Read Black Arrow Online

Authors: I. J. Parker

Tags: #Thrillers, #Mystery & Detective, #General, #Historical, #Fiction

Black Arrow

 

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Black Arrow

 

[Sugawara Akitada 04]

 

By I. J. Parker

 

Scanned & Proofed By MadMaxAU

 

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CHARACTERS

In Japan, Family names precede given names for persons of rank.

 

Main Characters

 

Sugawara Akitada
                            Deputy governor of Echigo province

 

Tora, Hitomaro, Genba
                    His lieutenants

 

Seimei
                                                His secretary

 

Tamako
                                              His wife

 

Hamaya
                                             Head clerk of the provincial administration

 

Yasakichi, Oyoshi
                             Two coroners

 

Chobei, Kaoru
                                   Two sergeants of constables

 

 

Characters Involved in the Cases

 

Uesugi Maro 
                                    The old lord of Takata castle, provincial chieftain,

and high constable of Echigo

 

Uesugi Makio
                                    His son and heir

 

Kaibara
                                              Steward to the Uesugi family

 

Hideo 
                                                Servant to the old lord

 

Toneo
                                                 Hideo’s grandson

 

Hokko
                                                The abbot of the Buddhist temple

 

Takesuke
                                           Commander of the provincial guard

 

Mrs. Sato
                                            An innkeeper’s widow

 

Kiyo
                                                     Her maid

 

Takagi, Okano, Umehara
                Three travelers arrested for murder

 

Sunada
                                               A wealthy merchant

 

Boshu
                                                 Sunada’s agent

 

Hisamatsu
                                         A judge

 

Mrs. Omeya 
                                    A widow

 

Goto
                                                    A fishmonger

 

Ogai
                                                    His brother, a deserter

 

Koichi
                                                  A porter

 

 

Also:
Tradesmen, outcasts, servants, and constables

 

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BLACK

 

ARROW

 

 

 

 

 

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PROLOGUE

 

 

THE FATAL ARROW

 

Echigo Province, Japan:

Leaf-Turning Month (September), A.D. 981

 

 

T

he evening sun slanted through the branches of tall cedars and splashed across a bloodred maple on the other side of the clearing. From the valley below came sounds of horses and shouts of men.

 

A
young woman emerged from the trees, leading a child—a boy, no more than three years old, in bright blue silk and with his hair childishly parted and tied into loops over his ears. The young woman was slender and beautiful, and dressed in a costly white silk gown embroidered about the hem and full sleeves with nodding golden grasses and purple chrysanthemums. Her long hair, which almost reached the hem of her dress, was fastened with a broad white silk ribbon below her shoulders.

 

In the middle of the clearing the child pulled free to chase a butterfly. The young woman called out anxiously, then laughed and ran after him.

 

From the thicket, Death watched the two with hot eyes, clasping the large bow with his left hand, while the right slowly reached over his shoulder to pull the long, black-feathered arrow from the quiver slung across his back.

 

The boy lost the butterfly and turned toward the woman, who sank to her knees and spread her arms wide to receive the child.

 

Death bared his teeth. He was close, his bow powerful, the arrow special. With luck it might take only the one shot. He placed it into its groove, pulled back firmly, and aimed.

 

With a shout of laughter the boy hurled himself into the waiting arms, and Death released the long steel-tipped missile. He watched as it found its mark just below the silken ribbon in the woman’s black hair, heard the muffled blow clearly in the sudden silence, and watched as she fell forward, slowly, burying the small figure of the child beneath her. Heavy silken hair slipped aside, and a large red stain appeared on her white silk gown, spreading gradually from the black-feathered arrow like a crimson peony opening its petals in the snow.

 

Even the birds had fallen silent.

 

Death remained frozen for a few moments, watching, listening. But there was neither cry nor movement under the white silk, and he slowly lowered the bow.

 

The silence was broken by a small bird’s voice, then by the humming of insects and distant shouts of the hunting party in the valley. Death quickly left the clearing.

 

* * * *

 

ONE

 

 

THE OUTPOST

 

Echigo Province, Japan

Gods-Absent Month (November), A.D. 1015

 

 

T

wo men armed with hunting bows rode single file down the steeply sloping track toward the dark huddle of buildings on the plain below. They hunched into heavy clothing against a sharp wind that swept across the black-and-gray landscape of rock, evergreens, and sere grasses. Below them the black roofs of the town were a blot in a wintry plain, and beyond the plain a pewter ocean stretched toward a distant line where it melted into the murky grayness of low clouds. A highway ran along the shore. Behind the horsemen rose mountains, their tops hidden in gray vapor.

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