Sword of Honour Read Online Free Page B

and the watchers held their breaths and then sighed as the mat teetered,
rolled on its rim and fell. Nevertheless, there was applause. Three such blows was a feat, four exceptional, five rare, six the most that any one of them there had seen.
    ‘Sir Ando was present at the decisive battle,’ said Tadanari, who had cut those six slivers a decade previously. ‘He has given us a name to add to the list: Musashi
Miyamoto.’
    ‘I have not heard of him.’
    ‘Neither have I. Of no renown that I can tell.’
    ‘His crime?’
    ‘Insults to the school, offered before the watching armies of the nation. Thousands of witnesses.’
    ‘What words did he speak?’
    ‘Sir Ando did not elaborate upon their specific nature. There was much glory earned by our adepts present at the battle, and attesting to these feats occupied the majority of his writing.
But Sir Ando is not a trivial man and I trust his judgement, and the list is the list. Therefore I wish for you to find this Miyamoto, and claim his head in the name of the school.’
    He spoke evenly and Akiyama listened in the same manner. There was no need for either of them to feel or feign affront at distant slurs any more than the foot needed to pull away when the hand
touched fire. Neither was there a need for debate on their response, for it was only killing. Such a thing as this was not unusual. A school possessing the esteem the Yoshioka held could not exist
without creating those who envied, who belittled, who detracted, and each of these grudges, when discovered, in turn birthed a grudge in the Yoshioka also.
    A rock falls into a pond, a splash occurs, the waters settle as they were before. This, a simple matter of balance. This, the Way.
    In the unshaded yard Ujinari’s sword caught the light in its motion and the steel flashed brilliantly. Akiyama looked at the earth, smoothed the folds of his tea-coloured jacket over his
thigh. A question that he had waited for months to ask welled within him.
    ‘Master Kozei,’ the pale-eyed man ventured, ‘I am informed that the Lord of Aki province is seeking to take on a member of our school as swordmaster.’
    ‘This is so.’
    The sword held up, aligned, hopeful.
    Tadanari said, ‘It has been decided that Sir Kosogawa shall be serving in that appointment.’
    Down the blade came, dashed all before it.
    Akiyama nodded. His pale eyes took in the dust at his feet, his face entirely neutral. ‘Sir Kosogawa is a worthy man and able in our techniques. He shall uphold the name of the school
faithfully.’
    ‘Doubtless.’
    ‘I will leave at once, Master.’
    ‘Do not return until you have avenged our honour, or can offer proof that some other fate has claimed this man,’ said Tadanari, dismissing him with a nod of his head.
    Akiyama pressed his brow to the floor and then rose. He slid his longsword into his belt of broad cloth and strode off. In the frame of the gateway he turned and bowed to his fellow
swordsmen.
    Not one man commented on his departure.

PART II

Foreigners
    Spring, Eighth Year of the Era of Keicho
     
    Two Years and a Winter Since Sekigahara

Chapter Three
    ‘It’s the eyetooth. The canine.’
    ‘Nnn.’
    ‘I can feel it. It’s loose. Can move it with my tongue.’
    ‘Nnn.’
    ‘Musashi, are you listening?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘You don’t look it. Your eyes are far.’
    ‘Tired, is all. Hungry.’
    ‘I can’t think about the hunger. I can’t think about sleep. This tooth, the pain . . . Weeks now, rotting. The gum is bleeding, it’s all I can taste. I can’t bear
it.’
    ‘So what am I to do about it?’
    ‘I need you to pull it out.’
    ‘How am I to do that? I have no . . . What tools do you even require to pull a tooth?’
    ‘It’s loose. Use your fingers.’
    ‘I can’t grip a tooth. Too slick. Too small.’
    ‘You have to.’
    ‘Just bear it.’
    ‘I can’t. Please.’
    ‘There’s nothing I can do.’
    ‘Look at me. Look. Is the entire side of my face not