'Is that aliT' 'Not quite."
Yoritomo sighed again. This time, the air of regret had been replaced
by a note of weary exasperation. 'Tread carefully, my friend. You're
beginning to spoil the view."
Toshiro accepted this philosophically. The risk of incurring the
Shogun's wrath by being the bearer of bad tidings went with the
territory. 'A rumour, sire, nothing more. I just thought you ought to
know about it."
'I'm waiting."
Toshiro steeled himself. Rumour it might be but it was still
dynamite.
'The flying-horse was driven through the air by an engine whose
workings could not be fathomed."
'I know. Yama-Shita ordered it to be destroyed."
'It wasn't."
The news raised the Shogun's painted eyebrows.
'Nothing's happened yet, but the word is our friends in the north have
decided to ask their tame long-dog to reveal its secrets and help them
devise ways to ' 'To what...?"
'To recapture the..." Toshiro's throat dried.
'... The Dark Light." The words conjured up a chill spectre of death
and disaster.
The five samurai guarding the Shogun did not understand what he was
saying, but they sensed the feeling of dread in his voice and looked at
each other uneasily.
Toshiro averted his eyes as Yoritomo willed himself to remain calm. In
this situation, the laws of etiquette forbade him to look at the
Shogun. He had to kneel with his head bowed until Yoritomo addressed
him.
As the present holder of the supreme office and guardian of the sacred
principles and traditions that governed the world of the samurai, the
Dark Light was the thing Yoritomo feared most. It was the evil force
that had led to the destruction of The World Before; the power that
must never again be allowed to fall into the hands of men. Its secrets
had become hidden knowledge, shunned and feared like the magic spells
cast by the wizards and witches of ancient times.
