Lian Hearn - Heavens net is wide

Heaven's Net Is Wide

The First Tale of the Otori

By Lian Hearn

For R

Heavens net is wide

but its mesh is fine.

The Clans

THEOTORI

OtoriShigeru: heir to the Otori clan

OtoriTakeshi: his younger brother

OtoriShigemori: his father, lord of the clan

OtoriMasako: his mother

OtoriShoichi: his uncle

OtoriMasahiro: his uncle

OtoriIchiro: Shigerus teacher

Chiyo: headmaid of Lady Otoris household

OtoriEijiro: head of a branch family

OtoriEriko: his wife

Otori Danjo: his son

Harada: oneof Shigerus retainers

Komori: aChigawa man, the Underground Emperor

Haruna:owner of the House of the Camellias

Akane: afamous courtesan, daughter of the stonemason

Hayato: herlover

Yanagi Moe:Shigerus wife

MoriYusuke: the Otori horsebreaker

Mori Yuta:his oldest son

MoriKiyoshige: his second son, Shigerus best friend

MoriHiroki: his third son, who becomes a priest

MiyoshiSatoru: an elder of the clan

MiyoshiKahei: his older son, Takeshis friend

MiyoshiGemba: his younger son

Irie Masahide:the sword instructor to the Otori boys

KitanoTadakazu: lord of Tsuwano, an Otori vassal

KitanoTadao: his oldest son

KitanoMasaji: his second son

NoguchiMasayoshi: an Otori vassal

NagaiTadayoshi: the senior retainer at Yamagata

Endo Chikara:the senior retainer at Hagi

TeradaFumimasa: head of the Hagi fishing fleet

TeradaFumio: his son

MatsudaShingen: a former warrior, now a priest, later the Abbot of Terayama

THESEISHUU

MaruyamaNaomi: head of the Maruyama clan

MaruyamaMariko: her daughter

SugitaSachie: her companion, Otori Erikos sister

SugitaHaruki: senior retainer to the Maruyama, Sachies brother

AraiDaiichi: heir to the Arai clan at Kumamoto

THETOHAN

IidaSadayoshi: lord of the Tohan clan

IidaSadamu: his son, heir to the clan

MiuraNaomichi: a Tohan sword instructor

InabaAtsushi: his retainer

The Tribe

MutoShizuka: Arais mistress

Muto Zenko:

Muto Taku:their sons

Muto Kenji:Shizukas uncle, head of the Muto family, friend to Shigeru

Muto Seiko:his wife

Muto Yuki:his daughter

KikutaKotaro: Shizukas uncle, head of the Kikuta family

KikutaIsamu: his cousin, one of the Tribe

Bunta: agroom

The Hidden

Sara:Isamus wife

Tomasu:their son

Shimon:Saras second husband

Maruta:their older daughter

Madaren:their younger daughter

Nesutoro:an itinerant priest

Mari: hisniece

Horses

Karasu:Shigerus black

Kamome:Kiyoshiges black-maned gray

Raku:Takeshis black-maned gray

Kyu:Shigerus second black

Kuri: avery clever bay

The footfall was light, barely discernible among all the myriadnoises of the autumn forestthe rustle of leaves scattering in thenorthwesterly wind, the distant beating of wings as geese flew southward, theechoing sounds of the village far belowyet Isamu heard it and recognized it.

He put the digging tool down on the damp grass, along with theroots he had been collecting, and moved away from it. Its sharp blade spoke tohim and he did not want to be tempted by any tool or weapon. He turned in thedirection of his cousins approach and waited.

Kotaro came into the clearing invisible, in the way of theTribe, but Isamu did not bother concealing himself in the same fashion. He knewall his cousins skills: they were almost the same age, Kotaro less than a yearyounger; they had trained together, striving always to outdo each other; theyhad been friends, of a sort, and rivals their entire life.

Isamu had thought he had escaped here in this remote village onthe eastern borders of the Three Countries, far from the great cities where theTribe preferred to live and work, selling their supernatural skills to whoeverpaid them highest and finding plenty of employment in these times of intrigueand strife among the warriors. But no one escapes the Tribe forever.

How many times had he heard this warning as a child? How manytimes had he repeated it to himself, with the dark pleasure that the old skillsinduce, as he delivered the silent knife thrust, the twist of the garrote or,his own preferred method, the poison that fell drop by drop into a sleepingmouth or an unprotected eye?

He did not doubt that it echoed through Kotaros mind now ashis cousins shape came shimmering into sight.

For a moment they stared at each other without speaking. Theforest itself seemed to fall quiet, and in that silence Isamu thought he couldhear his wifes voice far below. If he could hear her, then Kotaro could, too,for both cousins had the Kikuta gift of far-hearing, just as they both bore thestraight line of the Kikuta that divided the palm of the hand.

It took me a long time to find you, Kotaro said finally.

That was my intention, Isamu replied. Compassion was stillunfamiliar to him, and he shrank from the pain it awakened in his new bornheart. He thought with regret of the girls kindness, her high spirits, hergoodness; he wished he could save her from grief; he wondered if their briefmarriage had already planted new life in her and what she would do after hisdeath. She would find comfort from her people, from the Secret One. She wouldbe sustained by her inner strength. She would weep for him and pray for him; noone in the Tribe would do either.

Following a barely understood instinct, like the birds in thiswild place that he had come to know and love, he decided he would delay hisdeath and lead Kotaro far away into the forest; maybe neither of them wouldreturn from its vastness.

He split his image and sent his second self toward his cousin,while he ran swiftly and completely silently, his feet hardly touching theground, between the slender trunks of the young cedars, leaping over bouldersthat had tumbled from the crags above, skimming across slippery black rocksbelow waterfalls, vanishing and reappearing in the spray. He was aware ofeverything around him: the gray sky and damp air of the tenth month, the chillwind that heralded winter, reminding him that he would never see snow again,the distant throaty bellow of a stag, the whir of wings and the harsh calls ashis flight disturbed a flock of crows. So he ran, and Kotaro followed him,until hours later and miles from the village he had made his home, Isamuallowed his pace to slow and his cousin to catch up with him.

He had come farther into the forest than ever before; there wasno sun. He had no idea where he was; he hoped Kotaro would be as lost. He hopedhis cousin would die here in the mountains on this lonely slope above a deepravine. But he would not kill him. He who had killed so many times would neverkill anyone again, not even to save his own life. He had made that vow, and heknew he was not going to break it.

The wind had shifted to the east and it had become much colder,but the pursuit had made Kotaro sweat; Isamu could see the gleaming drops ashis cousin approached him. Neither of them breathed hard, despite theirexertions. Beneath their deceptively slight build lay iron-hard muscles andyears of training.

Kotaro stopped and drew a twig from within his jacket. He heldit out, saying, Its nothing personal, cousin. I want to make that clear. Thedecision was made by the Kikuta family. We drew lots and I got the short piece.But whatever possessed you to try to leave the Tribe?

When Isamu made no reply, Kotaro went on, I assume thats whatyou are trying to do. Its the conclusion the whole family came to when weheard nothing from you for over a year, when you did not return to Inuyama orto the Middle Country, when you failed to carry out tasks assigned to you,commissionedand paid for, I might addby Iida Sadayoshi himself. Some arguedthat you were dead, but no one had reported it and I found it hard to believe.Who could kill you, Isamu? No one could get near enough to do it with knife orsword or garrote. You never fall asleep; you never get drunk. You have madeyourself immune to all poisons; your body heals itself from all sickness.Theres never been an assassin like you in the history of the Tribe; even Iadmit your superiority, though it sticks in my gullet to say it. Now I find youhere, very much alive, a very long way from where you are supposed to be. Ihave to accept that you have absconded from the Tribe, for which there is onlyone punishment.