The Shogun's Daughter

33

At Sano’s estate, his few retainers were locked inside their barracks with the army guarding them. Servants stampeded out the gate. They knew their master was on trial for the murder of the shogun’s heir, and they were leaving before he could be condemned and his household rounded up to share his death sentence. Inside the mansion, Taeko huddled with her mother, brother, baby sister, and Akiko. Midori hugged the children close. Her eyes were filled with fear.

“Mama, what are we going to do?” Taeko asked.

“I don’t know.” Midori’s voice trembled.

“Everybody’s leaving,” Tatsuo said. “Should we leave, too?”

“No. Maybe. I don’t know,” Midori said, frantic with confusion.

“I’m scared,” Tatsuo said. “Can we go to our grandfathers?”

Midori’s father, Lord Niu, had an estate in the daimyo district. Hirata’s parents lived in the banchō, an area populated by hereditary Tokugawa vassals. “I don’t know,” Midori wailed.

Her mother’s indecisiveness scared Taeko. She said, “We can’t leave without Masahiro and Lady Reiko.”

“Yes, you’re right.” Midori eagerly snatched at any guidance. “We’ll wait for them. They’ll know what to do.”

“My father will be home soon,” Akiko said. “He promised.” She was serene in her faith in Sano. “He’ll fix everything.”

Nobody had the heart to contradict her. Taeko wished she could help Masahiro solve the murder and save them all. But even if she could bear to leave her mother and the other children, how could she get away?

Midori stood up suddenly. “Maybe we should pack some things, in case Reiko and Masahiro say we have to leave. Tatsuo, Taeko, get some clothes, enough for a few days. Come, Akiko, I’ll help you pack.” Carrying the baby, she hurried Akiko away.

Tatsuo began pulling clothes out of the cabinet. Taeko saw her chance. There was no time to think. Impulse sent her running out the door.

“Hey!” Tatsuo called. “Where are you going?”

Taeko joined the servants fleeing the estate. Following them downhill through the passages inside Edo Castle, she was thankful for the company. She’d never left the castle at night by herself, and it was strange and scary. Lanterns cast shadows in which monsters seemed to lurk. Taeko cringed from mounted patrol guards, their faces dark under their helmets. They looked like suits of armor with invisible ghosts inside. Finally Taeko exited the main gate. It slammed shut behind her. She fought the urge to run back and pound on it. The maids scurried off in different directions. Taeko was alone.

On the avenue outside the castle, the friendly priests and nuns who begged for alms during the day were gone. Soldiers were chasing away other beggars, yelling threats and waving swords at a family camped on a blanket. The man had no legs. He and his wife scrambled to gather up their belongings as their little boy and girl cried.

Taeko hurried toward the daimyo district. The long, broad streets were like dark tunnels enclosed by the walls of the estates. The only light came from lanterns at the gates, where the daimyo’s guards stood watch. The guards called to passing troops. Masculine laughter echoed up and down the tunnels. Few other people were about. The side streets were even darker than the main ones. Taeko turned corners, lost. After what seemed like hours, she arrived breathless at the back gate of Lord Tsunanori’s estate.

“What do you want?” the sentry asked.

“To go in,” Taeko stammered through her fear. “I work in the laundry.”

“Oh, you’re the missing maid.” He opened the gate. Taeko scurried in before she could lose her nerve. He called after her, “Housekeeper’s been looking for you.”

Taeko’s heart sank. She’d forgotten the mean old housekeeper. She tiptoed around the outbuildings to the laundry courtyard. It was dark except for moonlight reflecting in puddles. The tent flaps were closed. Taeko cautiously lifted one and peered inside.

Warm air exuded the smells of lye, mildew, and stale breath. Taeko heard snoring, saw bodies lumped on the ground. The tent was too dark for Taeko to see very far. She took a step into the tent and trod on a foot.

The person it belonged to said in a cross voice, “Hey, be careful.” The girl was Kiku, who’d chased Taeko yesterday. “Taeko? What are you doing here?”

“Shh!” Taeko glanced at the other women. “I have to talk to Emi.”

“I’m going to tell Housekeeper you’re back.”

“No, please, don’t,” Taeko whispered.

A small figure rose inside the tent. Women grunted as Emi stumbled over them. Emi reached Taeko and pulled her outside. They ran together across the courtyard, between buildings, and crouched in the manure-scented shadows behind the stables. Horses neighed.

One side of Emi’s lovely face was white in the moonlight, the other dark with the bruise where the mean woman had hit her. “I’m glad to see you, but why did you come back? You’re going to be beaten for running away.”

“You helped me once,” Taeko said. “I need you to help me again.”

Emi drew a sharp, frightened breath. Taeko hated to press Emi, but she was desperate. She said, “I know you didn’t tell me everything last time. What else do you know about Lord Tsunanori’s wife?”

“I can’t tell you,” Emi whispered. “I’ll get in trouble.”

“Please.” Taeko grabbed Emi’s hand. “It’s important. If you don’t tell me, my family and friends will die!”

Emi’s eyes, immense and black in the moonlight, filled with confusion. “You’re not really a poor orphan, are you? Who are you really? What do you want?”

“No, I’m not,” Taeko confessed, sorry she’d deceived Emi. “My father is a samurai. His master is in trouble. I have to find out who killed Lord Tsunanori’s wife.”

“Why?”

Aware that she wasn’t making much sense, Taeko said, “Because.” She gripped Emi’s hand tighter. “Now tell me!”

Emi’s hand wilted as she gave in to the habit of following orders. “I saw Namiji.”

“Who is Namiji?”

“She took care of Lady Tsuruhime when Lady Tsuruhime got smallpox,” Emi explained. “But this was maybe six or seven days before then.”

Taeko struggled to be patient. “What was Namiji doing when you saw her?”

“She was in Lady Tsuruhime’s room,” Emi said. “She was scrubbing the bed.”

Puzzled, Taeko said, “Scrubbing, how?” Beds weren’t usually scrubbed. The mattresses were hung outside to air, and the linens washed.

“With a dirty sheet. It looked like there was blood on it. And yellow stains. She rubbed it all over the mattress and the quilts and the pillow.”

“Why?” Using a dirty sheet to scrub a bed made no sense to Taeko.

“I don’t know. I was afraid to ask. She stuffed it in the cabinet.”

Taeko felt sick with disappointment. She’d disobeyed her mother and come back to this scary place to hear about a servant acting strangely?

Emi chewed her lip, then said, “I just thought of something else.”

“What?” Taeko’s hope resurged.

“I saw Namiji with that sheet again later,” Emi said. “She was in the back courtyard. It was the night after Lady Tsuruhime got smallpox.”

Taeko pretended to be interested because she didn’t want Emi to think her information was worthless. “What was Namiji doing?”

“She was burning the sheet.”

Quick footsteps approached. The girls looked at each other in fright. Emi rose and said, “You’d better go.”

Angry voices called, “Emi! Taeko!” It was Kiku and the housekeeper.

Emi seized Taeko’s hand. “Come with me!”

They ran past buildings, through grounds and passages. It was so dark that Taeko couldn’t see where she was going. She blindly trusted Emi. They came to a compound that was under construction, deserted. Piles of lumber and roof tiles waited by the wall. Taeko spied a gate and started toward it, but Emi held her back.

“No! There’s a guard outside.” Emi pointed to a lumber pile. “Climb on that. Jump on top of the wall and go over the side.”

The pile seemed as tall as the sky. Taeko gulped. She was afraid of high places.

“Hurry!” Emi whispered as the footsteps and voices came closer.

Taeko began to climb. Her heart beat so hard, it felt like it would jump out her throat. She crawled on top of the pile and stood on the uneven planks. The short distance to the wall looked as wide as the Sumida River, the gap bottomless. Taeko breathed so fast, she felt dizzy. With a wordless prayer on her lips, she jumped.

She flew through the air for an instant that lasted forever. Landing on the wall, she teetered, waving her arms. She crumpled, clutched the rough surface, and gasped.

“Go!” hissed Emi.

Taeko sat with her legs dangling over the wall. She shut her eyes and dropped far, far down to the street.