Heaven's Net Is Wide
Lian Hearn
The new beginning-and the grand finale-to the beloved Tales of the Otori series.
Heaven's Net Is Wide is the new first volume of the now complete Tales of the Otori- prequel to Across the Nightingale Floor, the book that first introduced Hearn's mythical, medieval Japanese world. This is the story of Lord Otori Shigeru-who has presided over the entire series as a sort of spiritual warrior-godfather-the man who saved Takeo and raised him as his own and heir to the Otori clan. This sweeping novel expands on what has been only hinted at before: Shigeru's training in the ways of the warrior and feudal lord, his relationship with the Tribe of mysteriously powerful assassins, the battles that tested his skills and talents, and his fateful meeting with Lady Maruyama.
Heaven's Net Is Wide is an epic tale of warfare, loyalty, love, and heartbreak. This book leaves off where Across the Nightingale Floor begins, finally bringing the Otori series full circle. And while it both completes and introduces the Tales of the Otori, it also stands on its own as a satisfying, dramatic novel of feudal Japan.
Lian Hearn
Heaven's Net Is Wide
The fifth book in the Tales of the Otori series, 2007
***
For R
Heaven’s net is wide but its mesh is fine.
CHARACTERS
The Clans
THE OTORI
Otori Shigeru: heir to the Otori clan
Otori Takeshi: his younger brother
Otori Shigemori: his father, lord of the clan
Otori Masako: his mother
Otori Shoichi: his uncle
Otori Masahiro: his uncle
Otori Ichiro: Shigeru’s teacher
Chiyo: head maid of Lady Otori’s household
Otori Eijiro: head of a branch family
Otori Eriko: his wife
Otori Danjo: his son
Harada: one of Shigeru’s retainers
Komori: a Chigawa man, “the Underground Emperor”
Haruna: owner of the House of the Camellias
Akane: a famous courtesan, daughter of the stonemason
Hayato: her lover
Yanagi Moe: Shigeru’s wife
Mori Yusuke: the Otori horsebreaker
Mori Yuta: his oldest son
Mori Kiyoshige: his second son, Shigeru’s best friend
Mori Hiroki: his third son, who becomes a priest
Miyoshi Satoru: an elder of the clan
Miyoshi Kahei: his older son, Takeshi’s friend
Miyoshi Gemba: his younger son
Irie Masahide: the sword instructor to the Otori boys
Kitano Tadakazu: lord of Tsuwano, an Otori vassal
Kitano Tadao: his oldest son
Kitano Masaji: his second son
Noguchi Masayoshi: an Otori vassal
Nagai Tadayoshi: the senior retainer at Yamagata
Endo Chikara: the senior retainer at Hagi
Terada Fumimasa: head of the Hagi fishing fleet
Terada Fumio: his son
Matsuda Shingen: a former warrior, now a priest, later the Abbot of Terayama
THE SEISHUU
Maruyama Naomi: head of the Maruyama clan
Maruyama Mariko: her daughter
Sugita Sachie: her companion, Otori Eriko’s sister
Sugita Haruki: senior retainer to the Maruyama, Sachie’s brother
Arai Daiichi: heir to the Arai clan at Kumamoto
THE TOHAN
Iida Sadayoshi: lord of the Tohan clan
Iida Sadamu: his son, heir to the clan
Miura Naomichi: a Tohan sword instructor
Inaba Atsushi: his retainer
The Tribe
Muto Shizuka: Arai’s mistress
Muto Zenko:
Muto Taku: their sons
Muto Kenji: Shizuka’s uncle, head of the Muto family, friend to Shigeru
Muto Seiko: his wife
Muto Yuki: his daughter
Kikuta Kotaro: Shizuka’s uncle, head of the Kikuta family
Kikuta Isamu: his cousin, one of the Tribe
Bunta: a groom
The Hidden
Sara: Isamu’s wife
Tomasu: their son
Shimon: Sara’s second husband
Maruta: their older daughter
Madaren: their younger daughter
Nesutoro: an itinerant priest
Mari: his niece
Horses
Karasu: Shigeru’s black
Kamome: Kiyoshige’s black-maned gray
Raku: Takeshi’s black-maned gray
Kyu: Shigeru’s second black
Kuri: a very clever bay
1
The footfall was light, barely discernible among all the myriad noises of the autumn forest-the rustle of leaves scattering in the northwesterly wind, the distant beating of wings as geese flew southward, the echoing sounds of the village far below-yet Isamu heard it and recognized it.
He put the digging tool down on the damp grass, along with the roots he had been collecting, and moved away from it. Its sharp blade spoke to him and he did not want to be tempted by any tool or weapon. He turned in the direction of his cousin’s approach and waited.
Kotaro came into the clearing invisible, in the way of the Tribe, but Isamu did not bother concealing himself in the same fashion. He knew all his cousin’s skills: they were almost the same age, Kotaro less than a year younger; they had trained together, striving always to outdo each other; they had been friends, of a sort, and rivals their entire life.
Isamu had thought he had escaped here in this remote village on the eastern borders of the Three Countries, far from the great cities where the Tribe preferred to live and work, selling their supernatural skills to whoever paid them highest and finding plenty of employment in these times of intrigue and strife among the warriors. But no one escapes the Tribe forever.
How many times had he heard this warning as a child? How many times had he repeated it to himself, with the dark pleasure that the old skills induce, as he delivered the silent knife thrust, the twist of the garrote or, his own preferred method, the poison that fell drop by drop into a sleeping mouth or an unprotected eye?
He did not doubt that it echoed through Kotaro’s mind now as his cousin’s shape came shimmering into sight.
For a moment they stared at each other without speaking. The forest itself seemed to fall quiet, and in that silence Isamu thought he could hear his wife’s voice far below. If he could hear her, then Kotaro could, too, for both cousins had the Kikuta gift of far-hearing, just as they both bore the straight line of the Kikuta that divided the palm of the hand.
“It took me a long time to find you,” Kotaro said finally.
“That was my intention,” Isamu replied. Compassion was still unfamiliar to him, and he shrank from the pain it awakened in his new born heart. He thought with regret of the girl’s kindness, her high spirits, her goodness; he wished he could save her from grief; he wondered if their brief marriage had already planted new life in her and what
