Dororo: A Novel
Tsuji Masaki
Part Seven
The Tale of the Hidden Treasure
on the Cruel Cape
Chapter 4
Itachi and Dororo climbed up the cliff that towered over the
Cruel Cape.
"So this is the place, huh? My
father's treasure is hidden at the top, right?" Dororo
asked.
"There's no need to sound so
suspicious. I'm sure that Hibukuro hid it there. You'll see for
yourself soon enough."
The cliff was shrouded in mist;
it was so high that it seemed to stretch above the clouds.
Suddenly, the mist parted, revealing an empty clear space.
Itachi looked around, then
pointed triumphantly at a large rock. "There it is!"
The rock was marked with peculiar
scratches. "It's the same as the burn on your back," Itachi
said.
Itachi quickly dug with his
hands, revealing a large clay jar. "This must be it: the treasure
that Hibukuro hid away." He opened the lid on the jar with a
powerful pull.
"Ah!" Dororo gasped.
"W-why?" Itachi asked,
stunned.
The inside of the clay jar was
completely empty.
"That's... that's impossible!"
Itachi lifted the lid all the way off the jar. There was writing
inside. He read it out: "In April, we will give three pieces
of gold to the Yabuki Village. In June, we will give two pieces of
gold and five pieces of silver to the Miyoshidani peasants. In
July..." After reading that far, Itachi no longer had the heart to
continue.
Dororo jumped up in the air. "I
see. Dad didn’t keep the treasure for himself. He shared it with
the poor and kept it hidden from you bastards."
Ironically, Itachi had mounted
his assault on the island just after all the money that Hibukuro
had set aside was spent.
"Hehehehe! Look at that! You
should never have used my dad to try to betray me. You all were
gonna steal from the poor and starving--you would have killed them
with your greed! Dad was giving out what he got to make life
easier for everyone. Damn you all for ruining everything!"
The ground rumbled under Dororo's
feet as he yelled at Itachi.
"Ah!" Itachi cried out. He was
looking down at the shore, where dozens of soldiers were hunting
down his fellow bandits. Little by little, the treacherous waters
were receding around the cape. For less than an hour a day in what
is now Chiba Prefecture, it is possible to walk to the Cruel Cape
from shore. The soldiers must have come across during that short
time; even now, the narrow road they'd taken was being lapped at
by the waves.
"Kill them! Don't leave a single
one of them alive!"
Lord Makuwa was in command from
the rear. He'd swum much of the way, escaping from the giant shark
and barely making it to the cape. He'd discovered the bandits
there and captured one. The bandit had informed him about the
treasure that Hibukuro had hidden. He'd called in reinforcements
when it was possible to walk to the Cruel Cape overland, and now
the attack was in full force.
"There are too many of them!"
Itachi said. He grimaced in disgust at Lord Makuwa and the
soldiers. Nearly half of the bandits had been killed by the shark
attack; their numbers at half-strength were no match for Lord
Makuwa's forces. Only ten bandits were still fighting on the
beach.
"The treasure is above us!" Lord
Makuwa called out. "Retrieve it, men!"
Some of the soldiers, encouraged
by Lord Makuwa's shout, started climbing up the cliff.
"What?" Itachi froze still,
trapped in a dilemma. He was the leader here. He had to continue
the fight. His men defended themselves, running around the rocky
area near shore. The soldiers pursued. Every time they swung their
swords, they were guaranteed to hit one of their enemies.
"Shibuto, Yatsume! They're using
bows! Get down!"
There was the thrum of bowstrings
being released; arrows rained on the bandits. Most of the bandits
were running up the cliff, so the arrows were shot from below
them. That made it easier to dodge. Itachi himself dodged the
first five or six arrows, but eventually he was hit: once in the
stomach, once in the shoulder.
"I'll stay with you, you old
fart." Dororo kicked away the stones around them, standing over
Itachi protectively. The stones rolled down the cliff, echoing all
the way.
One stone knocked two others
loose, and those two stones knocked four more loose. Before long,
Dororo's kicked stones formed an avalanche that slid down the
cliff face.
"Gyaaah!"
"Gah!"
"Whoa!"
This attack was quite successful,
but it didn't sweep away everyone. The smarter soldiers moved out
of range of the falling stones, escaping harm. That included some
of the archers, who continued shooting.
"Dororo, that's enough, you just
hide there," Itachi said, breathing harshly into his
shoulder.
"Why? What the heck's wrong with
you?" Dororo's cheek had been grazed by an arrow; he was
bleeding.
"Because I don't want you to
die," Itachi said gravely. "If I save you, maybe the weight of my
crimes will be lighter. Listen to me, Dororo. Don't look at what
I'm about to do."
Itachi pushed Dororo behind a
rock, then brandished his sword so that Lord Makuwa and the other
soldiers would see him.
"Oh my gods... this is Itachi's
last fight!" Dororo said.
The two arrows stuck in Itachi
glinted as he moved. He slashed at the soldiers climbing up the
cliff, once after another, but of course he couldn't kill them
all. Another arrow pierced Itachi's neck, and he fell.
"Gah!"
For a few moments, Itachi
remained standing with the arrow poking out.
"I... that's it for me." Itachi's
eyes clouded over, becoming completely white. He turned his head
toward the rock where Dororo was hidden and whispered,
"Goodbye."
Stones were still rolling down
the cliff face. Itachi let out a scream, raising his voice to let
Hibukuro know that he was coming to see him in hell. Itachi's body
fell from the cliff like a stone, into the crowd of soldiers
below.
"Ah, Itachi!" Dororo jumped out,
forgetting himself.
Itachi landed on the ground with
a dull thump. He didn't move.
Dororo bit his lip. "Everybody's
dead... everyone..."
The battle was over. All of the
bandits had been killed to a man: Dororo was the last one left.
The soldiers were making neat piles of bandit corpses.
"Hey! There's a kid!" Lord Makuwa
called out to his men, pointing to Dororo on the cliff. Then:
"That's the warrior who crossed the border. Shoot him! Kill
him!"
Lord Makuwa gestured to
Hyakkimaru, who was standing near him. Before he finished
speaking, Hyakkkimaru cut him down, and he fell to the ground
covered in blood.
"Dororo!" Hyakkimaru waved up at
him. "It's me! Don't give up yet!"
"Oh, aniki!" Dororo jumped up and
down in his excitement.
"Out of my way," Hyakkimaru said,
holding both swords up as he ran at speed. Most of the soldiers
didn't try to stop him: their commander was down, and the bandits
were all dead. Hyakkimaru was a new threat, and it took time to
respond.
Dororo jumped off the cliff with
the agility of a mountain monkey. He scratched his head, then ran
to Hyakkimaru.
"Aniki! Aniki!"
"Wow, you stink," Hyakkimaru said
when he came into range.
"Huh?" Dororo took Hyakkimaru in.
It had been awhile since they'd last seen one another. "Oh, I get
it. You got your nose back and learned to smell. Well, you're
gonna have to get used to it, aniki."
"No I won't. When's the last time
you had a bath?"
"Hehehehe. Not to brag or
anything, but... four years ago."
"I hope you're lying," Hyakkimaru
said. He was about to burst out laughing.
But then another samurai
commander took the field. Hyakkimaru faced him, seeing Daigo
Kagemitsu rallying the leaderless soldiers.
Hyakkimaru didn't want to laugh
anymore.
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