Chapter
VI
Nobuko and Prince Hayato were having
a good night’s sleep, when suddenly Nobuko got woken up. She heard a noise of a
horse and cart coming up to the inn. ‘It might just be a late night visitor
wanting a room;’ she thought ‘but just to be safe, I’ll go see what it is’. Not
to wake up Prince Hayato, she crept outside the stable to see who was outside.
It came to a shock when Nobuko saw who it was; it was Emperor Hisashi’s huntsman
Shigeo. “What’s Shigeo doing here?” Nobuko whispered to herself. She listened
to Shigeo’s and the innkeeper’s conversation. “What are you doing at this time
of the night?” asked the innkeeper. “I have been ordered by his majesty, the
emperor, to hunt down a grey brown wolf and its master” said Shigeo.
Nobuko gasped at what she had heard.
‘He must be hunting down General Masao and Hayato’ she thought in fear. She
woke up Prince Hayato at once. “Hayato wake up, there’s trouble outside!” she
shouted, nudging him. “What’s going on?” said Prince Hayato. “Your uncle’s huntsman
Shigeo Morita is here, and I just heard him say to the innkeeper that he’s
hunting down a grey brown wolf and its master. I think your uncle has sent him
to kill you and your father”. “Oh no!” said Prince Hayato “we need to find my
father quick before Shigeo does”. “But how will we find him?” asked Nobuko “he
could be anywhere by now”. “Don’t worry,” said Prince Hayato “I can tell, don’t
forget I’ve travelled with my father, in his wolf form, lots of times”.
Nobuko and Prince Hayato gathered up
their belongings and weapons and even packed up the blankets, in case they’d be
handy, and then they led their horses out of the stable and rode off into the
forest. The rainy storm had begun and thunder and lightning were going off in
the sky. “Okay so how do we find him?” asked Nobuko. “I’ll show you” said
Prince Hayato. They came to a clearing in the forest. Prince Hayato howled like
a wolf, and then a real wolf’s howl was heard in return. “That’s my father’s
howl”, Prince Hayato explained “this is how I contact my father, when he’s a
wolf, when I need him”. “That’s clever,” said Nobuko “and that also means he
hasn’t been caught yet”.
Just then Nobuko saw something big
and wooden in the tree branches, in the trees that surrounded them. “I see
something in those trees,” she said “and I don’t think they’re just branches”.
“I’ll have a look” said Prince Hayato, and climbed one of the trees to
investigate, and then he climbed down the tree again. “You were right Nobuo;
someone has set up crossbows and arrows in the trees”. “It must be one of
Shigeo’s traps,” said Nobuko “and I think I have an idea to stop him”. This was
her plan; since Prince Hayato knew how to howl like a wolf, he would act as
bait to lure Shigeo to the area where the crossbow and arrow trap is. Then when
Shigeo gets to the area, Nobuko would set of the crossbow and arrow traps, and
then the arrows would finish Shigeo off. “I like this plan,” said Prince Hayato
“but would he fall for it”. “Trust me Hayato,” said Nobuko “I saw Shigeo lots
of times when I worked at the palace. And let me tell you something; he is a
skilled huntsman, but he is a very stupid one”.
To carry out the plan Prince Hayato
stood in the area of the trap, while Nobuko hid behind the tree where the main
rope for the crossbow and arrow trap was; Nobuko needed to pull the rope to
fire the arrows from the crossbows. Prince Hayato started to howl like a wolf,
as loud as he could. Not far from the trap, Shigeo heard the wolf howls and
thought they might be a real wolfs howl, and then started to follow the sounds
of the howls. Back at the trap, Prince Hayato kept on howling, and then Nobuko
told him to stop. “I hear someone or something coming” she said, and Prince
Hayato went behind a tree to hide.
Shigeo came to where he had heard the
howling. ‘This is where I heard the howling, but I don’t see any wolves’ he
thought. He walked into the middle of the area, right where his crossbow and
arrow trap was. This was Nobuko’s chance to set off the trap. She tugged at the
rope very hard and sent the arrows flying from the crossbows. The arrows struck
Shigeo into his back, chest and head, and he fell down dead. Prince Hayato and
Nobuko came out from behind the trees and looked at Shigeo’s dead body. “I
can’t believe that he really fell for this trick” said Prince Hayato in
amazement. “It’s like I told you Hayato,” replied Nobuko “he was an all muscle
and no brain”. “I agree with that” said Prince Hayato. At that moment they
heard a howl from nearby. “My father is safe now”. “We better get away from
here now, before anyone finds out what has happened, and I don’t want to be
around when General Takeshi’s soldiers hear about this” said Nobuko. She and
Prince Hayato rode off on their horses at once.
They galloped through the forest to find
new shelter from the rain. “Where should we go to?” asked Prince Hayato “I mean
it wouldn’t be safe to go back to the inn, but we still need shelter from this
rain”. Nobuko saw the answer; there was an abandoned, lonely house not far from
where they were standing. “That’s handy” said Prince Hayato. Nobuko inspected
it first. “There’s no one living here,” she said “so it should be all right to
rest here until sunrise”.
The inside of the house was a bit
dusty, but all the furniture and tools were still in place. There was even a
big pile of firewood for the fire place. “Funny, no one is living here and yet
everything is still in place” said Nobuko. “I guess who ever lived here, had no
family to take care of it after he or she died” said Prince Hayato. “Never mind
though,” said Nobuko “taking shelter in this abandoned house is better than
anywhere else”. Prince Hayato got a fire going in the fire place, while Nobuko
got the two blankets, she brought with her, sorted out for a bed. She also
found two abandoned futons in the house. “I suggest we go to sleep right now,
before we run into anymore disturbances tonight” said Nobuko. Prince Hayato saw
nothing wrong with that, and with the fire still going they fell asleep.
Next day, Nobuko woke up to see
General Masao, in human form, inside the house with Emperor Falcon on his right
hand. “Oh morning General Masao” she said, a bit groggily. “Good morning,” said
General Masao “you found a very good shelter for last night”. Nobuko stretched
and rubbed her eyes to get the sleepiness out. “Ugh last night was a nightmare”
she said. “What happened?” asked General Masao. “It’s a long story,” said
Nobuko “but to cut it short, we ran into Shigeo Morita last night”. “Emperor
Hisashi’s huntsman, what was he doing here?” “Emperor Hisashi sent him to hunt
you down in your wolf form and to kill Hayato too”. “Where is he now?” “He’s dead;
he died from his own crossbow and arrow trap”.
At that moment, just as Nobuko was
still stretching, Emperor Falcon flew from General Masao’s hand to her hand.
“Oh, morning Emperor Falcon” she said, stroking its feathers. “I see that you
and my son have become closer with each other,” said General Masao “what else
happened last night”. “Well, disguised as girls, we got something to eat and
drink at an inn” said Nobuko. General Masao chuckled at that; the thought of
his son in a women’s kimono was amusing. “Then just to be safe, we stayed in
the stable and talked. He said that his wish was that the curse was broken and
that he and you could live a normal, happily family life again”. General Masao
smiled a bit; his son’s wish was his wish too. “What did you say to him after
he told you his wish?” he asked. “I told him about my family’s death and about
Tetsuya and his death,” said Nobuko “and I also said that I envy him for still
having a family”. General Masao looked at Nobuko, with pity in his eyes; he
started to feel sorry for her. Emperor Falcon started screeching a light
screech as if it felt sorry for Nobuko too.
Just then General Masao and Nobuko
heard a noise outside. “I think someone’s here” said Nobuko. General Masao went
outside to see what the noise was. There was nothing to worry about though; it
was only Master Ronin. Master Ronin had been travelling by his horse and carriage.
“What brings you here?” asked General Masao. “I intend to enter the palace with
you, Hayato and Nobuo,” said Master Ronin “besides, I promised Princess Annika,
before she died, that I would watch over you and your son, if you ever intended
to return to the palace”. General Masao sighed. “Very well” he said.
Nobuko stepped out from the house.
“I’ve just been thinking General Masao,” she said “since we are safe here; I
think that we should plan what to do when we reach the palace. I mean we can’t
really just go up to the palace doors and ask to enter without any trouble”.
“Nobuo is right Masao,” said Master Ronin “besides everyone there would
recognize you”. “I agree with this” said General Masao; he wanted to complete his
quest without any trouble.
The plan was for the group to get
into the palace grounds, without anyone recognizing General Masao, and how to
actually get inside the palace, with no trouble. “General Masao,” said Nobuko
“I know the soldiers would recognize you, but would they recognize Hayato, in
his human form?” “Not really,” said General Masao “my son and I have been
hiding from the soldiers for twenty years, so they wouldn’t really notice my
son’s presence”. “Then I think that I have an idea” said Nobuko.
Nobuko told General Masao and Master
Ronin her plan. “Since no one at the palace would recognize Hayato, I suggest
when we get to the palace we wait for tonight to get inside. And as for you
General Masao, we could have you, in your wolf form, in a cage. That way Master
Ronin and Hayato and I can make out as travellers wanting to present you, as a
wolf, as a gift to Emperor Hisashi”. “I agree with this plan,” said Master
Ronin “and this will save any trouble”. General Masao agreed with the plan too.
“You are a clever lad Nobuo” he said. Nobuko smiled and thanked General Masao
for his kind words. “Oh hold on a minute,” said Nobuko “what’s worrying me
though is that people would recognize you in your human form when its daylight
again General Masao”. “There’s no need to worry,” said General Masao “because I
have this”. He took out a black mask from his bag. “Wow,” said Nobuko, looking
at the mask, “I didn’t know that you wore masks”. “I don’t really,” said
General Masao “I only use it when I need to disguise myself”.
Master Ronin had a quick talk with
Nobuko alone by some trees. “Does General Masao still not believe what I told
him and you last night?” he asked her. “I’m afraid so,” said Nobuko, in her
real voice, “he describes the ‘gods giving you the answer’ as insanity, and he
calls the ‘sun and moon coming together’ nonsense”. Master Ronin sighed. “I had
a feeling about this” he said. “My guardian Tetsuya used to say that ‘seeing is
believing’,” said Nobuko “so when we see the sun and moon becoming one tomorrow,
General Masao will believe it then”. “Yes,” said Master Ronin “but I just hope
that it will happen before General Masao has the chance of killing Emperor
Hisashi”. “I hope so too,” said Nobuko “especially since Hayato said to me last
night that he wishes to live a normal life with his father”. “All we can do now
is wait and see what happens tomorrow” said Master Ronin.
Soon it was time to head off for the
palace again. Master Ronin set off with his horse and carriage, while Nobuko
and General Masao set off on their horses. ‘I’m coming for you Emperor Hisashi,’
thought General Masao ‘and I will deal with you for good this time’.
