Shogun_ A Novel of Japan Part 109

Naga stalked off.

"Mariko-san, shut the door and sit down there." Toranaga pointed at a spot slightly in front of him facing the others.

"I've ordered you both here because there are private, urgent family matters to discuss."

Sudara's eyes involuntarily went to Mariko, then back to his father. The Lady Genjiko's did not waver.

Toranaga said roughly, "She's here, my son, for two reasons: the first is because I want her here and the second because I want her here!"

"Yes, Father," Sudara replied, ashamed of his father's discourtesy to all of them. "May I please ask why I have offended you?"

"Is there any reason why I should be offended?"

"No, Sire, unless my zeal for your safety and my reluctance to allow you to depart this earth is cause for offense."

"What about treason? I hear you're daring to a.s.sume my place as leader of our clan!"

Sudara's face blanched. So did the Lady Genjiko's. "I have never done that in thought or word or deed. Neither has any member of my family or anyone in my presence."

"That is true, Sire," Lady Genjiko said with equal strength.

Sudara was a proud, lean man with cold, narrow eyes and thin lips that never smiled. He was twenty-four years old, a fine general and the second of Toranaga's five living sons. He adored his children, had no consorts, and was devoted to his wife.

Genjiko was short, three years older than her husband, and dumpy from the four children she had already borne him. But she had a straight back and all of her sister Ochiba's proud, ruthless protectiveness over her own brood, together with the same latent ferocity inherited from their grandfather, Goroda.

"Whoever accused my husband is a liar," she said.

"Mariko-san," Toranaga said, "ask the Lady Genjiko what your husband ordered you to say!"

"My Lord Buntaro asked me, ordered me, to persuade you that the time had come for Lord Sudara to a.s.sume power, that others in the Council shared my husband's opinion, that if our Lord Toranaga did not wish to give over power, it-it should be taken from him forcibly."

"Never has either of us entertained that thought, Father," Sudara said. "We're loyal and I would never con-"

"If I gave you power what would you do?" Toranaga asked.

Genjiko replied at once, "How can Lord Sudara know when he has never considered such an unholy possibility? So sorry, Sire, but it's not possible for him to answer because that's never been in his mind. How could it be in his mind? And as to Buntaro-san, obviously the kami kami have taken possession of him." have taken possession of him."

"Buntaro claimed that others share his opinion."

"Who?" Sudara asked venomously. "Tell me who and they'll die within moments."

"You tell me who!"

"I don't know any, Sire, or I'd have reported it to you."

"You wouldn't have killed them first?"

"Your first law is to be patient, your second is to be patient. I've always followed your orders. I would have waited and reported it. If I've offended you, order me to commit seppuku. I do not merit your anger, Lord, I've committed no treason. I cannot bear your anger was.h.i.+ng over me."

The Lady Genjiko concurred. "Yes, Sire. Please excuse me but I humbly agree with my husband. He is blameless and so are all our people. We're faithful-whatever we have is yours, whatever we are you've made, whatever you order we'll do."

"So! You're loyal va.s.sals, are you? Obedient? You always obey orders?"

"Yes, Sire."

"Good. Then go and put your children to death. Now."

Sudara took his eyes off his father and looked at his wife.

Her head moved slightly and she nodded her agreement.

Sudara bowed to Toranaga. His hand tightened on his sword hilt and he got up. He closed the door quietly behind him. There was a great silence in his wake. Genjiko looked once at Mariko, then stared at the floor.

Bells tolled the middle of the Hour of the Goat. The air in the room seemed to thicken. Rain stopped briefly then began again, heavier than before.

Just after the bells tolled the next hour there was a knock.

"Yes?"

The door opened. Naga said, "Please excuse me, Sire, my brother ... Lord Sudara wants to come up again."

"Let him-then return to your post."

Sudara came in and knelt and bowed. He was soaking, his hair matted from the rain. His shoulders shook slightly. "My-my children are.... You've already taken my children, Sire."

Genjiko wavered and almost pitched forward. But she dominated her weakness and stared at her husband. "You-you didn't kill them?"

Sudara shook his head and Toranaga said grimly, "Your children are in my quarters, on the floor below. I ordered Chano-san to fetch them after you'd been ordered here. I needed to be sure of you both. Foul times require foul tests." He rang the hand bell.

"You-you withdraw your or-your order, Sire?" Genjiko asked, desperately trying to maintain a cold dignity.

"Yes. My order's withdrawn. This time. It was necessary to know you you. And my heir."

"Thank you, thank you, Sire." Sudara lowered his head abjectly.

The inner door opened. "Chano-san, bring my grandchildren here for a moment," Toranaga said.

Soon three somberly clad foster mothers and the wet nurse brought the children. The girls were four, three, and two, and the infant son, a few weeks old, was asleep in the arms of his wet nurse. All the girls wore scarlet kimonos with scarlet ribbons in their hair. The foster mothers knelt and bowed to Toranaga and their wards copied them importantly and put their heads to the tatamis-except the youngest girl, whose head needed a.s.sistance from a gentle though firm hand.

Toranaga bowed back gravely. Then, their duty done, the children rushed into his embrace-except the littlest one, who toddled into her mother's arms.

At midnight Yabu strutted arrogantly across the flare-lit donjon forecourt. Toranaga's elite corps of personal guards were everywhere. The moon was vague and misted and the stars barely visible.

"Ah, Naga-san, what's the reason for all this?"

"I don't know, Lord, but everyone's ordered to the conference chamber. Please excuse me, but you must leave your swords with me."

Yabu flushed at this unheard-of breach of etiquette. "Are you-" He changed his mind, sensing the youth's chilling tenseness and the restless nervousness of the nearby guards. "On whose orders please, Naga-san?"

"My father's, Lord. So sorry, you can please yourself if you don't wish to go to the conference, but I have to advise you that you are ordered there without swords and, so sorry, that is the way you will appear. Please excuse me, but I have no choice."

Yabu saw the pile of swords already in the lee of the guardhouse beside the huge main gate. He weighed the dangers of a refusal and found them formidable. Reluctantly he relinquished his arms. Naga bowed politely, equally embarra.s.sed, as he accepted them. Yabu went inside. The huge room was embrasured, stone floored, and wooden beamed.

Soon the fifty senior generals were gathered, twenty-three counselors, and seven friendly daimyos daimyos from minor northern provinces. All were keyed up and fidgeted uncomfortably. from minor northern provinces. All were keyed up and fidgeted uncomfortably.

"What's all this about?" Yabu asked as he sourly took his place.

A general shrugged. "It's probably about the trek to Osaka."

Another looked around hopefully. "Perhaps it's a change of plan, neh? neh? He's going to order Crimson-" He's going to order Crimson-"

"So sorry, but your head's in the clouds. He's decided. Our Lord's decided-it's Osaka and nothing else! Hey, Yabu-sama, when did you get here?"

"Yesterday. I've been stuck at a filthy little fis.h.i.+ng village called Yokohama for more than two weeks, south of here, with my troops. The port's fine but the bugs! Stinking mosquitoes and bugs-they were never so bad in Izu."

"You're up to date with all the news?"

"You mean all the bad news? The move's still in six days, neh?" neh?"

"Yes, terrible. Shameful!"

"True, but tonight's worse," another general said grimly. "I've never been without swords before. Never."

"It's an insult," Yabu said deliberately. All those nearby looked at him.

"I agree," General Kiyos.h.i.+o replied, breaking the silence. Serata Kiyos.h.i.+o was the grizzled, tough Commander of the Seventh Army. "I've never been without swords in public before. Makes me feel like a stinking merchant! I think ... eeeeee, orders are orders but some orders should not be given."

"That's quite right," someone said. "What would old Iron Fist have done if he'd been here?"

"He'd have slit his belly before he gave up his swords! He'd have done it tonight in the forecourt!" a young man said. He was Serata Tomo, the general's eldest son, second-in-command of the Fourth Army. "I wish Iron Fist were here! He could get sense ... he'd have slit his belly first."

"I considered it." General Kiyos.h.i.+o cleared his throat harshly. "Someone has to be responsible-and do his duty! Someone has to make the point that liege lord means responsibility and duty!"

"So sorry, but you'd better watch your tongue," Yabu advised.

"What's the use of a tongue in a samurai's mouth if he's forbidden to be samurai?"

"None," Isamu, an old counselor, replied. "I agree. Better to be dead."

"So sorry, Isamu-san, but that's our immediate future anyway," the young Serata Tomo said. "We're staked pigeons to a certain dishonored hawk!"

"Please hold your tongues!" Yabu said, hiding his own satisfaction. Then he added carefully, "He's our liege lord and until Lord Sudara or the Council takes open responsibility he stays liege lord and he is to be obeyed. Neh?" Neh?"

General Kiyos.h.i.+o studied him, his hand unconsciously feeling for his sword hilt. "What have you heard, Yabu-sama?"

"Nothing."

"Buntaro-san said that-" the counselor began.

General Kiyos.h.i.+o interrupted thinly. "Please excuse me, Isamu-san, but what General Buntaro said or what he didn't say is unimportant. What Yabu-sama says is true. A liege lord is a liege lord. Even so, a samurai has rights, a va.s.sal has rights. Even daimyos. Neh?" daimyos. Neh?"

Yabu looked back at him, gauging the depth of that invitation. "Izu is Lord Toranaga's province. I'm no longer daimyo daimyo of Izu-only overlord for him." He glanced around the huge room. "Everyone's here; of Izu-only overlord for him." He glanced around the huge room. "Everyone's here; neh?" neh?"

"Except Lord n.o.boru," a general said, mentioning Toranaga's eldest son, who was universally loathed.

"Yes. Just as well. Never mind, General, the Chinese sickness'll finish him soon and we'll be done with his foul humor forever," someone said.

"And stench."

"When's he coming back?"

"Who knows? We don't even know why Toranaga-sama sent him north. Better he stays there, neh?" neh?"

"If you had that sickness, you'd be as foul-humored as he is, neh?" neh?"

"Yes, Yabu-san. Yes, I would. Pity he's poxed, he's a good general-better than the Cold Fish," General Kiyos.h.i.+o added, using Sudara's private nickname.

"Eeeee," the counselor whistled. "There're devils in the air tonight to make you so careless with your tongue. Or is it sake?"

"Perhaps it's the Chinese sickness," General Kiyos.h.i.+o replied with a bitter laugh.

"Buddha protect me from that!" Yabu said. "If only Lord Toranaga would change his mind about Osaka!"

"I'd slit my belly now if that'd convince him," the young man said.

"No offense, my son, but your head's in the clouds. He'll never change."

"Yes, Father. But I just don't understand him...."

"We're all to go with him? In the same contingent?" Yabu asked after a moment.

Isamu, the old counselor, said, "Yes. We're to go as an escort. With two thousand men with full ceremonial equipment and trappings. It'll take us thirty days to get there. We've six days left."

General Kiyos.h.i.+o said, "That's not much time. Is it, Yabu-sama?"

Yabu did not reply. There was no need. The general did not require an answer. They settled into their own thoughts.

A side door opened. Toranaga came in. Sudara followed. Everyone bowed stiffly. Toranaga bowed back and sat facing them, Sudara as heir presumptive slightly in front of him, also facing the others. Naga came in from the main door and closed it.

Only Toranaga wore swords.

"It's been reported that some of you speak treason, think treason, and plan treason," he said coldly. No one answered or moved. Slowly, relentlessly, Toranaga looked from face to face.

Still no movement. Then General Kiyos.h.i.+o spoke. "May I respectfully ask, Sire, what do you mean by 'treason'?"

"Any questioning of an order, or a decision, or a position of any liege lord, at any time, is treason," Toranaga slammed back at him.

The general's back stiffened. "Then I'm guilty of treason."