“If you’ll cut me down,” Kaze said mildly, “I’ll help you see if we can restore your granddaughter, as well as your honor.”
Elder Grandma used Kaze’s sword to cut him down. When she cut the ropes from his wrists, Kaze’s hands burned with pain as the circulation returned to them. He tried to hold his sword, but initially his fingers would not close around the hilt. After the blood returned, he was able to grasp the weapon, and he took a few tentative swings to see how much damage had been done to his shoulders and arms.
“Where’s your grandson and the servant?” he asked.
“Like me, they were searching for you to see what happened with Yuchan. We got tired of waiting in that garden. I saw Hishigawa enter this room and decided to take my chance at revenge.”
“Go gather Nagatoki and Sadakatsu up before they get into trouble. Yuchan is in the palace on that little island. She is not in good condition and will need help. What I thought was a life of luxury turned out to be a life of horror. There are guards, but I’ll take care of them. In fact, it’s better if I take care of things here in the villa before going to the island.”
“What are you going to do about the guards?”
“I’m going to kill them. Kill them all. Someone told me that only bad ones are here, and I believe it. In the yard I found a shallow grave. The grave seemed too old to be Mototane’s, but I was curious about who was buried there. I found the bones of two young people. They were probably girls. Maybe Hishigawa’s efforts to persuade girls to co-operate as prostitutes by torturing them resulted in two deaths. Maybe two girls committed suicide when they realized the life they would lead. Regardless of the reason, they buried the two bodies on the villa grounds to hide the deaths, and they probably didn’t pay a priest to say the proper prayers for their departed souls. It’s a bad business conducted by bad people. It’s better if all the rats are cleared out of this den.”
“Can you?” Elder Grandma pointed to his arms, which Kaze was still limbering up.
“Yes. Just get the other two and meet me at the drum bridge that leads to the palace.”
Elder Grandma didn’t question Kaze’s claim that he would eliminate the guards. She was like a general who expected her troops to execute their mission. She left to find the two others, and Kaze took a few more moments to assure that he could hold a sword properly. He stuck the katana’s scabbard into his kimono sash. Then he stepped into the hall and started making his way toward the main part of the villa.
He turned down a hallway and saw two of the guards approaching. As recognition painted the faces of the two men, Kaze rushed toward them. They shouted and got their swords out just as Kaze reached them. The first was able to parry Kaze’s blow. The second guard took a cut at him. Kaze took a step back and caught the blade. He immediately swung from defense to offense and, using the momentum of his attacker’s blade, he brought his sword downward and across, cutting open the belly of the surprised guard.
Without a second of hesitation, he then brought his blade upward, catching the first guard in the sternum and delivering a mortal wound. Kaze was already past them and running down the hallway before the two bodies hit the wooden planks of the floor.
Attracted by the shouts, another guard opened a shoji screen and stuck his head into the hallway. His eyes were filled with the image of a samurai rushing toward him, sword upraised. He was able to shout a warning to his companions just as a sword bit into his neck and shoulders.
Kaze jumped over the body blocking the doorway and found himself in a room with four guards scrambling for their swords and a panic-stricken maid who, having dropped a tray of food, was cringing in a corner.
Kaze killed two before they could get their swords out. He sparred briefly with a third before delivering a deathblow and caught the fourth from behind as he tried to flee the room.
The maid watched the carnage with bulging eyes, her mouth open but no sound issuing from it. Kaze looked at her. “I won’t hurt you,” he said. He pointed at the five dead bodies in the room. “Is this all in the house?”
“Th-th-there are two more,” the young maid said, stuttering in her terror.
The two Kaze disposed of in the hall. “And Ando?”
“I don’t know, Samurai-sama. I don’t know where Ando-san is. Please don’t hurt me!”
“I have no intention of hurting you. You go to your room and stay there. Tell all the other maids to stay in their rooms, too. In the morning the authorities will come and things will be all right.”
The maid scurried off to do as she was directed, skirting the two bodies at the door. Kaze made his way to the back of the villa and the drum bridge.
CHAPTER 26
The world outside has
winter and unpleasant things.
Freedom brings burdens.
As he approached the drum bridge, he saw a group hiding in the brush, out of the moonlight that bathed the entire garden.
“Psst! We’re here!” Elder Grandma said in a harsh whisper.
“Good. Stay there.”
He came to the bridge and started climbing up the stairs that led to the central span.
“Who is that?” challenged the guard on the other side of the bridge.
“Death,” Kaze answered.
“Huh?”
Disgusted, Kaze said, “Take out your sword and defend yourself. Enomoto-san has not been gone a whole day, and you are already slackening your vigilance.”
What the guard lacked in ability to assess the situation, he made up for in ferocity. He drew his sword and rushed at Kaze, yelling and taking the steps of the drum bridge two at a time.
Kaze waited for his opponent to get to the central span of the bridge, where he met his furious attack. The moon silhouetted the two men, standing on the half-round bridge attacking and counter-attacking, swords weaving together in a deadly dance amid the music of steel clanging on steel. Kaze knew he was not completely fit, and the torture and exertions with the other guards had taken their toll. Yet he beat the guard back across the span toward the island and delivered a deathblow just as the guard reached the stair portion of the bridge. Staggering backward, the guard stepped off the central span and tumbled down the stairs.
“Come on,” Kaze called to the trio hiding in the foliage. “Follow me, in case there are more guards.”
Kaze entered the Jade Palace amid a strange silence. After the fighting and shouts and groans of dying men, the palace provided a tranquil respite, despite the fact that Kaze knew it was a place of horror. The wooden grate blocking the hallway was open. He walked down the silent hall, a silence that saved him. As he approached a corner in the hallway, he was able to hear a creak from one of the floorboards.
Kaze didn’t change his pace, because that might alert the person waiting in ambush around the curve in the corridor. Suddenly, there was a mad shout, and a spear was thrust at Kaze as he rounded the corner.
Kaze caught the top of the spear shaft with one hand and diverted it slightly, so it missed him. The other hand, holding Fly Cutter, came down, and the shaft of the spear was cut in two.
Kaze threw the spear tip to the ground and looked at his assailant. It was Ando.
She threw away the butt end of the spear and retreated. Kaze stepped forward.
“You wouldn’t kill a woman?” she said, holding her hands out in front of her.
“No, but I would kill a monster.” Kaze’s sword cut a fast arc, and Ando’s head and one of her hands went flying down the hallway. A surprised look was still on her face. Kaze stepped past the headless corpse and made his way to Yuchan’s room.
The room seemed unchanged. The emaciated creature huddling in the corner of the cell didn’t look up.
“Yuchan,” Kaze said gently.
She looked up with feverish eyes, half-hopeful at the sound of Kaze’s voice.