The Iris Fan by Laura Joh Rowland

Author:Laura Joh Rowland [Rowland, Laura Joh]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781466847439
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2014-12-08T16:00:00+00:00

24

A COLD, UNCOMFORTABLE ferryboat ride took Sano and Marume across the Sumida River. Beyond the entertainment district in Honjo on the other side, past the vegetable markets along the canals, rich government officials lived in villas where they could take refuge from the summer squalor of the city. At Lord Ienobu’s villa, porters carried in hampers and trunks brought from the castle as Sano and Marume arrived.

“I’d rather shovel dung than give Lord Ienobu this message,” Marume said.

“An order is an order.” Never had Sano been charged with such a distasteful errand. It was small comfort that he’d thwarted Yanagisawa’s scheme to seize power. He already regretted his decision, but what else could he have done? Let Madam Chizuru die for a crime she hadn’t committed? And Yanagisawa probably would have killed her granddaughter to erase the evidence of his role in her confession.

The granddaughter had reminded Sano of Akiko.

The sentry at the guardhouse told Sano, “You can come in. Your man stays outside. Give me your swords first.” Sano handed them over. The guard frisked him, checking for hidden weapons, then led him into the reception chamber. Lord Ienobu knelt on the dais, Manabe beside him. Manabe puffed on a tobacco pipe.

“Have you come to rub salt in my wounds?” Ienobu asked. Yesterday he’d been within arm’s reach of ruling Japan. Today he looked like a crippled beggar plucked off the street and dressed up in opulent silk robes. His face was as gray as old meat.

“No,” Sano said. “The shogun has disowned Yoshisato and demoted Yanagisawa. He ordered me to bring you back to the castle so he can reinstate you as his heir.”

The tobacco pipe fell from Manabe’s open mouth. An odd, serene smile crept across Lord Ienobu’s face. He said to Manabe, “Didn’t I tell you?” He laughed a wheezy chuckle. “Better put out that fire.” Smoke rose from embers on the floor mat in front of Manabe; the smell of burning straw filled the room. Manabe picked up his pipe and tamped out the fire with his calloused hand. Lord Ienobu asked Sano, “What occasioned my uncle’s change of heart?”

Sano was not only puzzled by Lord Ienobu’s reaction but offended. The shogun’s change of heart was a huge blow to honor and decency as well as to Sano, and Lord Ienobu seemed to take it for granted as his due! “His Excellency learned that Madam Chizuru’s confession was false and Yanagisawa blackmailed her into incriminating you.”

Lord Ienobu laughed in exultation, slapping his bony knee. Color returned to his face, as if from an infusion of fresh blood. “How did he find out?”

“Madam Chizuru told my wife. I told the shogun.”

“You did?” Lord Ienobu’s eyebrows lifted; he seemed more surprised by this second piece of news than the first. “Why, when you could have kept quiet and let me die?”

“You were wrongfully incriminated.” Never had Sano hated conceding any point as much as this one. The truth was a double-edged sword, and this time it had cut him instead of his enemy.

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