“Lady Yanagisawa.” Hysterical laughter bubbled from Reiko. “She did me a favor, and she doesn’t know it.”

“What are you talking about?” Sano said, fearful that the near-drowning had addled his wife.

“Never mind. We have to save Lady Keisho-in and Midori.”

Another boat neared theirs. From it Chamberlain Yanagisawa called, “Sōsakan Sano! What’s going on?” His face registered surprise as he beheld Reiko. “I see you’ve found your wife.” He said to her, “Where is Lady Keisho-in?”

“We got separated,” Reiko said. “The last time I saw her, she was in the castle grounds.”

Yanagisawa ordered his men to row him around the island to the castle. Their boat sped away. Others were reaching shore, the troops disembarking. The siege had begun. Reiko turned to Sano. “I left Midori in the grounds, too. We must find her.”

While Detectives Inoue and Arai rowed their boat after the chamberlain, Reiko wrung out her wet hair. Sano said, “Where is Dannoshin?” Reiko looked puzzled. “The man who kidnapped you,” Sano clarified.

“Oh. I didn’t know his name,” Reiko said, averting her gaze. “How did you discover who he is? How did you find this place?”

Sano summarized the events that had led up to his arrival. Reiko listened without comment, distracted by her own thoughts. “Did Dannoshin hurt you?” Sano said anxiously.

Though Reiko shook her head, Sano knew something was wrong, but he didn’t press for an explanation. Right now, it was enough to have her back alive and apparently uninjured. And they had work to do.

Their boat rounded the island and drew near the castle buildings. “Have you seen Dannoshin?” Sano said.

After a moment’s hesitation, Reiko nodded. “He was in the palace. I’ll show you where.”

Chamberlain Yanagisawa, accompanied by six bodyguards, hastened in the castle gate. Their lanterns illuminated the path through the overgrown garden, then the dingy, vine-choked palace and its gaping doorway. Although the sounds of shooting, scuffles, and clanging blades multiplied as the invaders stormed the island, an unnatural stillness cloaked the palace.

“Let’s reconnoiter the area,” Yanagisawa told his men.

As they stole around the castle, watching for signs of life, Yanagisawa’s pulse accelerated and urgency fevered him. His purpose had evolved beyond rescuing Lady Keisho-in and scoring a point with the shogun. He needed more than to save his lover from execution. General Isogai’s refusal to obey his orders had revealed the disturbing fact that he’d lost control of the army. Tens of thousands of Tokugawa soldiers would ally with Lord Matsudaira, Lord Kii, Priest Ryuko, and his other foes. Rescuing Keisho-in had therefore become a matter of survival. Success would allow him to maintain his hold on the shogun and country long enough to rebuild his power base. Failure would slide him farther down the slippery slope toward ruin.

He steered his retinue across the exposed foundation of a demolished building, toward the palace’s interior. Suddenly he heard a raucous voice shout, “Get away from me, you filthy brutes!” Such glad relief buoyed his spirits that he laughed.

“That’s her,” he said.

The voice shouted more imprecations. Yanagisawa and his men followed it down a walled passage, into a courtyard enclosed by two-story buildings. In the center of the courtyard, three peasant hoodlums surrounded Lady Keisho-in. Their hands reached out to grab as they circled her. The old woman held a long sword that she’d somehow acquired. Clumsily gripping the hilt in both hands, she swung it at the hoodlums.

“Yah!” she cried.

The hoodlums leapt back. As the force of her swing sent Keisho-in reeling, one hoodlum charged at her. She whipped the blade around, slashed his chest, and laid him flat.

“That will teach you to kidnap me!” She chortled in triumph.

Her other attackers spied Yanagisawa and his men, and took off running. “Go after them,” Yanagisawa told several troops. Then he said to Keisho-in, “It’s all right, Your Highness. You’re safe now.”

“Hah!” she cried, flailing the sword at him. “Take that!”

Yanagisawa ducked just in time to avoid a cut to his head. Keisho-in obviously hadn’t listened to what he said and mistook him for one of the kidnappers. Her watery eyes were crazed, her rotten teeth bared in a ferocious grin. Again she swung at him.

“It’s Chamberlain Yanagisawa,” he said as he dodged again. “I’ve come to rescue you.”

Or he would if she didn’t kill him first. Keisho-in spun and tripped. Yanagisawa caught her from behind, locking his arms around her waist. They reeled and tottered together in a ludicrous dance.

“Let me go, you beast!” Keisho-in shouted.

“Help me!” Yanagisawa commanded his men.

Reiko, Sano, and the two detectives landed onshore and climbed out of the boat. Sano called to troops arriving in another boat and told them to look for Midori. Then Reiko showed him and Inoue and Arai the way to the Dragon King. Around them in the forest, battles broke out between the invaders and defenders. War cries and the clash of steel blades shattered the night. A coil of apprehension twisted inside Reiko, because she dreaded returning to that chamber.

In through the palace’s main entrance they hurried. The castle seemed a desolate ruin, abandoned by the kidnappers who’d scattered to fight for their lives. While Reiko led Sano and the detectives up the stairs, she silently prayed that they would find the Dragon King lying dead where she’d left him. If he was dead, he couldn’t hurt her. Nor could he tell Sano what had happened between them.

She and her companions reached the second floor. Incense smoke wafted from the Dragon King’s chamber. Reiko pointed at its door. “In there.”

Sano and his men drew their swords. Detective Inoue cautiously entered first. Reiko and Sano went next. Detective Arai followed. The antechamber was vacant; battle noise drifted in from the balcony. They filed through the opening in the partition. Inside the bedchamber, the Dragon King was kneeling, fully dressed, before the funeral altar with its burning incense and candles. Dismay sickened Reiko. His head turned. His face was bruised and raw from their fight. Blood had run out of his nostrils, down his mouth. He regarded Sano and the detectives with wary unease, but as he spied Reiko, the smoldering light rekindled in his gaze.

“Anemone,” he said.

Sano gave Reiko a questioning look. She said, “He thinks I’m his dead mother.” She hoped she needn’t explain any more.

The Dragon King’s dagger lay unsheathed on the altar. He picked up the weapon. Sano leapt forward, pointing the blade of his sword at the Dragon King.

“Put it down, Dannoshin-san,” he said. “You’re under arrest.”

The Dragon King ignored Sano; he appeared not to see the detectives surround him. He shifted himself to face Reiko. His open robes revealed his naked torso and his loincloth. “When you told me that our time together would soon end, you were right, my dearest,” he said. “The evil influences around us have besieged me. Now I must commit seppuku and avoid the disgrace of capture.”

Reiko saw two small, shallow knife wounds on his abdomen: He’d inflicted preliminary cuts, working up the courage to kill himself. The red-tipped dagger shook in his hand. Sano and the detectives held their positions, eyeing him warily.

“Before I die, there is something I must confess, Anemone.” The Dragon King’s voice quavered with emotion. “For twelve years I’ve kept a secret that has weighed heavily upon me. I must unburden myself to you.” His eyes begged for Reiko’s attention and sympathy.

“You don’t have to listen,” Sano told Reiko.

Much as Reiko would rather leave the Dragon King and never see him again, she felt obliged to let him speak. Sano needed to know what he had to say because it might bear upon his crimes. And although she feared he would mention what had transpired tonight, a samurai on the verge of ritual suicide deserved a hearing even if he was a criminal.