Across the Nightingale Floor (23 page)

The crowd rumbled and surged like a
sorrowful beast at the slaughterhouse, alarmed by the stench of blood and
death.

“Don't linger,” Kenji said. “I'm
going to listen to a little gossip here and there. I'll meet you back at the
inn. Stay indoors.” He called to one of the grooms, slid from his horse, gave
the reins to the man, and disappeared into the crowd.

As we turned into the straight
street I had run down the night before, a contingent of Tohan men rode towards
us with drawn swords.

“Lord Abe!” called one of them. “We
are to clear the streets. The town is in turmoil. Get your guests inside and
put guards on the gates.”

“What set this off?” Abe demanded.

“The criminals all died in the
night. Some man claims an angel came and delivered them!”

“Lord Otori's presence is not
helping the situation,” Abe said bitterly as he urged us towards the inn.
“We'll ride on tomorrow.”

“The festival is not over,” Shigeru
remarked. “Travel on the third day will only bring bad luck.”

“That can't be helped! The
alternative could be worse.” He had drawn his sword and now it whistled through
the air as he slashed at the crowd. “Get down!” he yelled.

Alarmed by the noise, Raku plunged
forward, and I found myself riding knee to knee with Kaede. The horses swung
their heads towards each other, taking courage from each other's presence. They
trotted the length of the street in perfect stride.

She said, looking forward, in a
voice so quiet that no one but I could hear it above the turmoil around us: “I
wish we could be alone together. There are so many things I want to know about
you. I don't even know who you really are. Why do you pretend to be less than
you are? Why do you hide your deftness?”

I would have gladly ridden
alongside her like that forever, but the street was too short, and I was afraid
to answer her. I pushed my horse forward, as if indifferent to her, but my
heart was pounding at her words. It was all I wanted: to be alone with her, to
reveal my hidden self, to let go of all the secrets and deceptions, to lie with
her, skin against skin.

Would it ever be possible? Only if
Iida died.

When we came to the inn I went to
oversee the care of the horses. The Otori men who had stayed behind greeted me
with relief. They had been anxious for our safety.

“The town's alight,” one said. “One
false move and there'll be fighting on the streets.”

“What have you heard?” I asked.

“Those Hidden the bastards were
torturing. Someone got to them and killed them. Unbelievable! Then some man
figures he saw an angel!”

“They know Lord Otori is here,”
another added. “They still consider themselves Otori. I reckon they've had
enough of the Tohan.”

“We could take this town if we had
a hundred men,” the first muttered.

“Don't say these things, even to
yourselves, even to me,” I warned them. “We don't have a hundred men. We are at
the mercy of the Tohan. We are supposed to be the instruments of an alliance:
We must be seen to be such. Lord Shigeru's life depends on it.”

They went on grumbling while they
unsaddled the horses and fed them. I could feel the fire starting to burn in
them, the desire to wipe out old insults and settle old scores.

“If any one of you draws a sword
against the Tohan, his life is forfeit to me!” I said angrily.

They were not deeply impressed.
They might know more about me than Abe and his men, but still, to them I was
just young Takeo, a bit studious, fond of painting, not bad with the sword
stick now, but always too gentle, too soft. The idea that I would actually kill
one of them made them grin.

I feared their recklessness. If
fighting broke out I had no doubt that the Tohan would seize the chance to
charge Shigeru with treachery. Nothing must happen now that would prevent us
getting unsuspected to Inuyama.

By the time I left the stables my
head was aching fiercely. I felt as if it had been weeks since I'd slept. I
went to the bathhouse. The girl who had brought me tea that morning and had
said she would dry my clothes was there. She scrubbed my back and massaged my
temples, and would certainly have done more for me if I had not been so tired
and my mind so full of Kaede. She left me soaking in the hot water, but as she
withdrew she whispered, “The work was well done.”

I'd been dozing off but her words
made me snap awake. “What work?” I asked, but she was already gone. Uneasy, I
got out of the tub and returned to the room, the headache still a dull pain
across my forehead.

Kenji was back. I could hear him
and Shigeru speaking in low voices. They broke off when I entered the room,
both staring at me. I could see from their faces that they knew.

Kenji said, “How?”

I listened. The inn was quiet, the
Tohan still out on the streets. I whispered, “Two with poison, one with the
garrote, one with my hands.”

He shook his head. “It's hard to
believe. Within the castle walls? Alone?”

I said, “I can't remember much
about it. I thought you would be angry with me.”

“I am angry,” he replied. “More
than angry—furious. Of all the idiotic things to do. We should be burying you
tonight, by all rights.”

I braced myself for one of his
blows. Instead he embraced me. “I must be getting fond of you,” he said. “I
don't want to lose you.”

“I would not have thought it
possible,” Shigeru said. It seemed he could not help smiling. “Our plan may
succeed after all!”

“People in the street are saying it
must be Shintaro,” Kenji remarked, “though no one knows who paid him or why.”

“Shintaro is dead,” I said.

“Well, not many people know that.
Anyway, the general opinion is that this assassin is some sort of heavenly
spirit.”

“A man saw me, the brother of one
of the dead. He saw my second self, and when it faded he thought it was an
angel.”

“As far as I can find out, he has
no idea of your identity. It was dark, he did not see you clearly. He truly
thought it was an angel.”

“But why did you do it, Takeo?”
Shigeru asked. “Why take such a risk now?”

Again, I could hardly remember. “I
don't know, I couldn't sleep. . . .”

“It's that softness he has,” Kenji
said. “It drives him to act from compassion, even when he kills.”

“There's a girl here,” I said. “She
knows something. She took my wet clothes this morning, and just now she said—”

“She's one of us,” Kenji
interrupted me, and as soon as he said it I realized I'd known that she was
from the Tribe. “Of course, the Tribe suspected at once. They know how Shintaro
died. They know you are here with Lord Shigeru. No one can believe you did it
without being detected, but they also know there is no one else who could have
done it.”

“Can it be kept a secret, though?”
Shigeru asked.

“No one's going to give Takeo away
to the Tohan, if that's what you mean. And they don't seem to suspect anything.
Your acting's improving,” he told me. “Even I believed you were no more than a
well-meaning bumbler today.”

Shigeru smiled again. Kenji went
on, his voice unnaturally casual, “The only thing is, Shigeru, I know your
plans; I know Takeo has agreed to serve you in their execution. But after this
episode, I don't believe the Tribe will allow Takeo to remain with you much
longer. They are now certain to claim him.”

“Another week is all we need,”
Shigeru whispered.

I felt the darkness rise like ink
in my veins. I raised my eyes and looked Shigeru full in the face—something I
still rarely dared to do. We smiled at each other, never closer than when we
were agreed on assassination.

From the streets outside came
sporadic shouts, cries, the pad of running men, the tramp of horses, the
crackling of fires, rising to wailing and screaming. The Tohan were clearing
the streets, imposing the curfew. After a while the noise abated and the quiet
of the summer evening returned. The moon had risen, drenching the town in
light. I heard horses come into the inn yard, and Abe's voice. A few moments
later there was a soft tap on the door, and maids came in with trays of food.
One of them was the girl who had spoken to me earlier. She stayed to serve us
after the others had left, saying quietly to Kenji, “Lord Abe has returned,
sir. There will be extra guards outside the rooms tonight. Lord Otori's men are
to be replaced by Tohan.”

“They won't like that,” I said,
recalling the men's unrest.

“It seems provocative,” Shigeru
murmured. “Are we under some suspicion?”

“Lord Abe is angry and alarmed by
the level of violence in the town,” the girl replied. “He says it is to protect
you.”

“Would you ask Lord Abe to be good
enough to wait on me?”

The girl bowed and left. We ate,
mostly in silence. Towards the end of the meal Shigeru began to speak of Sesshu
and his paintings. He took out the scroll of the horse and unrolled it. “It's
quite pleasing,” he said. “A faithful copy, yet something of yourself in it.
You could become quite an artist . . .”

He did not go on, but I was
thinking the same thought: in a different world, in a different life, in a country
not governed by war . . .

“The garden is very beautiful,”
Kenji observed. “Although it is small, to my mind it is more exquisite than the
larger examples of Sesshu's work.”

“I agree,” Shigeru said. “Of
course, the setting at Terayama is incomparable.”

I could hear Abe's heavy tread
approaching. As the door slid open I was saying humbly, “Can you explain the
placement of the rocks to me, sir?”

“Lord Abe,” Shigeru said, “please
come in.” He called to the girl: “Bring fresh tea and wine.”

Abe bowed somewhat perfunctorily
and settled himself on the cushions. “I will not stay long: I have not yet
eaten, and we must be on the road at first light.”

“We were speaking of Sesshu,”
Shigeru said. The wine was brought and he poured a cup for Abe.

“A great artist,” Abe agreed,
drinking deeply. “I regret that in these troubled times, the artist is less
important than the warrior.” He threw a scornful look at me that convinced me
my disguise was still safe. “The town is quiet now, but the situation is still
grave. I feel my men will offer you greater protection.”

“The warrior is indispensable,”
Shigeru said. “Which is why I prefer to have my own men around me.”

In the silence that followed I saw
clearly the difference between them. Abe was no more than a glorified baron.
Shigeru was heir to an ancient clan. Despite his reluctance, Abe had to defer
to him.

He pushed his lower lip out. “If
that is Lord Otori's wish . . .” he conceded finally.

“It is.” Shigeru smiled slightly
and poured more wine.

After Abe had left, the lord said,
“Takeo, watch with the guards tonight. Impress on them that if there are any
disturbances, I won't hesitate to hand them over to Abe for punishment. I fear
a premature uprising. We are so close now to our aim.” It was an aim that I
clung to single-mindedly. I gave no further thought to Kenji's statement that
the Tribe would claim me. I concentrated solely on Iida Sadamu, in his lair in
Inuyama. I would get to him across the nightingale floor. And I would kill him.
Even the thought of Kaede only served to intensify my resolve. I didn't need to
be an Ichiro to work out that if Iida died before Kaede's marriage, she would
be set free to marry me.

We were roused early in the morning
and were on the road a little after daybreak. The clearness of the day before
had disappeared; the air was heavy and sticky. Clouds had formed in the night
and rain threatened.

People had been forbidden to gather
in the streets, and the Tohan enforced the ruling with their swords, cutting
down a night-soil collector who dared to stop and stare at our procession and
beating to death an old woman who did not get out of the way in time.

It was inauspicious enough to be
traveling on the third day of the Festival of the Dead. These acts of cruelty
and bloodshed seemed added ill omens for our journey.

The ladies were carried in
palanquins, so I saw nothing of Kaede until we stopped for the midday meal. I
did not speak to her, but I was shocked by her appearance. She was so pale, her
skin seemed transparent, and her eyes were dark-ringed. My heart twisted. The
more frail she became, it seemed the more hopelessly I loved her.

Shigeru spoke to Shizuka about her,
concerned by her pallor. She replied that the movement of the palanquin did not
agree with Kaede—it was nothing more than that—but her eyes flickered towards
me and I thought I understood their message.

We were a silent group, each
wrapped up in our own thoughts. The men were tense and irritable. The heat was
oppressive. Only Shigeru seemed at ease, his conversation as light and carefree
as if he were truly going to celebrate a longed-for wedding. I knew the Tohan
despised him for it, but I thought it one of the greatest displays of courage I
had seen.

The farther east we went, the less
damage from the storms we encountered. The roads improved as we approached the
capital, and each day we covered more miles. On the afternoon of the fifth day
we arrived at Inuyama.

Iida had made this eastern city his
capital after his success at Yaegahara, and had begun building the massive
castle then. It dominated the town with its black walls and white
crenellations, its roofs that looked as if they had been flung up into the sky
like cloths. As we rode towards it I found myself studying the fortifications,
measuring the height of the gates and the walls, looking for footholds. . . .
Here
I will go invisible, here I will need grapples. . . .

I had not imagined the town would
be so large, that there would be so many warriors on guard in the castle and
housed around it.