The Cloud Pavilion

Determined to protect his family, cursing himself because he'd left his swords in the house and there was no time to fetch them, he started down the steps, his body his only weapon.

Midori followed him. "Why are you scared?" she asked. During his time away from home she'd developed a strong will of her own, and she often disregarded his orders. Furthermore, she wasn't quite convinced that her husband lived in dimensions she couldn't see. "You can defeat anybody. Besides, this estate is full of guards. Nobody can get in to hurt us."

Hirata raced in spirals through the garden. He felt like a cat chasing a string it couldn't see, while an unseen hand jerked the string this way and that, just out of reach. The pulse came from all directions and none. As he left the garden and barreled down a passage between buildings in his estate, Midori fell behind. He faintly heard her calling him to come back and calm down. He burst through a gate that led to the street outside the estate.

"Where are you?" he yelled. "Show yourself!"

The sounds of dogs barking and troops patrolling on horse back in the distance were his only answer. The street bordered by the walls of other estates was empty, serene under the moonlit clouds. But Hirata felt no peace.

His enemy had access to Edo Castle. Stone walls and the Tokugawa army hadn't kept him out. He could get close enough to attack Hirata whenever he wanted.

28

Day broke as Sano and Detectives Marume and Fukida and a few troops rode west out of town. The highway extended along a ridge, bypassing the temples of Zj district. Bells and gongs tolled. Distant pagodas rose into the humid air and disappeared into clouds edged with gold by the sun.

Sano and his entourage traversed the suburb of Kojimachi, which boasted factories where soybeans were fermented and processed into bean paste. The odor enveloped Sano like a salty, rotten tide. He and his men continued on to the farther suburb of Yotsuya.

He heard the Tokugawa dog ke

The sound of the dogs barking and howling blared over the roofs of the shops and teahouses that lined the main road, the temples, and the estates that belonged to various daimyo and Tokugawa vassals.

"What a din!" Marume exclaimed. "How can anybody stand to live around here?"

The din grew louder as Sano and his men forged onward. The smell hit them as they reached the ke

Marume held his nose. Sano tried not to breathe as he rode up to the unguarded gate. His troops entered first. As Sano followed with his detectives, the stench nauseated him and the barking deafened him. Some forty thousand dogs lived here, all strays picked up in the city, protected by the shogun's laws of compassion, kept fed, sheltered, and off the streets. A muddy yard surrounded rows of barracks, their doors open to reveal the dogs in cages inside.

A pack of loose dogs came bounding toward Sano. They were huge, some with shaggy brown or black fur, others sleek and blotched. They barked and growled as they charged. They all wore leather collars bristling with metal spikes. Their teeth were sharp in their snarling mouths. Their eyes blazed with intent to kill.

"Look out!" Fukida yelled.

Sano's and his men's horses shied, whi

"Greetings," said the leader. About forty-five years old, with graying hair, he was short, but he had a broad build that he inflated by thrusting out his chest and stomach. He walked with his legs spread apart and his arms held away from his body, so that he took up as much space as possible. His eyes sparked with cu

Sano took an immediate dislike to the man. "Nanbu Bosai, I presume?"

"That I am. And you are…?" Dismay appeared on Nanbu's face as he recognized Sano. "Honorable Chamberlain, if I'd known it was you, I wouldn't have set the dogs on you. A thousand apologies."

"Now who's scared?" Marume said with satisfaction.

Nanbu bowed. His three men, all younger than he but cut along the same brutish lines, followed suit. He said, "Welcome to my humble establishment."

Sano heard rancor beneath Nanbu's anxiety to please. The position Nanbu held came with disadvantages as well as a high stipend and respect from the shogun. Nanbu probably couldn't get the smell of the ke

"May I ask what brings you here?" Nanbu said. "Do you need some guard dogs?"

"Is that what you call them?" Sano looked askance at the animals.

"They're pretty good, if I do say so myself. They cornered you, didn't they?" Nanbu said, not quite in jest. "I train them and sell them. Lord Kii has some at his estate. So do plenty of other daimyo. All these dogs eat up a lot of food. Might as well put them to work."

"I don't want a guard dog," Sano said. "I came to talk to you."

"Me?" Nanbu pointed to his puffed-out chest. "To what do I owe the honor?"

To all appearances, he spoke with the surprise and pleasure of any official singled out for the chamberlain's attention.

"We have acquaintances in common," Sano said.

"Oh? May I ask who they are?"

"Jinshichi and Gombei."

Nanbu frowned, in mild confusion. "I'm sorry, but those names don't sound familiar."

Unconvinced that Nanbu didn't know the oxcart drivers, or that the man was i

"The Drum Teahouse?" Nanbu pondered. Sano couldn't tell if he was actually trying to remember the place or pla

"He says Jinshichi and Gombei work for you."

Nanbu shrugged, unfazed. "He must have me mixed up with somebody else."

"I don't think so," Sano said. "I think you hired Jinshichi and Gombei to kidnap women for you to rape."

"Begging your pardon, but you're the one who's mistaken now!" Nanbu regarded Sano with shock that gave way to dawning comprehension and offense. "I heard that your cousin and some other women had been kidnapped and you were trying to find out who did it. And now you want to pin it on me."

His men's expressions turned hostile. His dogs sensed his animosity toward Sano. They barked and growled an ugly chorus of warning.

"With all due respect, I didn't do it," Nanbu declared.

Sano could have spent the day hurling accusations that Nanbu would refute, but he didn't like wasting time, and he was tired of the ke

"Fine," Sano said. "Then you won't mind submitting to an inspection by the women. We'll let them decide whether you're guilty."

"Fine," Nanbu echoed with a smug smile. "Whenever you want."

"You seem very sure that the women won't identify you as their attacker," Sano said.