her spirits momentarily rose. Now she knew that here were her means of transport across the lake, if not how to gain them.
The cruel samurai hustled her past the boats. His grin said he’d read her thoughts and scorned her hope.
On their right loomed what appeared to be the main palace. A paved square, and a crumbling wall studded with ruined guard turrets, fronted the lake. Beyond the wall rose a building crowned with tile roofs whose gables boasted tarnished copper dragon crests. Reiko’s captors led her through portals where a gate had once hung. Moss-coated stone lanterns flanked the path through a wilderness that had once been a garden. The buildings seemed intact, though the plaster had flaked off them, exposing weathered wood. Ivy entwined the foundation posts and window grills. The quiet seemed alive with the ghosts of warlords from a bygone era. A shiver chilled Reiko as the men marched her up a flight of steps, into the palace through an open doorway, and along a dim corridor. Torn, moldy paper hung from the lattice walls. Dark stains marred the floorboards, and Reiko sensed that blood had been shed where she now walked. The place breathed a wicked miasma that increased her dread.
Would her blood soon spill here?
They turned a corner and entered a reception chamber. The smoky, bittersweet scent of incense laced the atmosphere. Jagged cracks in sliding doors along the wall gave a view of a veranda outside. Beyond an expanse of rotting tatami, the man in the dragon kimono stood waiting on a dais. Behind him stretched a faded mural that portrayed a fanciful underwater scene of blue waves and green seaweed flowing over gardens and pavilions. He watched Reiko and his men cross the chamber and stop before him. Again his sinister, brooding stare burned into Reiko. Again the peculiar longing in his eyes disturbed her.
“Leave her with me, Ota-san.” He flicked a glance at her erstwhile attacker, who seemed to be his chief henchman. “You can all go.”
“But she’s dangerous.” Ota stood firm, his hand still gripping Reiko’s arm. His comrades also held their positions. “She killed four of our men during the ambush. She attacked Jiro and me this morning. You shouldn’t be alone with her.”
Nor did Reiko want to be alone with him. Although she feared her escorts, she wished they would stay.
Angry impatience flamed in the man’s eyes. “Then wait outside,” he ordered his men.
Ota spoke quietly to Reiko: “Behave yourself, or your friends will be punished.”
Then he released her. He and his fellows walked out the door, but Reiko sensed him loitering nearby. She saw the other men line up on the veranda, ready to protect their master.
He descended from the dais and approached Reiko. His flared nostrils twitched as though scenting prey; saliva gleamed on his pursed lips. Reiko folded her arms across her bosom and stepped backward. Her heart beat an escalating rhythm as she eyed the swords at his waist.
Had he brought her here so that he could kill her? Had he kidnapped her and her friends because he enjoyed slaughtering helpless women?
He advanced nearer with that proud yet hesitant swagger. The odor of incense was stronger around him, as if soaked into his skin and clothes. “What’s your name?” he said, his gaze intent on her face.
She didn’t want to tell him, but she was afraid of what he would do if she didn’t answer. She opened her mouth. No speech emerged. Swallowing the dry lump in her throat, she tried again. “Reiko,” she whispered.
A shadow of displeasure crossed his features. “That name doesn’t suit you. I shall call you… Anemone.” He lingered on the word, savoring it.
Reiko hoped she wouldn’t be here long enough for him to call her anything, but if he bothered to rename her, then perhaps he intended her to live awhile. Her mettle revived, emboldening her. “Who are you?” she said.
His brows rose in surprise, as if he thought she should have already known. After a moment’s hesitation, he said, “You can call me ‘Dragon King.’ ”
She frowned, baffled by his strange talk. Why would he name himself after the legendary spirit? She was also perturbed that he wouldn’t tell her his real identity.
A secretive smile touched his lips. “Yes, I am the Dragon King, who rights the wrongs done by evil men and balances the cosmic forces in the universe.”
What he meant by that eluded Reiko’s comprehension. “Where am I?” she asked.
“You’re with me, where you belong.”
He prowled in a circle around her. Pivoting, Reiko watched him, leery that he would attack her. If she was to die, she wouldn’t succumb without a battle, and she wanted some answers first. She said, “I mean, where is this place?”
“This is a castle that a member of my clan built as a summer home. He was a general during the civil wars, more than a hundred years ago. One day, enemy troops attacked him here. They fired mortars, gunshots, and flaming arrows from rafts on the lake. The castle caught fire. The enemy invaded. Although my clansman and his army fought bravely, they were doomed. He committed seppuku to avoid the disgrace of capture.”
Ice congealed along Reiko’s nerves as she recalled the bloodstains on the floor.
“But the past doesn’t concern us, Anemone,” said the Dragon King. “That chance has reunited us is all that matters.”
Again, he behaved as if they knew each other, although Reiko was more sure than ever that they’d never met. What part did he think chance had played in his abduction of her? And why insist on calling her Anemone? What significance did the name hold for him?
“I shouldn’t have expected you to recognize me,” he said in a rueful tone. “When we were last together, I was a mere boy. But I recognized you at once. You are as young and beautiful as ever.” Reverence hushed his voice and misted his eyes as he gazed at Reiko. “You are just as you’ve appeared in my dreams ever since the night I lost you.”
Reiko deduced that she resembled someone he’d known. Could it be the reason he’d kidnapped her? The idea that mistaken identity had occasioned the murder of a hundred people horrified Reiko. But when they’d met after her escape attempt, he’d seemed surprised to see her. And why kidnap the other women if she was the one he wanted?
An injured expression altered the Dragon King’s aspect. “Why do you not speak?” he asked. “Have you nothing to say to me after all this time apart?”
Reiko blurted, “Are you going to kill me?”
The Dragon King cocked his big head, clasped one fist inside the other, and regarded her for a long, suspenseful moment, while emotions she couldn’t interpret flitted across his face. “Hopefully not,” he said at last.
Her puzzlement outlived her relief, because the Dragon King thrust out both hands as if to seize her. Reiko cried out and instinctively flung up her arms to strike back, then recalled that her friends’ safety depended on her good behavior. The Dragon King withdrew his hands and held them palms up, assuring her that he meant no harm. An anxious, propitiating smile rendered his countenance all the more disturbing.
“Come, we shall celebrate our reunion with a banquet,” he said.
He moved to her side. His hand touching her sleeve urged her across the room, up onto the dais. Near the mural lay a cloth set with a sake decanter, two cups, two pairs of chopsticks, and dishes that contained cold rice, roasted fish, boiled greens, and preserved fruits. Reiko unwillingly knelt where the Dragon King indicated. He knelt too close beside her, poured the sake, and handed her a cup.
“A toast to a new beginning,” he said, raising his cup while his gaze devoured her.
He drank, and Reiko decided he was playing some private, bizarre game. The need to protect her friends compelled her to play along and drain her cup. The liquor burned her insides like corrosive poison.
“Please eat, Anemone,” he said.
Reiko picked up the chopsticks and obeyed. Despite her hunger, every bite stuck in her throat. She didn’t want to encourage his weird fancies. What bearing might they have upon his crimes?
The Dragon King poured more sake and drank again. He didn’t eat; he just watched her. “You’re awfully quiet, my dearest. What are you thinking?”
Summoning her nerve, Reiko said, “Why did you do it?”
The Dragon King started and blinked, as if he’d just awakened from a dream. He seemed not to know what she was talking about.
“What I want to know is why you kidnapped us,” Reiko said, and saw comprehension creep into his gaze. She said, “If it’s money you want, my family will pay you whatever you ask. So will Midori’s and Lady Yanagisawa’s
