第104节

This macabre procession continued all the way to Ba-satana, and when

the original column was exhausted, Mute slaves working on the lands

north and south of the road were rounded up and put to death, followed

by those who had laboured to dig the post-holes.

By the time Min-Orota reached his palace, his immediate thirst for

blood had been satisfied but, when he sat down to a sombre dinner with

the chief members of his own family and the principal survivors of

Yama-Shita's party, he had little to feel happy about.

His friend's body had been conveyed in a hastily prepared coffin from

the Heron Pool to his ship in the harbour but the issues raised by his

death were not so easily disposed of. Although it was Lord YamaShita

who had brought the flying-horse and its two riders to Masa-chusa, and

persuaded the Shogun to allow more to be built, it was already clear

that he, Kiyo Min-Orota, was going to be held responsible for the

domain-lord's death.

The charge was patently unfair, but with a powerful family like the

Yama-Shita, justice lay in the eye of the beholder. They would demand

reparations: goods, money - and perhaps blood. It could place a

crippling burden on his domain, but if he were to reject their claims,

the alternative could be even more unpleasant.

Lord Min-Orota also faced the prospect of trouble from another

quarter.

The Consul-General had been killed whilst flying in one of the machines

for whose manufacture he, Min-Orota, was once again ultimately

responsible. Worse still, the revolt - due entirely to lack of proper

surveillance of the slave-workers - had not been a simple escape

attempt. There had been a murderous attack on those of high rank and

noble birth.

The grandstand had been totally destroyed, including the viewing box

that had been built to house the Shogun!

If he had been present and had suffered insult and injury to his person

. . . Min-Orota put the thought from his mind. The consequences were

too awful to contemplate.

When he retired to his private quarters - now guarded by three times

the usual number of samurai - the domain-lord found a sealed letter by

his bedside. It informed him that a courier from the Lord

Chamberlain's office had arrived in Ba-satana with a verbal dispatch of

the utmost importance. The letter urged Min-Orota to receive the

courier without delay. The meeting was to take place in the greatest

secrecy, the provenance of the courier was not to be disclosed to

anyone, and no aides were to be present when he presented his

dispatch.

Min-Orota had not the faintest idea what the man had to tell him, but

the temptation to find out was irresistible. Any approach by Ieyasu

could not be lightly dismissed. After destroying the letter as

instructed, he dispatched his most trusted servant to the address

given, with orders to bring the courier into the palace by the secret

stairways that led directly to his own private quarters.

Ieyasu's courier appeared before him shortly after midnight and, after

exchanging the arranged passwords, presented his seals of office. The

man's face, when revealed, was like a living skull. It was Steve's

diminutive interrogator. The name he gave was Fuji-Wara, but it was

probably not his own.

Lord Chamberlain Ieyasu's message was essentially this: news of the

catastrophic events at the Heron Pool had reached his office and had

also been conveyed directly to the Shogun. His Exalted Highness was as

Min-Orota might imagine - deeply concerned by his narrow escape from

what could have been a serious threat upon his life.

The Shogun had also been stricken by the loss of his brother-in-law,

the highly regarded Consul-General Nakane Toh-Shiba. His death had not

only caused him personal anguish; it had disturbed him in his official

capacity as ruler of Ne-Issan. It was as Min-Orota had feared: an

attack upon the Consul-General - and the Herald Toshiro Hase-Gawa - was

an attack upon the Shogunate itself. If he, as a domain-lord, could

not suppress dissident elements and ensure the personal safety and

unmolested passage of government appointees, then the Shogunate would

have to protect its rights by all lawful means.

The courier, Fuji-Wara, did not need to spell out what