away.”
“I’ve rewarded you handsomely for your service. You have mystical powers that you could not otherwise have attained.” Hirata tried to bite his tongue to stop Otani from speaking, but he couldn’t. “Our collaboration is over.”
“If it’s over, then we’ll send you back where you came from,” Tahara retorted.
He and Kitano began chanting words in archaic Chinese that Hirata couldn’t understand. Inside him, General Otani’s spirit recoiled with fear from the spell that would permanently banish him to the netherworld of the dead. Hirata’s mouth opened. From his depths came a shout so loud that he thought his head would explode. Tahara and Kitano choked and staggered, mouths agape, while the force that Otani had summoned from Hirata blasted down their throats. They jerked and twisted like hanged men suspended from gallows, then fell to the floor. Flames burst from their mouths and eyes. They writhed, screamed in agony, then lay still. In the sudden quiet, the waterfall murmured.
Hirata fell to his knees, crying, “Tahara- san ! Kitano- san !”
Their eyes were burned black as coals; their mouths leaked wisps of smoke. Hirata remembered how much he’d hated them, how he’d wanted desperately to kill them. He’d thought that if they were gone, he could reunite with his family, reconcile with Sano, and regain his honor. Now he desperately wished for the power to bring them back to life. They were the only people in the world who could have saved him, and the Tokugawa regime, from General Otani.
It is time to go.
Hirata’s muscles jerked him upright. He and the ghost inside him walked out of the temple, down a mountain path, toward the road to Edo.
7
Month 1, Hoei Year 6
(Edo, February 1709)
“HAS ANYONE STARTED a search for the attacker?” Sano asked Captain Hosono.
“Not yet. But the sentries reported that no one has left the palace since His Excellency was stabbed, and all the exits are sealed now.”
“So he’s still inside. He can’t go anywhere.” Sano knew that wouldn’t necessarily make catching the attacker easy. There were hundreds of people in the palace, any one of whom could be the culprit. The first order of business was examining the crime scene for clues that would focus the search.
Sano looked around the chamber. The shogun was deep in opium-induced sleep, his breathing harsh and labored. The physician and guards sat by the bed. Lord Ienobu and Chamberlain Yanagisawa hovered warily near Sano. Sano unhooked a lantern from its stand and moved it in a slow arc as he walked, sweeping its light across the floor. He bumped into Ienobu, turned, and came up against Yanagisawa.
“Would you mind not breathing down my neck?”
“We’re supervising your investigation,” Yanagisawa said.
“Supervise it from over there.” Sano pointed at a corner he’d already searched.
“Sano- san , I’d like a word outside with you,” Ienobu said. “Then I’ll leave you to your work.”
Anything to get Ienobu off his back. Sano replaced the lantern, then followed Ienobu and Yanagisawa to the corridor. Ienobu said in a vehement whisper, “I didn’t do it!”
“I don’t believe you,” Sano said.
“Keep your voice down,” Yanagisawa murmured. “You’ll wake the shogun.”
“When he was stabbed, I was with you,” Ienobu insisted.
That Sano himself was the alibi for the man he thought responsible for the attack! “You’d have sent someone else to do your dirty work. There must be an incompetent assassin with your money in his pocket. You’ll have to ask for a refund.”
“I didn’t hire an assassin!” Distraught as well as angry, Ienobu said, “Just ask Yanagisawa- san . He’s privy to all my affairs.”
The day the secretive, cautious Ienobu let anyone in on all his affairs would be the day whales flew. Sano turned his skeptical gaze to Yanagisawa.
A beat passed. Yanagisawa said, “Lord Ienobu is telling the truth.”
Lord Ienobu frowned
“I’ve rewarded you handsomely for your service. You have mystical powers that you could not otherwise have attained.” Hirata tried to bite his tongue to stop Otani from speaking, but he couldn’t. “Our collaboration is over.”
“If it’s over, then we’ll send you back where you came from,” Tahara retorted.
He and Kitano began chanting words in archaic Chinese that Hirata couldn’t understand. Inside him, General Otani’s spirit recoiled with fear from the spell that would permanently banish him to the netherworld of the dead. Hirata’s mouth opened. From his depths came a shout so loud that he thought his head would explode. Tahara and Kitano choked and staggered, mouths agape, while the force that Otani had summoned from Hirata blasted down their throats. They jerked and twisted like hanged men suspended from gallows, then fell to the floor. Flames burst from their mouths and eyes. They writhed, screamed in agony, then lay still. In the sudden quiet, the waterfall murmured.
Hirata fell to his knees, crying, “Tahara- san ! Kitano- san !”
Their eyes were burned black as coals; their mouths leaked wisps of smoke. Hirata remembered how much he’d hated them, how he’d wanted desperately to kill them. He’d thought that if they were gone, he could reunite with his family, reconcile with Sano, and regain his honor. Now he desperately wished for the power to bring them back to life. They were the only people in the world who could have saved him, and the Tokugawa regime, from General Otani.
It is time to go.
Hirata’s muscles jerked him upright. He and the ghost inside him walked out of the temple, down a mountain path, toward the road to Edo.
7
Month 1, Hoei Year 6
(Edo, February 1709)
“HAS ANYONE STARTED a search for the attacker?” Sano asked Captain Hosono.
“Not yet. But the sentries reported that no one has left the palace since His Excellency was stabbed, and all the exits are sealed now.”
“So he’s still inside. He can’t go anywhere.” Sano knew that wouldn’t necessarily make catching the attacker easy. There were hundreds of people in the palace, any one of whom could be the culprit. The first order of business was examining the crime scene for clues that would focus the search.
Sano looked around the chamber. The shogun was deep in opium-induced sleep, his breathing harsh and labored. The physician and guards sat by the bed. Lord Ienobu and Chamberlain Yanagisawa hovered warily near Sano. Sano unhooked a lantern from its stand and moved it in a slow arc as he walked, sweeping its light across the floor. He bumped into Ienobu, turned, and came up against Yanagisawa.
“Would you mind not breathing down my neck?”
“We’re supervising your investigation,” Yanagisawa said.
“Supervise it from over there.” Sano pointed at a corner he’d already searched.
“Sano- san , I’d like a word outside with you,” Ienobu said. “Then I’ll leave you to your work.”
Anything to get Ienobu off his back. Sano replaced the lantern, then followed Ienobu and Yanagisawa to the corridor. Ienobu said in a vehement whisper, “I didn’t do it!”
“I don’t believe you,” Sano said.
“Keep your voice down,” Yanagisawa murmured. “You’ll wake the shogun.”
“When he was stabbed, I was with you,” Ienobu insisted.
That Sano himself was the alibi for the man he thought responsible for the attack! “You’d have sent someone else to do your dirty work. There must be an incompetent assassin with your money in his pocket. You’ll have to ask for a refund.”
“I didn’t hire an assassin!” Distraught as well as angry, Ienobu said, “Just ask Yanagisawa- san . He’s privy to all my affairs.”
The day the secretive, cautious Ienobu let anyone in on all his affairs would be the day whales flew. Sano turned his skeptical gaze to Yanagisawa.
A beat passed. Yanagisawa said, “Lord Ienobu is telling the truth.”
Lord Ienobu frowned
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