Kuri put his ears back and Takeshi laughed. “See, he understands every word you say. He’ll be a good warhorse-not that there’s much chance of me ever fighting a battle!”
“Is he fast?”
“Raku’s faster,” Takeshi replied, looking affectionately at the gray with the black mane and tail.
“Let’s race Raku and Kyu,” Shigeru said. “See if the new blood can beat the old.”
Takeshi smiled and his eyes gleamed as he transferred bridle and saddle to Raku. It was the sort of challenge he loved. They rode to the end of the meadow and turned the horses. Takeshi counted down from five to one, and both horses sprang into a gallop, rejoicing in the loose rein and their riders’ shouts of encouragement.
Shigeru did not care if he won or lost. All he cared about was the release the gallop brought and the tears the wind whipped from his eyes.
Raku won by a head, to Takeshi’s pleasure. Kuri did not follow them but seemed to watch the contest with interest.
Takeshi appeared to have put the turmoil of the past behind him, and Shigeru was proud of his brother, impressed by the good looks and manners of the horses. On an impulse, he said, “Come and eat at home tonight. It will make Mother happy, and I have something to tell you.”
“I will,” Takeshi said, “if I can slip away after dinner.”
Shigeru laughed. “Who is she?”
“Tase-a very beautiful girl. A singer from Yamagata, home of beautiful women. She’s got lots of nice friends, if you’d like to meet one!”
“You know so many beautiful women,” Shigeru teased him. “I can’t meet them all.”
“This one is different,” Takeshi said. “I wish it were possible to marry her.”
“You should marry,” Shigeru replied. “This girl is probably not suitable for your wife, but someone else could be found.”
“Yes, someone chosen by Iida Sadamu to strengthen our alliance with the Tohan! I prefer to stay single. I don’t notice you hurrying to marry, either.”
“For similar reasons,” Shigeru replied.
“Iida has far too much say in our lives,” Takeshi said quietly. “Let’s kill him!”
“That’s what I want to talk to you about.”
Takeshi breathed out deeply. “At last!”
They rode back to Hagi together, talking about horses, and parted at the stone bridge, Takeshi taking the horses back to the Mori stables before joining his mother and brother, Shigeru riding through the town toward his mother’s house. The unrest of the previous years had largely settled down: the town had regained its prosperous and industrious nature, but he hardly noticed it or the greetings that were called to him. He was thinking about the boy in Mino.
He ate the evening meal distractedly, but his mother did not notice; her attention was entirely taken up by her younger son. Chiyo was also delighted to have Takeshi in the house again and kept appearing with more bowls of his favorite food. There was a festive atmosphere, and everyone drank a great deal of wine. Finally, Shigeru excused himself, saying he had pressing affairs to attend to; Ichiro and Takeshi immediately offered their help.
“I do have some things to discuss with my brother while he’s here,” Shigeru said. Ichiro was happy enough to remain behind and take a few more cups of wine. Shigeru and Takeshi withdrew to the back room, where the scrolls and records were kept. Shigeru swiftly told Takeshi the news about their nephew, while Takeshi listened with astonishment and mounting excitement.
“I’ll come with you,” he said at once when he heard Shigeru’s intention to find the boy and bring him home. “You can’t go alone.”
“I can leave the city alone and go traveling. Everyone’s used to my eccentricities now…”
“You have been planning this for years,” Takeshi said with admiration. “I am sorry I ever doubted you.”
“I have been planning something. But I did not know what until now! I had to convince everyone that I was powerless and harmless. It is my main defense. If we travel together, it will make our uncles suspicious.”
“Then let us leave the city separately and meet somewhere. I will go to Tsuwano or Yamagata. I will pretend it is for some festival. Tase will be my excuse and my cover. Everyone knows I put pleasure above duty most of the time!”
Shigeru laughed. “I am sorry I scolded you so often for it when it was no more than a pretence.”
“I forgive you,” Takeshi said. “I forgive you everything because we will finally have our revenge. Where shall we meet? Where is this village anyway?”
Beyond Inuyama, Shizuka had said, in the mountains on the edge of the Three Countries. Shigeru had never been that far to the east. The brothers pored over such maps as they had, trying to make sense of their rivers, roads, and mountain ranges. Mino was too insignificant to appear on them. Shigeru turned to the records he had compiled from Shizuka’s information, but Mino and the surrounding areas must have had no Tribe families, for there was no mention of them.
“In the mountains behind Inuyama,” Takeshi mused. “We used to know the area around Chigawa well. Why don’t we meet there, near the cavern that Iida fell into? We can pray that the same gods who led him there will oblige us and enable us to finish their work.”
They arranged to meet there a few days after the Star Festival. Takeshi would ride from Yamagata; Shigeru would take the northern way across Yaegahara.
“Now I must go to my Tase and tell her the good news,” Takeshi said. “She’ll be happy if we go to Yamagata. She longs for me to meet her family. I’ll see you at the Ogre’s Storehouse.”
“Till then,” Shigeru replied, and the brothers embraced.
SHIGERU WANTED to leave immediately, but while he was making preparations for his departure, his mother began to complain of feeling unwell. She was often affected by the summer heat and he thought little of it. Then Chiyo told him there was some virulent fever going around: many people were dying
