Akitada felt a cold shiver run down his spine. The bloodshed along the path of such an army led southward by a claimant to the throne would be unimaginable. The people of Echigo and his own small family would certainly be victims in such a war.
The Ezo, their hostile barbarian neighbors to the north, had threatened the peaceful life of Japanese peasants for hundreds of years. Recently their chieftains had submitted to the emperor in Dewa and Mutsu Provinces, but the military strength and expertise of these warlords had grown. They rebelled often, and still posed a continuous threat to the nation.
“Will you accept the assignment?” asked the thin man.
Akitada bowed. “Yes, Your Excellency, provided that my doing so is properly authorized by you in His Majesty’s name.”
“It is not likely that you will be told anything if you go there in an official capacity. Much better that you travel incognito.” Akitada said, “Perhaps I could travel as a peddler or peasant, carrying my papers sewn into my clothing. Nobody pays attention to common people. But I must have properly authorized documents.”
They did not like it, but the thin man finally agreed. “Let us sleep over it. We are tired and you will wish to make preparations.” He looked at Akitada. “May I suggest that you stop shav-ing? Otherwise you will hardly convince anyone that you are a peasant or vagrant.”
“There is one other small problem,” Akitada said nervously.
“I have not received my salary since I arrived here with my family. My retainers have not been paid, though they have carried out the duties of secretary of the tribunal and constabulary officers. I have exhausted my own funds making repairs and cannot leave my people destitute.”
They looked at him in amazement. It occurred to Akitada that they were probably so wealthy that they would never find themselves in his desperate situation.
The short man said, “But why did you not draw on the provincial treasury for salaries and expenses? Everybody does.”
“I had no authorization, Excellency.” The short man blurted, “That old law? Nobody follows that any longer. Don’t you know anything? It boggles the mind that-” The thin man put a restraining hand on his sleeve, and he concluded, “Hmph. Well, do so immediately. Collect what is owed you and enough to see your family and staff through the next week or two. You should be back by then.” The thin man said more gently, “These days provincial administrators are expected to draw funds from the local treasury, Sugawara. That is why they send an examining official to settle accounts when you leave your post.” He nodded to his companion, and they got to their feet.
“Thank you.” Akitada was not sure whether he felt more ashamed of his ignorance or happy that his financial woes were solved. He decided on the latter. “Allow me to offer you my quarters,” he said in a spirit of wanting to share his good fortune. “They are not much, but my wife and I will do our best to make you comfortable.”
The short man cast a glance at the patched ceiling and broken shutters of Akitada’s office. “Thank you, but we have already taken rooms at the local inn.”
Akitada accompanied them to the front of the tribunal hall.
From the height of its veranda, they could see across the tribunal walls and the roofs of the provincial capital all the way to the sea. On this clear day, it was just possible to make out the long hazy outline of Sadoshima on the horizon. It seemed another world.
In the courtyard, the constables were just finishing their drill. When Tora, one of Akitada’s own men and their temporary lieutenant, looked up and saw them, he called the constables to attention. Arranging his cheerful face into sterner lines, he saluted stiffly as the two noble gentlemen descended the steps to the courtyard and passed on their way to their horses.
Akitada breathed a sigh of relief. The constables had actually looked pretty sharp, in spite of their lack of proper uniforms, a matter he would remedy immediately. But Tora spoiled the good impression he had made by shouting up to Akitada, “Well, sir, are we going home at last?”
The short visitor, almost at the gate, froze in his tracks for a moment before continuing.
“Report to my office, Tora,” snapped Akitada, and walked back inside.
Time was when Tora had been a mere peasant and foot soldier. Then he had fallen on even worse times and was hunted by the authorities as a deserter and bandit. He owed his change in fortunes to the day Akitada had offered to take him on as a servant.
Tora had almost turned down the offer. In those days, he had hated officials almost as much as the injustices his family had suffered. But his master had been as intolerant of injustice as Tora, and they had built a strong friendship, one in which Tora expressed his opinions freely. They had saved each other’s lives repeatedly and risen in each other’s esteem through mutual tolerance of the other’s shortcomings, namely Tora’s womanizing and Akitada’s rigidity about the law.
Now Tora ran after him, boots pounding on the wooden planks and startling the clerks in the archives. “Well?” he demanded again.
“Why did you shout at me?”
“Because you were too far away.” Tora grinned with his usual impudence.
Akitada sighed. Tora was incorrigible, but the fault was his.
He had treated him from the start more like a brother than a servant. “I shall have to leave for a week or two,” he said. “There is some trouble in Sadoshima. The former crown prince was murdered. I am to investigate the murder charge against the governor’s son.”
Tora whistled. “The governor’s son? What’s the world coming to? Shall I start packing my things?”
“No. I am going alone. You and Genba will look after things here. I should be back in a week.”
Tora looked disappointed, but he accepted the decision, especially when Akitada promised to pay his back wages before he departed.
After Tora left, Akitada walked back to his residence. He did not like to leave Tamako and his son but had no choice in the matter. Even if he could have refused such an order, doing so would have ended his career for good. On the other hand, if he managed to solve the problem, he hoped the two imperial secretaries would put in a good word for him in the capital.
Seimei and Tamako were waiting anxiously. Their faces fell when they saw him. Akitada hated to see the hope drain from Tamako’s eyes.
“We are to stay here?” she asked.
“For the time being. I am to go to Sadoshima to investigate a murder.”
“That place?” she cried. “Where they send all the worst criminals?”
“Don’t worry. I shall not be gone long, and perhaps something good may come of it.”
But when the two noble visitors returned the following morning, his optimism vanished. They proposed an extraordinary plan which struck Akitada as both dangerous and uncertain.
CHAPTER TWO
The ship had been at sea for two days. Blown off course by a sudden violent summer storm, it had become lost in the open ocean shortly after departing from the coast south of Echigo.
The prisoner was in the back of the ship, unchained since they had left land behind and there was no longer any risk of escape. He lay against the side, as he had for days, suffering from the rough seas and the seasickness they brought.
When he had been taken on board, they had put him below deck, into a tiny black hole. Later, when they were well out at sea, one of the guards had taken off his shackles and left an oil lamp which swung from the low ceiling, putting out little light but a horrible stench. The small area had become hot and so smoky it had been hard to breathe.
But the real misery started with the storm. He had woken from a fitful sleep when the ship began to roll and
