“No.”
Shin nodded. “That is probably for the best.” He straightened. Shin sighed. “Oh you have created a pretty problem for yourself here. You should really keep a closer eye on your subordinates. How did a mere scribe like Enji manage all this, right under your nose?”
That did it. Kuma’s mask slipped for the first time. “There is no proof,” they said, harshly. “Only the word of a shinobi.”
Shin smiled. “Then why did you send someone to kill her?”
Kuma stiffened, just for an instant. But it was enough to tell Shin that he’d hit the target dead center. He gave the shugenja no time to recover their equilibrium. “At first, I thought it was simply Enji cleaning up after himself. But when I confronted him, he was startled. I knew then he wasn’t responsible – at least not for that part of it.”
Kuma stared at him. The air felt heavy and wet. Shin fancied that the sound of the river was louder than it had been, as if it were growing angry. Despite a sudden flicker of fear, he pressed on. “You must have figured it out not long after our first meeting. Perhaps even before then, eh? Perhaps you knew the entire time – maybe it was Saiga who told you, once Okuni blackmailed Enji. I wonder if he expected the reward you gave him.”
Shin was speaking quickly now, his words practically tripping over one another. “Maybe you hoped to settle the matter before anyone realized what had happened. But then, complications – one after the next. The shinobi, the captain of the delivery vessel, Saiga… and then Enji himself.”
“You are forgetting someone,” Kuma said, softly.
“Yes. Myself.” Shin paused, and then launched his next volley. “Shichiro is aware of your involvement.”
Kuma paused. “How do you know this?”
“Does it matter?” Shin was speaking quickly now. “Shichiro knows.”
Kuma blinked, clearly at a loss. Shin kept going. That was the Daidoji way – when in doubt, charge. “So, you see, not so simple now. You could kill me. There would be questions, but not many. But Shichiro is another matter. You stand on the edge of a precipice.”
“And you intend to tip me over.”
“On the contrary, I am offering you my hand. But first you must tell me what happened. All of it. I must know the truth if I am to help us both.”
Kuma was silent for several moments. Then, with a sigh like falling rain, they said, “Saiga wrote to me, even as you said. He insisted that I speak with him. I could not risk meeting him here. Shichiro already suspected that Saiga was not the criminal he appeared to be. The old man is cannier than he lets on.”
“It is a mistake to confuse crudity with stupidity, and one the enemies of the Unicorn often make, to their detriment.”
Kuma nodded grudgingly. “I met with Saiga and he confessed to everything. And I knew then what the result would be, should it come to light.”
“The Dragonfly might find themselves alone, against the Lion and the Unicorn.”
“A fight we could not win, but could not afford to lose.” Kuma gestured to the walls. “This place needs a guardian. Fate has chosen me. I could not risk losing control of these shrines.”
“Which is almost certainly what would have happened. The Unicorn might not have raised the issue, but your presence here has never sat well with the Lion. They might have claimed these shrines as recompense, and brought in their own shugenja.”
“Lesser shugenja,” Kuma said.
Shin let it go. “So, you decided to act for the good of your clan. Saiga had ties to a school of mercenary shinobi in the city – the perfect tools for the job.”
Kuma nodded again. “Yes. Though perhaps not so perfect in retrospect.”
Shin allowed himself a smile. “They came close. But there were too many factors, too many complications. Okuni escaping not once but several times, Lun’s survival… the kami were against you from the start.”
“That is my fear.” Kuma looked at the paintings on the walls. “There are more shinobi. The contract still stands. They will come for you again and again, until they are all dead – or you are.”
“It might be simpler to kill me now.”
“I considered it.” The way Kuma said it sent a chill through Shin. “I thought about asking the spirits of the river to drown you as you made your way here. To pull you under and send your bodies far downstream, where none would ever discover them.” Kuma gestured. “I could do so even now. You stand but a hairsbreadth from the water, and it would be so easy to simply… wash you away.”
“But you thought better of it, clearly.”
“I cannot shed blood. Not with these hands. To invoke the kami for such a deed would be the same as thrusting a sword into your belly.”
“But hiring shinobi was allowed, was it?”
“Saiga hired them.”
“And I suppose he allowed them to kill him as well? How considerate of him.” Shin saw the expression on Kuma’s face and knew he’d scored another point. “That is what he did, isn’t it? I suspect he was well aware of the possibility, at least…”
“He was loyal to the Dragon. If he had been caught, he might well have been forced to spill his secrets. There was only one option.” Kuma looked away. “I argued against it.”
“But not too forcefully, I imagine.”
“No. We both knew it was the only way.”
Shin restrained a sudden urge to strike the shugenja. It would solve nothing. Kuma was convinced of their righteousness, and Shin could not say they were wrong. Instead, he said, “And for a few moments, it was enough. Saiga was the perfect scapegoat. A known criminal, with no known connection to any clan.”
“Yes,” Kuma said. Shin felt the air quiver about him, and the stink of the river bottom was suddenly thick in his nose. He tensed. “Why could you not just leave it be? I gave you a chance, Crane…”
“No. You gave yourself away. And maybe intentionally.”
Kuma jolted, as if struck. Shin decided to press his advantage while he had it. “You felt guilt – remorse for what you’d engineered, even as you saw the necessity. You wanted me to find out. To uncover the truth, even as Tetsua did. Even as poor, misguided Enji did, when he came to you to confess.” Shin could see that his words had pierced Kuma’s composure at last. The shugenja had a weakness after all, and had willingly revealed it.
“What was it you said earlier, about water and truth?” Shin continued. “You wanted me to wash away the lies. To cleanse you of your sin. But I can’t absolve you, Tonbo Kuma. I am as imperfect a vessel as you are.”
Kuma was silent for a long moment. Then, they sighed, softly. “Yes.” As they spoke, the pressure in the air lessened and the presence of the river seemed to retreat. Shin relaxed and released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “But the matter is settled, whatever my feelings on it. Or yours.”
“No. It is not. As I said, Shichiro knows.”
“What does he know? Nothing.”
“He knows enough. And he is ambitious in the way of all patriarchs, eager to cement his legacy in blood – spilled or mingled.”
Kuma frowned, not following the logic. “I don’t…” Then, the light of understanding filled their eyes. “Konomi.”
“Yes. Shichiro hid what he knew because he did not want war. But now that the threat of violence has receded, he will use that information to get what he wants. You were so worried about the obvious threat of the Lion that you ignored a subtler one. Shichiro will tell Tetsua, likely in the next few days. Tetsua will have a choice – accede to Shichiro’s demands, or risk yet more upheaval.”
“And all that we have sacrificed for will be undone, because of one old man’s stubborn refusal to see the obvious.”
Shin could hear the bitterness in the shugenja’s words and he shook his head. “You think you are the only one with a duty to their clan? Minami was willing to go to war for
hers, even at the risk of imperial censure. You were willing to abet murder for yours. Why, then, should Shichiro be any different?” Shin chuckled. “Enji was more accurate than he knew. He created an opportunity. He simply did not foresee that others would take advantage of it. A failure of logic. Or perhaps a misunderstanding of human nature.”
Kuma looked at him. “And you? You understand human nature, do you?”
“Better than most. Enough to see the solution. I expect it has already occurred to you.” He paused. “And to Enji.”
Kuma stiffened. “Has there not been enough death?”
“A funny question, coming from you.” Shin sighed. “But no – one more should do it.” He spoke flatly, the words bitter in his mouth. He felt sick, but he met Kuma’s dark gaze and they looked away first.
“He is loyal,” they said. “What he did, he did out of loyalty.”
“So did Saiga.”
“Even so, it is a heavy price you ask.”
“Is it?” Shin gave a sour chuckle. “We would not be having this conversation if you had not already considered this very option. It is the only door that does not hide a hungry tiger.” He bowed his head. “Enji will no doubt agree, given that it was his foolishness that started this whole affair.”
“And then what?”
“And then we make a gift of it to Tetsua. We will say that you had no part in the affair and were, in fact, conducting your own investigation. That is why you visited Saiga. Tetsua will know that it is not the whole story, but it will be one he can accept. Saiga is still the mastermind, but Enji will share responsibility.”
“What of the others?”
Shin looked at them. “Captain Lun is under my protection henceforth. Should she come to harm, I will take it amiss. The same goes for Okuni and her troupe. As far as they are concerned, the matter is settled. And that is where we will leave it.”
Kuma smiled, but it did not reach their eyes. “You truly are an Iron Crane, Daidoji Shin.” They bowed deeply. “I will cancel the contract.”
“You have my thanks, my lord.”
As Kuma straightened, they said, “There is, of course, something you have not considered.”
Shin, wary now, said, “Oh?”
Kuma paused. “Enji is not an imaginative man, you know. Even as a boy, he was clever, but not cunning.” They looked at Shin. “If he conceived of such a stratagem, I am certain that he did not do so alone – or of his own initiative. Do you understand?”
Shin did, and the thought was not a pleasant one. If Saiga had not been the one to suggest it, as Enji had said, then – who had? Kuma studied him for a moment, and then shrugged. “But sadly, by the time you seek to put that question to him, Enji will no longer be able to answer any questions you might have. He will have acted as honor dictated, and committed the ultimate act of repentance.”
“Something this hypothetical partner would know,” Shin said. Kuma smiled.
“Yes. And expect.”
Shin nodded slowly, digesting this. “What do you intend to do about it?”
Kuma shrugged. “I will do as I have always done.” They smiled. “And you, I expect, will do as you have done. Such is the will of the gods.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Resolutions
After that, all that was left was the waiting.
Two days after his last confrontation with Kuma, Shin sat on his balcony, his biwa on his lap. Life in the city had resumed its normal rhythms as the tensions – so close to boiling over – abated. River birds circled overhead, their shrill cries mingling with those of the merchants and sailors on the nearby wharfs.
“You are tense,” Kasami said from behind him.
“Not tense. Prepared.” Shin plucked half-heartedly at his biwa and looked up, watching the birds. “Shichiro will be making his move soon. I must be ready to depart at a moment’s notice, if I am to hold up my end of the bargain…”
Kasami gave a grunt of disapproval. Shin paused and looked at her. “Yes?”
“So that’s it then? Kuma just goes on, without any sort of punishment?”
“And what sort of punishment would you inflict? What is justice, in this case?” Shin shook his head. “There is nothing to connect them to the death of Saiga, or the rice. Just a supposition on my part – with no proof nothing can be done.” If it came to it, Kuma’s testimony would carry far more weight than that of either Lun or Okuni – perhaps even himself, come to that. Such was the nature of justice.
Kasami nodded reluctantly. “They tried to kill us.”
“No. The killers they hired to eliminate witnesses tried to kill us. Kuma did not order it, nor did they condone it. Or so I hope.”
“They didn’t stop it either.”
“No.” Shin looked up. Birds swooped and danced, chasing one another through the sky. “They did apologize, if it helps.”
“It doesn’t.” Kasami frowned. “All that effort, and for what?”
“We stopped a war,” Shin said. “Surely that’s enough for you?”
She looked at him speculatively. “And what about you?”
“Meaning what?”
“These last few days you have seemed more alive than ever I can recall,” she said. “You have thought about something other than wasting money or lazing about.” She frowned thoughtfully. “It was… good.”
Shin nodded. “It was, wasn’t it?” He scratched his chin. “A worthy exercise of my myriad talents. It was more entertaining than overseeing merchants, at any rate.”
“Yes,” she said, if somewhat grudgingly he thought.
“Still, it is done now. And such opportunities do not come around with any regularity.” He paused. A slow smile crept across his features. “Then again, perhaps it’s simply a matter of knowing where to look.”
“What about the others?” Kasami asked, interrupting his idle speculation.
Shin sat back. “Is this about Kitano? I told you – he’s staying here. He seems happy enough with our arrangement.” It was obvious that the gambler would never be a proper house servant, but Shin already had three of those. Kitano had skills other than making tea, and Shin intended to make full use of them in the future.
“No. I have resigned myself to his presence. I meant the others.”
“Ah.” Shin looked away. Okuni had been gone before dawn. Her troupe had already left the city. He suspected that she’d gone to meet them, and perhaps inform them that they had a new patron. He’d already begun outlining plans to rebuild the theater Chobei and his shinobi had burned. Something grand, he thought. A true monument to art. He smiled at the thought and said, “I have no doubt Okuni intends to make herself hard to find until this blows over. Though I’m certain we haven’t heard the last of them.”
“Especially since you’re now funding their tour.”
Shin ignored the disapproval in her tone. “Everyone needs a hobby.”
“What about the pirate?”
“Yes, what about me?” Lun asked, from behind them. She leaned against the doorframe, eating a piece of fruit. “Going to clap me in irons? Turn me over to the governor?”
Shin turned. Lun was looking somewhat better for a few days’ rest. She wasn’t fully healed, but she was in one piece. “No,” he said. “You are free to go. The Lion have no idea who you are, and the Dragonfly are no longer interested in you.”
“And where am I supposed to go?” Lun asked, still focused on her fruit. “I’ve got no ship, no crew and no prospects.”
“About that,” Shin said. “I wrote to my grandfather earlier, explaining the situation. Not in depth, but the pertinent details… at any rate, I requested that you be offered a patronage. The Crane can always use a good captain, and our operations in this city are long overdue for expansion, in my opinion.”
Lun stared at him. Then, she nodded. “Least you could do.�
�
“Indeed, my words exactly.” Shin smiled. “Your ship is where you left it, and I have no doubt you can find your crew in time.”
“Maybe,” she said.
“Excellent. You accept then?”
“I’ll think about it.” Lun straightened and tossed the rest of her fruit to Kasami, who caught it instinctively. “I’ll let you know what I decide.” She turned and left. Shin didn’t try to stop her. He looked at Kasami, who was wiping her hands on her armor.
“I like her,” he said.
“You would.”
“It’s the eyepatch. Rather rakish, I think.”
Kasami looked at him. “Stop.”
“Makes her look like a pirate.”
“Stop, please.” She frowned. “And she is a pirate.”
“Allegedly.” Shin turned back to the city. “One never knows when one might require the services of such a person. Especially in matters of trade.” He paused as Kitano appeared in the doorway. “Yes, Kitano?”
“A message, my lord,” the gambler said, diffidently. Kasami took it from him and passed it to Shin, who unfolded it – and shot to his feet, startling both of them.
“It is time,” he said, excitedly. “Shichiro is making his move! Come on!”
“Where?” Kasami asked, hurrying after him.
“Where else? Saibanshoki!”
•••
Compared to his recent trips, it seemed to take forever to reach Saibanshoki this time. The whole way, he silently went over what he knew, and how the situation might unfold. His plan rested wholly on the stubbornness of one old man, and he prayed Shichiro was as determined as he suspected.
Kaeru Azuma was waiting for him on the docks when he arrived. “I worried you might not come,” Azuma said, helping him out of the boat. “I received Kuma’s letter yesterday.”
“Good. You read it?” Shin gestured for Kitano to stay with the boat. Kasami followed him and Azuma in silence.
“I did. It is the truth?”
“Insofar as I can determine.”
“Why did you not let me tell Tetsua immediately?” Azuma asked, as they hurried up the steps. “We could have headed this moment off, and–”
Poison River Page 29