Laura Rowland - Black Lotus

The ominous quiet that followed his reading seemed to reverberate like the echo of a bomb just exploded. Sano realized that the senior elder had been hoarding the letter to use when the right opportunity arose. He guessed what Makino meant to do to him, and his mind raced to construct a defense.

The shogun exclaimed in bafflement, “But what does this mean?”

“I was informing Chamberlain Yanagisawa about the Black Lotus situation,” Sano said, striving to stay calm. “I hoped that he could persuade Your Excellency that the sect is dangerous and we must protect the nation from it.”

“What you were really doing was inviting the honorable chamberlain to join you in persecuting a subsidiary of the Tokugawa family temple,” Makino countered. “You want him to help you destroy the Black Lotus and thereby eliminate a rival in your quest for control over the bakufu.” Makino turned to the shogun. “Your Excellency, this letter is conclusive evidence that the sōsakan-sama is plotting against you.”

Pressing a thin, delicate hand to his chest, the shogun stared at Sano. His eyes reflected the appalled horror that Sano felt. “Is this true?”

“No!” Hirata burst out in impassioned outrage. “My master is your loyal, devoted servant!”

“Of course he would deny the truth, Your Excellency,” Makino said reasonably. “As the sōsakan-sama’s chief retainer, he is part of this treasonous plot.”

Sano could hardly believe that he’d come here for permission to rescue Midori and ended up accused of a crime for which execution was the punishment. Makino was a clever, ruthless adversary, and Sano had to fend him off without injuring him and provoking future retribution.

“There’s been a misunderstanding,” he said. “The honorable senior elder has read into my letter a meaning I never intended. It was an honest mistake, and I suggest that we all agree to forget his accusation and resume discussing the rescue of Niu Midori.”

“We cannot forget treason,” Makino huffed. “Your Excellency, he is trying to talk his way out of punishment like the cowardly, dishonorable traitor he is.”

“Don’t you insult my master!” Hirata glared at Makino.

The senior elder continued railing against Sano while Hirata shouted angry objections and Sano tried to quiet him. The argument raged until the shogun flung up his arms and shouted, “Stop! I cannot take any more of this noise!” Abrupt silence fell. Pressing his palms against his temples, the shogun winced. “You have given me a terrible headache. I cannot believe that my, ahh, sōsakan-sama would plot against me, but neither can I believe that Senior Elder Makino would, ahh, slander a comrade. I do not know what to think!”

He fluttered his hands at the assembly. “Get out! Everyone! Leave me in peace!”

Sano, Hirata, Makino, and the frightened officials bowed hastily and leapt to their feet.

“Your Excellency,” Makino ventured cautiously.

“If you, ahh, really believe that Sano-san is a traitor, then show me some, ahh, proof besides that letter,” Tokugawa Tsunayoshi said with uncharacteristic decisiveness born of pique. To Sano he said, “And if you want me to let you fetch the lady from inside the Black Lotus Temple, then bring me proof that she needs rescuing. For now, I refuse to think any more about either subject!”

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.