Kozoku no Kaze (Lake Pirates and the Winds) 1

     Ripples from Lake Biwa are gently lapping into a quay.

     Very late at night, more than a dozen of boats are being moored to stakes, and boatmen are still in wait.

     The boatmen are waiting for good winds, and looking over at the Hira Mountains.

     “It’s the dead of night,” mutters a boatman.

     The moment he muttered, as if it had overheard his mumbles, there happened something unusual.

     It lasted a second, but it was imprinted onto the eyes and besides into the minds of the boatmen in the port.

     The top of Mt. Hira flashed white.

     Just for a moment, the mountain ridges revealed themselves against the dark sky.

     Young boatmen trembled.

     “You saw it first, didn’t you?” asked a seasoned hoarse voice, shivering in secret.  An instant spark was enough for a god to pose a menace.

     The boatmen were looking up to the mountains which were covered with the night dark again.  Everything stopped.  So did people, boats, or even air.

     No boatman, as far as he lives on the lake, could imagine anyone would dare break the stillness.

     “Hey!” uttered a panicked boatman to a man who were untying his mooring line.

     “Are you sure sane?”

     The man finished undoing the line.

     “Didn’t you see the flash of Mt. Hira?”

     The man shot the boatman a glance, a sword-like sharp one.

     Instead of answering the question, the man took a hold on a scull, and stood up.  The man’s sleeves flew, leaving an unexpected fragrance behind.  Other boatmen took doubtful sniffs of the fragrance, whose name they could never know.  It was kalaguru.

     While those boatmen were charmed by lingering scent of the incensed sleeves, the man sculled out of the quay.  A boatman suddenly came to himself and shouted.

     “Do you dare to die, this crazy guy?”

     The man’s boat etched a sharp wake on the dark water surface.  Another boatman recognized it, and grumbled.

     “He is Urokuzu.”

     The scull squeaked, leaving lingering sounds of the man, and faded away in the dark.

     The night dark has gone, yet the lake surface is deadly gray, reflecting the heavy cloudy sky.  Mt. Hira has gathered clouds.

     Urokuzu’s sharp eyes are being fixed on his way.  Just for a moment, they are turned to the mountainsides.  Urokuzu’s hands reach a straw-mat sail, and the mast is laid down against the bar at the stern.  As if it had been waiting for the process to finish, a squall runs down from the Hira Mountains.

     The squall has hail.. Its hailstones hit against Urokuzu like slugs.

     The first sudden squall is just a warning though.  The second and third are fully prepared to run down.  The lake surface is covered with uncountable waves punching at Urokuzu incredibly fast.

     Urokuzu is ready to face them, and lightly touches the foot of the mast.  There is a bunch of hair sealed in prayer.

     “My god Yebisu…” murmured Urokuzu with his eyes lightly closed.

     The body suddenly floats into the air.  If it had not been tied to the boat with the loincloth, the body would have been thrown into the lake.

     Urokuzu touches the shrine, and opens his eyes.  His trained tall body faces up to the lake.  He heads the stem of his boat against its rough with turbulent winds and waves.

     If it were fine, the lake should be vibrant with various big or small boats.  But Urokuzu is alone on the lake.  It is this, the Hira Downdrafts, that defends Urokuzu, however dreadful other boatmen feel of the storms.

     The roaring storms and rolling pyramidal waves are fooling around with Urokuzu’s boat, which is yet getting forward.

     It has been some time when Urokuzu looks afar at the lake shore, handling his boat.

     The sleet in slanting sheets obscures Urokuzu’s view, and he can see no farther than 50 meters.  Yet his five senses clearly show him the farther scene.

     “I’ve just passed by Ukimido Temple.”

     This place, off Katada, might be more dreadful than the winds and waves of the Hira Downdrafts.  If you have a better visibility, you can see Katata towns very close.

     “Katata pirates, can you stop me?”

     Urokuzu shoots a sharp look at Katata towns through blinding sleeting winds and waves.