Earth-Thunder

by Patrick Tilley

  Those below found themselves looking up into a dark, narrow passageway. Signalling them to follow, Mishiko mounted the angled steps at the top of the stairs, and stepped carefully over the two loose planks onto the solid floor beyond. As soon as Roz, Cadillac and the others had joined her, the planks were quietly replaced.

  The secret exit beneath the floor was cunningly concealed. The planks were extremely close-jointed, and immediately beyond the hidden staircase was a flight of three steps leading to a closed door. Mishiko had gone in the other direction, using the same key to unlock a similar door across the end of the short passageway, after first checking through a spyhole that the room beyond was empty.

  Cadillac joined her. ‘Where are we?’ he whispered.

  ‘These are my private quarters. We are in the Summer Palace.’

  At last.…

  Cadillac took in his torchlit surroundings. As with most Iron Master interiors there was very little furniture. Sliding doors indicated that other rooms lay beyond. All the windows he could see were fitted with inside screens and heavy external shutters which in daytime would keep out most of the light. ‘How can we get from here to where Ieyasu and the Shogun will be staying?’

  ‘I will show you, but first I must see that my servants get some rest – and we must also contact the good Captain Kamakura.’

  Turning to the maid who had served as an arm rest during the trip through the tunnel, Mishiko took her aside, issued a set of whispered instructions and handed her a key. The maid bowed and slipped quietly out of the spacious apartment.

  ‘Is it going to be difficult for her to get to him?’ asked Cadillac.

  ‘Not if the gods are with us,’ replied Mishiko. ‘Oyoki has only been in my service for the past year, but I am sure she will be able to deliver my message. She is one of the Captain’s five daughters.’

  Mishiko then explained that Kamakura had been the Herald’s sword-master and also a firm friend who had nurtured the hope that the young man might honour him by marrying one of his daughters.

  He was to be disappointed. When the Shogun ordered the Herald to commit seppuku – ritual suicide – Toshiro had asked Kamakura to act as his second. The kaishakunin was entrusted with the task of beheading the victim to spare him further agony once he had started to cut his stomach open.

  ‘The death of the Herald was a cruel blow to the Captain and his family. They grieve for him still,’ said Mishiko. ‘Fortunately, they are still unaware of the full extent of his relationship with me – and that could be to our advantage.’

  It could indeed. Cadillac bowed. ‘Allow me to congratulate you once again, mi’lady.’

  Mishiko responded with a brief smile then switched her attention to the servants who had remained discreetly out of earshot. This perilous journey could not have been achieved without your tireless efforts. Please accept my grateful thanks. I and my travelling companions must now leave for a short while. You are to stay here until we return. Make as little noise as possible. Extinguish the torches. Bring me two lanterns then take some bedding from the store cupboards and try to sleep. Oyoki will wake you if and when you are needed.’

  The servants bowed and hurried away to do her bidding. One of the guards came back with the lanterns, then shuffled off to get his head down.

  Lucky son of a bitch, thought Cadillac. Roz had dozed off in the ox-cart, but he had found it impossible to relax and was now almost out on his feet. His eyes itched with tiredness. He longed to rub them but could not do so without removing his face mask – and he couldn’t do that in Mishiko’s presence.

  He blinked himself awake, stifled a monster yawn – another luxury denied to anyone wearing a mask – and willed himself to keep going. The plan they had hatched called for three more vital objectives to be achieved during the night. It was now 06:31 and still dark, but the lower ranks who were saddled with the daily task of lighting fires, fetching and heating water and preparing food would soon be up and moving around.

  Ten minutes later, when the exhausted servants were sleeping soundly, Mishiko led Cadillac and Roz back into the corridor, up the steps at the end into the room beyond. Behind an ornate folding screen, was the entrance to another secret passageway. This one was concealed behind a large, seemingly solid, vertical slab of wood, supporting a heavy ceiling beam at the point where it met the wall.

  Anyone passing through the narrow aperture had to squeeze through sideways, but the passageway beyond widened to accommodate them in single file. Roz and Mishiko were able to proceed without hindrance, but the restricted dimensions forced Cadillac to walk with hunched shoulders and lowered head. Like its underground counterpart, the passageway twisted and turned and was joined to others, equally narrow and shrouded in darkness.

  Was the entire palace riddled with similar secret bolt-holes? And how had they been built without their existence becoming common knowledge?

  Cadillac did not intend to press Mishiko for answers to such questions. The system was in place, and it served their purpose admirably, but it was a sad commentary on life at the top. It also presented a strange paradox. To build a castle with a network of secret escape routes implied that the past and present Shoguns lived in constant fear of coups and assassinations – yet the belief system by which samurai lived demanded a calm acceptance of death. Perhaps that calm acceptance only applied to those samurai lower down the pyramid, whose job it was to die defending their lords and masters.

  After a journey lasting a fraction under nine minutes, but which seemed to take forever, they arrived at their destination. Emerging through a similar fake wall beam, Cadillac and Roz joined Mishiko in Yoritomo’s deserted bedchamber.

  Working to a pre-arranged plan, Roz took control of Mishiko’s mind and conjured up a ghostly smoke-wreathed image of the Herald Toshiro Hase-Gawa. Mishiko stood rooted to the spot as he strode forward, drew her protectively to him and begged her to watch and listen to the spirit-witches.

  It was, of course, Cadillac’s voice she was hearing, but in her mind, it was the Herald who appeared to speak – in the same tired, husky voice as before.

  Prior to leaving Mishiko’s apartments, Cadillac had taken a cloth-covered bundle from the small amount of baggage he and Roz had brought with them in the long-boat and had carried into the castle. Kneeling down, he placed it on the floor and unwrapped it carefully.

  It was the radio unit from the wrecked Skyhawk.

  He prayed to Mo-Town that it was still working, then uttered some deep-throated mumbo-jumbo for Mishiko’s benefit and caressed the radio with his hands, switching on the various functions as he did so. The jewel-like status lights gleamed.

  ‘The box lives, sire,’ intoned Cadillac in the same spooky spell-casting voice.

  The Herald squeezed Mishiko’s hand. ‘I have devised a fitting punishment for the Lord Chamberlain. He is to be trapped by the self-same devices he has used to maintain his grip on the reins of power! That box is filled with the Dark Light – but have no fear! It cannot harm you – only those who are evil! Ieyasu’s own words will betray him and deliver him up to the Shogun’s wrath. Once Ieyasu is dead, the way will be clear for you to wreak vengeance on my betrayer! Tempt him with the honeyed words he cannot resist, and when it is done, step through The Veil and join hands with me in a bright shining world without end!’

  ‘I will not fail you,’ whispered Mishiko.

  ‘Then put your faith and trust in the spirit-witches, for it is their magic that will bring us together!’ The Herald embraced Mishiko fiercely. ‘I must go, my love! But do not fear! I am never far away and will return to you tonight!’ And with that he was gone.

  Roz caught her as she swayed, overcome by the shock of seeing, holding and hearing her dead lover then being torn with equal suddenness from his arms.

  It took Mishiko a few moments to recover her composure then she asked: ‘What does the box do?’

  ‘I am told it captures voices that pass through the air – like autumn leaves carried on the wind.
It was taken from a spy employed by Lord Ieyasu – as was this.’ Cadillac produced the miniature listening device and placed it in his open palm.

  Mishiko took a cautious step forward. The kneeling witch appeared to be holding a black go stone. ‘And what is this?’

  ‘It is an ear, mi’lady. If this is placed in the room where the Lord Chamberlain converses with his secretaries and officials, it will pass their words into this box. Everything they say will be overhead and remembered.’

  Cadillac grasped the bug between his thumb and forefinger and offered it up for Lady Mishiko to take a closer look. ‘The box has another magic attribute. It can speak with the voices passed to it by this black stone. If the Shogun could be persuaded to listen, he would hear all that the Lord Chamberlain had to say as clearly as if he were in the same room!’

  Mishiko got the picture in nought seconds flat. ‘Then let us hide the stone where it will do the most harm.’

  The secret passage linking Yoritomo’s apartments with Mishiko’s also gave access to Ieyasu’s darkly luxurious quarters. After planting the listening device in the Chamberlain’s study – the room in which, according to Mishiko, he received his closest aides for confidential briefings, they returned to the Shogun’s empty apartments.

  The first glimmerings of daylight were beginning to filter through the shutters as Cadillac tuned the transceiver unit onto the wavelength of the hidden bug, and quietly blessed Steve Brickman for providing – albeit unwittingly – a basic grounding in the science of radio-communications. When placed in position and activated, the operator manning the receiver could induce the device to transmit a measured series of electronic bleeps to check (a) that it was working and (b) the quality of reception.

  Cadillac got an extra bonus – voices and the sound of movement – the rustle of stockinged feet over straw mats. He quickly turned up the volume and hit the record button.

  ‘… as you see the rooms have been cleaned and prepared.’

  Mishiko gasped in surprise as the disembodied voice came out of the box. ‘That is Tokimasa, the Palace Steward.’

  The bug captured another voice: ‘Have them swept and dusted again tomorrow morning. They must be spotless when the Lord Chamberlain arrives.’

  ‘They will be. Do you know the hour we may expect him?’

  ‘Around midday. The last message said they had been delayed by heavy rainstorms.’

  ‘Who is that?’ hissed Cadillac.

  ‘I’m not sure.’ Mishiko listened intently.

  ‘This place is freezing cold, Tokimasa! Unlike you, he doesn’t have several inches of fat to keep him warm. Please arrange for someone to place charcoal braziers in all the rooms, and make sure they are kept burning all night.’

  ‘I shall attend to it immediately.’

  ‘Good. I have also received confirmation that our two visitors will also be arriving tomorrow morning. Are their rooms prepared?’

  ‘Yes. On the second floor of the southern tower. But as yet I have received no instructions as to what kind of food should be prepared for them.’

  The mystery speaker laughed. ‘They only look different from us, Tokimasa! Slice their bellies open and you’ll find their guts are exactly the same as ours. The normal palace menu will suit them perfectly – but make sure their rooms are warm and the windows are kept shut. They are not used to fresh air!’

  ‘Strange people. I would love the chance to see one.’

  ‘I cannot promise anything, my friend, but I will see what can be done.…’

  Sounds of movement. The voices receded.

  Mishiko clapped her hands together. ‘Of course! Oh, dear, what was I thinking of? The second voice belongs to Tekko Ichiwara! He is the man I told you about – the Lord Chamberlain’s Resident Private Secretary!’

  Cadillac cursed inwardly. Ichiwara was the third and final element in the audacious plan he had hatched with Roz to bring down the Toh-Yota. Having talked to Mishiko about his role in the palace, Cadillac was convinced Ichiwara was the link between Ieyasu and the communications unit which – if his reasoning was correct – was hidden somewhere in or close by the Summer Palace.

  The plan had called for them to get to Ichiwara during that same night. Roz would then do a number on him, and trick him into revealing the location of the hidden radio room.

  Knowing where to find it was the last, vital element. The bug they had planted might provide the evidence they needed – but only if Ieyasu was unwise enough to incriminate himself in his study. If he switched venues, or spoke guardedly at all times, they would be well and truly screwed.

  Locating the radio and its operator was the only thing guaranteed to nail him to the wall. Tekko Ichiwara, the man most likely to lead them to it, was already out of bed and out of reach for the next twelve to sixteen hours, depending on when he went to bed – and always assuming nothing happened to him in the meantime!

  There was this Guard Captain of Mishiko’s who had to be talked into doing his bit, but otherwise they were now stuck twiddling their thumbs till nightfall. Even so, they had done amazingly well to get this far. Cadillac consoled himself with the thought that they still had a day in hand, but he could have done without the suspense.

  Satisfied that the equipment was in working order, he rewound the tape, switched off the transceiver, wrapped the cloth around it, then hid it under one of the wooden steps inside the secret passage that led up to the Shogun’s bed-chamber.

  This time, as Lady Mishiko guided them back to her apartments, Cadillac made a mental note of the distance and the route. Emerging into the empty room where their journey had begun, they found that daylight was now streaming through the shutters.

  Accompanied by his daughter Oyoki, Captain Kamakura entered Lady Mishiko’s apartments unobserved. He was met by the Lady herself. She looked drawn and somewhat dishevelled, but Oyoki had already explained how they came to be there, after a narrow escape from violent death en route.

  After the ritual exchange of greetings, Mishiko asked Kamakura to follow her into the room she used for private audiences. Oyoki was ordered to remain outside and admit no one until they emerged. If she needed any assistance, she was to wake the sleeping guards.

  Oyoki bowed, slid the wall panel shut behind them, and seated herself in front of it.

  Inside the room, Mishiko took up her usual position on the raised section of the floor. Behind her was a folding screen decorated with a painting of long-legged wading birds. Kamakura seated himself on the cushioned placemat immediately below the dais. The difference in levels, a feature of all such audience rooms, was designed to emphasise the separation and superiority of nobles from ordinary mortals.

  ‘Captain, I speak to you as one who is known for his absolute loyalty to the Shogun, Prince Yoritomo, and who knows me as someone who serves him with the same devotion. But there are others in this family, who while paying lip-service to him as their supreme lord, chief of the armies and ruler of the seventeen domains, seek to take unto themselves the powers that are rightfully his.

  ‘They have done so under the pretence of giving advice, but my brother has been ill-used by those intent on feathering their own nests. But that is not all. I have discovered he has been betrayed by those closest to him, and that is why I need your help.

  ‘The Yama-Shita have proof that the Lord Chamberlain has entered into a secret alliance with the long-dogs who live beneath the southern deserts without the knowledge of my brother! They have supplied him and his agents with devices filled with the Dark Light, and these have been used to extend Lord Ieyasu’s control over the Shogun and this country in defiance of the Sacred Edict and the other honourable and ancient traditions we revere!

  ‘Lord Ieyasu has undermined everything the Toh-Yota and their allies have fought to maintain down the centuries – the purity and simplicity of our way of life. He has played into the hands of the Yama-Shita and their allies who – were they given free rein – would unleash the madness which afflicted our ancestors and
bring down upon us the wrath of The Shining One who sent fire from heaven to consume the World Before!

  ‘They intend to spread word of Lord Ieyasu’s duplicity throughout this land, and parade the proof they have – strange devices that send voices through the air and captured long-dogs who have been sent here to instruct the Chamberlain’s servants on how they may be employed. And when they do, our friends will think all this was done with my brother’s connivance, or that he is a gullible weakling. Were this to happen, his position and authority could be fatally compromised.

  ‘This I know and more. You can now understand why it is vital that I gain access to my brother without Lord Ieyasu intervening. The Shogun has to act swiftly – to cut out this rottenness before it brings down the Toh-Yota. Can I count on you to help me?’

  Kamakura moved from a cross-legged to a kneeling position and went forward on his hands. ‘To the death, mi’lady.’

  ‘I am deeply grateful, Kamakura. Happily, we are not alone. The gods have blessed our actions, and they have made their powers available to us through my two gifted companions.’ Mishiko extended her arms sideways and snapped her fingers.

  It was the signal for Cadillac and Roz to step out from behind the screen. The kneeling samurai stiffened at the sight of the two white-masked, travel-stained figures, dressed in hooded capes whose hems were spattered with mud. They bowed to him, then knelt down on either side of Lady Mishiko.

  Cadillac drew his voice from the depths of his throat. ‘Greetings, Captain. Do not be alarmed by what you are about to hear or see. We are spirit-witches from the depths of the Red Hills, and we are here at the bidding of someone who remains dear to your heart – the Herald Toshiro Hase-Gawa. He has a message for you.’

  Kamakura gasped. Like Lady Mishiko and the overwhelming majority of Iron Masters, he believed in good and evil spirits and the existence of witches able to communicate with and conjure up the souls of the dead. But he had never undergone such an experience and the prospect alarmed him.