White Serpent Castle (12 page)

Lady Tama chose one of the halberds that Ume had brought and impatiently pounded its butt on the ground. “A touching reunion! Have you finished fondling your swords? We have some fighting to do before we can cross the bridge over the moat.”

Running once again, Zenta asked Ume, “Have you seen Saemon?”

It was the little maid who answered. “Saemon and his men should be attacking the outer fortress by now. I had all the guards at the southern gate on my trail, and Saemon's men slipped through easily.”

The progress of the little party was slowed by Ume, who gasped for breath and stumbled with fatigue. “Please forget about me! First get Lady Tama into safety!” she panted.

Zenta and Matsuzo picked her up and between them carried her as they ran. “She looks like a bundle of dry sticks, but she's heavy,” thought Matsuzo.

They reached the bridge over the moat and found it guarded by a dozen of the chamberlain's men. Zenta dropped Ume unceremoniously, and with three vicious sweeps of his sword cleared a way for the women.

Instead of crossing the bridge, Lady Tama swung her halberd joyously and joined the battle. Yoshiteru had been right. His sister was a formidable fighter with her halberd. Her ancestors, after all, had risen to their high position through sheer love of fighting.

The engagement did not last long. Zenta alone would have routed their opponents easily. His ferocious female assistant with her ghostly makeup and her whirling halberd reduced them to terror. The chamberlain's men turned and fled.

Lady Tama was in favor of pursuing them, but Zenta pulled her back. “There's no time for that!” he said. “The chamberlain will call out his archers at any moment, and we have to find shelter immediately. You're a perfect target in that white gown.”

“They won't dare to shoot at me!” she cried indignantly.

“How can they recognize you in that makeup? They can't tell you and the little maid apart, and they won't hesitate to shoot either of you.”

Picking up Ume once more, they hurried on, meeting only scattered parties of castle men whom they easily brushed aside. When they finally reached one of the towers of the outer fortress, they found the battle there almost over.

One of Saemon's men was at the door, and he greeted them triumphantly. “You've managed to get through! Saemon will be delighted to hear this!”

“Did you succeed in occupying the tower?” asked Lady Tama.

The man nodded. “We had very little trouble. There were only a few men stationed here, and we took them completely by surprise.”

Recovering his breath, Zenta said, “Since you don't need my help here, I'm going back. I must see that Yoshiteru is safe.”

“What?” exclaimed Lady Tama. “After all the trouble we took to get you out? You must be insane!”

“Of course I'm grateful for the rescue,” said Zenta. “Now that I'm fully armed, there's no need to worry. With all the confusion caused by the ghost hunt and the escape of Saemon's men, I should be able to reach Yoshiteru.”

Matsuzo took Zenta by the arm. “Lady Tama is right. It would be suicide to go back. The whole garrison is out looking for you.”

“I know why you are going back!” said Lady Tama furiously. “It's not for Yoshiteru's sake. You're in love with his mother!”

There was a hiss and a thud.

“They've called out the archers. Stop arguing and get in,” said Zenta, swinging Lady Tama behind him.

There was another hiss, and Zenta stiffened. He reached up to pluck weakly at the shaft buried in his left shoulder. Then with a faint sigh, he dropped his hand and began to fall.

Arrows came faster. With the help of Lady Tama, Matsuzo dragged Zenta inside the door of the fortress. They were followed quickly by Ume and the little maid. Lady Tama slammed the door shut.

The first thing that Matsuzo saw in the dim light was Saemon's face.

“Please honor our humble home,” he said.

Chapter 13

 

 

“The chamberlain's men are completely bewildered,” said Lady Tama with satisfaction. “Half of them are searching for the escaped prisoners, and the rest are hunting for the White Serpent Ghost. It will be a long time before they realize that Saemon and all of his men have broken out of the inner courtyard.”

After arriving safely in the tower, she had scrubbed her face clean. With her hair tied back, she looked like a mischievous page boy of some daimyo. She seemed thoroughly at home in the crowded guardroom full of men and weapons.

“Perhaps the chamberlain will think that Shigeteru has finally arrived and started his insurrection,” said Matsuzo, grinning. He was unprepared for the reaction to his joking remark. Saemon stared at him with narrowed eyes, and Lady Tama turned rather pale.

Saemon recovered himself and said briskly, “We must have our defenses ready before the chamberlain discovers what the true situation is. Our position here could be worse. We have a number of good archers among our men, and more arrows than we need. We can defend every entrance to this tower. The castle men will find it very costly if they try to rush either of the bridges across the moat.”

So far, several small parties of the chamberlain's men had tried to enter the tower in pursuit of the fugitives, but they had been mercilessly cut down by Saemon's archers. After viewing their losses, the chamberlain's men had decided that it was not worth the trouble of going after the two escaped prisoners. They were still under the impression that the fugitives would be easily subdued by their men in the outer fortress.

But sooner or later they would discover the exodus of the envoy's men and learn that a portion of the outer fortress was in their hands. Saemon was losing no time in marshaling his small army. He quickly scanned the list of names compiled by one of his men. “We have thirty-seven fighting men, two killed and three wounded.”

“Count me as one of the fighting men,” declared Lady Tama.

Saemon smiled at her. “Very well, thirtyeight fighting men. We can't afford a pitched battle since we are badly outnumbered, but our position here is not hopeless.”

He looked down regretfully at Zenta, who was having his shoulder bandaged by Ume. “The chance arrow that hit you was our worst piece of luck so far. We had been counting heavily on having your sword on our side.”

“I can still manage a sword with one hand,” said Zenta.

“So long as the chamberlain's men don't know that I've been hit, I can be useful by just frightening them a little.”

“You need more practice in looking fierce,” said Matsuzo, and the others laughed.

Zenta did not share the general cheerfulness. He was in pain from the extraction of the arrow, and he was chafing with frustration at not being able to return to the inner courtyard.

Lady Tama merely laughed at his ill humor. She said, “Something amusing has just struck me: In a sense, we are standing siege here.”

There were some chuckles in the room, and one man remarked, “We are the besieged, but we are outside of the besiegers in the inner fortress. This will make military history.”

“We're well prepared to stand siege,” said Lady Tama. “There are plenty of arrows and spears here, and enough armor to outfit each man.”

Matsuzo looked at Zenta and smiled. “I hope we didn't forget to provide ourselves with plenty of food.”

Zenta did not return the smile. “Before you see yourselves as the victors of White Serpent Castle, you should remember that we are outnumbered roughly ten to one. Furthermore, our windows facing the inside are all cut wrong for effective shooting. After all, the castle was not constructed for the purpose of helping people in the outer fortress attack those in the center.”

Saemon said impatiently, “There is no question of our attacking the chamberlain. We are not cut off. Whenever we wish, we can send men down into the village to collect help.”

Something had been puzzling Matsuzo since the discussion had started. If even Lady Tama joined freely in the council of war, why should he be too shy to speak up? “What is to prevent us from leaving the castle?” he asked. “Then you and your men can go back to the daimyo and report the envoy's murder to him.” For a moment, no one spoke. Lady Tama and Saemon exchanged glances.

Saemon seemed to choose his words carefully as he replied, “There is the question of vengeance. My master has been foully murdered, and I cannot leave until I see his murderer punished.”

“But without help you have no hope of defeating the chamberlain and arresting the murderer,” objected Matsuzo. “You need reinforcement from the daimyo. When he hears of his envoy's death, he will rush a strong force here. While I admire your determination to take action yourself, you would only die in vain.”

Again there was an odd little silence.

It was Zenta who finally broke the silence. “No, we can't leave the protection of the fortress here. If we abandon our position and retreat to the village, there is nothing to check the chamberlain's men from cutting us down in the open. We're trapped here for the moment.”

Matsuzo was surprised. It was uncharacteristic of his friend to be so pessimistic.

Lady Tama glared at Zenta. “Really, I don't know why we bothered to rescue you at all when you just sit there spreading gloom and despondency. If this goes on, we'll be defeated by your talk alone!”

Zenta struggled to his feet. “Then the best thing is for me to return to the inner fortress and spread gloom and despondency to the chamberlain's men.”

Saemon quickly barred his way. “You are not going anywhere. Sit down!” he ordered curtly. Some of his men stirred.

Zenta's eyes flashed and his hand dropped to his sword. For a moment violence seemed about to erupt. Then with an obvious effort he controlled his temper, and when he spoke his voice was level. “What plans have you really made for conducting your little war here? You are temporarily safe because the chamberlain doesn't know the full extent of what has happened. But it won't take him too long to find out. And Jihei is no fool. What if he organizes his men and starts a general attack on you? Your archers won't hold them. I should be surprised if you lasted more than half an hour.”

Ignoring the angry and defiant muttering from the men around him, he continued, “Very well. To avenge your master's death you are resolved to die heroically. But have you thought about Lady Tama? What do you think her fate will be?”

“I'm prepared to die with the men,” declared Lady Tama.

“But the chamberlain might capture you alive,” said Zenta. “He might do anything to you then. Afterwards he could claim he was carried away by the heat of battle. Do you expect the White Serpent to come and rescue you?”

“I will never let them take me alive!” she cried fiercely.

In spite of himself, Zenta had to laugh when he saw her warlike expression. “Now who is being gloomy and despondent?”

“I will never marry the chamberlain,” muttered Lady Tama. “Death is preferable!”

“Before you all resign yourselves to a heroic death, listen to my plan at least,” urged Zenta. “We can't afford to sit here and allow Jihei time to organize an attack on us. We have to start winning the castle men to our side at once.”

“But how?” demanded Lady Tama. “We can't just shout, ‘Come and join us!'”

“Of course not,” said Zenta. “What I plan to do is approach the men a few at a time and use quiet persuasion. Although the castle men have been hired by the chamberlain, they have officially sworn allegiance to Lord Okudaira. We can appeal to them as samurai to honor this allegiance.”

Several people nodded agreement.

“Until he marries Lady Tama, the chamberlain is not the legitimate ruler here,” continued Zenta. “I shall tell the men that their first duty is to Lord Okudaira's family. That family now consists of Lady Tama and Yoshiteru, and no other. The men of the castle also have a duty to help the envoy's men, who were forced to flee from the inner fortress because they were afraid for their lives. If we succeed in getting a sizable portion of the men to our side, we may have a chance.”

Saemon considered the proposal in silence for some minutes. “Your plan might work,” he said finally. “But instead of sending you, I prefer to send some of the chamberlain's men that we have here as prisoners. They will make good spokesmen for us, and their comrades will believe them more readily.”

Realizing that there was no hope of persuading Saemon to release him, Zenta said wryly, “All right, let's bring in the prisoners and try to convince them.”

Saemon gave a command. After a few minutes a dozen of the castle men were led into the room. They blinked at the company. From their expression it was obvious that they were wondering why the envoy's men, honored guests of the castle, should suddenly rise and overrun the outer fortress.

“Unbind them,” ordered Saemon. His men took out their swords and cut the ropes with quick, efficient flicks. The prisoners rubbed their arms and looked more bewildered than ever.

Saemon drew himself up to his full height. He passed his eyes slowly over the castle men and cleared his throat impressively. “I can see that you are all loyal men of the castle, resolved to do your duty to Lord Okudaira's family. The time has come to test that loyalty.”

It was a good beginning. Every samurai has been trained from early childhood to loyalty for his feudal lord and family.

“As you know,” continued Saemon, “the chamberlain has sworn to be a faithful vassal of Lord Okudaira. Let us look at his behavior towards his lord's family. First, in violation of civilized behavior, he ordered his men into the ladies' private quarters. Next, he actually ordered his men to attack Lady Tama! In desperation, the poor lady has fled to us for protection.”

Saemon pointed, and the men turned to stare at Lady Tama. They couldn't recognize their lord's proud daughter in that slim boyish figure.