Black Lotus

32

We can’t rescue Midori without defying the shogun and dishonoring ourselves, but we can’t leave her at the mercy of the Black Lotus,” Hirata said in despair. “What are we going to do?”

Sano walked beside his chief retainer through the stone-walled passage leading downhill through Edo Castle. Though still shaken by Makino’s surprise attack on him, he applied his mind to their immediate problem.

“Haru is our key to solving the case, defeating the Black Lotus, and saving Midori,” he said.

Hirata stared, incredulous. “But she’s proved herself good for nothing except telling lies and turning you and Lady Reiko against each other. We can’t stake Midori’s safety upon her!”

“There’s one last way to get the truth out of Haru and get Midori out of the temple with the shogun’s permission,” Sano said.

When they entered the courtyard of his estate, he called a groom to bring their horses.

“Where are we going?” Hirata asked.

“To see Magistrate Ueda.”

Soon they were in the Hibiya official district, seated in the magistrate’s office. Sano said to his father-in-law, “I wish to convene Haru’s trial. Will you oblige?”

“Certainly,” said Magistrate Ueda. “Have you found definitive evidence of her guilt?”

“No,” Sano admitted, “but there are compelling reasons for forcing Haru to reveal what she did and what she knows about the Black Lotus.” He described how Midori had disappeared, the shogun had ordered him to stay away from the temple, and Senior Elder Makino had accused him of plotting against the shogun. “A trial could produce facts that will convince the shogun that Midori is in danger, before Makino can manufacture evidence to prove I’m a traitor.”

“Putting Haru on trial will work only if she is in possession of the facts and can be persuaded to reveal them,” Magistrate Ueda pointed out.

“I know she knows more than she’s admitted.” Deep instinct told Sano he was right. “And a trial can pressure a person into cooperating when all other methods have failed.”

“When would you like me to conduct the trial?” Magistrate Ueda asked.

“This evening, at the hour of the rooster.”

“But that’s too long to wait!” Hirata burst out. “Every moment Midori stays at the temple endangers her more.” He looked anxiously from Sano to Magistrate Ueda.

“We can’t rush things and ruin our last chance to secure Haru’s cooperation,” Sano said. “We must prepare carefully, which will take time.”

He only hoped that Midori would survive the delay.

The absolute darkness of the Black Lotus’s underground prison was like a monstrous live creature, breathing a draft redolent of human misery, its heartbeat the pulsing bellows. It filled the cell where Midori lay curled in a corner. The chill dampness penetrated her thin robe, and she shivered. No one had said what her punishment would be for spying on the sect, or spoken to her at all after the priests had imprisoned her here. Would they torture her, force her to dig tunnels, or use her in evil rites? Would they kill her, or just leave her to go mad?

At first Midori had mustered her courage and tried to escape. She’d pounded at the heavy wooden door, which refused to yield. Groping in the darkness, she’d located a square opening high in the door, and an air vent in the wall, but both openings were too small to crawl through. Midori had torn planks off the low ceiling and tried to dig her way up, but the clay was too hard. She’d shouted for help, but no one above-ground could hear her. There seemed to be no other prisoners in this branch of the tunnel, and finally Midori had wept in exhausted, helpless solitude.

Now she had no idea how many hours she’d spent in this cell. Once, she’d seen light outside, and someone had shoved a meal tray through the crack under the door. Too famished to worry about poison, Midori had devoured the rice, pickles, and dried fish. She’d slept, then awakened blind and terrified in the darkness. Midori did not know whether each passing moment bettered her chances of survival or brought her closer to death. Her hope of deliverance rested upon Reiko.

Reiko was the only person who had any way of knowing she’d come to the temple and figuring out that she’d been caught. Surely Reiko would come looking for her. Yet even as Midori sought comfort in the idea, doubts plagued her mind. What if Reiko didn’t find the note? Even if she did, and even if she sent a rescue party, how would it find Midori?

She thought of Hirata, and her heart ached. If only she’d been satisfied with the crumbs of attention he’d tossed her! Now she would probably never see him again.

Footsteps approached her cell. Hope and terror collided within Midori. She yearned for human contact, yet she feared the punishment that High Priest Anraku had promised. Light shone through the square hole in the door, brightening as the footsteps neared. Sitting up, Midori fought an urge to leap toward the welcome illumination. She wrapped her arms around her knees, helplessly waiting for whatever would happen.

In the opening appeared the side of a round paper lantern, like the curve of the moon. It shone into Midori’s cell, momentarily blinding her. Then her vision returned, and she saw beside the lantern a portion of a face, containing a single eye focused on her with dark, gleaming concentration. It belonged to Anraku.,

A whimper issued from Midori; her heart thudded in terror. She wanted to look away, but Anraku’s gaze held hers captive. Pleas for mercy rose to her lips, but she couldn’t speak.

Then a woman said, “Why must we keep her?” Midori recognized the sharp, irritated voice of Abbess Junketsu-in.

“She is special,” Anraku said quietly.

Midori realized that they were talking about her.

“What makes her different from anyone else?” Junketsu-in said. “And haven’t you enough women already?” Midori heard jealousy in her tone. “I think you should have gotten rid of her as soon as we found out she was a spy.”

The high priest didn’t answer. Alarm flared in Midori.

“She’s no problem as long as she’s down here,” said a man’s rough voice. It was Priest Kumashiro. “But if she somehow escapes, she could cause trouble. Keeping her alive is too risky. Please allow me to eliminate her at once.”

Midori’s alarm turned to horror. But Anraku spoke again. “Remember what my vision has foretold. Three signs shall herald our day of destiny. We have already witnessed human sacrifice and persecution against our kind, but we still await the third sign. And I have had a new vision.”

Anraku exuded mystical energy like a fire radiating heat through the door. Midori cringed from it.

“The Buddha said that the capture of Niu Midori presages the third sign,” Anraku continued, “and we shall not achieve glory unless she remains alive to perform a critical role.”

“What role? Why her?” demanded Junketsu-in.

“How long must we tolerate an enemy in our midst?” Kumashiro said, clearly displeased.

Anraku’s tactile stare probed Midori. “Question me no more. You shall know soon enough.”

His face and the lantern vanished from the peephole. Darkness immersed the cell as footsteps receded down the corridor. Anraku’s spell over Midori relaxed like kite strings when the wind ceases, and she hurled herself against the door.

“Please don’t leave me! Come back!” she cried.

The darkness and solitude seemed even worse now. Her terror was more acute because although she now knew she would live awhile, she didn’t know how much longer, or for what terrible purpose.

“Help, help!” Midori screamed. Bursting into wild sobs, she pounded on the door. “Let me out!”

There was no response except the echo of her own desperate voice resounding through the tunnels.