CHAPTER 11
FAMILY
The thirteenth day of the second month
The next morning Hiroki’s knee was so swollen and sore he could not get up, much less walk. “I am going to have to depend on you two to be my legs and eyes today,” he told Shiro and Tetsuo. “The only way I am going to be able to heal myself is to stay here and dose myself with this nasty stuff” — he nodded in the direction of the small table on which Jiro had set a mug, which steamed malevolently — “until either the pain goes away or I do.”
“At least you won’t have any trouble getting cold cloth to wrap that knee,” Shiro said, shivering in exaggerated fashion. “It froze last night and there’s ice on the water in all the ditches in this neighbourhood.”
“Sunny this morning, though,” Tetsuo added. “I won’t mind being out and around on your behalf, Hiroki. What do you want us to do for you?”
“I have the names of two candidates for our scar-faced man, the one who ordered the attack on lords Naitō and Matsukata. I want you to learn what you can about each of them, without drawing attention to yourselves.”
“Gladly, Hiroki,” Tetsuo said.
“This means being discreet, Shiro. No challenges, no insults, and definitely no sword-play.”
“You never let me have any fun,” Shiro said, but he smiled as he said it.
“There will be time enough for fun once we have the true identity of the scar-face,” Hiroki said. “Until then, remember what I have taught you about gathering information.” The demons in his knee stabbed at him with their daggers; not even trying to suppress a gasp of discomfort, Hiroki reached for the teacup and swallowed a deep draught of the vile contents. “Jiro,” he said, “Please go and soak some cloths in ice-water so that I can bind this knee before I decide it would be better just to take my leg off.”
When Jiro had left Hiroki settled himself back into his futon. “So,” he said. “There are two, as I said. You may find either, both or none of them in the capital today, so you should have your horses saddled. One is named Hoso Shimayaza. He is a captain, serving under Hosokawa Takakuni, the chief minister of the Omi shogunate. And the second is one Nakamura Yutai. He is a junior official in the administration of the Sakai shogunate.”
“A clerk?” Shiro all but spat the word. “He’s as likely a killer as that secretary of Lord Miyoshi’s.”
“An administrator is still a samurai, Shiro, even if he isn’t formally a warrior. Just remember what people have said about you — about us. We aren’t warriors either: we’re sneaks, spies, liars. Betrayers.”
“But in a good cause,” Tetsuo said.
“Every man thinks his cause is just,” Hiroki replied. “You ignore that at your peril, if it makes you underestimate an opponent.”
“We have no cause to underestimate this scar-face,” Shiro said. “Tetsuo is still having trouble lifting his sword above his head.”
“And speaking of our good friend Inaba,” Tetsuo said, “should we invite him to accompany us on our investigation today?”
“I think that’s an excellent idea,” Hiroki said, “and I’m embarrassed that I didn’t think to suggest it myself.”
“You are understandably distracted, Hiroki,” Shiro said. “Ought we to get a doctor for you?”
Hiroki shook his head — not easy to do from his prone position. “A doctor isn’t going to be able to tell me anything I haven’t already guessed myself. I’m going to have to walk with the aid of my staff. Once I can walk at all, that is. And I’m not looking forward to the ride back to Kozuke when we’re finished here.”
“We’ll hire a palanquin,” Shiro said, clearly amused at the thought of Hiroki being transported as if he were a noblewoman.
“We will not. Perhaps I will pray to the kami to delay Lord Naitō’s negotiations for long enough that my knee heals at least sufficiently to let me ride.”
“Hiroki, something puzzles me.” Tetsuo spoke slowly, as if trying to loosen a knot in his mind. “You said the clerk works for the Sakai shogunate. Forgive me if I’m mixing things up, but aren’t we negotiating with the Sakai shogunate right now? I mean, isn’t the arms master a senior member of that administration?”
“You are not mixing things up,” Hiroki told him. “We are indeed negotiating with Sakai. I’m pretty sure Lord Naitō would negotiate with Omi as well if he could actually find somebody to talk to.
“But Sakai isn’t a settled organization presenting a single face to the world. Remember that the arms master’s cousin Lord Miyoshi is fighting his ally Yanagimoto over control of the capital—and perhaps control of the Sakai shōgun, too. So when it comes to our lord’s safety, everyone in this city is a suspect. Be careful, but examine our so-called friends as closely as our enemies.”
Shiro and Tetsuo left him when Jiro returned with the requested cloths. Hiroki let Jiro assist with the binding, which had to be snug but not too tight, then asked Jiro to refill his cup with a second dose of the pain-reducing concoction. He could feel a comfortable warmth beginning to fill him even as the bright sharp cold of the icy cloths deadened the pain in his knee. Perhaps I will be able to get through this day after all, he thought.
When he came to his senses again he opened his eyes — and jerked alert with a curse. Hosokawa Katsunata sat on the mat beside him, watching him the way a cat would a caged bird. “Who let you in here?” he gasped.
Lord Hosokawa smiled. “I am a hard man to deny, my lord.” He looked up across Hiroki. “Am I not, good Jiro?” Hiroki rolled over with careful deliberation, to see the servant squatting on his other side, fingers of both hands entwined and twisting.
“Sorry, sir, but the lord he definitely insisted.”
“I do own this house, after all,” Hosokawa said with a short laugh.
“It’s all right, Jiro. We can trust Hosokawa Katsunata. I think.”
Lord Hosokawa laughed at greater length. “How was it you put it a moment ago, my lord? ‘Examine our so-called friends as closely as our enemies’?”
“You were listening to our conversation?” Hiroki thought he ought to be outraged, but the drugs he had consumed were blunting emotions as thoroughly as they did the pain.
“Listening to others is what you do for a living,” Lord Hosokawa said, looking thoughtful. “I should have thought you’d appreciate the dedication an amateur could bring to the concept.”
“I will try to keep in mind what it feels like to be on the other side of our activities,” Hiroki told him. “In a way I am glad you are here, Lord Hosokawa. If I had been more mobile today I should have sought you out. I want to talk to you some more about factions.”
“In good time,” Lord Hosokawa said. “Perhaps. First, though, I want to talk to you about family.”
“Family and faction seem to amount to the same thing, here.”
“I wasn’t talking about my family, my lord. I was talking about yours.
“I met your son last night. He seems a very nice young man.”
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