Sen
Tokuon’s men were preparing to leave.
They would travel south and west, through the Serpent’s Scales to Tokuon’s lands in Gisan. From there they would gather bannermen still loyal to the Gensei and head toward the capital.
Sen was going with them.
When Hakaru heard the news, coming back through the main gates with his men, he had thrown Lord Tokuon to the dirt. A dozen swords flashed in the black air and Nihira had to race between them to prevent his brother from starting a new slaughter in the yard. The night grew cold and heartless. The fires had been lit.
“It wasthem.” Tokuon was seated before the new lord and his brother in the meeting-hall. “The Keishi snakes who did all of this.”
“Why? Why would they do that?” Nihira said. “They wanted my mother’ssupport. They asked for her loyalty!”
“And how long has she denied it to them?” Tokuon asked. “This is what they do. This is what they always do!”
“They would never, they don’t want to risk a war.”
“There is already a war!”
Nihira narrowed his eyes. “Say what you mean, Gisan.”
No more time.
At this, Tokuon turned his head, and the large warrior they had rescued from the Scales came forward with a bow.
The warrior Yozora died to save, Sen thought.
“Lord Nihira,” Tokuon began. “This is Kiie Taisha, Toryo of our house. Cousin of my father. He has something to tell you.”
Kiie stood like a boulder, large in the shoulder and the gut, with a pair of huge arms, angry eyes, and a scar around his throat where someone once had tried to kill him.
He’d been lord of Muzo, Sen learned, cousin of his uncle and ally to his father during the War of the Morning and the Night. After the defeat, Kiie escaped to the great shrine on Mount Takano, taking the name Taisha’in before crossing the plains. He told them his son Yoshimori was forced to become a monk, entering the priesthood in the old city of Naruji. His daughter Mitsuko remained at her family’s home in Muzo, and was married to a Keishi ally to cement the peace. The marriage was entirely political, but though she was officially in charge of the Muzo household, in practice the Tokeishi stewards who occupied it would never let her leave or gain supporters of her own.
“And there’s a crisis in the capital, lord.” Kiie’s voice boomed thick as mud. “Whispers of conspiracy, a plot to remove Seikiyo from power. The Keishi are taking control of the councils.”
Nihira muttered, “They couldn’t.”
Kiie said, “I came to your lands on behalf of my cousin Yora. He wishes to meet, in spring. I arrived in Gisan to see what things were like in the mountains, but… several days ago, our scouts found a messenger in the Scales, with unsettling news from the capital. Mountain-wolves. From the Musha’in, Akiyo. Loyal to the Keishi. They’re in the Kanden. And at the same time, the retired-emperor, he sends his agents to the edges of the realm, sowing discontent.”
Tokuon swore. “We’ve been away too long.”
“Who’s the Musha’in?” Sen asked, startling the men with his voice.
Kiie turned to him, perhaps seeing him for the first time. If he knew who Sen was, he gave no hint of it. “A Kyohara, Hara-of-the-capital. Akiyo. She’s a daughter of the regent house, and the only woman in her clan who is kijin; she leads the chancellor’s army. And she’s had to fight for it too; the western tradition takes accordance with the laws of the continent, where women are made to rule the house but nothing beyond. They think our ways are backward. And yet they claim to love tradition. They don’t have the same roots as we do. Too busy with their ships and their trade, trying to remake our land into a new version of the continental dynasty they love so much.”
“When the time comes,” Tokuon said, “the Kyohara Musha’in will be our most dangerous opponent on the field.”
He urged Nihira and his family to join him in the gathering of the clans.
“How do we know we can trust you?” Nihira asked, blinking with weariness. He hadn’t slept.
Kiie shifted. “Lord… to the west and south, everything is in peril. My cousin Yora wishes to consult with you.” A look to Tokuon. “Both of you. He has ever been a friend of the east, of Gisan… He wishes to mend this ill-will between you.”
“I know what he wants,” Tokuon said. Then, a silence. “The mirror prince has issued a call to arms. Nioh. To resist Keishi rule and the puppet they plan to put upon the throne. All loyal Gensei are to meet in the barrier plains. There is no choice.”
One moment and the next.Jobo was right:This is war.
Sen waited to see what his stewardbrother would say. Nihira now held power in the northeast. His warriors were famous horse-archers, but he was cautious. He’d learned much from his mother. He wouldn’t risk his people – or his standing among the capital’s elites – without considering all options.
