The Fires of the Gods (22 page)

Tora had once managed to escape death by cutting his bonds with a pottery shard. Akitada started to search the floor of his prison.

His fingers just reached the muddy floor under the water he
sat in. Straining, he felt about in the mud, moving around until he had covered every section of the floor. It seemed to take a long time, exhausted him, and turned up nothing but a few pebbles and small stones too smooth to do any good. Amazingly, the rat had clung on patiently, as if he knew the human was trying to save them.

And all the time, the water was rising.

Having failed to find a useful tool on the floor, he knew he must turn to the walls next. He dreaded the effort of raising and lowering himself slowly along the muddy walls.

Leaning back to gather strength, he thought he heard a faint sound, as if someone had shouted in the distance. Akitada struggled up, slipped, and sat down hard in the cold water, the rat scrambling to hold on to his shoulder. He raised his voice, bellowing for help until his throat grew sore and he had to stop.

Nobody came. Nobody heard him.

Yet the small and distant sound gave him new hope. If he could free his hands, he could scratch and scrabble at the seam under the wooden cover. Since fresh air reached him, there must be chinks. He would work more dirt loose.

But first came the slow and painful exploration of the dirt walls, covering each time only an area wide enough for his bound hands to search. Standing, he could not quite reach to the top with his hands. The slow work sitting, then kneeling, and finally standing in a bent-over position, strained his muscles and exhausted him. He slipped many times back into the water. After every third effort, he allowed himself a brief rest. Throughout, the rat adjusted its precarious hold again and again, complaining in high chirps.

‘Be quiet, Demon,’ he said once. ‘I’m trying to save your miserable life along with mine.’ After that, he imagined, the rat’s complaints diminished.

At some point during his efforts, his mind seemed to clear miraculously, and he saw how the murder must have happened and what its real motive had been. He was so startled that he stopped working for a few long moments, overwhelmed by the human suffering that had led to the crime.

But there was no time. The water was rising faster. It already reached the middle of his chest when he was sitting. Soon he would no longer be able to rest.

He found what he was looking for in the third wall. A sharp
piece of flinty stone protruded slightly from the dirt. He thanked the gods that it was embedded at a point where he could work on his knees.

‘Now, Demon, we have a chance. Sit tight.’

The rat chittered softly and wrapped its tail around Akitada’s neck.

Using his fingernails, Akitada exposed a little more of the sharp edge, then raised his arms enough to press the rope against it and started rubbing. The rat bobbed up and down and adjusted his tail a few times, but he seemed to take this activity for an amusing diversion.

To his relief, Akitada felt the first strand of roping part quickly and worked even harder. Another strand parted, and the bonds around his wrists loosened slightly. By now his shoulders were sore, but he did not care. He leaned into his work, scraping the rope against the flint as fast and hard as he could.

His increased effort caused the flint to come loose and fall into the muddy water. Akitada felt like weeping. He sagged back into a sitting position and felt about without much hope of finding the flinty bit of stone. He did not, but this effort caused the rope to loosen further, and now he strained to break the remaining strands. They gave, and he brought his arms to the front, cradling his sore hands and wrists against his stomach while the throbbing pain in his shoulders and arm muscles slowly eased.

The cold and fetid water nearly reached his armpits now. He had no time to lose. Staggering back up, he explored with both hands the seams along the wooden cover. The rat squawked once or twice in protest, but managed to hold on. He found where most of the water came in, a steady flow. Something was slowly draining into his pit. Akitada wondered if it was still raining. The long-desired rain was doing its best to kill him.

On the opposite side, he managed to insert his whole hand between the wooden cover and the ground above. Here he scratched at the dirt, scraping it inside where it splashed into the water. At some point, the rat lost its precarious perch and plunged into the water, which reached Akitada’s upper thighs by now. Akitada stopped scraping and instead felt around for the animal. He found the rat when he sank his teeth into his leg in a desperate effort to save himself. Detaching the creature, he dropped him inside his shirt, a wet, irritable presence that moved about to find a comfortable place as Akitada returned to his work.

His neck and back began to hurt from standing in this awkward position, but soon he could reach outside the pit to his elbow and find the edge of the wooden cover. A large loose splinter caught in his skin, and he broke it off to use for a digging tool.

More fresh air came in, and he could hear some sounds, the rain splashing, a bird’s cry, a dog barking in the distance. He worked away feverishly.

And then he heard muffled voices.

He shouted, ‘Here. Please help. Over here!’

At first there was only silence like last time, but then a male voice shouted, ‘Who’s that? Where are you?’

The voice was vaguely familiar, but Akitada did not think about that. ‘Here! I’m in a pit. I think there’s dirt on top of a wooden cover. Can you follow my voice? Hurry, please. The water’s rising.’

It was indeed. His pushing against the cover must have let in more water, for he was now immersed to above his waist. With his body bent over, there was little room left between his face and the top of the rising water. And he could not feel the rat any longer.

‘Sir? Is that you? Please call out again!’

Genba! Yes, of course. Genba had come back.

‘I’m here. I can hear you clearly, Genba. A few more steps.’

Suddenly the cover above him slid back, then tilted inward, bringing wet soil with it and pushing Akitada down into the water. He fought wildly, but the weight on his back was too heavy.

Then hands reached for him and pulled him out, and Genba cursed and thanked the gods all in the same breath.

Akitada choked, coughed, spat out muddy water, received a couple of painful thumps on his back and a good shaking, and finally drew a decent breath. Genba cut the rope around his ankles while wishing every torment of hell on the perpetrators.

Akitada stood swaying in the dark, or rather in the dusk, for it was getting light, and the steady rain washed the mud off his face.

The rat!

‘Genba,’ he croaked. ‘Go look in the pit… There’s a rat… Fish him out if he’s alive.’

‘What?’

‘Go!’

Genba walked over to the pit, lifted the cover, and reached in. ‘What do you know?’ he said, straightening up. He sounded amazed and held the rat up by its tail. ‘It really is a rat. Ouch.’

The rat had twisted up to bite him. He dropped it and sucked his finger. Akitada gasped anxiously, but the rat found its feet and scurried away.

They were in some derelict yard behind a warehouse. Rainwater gushed from the warehouse roof into a ditch. From a breach in the ditch, a small and steady stream had made its way to the pit.

Nearby huddled silent, staring men with lanterns – four constables, their red jackets nearly black in this rain. He wanted to ask how they came to be there, but his strength finally left him utterly and he collapsed.

KOBE

G
enba asked anxiously, ‘Sir? Sir, are you all right?’ Sitting up with Genba’s assistance, Akitada took a ragged breath. His throat still hurt from the near drowning and the gritty filth he had swallowed along with the water. His body also hurt, particularly his bad knee, but he shook his head, as much in wonder that he was still alive as to deny any injuries. ‘Tired,’ he croaked, then raised an arm to point at the constables. ‘What… brought them?’

‘When you didn’t come home by dark last night, Tora got very upset and tried to get up to go look for you…’

‘Tora – how is he?’

‘Better. The fever is coming down, but Seimei wouldn’t let him get up.’ Genba grinned. ‘No need. I was there by then. And by the way, congratulations on your new daughter. She’s a beautiful child. A princess.’

Relief and a tentative joy washed over Akitada. He was alive, and so was his family. Nothing else mattered. He tried a smile. ‘Yes, yes. Thank you. And thank you for saving my life.’

Genba gave a rumbling chuckle. ‘I did little enough, sir. It was all Superintendent Kobe’s doing. And he and I just followed Tora’s directions.’

‘Kobe? You went to Kobe?’

‘Yes, sir. Tora did say you wouldn’t like it, but I could see I would need help.’

Akitada digested that. The amazing thing was that Kobe had agreed to help. But perhaps he had been more interested in catching the gang. Sitting in the drizzle on the wet ground, Akitada considered the situation while idly picking mud from under his finger nails. Genba shuffled and cleared his throat.

Akitada looked up. ‘Oh. You did right. I owe my life to all of you.’ For the first time, he looked at his surroundings. It was still only half light, but he recognized the outline of the abandoned warehouse.

He rose unsteadily and took a few steps towards the gaggle of policemen. They were wet and had tired faces, but they grinned. Though perhaps it was his muddy appearance they found amusing.

Akitada called out, ‘Thank you. That was excellent work.’

A dry voice said, ‘Was it? It seems to me they had a very easy time of it.’

Akitada turned.

Kobe looked as wet and tired as his men. His eyes widened. ‘You look terrible,’ he said. ‘Where were you?’

Akitada nodded his head towards the muddy crater. ‘In there.’

Kobe stepped closer and looked. ‘The dear gods in heaven,’ he exploded.

‘They took exception to my asking questions of a young man in the Fragrant Peach.’ Akitada tried another smile. ‘Thanks for coming to the rescue.’

Kobe nodded. He looked uncomfortable and blustered a little. ‘You do wander into danger with the utmost unconcern. But that doesn’t excuse this. We’ve arrested everyone in the Fragrant Peach and sent them to jail. Time enough to get to the bottom of this in the morning. There was no young man, though, just an under-age girl.’

Akitada nodded. ‘She’s the daughter of the owner. He and two of his friends are deaf mutes. I doubt you’ll get anything out of them. She is normal and protects the young male. His name is Tojiro. He ran. They caught me when I followed him.’

Kobe frowned. ‘Was it that damned Kiyowara case again? You never would listen. See where it got you this time. I hear the censors have their claws into you because of it. And you with a new child to support.’

Akitada hung his head. ‘It was another case,’ he said wearily. ‘I was trying to earn money I had already spent. A question of honor rather than stubbornness.’

Kobe was not to be distracted from his lecture by mere ideals. ‘Whatever it was, the risk was too great to follow your usual obsession with solving a puzzle. Your duty is to your family first. If you needed money, all you had to do was ask me.’

The accusation was unfair, but Akitada felt tears come into his eyes at the offer of money. He was glad the light was still faint and his face was wet from rain. He was too tired for this. Hiding his emotion, he said, ‘Perhaps you’d better dismiss your men. You don’t need witnesses to read me a lecture on duty.’

Kobe muttered an apology and turned to the policemen. ‘What are you standing around for, you dolts? Get on with it. Dismissed.’ The men bowed and shuffled off.

Turning back to Akitada, Kobe said gruffly, ‘Come, we need to get you to a bathhouse.’

To Akitada’s dismay, Kobe decided to have a good soak himself. Akitada wished for nothing so much as sleep.

At this early hour, the bathing area was still empty except for a couple of attendants. They stripped. Akitada was only half awake. They sluiced themselves off, then attendants scrubbed them vigorously. This revived Akitada somewhat as his blood coursed through his body and his skin tingled. When they finally submerged their bodies in the large tub of steaming water, Akitada leaned back with a sigh and closed his eyes. His lacerated fingers burned at first in the hot water, but the pain in his knee subsided, and his sore muscles relaxed. A greater contrast between his condition in the pit and his present bliss seemed unimaginable.

‘Don’t go to sleep – at least not yet,’ Kobe said loudly.

Akitada blinked at him through the steam. ‘What?’

‘You’re still angry with me?’

Akitada was embarrassed. ‘No.’

‘I apologize. I had to try to stop you. You were headed into deep trouble. Of course, nothing I said made a difference, but I had to try.’

Overcome by the apology, Akitada said nothing for a moment, then muttered, ‘Don’t be silly. I also said some unforgivable things.’

Kobe persisted in trying to explain his motives. ‘I was afraid that you wouldn’t consider the dangers. You never do, you know.’

‘I know you thought me foolhardy. Perhaps you even thought me a fool.’

‘Never a fool.’ Kobe sighed. ‘I expect I’ll be called in today. My dismissal is overdue.’

Akitada sat up. ‘What? Why?’

Kobe chuckled mirthlessly. ‘It seems I, too, am disobedient.’

Akitada’s disobedience went back to the very beginning of his career in government, and yet he had managed to hang on – until now. ‘How did you offend?’ he asked.

‘I think they’ll call it ‘interfering in official policy’. I insisted that your only offense was trying to solve a man’s murder.’

‘You made someone angry by helping me?’

Kobe gave him a crooked grin. ‘It was the right thing to do, so don’t feel responsible.’

Akitada stared at Kobe. Their uneasy banter had turned serious.

Kobe’s lips twitched again. ‘Don’t look so worried. If anything, you’ve done me a favor. This is my chance to retire to my family’s estate in the country. I’ll be leading the simple life. Hunting, fishing, and sitting on the veranda on a summer night to compose poems to the moon.’

‘You could always have done that.’

‘Ah, but others had expectations. My aged father wished to brag about his son in the capital. My wives liked their carriage rides to visit other ladies. My sons hoped to make brilliant careers. My servants… Well, you know what servants are. They take personal pride in their masters’ worldly success.’

Akitada felt slightly sick. ‘Think how many enemies I’ve made in your household alone.’

‘Well, we must all bear the burden of our karma.’ Kobe said lightly, then changed the topic. ‘Let’s get you home.’

By the time he reached home, tiredness had seized Akitada to such an extent that he staggered. Genba had to restrain Trouble’s enthusiastic greeting. Akitada clutched the banister for a moment to steady himself. This was not good. He had to face the censors in a few hours.

Genba offered an arm, and Tora came, looking drawn and pale. Akitada was ashamed of his weakness. He pulled himself together, refused assistance, chided Tora for being out of bed, and patted Trouble’s head.

‘I’m fine, sir,’ Tora said, then added fiercely, ‘Genba told us what happened. I’ll get the bastards that did this, if it’s the last thing I do.’

Akitada wanted to protest, but Seimei joined them, looking anxious. And at the door of the house stood Tamako in her rose-colored gown, the one he liked so well, and he forgot everything else.

Though he was dreadfully tired, he found that he could walk quite well and went to her with a smile. It was not proper, but there were no strangers present, and he took his wife into his arms. For a moment, they clung to each other.

‘Are you well enough to be up?’ he murmured into her scented hair.

And she asked, ‘Are you hurt?’

They answered together, and laughed.

‘I’m just tired,’ he said, releasing her. ‘And you?’

‘Quite well, as you see.’

‘And our daughter?’

‘Come and see for yourself.’

They went to Tamako’s room, where he held his daughter until she fell asleep. He told Tamako about the pit, trying to make it sound like an adventure. The rat featured prominently in his account of their efforts at escape. It was in vain. Tamako shuddered in horror. Fortunately, the maid brought in the morning gruel, and they ate together and talked about Trouble’s latest offenses. For a short while he almost forgot the pit, as well as the dreaded hearing. But Seimei came soon enough to remind him to change into his court robes.

When he got up, Akitada found that he could barely stand. Every muscle and bone in his body, so recently soothed by the hot bath, now protested again. He gritted his teeth so Tamako would not notice, but as soon as he was out of her room, he shuffled like an old man. He had never felt less ready to fight for his reputation.

He was still struggling with his full court trousers, and trying to keep the food down, when the sound of a horse and voices outside announced a visitor. He hurried into his robe as Genba admitted the same guard officer who had brought the summons from the censors.

This time, the young man bowed. He presented a letter from Minamoto Akimoto, who told him that the hearing was postponed.
He apologized for the delay, which was caused by the censors needing more time to review his documents.

The gods were not without pity.

Akitada took off his court robe and spread his bedding. He was asleep instantly.

When he woke, he blinked at the cloudy sky above the treetops and wondered what time it was.

Somewhere in the distance he heard male voices in conversation. Suddenly worried that he had slept away the whole day, he got to his feet, rolled up his bedding, and went to look for Tora, who had received short shrift earlier. After that, he would pay Kobe a visit.

He saved himself a trip. Kobe and Tora sat on the front veranda, chatting amiably.

‘I’m afraid I fell asleep,’ Akitada said sheepishly. Kobe looked as tired as before.

They smiled at him. Kobe said, ‘Seimei refused to wake you, and Tora came to keep me company. They look after you well.’

Akitada sat down beside them. ‘Yes. Too well. I meant to come to see both of you.’ He rubbed a hand over his face and found stubble. ‘What time is it?’

Kobe peered at the sky. ‘Probably the first quarter of the hour of the horse.’

‘So late,’ muttered Akitada, remembering at the same time his duties as a host. ‘It’s time for the midday meal. I hope you’ll share my simple meal.’

Kobe nodded. ‘Thank you. Tora and I were quite finished discussing his adventure when you came. You have nothing to add, do you, Tora?’

Tora shook his head. ‘Only to say again that I don’t think Jirokichi’s involved. I think he stumbled on the arson by accident.’

‘Perhaps,’ Kobe said. ‘We must find the fellow. I’ll have his girlfriend brought in.’

‘She promised to talk to me,’ Akitada said. ‘I never got back.’

Tora said, ‘You must’ve laid it on thick, sir. She wouldn’t give me so much as a comment on the weather when I talked to her.’

‘I told her you were at death’s door after saving this Jirokichi’s miserable life.’

Tora snorted. ‘Well, I’d better go feed my son.’ He bowed to Kobe and walked away. Akitada was relieved that he looked much better.

He and Kobe went to Akitada’s study, where Seimei waited with a tray holding wine and cups. ‘Will you want refreshments, sir?’ he asked Akitada.

‘The superintendent reminds me that it’s time for the midday rice. Have cook send us something.’

After Seimei left, they looked at each other in silence for a moment.

‘You had a close call,’ Kobe finally said.

‘Yes. I’m not sure Demon and I would have survived, if Genba and your men had not come when they did. The water was nearly to my head.’

Kobe raised an eyebrow. ‘Demon?’

Akitada chuckled. ‘There was a rat in the pit. He perched on my shoulder when the water rose.’

‘Dear heaven.’

‘He gave me courage. Did you find the youngster I was chasing?’

Kobe shook his head. ‘I’ve put more men on it. They’re systematically combing that part of the city. Tora says he’s one of the arsonists.’

‘Perhaps, but he was not with the others when they tortured that poor little thief.’

Kobe grimaced. ‘Jirokichi. They call him the Rat. You have a fondness for rats, it seems. He has a reputation, that one. It’s surprising that he was tortured by a gang. Thieves generally protect each other.’

‘Tora says Jirokichi works alone, and those juveniles were bent on revenge for an earlier incident. What is strange is that one gang apparently turned on the other to set him free. I think it means those boys work outside the organization. You found the evidence of arson in the warehouse?’

Kobe nodded. ‘So far, the older men and the girl haven’t talked, but I’ve postponed serious questioning until I can be there. We’re still rounding up all the street boys in the area.’

‘It struck me as significant that the gang freed Jirokichi and then let the young devils run. Perhaps one of the gang has a relative among the arsonists.’

‘Perhaps. But the protection racket run by the organization
has been threatened by the fires. Merchants stop paying if their shops burn anyway.’

They sat in silence, pondering this, until Seimei and Tamako’s maid brought in trays of food. There was rice, a vegetable dish, fried bean curd, and pickled melon.

Akitada was hungry and ate with relish, but Kobe only picked at his food. He said suddenly, ‘Do you think the fires have a political purpose, that they are directed at Michinaga and his sons?’