The Hand of Death

Author's note:

Hey everybody, I'm so sorry for the long delay on this one. The last few months I've been dealing with some mental health crap that had me going to work and coming home. And that's pretty much all I could get myself to do. No writing, no email, I didn't even manage to read anything. BUT, I'm trying to claw my way out now. AND I should be able to post these remaining chapters pretty steadily.

I hope all of you are doing better. :)

Chapter XV

"March swiftly to places where you are not expected."

"

The Art of War

"

~by Sun Tzu~

I was informed that there was a rumored silver mine in the lands of the Morijunin House. My job, was to find it or prove the rumor untrue. Lovely. I would have to travel all of their lands to find it. The Morijunin were a small House, but they still had access to a large expanse of land, a peninsula off of the far end of the Honshu territory.

I got to work. The trick was to find the disguise that would cause the least amount of suspicion. It took me a few moments but I settled on the outfit of a Komuso monk. These monks wander Giapan teaching the Dao to anyone. They wear baskets on their heads to keep the people from being distracted from their past. I certainly knew enough about the Dao, and my knowledge of herbs should help to fill the role as a healer.

I purchased a humble copy of the Dao and several herbs. I mixed up a few doses of a healing agent and some salves, along with some various pain remedies. I then made my outfit. A worn kimono and obi, a sturdy wide brimmed straw hat with good visibility to cover my head, an old ratty cloak, and a large scroll case to carry the Dao and the herbs. I picked up a large gourd water bottle with a cloth cord, from a heimin friend of Chi's. My only weapons were a hamidashi, which is a long knife, and a spear. I also had to purchase a long wooden flute as all Komuso play these for meditation. I started practicing.

I couldn't bug Xai every time I needed a ride so I took a week to bound my way across the Honshu. I did take the time to spy on the chasm near Honshu-ko. A small village had begun to appear around the walls and the walls themselves looked very good. They were three stories high with sharp metal spears pointing in two directions toward the pit, down and out. The Honshu who guarded the pit seemed to take it very seriously, like everything in their life.

I walked into a tea-house as a monk and made light conversation. From what I gathered there had been three attacks from the pit since the walls were built but so far the samurai had dealt with it quickly. I made sure to leave before I outlived my welcome and continued to bound my way across the Honshu lands.

My next stop was a small Morijunin farming village just across the Honshu/Morijunin border. It was named Hanto Mura. The people were very friendly, and my three weeks with them passed pleasantly. Well, except for a small tremor that toppled the main eating hall. I had to help rebuild it and luckily only a few people were hurt by the quake. I helped them with the daily work of a farming village and in the evenings spoke from the Dao. I was a little sad when it was time for me to move on, and they all asked that I come again whenever I could.

My next stop was a little more interesting. Shoshinshu Mura, a small ronin village just south of Hanto Mura. This village made its money by selling rice to any House that paid for it. Mostly the Morijunin paid for it. The people seemed friendly enough though I received many stares as I walked into town. The village guards, ronin, bowed to me as I passed and I returned it politely. Once I sat down I found out they hadn't seen a monk in some time. They gathered around me as I found a place to sit. The questions started immediately.

"Where have you come from, Brother?"

"Any news from the rest of Giapan?"

"Have you been a monk long?"

"Anything new in the Honshu lands?"

"Will you teach the Dao?"

"How fares the Bandai and their war?"

"How long will you stay?"

The questions went on and on until finally the village headman showed up. He was a large man in heavy armor. It looked as if it had seen many battles but he had obviously cared for it. I could see his gray hair was thinning since he wore no helm to cover it.

"Alright, give the brother a rest. He is probably tired after his journey. Brother sama, we have fresh water inside the tea-house if you wish to clean up?"

I nodded to him and rose. "Bless you my friend. That sounds good."

He bowed in gratitude and led me to the tea-house. I washed up in the back room normally used by the manager. When I returned I found that the headman had chased everyone back to their work. He was the only one waiting for me.

"I am Tashi, Brother sama."

That was his name and what he carried. It hung from his obi by its two silk cords. A tashi is a katana with a wooden handle and saya. Usually it has brass fittings, like his did. It is designed to hang from the obi rather than be stuck in it. The hand guard consists of two oval pieces of metal on either side of the blade. We bowed to each other as I said, "I am brother Kazemu, Tashi san."

He nodded. "One of our town guards has offered to give you a place to sleep in his home, if that is alright."

"I am sure it will be perfect, arigato gozaimasu. Tell me, Tashi san, how may I help with today's work? I hate to be idle."

He smiled at my offer. "It is not harvest season but there are many repairs going on around town. We had a nasty little tremor the other day."

"Gomen nasai, was anyone hurt?"

"No, just scared." He directed me to a work crew at the blacksmith's, "These men would greatly appreciate your help."

They were very happy to see me. There were eight of them working hard. I put my things out of the way and lent a hand. We worked hard for the rest of the day. I carried the wood they used to make the roof. By dusk we had finished repairing the blacksmith's stall. The men and I walked back to the small tea-house when we were done.

One of them, a ronin named Hitoshi, said, "It is good to have a priest around again, Brother sama."

"I heard it has been a long time since one of us was here." They nodded. "Is there not a monastery near here?"

"Yes, Hachi-Tera, but they are very reclusive." I nodded.

One of the others said, "Not that they are bad, we sell them rice all the time."

I looked at the man. "They simply seek enlightenment by shutting out the world."

"Yes. You disagree with them?"

I shook my head. "No, the stream flows down the mountain by many paths."

They all agreed with this. After I had eaten I found a spot under a shady oak tree and sat down. Most of the town's people gathered around me. Some were suspicious of strangers no matter who they were. I chose a portion of the Dao and read from it. Then we began our discussion of the material. Many of the ronin had detailed thoughts on the subject, part of me was surprised at this. I guess I had always thought of ronin as not caring about spirituality. Afterward, I accepted the young ronin's offer of a place to stay while I was in town.

Yumi, who was probably named that for the bow he carried, was a nice man with a new family. His wife, Reiko, was very good at cooking fowl. If you can't stomach meat, don't become an impoverished monk. They aren't picky, so I couldn't be either. Their daughter, Asami, was a Giapan year and five months old. She was adorable. In Giapan you are considered to be 1 on the day of your birth. She had just learned to crawl, so at night we would play a game to help her practice. She was fond of my gourd water bottle, so I would place her across from me on the tatami mat and make her crawl to it. She laughed a great deal.

Yumi would talk to me often about the Dao. He told me he hoped to live long enough to become a monk. But right now he just wanted to provide for his daughter. I gave him my assurance that he would make it to old age.

I helped with the repairs each day and spoke from the Dao in the evenings, all the while watching the town. After three weeks I was about to move on but then something happened. Two young boys ran into town and straight into the "Chiroru Tea-house" where the town headman, Tashi, conducted his business each day. Eventually, Tashi came outside and addressed the crowd that had gathered.

"Hiro and Shigi have told me that their friends were attacked and killed by two horned oni north of here on the road." He continued, "I need volunteers to take care of these two monsters before more people die." I watched as four ronin stepped forward: Turi, Waraji, Nakago, and Kissaki. When no more volunteered, I stepped in.

"Brother sama, we appreciate the offer, but what good are prayers against monsters?" one of the ronin asked. They knew I was no Onmyoji.

"Granted, you might think it not worth much, but I have a feeling you samurai are going to need a healer when this is over." They all nodded at the sense of this.

I made sure we prayed to the fortunes before we left and blessed each one of them. I was not a priest, but I was not faking that prayer either. We traveled for a quarter of an hour before we came upon the site of the assault, three young boys and a girl, all between the ages of 9 and 11. They lay in pieces, thrown about the terrain. One of the ronin, Kissaki, an older man in his forties, spit and began to track the Oni, not hard to do with their large feet leaving such obvious tracks. It took us another half hour to find their cave.

The ronin devised a plan to break into two groups of two, one group for each Troll. I was to stay behind and aid them after their victory. This seemed a bit optimistic to me. After they left I checked my spear. The blade was double edged and as straight as a Honshu's morals. I circled around the ronin to scale the large hill that housed the oni cave. I was in mid climb when I heard their large feet hammering the ground. The ronin had roused the beasts before I was set. I had to keep climbing; I didn't look to see them. I just kept climbing.

"What pitiful excuses for warriors are these?" one said in a deep voice.

"You will not think us so pitiful when your head adorns our village, demon!" Turi replied.

I was grateful for the talking. It gave me time to get into position above the mouth of the cave. The ronin closed cautiously with the beasts. Before I could react, the smaller of the two monsters swung his large katana. It was so fast that the two on him, Turi and Nakago, couldn't react in time. He bisected them and laughed as the pieces fell to the ground. The other two began to fight his friend. They wounded him lightly in the first swings but he was big.

As the small one turned to help, I jumped off the hill with my yari. I was holding it blade down with both hands. He never even knew I was there. When I landed on his back I saw that I had succeeded in driving it down past his left collar bone into his heart.

I dropped off of him as he fell spewing his black blood from the wound. The two ronin were being pushed on the defensive now. The large one hadn't noticed his friend was dead yet. I managed to pull my yari free and come up behind him. I stabbed for his heart but he pivoted at the last moment. My yari cut a deep gash across his back, nowhere near enough to kill him. He turned and swung at me but I ducked under and rolled clear of him. He was going to follow through but it was too late. The two ronin, now behind him, pierced his heart with their blades. He collapsed as they pulled their katana free. It's always so quick.

Waraji looked at me. "We underestimated you, Brother Kazemu."

I smiled under my basket. "The wise man prepares for what he should do next."

They nodded and we began to collect our dead friends and their gear. I said a few prayers over our dead comrades. I was not eta, so I could only help with the equipment. The two ronin collected our friends and carried them back to town. It was disgusting but they didn't want to leave them for the scavengers. My friends looked at me confusedly the whole way home. As we got closer I could see the whole town waiting for our return. It didn't take long for the two ronin to tell everyone how great I was. Funny, if I had back stabbed a man like that they would all want my head, and want to use my remains to test the sharpness of their katana.

I weathered the praise as best I could. "Domo arigato. Arigato gozaimasu. DOMO ARIGATO." And so on and so on. Some of the eta had gone back and retrieved the ogre's heads and their ten foot long katana. The katana were stuck in the ground and the heads were displayed on the end of each. There was one on each side of the road as you entered Shoshinshu Mura.

Tashi approached me. "Brother, in gratitude we wish to give you this. We would have lost two more good men if not for you." He held a pair of kote forearm guards and a pair of suneate shin-guards.

"No gift is necessary, Tashi san."

"I know they are not much. But we can spare them and we want you to have them."

"But you have samurai here that may need them. I am just a priest."

"You are a priest who fights better than most of us. And we want you to be protected, so that you may return to us."

It really was a very sweet gesture. I accepted the gifts and put them on. Others brought things as well, I tried to decline, but there just isn't any way to do that and not be rude. The sister of Waraji gave me a pendant of a raven, the symbol of Wisdom. It had belonged to their mother. I hung it around my neck. A friend of Kissaki's, gave me a sleeping mat; I slung it over my shoulder. Many others came and gave me even more; thankfully someone gave me a wicker backpack so I could store everything. But, the one that stands out in my mind was the wife of Turi. Her name was Guwa.

"Please, accept this gift, Kazemu sama." She held a daisho in her hands. A simple unmatched set, the katana was black lacquered wood with brass fittings and brown silk cording wrapped the handle. The silk cording that wraps around the saya was missing and the weapon looked old. The wakazashi was of a light green with gold. I had seen this set before. It had been Turi's.

"I cannot accept such an honored gift, Guwa san. Turi would want you to keep it."

"No, he would not. I have no use for it and he would want a fine warrior to have it."

"But I am just a priest. You should save it for one of these men who protect the village."

"These men can find weapons at any time; we are not too poor for that. And from your responses I can tell that you are of a station to wear them."

Crafty damn woman got it out of me. I nodded and accepted the daisho. I wish I had just been a priest.

Once everything had calmed down the next morning, I told them it was time for me to move on. The townspeople were upset but they understood, or so they thought. I said my goodbyes to everyone, and promised I would return, if I could. The whole village saw me off that day. As I looked back at the town I was overwhelmed. There were so many people watching me. I left for the Morijunin House palace, Toshi Morijunin, but first I had to pass through the small village of Mura no Takeshi. Toshi Morijunin has a large port and on both sides it has very high cliffs protecting it. There is a pass through the hills to get to the Toshi but to access that you must pass through Takeshi. The Daimyo Morijunin Chiba uses this to ensure only the people he wants in his city get in.

The people here were quiet and watchful. I think it was part of their duty to the Morijunin, to keep an eye out for any trouble. I found a mason to stay with, an old man by the name of Kama. He lived with four of his workers. They weren't very friendly at first but they warmed up as the time passed. I stayed with them for three weeks with no sign of the mine. When the time came to leave, I made my goodbyes and left for their capital.

It was said that the Morijunin had secret tunnels which allowed them to flood the hills over the path with mononofu so that they could hold this path from any army, indefinitely. Eventually, I came upon the palace. The road continued around to the side. I followed it around the walls, well within the range of the bows carried by the samurai manning the walls. The path passed between three of the five gates along the way to the castle, each one was manned by several more bow toting mononofu. The third one, or middle one, guarded the entrance, the last two went on to cover the rest of the road as it passed Toshi Morijunin, and continued on to the port.

The samurai at the gates stopped me and inquired as to my business. I was just a traveling monk who wanted to see the palace so getting their OK was not hard. Once inside I found an out of the way spot to rest. When my fatigue had passed, I played my flute. I had gotten much better. I found that the flute did help with my meditation and this turned into a habit I would keep. After a few moments of playing a little girl walked up to me.

"Hello, Morijunin-ko."

She eyed me with great curiosity. "Are you a wizard?"

She was very young, five years maybe.

"No Morijunin-ko, just a humble monk."

Her eyes widened in delight. "Oh? There is another monk here. Do you know him?"

"Well I don't know. What does he look like?"

I couldn't help but slip into the soft voice you use when speaking to a child.

"Mother said he normally has a big sword and bulky armor but I have not seen him wear it yet."

"Uh huh." Just then I noticed a Sohei monk, the warrior monks of the Tokushima family. He was walking up behind her to listen in. He was covered in many beautiful tattoos. Of course he was bald; his only clothing was a pair of pants and a pair of sandals. He seemed to be enjoying our conversation. The little girl leaned in close to whisper.

"And he doesn't have any hair!" she giggled.

"Really!?"

She nodded. "And he's covered in stains!"

"Stains!?"

"Uh huh." She nodded for emphasis. I picked her up and sat her on my lap.

"Does he look anything like...that!?" I pointed at the monk while turning her towards him.

"That's him!" She hid her face in my robes. We were both still laughing as her mother, a Morijunin Doshin, stepped up and took her from my arms. Her mother thanked me for talking to her.

"Of course, Doshin sama. She is a bright child. She will make you proud I am sure." The woman smiled and went back to her work with her child. The Sohei approached.

"Have you eaten rice today brother?" He had a voice so deep that it seemed to shake the very ground.

"I have not, Tokushima sama."

"Please, follow me and we shall find some. Your walk up the mountain was pleasant I hope?" He led me through the outer area of the castle. We were in the merchant quarter so that visiting merchants wouldn't need to go deeper into the castle.

"It was as pleasant as could be hoped for. I prefer downhill, to up."

"I myself prefer up."

"You enjoy fatigue, I take it?" He brought us to an inn titled "The Ugly Morijunin." We went inside and found a table.

"It tempers the soul."

I nodded. "You have me there. My name is Kazemu."

He looked surprised. "The monk from Shoshinshu Mura?"

"I was there for a few weeks. Yes."

"But you are the one that saved them from the oni?"

A boy came over and took our order. I continued when he left.

"That is not quite true. I only killed one oni. I just distracted the other. The two ronin that survived, killed him."

"The village seems to feel differently about it."

"Arigato gozaimasu for the flattery brother. But you still have not told me your name."

"Ah? Yes. My name is Tokushima Michi."

I was a little stunned. "...The Tokushima Michi?"