A violent spasm jerked his body. A deafening screech burst from him. Agony wrenched his features into a horrible mask. His fingers pried at hers. Reiko hung on, digging her nails into the soft, tender globes of flesh. He twisted her wrist. Reiko yelped as pain shot up her arm and broke her hold on him. He scuttled away, moaning. Exhausted and disoriented, Reiko raised herself on her elbows. The Dragon King was hunched a short distance from her. He whimpered and cupped his injured private parts in both hands. She looked for the swords. Both lay far away across the room. As she mustered the strength to crawl toward them, the Dragon King staggered to his feet.

“I’ll… kill… you!” Wheezes expelled each word from him. He lumbered toward Reiko.

Through her mind flashed the knowledge that she would never reach the swords in time. But her will to survive heightened her perception. The Dragon King’s furious bellow, and the gunshots outside, roared in her ears; the candles on the altar shone dazzling bright. She saw the Dragon King’s naked body and crazed face with preternatural, vivid clarity as he came at her. Time seemed to expand, slowing his approach. The teal kimono that lay on the floor along his path caught Reiko’s attention. The moment he stepped onto the kimono, she leapt up and lunged in a single fast, instinctive motion. She grabbed the edge of the kimono in both hands and yanked.

The smooth silk cloth whipped out from under the Dragon King’s feet. Emitting a yowl, he flipped up in the air, his body horizontal and arms outspread for an instant. Then he crashed down. His head struck the floor with a thud. He lay immobile, his face frozen in blank surprise.

Reiko felt her expression mimic his as she stood staring at him and her heart hammered with lingering panic. Her senses subsided to their normal intensity; time resumed its normal pace. Was the Dragon King dead, or stunned unconscious? Reiko rushed for the sword, intending to make sure he never rose.

Just then, excited voices called from the lower story. Fresh panic beset Reiko. Footsteps pounded along the corridor beneath her. She mustn’t let the guards catch her. Quickly she donned the teal kimono and tied its sash. She picked up the long sword, then ran from the bedchamber into the anteroom. Now the men were hurrying up the stairs. Aware that she couldn’t get past them out the door, she raced onto the balcony.

Wind tossed her hair; the dark trees and lake spread before her under the star-pricked sky. The guards reached the corridor outside the room.

“Troops are crossing the lake in boats!” Ota shouted. “We’re under siege!”

Reiko didn’t pause to wonder who the invaders were or worry about the danger of exiting from the balcony. She climbed over the rail, gripped the sword, then jumped. A short drop through a rush of darkness, and she crashed down into a bush. Rough, thorny branches enmeshed her. She tore herself loose. From above her came the guards’ exclamations in the palace: They’d found the Dragon King. She drew his sword, let its scabbard fall, and sped across the garden. By now, Ota must have figured out what had happened to his master; he’d have discovered she was missing. He knew where she would go. She had to get there before he did.

The shouts and gunfire continued as Reiko hurried around the castle buildings. She heard rhythmic splashes from the lake, saw torchlights moving through the grounds. At last she located the familiar open passageway. She raced up it, into the building, and groped along the dim corridor. Her hand found the door. Panting, she yanked out the metal beam that secured the latches. She flung it aside and threw open the door.

Inside the room, Lady Yanagisawa, Keisho-in, and Midori sat huddled together, outlined by moonlight that streamed through the window. They exclaimed at the sight of her-bruised, bloody, disheveled, holding the sword, and alone.

“Reiko-san!” cried Midori. “What happened?”

“There’s no time to explain,” Reiko said. “We must run!”

31

Reiko hurried through the castle grounds, carrying the sword and supporting Midori, who clutched the squalling baby as she toiled beside Reiko. Behind them, Lady Yanagisawa towed Keisho-in along. Lights moved in the gardens, flashed on ruins, and streaked across Reiko’s vision. The night reverberated with a tumult of arrows whizzing, men crashing through woods, and spurts of gunfire. The women scrambled out from the castle buildings. Ahead, past a crumbled wall, Reiko saw the lake glittering through a stand of trees, and the dark shape of the dock. But as she hastened her friends toward the boats, footsteps thundered from their right.

“Hey, you! Stop!” Ota’s voice ordered.

Aghast, Reiko saw Ota and another samurai speeding at her. Midori screamed. Reiko heard Lady Yanagisawa cry, “No!” She turned to see Keisho-in limping back toward the castle, and Lady Yanagisawa chasing her. Both women vanished into the grounds. Horrified to see her escape thwarted and panic disperse her friends, Reiko ran, tugging Midori, after the other two women. They wove around trees whose branches snagged them, and they tripped on weed-covered rubble. Reiko heard cries from Lady Yanagisawa and Keisho-in, but she couldn’t see them in the darkness. She also heard Ota and his partner trampling debris and panting in close pursuit.

“Stay here and hide,” she whispered to Midori. She knew she was the one Ota most wanted to catch, and if they separated, maybe he would spare Midori.

“No, don’t leave me!” Midori cried.

But Reiko shook her friend loose and sped onward. The men followed her, as she’d hoped. She squeezed through shrubbery, darted around buildings. With her small size and quick agility, she gained distance from her pursuers. She turned a corner-and crashed smack into someone. Alarmed shrieks burst from them both. Then she recognized Lady Yanagisawa.

“Reiko-san, I’m so glad I found you!” Lady Yanagisawa exclaimed. “But I’ve lost Lady Keisho-in.”

As Reiko felt her heart sink at the thought of the shogun’s mother wandering alone, she heard the men coming. She and Lady Yanagisawa raced hand in hand through the night. Out of the castle the men chased them, into the forest. Fatigue dragged at Reiko’s legs. She grew breathless from exertion. Lady Yanagisawa moaned, clutching a cramp in her side. They staggered out from the forest. Before them, the high, ruined tower of the keep rose from its surrounding trees. The jagged segment of wall on the top story pointed at the moon.

“I can’t run anymore.” Dropping Reiko’s hand, Lady Yanagisawa wheezed to a standstill.

“Yes, you can,” Reiko urged. She heard crunching leaves and snapping branches: Their pursuers were coming. “Hurry!”

A mewl of terror issued from Lady Yanagisawa. She faltered up the steps to the keep.

“No!” Reiko cried. “We mustn’t let them trap us inside!”

Such panic gripped Lady Yanagisawa that rational thought fled her. All she wanted was shelter where she could rest and hide from the enemy. She stumbled through the portals of the keep. The dark, damp-smelling room enclosed her. She saw Reiko running toward her up the steps.

“Where are you?” Reiko called, her voice fraught with urgency. She rushed into the room, and the darkness erased her from Lady Yanagisawa’s view. “Come out!”

Though Lady Yanagisawa was thankful that Reiko hadn’t abandoned her, she didn’t answer. If she went, Reiko would make her run until those men caught and killed them. She ducked behind the old cannon.

Ota’s partner staggered, panting, in through the doorway. Lady Yanagisawa glimpsed a swift motion behind him, and a flash of moonlight on steel. The samurai yowled. There was a loud thud as he fell on the floor. Lady Yanagisawa realized that Reiko had cut him down.