Across the Nightingale Floor (14 page)

Lord Shoichi broke it by saying,
with feigned cheerfulness, “And this is your young charge? He is also welcome.
What is his name?”

“We call him Takeo,” Shigeru
replied.

“Apparently he has very sharp
hearing?” Masahiro leaned forward a little.

“Nothing out of the ordinary,”
Shigeru said. “We all have sharp hearing when we are young.”

“Sit up, young man,” Masahiro said
to me. When I did so, he studied my face for a few moments and then asked, “Who
is in the garden?”

I furrowed my brow as if the idea
of counting them had only just occurred to me. “Two children and a dog,” I
hazarded. “A gardener by the wall?”

“And how many people in the
household would you estimate?”

I shrugged slightly, then thought
it was very impolite and tried to turn it into a bow. “Upwards of forty-five?
Forgive me, Lord Otori, I have no great talents.”

“How many are there, brother?” Lord
Shoichi asked.

“Fifty-three, I believe.”

“Impressive,” the older brother
said, but I heard his sigh of relief.

I bowed to the floor again and,
feeling safer there, stayed low.

“We have delayed in this matter of
adoption for so long, Shigeru, because of our uncertainty as to your state of
mind. Grief seemed to have made you very unstable.”

“There is no uncertainty in my
mind,” Shigeru replied. “I have no living children, and now that Takeshi is
dead, I have no heir. I have obligations to this boy, and he to me, that must
be fulfilled. He is already accepted by my household and has made his home with
us. I ask that this situation be formalized and that he be adopted into the
Otori clan.”

“What does the boy say?”

“Speak, Takeo,” Lord Shigeru
prompted me.

I sat up, swallowing hard, suddenly
overwhelmed by a deep emotion. I thought of the horse, shying as my heart shied
now. “I owe my life to Lord Otori. He owes me nothing. The honor he is
bestowing is far too great for me, but if it is his—and your lordships'—will, I
accept with all my heart. I will serve the Otori clan faithfully all my life.”

“Then it may be so,” Lord Shoichi
said.

“The documents are prepared,” Lord
Masahiro added. “We will sign them immediately.”

“My uncles are very gracious and
kind,” Shigeru said. “I thank you.”

“There is another matter, Shigeru,
in which we seek your cooperation.”

I had dropped to the floor again.
My heart lurched in my throat. I wanted to warn him in some way, but of course
I could not speak.

“You are aware of our negotiations
with the Tohan. We feel alliance is preferable to war. We know your opinion.
You are still young enough to be rash . . .”

“At nearly thirty years, I can no
longer be called young.” Again Shigeru stated this fact calmly, as though there
could be no arguing with it. “And I have no desire for war for its own sake. It
is not the alliance that I object to as such: It is the current nature and
conduct of the Tohan.”

His uncles made no response to this
remark, but the atmosphere in the room chilled a little. Shigeru also said
nothing more. He had made his viewpoint clear enough—too clear for his uncles'
liking. Lord Masahiro made a sign to the steward, who clapped his hands
quietly, and a few moments later tea appeared, brought by a maid who might have
been invisible. The three Otori lords drank. I was not offered any.

“Well, the alliance is to go
forward,” Lord Shoichi said eventually. “Lord Iida has proposed that it be
sealed by a marriage between the clans. His closest ally, Lord Noguchi, has a
ward. Lady Shirakawa Kaede is her name.”

Shigeru was admiring the teacup,
holding it out in one hand. He placed it carefully on the matting in front of
him and sat without moving a muscle.

“It is our desire that Lady
Shirakawa become your wife,” Lord Masahiro said.

“Forgive me, Uncle, but I have no
desire to marry again. I have had no thoughts of marriage.”

“Luckily you have relatives who
will think of it for you. This marriage is greatly desired by Lord Iida. In
fact, the alliance depends on it.”

Lord Shigeru bowed. There was
another long silence. I could hear footsteps coming from far away, the slow,
deliberate tread of two people, one carrying something. The door behind us slid
open and a man stepped past me and dropped to his knees. Behind him came a
servant carrying a lacquer writing table, with ink block and brush and red
vermilion paste for the seals.

“Ah, the adoption papers!” Lord
Shoichi said genially. “Bring them to us.”

The secretary advanced on his knees
and the table was set before the lords. The secretary then read the agreement
aloud. The language was flowery but the content was simple enough: I was
entitled to bear the name of Otori and to receive all the privileges of a son
of the household. In the event of children being born to a subsequent marriage,
my rights would be equal to theirs, but not greater. In return I agreed to act
as a son to Lord Shigeru, to accept his authority, and to swear allegiance to the
Otori clan. If he died with no other legal heir, I would inherit his property.

The lords took up the seals.

“The marriage will be held in the
ninth month,” Masahiro said, “when the Festival of the Dead is over. Lord Iida
wishes it to take place in Inuyama itself. The Noguchi are sending Lady
Shirakawa to Tsuwano. You will meet her there and escort her to the capital.”

The seals seemed to my eyes to hang
in the air, suspended by a supernatural power. There was still time for me to
speak out, to refuse to be adopted on such terms, to warn Lord Shigeru of the
trap that had been set for him. But I said nothing. Events had moved beyond
human control. Now we were in the hands of destiny.

“Shall we affix the seal, Shigeru?”
Masahiro said with infinite politeness.

Lord Shigeru did not hesitate for a
moment. “Please do so,” he said. “I accept the marriage, and I am happy to be
able to please you.”

So the seals were affixed, and I
became a member of the Otori clan and Lord Shigeru's adopted son. But as the
seals of the clan were pressed to the documents, we both knew that they sealed
his own fate.

———«»———«»———«»———

By the time we returned to the
house, the news of my adoption had been borne on the wind ahead of us, and
everything had been prepared for celebration. Lord Shigeru and I both had
reasons to be less than wholehearted, but he seemed to put whatever misgivings
he had about marriage aside and to be genuinely delighted. So was the whole
household. I realized that I had truly become one of them over the months I had
been with them. I was hugged, caressed, fussed over, and plied with red rice
and Chiyo's special good-luck tea, made from salted plum and seaweed, until my
face ached with smiling and the tears I had not shed from grief filled my eyes
for joy.

Lord Shigeru had become even more
worthy of my love and loyalty. His uncles' treachery towards him had outraged
me on his behalf, and I was terrified about the plot they had now laid against
him. Then there was the question of the one-armed man. Throughout the evening I
felt Kenji's eyes on me: I knew he was waiting to hear what I had learned, and
I was longing to tell him and Lord Shigeru. But by the time the beds were
spread out and the servants had retired, it was past midnight, and I was
reluctant to break the joyful mood with bad tidings. I would have gone to bed
saying nothing, but Kenji, the only one of us who was truly sober, stopped me
when I went to douse the lamp, saying, “First you must tell us what you heard
and saw.”

“Let it wait till morning,” I said.

I saw the darkness that had lain
behind Shigeru's gaze deepen. I felt an immense sadness come over me, sobering
me completely. He said, “I suppose we must learn the worst.”

“What made the horse shy?” Kenji
asked.

“My own nervousness. But as he
shied I saw the one-armed man.”

“Ando. I saw him too. I did not
know if you had, you gave no sign of it.”

“Did he recognize Takeo?” Lord
Shigeru asked immediately.

“He looked carefully at both of you
for an instant and then pretended to have no further interest. But just the
fact that he is here suggests he had heard something.” He looked at me and went
on, “Your peddler must have talked!”

“I am glad the adoption is legal
now,” Shigeru said. “It gives you a certain amount of protection.”

I knew I had to tell him of the
conversation I had overheard, but I was finding it hard even to speak of their
baseness. “Forgive me, Lord Otori,” I began. “I heard your uncles speaking
privately.”

“While you were counting—or
miscounting—the household, I suppose,” he replied dryly. “They were discussing
the marriage?”

“Who is to be married?” Kenji said.

“I seem to have been contracted
into a marriage to seal the alliance with the Tohan,” Shigeru replied. “The
lady in question is a ward of Lord Noguchi; Shirakawa is her name.”

Kenji raised his eyebrows but did
not speak. Shigeru went on, “My uncles made it clear that Takeo's adoption
depended on this marriage.” He stared into the darkness and said quietly, “I am
caught between two obligations. I cannot fulfill both, but I cannot break
either.”

“Takeo should tell us what the
Otori lords said,” Kenji murmured.

I found it easier to speak to him.
“The marriage is a trap. It is to send Lord Shigeru away from Hagi, where his
popularity and opposition to the Tohan alliance may split the clan. Someone
called Arai is challenging Iida in the West. If the Otori were to join him,
Iida would be caught between them.” My voice tailed away, and I turned to
Shigeru. “Lord Otori knows all this?”

“I am in contact with Arai,” he
said. “Go on.”

“Lady Shirakawa has the reputation
of bringing death to men. Your uncles plan to . . .”

“Murder me?”

His voice was matter-of-fact.

“I should not have to report so
shameful a thing,” I muttered, my face burning. “It was they who paid
Shintaro.”

Outside, the cicadas shrilled. I
could feel sweat forming on my forehead, it was so close and still, a dark
night with no moon or stars. The smell of the river was rank and muddy, an
ancient smell, as ancient as treachery.

“I knew I was no favorite with
them,” Shigeru said. “But to send Shintaro against me! They must think I am
really dangerous.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “I have a lot to thank Takeo
for. I am glad he will be with me in Inuyama.”

“You're joking,” Kenji exclaimed.
“You cannot take Takeo there!”

“It seems I must go, and I feel
safer if he is with me. Anyway, he is my son now. He must accompany me.”

“Just try and leave me behind!” I
put in.

“So you intend to marry Shirakawa
Kaede?” Kenji said.

“Do you know her, Kenji?”

“I know of her. Who doesn't? She's
barely fifteen and quite beautiful, they say.”

“In that case, I'm sorry I can't
marry her.” Shigeru's voice was light, almost joking. “But it will do no harm
if everyone thinks I will, for a while at least. It will divert Iida's
attention, and will give us a few more weeks.”

“What prevents you from marrying
again?” Kenji said. “You spoke just now of the two obligations you are caught
between. Since you agreed to the marriage in order that the adoption should go
ahead, I understand that Takeo stands first with you. You're not secretly
married already, are you?”

“As good as,” Shigeru admitted
after a pause. “There is someone else involved.”

“Will you tell me who?”

“I have kept it secret for so long,
I'm not sure I can,” Shigeru replied. “Takeo can tell you, if he knows.”

Kenji turned to me. I swallowed and
whispered, “Lady Maruyama?”

Shigeru smiled. “How long have you
known?”

“Since the night we met the lady at
the inn in Chigawa.”

Kenji, for the first time since I'd
known him, looked really startled. “The woman Iida burns for, and wants to
marry? How long has it been going on for?”

“You won't believe me,” Shigeru
replied.

“A year? Two?”

“Since I was twenty.”

“That must be nearly ten years!”
Kenji seemed as impressed by the fact that he had known nothing about the affair
as by the news itself. “Yet another reason for you to hate Iida.” He shook his
head in amazement.

“It is more than love,” Shigeru
said quietly. “We are allies as well. Between them, she and Arai control the
Seishuu and the southwest. If the Otori join them, we can defeat Iida.” He
paused and then went on, “If the Tohan take over the Otori domain, we will see
the same cruelty and persecution that I rescued Takeo from in Mino. I cannot
stand by and watch Iida impose his will on my people, see my country devastated,
my villages burned. My uncles—Iida himself—know that I would never submit to
that. So they mean to remove me from the scene. Iida has invited me into his
lair, where he almost certainly intends to have me killed. I intend to use this
to my advantage. What better way, after all, to get into Inuyama?”

Kenji stared at him, frowning. I
could see Shigeru's openhearted smile in the lamplight. There was something
irresistible about him.

His courage made my own heart catch
fire. I understood why people loved him.

“These are things that do not
concern the Tribe,” Kenji said finally.

“I've been frank with you; I trust
that all this will go no further. Lady Maruyama's daughter is a hostage with
Iida. Apart from that, more than your secrecy, I would be grateful for your
help.”

“I would never betray you, Shigeru,
but sometimes, as you yourself said, we find ourselves with divided loyalties.
I cannot pretend to you that I am not of the Tribe. Takeo is Kikuta. Sooner or
later the Kikuta will claim him. There is nothing I can do about that.”