Priest Ryuko aligned the shells on the table. As he studied the cracks through which the gods communicated the answers to queries, his expression turned grave. “The gods decline to reveal where Lady Keisho-in is,” he said.
Of course, Sano thought, while disappointment clouded the shogun’s face and Hoshina and Yanagisawa grimaced in disgust. Ryuko was too smart to name Keisho-in’s whereabouts and risk that events would prove him wrong.
“They say you must earn the knowledge,” he told the shogun.
“How? What must I do?” Tokugawa Tsunayoshi leaned toward Ryuko, hands clasped with anxious hope.
“Your regime is out of harmony with the cosmos,” Ryuko said. 'Evil influences surround you and threaten your clan’s future. You must purge your court of those evil influences. Restore its spiritual balance, and the path for Lady Keisho-in’s return shall be cleared.”
“Ahh, that advice eases my mind.” Immediately the shogun’s relief turned to confusion. “But how can I, ahh, know who around me is evil?” he asked.
Sano felt a pang of dismay as he guessed what Ryuko would answer.
“I will divine names of the evil persons you must expel from the court,” Priest Ryuko said.
He flashed a triumphant gaze at the chamberlain and police commissioner. Sano watched their horror and panic at realizing that Ryuko had gained much control over the shogun and could depose them via false oracles. But Sano burned with an outrage that exceeded his fear of losing his own post. He felt a consuming hatred for Priest Ryuko that extended to everyone else in the room. Ryuko, Yanagisawa, and Hoshina all sought to use the kidnapping to advance themselves. All they cared about was their own political careers. And all the shogun cared about was his mother. None of them spared a thought for Reiko, Midori, or the hundred people who’d died during the massacre.
Sano’s anger swelled against the barrier of his self-control. He had to leave before he killed someone. He rose, and the other men stared, surprised that he would stand before the shogun dismissed him. Sano bowed to everyone. Then, for the first time ever, he walked from the chamber without permission from his lord. The anger roaring in his head drowned out the sound of the shogun’s voice calling to him.
Once outside the palace, he ran through the twilight, along the walled passages. He ignored checkpoint guards who shouted at him to stop for inspection. He arrived, breathless and sweating, at his own estate. The sentries opened the gate for him, and he halted in the courtyard. He bent over, panting, as cold realization quenched his anger.
Walking out on the shogun had only worsened the danger to Reiko. The shogun might order him off the kidnapping investigation-if Priest Ryuko hadn’t already persuaded their lord to banish or execute him. Then who would rescue his wife? Sano thought of Hirata. The chance that he and Marume and Fukida would find the women seemed poor, and Sano cursed his own rashness. The darkening heavens and the cool evening air reverberated with his fear that Reiko was lost forever and the world was crumbling around him.
He felt a need to do something, anything, to forestall despair, and remembered that he had a jail full of Black Lotus prisoners to interrogate. As he started toward the barracks to fetch a squad of detectives, Sano fought qualms that the Black Lotus hadn’t abducted the women and he was wasting time. A new fear for Reiko took root in him.
His wife was not inclined to sit passively enduring whatever happened to her. Sano knew Reiko would try to strike back at her kidnappers and escape. Would she succeed? Or would her daring be the death of her?
Reiko raised her hands high and stretched them toward the rafters that crisscrossed the ceiling of the prison. Her skirts were tied around her hips, her sock-clad feet planted on Lady Yanagisawa’s shoulders. Lady Yanagisawa clutched Reiko’s ankles and staggered beneath her weight. As she swayed dangerously, Reiko flailed her arms, trying to keep her balance.
“Be careful, Reiko-san,” Lady Keisho-in ordered. To Lady Yanagisawa she said, “Don’t drop her, you fool.”
Midori watched, her eyes and mouth round with fright. Lady Yanagisawa steadied herself. Reiko reached up and caught hold of a rafter. A hole in the ceiling allowed her to clasp both hands around the wooden beam. It was rough and deteriorated from exposure to the weather, and split at intervals. Reiko yanked downward on the rafter. The wood held firm.
“Pull harder,” Keisho-in said, while Lady Yanagisawa tottered under Reiko.
Wishing Keisho-in would be quiet, Reiko exerted her weight on the rafter. A mosquito alit on her chin; she ignored the sting. With a sudden sharp, cracking noise, the beam snapped. The break in tension canted Reiko backward. Lady Yanagisawa crumpled under Reiko like a mountain succumbing to an earthquake. She let go of Reiko’s ankles. It happened so fast that Reiko had no time to experience fear nor prevent her fall. She crashed on her spine.
The impact jarred her bones, knocked the breath from her. Midori shrieked. Keisho-in began scolding Lady Yanagisawa, who had fallen near Reiko and now leaned anxiously over her.
“Reiko-san, I’m sorry I couldn’t hold you up,” Lady Yanagisawa said. “Are you all right?”
Dazed and panting, her heart thudding in delayed fright, Reiko sat up. She ached where she’d hit the floor, but nothing seemed damaged. “I’m fine,” she said. Yet perhaps she’d made a mistake by reviving Lady Yanagisawa. Had the woman deliberately let her fall? Could she trust Lady Yanagisawa to cooperate with her plan and not hurt her? How she wished the kidnappers were her only problem! But in her hands was the broken rafter-thick, heavy, and as long as her leg.
“We have the weapon we need,” Reiko said, triumphantly holding up the rafter.
Midori smiled. Keisho-in applauded.
“Now we wait until the men open the door and come into the room again.” Reiko observed Lady Yanagisawa. The woman’s gaze evaded hers, causing her more distrust. “You’ll distract them, the way we discussed. Then… ” Reiko swung the rafter at an imaginary foe. She hoped her plan would work, and that Lady Yanagisawa would control her murderous impulses for the sake of their survival. “After the men are unconscious, we all run.”
“I don’t think I can,” Midori said in a tiny, desolate voice. She clambered to her feet and staggered a few steps. Her belly bobbed huge and low. “I can barely walk,” she said, collapsing to the floor.
Dismay sank Reiko’s heart. “You must try. I’ll help you.”
“I can’t walk either. My knees are too stiff,” said Keisho-in, lifting her skirt to show Reiko the swollen joints. “You’ll have to carry me.”
Reiko looked at Lady Yanagisawa, who gazed back in consternation. The two of them couldn’t carry the shogun’s mother and help Midori at the same time.
“Please go without me. I’ll stay behind. You must save yourselves.” Midori spoke with self-sacrificing bravado.
“I won’t leave you here,” Reiko said, appalled at the thought. If she and Lady Yanagisawa and Keisho-in escaped, the other kidnappers would eventually discover what had happened. Reiko shuddered to imagine Midori facing their wrath alone. Yet there seemed no way she could get both Midori and Keisho-in to safety. Their infirmities would diminish the chance of a successful escape. Getting caught would endanger all their lives-but Reiko believed that doing nothing would be fatal.
“Lady Keisho-in and Midori-san will wait here,” Reiko told Lady Yanagisawa. “I’ll stay with them and defend them, while you fetch someone to rescue us.”
Midori smiled, tearfully grateful that she wouldn’t be abandoned. Keisho-in frowned as if unsure whether to protest. Lady Yanagisawa beheld Reiko with horror.
“I can’t. I don’t know where to go. I’ll get lost.” Her complexion paled with the terror that choked her voice to a whisper. “To talk to strangers, and ask for their help… ” Lady Yanagisawa shook her head. “I can’t.”
“You have to,” Reiko said.
“No. I can’t. Please don’t make me.” Lady Yanagisawa shivered and recoiled; her eyes closed.
Reiko saw that what she’d asked was truly beyond the woman’s ability. “Then I’ll have to go,” she said.
Misgivings troubled her, but she stifled them because doubt and fear would only impair her chances of saving her friends. Deepening shadow filled their prison with gloom. Reiko looked up at the patches of sky visible through the ruined ceiling. Stars glittered in the sunset’s clear mauve afterglow. Reiko walked to a spot beside the door. She sat, holding the broken rafter in her lap, to wait until the kidnappers came.
