The 47 Ronin Story (23 page)

Oishi, with Chikara and a small group of picked men, headed for Kira's bedroom, according to the plan of the house they had studied so diligently. On the way they met half a dozen terrified servants, both men and women, and brusquely ordered them out of the house to reduce the confused milling around in the hallways.

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In the sleeping quarters Oishi and his men yanked open doors and unceremoniously roused more servants and guests, but encountered no resistance. Neither did they find Kira in his room and the search became more frantic as they moved from hallway to hallway.

By now the entire mansion was in an uproar and the screams of the women and the shouts of the men blended with the clash of arms when anyone tried to stand in their way. The actual letting of blood was minimal, however, as there was no attempt on the part of the invaders to kill indiscriminately. Once a foe was disarmed they took no more interest in him; their only concern was to find Kira.

Outside, the pandemonium was just as great. Most of the servants and guests had been routed by now and they milled about bewilderedly in front of the house. The gates were closed and guarded by torchbearers against escape, but the young servant with orders from Kira saw a way out. As quickly as the idea occurred to him, he made a dash for the wall between the gates and leaped for the top in the same way that Kataoka had used to get in. He pulled himself up and over and landed heavily in the street outside.

Onodera, chief of the guard at the front gate, spotted him as he got to his feet and moved rapidly away down a side street. With a shout the old man drew the string of his bow and let an arrow fly but it missed completely, as did the arrows of the other Ako men who were quick enough to sense what was happening.

Onodera immediately ordered two of his men to pursue the escaping servant, but it was hopeless from the start. Besides the head start the boy had, his pursuers were older men and could not hope to match

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his fleetness. Onodera cursed bitterly that he had let him slip through his fingers. If the boy's intention was to reach the nearby castle of Uesugi, there was every reason to believe they would soon be attacked in overwhelming numbers. Onodera vowed to kill himself or die fighting if his blunder had cost them their chance at Kira.

But now Onodera had another problem. Servants from some of the neighboring houses were approaching in curiosity about the commotion and he had to convince them that this was a private affair. In answer to their questions he displayed the placard that Oishi had prepared:

We, the ronin serving Asano Takumi no Kami, this night will break into the mansion of Kira Kotzuke no Suke to avenge our master. Please be assured that we are neither robbers nor ruffians and no harm will befall the neighboring property.

This seemed to satisfy them and Onodera was relieved to see that none of them took it on himself to go for help. His relief was short lived, however, as the two men he had sent after the servant boy came back exhausted and empty handed. They could only report that their quarry had last been seen running at top speed in the direction of Uesugi's castle.

Inside, the search for Kira went on. Oishi continued his search in the sleeping quarters while Hara's men swarmed through the kitchen and service areas. Chikara had been ordered to stay close by his father and he did his best in spite of the confusion of the search. He was more excited than he had ever been in

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his life, but he kept as tight a grip on himself as on his sword handle to keep from doing anything that might appear foolish. He was afraid to move ahead of his father for fear of appearing too presumptuous, and unwilling to hang back for fear of looking like a coward. This led to some awkward jostling for position until Oishi worked out a standard procedure for raiding bedrooms. He indicated that Chikara should yank open the sliding doors at the same time that he would step boldly in with his sword raised to challenge those inside. This worked much more smoothly than when both of them attempted to break into the rooms together.

Unfortunately they did not find Kira. There were other nobles present as guests, but none of them offered any resistance and Oishi by-passed them impatiently. They were down to the last few bedrooms when a sudden shout from Hara interrupted them and Oishi led his group off in the direction of the kitchen, leaving Chikara alone to guard the hallway.

Hara had opened a door off the kitchen and run smack into the reserve force of Uesugi's prize archers in their armory. He had barely time to cry out his warning when a flight of arrows was directed at him and he was deeply pierced in the shoulder. The impact sent him spinning backward but with a tremendous force of will he turned back to face his opponents and flung himself at them. By now his men had entered the room behind him and they, too, bore down on the archers who had no time to reload and shoot again under the force of the onslaught. They were forced to draw their swords but in the bloody combat that followed they showed they were not as expert in the use of this weapon, and in a short time every last defender had been cut down.

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Hara was breathing hard and the blood was running down the front of his breastplate but the thought of letting up did not occur to him. He had waited for this battle too long to miss any part of it now. He grasped the protruding arrow and snapped it off close to his body so that it would not interfere with his movements and then charged off into yet another room to see what it would yield. His men, inflamed by his example, followed in an all-engulfing wave.

Oishi, summoned by Hara's first cry, arrived in the armory in time to see that Hara had things under control. He had hoped the shout meant Kira had been found, but when he learned that it did not he merely waved at the old warrior without noticing his wound and started back to the sleeping quarters.

Chikara, meanwhile, left alone in the corridor, fretted impatiently. What if Kira were inside one of the few remaining rooms? Wouldn't it be a feather in his cap if he found him and either killed or captured him single-handedly. It was said that Kira was an expert swordsman, but with the confidence of youth Chikara felt sure he could win.

Still, he might have obeyed his father's order to wait if he had not heard a door slide open in a distant hallway. He hurried in that direction but arrived too late to see Kira, made bold by the silence, race down the hall and disappear out a rear door. As he stood there listening, however, he heard the unmistakable rattle of a sword being buckled on and he found it impossible to stand and wait to be attacked.

He sprang to the door the sounds seemed to be coming from and threw it open. He had not been mistaken about the sword. He found himself staring into the startled eyes of a young man his own age who was fully armed and ready to do battle.

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This was Sahyoe, Kira's grandson and successor, although Chikara did not know him by sight. They stared at each other in mutual surprise for a moment and then Sahyoe drew his sword. They lunged almost simultaneously but both blows were parried and neither was hurt. Cautiously they circled each other in the small sleeping chamber, slashing ineffectively at such close quarters. A sword stroke slashed through the shoji panels of the wall across from the door and Chikara saw that there was another corridor beyond. He now deliberately swept his sword across the whole wall and ripped out the thin partitions like so many match sticks. Now there was more room in which to maneuver and they made the most of it with bold slashing attacks that turned the room into a shambles. Chikara wanted to call for help but he was determined not to admit he could not handle the situation by himself. His opponent was clearly a more experienced swordsman and, as Chikara began a slow desperate retreat, he hoped that his father would come back in time.

Oishi, on his way back from the kitchen, heard the ring of steel on steel and tried to locate the sounds. They seemed to come from the direction of the garden and he left his group to move in that direction, never dreaming that it was his own son who was engaged in deadly combat. The garden was centrally located and he could see much of what was going on from this vantage point. The sounds that had attracted his attention seemed to come from behind some wooden rain doors directly across from where he was standing.

As he watched he was surprised to see two figures fall with a splintering crash through the doors and into the garden, one on top of the other. He had barely time to recognize the one on the bottom as

Chapter Nineteen

Chikara when the other swordsman scrambled to his feet and poised his blade for a final thrust.

"Chikara!" Oishi cried out in horror and the swordsman's attention was momentarily diverted. In that spht second Chikara rolled to one side, slashing blindly with his own weapon as he did so. He caught the other man a solid hit on one leg and he fell like a cut-down tree. Chikara sprang to his feet and was about to deliver a death blow to the man moaning on the ground when Oishi stopped him.

"Wait!" he called, as he ran to the boy. "He's no danger to us any more."

He kicked Sahyoe's sword away from his reach, recognizing the crest of Uesugi on it as he did so. He pointed to it and Chikara nodded. Then Oishi clapped his son on the back in congratulations for his good showing and they hurried back into the house in search of their prime objective.

Here they rejoined Oishi's original group and finished going through the sleeping quarters. Unfortunately, they found no one left in the house. Every closet had been examined, but of Kira there was no sign. As they finally left the house by a door at the rear they met Hara and his group who had been equally unsuccessful.

Oishi and Hara stood indecisively for a moment until Oishi noticed that his old friend was bleeding from the wound in his shoulder. When he looked closer and saw the broken arrow shaft he called for a torchbearer and ordered Hara to submit to treatment. Hara scowled and was momentarily defiant but then his face went pale as Kataoka set about trying to get the arrow out.

Oishi was close to despair. After all the waiting were their efforts to be for nothing? How could Kira

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have escaped them when every entrance was guarded? He felt a great depression begin to settle over him as, for the first time, he contemplated the possibihty of failure.

Hara fumed with the same sense of futility and as the arrow was pulled from his shoulder he gave vent to his feelings in a mighty shout of pain and anger.

"Kira! Are you a rat that must be smoked out of your hole? Come out and fight like a man!"

There was silence for a moment and then a muffled cry drew everyone's attention to a small wood storage hut near the kitchen entrance. Slowly the door swung open and Oishi held his breath in a silent prayer. Then Kira, in his white sleeping robe and holding his long sword, carefully stepped out. Hara's threat of fire had done the trick and Oishi exhaled in a triumphant sigh.

After a quick glance around told him where he stood, however, Kira surprisingly sprang into a strong posture of defiance and shouted into their faces.

"Come on all of you—I'll take on the whole pack! How many are there? A hundred? I'll take those odds if they're the best you cowards have to offer!"

Whether his challenge came from real courage or was only a trick, it stopped the men of Ako. Even Hara was speechless in the shocked pause that filled the air. Then Oishi took a step forward.

"Let no one interfere," he said. "My 'pack' won't kill you. Lord Kira—but I will."

With a blood-curdhng cry Kira lunged at him. Oishi parried his blow and the fight to the death began. As they circled and slashed at each other Oishi dehberately cut Kira's robe away from his shoulder and the scar of the wound made by Lord

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Asano nearly two years ago became clearly visible in the early light of dawn. At the sight of it the men watching shouted in anger. It inflamed them as it did Oishi and he fought on in cold fury. The scar was a symbol of what they were there for and gave every slash an added significance.

Kira was no easy opponent; he was a good swordsman and made every blow count, but years of soft life in the court eventually began to tell and his breathing became labored. Knowing that he stood alone and that no help could arrive in time to save him, he continued to fight on. If he did not know how to live, he at least meant to show that he knew how to die. His eyes glazed over as his breathing became more painful and suddenly, as he parried yet another hard thrust, he slipped and fell to his knees. His sword stuck in the ground and as he desperately pulled at it he realized his end had come.

"Asano!" he spat, and then died as Oishi, in cold rage, swung his sword with two hands in a great swinging arc which snipped Kira's head from his shoulders. A great cheer of relief and triumph broke out from all the men of Ako and Oishi relaxed to smile wearily at those around him.

"We've done it . . . we've done it," he murmured and felt with the others that all their sacrifices had been worthwhile. Triumph was theirs and it could never be taken from them. But to conclude their business properly, Oishi knew there was more to be done and he gave the order for his forces to form.

Onodera now came forward with an apologetic account about the escaped servant, but if he expected to be reprimanded he was mistaken. Oishi merely nodded gravely and thanked him for keeping the gate against outsiders for as long as he had.

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Kira's bloody head was wrapped in a sleeve of his robe and tied to the point of Mimura's spear which he held high in front of him as the group marched out. All were present; none had been killed, although six men were wounded, including Hara, and the pace was kept deliberately slow to accommodate them.

Some of the men were inclined to relax and joke now that Kira had fallen, but Oishi was thinking of Uesugi's forces and strictly called them to order.

"Make fast your helmet strings when you have won victory," he told them. "We have fought a skirmish, but we may yet have a battle on our hands."