The Hand of Death Ch. 19

Chapter XIX

"Waging War"

"The Art of War"

~ by Sun Tzu ~

"Oh. He has nothing to offer you, my lady. He deals only in.... specialty items. And, he only sells to the RyuKyu Daimyo. No one of interest to you anyway." She continued to talk with the fat Honshu merchant, her interest not obvious to those of us listening.

"What is his name, Utsunomiya sama? He looks familiar."

"Fushi Toi, my lady. Do you know him?" She acted as if she was thinking.

"No. He looks like a friend of my father's but that is not this man's name. I must be mistaken."

While she worked, I kept an eye on "Nothing to offer her" san. A few moments after he left the tea-house I excused myself from my lady's presence. Toi walked to his very nice home. When I was sure he wouldn't be leaving, I went back to our room to change into my more usual work attire, black on black, and then back to his house before nightfall. It was quiet. He ate and rested that night. The next morning he walked down to his three boats.

I followed at a discreet distance, watching. He approached the first Captain and they spoke for several moments. I was too far away to make out what was said. I wormed my way forward. Luckily the docks were packed with people working on other boats. Toi moved on to a second boat a little farther down the dock, and then finally a third. I made note of each boat and its birth. I then followed him back to town where he ate and had some sake. By this time I was exhausted. I had to get back to our rooms and sleep.

Later, when I woke, I found them all sitting around me. Ketsumempo spoke up

saying, "Well?"

"Yes, I think so." They all smiled.

The ronin didn't know what we were looking for but they were happy it was almost over. I leaned on my elbow while lying there looking at them.

"I need to go back tonight and make sure." They all nodded.

That night I skulked back to the docks. I slipped into the water and swam to the back of the large san pan. I could hear men throwing dice on the main deck. I eased up the side where I could watch them from the shadow of the main top deck.

"You always win!"

"Now don't be that way. It's only money."

"It's only money that you seem to keep winning from us." The other two sailors were nodding in agreement.

"If you are going to be sore losers I will leave and let you gamble in peace."

"With what? You have our money!"

"Uh uh. I have my money. You will have to get more."

"We won't have more for another two months."

"Find another job in the meantime. Either way it's not my problem." The man stood and walked off the boat to the dock. The others watched him angrily.

I lowered myself back down the side of the boat and swam to the next one. It was birthed about thirty feet farther down the dock with two more boats between this one and it. Once there I again pulled myself slowly from the water to the edge of the deck. I saw one man standing there. He wore the light armor of a RyuKyu samurai. He was standing on the deck just looking out to sea. Another younger man approached him.

"You are sure there is nothing I can get you, my lord?"

"No, I am fine Goro san. Domo arigato."

"Missing the sea?"

The mononofu laughed. "Yes. I am a bit obvious about it, aren't I?"

"It is alright. We all feel that way."

"I should go take up lodgings in the palace but I miss sleeping on the deck whenever I do that."

The other man nodded. "I am the same way. Although to be honest.... my favorite feeling in the world is when we are repelling borders in the heat of battle."

"Ha! Yes, that is a good one!"

"Still, it will not be long now."

"No, about another six or seven weeks. It's going to seem a lot longer." They both smiled at that.

"We should make our plans for skirting the coast."

"Yes. Get the maps. I'll go retrieve the old journals." They bowed to each other and went to their things, which were stored in small trunks at the rear. I lowered myself back into the water and swam to the last boat. It was on the other side of the dock, and after a few moments of observation I realized there was nothing going on there. Three men and a woman were drinking and telling stories. I swam back to the second boat. The samurai and the sailor were discussing their route. It made no sense to me. Probably because I know nothing of sailing.

I hung from the side of the boat while I waited for them to finish. This took a few hours. When the sun started to rise in the east, I saw them put their plans away and find a shady place to sleep. When I was sure they were actually sleeping, I slipped over the side of the boat and crept over to the sailor's chest. I pulled out my picks and popped the lock. When I found the map I was grateful that all of my time of waiting had been for a purpose. The route they plotted took them to Takasago, the gaijin island where it was rumored they were buying the gaijin weapons. The map showed it was almost on the far end of the Shang Di worshiper's empire.

I stole a piece of paper and some ink from the chest. With these I made a rough copy of the map. When I had finished I put everything back in the chest and relocked it. I then crept through what remained of the shadows along the dock, to get back to our rooms. I took a much needed rest and when I awoke, I saw everyone sitting near me with an expectant look on their faces.

They were almost leaning in towards me when Ketsumempo asked, "Well...?"

I sat up on one elbow and nodded. "Yes. We have found them." I smiled. They all looked very relieved. "It will take some more time to finalize so we are not done yet. But soon."

I gave orders that we would continue with our act until we had more information. After another three weeks of surveillance I finally had all that we needed. Koruko had been invaluable when it came to collecting information. He had a knack for finding disgruntled people who are just dying to tell their boss's secrets. Without him this would have taken even longer. Four boats transported their goods to a walled and fortified warehouse. About ten men per boat and another forty in the warehouse. The gaijin weapons were stockpiled inside.             

Ketsumempo prepared what she would need for her part of the mission. We spent the next day preparing for our quick exit. The goods she had bought and our ronin we sent back on a boat that day. We arranged for transport that night with a Kyushu ship captain for ourselves. The ronin seemed unhappy. Masakari spoke to me.

"Then we are done, my lord?"

"Yes, Masakari san. You and your men have served us well. It has been an honor to know you."

"The honor has been ours, Hiro sama." He bowed to me and I returned it. "I wish that you

would allow us to watch over you until you have finished."

"It is too risky my friend. You might be needlessly hurt. Besides, you do not really know what is going on and it is best if it remains that way. You have done more than enough for us. Just be sure to keep Koruko safe until he is home and we will consider that a great favor we owe you."

Seeing that I had made up my mind, he left. Just before nightfall we headed out. Ketsumempo, waited for me near the warehouse. Before I left her there she summoned four Yosei that I had to take with me.

"They know their job. Just get them close to the boats," she said.

I looked at the little ladies in my hands. They waved at me. I put them inside my shirt and

moved towards the docks. Once I was close I went to mist and found a secluded spot to solidify and release the Yosei. Not too bad of a start. I got all four of them on board and they crept their way towards the stash of weapons. Then I met up with Ketsumempo again. She gave me more Yosei. They really are cute. I tried to leave to infiltrate the warehouse.

"Let me go in with you."

"No."

"I am not a child! I can do my share of the work!" she whispered.

"You are not a child but you are not an infiltrator either. I will not be killed because you slipped on a loose stone."

"I..."

"am an Onmyoji? Is that not what you were going to say?"

She looked miffed. "Yes."

"I will be back soon."

I left for the wall of the warehouse. The wall was not designed with serious defense in mind. It sloped too gradually towards the top. I scaled it easily. At the top I found eight guards, some armed with yari, some with bows. I sneaked past them to the ground and located the arms. I planted Yosei, some on the gaijin powder and some in the larger gaijin weapons. Then I just slipped back over the wall and back to Ketsumempo. She had stuck a yari in the ground with the letter our Daimyo had given us to leave here.

We made sure all was clear and then she began to chant towards the fort. It took only a few moments before I saw everything burst into flame. The night turned into day with the explosion's flare. It was quickly followed by much yelling. After a moment she turned towards the wharf and began to chant again. The boats blew apart and burned. More yelling. Ketsumempo and I had planned to slip away in the confusion so we started running away from the warehouse area and deeper into the alleyways around it. But when we had gone about twenty feet, she screamed. I looked over at her. Her eyes were wide as she fell to her knees and then to her face. She had an arrow sticking out of the back of her head.

"Ketsumempo!"

I ran to her. I rolled her over and I looked into her wide brown eyes to see... nothing. I began to cry. I couldn't speak. Then I heard men approaching. Even before I looked up to see them, my world went red. A light haze at first covered my eyes like I was being choked. Then slowly it turned to a deep crimson. There were three of them. I could see them approaching, wearing their fear like a cloak. I leaped the distance to them, striking the first one in the chest with a death strike. I severed the head from the second and beat the third one to death with several blows to the skull. There were more coming out of the buildings around me.

I misted, to slip their notice, and began to hunt. I would come upon them from behind and kill them before they knew what had happened. There were many to be rid of. Eventually I noticed the samurai in the fort trying to ascertain what was happening in the night. I leaped across the small space from my last kill to the top of the warehouse wall. There were three of them where I landed. The first one's head rolled down the wall while I crushed the throat of the second samurai-ko and kicked the last one into a fire below. I smiled at the sound of his screams.

Below me I saw several mononofu trying to put out one of the fires. I hopped down and began to murder the trash. Many of them I sliced in two, the rest I kicked into the fires. The fear filled the air. I leaped from darkness and killed anyone who fell into my line of sight. How many in all? I don't know. Seventy? I think.

I ran up the wall and found two mononofu standing there with yari in their hands. I swung my katana at the one on the right and saw his bowels hit the ground as I reached for his friend. Him I grabbed by the throat and crushed his windpipe. I slid down the interior of the wall again and slipped over to some men fighting to put out another fire. Some I stabbed in the back. Some I grabbed by the head and broke their necks. One samurai surprised me from the shadows, as he lunged I slapped his blade out of the way and drove my thumb through his eye. As he knelt there screaming I lopped off his head.

I had been slaughtering them for a while when I found myself on top of the wall. I looked down and saw five men outside the wall. Reinforcements had arrived from the city. I hopped from the wall. I swung two quick strikes and reveled in the death. I threw my katana at the far one, sinking it into his chest. I rolled under the attacks from his friends and came up behind the one on my right. Grabbing his head, I killed him and with all my might I threw his body at his friend. As I hopped over the entangled mess I heard the last one scream, "Ninja!"

She was flailing around on the ground with her katana, trying to get free of the body. I kicked her sword out of the way and knelt down hard on her throat. Crushing it. Just as I had killed the last samurai-ko, the world exploded into fire.

I flew many feet through the air and landed badly on my left arm. I heard the "snap!" as I landed.

My left arm, left leg, and chest all hurt. I had a headache and couldn't see out of my left eye. I was about to black out when I saw him approaching. A RyuKyu Onmyoji, moving cautiously. He crept up the hill. Full of fear, looking over his shoulder at every sound. He approached me as if I was an animal that would attack at any moment. I would have. But I couldn't move anything. I was too tired and too hurt. He finally got to me and stopped dead, staring at me. As he was looking down at me, I saw his head slowly tip to the right and fall off of his neck. As his body fell, I saw the old ronin, Masakari, standing behind him. He sheathed our swords and threw me over his shoulder. Pain!

Then I blacked out.