Shike, Robert J. Shea [ebook reader that looks like a book TXT] 📗

secret family meeting without first looking behind all the screens in the room. Not that Bokuden was a trusting soul. Next to Hideyori, he was the most suspicious man she had ever known. It was arrogant carelessness of the sort that would ruin the Sacred Islands if Bokuden were long permitted to govern them. Just now he was gloating over his cleverness in acquiring a shipment of copper coins from China.

“But, honoured Uncle,” Munetoki protested, “it is forbidden to trade with China now that it is mostly in Mongol hands.”

“Since I am the senior member of the Bakufu Council, the Bakufu’s regulations do not bind me,” said Bokuden airily. “The information I gather from the Chinese traders is worth breaking the law for.”

Insufferable as always, Taniko thought. How long would the other samurai clans put up with Bokuden’s enriching himself by violating regulations he himself had helped draw up?

“The traders were anxious to exchange the last of their bulky valuables for smaller and more portable amounts of gold and gems,” said Bokuden. “They told my agents that the Mongols are about to take Linan and capture the Sung Emperor. Once the conquest of China is completed, Kublai Khan will turn his attention to us again. The traders say he has set up an Office for the Chastisement of Ge-pen, headed by one who knows our land well - Arghun Baghadur.”

“We destroyed them before and we will destroy them again,” said Munetoki.

“What is even more distressing,” said Bokuden, ignoring his nephew, “is that the Shogun, the commanderin-chief of our armed forces, is a child.” Now he was getting to the point of this meeting, Taniko thought. He wants Sametono out of the way.

“My honoured cousin the Shogun has you to rule in his behalf, Uncle,” said Munetoki.

“That would be fine if I could truly rule, but I cannot,” said Bo kuden. “I am not free to issue orders as I think best, but must have the approval of the Bakufu Council. My position is also untenable because I govern in the name of Sametono, and Sametono is not suitable to be Shogun.”

“Surely there is no one more suitable,” Munetoki bristled.

Munetoki was simply incapable of guile, thought Taniko. He and Ryuichi had agreed before the conference that they would seem to agree with whatever Bokuden said, in order to draw him out. But Munetoki couldn’t stop himself from arguing.

“Lord Hideyori laid down no regulations about how the next Shogun was to be selected,” Bokuden pointed out. “Surely it would be ridiculous to say that Hideyori’s family holds office by decree of the gods, as the Imperial line does. Even if the Shogunate does somehow belong to the Muratomo by divine right, Sametono is really a Takashi, not a Muratomo. Are we to let a direct descendant of Sogamori pluck like ripe fruit the power for which generations of Muratomo fought and died?”

“We Shima ourselves are Takashi,” Munetoki pointed out.

“Yes, Brother,” mused Ryuichi. “I wonder if your zeal for the Muratomo cause is so great because you are only recently converted to it.”

Taniko held her hand over her mouth to keep from giggling.

“Eurthermore,” Bokuden went on, “this boy Shogun listens only to my daughter, never to me, his official guardian. She cannot but be a bad influence on him.”

Behind the screen, Taniko smiled to herself.

“Our little Taniko is an intelligent, well-travelled lady of strong will,” said Ryuichi. “What is more, she is very religious.”

“Her will is not strong, it is perverse,” Bokuden snarled. “Ever since she was a child she has been disobedient. She is an adulteress many times over. Well-travelled? Yes, she spent years among the Mongols. The gods alone know what secret links she may yet have to them. As for being religious, she is an adherent of that foreign Zen sect whose doctrines sound like the ravings of madmen. If she is so religious, let her be packed off to a nunnery where she can do no more harm.”

Munetoki’s voice trembled with anger. “I have the honour to be the young Shogun’s teacher in martial arts. No one knows him as well as I do. His character is perfectly pure. There is no sign of any bad influence anywhere about him.”

Ryuichi spoke with uncharacteristic sternness. “Munetoki, be silent. I forbid you to contradict your uncle, who is chieftain of our clan as well as acting head of the Bakufu. You forget yourself. Apologize to Lord Bokuden.”

There was a long silence. When Munetoki spoke again, it was in a firm voice that Taniko knew was the result of rigorous self-discipline.

“Please accept my apologies, honoured Uncle,” he said. “I am ashamed of myself.”

“That’s better,” said Ryuichi. “Now, Lord Bokuden, you have pointed out some of the boy Sametono’s shortcomings as Shogun. But to whom else could the office be given with confidence?”

“There is the son of my oldest daughter, who is married to Ashikaga Eukuji. The Ashikaga are a branch of the Muratomo. There is also the son of my second daughter, who is married to the chieftain of the Nagoya Muratomo. With Hideyori and Yukio dead, the Nagoya Muratomo are now the senior branch of the clan.”

“Excuse me, honoured Brother,” said Ryuichi, “but why would these other grandsons of yours be more suitable than Sametono?”

“They are Muratomo by blood, not by adoption,” said Bokuden. “And they and their mothers would obey me in all things.”

“Of course,” said Ryuichi. “Still, there are many serious objections to both those young men. Eor instance, the Nagoya Muratomo fought on the Takashi side almost until the end of the War of the Dragons. And to choose a Shogun from the Ashikaga would arouse the envy of the Wada and the Miura. Surely these points have occurred to you. Do you have any other candidates to put forward?”

“If there are too many objections to any other candidates I can only, in all humility, offer myself.”

There was a long silence. Even Taniko was shocked. She knew her father had a high opinion of himself, but she had no idea that his vainglory verged on madness. His hold on the Regency was precarious enough, and now he wanted to reach higher. still.

“There is no impediment that excludes me from consideration,” Bokuden went on. “And there is much that qualifies me. I am head of the most powerful family in the realm. I am the late Shogun’s oldest and staunchest ally. Without me, he could never have overthrown the Takashi. Einally, I am a man of advanced age and much experience.”

“Indeed, you are superbly qualified, Brother,” said Ryuichi. “But there is one stumbling block. Just as there is no rule for choosing a Shogun, there is no legal procedure for removing a Shogun from office.”

“We will have to eliminate him, of course,” said Bokuden blandly.

“Kill Sametono?” cried Munetoki, shocked into speaking again.

“We cannot permit him to survive as a rallying point for opposition forces,” said Bokuden. “Many of the other families will be envious when the Shima step forward to take the Shogunate. Rival claimants to high office must be eliminated, no matter how young and innocent. I have been thinking, Nephew, that since you are the boy’s teacher you might be in a good position to arrange an accident for him. It would be better if it did not appear to be an assassination.”

“Munetoki,” said Ryuichi sharply. “You will listen to your uncle and obey him in whatever he tells you to do.”

“Yes, Eather,” Munetoki muttered, his voice shaking with suppressed rage.

“The extent of your devotion to the nation amazes me, honoured Brother,” Ryuichi went on. “That you would actually sacrifice your own great-grandson for the security of the realm fills me with awe.”

“Every tree benefits from pruning,” said Bokuden sententiously. “Besides, the boy is not a true Shima anyway. Munetoki, you may be reluctant to help Sametono into the beyond, but remember that you would be my heir. I have no sons, after all. Look here, Ryuichi, we’ve seen the Eujiwara, the Takashi and the Muratomo each rule the land in their turn. All this time we’ve just been supporters of the great families. Isn’t it time the Shima had their turn at ruling? Think of how rich we could make ourselves.”

Taniko stood up and stepped out from behind the screen. “It is not the Shogun who needs deposing, but the Regent.”

Bokuden, looking like a large, malicious insect caught in a granary, stared at her. Moon-faced Ryuichi rose and backed away from his brother with an expression as if Bokuden gave off an unpleasant odour. Munetoki stood towering over his uncle with a grin of satisfaction. His fingertips stroked the hilt of the dagger hanging at his right side.

“I’m not surprised at your willingness to murder your great-grandson,” Taniko said. “A lizard has more love for its offspring than you do. What does amaze me is that you have actually deceived yourself into believing that the great clan chieftains, generals and scholars my lord Hideyori gathered together here in Kamakura would be willing to take orders from you.”

Bokuden managed a ghastly smile. “So. The three of you intend to try to bring me down? I should have known you would all put personal ambition before family welfare. This is very foolish of you. I am still Regent as well as head of this clan.” He tried to stand up, but age made him stiff. Munetoki helped him to his feet. Then he pulled his arm away.

“You are Regent and clan chieftain only until we can gather the Bakufu Council and charge you with plotting to murder the Shogun,” said Taniko.

“You think to bring charges against the Regent?” Bokuden laughed shrilly. “It is you who will face charges for rebelling against me. Out of my way.” He hobbled to a window and slid back the screen covering it. “Guards!” he shouted. There was no response from the courtyard outside the window.

Munetoki spoke quietly. “Sorry, Uncle, but we took the liberty of disarming your escort and locking them up. Sad to say, none of them wanted the privilege of dying to protect you. In case any of your other retainers should feel differently, this mansion is now surrounded by three thousand samurai chosen for their loyalty to the Shogun and the Shogun’s mother.”

“The Shogun’s mother!” Bokuden spat. “You are responsible for all this, Taniko. You have always been a disobedient, ungrateful daughter.”

Taniko laughed bitterly. “All my life you have looked upon me as a piece of goods to be traded when it suited you. Should I be grateful for that? Should I be grateful to you for plotting to murder Sametono? Being a woman, perhaps I am not capable of understanding the principle involved.”

“Kill me,” said Bokuden, “and a father’s curse will follow you through the Nine Worlds.”

“We want to see you praying, Father, not cursing,” said Taniko with a smile she knew would infuriate him. “We hope you will live a long time. We feel no need to kill you. We do not fear that you will become a rallying point for those who may oppose us. You are not the sort men rally around. You have spent over seventy years of your life absorbed in the affairs of this world. Now we would like you to enter the cloister, shave your head, and turn your thoughts to the next world. Your worthy nephew Munetoki volunteers to take on the burdens of the Regent’s office.”

Bokuden’s face reddened with fury as he glared at his daughter, his brother and his nephew. After so many years of scheming and plotting, Taniko thought, it must be unbearable to have the ultimate prize snatched away by your own family.

“I made our family first in the realm,” Bokuden sputtered. “Your ingratitude will