Cloud of Sparrows by Takashi Matsuoka Page A

heart pumped blood through his body, that was all. Otherwise, it was a dead man’s heart.
    Stark said, “You ought to take rest, Sister Emily. I’ll watch over Brother Zephaniah.”
    Emily shook her head. After several deep breaths, she was able to speak. “Thank you, Brother Matthew, but I cannot go. My place is with him.”
    Stark heard the rustle of clothing in the hallway. Someone was approaching. The four samurai outside bowed low. Moments later, Lord Genji appeared in the doorway with the captain of his bodyguard. He looked at Emily and Stark, then said a few words to the samurai. The four men bowed again, uttered a single syllable that sounded like “ Hai!, ” and rushed off. Stark noticed that everyone around Genji said that word frequently. He guessed it meant yes. People were unlikely to say no much to someone who could exterminate them and everyone they knew on the slightest whim.
    Genji smiled and greeted them with a slight bow. Before they could struggle to their feet, he was seated beside them on his knees, apparently in complete comfort. He said something and waited. It seemed to Stark that he was looking at them as if he expected a reply.
    Stark shook his head. “I’m sorry, Lord Genji. Neither of us speaks Japanese.”
    Amused, Genji turned to Saiki and said, “He thinks I spoke to him in Japanese.”
    Saiki said, “Is he a fool? Doesn’t he recognize his own language?”
    “Apparently not the way I speak it. My accent must be even worse than I thought. However, I did understand him. That’s something to be glad of.” Genji switched again to English and said to Stark and Emily, “My English is not good. I apologize.”
    Stark shook his head again. All he could think of to say was what he had already said. “I’m sorry,” he began. Then Emily interrupted him.
    “You’re speaking English,” she said to Genji. Or he was trying to, at least. Her eyes, still wet with tears, widened in surprise.
    “Yes, thank you,” Genji said. He smiled like a child who had pleased an important adult. “I regret the offense to your ears. My tongue and my lips have great difficulty with the shapes of your words.”
    What Emily heard was a string of strange syllables in the general rhythm of English. “Yeh-su, san-kyu. I lee-glet-to zah offen-su to yo-ah ee-ah-su. My tahn-gu ahn my rip-su ha-bu glate difficurty with zah shay-pu-su of yo-ah wod-zuh.”
    She struggled to separate one blurred sound from the next. If she could puzzle out even a few words, she might have some idea of what he was talking about. Had he used the word “difficulty”? She thought it might be a good idea to repeat the word in her reply.
    Enunciating carefully, she said, “Any difficulty can be overcome if people try hard enough.”
    Ah, so that’s how the word was pronounced, Genji thought. “Difficulty,” an “el” with a flip of the tongue toward the upper palate, not an “ur” with a soft growl in the throat.
    “Difficult but not impossible,” Genji said. “Sincerity and persistence go a long way.”
    His accent was strange and severe, but there was a consistency to it that made the words clearer the more of them she heard. He was also a quick learner. This time, his “difficult” was much closer to hers.
    “Lord Genji, how on earth did you learn our language?”
    “My grandfather required me to study it. He believed it would be useful.” In fact, Kiyori had told him it was an absolute necessity. He had seen Genji in conversations with English speakers in prophetic dreams.
    Those conversations, Kiyori had said, will one day save your life.
    Genji had been seven years old. He had said, If your dreams are true, why should I bother to study? Prophecy says I will speak English, so when the time comes, I will speak it.
    Kiyori had laughed loudly. When the time comes, you will speak it, because now, today, you will begin learning it.
    The Shogunate’s prohibition against outsiders was still in force in those days. Native