[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Rieko said, "It must be very difficult to dress your hair; it is very
soft."
Page 100
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"I usually tie it back," Kaede said.
"It is the fashion in the capital to wear it piled on the head," Rieko
said, tugging in a way that hurt intentionally. "Thicker, coarser hair
is more desirable."
Whereas sympathy and understanding might have released Kaede's grief,
Rieko's unkindness steeled her, making her determined never to break
down, never to show her feelings. I slept in ice, she thought. The
goddess speaks to me. I will discover power of some sort here and use
it until Takeo comes for me. He would come, she knew, or die in the
attempt, and
when she saw his lifeless corpse she would be freed from her promise
and she would join him in the shadows of the afterworld.
In the distance dogs began barking suddenly and excitedly, and a moment
later the house shook in a tremor, longer and a little more severe than
the previous day's.
Kaede felt what she always felt: shock, amazement that the earth could
quiver like fresh bean curd, and a sort of elation that nothing
was fixed or certain. Nothing lasted forever, not even Fujiwara and his
house full of treasures.
Rieko dropped the comb and struggled to her feet. The maids came
running to the door.
"Come outside quickly," Rieko cried, her voice alarmed.
"Why?" Kaede said. "The quake will not be a big one."
Rieko had already left the room. Kaede could hear her ordering the
maids to extinguish all the lamps, almost shrieking at them in her
panic. Kaede remained where she was, listening to the running feet, the
raised voices, the barking dogs. After a few moments she took up the
comb and finished combing out her hair. Since her head ached, she left
it loose.
The robe they had dressed her in earlier seemed quite suitable for moon
viewing: It was dove gray, embroidered with bush clover and pale lemon
warblers. She wanted to look at the moon, to be bathed in its silvery
light, and to be reminded of how it came and went in the heavens,
disappeared for three days, and then returned.
The maids had left the doors to the veranda open. Kaede stepped out and
knelt on the wooden floor, gazing toward the mountain, recalling how
she had sat here with Fujiwara, wrapped in bearskins as the snow fell.
Another slight tremor came, but she felt no fear. She saw the mountain
tremble against the pale violet sky. The dark shapes of the garden
trees were swaying, though there was no wind, and birds, disturbed,
were calling as if it were dawn.
Slowly their calls subsided and the dogs fell quiet. The thin golden
sickle of the new moon hung next to the evening star just above the
peaks. Kaede closed her eyes.
She smelled Fujiwara's fragrance before she heard him. Then she caught
the tread of feet, the rustle of silk. She opened her eyes.
Page 101
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
He stood a few feet away from her, staring at her with the rapt,
covetous look that she remembered so well. "Lady Shirakawa."
"Lord Fujiwara." She returned his gaze for longer than she should
before slowly prostrating herself until her brow touched the floor.
Fujiwara stepped onto the veranda, followed by Mamoru, who was carrying
carpets and cushions. Not until the nobleman was seated did he give
Kaede permission to sit up. He reached out and touched the silk robe.
"It's very becoming. I thought it would be. You gave poor Murita quite
a shock when you turned up on horseback. He nearly speared you by
mistake."
She thought she would faint from the fury that suddenly erupted through
the herb-induced tranquillity. That he should allude so lightly,
jokingly, to the murders of her men, of Amano, who had known her since
she was a child...
"How dare you do this to me?" she said, and heard Mamoru's gasp of
shock. "I was married three months ago to Otori Takeo at Terayama. My
husband will punish you--" She broke off, trying to regain control. "I
thought we would enjoy the moon before we talked," he replied, showing
no response to the insulting way she had spoken. "Where are your women?
Why are you here alone?"
"They ran when the earth shook," she replied shortly. "Were you not
afraid?"
"I have nothing to be afraid of. You have already done the worst anyone
can do to me."
"It seems we are to talk now," he said. "Mamoru, bring wine and then
see that we are undisturbed."
He looked meditatively at the moon without speaking for the next few
minutes until Mamoru came back. When the young man
had retired into the shadows again, Fujiwara indicated that Kaede
should pour the wine. He drank and said, "Your marriage to the person
who calls himself Otori Takeo has been set aside. It was undertaken
without permission and has been ruled invalid."
"By whose authority?"
"Lord Arai; your own senior retainer, Shoji; and myself. The Otori have
already disowned Takeo and declared his adoption illegal. The general
opinion was that you should die for your disobedience to Arai and your
infidelity to me, especially when your involvement in Iida's death
became more widely known."
"We had an agreement that you would share my secrets with no one," she
said.
"I thought we had an agreement that we would marry." She could make no
response without insulting him further, and his words had in fact
frightened her. She was all too aware that he could order her death on
a moment's whim. No one would dare either to disobey such an order or
to judge him afterward.
Page 102
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
He went on: "You are aware of my high regard for you. I was able to
effect something of a transaction with Arai. He agreed to spare you if
I married you and kept you in seclusion. I will support his cause with
the emperor in due course. In return I sent your sisters to him."
"You gave them to Arai? They are in Inuyama?"
"I believe it's quite common to hand women over as hostages," he
returned. "Arai was incensed, by the way, when you dared to keep [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]