White Serpent Castle

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White Serpent Castle Page 12

by Lensey Namioka


  “Never!” she said, and her enmity was completely unyielding. “Shigeteru and Yoshiteru were only half brothers. They could never be friends. Shigeteru was an enemy, and Tama will always be an enemy.”

  A wave of hopelessness swept over him. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever met, and she was a murderess. He knew with certainty that if she were allowed to rule the castle in Yoshiteru’s name, Lady Tama’s life would not be safe.

  She looked at him contemptuously. “Why do I have to listen to you? You are only a penniless ronin, and you have no right to meddle in the affairs of this castle.”

  “You are wrong,” he said slowly. “I have earned the right to protect Lady Tama from assassination and the right to insure that Yoshiteru grows up to be a true samurai, not something crooked and warped that murders in secret.”

  She stared at him wordlessly. Then slowly she grew very pale. With a great effort she found her voice. “What do you want me to do?” Despite everything Zenta was filled with admiration for her courage. But he had to harden himself. “There is only one thing for you to do: Cut off your hair and enter a nunnery,” he said, handing her the dagger.

  Slowly, as if in a trance, she reached for the dagger. “But what about my son?” she asked. “Tama will take her revenge on him if she learns that I killed the envoy.”

  “I promise not to tell her the truth if you leave for the nunnery immediately.”

  She gazed at the dagger and was silent. Then she raised her head and looked at him proudly. “Very well, I will leave now. You alone shall accompany me. I know of a nunnery a few miles from here.”

  “Don’t you want to see Yoshiteru and say good-bye to him?”

  “No, I don’t think I can face his tears,” she replied with a bitter smile. “It’s much better to leave like this. You and Tama can tell him whatever you wish when I am gone.”

  Zenta nodded assent. He could understand her feelings. A farewell scene between mother and son would be unbearable.

  She summoned an attendant. “Bring me traveling sandals and a veil. I am going to the family temple to pray in front of my husband’s tomb.”

  The attendant obeyed this sudden order without question. The recent shocking events had left her no room for further surprise.

  As Zenta followed Lady Kaede down the wooden walk and across the courtyard, he felt like an executioner walking behind his victim. Passing through the fortress on their way out, they met some men who recognized Zenta. They glanced curiously at his veiled female companion. One or two of the men started to call out friendly greetings, but faltered when they saw his expression. It did not encourage conversation.

  They walked along the moat until they were out of sight of the guards at the gate. Suddenly Lady Kaede seemed to stumble. “Please stop,” she gasped. “I feel a little faint.”

  Still under the spell of her beauty, Zenta forgot caution. He reached over to support her swaying figure. Her dagger flashed out, faster than a striking serpent.

  There was a sudden sound of running. Her hand hesitated for a fraction of a second, and that saved his life. He flung up his arm to ward off the blow, and the dagger ripped harmlessly into his sleeve.

  Lady Tama was running towards them, her eyes blazing with fury. “You murderess!” she screamed. “You’re trying to kill again!”

  Faced with her most implacable enemy, Lady Kaede realized at last that there was no hope. She dropped the dagger and began to retreat. Lady Tama continued to advance. Her face had the inhuman look of an avenging deity. Step by step Lady Kaede moved back until she was at the very edge of the moat.

  Then without a word she suddenly turned and flung herself into the moat. The impact of her body parted the water so that it resembled the mouth of a monster swallowing its prey.

  Zenta rushed to the edge and leaned over the moat. But Lady Tama held him back, digging her fingers into his wounded shoulder until he gasped with pain.

  “No!” she cried. “Stand back. It’s better this way.”

  After a minute they turned away, unable to watch the struggles in the dark water below.

  Zenta finally looked at Lady Tama’s white face beside him. “You saved my life. How did you get here at just the right moment?”

  “Ume was bringing food to the guards at Shigeteru’s room and they told her about the footprints. As soon as she saw the prints, she was struck by their small size. She came and told me. I rushed over to Kaede’s rooms, and the servants told me you had come this way.”

  Zenta drew a shaky breath. “Now I understand how she managed to catch the envoy off guard and kill him.” He looked back briefly at the now quiet moat. “You knew her much better than I did. I was a blind fool.” Generosity was Lady Tama’s most endearing trait. She could have said, “You thought I hated my stepmother solely because of jealousy.” But instead she said, “She deceived my father, too. She was a very beautiful woman.”

  They turned away from the moat and started back for the inner courtyard. “I shall have to break the news to Yoshiteru,” Zenta said heavily.

  “It’s really my job, too,” said Lady Tama. “I’ll come with you.”

  When Yoshiteru’s tousled head appeared, the first thing he asked was, “Where is my mother?”

  Then he caught sight of his sister and he broke into a wide grin. “Tama! What a pleasant surprise! You don’t come here very often.”

  When he saw Zenta, too, his delight was complete. The two people he admired most had come to visit him. “Since we have company, we ought to have refreshments,” he said gleefully. “I even remember which kind of confection you like best.”

  Zenta was watching Lady Tama, his heart in his mouth. She stared at her brother silently, and her expression was impossible to read. The silence seemed to drag on and on.

  Yoshiteru glanced from one to the other, looking very puzzled. Finally he said in an uncertain tone, “I’d like to have refreshments brought for our party, but I don’t know whom to call. Everyone seems to be gone.”

  Suddenly Lady Tama ran over to her young brother and caught him fiercely to her. He squealed a little in protest at her tight embrace, but then resigned himself. After all, women were such emotional creatures!

  “Yoshiteru, your mother is very ill,” Lady Tama said huskily. “But don’t worry, I’m here to take care of you.”

  Chapter 16

  Lady Tama’s feelings were deeply hurt. She was in her music room, where the mellow afternoon light shone on various instruments and books lying about. The clutter had not been improved by the ransacking of the ghost hunters. She looked reproachfully at Zenta and Matsuzo, who were seated before her. They had come to say farewell.

  “I don’t understand you!” Lady Tama said to Zenta. “Why do you insist on leaving now? Can’t you at least wait until your shoulder has healed?”

  Zenta looked stubborn. “This kind of settled life doesn’t suit me. I would soon get restless.”

  “But there is work for you here,” she insisted. “Just think of all the vacancies that you’ve created in our staff.”

  “You don’t need me. There are plenty of good men here.” Zenta’s voice was expressionless, and it made him sound cold.

  Matsuzo was surprised at Zenta’s coldness. He could see that Lady Tama was swallowing her pride and almost begging them to stay.

  She made an obvious effort to control her temper. “You came looking for a job, and I can offer you any position you wish. Then why do you wish to leave?”

  When Zenta didn’t answer, she struck at a zither viciously, making harsh, jangling chords. Then she said in a low voice, “Are you afraid that Yoshiteru will hear about your part in his mother’s death? You know that I will never tell him the truth. I plan to announce that my stepmother has retired to a nunnery for religious reasons. In due course her death from illness will be announced. My brother will not have any cause to hate you.”

  “That’s not the reason why I’m leaving,” said Zenta. For a moment he seemed about to add som
ething, but he remained silent.

  “My brother and I will need someone to protect us from evil men like the chamberlain,” Lady Tama pleaded. “You’re forgetting that Yoshiteru is only nine years old. Until he becomes of age, I have to direct things alone. What if the daimyo really sends an envoy here, someone who might dispute the succession?”

  “You know very well that the daimyo was fully prepared to recognize Yoshiteru as heir,” Zenta reminded her. “He never had any intention of sending an envoy. All the doubts about Yoshiteru were raised by the chamberlain and the false envoy.”

  “But I need a new chamberlain, and I need someone to command the armed men if the daimyo should send for a levy,” said Lady Tama. “I’m planning to recall my father’s old retainers from the outlying forts, and for these veterans I need a seasoned commander.”

  “Yoshiteru will come of age in six years. Until then you have Saemon. He is both courageous and resourceful.”

  “Saemon?” she said. “But he was Shigeteru’s man. He might not want to serve Yoshiteru.”

  Zenta gave a sigh of exasperation. “Lady Tama, Saemon was not Shigeteru’s follower. He was a ronin, an adventurer whom your brother met on his travels. The two of them probably made their plans together. With matters turning out this way, Saemon would be glad to accept a job here.”

  As Lady Tama still looked dubious, Zenta said, “I don’t know what stories Ume has been telling you, but Shigeteru was not a young aristocrat traveling with a retinue of devoted followers. He was sent alone from the castle into exile, a punishment which he fully deserved.”

  She sprang up in a fury. “How dare you talk about my brother like that!”

  Ignoring her outburst Zenta went on. “Your brother, the only one left, is Yoshiteru. He has his mother’s courage and his father’s high sense of honor. He deserves all your love and support. Don’t waste time sorrowing for Shigeteru. He wasn’t worth it.”

  Matsuzo held his breath. He himself had felt a certain dislike for the dead envoy, but he would never have risked Lady Tama’s anger by speaking out like this. For a moment he expected her to summon guards and order their immediate punishment.

  Instead of calling her guards, however, she broke into a storm of weeping. Perhaps she was remembering the help that Zenta had given—disinterested help, because he had asked for no reward.

  Matsuzo glanced at Zenta and found his expression grave, with an undercurrent of sadness.

  Finally Lady Tama raised her eyes, and in a voice choked with sobs she said, “Go, then. I don’t ever want to see you again!”

  She wiped her eyes and struck blindly at her zither. As the two men walked out of the room, the music, fast and furious, sounded in waves behind their backs.

  On their way through the inner courtyard, Matsuzo looked around at the beautifully landscaped grounds, now peaceful and quiet. He sighed wistfully. “It’s actually rather pleasant here.”

  Zenta stopped. “Why don’t you stay, then?” he asked. “Lady Tama would be glad to offer you a good position.”

  “No, I don’t really want to stay,” said Matsuzo. “It will be quiet and dull here when you’re gone. I’d rather go with you and get into more adventures.”

  “Get into more adventures? Into more trouble, you mean. I hope you realize that your chances of dying peacefully in bed will be poor if you go with me.”

  Upon leaving the women’s quarters, Zenta did not go to the main gate. Instead he went in the opposite direction.

  Matsuzo was puzzled. “This is not the way out. We came in the other way.”

  “I know. There’s a little back gate where the inner moat branches out to join the outer moat. I want to go that way to avoid meeting a lot of people and having to answer questions.”

  But there was no gate at the place Zenta described.

  After staring blankly at the unbroken wall for a moment, he muttered, “I must have made a mistake. Come on, let’s go out by the main gate, then.”

  A suspicion began to grow in Matsuzo. He suddenly remembered other inconsistencies in his friend’s behavior. For example, there was Zenta’s attitude toward Lady Tama. Although he seemed to feel a deep affection for her, he showed none of the awe that was due to a lady of beauty, spirit, and high rank.

  At the gate, just as expected, they were surrounded by curious guards. The castle men did not presume to detain the two ronin against their will, but they wanted to know the reason for their sudden departure.

  While Zenta dealt curtly with the questions, Matsuzo drew one of the guards aside and asked quietly, “Was there formerly a back gate at the place where the inner moat branches out?”

  “I don’t believe so,” answered the man.

  “Yes, there was one,” said a second man who had overheard them. “But Lord Okudaira ordered it taken out so that there would be fewer exits to defend. That happened eight years ago.” Eventually Zenta managed to brush aside the rest of the questions, and they were free to go. They passed silently through the last gate and across the bridge over the outer moat. As the gate clanged shut behind them, Matsuzo couldn’t contain himself any longer. “You couldn’t possibly have known about the back gate unless you used to live here,” he said at last.

  Zenta became still. He made no reply.

  “This would also explain how you knew the castle so well,” Matsuzo went on. “When we were running around during the ghost hunt and afterwards during our escape, you never had trouble finding your way in those mazelike corridors.”

  Zenta looked at Matsuzo’s face and realized that denial was useless. “I gave myself away when I mentioned the back gate, didn’t I? It’s fortunate that I didn’t make that slip while Jihei was around.”

  Matsuzo shook his head in bewilderment. “I still don’t see why Ume didn’t recognize you.” “Why should she? She was so convinced that the false envoy was the long lost son that she was blind to anyone else.”

  Matsuzo nodded. He remembered the old woman saying that when Shigeteru left the castle, he was still an immature youth. In the last ten years he had grown much taller. His face had lost the fullness of youth and grown thin with hardships. But the chief factor must have been psychological. Ume found it easy to believe that her aristocratic young master would return in the guise of a well-dressed envoy at the head of forty men. She would never believe that he could appear in the form of a half-starved ronin wearing a torn kimono. “When did you decide to come back to the castle?” asked Matsuzo.

  “I had heard rumors about Shigeteru’s return, and I suspected that someone was planning to impersonate me. He was a clever man, whoever he was. By secretly telling Tama that he was not a real envoy, he appealed to her romantic nature. He knew she would be only too eager to believe that he was her long lost brother. I couldn’t let an impostor take control here, especially since he might harm Yoshiteru.”

  “Now that the false envoy and the chamberlain are both dead, why didn’t you take command?” asked Matsuzo, feeling a keen regret. “What made you change your mind about claiming the succession? Lady Tama and the castle men would be overjoyed if you came forward.”

  “But I never had any intention of claiming the succession!” cried the other man. He was silent for a moment, and then said in a low voice, “Ten years ago, I accused my father of cowardice. I was talking wildly, but he was too hurt and too proud to defend his action. After I had already left the castle, I learned that my father had retreated because he was obeying the daimyo’s battle orders.” The set of his bloodless lips revealed how much pain the admission was costing him.

  “I received news this May that my father was seriously ill. I went to the daimyo’s capital during the archery contest in order to steal a look at him. He looked so old and frail! I knew then that I had broken my father’s heart when I accused him of cowardice.”

  “But your error was a perfectly natural one!” “No! It was unforgivable! I lost my right to the succession forever. Now that my job here is finished, I have no reason to stay any lo
nger.”

  Almost to himself he added softly, “By helping Yoshiteru and Tama when they were in danger, I lightened the burden of guilt that I have been carrying for the last ten years. Perhaps I can make something of my life from now on.”

  The restlessness that had driven him from one job to another had been the result of guilt. There was a new look of peace about him as he faced the road ahead. Matsuzo had to hurry to catch up.

  They entered the pine grove, which gave out a dry tangy smell of autumn. Behind them, the serpentine walls of the castle loomed dazzling white in the sun.

  Bibliography

  Dorson, Richard M. Folk Legends of Japan. Tokyo: Tuttle, 1962.

  Dunn, Charles J. Everyday Life in Traditional Japan. Tokyo: Tuttle, 1969.

  Duus, Peter. Feudalism in Japan. New York: Knopf, 1969.

  Frederic, Louis. Daily Life in Japan at the Time of the Samurai. New York: Praeger, 1972.

  Fujioka, Michio. Japanese Art in Color, Vol. 12: Shiro to Shoin (Castles and Residential Quarters). Tokyo: Shogakkan, 1968.

  Hearn, Lafcadio. In Ghostly Japan. Tokyo: Tuttle, 1971.

  ———. Kwaidan. Tokyo: Tuttle, 1972.

  Japan Times Ltd. Japanese Castles. Tokyo: Japan Times Photo Books Ser., 1971.

  Joya, Mock. Things Japanese. Tokyo: Japan Publications, 1971.

  McCullough, Helen C. Yoshitsune: A 15th Century Japanese Chronicle. Stanford University Press, 1966.

  Mainichi Newspapers. A Pageant of the Castles of Japan. Tokyo: Mainichi, 1970.

  Mitford, A. B. Tales of Old Japan. Tokyo: Tuttle, 1966.

  Morse, Edward S. Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings. Tokyo: Tuttle, 1972.

  Nitobe, Inazo Ota. Bushido: the Soul of Japan; An Exposition of Japanese Thought. Tokyo: Tuttle, 1969.

  Sansom, George Bailey. A History of Japan, Vol. 2. London: Cresset, 1961.

  Smith, Bradley. Japan: A History in Art. Tokyo: Gemini, 1964.

 

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