by John Norman
* * *
“Yes,” said Tajima. “These are holding areas.”
“But they are empty,” I said.
We had passed walls, with inserted slave rings, and by each ring a mat, and blanket.
In some cases there was a half-eaten bowl of rice near a mat.
“The slaves are gone,” had said Tajima.
“They have been freed,” said Pertinax.
“Do not be foolish, friend,” I said. “Either they have been moved, as one might herd a flock of verr to a new location, or they have been stolen.”
“‘Stolen’?” said Pertinax.
“Of course,” I said, “they are properties, slaves.”
“I see,” said Pertinax.
“It would be only a change of collars, and masters, for them,” I said.
“Excellent,” said Pertinax.
On the continent there is a familiar saying, that only a fool frees a slave girl. Indeed, in the frequent wars amongst cities, in the waxings and wanings of victories, in the advancing and receding tides of conflict, it is not unusual that a woman captured from one city and routinely enslaved may on another day, in the fortunes of raiding and war, fall into the hands of men of her original city. She is not then liberated. That would be unthinkable. One can see the mark on her thigh, and note the collar on her neck. She has been spoiled for freedom. She will be kept as a slave, for that is what she now is. Normally, she will be sold out of her original city, unless perhaps someone, say, a formerly spurned suitor, wishes to buy her.
“The pens, and cages, and slave boxes, were empty, too,” said Tajima.
“And the cells, as well,” said Pertinax. “Their doors are all ajar.”
“I see one,” I said, “which is not.”
Tajima and Pertinax hurried to the closed door.
“Slide back the panel first,” I warned them.
I did not wish them to fling open a door behind which might wait a drawn bow, a raised knife.
“Ah!” cried Tajima.
Tajima and Pertinax slipped back the four bolts. The door was then swung back.
Tajima and Pertinax then bowed. “Master,” they said, heads lowered.
Nodachi rose to his feet, stiffly, and returned their bow.
“Does Lord Yamada yet live?” he asked.
“I do not know, Master,” said Tajima.
“We must learn,” said Nodachi.
I looked into the cell. There was some water left in the shallow cistern to the right, little more than a puddle on the floor. I saw no food.
“Most cells are empty,” I said.
“Prisoners were freed,” said Nodachi.
“But you were not,” I said.
“I declined,” said Nodachi. “I did not regard it meet to be freed by such as they.”
I found it difficult to understand the sensibility involved, but proprieties are often subtle and elusive. Perhaps one was to be fastidious with respect to favors received. Some debts are perhaps best not incurred.
“Who are ‘they’, noble one?” I inquired.
“Peasants,” he said.
“In the palace?” said Tajima.
“Storming, and rampaging about,” said Nodachi. “I fear there was much discourtesy, perhaps even theft and vandalism.”
“I fear there was, Master,” said Tajima.
“Where were the soldiers, the officers, and Ashigaru?” asked Pertinax.
“I do not know,” said Nodachi.
“I am sure they will return,” I said.
“Wild may be the peasants,” said Tajima, “but they did not burn the palace.”
“The palace is the seat of the shogun,” said Nodachi. “They feared to do so.”
“Perhaps you are hungry,” I said.
“One meditates,” said Nodachi, “but the stomach is an unwilling partner.”
“I saw rice outside, some rice, Master,” said Tajima, “by the slave rings.”
This was true, and it suggested that the slaves had been moved precipitously, or, as the case might have been, seized and carried away precipitately.
“Perhaps you will bring me a little,” said Nodachi.
“But it is the rice of slaves, Master,” said Tajima.
“We will not tell the stomach,” said Nodachi.
“Yes, Master,” said Tajima.
“Even amongst the higher orders,” said Nodachi, “it is said that some eat the rice of slaves.”
Tajima hurried from the cell, to fetch rice.
“Tajima, Pertinax, and I have been detained, so to speak, for several days,” I said. “We know little of what has occurred.”
“Ela, my friend,” said Nodachi, smiling, looking about, “I, too, have been detained.”
Tajima returned shortly with two heaping bowls of rice, presumably the result of pooling the meager contents left behind in several of the small slave bowls we had noted earlier.
Nodachi first offered us the rice, but we politely refused.
I thought, he must be starving.
Nodachi then sat down, cross-legged, and, using his fingers, fed.
He did this calmly, and without haste, in a seemly manner.
“We shall leave the door open,” I said, “and you may exit, or not, as you wish.”
Nodachi, not rising, inclined his head, politely.
“We hope to venture north,” I said. “It is our hope that you will accompany us.”
“That is wise,” said Nodachi. “Do not delay on my account.”
“Come with us,” I said.
“I have an audience with Lord Yamada,” said Nodachi.
“Is he aware of this audience?” I asked.
“It is my hope that he suspects,” said Nodachi. “I would prefer that.”
“The palace is deserted,” I said.
“That is unlikely,” he said.
“The peasants have gone,” I said.
“They fear the return of troops,” said Nodachi.
“Troops may not be returning,” I said.
“What does not exist may still be feared,” he said.
“Lord Yamada,” I said, “may not be in the palace.”
“It is the seat of the shogun,” said Nodachi.
“I think we will delay our departure,” I said.
“Do not do so on my account,” he said.
“We will do so on our account,” I said.
“Is that wise?” he said.
“One is not always wise,” I said.
Nodachi set aside the last of the two bowls from which he had fed, and rose to his feet, smiled, and bowed graciously.
“We shall require weapons,” he said, “something more suitable than glaives and tantos.”
“Perhaps there is an arsenal,” said Tajima.
“Peasants will have taken everything of value,” said Pertinax.
“Only what they can find,” said Nodachi. “Only what they did not fear to touch.”
“I do not understand,” I said.
“There will be a trophy room,” said Nodachi.
Chapter Fifty-Six
We Obtain an Informant
“Oh!” she cried, seized.
I turned her about, and saw that she was comely.
I thought this a natural place to find her, or another. Surely our seemingly frightened wraith in the corridor, she who had fled from us, seemingly so distraught, earlier on the second level of the palace, might still be in the palace. If she was a free woman, as we speculated, she might in such times fear to leave the building. In a time of peril even its hazards might seem preferable to those of the outer grounds or the open country, which might be roamed by raiding peasants, by bandits, by renegades, by hungry, desperate soldiers, like animals, freed of the rod of discipline. It was the kitchen of an Ashigaru guard station within the palace itself. Might there not be scraps of food in such a place, even scrapings from the sides of garbage bins? Might not such locations then be frequented by such an individual, or individuals, trying to surv
ive like urts in the collapse of a society or civilization? I had located it and other such facilities in my peregrinations about the palace before my escape with Haruki, after the incident of the eel pool and the straw jackets. I had set Pertinax and Tajima separately on their way about the palace, searching for weapons. I did not know where Nodachi might be, but I suspected he was searching for a trophy room, wherever it might be, whatever it might be. I had seized her from behind, and then turned her about.
“Yes,” I said, looking down into her terrified, uplifted eyes, “you are beautiful. You are worthy of a collar.”
“A collar?” she said.
“Of course,” I said.
“No, no!” she wept. “I am a free woman!”
We had speculated that this might be the case.
“Perhaps you are a slave,” I said. “Perhaps I shall have you strip yourself before me, that your body may be examined for a slave mark.”
“No!” she said. “I am a free woman. I am Lady Kameko, of the household of the shogun!”
“You are a lure girl,” I said, “with confederates.”
“No,” she said. “I am alone!”
Now, that seemed quite likely to me, after Pertinax, Tajima, and I had explored so much of the palace, which now seemed barren and empty, unkempt, and deserted.
“If you are not a lure girl,” I said, “why did you flee from us, on the second level?”
“First I thought you were Ashigaru, returned to restore order, and rejoiced, but then I saw that you, and another, two of the three, were barbarians, and I was afraid, and fled.”
“You claim to be a free woman,” I said.
“I am a free woman!” she said. “Lady Kameko, of the household of the shogun!”
“Perhaps you are a mere contract woman,” I said, “whose contract may change hands, and be bought and sold, much as though you might be a slave.”
“No,” she said, “I am a free woman, and a free woman of the higher orders.”
“Considering your garmenture,” I said, “I find that hard to believe.”
“Upon the departure of soldiers,” she said, “peasants, laughing, curious, angry, riotous, streamed into the palace. They fell upon me, tore away my clothing, threw me to the tiles, and used me, several, like rutting tarsks, as a vessel for their pleasure.”
She squirmed in my hands.
“But you are clothed now,” I said.
“The beasts ransacked the palace,” she said. “Perhaps their simple women are now clothed in the kimonos, the sashes, the obis, and silks, of fine ladies. I found the shred of a garment, and put it about me.”
“You are well-featured and trimly formed,” I said. “I think you might sell as a slave.”
“What are you going to do with me?” she said.
“You inquire as to your fate?” I said.
“Yes!” she said.
“You are a helpless prisoner, and beautiful,” I said. “Speculate.”
She turned her head to the side.
“I fear the men of Temmu march south,” she said.
“It is possible,” I said.
She looked up at me. “I must not fall into their hands!” she wept.
“Perhaps,” I said, “you have already done so.”
“No!” she cried. “Have mercy! I am a free woman!”
“As of now,” I said.
I then pulled her by the upper right arm out into the hall.
“Tajima, Pertinax!” I called. “To me! To me! We have found our informant!” I also added, for good measure, several other names, choosing them at random. I thought this a good thing to do, as it would suggest that our party was a strong one, consisting of several men. That, I thought, might discourage inquiry, or attack.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
We Gather Intelligence;
We Look Forward to a Decent Meal;
We Wish to Find Nodachi;
We Will Search for a Particular Room
“You will kneel here,” I said. I helped her kneel, easing her into place, as I had thonged her wrists together behind her back. “As you are a free woman,” I said, “you may kneel with your knees closely together.”
It is common on the continent to interrogate slaves in a kneeling position. Indeed, slaves are often in a kneeling position before free persons, unless busied about their duties. Indeed, some masters prefer for the girl to be prone, or supine, or lying on their side, facing them. It depends on the master. Binding the slave’s hands behind her back, of course, emphasizes her helplessness, and helps her to keep clearly in mind that she is a slave, wholly subject to free persons. One would not be likely, of course, on the continent, to subject a free woman to such an indignity, unless one had a collar in mind for her.
“This, my friends,” I said, “is a free woman, an exalted high lady, one of the sort to whom you would, in the normal course of things, not dare to lift your eyes, the Lady Kameko, of the household of Lord Yamada.”
“Of the hated household of Lord Yamada,” snarled Tajima.
“Would you care to be stripped, my dear?” I asked her.
“No!” she said.
“You are to be interrogated,” I said. “You are a woman, before men, so straighten your body.”
“Perhaps I do not choose to do so,” she said.
“Would you prefer to do so,” I said, “before, or after, you have been stripped and lashed?”
She straightened her body.
Men wish women to be beautiful. Is the beauty of women not one of the pleasures of men?
The slave, for example, is required to be as beautiful as possible before men, even before a hated master, as well as, naturally, graceful, obedient, deferent, and submissive.
And as a woman is graceful, obedient, deferent, and submissive, soon she finds herself graceful, obedient, deferent, and submissive.
“To me,” I said, to Tajima and Pertinax, “she seems quite attractive, indeed, particularly lovely, but I am no fit judge of Pani beauty.” I turned to Tajima. “What do you think?” I asked.
“Fit for a secondary, or tertiary, slave block,” he said, “in a village market.”
Her eyes flashed with fury.
“I have fashioned a rope leash here,” I said. “Would you care to put it on her?”
“With pleasure,” said Tajima.
It was doubtless the first time the Lady Kameko had been leashed.
“Now, dear lady,” I said, “I and my confreres have been for several days out of the palace, so to speak, though, interestingly, in the palace. As a consequence, much must have ensued in our absence, so to speak. You will speak clearly, openly, fully, truthfully, and, as you are a woman and a captive, modestly and deferentially. We wish to know, in detail, what has recently transpired. You will answer any question put to you to the best of your ability. If we suspect you are holding anything back, or lying, you will be punished for any such indiscretion precisely as would be a slave. Is that understood?”
“Yes,” she said.
* * *
After the attack of the iron dragon on the camps and the siegeworks of Lord Yamada in the north there was, as we would have supposed, a great deal of consternation and confusion. A thousand rumors must have sped about the islands. It seems that Tyrtaios and his colleague, the two tarnsmen at the disposal of Lord Yamada, had been held at the palace, and the first information pertaining to the new, startling developments in the north were a result of the communications borne by several message vulos. These reports, certainly at first, given the confusion at the front, the haste with which they were drafted, and the limitations on content imposed by the nature of the small, swift carriers, as well as the contradictory nature of some of these accounts, seemed to have created little more than alarm and perplexity in the south. Despite Lord Yamada’s announcements of a great victory in the north, it soon became clear that his armies had been thrown into disarray. This was less because of any damage, however severe, wrought by the dragon, than the fact that the a
ttack had taken place. The iron dragon, it seemed, had withdrawn from the cause of Yamada and espoused that of the house of Temmu. This matter, of course, went far beyond the physical details of a brief military engagement. It was as though there had been a cosmic shift in allegiances, as though the world itself had turned its back on Lord Yamada. The dice of the future had rolled awry; the very cards of destiny had proved unpropitious. It was as though a thousand castings of the bones and shells had uniformly rattled, in a thousand holdings, a knell of doom against the house of Yamada. Terror had been cast into the hearts of thousands of brave men, men who would face a common, charging, comprehensible foe with readiness and resolve, with bow and lowered glaives, but who had no heart to withstand the singular and incomprehensible, the mysterious, unnatural, and weird. Into such realms arrows do not fly; no steel blade can halt the coming of darkness, the fall of night.
Daimyos deserted the shogun, withdrawing their men, hurrying to their own holdings. Units melted away; supplies were abandoned. The road to the south was filled with disorganized, routed troops, with stragglers and refugees. Many had now passed even beyond the grounds of the Yamada heartland, continuing to move further south. Who would dare to attempt to hold, or stop, such desperate, frightened men? In the confusion, the chaos, and disorder, in the sudden disarrangements of power, in the lapse of authority, peasants rose, many following a charismatic leader named Arashi, himself of the peasants. The beast in the hearts of men had broken its tether, and was now afoot, free, prowling, and ravening.
Lord Yamada had sent Tyrtaios north to apprise him of the situation, but he had returned only days later, with dire reports and small comfort. Later he, and his colleague, took flight, it was rumored to pledge their swords to the house of Temmu, to which house they had seemingly been long devoted, and in whose interest they had labored secretly.
Five days ago Yamada’s household troops, most of his staff, his wives, his chattels, verr, tarsks, and slaves, had been moved south.
Three days ago the deserted palace had been overrun by looting, riotous peasants.