Dragon Sword and Wind Child Read Free Page A

much farther to Chief Azusahiko’s house?”
    â€œNo, it’s just over there,” Saya answered quickly. “Follow the river and bear right when you come to the pine forest. You can’t miss it.”
    â€œCould you perhaps guide us there? We’ve been invited to the Kagai and wish to pay him our respects.”
    â€œOh, I see.” Saya relaxed. “Are you the musicians for the festival?”
    â€œYes.”
    Suddenly their dusty sandals and leg guards, their sedge hats and the old woman’s staff did not seem so strange. It was quite common for traveling musicians and performers to wander from village to village at festival time. Until now Saya had seen musicians only during festivals, playing the koto or the flute, but no doubt they had all come from far away. It was the custom for musicians to be entertained at the home of the head chieftain for several days before and after the festival before they resumed their wandering.
    â€œI’d be happy to take you there if you would just wait a moment while I go and get my washing,” Saya said.
    As she was turning to leave, however, the boy casually remarked, “You have a small birthmark on your right palm, don’t you?”
    Saya turned back in surprise. She had a pale pink oval mark like a flower petal in the hollow of her palm. Normally, she never thought of it, but it bothered her to think that this sharp-eyed boy had been staring at it.
    â€œI was born with it. What about it?” she answered somewhat brusquely. She was used to remarks about red birthmarks being caused by seeing a fire.
    â€œYou weren’t born in this village either, were you?” he asked with a mischievous look.
    Saya frowned. Although deeply shaken, she kept her poise. “What makes you say that? Does having a birthmark automatically mean that that person wasn’t born in this village?”
    Just then, she caught snatches of something the man with the eye patch murmured to his neighbor. “The same as . . . You can tell because . . . She has the face of the Water Maiden.”
    The Water Maiden? Who’s that? She stiffened. Although she had never heard the name before, it filled her with a sense of foreboding that she could not shake. Her heart pounded and the blood drained from her face as though she had been touched by an icy finger. Aware that the old woman was watching her, Saya asked hoarsely, “Where do you come from?”
    She waited expectantly, thinking that they must come from the east. Perhaps they knew something about her true origins. But instead the old woman answered casually, “From the west. And some of us from the south. There are many small but prosperous villages hereabouts.” The old woman’s inner thoughts could not be read in her wrinkled face. All her energy seemed to be concentrated in her gleaming eyes, but these, too, betrayed no flicker of emotion. Slightly disappointed, Saya remained silent, when suddenly the old woman asked, “Have you ever heard of Princess Sayura?”
    â€œPrincess Sayura? No.”
    â€œMmm, I thought not. I thought not.” The old woman nodded to herself. “It’s been a long time since she passed away, although her death in the palace of the Prince of Light seems like yesterday to me.”
    â€œWas she a relative?” Saya asked, puzzled. The old woman spoke of the Princess as if she were her own daughter, yet the palace in the capital city was the home of Prince Tsukishiro and Princess Teruhi. No one was even allowed through the palace gates unless they were of very high rank.
    The old woman did not reply, and the boy smothered a laugh. Saya suddenly felt ashamed and a little angry, as if she was the only one who had missed something obvious.
    In the next moment she was hailed by cheerful voices from the grassy riverbank. Several friends had followed her out of curiosity. “Hey! Saya! Are you all right? Did you get your