第94节
rmoured knuckles against the door. After
allowing the occupant a brief delay to compose herself, he tried the
handle. The door was still fastened on the inside. He put his mouth
close to the grille. 'Open up! I've got a present for your friend,
Brickman."
The catch was withdrawn, allowing the door to open outwards. Toshiro
peeped inside and saw Clearwater seated on the padded bench, dressed in
a brightly coloured embroidered silk kimono. She had shrunk into the
far corner like some night-creature who feared the light. Her hair was
swept up in the style of the geishas from the 'floating world', spiked
with wooden pins and bulked out with lacquered hair-pieces. Her face
was concealed behind the same dead white oval mask with its tiny,
red-painted lips, its thin enigmatic eye-slits and even thinner brows
perched high on the forehead.
Toshiro tossed the bag on to Clearwater's lap and bowed with mock
politeness. 'Tell him the Herald hopes that good fortune smiles upon
his enterprise. And assure him that, should he fail, I shall do my
utmost to make sure my sword is the first to reach him." He closed the
door, remounted and motioned to his escorts to rejoin him. The
kneeling porters buried their faces in the grass and kept them there
until the hoofbeats died away.
Cadillac's house-servants had been in a state of high excitement since
early morning, when the advance party of soldiers and officials from
Bo-sona had arrived to make sure that all was in order. Lowly
domestics living in a rural backwater were seldom accorded such a
treat, and here they were with a first-class view of what promised to
be a splendid occasion.
It was to begin with a procession. Led by trumpets and drums, flutes,
bells, gongs and chanting priests, two domain-lords with their richly
dressed retinues were due to pass along the new road on the eastern
side of the pavilion. Foot-soldiers with tall pikes bearing the
pennants of the Min-Orota and Yama-Shita families had already begun to
take up their positions along the route.
The sun was rising into a blue sky whose vault was thinly veiled with
wispy clouds like drawn threads of white silk.
Oh, yes. It promised to be a memorable day.
Through the gap in another set of screens, Steve, Cadillac, Jodi and
Kelso were also watching the steady influx of people, but in their case
it was with mounting tension, not excitement. Steve knew the
adrenalin would not start flowing until he went into action - and
nothing could happen until Clearwater arrived. They had worked out a
plan on his last visit, but how well had it succeeded?
Only time would tell and, as usual, it was the waiting and the
uncertainty he found hardest to bear. When they struck the first blow
they would have the advantage of surprise, but despite the careful
planning they were taking a colossal gamble against odds of at least
200 to 1.
Only Clearwater had the power to even things up.
Oh, sweet Sky Mother. Get her here, that's all I ask... Cadillac
nudged him and pointed to a group of five horsemen passing at a brisk
canter. The lead rider was the Herald Toshiro Hase-Gawa. Some help
he'd turned out to be. No. That was unfair. He had been dumb enough
to buy Steve's story and smart enough to get him the job of
roadrunner.
Without his backing they wouldn't be standing here now with their
finger poised on the button. The Herald had ignored his warning to
stay away - presumably because he was obliged to put in an
appearance.
If nobody from the Shogun's team showed up, it wouldn't look too good
when the bad guys started raking over the ashes. Yeah, well...
T.H.G.
would just have to take his chances like everybody else. When the guys
from Big Blue were through he'd be glad he was wearing a tin hat.
They heard the sound of distant trumpets and the beat of marching
drums. Peeking through the screens, Steve saw a mounted samurai canter
down the road towards the Heron Pool, shouting to the soldiers
stationed at intervals on both sides of the road. The soldiers drew
themselves up and adopted an aggressive review stance, left foot out