He gazed distractedly about and still thought he saw the walls.
"It is as I say."
He gripped her hands.
"By all the gods?"
"By all the gods," she swore.
Then, again, for the last time, came full delirium—and again it came in red.
"You have told me true!" he shouted. "There the devils come! On, on, on! Banzai! On! Nippon Denji! On! Ah, my sword slips at the handle—it is red! And the staff of my flag, too! A little earth!" He rubbed his palms on the bed covers as if they were the ground, and clenched his hands again. "Ah, now we are on them! Mutsushima! Up, up, up! Too early to die! You have not killed enough! Up, Banzai! The gods will not redeem your samurai vow with so few dead enemies of the emperor to your credit!" Then he must have been struck. "Father! Father!" he cried, and held out his hands.
After that he lay as one dead for a long time, then woke with slow doubt to find himself still without the heavens.
"I have not killed enough. That is it. There must be many more before I can see my father's face. Many more because—because I married an eta—yes, an eta seduced me. Did you know her? She was a hell woman. She kept me from my father. Did you know her?"
He stared up at her with half recollection, and then went on to his battles.