“I’m going back down.”
Akitada became aware of voices gradually. He had drifted in and out of silence for a long time. Once he had heard Tora’s voice and taken it for a dream. Tora seemed to be strangely agitated. He had felt a sense of danger. And discomfort. But now he also heard other voices. He drifted off again.
“Don’t move!”
Easily done, he thought fuzzily. He lay relaxed and was very sleepy. But he was cold, and something was wrong with his head. Never mind. He would check later. He had time.
Later came sooner than he cared for.
Someone shouted near his ear, “He’s alive!”
Hands touched him, and pain shot through his body. Two people spoke. Tora and a stranger.
“Sir? Sir, can you hear me? Where are you hurt?”
That was Tora. Where was he hurt? He tried to shake his head and groaned. More hands on his body, feeling his legs and arms, poking his back. More agony.
“We’ll get you up to the top, sir. Don’t you worry.”
That was Tora again. The hands stopped touching him. Akitada sighed and relaxed. He was not worried. Tora was taking care of the situation.
But what followed rattled him into greater and far more painful awareness that something was very wrong. He was pulled about and man-handled as someone tied him up. He tried to shout but got no answer. Then the hands pushed and pulled him off his bed, and he felt ropes bite into this chest and hips as he was suddenly raised. The hands were back, guiding, but he bumped his way upwards until there was no longer any point in dozing off, and he opened his eyes.
What he saw was disconcerting, part of a nightmare. But this time he was wide awake. Below him was the face of a stranger, of a young man with his wet hair plastered against a face red with effort, and beyond that the world dropped off into an abyss, into a gray cauldron of swirling rain and mist. He closed his eyes again, and tried to comprehend.
A sharp crack against his head and a shout from Tora, brought him back. More shouts to be careful. More pushing and tugging. More pain. More strain on the ropes that bound him. And then finally he understood.
Akitada cursed.
“Well, he sounds all right.”
That had been Kobe. Akitada was surprised at his presence. He had reached the top by then and could feel solid ground under him again. Someone dragged him a little ways, and then they untied the ropes. He muttered against the jarring pain, and looked up into the faces of Kobe and Tora.
“I slipped,” he said.
“You mean it was an accident? Nobody pushed you over?” Kobe sounded disappointed.
Akitada did not answer. He was concentrating on various parts of his body. There was still some pain, but it was not unbearable, and he could move both legs, though his left arm would not obey. And his head hurt. He raised his right hand to check. He was wet, but there also seemed to be a cut and a swelling. He tried to sit up, but a jarring agony in his left shoulder stopped him. He groaned and fell back.
“A litter,” said Kobe. “He can’t ride in this condition. I wish he wouldn’t go off on these wild excursions by himself. It makes work for everyone.”
“Sorry,” muttered Akitada. “You shouldn’t have bothered. Tora and I could’ve managed.
Kobe snorted his derision and walked away.
Akitada bit his lip. Kobe had, after all, come to his rescue. No doubt the excursion had caused untold trouble to a lot of people. He wondered if he should apologize, but there was the matter of Genba. And besides he had not been on a wild excursion.
That reminded him. Someone had tried to kill him.
“Tora?” His voice was thick and he seemed to have no strength to raise it.
But faithful Tora was beside him. “Yes, sir?”
“There’s a bo. It was used on Lady Masako.” He took a breath and tried again. “A little ways down the mountain. Caught on a small pine.”
Tora frowned. “A bo?”
“Yes. A short fighting stick. There’s some blood and hair on it.”
“Not in this rain,” Tora remarked, but he went to look. Then he went to speak to Kobe. Together they walked to the edge and looked over. In the end, a constable was lowered with one of the ropes. He brought up the bo.
Akitada almost smiled. It had not been in vain.
Kobe came over, carrying the bo. “What makes you think that’s what killed Lady Masako? She fell to her death quite a distance from the house.”
“The killer hit her. Inside the villa. Then he carried her to the promontory.” It was a big effort to say this much.
Kobe shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense. Besides, the bo is clean. It could have been tossed over at any time.”
Akitada closed his eyes.
The descent from the mountain was excruciatingly painful. Two sturdy constables bore the litter and kept up a stumbling trot downhill. This caused a constant bouncing of Akitada’s head and shoulder. They had bandaged his head after a fashion, but even with the added padding, Akitada made efforts to raise it. His neck muscles eventually hurt as badly as his head. Neither pain was as awful as that of his injured shoulder.
They had inspected it and caused him to shout at them not to touch him. Tora had muttered something to Kobe and both looked worried. They ignored his protests long enough to strap his left arm to his body. Akitada assumed his upper arm or the shoulder joint were broken.
When he was not groaning or drifting in and out of consciousness, he called himself every kind of fool imaginable. He was not about to mention his attacker to Kobe.
Bashan Returns
Ever considerate, Superintendant Kobe sent one of his men ahead to tell Tamako that her husband was alive and on his way home. The constable had orders not to frighten the lady with gruesome details of the rescue and Akitada’s condition.
Tamako thanked the young man and sent Sumiko to the kitchen to tell cook to have something warm and filling ready for Kobe’s men.
Only then did she ask the constable, “Have you seen my husband?”
The youngster said proudly, “Yes, I have, my lady. And I helped bring him up, too.”
“That was very good of you. I take it he had taken a fall?”
“Oh, yes. Horribly far down it was. And the cliff was very steep and slippery in the rain.”
“You must be a very good climber.”
The constable said modestly, “We had ropes, my lady. Too bad his lordship didn’t. He must’ve been on that ledge all night and part of the morning. We had a terrible time bringing him back up when he could do nothing for himself.”
“I see. My compliments and thanks for performing such a difficult rescue. Are the others far behind you?”
“Oh, yes. It’s impossible to hurry with a litter on steep mountain roads, and the bearers have to take turns. Besides, his lordship cannot take any shaking.”
“Well, thank you. Now go to the kitchen for some wine and food.”
When the youngster had left, Tamako tried to suppress another panic. The news, while reassuring as to Akitada being alive, was not at all hopeful about his condition. The fall had clearly been a bad one, and he was helpless and severely injured. She set about spreading his bedding and sorting through her medicines with shaking hands. Then she sent Sumiko for their physician. And finally, she wrote a note to Akiko and had the boy deliver it.
Then came the waiting.
Doctor Kumada arrived first. He was a frail and kindly elderly man, much given to treating his patients with ingenious concoctions of herbal teas and pulverized roots. In this he reminded Tamako and Akitada of Seimei, particularly since he also had another characteristic of their old faithful retainer. He liked to insert the odd bit of ancient wisdom in his conversations.
Now he greeted Tamako with a bow and a smile. “Where’s the patient, dear lady?”
“He’s on his way,” she said, glancing past him toward the gate. “I’m so glad you’re here. I don’t know how bad it is, but he’s seriously injured, and I think he’s unconscious.”