Spider, page 3
I thought inconsequentially that it was a terrible thing for a child of Niko’s age to have to see such a dreadful sight. Then I reminded myself that she was a child of the Floating World, and cruelty was her constant companion.
“So what was Akira’s version of events?” My curiosity was too great; I had to ask.
“He was at the front of his men. Waiting, with his sword ready. As soon as his rivals turned the corner, he simply cut down as many as he could reach. He said that he was merciful. That he cut for the heart to give his enemies a quick and clean death.” Of course, Niko had said that Banri appeared to have died from a single cut. That would fit with Akira’s version of events.
She stopped abruptly. I saw her swallow and guessed she was choking back tears. My poor Niko! Although I understood her grief and anger, also did I understand that there were two sides to this story. If Banri’s yakuza had been successful in taking Akira, would they have shown him any mercy at all? Of course not. He would have died at their hands, and I was sure with the maximum of pain and indignity. The rival leader would have wanted to show the world what he could do to the great Akira. And it was also obvious to me that Banri—no doubt along with the rest of the new recruits—had been ordered to the front of the fight because they were expendable. If there was to be trouble, then the rival yakuza would have reasoned it would be better to lose some raw recruits than seasoned veterans. To my mind, Banri’s master was as much to blame for his death as Akira.
Not that Niko would ever believe that. To her young mind, black was black and white was white and Akira had killed the boy she loved. Which he had, of course…
“I’m sorry, Niko,” I said helplessly. I was sorry for Niko and her boy. But also was I sorry that Akira had Banri’s blood on his hands. “Did Banri’s yakuza provide for his family? Give them some money to compensate for his death?”
“No,” Niko said bitterly. “Nothing. That made it worse, if that were possible. The new baby was exposed and his remaining sisters were sold as slaves after all. His brothers went to find work as day laborers, same as their father used to do, and between them they made enough to keep the remains of the family together. Banri’s mother never got over it. She barely said a word to anybody from that day on. Akira should have done her a favor and put her to the sword as well instead of leaving her with nothing but grief in her heart.”
Niko stared at me. I couldn’t read her expression and tried for a smile.
“Perhaps Akira went some way to making atonement when he saved you,” I offered hopefully.
“He didn’t save me. You did,” Niko said. My mouth dropped in amazement when she went on. “But I suppose he helped. Just as well. If he hadn’t, I would have killed him myself when I had the chance to take vengeance for my Banri.”
I kicked my horse into movement, so she couldn’t see my face. I wondered seriously if Akira had any idea of what a lucky escape he had had.
Three
Be careful. Unlike
The female spider, I may
Have little patience
I tensed and sat a little straighter in my saddle as we approached the checkpoint at Hakone. The last time I had passed through here, I had presented myself as Lady Keiko, a samurai widow of great wealth, carefully guarded by my three male escorts. Even if the same militia attended me now, I doubted that he would connect the plainly-dressed merchant’s widow I appeared to be now with the opulent, bad-tempered samurai lady he had seen before, but I was pleased when a different soldier demanded to see my papers. I remembered that Akira had given his colleague a silver coin to ease our passage. I palmed this soldier a smaller coin, as befitted my new status.
It disappeared into his sleeve in a second, but I stiffened as he looked at me suspiciously.
“What are you doing traveling on your own?” His tone was abrupt, and I stared at him in genuine puzzlement.
“I’m not alone, sir,” I said humbly. “I have my maid with me.”
“I can see that,” he barked. “Are you trying to be funny, woman?”
“No, sir. Not at all. Have I done something wrong? If I have, I’m so sorry. I have never traveled outside of Edo before, and I didn’t know what to expect. I wouldn’t be going now if it wasn’t for the fact that my sister is very ill and has been asking for me.” I smiled shyly, hoping the stubborn soldier wouldn’t sense the murder in my heart. My katana called to me from its place where it was masked by my silk furoshiki. How I wished to unwrap it and watch this bullying soldier’s expression change! But I could not. If I was found in possession of such an immensely rare and valuable weapon, I would be arrested at once. These were uncertain times, and a middle-class merchant’s widow would never be in possession of such a magnificent sword. I could hardly help Yo if I was languishing in prison myself.
The guard grinned widely at my worried response. “She—” He jerked his thumb rudely at Niko. “—isn’t a man, is she? Don’t you know it’s forbidden for women to travel on the highway on their own?”
Too late, I remembered Akira insisting that it was essential that I had an armed guard escort me on my last journey on Tokaido Highway. At the time, I had thought he meant I needed an escort solely because of my high position. With sinking spirits, I realized I had misunderstood. Apparently, any woman traveling on Tokaido Highway had to have a man with her.
“Oh, sir!” I put my hand to my mouth and wailed loudly, the picture of a frightened woman. “I am so sorry, I didn’t know! Nobody told me when I went to get my papers! What can I do? My sister is in a very bad way, she may even die. If I turn back, I’ll probably never see her again in this life. I can’t afford an escort, I’m only a poor widow. But at least I have my dear late husband’s dog to protect me, and he’s very fierce.” I glanced down at Matsuo. Unfortunately, he had taken advantage of the momentary pause to sit down and scratch behind his ear.
I was so convincing, I felt tears come to my eyes. I had no idea whether the guard was impressed with my story or simply pleased he had reduced me to tears. In either event, he grunted and shrugged his shoulders.
“The dog’s a fine beast,” he said grudgingly. “But he’s still not a man. Well, it’s all very irregular, but I suppose in the circumstances I can be persuaded to let you pass.” He put his hand on my horse’s bridle to stop me from moving as his gaze stroked my body greedily. “Widow, are you?”
“Yes, sir. My husband died very recently.”
“Miss him, do you?” The message behind his words was perfectly clear. I heard Niko draw a sharp breath and I spoke quickly.
“Oh, I do. He was such a kind man. The physician who had been treating him said it was a merciful end for him. He told me that he had some sort of strange infection that couldn’t be cured. Baidoku, I think he called it. Have you heard of that, sir?”
The guard dropped his hand so quickly the bridle might have been red hot. He took a step away and gestured to us to go.
“Thank you, sir. Thank you! May the gods smile on your house!” I threw the words over my shoulder as I kicked my mare forward before he could change his mind.
“That was a close one,” Niko said thoughtfully when we were well down the road. “That was clever of you, saying your husband had died of the plum poison disease. He obviously thought you might infect him just by talking to him! Silly man.”
“Still, I hope I don’t have to try that again,” I replied. “The next guard might not be as gullible as that one.”
We broke our journey at a simple ryokan. Niko groaned when she got back on her pony early next day, and I thought even Matsuo looked at me reproachfully.
“The sooner we get on, the sooner we get to Kobe,” I said with a cheerfulness I did not feel.
I was prepared for trouble at the next checkpoint and handed over a much larger coin at the same time as I explained at once about my poor sister and her urgent desire to see me before death claimed her. I was in luck. There was a queue of people at the checkpoint, muttering at being held up. The distracted guard didn’t even bother querying why I didn’t have an escort, he simply took his coin and checked our papers before nodding me through and turning to the next traveler. We were even luckier at the next station. It had started to rain—a thin, miserable drizzle—and it was cold. I guessed it was the guards’ mealtime and nobody could be bothered to leave the guardhouse to check a pair of women. We slid past unchallenged.
But I was beginning to feel deeply uneasy. There were fifty-three checkpoints on Tokaido Highway between Edo and Kyoto, where we would turn off for Kobe. We had been fortunate at the checkpoints we had been through so far. I doubted our good luck would persist for the rest of the journey. Clearly, we needed an escort, and as soon as possible. As she often did, Niko read my thoughts.
“If we come to a village before we reach the next checkpoint, should we stop there and see if we can hire a man to escort us?”
“Yes. And no. We obviously need a male escort, but can we trust somebody we don’t know not to steal from us? Or worse?”
Niko giggled. “If he tried, he wouldn’t get far. Not against the two of us!” I smiled at her confidence. “But I see what you mean. No point taking on a guard we don’t trust. Should we leave Tokaido Highway, then? Go by the back roads?”
“I think that would be even worse,” I said. “Apart from anything else, we don’t know our way. And with all the civil unrest, there’s bound to be increased patrols on the back roads. If we get stopped, they’re going to want to know why we’re not on Tokaido Highway and, of course, why we don’t have an escort. They would probably take us into custody to check who we are. If that happens, at the very best we would lose a lot of time. At the worst, we would be turned over to the authorities and we would never get to Kobe.”
I had no need to explain what I meant. Niko nodded her understanding. “So, what do we do?”
I frowned, thinking our options through. I had never traveled beyond Hakone on Tokaido Highway, but my brother and father had used it often. I was certain I recollected my brother saying that Soji—my sister’s husband—had a hunting lodge somewhere between Yumoto, where we had just passed through the checkpoint unchallenged, and the next post at Mishima. Both my menfolk had been very fond of hunting and had spoken enthusiastically about the game to be taken on Soji’s country estate. I racked my brains trying to remember where it was located and finally remembered Isamu—my brother—saying it was quite close to the checkpoint at Yumoto.
“The guard at Yumoto actually dared to stop us and ask for our documents!” Isamu roared with laughter at the memory. “Father and I drew our swords at the same moment, and you should have seen his face! He was on his knees kowtowing into the mud in a moment. He was lucky Father’s such a benevolent man. Any other samurai and his head would have been off. Mind you, as it happened, it was a good thing Father spared him. That was the first time we’d been to Soji’s lodge and we had to ask the fool for directions. He was trembling so hard we had to make him repeat the directions twice before we could make any sense of it. Turned out we just had to keep an eye open for the next narrow turn-off to the left and keep going until we came to the lodge.’’’
And that, I decided, was precisely what Niko and I were going to do. I knew Soji wouldn’t be there since the hunting season was long past. But Soji would keep servants at the lodge all year round. Nor did I worry that I appeared to be merely a middle-class widow. No matter how I was dressed, if I wanted to, I could turn back into the noble samurai Lady Keiko at will. I was sure that the servants would give me no trouble, certainly not when I told them that their master’s wife was my sister. We would borrow a servant from the estate. He could be trusted to escort us to Kobe. The return journey would not be a problem—we would have Yo with us. My good humor lasted only a moment before I was overtaken by impatience.
I had no idea how long it would take to get to Shoji’s hunting lodge and the detour would cost us precious time. Already the afternoon was sliding away rapidly. We would have to stay the night at the lodge and get back on Tokaido Highway in the morning. Almost a day lost. I seethed with irritation and my annoyance deepened as the sky clouded over suddenly and a chill wind rose.
“I’ve remembered that my sister’s husband has a hunting lodge near here. We’ll go there and tell them we need to take one of the male servants as our escort. Keep your eyes open for a side turning on the left,” I said briskly to Niko. “It’s not likely to be a good road. Probably just a track.”
Her face brightened and she began humming happily to herself. I smiled with her, but my good mood soured very quickly. The clouds began to drift down until we were surrounded by a thick mist. It was more difficult to see through the white, shifting cloud than had it been true fog, and after what felt like a long time, I became sure that we had missed the turning. I was about to tell Niko we would have to turn round and go back and try and find a ryokan in Yumoto for the night when I saw a patch of darkness at the side of the highway.
“Stop, Niko. I think this must be it.”
We pulled the horses round and moved forward cautiously. I had been right, our turning was barely more than a narrow track, easy to miss in this dreadful weather. It was so narrow it was impossible for us to ride side by side. I went first, with Matsuo close in front of my mount and Niko following behind. The track was deeply rutted. After a while, I stopped bothering to try to find even ground and simply let my mare find her way on her own.
I did not like this track at all. It was far more than the narrowness and the lack of vision. Something I could neither see nor hear was making my skin prickle with anxiety. I could do nothing about masking the sound of our progress. Our horse’s harnesses jingled constantly, and they breathed heavily in the damp air. There was danger here, I could sense it. Intuitively, I adopted the persona of a poor widow. I slumped in my saddle and hunched my shoulders, doing my best to appear small and unthreatening.
“Is everything well with you, Niko? Be sure to keep a tight hold on your pony. It would be easy to fall on this terrible road,” I called shrilly back over my shoulder. I needed to be sure she was alert. I was deeply relieved when she answered me, and I knew she understood more than my words had said.
“Thank you for your concern, mistress. I am very cold and wet. Is it far to our destination?” The courteous, timid response was so unlike Niko I smiled broadly despite my worries.
“I don’t know. I think I may have mistaken our way.”
My lips had barely closed on the last word when my side vision saw shapes forming in the mist to my right. Matsuo saw them also. Well-trained dog that he was, he did not growl or bark, but I saw him stiffen and caught a glimpse of his fangs as his lips peeled back.
I glanced casually to the left. Nobody there. Whoever was stalking us was foolish, then. They saw only two women alone and no doubt thought of us as easy prey. How many? I wasn’t sure. I thought I had seen four separate shapes, but the shifting mist made it difficult to be certain. I reined my horse to a slower walk, pretending to peer ahead.
“Take care, Niko. I believe this wretched road gets even worse further on. We’ll take it very slowly and carefully.”
“Yes, mistress,” Niko responded dutifully.
I took a moment to consider our options. I could not get to my katana quickly; the sword was bound carefully in silk and tied between two furoshiki to hide it from prying eyes. Nor had I dared carry a dagger in case we were searched at one of the checkpoints. So, any fight would depend on my jujutsu skills—martial arts against undoubtedly armed men.
The knowledge filled me with deep satisfaction. If I had been able to draw my katana and use it in anger, I doubted that I would have done so. I had killed a man with my blade, and not so long ago. I had taken the life of Ikeda, the monster who had stolen Niko with the intention of taking her virginity to cure his horrible disease. I had killed him in a fair fight, so his death lay lightly on my conscience. Also had I helped his poor wife to throw off her earthly shackles, knowing that she would welcome death as a relief from her suffering.
My distraction was momentary; this was not the time to think of what was past. I would defeat these cowardly men who thought they could pick on helpless women. And I would use no weapon but my hands and my brain to do it.
“Niko, down!” I shouted the words at the same moment as I saw one of the shadowy figures move. Niko must also have seen the men; she slid off her pony to the right, hiding behind its sturdy body.
“No, no, mistress. No need to be alarmed.” The man’s voice was mocking, hiding laughter.
“Who are you?” I called out in a harsh voice. “What are you doing here? Let us pass.”
“All in good time.” Matsuo barked loudly and the man jerked his head toward him. Clearly, he did not understand dogs. Matsuo was barking in warning. If he had growled, then the man should have been deeply afraid. “Tell your dog to keep still, will you? I don’t want to have to hurt him.”
“Matsuo, quiet.” I had to work hard to keep the amusement out of my voice. This peasant thought he could hurt an akita, a dog who was so big and fearless he could bring down a full-grown deer in flight?
While the man’s attention was on Matsuo, I took a good look at him. Not quite the peasant I had expected. Although his head was turned toward Matsuo, I saw his gaze was actually flicking over me. There was a short sword in his obi, positioned at just the right angle to be drawn quickly. Militia? No, the man was not dressed in any sort of uniform. But he had some military training, I decided. And I had been right, there were other men huddling close by in the unlikely event that this man needed any help.
“That’s better.” The man nodded approvingly. “You just keep him under control. What are you doing in the middle of nowhere on your own?”
“Please, sir,” I whined. “I’m going to Kobe, to my sister. She’s terribly ill, and she sent a message asking me to go to her before she left this world. I didn’t know women weren’t supposed to travel on their own until one of the soldiers at the checkpoint told me. I thought we would be better taking a back road after that, but we must have taken a wrong turn.”
