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now her senior retainer? And did he love her? Like Takeo, Maya had noticed
Hiroshi's swift reaction when Tenba had shied during the ceremony at Maruyama,
and had drawn the same conclusions. Now she was not so sure: on the one hand,
Shigeko and Hiroshi seemed both distant and formal with each other;
on the other they seemed to know each other's thoughts, and a kind of harmony
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existed between them. Shigeko had assumed a new authority, and Maya no longer
dared tease her or even question her.
In the fourth month, after Shigeko and Hiroshi had left with the kirin for
Akashi, Taku became preoccupied with the demands of the foreigners, who had
returned from Hagi and were eager to establish a permanent trading post as
soon as possible. It was around this time that Maya became fully conscious of
changes that had been happening slowly since the first days of spring. They
seemed to confirm the disturbing rumours she had started hearing in the
winter.
Since childhood she had lived in the belief that the Muto family were
unswervably loyal to the Otori, and that the Muto controlled the loyalty of
the Tribe - apart from the Kikuta, who hated her father and sought his death.
Shizuka, Kenji, Taku were all Muto and had been her closest advisers and
teachers all her life. So she was slow to understand and accept the signs in
front of her eyes.
Fewer messengers came to the house; information was delivered so late as to be
useless. The guards sniggered behind Taku's back about his obsession with
Sada, a man-woman who had weakened and deranged him. Maya found herself
burdened with more of the household work as the maids became lazy, even
insolent. As she grew more suspicious, she followed them to the inn and heard
the tales they told there: that Taku and Sada were sorcerers, and that they
used a cat ghost in their spells.
It was in the inn that she heard other conversations among the Muto, Kuroda
and Imai: after fifteen years of peace, during which time ordinary merchants
and
peasants had enjoyed an unprecedented increase in prosperity, influence and
power, the Tribe were missing the old days, when they had controlled trade,
moneylending and commodities, and when warlords had competed for their skills.
The uncertain allegiances that Kenji had held together by the force of his
character, his experience and his guile were beginning to fall apart, and to
reform now that Kikuta Akio had emerged from the long years of isolation.
Maya heard his name several times in the early days of the fourth month, and
each time her interest and curiosity grew. One night, a little before the full
moon, she stole away to the inn on the riverbank; the town was even livelier
than usual, for Zenko and Hana had arrived with all their retinue, and the inn
was crowded and the atmosphere rowdy.
Maya liked to conceal herself under the veranda, using invisibility to slip
beneath it; tonight it was too noisy to hear much even with her sharp ears,
but she caught the words Kikuta Master, and realized Akio himself was within.
She was astonished that he would dare appear openly in Hofu, and even more
amazed that so many people who she knew to be from the Tribe not only
tolerated his presence but were seeking him out, making themselves known to
him. She realized that he was here under Zenko's protection, and even heard
Zenko referred to as the Muto Master. She recognized it as treachery, though
she did not yet know its full extent. She had used her Tribe skills undetected
all winter, and had become arrogant about them. She felt inside her upper
garment for her knife, and
without any clear idea of what she intended to do with it, took on
invisibility and went to the door of the inn.
All the doors were wide open, catching the breeze from the south-west. Lamps
burned smokily, and the air was full of rich smells, grilled fish and rice
wine, sesame oil and ginger.
Maya scanned the different groups; she knew immediately who Akio was, because
he saw her, penetrating her invisibility in an instant. She realized in that
moment how truly dangerous he was, how weak she was in comparison, how he
would kill her without hesitation. He leaped up from the floor and seemed to
fly towards her, releasing the weapons as he moved. She saw the glint of the
knives, heard them whistle through the air, and without thinking dropped to
the ground. Everything changed around her: she saw with the cat's vision; she
felt the texture of the floor beneath her pads; her claws scrabbled on the
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boards of the veranda as she fled back into the night.
Behind her she was aware of the boy, of Hisao. She felt his gaze seeking her,
and heard the fragments of his voice forming into the words she had dreaded
understanding. Come to me. I have been waiting for you.
And the cat wanted only to return to him.
Maya fled to the only protection she knew, to Sada and Taku, rousing them from
deep sleep. They tried to calm her as she struggled to regain her true form,
Sada calling her name while Taku stared into her eyes, seeking to bring her
back, fighting her powerful gaze. Finally her limbs went limp; she seemed to
sleep for a few moments. "When her eyes opened, she was rational again, and
wanted to tell them everything.
Taku listened in silence as she related what she had
heard, noting that despite her distress her eyes were dry, admiring her
self-control.
'So something is linking Hisao and the cat?' he asked finally.
'It is he who is calling the cat,' she said in a low voice. 'He is its
master.'
'Its master? Where did you get that word from?'
'It's what the ghosts say, if I let them.'
He shook his head in something like wonder. 'Do you know who Hisao is?'
'He is Muto Kenji's grandson.' She paused and then said without emotion, 'My
father's son.'
'How long have you known this?' Taku asked.
T heard you tell Sada, in Maruyama last autumn,' Maya replied.
'The first time we saw the cat,' Sada whispered.
'Hisao must be a ghostmaster,' Taku said, hearing Sada's slight intake of
breath, sensing the hairs bristle at the back of his neck. 'I thought such
things existed only in legends.'
'What does that mean?' Maya said.
'It means he has the ability to walk between the worlds, to hear the voices of
the dead. The dead will obey him. He has the power to placate them or incite
them. It is far worse than we imagined.'
Indeed, he felt for the first time real fear for Takeo, a primitive dread of
the supernatural, as well as deep unease at the treachery Maya's account had
revealed, and anger at his own complacence and lack of vigilance.
'What should we do?' Sada asked quietly. Her arms were around Maya; she held
her close. Maya's bright tearless eyes were fixed on Taku's face.
'We must take Maya away,' he replied. 'But first I will
go to my brother, make one last demand to him, and find out how deep his
involvement with Akio is, and how much they know about Hisao. My guess is they [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]