Sano Ichiro 6 Black Lotus (2001)

by Laura Joh Rowland

  Then Haru nodded, murmuring, "If you wish, Anraku-san."

  She stood and walked toward Midori. Reiko, aghast to see her friend's life placed in the hands of a murderer who cared about nothing except appeasing Anraku, felt a shout of protest rise in her: Haru, no!

  Anraku mounted his platform. "Give her your sword," he said to Kumashiro.

  Reiko watched in shock as the priest drew his long sword and offered it to Haru. She clumsily grasped the hilt in both hands. Raising the blade over her head, she positioned herself a few paces from Midori's neck. She drew a deep breath and gradually lowered the blade, looking sideways at Anraku.

  He nodded and smiled encouragingly. Kumashiro and Dr. Miwa watched the moving blade, while Junketsu-in turned away and clapped a hand over her mouth. A nightmarish state of paralysis gripped Reiko, numbing her thoughts and muscles. She couldn't move; she could only watch. Haru's wheezes and the clattering in the tunnels marked the slow passage of time. Midori's eyelids fluttered. The blade hovered low over her throat. Haru winced. Her knuckles tightened convulsively on the sword.

  The undeniable knowledge that Midori's death was imminent jarred Reiko out of her paralysis. "Stop!" she shouted.

  Pushing the door open, she burst into the room.

  * * *

  36

  Go with fearless heart,

  Begrudge neither limb nor life,

  But with a single mind concentrate

  On the pursuit of ultimate enlightenment.

  ----FROM THE BLACK LOTUS SUTRA

  Startled faces turned toward Reiko. Haru jerked the sword away from Midori. During a brief silence, Reiko saw herself through everyone else's eyes --- a lone, scared young woman brandishing a dagger.

  Then the stillness shattered. Abbess Junketsu-in exclaimed, "It's Lady Reiko, the sōsakan-sama's wife!" Kumashiro and the other priests advanced on Reiko.

  "Stay away from me," she commanded with shaky bravado. "I'm taking Lady Midori out of here." She turned to Haru, who gawked at her. "You're coming with us."

  Her words sounded foolhardy to herself. Anraku ordered calmly, "Subdue her."

  The priests surrounded Reiko. She stabbed at them, and a tumultuous chase ensued. Reiko whirled and darted, slashing bloody cuts on the arms grabbing at her. The injured men cursed. Kumashiro seized her around the waist, clamped a hand around her right wrist, and wrenched. Pain skewered through her hand, and she cried out in pain, dropping the dagger. Kumashiro's steely arms encircled her, pinning her arms against her sides. He turned her to face Anraku.

  "How rude of you to trespass in my private domain, Lady Reiko," the high priest said with a sardonic smile.

  "You'd better let me go, and Midori, too," Reiko said, breathless and terrified. "My husband and his troops have invaded the underground. They'll be here any moment."

  Anraku received her lie with cool amusement, then said to Haru, "So no one saw you enter the underground?"

  She shrank from the accusation in his voice. "They didn't. I swear."

  "Then how did Lady Reiko find us?" Anraku said.

  "… I don't know."

  "Obviously, you showed her the way," Junketsu-in said spitefully. "You brought her here to attack us."

  "But I didn't mean to," Haru protested. "I never thought she would come after me, honest."

  Reiko jerked and grunted, trying in vain to break free of Kumashiro. She'd delayed Midori's death, but now they were both captives of the Black Lotus.

  "The sōsakan-sama will come looking for his wife," Kumashiro said to Anraku. "We have to get out before he finds his way down here. .What do you want me to do with her?"

  Anraku raised a hand, counseling patience. "It seems you have betrayed me yet again, Haru," he said. "Therefore, the task I assigned you is no longer sufficient to demonstrate your loyalty." He said to Kumashiro, "Place Lady Reiko by our other prisoner."

  Kumashiro propelled Reiko across the room. She resisted, but he shoved her into place, facing Haru. The other sect members grouped together along the wall behind the girl.

  "Another act of disloyalty requires an additional test," Anraku told Haru. "To secure the privilege of staying with me, you must now kill both Lady Midori and Lady Reiko."

  As her heart pumped wildly and her lungs heaved, Reiko realized that she and Midori would die together, by the hand of the girl Reiko had tried to save.

  Anraku said to Haru, "You may dispose of Lady Reiko first."

  Through dizzying faintness, Reiko saw Haru looking everywhere except at her. The girl raised the sword, and Kumashiro walked Reiko forward until her throat met the tip of the blade. The cold prick of steel interrupted her breath. She experienced a strong urge to vomit and a terrible despair. Her thoughts flew to her son.

  Images of Masahiro's lively face filled her mind. Memory recalled the sound of his laughter, the feeling of holding his warm little body. Reiko also remembered herself and Sano and Masahiro happy together at home. With a fierce intensity, she longed for her husband and son. Love of them strengthened her will to survive. The desire to save Midori and see Sano and Masahiro again revived her courage and her wits. She must forestall death and hope for a miracle.

  Sano, Hirata, and four detectives ran through the Black Lotus precinct, skirting buildings and trees. While they fought off priests, Sano looked for Reiko, to no avail. The smoke stung Sano's eyes; he ached from strikes to his armor. Another explosion flared. And Sano knew with a sudden, sobering certainty what had happened to Reiko and Haru.

  "They've gone underground!" he shouted to Hirata, who was battling three priests.

  Reasoning that the buildings must contain entrances to the tunnels, Sano raced up the steps of the main hall. The door was open, the cavernous interior unoccupied. Incense and lamps burned on a raised altar before a mural of a black lotus flower. As Sano halted inside and scanned the room, his men joined him. He saw that the altar's base was fronted by carved panels. The center one hung open on hinges. Darkness yawned behind it.

  "Over there," Sano said, hurrying to the portal that the Black Lotus hordes had apparently neglected to close after emerging from the tunnels.

  He and his men ducked beneath the altar and dropped into the earthy-smelling space under the building. Walking crouched beneath the floor joists, they found a hole in the ground. Sano saw a ladder reaching down the shaft to a lighted pit, heard tortured wails and a mechanical pulsation.

  "Be careful," he said. "There's someone down there."

  "Midori." Hirata's voice exuded fear and the hope that she was within reach. "I'll go down first."

  He sheathed his sword and hurtled down the ladder. Sano and the detectives followed. When they reached the bottom and paused to rearm themselves, Hirata was already racing down a tunnel. An overpowering stench hit Sano as he sped after Hirata. A din of voices crying, "Help!

  Let us out!" erupted. Down the tunnel, Hirata skidded to a stopp and exclaimed, "Merciful gods!"

  Catching up, Sano saw doors, bolted with thick iron beams, lining the tunnel. From inside the chambers, skeletal hands reached outward through tiny barred windows in the doors. This was the Black Lotus's secret prison.

  "Midori! I've come to get you!" Hirata yanked the bolt away from one cell and threw open the door.

  Cheers arose. Out of the cell stumbled some twenty emaciated young men dressed in dirty rags. Their faces were gaunt, their hair shaggy. Sano and the detectives opened other cells, releasing hundreds more men and women in similar condition, who'd apparently run afoul of the Black Lotus. Hirata pushed through the crowd, calling, "Midori!"

  Prisoners stampeded toward the exit. Sano and Hirata inspected the cells. They found a few remaining prisoners, too weak to move, but no Midori.

  "She's not here," Hirata said, stricken by disappointment.

  "Stay calm. We'll find her," Sano said, although he, too, had hoped to find Midori among the prisoners and was worried about why she wasn't there. "Midori is alive," he said, hoping he was right. "We'll save her, and R
eiko too."

  He felt panic erode his own self-control, but his words calmed Hirata, who nodded and assumed a stony composure. They and the detectives hurried deeper into the tunnels. Entering a three-way junction, Sano heard fierce yells. He and his party froze, trapped, as priests waving swords charged toward them from all directions.

  "Haru-san," Reiko compelled herself to say through her terror, "look at me."

  Emitting a frightened mewl, Haru stared at the sword in her hands. Then her gaze slowly rose, drawn by Reiko's desire to reestablish a connection between them.

  "You don't really want to kill me, do you?" Reiko said, feigning calmness while Kumashiro held her tight and the sword's sharp touch contracted her throat muscles.

  Haru said with defiant bravado, "I have no choice."

  Reiko's heart sank. Haru's choice was between their friendship and Anraku, and Reiko knew how the odds lay. "We all have choices," Reiko said, improvising fast. "I chose to take your side when no one else did. I chose to help you against my husband's wishes. Don't you owe me a favor?"

  Haru's mouth worked; uncertainty clouded her eyes. But as Reiko dared to hope, Kumashiro said to Anraku, "Time is short. If Haru won't kill Lady Reiko, I can."

  Reiko sensed his blood lust in the hot pressure of his flesh against hers. Suddenly the clattering noise stopped. Quiet settled upon the underground; everyone looked around in surprise.

  "The slaves have deserted the air bellows," Kumashiro said. "Soon we won't be able to breathe down here. Let me dispose of the prisoners so we can go."

  "No. It is Haru's duty," Anraku said firmly.

  A new resolve set Haru's jaw. Anraku fixed a tantalizing stare on Reiko. She saw that this had become a contest between them. He cared less about making a timely escape than about controlling his followers, because his desire for power over them outweighed all other concerns. But Reiko was competing for her life.

  "Haru-san, he doesn't deserve your loyalty," she said. "After the fire, did he try to protect you? No --- he let you shift for yourself. When you were in jail, did he comfort you?" Reiko shook her head regretfully. "He never came near you. Did he try to clear your name and save you from execution? On the contrary: He left you to the law."

  "I don't care about the past," Haru said belligerently. "All that matters is that Anraku-san and I are together again."

  But Reiko could tell that Haru did mind his desertion. "He and his followers did everything possible to incriminate you," Reiko said. "Dr. Miwa and Abbess Junketsu-in revealed your bad reputation. Kumashiro tried to force you to confess. The orphans placed you at the scene of the crime. Black Lotus priests attacked you in jail."

  "That was their own doing," Haru faltered.

  Anraku radiated a confidence that scorned Reiko's plan to break his hold on Haru.

  "But Anraku knows everything, doesn't he?" Reiko said.

  Haru hesitated, then nodded.

  "And everyone in the Black Lotus serves and obeys him?"

  "… Yes." Haru's expression turned wary.

  "Then he not only knew how your enemies tried to destroy you," Reiko said, "he must have ordered them to do it."

  ,i "No!" Glaring at Reiko, Haru said, "He wouldn't."

  Yet she withdrew the sword and stole an uneasy glance at Anraku. Displeasure darkened his aspect.

  "Oh, yes, he would." Reiko listened for sounds indicating that Sano's troops had invaded the tunnels, but heard none. Since the bellows had stopped, the atmosphere had become stale; the suffocating smoke from the lamps increased her sense of urgency. Midori stirred, yawning: she would soon awake. Reiko tried to believe that rescue was near. "I'll tell you why."

  "You're just trying to mix me up." Haru took an aggressive step toward Reiko. Fresh terror pumped through Reiko's blood as she strained away from the blade and Kumashiro immobilized her. Haru appealed to Anraku: "I don't have to listen to her, do I?"

  "No, indeed," Anraku said. "Just kill her, and she'll speak no more."

  "He wanted to make sure you were blamed for Commander Oyama's death." Reiko swallowed desperation. "But he also wanted you blamed for the crimes you didn't commit." She saw Haru's forehead contract in bewilderment, and hurried on, "Remember Nurse Chie and the little boy. You really didn't kill them, did you?"

  The trial hadn't filled in the major gap in Sano's case against Haru --- her lack of motive for the other two murders. Reiko had never believed that Haru had killed the woman and child, and in spite of her disillusionment with Haru, she still didn't believe it.

  Haru was nodding, though wariness lurked in her eyes. Reiko said, "If you didn't kill Chie and the boy, then someone else in the Black Lotus did."

  As Haru looked around at the other people in the room, her features sharpened with suspicion.

  "Someone set you up to be punished for his crimes," Reiko said, feeling sudden tension in Kumashiro's body. "Someone wanted you executed so he --- or she --- could go free."

  The eight priests seemed indifferent to Hani's scrutiny, but Abbess Junketsu-in and Dr. Miwa averted their eyes from her, their expressions suddenly guarded. Haru's gaze came to rest on Anraku, whose face took on an ominous intensity.

  "Yes," Reiko said. "Even if he didn't kill Chie and the boy with his own hands, he ordered their deaths. He meant for you to die, too." Haru shook her head vigorously, but her stricken countenance belied the denial. Reiko challenged the high priest: "Didn't you?"

  Anraku's tongue rolled inside his cheek, and Reiko saw from his discomfiture that she'd placed him in an intolerable position, as she'd meant to do. Either he must acknowledge his guilt and weaken his influence over Haru, or admit that he didn't control everything that happened. He didn't want to lose this contest with Reiko, but neither could he afford to have his omnipotence exposed as a fraud.

  Wicked inspiration glinted in the high priest's eye. He spoke to Abbess Junketsu-in: "You shall tell us about the events leading up to the fire in the cottage."

  "Me?" Junketsu-in blanched as everyone looked at her. "But --- I don't know anything. I --- "

  Anraku's gaze captured hers, and she halted. Her resistance dissolved f as his will subdued her. She said meekly, "That night I was walking alone in the precinct, when I saw two girls sneak out of the orphanage."

  So she hadn't been in her quarters with her attendants as she'd claimed, Reiko observed. She realized that Anraku had cleverly diverted Haru's suspicion from himself to the abbess, and she'd lost a round in her fight for her life. But here was her chance to learn the truth about the murders and fire, and the telling of the story bought her more time.

  "I meant to send the girls back to bed," Junketsu-in went on, "but then I spotted Haru walking ahead of them. They were following her. I wanted to know what she was doing, so I followed, too. When we got near the cottage, the other two girls turned and headed back toward the orphanage. I hid behind a tree so they wouldn't see me. Then I continued after Haru.

  "There was a light in the cottage. She slipped through the door. I stood outside and watched through the window. I saw Haru with Commander Oyama. His legs were around her neck, and she was screaming. He shouted at her. Then they were fighting, and she hit him on the head with a statue and killed him."

  While Junketsu-in described watching Haru come out of the cottage, hide the statue, and return to the scene of Oyama's death, Reiko listened in utter amazement. Here was Hani's exact story, confirmed by a witness who had no reason to lie for the girl's benefit. Haru had told the truth about how Oyama died!

  "I thought of how Commander Oyama had arrested me and doomed me to whoredom in the Yoshiwara and forced me to service him here, and I was so delighted by his death that I laughed." Vindictive glee shone in the abbess's eyes. "And at last I'd caught Haru at something bad enough to persuade Anraku to throw her out of the temple."

  Clearly, the abbess had hated Oyama and relished the turn of fate that had not only punished him, but placed Haru in her power. Junketsu-in hadn't cared whether Haru was punished by the law, a
s long as the girl no longer troubled her, and Reiko guessed why she hadn't reported Haru later.

  "Then I remembered that I was the only one who'd seen Haru kill Oyama," the abbess said, confirming Reiko's guess. "She could deny everything. It would be my word against hers, and Anraku might take her side. She could get away with murder!"

  Outrage shook Junketsu-in's voice. "But I wouldn't let her. After I followed her back to the cottage, I slipped off my sandals, which had thick wooden soles, and grabbed one." The abbess raised her hand, the fingers curled around an imaginary shoe. "I stole up behind Haru, and I hit her on the head with my sandal."

  Junketsu-in pantomimed the blow. "Haru fell down and didn't move, but she was breathing. I went to the storehouse and got some oil and rags. I tied the rags around a stick to make a torch. Then I returned to the cottage. Haru was still unconscious. The lantern was still burning in the room where she'd left Commander Oyama, and I lit the torch there. I poured oil on the floor and along the corridor, and I ran around splashing more kerosene on the outside of the cottage. I touched the torch to the wall, and it burst into flames. I tucked the oil jar in the bushes and put on my shoes. Then I went back to my quarters, leaving Haru lying in the garden. I knew that her husband had died in a fire, and I wanted people to think she'd burned Oyama to death."

  This was how Haru had come to be found at the scene, ready to receive the blame for the fire and Oyama's murder, Reiko understood at last. A wondrous sense of vindication momentarily lifted her above her fear. Haru hadn't murdered Oyama in cold blood; she hadn't set the fire. That she was innocent of those crimes indicated that her husband's death had been accidental, as she'd claimed. Haru was indeed a liar and troublemaker, yet also a victim. Reiko's instincts had been true all along.

  Haru had been listening with an expression of mingled disbelief and confusion. She said to Junketsu-in, "It was you who framed me."

  The abbess sneered. "I just made you face the consequences of your actions."