The Twelve Kingdoms: Shadow of the Moon
you think?"
Youko couldn't bring herself to believe him. Simply trusting people like that, you were setting yourself up for a fall.
"All kaikyaku get sent to the county seat. If they're good, they're confined under house arrest. If they're bad, then it's the axe. If you were to ask me, I'd say you belonged to the latter group."
"Why do you think that?"
"The word is, you've got some kind of black magic up your sleeves. You commanded the youma to attack the convoy and used the opportunity to make a break for it."
"I didn't command the youma to do anything."
"That's what I thought." The rat nodded to himself. "I didn't think it'd be so easy to order youma around like that. In fact, I don't think it was you commanding the youma. I think it was you the youma were hunting."
"I . . . I don't know."
"Well, either way, you must be a bad kaikyaku. Any person the youma would have it in for can't be good."
"And what if I am?"
"Nine times out of ten, when a kaikyaku ends up in front of the governor, that's the last you hear of him. So naturally you'd run. But do you know where you should be running to?"
Youko had no answer.
"No, you have no idea at all. You simply stumbled into our little corner of the woods. Well, you should be headed for En."
Youko gave Rakushun a long, hard look. There was no expression on the rat's face. She couldn't read him at all.
"Why?"
"I guess I just can't stand idly by and watch people get killed." Rakushun laughed. "That doesn't mean I'd shed a tear seeing some brigand go to the gallows. But executing a kaikyaku just because she's a kaikyaku? No, that's going too far."
"But I'm a bad kaikyaku, aren't I?"
"Well, the government seems to think so. But I suppose there are good kaikyaku and bad kaikyaku like everybody else. It's a rare thing to know for sure which is which just by having a hunch about someone."
"Bad kaikyaku bring calamities upon the kingdom."
"Old wives' tales."
The quickness of his reply and the tone of his voice set off alarm bells in her head. It was exactly the same thing another person in this country had said. Though in that case it was a human woman.
"So you're saying that if I go to En, they'll help me?"
"They will. The king of En gives sanctuary to kaikyaku. In En, kaikyaku can live their lives the same as everybody else, proof that it's people that are good or bad, not kaikyaku. That's why you should go to En. Now, why don't you put that scary thing down?"
Youko hesitated several times, then lowered the sword.
"Pull up a chair. Your tea is getting cold."
Youko sat herself down again. She had no idea what Rakushun was up to. Whenever her kaikyaku identity was exposed, it was best to get out of there as soon as possible. But she really wanted to know more about this En.
"Do you know the lay of the land around these parts?"
Youko shook her head. Rakushun nodded. Holding his teacup, he got down from the chair. He came over to where Youko was still holding the sword and leaned over the dirt floor.
"We are in An'you county in Jun province, a place called Kahoku," Rakushun said, drawing a rough map in the dirt. "This is the Kyokai, and Shin county is here. Hairou is in this vicinity. That means you have been traveling in a westerly direction right into the interior of Kou. If escaping was your goal--getting out of Kou--then you've been going in the wrong direction."
Youko looked at the map with mixed emotions. Could she believe it? Could he be misleading her? Her doubts notwithstanding, she was starving for information. Right now, the desire for knowledge overcame her second thoughts.
"Bordering Jun on the west is Nei province. Following the main road, you'll enter Hokuryou county. Further along the road, going in a northwestern direction, you'll reach Agan. It's a big port city on the Blue Sea, one of the inner seas."
Rakushun sketched the rough map and wrote out the place names with a remarkably fine hand. "You can take a ship from Agan north across the Blue Sea. Your destination is En."
Rakushun wrote "Enkoku" as The Kingdom of En, using the Chinese character for "wild goose."
"It'd be a good idea to head first for Hokuryou before going on."
But how would she get aboard a ship? If the port was guarded, it'd be like putting the noose around her own neck.
"You'll be okay," Rakushun laughed, as if reading her thoughts. "What I'm saying is, if a person in Shin wanted to escape Kou, the fastest way would be to head due north and cross the mountains
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