“But I can’t tell,” Haru said, recoiling in horror. “I mean, I don’t know anything.”
“Very well,” Sano said. “Then you must endure your original sentence.” He signaled to the guards. “Convey her to the funeral pyre at the execution ground.”
The guards moved toward Haru, who cried, “No! Wait!”
Sano’s raised hand halted the guards. Reiko watched Haru struggle against whatever loyalty or fear kept her in thrall to the Black Lotus. Her eyes flicked from side to side; she bit her lips. Sano looked directly at Reiko for the first time since before Haru had confessed; his frown warned Reiko to keep silent. She bowed her head, miserably aware that she’d already done too much wrong for her to even consider intervening. Haru’s fate was in her own hands now.
At last Haru slumped, her resistance gone. “The mountains will erupt,” she mumbled. “Flames will consume the city. The waters will flow with death, and the air will breathe poison. The sky will burn and the earth explode.”
A chill passed through Reiko as she recognized the words spoken by Pious Truth when the priests captured him. Puzzled exclamations broke out among the audience.
Haru spoke in an emotionless monotone, as if reciting a lesson: “High Priest Anraku has transformed his followers into an army of destroyers who will set fires and bombs around Edo and poison the wells. They will slay the citizens in the streets. The conflagration of death and destruction will spread all across Japan. Only the true believers of the Black Lotus will survive. They shall achieve enlightenment, acquire magical powers, and rule a new world.”
34
When the faithful hear the prophecy,
They will rush to meet their destiny,
And in body and mind be filled with joy.
– FROM THE BLACK LOTUS SUTRA
The highway approaching the Zōjō temple district lay beneath a clouded indigo night sky. Faint radiance from the full moon behind the clouds touched the hilltops. The forest bordering the road loomed still in the windless air. Hoofbeats and the steady rhythm of marching steps came from the direction of Edo to the north.
Sano, clad in full armor, rode beside Hirata near the head of a procession that numbered two hundred troops mounted and on foot, including all his detectives and guards, plus other Tokugawa soldiers from Edo Castle. Their lanterns illuminated grim faces beneath iron helmets.
“What if we’re too late?” Hirata said anxiously. “If the Black Lotus has hurt Midori…”
“We’re almost there. She’ll be fine,” Sano said.
Yet he, too, was worried that they wouldn’t reach the temple soon enough to rescue Midori. The necessary preparations for this expedition had consumed hours that might have cost Midori her life.
After Haru had confessed and agreed to inform on the Black Lotus, Magistrate Ueda had adjourned the trial. Sano and Hirata had thoroughly interrogated Haru about the sect’s activities. She’d confirmed Pious Truth’s story and admitted that she’d been among a group of sect members responsible for the trouble in Shinagawa, which was a rehearsal for an attack on Edo. She’d claimed to know where High Priest Anraku’s underground arsenal and prison were, and agreed to guide Sano there.
Next, Sano had reported the news to the shogun. Tokugawa Tsunayoshi had vacillated, torn between fear for his regime and fear of his relatives’ disapproval. In desperation, Sano had resorted to a ploy that Chamberlain Yanagisawa often used. He had praised the shogun for his wisdom and flattered his pride, then gently hinted that he would be making a terrible mistake to ignore the threat of the Black Lotus. When the shogun had begun yielding to Sano’s stronger will, Sano had described in lurid detail the widespread destruction that would occur unless they crushed the sect now. Finally, the frightened shogun had signed an edict granting Sano permission to do whatever was necessary to protect the regime.
Sano, ashamed of his manipulative, dishonorable behavior, had taken the edict and fled before the shogun could change his mind. Then Sano had gathered troops for an invasion of the temple. Things had turned out better than he’d expected-with one hitch.
Haru had balked at going to the temple. She’d cried, screamed, and struggled against his troops as they tried to put her in a palanquin, and called for Reiko. Even though they threatened to burn her, she still resisted, and she had the advantage because Sano needed her to guide him through the Black Lotus underground. Sano didn’t want Reiko involved in the expedition; nor did he welcome further association between her and Haru. But he feared that he wouldn’t get the promised cooperation from Haru unless someone calmed her down, so he’d hurried home to fetch Reiko.
He’d found her sitting alone in her chamber. Her eyes were red from crying, and she regarded him with wariness, but Sano had no time to indulge emotions or attempt a reconciliation. He wasn’t sure that the latter was possible; Reiko’s speech in the Court of Justice represented the final, intolerable act against him.
“Haru is being difficult,” Sano said. “She’s calling for you. I want you to coax her into going to the Black Lotus Temple. Then you’re coming along to help me control her.”
Reiko gaped, momentarily stricken speechless. “I can’t,” she said in a hoarse, unsteady voice. “I don’t ever want to see Haru again.”
“This is the least you can do to make up for your interference,” Sano said, unrelenting.
Reiko had unhappily assented. She’d soothed Haru, coaxed her into a palanquin, then climbed in with her. Now Sano turned in his saddle, looking backward at the palanquin, which trailed near the end of the procession. The trial should have destroyed Reiko’s sympathy for Haru, but still… Had he made a mistake by bringing his wife?
The forest gave way to fields and thatched houses, and finally the procession entered the narrow lanes of the temple district. Reiko sat in the palanquin, enduring the rapid, jouncing motion of the bearers’ steps. She fixed her gaze on the temple walls moving past the open window because she couldn’t stand to look at Haru, seated opposite her. Imprisoned with the girl, Reiko felt ill with hatred, polluted by the acts of violence Haru had committed. Whether or not Commander Oyama or the husband deserved punishment for hurting Haru, she was a criminal, marked for death. Yet Haru remained a living presence impossible to ignore. The warmth from her body, the smell of her sweat and sour breath, nauseated Reiko.
Several times during the trip, when Haru had started to speak, Reiko maintained a frosty silence, but as they neared the Black Lotus Temple, she turned to face Haru. “I suppose you’re proud of the way you tricked me,” she said in a quiet voice that shook with rage.
Huddled miserably in the corner of the palanquin, Haru mumbled, “No, I’m not proud. I’m ashamed.”
“The first time we met, you guessed that I would be useful to you,” Reiko said bitterly. “All along, you must have been congratulating yourself on how smart you were to take advantage of the sōsakan-sama’s gullible wife.”
“That’s not true. “ Haru’s eyes reflected hurt and alarm. “I was sorry I had to lie to you. I only did it because you wouldn’t have helped me if you knew what I’d done.”
“Oh, stop making excuses,” Reiko said, furious. “You accepted my hospitality and the things I gave you, all the while laughing behind my back.”
“I never laughed,” Haru protested.