James Axler – Keepers of the Sun

“And now it looks like all your enemies have left this place,” Ryan said.

“So it would appear. But can that truly be true?”

“The smoke tells that they were here up too soon,” Yashimoto said.

Mashashige kicked his heels into the flanks of his stallion. “We will go to look.”

THE SHOGUN TOOK ONLY seven of his leading samurai, including both Yashimoto and Hideyoshi, along with the half-dozen curious foreigners.

There was a short spear thrust into the ground near the fire, close to a large shape hidden under a green tarpaulin, a shape that looked uncommonly like a body, with a pool of congealing blood seeping from it. The spear had a length of white linen tied to it, dabbed with Japanese symbols.

The shogun dismounted and unfolded the banner, reading it out loud. “It says ‘See how we welcome Lord Mashashige, the dead pretender to an empty throne.’ Then it finishes by warning me to ready myself for shinda tswnori . That is difficult to translate for gaijin . It means ‘looking forward to your death.'”

“Should I look under the covering, Lord?” asked Yashimoto, also dismounting.

Mashashige nodded. “I think that I know what it is that we shall see.”

The bloody cloth was heaved away, revealing the carcass of a large pig. It had been crucified with daggers, its throat slit and belly ripped open in a mockery of the seppuku ritual of suicide. As an additional insult, its genitals had been hacked off and inserted into the tusked mouth.

On its flank was another line of symbols.

” ‘As I am, so shall you be,’ ” Mashashige read. “The ronin are in a merry mood.”

“The fire was lit at some time during last night, Lord,” Hideyoshi said. “We didn’t cross their tracks. They must have gone near the sea.”

“Or taken to boats,” the shogun offered.

He turned to Ryan. “You have a thought on what they have done?”

“I think they knew exactly when you were coming. This was timed too well.” Ryan considered the question. “And that means that you have an informer in your ville. A spy. Probably traveling with us now. He found some way of warning them of when you’d get here so they could leave at the right moment. Been done for maximum effect. Well planned.”

The three senior samurai looked at one another in silence, which was finally broken by Yashimoto. “How do we know that the spy is not one of you? You arrived here by chance, as you say. But you may be working with the gekokujo .”

“What are they?” J.B. asked.

Mashashige answered him. “Those who would wish to overthrow the chosen leaders from beneath.”

He spoke quickly to the other samurai, who nodded and bowed and scurried toward the sea, picking their way carefully over the spray-slick rocks.

“They will tell us if boats were used,” the shogun said. “I believe that your thinking was correct in its details. There is a spy here with us. We must guard our backs from every shadow.”

Ryan felt a tiny tremor run through the ground beneath his feet, and he looked quickly around, seeing a flock of black-headed gulls rise screaming into the air from the sea, a couple of miles off from the shore. His pony suddenly became even more restless, skittering sideways and tugging at the bridle that Ryan held in his hand.

“Quake,” Yashimoto said, stamping his foot on the earth. “It would not dare to rebel against those who follow the great Lord Mashashige.”

There was another movement, much stronger this time, that set pebbles rolling and made every single horse whinny in fear. Some distance away, higher up the slope, the bulk of the small army was shouting in alarm.

As Ryan looked around he saw a sight that would have been funny and remarkable, had it not also been an uneasy harbinger of danger.

Hundreds of rabbits had erupted from a massive warren that undermined the whole hillside, scampering in all directions. A second glance showed Ryan that they were all running away from the water, where the epicenter of the growing disturbance seemed to be located.

“Gaia! Will you look at”