Travellers' Tales

by Soledad

For disclaimer, rating, etc. see the Introduction.

Author's notes:

This particular serial is based on the 3rd episode of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" series. Consequently, the approach on "The Tale of the Heike" might be grossly simplified. But again, it was only an excuse to get Tosh where she ended up. Different sources give the day of the battle as the 24th or the 25th of April, respectively – I chose to go with Sagan's version.

Also, Sagan uses the names Heike and Genji for the clans Taira and Minamoto, respectively. Those are different versions of the same thing, I was given to understand, and both genuine. So, I'll switch to the Taira/Minamoto version from now on, because that's how the names of the historic individuals appearing in the following parts of the story usually begin. Yeah, I know it's confusing. I'm having a headache about it myself. The whole chapter is a bit talkative, but it couldn't be avoided, in order to set up the scene for the adventure properly.


Serial One – On the Shores of the Cosmic Ocean

Part Two – Lady Moriko

Tosh was extremely nervous as she followed the Doctor out of the TARDIS. As exciting as it could be to witness a nine-hundred-year-gone historic event with one's own eyes, she was well aware of how dangerous such a situation could become.

They tried to blend in with the crowd heading towards the harbour, where the ships of the Taira were gathered to face their sworn enemies, the Minamoto. For a while, they could follow the marching warriors unnoticed; but then, a middle-aged man in the usual black tunic of an imperial clerk spotted them – and nearly fainted at the sight of Tosh.

"Lady Moriko!" he exclaimed. "You're alive!"

"Why shouldn't I be?" Tosh asked in confusion, grateful for the TARDIS's telepathic field that enabled her to speak nine-hundred-year-old Japanese.

The clerk stared at her in wide-eyed astonishment.

"But… but you've been missing ever since the imperial court fled westwards after the Battle of Yoshima!" he said. "You were thought dead!"

"It seems that people were mistaken," Tosh said, trying feverishly to remember details from The Tale of the Heike, the epic account of the struggle between the Taira and Minamoto clans for control of Japan in the Genpei War. Her mother had used to read the Heike Monogatari to her as a child over and over again, but that had been more than fifteen years previously, and she'd simply forgotten a lot since then.

"But how did you escape?" the clerk asked. "And where have you been all this time? The other miko of Kamo Shrine have been sick with worry for you."

"My… mentor helped me escape," Tosh waved with her fan in the vague direction of the Doctor. "We have tried to follow the court, as returning to the shrine did seem more dangerous at the time. But even so, it was a difficult journey."

"Oh, I can imagine that; wearing the garment gifted upon you by the Lady Nii," the clerk exclaimed. "It must have made you a target of every Minamoto warrior that came your way."

"We had to do our best not to be spotted by them," Tosh admitted, trying to make up things as she was going, grateful – for the first time in her life – for her mother's traditionalist interests.

At least she knew what Kamo Shrine was, and that the Lady Moriko, whom she apparently resembled, must have been a miko, affiliated with that shrine. A seer and prophetess; presumably one of those women who lived in the shrine and went into trances, conveying the words of the gods. If that was true, the position of the Lady Moriko would mean a certain level of protection for her. Unless this particular miko had been closely associated with he Taira Clan… which, unfortunately, seemed to be the case. But it could not be helped.

"As I said, we often had to hide," she said, "since my less… offensive clothes were lost in the troubles. Fortunately, my mentor knows methods to stay out of harm's way."

"Oh, most certainly," the clerk agreed, bowing to the Doctor deeply. "Taro no Tanaka, it's a great honour to have you among us. Your fame precedes you; but we'd never hoped to see you face to face, knowing that you do not like to show yourself in public."

"Sometimes we all have to do things we wouldn't do otherwise," the Doctor replied vaguely, guessing that the Lady Moriko's mentor must have been some sort of hermit or holy man. "I could not let her travel across the country on her own in these dangerous times."

"No, of course not," the clerk agreed hurriedly. "But do come with me; the ladies of the court will be overjoyed to see you."

"Is the entire court here?" Tosh knew, of course, that they were, but she thought it better to feign ignorance. After all, the true Lady Moriko couldn't know that.

The clerk nodded. "Certainly; where else could they be? There is no safer place for them any longer than our own ships, under the protection of Taira no Munamori. Please, come; your presence will give them hope. And hope we all desperately need at the moment."


Not having any other choice, Tosh and the Doctor followed the clerk down to the harbour, where a great fleet of many hundred ships was gathered already, wearing the flags of the Taira Clan. There they were taken by boat to a rather modest ship, where the members of the imperial court were hiding from prying eyes.

At first Tosh was surprised by the choice, but soon she realised that it must have been a tactical decision. The enemy would probably be looking for the child emperor and his caretakers on one of the fancier ships. Unless they were betrayed, they'd be safe on that modest ship.

Tosh was well aware of the sad fact that they would be betrayed, in the end. It was all told in the Heike Monogatari, in minute detail, and her heart went out to the child emperor who would soon be dead. She wished she could do something to save him, but she knew she was not allowed to interfere. If she tried to save young Antoku, the consequences for Japanese history could not be foreseen.

The clerk led them into the presence of the Lady Taira no Tokiko, better known in modern times by her Buddhist name, as the Lady Nii, the grandmother of the child emperor. Almost sixty years of age, the Lady Nii counted as truly ancient, given the usual life expectation of people in the twelfth century, and she had a stern, imperious presence that would make strong warriors tremble with fear.

Her daughter, the future Empress Dowager Kenrei-mon In, could not be older than thirty, if memory served well, but she looked like a middle-aged woman, worn and resigned to her fate. Tosh felt sorry for her. They were roughly the same age, yet while she was still young and had her entire life before her (courtesy of one Jack Harkness), the life of Taira no Tokuko was almost over. Oh, she would survive the upcoming battle – she was one of only forty-three Taira who would – but live out the rest of her life as a Buddhist nun, in a modest hermit's hut.

Antoku-tenno, the child emperor, barely seven years of age, looked like a china doll, shrouded in the many layers of his richly adorned ceremonial garb. Even his small face was doll-like, his hair braided with strings of pearls, his eyes void of all emotion. He could have already been dead by the look of him.

But again, he was a mere puppet in the decades-old struggle for power between the warring samurai clans, the Taira and the Minamoto – or the Heike and the Genji, as they were better known in later times. The true power lay with his determined grandmother, the great Kiyomori's widow – and with the two powerful men standing by her side.

Those two men could hardly be more different, both in looks and in their future fate. Taira no Munemori, now just two years short of forty and in his resplendent prime, had been the head of the Taira Clan for the last four disastrous years, as well as the Nadaijin of Emperor Antoku's court; a high rank in the court administration, which could be roughly translated as Minister of the Centre and meant something akin to Inner Minister in modern terms.

He'd led the Taira forces through many battles in those years. Some of them disastrous, like the Battle of Hiuchi, where most of the seventy thousand Taira riders had been crushed in the Kurikara Valley. Others had brought spectacular victories for the Taira… and short relief that, however, never lasted. The upcoming battle, Tosh knew, would be his last one.

He looked most impressive in his splendour, dressed up in the rich garment of the noble-born warrior that he was. But his eyes were wary and observant, as it behoved the son of the most powerful man in Japan: Taira no Kiyomori, the maker and destroyer of emperors. However, Kiyomori was now dead, and the Taira were losing their grip on the power they had wielded for the last thirty years, and Tosh had the impression that Munemori was all too aware of that fact.

The other man was considerably younger, seemingly in his early twenties. Nonetheless, his rich clothing marked him as someone who must have held an important position at the court. Considering that only two had remained from the Daijo-kan, the Council of State serving Antoku, and that Tosh had already identified Munemori, the other one could only have been Konoe Motomichi, Emperor Antoku's sessho.

He seemed awfully young for such a high position, at least for the modern eye. But – although he did not feature prominently in the Heike Monogatari – Tosh knew that he'd been promoted to Kampaku, to regent, at the tender age of a mere seventeen, as a result of a coup led by Taira no Kiyomori, and had taken the position of sessho, of regentship, for Emperor Antoku five years previously.

Even back in the twelfth century, such a quick rise in the ranks had been unusual, especially considering that the sessho had been, during the Heian era, the effective ruler of Japan. But again, this aspiring young nobleman came from the Fujiwara clan; from a Sekkan-ke family that had exclusively held the titles of the Kampaku and the Sessho for quite some time, his father having been the founder of the Konoe family.

Of course, the fact that his stepmother had been the daughter of the great Taira no Kiyomori must have helped, too. In the last thirty years, being related to Kiyomoru, even indirectly, had been helpful for one's career in the imperial bureaucracy.

Tosh had to admit that Motomichi was stunningly beautiful. He possessed that particular beauty that made him look as if he'd remained in the age of the wakashu, adolescent boys, although both his rich clothing and his shaved forehead clearly marked him as a full adult. He was the kind of beautiful young man that in the modern era would be called bishonen – someone whose beauty and sexual appeal transcended gender boundaries and even sexual orientation.

If he was indeed one to use his stunning looks for his advantage, one could not tell, but one thing was sure: few could have resisted his persuasion, should he want them to do things for him, just to make him happy. Not that any young man would have been eligible as a lover for an older one beyond the coming-of-age ceremony, of course; but in an era as artistic as the Heian period, people would do his bidding just because he embodied the idea of male beauty to a high degree of perfection.

Tosh also happened to know that Motomichi, due to his family connections and his personal diplomatic skills, would successfully find his way out of the disadvantageous situation in which he was right now. He'd live to the then-respectable age of sixty-three, would hold the position of the Sessho for another seventeen years, serve another two emperors and would be followed in the office by one of his sons, Iezane. A long and successful career in feudal Japan.

Munemori, on the other hand, the current head of the Taira Clan, would not be so fortunate. As there would no longer be a Taira Clan, he wouldn't be needed any longer; not even as a pawn or as a hostage. Not for any other purpose than to demonstrate utter Minamoto victory.

Tosh tried very hard not to think about what she knew of his soon-to-be fate. It was too depressing, while facing this noble, powerful man, still alive… although perhaps all too aware of what was about to come, if the wary look in his eyes was any indication.


The Lady Nii greeted the newcomers in a patronising manner so typical for the powerful (or for the once-powerful) when dealing with important guests who are nonetheless below their own ranks.

"Lady Moriko, how good it is to see you again," she said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, which remained cold, dark and hard like pieces of obsidian. "It does make one marvel, though, how you have managed to get across half the country all on your own, although the lands between here and Shikoku province are crawling with Minamoto spies."

Tosh's answering smile was every bit as cold as the imperial lady's. She was not about to leave the Lady Nii's thinly veiled suspicions unchallenged; that would have been suicidal in the current situation.

"That would have been a miracle indeed," she said with false sweetness. "Fortunately, I was not on my own. May I present my mentor, the esteemed Taro no Tanaka?"

With that, she gestured with her fan in the Doctor's direction again, hoping that the name – which wasn't even one she had ever heard before – would have the same effect on the members of the court as it had on the clerk they'd just met.

Luckily for her, there must have been a much-respected holy man by that name indeed – even though the name hadn't reached her own time – for both the ladies and the two kugyo, the powerful court ministers, bowed respectfully. Munemori especially seemed very impressed with their unexpected visitor.

"Taro no Tanaka, it is an honour," he said. "Your coming – and the escape of the Lady Moriko – is a sign of hope for us all. May I respectfully ask you to share your wisdom with me and the members of my family?"

"I would be happy to do so," the Doctor answered, revealing a definite lack of talent for stilted formal speech. "But I've sworn a solemn oath never to leave the Lady Moriko without protection, and I'm not sure that proper etiquette would allow her presence at a meeting between us."

"We are on the verge of the all-deciding battle," Munemori replied grimly. "The Lady Moriko is known for her visions about the future. Her presence at our meeting would be most welcome."

"She has already refused to tell you what she has seen in our future," the Lady Nii said in a manner that was anything but friendly. "What do you hope to achieve by allowing her to be present at your council? Unlike your many consorts, she would not fall under your spell."

"Nonetheless, I insist," Munemori said coolly.

The Lady Nii stared daggers at him but couldn't do anything against his decision. She might be respected by all and feared by most, but Munemori was the head of the Taira clan and their most powerful general and, at least for the moment, his word was law.


"I do not know what you hope to learn from me, my Lord Munemori," the Doctor said when they were all seated on floor cushions in the Taira leader's private cabin and were served tea.

Aside from the three of them, present were Munemori's somewhat elder-looking but still robust brother Tomomori, another one of his warrior chiefs, and his son Kiyomune, a youth every bit as beautiful as Konoe Motomichi – who, by the way, had not been invited. Either Munemori already doubted the Sessho's loyalty, or it had been a deliberate slighting of the way too influential courtier.

"I hope for words of wisdom, so that I might make the right decision when we're about to face our enemies," Munemori replied.

"Then you're asking the wrong person, I'm afraid," the Doctor said. "I am not a man of war, not a warrior. I'm merely a traveller who tries to learn from all the things and people he encounters on his way. I despise violence and I don't kill people. I don't even carry a weapon."

"And yet you have got the Lady Moriko here unharmed from Shikoku, across enemy territory," Taira no Tomomori said.

"That was by stealth," the Doctor replied with a happy grin. "Believe me; even the Lady Moriko here understands more about weapons and warfare than I do."

"Perhaps so, but if she steadfastly refuses to share her visions with us, what good does her knowledge do for us?" Munemori asked. "Our position is not a promising one. Ever since we were forced to leave Shikoku and retreat to Nagato province, we are losing allies."

"We are losing them, and the Minamoto are gaining them," Tomomori added with a fierce scowl. "Word has just reached us that the head of the Kumano Shrine had decided to support the Minamoto, after fortune-telling with cockfights. With cockfights! So deep have we sunk that the fate of the empire is being decided by mindless fowl! It would be a laughing matter, would it not mean two hundred boats for the Minamoto. Two hundred!"

"And another hundred and fifty boats from the province of Shikoku," the young samurai who'd been sitting in the background in silence until now added with a grim smile. "They are eager to join forces with what they believe would be the victorious side."

"Had you not failed to slay Minamoto no Yoshitsune with your arrow, they would no longer have a warlord to follow," Tomomori said accusingly. "The other Minamoto generals cannot even come close to Yoshitsune's leadership skills."

The young samurai reddened in anger, but his respect for his elder forbade him to give the sharp answer he clearly had on the tip of his tongue. Munemori, however, came to his aid unbidden.

"You know as well as I do, brother, that Noritsune's aim was true," he said. "He would have slain Yoshitsune, had one of his retainers not shielded him with his own body. So it happened that Tsuginobu died yet Yoshitsune survived the battle and lives still. It was not our cousin's fault that Yoshitsune's men are loyal to him to the death and beyond."

Noritsune inclined his head in gratitude. Tosh vaguely remembered his name as that of a commander of the Taira and a strong warrior in his own right, but couldn't quite recall at the moment what his fate would be. To be honest, she was glad about that. It was bad enough to know what would become of the others… including Munemori's young sons.

"How many vessels, do you think, are your enemies going to have?" the Doctor asked.

"About three thousand, I would say, if the observations of our spies can be trusted," Tomomori replied with a shrug.

"And how many do you have?"

"Less than one thousand," Munemori said. "But we have the advantage over them that we understand the tides of the Inner Sea much better than they do."

"Besides, as great a general as Yoshitsune might be, he cannot compare himself with Munemori when it comes to combat tactics on the Sea," Tomomori added.

"Not to mention that our archers are better, too," Noritsune said with a faint smile.

Tosh remembered something her mother had used to read to her. Something that had captured her imagination as a young child and she'd always wanted to know the truth about it.

"Is it true that Minamoto no Yoshitsune lost his bow during the fighting at the shore of Shikoku and risked his very life to retrieve it?" she asked.

The Taira samurai exchanged identical grins.

"Oh, yes," Noritsune said in deep satisfaction. "He didn't want us to recover his bow, as it was stringed for a weak archer, and laugh at him – which we still did anyway."

"It certainly caused him to lose face in the eyes of his fellow commanders, to a certain degree," Tomomori added. "It's said that he's been struggling with Kajiwara Kagetoki for leadership ever since."

"Kagetoki is vermin," Noritsune commented with a distasteful scowl. "He turns his coat with every turn of the wind and betrays the ones he'd sworn never-ending loyalty to only an hour before."

"Which is why he'll succeed in turning the shogun against Yoshitsune, sooner rather than later," Tomomori pointed out.

"That may be so," Munemori said grimly, "but even if he should fall from grace eventually, that wouldn't help us if we fail to beat him in battle today."

"We will beat him," Tomomori said with easy confidence. "We'll beat his fleet and capture him and exchange him for Shigehira."

Munemori shook his head. "If we beat him, he'll be of no use to his brother; and we have already refused to exchange the three Imperial Treasures for Shigehira."

"That was an unacceptable offer from the side of the retired emperor," Tomomori said forcefully.

Munemori nodded. "Of course. Which is why we've refused it. But it also means that we can no longer help my brother."

"It is his own fault," Noritsune commented. "He shouldn't have burned the Nara temples. Raising the wrath of the monks against oneself is never a good thing."

"That was an accident," Tomomori said.

"Or so Shigehira says," Noritsune countered.

Tosh closed her eyes for a moment. All those names of places and people she hadn't heard since her childhood were giving her a killer headache. She glanced briefly at the Doctor, who shrugged. He knew even less about these things than she did.

"Whatever the truth may be," Munemori was saying in the meantime, "we can no longer help Shigehira. He'll be handed over to the Nara monks and executed before the eyes of all… if it has not already happened. We should see how we can win the battle today and save ourselves – and the emperor and his family."

"We shall win the battle," Noritsune insisted. "We might be outnumbered, but our warriors are better trained, and our commanders are loyal."

"Are they?" Tomomori said grimly. "How comes then that Taguchi no Shigeyoshi still has not managed to join forces with us?"

Noritsune waved off his concern.

"A minor delay," he said confidently. "He will come."

Munemori nodded. "He will indeed; of that, I have no doubt. I only wonder whom his forces will support in the end."

"I have been telling you for some time that he cannot be trusted," Tomomori said in disgust. "I asked you to execute him, just to be on the safe side. You refused… and now we will all pay the price for your misplaced mercy."


"Which side is he going to support indeed?" the Doctor murmured softly, not wanting to be overheard by Noritsune who was escorting them back to the imperial ladies. "You know how it will end, don't you?"

Tosh nodded. "Taguchi Shigeyoshi will defect to the Minamoto side and betray the emperor, revealing on which ship the court is travelling. Tomomori and Noritsune will be slain in battle, I think… although it could be that Tomomori will drown himself with the rest of the court. I'm not really sure. It's been a long time since my mother read the Heike Monogatari to me."

"The entire court?" the Doctor asked in shock.

Tosh shrugged. "Better than being captured by the enemy, paraded along the streets of the capitol and then publicly executed, I guess."

"They'd execute the emperor, although he's just a child?" the Doctor was beyond shock now.

"He's not a child," Tosh corrected. "He's a symbol; the symbol of Taira power over the country. A symbol that needs to be destroyed. If memory serves me well, though, his mother will be pulled out of the Sea at the last moment."

"What about Munemori?" the Doctor asked.

"He'll be captured alive, together with his sons," Tosh sighed. "Minamoto no Yoshitsune will deliver them both to his brother, the shogun and lord of Kamakura, where they will be executed in shame and their heads will be hung near a prison gate in the capitol."

"And we can do nothing to save them…" the Doctor murmured. It wasn't a question, but Tosh felt inclined to answer nonetheless.

"We could try, but any changes in such important historic events might lead to disastrous consequences, I think."

"And you would be right, of course," now it was the Doctor's turn to sigh. "Events like this are fixed points in an otherwise fluidic time, and the Time Laws expressly forbid us to tamper with them."

"Besides, there's no way to tell which side used to be the good guys," Tosh pointed out. "The Clans have been struggling for power for thirty years, fighting each other and amongst themselves ceaselessly. Both have done unspeakable things to each other as alliances shifted and former allies became enemies; and in all this time, the peasants were suffering terribly from the constant warfare. The only one I truly pity is Antoku; but he'd meet a fate far worse than simple death if he were to be captured alive."

"What about the young nobleman with the Lady Nii?" the Doctor asked. "Will he, too, kill himself or be slain in the battle?"

Tosh laughed. "Konoe Motomichi? Oh, no, not him. He'll be the only one who'll come out of the battle unscathed, both physically and career-wise – from either side. He'll serve another two emperors in the next two decades and live to a ripe old age."

"Despite the fact that he had such a high rank in the imperial court?" the Doctor wondered.

"Skilled courtiers are always in high demand," Tosh shrugged. "Besides, he's not a Taira. He's an offshoot of the Fujiwara Clan, and they've been giving regents to the courts since the ninth century. The Konoe family is – well, was – one of the five Regent Houses, and practically monopolized regentship, no matter who was actually sitting on the Chrysanthemum Throne. And even though after the current era the shoguns practically took over the actual power, the office remained a prestigious one."

"I see," the Doctor shook his head in wry amusement. "There are those who always land on their feet, no matter what… or when."

"Usually the ones with… erm… flexible loyalties," Tosh agreed, "but who are we to blame him? Having survived this particular era was no small feat. Speaking of which," she added, suddenly very serious, "how are we going to survive the upcoming battle? We'll have to count on the emperor's ship being specifically targeted, now that the Minamoto will know which one he's on."

"Allow yourself to be captured without resistance," the Doctor answered. "They seem to believe that you're some kind of holy woman; they won't harm you. Not right away, at least. And before it may come to that, I'll fetch you away from here."

"How?" Tosh asked with a frown. "Can you call the TARDIS by remote to come for us?"

"Something like that," the Doctor admitted. "She's pre-programmed to home in on a certain signal and pick us up in case of an emergency. I can activate the emergency programme with my sonic screwdriver. But in case we get separated, you should wear this."

This was a beautifully crafted silver chain, from which a silver pendant hung, depicting some unknown symbol. The pendant apparently could be taken apart, and when Tosh pulled off the lower part, a very ordinary Yale key was revealed within.

"What is this?" she asked.

"It's a TARDIS key," the Doctor explained. "Usually, I give one to each of my companions, so that they can get in, even if I'm not there. It's only a loan, mind you, so you'd better take good care of it."

Tosh put the pendant together again, hiding the key, and hung the finely-linked chain around her neck, fingering the pendant in amazement.

"And it will help the TARDIS to find me?"

The Doctor nodded. "Oh, yes. It will also warn you whenever the TARDIS is coming – the pendant will get warm and start glowing – so you'd better wear it under your clothes."

Tosh nodded and hid the pendant under the heavy silk of her robes. Then they had to stop speaking, as they had reached the quarters of the imperial family, and giving away the fact that they knew what was about to happen would have been unwise… not to mention completely useless.

~TBC~