[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
meal of mountain vegetables, a little rice and soup, it began to rain heavily
again. The light became dim, greenish, and suddenly the idea of lying down
seemed irresistible. Makoto took Sunaomi to meet some of the young students;
Jun and Shin sat outside, drank tea and conversed quietly.
Takeo slept, the pain receding as if dissolved by the steady drum of rain on
the roof as much as the spiritual calm that had enveloped him. He dreamed of
nothing, and awoke with a renewed sense of clarity and purpose. He bathed in
the hot spring, remembering how he had soaked in this same pool in the snow
when he had fled to Terayama all those years ago. When he had dressed again,
he stepped onto the veranda just as Makoto and Sunaomi returned.
The boy had been touched by something, Takeo realized. His face was alight and
his eyes shining.
'Lord Miyoshi told me how he lived in the mountain, alone, for five years! The
bears fed him, and on freezing nights curled up against him to keep him warm!'
'Gemba is here?' Takeo questioned Makoto.
'He returned while you were sleeping. He knew you were here.'
'But how did he know?' Sunaomi demanded.
'Lord Miyoshi knows these things,' Makoto replied, laughing.
'Did the bears tell him?'
'Very likely! Lord Otori, let us go and see the abbot now.'
Leaving Sunaomi with the Arai retainers, Takeo walked with Makoto past the
refectory, where the youngest monks were clearing away the bowls from the
evening meal, across the stream that had been diverted to flow past the
kitchens, and into the courtyard in front of the main hall. From within this
hall, hundreds of lamps and candles glowed around the golden statue of the
Enlightened One, and Takeo was aware of the silent figures who sat in
Page 57
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
meditation within. They followed the boardwalk across another branch of the
stream into the hall that held the Sesshu paintings, and looked out onto the
garden. The rain had lessened, but night was falling and the rocks in the
garden were no more than dark shadows, barely discernible. A sweet fragrance
of blossom and wet earth pervaded the hall. The waterfall was louder here. On
the far side of the main branch of the stream, which raced along one edge of
the garden and away down the mountain, stood the women's guest house where
Takeo and Kaede had spent their wedding night. It was empty; no lights shone
from it.
Matsuda was already in the hall, leaning against thick cushions, which were
propped up against two silent, unmoving monks. He had appeared old when Takeo
had first met him; now he seemed to have passed beyond the confining borders
of age, even of life, and to have entered a world of pure spirit.
Takeo knelt and bowed to the ground before him. Matsuda was the only person in
the Three Countries whom he would so honour.
'Come closer,' Matsuda said. 'Let me look at you. Let me touch you.'
The affection in his voice moved Takeo deeply. He felt his eyes grow hot as
the old man leaned forward and clasped his hands. Matsuda's eyes searched his
face; embarrassed by the threatening tears, Takeo did not
return his gaze but looked beyond him to where the incomparable paintings
stood.
Time has not moved for them, he thought. The horse, the cranes - they are
still as they were, and so many who looked on them with me are dead, flown
away like the sparrows. For one screen was empty, the legend being that the
painted birds were so lifelike they took wing.
'So the Emperor is concerned with you,' Matsuda said.
'Fujiwara's son, Kono, came ostensibly to visit his father's estate but in
reality to inform me that I have incurred the Emperor's displeasure - am a
criminal, in fact; I am to abdicate and go into exile.'
'I am not surprised the capital is alarmed by you.' Matsuda chuckled. 'I am
only surprised it has taken them so long to start threatening you.'
'I believe there are two reasons; one is that the Emperor has a new general
who has already brought much of the East under his control and must now fancy
himself strong enough to provoke us. The other is that Arai Zenko has been in
touch with Kono - again ostensibly concerning the estate. I suspect Zenko has
been suggesting himself as my successor.'
He felt the anger begin to simmer again, and knew at once that Matsuda and
Makoto saw it. At the same time, he was aware of another person in the hall,
sitting in the shadows behind Matsuda. This man leaned forward now, and Takeo
realized it was Miyoshi Gemba. They were almost the same age yet, like Makoto,
Gemba did not seem to have been marked by the passage of time. He had a
smooth, rounded look to him, relaxed yet powerful -not unlike a bear, in fact.
Something happened to the light. The lamps flickered
and a bright flame leaped before Takeo's eyes. It hovered for an instant, then
shot like a falling star out into the dark garden. He heard the hiss as the
rain extinguished it.
His anger vanished in the same moment.
'Gemba,' he said. 'I am glad to see you! But have you been spending your time
here learning magic tricks?'
'The Emperor and his court are very superstitious,' Gemba replied. 'They have
many soothsayers, astrolo-gists and magicians. If I accompany you, you may be
assured we will be able to match them in their tricks.'
'So I should go to Miyako?'
'Yes,' Matsuda said. 'You must confront them in person. You will win the
Emperor over to your side.'
'I will need more than Gemba's tricks to persuade him. He is raising an army
against me. I am afraid the only sensible response is with force.'
'There will be some contest of a small nature in Miyako,' Gemba said. 'Which
is why I must come with you. Your daughter should also come.'
'Shigeko? No, it is too dangerous.'
Page 58
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
'The Emperor must see her and give her his blessing and approval if she is to
become your successor - as she must.'
Like Gemba, Matsuda spoke these words with complete certainty.
'We will not discuss this?' Takeo questioned. 'We will not consider all the
alternatives, and reach a rational conclusion?'
'We can discuss it if you like,' Matsuda said. 'But I have reached the age
where long discussions tire me out. I can see the end we will reach
eventually. Let's go straight to it.'
'I must also seek my wife's opinion and advice,' Takeo
said. 'As well as those of my senior retainers, and my own general, Kahei.'
'Kahei will always favour war,' Gemba said. 'Such is his nature. But you must
avoid outright warfare, especially if the warriors from the East have
firearms.'
Takeo felt a prickle of unease around his scalp and neck. 'Do you know that
they have?'
'No, I am just assuming they soon will have.'
'Again it is Zenko who has betrayed me.'
'Takeo, my old friend, if you introduce any new invention, be it weapon or
whatever, if it is effective its secret will be stolen. This is the nature of
men.'
'So I should not have allowed the development of the firearm?' It was
something he often regretted.
'Once you had been introduced to it, it was inevitable that you would develop
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]