The Bride Doll Read online

“Hikaru and Jun share the duty with him. Please understand this, Lord Yamada: while I have reason to be critical of Michi’s priorities just now, I do not question his loyalty.”

  I was finally beginning to understand why I had been sent all this way for what should have been a simple search. Apparently, not simple at all. “I was not suggesting anything. I merely wanted to be clear on the point. I promise we will do our best to find the young man’s bride.”

  Or at least as well as one could do, when that one had absolutely no idea of where to begin.

  After we took our leave of Lord Yoshi, Kenji and I were shown to our lodgings within the village, a roomy hut in the headman’s own compound. We were brought food and water, and the man’s own wife saw to the fire. After our hosts left us alone, I took advantage of our relative isolation to speak to Kenji privately. “Doesn’t any of this strike you as a little strange?”

  Kenji laughed. “Which part? Snow demons? Bride Dolls? Ghosts? In our professions, Lord Yamada, ‘strange’ is like rice and fish. Part of a normal day.”

  “I mean the circumstances, Kenji-san. Lord Yoshi is convinced that the doll was stolen to interfere with the peace treaty.”

  “A completely reasonable assumption, in my opinion,” Kenji said dryly.

  “I agree, but when a man carries only a mallet, everything starts to look like a peg. Lord Yoshi’s main concern is the negotiation, but stealing the doll was a rather chancy way to go about interfering, don’t you think? If preventing peace was my goal, I could think of more certain ways to do it.”

  “Such as?”

  “How about dressing in Tsugaru livery and making a clumsy attempt on the Emishi chief’s life? Or stealing one of those poison arrows the barbarians use and wounding Lord Yoshi with it? Either would be a far more direct and obvious show of bad faith.”

  Kenji frowned. “Go on.”

  “Stealing the bride doll has apparently been very effective at raising tensions between the two parties, I admit. And I also admit I’m not familiar with the custom, but it does seem to me that the effect of the theft on the spirit of Akitomo’s son simply could not be anticipated.”

  Kenji sighed. “What you’re saying only makes sense if the reason that the doll was stolen has nothing to do with the negotiations. How likely is that?”

  The same thought had been troubling me. “Not very.”

  “Honestly, Lord Yamada. Stop being so twisty in your reasoning. Sometimes things really are as they appear.”

  “Sometimes,” I said. “But not very often.”

   

  Kenji and I were simply too weary to begin anything meaningful that day. After a quick look around Aoi village, we went to bed early, but dawn had yet to arrive before I found myself wide awake again. Kenji was still snoring, so I dressed as quietly as I could, took my sword, and slipped out of the hut.

  The sky was still clear; there was no moon visible, but the stars were clear and bright in the cold air. All I had to do was walk up the near slope, and soon the entire village and the approach to the pass were both clearly visible. I could see the fires of the watch station just north of the village where Kenji and I had found Michi the previous morning. The more I saw of the area the more I was convinced that Lord Yoshi was correct—whoever had taken the doll had to be in either the village or the encampment.

  The problem with this conclusion was if this was so, then the doll still had to be there as well, and Lord Yoshi’s search had not revealed it. I tried to ignore the possibility that the doll had been destroyed; otherwise there truly was nothing I could do. My best guess was that the doll was in the encampment; it just made sense that concealing the doll would be far simpler if you were one of those charged with searching for it.

  While I was puzzling over this, I saw what at first looked like a blue lantern coming down one of the narrow lanes of the village from the direction of the temple. After a moment I realized it was not a lantern but a bluish flame.

  Curious.

  I moved down the slope to intercept, but I already had a pretty good idea of what I was looking at. Sure enough, once I got closer, the blue flame resolved into the glowing outline of a young boy. His expression seemed by turns angry and despairing. He opened his mouth as if to wail, but no sound came out. I spoke to him, but it was as if he didn’t even hear me. I followed the pitiful specter for a little while in the hope that it might provide a clue as to where the doll had been hidden, but the ghost did not seem to have any more idea than I did. It simply wandered here and there, searching, calling out in silence for his bride. After a while the light faded and winked out.

  I resolved to ask Lord Yoshi for permission to conduct my own search later in the day. I yawned. By my reckoning it was still a while before dawn. I considered returning to my bed for another hour or two of rest when something moving to the north caught my attention.

  Someone was going up the mountain path, and it was not a ghost. There was no lantern, but I could see well enough by starlight to make out the figure of a man bundled against the cold, moving purposefully toward the higher mountain pass.

  Curious.

  I pulled my overjacket closer around me and slipped through the still-sleeping village. There was no sound except the crunch of snow under my feet and the lonely bark of a dog. I made my way to the sentry station on the outskirts of the village. There was a lone bushi on duty warming his hands over a charcoal brazier.

  “You’re...Jun-san, yes? I’m Lord Yamada. Who passed your station a short time ago?” The man hesitated and I pressed on. “If you doubt my right to ask this, we can awaken Lord Yoshi and verify my position.”

  The man bowed. “It’s not that, My Lord, I just...”

  “Are you saying you didn’t see anyone?”

  For a moment I thought he meant to do just that, but he finally sighed. “I don’t want to get him in any more trouble. He’s had more than his share.”

  I understood then. “Ah. It was Michi-san, yes?”

  The man indicated assent, though he didn’t appear too happy about it. “His watch was just completed. He should be getting some rest now, but he won’t give up.”

  “Give up what?”

  “My Lord, I’ve already said more than I should. Michi-san’s private grief is not mine to share. I can assure you that his loyalty to Lord Yoshi is beyond question.”

  “No one is questioning his loyalty. You want to protect your friend. I understand this. I am not asking because I suspect Michi-san of any wrongdoing. Yet you must admit he is acting strangely, and under the circumstances I would be shirking my duty if I did not ascertain why. Would you prefer I hear the situation from you or from some perhaps less sympathetic person? I know how stories travel, in armies and villages alike.”

  Jun let out a gusting sigh that immediately turned to mist in the cold air. “Michi-san married a woman from another village about two years ago and had a daughter by her. One day both his wife and daughter disappeared. The rumor was that she had argued with her husband and taken herself and her daughter back to her home village and her own family, but Michi-san does not speak of it. Every chance he gets, he goes to search for her.”

  “How long ago did this happen?”

  “Nearly a month.”

  “You do realize that there are no villages for several days travel from here? How could he be searching for her?”

  “Of course I know this,” he said. “Michi-san cannot go very far. He always returns after several hours, so I can only assume that he’s looking for some sign of her. Perhaps to reassure himself that she and her daughter did not become lost in the snow or come to some grief.”

  “Such as being attacked by a snow-demon?”

  Jun’s face was unreadable. “Or wolves. Or bandits. The pass is dangerous for many reasons, My Lord.”

  “Thank you, Jun-san. You’ve been very helpful. I will be sure not to mention this conversation to Michi-san
.”

  He bowed and I returned the courtesy, though we both knew there were no bandits on that road. Not enough travelers to justify the effort, and those who did move on the road were more than likely armed men traveling here and there on Lord Yoshi’s orders. Wolves? Possibly, though Kenji and I had neither seen nor heard any.

  Snow-demons, on the other hand, were another matter entirely. Was Michi actively courting death, or did he simply disregard the danger? And was it coincidence that Michi’s wife and daughter disappeared around the same time that Akitomo’s son’s “bride” went missing as well? For a while I considered following him up the mountain but saw the first glow of dawn and thought better of it. I returned to our quarters, where Kenji was still peacefully asleep. I corrected this with a handful of snow brought in just for the purpose.

  Kenji woke up sputtering and cursing. “Baka...!” His eyes finally focused on something beyond his dreams, and he recognized me as he brushed the snow off his face. “Lord Yamada, what do you think you’re doing?”

  “Waking you. We have work to do.”

   

  Unfortunately, it wasn’t the work I had planned. Somehow in my nocturnal excursion, it had come to Lord Yoshi’s attention that I had seen the ghost of Akitomo’s son’s ghost myself. After questioning me thoroughly, Lord Yoshi insisted we spend a good bit of the morning seeking out villagers who had witnessed the event. We heard many interesting stories. Some about the ghost. Others about the snow-demon that haunted the pass above the village. By the time we returned to our quarters for the noon-day meal, I was in a less than cheerful mood. I managed to be civil to the headman’s wife until she had withdrawn, but only just.

  “Che...”

  Kenji frowned. “Why are you so irritable? We’ve learned quite a bit this morning.”

  “Such as?”

  “Well, that the ghost tends to appear just before dawn. That he follows a meandering path, silently crying and wailing, through the village. If I can rise early enough tomorrow, I can witness this for myself.”

  “Why should you wish to do this? Unless you plan to exorcise the boy’s spirit, that is.”

  Kenji put his hands on his hips. “Perhaps you missed something, Lord Yamada. Though while we’re on the subject, if the boy had been a villager, I’d suggest that course exactly. Yet he isn’t, and I can’t imagine the Emishi chief would take a favorable view of such an act.”

  “Favorable? He’d have your worthless hide for an umbrella just to start!”

  “Then, pray, why the bad humor? Other than the fact that probably neither one of us will ever feel warm again, that is?”

  I sighed. “We’ve wasted most of the morning, in my opinion. The fact that the boy’s spirit cannot rest is the entire problem, but unfortunately there’s nothing connected to his ghost as such that forms any part of the solution, in my opinion. For that we must look elsewhere.”

  “Where?”

  “My guess yesterday was the encampment itself. Now I think this unlikely, but despite this the encampment must be searched again. And there’s our afternoon.”

  Kenji grunted. “A true waste of time in my opinion. I already said that I think the doll’s been destroyed. That’s what I would do.”

  “So would I. It only makes sense.”

  “Then why look for it? Lord Yoshi needs to be told, and then we need to go home and tell Prince Kanemore to send gifts to mollify the Emishi. Lots of gifts.”

  “Even Prince Kanemore doesn’t have that kind of discretion. There are already influential voices within the Imperial Court arguing that the war should be pursued to completion. If we fail now, chances are that those are the voices that will be heard.”

  “But if the doll’s been destroyed, what can we do?” Kenji asked.

  “I don’t believe the doll has been destroyed.”

  “You said—”

  “That I would have destroyed the doll, true, but I’m not the one who took it. At this point I think the question of ‘why’ the doll was taken is every bit as important as ‘who.’ Perhaps some of those stories we heard in the village are not quite as pointless as I first believed.”

  “Are you telling me that you know who the thief is?”

  “No. I’m telling you that I think we’re looking in the wrong place. That doesn’t change the fact that the wrong place must be thoroughly searched.”

  We came into the encampment without warning and merely invoked Lord Yoshi’s name whenever someone questioned us. Yet for the most part we met no more resistance than simple reluctance. Even so, there were a lot of tents to search, and of necessity the ones searching were only Kenji and myself. I forced myself to be as complete and systematic as I knew how, but by late afternoon I was of the firm opinion that no one in either the camp or village had possession of the missing doll.

  Apparently Lord Yoshi had formed some firm opinions of his own, for we were summoned back to Aoi Temple as soon as we returned. Lord Yoshi was considerably less warm and welcoming this time.

  “I see that you’ve repeated the searches I’ve already conducted,” he said dryly.

  I bowed. “Some mountains are best viewed at a distance.”

  He grunted. “Which is why I gave you permission to do the search, Lord Yamada, but you must admit that, so far, you have achieved nothing.”

  “It would be foolish to dispute the obvious, My Lord. Then again, if the problem had been a simple or obvious one, Prince Kanemore would not have insisted that we come.”

  “That may be so, but Akitomo is not the only one who knows how to plant spies,” Lord Yoshi said. “And I’ve received some very disturbing news today. Akitomo is gathering his people. I think he means to come to this village and find his son’s missing bride himself. Or burn the place to the ground looking. I cannot allow either.”

  “No, I would think not. How long do we have?”

  “Probably no more than two days. I’m pleased that you brought your sword, Lord Yamada. We may have need of it very soon.”

  I bowed. “I am at My Lord’s service in that event. But until then, I do intend to pursue my original mission.”

  Lord Yoshi did not look very optimistic. “Then let us hope tomorrow is better than today.”

  “What now?” Kenji asked as we left the temple.

  “Time to grasp at straws,” I said. “Get your snowshoes.”

   

  The sentry at the watch station summoned a messenger when we were barely a bowshot up the mountain path. I waited long enough to see this happen, then continued up the mountain. The snow was deep, but only a little new snow had fallen. There were tracks ahead of us, but they appeared to date from the day before.

  Kenji noted the messenger. “What do you think that was about? Is he apprising Lord Yoshi of our actions?”

  “Could be,” I said and kept walking.

  “I know that tone, Lord Yamada. You use it when you’re just making conversation. Where do you think he’s gone?”

  “If I’m right, we’ll know soon enough.”

  Kenji peered up the path. “I still think this is a bad idea. There’s not much daylight left, and you know what lurks up here.”

  “We’re not going very far. As for knowing what lurks, it’s not just us. Everyone in the village knows, from the stories we’ve been hearing. I imagine Lord Yoshi finds it quite vexing to have a snow-demon on his rear with a mortal enemy in front. Even the most untried of commanders knows that securing one’s flanks is a wise precaution, and Lord Yoshi is anything but untried.”

  “So why hasn’t he dealt with the creature before now? Snow­demons may be powerful, but they can be killed, and he has the men to do it.”

  “Yes, but Lord Yoshi had sent men into the pass on several occasions, according to the villagers. They always return empty-handed.”

  Kenji paused to pull himself out of a hole. He waved off my assistance. “Are you just making conversation again
?”

  “No. I asked a question of the sentry while you were adjusting the ties on your snowshoes. It seems that Michi-san always volunteers to lead these particular hunting parties.”

  “Coincidence?”

  “Perhaps,” I said. “I don’t believe so. Any more than I believe that the messenger we just saw was being sent to Lord Yoshi.”

  We had just passed the first few trees as the path crested into what would become the mountain pass. Up ahead, the woods showed dark and gloomy; it was only the snow on the ground reflecting the fading sunset that kept the area from going completely dark. Below us, Aoi village winked out of sight around the mountain as we climbed to the highest point in the pass.

  Kenji’s eyes opened wide. “Michi-san took the doll! He’s hiding it up here, and his friends are helping him conceal the fact! When we tell Lord Yoshi­­—”

  I sighed. “Michi-san did not take the doll. He comes to this place nearly every day. Every spare minute he can find, he’s up here. If he were hiding the doll near the pass, it would be stupid in the extreme to call attention to this area. The man is not stupid.”

  “But...then why?”

  “I don’t know. I suggest we ask him when he gets here.”

  “Gentlemen. We meet again.”

  It was Yuki. Standing no more than ten yards away. Smiling. I cursed myself for a careless fool and drew my sword while Kenji quickly pulled a ward from his robe. Her smile grew wider. She reached into the front of her robe and pulled out the necklace she wore so that we could see—it was a string of prayer beads.

  “That won’t work this time, sir priest,” she said. “If I’d realized what you had done that first night, I’d have realized the remedy was in my hands. Silly me.”

  “How do you wear that...?” Kenji started to ask, but she cut him off.

  “I’m hungry. My little one must be fed. I do not think I will answer your questions.” I heard footsteps behind us but didn’t dare turn and look. Yuki started forward and I readied myself. I knew that when the cold struck fully, it would be very hard to move. If I missed the first blow...

  “Yuki, no!”