On the Road

Yabu and Jiro trudged down the long road to Morioka. Ahead of them were the others: Junzo, Kenji, Ogame-sama, and the priest. "Ah, Jiro-san, how goes it with you?"

"As well as can be expected Yabu-san."

"You acted with speed and wisdom, getting Ogame-sama off the bridge when we were ambushed there."

"Thank you, Yabu-san. I feel that Ogame-sama's safety is more important than all other considerations." Jiro wiped his hand across his face, shifting the shaft of his naginata resting on his shoulder.

Yabu nodded. "Life is lighter than a feather, duty is heavier than a mountain. Ogame-sama showed wisdom, calling upon us to fall back. If he had not, Junzo and I might have died to no purpose. Kenji too."

"I think that Ogame-sama has realized that he cannot avenge his father if he is dead." Jiro paused, "And neither can I. I am willing to sacrifice many things, including my pride and my honor to see Ogame-sama succeed in his quest."

Yabu looked aside at Jiro for a long moment. "You speak hastily. A samurai's honour is to serve. Vengeance is only part of bushido, not the whole."

"And I cannot serve Ogame-sama if I am dead. And I have no desire to experence the life of a ronin now, so I will serve Ogame-sama properly by seeing him safely to Otsu."

"And what does that have to do with sacrificing your honour? Without honour you are no samurai!"

Jiro looked up and stared at Yabu directly, "I have thought long about this Yabu-san, and if I must run from battle and be thought a coward so be it. I will do all I can to see Ogame-sama safe. I will avoid those battles that I can, and fight in the ones I cannot. If I must abandon my comrades, then so be it. My thoughts will always be upon Ogame-sama's well-being, and not my honor, for by doing so I prove my worth as a samurai."

"Ah," Yabu nodded. "I see your confusion. You are mistaking honour for personal pride, or for face. A samurai does not want to retreat. To retreat is to lose face. But that has nothing to do with duty. By protecting Ogame-sama, you protect your honour. Because your honour is in serving your lord.

"When you took Ogame-sama off the bridge, you were following the path of duty, of honour. Junzo and I were reacting without thought. If Ogame-sama had been hurt or slain because of our reckless charge, we would have lost honour. Yabu glanced long and hard at Jiro. "That is why I spoke loudly, when you mentioned sacrificing your honour. There is only one way you can sacrifice your honour, and that is to fail Ogame-sama, or to betray him."

"I see." Jiro fell silent and walked with his head bowed for some time. "Yabu-san?" Yabu looked back at Jiro, taking his glance off the horizon ahead. "In the village in the mountains, where everyone had been killed, did you recognize the three samurai?"

"Yes."

Jiro looked over, slightly surprised at Yabu's answer. "Who were they?"

"They are the Moroboshi brothers. They have been ronin for more than a dozen years, I think. Their father insulted the daimyo of Matsuyama and was forced to commit seppuku. They are under a sentence of death from the Shogun, I think, for breaking into the Matsuyama house and killing the daimyo and several of his retainers."

"I see." Jiro nodded, "I can understand such actions."

"They cannot get decent employment with that sentence hanging over them. I have heard that they now work as mercenaries, and will attempt any job for the right price. ANY job. Some say they have shinobi training, and that they no longer have any sort of honour."

"I think it was wise of us not to try and fight them then, neh?" Jiro looked to Yabu for confirmation.

"It would have been foolish to risk our tenuous position on a battle with such dangerous adversaries, and no gain to anyone."

Jiro remained silent, formulating his next question. "To kill the women and small children... do you think such an action is proper?"

"Proper?" Yabu considered the question. "What does proper mean? Proper for whom? Ask me if it is according to the teaching of Buddha, and I respond no. So it is not a proper action for a priest.

"But I am no priest, and neither are the Moroboshi. They were obeying orders, though. To obey the orders of your lord is certainly proper for a samurai, neh? But the Moroboshi brothers can no longer be considered to have the honour of a samurai, either. I do not think they consider issues of propriety very often. Or do you mean to question the orders? Those orders were harsh, it is true. Yet I have seen many harsh things in my life, and that not the worst."

"But it does not seem proper for samurai to kill women and children." Jiro seemed troubled, "To kill in battle, or self defence, or in defence of one's lord, that is proper. But to slaughter the innocent... I find that disturbing."

"Bushido teaches us that to slay an enemy is a worthy objective. Perhaps your question would be better phrased thus: were the women and children of that village enemies?"

Jiro nodded, "To me? No. That may be why I am disturbed."

"No, to the lord whose messenger was slain. I do not believe that the villagers could be called truly innocent. We found the armour and weapons of a courier hidden in that village, supporting the contention that a courier was slain there. In a village that small, it would be very hard to hide such a crime."

"That is true, but a small child would know nothing of such a deed, it seemed an excessive punishment." Jiro shook his head.

Yabu nodded. "It may have been mercy. Have you seen a child starve, because its parents were slain? If every adult in the village is killed, the children will die a long and cruel death."

Jiro sighed, "I see that there can be no easy solutions to such a problem."

Yabu nodded again. "That is so. However, this case is not as confused as that. The Moroboshi brothers are killers, plain and simple. I doubt they slew the children as an act of mercy." He shook his head.. "If Ogame-sama ordered you to slay a village, would you do it?"

"I..." Jiro paused, then sighed, "Yes I would, for I am a samurai, and a samurai's duty is to his lord." Jiro then turned to look at Yabu directly, "If it was possible, I would ask if such an action would be needed, for killing the entire village of Hisato wouldn't have found the ninja, would it?"

"Hah!" Yabu smiled grimly. "That is not the province of propriety. You are confusing three separate issues here. There is the issue of rights, and propriety. There is the issue of justice, and there is the issue of effectiveness.

"The lord of that fief was within his rights to slay the village for its complicity in the crime. The three samurai behaved with propriety, obeying their lord's command. Was it justice? I cannot say. That would depend upon whether the whole village conspired in the crime, or in covering it up after the fact. And was it effective? Only time will tell. Certainly you are correct in pointing out that it would have been a poor solution for the late Lord Arai to visit upon that fishing village where Sasakawa-san was slain."

Jiro nodded.

"In Ogame-sama's father I think you were blessed in having a lord with the wisdom to combine justice with good rulership. Few lords are so wise, in my experience."

"Then I shall try and supply Ogame-sama with such counsel, so that he may do the same."

Yabu smiled, carefully not mentioning the fact that Jiro was the same age as Ogame, and that both were very young in his eyes. He clapped Jiro on the shoulder, making his sodei rattle. "You do that, and I will do likewise."

"I have another question Yabu-san. In the cave, when you rescued Kenji, what was it you fought? Do you really think that was a man?"

Yabu pursed his lips, glancing back at the road behind them. "What, you mean was it a goblin?"

"Yes, I have heard that such places are where such creatures dwell."

Yabu grunted. "The old lady spoke of a goblin living in that pass. What is a goblin, then?"

Jiro gave a wry grin, "I think Shinbei could have told you more than you would have cared to hear, Yabu-san. I have _heard_ that a goblin is short, orange skinned and is very ugly.

Jiro followed this description with a shrug, "I have never seen one."

"Huhn. Well, the light was very low, and it was covered up. I cannot tell you the colour of its skin or the beauty of its features. Whatever it was, it lived alone in a cave, preying off unwary travellers. Likely it ate human flesh when it had it. It was crafty and evil, that much is clear. How then should we tell it from a goblin, if it was a man? How can we call it a man, if it lived like a goblin?"

"Hmm... I see your point." Jiro gestured with his free hand, Perhaps it was a man becoming a goblin due to some great evil or crime it had committed. He could have offended the gods and this is his curse."

Yabu grunted again, skeptically. "In a way, I suspect you are right. Any man driven out of human society, existing alone in a cave, and living off murder and theft might claim with good reason to be cursed. And such a man might seem to any outsider to be a goblin.

"But that is just names. I do not think it was a goblin, I think it was just a man living like one. And I think his curse was no more, or less, than the life he led. And his offense against the gods? I doubt he even remembers, now. Surely he has accumulated enough offense now by preying upon travellers that his original offense is no longer important."

"Yes, a man who lives on the flesh of others is surely damned," Jiro shook his head, as if to disperse such a disturbing image.

Yabu walked for some time before adding a final comment in a grudging tone. "He was strangely at home in darkness, though."

Jiro didn't respond, but his step quickened.

 

Yabu lengthened his stride, gradually catching up to Junzo, who was walking in the lead.

"Ah, Junzo-san. Another hour, perhaps, and we shall have to make camp."

Junzo slowed his pace slightly to match that of his companion, nodding slightly at the remark. With a sigh, "Aye Yabu-san, the days have yet to lengthen with the coming spring. I'm afraid we are in for another long cold night."

With any luck, we might come upon a peasant's house, or an inn. Of course," Yabu said, "our luck has been mostly bad until now." He shrugged, and passed on to another subject. "I noticed, right before the duel with Kano Jigoro, that our priest glared at you." Yabu poked his thumb in the general direction of the priest, out of hearing perhaps a dozen yards back on the road. "I meant to ask you, why was the priest angry at you?"

Junzo's eyes narrowed ever so slightly; the only sign of the anger which passed quickly over his face. It was gone almost before it appeared. "Let us simply say that we had a difference in opinion as to whether or not prayers for the dead would be needed in your honor and whose shoulders the responsibility of that death would fall."

"What, he would have blamed you?" Yabu shook his head, incredulous. "Priests! They do not understand." Again a momentary wave of anger seemed to crawl across Junzo's face. "No! they do not."

Yabu shook his head again, then passed on to another subject. "Did you notice, when we were first attacked at the bridge, what young Jiro did? How he dragged Ogame-sama to safety?"

"Aye, I did. In truth it both pleases and troubles me. I am glad that he has become attentive to the needs of our Lord in battle." Yabu nodded. Junzo continued, "However, he seems to have become a little bit overprotective. Our Lord is a warrior just like us. Perhaps more like us than any other Lord, due to his young age and the situation fate has thrown all of us into. Ogame-sama must be allowed to find his path as well. We must protect him, with our lives if it comes to that, but our protection must be tempered, so that he finds his strengths and weaknesses, and learns. I just hope that Jiro doesn't overprotect our Lord. We need a strong leader in this time of crisis, not a coddled figurehead that can't take care of himself."

Yabu nodded again. "There is wisdom in what you say. Ogame-sama is a samurai. But I think you judge Jiro too harshly in this case. Yabu shook his head, looking down at the road. "It is we who acted wrongly, not him. That bridge was a death-trap. With Kano Jigoro's archers on the other side, to charge was foolish. And I was the chief fool," Yabu said with chagrin, "who should have known better."

"I do not think is is we who acted wrongly. I knew the battle was lost. Yet, I hoped that we could hold them long enough for our Lord to escape, and to make them pay for our blood many times over. I knew that young Jiro would stay with our Lord."

"Ah, you know Jiro better than I. But I say again, you and I acted as fools, and only Ogame-sama's recall saved us, and him, from certain death. Do you think that we could have taken the bridge, much less even made it to the other end of it, against such archery?"

Junzo thought about it for a moment. "No, I don't think that we would have survived the encounter. The way of the warrior is often hard to look at, even in hindsight."

"Death is not important. In fact, the opportunity for an honorable death nearly blinded me to my duty. To our duty. To die is easy. It is life, and duty, which are hard. Another twenty steps for you and I, and we would have died. Without delaying anything, or protecting Ogame sama. Kenji would have died too, of course, but that is of no moment. We would have left Ogame-sama with only Jiro as his guard, and Kano Jigoro would certainly have taken them both, alive or dead."

"Aye, you are correct my friend. We both rushed out like fools, running into the trap we all seemed blinded by, except for our Lord."

Yabu smiled grimly. "I am angry at myself for not seeing it. Both of us failed to see that our deaths at that moment would have been wasted. It is our strategy that failed. We thought as warriors. Kano Jigoro thought as a general, and nearly trapped us. "That bridge, that arrow-trap? It could as easily served us as him. Why did he not attack, after his initial trap had failed?"

Looking thoughtful for a moment, Junzo slowly shook his head, "Yes, we could have turned the tables on him had he attacked, putting his own trap against him. He probably could have taken the far side, with the numbers he supported, but many of his soldiers would have fallen to our arrows before he reached us."

"Exactly! Two men could hold that bridge against many, and Jigoro's archers would be useless in an attack across that chasm. Even if he had not challenged me in a duel, we could have held him, you and I. But we did not see that, and we charged." Yabu shook his head again, disgusted.

"I have seen many battles. Never before have I been forced to see this -- always courage and obedience were all that were required of me. But now I see that courage alone is not sufficient. It would have been brave to charge across that bridge. And useless. As much bravery would have held the bridge against many assaults by Kano Jigoro's men, which would have been much more useful."

"I agree. I think we all need to be much more thoughtful in our actions. The warrior cries out for revenge against the atrocities that have fallen to this family. Yet, we have in our care the only thing important to our duties; the only thing which holds honor for us; the only thing with any meaning for our very existence. We will need to cherish that oath, and protect it." Junzo's face cracked with a slight smile, "We are getting old you and I, and it has been many years since we have fought in the field like this, with this much at stake. The skills have dulled, the instincts grown dimmer. Yet, we have survived, perhaps by the grace of the gods. Slowly, very slowly we are honing those older skills, and the instincts are growing sharper by the day. We must be vigilant, and more importantly learn from our mistakes."

 

Yabu waited for an appropriate moment when he was walking beside the priest.

He caught the priest's eye and nodded respectfully.

"Hmph," grunted the priest. A brief nod was his reply.

"Priest, I find myself at a disadvantage. You have been with us for some time, but I do not know your name."

"Had you asked you would know." The priest paused to take a drink from his ever-present gourd of sake. "You may call me Chan Basho."

"You have served Lord Ogame well these past few weeks." "Someone has to. He seems to be a just young man, hopefully he can become a wise and just lord one day." Yabu nodded warily. After a pause, he went in another direction. "In the cavern of the goblin, you were very brave." Taking a drink again, the priest looked over at Yabu. The usual semi-drunken haze gone from his face and a very sharp glimmer danced in his eyes as he responded. "Young man...to save a comrade from a terrible fate has nothing to do with bravery. It is simply being a complete human being."

Yabu smiled. "Basho-san, it has been many years since anyone has called me `young'. My hair may not be as grey as yours, but I doubt you are old enough to be my father."

The priest chuckled at Yabu's words. "Maybe not, but I certainly feel as if I am that old..." "When that archer fired at the bridge, your action may have saved Ogame-sama's life. You also acted correctly in getting him off the bridge, with Jiro-san's aid." Yabu looked rueful. "I myself acted foolishly. It is very unlikely that I could have made it all the way across that bridge against so many archers."

"You would have died." Trudging along Chan looked long at Yabu's worn face. "I understand you do what you do for your honor. Honor isn't the only thing in this world though.....your Lord's safety should precede your honor. For if he dies, your honor will be tarnished won't it?"

Yabu shook his head. "Is it not that simple. But my honour would have been tarnished if I failed to serve him, and dying foolishly in that ambush would have served him ill indeed."

"Does not the fact that you are damned if you do, and damned if you don't, bother you?"

Yabu frowned. "What do you mean?"

"It seems that no matter what you would have done you would have lost honor."

Yabu shook his head, perplexed. "No, not at all. The path of duty was clear. It is often hard to follow the path, but I could not lose honour by following it. It is only when I act contrary to duty that I may be dishonoured."

"Then looking back on it, what path could you have taken that would have guaranteed you honor?"

"To act in obedience with Lord Ogame's commands. And, when no commands have been issued, to act in his best interests. Even, .... no -- _especially_ when it is not my personal desire. To charge across the bridge would have been a glorious death, a death worthy of a samurai. And I'm sure you would agree, it would have been wasted, and might have brought about a weakening of Lord Ogame's forces that could have brought him ruin. So my desire for a samurai's death made it hard to follow the path of duty."

"Hmmm, I think I see your meaning. So even though the death would have been..." he paused a moment before speaking the next word, "glorious, and would have been in keeping with your beliefs, it would have actually denied you honor because it wasn't in your lord's best interest."

"Exactly so."

They walked for some time before Yabu spoke again. "I have not thanked you sufficiently for your tending of my wound." He ducked his head in a walking bow. "I am in your debt."

The priest stopped walking and bowed deeply, "It is my honor to tend to a brave man such as yourself."

Yabu stopped and bowed back, as deeply, but his eyes were just a little wary. Perhaps he was unsure the priest wasn't tingeing his response with irony.

 

 

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