Part 19 (1/2)

The guard's head snapped around. ”You're Toda's creature?” His face relaxed from a scowl to a knowing smirk. ”Why didn't you say so in the first place?” Banging on the gate with his spear, he shouted to someone inside. Another guard came out. ”Take this man to Toda Ikkyu.”

The other guard gestured for Sano to follow him. Sano realized that they thought he was one of Toda's informers. Well, he was, in a way. And he'd learned that this was how the government bureaucracy worked: by manipulation of men through their fear of their superiors.

Inside the gate, more walls formed a square enclosure designed as a trap for invading enemies who managed to penetrate the castle's outer defense. At least twenty more guards stood watch, rigid and stern. They took away Sano's swords and searched him for hidden weapons. Then they swung open another gate that stood at right angles to the first.

This opened into a large courtyard bordered by long wooden sheds hung with red curtains. Inside them, Sano could see row upon row of weapons: swords, bows, spears, muskets. Hundreds of armored samurai stood in or in front of the sheds. Others, mounted on horses caparisoned with battle regalia, paced the courtyard. The odor of horses sharpened the air; the tramp of restless feet and the rumble of voices echoed off the walls. Beyond a second moat and bridge stood another wall. The keep towered above it, looking grimmer and more solid than from a distance. Sano felt tiny and insignificant in the presence of such military might. Lord Niu's madness must give him superhuman courage.

Once past another set of sentries and across the bridge, Sano entered another enclosure, with more guards and yet another gate. This gate led to a narrow, gradually ascending pa.s.sageway full of turns and angles. Gun holes and arrow slits pierced the white plaster walls of enclosed corridors that ran along the high stone walls. At regular intervals, larger square openings in the corridors allowed the defenders to dump stones on anyone who tried to climb the walls. Sano spied more guards behind the openings. The other visitors he saw all had their own military escorts. Only samurai wearing the Tokugawa crest walked proudly alone and armed. Sano soon lost count of the number of checkpoints and gates he pa.s.sed. Tokugawa Ieyasu had built his fortress to withstand a siege, but were his descendants safe from treachery? Remembering the fanatical gleam in Lord Niu's eyes, Sano wondered. Perhaps the Conspiracy of Twenty-One planned to somehow ambush the shogun outside the castle walls, away from his legions of soldiers.

The final gate brought them at last to the castle's inner precinct. There bands of guards patrolled a formal garden landscaped with plane trees, pines, and boulders. A wide gravel path led to the palace.

Sano stopped involuntarily to take in this sight he'd never expected to see. The low, vast palace had white plaster walls with dark cypress beams, shutters, and doors. Its heavy dark tile roof peaked in many high and low gables, each crowned with a gilt dragon. Serene and elegant, it drowsed in an oasis of tranquillity, far removed from the teeming streets of Edo. Only the faint strains of music and the m.u.f.fled report of firecrackers disturbed its peace: Setsubun celebrations were going on within its walls and courtyards, or in daimyo mansions elsewhere on the castle grounds. Sano thought of Lord Niu's speech. He reflected that the Niu and other daimyo clans had indeed purchased a fine home for the Tokugawas.

The guard interrupted Sano's thoughts. ”Hurry up,” he ordered.

They crossed the garden and gained admittance from the guards at the palace's carved door. As he removed his shoes in the s.p.a.cious, echoing entry hall, Sano marveled that he should visit the castle at all, let alone for such a purpose.

Inside the palace, a labyrinth of corridors unwound before Sano, angling their way through the outer portion of the building, which served as government offices. Sunlight from the barred windows fell in bright lines across polished cypress floors. Wide halls led past airy reception rooms with daises, coffered ceilings, and lavish landscape murals. The narrower ones were lined with small chambers. There a few doors stood open to reveal an official dictating to his secretary, or a meeting in session. Twice Sano's escort saluted pairs of patrolling guards; once they both bowed to an official in flowing robes. Otherwise the palace seemed virtually deserted. An unnatural quiet pervaded the great complex that must normally buzz with the sound of officialdom in motion. The creak of the floor beneath their feet echoed through the empty corridors. Other soft creaks came infrequently from deeper within the building. Already quivering inside with tension, Sano started at each one.

”Setsubun,” the guard grumbled. ”Those office layabouts have all quit for the holiday already.”

He led the way down a very narrow, dim pa.s.sage and through the only open door in it. Inside, paper-and-wood screens divided a long, thin room into many small compartments, each with its own window. As Sano pa.s.sed each one, he saw desks and shelves stacked with books, scrolls, message containers, and writing implements. Maps hung on the walls, some stuck with colored pins. So this was the castle's intelligence center. A heavy odor of tobacco smoke underlay the scent of the herbs used to freshen the room for New Year. But the metsuke whose pipes had permanently tainted the woodwork were not here now. The room was cold and silent and dim, with most of the windows shuttered. No lamps burned, save in the very last compartment.

There a man dressed in black stood before a wall of shelves. At the sound of their footsteps, he paused in the act of straightening a row of books and turned.

”What is it?” he asked the guard. ”Who is this man?”

”One of your informers, Toda-san,” the guard answered, looking surprised.

Sano gazed with curiosity at Toda Ikkyu, the first metsuke he'd ever encountered. Seldom had he seen anyone so nondescript. Toda was neither tall nor short, fat nor thin. Of indeterminate age, he had thick black hair that might have given him a youthful appearance, if not for the weary expression in his eyes. His regular features, without particular flaws or beauty, could have belonged to any of a thousand men. Although Sano studied Toda's face carefully, he doubted whether he would remember it when he left. Perhaps this utter lack of distinction was an advantage for someone in Toda's profession.

”He is not one of my informers,” Toda was saying in a voice as tired as his expression, ”and I have never seen him before in my life.”

”But-but he said-”

Toda broke into the guard's bl.u.s.tering defense. ”I don't care what he said. Take him away. And see that I receive no more callers today. Can you manage that, or must I speak with your superior?”

The guard's face darkened. ”Come on, you,” he said, shoving Sano toward the door. ”I'll deal with you outside.”

”Wait,” Sano said. ”Toda-san.” He bowed. ”Please allow me a moment of your time. I have important information for you. It concerns a plot against the shogun.” Seeing the skepticism on Toda's face, he added, ”And it involves your informer, the late Noriyos.h.i.+.”

A glimmer of interest enlivened Toda's eyes. ”All right,” he said. ”But one moment only.” To the guard: ”Wait outside.”

When they were alone, Toda knelt and gestured for Sano to do the same. ”First your name and antecedents,” he said, ”in order that I may know with whom I am speaking.”

Or whether to believe me, Sano thought as he recited his name and lineage.

To his dismay, Toda frowned and said, ”Are you not the yoriki who was recently dismissed by Magistrate Ogyu?”

Bad news traveled fast; there went all his credibility. ”Yes,” Sano admitted. ”But I ask that you suspend any prejudice against me until you hear what I have to say. Then you can decide whether I'm telling the truth, and whether or not to relay my information to the shogun.” Without waiting for permission, he plunged into his story, beginning with his a.s.signment to the s.h.i.+nju case.

The nondescript Toda did have one distinctive mannerism. With the tip of his right forefinger, he absently stroked each nail on his left hand, one after the other. He did this in silence while Sano spoke and for a small eternity afterward, his unwavering stare fixed on Sano's face. From somewhere in the castle grounds came the rapid pop-pop of firecrackers and the more regular percussion of drums. Sano squirmed inwardly.

Finally Toda said, ”So. You say that Niu Masahito-not the executed wrestler Raiden-killed Noriyos.h.i.+, to prevent him from exposing the Conspiracy of Twenty-One.”

”That's correct.” Was the metsuke convinced? His neutral tone conveyed nothing. Sano tried to draw hope from the fact that Toda had not thrown him out of the palace. Realizing that he'd forgotten the sandal and rope, he laid them on the floor for Toda's inspection, and explained their significance. ”Here is my proof.”

”You think that young Lord Niu also killed his own sister, either because she, too, had discovered the conspiracy, or because she witnessed a murder. And that the murder of your secretary was actually an unsuccessful attempt on your own life, also perpetrated by Lord Niu?”

”Yes.”

Toda nodded slowly as he began stroking his fingernails again. ”A most ingenious piece of fiction,” he murmured.

Sano's heart sank. ”You don't believe me.” Silently he berated himself for his unrealistic hopes. High-ranking officials achieved their positions by flowing with the current, not resisting it. He should have expected this.

”My apologies if you think that I mean to question your veracity, Sano-san,” Toda said. ”I do not. I can see that you truly believe your story. But your motives are clear to me, if not to yourself. First, you seek revenge upon the Nius for what you see as their part in your ill fortune. Second, you wish to prove that you know better than your former superior how to solve a murder case. And third, you wish to a.s.suage your guilt over your secretary's death. Given your position, how can you expect anyone to believe you?”

”No!” The protest burst from Sano. ”I didn't make this up, and you're wrong about-”

He caught himself as he realized that Toda's mind had closed against him the moment he'd given his name. The injustice filled him with outrage. But he tempered his emotions, knowing that right now there were concerns more important than his hurt pride. He couldn't afford to alienate Toda further.

”Before you dismiss what I've said, at least investigate Lord Niu and his friends,” he pleaded. ”For the shogun's sake. If there's even a chance of an a.s.sa.s.sination attempt, shouldn't you tell him so he can protect himself?”

”The shogun is already well protected-against real threats. His military power is absolute, and a group of conspirators such as you describe-even if they do exist-could not hope to prevail. The days when uprisings like the Great Conspiracy had a chance of success are long past. Besides, I can a.s.sure you that the daimyo clans, Lord Niu's included, have a strong stake in maintaining the present regime. They command their provinces and a large proportion of the country's wealth. In a war against the Tokugawas, they could lose it all.”

With a sense of irony that almost made him want to laugh, Sano countered the arguments that he himself had used against Katsuragawa under different circ.u.mstances. ”The conspirators are rash, ambitious young men who lack their elders' instinct for self-preservation,” he said. ”And from what I've seen of young Lord Niu, he is not one to let logic govern his behavior. Perhaps because of the madness that runs in his family.”

”We're well aware of young Lord Niu's tendencies. There is nothing you can tell us about him that we don't already know. He is not a threat to the shogun.”

In spite of Toda's condescending tone and unchanged expression, a sudden tenseness about the metsuke told Sano that he'd scored a point. Maybe he could win another.

He said, ”Perhaps you underestimate Lord Niu because he's a cripple.”

But Toda just looked even wearier and shook his head. Rising, he went to the shelf and took down a notebook. He knelt again, opening it upon his lap.

”Lord Niu Masahito.” He ran his finger over the columns of characters as he read. ”Born with a deformed right leg, due to... ” He quoted the opinions of the doctors and astrologers who had attended the birth. ”Resides with his mother in Edo because his father hates the sight of him.”

Toda turned a few pages. ”At age fifteen, he killed a ronin in a duel which he initiated. In the same year, he led a gang that raided an eta settlement and killed ten people. At age sixteen, he beat to death a boy prost.i.tute and was banned from Yos.h.i.+wara.

Since then he has had boys brought to his family's summer villa in Ueno. Prefers masturbation and superficial mutilation of a drugged partner to actual coupling. At age seventeen... ”

The list went on and on. Incident after shocking incident, interspersed with the most personal details of Lord Niu's life. Appalled by Lord Niu's excesses, Sano was nevertheless impressed by the wealth of information that the metsuke had gathered. Had they managed to plant spies even among the Nius' servants and retainers? Maybe they did know everything worth knowing about Lord Niu. Maybe the plot was nothing but a game of make-believe played by a group of idle young men.

”All of these incidents were suppressed with the Nius' money and influence,” Toda finished. ”But that didn't keep us from learning of them. I think you can see that we have sufficient information by which to judge Lord Niu's character. We don't underestimate him-or overestimate him.”

Or maybe the metsuke a.s.sumed that, because Lord Niu hadn't yet injured anyone who mattered to them, he never would. That a.s.sumption, plus their faith in the Tokugawa omniscience, blinded them.