第5节

well-schooled 'spring blossoms' into the old bugger's bed with orders

to stay on the job until they had fucked his brains out.

Well, it was too late now. Hirohito had paid dearly for his mistake

and so had the family. The account would be settled - with interest.

But it would be an uphill task.

Ieyasu would not last for ever, but it was clear that the young Shogun

could no longer be written off. He had learned a great deal. The

Yama-Shita would rise again but it would be many years before they

would be strong enough to dislodge the Toh-Yota. He, Aishi Sakimoto,

would play his part, but the sweet moment of victory would not come in

his lifetime. For the moment, they would have to content themselves

with punishing the clan M'Call and the rest of the She-Kargo

bloodline.

Thanks to a message sent from the wheel-boat soon after the unmasking

of the two Kojak 'guides', Sakimoto now knew that one of them was the

cloud-warrior that the M'Calls had sent to Ne-Issan escorted by a

female Mute. It was not clear whether this female - who had last been

seen in the hands of the Min-Orota - was the unmarked white witch who

had murdered Lord Hirohito with her foul magic, but there was a

possibility they were one and the same.

When unmasked on the wheel-boat, the cloud-warrior had been disguised

as Mute. His companion, whose skin was similarly marked, had been

identified as the grass-monkey who had become the cloud-warrior's

personal servant and had flown the first rocket-powered prototype.

In view of the expert way he had handled the craft he was probably

another skilfully-disguised long-dog.

As for the white witch, her true identity remained problematical.

Sakimoto knew of the rumours of Mute magic but he had discounted them

as Lord Hirohito had. Now he was not so sure. If the witch was not a

long-dog, then it meant that there were clear-skinned, smooth-boned

Mutes who - on the outside at least looked just like Trackers!

It was all very confusing.

There was, however, one aspect of this affair which was not bedevilled

by doubt. A working connection between long-dog and grass-monkey had

been clearly established.

By piecing together the information gathered from the fisherfolk of

Lake Mi-shiga by the agents now stationed on the eastern shore,

Sakimoto knew the wheel-boat had been set afire and sunk by

flying-horses which could only have come from the Federation. And the

first two assassins had arrived in Ne-Issan as emissaries of the Clan

m'call. Under a deal struck by Lord Hirohito and a wordsmith called Mr

Snow, the clan had agreed to deliver a cloud-warrior and his

flying-horse in exchange for a hundred rifles!

Who could have guessed that this dull-eyed, oafish scum was capable of

such duplicity? Never mind. It would not go unavenged, and nor would

the crimes of the clan Kojak who - after the sinking of the wheel-boat

- had massacred all those who reached the shore. But the first move

would be against the M'Calls - the link between the Plainfolk and the

Federation. And this time, the operation had to be mounted without any

possibility of failure.

The family could expect no assistance from its few remaining friends in

an act of war that did not have government approval. And in the

present climate, that was unlikely to be obtained without being forced

to hand over a large piece of the pie. The only way round the problem

was to mask the attack by using Mute clans from the D'Troit bloodline,

the fiercest rivals of the She-Kargo.

Sakimoto was aware that slaughtering the She-Kargo trade delegations

would net very few of the real offenders.

The bulk of the clan M'Call was safely out of reach. But this attack

was only the first step in a plan the family had been hatching for some

considerable time.

The harsh consequences of Lord Hirohito's misadventure had weakened the

family's power-base and it could only be rebuilt by i