Yamada Monogatari: To Break the Demon Gate (33 page)

Kanemore almost growled. “The monster! He’s fled!”

The voice answering sounded both weary and resigned. “No, Highness. The monster is here.”

Master Dai-wu stood in the doorway to the main hall. He appeared to be waiting for us. I rather imagined he would be. Two of Kanemore’s
bushi
remained with Lady Snow. The rest spread out at a command from Prince Kanemore and secured the area around the temple. Master Dai-wu regarded this as placidly as an ox in summer grass.

“Where are your warriors?” Kanemore asked.

“I have sent them into the mountains to meditate. All of them, along with the lay brothers. The nuns are in seclusion at my command, reading a
sutra
for the health of the Emperor. Do not worry, Highness. They will not be done until well after our business here is concluded. I thought this might be more agreeable for everyone.”

Calmly and with great dignity he walked down the steps to meet us there on the broad path before the main temple wall. “I assume you will wish to be outside the temple precinct proper before proceeding,” he said. “For all its involvement in this unfortunate matter, I think Enryaku-ji deserves at least that much courtesy.”

Prince Kanemore looked more and more puzzled by the moment. I was trying not to smile, but at the same time I knew the folly of allowing this particular pot to simmer for too long.

“Then let us get started,” I said, before Prince Kanemore could get it into his head to act summarily which, so far as he was concerned, would settle all debts and answer all questions. I wondered if there had ever been a time when I believed that anything—anything at all—could be settled in as simple an act as cutting off a head—not excluding a head that deserved to be cut off.

“Even the Chief Priest of the greatest temple in the land is answerable for a charge of murder,” Prince Kanemore said. “As I have been authorized by the Emperor to act on behalf of the Minister of Justice, let us proceed.”

Authorized, no doubt, because the new Minister of Justice didn’t have a clue about anything that had happened in the last few weeks, and the Chancellor knew better than to interfere. The Emperor, I suspected, had only a vague understanding himself but trusted Kanemore and depended on him to deal with the matter. I intended to help Prince Kanemore do that very thing, though convincing him of what needed doing might be difficult. I produced two cushions from my bundle and placed them side-by-side.

“If Your Immanence and Lady Snow would be so kind as to kneel here on the path?” I asked.

One of the
bushi
reached for Lady Snow’s arm, but I glared at him and he stepped back. Lady Snow came forward alone and kneeled with great dignity. Master Dai-wu joined her there.

“Lady Snow,” Prince Kanemore said. “You are guilty of assisting this man in the murder of several people, including the noblewoman Taira no Kei. Do you have anything to say?”

She bowed. She was weeping now, and her voice was so soft we did not hear her at first. Kanemore asked her to repeat what she had said and she answered again, louder, clearer: “I want to die.”

No doubt.

Master Dai-wu looked unhappy. “Prince Kanemore, may I speak now?”

“You will be allowed to speak in your turn, Immanence. Lady Snow is my first concern,” he said.

He bowed. “I understand. It is on her behalf I wish to speak.”

Prince Kanemore looked puzzled. “Very well.”

Master Dai-wu smiled at the veiled woman beside him. “She did no more than I demanded of her. I held power over this woman and I abused it. Do with me as you will, but spare her. She has harmed no one.”

“True enough, but she is guilty nonetheless,” I said. “In many ways more so than yourself, Immanence. She made bad decisions, whereas I don’t think you ever had that chance.”

Prince Kanemore frowned. “Lord Yamada, what are you talking about?”

“You promised me permission to speak before Lady Snow’s head was taken,” I said. “As that is where this delightful conversation is proceeding, I wish to speak now.”

“Very well, but please stop joking. This is a serious matter,” Kanemore said.

“And I am being very serious. It is your intent to execute the pair of them, is it not?” Kanemore only scowled, but that was answer enough. “Just so. I wish to speak on behalf of both of them.”

There was a shadow on Prince Kanemore’s face that was growing higher by the moment. “You just said Lady Snow was guilty!”

“She is, of many things. But, strangely enough, very little of what she is accused of.
The Tale of Genji,
remember? I must point out again she was the one who reminded me of it. If Lady Snow was intent on helping Lord Sentaro commit murder, she would hardly reveal his method.”

“So you said before. I consider that idea no more than an interesting speculation,” Prince Kanemore said.

“There’s more, Highness. I was also searching all this time for the reason Kei and the rest were slain. Lady Snow made me understand there was no reason, or at least their deaths were not for any fault or flaw. Not for Kei, nor any of the other victims. This fact was important in light of what I had just learned. None of them, as individuals, were such that anyone would wish them harm. Not even Lord Sentaro.”

Kanemore frowned. “If the attacks were the general displeasure of the gods of the city, then there would be no other reason. I thought that explanation quite sensible, even when I didn’t believe it.”

“It covered the facts as known,” I said, “but there was a fact you didn’t acknowledge—by then Lord Sentaro had already revealed his intent to me. Now, perhaps it was merely a coincidence those people were dying and Master Dai-wu had named the cause, but I do not believe in coincidences, Highness. So I knew there
had
to be a reason.”

Prince Kanemore looked unhappy. “Lord Yamada . . . ”

I smiled. “Peace, Highness. I understand why you did not believe me. I only wanted to point out that, once I understood the
method
thanks to Lady Snow, the
reason
why Taira no Kei and the others died was obvious—Lord Sentaro used their collective deaths to mask his true intent. He said as much when he tried to attack Takahito, remember?”

“I do remember,” Prince Kanemore said grimly.

“His plan was almost elegant. If he had killed Takahito earlier in the process, the Emperor might have made good his threat to name
you
his heir. By the time Takahito’s death finally was to occur, it would just be seen as one of many attributed to the wrath of the gods, thanks to Master Dai-wu’s pronouncement, and no more than Takahito’s tragic fate. Prince Norihira would be named heir with no further dissent.”

I could almost hear the thoughts gathering in Prince Kanemore’s mind, rearranging themselves, judging. I knew he was starting to see what I had seen, at least metaphorically speaking.

“One more crime to be laid on these two,” Kanemore said finally.

He doesn’t like to give up. A useful trait, but sometimes it leads one to places one should not go.

“Please,” Lady Snow said. “Kill me.”

“No!” Nidai shouted and would have rushed to her side, but I had warned Kenji beforehand and he was ready. He grabbed the boy in a bear hug and held him against his struggles.

“I am willing and ready to answer for what I have done,” Lady Snow said calmly. “I only ask you not allow Nidai to witness this. This is no place for him.”

“I disagree,” I said. “Choices have consequences, and Nidai has been on this particular journey almost as long as any of us. I think he has the right to see how it turns out. Prince Kanemore, please excuse me for a moment.”

Nidai was struggling like a cat in a bag and Kenji was just beginning to lose patience.

“Enough!” I said.

Startled, Nidai stopped struggling and I leaned close. “Nidai-kun, one way or another you’re going to have to say goodbye to Lady Snow. That is the way of things and nothing you or I do is going to change it. Now, then, you may control yourself like a man and not cost Lady Snow her dignity, or you can be hauled out of here like the child you’re pretending to be. What is your decision?”

Nidai glared but finally said, “I will not embarrass my mistress . . . any further.”

“Well then. Kenji-san, let him go.”

Kenji hesitated but obeyed, and Nidai kept his place, trembling with fear and rage, but firm. I walked back to where Lady Snow kneeled.

“Prince Kanemore requires more reason to alter his decision. I think that is fair. Lady Snow, please remove your
boshi.
”

“I can move the veil off my neck,” she said, “it will not interfere with the sword.”

“That is beside the point. Do as I command.”

Reluctantly, Lady Snow untied the strings from under her chin. Her hair had been coiled up within the crown of the hat and was now released to fall down her back, tied with the usual two ribbons she always wore. Her cheeks were streaked with tears but she looked at me now with a face as impassive as a
gigaku
mask.

“Prince Kanemore, you’ve been listening to her voice for some time now, so I imagine you’ve begun to wonder about this woman. Does she seem at all familiar to you?”

Kanemore frowned, and then stepped closer. His eyes went wide. “This is Lady Hoshiko!”

“Yes, prince. Taira no Hoshiko, former Lady of the Court and minor wife to the late Emperor. Elder sister of the unfortunate Taira no Kei. I did not know this for certain until we returned from Nara.”

“Lady Maiya . . . ?” the woman I still thought of as Lady Snow sounded bitter.

I smiled. “No, she did not betray you. Yet she was taking tea with you when I arrived that day, neither serving nor being served. I suspected you were a noblewoman from the day I met you, and your reaction to Kei’s death was a further hint. It was obvious that Lady Maiya knew you as an equal, and that was all the confirmation I needed.”

Every word seemed to stab Hoshiko directly in the heart. Her mask crumbled and she began to weep again.

I sighed. “And that’s the real reason she wishes to die, prince. Not because she is guilty of murder or even attempted murder, in my case. Rather it’s because of Taira no Kei and Fujiwara no Kiyoshi. Because she now understands she let her desire to escape her family’s will cozen her into unknowingly aiding and serving the very man who had murdered the two people she held the most dear in this world.”

“Lord Sentaro?” Prince Kanemore asked. “What hold did he have over her?”

“He threatened to tell her family where she was,” Master Dai-wu said. “At least, we think he did . . . ”

“I assume Lord Sentaro was also responsible for the exorcism of the spirit known as Seita?” I asked.

Master Dai-wu answered. “Of course. Lord Sentaro recognized the ghost as someone who might reveal his intent. He had a monk from this temple perform the rite. This woman was not involved in that.”

That relieved me for reasons I could not quite express, yet now Prince Kanemore looked more confused than ever.

“The matter of Seita aside, why are you referring to Lord Sentaro as if he were another person? And what did Lady Hoshiko’s whereabouts at the time have to do with this?”

“I think the first question will be answered shortly. As for the rest, I was not certain at first,” I said. “I was able to discover the Lord of Hizen had died and Lady Hoshiko disappeared soon after. I assume she fled.”

“But
why
?” Kanemore asked. “Are you saying she murdered her husband?”

“You know as well as I that the Lord of Hizen died of a fall from a horse almost two years ago. He was not murdered.”

“It’s true enough I wished him dead,” Lady Hoshiko said then. “My late husband had no interest in women and was a brute besides. Yet no sooner was his body cold than my family had another arranged dynastic match in mind. I am still young enough. A man would still want me,” she glanced at me then and smiled a bitter smile. “I’d lost the man I loved and just become free of one I despised. When I was told I would remarry, I decided I would not. Add family disloyalty to my sins.”

“But how did Lord Sentaro find you?” Kanemore asked.

“He recognized her,” Master Dai-wu said helpfully, “when he first came to the temple.”

Kanemore’s frown smoothed away. “Ah. She was lodging at the temple.”

“No, prince. She lived here,” said Master Dai-wu.

“She . . . ?”

It was my considered opinion that Prince Kanemore’s confusion had lasted far too long and was quickly approaching dangerous ground.

“Prince, while it’s true Lady Hoshiko deceived me, I must emphasize that all she is guilty of under the law is attempted murder.
I
am the one she tried to kill. I think her life belongs to me. Is that justice or not?”

Kanemore scowled. “I am not entirely certain of the law, but I do know beyond question I owe you a great debt, Lord Yamada. As is within my power, I assign her fate to you. Do with her as you will, with the understanding I expect her punishment to be appropriate.”

“I think you will find it so.” I drew my sword. I thought I heard Nidai gasp behind me, but I ignored that.

Lady Hoshiko bowed her head. “Please end it.”

“That is my intention.”

Lady Hoshiko still wore her customary pair of hair ribbons, one near her neck and the conventional one lower down. I cut the topmost ribbon with the edge of my sword, and I cut nothing else. Then, before anyone—especially Lady Hoshiko—realized what I was doing, I reached down and took a strong grip on her beautiful long black hair and I pulled.

As I did, I whispered in her ear, “I knew there was a reason you would not let me touch your hair.”

A very long section of Lady Hoshiko’s hair came off in my hand. What hair was left on her head barely reached the bottom of her neck. Lady Hoshiko just sat there for several moments, blinking, without comprehension. Then she threw herself on the ground and began to sob uncontrollably. This time Nidai did rush to her side and tried to comfort her. No one interfered.

“As you can see, prince, her hair is cut so it doesn’t even reach her shoulders. There is one reason and one reason only that a noblewoman will cut her hair. Lady Hoshiko took the tonsure,” I said, “soon after her husband died.”