Divine Wind - Chapter 1

Chapter 1



It had been raining for hours now. The battle had been going on nearly as long. Every raindrop further soaked the murky swampland. Blood poured from the wounds of the fallen and collected in large pools raised by the storm. It was dawn but the dark clouds blocked most of the sunlight and instead bestowed an unearthly orange glow upon the flat land interrupted by frequent bolts of lightning.



It is June 20, 1582 in the Christian calendar, in a humid swamp in the northern part of Settsu Province, Japan where two armies have amassed. One, a relatively small force loyal to the Mori clan. The other army led by General Akechi Mitsuhide, a retainer of the shogun, Oda Nobunaga, who have been marching west all night to surprise the small, yet determined, rebel force.



Akechi’s scouts had detected the army moving up from the south the day before and assumed their plan was to assault the capitol, Kamakura, though their true plan was to rally support against the shogunate. Nobunaga ordered the general to wipe out these last remains of the Mori in the recently conquered territory and then to raise further soldiers in the province and continue westward to assist another of the shogun’s retainers, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, in his siege of Takamatsu castle. Over the past few days, a force of a ten thousand men marched to meet the rebels, which numbered closer to seven thousand. Though the shogun’s grand army outnumbered the insurgent warriors, the latter was faring better. This fact was pondered over by Kobayashi Sadatsugu as he ran his hand over the matchlock pistol in his saddle pouch.



It was dark out when Akechi’s Tanegashima, his riflemen, lit up the night sky and tore through the enemy cavalry. The Tanegashima numbered in the thousands and worked in groups of three rows. The first row fired then ducked, allowing the second to fire while the front retreated to the back. The current shogun, Oda Nobunaga, had made this a powerful tactic going back to the battle of Nagashino in 1575. It worked as well at the swamp as it did then. Though their cavalry was decimated by the riflemen the ashiguru, simple foot soldiers armed with spears, were able to advance enough to clash with Akechi’s front line. It was simple why the battle had turned at that point, thought Kobayashi. The ashiguru on both sides were poor uneducated farmers but while those under Akechi’s command were tired and fatigued from marching all night, the others were invigorated with visions of glory for the Mori. Looking on at the fierce battle before him, the samurai saw in the mess of stabbing polearms the red armor of the Mori clan slowly overpowering the black of the Oda clan.



The battle was fought in a small swampy area surrounded on all sides by trees. A hill on the western side served as a command area for General Akechi Mitsuhide. There he and his trusted advisors watched as hundreds died protected by a small group of cavalry. Kobayashi Sadatsugu was among them sitting atop his horse. Akechi and his military counsel were clad in yellow armor while Kobayashi stood apart in his black lacquered, green-laced armor. He was also a Buddhist while Akechi and his men were all Christian, converted from Portuguese missionaries. Though the general was in the inner circle of Lord Nobunaga, Kobayashi didn’t trust him. Not for a second.



In addition to the guns the Tanegashima also were ready to fight in close with their swords, as well as an entire column of ashiguru. Akechi was hesitant to call them in to help the other ashiguru, so hesitant in fact, that Kobayashi broke protocol and made a suggestion to his superior.



“Do you not think it is time to reinforce the front?” he asked, somewhat impatiently.



The general’s head moved to look over at the samurai. His massive headdress-like helmet seemed to make the simple movement slower.



“What was that?” he asked forming a wicked smile.



“Do you not see our line of soldiers crumbling?” Kobayashi said just below a yell. “Send in the rest before they are all lost.”



Akechi didn’t even ponder the thought.



“You may have proved yourself in duels, young one.” He said. “But your battlefield experience is lacking. I am fully aware that our ashiguru will be broken through soon. But the second column will be fresh and as such will make waste of their pitiful force.”



“You will see more of our Lord’s men die rather than take the risk to help them!”



“Hold your tongue!” shouted the Akechi’s lieutenant Umetada Masamitsu. “Just because your Oda’s favorite doesn’t mean you don’t answer to superiors.”



Akechi remained silent and returned his gaze to the battle as if he were interrupted during a play. Fool, Thought Kobayashi. He started breathing heavier with the thoughts going through his mind. He did have to remain under the general's orders. Even if they were foolish, no, not foolish, cowardly, he thought. The samurai knew Akechi was wrong, and he would not take orders from a coward. Kobayashi was a retainer of the Oda clan and would show his loyalty by saving his lord’s men, even if it meant disobeying his direct superior.



Without looking back, the young samurai pulled down the hideous oni demon mask over his face and charged down the field. The flag bearing the crest of the Oda clan on his back waved in the stormy winds.



No one followed after him and Akechi gave it little more attention to him than a new character appearing in the play that he seemed to be watching. On the field of battle however, Kobayashi was immediately noticed by the second large group of ashiguru, who had fallen back a good five hundred yards behind the front line soldiers.



“Men!” the samurai yelled. “It is time to stop watching your brothers die, draw your swords and follow me!” They were unaware that this was not the general’s wish but Kobayashi was a faithful retainer of Lord Nobunaga, and they would not disobey him. “Go around their lines and attack them from behind! It’s our best chance!”



Kobayashi didn’t say any more, he just drew his wakizashi, short sword, and charged straight at the middle of the battle. Lightning bolts streaked the sky and with oni mask, horned helmet, and black armor, Kobayashi looked every bit like a demon atop a black steed as he tore into the enemy ranks slashing with his sword.



Being the only one on horseback, he stood out amongst the black and red ashiguru. His appearance brought back a little hope to Nobunaga’s men, though it did make a clear target for the enemy. For every one of theirs he struck down with his wakizashi it seemed two more tried to stab him with their spears. As the samurai brought his sword up one time one enemy ashiguru got lucky getting his spear in just below the right shoulder. He was bleeding, but the wound was not too deep and could still fight. The lucky ashiguru did not last long enough to enjoy his great strike as the samurai’s wakizashi slit his throat sending a spurt of blood that covered Kobayashi’s face armor.



The constant slashings took their toll more on the samurai’s horse than himself. After stampeding over a man the horse tripped and collapsed, sending Kobayashi flying into the mud. Red water splashed into the air when he fell on his back breaking of the flag bearing the Oda crest. His sword was nowhere to be found as well. This was not a problem as samurai of this time always carried two swords. He swiftly drew his katana and stood in a defensive position. The sword was a gift from the shogun himself and was a finely crafted blade made by the master swordsmith Masamune in the 14th century. It was the last sword made by Masamune and had not been used until Oda Nobunaga bestowed it to Kobayashi a few years ago. It was Masamune’s greatest work and most likely the finest blade ever crafted. Kobayashi briefly uttered a Buddhist invocation of protection, which was carefully carved on the sword’s base.



Quickly surrounded by ashiguru, he gripped the sword’s handle tightly. The celerity with which he got rid of the enemy was astounding. Every move was fluid. Every cutting stroke followed up immediately. Their armor was nothing to the great sword.



Kobayashi had fought through to the rear of their ranks and saw not only the men whom he had ordered to come behind fighting and with the other ashiguru devastating the enemy, but he was far enough to see who was clearly the enemy commander. Their eyes locked and the other man drew his sword. The big man in fine red armor rode atop a white horse. They ran towards each other despite Kobayashi being on foot. Keeping his sword down and to the right the young samurai kept at his foe’s left until the very last instant when he switched sides and dealt a blow that mortally wounded the horse and knocked the enemy into the bloody mud. Kobayashi tried a downward stab that would have killed the man on the ground but he brought his own sword up to deflect the attack. With the samurai sent reeling his foe was able to get back to his feet and launch a flurry of his own strikes.



The two dueled in the unrelenting rain. Each attack was blocked by the other. His foe tried everything he knew, even risking turning his back to build up a mighty swing. It might have been a deathblow had Kobayashi not jumped back when he saw it coming. The sword missed his neck by less than an inch. This infuriated the enemy leader who then unleashed, perhaps recklessly, a volley of downward slashes. Seeing an opportunity, Kobayashi waited until the man brought his sword up to highest point and then stepped underneath his arms and without turning around reversed his grip on the sword and plunged his katana into the man’s back. With an extra push it sliced through his sternum and out the other side. It took a second for his foe to slide off the sword and fall to the ground and add to the bloody puddles.



The samurai went to further help out his comrades and in no long time the battle was won. Though not as large and epic as other battles of the day every man there fought as hard than they did at Kawanakajima or Nagashino. This was lost on Akechi Mitsuhide, who was so wrapped up in his own thoughts as to have barely noticed Kobayashi’s presence in battle. Searching the swamp, in a break in the weather the samurai finally found his dead horse. Upon retrieving his matchlock he made use of an enemy horse still in good shape. Riding as fast as he could to the Imperial Court at Kyoto, Kobayashi Sadatsugu also planned what he would say to the shogun. He would know of the real traitor, the coward Akechi. The general was far too shrewd a tactician to have made such a gross error, as it appears he did.



“What should we do with him?” Umetada asked the general watching the samurai ride away from the swamp.





“Let him go. This is even better than I had expected. If he insists let him die with his lord.” Akechi said with a growing smile.”

Umetada returned the smile. “Then our plan is still underway, despite his meddling?”



It was true that during the battle Akechi made a mistake not sending in those men. Except that he knew all along what he would do. Among the three hundred who used the rifles nearly a dozen never fired a shot. They didn’t even know how. No one could have noticed among the noise. Akechi had brought them, hid them. They were assassins, the very best. And Akechi knew for a fact that every man he hadn’t sent in himself was more loyal to him than the shogun. Those that had begun the battle Akechi was not sure of. Kobayashi’s impromptu charge had risked months of planning and waiting for the right opportunity. Now that time had come. In his desire to defeat the Mori, Oda Nobunaga gave Akechi a rather large army. But instead of marching against the Mori Akechi would use this army to surround Kyoto and the assassins to kill Nobunaga as well as his son Oda Nobutada at Nijo. Destroying this force of the Mori clan was useful to Akechi so as to not have any more enemies inside what would become his empire. Kobayashi had been the only officer with Akechi who was loyal to Nobunaga. And now he was gone.



“Nobunaga will not live to see the Mori fall.” Said Akechi coldly.