The Fall of Daigo - Part 3 - Cursed Family - Chapter 3

The Fall of Daigo

Book 3 of the Dororo Novel Series

Toriumi Jinzō

Part 3 - Cursed Family

Chapter 3

    The house servant led Hyakkimaru to a deserted warehouse that was falling apart. Narrow, rickety steps led to a cramped space between the ceiling and the roof that looked a bit like an attic. There was no one around, and no other warehouses or sheds were nearby. Hyakkimaru should be able to avoid the notice of the guards here, at least for a little while. He wouldn’t be able to stay long, since anyone carrying food or supplies to him would almost certainly be noticed, but he was grateful for the hiding place all the same.

    After the house servant left, Hyakkimaru came out of the warehouse in his carpenter’s uniform with the Muramasa sword bundled up inside a straw mat carried under his arm. The courtyard with all the soldiers was lit by fires set in iron braziers, likely for the impending feast. He didn’t approach the courtyard. It was manned by ashigaru, common soldiers, and at least a hundred officers. He’d be dead the moment he was discovered.

    Hyakkimaru walked swiftly in the shadow of the fortress walls, looking down and trying not to draw attention to himself. He saw many more carpenters hurrying along his path and did his best to copy their movements. He was encouraged by the sight of so many other carpenters and workers. It wasn’t too difficult to blend in.

    He arrived at the forested area near the gate leading out of the castle without incident. The courtyard where the feast was being held was a considerable distance away, but it was so brightly lit that Hyakkimaru could see it from where he was standing. He put his back to the wall of a shed near the forest path and took a look at the courtyard from hiding.

    Hyakkimaru had never seen Daigo Kagemitsu before. He had no idea what he looked like. He hadn’t even clearly seen the face of his wife. This was his chance to lay eyes on them for the first time. He was nervous about what he would see. If their outsides reflected their insides…

    Hyakkimaru heard the strumming of a lute and enhanced his hearing a little. What?

    He recognized the song. It sounded like the blind monk Hōichi was entertaining at Daigo Kagemitsu’s feast. Hōichi? Here?

    Maybe he was mistaken. There were many blind monks that played the lute, after all, and Hyakkimaru couldn’t see the lute player clearly from where he was. It was possible that a different monk had come to play instead.

    But then the lute player started playing the Tale of the Heike, singing verses about human loneliness. Hyakkimaru identified his voice and could not be mistaken. Lute-playing monks were numerous, but Hōichi’s voice was both distinctive and superlative. Hyakkimaru almost called out to him in greeting on reflex, but he snapped his mouth shut before he could make a sound.

    Hōichi probably didn’t know that Hyakkimaru would be here. Hyakkimaru and Dororo had learned of Daigo Kagemitsu’s whereabouts the year before, and neither one had been in contact with Hōichi since. He must have come here on his own, but Hyakkimaru wasn’t sure. His appearance here was too fortuitous to be a simple coincidence.

    The timing was wrong for Hōichi’s appearance to be accidental or coincidental. The Daigo Clan must have sent out a call for entertainers well before holding the banquet. That meant that Hōichi had found the Daigo Clan before Hyakkimaru. Perhaps he’d sent word back to Mount Kurama and Mio’s Temple, but that would do no good with Hyakkimaru, Jukai and Dororo absent.

    But Hyakkimaru had no time to linger on the mystery of Hōichi’s reappearance. He had work to do. He set down his bundle and unwrapped it, pulling out a fishing net made of flax. He threw it onto the roof of the shed. He took out a chisel from among the carpenter’s tools and put the handle in his mouth, then jumped onto the roof, carrying his sword in a bundle with his other carpenters’ tools.

    Getting onto the roof wasn’t a problem with psychokinesis, but doing so without making a sound was impossible. He waited until he was sure his movements hadn’t been noticed in the courtyard, then started jumping from roof to roof, one by one and stealthily. He could reach the entrance of the main building from above if he was careful. He waited for his opening and leaped.

    No one saw him. He could see the banquet from his high vantage point. It was quiet except for Hōichi’s music. Everyone paid rapt attention to him and didn’t so much as glance Hyakkimaru’s way. Hōichi pitched his voice to carry, so Hyakkimaru could hear the song clearly.

    Hyakkimaru walked along the latticework of the roof and jumped down a level, silently. He could see everything from here. His artificial eyes gleamed in the light of the braziers, torches and candles in the courtyard. He was mostly concealed behind a ridge in the roof, so no one caught sight of him. He squinted his eyes and took in the view.

    Hōichi sat on a raised dais by himself, surrounded by torches. His voice echoed through the air in steady waves. Hyakkimaru was glad to see him; he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed him until now.

    But Hyakkimaru wasn’t here to see Hōichi. The seats nearest the raised dais were occupied by high-ranked samurai generals. His eyes scanned the crowd frantically, searching for identifying details. There was only one woman among them, so she was probably Daigo’s wife…which meant the man sitting next to her was…

    Daigo Kagemitsu did not look like a monster. He had a neatly trimmed beard around his mouth and his expression as he listened to the music was polite, though perhaps vaguely disinterested. Compared to other samurai generals Hyakkimaru had met, he looked positively mild-mannered.

    The woman sitting next to Daigo Kagemitsu didn’t look like a demon or a monster, either. Her features were delicate and refined. She sat up perfectly straight, enraptured by the song.

    Anyone who didn’t know who they were might assume they were good people and kind parents.

    No. That’s not them. My parents are demons. They’re monsters. They’re…

    Hyakkimaru looked again. Daigo Kagemitsu smiled a little, softening his features, and his wife wiped away a compassionate tear for the loneliness expressed in Hōichi’s song.

    They were nothing like Hyakkimaru had imagined they would be. Kagemitsu Daigo should look more beast than human, with wide, overgrown eyebrows, eyes as dark as a void, and a cruel, sneering mouth. His mother should be bloodlessly pale, thin mouth slit open from ear to ear and full of fangs and sharp teeth.

    But they weren’t. Had the demons tricked him? Lied to him? Remembered loneliness all his own made Hyakkimaru’s heart ache. Although this was the first time Hyakkimaru had seen Daigo Kagemitsu’s face, he had witnessed him selling his body to the demons at the Hall of Hell from behind. Was all of that an illusion? Had the demons shown that to him to put him on the wrong trail?

    Hyakkimaru tried to recall everything he’d seen at the Hall of Hell.

 

***

 

    A lone samurai—presumably Daigo Kagemitsu—stood in front of a raised platform directly facing the forty-eight demon statues.

    "Forty-eight devils, hear my prayer," the samurai said. "I have ambitions to take the world in my hands and bend it to my will."

    Voices murmured underfoot.

    The samurai rose and approached the platform, then knelt down and continued to pray.

    "If you grant this prayer, I will give you anything."

    "Anything?" The voice of a demon echoed in the Hall of Hell.

    "Anything. I swear it. What do you wish of me? Treasure? Money?"

    "We have no use for such trivial things," the voice boomed. The four pillars supporting the hall shook.

    "Then what do you want?" the samurai asked.

    "A life."

    "A life?" the samurai asked. "Mine?"

    "Your wife will soon give birth to a child. We desire forty-eight pieces of that child's body."

    "You want forty-eight pieces of a newborn's body?" the samurai asked, clearly confused.

    "That is the only thing we want. We will accept nothing else."

    The samurai shook from head to toe. All four candles in the hall flickered out, even though there was no wind.

    "All right," the samurai said. "If I am granted the world, I will give that to you."

    "Are you lying, Kagemitsu?"

    The samurai pressed his face to the floor. "I'm not lying. You have my word."

 

***

 

    The demons had called the samurai Kagemitsu. Of that, Hyakkimaru was certain. Taga Takatada’s investigative report had identified a Daigo Kagemitsu living in Kibune the year of Hyakkimaru’s birth, just upstream from Mount Kurama. Jukai had shared his nightmares of the Hall of Hell.

    If the demons are tricking me, they must have tricked Jukai, too.

    Was that possible? He knew that the Hall of Hell demons wanted to exterminate people with psychokinesis, since psychokinesis seemed to be the only thing that could kill them. Was Daigo Kagemitsu being used as some kind of tool to track down people who had psychokinesis? Or for some other purpose? Hyakkimaru found it hard to believe the demons would point Hyakkimaru at Daigo Kagemitsu for no reason.

    Guards surrounded Kagemitsu and his wife. His closest advisors and retainers also sat near him. Two of these were master swordsmen named Tarao Tenzen and Anazawa Yozaemon Morisada. Like Sabame Nuinosuke, a samurai Hyakkimaru had fought against in Ezichen Province, they had both received training in the deadly Nen-ryū fighting style by Akamatsu Sanshuza. They wouldn’t be easy opponents to defeat.

    Something Kagemitsu and his wife heard caused their pleasant façade to slip a little. The rhythm of Hōichi’s song changed, indicating that he was entering a new or side section of the Tale of the Heike. Artistic digressions were common and expected, given how long the work was.

    Hōichi sang of the death of Taira no Atsumori. “Defeated in battle, the Taira Clan fled from the cliff into the sea. ‘I see that you are a commander. It is dishonorable to show your back to an enemy. Stand and fight!’”

    The speaker in these verses was Kumagai no Jirō Naozane, a samurai serving the Minamoto Clan. He grappled the fleeing commander and removed his helmet, discovering that the man was a boy about the same age as his own son. Other Minamoto Clan samurai appeared and would have killed the boy even if Kumagai no Jirō Naozane refused, so he beheaded him quickly, weeping all the while.

    Searching the body for something to wrap the head in, Kumagai no Jirō Naozane came across a bag containing a flute. He realized that Atsumori must have been one of the soldiers playing music before the battle and said, “There are tens of thousands of riders in our eastern armies, but I am sure none of them has brought a flute to the battlefield. These court nobles are refined men!”

    Kumagai no Jirō Naozane felt such remorse for his murder of the boy that he took monastic vows and never killed again.

    Hōichi had chosen this selection from the Tale of the Heike especially for this occasion. There was irony in playing such a song before a man who had willingly sacrificed his own child for the sake of personal gain. Kumagai no Jirō Naozane had not killed his own child—he would not have been capable of such a thing—but the death of Taira no Atsumori had affected him as profoundly as if he had killed his child with his own hands.

    Kagemitsu frowned in irritation. His retainers and the men surrounding him all wept at the depth of feeling in Hōichi’s song. Kagemitsu composed himself quickly, but Hyakkimaru had seen him frown, and he thought he knew what it meant.

    Hyakkimaru wondered why Hōichi had chosen to interrupt his previous song in favor of this one. Could he see Hyakkimaru on the roof with the eyes of his mind? He had always been good at seeing things in the world for exactly what they were, despite the fact that he was physically blind. Maybe he was trying to help Hyakkimaru discover Kagemitsu’s true nature by playing such a song where Hyakkimaru could witness his reaction.

    Hōichi ended his song. It was silent for a long moment. Many of the people in the courtyard were stunned speechless with emotion.

    Hyakkimaru climbed off the roof and sat down on a bundle of sticks near a wall. He couldn’t shake the image of Kagemitsu frowning during Hōichi’s song. Why had he done that if he wasn’t guilty? He sat still until the entertainments and banquet were all concluded, lost in thought.

    Hyakkimaru watched the party disperse, sitting still. If he wanted to meet Daigo Kagemitsu, now was the time. He might never get another chance.

    I’ve waited so long to learn the truth. What am I hesitating for?

    Hyakkimaru stood up, cast aside his carpenter’s uniform and drew his Muramasa sword. He wanted Daigo Kagemitsu to see him for who he truly was. He was rounding a corner of the building and about to dash into the forested area surrounding the courtyard when someone called out to him in the dark.

    “Halt!”

    Since the feast was over, many lights had been extinguished, but some torches still burned along the fortress city’s walls. Hyakkimaru used the scant light to identify the speaker: Tahōmaru, the young man he’d fought with the previous day.

    Tahōmaru was alone this time. Hyakkimaru didn’t see any guards or ashigaru nearby.

    “So you’re still here,” Tahōmaru said as he came closer. “Who helped you?”

    Hyakkimaru said nothing. He simply stared.

    “You said you were after Daigo Kagemitsu’s life,” Tahōmaru said. “That must mean you’re an Asakura spy.” He drew the sword at his hip. “You know my name; it’s Tahōmaru. Give me yours.”

    “Hyakkimaru.”

    “Hyakkimaru? That doesn’t sound like a real name.” He slashed out wildly with his sword.

    Hyakkimaru drew his Muramasa sword and blocked Tahōmaru’s slashing blade with such force that Tahōmaru stumbled back and collapsed to the ground, staggered.

    Tahōmaru got up, gripping his sword firmly. He faced Hyakkimaru again. “You’re better than you look,” he muttered. “Interesting.”

    Tahōmaru was taking this fight far more seriously than he had the last. He attacked fiercely, but his style was immature and it was clear that he lacked experience.

    Hyakkimaru fended off his attacks until Tahōmaru was completely out of breath. “Just give up,” he said. “Don’t waste your life.”

    His words enraged Tahōmaru. “Shut up!”

    Hyakkimaru aimed a strike at Tahōmaru’s eyes that Tahōmaru blocked. They stared at one another, breathing hard.

    “That’s enough,” Hōichi called out in a strident voice. He walked up to Hyakkimaru and Tahōmaru in the dim torchlight and stood between them.

    “Get out of the way, you old monk!” Tahōmaru shouted. “This is none of your concern!”

    Hōichi fixed his white-blind eyes on Tahōmaru. “Do you really want to kill your older brother?”

    “What? What did you say?” Tahōmaru narrowed his eyes.

    Hyakkimaru sucked in a breath. Hōichi could see the true nature of things.

    “Brothers shouldn’t kill one another,” Hōichi said. “It’s a crime against nature.”

    “I have no brother,” Tahōmaru spat. “You lie.”

    “I don’t,” Hōichi snapped.

    Tahōmaru was stunned at Hōichi’s harsh tone. He took a step back, eyeing both Hōichi and Hyakkimaru warily.

    Hyakkimaru remembered what Itagaki Shūsuke had told him about the Daigo Clan. I've never met him, but I know him by reputation. I've heard he has a wife and son.

    Tahōmaru must be Daigo Kagemitsu’s younger son. He did seem to be the right age. Hyakkimaru gaped at Tahōmaru and didn’t move.

    “There are things in this world that seem impossible or nonsensical,” Hōichi said. “But this is one thing where you don’t have to take my word.”

    “Like I would believe you, anyway,” Tahōmaru said. He was no longer shouting, but he launched his voice like a blade at Hōichi.

    “I speak the truth,” Hōichi said. “Others know it, too.”

    “Liar!” Tahōmaru practically screamed.

    “You don’t have to believe me,” Hōichi said calmly. “Your parents know the truth, too.”

    Tahōmaru went very pale.

    Guards and ashigaru had heard Tahōmaru shout. They sprinted toward him, Hyakkimaru and Hōichi. “Lord Tahōmaru!”

    “Intruders!” The guards surrounded Hyakkimaru and Hōichi.

    “I am the monk who played the lute at the banquet tonight,” Hōichi said. “You must have seen me there.”

    The guards shouted wordlessly, called to act because of the perceived threat to Tahōmaru.

    Hōichi looked a little sad. He didn’t want to fight these men.

    “You might be allies of the spy who broke into the Judicial Office,” one of the guards said. “We can’t take chances. We’ll bind you and take you to the barracks for questioning.”

    “You will not,” Hōichi said, gently but firmly. He drew his thin blade out of his cane so fast that Hyakkimaru didn’t see it. An instant later, the two guards closest to him collapsed to the ground.

    The other guards took a cautious step back from Hōichi. They hadn’t considered the possibility that he could fight, because he was blind.

    “Impossible! Are you a spy, too?”

    Hōichi laughed brightly, then started singing. “The wind blows to the east, and it rains in the west...”

    The old monk was making fun of them. The guards and ashigaru couldn’t allow such a thing. “Kill him! Strike him down!” 

    “If the fickle wind carries my scent..."

    Hōichi cut down another guard, still singing. There were only two guards left standing. He waited for them to attack, then struck them down faster than the eye could track.

    Tahōmaru was stunned at Hōichi’s skill with the sword. Hyakkimaru was less surprised, but it was the first time he’d seen Hōichi kill anyone.

    “We have to leave, Hyakkimaru,” Hōichi said.

    “Yes.”

    Hyakkimaru and Hōichi sprinted into the woods toward the castle’s main gate, leaving Tahōmaru behind.