“Nonsense. But it will be this year whether I say yes or no. In sixteen days I will leave Yedo for Osaka. By that time you will have given your ‘reluctant approval’ and you will lead the march. Only you and I know there will be further delays and that long before I reach my borders I’ll turn back to Yedo.”
“Please forgive me for doubting you. If it wasn’t that I must remain alive to help your plans I could not live with my shame.”
“No need for shame, old friend. If you hadn’t been convinced, Ishido and Zataki would have seen through the trick. Oh, by the way, how was Buntaro-san when you saw him?”
“Seething, Sire. It will be good to have a battle for him to fight.”
“He suggested removing me as liege lord?”
“If he’d said that to me I would have removed his head! At once!”
“I’ll send for you in three days. Ask to see me daily but I’ll refuse until then.”
“Yes, Sire.” The old general bowed abjectly. “Please forgive this old fool. You’ve given my life purpose again. Thank you.” He left.
Toranaga took out the little slip of paper from his sleeve and reread the message from his mother with enormous satisfaction. With the northern route possibly open and Ishido possibly betrayed there, his odds had enormously improved. He put the message to the flame. The paper curled into ash. Contentedly, he pounded the ash to dust. Now, who should be the new commander-in-chief? he asked himself.
At noon, Mariko walked across the donjon forecourt, through the silent ranks of brooding guards, and went inside. Toranaga’s secretary was waiting for her in one of the anterooms on the ground floor. “So sorry to send for you, Lady Toda,” he said listlessly.
“It’s my pleasure, Kawanabi-san.”
Kawanabi was a sharp-featured, elderly samurai with a shaven head. Once he had been a Buddhist priest. For years now he had handled all of Toranaga’s correspondence. Normally he was bright and enthusiastic. Today, like most people in the castle, he was greatly unsettled. He handed her a small scroll. “Here are your travel documents for Osaka, duly signed. You are to leave tomorrow and get there as soon as possible.”
“Thank you.” Her voice sounded tiny to her.
“Lord Toranaga says he may have some private dispatches for you to take to Lady Kiritsubo and Lady Koto. Also for General Lord Ishido and Lady Ochiba. They’ll be delivered to you tomorrow at dawn if . . . so sorry, if they’re ready, I’ll see they’re delivered to you.”
“Thank you.”
From a number of scrolls that were stacked with pedantic neatness on his low desk, Kawanabi selected an official document. “I’m directed to give you this. It is the increase in your son’s fief as promised by Lord Toranaga. Ten thousand koku yearly. It’s dated from the last day of last month and . . . well, here it is.”
She accepted it, read it, and checked the official chops. Everything was perfect. But it gave her no happiness. Both believed it was an empty paper now. If her son’s life was spared he would become
“Oh, yes. When you leave here now you’re asked to go to the barbarian ship. You’re requested to wait for him there.”
“I’m—I’m to interpret?”
“He didn’t say. I would presume so, Lady Toda.” The secretary squinted at a list in his hand. “Captain Yoshinaka’s been ordered to lead your escort to Osaka, if it pleases you.”
“I would be honored to be in his charge again. Thank you. May I ask how Lord Toranaga is?”
“He seems well enough, but for an active man like him to coop himself up for days on end . . . What can I say?” He spread his hands helplessly. “So sorry. At least today he saw Lord Hiro-matsu and agreed to a delay. He’s also agreed to deal with a few other things . . . rice prices must be stabilized now in case of a bad harvest. . . . But there’s so much to do and . . . it’s just not like him, Lady Toda. These are terrible times,
“I will not believe them—until harvest time.”
“Wise, very wise. But not many of us will see harvest time. I’m to go with him to Osaka.” Kawanabi shivered and leaned forward nervously. “I heard a rumor that the plague’s begun again between Kyoto and Osaka—smallpox. Is that another heavenly sign that the gods are turning their faces from us?”
“It’s not like you to believe rumors or heavenly signs, Kawanabi-san, or to pass on rumors. You know what Lord Toranaga thinks of that.”
“I know. So sorry. But, well . . . no one seems to be normal these days,
“Perhaps the rumor’s not true—I pray it’s not true.” She shook off her foreboding. “Has the new date for the departure been set?”
“I understood Lord Hiro-matsu to say that it was postponed for seven days. I’m so glad our commander-in-chief returned and so glad he persuaded . . . I wish the whole departure was put off forever. Better fight here than be dishonored there,
