Brilliance of the Moon by Lian Hearn Read Free Book Online

myself, gazing on the skulls and wondering
whose they were. Two of the older ones fell while I was moving the wood, and
insects crawled out from their eye sockets. I placed them in the grass and went
back to my horse, chilled and nauseated. Aoi’s leg was bruised and bleeding
from where the chain had caught it, although it did not appear to be broken. He
could walk, but he was very lame. I led him back to the river.
    The encounter seemed like a bad dream, yet the more I pondered
it, the better I felt. Jin-emon should have killed me—my severed head should
now be on the barrier along with the others—but my Tribe powers had delivered
me from him. It seemed to confirm the prophecy completely. If such an ogre
could not kill me, who could? By the time I got back to the river, new energy
was flowing through me. However, what I saw there transformed it into rage.
    The bridge was in place, but only the outcasts were on the nearer
side. The rest of my army were still on the other bank. The outcasts were
huddled in that sullen way of theirs that I was beginning to understand as
their reaction to the irrationality of the world’s contempt for them. Jo-An was
sitting on his haunches, gazing gloomily at the swirling water. He stood when
he saw me.
    “They won’t cross, lord. You’ll have to go and order them.”
    “I will,” I said,
my anger mounting. “Take the horse, wash the wound, and walk him round so he
doesn’t chill.” Jo-An took the reins. “What happened?”
    “I had an
encounter with a demon,” I replied shortly, and stepped onto
the bridge.
    The men waiting on the opposite side gave a shout when they saw
me, but not one of them ventured onto the other end of the bridge.
    It was not easy to walk on—a swaying mass, partly submerged at
times, pulled and rocked by the river. I half-ran, thinking as I did so of the
nightingale floor that I had run across so lightly in Hagi. I prayed to
Shigeru’s spirit to be with me.
    On the other side, Makoto dismounted and grasped my arm. “Where
were you? We feared you were dead.”
    “I might well have been,” I said in fury. “Where were you?”
Before he could answer, Kahei rode up to us.
    “What’s the delay for?” I demanded. “Get the men moving.”
    Kahei hesitated. “They fear pollution from the outcasts.”
    “Get down,” I said, and as he slid from his horse’s back I let
them both feel the full force of my rage. “Because of your stupidity I nearly
died. If I give an order, it must be obeyed at once, no matter what you think
of it. If that doesn’t suit you, then ride back now, to Hagi, to the temple, to
wherever, but out of my sight.” I spoke in a low voice, not wanting the whole
army to hear me, but I saw how my words shamed them. “Now send those with
horses who want to swim into the water first. Move the packhorses onto the
bridge while the rear is guarded, then the foot soldiers, no more than thirty
at a time.”
    “Lord Otori,” Kahei said. He leaped back in the saddle and
galloped off down the line.
    “Forgive me, Takeo,” Makoto said quietly.
    “Next time I’ll kill you,” I said. “Give me your horse.”
    I rode along the lines of waiting soldiers, repeating the
command. “Don’t be afraid of pollution,” I told them. “I have already crossed
the bridge. If there is any pollution, let it fall on me.” I had moved into a
state that was almost exalted. I did not think anything in heaven or on earth
could harm me.
    With a mighty shout, the first warrior rode into the water, and
others streamed after him. The first horses were led onto the bridge, and to my
relief it held them safely. Once the crossing was under way, I rode back along
the line, issuing commands and reassuring the foot soldiers, until I came to
where Kaede was waiting with Manami and the other women who accompanied us.
Manami had brought rain umbrellas and they stood huddled beneath them. Amano
held the horses alongside them. Kaede’s face lit up when she saw me.