When the gorgeously robed priests had ended their chanted ritual, I rose in turn with the other mourners, to bow before the coffin and lay incense upon the smoking censer and withdraw to my place. When all had taken the last farewell, the _etas_ bore him into the tomb.
“My lord,” murmured Yuki, “it is ill advised for us to linger. We should return without delay to the outer moat, and cross over through the official quarter. To repass Mito Yashiki would be to incur great risk.”
“What!” I demanded. “Are we to skulk from our enemies on our return from _his_ funeral? Let others do as they choose. We return as we came.”
His eyes flashed with martial fire. “My lord speaks as a true _samurai_! His attendants will go with him gladly.”
“The hawks poise. Do not go, my lord,” whispered a voice behind me.
“Kohana!” I exclaimed, and I turned about swiftly. I saw her slender figure gliding in amongst a group of the women mourners. In a moment I had lost sight of her. Yuki sprang to overtake her, but I stopped him with a gesture.
“Come,” I said. “Let the hawks swoop. They will find heron beaks awaiting them.”
Fifty men, all mail-clad under their white robes, followed me out through the Black Gate and down Hirokoji Street. Our sandals were bound on tight, and we swung along at a brisk road pace that promised to carry us past Mito Yashiki a good half-hour before sundown. We had no wish either to slip by unseen or to be ambushed in the dark.
The quickness of our return did not take the Mito men by surprise. They had watchmen in a tower at the corner of the _yashiki_, who signalled our approach. When we came opposite the great gate it was open, and Keiki stood in the entrance with a band of Mito and Hitotsubashi retainers, all in full armor. Keiki shone resplendent in a grotesque harness of green and red and gold that gave him the appearance of an iridescent-scaled insect. His helmet closed across his face in a hideous mask.
Keiki’s swordbearer clanked out into the roadway to intercept us, his mail apron lending to his gait a ludicrous appearance of waddling. But there was nothing ludicrous in his purpose. Yuki sprang before me and exchanged a formal bow with the challenger. A moment later their swords flashed out. Yuki was the first swordsman of Yedo, but his opponent was a close second.