“We have to go now,” Reiko hissed. “Ota is coming. He knows where we are. Quick, before he gets here!”

Lady Yanagisawa didn’t want to leave her shelter. As her eyes adjusted to the dimness, she saw a shaft of faint light beaming down through the ceiling. Into it rose the stairway. Lady Yanagisawa clambered up the rickety slats. Through the second level she ascended. Vermin skittered and nesting doves cooed, disturbed by her noise. Reaching the third story, she heard Reiko’s rapid footsteps on the stairs, and Ota’s pounding after them. The racket echoed through the keep. Lady Yanagisawa climbed faster. She saw the moon, round and radiant, framed by the square hole above her. She flung herself up the last steps, out the hole, and onto the summit of the tower.

Its uppermost story was exposed to the sky and wind, and littered with broken roof tiles, flaked plaster, and charred, splintered timbers. From the crumbling edges of the floor, the tower’s lower portion extended in a steep drop. On three sides spread the forest’s treetops; below the fourth side, the lake shimmered. The height dizzied Lady Yanagisawa. She crouched within the corner of the remaining wall.

Reiko burst up through the hole. Ota followed, grabbing at Reiko’s skirts. She ran across the rubble-strewn floor and teetered at the brink. Pivoting, she raised her sword at Ota.

He laughed and said, “If you’d rather die than surrender, that’s fine with me.” He drew his sword.

Reality penetrated Lady Yanagisawa’s dazed fright. She’d brought Reiko up here; now Ota was going to kill Reiko. Horrified by the prospect of losing her only friend, Lady Yanagisawa watched Reiko swing her weapon. Ota parried. The clanging impact of their blades knocked Reiko perilously close to the tower’s edge. They whirled, lunged, and slashed as they skirted the perimeter. The moon illuminated Reiko’s determined, terrified face in flashes as she spun. Although she fought with skill and courage, Ota managed many more strikes than she did. He kept her busy parrying and dodging. He was using his greater strength to tire her out. Lady Yanagisawa realized that there was nobody to help Reiko except herself.

She hefted a wooden beam in both hands. When Ota came near her, she swung with all her might. The beam hit the backs of his knees. They buckled under him. He staggered and pitched forward with a grunt of surprise. As he flung out his hands to break his fall, Reiko slashed her blade across his throat. A horrendous, liquid squeal came from him. Blood spurted, gleaming black in the moonlight. He collapsed facedown, dead.

In the sudden stillness, Lady Yanagisawa and Reiko gazed across Ota’s corpse at each other. Reiko let her sword fall. She breathed in shallow, rapid puffs, her mouth open, shocked at their sudden victory. Lady Yanagisawa dropped the beam. She and Reiko hugged, sobbing in relief.

“You saved my life,” Reiko said. “A million thanks!”

Lady Yanagisawa basked in their closeness. For once she felt truly cherished. But Reiko suddenly withdrew from her.

“Look!” Reiko cried, pointing toward the lake.

Dots of light on the water surrounded the island like a glowing rosary of beads. As Lady Yanagisawa and Reiko watched, the lights moved closer, borne on small boats crammed with men. Lady Yanagisawa could see them rowing. Above the gunfire and yells that pierced the night, she heard the oars splashing.

“They’re coming to rescue us!” Reiko hurried to the tower’s edge. Jubilant, she waved at the boats. “We’re saved!”

Gladness filled Lady Yanagisawa but quickly drained away. Now that rescue was near, mixed feelings assailed her. She wanted badly to see her daughter, yet she experienced dismay at the thought of going home to Edo. There waited the familiar pain of her unrequited love for the chamberlain. There, Reiko would return to her adoring husband and perfect son. There, Reiko wouldn’t need Lady Yanagisawa. Now the ever-present jealousy of Reiko skewered Lady Yanagisawa’s heart.

Reiko turned, still poised at the edge of the tower. Her beautiful, joyful face ignited the ever-present furnace of anger in Lady Yanagisawa. Possessed by irresistible impulse, she thrust her hands against Reiko’s chest and pushed.

Surprise jolted Reiko as her feet faltered off the tower and she listed backward over the edge. She flung out her arms, trying to regain her balance. Lady Yanagisawa’s face, twisted with cruel, gleeful triumph, hovered over her for a moment. Then Reiko was falling through empty space, arms and legs flailing. The tower wall rushed upward past her horrified eyes. A scream tore from her. Then she hit the lake.

The tremendous splash against her back knocked the breath from her lungs. Cold water swirled around Reiko as she plunged through its depths. Its roar filled her ears; its turbulent blackness blinded her. As she bobbed up, her heart hammered with panic, and she fought the urge to inhale. She beat her hands and pumped her legs against the water, trying to reach air. Her long hair, sleeves, and skirt entangled her.

She couldn’t believe Lady Yanagisawa had pushed her off the tower! After everything they’d gone through together, Lady Yanagisawa’s ill will had once again prevailed over their friendship.

Reiko’s head broke the surface. She gulped a huge breath. The moon and stars glittered through the water that streamed down over her eyes. The tower loomed above her; the world rocked with her frantic struggles to keep afloat. How she wished she knew how to swim! Her thrashing produced not the slightest motion across the short distance to the island. As she began to weaken, she saw the tiny figure of Lady Yanagisawa, standing high up on the tower, watching her.

“Help!” Reiko cried.

Lady Yanagisawa vanished from sight. Reiko wished she’d been imprisoned with anyone else in the world except that demented woman. She’d felled the Dragon King and escaped his palace, only to be attacked by the ally that circumstances had forced her to trust. Now she strained to keep her head in the air, gurgling and spitting the water that washed over her face. Helplessness overwhelmed her. Unless a miracle happened, she would drown, and her spirit would join the real, legendary Dragon King in his palace at the bottom of the sea.

“Somebody just jumped from that tower.” As Sano crossed the lake in the boat he shared with Detectives Inoue and Arai, he leaned over the prow for a better look at the tower, where the plummeting figure and shrill cry had caught his attention. He squinted at the water near the tower’s submerged base, where he’d heard the splash.

A thunderous premonition struck him. His heart began thudding; wild excitement surged in him.

“Row over there,” he ordered, pointing at the splashes that still rippled the lake.

Inoue and Arai obeyed. The boat pulled ahead of the flotilla approaching the island. When they reached the spot where the figure had dropped, it had sunk below the surface. Sano reached into the water. His groping fingers found and grasped long hair. He pulled. Up came the head of a woman. She blinked water from terrified eyes; she wheezed through her gaping mouth. Her arms waved within the billowy folds of the patterned kimono she wore.

“Reiko-san!” exclaimed Sano.

As her gaze focused and she recognized him, Reiko moaned and clutched at Sano. He and Detective Inoue hauled her, drenched and dripping, into the boat. Filled with joy, he caught her in a tight embrace.

“Thank the gods you’re alive,” he said in a voice thick with emotion.

Reiko sobbed with relief, shivered from the cold. “This is a miracle!”

“You took a dangerous risk by jumping from that tower,” Sano said. “You could have been killed.”

“I didn’t jump,” Reiko said between chattering teeth. “She pushed me.”

Sano removed his cloak and wrapped it around her. “Who did?”