“Look!” Reiko cried, pointing toward the lake.
Dots of light on the water surrounded the island like a glowing rosary of beads. As Lady Yanagisawa and Reiko watched, the lights moved closer, borne on small boats crammed with men. Lady Yanagisawa could see them rowing. Above the gunfire and yells that pierced the night, she heard the oars splashing.
“They’re coming to rescue us!” Reiko hurried to the tower’s edge. Jubilant, she waved at the boats. “We’re saved!”
Gladness filled Lady Yanagisawa but quickly drained away. Now that rescue was near, mixed feelings assailed her. She wanted badly to see her daughter, yet she experienced dismay at the thought of going home to Edo. There waited the familiar pain of her unrequited love for the chamberlain. There, Reiko would return to her adoring husband and perfect son. There, Reiko wouldn’t need Lady Yanagisawa. Now the ever-present jealousy of Reiko skewered Lady Yanagisawa’s heart.
Reiko turned, still poised at the edge of the tower. Her beautiful, joyful face ignited the ever-present furnace of anger in Lady Yanagisawa. Possessed by irresistible impulse, she thrust her hands against Reiko’s chest and pushed.
Surprise jolted Reiko as her feet faltered off the tower and she listed backward over the edge. She flung out her arms, trying to regain her balance. Lady Yanagisawa’s face, twisted with cruel, gleeful triumph, hovered over her for a moment. Then Reiko was falling through empty space, arms and legs flailing. The tower wall rushed upward past her horrified eyes. A scream tore from her. Then she hit the lake.
The tremendous splash against her back knocked the breath from her lungs. Cold water swirled around Reiko as she plunged through its depths. Its roar filled her ears; its turbulent blackness blinded her. As she bobbed up, her heart hammered with panic, and she fought the urge to inhale. She beat her hands and pumped her legs against the water, trying to reach air. Her long hair, sleeves, and skirt entangled her.
She couldn’t believe Lady Yanagisawa had pushed her off the tower! After everything they’d gone through together, Lady Yanagisawa’s ill will had once again prevailed over their friendship.
Reiko’s head broke the surface. She gulped a huge breath. The moon and stars glittered through the water that streamed down over her eyes. The tower loomed above her; the world rocked with her frantic struggles to keep afloat. How she wished she knew how to swim! Her thrashing produced not the slightest motion across the short distance to the island. As she began to weaken, she saw the tiny figure of Lady Yanagisawa, standing high up on the tower, watching her.
“Help!” Reiko cried.
Lady Yanagisawa vanished from sight. Reiko wished she’d been imprisoned with anyone else in the world except that demented woman. She’d felled the Dragon King and escaped his palace, only to be attacked by the ally that circumstances had forced her to trust. Now she strained to keep her head in the air, gurgling and spitting the water that washed over her face. Helplessness overwhelmed her. Unless a miracle happened, she would drown, and her spirit would join the real, legendary Dragon King in his palace at the bottom of the sea.
“Somebody just jumped from that tower.” As Sano crossed the lake in the boat he shared with Detectives Inoue and Arai, he leaned over the prow for a better look at the tower, where the plummeting figure and shrill cry had caught his attention. He squinted at the water near the tower’s submerged base, where he’d heard the splash.
A thunderous premonition struck him. His heart began thudding; wild excitement surged in him.
“Row over there,” he ordered, pointing at the splashes that still rippled the lake.
Inoue and Arai obeyed. The boat pulled ahead of the flotilla approaching the island. When they reached the spot where the figure had dropped, it had sunk below the surface. Sano reached into the water. His groping fingers found and grasped long hair. He pulled. Up came the head of a woman. She blinked water from terrified eyes; she wheezed through her gaping mouth. Her arms waved within the billowy folds of the patterned kimono she wore.
“Reiko-san!” exclaimed Sano.
As her gaze focused and she recognized him, Reiko moaned and clutched at Sano. He and Detective Inoue hauled her, drenched and dripping, into the boat. Filled with joy, he caught her in a tight embrace.
“Thank the gods you’re alive,” he said in a voice thick with emotion.
Reiko sobbed with relief, shivered from the cold. “This is a miracle!”
“You took a dangerous risk by jumping from that tower,” Sano said. “You could have been killed.”
“I didn’t jump,” Reiko said between chattering teeth. “She pushed me.”
Sano removed his cloak and wrapped it around her. “Who did?”
“Lady Yanagisawa.” Hysterical laughter bubbled from Reiko. “She did me a favor, and she doesn’t know it.”
“What are you talking about?” Sano said, fearful that the near-drowning had addled his wife.
“Never mind. We have to save Lady Keisho-in and Midori.”
Another boat neared theirs. From it Chamberlain Yanagisawa called, “Sōsakan Sano! What’s going on?” His face registered surprise as he beheld Reiko. “I see you’ve found your wife.” He said to her, “Where is Lady Keisho-in?”
“We got separated,” Reiko said. “The last time I saw her, she was in the castle grounds.”
Yanagisawa ordered his men to row him around the island to the castle. Their boat sped away. Others were reaching shore, the troops disembarking. The siege had begun. Reiko turned to Sano. “I left Midori in the grounds, too. We must find her.”
While Detectives Inoue and Arai rowed their boat after the chamberlain, Reiko wrung out her wet hair. Sano said, “Where is Dannoshin?” Reiko looked puzzled. “The man who kidnapped you,” Sano clarified.
“Oh. I didn’t know his name,” Reiko said, averting her gaze. “How did you discover who he is? How did you find this place?”
Sano summarized the events that had led up to his arrival. Reiko listened without comment, distracted by her own thoughts. “Did Dannoshin hurt you?” Sano said anxiously.
Though Reiko shook her head, Sano knew something was wrong, but he didn’t press for an explanation. Right now, it was enough to have her back alive and apparently uninjured. And they had work to do.
Their boat rounded the island and drew near the castle buildings. “Have you seen Dannoshin?” Sano said.
After a moment’s hesitation, Reiko nodded. “He was in the palace. I’ll show you where.”
Chamberlain Yanagisawa, accompanied by six bodyguards, hastened in the castle gate. Their lanterns illuminated the path through the overgrown garden, then the dingy, vine-choked palace and its gaping doorway. Although the sounds of shooting, scuffles, and clanging blades multiplied as the invaders stormed the island, an unnatural stillness cloaked the palace.
“Let’s reconnoiter the area,” Yanagisawa told his men.
As they stole around the castle, watching for signs of life, Yanagisawa’s pulse accelerated and urgency fevered him. His purpose had evolved beyond rescuing Lady Keisho-in and scoring a point with the shogun. He needed more than to save his lover from execution. General Isogai’s refusal to obey his orders had revealed the disturbing fact that he’d lost control of the army. Tens of thousands of Tokugawa soldiers would ally with Lord Matsudaira, Lord Kii, Priest Ryuko, and his other foes. Rescuing Keisho-in had therefore become a matter of survival. Success would allow him to maintain his hold on the shogun and country long enough to rebuild his power base. Failure would slide him farther down the slippery slope toward ruin.
He steered his retinue across the exposed foundation of a demolished building, toward the palace’s interior. Suddenly he heard a raucous voice shout, “Get away from me, you filthy brutes!” Such glad relief buoyed his spirits that he laughed.