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Authors: Sean Russell
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and assist me you will. That, or you will lose more than your recent promotions. Do you understand?”
The smaller man nodded, unable to answer. The hand that held him shook with anger, and the priest’s eyes were wilder than ever.
Looking around him for the first time, the priest caught the stares of the crewmen, even as they turned away to avoid his eyes.
“Take this,” Ashigaru said, slipping a small packet into Kogami’s hand and closing the unwilling fingers around it. “When the young Brother has finished damning your daughter to the Netherworld you must take him some cha. No doubt he will be grateful. Make sure the cha is strong and that the contents of the packet which I have given you are stirred into it.
“Your head hangs in the balance, Kogami Norimasa,
Functionary of the Second Rank
. The monk need only drink the cha. No one will know it was poisoned. You will not be held accountable by the Imperial Courts, I guarantee it. After all, the monk has saved your daughter. How could you wish him harm?
“Remember Jaku Katta of the flashing sword and let the memory of such a worthy general bring you strength.”
The priest bowed formally to Kogami Norimasa who returned the gesture as if in a dream.
He felt himself being swept along on the outgoing tide, beyond safety, beyond hope. He gripped the wooden rail with both hands and stared down into the rushing water. A glowing path of phosphorescence stretched out along the ship’s wake. He felt the tiny package in his sleeve pocket as it brushed against him. I am going to take the life of a Botahist Brother, he thought. What karma will I acquire! It will not matter that I am not blamed. He tried to work some saliva into his mouth but couldn’t.
I have no stomach for murder, he thought, no stomach at all. How could my life have come to this?
“Pride,” a small voice said from within. “Pride has brought you to this. Your life was good and yet you walked around as if under a dark cloud. Always wanting more. Humility, Botahara taught, humility.”
I will not face Jaku Katta,
his mind screamed! He could see the point of Jaku’s famous sword arcing toward him.
And so he stood at the rail in the moonlight, a soft zephyr caressing him, Kogami Norimasa, the Emperor’s servant, the Brotherhood’s student—a man entirely at sea. Before him the Two-Headed Dragon had risen and stretched its wings across the southern sky. I am doomed, Kogami thought, and knew it to be true.
The monk emerged from below and spotted Kogami Norimasa leaning against the rail. He crossed the deck to where the man stood, and the trader jumped when the monk cleared his throat.
“May your harmony return within the hour, Norimasa-sum. I believe your daughter will recover entirely, though she will be very weak and should not be moved any distance for several days after we have docked. You may look in on her, but do not wake her.”
Kogami Norimasa put his hand to his face and seemed close to breaking down but took a series of deep breaths and regained a semblance of control.
“I do not know a way to express my gratitude for what you have done, Brother Shuyun. Nothing one such as myself can do would begin to repay the debt I owe to you.”
“I am a student of the Great Knowledge. How could I have done otherwise?”
Kogami Norimasa bowed deeply. “It moves me, Brother, to find one whofollows the Way so completely. To meet you is a great honor.” Kogami, the bureaucrat, was shocked by the sincerity of his own words.
Shuyun bowed slightly in return. He realized now that the trader had at one time been a student of the Botaharist Brothers. The signs were all there, the inflection and the careful choice of words. The posture, the mixture of fear, awe, and suppressed resentment that so many students developed. Yet the man wore no prayer beads or icon to Botahara and he associated freely with the Tomsoian priest.
A lost one,
Shuyun concluded.
“If you wish to see your daughter now,
The smaller man nodded, unable to answer. The hand that held him shook with anger, and the priest’s eyes were wilder than ever.
Looking around him for the first time, the priest caught the stares of the crewmen, even as they turned away to avoid his eyes.
“Take this,” Ashigaru said, slipping a small packet into Kogami’s hand and closing the unwilling fingers around it. “When the young Brother has finished damning your daughter to the Netherworld you must take him some cha. No doubt he will be grateful. Make sure the cha is strong and that the contents of the packet which I have given you are stirred into it.
“Your head hangs in the balance, Kogami Norimasa,
Functionary of the Second Rank
. The monk need only drink the cha. No one will know it was poisoned. You will not be held accountable by the Imperial Courts, I guarantee it. After all, the monk has saved your daughter. How could you wish him harm?
“Remember Jaku Katta of the flashing sword and let the memory of such a worthy general bring you strength.”
The priest bowed formally to Kogami Norimasa who returned the gesture as if in a dream.
He felt himself being swept along on the outgoing tide, beyond safety, beyond hope. He gripped the wooden rail with both hands and stared down into the rushing water. A glowing path of phosphorescence stretched out along the ship’s wake. He felt the tiny package in his sleeve pocket as it brushed against him. I am going to take the life of a Botahist Brother, he thought. What karma will I acquire! It will not matter that I am not blamed. He tried to work some saliva into his mouth but couldn’t.
I have no stomach for murder, he thought, no stomach at all. How could my life have come to this?
“Pride,” a small voice said from within. “Pride has brought you to this. Your life was good and yet you walked around as if under a dark cloud. Always wanting more. Humility, Botahara taught, humility.”
I will not face Jaku Katta,
his mind screamed! He could see the point of Jaku’s famous sword arcing toward him.
And so he stood at the rail in the moonlight, a soft zephyr caressing him, Kogami Norimasa, the Emperor’s servant, the Brotherhood’s student—a man entirely at sea. Before him the Two-Headed Dragon had risen and stretched its wings across the southern sky. I am doomed, Kogami thought, and knew it to be true.
The monk emerged from below and spotted Kogami Norimasa leaning against the rail. He crossed the deck to where the man stood, and the trader jumped when the monk cleared his throat.
“May your harmony return within the hour, Norimasa-sum. I believe your daughter will recover entirely, though she will be very weak and should not be moved any distance for several days after we have docked. You may look in on her, but do not wake her.”
Kogami Norimasa put his hand to his face and seemed close to breaking down but took a series of deep breaths and regained a semblance of control.
“I do not know a way to express my gratitude for what you have done, Brother Shuyun. Nothing one such as myself can do would begin to repay the debt I owe to you.”
“I am a student of the Great Knowledge. How could I have done otherwise?”
Kogami Norimasa bowed deeply. “It moves me, Brother, to find one whofollows the Way so completely. To meet you is a great honor.” Kogami, the bureaucrat, was shocked by the sincerity of his own words.
Shuyun bowed slightly in return. He realized now that the trader had at one time been a student of the Botaharist Brothers. The signs were all there, the inflection and the careful choice of words. The posture, the mixture of fear, awe, and suppressed resentment that so many students developed. Yet the man wore no prayer beads or icon to Botahara and he associated freely with the Tomsoian priest.
A lost one,
Shuyun concluded.
“If you wish to see your daughter now,
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