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one man would escape alive. All would be judged to be as guilty as
their late master.
The deck-officers returned to their respective ships. An hour later,
the house-flags of the Yama-Shita were hauled down and laid reverently
over the corpses of the three captains and their senior officers. It
was all over without a shot being fired.
Lord Yama-Shita's death at the hands of the mysterious white witch had
not been anticipated by Ieyasu, but if he had lived, the result would
have been the same. The pike and not the minnows would have fallen
into the trap !aid with the help of Kiyo Min-Orota.
The chastened domain-lord, shaken by his own narrow escape from a
similar charge of high treason, was now pathetically eager to work his
way back into favour.
He had actually gone as far as to broach the subject of a marriage
between one of his children and one of the Shogun's many nephews or
nieces when escorting Yoritomo to the gangway of his vessel.
Yoritomo agreed that the proposal merited serious consideration, but
reminded Min-Orota that he still awaited his proposals for compensating
Her Highness the Lady Mishiko for the loss of her husband. The veiled
threat robbed the domain-lord of the relief he might otherwise have
felt at watching the Shogun's fleet sail out of his harbour.
The Shogun had been advised by Ieyasu to keep his parting words cool
and ambiguous, but political necessity required that there be a
marriage, whatever his own personal feelings. And that saddened him.
He had thought Kiyo Min-Orota strong, even if he was not totally
trustworthy, but he was spineless and treacherous.
Perhaps a grandson, who would carry the blood of the Toh-Yota in his
veins, would prove to be made of sterner stuff.
On the journey back to his palace on Arongiren, Yoritomo reflected on
the ferment of intrigues that had first been uncovered by Toshiro, his
most trusted Herald. It had been Ieyasu who had pressed him to award
the licence to build flying-horses to Kiyo Min-Orota. With the
discovery of the conspiratorial axis between his house and the
Yama-Shita, the Shogun had been convinced that his wily old opponent
had finally made the serious error of judgement that could be used to
secure his removal from office.
He had secretly hoped Toshiro would produce evidence that would prove
Ieyasu was directly implicated in the conspiracy, but it was now
evident that he could not have been more wrong. Kiyo Min-Orota had
been chosen because the Lord Chamberlain knew exactly what he was
doing. He knew Min-Orota's strengths and weaknesses and had used him
to ensnare and finally betray the Yama-Shita. The sly old fox was
still as fast on his feet as ever, and Yoritomo could only count
himself fortunate that Ieyasu's allegiance was unshakeable. They might
disagree about ways and means, but they both served a common end - the
maintenance of the Toh*Yota Shogunate.
The Herald, Toshiro Hase-Gawa, took no part in the judgement
proceedings. In fact, the secrecy surrounding the event was so
complete, he was not even aware that the Shogun and Ieyasu were in
Ba-satana. When the action moved into the public domain with the
seizure of Yama-Shita's three ocean-going junks, the Herald was already
on his way south to Nyo-poro with the Consul-General's grieving wife
and her three tearstained children.
The Lady Mishiko had expressed her wish to return to her brother's
palace at Yedo on Aron-giren, and it was his duty to escort her
carriage and baggage-train which, among other things, included the
casket containing the grossly distorted body of her late husband.
Toshiro had, in any case, to make his personal report to the Shogun on
the successful outcome of his assignment. The mexican had escaped with
his prisoners; the Consul-General had met his death in the prescribed
manner. But he was less certain about how to explain what had occurred
after the female Mute had intervened in the struggle. He had left the
field immediately after Nakane Toh-Shiba had crashed to earth, so he
had not personally witnessed what some of the Min-Orota line-officers
claimed had