youth felt then was as nothing compared to that which filled his companions as they left to join the physician. Nodding his head, the young bushi was to follow after the mighty Yōsashima, not noticing as he failed to glance over his shoulder just as all others failed to, the distant figure on the hill upon which Satomine had observed the fort from a few mere hours prior.
*****
The great fortress he found himself in was one that may have traced itself back more than two centuries prior however the line from which Yōsashima was descended was not said to. Ancient as it was, the fortress Satomine knew had originally belonged to a member of the Tahara clan and had later been entrusted to the Takimoto. It was only as that particular clan took ever more interest in the Montō region and in consolidating what power they had within the southern parts of Miitsu that they had entrusted Yōsashima to the lineage that bore that very name.
The line had of course not ended but gone on to reign until the present age. It was now one of the most respected outside the Capital, and was regarded as one of the most ancient among the many clans that ruled over the provinces. It was also attested as one of the most loyal to the Takimoto.
Yet loyalty as Satomine had noticed during and since the battle against Motonaga's forces was a rapidly dwindling resource. A resource as one might call it that was once abundant he thought mournfully, horrified that so many had turned against the Takimoto so suddenly. He could not understand it, as Yoshinobu was the noblest of lords and among the kindliest and most chivalrous of men.
Once he had overcome his innate shyness at being in the presence of the local lord on the prior visit he had asked a great many questions in regards to the history of the castle. It had been his view that he needed to know more about the region, if he was to better understand his liege's stratagems. A keen cartographer and scholar of history Yoshinobu had a tendency to base his tactics on the local history and that of previous battles by great generals of Zipangu. It was thus, with this understanding and a need to know how previous sieges had ended that Satomine had sought to know all he could about the keep.
None of this was of any real concern to the youth as he ate, because all that he could think of was how Yoshinobu had perished and of the great danger that lay in the north. It was for this reason after he had finished explaining all that had happened to him since his departure that he burst out with one last plea. "Milord we must send a messenger south to warn of what has happened, lest all will be lost."
"Come come now why worry over such things? We have peace here, and succour to offer Satomine-san, let us rest for the moment. Tomorrow we shall discuss war, the betrayal of Hidemasu and what is to be done about this foreign invasion." Yōsashima no Nagayuki said to the youth as he urged him to sit, ere he turned to his daughter to say to her, "Akiko will you not do our guests the honour of fetching that kotou of yours to perform for them?"
"There really is no need-" Satomine began feeling discomfited by the great demonstration of chivalry and courtesy that the other man seemed so intent on showing him.
"Nonsense," the old man said with more than a little eagerness, as he waved away his concerns turning thence to the man seated across from Satomine. "I would have music, to refuse would be to insult her."
Trapped by formality and unsure of how best to proceed, the youth was to bow uneasy and unsure of how best to proceed. The man had heard his concerns and had given no real indication that he was terribly concerned. This worried Satomine, who wondered whether the man was truly prepared for what was to come.
A worse thought entered into his mind; what if the man had been involved in the betrayal? The man controlled the crossroads, and was one of the wealthiest of the vassals of the Takimoto and one with vast reserves of men to fall back onto.
The man's daughter hurried back, smoothing out her dress as she sat at the opposite end of the great hall, with her gracing the youth with a cheerful grin. Something in that grin filled him with uneasiness and uncertainty.
The sound of strings soon dominated the whole of the hall, holding every man present captive as they listened with no small amount of pleasure at the sound of the music she produced. Few of them could imagine that life could possibly be better, as the melody she wove together enchanted each of them. All save Satomine.
He frowned after a few minutes of listening. He would very much have liked to remark about how middling her skills were, and how he could detect errors in the music she produced, however politeness and necessity made him hold his tongue.
This was a duty he had never much liked, he thought to himself; that of courtliness and maintaining a false politeness before his betters. Certainly the duties of a herald and bodyguard were important, however the notion that he should remain at all times polite rather than speak directly of what needed to be done, of the dangers and tragedies that had befallen his liege made him wish to bristle and growl at those around him.
If only he lamented, he could have taken them by the shoulders and shaken them with all his might so that they might understand just what it was that threatened them. Motonaga was no common enemy that they could reason with, or battle on one's own.
It was however as he chewed on some of the rice in his bowl and listened to the clumsy fingers of the daughter of the local lord that he felt his eyes move from man to man. It was with a start that he realized that they were all studying him intently. Confused the youth at first did not know what to say, or why they stared when he realized that they expected him to compliment them for their politeness and the lady Akiko's playing.
"Excuse my rudeness, I am little more than a rustic peasant," Satomine told them at his most obsequious, "The rice is delicious and far finer than any I have had in some time."
This won him an approving nod. The pleased look on Yōsashima's face was one that was matched by those on every single one of the faces of those around him.
"How do you find my, Akiko-chan's wondrous koto playing?" Yōsashima asked of the bushi.
"Well enough," Satomine replied without any real force, all politeness, "I must admit to not being very familiar with the finer forms of music, so that I could not wholly appreciate her delicate and wondrous playing."
The maiden's cheeks flushed red with pleasure as he spoke, while the men nodded their approval or laughed among themselves. Each of them approving of the humility demonstrated by their guest so that they momentarily forgot their prior hostility that they felt for him, in this way the differences between them soon melted away.
"Well then, now that we have fed, we ought to retire to our beds for the evening, especially you Satomine-san, what with all that you have accomplished you must be weary." Yōsashima remarked cheerfully seemingly overcome by the joy of Satomine's company, and the good food they had all enjoyed that evening.
"A little," the youth stuttered feeling quite put off by the suddenness of the older bushi's decision that it was time for bed. "I beg of thee Yōsashima-dono that you heed my words, and have a care for the northern forces that press ever more southwards so that they will soon arrive hither before thy gates!"
"Come now, my dear boy we are quite safe here," Yōsashima replied to him, a sliver of a smile on his lips as he waved away the youth's concerns, "I would not trouble you unduly this evening. It has happened that you must rest Satomine-san, on the morrow we will discuss what is to be done about the Emishi invasion."
It might well have ended therewith the exhausted Satomine giving into his wishes, however it was then that as he nodded his head one of the other men, the second son of Nagayuki muttered under his breath. "It appears to me as though Motonaga and Hidemasu when they betrayed Yoshinobu, they ought to have taken greater care with their betrayal. I might well have thought that with the black candles Motonaga had already made use of, and the strength of Midorinoki behind them they would not have let slip a single man from between their grasp."
The remark might well have been a flippant one. It was so hushed and quiet there were words that Satomine did not catch in their entirety. However, what made him halt mid-step and glance out of the corner of his eye was the effort one of the other man made to shush the lord in question.
The man who did the tushing was none other than Yukinaga who was the heir of Yōsashima, with him saying to the other man, "Shh, now is not the time for such talk."
Studying the two if briefly so, Satomine could not help but ponder the man's words and wonder; how did they know? How could they possibly know about what had happened with the black-candles and monastery? He had not revealed all that had happened with the monastery, and had with regards to the black-candles and black fog not been certain that it was these things that had paralyzed him.
Yet the manner in which he spoke was so urgent and knowledgeable that it inspired in Satomine a sudden flash of realization; they knew.
None of them had demonstrated any surprise when he had recounted how Yoshinobu had been defeated.
Aware of the truth now, he could not however let themselves see that he saw through them. The moment was short and was one that he at once put behind him, when he feigned a yawn. Making an effort to seem wearied he addressed the older man, "I do believe you might well be right Yōsashima, it would indeed be best for me to retire to my bedchambers thank you."
"Good, this way, I will have Emi show you the way thither, whilst my sons, and men and I discuss what has come about in the north and make preparations for what is to come." Yōsashima informed him cheerily, whilst the servant woman in question who had been waiting outside the room, slid the door open that Satomine might follow her away one storey higher.
As he went, the young bushi his head high and eyes on the young woman, played at blindness towards the old man's visible anxiety and uncertainty. What he most of all pretended not to take notice of was how the man's hands were clasped together, a sure sign if ever there was one that he was discomfited.
*****
Night fell and Satomine slipping out from his bedchambers was to drop down below after tying his sheets, ropes and drapes into a great series of knots. Eager to descend down onto the ground below, he was to however hardly reach it as he arrived at the pagoda outcropping almost twenty meters below him. He could only hope that he might unravel ever more slivers of rope only to conclude that this was impossible. The next choice before him was to slip through the windows nearby yet those were barred with wooden bars that were meant to keep out any birds that might try to slip into the building.
That was not all that they barred from entry, he mused as he studied one pair with an irritated growl to himself. He had need, to slip in undetected into the hall before him and yet was kept out by those small slivers of wood. Pulling at the first bar he found it wedged into the rock beneath it and above it, much to his irritation, so that he had no other choice but to look about all around him for the means to slip inside or down the pagoda.
Yet he knew that to move along the side as he considered doing then, if only to see if all the windows were like this one to be a dangerous venture. Still it had to be attempted else he would never slip out from this castle.
Freezing where he stood as he moved along and nearly lost his footing just as he heard voices usher forth from within, he clung to the side of the wall. Hands gripping the corner of the keep as he barely dared to breathe, his heart pounding against his chest.
"Did you hear? The messenger has already left to go alert the rider," one of the men muttered to the other.
"I heard, though I do not see why it had to be done," the other man complained, his voice slightly deeper than the first one.
The two of them continued walking along, so that their voices when next they spoke came not from the window to the right, just around the corner but from that to the left. Relieved that they were in the midst of leaving the hallway, Satomine reached out one hand for the edge of the pagoda roof above him.
Startled at the mention of the 'rider', he was however even more unprepared for the mention of Motonaga's name, "I hope that tonō's pledge to serve that strange northern Emishi does not prove a mistake. I had thought all of Yoshinobu-donō's men had passed away in the northern battle."
"Agreed, likely he fled from the battle," Yoshitoki remarked unaware of the bushi's presence just outside the building he stood within.
Fury suffused the whole of Satomine's being as he listened to the two of them. Not since the betrayal at Torakawa had he felt such a sense of outrage. If he had not ceded the shoddy sword he had arrived with, and was not forbidden from utilizing Kazokiri he might well have drawn steel and slain them where they stood.
Closing his eyes he sucked in a breath, remembering the many lessons that Yoshinobu had taught him about war; too many mind distracted a man especially when he was consumed by rage. A red-hot rage could only drag him down into Yomi, while a cold fury sharpened one's wits as a whetstone might a steel katana.
Reminding himself of this over the course of several minutes, he very nearly jumped out of his flesh when he heard the cry from up above. The scream in question tore its way through the evening so that the guards in the hallway just above where Satomine hung from hurried away.
"The prisoner has escaped! The prisoner has escaped!" Shouted those up above, having burst into the bedchambers assigned to the former herald of Yoshinobu to find him missing.
Stricken at how quickly they had discovered him to be missing from the bedchambers, they had given over to him, Satomine began to hurry away from where he hung. It was pure desperation and with a small amount of madness, so that he might otherwise have felt scorn for any other man who might well have reacted as he did then.
It was not that it was his intention to behave as foolishly as he did, it was only that his obligations to his companions and his lord pushed him to act swifter than thought or due considerations. Reason could not be allowed he was later to say, to interfere with duty. It was only still later that he was to realize where it was that he had first heard this phrase; his father.
As he threw himself forward through the newly opened window and drawing his tantō to slash at the nearest man's throat succeeding in putting an end to the man's life. Moving swift as lightning he seized the man's still sheathed katana and untied it from the other man's sash.
The katana of his enemy secured, and girt now to his belt just above Kazokiri, Satomine was to pull the man's wakizashi also. He would have greater need of the shorter blade than the longer in such a confined area.
The first man he came across on the journey south was a servant, one who gaped at him and might well have cried out in terror were it not for the bushi shoving him aside. He had no wish to kill him, since the old man was but a servant and had little involvement to his mind in the crimes of the lord and household guards of Yōsashima.
Staring after him, in dismay for some time the servant took a moment before he began to shout as several of the guards raced past him. "He went down yon path! It was thither that he raced off to, in the direction of the entrance to the keep!"
Satomine who had just turned at the corner had to resist the urge to curse the other man, under his breath as he raced all the faster down the route he had come from. Down past one staircase after another he went, until he had the next floor near where several small windows stood.
The next man he came across was no less stunned to see Satomine, than the servant he had almost ran straight into. No less surprised, the bushi however recovered first and was to run the other man through before he could draw his own katana. This act was followed by him throwing himself against the other man with almost the entirety of his body katana first.
The other man was visibly surprised, being larger than Satomine he had evidently not foreseen he possibility that the younger man might do such a foolish thing. What he had not foreseen was that on the second clash as the other man swung broadly in a horizontal manner, the younger man would duck beneath his swing and run his blade through his jaw.
The foe collapsed as swiftly as he had appeared before the youth, who pleased to have slain his enemy seized his blade and advanced upon the next man that had heard the commotion. This second man was unlike the first not dressed for battle.
Dressed still in a simple kimono, as he had been in the midst of relaxing with some saké after a long day of work and circulating the halls, the guard who was one of the personal guards of the likes of Yōsashima's fifth son could only stare at Satomine.
Seeing the blood on his clothing and that he had bested in a manner of seconds the fully armoured man who lay slumped to one side of the hallway he could only mutter. "Demon! You are a demon!"
The first few sword blows that they exchanged from then on were a shock to Satomine who had hoped that he might finish the battle swiftly. The last thing that he had wanted was for his foe to survive long enough to counter him, as to attack him in return.
Forced back by the force of the blows that the other bushi threw in his direction, it was with a start that Satomine realized almost too late that the other man was perhaps more skilled than him in combat.
This worried him as he struggled to parry one blow after another. It happened just as he took his katana and used it to pin down the other man's weapon that he leant forward overmuch and left himself vulnerable to a swift kick to the gut.
The wind was knocked out of him as he fell back, with a loud groan. Rolling back all the more, in a burst of panic as the other man came at him once more this time with murderous intent; he was to come near to tripping over his own legs. It was perhaps fortunate that he fell back once more, as his head hit the wall near to the window next to him, with his foe slashing down at him.
Satomine evaded the blow in question, dodging the attack by mere inches with the youth hardly feeling grateful then for this slight miracle that had had rescued him. Throwing himself to one side even as he swiped back at the man who loomed above him.
The man's sword arm was sliced through, as the katana of his foe tore its way through his wrist leaving him shrieking and howling, "You beast!"
This happened to be the last thing that the man was to say, as his throat was soon torn by Satomine's sword. This however was not enough to win him the day as another man surged forth from behind another door, so that the young bushi realized almost too late the trap he had fallen into. He could not fight his way through half the fortress, so that the young warrior threw himself into the next room, hopeful to find some means by which he might escape.
"You coward!" The other man yelled when he saw the youth race into the nearby bedchambers that the man before him who had attacked the youth had raced out from.
The words stung the youth's pride and he very nearly gave in and turned about to engage him once more in combat with the youth striking with all his might at him only for his foe to leap back. Any other might well have leant too far with such a sword blow, yet not Satomine who had many years of experience in the wielding of the sword, so that he leant forward on his toes, he remained prepared to leap back.
It was good that he was so well prepared so that he was to leap back when the enemy sought to strike back at him. Ferocious and savage this new attack was so that the young bushi stricken with panic ducking under another sword-swipe only to detect from one moment to the next one an opening in his foe's defensive stance.
Slashing at the man before him, he was to feign a strike at the man's knee wherefore he leant forward to stab through the opening.
The other warrior surprised by this action had not the time to pull back before the katana's tip pierced through his abdomen. Pleased by this, the bushi tore his blade free from within the other man's chest, glad to see him almost severed in half.
It was thus with more than a little satisfaction that he backed away from the corpse.
And with more than a little alarm that he hurried to take the man's head off as he let loose one of the loudest shrieks of pain and fury that Satomine had ever heard issue from a man's throat.
The warriors that filled the castle-keep were not slow in coming, so that they soon pushed their way to the entrance to the small room.
Tiring of combating against wave after wave of men, it happened that the bushi seeing the great window nearby was to throw himself out from it. Rolling forward he slid along the pagoda and very nearly tumbled out into the void. Grasping a hold of the edge he was to hold to it with all that he had in him, hanging by the edge of his fingers only to glance down into the sea.
Sensing an opportunity one of the men made to prepare an arrow. He had notched it and begun to take aim when the bushi who had been in the midst of swinging himself to and fro suddenly released his hold on the edge.
Tumbling down into darkness out of sight from each of them, they were to stare for some time before the captain was to shriek at them. "Do hurry you fools! We must find the body, lest Yōsashima takes our heads therefore go down to the next floor and find it."
"It is unlikely he found his way down there, likely he lies at the bottom of the sea," one of the men countered full of doubt.
"Then search the waves you imbecile!" the captain growled at him, frustrated by the other warrior's reluctance to look closer at the seas below them.
It happened that the man was to slip down one floor below, with three men following after him only for them to find… nothing. Satomine was not to be found on that floor, nor was he when they at last found themselves a boat to take them down into the waters below to inspect them for the lost bushi.
The man whom they searched for went for his part unnoticed by slipping along the building and down below to not the nearby waters, but to another window. Reaching it by extending his legs outwards he had nearly tumbled below, yet had somehow hung from the window upside down by his feet only to pull himself back up. After this he had slipped away to a spare room, where he had slipped out amongst some of the servants, after throwing on a straw-hat and one of their kimonos over his own. The guards distracted as they were by the shouts from within hardly paid him any mind, with Satomine once free from the confines of the inner-courtyard hurrying along to the building given over to his friends.
*****
The trio had been placed in one of the buildings near to the barracks. It was there that it was hoped that they might find rest whilst the physician stitched Shinkei's wounds and otherwise washed his body. This done he had quietly and happily informed them that he had done as he had been instructed.
"Brother Shinkei will likely recover though he must have rest and must not be disturbed," the physician informed them after hours of work. "I have also removed what fragments of the arrow that had lodged themselves deep within his side."
"Thank you doctor," Akemi said with the utmost sincerity, bowing before the physician who bowed to her in turn.
"Do not thank me, until he has recovered," the physician told them, with a small smile on his bearded lips. A stout man of advancing years, he had an air of wisdom about him that had induced immediate respect among the newcomers so that they had bowed to him many a times and thanked him.
It was then that the most bewildering thing that could have possibly happened took place. Or so those within the small room were later wont to say as Satomine suddenly appeared before them from outside. The door was suddenly thrown open as the warrior ducked inside with many glances over his shoulder with all those inside leaping several feet in the air at the sight of him.
"We must escape!" Satomine shouted as he burst into the small room that they had been placed within startling all three of the youths from the northern village.
"How did you come to be here Satomine?" Harukor asked of the warrior amazed to see him, his eyes though were soon diverted to the blood that decorated the man's raiment. "Is that blood?"
"There is no time to waste on such questions or on discussions!"
"What? But-"
"Help me to prepare Shinkei for the journey that is to come," Satomine growled, "Lest ye prefer to remain here and die."
These words had the desired influence on the group of villagers, as they set themselves to work picking up the monk that they might lift him and carry him thither into the stables. Once there they were to saddle the horses and place with great gentleness Shinkei onto a large onyx coloured steed. The only one who did not move was Akemi herself, who could not quite bring herself to escape from there as she fretted over the startled physician who watched them move about and make ready their departure from the home that had been given over to them in the town for the duration of their stay.
It was Akemi who asked of him though, "What of yourself doctor? Surely if you remain here, you will be discovered and slain?"
"I have my ways young lady, now do hurry!" he replied earnestly with a small smile just before he ushered them out from the small house where they had been placed.
"Come now Akemi, we must be away!" Akito urged her as he pulled her after him, while the other two men bent down to pick up and lift from the ground old Shinkei. "We must fly from this place!"
They were to do exactly that as they burst forth from the small building and out into the small alleyway just behind the house. The secret exit that the physician had shown them though a surprise to them, was something that the old man revealed he had arranged for some decades ago. "I had my good-brother arrange it when I was first brought here against my will, but as my daughter grew and married into a local family I came to be satisfied with my lot."
It was a sentiment wholly incomprehensible to Satomine, who turned upon his friends commanding them to go forth, "Follow after me, I shall lead the way to the stables, but do not get lost else I shan't help thee and will not go forth to try."
"Wait, what of my uncle?" Akemi repeated herself refusing to move a single foot or inch from where she knelt by the old man's side.
"I will ride with him," Harukor volunteered as always the more reasonable of the two young men accompanying him south. "Akemi must ride with Akito."
"But I wish to ride with my uncle!"
"There is no time to debate the matter," Akito said no less concerned for Shinkei than she, and seizing her by the hand ere she could protest to push her toward the nearest horse.
Pleased to have at last won their support, the bushi was to throw himself onto his prior horse determined to once more lead them away. How it had all gone wrong he did not know, he knew only that he had a duty to get them away from there as swift as possible.
Bow in hand, and the arrows he had stolen from one of the guards he had slain also at the ready, he was to turn to leave when he was stopped by the physician's voice. Glancing at him he was surprised to find the old man motioning for him to follow him to the back of the building. It was there that he revealed something to the surprise of all of them; pressing his hand against the nearby wall he showed there to be a false wall. The wall slid open to the amazement of all his guests who could only gape for several minutes at him even as he spoke to them of this strange false wall.
"If it is indeed escape that you wish to do, I would recommend you slip out through the rear entrance of this house, there is a little known sliding door there that gives access to a small garden," the physician suggested with a glance to the door through which the bushi had appeared through. "I would also recommend that you slip out of those clothes and into the raiment of one of the local guards, while I help remove Shinkei to the stables."
This proposal of aid was one that none of them could bring themselves to truly refuse, in dire need as they were of rescue and each of them hungry for freedom they sought at once to put his counsel into practice. Such was their eagerness to escape that Satomine had begun to change then and there, with nary a thought to who might observe him, with each of them turning about as he accepted the clothing that the old physician had brought for Shinkei.
When he had finished tying the sash, the physician hid the Emishi garments that he had worn under a nearby bed, saying as he did so, "They will likely not link it to myself but I will take care on the morrow to burn the clothes. Now go!"
"We will not forget this act," Satomine promised at once, having finished dressing, as he hurried out from within the small home.
Once they were outside he led the way as he had en route to the castle, making straight for the stables that were not far. It happened that because night had fallen there were not many wandering about within the small town, so that there was no resistance met as they made for the interior of the stables near to one of the inns near the town walls.
Pleased by this, Satomine pressed one finger to his mouth to signal to the others to keep quiet whilst he made for the front of the stable. The door slid open while the three of them waited with bated breath, there was a sound not unlike a serpent slithering in the grass, a hiss and a grunt, wherefore the bushi appeared once more before them.
"Do hurry along hither! There are a great many guards out and about all around us, therefore hurry!" Satomine hissed at them, urging them forward after him as he threw glance after glance over his shoulders all about him.
The castle had begun to awaken it seemed to the fact that the bushi had escaped their grasp, with the youth returning to poke his head out of the stables his eyes filled with urgency. "Do not tarry."
Harukor and Akito nodded, with the former hurrying on out as swiftly as a bolt of lightning without a single backwards or sideways glance. Such was the sense of urgency that he felt then as he rode off with the still unconscious Shinkei and the trust he had in Satomine that the thought of glancing elsewhere than the road ahead of him never occurred to him. It was Akito and Akemi who risked glance after glance behind them as they rode away, out from the still open southern gates and across the open courtyard where dozens began to move and bustle everywhere.
In a heartbeat they were out from within the stable. Bursting free in a heartbeat they were to throw themselves forward with all the force and impulsiveness of youths with Akito and Harukor at the front whilst Satomine torch in hand was in the rear. The other horses having been loosed, he took it now as his obligation to set fire to one of the nearby houses before tossing the torch onto another of the nearby houses. Stables, two houses aflame he was to with a great deal of satisfaction turn his horse to chase after his newfound friends.
"This way!" Akito shouted to those behind him as they made for the gates.
It was with more than a little prescience that the bushi replied with equal fervour, "No! The west-gates!"
So saying he turned his horse about to follow him down that path as the castle burst into chaos such that it had not seen in centuries. Quite why was not long a mystery, as Satomine though resolved to rescue his newfound friends glanced over his shoulder even as he galloped past the still open gates.
*****
What followed after this great and daring escape on the part of the bushi and his new companions, was a great dash for the gates which had been opened, to allow the likes of the sepulchral bushi into the courtyard. It was with more than a little fear and consternation that they urged their newly stolen horses forward and with nary a glance over their shoulders.
Each one of them whipped their horses into a frenzy as Satomine, having no great desire to waste a single arrow on any of the enemies plunging into the courtyard, for he knew it would be a wasted effort. He could see abler than any of his companions could, how the missiles of Yōsashima were loosed upon the invading riders yet failed completely and utterly to slow them or deter them in any way.
"Thy arrows are as a mouse's sneeze or as menacing as a wolf's howl to us," one of them intoned to the horror of the men of the fort, who became ever more reluctant to keep to their posts. Many of them began to slow when drawing arrows from their quivers, so frightened were they by the dark trio of figures who were at the head of the charge of six dozen men.
The terror that now gripped the fortress soon spread to the sons' of Yōsashima many of whom were among those in the vanguard that had begun to retreat before the enemy. The noblest from among these mighty sons' happened to be Yoshinaga the fourth son of Yōsashima. It was he who attempted to rally together the guards and bushi of the keep, calling out to them as he threw himself forward.
"To me men, to me! Neither an inch nor a foot will be submitted to these foulest of all nature's beasts! To me!" Yoshinaga's cry was answered by the other noble defenders of the great fortress that stood near the northern river.
As they threw themselves forward against the enemy that had found his way into their midst, most of those who might otherwise have defended their castle fell back. Though some fell back it was to rally behind the son of their liege-lord, who seemed to them as a half-god such as the great founding Emperor Hikohohodemi's age (Hikohohodemi having been the first Emperor of Zipangu, sent down by Amaterasu to civilize the nation).
*****
The guards of the small castle-town distracted as they were and desperate to keep the enemy from destroying all that they had built over the course of a great many years. Most had family within the castle-town most of whom screamed, and attempted to take flight from the vast hordes that followed after the great skeletal bushi who advanced in the direction of the castle with murderous intent.
The great slaughter that he heaped upon the grounds of the courtyard of the castle, was such that had never been seen before in the whole of Yōsashima's history. Not one man who lived within the castle walls was to survive save for a small number who fled from the southern gate, across the southern bridge.
Charging across the great fields to the south of the vast fortress that guarded the north, Satomine led his friends as far away from that place as he could before he had them break for the night.
None of them save Akemi were to care to look back, and only she was to break and weep for the people within the fort. Such was her nature though, with Akito eager to comfort her even as Harukor and Satomine preferring to focus their attention on the long, dark road that stretched ahead of them.