Jade Palace Vendetta

CHAPTER 22

Kaze arrived at the temple and found Elder Grandma’s grandson, Nagatoki, alone, tending camp. He was watching a kettle of rice boiling on the fire, waiting for the proper moment to put the heavy wooden cover on the pot to let the rice steam. He seemed embarrassed that Kaze had caught him engaging in such a domestic duty, as if it diminished him as a warrior in the older man’s eyes. Kaze took the cover out of the young man’s hands and placed it on the pot.

“You’re letting too much water boil away,” Kaze remarked casually. “When you’re on a campaign in war, knowing how to feed your men is a critical skill. Hungry men can’t fight.”

Having rice-making characterized as a martial art seemed to ease Nagatoki’s embarrassment.

Kaze had come to tell Elder Grandma that he had made no progress in finding information about Mototane. Finding time on his hands, however, he thought of the Japanese proverb chiri tsumotte, yama to naru-dust amassed will make a mountain. He decided to talk to Nagatoki to see if he could learn more details about Mototane.

“I would like to talk to you about Mototane,” Kaze said.

“Have you found him?” A touch of excitement entered the young man’s voice.

“No, and I’m not likely to unless I learn more about him and his character. What can you tell me about him?”

“Well, he’s my cousin.”

“Yes.”

“Ah, my older cousin.” Nagatoki inhaled sharply, making a hissing sound that indicated he was a bit flustered by Kaze’s questions.

“Relax. This is not an inquisition. I just want to know more about him as a man, to see if that provides me with any clues about where he is.”

“Well, he was a superb swordsman. Not as good as you, Samurai-san, but still excellent. I admired him for his skill.”

“Did he have any weaknesses?”

“Weaknesses?”

“Women. Drink. Something that would cause him to abandon his duties.”

Nagatoki seemed horrified that Kaze would suggest that his older cousin, whom he obviously idolized, could have a human fault. “Oh, no, Samurai-san! Mototane would never have such vices! Elder Grandma would have never allowed that.”

That was something that Kaze could certainly believe. He decided to steer the conversation back to safer ground, to draw out information more gradually.

“You say he was a good fencer?”

“Excellent! Very strong and fearless. Not too many men could hold their own against him in the dojo”

“And what do you think happened to him? Why isn’t he here?”

Nagatoki bit his lip. Hesitantly, he said, “I can think of no reason he isn’t here, unless he’s dead. Still, I don’t like to think…” Nagatoki hung his head, and tears formed on his face. He savagely poked at the rice fire with a small branch. The fire crackled, and a small cloud of red sparks swirled into the air, forming a miniature universe of short-lived suns that flickered into black ash in moments.

Kaze pretended he didn’t see Nagatoki’s emotion. Instead he said, “If you follow the path of the warrior, death is always a possibility. But if you think of it, death is the final result of all life. If Mototane is dead, he will come back in another life. From your description of him, his next life will certainly be one of honor and possibility. A man so honorable should have no fear of death. It would be sad if such a promising life ended so soon, but all time is relative, and a short, honorable life is preferable to a long, miserable life.”

Nagatoki said nothing, but Kaze’s words seemed to comfort him. After a few minutes of sitting in silence, Nagatoki said, “Thank you for letting me have your bed at that teahouse. It was, it was … well, it was my first time.” It was a reference to their first meeting, when Kaze let Nagatoki swap beds with him because Kaze was trying to avoid an amorous maid.

Kaze laughed.

Nagatoki looked startled, then looked at Kaze’s face and blushed. Soon, however, he realized the ronin was not laughing at him, and Nagatoki started laughing too. His melancholy over the possible fate of Mototane was dispersed by the shared secret he had with this strange ronin.

“What is the cause of all this merriment?” Elder Grandma asked as she entered the abandoned temple.

Kaze looked at Nagatoki and said, “Just talk of important military maneuvers and the victories that result.” Nagatoki giggled.

Elder Grandma scowled. She didn’t like to be excluded. “Have you any news of Mototane?” she said gruffly, trying to regain command of the situation.

“No, Elder Grandma, I’m afraid I don’t.”

Elder Grandma pursed her lips, clearly displeased. Kaze knew he had tried his best to this point, so her displeasure had no effect on him. It would only be meaningful if he had not done his best.

“Has Hishigawa told you anything?”

“That presents a hard problem,” he said. “Getting Hishigawa to trust me will be difficult. I know he wants me to work for him, but that won’t release the lock on his tongue. I’ll have to wait and see if there’s something I can do to gain his confidence. In the meantime, I can try to contact Yuchan for you. The Jade Palace is guarded, but it’s hardly a fortress. I think I can sneak in to see her. She seems to be living in absolute splendor and luxury, so perhaps she’s happy with the current situation. If she is, you’re wasting your time trying to rescue someone who doesn’t want to be rescued.”

Kaze waited in the boughs of a tree, watching the Jade Palace. The moon was high in the sky; its pale light made observation of the island and the structure on it easy. Kaze had just about decided it was time to enter the water and swim to the island when he saw someone walk out on the veranda that encircled the building. Enomoto.

A building guarded by a sleepy sentry was a simple matter, but a building with Enomoto inside was another proposition. Enomoto was no fool, and it would be infinitely more dangerous to go to the island with him on it.

Kaze didn’t understand Enomoto. He was obviously a quality swordsman and made of somewhat the same cloth as Kaze himself. Yet Enomoto could offer his sword and loyalty to a man like Hishigawa. Kaze could not imagine what would make a master fencer work for a man like Hishigawa.

Kaze heard a rustling below him. A figure was making its way through the villa grounds, moving toward the lake and the palace. Kaze gave a small sigh of exasperation because he was sure it was Elder Grandma or one of the other two doing some reconnoitering on their own. The villa was still not tightly guarded, but that would change if it were discovered that intruders were entering.

As Kaze watched the figure, his exasperation turned to interest. In the moonlight he could see it was not one of the trio. Fascinating. He glanced back at the palace and saw Enomoto returning inside.

The figure was a bit late, and he knew the Boss would chastise him for it. They were supposed to meet at the hour of the rat, but now it was almost the hour of the ox. He had been winning big at dice and kept staying to play just one more round. Finally, despite his winning streak, he realized he would never be able to make the appointed time, and he tore himself from the game. Now he was nervous and a bit frightened at what the Boss would say or do about his tardiness.

He knew no guards would be patrolling the back of the villa tonight, so he hoisted himself over the wall and started slipping from tree to tree to reach the appointed spot. He had done this many times before, although he didn’t like the cold swim at the end. His movements were almost routine by now.

He found shelter in the darkness of a large pine tree growing next to the lake and placed his sword in a hollow of the tree. He took off his kimono, shivering slightly in the late-night air in his loincloth, and put his rolled-up kimono next to his sword. He was starting to untie his straw sandals when he heard a sound above him. He looked up just as a man landed on him, flattening him on the ground and knocking the wind out of him.

Kaze heard a satisfying “Oommph!” when he landed on the man, and he knew it would be several minutes before the man could muster up the wind to try to get away. He grabbed the man by the arm and dragged him into the moonlight, where he could get a better look at his face. He was surprised.

“Well,” Kaze said, “if you’re going to be my regular landing cushion when I jump out of trees, then you’d better put some more meat on you.” Staring up him was the bandit with the scarred cheek he had jumped on the Tokaido Road.

A half hour later, Kaze was sitting in a room with a sleepy Hishigawa and the frightened bandit.

“I dare not tell!” the bandit said. “The Boss would slit my throat.”

Kaze put his hand on the hilt of his sword. He gave the bandit a smile that made the half-naked man shudder. “If you don’t tell, I’ll start another process,” Kaze said menacingly. “I’ll start slicing you into thin shavings, like a block of katsuo-bushi. When you were a young boy, you probably watched your mother shaving the bonito block to get flavoring for soup. If you don’t tell Hishigawa-san what you told me, then I’m going to cut you into equally thin slices, and each cut will hurt.”

The bandit looked at Kaze fearfully, not sure if the samurai was bluffing. He decided not to test this threat. “All right,” he said. “Enomoto-san employed us to rob Hishigawa-san of his gold.”

“Enomoto-san?” Hishigawa was now fully awake, his eyes round with surprise.

“Yes. I was part of the band that robbed you before. We would have robbed you again, but this samurai stopped us. We were told not to harm you, but we were also told to get the gold.”

“But you killed my yojimbo,” Hishigawa said.

“Yes. That was part of the plan, so you would never suspect Enomoto-san. When you were moving especially large amounts of gold, Enomoto-san would assign weak men to escort you. He knew they would die, but they were unaware of the planned attack. That way we could rob you many times and you would not suspect it was being arranged from within your own household.”

Hishigawa was confused. He looked at Kaze. “What do we do now?” he asked.

“We tie this scum up and then go to sleep. Then we talk to Enomoto-san in the morning. Before we do that, we make sure the household guards understand that they were used as sacrificial usagi, rabbits. They were destined by Enomoto-san to eventually have their necks caught in a snare and killed, so that he and his real men could continue robbing you.”

Enomoto walked into the reception room of Hishigawa’s villa. He was annoyed because his man had missed their appointment, so he could not get the full story of how the ronin had foiled the robbery attempt on the Tokaido. He was even more annoyed that the love-besotted fool of a merchant had decided to have a meeting the first thing in the morning.

He walked into the room and stopped immediately. The atmosphere of the room was charged with tension, and Enomoto’s swordsman’s eyes took in the scene at one glance.

Hishigawa was sitting on the dais, like some nobleman. Next to him was the ronin, watching Enomoto carefully, with his sword worn at an angle from which he could pull it quickly. The old hag Ando was on the other side, her rat’s eyes looking at him with hatred. The household guards were standing in the room, glaring at him. They must know, Enomoto thought. And sitting in front of the ronin was his appointment for the hour of the rat. Tied, half naked, and no doubt singing like a kusahibari, a “grass lark,” the most popular singing insect that the mushi-uri, the insect seller, offered.

“Well, it’s over,” Enomoto said before any accusations could be made. “I’m glad. I was growing weary of the farce of a man like me working for a worm like you,” Enomoto said to Hishigawa.

Hishigawa had a suitable shocked look on his face, and the old harpy Ando actually hissed at him, like a snake expressing its anger.

“You… you …” Hishigawa started.

“Don’t bother,” Enomoto interrupted. “I’ll be going. Don’t complain to the authorities about the money I took or I’ll have to talk to them about our little secrets.” He turned to go, then stopped. He swiveled his head around to take one more look at the composed face of the ronin, Matsuyama Kaze. His gaze was met steadily by the ronin, who had a face that mirrored neither surprise nor concern. Forgetting his control for an instant, Enomoto’s own countenance darkened, like the angry skies during a typhoon. He said nothing to the ronin, but both men knew the depth of Enomoto’s hatred for the interloper. Enomoto turned and left, walking out the front door of the villa and past the startled guard at the gate.

Well, that went well, except for the insolent tongue of that rogue, Enomoto,” Hishigawa said.

Kaze made no reply.

“I wonder if you would reconsider my offer to work for me,” Hishigawa said.

“I will consider it,” Kaze replied. “I also have an idea for you to consider.”

“What is that?”

“I wonder why you move gold between Edo, Kamakura, and Kyoto.”

“Well,” Hishigawa said patiently, as if lecturing a slow child, “the businesses in each city have different needs. Sometimes a business in one city needs gold and a business in another city has too much. So I must transfer the gold from one city to the other.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Kaze said, ignoring Hishigawa’s tone. “I was wondering why you physically transfer the gold, running the risk of theft.”

“How else would I meet the needs of my businesses in each city?”

“There are other businesses that operate both in Edo and Kyoto or Kyoto and Kamakura?”

“Yes, of course.”

“And they have a similar problem, from time to time?”

“Yes, I suppose so. I don’t see how any business can always stay in balance among the various branches in each city.”

“Then why don’t you act as a broker and find these businesses? Then you need never transfer gold again.”

“What do you mean?”

“Suppose you have a hundred ryo of gold in Edo that you want transferred to Kyoto.”

“Yes?”

“Then you find one or more businesses that have a hundred ryo of gold in Kyoto who want that gold in Edo.”

Hishigawa looked puzzled. “What good would that do? Then you’d have two shipments of gold you’d have to transport.”

Kaze shook his head. “No, then you’d have no shipments of gold to transport. First you collect the hundred ryo of gold in Kyoto that businesses want transported to Edo and you use it in your own business. Then you take the hundred ryo of gold in Edo and give it to the businesses who wanted the gold transported from Kyoto to Edo. All you have to do then is transport paper instructions from Kyoto to Edo, and no actual gold has to be moved.”

Hishigawa looked at Kaze and exclaimed, “Brilliant! I can even charge a nice commission for my services, because the businesses in Kyoto don’t have to run the risk of transporting their gold.” Hishigawa was very excited. “You will make an incredible addition to my business!”

Kaze did not point out he had not agreed to join Hishigawa. He just nodded and let the merchant get swept up in the power and simplicity of the idea. He exchanged several glasses of sakè with the merchant as Hishigawa talked about how he could set up the money exchange service. Finally, when Hishigawa was a little tipsy from the wine, Kaze said, “Enomoto said something about secrets when he left. If I’m to protect you, I have to have an idea about what those secrets are.”

Hishigawa looked at Kaze shrewdly and said, “I won’t tell you all my secrets yet, but Enomoto was talking about the business I got into after Sekigahara. In addition to my other businesses, I deal in young girls.”

Kaze had surmised as much from the girls he saw at the Jade Palace. They were too finely dressed and too bold to be simple maids to Yuchan. Dealing in human flesh was not the highest of social activities, but there was no particular secret involved with it that Kaze could see. “What is the secret in that?” he asked.

Hishigawa smiled and said, “Right after the forces loyal to Hideyoshi were defeated, there were not only a great number of ronin created, but also a great number of families disrupted. Some of the young girls who came on the market at that time were not always properly sold, and many were from good families. Here was all this good merchandise available with no proper outlet, and many merchants in flesh were afraid to get into this trade. I started dabbling in it, supplying brothels in Kyoto, Edo, and here in Kamakura. We have to be discreet about this, because some of the families of the girls might take it into their heads to take revenge for my little business dealings with their daughters.

“I constructed the Jade Palace during that time, to house the girls safely until I was ready to dispose of them. I still use it to store girls I’m transferring between customers, as well as for Yuchan.

“The supply of young girls has dried up over the last year, so now I have agents looking for girls to work as maids. It’s much cheaper to buy girls as maids, and families seem to be more willing to sell them if they think they’re not going to end up in a brothel. Usually we bring them here to the villa and actually use them as maids for a time. When we’ve had enough of them, I let the guards break them in.” Hishigawa waved his hand. “A few are precocious, but most are still virgins because we buy them so young. I, of course, have Yuchan, so I don’t participate in raping the girls and preparing them for their lives as whores, but all the guards enjoy that. You’ll enjoy it too.”

Kaze’s face was impassive, and he had to force himself to refrain from explaining to Hishigawa what he would and would not enjoy.