moment.”
Hitomaro closed the door andpaced. Tora grunted and sat down.
Akitada thought he could findthe way to the gate from what he remembered of his earlier visits. They hadbeen taken from the gate to an inner courtyard. From there, Akitada had goneinto the main house. The trouble was, he was not sure where they were now. Heclosed his eyes and pictured Kaoru’s sketch of the secret entrance. He mustsomehow get back to the main house. The gallery from which he had seen thenorth pavilion had been on the west side, but they had gone there throughanother gallery that served as an armory.
Never mind. They were notheaded to the north pavilion but to the gate. They had to open the gate to letTakesuke in before they did anything else. The problem was how to get therefrom here. He had spoken to the servants in a courtyard not unlike the one theywere in. For that matter, where were the servants? Some must be in the kitchen,even with the fires out. Had they all been pressed into defending the manor?
“Tora,” he said, opening hiseyes, “where did they take you during the banquet?”
“One of their barracks. Theyfed me. Seemed decent fellows.” Tora grimaced.
Akitada guessed that Tora didnot like the thought of killing such hospitable men, or being killed by them. “Butwhere were the barracks? In relation to the gate and the main house?”
“Between the house and thegate. Why?”
That accounted for one of thecourtyards. “I’m wondering if we can find our way to the gate without Kaoru.Takesuke’s men are preparing to attack. We cannot wait much longer.”
“Then let’s go, sir.” Hitomarowas on his feet. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
Akitada sighed and rose. “Yes.Something must have gone wrong. We have waited long enough. Take another look outsideand tell me if you see any smoke anywhere in the compound.”
Hitomaro reported, “Nothing,sir. They must’ve caught both of them.”
Akitada looked around the shed.“Very well. Since the materials are at hand, we’ll make the fire here. Pile upall the baskets, brooms, and kindling against that wall over there. Then we’llpour the lamp oil over it and light it.”
Tora grinned. “Good idea. Thekitchen next door has a thatched roof. That should get their attention.”
Hitomaro nodded, and they fellto work. Akitada emptied baskets and tossed them on the pile. “We are goingback the way we came,” he said as he worked. “That gallery should take us tothe main house, and from there we’ll get to the gate.”
“They’ll be coming that waywhen they see the fire,” Hitomaro muttered.
“We’ll just have to be fast,”said Tora happily.
Akitada thought it likely that theywould be seen even before the smoke attracted notice. He dragged one of thehuge earthenware jars full of oil across the dirt floor. Hitomaro came to givehim a hand. Together they lifted and emptied the dark, viscous liquid over thepile. Their enemies had thoughtfully supplied an assortment of flints, wicks,and spills to keep the manor’s oil lamps lit, and in a moment eager flameslicked upward, joining others with a cheerful crackle, and cast a flickeringred light on their faces. Smoke rose.
They looked at each other. Tora’sgrin looked more like a demon’s snarl in the firelight. Akitada tried to shedthe image of hell, and said, “Good. Let’s go.”
Just as they burst from theshed, Akitada in front, a woman cried out. The kitchen door stood open, and twomaids goggled at them and at the inferno behind them. Ignoring the maids, theycrossed the courtyard at a run and entered the enclosed gallery. Miraculously,it was still empty. Midway, Akitada checked his speed and opened one of theloophole shutters. The scene below had changed. The watchtower, almost on alevel with the gallery, now bristled with archers and the men in the courtyardwere on their feet, swords and halberds at the ready. Judging from the soundsof high-pitched whinnies and scuffling of hooves, there were horses, too.Akitada estimated thirty men below and twenty on the tower, and more wereprobably out of sight or waiting in other courtyards. Those he could see hadtheir backs to him, their attention on what was going on outside the gate. Andnow he heard it, the sound of approaching battle drums.
Takesuke had arrived, and theymust move, but attempting to open the gate would be certain suicide. When wouldthe enemy notice the fire? And would they care enough about a fire in a kitchenyard to abandon their watch on the gate? But fires spread. They could notignore this. At least some of the men in the courtyard would rush to put itout.
One of the archers on thewatchtower finally turned his head and saw it. “Fire!” he screamed, and again, “Fire!”his arm pointing. Akitada stepped back from the shutter. The men in thecourtyard turned, cried out, and after a moment’s consternation, an officershouted orders, and they began to run in all directions. Tora came to look andlaughed out loud.
Akitada slammed the shutter. “Comeon.”
They ran to the end of thecorridor and into an open gallery crossing a walled interior garden. Sleet haddriven in to gather against the walls and whiten the few shrubs and rocks. Agate led from the garden. Akitada found the stairs, and they ran down. Just asthey reached the small gate, it burst open and a warrior came rushing through.He saw them, cried, “Tell his Lordship there’s a big fire in the kitchens.Lieutenant Imazu has gone to put it out.” He turned, then paused and swungback, puzzled. “Who are you?”
Hitomaro’s blade flashed. Therewas a sickening sound, and the man’s head rolled into the shrubbery, his bloodspurting over Hitomaro and Akitada as the body sagged at the knees and fellacross their path. Hitomaro stepped over it to the gate. Akitada gulped andwiped at the warm wetness on his face.
“Go on, sir,” urged Tora behindhim, and Akitada gripped his sword, stepped over the fallen man, and followedHitomaro through the gate and down more steps. He saw that they were in thebarracks courtyard now and no longer alone. Soldiers ran this way and that,shouting to each other. Nobody paid attention to three armed men coming fromthe direction of the main house.
They moved quickly andpurposefully and passed unhindered through the inner gate, down more steps andinto the gate courtyard.
Here there were fewer soldiersthan before, though the watchtower was still fully manned with archers who sentvolley after volley of arrows down at Takesuke’s men outside. The arrows foundtheir targets. Screams came from outside, and triumphant shouts from above.Akitada thought of the narrow space outside and how any attempt on the closedgate meant almost certain death.
He hurried, trying to rememberwhat Kaoru had said about the gate-something about its being counterbalanced sothat one man could open it. There was another bloodcurdling scream, and hebroke into a run. Tora and Hitomaro followed. Someone shouted at them, but allthree made it under the gateway, and there, in the shadows, Akitada saw theropes and pulleys. Huge stones hung suspended by ropes that ran over wheels.The gate itself was massive, iron-studded, and barred with an enormoushorizontal timber. He could faintly hear the sound of battle-axes against themany layers of wood-Takesuke’s brave men dying in a shower of arrows fromabove-and felt defeated by the massiveness of the structure. Where was Kaoru?Tora was already pushing at the bar, and Hitomaro ran to give him a hand. Thebar did not budge. Akitada turned to look up at the ropes and stones, trying totrace their path, hoping to understand the crude but effective mechanism. Threeof Uesugi’s men rushed in, shouting questions. Akitada grunted something inanswer, but it was no good. They had realized the truth and attacked. One ofthem, a big, bearded man, ran at Akitada with the wicked steel blade of thehalberd aimed at his belly. Akitada moved aside, felt the blade slice throughhis trousers, took his sword in both hands and swung down, severing the halberd’swooden handle-a foolish move, because his attacker simply dropped it and drew ashort sword instead. For a moment they grappled. The other was bigger andstronger and forced Akitada back against the wall. Another soldier appeared behindhim, grinning too soon, because suddenly Kaoru was there beside Akitada andslashed at the man’s legs. As he fell screaming, Akitada managed to break freeand shove his sword into the man’s chest with such force that it disappearednearly to the hilt. An almost comical expression of surprise passed over thebearded face, then he sagged, skewered, a dead weight on the sword. Akitada hadto put his foot on the dead man’s body to pull out his weapon. He turned away,dazed by the violence.
“Get back, sir. Get outside!”Kaoru shouted to him and jumped for the largest of the suspended stones.
“Where have you been?” demandedAkitada.
Kaoru missed and jumped again. “Notnow,” he gasped. This time he grasped the stone and brought it down with him.The wheels spun, ropes creaked-
“Sir!” shouted Tora.
Akitada swung around and lookedinto another halberd coming at his chest. Uesugi’s people had finally
