“Hey, what is this?” Marume demanded, his voice raised in surprised protest.
The compound, plunged into darkness, became a labyrinth of shadows. The white gravel and walls shone faintly in the moonlight, but black gloom filled the walkways and surrounded the buildings.
“Wait. Come back!” Sano called to the guards.
The echo of their rapid footsteps faded into the distance.
“Something strange is going on here.” Suspicion disturbed Sano. “This feels like a trap.”
He and his detectives started across the courtyard, swords drawn, treading quietly. Sano experienced a peculiar sensation, like a silent, windless air current vibrating around him. His skin prickled; his heartbeat accelerated; his breath quickened involuntarily with the physical urgency of fear. His muscles tightened in reaction to an evil presence.
Halting, he said, “What is it?”
Marume and Fukida had also stopped, apparently arrested by the same inexplicable feeling. Sano felt his heart beating harder, and the blood pulsating in his head.
“Where are you?” Fukida muttered, waving his sword as it under attack by a ghost.
“Show yourself!” Marume lunged at shadows.
In the near distance beyond the courtyard, through a walkway and the lacy black foliage of trees, a strange, pale haze tinged the air. The vibrations issued from this eerie brightness, muting noises that sounded like frightened cries. Sano pointed and said, “Whatever it is, it’s over there.”
Marume and Fukida hurried to stand between him and the unknown threat. 'Sosakan-sama, we’re taking you out of here,” Fukida said.
“Come on, let’s go,” Marume said.
But now, Sano’s sense of danger was overpowering. Ignoring his men’s attempt to protect him, he ran across the courtyard, bounded over the walkway, and through a garden toward the light.
The detectives chased after him, calling, “No! Stop!”
Sano came upon a wall that stood between him and the eerie glow. He could still feel the ominous presence, like an invisible net. Then he heard the loud, raspy breathing of some monstrous creature. Battling an instinctive urge to flee, he sheathed his sword. He crouched, arms raised, then jumped. His hands grasped the top of the wall; his feet scraped the plaster as he pulled himself up.
Suddenly the night exploded in a scream of thunderous intensity, as though a million voices had combined into a single horrific sound. Its force knocked Sano off the wall. He landed hard on his back, but he hardly noticed the pain. Rolling facedown, he clasped his arms over his head, trying to block out the dreadful noise that blasted through him. Involuntary sobs wracked him as he felt his muscles tremble uncontrollably, his tendons contract, and his ears throb in pain. Every nerve vibrated; his stomach and chest shuddered. Sano realized that this terrible scream was the spirit cry heard across Miyako the night of Left Minister Konoe’s murder.
He cried out in terror, but he couldn’t even hear himself over the noise. He feared for the safety of his detectives as the killer unleashed the deadly power of kiai.
Who was it?
Despite his agony, Sano experienced a sense of awe. Witnessing this ultimate expression of the martial arts affirmed not only his belief in kiai, but his faith in the Way of the Warrior.
The scream abruptly stopped. A huge void of silence spread across the night. Sano gasped in relief. His ears rang from the blast. He ached all over; his head throbbed; his heart still pounded. Pushing himself to his knees, he inhaled deep breaths of air and looked around. The strange brightness was gone. In the moonlight Sano saw two inert bodies sprawled on the grass nearby.
“Marume-san!” he cried. “Fukida-san?”
To his relief, the men stirred and sat up. “Merciful gods, am I alive or dead?” Marume groaned.
“I’ll never again think of kiai as just an ancient superstition,” Fukida said, gasping.
Sano realized that they’d all survived because they’d been far enough away from the source of the spirit cry to feel only minor secondary effects. He said, “Now we know for sure that Lady Asagao didn’t murder Left Minister Konoe, because she’s locked up in police headquarters. The killer is still out there.”
From beyond the wall came the rapid, irregular rhythm of retreating footsteps.
“Quickly!” Sano said.
He and the detectives helped one another scramble over the wall, into another compound. Out of the darkness before them rose long buildings with piles of wood stacked against the walls and huge stone hearths outside. A hush pervaded the palace, as though everyone knew that the scream heralded death and chose to hide until the danger passed.
“These must be the kitchens,” Sano said in a low, hurried voice. “We’ll spread out. If you see the strange light or feel the vibrations again, make a lot of noise and disrupt the killer’s concentration to prevent another spirit cry.”
Marume and Fukida disappeared into the shadows. Sano crept around the hearths, alert for any movement or other hint of the killer’s presence. He remembered the horrendous noise and power of the spirit cry, and icy fear seeped through him while he searched the kitchen compound. Then he spied a dark shape on the ground outside a building. He approached cautiously and recognized the shape as a prone human figure, lying motionless on its stomach, arms and legs splayed, a sword clutched in its hand.
Blackness surrounded the body like a viscous shadow. Sano touched the shadow, and hot liquid smeared his fingers. The raw, metallic odor of fresh blood and the reek of feces assailed him. He listened for the sound of breaths, but heard nothing. Sano rolled the corpse over. It had a weird pliancy, as if the bones had dissolved, and felt oddly warm. Despite the meager light, Sano saw that the dead man’s face was awash in blood that had poured from his nose, mouth, eyes, and ears, drenching his clothes. He recalled Yoriki Hoshina describing Left Minister Konoe’s death… hemorrahaged almost all his blood… internal organs ruptured… many bones broken…”
Nausea and horror churned Sano’s stomach. Because he hadn’t solved the case, someone else had died.
Hurrying footsteps pounded toward him. Was the murderer returning to attack again? He looked up, saw Marume and Fukida coming, and exhaled in relief.
“We couldn’t find the killer,” Marume said. “Whoever it is could be anywhere in the palace, or out in the city by now.” Then he saw the corpse beside Sano. “Merciful gods!”
“Who is it?” Fukida said.
Sano took a cloth from under his sash. He wiped the blood off the corpse’s face, revealing familiar heavy-lidded eyes, flat nose, and thin mouth. “It’s Aisu,” he said, startled. “Chamberlain Yanagisawa’s chief retainer.”
Marume said, “He was a piece of scum. I’m certain he threw that bomb at us in Tobacco Lane. He deserved to die.”
“What was he doing here?” Fukida said.
“I don’t know, but his presence must mean that Yanagisawa is in Miyako, because they’re never far apart.” Sano experienced the disturbing shock of discovering that reality had a far different shape than he’d perceived. Rising, he cursed under his breath. He’d thought himself safe from Yanagisawa, free to restore his honor and regain the shogun’s favor in peace. But his enemy must have secretly followed him here. Why had Sano imagined that Yanagisawa would let him off so easily?
“But why would the chamberlain risk leaving Edo?” Marume said, his voice skeptical. “Where is he now, and what’s he up to?”
As Sano stood contemplating Aisu’s corpse, he realized that Yanagisawa must be the hidden element in the murder case. Yanagisawa was working another plot against him. Its exact details weren’t clear, but Sano glimpsed its intent, with mounting dismay.
“This whole investigation was rigged as a trap for me at the start,” he said. “Yanagisawa has been working behind the scenes, directing my every move-Aisu wasn’t clever enough to manage such a tricky operation alone. Events were supposed to culminate in my death from the spirit cry tonight. But the murderer killed Aisu instead of me.”
Marume and Fukida looked at him as if concerned for his sanity. “How do you know?” Marume said. “And how could Yanagisawa manipulate you? Even if he sent the message summoning you here and ordered the guards to abandon us inside the palace, how could he cause the killer to attack? And why was Aisu here?”
Sano had ideas, but no definite answers yet. A plan began forming in his mind. Whatever stroke of luck had saved his life, plus the knowledge he’d gained, gave him a chance to turn Yanagisawa’s scheme to his own
