I Parker - The Fires of the Gods

Akitada was sorry that he had not handled this better. He had no business making an enemy, and perhaps he had wronged the man. Probably, his years of poverty made more of five bars of gold than they were in Shokan’s estimation. He bowed and apologized.

Shokan was quickly – perhaps too quickly – appeased. ‘I can see you have your reputation to protect, Sugawara. I do not expect you to do anything improper. It is just that Kansei, being young and a little foolish, may not have gone to his mother, but become involved with dubious company. The young are easily tempted. I should like him found before he is corrupted.’

Akitada wondered what Shokan was afraid of. Most likely the novice monk was hanging around the brothels. A handsome boy could earn good money selling his body to older men. ‘Do you have any proof that he has taken up bad company?’

The abbot shifted uncomfortably. ‘He was seen by one of the monks. In a bad part of the capital, near the Western Market. With hoodlums.’ Shokan shuddered. ‘You see why I am desperate to find him before he is arrested?’

Akitada sighed. ‘Very well, I shall do my best, Reverence. You need not give me more than one gold bar until I have results. But if the youngster should have become guilty of some crime, I shall have to turn him over to the police.’

‘Agreed.’ Shokan nodded. ‘But please hurry!’

Jirokichi was in a quandary. He had thought a gift of twenty pieces of gold would satisfy anyone, let alone a young man with a family who depended on this lord who had neither wealth nor position. Yet the man who had saved him from the damned louts had returned to Hoshina to threaten Jirokichi’s life.

What was he to make of that?

It was crass ingratitude, of course. And maybe this Tora wanted to extort more money. Why else would he demand to speak to Jirokichi in person?

Hoshina was afraid and wanted Jirokichi to stay in hiding. ‘That one’s a sly one,’ she said. ‘Mark my words, he’s big trouble. And he works for an official. You shouldn’t go out at all for a while.’

Jirokichi shook his head. ‘I don’t know. Why did he help me in the first place? There was nothing in it for him. He couldn’t know I’d pay him. Something else is going on. I think it’s got something to do with the fires. He wanted to know about those.’

Hoshina’s eyes grew big. ‘You aren’t going to meddle in that, Jirokichi? That’s very bad trouble. That’ll kill you. And me, too.’

Jirokichi sighed and nodded. ‘You’re right. We’d better stay as far away from that as we can. But I still feel bad. It’s that fellow Tora that’ll get killed if he keeps poking his nose into this.’

‘Serves him right then.’

Jirokichi did not know what to say. Hoshina sometimes surprised him. He had not thought that she could be so cold about another human life. Perhaps he should be flattered that she loved him as much as all that, but in reality she frightened him.

‘All right, love,’ he said, ‘I’ll stay away from the fire business, and I’ll be careful when I go out. But there’s a job to do tonight.’

Jirokichi set out right after the hour of the rat had been called by the night watch. The time had always seemed to him preordained. It was the hour for thieves, his own time, decreed by the gods since the very beginning of the world. And the gods had blessed his work.

But his funds were running low after he had left the twenty gold pieces for Tora. There were several families in need. One of them had just lost their small tailor shop when it had burned down along with all their clients’ orders. The tailor had gone into a deep depression over what he owed to those who had trusted him with their property, and his wife had left a plea for help at one of the small altars set up to Jirokichi.

Jirokichi was embarrassed by the little altars, but they were really very useful places for people in need to leave their requests. He visited them on his nightly rambles and read the notes people had left. If he found one worthy, he paid the petitioner a surreptitious visit to make sure he or she was telling the truth.

Since the fires had started, he had found several good families in tragic need. Tonight he would steal something for the tailor.

The night was nearly perfect for his work: warm, but no longer as hot and oppressive as in the daytime. Instead the dark had a velvety smoothness that was almost a caress. A new moon hung in the sky, and stars sparked brightly, but Jirokichi was dressed in black and had blackened his face, hands, and bare feet. His shirt and pants were molded closely to his body so they would not snag when he wriggled through small windows or openings. He stayed on the shadowed sides of houses and chose alleys and narrow streets whenever he could. Moving quickly and silently, he reached the back of the large dwelling in good time.

The house was one of those ample and steeply roofed buildings like large farms in the country. Jirokichi had been here several times already to note the layout and construction of the house and outbuildings. The shop was in front and the merchant’s office right behind it. House and outbuildings were surrounded by a wall that gave access to an alley in the rear. Jirokichi had talked to neighbors about how many people lived there and had been very pleased to hear that the servants slept elsewhere. Only the merchant and his new wife remained in the living quarters at night.

The previous night he had returned to climb the roof of the main house and peer in through the hole that let the smoke escape. Below him lay the family’s large common room with its open hearth. To his surprise, there had still been a light in the office in spite of the late hour, and he had heard the murmur of male voices.

Jirokichi had contented himself with a good look around to remember the layout of the cross-beams, and then he had left quickly. It was disappointing, but when he had heard the rumble of thunder, he had been relieved. Navigating a steep thatched roof when it was wet with rain was very dangerous. The thatch turned as slick as ice.

Tonight there was no danger of rain. He climbed the rear wall and peered in. Yard and house lay silent and dark. Flinging a leg over the top of the wall, he turned on his stomach with both legs dangling inside, then lowered himself by his arms. His profession had not only made him quick and silent in his movements, but it had also given him very strong arms and legs.

He landed with a faint thud and immediately slipped behind a pile of boxes and large containers.

All remained still.

Jirokichi had not been making empty boasts when he had told Tora that he was successful only because he prepared carefully. Not all of his attempts turned up good targets. Some wealthy men’s houses were inaccessible because of night-time guards, or a noisy dog or mewling cats. The latter problem he had once thought to solve by returning with several live rats in a cloth bag. These he had let loose to distract the cat, but the ensuing clatter as the cat scampered after the rats while the panicked rats looked for escape in unfamiliar surroundings had woken the owner more surely than if Jirokichi had simply strangled the cat. He had almost been caught – with the owner’s full money purse on his person. Only the fact that the merchant had blamed the racket on the rats had saved him. It was this incident that had later given Jirokichi the nickname the Rat.

He climbed to the top of a small shed that gave access to the roof of the main house, then made his way up it, walking softly on the thick thatch until he reached the small opening near the top that let the smoke from cooking fires escape. Here he stopped and peered down. The fire in the hearth was out, and the place lay in darkness and silence, except for faint sounds of snoring. He made his move.