第75节

nts can make up beds in one of the other

rooms."

'Send Oyoki too,' whispered Mishiko. 'I shall need her help to prepare

myself."

Yoritomo clasped her hands tightly in his arms. 'Be patient. I will

return as soon as I have made certain that the Palace is in our

hands."

Entering the Shogun's bed-chamber, Mishiko caught a fleeting glimpse of

two shadowy figures which vanished as an icy hand seemed to clutch her

brain. Recognising the presence of magic, she dismissed the servants

whom Yoritomo had ordered to wait on her, and asked not to be disturbed

until her brother returned.

As the servants withdrew, Roz released the mind-lock she had placed on

them all. To Mishiko, the two hooded white-masked witches appeared to

materialise out of thin air, but their previous invisibility was only a

trick of the mind. Roz's mesmeric power enabled her to create optical

illusions. It is a well known fact that the brain sees what it thinks

it sees, not what is actually there and this was the phenomenon that

Roz exploited. Mishiko and the servants had seen her and Cadillac, but

were persuaded to delete that piece of visual information from their

mental picture of the room and fill in the resulting gaps using data

from their memory banks.

'You have done well, mi'lady,' husked Cadillac. 'The prize is within

your grasp, but we remain close at hand in case you have need of us."

Roz took control of Mishiko's mind and conjured up an image of the

Herald. In three strides he had crossed the room and gathered Mishiko

into his arms. His 'face was still pale but it was no longer grey and

haggard. His eyes were clear and his voice stronger. 'Can you see how

the death of Ieyasu has given me new hope and strength? We are but one

step from eternal happiness in each other's arms I' Rooted to the spot,

her eyes closed, Mishiko lifted her face to the invisible Herald. In

her mind's eye, her body was crushed against his in a passionate

embrace.

She could feel, with dreamlike intensity, the soft moist texture of his

lips on hers, the warmth of his cheek against her face, the muscled

strength of his arms and the heat in his loins.

Cadillac sidled up to Roz and whispered: 'Okay, I've planted the bug.

Is she gonna go through with it?"

'Oh, yes,' said Roz, her voice breaking. 'Don't worry.

She's not going to let anything stop her now." She backed towards the

false beam and followed Cadillac through into the passage before

releasing her mental grip on Mishiko.

Whispering a declaration of undying love, the Herald stepped back and

vanished. Mishiko found herself standing in an empty room, with her

arms stretched out in front of her. She could still feel the lines

traced over her hands by his fingers as he slipped from her grasp.

Wrapping her arms around her ribs, Mishiko fell to her knees on the

mattress bed and rocked slowly back and forth, nursing the unbearable

pain of separation. Soon, my love. Soon....

Roz and Cadillac sat sideways on the narrow set of steps that led up to

the secret doorway into the Shogun's bed-chamber with their backs

against the same wall. The lamp, its wick trimmed to conserve the

precious oil, stood on the floor of the passageway below. The dim

light did not reach all the way up the stairs- an arrangement which

suited Roz because it meant that Ieyasu's head-bag was lost in the

shadows. Her elbow was parked on the same step as Cadillac's feet and

between them was the radio, tuned to the listening bug he had placed

under the small black lacquered table. If all went well, it would

broadcast the sounds of death and its aftermath sometime between now

and dawn, and would help them gauge when it was safe to enter to obtain

the final piece of evidence they needed.

Cadillac sensed that Roz was deeply troubled by the trail of violence

she had helped to unleash and the knowledge that the blood-letting had

barely begun. He reached down and tried to lay a comforting hand on

her shoulder. It felt hard and unwelcoming.

'Roz, listen - I know what this is doing to you. But now we've

started, we have to see it through. Just remember this woman is no

different from the rest of them. These people are merciless. If she

didn't want vengeance, we couldn't have made her do this."