‘Is she that compliant?’
He smiled. ‘She will know nothing of it. You have merely to accept the invitation. On the appointed day, my manservant will come for you. You may trust him absolutely.’
Her nostrils dilated. ‘And place myself in your power. Will you be kind to me, Captain Barrett?’
‘I shall be to you whatever you wish from a man, Countess Rashnikov.’
She turned away, kicked her mount forward. ‘When will the invitation be for?’
*
Nicholas gave Kisuda his instructions but let him make all the necessary arrangements. Kisuda’s face never changed expression. It was not his place either to criticise or praise his master, only to obey him. Four days later Nicholas left the office in the early afternoon. Ito made no comment either; it was not unusual for Barrett to go out. He walked to the geisha house Kisuda had chosen, where he was known and where the people could be trusted, and was admitted by the smiling madame. She knew why he was there, and showed him straight to a private room. Various sounds permeated the thin walls, mostly of music; he reflected that even if Elizabeth had a change of heart, he need not go away frustrated. But she was not going to have a change of heart. She wanted to escape her husband, if only for a matter of minutes, as much as he wanted to reawaken his Western manhood.
He had waited only ten minutes when the door opened again, and the lady of the house bowed as Elizabeth Rashnikov entered. Elizabeth, as instructed, wore the kimono, and was veiled. If her height and her movements indicated that she was probably European, her face and hair were entirely concealed so there was no possibility of anyone identifying her.
‘We do not wish to be disturbed,’ Nicholas told the lady, who bowed again and withdrew, closing the door behind her.
Elizabeth took off the scarf, and her hair tumbled on to her shoulders. ‘I must be mad.’
‘She is absolutely discreet.’
‘You mean you come here often?’
‘I have been here before. She is a friend of my servant.’
‘Then we are both mad.’ She gazed at him, eyebrows arched. ‘But you see, I have come. As you knew I would, I suppose.’
‘As I hoped, Elizabeth.’
She made a moue, and looked at the tatami, and the mattress. Nicholas sat down, cross-legged. Elizabeth looked down at him. ‘You must tell me what you wish of me.’
‘Because you are curious? You have come here to be seduced by a Japanese, but without the possible embarrassment of him being a Japanese.’
‘You are very perceptive, sir. Would you like me to sit beside you?’
‘I would like you to sit opposite me.’ Sake was heating on a little free-standing stove, and he poured two cups; the delicate fragrance, both of the liquor and the scented wood, filled the room.
‘Do you think this is necessary?’ she asked, as she sipped.
‘I think it might be of use.’ He sipped in turn, then handed her his cup. She hesitated, and gave him hers. They then drank some more, he stood up, and released the obi. Elizabeth and also stood, and released hers in turn.
‘Do Japanese not speak when they make love?’ she asked.
‘No.’
‘You mean, they make sex, not love. But we are not Japanese. I require something more.’
He stepped against her, and took the kimono from her shoulders. ‘I adore you. I fell in love with you the moment I saw you.’
‘Those are the words of a boy, Captain.’
‘I was a boy, when last I uttered anything like them.’ The kimono dropped to the floor, and he could not suppress a smile; beneath it, Elizabeth Rashnikov wore a complete set of European underwear. ‘You will have to accomplish the rest yourself.’ He stepped back and let his own kimono fall to the floor. Beneath it, he wore only a loincloth, and this too he now removed.
Elizabeth gazed at him, hardly seeming to breath, as she released her petticoats, and then her stays, sat down to unlace her boots and roll down her stockings. Then she hesitated again, rising to her knees, wearing only her drawers. He knelt against her, took her in his arms to kiss her mouth, and slid the drawers past her hips. She lay down to allow him to take them off, gazing at him, her lips slightly parted, her cheeks pink. Now she was breathing more heavily, and was the more beautiful for that. He released her hair, to allow it to tumble in auburn splendour past her shoulders and trail on to the mattress. Then he sat, cross-legged, facing her.
Slowly she sat up, touching her lips with her tongue. ‘Is there some ceremony we must undergo?’ she asked.
‘No ceremony. Come to me.’ She hesitated, frowning, then crawled across the mattress, an entrancing sight. ‘I wish you to sit in my lap,’ he told her.
Another hesitation, then she came right up to him, still kneeling. Slowly she uncoiled one leg and then the other, holding herself from the mattress on her hands, as she placed herself on his knees. He put his arms round her to bring her close, and kiss her mouth. ‘Is this possible?’ she whispered.
‘As long as I am strong enough.’ He held her buttocks to lift her and place her, the tip of his penis caressing her vagina. She gasped, and slid down on him, her body working against him and about him, and giving a huge wailing cry as she climaxed, almost before himself.
Then she fell backwards, lying across his knees. ‘Do all Japanese make love in such a heathen way?’
‘There are other ways as well.’ He lay beside her to kiss her, smooth the hair from her forehead, caress her breasts. ‘But I can also behave like a Christian.’
*
‘Captain Barrett!’ Nicholas bowed to the Emperor, and felt a little flicker of excitement in his mind: Mutsuhito was surrounded by all his senior advisers.
‘We have a task for you, Captain,’ Mutsuhito said. ‘One of great importance. We have reached a decision upon how we desire the future of the Empire to develop. To accomplish our aims, we need to make very far-reaching changes in the social structure of the country, which is still hampered by regulations and restrictions, the origins of which are lost in antiquity. To this end we propose to promulgate a series of decrees, intended to bring Japan into the Nineteenth Century. Now, it would be easy simply to publish these decrees, but as some of them are of a controversial nature, it is our decision that before publication, the unity of the Empire would be best served by having the new laws explained to the several daimyo and their samurai, that they may understand what we intend. It is our wish that you should undertake this task with respect to the Shimadzu of Satsuma, as you are a samurai of that clan. Wherever possible we are using clan samurai to convey our intentions to their respective lords. Are we understood?’ Nicholas bowed. ‘General Oyama, give Captain Barrett the text of the new laws.’
Oyama held out the closely written pages of Japanese script, and Nicholas glanced at them, slowly beginning to frown. ‘With respect, Your Majesty, there will be many samurai who will refuse to accept this. More in Satsuma than anywhere else.’
‘That is precisely why we have selected you for the task of interpreting that document to Lord Shimadzo and Saigo-no-Takamori. You leave tomorrow morning. And Captain Barrett . . .’ the Emperor pointed. ‘You are not to take your family with you.’
*
‘You are going to Kagoshima?’ Sumiko was excited. ‘I will come with you.’
‘It is expressly forbidden, by the Emperor.’ Her lip drooped, for just a moment. ‘It is an Imperial matter,’ Nicholas explained. ‘I will not be gone long.’ He decided not to tell her that she and his children were being held as hostages, on two counts: to make sure he did not revert to the Satsuma, should they reject the proposals, as was entirely likely, and secondly, as Sumiko was a Satsuma woman, to make sure they did not hold him against his will. Sumiko looked as if she would have argued further, then changed her mind, and bowed her head. She still understood that she was his wife in all things. And therefore his slave? He would not have had it so. But how could he change it, now? Sumiko was, Sumiko. As he was, Nicholas. As Elizabeth wa
s, Elizabeth.
There was no time to do more than give Kisuda a message to be delivered to the Russian countess. Over the past year they had met at the geisha house on some twenty occasions. They sought only the delight of each other’s bodies, the exploration of new sensations. Emotionally they trod a tightrope of danger and despair. He wished to love her, with all of his being, but was restrained by his responsibilities towards Sumiko and the children. He was sure she wished to love him equally, but was no less restrained, in her case by the dreadful thought of being at the mercy of Rashnikov’s rage, if only briefly . . . and of losing her son. The boy Paul was the true love of her life, however much she sought to alleviate the misery of her existence.
Thus they lived in the present, never knowing when their idyll might be forced to end. Or had it already ended? Nicholas was sworn to secrecy regarding the contents of the message he must deliver to Shimadzu and Saigo and their samurai, yet he could have no doubt that it was a declaration of war by the Mikado upon those who sought to continue the old ways, perpetrate the laws of bushido, dominate Japan for the benefit of the few rather than the good of the majority. Mutsuhito appeared to presume that when faced with their emperor’s determination, the samurai would submit, as they had done when the Tokugawa power had been so rudely dismantled. Nicholas could not be so sure, at least of the Satsuma.
Still, it was splendid to put the hustle and bustle of Tokyo behind him, and ride south, accompanied by only two servants. He went first to Osaka, and there took ship to traverse the Inland Sea; this was at once the most comfortable and enjoyable way to travel, at least for him, and the most private: in Osaka he was besieged by questions about what was happening in Tokyo, and what new reforms the Emperor was planning. He landed on the north shore of Kyushu ten days after leaving Osaka, commandeered horses, and galloped into Kagoshima four days later.
*
‘Barrett san!’ Both Shimadzu, now very old, and Saigo, looked delighted to see him. ‘We had no word of your coming.’
‘I travel on Imperial business,’ Nicholas told them.
Saigo grunted. ‘There is trouble?’
‘I hope not, old friend. I have brought a series of decrees from the Mikado.’
‘Let me see them,’ Shimadzu said.
‘I am to announce them to your assembled samurai, my lord. Those are His Majesty’s orders.’
‘Then they will be obeyed,’ Shimadzu said. ‘Assemble my people, General Saigo.’
*
Four days later the Satsuma samurai were assembled in the great hall of Kagoshima Castle, to hear the Imperial envoy. They were all known to Nicholas, and he looked over a sea of familiar faces; amongst them was Tadatune, who had recently succeeded his dead father as Lord of Bungo. All had greeted their old comrade-in-arms affectionately; now they were eager to hear what he had to say. While Nicholas understood that the smiles would soon change to scowls, it was his business to persuade the smiles to return again.
He stood upon the dais, beside Shimadzu, who was seated. Saigo sat immediately beneath them. These three faced the assembly. Nicholas cleared his throat. He was not nervous; rather was he keyed-up, as he might have been immediately before an action. ‘I have come from His Majesty to acquaint you with a number of decrees he is about to promulgate,’ he said. ‘He wishes me to relate these decrees to you, confident that they will please you, as they are steps towards the creation of the great Japan which is a dream for all of us.’ He paused, and looked over the now anxious faces, and smiled at them.
‘His Majesty wishes me, first of all, to make clear to you that these decrees are but interim measures, pending the summoning of the first Japanese parliament. Writs for this are at present being prepared, but it will take some time for His Majesty and his advisers to complete their task, and His Majesty is anxious to press ahead with such measures as are necessary to ensure the future prosperity of the Empire.’ He paused, and again surveyed the faces in front of him, which were registering total stupefaction; there was no one present, save himself, who actually had the slightest idea what a parliament meant. ‘Secondly, it is His Majesty’s wish that his reign be known as Meiji, or Enlightened Rule.’
This time the samurai could smile their approval. The naming of a reign was more in keeping with the traditions by which their lives were governed. ‘Now, as to the decrees themselves,’ Nicholas said. ‘It is first of all His Majesty’s desires that the Imperial presence be maintained in all the islands and all the fiefs of the Empire. The reason for this is to ensure that should there ever again be a quarrel with any barbarian nation, our enemies will understand that they do not deal simply with the men of Satsuma, or those of Cho-Shu, but with the might of a united Japan, and thus they will need to think twice before they again perpetrate any such outrages as the bombardment of one of our cities. To this end, His Majesty requires Lord Shimadzu to withdraw his garrison from the fortress of Kumamoto, so that it may be garrisoned by Imperial troops.’
There was a moment of silence, then the hisses began, and Saigo stood up, to take his place before his soldiers. ‘How can this be, Barrett san? Kumamoto has been in the hands of the Satsuma since time began. It guards our northern approaches.’
‘Against whom, General Saigo?’ Nicholas asked. ‘There is no enemy north of you. Only the Mikado.’
Saigo turned to Shimadzu. ‘It is an Imperial command,’ Shimadzu pointed out. ‘I will send the orders to General Hayashi.’
‘So that the fortress can be occupied by Imperial troops?’ Saigo demanded. ‘Where are these troops? Who are they? The banner of which clan do they march beneath?’
‘His Majesty would introduce no clans into the Satsuma heartland, Saigo san,’ Nicholas said, as reassuringly as he could. ‘The army is being recruited from soldiers of all clans, who are coming forward in their thousands to serve the Mikado, and Japan. Any Satsuma samurai who volunteers will be welcome.’ He looked around their faces, but received only stony stares.
‘You say this is going to happen all over Japan, Barrett san?’ Shimadzu asked.
Nicholas bowed. ‘There is to be an Imperial garrison in at least one castle in every fief.’
‘Then we accept the Imperial decree,’ Shimadzu said, silencing his own men with his look.
Nicholas had won round one. But that had been about the least controversial of Mutsuhito’s measures. He took a deep breath before continuing to read from his paper. ‘Next, my lord, it is His Majesty’s command that, commencing with next year’s harvest, all rice produced in Japan will, in each fief, be delivered to a central store, so that the entire rice production of the Empire may be co-ordinated and used to its best advantage.’
Another stupefied silence. This time it was Shimadzu himself who raised the obvious objection. ‘But what will we live on, Barrett san?’
‘Money, my lord.’ Nicholas hurried on. ‘His Majesty’s minters are at this moment preparing a national currency, the components of which will be known as rin, sen and yen. There will be one hundred rin in each sen, and one hundred sen in each yen. The yen will be related in value to the national currencies of the barbarian nations. His Majesty’s commissioners will set a value upon each rice crop, when it is delivered, and will pay you for it, in money. Thus the only change will be for the better. For where, my lord, you are presently allowing a hatamoto eighty koku of rice a year, you will now allow him, shall we say – the exact figure has not yet been determined – one hundred and sixty yen a year, that is, two yen for every koku of rice, which is what you will have received from the government. Think of the advantages of this, my lord. Your hatamoto at present can only exchange his surplus rice for such goods or services as are obtainable in Kagoshima. Also, he must exchange a whole koku; there is no means of subdividing it. Thus he goes to a farmer and says, I will give you a koku of rice in exchange for a year’s supply of meat, regardless of the fact that this farmer may deal only in poultry, and another only in pork. In addition, outside of Kagoshima, and even more, outside Japa
n, his wealth is useless, nor can he save it, and accumulate it against some future project. But money can be spent anywhere in the world, and in whatever denominations are required. It can be saved, and even earn interest. The advantages of possessing money are immense.’
The samurai, and their lord, could only stare at him in continuing incomprehension, but at least this time they could think of no objections. Again he hurried on. ‘Thirdly, it is His Majesty’s decree that a uniform system of justice be practiced throughout the Empire. You, my Lord Shimadzu, will appoint the necessary courts here in Satsuma, but these courts will deal impartially and without distinction with all people, of whatever class in society. Carrying this theme to a logical conclusion, and while recognising that the samurai are, and will always remain, the sure right arm of Japanese power, His Majesty decrees that all class distinctions be now abolished. Especially does this apply to the word slave. As of this moment, the word is forbidden.’
‘Did you say all class distinctions, Barrett san?’ Lord Shimadzu inquired.
‘Amongst commoners, my lord,’ Nicholas reassured him. ‘The daimyo retain their ancient rights and privileges, and ranks, save where they may be elevated to a princedom. But below the highest rank, His Majesty wishes all his subjects to be Japanese. That is the greatest glory to which any man may aspire. There is no need for one Japanese to step aside because another approaches, or be afraid to sit in the company of any other Japanese.’
‘Does His Majesty wish the farmers and the artisans to bear arms?’ Saigo asked.
‘If they require to do so, certainly.’
‘And what of the honin and the eta?’ Saigo’s voice was menacingly quiet.
‘The decree applies to them more than any other, as they were slaves down to today, and now they are slaves no longer.’
‘You mean we are no longer to have servants?’
‘Of course, you may have servants, Saigo San. But where you now allow one koku of rice for the feeding of each of your honin, you will in future pay him a wage in money. However,’ he drew another deep breath. ‘From this moment forth, a servant may seek employment wherever he chooses, wherever he thinks conditions, or wages, may be best.’
Bloody Sunrise Page 20
